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This article presents a new approach of integrating tangible user feedback in todays virtual TV studio productions. We describe a tangible multitouch planning system, enabling multiple users to prepare and customize scene flow and settings. Users can collaboratively view and interact with virtual objects by using a tangible user interface on a shared multitouch surface. The in a 2D setting created TV scenes are simultaneously rendered on an external monitor, using a production/target renderer in 3D. Thereby the user experiences a closer reproduction of a final production. Subsequently, users are able to join together the scenes into one complex plot. Within the developing process, a video prototype of the system shows the user interaction and enables early reviews and evaluations. The requirement analysis is based on expert interviews.
Broader use of virtual reality environments and sophisticated animations spawn a need for spatial sound. Until now, spatial sound design has been based very much on experience and trial and error. Most effects are hand-crafted, because good design tools for spatial sound do not exist. This paper discusses spatial sound authoring and its applications, including shared virtual reality environments based on VRML. New utilities introduced by this research are an inspector for sound sources, an interactive resource manager, and a visual soundscape manipulator. The tools are part of a sound spatialization framework and allow a designer/author of multimedia content to monitor and debug sound events. Resource constraints like limited sound spatialization channels can also be simulated.
The PSFC, or Pioneer sound field control system, is a DSP-driven hemispherical 14-loudspeaker array, installed at the University of Aizu Multimedia Center. Collocated with a large screen rear-projection stereographic display the PSFC features realtime control of virtual room characteristics and direction of two separate sound channels, smoothly steering them around a configurable soundscape. The PSFC controls an entire sound field, including sound direction, virtual distance, and simulated environment (reverb level, room size and liveness) for each source. It can also configure a dry (DSP-less) switching matrix for direct directionalization. The PSFC speaker dome is about 14 m in diameter, allowing about twenty users at once to comfortably stand or sit near its sweet spot.
Auditory displays with the ability to dynamically spatialize virtual sound sources under real-time conditions enable advanced applications for art and music. A listener can be deeply immersed while interacting and participating in the experience. We review some of those applications while focusing on the Helical Keyboard project and discussing the required technology. Inspired by the cyclical nature of octaves and helical structure of a scale, a model of a piano-style keyboard was prepared, which was then geometrically warped into a helicoidal configuration, one octave/revolution, pitch mapped to height and chroma. It can be driven by MIDI events, real-time or sequenced, which stream is both synthesized and spatialized by a spatial sound display. The sound of the respective notes is spatialized with respect to sinks, avatars of the human user, by default in the tube of the helix. Alternative coloring schemes can be applied, including a color map compatible with chromastereoptic eyewear. The graphical display animates polygons, interpolating between the notes of a chord across the tube of the helix. Recognition of simple chords allows directionalization of all the notes of a major triad from the position of its musical root. The system is designed to allow, for instance, separate audition of harmony and melody, commonly played by the left and right hands, respectively, on a normal keyboard. Perhaps the most exotic feature of the interface is the ability to fork oneÃs presence, replicating subject instead of object by installing multiple sinks at arbitrary places around a virtual scene so that, for example, harmony and melody can be separately spatialized, using two heads to normalize the octave; such a technique effectively doubles the helix from the perspective of a single listener. Rather than a symmetric arrangement of the individual helices, they are perceptually superimposed in-phase, co-extensively, so that corresponding notes in different registers are at the same azimuth.
Multimediale Technologien werden in der Marktforschung immer stärker eingesetzt, um flexible und kostengünstige Studien durchzuführen. Im Innovationsprozess kann dabei auf die langjährigen Erfahrungen zurückgegriffen werden, die durch den Einsatz der Computersimulation in der technischen Produktentwicklung zustande gekommen sind. In sehr frühen Phasen des Innovationsprozesses können durch Einsatz der neuen Technologien die Markteinführungskonzepte für neue Produkte getestet werden. Die Applikationen der virtuellen Realität bieten ein einzigartiges Potential, neue Produkte einschlieï‚lich des Marketingkonzeptes zu testen, ohne dass dieses Produkt bereits physisch vorhanden sein muss. Am Beispiel eines Elementes des Marketingkonzeptes, der Preispolitik, zeigt die vorliegende Studie auf, welches Potential die virtuelle Kaufsituation von Produkten bietet. Der Fokus des Projektes liegt auf der interaktiven Produktpräsentation in einer virtuellen Umgebung, die in eine Online-Befragung mit zusätzlichen Werbefilmen eingebettet ist. Visuell hochwertige 3D-Produktpräsentationen versetzen den Probanden in eine virtuelle Einkaufsumgebung, die einem realen Szenario entspricht. Die virtuellen Produkte werden in mehreren Kaufentscheidungsrunden zu unterschiedlichen Preisen angeboten. Der Preisuntersuchung geht eine Präsentation ausgewählter Werbespots sowie eine produktbezogene Befragung voraus. Im Anschluss an die virtuellen Preisentscheidungen werden die Eindrücke sowie einige Kontrollgröen abgefragt. In weitergehenden Studien dieser Art können die Wirkungen mehrerer Marketing-Instrumente zu einem Zeitpunkt untersucht werden, in dem sich die Produkte noch im Entwicklungsprozess befinden. Auf diesem Weg lassen sich auch Wettbewerbsvorteile bestehender Produkte effizienter erkennen und nutzen. Mit den hoch entwickelten Computer- und Visualisierungstechnologien ist ein mächtiges Werkzeug entstanden, das bereits für kommerzielle Präsentationen und Produktstudien eingesetzt wird. Zukünftig kann es auch in Kombination mit Internetanwendungen und klassischen Methoden der Marktforschung zu einem sehr frühen Zeitpunkt umfassende Erkenntnisse über ein Produkt liefern.
Markerless talent tracking is widely used for interactions and animations within virtual environments. In a virtual (tv) studio talents could be overburden by interaction tasks because camera and text require extensive attention. We take a look into animations and inter- actions within a studio, which do not require any special attention or learning. We show the generation of an artificial shadow from a talent, which ease the keying process, where separation of real shadows from the background is a difficult task. We also demonstrate animations of footsteps and dust. Furthermore, capturing talents’ height can also be used to adjust the parameters of elements in the virtual environment, like the position and scaling of a virtual display. In addition to the talents, a rigid body was tracked as placeholder for graphics, easing the interaction tasks for a talent. Two test productions show the possibilities, which subtle animations offer. In the second production, the rendering was improved (shadows, filtering, normal maps, ...) and instead of using the rigid body to move an object (a flag), the animation was only controlled by the hand’s position.
We present a system that exploits mobile rotational tracking and photospherical imagery to allow users to share their environment with remotely connected peers “on the go.” We surveyed related interfaces and developed a unique groupware application that shares a mixed reality space with spatially-oriented live video feeds. Users can collaborate through realtime audio, video, and drawings in a virtual space. The developed system was tested in a preliminary user study, which confirmed an increase in spatial and situational awareness among viewers as well as reduction in cognitive workload. Believing that our system provides a novel style of collaboration in mixed reality environments, we discuss future applications and extensions of our prototype.
Actors in virtual studio productions are faced with the challenge that they have to interact with invisible virtual objects because these elements are rendered separately and combined with the real image later in the production process. Virtual sets typically use static virtual elements or animated objects with predefined behavior so that actors can practice their performance and errors can be corrected in the post production. With the demand for inexpensive live recording and interactive TV productions, virtual objects will be dynamically rendered at arbitrary positions that cannot be predicted by the actor. Perceptive aids have to be employed to support a natural interaction with these objects. In our work we study the effect of haptic feedback for a simple form of interaction. Actors are equipped with a custom built haptic belt and get vibrotactile feedback during a small navigational task (path following). We present a prototype of a wireless vibrotactile feedback device and a small framework for evaluating haptic feedback in a virtual set environment. Results from an initial pilot study indicate that vibrotactile feedback is a suitable non-visual aid for interaction that is at least comparable to audio-visual alternatives used in virtual set productions.
Live video streaming is becoming increasingly popular as a form of interaction in social applications. One of its main advantages is an ability to immediately create and connect a community of remote users on the spot. In this paper we discuss how this feature can be used for crowdsourced completion of simple visual search tasks (such as finding specific objects in libraries and stores, or navigating around live events) and social interactions through mobile mixed reality telepresence interfaces. We present a prototype application that allows users to create a mixed reality space with a photospherical imagery as a background and interact with other connected users through viewpoint, audio, and video sharing, as well as realtime annotations in mixed reality space. Believing in the novelty of our system, we conducted a short series of interviews with industry professionals on the possible applications of our system. We discuss proposed use-cases for user evaluation, as well as outline future extensions of our system.
A visual and spatial feedback system for orientation in virtual sets of virtual TV studios was developed and evaluated. It is based on a green proxy object, which moves around in the acting space by way of four transparent wires. A separate unit controls four winches and is connected to an engine, which renders the virtual set. A new developed plugin registers a virtual object’s position with the proxy object which imitates the virtual object’s movement on stage. This will allow actors to establish important eye contact with a virtual object and feel more comfortable in a virtual set. Furthermore, interaction with the virtual object and its proxy can be realised through a markerless actor tracking system. Several possible scenarios for user application were recorded and presented to experts in the broadcast industry, who evaluated the potential of SpiderFeedback in interviews and by questionnaires.
Texturen können als Oberflächenstrukturen realer Objekt aufgefasst werden und sind Variationen in Farbe, Geometrie, Transparenz, usw.. Im Gegensatz zu Algorithmen für die künstliche Generierung von Texturen gibt es nur wenige Ansätze zu Textur-Synthese-Sprachen oder zu Hilfsmittel für die Textur-Beschreibung. Die bekannten Werkzeuge decken zudem jeweils nur Teilgebiete der Generierung ab. Mit HiLDTe (Hierachical Language for the Description of Textures) ist nun eine Sprache entwickelt worden, mit der möglichst alle bekannten Texturtypen beschrieben werden können. HiLDTe basiert auf einem am Fachgebiet GRIS entwickelten Texturmodell, in dem Texturen generische, eventuell komplex zusammengesetzte Objekte repräsentieren. Aufgabe dieser Arbeit war es nun, Konzepte für die Sprache HiLDTe zu entwickeln, eine entsprechende Grammatik aufzubauen und mit Hilfe der UNIX-Werkzeuge LEX und YACC einen Compiler zu implementieren, mit dem ein ausführbarer Zwischen-Code für die in HiLDTe spezifizierten Texturen erstellt wird.
Using spatial audio successfully for augmented reality (AR) applications is a challenge, but is awarded with an improved user experience. Thus, we have extended the AR/VR framework \sc Morgan with spatial audio to improve users orientation in an AR application. In this paper, we investigate the users’ capability to localize and memorize spatial sounds (registered with virtual or real objects). We discuss two scenarios. In the first scenario, the user localizes only sound sources and in the second scenario the user memorizes the location of audio-visual objects. Our results reflect spatial audio performance within the application domain and show which technology pitfalls still exist. Finally, we provide design recommendations for spatial audio AR environments.
In a virtual reality environment users are immersed in a scene with objects which might produce sound. The responsibility of a VR environment is to present these objects, but a system has only limited resources, including spatialization channels (mixels), MIDI/audio channels, and processing power. The sound spatialization resource manager controls sound resources and optimizes fidelity (presence) under given conditions. For that a priority scheme based on human psychophysical hearing is needed. Parameters for spatialization priorities include intensity calculated from volume and distance, orientation in the case of non-uniform radiation patterns, occluding objects, frequency spectrum (low frequencies are harder to localize), expected activity, and others. Objects which are spatially close together (depending on distance and direction) can be mixed. Sources that can not be spatialized can be treated as a single ambient sound source. Important for resource management is the resource assignment, i.e., minimizing swap operations, which makes it desirable to look-ahead and predict upcoming events in a scene. Prediction is achieved by monitoring objects’ speed and past evaluation values. Fidelity is contrasted for Zifferent kind of resource restrictions and optimal resource assignment based upon unlimited dynamic scene look-ahead. To give standard and comparable results, the VRML 2.0 specification is used as an application programmer interface. Applicability is demonstrated with a helical keyboard, a polyphonic MIDI stream driven animation including user interaction (user moves around, playing together with programmed notes). The developed sound spatialization resource manager gives improved spatialization fidelity under runtime constraints. Application programmers and virtual reality scene designers are freed from the burden of assigning and predicting the sound sources.
The Sound Spatialization Framework is a C++ toolkit and development environment for providing advanced sound spatialization for virtual reality and multimedia applications. The Sound Spatialization Framework provides many powerful display and user-interface features not found in other sound spatialization software packages. It provides facilities that go beyond simple sound source spatialization: visualization and editing of the soundscape, multiple sinks, clustering of sound sources, monitoring and controlling resource management, support for various spatialization backends, and classes for MIDI animation and handling.
The Sound Spatialization Framework is a C++ toolkit and development environment for providing advanced sound spatialization for virtual reality and multimedia applications. The Sound Spatialization Framework provides many powerful display and user-interface features not found in other sound spatialization software packages. It provides facilities that go beyond simple sound source spatialization: visualization and editing of the soundscape, multiple sinks, clustering of sound sources, monitoring and controlling resource management, support for various spatialization backends, and classes for MIDI animation and handling.
Keywords:
sound spatialization, resource management, virtual environments, spatial sound authoring, user interface design, human-machine interfaces
With the virtual environment developed here, the characteristic
sound radiation patterns of musical instruments can be experienced
in real-time. The user may freely move around a musical instrument, thereby receiving acoustic and visual feedback in real-time. The perception of auditory and visual effects is intensified by the combination of acoustic and visual elements, as well as the option of user interaction. The simulation of characteristic sound radiation patterns is based on interpolating the intensities of a multichannel recording and offers a near-natural mapping of the sound radiation patterns. Additionally, a simple filter has been developed, enabling the qualitative simulation of an instrument’s characteristic sound radiation patterns to be easily implemented within real-time 3D applications. Both methods of simulating sound radiation patterns have been evaluated for a saxophone with respect to their functionality and validity by means of spectral analysis and an auditory experiment.
Virtual TV studios use actor tracking systems for resolving the occlusion of computer graphics and studio camera image. The actor tracking delivers the distance between actor and studio camera. We deploy a photonic mixing device, which captures a depth map and a luminance image at low resolution. The renderer engines gets one depth value per actor using the OSC protocol. We describe the actor recognition algorithm based on the luminance image and the depth value calculation. We discuss technical issues like noise and calibration.
Live video broadcasting requires a multitude of professional expertise to enable multi-camera productions. Robotic systems allow the automation of common and repeated tracking shots. However, predefined camera shots do not allow quick adjustments when required due to unpredictable events. We introduce a modular automated robotic camera control and video switch system, based on fundamental cinematographic rules. The actors' positions are provided by a markerless tracking system. In addition, sound levels of actors' lavalier microphones are used to analyse the current scene. An expert system determines appropriate camera angles and decides when to switch from one camera to another. A test production was conducted to observe the developed prototype in a live broadcast scenario and served as a video-demonstration for an evaluation.
In this paper we describe a prototypical system for live musical performance in a virtual studio environment. The performer stands in front of the studio camera and interacts with an infrared-laser-based multi-touch device. The final TV image shows the performer interacting with a virtual screen which is augmented in front of herself. To overcome the problem of the performer not seeing this virtual screen in reality, we use a special hexagonal grid to facilitate the performer's awareness of this novel Theremin-like virtual musical instrument.
Given limited computational resources available for the rendering of spatial sound imagery, we seek to determine effective means for choosing whatcomponents of the rendering will provide the most audible differences in the results. Rather than begin with an analytic approach that attempts to predict audible differences on the basis of objective parameters, we chose to begin with subjective tests of how audibly different the rendering result may be heard to be when that result includes two types of sound obstruction: reflectors and occluders. Single-channel recordings of 90 short speech sounds were made in an anechoic chamber in the presence and absence of these two types of obstructions, and as the angle of those obstructions varied over a 90 degree range. These recordings were reproduced over a single loudspeaker in that anechoic chamber, and listeners were asked to rate how confident they were that the recording of each of these 90 stimuli included an obstruction. These confidence ratings can be used as an integral component in the evaluation function used to determine which reflectors and occluders are most important for rendering.
Level-of-detail is a concept well-known in computer graphics to reduce the number of rendered polygons. Depending on the distance to the subject (viewer), the objects’ representation is changed. A similar concept is the clustering of sound sources for sound spatialization. Clusters can be used to hierarchically organize mixels and to optimize the use of resources, by grouping multiple sources together into a single representative ource. Such a clustering process should minimize the error of position allocation of
elements, perceived as angle and distance, and also differences between velocity relative to the sink (i.e., Doppler shift). Objects with similar direction of motion and speed (relative to sink) in the same acoustic resolution cone and with similar distance to a sink can be grouped together.
The interpretation process of complex data sets makes the integration of effective interaction techniques crucial. Recent work in the field of human-computer interaction has shown that there is strong evidence that multimodal user interaction, i.e. the integration of various input modalities and interaction techniques into one comprehensive user interface, can improve human performance when interacting with complex data sets. However, it is still unclear which factors make these user interfaces superior to unimodal user interfaces. The contribution of this work is an analytical comparison of a multimodal and a unimodal user interface for a scientific visualization application. We show that multimodal user interaction with simultaneously integrated speech and gesture input improves user performance regarding efficiency and ease of use.
The article discusses the question of “How to convey the experience in a virtual environment to third parties?” and explains the different technical implementations which can be used for live streaming and recording of a mixed reality experience. The real-world applications of our approach include education, entertainment, e- sports, tutorials, and cinematic trailers, which can benefit from our research by finding a suitable solution for their needs. We explain and outline our Mixed Reality systems as well as discuss the experience of recorded demonstrations of different VR applications, including the need for calibrated camera lens parameters based on realtime encoder values.
We report about several experiments on applying mixed reality technology in the context of accessing collective memories from atomic bombs, Holocaust and Second World War. We discuss the impact of Virtual Reality, Augmented Virtuality and Augmented Reality for specific memorial locations. We show how to use a virtual studio for demonstrating an augmented reality application for a specific location in a remote session within a video conference. Augmented Virtuality is used to recreate the local environment, thus providing a context and helping the participants recollect emotions related to a certain place. This technique demonstrates the advantages of using virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) reality environments for rapid prototyping and pitching project ideas in a live remote setting.
The task of the Center for Language Research is to provide content-based English language instruction for students of computer science and engineering. As such, we find ourselves at the confluence of many of the streams currently running through the English Language Teaching profession, including English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Computer-assisted language learning (CALL), content-based instruction, and multimedia applications in foreign language pedagogy. This paper describes our initial attempts to construct a number of World Wide Web pages where students will be able to study EST, EAP, and computer science topics on their own in a multimedia environment.
High dynamic range environments maps based on still images or video streams are used for computer animation or interactive systems. The task of realistic light setup of scenes using captured environment maps might be eased as well as the visual quality improves. In this article, we discuss the light setting problem for virtual studio (tv) layout and system become more complex to handle this new feature of studio light capturing. The analysis of system requirements identifies the technical challenges.
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.
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.
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.
Information Retrieval and Database Architecture for Conventional Japanese Character Dictionaries
(1997)
The cycle of abstraction-reconstruction which occurs as a fundamental principle in the development of culture and in cognitive processes is described and analyzed. This approach leads to recognition of boundary conditions for and directions of probable development of cognitive tools. It is shown how the transition from a conventional Japanese-English character dictionary to a multi-dimensional language database is an instance of such an abstraction-reconstruction cycle. The different phases of the design of a multi-dimensional language database based upon different computer software technologies are properly placed in this cycle. The methods used include the use of UNIX software tools, classical database methods as-well-as the use of search engines based upon full text search in this process. Several directions of application and extension for a multi-dimensional language database are discussed from the general point of view of an abstraction-reconstruction cycle.
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.
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.
In an information-rich Virtual Reality (VR) environment, the user is immersed in a world containing many objects providing that information. Given the finite computational resources of any computer system, optimization is required to ensure that the most important information is presented to the user as clearly as possible and in a timely fashion. In particular, what is desired are means whereby the perspicuity of an object may be enhanced when appropriate. An object becomes more perspicuous when the information it provides to the user becomes more readily apparent. Additionally, if a particular object provides high-priority information, it would be advantageous to make that object obtrusive as well as highly perspicuous. An object becomes more obtrusive if it draws attention to itself (or equivalently, if it is hard to ignore). This paper describes a technique whereby objects may dynamically adapt their representation in a user's environment according to a dynamic priority evaluation of the information each object provides. The three components of our approach are:
- an information manager that evaluates object information priority,
- an enhancement manager that tabulates rendering features associated with increasing object perspicuity and obtrusion as a function of priority, and
- a resource manager that assigns available object rendering resources according to features indicated by the enhancement manager for the priority set for each object by the information manager.
We consider resources like visual space (pixels), sound spatialization channels (mixels), MIDI/audio channels, and processing power, and discuss our approach applied to different applications. Assigned object rendering features are implemented locally at the object level (e.g., object facing the user using the billboard node in VRML 2.0) or globally, using helper applications (e.g., active spotlights, semi-automatic cameras).
Mixed reality telepresence is becoming an increasingly popular form of interaction in social and collaborative applications. We are interested in how created virtual spaces can be archived, mapped, shared, and reused among different applications. Therefore, we propose a decentralized blockchain-based peer-to-peer model of distribution, with virtual spaces represented as blocks. We demonstrate the integration of our system in a collaborative mixed reality application and discuss the benefits and limitations of our approach.
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.