O Governo Brasileiro, juntamente com outros órgãos públicos e representantes do terceiro setor, criou um grande número de projetos que tentam disseminar o uso das tecnologias e promover a inclusão digital. Esses projetos são consequência da importância dada à inclusão digital e à capacitação do cidadão como ser autônomo e crítico no uso das tecnologias e na construção do seu conhecimento. Entretanto, a escola, que deveria ser considerada a principal responsável pelo futuro cidadão, ainda não consegue acompanhar o avanço das tecnologias e da sociedade fora dos seus muros, vivendo um momento de grandes questionamentos. As tecnologias já fazem parte do cotidiano da escola, mas não provocaram mudanças significativas nos processos de ensino e aprendizado como as que se observam fora dos muros da escola. Nossos alunos vivem hoje uma realidade fora da escola muito diferente da que a escola lhes oferece, o que prejudica a relação da escola com o aluno e com a sociedade. As mídias, poderosos recursos para a produção de conteúdos educacionais, estão presentes no cotidiano desses usuários, ávidos em consumirem desenhos animados, filmes e jogos eletrônicos. Entretanto, os usuários ainda são tratados como meros espectadores, que não passam de passivos consumidores que recebem todas as informações prontas, continuando reféns de uma parcela da sociedade que possui o poder de produzir e manipular estas informações. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre interfaces naturais em sistemas de autoria para filmes de animação, bem como a concepção, desenvolvimento e resultados de testes de dois protótipos de sistemas. Apresenta também considerações e subsídios para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de autoria que estimulem a produção de filmes de animação de maneira fácil e intuitiva a partir de interfaces naturais com foco no processo de produção do usuário. Em vivência, os protótipos desenvolvidos se mostraram de fácil e rápida apropriação por crianças de diferentes faixas etárias, que se mostraram interessadas em explorar e construir suas animações. Os resultados obtidos mostram a viabilidade da proposta do trabalho e fornecem subsídios para o desenvolvimento de novos sistemas. / The Brazilian Government, along with other public agencies and representatives of the third sector, has created a large number of projects that try to spread the use of technologies and promote digital inclusion. These projects are the result of the importance given to digital inclusion and empowerment of the citizen as an autonomous being and critical user of technology as well as autonomous in his knowledge construction. However, the school, which should be considered the main responsible for the citizens\' future, still can not keep pace with advancing technology and society outside its walls, living a moment of great questions, since the technologies are already part of its daily but caused no significant changes in the teaching and learning as occurring outside the school walls. Today, student\'s reality outside school is very different from what school offers them, which undermines the school\'s relationship with the student and society. The digital media, with powerful resources for content production, are present in daily lives of the users, eager to consume cartoons, movies and computer games. However, users are still treated as simple spectators who are merely passive consumers and receive all the information ready, still hostage to a portion of the society that has the power to manipulate and produce this information. This work presents a study on natural interfaces to authoring systems for animation films, as well as presents the design, development and results of tests of two prototypes. It also presents considerations and subsidies for the development of authoring systems that encourage production of animated films in an easy and intuitive way, using natural interfaces and focusing on the production process and user evolution. In preliminary experiments, the prototypes proved to be easy and quickly learned, which matches the goals of this project to attract users in different age groups who had shown interest in exploring and building their own animations. The results and contributions obtained show the feasibility of the proposed work and can also provide subsidies for the development of new systems.

Tang Yuk Ming = 電影中三維人面模型之估計 / 鄧育明. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-113). / Text in English; abstracts in English and Chinese. / Tang Yuk Ming = Dian ying zhong san wei ren mian mo xing zhi gu ji / Deng Yuming. / Acknowledgement --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Contents --- p.vi / List of Figures --- p.viii / List of Tables --- p.x / List of Abbreviations and Notations --- p.xi / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Recent Research Works --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Face modeling from images --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Pose estimation --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Objectives and Assumptions --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Our Method --- p.8 / Chapter 1.5 --- Thesis Outline --- p.10 / Chapter 2. --- Basic Theory on 3D Modeling of a Head --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Perspective Projection --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3 --- Initialization --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Generic wireframe face model and fiducial points --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Deformations --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Experimental results --- p.35 / Chapter 2.4 --- Summary --- p.39 / Chapter 3. --- Pose Estimation --- p.40 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2 --- Problem Description --- p.42 / Chapter 3.3 --- Iterative Least-Square Minimization --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Depth estimation --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Least-square minimization --- p.47 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Iterative process --- p.52 / Chapter 3.4 --- Experimental Results --- p.54 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Synthetic data --- p.54 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Real data --- p.65 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.69 / Chapter 4. --- 3D Wireframe Model Estimation --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2 --- 3D Wireframe Model Estimation --- p.72 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Least-square minimization --- p.73 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Iterative process --- p.74 / Chapter 4.3 --- 3D Wireframe Model Estimation of the Subsequent Frames --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4 --- Experimental Results --- p.78 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Synthetic data --- p.78 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Real data --- p.84 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.98 / Chapter 5. --- Contributions and Conclusions --- p.99 / Chapter 5.1 --- Contributions and conclusions --- p.99 / Chapter 5.2 --- Future Developments --- p.102 / Appendix A Triangles and vertices on the IST model --- p.104 / Bibliography --- p.107

O Governo Brasileiro, juntamente com outros órgãos públicos e representantes do terceiro setor, criou um grande número de projetos que tentam disseminar o uso das tecnologias e promover a inclusão digital. Esses projetos são consequência da importância dada à inclusão digital e à capacitação do cidadão como ser autônomo e crítico no uso das tecnologias e na construção do seu conhecimento. Entretanto, a escola, que deveria ser considerada a principal responsável pelo futuro cidadão, ainda não consegue acompanhar o avanço das tecnologias e da sociedade fora dos seus muros, vivendo um momento de grandes questionamentos. As tecnologias já fazem parte do cotidiano da escola, mas não provocaram mudanças significativas nos processos de ensino e aprendizado como as que se observam fora dos muros da escola. Nossos alunos vivem hoje uma realidade fora da escola muito diferente da que a escola lhes oferece, o que prejudica a relação da escola com o aluno e com a sociedade. As mídias, poderosos recursos para a produção de conteúdos educacionais, estão presentes no cotidiano desses usuários, ávidos em consumirem desenhos animados, filmes e jogos eletrônicos. Entretanto, os usuários ainda são tratados como meros espectadores, que não passam de passivos consumidores que recebem todas as informações prontas, continuando reféns de uma parcela da sociedade que possui o poder de produzir e manipular estas informações. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre interfaces naturais em sistemas de autoria para filmes de animação, bem como a concepção, desenvolvimento e resultados de testes de dois protótipos de sistemas. Apresenta também considerações e subsídios para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de autoria que estimulem a produção de filmes de animação de maneira fácil e intuitiva a partir de interfaces naturais com foco no processo de produção do usuário. Em vivência, os protótipos desenvolvidos se mostraram de fácil e rápida apropriação por crianças de diferentes faixas etárias, que se mostraram interessadas em explorar e construir suas animações. Os resultados obtidos mostram a viabilidade da proposta do trabalho e fornecem subsídios para o desenvolvimento de novos sistemas. / The Brazilian Government, along with other public agencies and representatives of the third sector, has created a large number of projects that try to spread the use of technologies and promote digital inclusion. These projects are the result of the importance given to digital inclusion and empowerment of the citizen as an autonomous being and critical user of technology as well as autonomous in his knowledge construction. However, the school, which should be considered the main responsible for the citizens\' future, still can not keep pace with advancing technology and society outside its walls, living a moment of great questions, since the technologies are already part of its daily but caused no significant changes in the teaching and learning as occurring outside the school walls. Today, student\'s reality outside school is very different from what school offers them, which undermines the school\'s relationship with the student and society. The digital media, with powerful resources for content production, are present in daily lives of the users, eager to consume cartoons, movies and computer games. However, users are still treated as simple spectators who are merely passive consumers and receive all the information ready, still hostage to a portion of the society that has the power to manipulate and produce this information. This work presents a study on natural interfaces to authoring systems for animation films, as well as presents the design, development and results of tests of two prototypes. It also presents considerations and subsidies for the development of authoring systems that encourage production of animated films in an easy and intuitive way, using natural interfaces and focusing on the production process and user evolution. In preliminary experiments, the prototypes proved to be easy and quickly learned, which matches the goals of this project to attract users in different age groups who had shown interest in exploring and building their own animations. The results and contributions obtained show the feasibility of the proposed work and can also provide subsidies for the development of new systems.

The application of Computer Simulation and Animation (CSA) in the instruction of engineering dynamics has shown a significant growth in the recent years. The two foremost methods to evaluate the effectiveness of CSA tools, including student feedback and surveys and measuring student change in performance, suggest that CSA modules improve student learning in engineering dynamics. However, neither method fully demonstrates the quality of students’ cognitive changes. This study examined the quality of effects of application of CSA modules on student learning and problem solving in particle dynamics. It also compared CSA modules with textbook-style problem-solving regarding the changes they cause in students’ cognitive process. A qualitative methodology was adopted to design and implement a study to explore the changes in participants’ learning and problem-solving behavior caused by using a CSA module. Collected data were coded and analyzed using the categories of cognitive process based on the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. An analysis of the results revealed that the most significant effects were observed in understanding, analyzing, and evaluating. The high frequency of “inference” behavior after working with modules indicated a significant increase in participants’ understanding activity after working with computer modules. Comparing behavior changes of computer-simulation group students with those who worked with a textbook-style example demonstrated that the CSA modules ignited more analytical behavior among students than did textbook-style examples. This study illustrated that improvement in learning due to the application of CSA is not limited to conceptual understanding; CSA modules enhance students’ skills in applying, organizing, and evaluating as well. The interactive characteristics of CSA play a major role in stimulating students’ analytical reasoning and critical thinking in engineering dynamics.

The goal of this thesis is to synthesize believable motions of a character interacting with its surroundings and manipulating objects through physical contacts and forces. Human-like autonomous avatars are in increasing demand in areas such as entertainment, education, and health care. Yet modeling the basic human motor skills of locomotion and manipulation remains a long-standing challenge in animation research. The seemingly simple tasks of navigating an uneven terrain or grasping cups of different shapes involve planning with complex kinematic and physical constraints as well as adaptation to unexpected perturbations. Moreover, natural movements exhibit unique personal characteristics that are complex to model. Although motion capture technologies allow virtual actors to use recorded human motions in many applications, the recorded motions are not directly applicable to tasks involving interactions for two reasons. First, the acquired data cannot be easily adapted to new environments or different tasks goals. Second, acquisition of accurate data is still a challenge for fine scale object manipulations. In this work, we utilize data to create natural looking animations, and mitigate data deficiency with physics-based simulations and numerical optimizations. We develop algorithms based on a single reference motion for three types of control problems. The first problem focuses on motions without contact constraints. We use joint torque patterns identified from the captured motion to simulate responses and recovery of the same style under unexpected pushes. The second problem focuses on locomotion with foot contacts. We use contact forces to control an abstract dynamic model of the center of mass, which sufficiently describes the locomotion task in the input motion. Simulation of the abstract model under unexpected pushes or anticipated changes of the environment results in responses consistent with both the laws of physics and the style of the input. The third problem focuses on fine scale object manipulation tasks, in which accurate finger motions and contact information are not available. We propose a sampling method to discover contact relations between the hand and the object from only the gross motion of the wrists and the object. We then use the abundant contact constraints to synthesize detailed finger motions. The algorithm creates finger motions of various styles for a diverse set of object shapes and tasks, including ones that are not present at capture time. The three algorithms together control an autonomous character with dexterous hands to interact naturally with a virtual world. Our methods are general and robust across character structures and motion contents when testing on a wide variety of motion capture sequences and environments. The work in this thesis brings closer the motor skills of a virtual character to its human counterpart. It provides computational tools for the analysis of human biomechanics, and can potentially inspire the design of novel control algorithms for humanoid robots.

Research has shown that students interest in academics declines significantly with age, especially in the areas of math and science (Kahle et al., 1993; Wigfield, 1994; Wigfield and Eccles, 1992). One approach to combating this problem is by using new technologies to engage students who otherwise would not be interested in learning. In the AquaMOOSE project, 3D graphical technology is combined with a constructionist learning philosophy to create an environment where students can creatively explore new mathematical concepts. The AquaMOOSE socio-technical system has been developed using an iterative design process. Three formal studies were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the system, as well as several smaller scale evaluations. The first study was conducted during a six-week summer program where students were able to use the AquaMOOSE system during their free time. The second study explored different learning issues in the context of a comparison-class study at a local high school where one section learned about polar coordinates using standard curriculum materials and an equivalent section learned the same material using a curriculum designed specifically around the AquaMOOSE system. The final study of the AquaMOOSE system was in an eight-week after-school program at a local high school where a balance between structure and creative freedom was explored. In this thesis, the iterative design and evaluation of the AquaMOOSE socio-technical system is presented. Evidence from this process is used to suggest implications of using 3D technology and constructionist philosophy for teaching complex mathematical content. The findings presented address issues of using constructionist learning environments for complex content and the tradeoffs of using 3D technology for educational systems.

[Truncated abstract] Image transition effects are commonly used on television and human computer interfaces. The transition between images creates a perception of continuity which has aesthetic value in special effects and practical value in visualisation. The work in this thesis demonstrates that better image transition effects are obtained by incorporating properties of projective geometry into image transition algorithms. Current state-of-the-art techniques can be classified into two main categories namely shape interpolation and warp generation. Many shape interpolation algorithms aim to preserve rigidity but none preserve it with perspective effects. Most warp generation techniques focus on smoothness and lack the rigidity of perspective mapping. The affine transformation, a commonly used mapping between triangular patches, is rigid but not able to model perspective effects. Image transition techniques from the view interpolation community are effective in creating transitions with the correct perspective effect, however, those techniques usually require more feature points and algorithms of higher complexity. The motivation of this thesis is to enable different views of a planar surface to be interpolated with an appropriate perspective effect. The projective geometric relationship which produces the perspective effect can be specified by two quadrilaterals. This problem is equivalent to finding a perspectively appropriate interpolation for projective transformation matrices. I present two algorithms that enable smooth perspective transition between planar surfaces. The algorithms only require four point correspondences on two input images. ...The second algorithm generates transitions between shapes that lie on the same plane which exhibits a strong perspective effect. It recovers the perspective transformation which produces the perspective effect and constrains the transition so that the in-between shapes also lie on the same plane. For general image pairs with multiple quadrilateral patches, I present a novel algorithm that is transitionally symmetrical and exhibits good rigidity. The use of quadrilaterals, rather than triangles, allows an image to be represented by a small number of primitives. This algorithm uses a closed form force equilibrium scheme to correct the misalignment of the multiple transitional quadrilaterals. I also present an application for my quadrilateral interpolation algorithm in Seitz and Dyer's view morphing technique. This application automates and improves the calculation of the reprojection homography in the postwarping stage of their technique. Finally I unify different image transition research areas into a common framework, this enables analysis and comparison of the techniques and the quality of their results. I highlight that quantitative measures can greatly facilitate the comparisons among different techniques and present a quantitative measure based on epipolar geometry. This novel quantitative measure enables the quality of transitions between images of a scene from different viewpoints to be quantified by its estimated camera path.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Computer Science, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc (Mathematical Sciences. Applied Mathematics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Image morphing is a popular technique used to create spectacular visual effects, by gradually transforming one image into another. This thesis explains what exactly is meant by the terms “image morphing” / “warping”, where it is used and how it is done. A few existing morphing techniques are described and finally an implementation using Delaunay triangulation and texture mapping is presented.

M.Sc (Computer Science) / Facial modelling and animation is considered one of the most challenging areas in the animation world. Since Parke and Waters’s (1996) comprehensive book, no major work encompassing the entire field of facial animation has been published. This thesis covers Parke and Waters’s work, while also providing a survey of the developments in the field since 1996. The thesis describes, analyses, and compares (where applicable) the existing techniques and practices used to produce the facial animation. Where applicable, the related techniques are grouped in the same chapter and described in a chronological fashion, outlining their differences, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The thesis is concluded by exploratory work towards a talking head for Northern Sotho. Facial animation and lip synchronisation of a fragment of Northern Sotho is done by using software tools primarily designed for English. / Computing