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Virtual (tv) studios gain much more acceptance through improvements in computer graphics and camera tracking. Still commercial studios cannot have full interaction between actors and virtual scene because actors data are not completely digital available as well as the feedback for actors is still not sufficient. Markerless full body tracking might revolutionize virtual studio technology as it allows better interaction between real and virtual world. This article reports about using a markerless actor tracking in a virtual studio with a tracking volume of nearly 40 cubic meter enabling up to three actors within the green box. The tracking is used for resolving the occlusion between virtual objects and actors so that the Tenderer can output automatically a mask for virtual objects in the foreground in case the actor is behind. It is also used for triggering functions scripted within the Tenderer engine, which are attached to virtual objects, starting any kind of action (e.g., animation). Last but not least the system is used for controlling avatars within the virtual set. All tracking and rendering is done within a studio frame rate of 50 Hz with about 3 frames delay. The markerless actor tracking within virtual studios is evaluated by experts using an interview approach. The statistical evaluation is based on a questionnaire.
The presentation of virtual environments in real time has always been a demanding task. Specially designed graphics hardware is necessary to deal with the large amounts of data these applications typically produce. For several years the chipsets that were used allowed only simple lighting models and fixed algorithms. But recent development has produced new graphics processing units (GPUs) that are much faster and more programmable than their predecessors. This paper presents an approach to take advantage of these new features. It uses a video texture as part of the lighting calculations for the passenger compartment of a virtual train and was run on the GPU of a recent PC graphics card. The task was to map the varying illumination of a filmed landscape onto the virtual objects and also onto another video texture (showing two passengers), thereby enhancing the realism of the scene.
In this paper we introduce a system for tracking persons walking or standing on a large planar surface and for using the acquired data to easily configure position based interactions for virtual studio productions. The tracking component of the system, radarTRACK, is based on a laser scanner device capable of delivering interaction points on a large configurable plane. By using the device on the floor it is possible to use the delivered data to detect feet positions and derive the position and orientation of one or more users in real time. The second component of the system, named OscCalibrator, allows for the easy creation of multidimensional linear mappings between input and output parameters and the routing of OSC messages within a single modular design environment. We demonstrate the use of our system to flexibly create position-based interactions in a virtual studio environment.
Die interaktive Echtzeit 3D-Visualisierung Mobilisierung und Homing von Blutstammzellen wurde konzipiert, um ein sehr komplexes medizinisches Wissen mit den Mitteln der 3-dimensionalen Visualisierung in Echtzeit und des Internets sowie der daraus resultierenden Interaktivität aufzubereiten. Dies musste auf einer Ebene geschehen, die es hinterher auch jedem Nicht-Mediziner erlaubt, die grundlegenden biologischen und medizinischen Sachverhalte nachzuvollziehen. Das Resultat: Eine informative und didaktische Anwendung, aus einer Mischung von interaktiven 3D-Stationen und erklärenden 3D-Animationen. Diskutiert werden die Methodik der Konzeptionsphase und die Interaktionstechniken.
Virtual set environments for broadcasting become more sophisticated as well as the visual quality improves. Realtime interaction and production-specific visualization implemented through plugin mechanism enhance the existing systems like the 3DK. This work presents the integration of the Intersense IS-900 SCT camera tracking and 3D interaction into the 3DK virtual studio environment. The main goal of this work is the design of a virtual studio environment for post productions, which includes video output as well as media streaming formats such as MPEG-4. The systems allows high quality offline rendering during post production and 3D interaction by the moderator during the recording.
Sound spatialization is a technology which puts sound into the three dimensional space, so that it has a perceivable direction and distance. Interactive means mutually or reciprocally active. Interaction is when one action (e.g., user moves mouse) has direct or immediate influence to other actions (e.g., processing by a computer: graphics change in size). Based on this definition an introduction to sound reproduction using DVD and virtual environments is given and illustrated by applications (e.g., virtual converts).
Virtual set environments for broadcasting become more sophisticated as well as the visual quality improves. Realtime interaction and production-specific visualization implemented through plugin mechanism enhance the existing systems like the virtual studio software 3DK. This work presents an algorithm which can dynamically manage textures of high resolution by prefetching them depending on their requirement in memory and map them on a procedural mesh in realtime. The main goal application of this work is the virtual representation of a flight over a landscape as part of weather reports in virtual studios and the interaction by the moderator.
Digital broadcasting enables interactive \sc tv, which presents new challenges for interactive content creation. Besides the technology for streaming and viewing, tools and systems are under development that extend traditional \sc tv studios with virtual set environments. This presentation reviews current technology and describes the requirements for such systems. Interoperability over the production, streaming, and viewer levels requires open interfaces. As the technology allow more interaction, it becomes inherent difficult to control the quality of the viewers experience
Digital broadcasting enables interactive \sc tv studios with virtual set environments. This presentation reviews current technology and describes the requirements for such systems. Interoperability over the production, streaming, and viewer levels requires open interfaces. As the technology allow more interaction, it becomes inherent difficult to control the quality of the viewers experience.
This paper presents an approach to integrate non-visual user feedback in today's virtual tv studio productions. Since recent studies showed that systems providing vibro-tactile feedback are not sufficient for replacing the common visual feedback, we developed an audio-based solution using an in ear headphone system, enabling a talent to move, avoid and point to virtual objects in a blue or green box. The system consists of an optical head tracking system, a wireless in ear monitor system and a workstation, which performs all application and audio processing. Using head related transfer functions, the talent gets directional and distance cues. Past research showed, that generating reflections of the sounds and simulating the acoustics of the virtual room helps the listener to conceive the acoustical feedback, we included this technique as well. In a user study with 15 participants the performance of the system was evaluated.
Vibrotactile feedback via body-worn vibrating belts is a common means of direction signalization - e.g. for navigational tasks. Consequently such feedback devices are used to guide blind or visually impaired people but can also be used to support other wayfinding tasks - for instance, guiding actors in virtual studio productions. Recent effort has been made to simplify this task by integrating vibrotactile feedback into virtual studio applications. In this work we evaluate the accuracy of an improved direction signalization technique, utilizing a body-worn vibrotactile belt with a limited number of tactors, and compare it to other work. The results from our user study indicate that it is possible to signalize different directions accurately, even with a small number of tactors spaced by 90°.
The audio design for virtual environments includes simulation of acoustical room properties besides specifing sound sources and sinks and their behavior. Virtual environments supporting room reverberation not only gain realism but also provide additional information to the user about surrounding space. Catching the different sound properties by the different spaces requires partitioning the space by the properties of aural spaces. We define soundscape and aural attributes as an application and multimedia content interface. Calculated data on an abstract level is sent to spatialization backends. Part of this research was the implementation of a device driver for the Roland Sound Space Processor. This device not only directionalizes sound sources, but also controls room effects like reverberation.
This paper presents a tracking of parts of a human body in a virtual TV studio environment. The tracking is based on a depth camera and a HD studio camera and aims at a realistic interaction between the actor and the computer generated environment. Stereo calibration methods are used to match corresponding pixels of both cameras (HD color and depth image). Hence the images were rectified and column aligned. The disparity is used to correct the depth image pixel by pixel. This image registration results in row and column aligned images where ghost regions are in the depth image resulting from occlusion. Both images are used to generate foreground masks with chroma and depth keying. The color image is taken for skin color segmentation to determine and distinguish the actor’s hands and face. In the depth image the flesh colored regions were used to determine their spatial position. The extracted positions were augmented by virtual objects. The scene is rendered correctly with virtual camera parameters which were calculated from the camera calibration parameters. Generated computer graphics with alpha value are combined with the HD color images. This compositing shows interaction with augmented objects for verification. The additional depth information results in changing the size of objects next to the hands when the actor moves around.
Two high dynamic range HDR environments maps based on video streams from fish-eye lens cameras are used for generating virtual lights in a virtual set renderer. The task of realistic virtual light setup of scenes using captured environment maps might be eased as well as visual quality improves. We discuss the light setting problem for virtual studio tv productions which have mixed scenes of real objects, actors, virtual objects and virtual backgrounds. Benefits of hdr interactive light control are that the real light in the studio does not have to be remodeled and the artistic impression by using the light in the studio is also captured. An analysis of system requirements identifies technical challenges. We discuss the properties of a prototype system including test production.
Durch den vermehrten Einsatz von multimedialen Technologien werden in der Marktforschung die Möglichkeiten der Durchführung flexibler und kostengünstiger Studien gegeben. In sehr frühen Phasen des Innovationsprozesses als Teil der Marktforschung können durch Einsatz von Virtuellen Umgebungen die Markteinführungskonzepte für neue Produkte getestet werden. Mittels Anwendungen der Virtuellen Realität können neue Produkte einschlieï‚lich des Marketingkonzeptes auch haptisch getestet werden, ohne dass dieses Produkt bereits physisch vorhanden sein muss. Informationen werden dem Benutzer in Virtuellen Umgebungen hauptsächlich visuell und ergänzend auditiv übermittelt. Verbreitete Benutzerschnittstellen sind Interaktionsgeräte wie Stylus und Wand. Durch die haptische Wahrnehmung werden Informationen menschengerechter, effektiver und intuitiver wahrgenommen. Objekte in einer virtuellen Umgebung können durch den Einsatz haptischer Interaktionsgeräte ertastet und erfühlt werden und machen dadurch eine differenziertere Beurteilung und Einschätzung durch den Benutzer eben dieser Objekte möglich. Der Fokus des vorliegenden Projektes liegt daher auf der interaktiven haptischen Produktpräsentation in einer virtuellen Einkaufsumgebung, die in Online-Befragungen mit zusätzlichen Werbefilmen eingebettet ist. Als Nebenprodukt wurde das Werkzeug Open Inventor um Knoten zur Modellierung von haptischen Szeneneigenschaften erweitert.
Four Metamorphosis States in a Distributed Virtual (TV) Studio: Human, Cyborg, Avatar, and Bot
(2013)
The major challenge in virtual studio technology is the interaction between the actor and virtual objects. Within a distributed live production, two locally separated markerless tracking systems where used simultaneously alongside a virtual studio. The production was based on a fully tracked actor, cyborg (half actor, half graphics), avatar, and a bot. All participants could interact and throw a virtual disc. This setup is compared and mapped to Milgram’s continuum and technical challenges are described.
A chatspace was developed that allows conversation with 3D sound using networked streaming in a shared virtual environment. The system provides an interface to advanced audio features, such as a "whisper function" for conveying a confided audio stream. This study explores the use of spatial audio to enhance a user's experience in multiuser virtual environments.
Die volumetrische Erfassung von Aushüben auf Baustellen ist ein kostenrelevanter Faktor und wird auch heute im täglichen Baustellenbetrieb oft noch in manueller Detailarbeit durchgeführt. Kostengünstige Sensoren zur Tiefenerfassung ermöglichen die halbautomatische Erfassung von Baugruben. Augmented Reality (AR) kann für diesen Prozess das nötige Feedback liefern. Vorgestellt wird ein Prototyp, bestehend aus einem Tablet mit integrierter Kamera und einem Lidar-Scanner. Es wird die Erfassung des Volumens bezüglich Nutzbarkeit und Genauigkeit mit Einsatz von AR getestet und evaluiert. Zur Bestimmung des Volumens wird unter Verwendung von Strahlen mit Unterstützung einer Grafik-Engine ein Algorithmus entwickelt. Der Algorithmus ist robust gegen nicht vollständig geschlossene Volumen. Die Bedienung, Überprüfung und Visualisierung findet durch praktischen Einsatz von AR statt.
Distance and Room Effects Control for the PSFC, an Auditory Display using a Loudspeaker Array
(2000)
The Pioneer Sound Field Controller (PSFC), a loudspeaker array system, features realtime configuration of an entire sound field, including sound source direction, virtual distance, and context of simulated environment (room characteristics: room size and liveness) for each of two sound sources. In the PSFC system, there is no native parameter to specify the distance between the sound source and sound sink (listener) and also no function to control it directrly. This paper suggests the method to control virtual distance using basic parameters: volume, room size and liveness. The implementation of distance cue is an important aspect of 3D sounds. Virtual environments supporting room effects like reverberation not only gain realism but also provide additional information to users about surrounding space. The context switch of different aural attributes is done by using an API of the Sound Spatialization Framework. Therefore, when the sound sink move through two rooms, like a small bathroom and a large living room, the context of the sink switches and different sound is obtained.