Liu, Renting. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-46). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Related Work and System Overview --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Previous Work in Blur Analysis --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Blur detection and estimation --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Image deblurring --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Low DoF image auto-segmentation --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2 --- System Overview --- p.15 / Chapter 3 --- Blur Features and Classification --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1 --- Blur Features --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Local Power Spectrum Slope --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Gradient Histogram Span --- p.21 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Maximum Saturation --- p.24 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Local Autocorrelation Congruency --- p.25 / Chapter 3.2 --- Classification --- p.28 / Chapter 4 --- Experiments and Results --- p.29 / Chapter 4.1 --- Blur Patch Detection --- p.29 / Chapter 4.2 --- Blur degree --- p.33 / Chapter 4.3 --- Blur Region Segmentation --- p.34 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.38 / Bibliography --- p.40 / Chapter A --- Blurred Edge Analysis --- p.47

A Research Report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Digital Animation at the University of the Witwatersrand (School of Digital Arts) Johannesburg, South Africa / In recent years, the quest for capturing authentic emotion convincingly in computer generated (CG) characters to assist exceedingly complex narrative expressions in modern cinema has intensified. Conveying human emotion in a digital human-like character is widely accepted to be the most challenging and elusive task for even the most skilled animators. Contemporary filmmakers have increasingly looked to complex digital tools that essentially manipulate the visual design of cinema through innovative techniques to reach levels of undetectable integration of CG characters. In trying to assess how modern cinema is pursuing the realistic integration of CG human-like characters in digital film with frenetic interest despite the risk of box office failure associated with the uncanny valley, this report focuses on the progress of the advances in the technique of facial motion capture. The uncanny valley hypothesis, based on a theory by Sigmund Freud, was coined in 1970 by Japanese robotics professor, Masahiro Mori. Mori suggested that people are increasingly comfortable with robots the more human-like they appear, but only up to a point. At that turning point, when the robot becomes too human-like, it arouses feelings of repulsion. When movement is added to this equation, viewers’ sense of the uncanny is heightened when the movement is deemed to be unreal. Motion capture is the technique of mimicking and capturing realistic movement by utilising technology that enables the process of translating a live actor’s performance into a digital performance. By capturing and transferring the data collected from sensors placed on a body suit or tracked from a high definition video, computer artists are able to drive the movement of a corresponding CG character in a 3-Dimensional (3D) programme. The attention of this study is narrowed to the progress of the techniques developed during a prolific decade for facial motion capture in particular. Regardless of the conflicting discourse surrounding the use of motion capture technology, these phenomenal improvements have allowed filmmakers to overcome that aspect of the uncanny valley associated with detecting realistic movement and facial expression. The progress of facial motion capture is investigated through the lens of selected films released during the period of 2001 to 2012. The two case studies, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Avatar (2009) were chosen for their individual achievement and innovative techniques that introduced new methods of facial capture. Digital images are said to undermine the reality status of cinematic images by challenging the foundation of long held theories of cinematic realist theory. These theories rooted in the indexical basis of photography, have proved to be the origin of contemporary viewers' notion of cinematic realism. However, the relationship between advanced digital effects and modern cinematic realism has created a perceptual complexity that warrants closer scrutiny. In addressing the paradoxical effect that photo-real cinematic realism is having on the basic comprehension of realism in film, the history of the seminal claims made by recognized realist film theorists is briefly examined.

This visual art project has explored the ancient Maori pukorero (oral tradition) of Te Whatu o Poutini (The Eye of Poutini) that articulates the journey of Poutini Taniwha, Waitaiki and Tamaahua from Tuhua (Mayor Island) in the Bay of Plenty, to the Arahura River. An oral geological map, the pukorero also expresses through cultural values, the intimate spiritual relationship Ngati Waewae have with our tupuna, the Arahura River, pounamu stone and each other. Exploring the genres of digital storytelling and video art installation, this project combines them as new media storytelling. The current experience of colonisation and urbanisation emotionally parallel the abduction, transformation and multiple places of belonging experienced by the tupuna Waitaiki at the hand of Poutini Taniwha. The project explores and acknowledges this connection. The survival, restoration and celebration of Ngati Waewae culture and the need to assert control of our own destinies has infused every component of the project.

This thesis explores through the creation of four artworks, the nature of the sublime ruin. To facilitate this it examines the disintegration of selected religious feminine metaphors. The artworks are rendered through a multiplication of layers bound by translucent/transparent resin. These are produced to examine the potentials between traditional craft and contemporary digital mediums, thus creating sites where eroding fragments may express an excess of meaning through enigmatic construction.

Thesis (M. S.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Jayant, Nikil; Committee Member: Anderson, David; Committee Member: Lee, Chin-Hui. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

This visual art project has explored the ancient Maori pukorero (oral tradition) of Te Whatu o Poutini (The Eye of Poutini) that articulates the journey of Poutini Taniwha, Waitaiki and Tamaahua from Tuhua (Mayor Island) in the Bay of Plenty, to the Arahura River. An oral geological map, the pukorero also expresses through cultural values, the intimate spiritual relationship Ngati Waewae have with our tupuna, the Arahura River, pounamu stone and each other. Exploring the genres of digital storytelling and video art installation, this project combines them as new media storytelling. The current experience of colonisation and urbanisation emotionally parallel the abduction, transformation and multiple places of belonging experienced by the tupuna Waitaiki at the hand of Poutini Taniwha. The project explores and acknowledges this connection. The survival, restoration and celebration of Ngati Waewae culture and the need to assert control of our own destinies has infused every component of the project.

This thesis explores through the creation of four artworks, the nature of the sublime ruin. To facilitate this it examines the disintegration of selected religious feminine metaphors. The artworks are rendered through a multiplication of layers bound by translucent/transparent resin. These are produced to examine the potentials between traditional craft and contemporary digital mediums, thus creating sites where eroding fragments may express an excess of meaning through enigmatic construction.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 133. Thesis directors: Zoran Duric, Dana Richards. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 17, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-132). Also issued in print.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 17, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-38).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.