virtual characters and virtual environments research projects of the virtual environments group

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Virtual Characters Virtual Characters and Virtual and Virtual Environments Environments Research Projects of Research Projects of the the Virtual Environments Virtual Environments Group Group February 27 February 27 th th , 2004 , 2004 Benjamin Lok Benjamin Lok

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Virtual Characters and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the Virtual Environments Group. February 27 th , 2004 Benjamin Lok. Applications Driven Combines: Interactive Computer Graphics Computer Vision Human Computer Interaction. Virtual Experiences Group. PhD Students (2) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Virtual Characters Virtual Characters and Virtual and Virtual

EnvironmentsEnvironments

Research Projects of the Research Projects of the

Virtual Environments Virtual Environments GroupGroup February 27February 27thth, 2004, 2004

Benjamin LokBenjamin Lok

Page 2: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Applications DrivenApplications Driven Combines:Combines:

Interactive Computer GraphicsInteractive Computer Graphics Computer VisionComputer Vision Human Computer InteractionHuman Computer Interaction

Page 3: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Virtual Virtual Experiences Experiences

GroupGroup PhD Students (2)PhD Students (2)

Kyle Johnsen (B.S. UF)Kyle Johnsen (B.S. UF) Cyrus Harrison (B.S., M.S. Cyrus Harrison (B.S., M.S.

(expected) UF)(expected) UF)

MS Students (1)MS Students (1) George Mora (B.S. UF) DASGeorge Mora (B.S. UF) DAS

Undergraduates (4)Undergraduates (4) Sayed Hashimi (S)Sayed Hashimi (S) Andrew Joubert (S)Andrew Joubert (S) John Samuelsen (S)John Samuelsen (S) Art Homs (J)Art Homs (J)

Page 4: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

OverviewOverview Computer generated Computer generated

characters and characters and environmentsenvironments Amazing visuals and audioAmazing visuals and audio Interacting is limited! Interacting is limited!

Reduce applicability? Reduce applicability?

Goals:Goals: Create Create new methods to new methods to

interact interact Evaluate Evaluate the effectiveness the effectiveness

of these interaction methodsof these interaction methods

Aki from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Walking Experiment PIT - UNC

Page 5: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Life-Sized Virtual Life-Sized Virtual CharactersCharacters

Virtual Characters as a way to Virtual Characters as a way to interact with informationinteract with information

If virtual characters are presented If virtual characters are presented with an adequate level of realism, with an adequate level of realism, would people respond to them as would people respond to them as they would to other people?they would to other people?

Effective Effective InteractionInteraction Natural (> than keyboard and Natural (> than keyboard and

mouse)mouse) 3D, Dynamic (augmentable)3D, Dynamic (augmentable)

Effective Effective CollaborationCollaboration Non-verbal communication (60%)Non-verbal communication (60%) High impact?High impact?

Page 6: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

InteractionInteraction

Each participant in a communication has three Each participant in a communication has three stages: stages: perceptionperception, , cognitioncognition, and , and responseresponse

Investigate: Display, perception, efficacyInvestigate: Display, perception, efficacy

ThinkingParticipant

ThinkingThinking

Perceiving

Responding

Virtual Character

Responding

Perceiving

Responding

Perceiving

Interaction

Page 7: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Projects underwayProjects underway Interpersonal Interpersonal

communicationcommunication Distributed acting Distributed acting

rehearsalrehearsal

TeachingTeaching Medical Diagnosis Medical Diagnosis

TrainingTraining Training transferTraining transfer

Future work: Future work: Universal AccessUniversal Access

DisabledDisabled MinoritiesMinorities Rural communitiesRural communities

Page 8: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Virtual EnvironmentsVirtual Environments Been around for almost 30 yearsBeen around for almost 30 years # of systems in research labs > day to day use# of systems in research labs > day to day use Why?Why?

Interaction with the virtual environment is too poorInteraction with the virtual environment is too poor Everything is virtual isn’t necessarily good Everything is virtual isn’t necessarily good

Example, change a light bulbExample, change a light bulb

Approach:Approach: Real objects as interfaces to the virtual worldReal objects as interfaces to the virtual world Merge the real and virtual spacesMerge the real and virtual spaces Evaluate what VR is good for!Evaluate what VR is good for!

Page 9: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Projects Projects underwayunderway

Getting real objects Getting real objects into VR to aid into VR to aid engineering designengineering design

Collaboration w/ Mars Collaboration w/ Mars Airplane (Langley Airplane (Langley Research Center)Research Center)

Get tools, parts, and Get tools, parts, and other (possibly other (possibly distributed) distributed) collaborators in a collaborators in a shared spaceshared space

Page 10: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Videos of TaskVideos of Task

Having a hybrid environment provides substantial benefits in prototype design.

Page 11: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Merging real Merging real and virtual spacesand virtual spaces

Page 12: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Avatars in VEAvatars in VE Most virtual environments do not provide an avatar (user Most virtual environments do not provide an avatar (user

self-representation)self-representation) Why? Because tracking the human body is difficult.Why? Because tracking the human body is difficult. Solution: Use simple computer vision to track colored Solution: Use simple computer vision to track colored

markers to generate an avatarmarkers to generate an avatar

Page 13: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Locomotion in VRLocomotion in VR Most common locomotion:Most common locomotion:

Use a ‘virtual walking’ Use a ‘virtual walking’ metaphor.metaphor.

Does this reduce Does this reduce effectiveness?effectiveness?

We can test this because of We can test this because of new wide-area tracking new wide-area tracking technologies.technologies.

Page 14: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

VR InteractionVR Interaction

Getting real objects into virtual environmentsGetting real objects into virtual environments How do you naturally interact with virtual objects?How do you naturally interact with virtual objects?

Page 15: Virtual Characters  and Virtual Environments Research Projects of the   Virtual Environments Group

Virtual Experiences Virtual Experiences GroupGroup

2 PhD students2 PhD students 1 MS1 MS 4 Undergraduates4 Undergraduates

15’x15’x10’ wide area 15’x15’x10’ wide area trackertracker

Virtual Research V8 HMDVirtual Research V8 HMD 42” Plasma TV42” Plasma TV 4 data projectors 4 data projectors 120” passive stereo 120” passive stereo

displaydisplay

Collaboration with Collaboration with expertise in:expertise in:• Virtual RealityVirtual Reality• Digital ArtsDigital Arts• Image ProcessingImage Processing• Computational GeometryComputational Geometry• Human Computer Human Computer InteractionInteraction• Image Based RenderingImage Based Rendering