Digital surveillance system is indispensable for household protection, community security and traffic monitoring. With the instant awareness of unusual events, timely measures can be taken to efficiently curb the happening of crimes. The surveillance video can be subjected to further analysis to pin down the relevant figures, timing and process of a specific event. With the growing number of surveillance cameras set up and the expanse of surveillance area, the traditional split-screen display approach cannot provide intuitive correspondence between the images acquired and the areas under surveillance. This might further lead to failure of timely response to an event requiring immediate attention. Therefore, a mapping between the images acquired and the 3D surveillance area is needed to establish intuitively visual correspondence. Also, the traditional monitoring system usually equipped with a plurality of wide-angle lenses with stationary bases or single wide-angle lens travel periodically on a chassis. The cost for setting up a system with multiple surveillance cameras are higher. After displaying the images captured in a split-screen monitor, the images are usually too small to be useful in identifying the contents of a scene. On the other hand, a single-lens configuration cannot continuously monitor the same area of a scene. The periodic scanning pattern unavoidably leaves some portions unattended. Even though wide-angle lenses provide wider coverage of surveillance area, yet the lower resolution of images captured cannot provide effective identification of figures or articles in the scene. The system configuration and functionality of the traditional surveillance system leave much to be desired. In the Event-Trigged Virtual Surveillance Environment proposed, the satellite picture will be employed to provide 2D surveillance area information. Users then enter relevant site information, such as the number of floors, floor map, camera setup location and types, etc. This information is combined to construct 3D surveillance scene, and the images acquired by surveillance cameras are pasted into the constructed 3D model to provide intuitively visual presentation. The status of different types of surveillance devices, such as infrared, circuit breaker, etc., can also be displayed visually in the 3D scene constructed. The images captured through a plural number of cameras are integrated. Intrusion path is analyzed and predicted. With the coordination between different lenses, suspected objects can be detected and tracked. In one embodiment, Both wide-angle and telephoto lenses are used to improve the pitfalls of the aforementioned system. A wide-angle lens is responsible for the wide-area surveillance. When an unusual event is detected, one or several telephoto lenses, mounted on movable chassis, are directed to lock and track targets. Images with much higher resolution than those of wide-angle one can be acquired through the telephoto lenses. With the proposed system setup, a wide area of coverage and an improved resolution of target images can be simultaneously satisfied. Face detection and face recognition paradigms can be further applied to the images acquired to determine whether the target contains human faces and recognize the identities of the subjects. Depending on the results of face recognition, no warning is given for persons registered, or instant warning is dispatched for illegal intrusion. Combined with the analysis of target size and pattern of movement, and dynamic background updating, the false alarms due to changes attributable to environmental lighting condition, fallen leaves, water ripples, etc., can be significantly reduced. On detecting of security threat, the surveillance video and warning message are transmitted through internet and wireless channels to pre-selected network terminals or personal mobile devices to facilitate timely process. The settings of message warning can be modified by the network terminals or personal mobile devices. The focuses of this paper include 3D surveillance scene construction and mapping of surveillance images to the constructed scene, detect objects and virtual patrol. In the first phase, 2D information extracted from satellite pictures and site data entered manually are combined to construct 3D surveillance scene. The images received from cameras are pasted into the corresponding areas in the 3D scene constructed. The mapping between the surveillance images and scene can provide more intuitive presentation in a wide-range area equipped with massive number of cameras. In the next phase, incorporated with the dynamic background updating, the analysis of target size and movement pattern, the false alarm rate can be improved in the face of environmental lighting condition change, fallen leaves, etc. Users can also real-time inspect the surveillance scene or change the setting of the remote surveillance system.

The purpose of this project is to develop a software framework, a 3D engine, which will generate images to be projected onto facets of a spatially immersive display (SID). The goal is to develop a software library to support the creation of images of specified 3D environments which are specific to the display geometries of a polyhedral class of SIDs. Part of this goal is developing auxiliary software to allow this library to be thoroughly tested. When properly working, the images being displayed on adjoining faces of the SID appear spatially and temporally consistent with one another, creating the illusion that the user is within a surrounding three-dimensional space.

The purpose of this project is to develop a software framework, a 3D engine, which will generate images to be projected onto facets of a spatially immersive display (SID). The goal is to develop a software library to support the creation of images of specified 3D environments which are specific to the display geometries of a polyhedral class of SIDs. Part of this goal is developing auxiliary software to allow this library to be thoroughly tested. When properly working, the images being displayed on adjoining faces of the SID appear spatially and temporally consistent with one another, creating the illusion that the user is within a surrounding three-dimensional space.

No description available.

Phenomenal Things is a comical look into the daily lives of Internet of Things (IoT) artifacts and their experiences as social beings in cyberspace. This Augmented Reality (AR) experience presents a storyworld set in the digital realm where the digital personas of IoT artifacts are engaged in activities normally invisible to humans such as information extraction, learning, talking to each other and communicating with other "things" online. By wearing a head- worn display (HWD), users will encounter anthropomorphized IoT artifacts going about their daily lives and come to understand these characters as digital beings with social lives. Placed inside of cyberspace, participants will find themselves within a circle of anthropomorphized IoT devices in dialogue with one another, as they welcome a new light bulb to their network. As participants move about the AR actors, proximity to each character will cause the participant to "friend" that character. "Friending" in this case means to get close to and influence the version of the story being told by changing the social network of the character. With this work I intend to create a mesmerizing yet subtly-interactive experience using proxemics to create an interactive narrative where participants can create emotional bonds with the AR actors in this immersive theater experiment. / Master of Fine Arts / What is everyday life like for the billions of interconnected sensors and devices that make up the network known as the Internet of Things (IoT)? Many people struggle to accurately describe what the IoT is, so it is likely most of us are unaware what specifically these "smart" devices are doing while continuously completing their digital chores. Beyond collecting information and serving their own unique functions, these devices now autonomously connect to social networks and interact with one another in ways meant to replicate human social networking. Phenomenal Things is a comical look at the social lives of these devices, from inside the Internet of Things. Told with the aid of an Augmented Reality Head Worn Display, the story stars anthropomorphized devices of a smart home network and is centered around the idea of these devices welcoming a new smart bulb to their network. The AR actors engage in dialogue to explain the network to the new bulb, what they are all doing there and how to communicate with other beings online. Participants can directly impact the version of the story being told by "friending" the various devices and thus influencing their point of view as so often happens with the social network experiences of humans.

The phrase immersive theatre has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years, and is often applied loosely. In 2012 (‘theatre roundup: advice for playwrights’) Lyn Gardner noted that ‘immersive is theatre’s new buzzword’ and expressed irritation with its often vague and unspecific application, commenting on ‘marketeers who seem to be applying the term “immersive” to practically anything that isn’t a play by David Hare.’ A specialised vocabulary and set of critical approaches are required. This thesis is about audience immersion in the work of Punchdrunk, a pioneering company working in the form. The thesis proposes that immersive theatre (the theatrical form) and immersive experience (the sensation) have a reciprocal relationship. The thesis begins with an overview of approaches to audience in theatre scholarship and other fields, and establishes a definition of immersive experience that will be applied to case studies in the chapters. The thesis is divided into three sections that consider topics integral to Punchdrunk’s theatre: interactive elements; a fractured and nonlinear approach to narrative; and the creation of scenographically rich environments. The chapters consider the relationship between these topics and immersive experience. The thesis is interested in how immersive experience is created and maintained, and discussed and framed in wider discourse. The first section is about interactivity and immersion. Chapter 1 considers various approaches to interactivity and proposes a multivalent model. Chapter 2 applies this model to a discussion of interactivity and immersive experience in The Drowned Man. Chapter 3 widens the definition of interactivity to consider audience engagement beyond the moment of the theatrical encounter. The second section is about narrative and immersion. Chapter 4 outlines current critical approaches to narrative, and discusses immersion in the interplay of story structure and theatrical structure, using the linear The Crash of the Elysium as a case study. Following on from this, Chapter 5 considers how immersive experience is created and maintained in the context of a Punchdrunk trademark: a nonlinear structure, with scenes in non-chronological order encountered only when a wandering spectator comes across them. Chapter 6 draws on the narrative ‘vs’ ludology debate in the field of gaming; a debate concerned with what a player is actually immersed in – the story or the mechanics of play. The chapter considers immersive experience and story in the Sleep No More project Punchdrunk undertook with MIT Media Lab in 2012, which used gaming mechanics to explore ‘remote and real world interconnected theatrical immersion’. The final section is about environment and immersion. Chapter 7 outlines approaches to environment and draws on methodological approaches from site-specific performance to discuss how immersive experience manifests in the interplay between the original site and the creation of a fictional world in/on that site.

Immersive Theater is a form of experimental theater that places spectators at the heart of the created work, by removing them from the constraint of static seats and instead encouraging them to explore an installed environment as a way of understanding the narrative. This thesis explores how Interior Design directly enhances a performance by creating spaces that challenge a spectator’s physical understanding of a narrative.

Establishing usability specifications as measurable attributes in repeatable scenarios has been an essential task in the management and continuous improvement processes [1]. Early studies in Usability Analysis were primarily conducted to assist software developers and hardware designers in improving the Human- Computer Interface (HCI) or Man- Machine Interface (MMI). However, this study was conducted to provide comparative data supporting broad conclusions regarding the comparative merits of one technology (nonstereoscopic, conventional CAD systems) competed against another (tracked, stereoscopic virtual environments). Competing environments to establish usability features and preferences provides a new tool to the interface designer. Benchmark scenarios were designed and executed to measure navigation, fault identification/repair, and spatial awareness through a sequence of choices and to provide user preference of one GUI paradigm over another functionally similar paradigm. This study, performed on a ship design application, included an analysis of the effects of user collaboration in virtual environments.

Si « la réalité virtuelle ne fait que généraliser ce principe qui consiste à offrir un produit privé de sa substance, privé de son noyau de réel, de résistance matérielle : tel le café décaféiné qui a le goût et l'odeur du café sans en être vraiment, la réalité virtuelle est une réalité qui ne l'est pas vraiment. » comme l'écrit Slavoj Zizek (2002, p. 31), comment expliquer la présence ?La question de la présence entendue comme la sensation d'être dans un environnement qui n'est pas l'environnement réel ne peut être abordée qu'à condition de prendre conscience des présupposés qu'elle comporte même si ces présupposés semblent paradoxaux. Par conséquent, il s'agit, dans un premier temps, d’analyser une série d'immersions menées au Centre de Réalité Virtuelle de la Méditerranée (Crvm). C'est sur la base des résultats de l'étude menée au Crvm en recourant à des entretiens en profondeur que, dans un deuxième temps, une étude empirique utilisant un recueil de données parquestionnaire, sera proposée afin d'examiner les relations entre les dimensions de la présence. Pour le dire clairement, la problématique de ce travail prend pour origine une question qui n'a pas été, selon nous, suffisamment examinée : qu’est-ce que la présence dans un environnement immersif ? Les paradoxes de la présence dans les environnements immersifssont-ils d’authentiques paradoxes où ne sont-ils pas seulement les conséquences de présupposés insuffisamment interrogés ? Le cas échéant, la présence dans les environnements immersifs est-elle encore paradoxale ? Et si, malgré tout, elle le demeure, quelle est la nature des paradoxes qui la caractérisent ? Et, en dépit de l'apparente solitude du sujet en immersion, la présence dans les environnements immersifs ne révèle-t-elle pas l'essence communicationnelle de l'homme ? / The question of the presence -i.e. the feeling of being in an environment which is not the real environment - can be understood only if we are aware of presence presuppositions, even if these presuppositions seems to be paradoxical. Consequently, on the one hand, we have analyzed immersive experiences at the Centre de Réalité virtuelle de la Méditerranée (Crvm). On the second hand, an empirical study, using a data collection by questionnaire, has been achieved in order to examine the relations between the dimensions of the presence.The problem of the presence in immersive environments takes for origin a question which was not enough examined. The question is the following : are the paradoxes of the presence in immersive environments authentic paradoxes? In spite of the loneliness of the subject experiencing immersion, is the presence in the immersive environments able to reveal that the essence of human being is communication?

This interdisciplinary research project combines the fields of nautical archaeology and computer visualization to create an interactive virtual reconstruction of the 1606 Portuguese vessel Nossa Senhora dos Mártires, also known as the Pepper Wreck. Using reconstruction information provided by Dr. Filipe Castro (Texas A&M Department of Anthropology), a detailed 3D computer model of the ship was constructed and filled with cargo to demonstrate how the ship might have been loaded on the return voyage from India. The models are realistically shaded, lighted, and placed into an appropriate virtual environment. The scene can be viewed using the real-time immersive and interactive system developed by Dr. Frederic Parke (Texas A&M Department of Visualization). The process developed to convert the available information and data into a reconstructed 3D model is documented. This documentation allows future projects to adapt this process for other archaeological visualizations, as well as informs archaeologists about the type of data most useful for computer visualizations of this kind.