<p>One of the main problem areas within computer graphics is simulating natural phenomena’s, working with fluid solvers, and particle systems. In the special effects industry, there is a demand for mimicking appearance of common special effect such as fire, smoke, and water. Autodesk Maya and FumeFx are used for exploring those methods in creating smoke and fire simulations and implementing those into a</p><p>large dynamic system, while researching the possibility to efficiently control and modify an entire dynamic system on a per object level. Final production renders results are from both Maya and FumeFx.</p>

<p>The different mapping techniques that are used increases the details on surfaces without increasing the number of polygons. Image Based Sculpting tools in the program Modo and Z-Brush is used to create folds and wrinkles from photographs of actual fabrics instead of trying to create these shapes by modeling them. This method makes it easier to achieve photorealistic renderings and produce as realistic fabric dynamics as possible when they are applied on objects.</p>

The importance of language and bilinguality in the development, perpetuation, and "degeneration" or change of culture is a central theme throughout this treatise. Original pictorial representations of Mayan hieroglyphic sculpture are included as examples, and represent artistic styles and language variations of written Cholan and Yucatec. Modern Cholan and Yucatecan languages are important in the decipherment of Mayan hieroglyphic writing, because these two languages were the languages of the ancient hieroglyphs. Bilinguality as a positive factor Is considered in the florescence and duration of the central lowland Mayan area. The impact of Spanish language on indigenous languages of Mesoamerica is traced from 1519 to the present. Special consideration and speculation is given to the role of Yucatec and Chol as "divine" non secular languages in the florescence of Mesoamerican cultures. This thesis is a continuation and development of undergraduate anthropologic field work undertaken in Mesoamerica during the 1970s. / Graduation date: 1994

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of California, Santa Cruz, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-310) Also available online. Restricted to UC campuses.

Éste ensayo se trata de medicina indígena en communidades Mayas, principalmente en Guatemala, y las maneras en que biomedicina ha infiltrado el país. Los sistemas de salud estan analyizado por lentes feministas, antiracistas, anticlassistas.

This dissertation tests the theory that lithic raw materials were a strategic resource among the ancient Maya of Blue Creek, Belize that markedly influenced the development of socio-economic hierarchies at the site. Recent research has brought attention to the role of critical resource control as a mechanism contributing to the development of political economies among the ancient Maya. Such research has been primarily focused on the control of access to water and agricultural land. The examination of lithic raw materials as a critical economic resource is warranted as stone tools constituted a fundamental component of the ancient Maya economy. My research objectives include measuring raw material variability in the Blue Creek settlement zone and its immediate environs, assessing the amount of spatial and temporal variability present in the distribution of various raw materials, determining the degree to which proximity to a given resource influenced the relative level of its use, and testing whether differential resource access relates to variability in aggregate expressions of wealth. To meet these objectives, I examined 2136 formal stone tools and 24,944 pieces of debitage from excavations across the Blue Creek settlement zone, and I developed a lithic raw material type collection using natural outcrops. Significant spatial and temporal differences were observed in the use of various raw materials. Control of critical resources under conditions of scarcity is shown to have caused social stratification among the ancient Maya of Blue Creek. Initial disparities in use-right arrangements based on first occupancy rights produced substantial, accumulative inequality in economic capability and subsequent achievements. During the Early Classic period, these disproportionate allowances ultimately undermined the more egalitarian structure observed during the Preclassic. The Early Classic period at Blue Creek is characterized by increasing extravagance among the elites and increasing disenfranchisement throughout the hinterlands when compared to earlier periods. This suggests that elites at the site only became fully able to convert their resource monopolies into substantial gains in power, prestige, and wealth during the Classic period.

<p>Denna uppsats handlar om hur de semantiska värdena kan överföras från ett koncept till en 3Dmodell. Detta innebär att vi tar de fysikaliska attribut av en karaktär i ett koncept bygger dessa i en 3-dimensionnell miljö. Med hjälp av genreteori kring semantik och syntax, gör vi oss medvetna om vad dessa begrepp kan innebära i den process som ingår i modellering av karaktärer. Vi bryter upp karaktärskonceptet i mindre beståndsdelar så som mjuka/hårda ytor och gör en granskning av karaktärernas semantiska drag. Därefter beskrivs den arbetsmetod som användes för att skapa 3D karaktären, där vi berör några av de viktiga punkterna i arbetsprocessen. Min frågeställning som var, <em>Hur kan vi överföra de semantiska värdena av en karaktär till en tredimensionell modell som är anpassad för dator/TV-spel? </em>Besvaras med de metoder som användes i skapandet av karaktären. Slutligen presenteras 3Dmodellen med en videosekvens</p>

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Paris1-Sorbonne, 2005. / Bibliogr. p. 245-252.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed February 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-309). Issued in print and online. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.

This research examines the relationship between the ways in which urban families engaged local landscapes and the development of shared identities at the prehispanic Maya city of Actuncan, Belize. Such shared identities would have created deep historical ties to specific urbanized spaces, which enabled and constrained political expansion during the Terminal Classic period (ca. A.D. 800–900), a time when the city experienced rapid population growth as surrounding centers declined. This research contributes to the understanding of urban processes of growth and decay in this region, and how they are linked to the behaviors of social factions in settlements. For communities, group identity can provide a sense of connection to place that integrates people at various social levels, provide an individual with social memories and meanings that can be applied to understanding and interpreting material life, and foster a common sense of self and awareness. Daily activities and their engagement with the material world entangle social meanings, values, and relationships. Further, spaces in which people reside and perform these tasks often affect the meanings and values associated with the activities themselves. The combination of shared practices and the spaces in which they occur is ultimately what helps to create and maintain group identity. To investigate household relationships, this research considers the nature and location of activity patterns in and around three commoner houses to infer shared practices and the shared identities that those activities both enabled and constrained. Importantly, this research investigates not only the architectural areas that each house comprises, but also the open areas surrounding them. The goal of this research is to determine similarities and differences in the use of space throughout the sample area. Were open spaces used in similar ways to residential groups? Did Terminal Classic residents of the Northern Settlement conduct similar activities in all of the residential groups? Alternatively, were these groups locations for different types of practices? To explore activity patterns, multiple methods were employed, including subsurface testing, soil chemical residue analysis, and macro– and microartifact analysis, to produce overlapping datasets of the sample area. Systematic testing using postholes was used to understand open spaces between architecture in addition to the architectural space itself. Through posthole sampling, macroartifacts, microartifacts, and soil samples were obtained for further examination. The aim of artifact analysis was to examine artifact diversity and density within the residential groups as well as between them to aid in the identification of activity loci. Additionally, soil chemical residue analysis was employed to investigate activities. Similarities and differences between artifact and chemical patterning can provide insight into shared practices. By creating multiple lines of evidence from independent datasets, inferences about activities can be more strongly supported. The artifact and chemical data were examined spatially using geostatistics as well as with quantitative assessment. The results suggest that Terminal Classic residents of Actuncan were extensively utilizing not only the formal patio spaces of residential groups but also the interstitial spaces in between. Additionally, it is argued that one group appears to have been a locus for affiliative ritual practices in connection with ancestor veneration.