This project, completed in collaboration with Piktiv AB, aimed to develop an automated surface hole-filling feature for static meshes in Unreal Engine 4.27, with the goal of making repaired surfaces visually indistinguishable from their surrounding areas. The solution was primarily designed to address holes that arose from, but were not limited to, the use of Reduction Settings within Unreal Engine on static meshes. The functionality encompassed four key stages: boundary detection, where all holes on the mesh were identified; triangulation, which involved patching the hole using vertices from the boundary; refinement, entailing the addition of vertices and triangles to the patched area to mimic the density of the surrounding surface; and fairing, which smoothed the patched surface. Additionally, the project introduced a straightforward method for determining the texture coordinates of newly added vertices and a technique for ensuring that triangle normals correctly faced outward from the mesh. The Static Mesh Hole Filler, as implemented, demonstrates efficiency in filling an arbitrary amount of small, planar holes, which commonly result from polygon reduction using Reduction Settings in Unreal Engine. However, this function falls short in preserving unique texture details and maintaining the curvature of surfaces when dealing with larger holes. This limitation necessitates users to seek alternative methods for effectively repairing the mesh.

Form, space, rhythm, order, symmetry, balance, repetition, proportion and scale are few from a long checklist of principles that, if followed carefully by the designer, will result in "beautiful" architecture, or so I was told. However, what exactly is "beautiful"? In his book "The beautiful necessity" (1910, p.34) Claude Fayette Bragdon suggests that "Beauty is the name we give to truth we cannot understand". This statement implies that there is a hidden quality within each building, or even within each space, a quality that we can sense but cannot make sense of, a quality very similar to having a soul. The soul seems to linger on the threshold that divides two opposite worlds, it is always in-between. Between the dream and the awake, between the physical and the imaginary, between the conscious and the subconscious and between the real and the unreal. In this thesis, the "real" world consists of an animation studio (the program), the studio's staff and visitors, the selected site located in Alexandria, and it is bound by the building methods, materials and codes. The "unreal" world consists of four fictional characters that, assumingly, emerged from my subconscious and who live in a fictional dimension that overlaps ours.   The different encounters within the "real" world and within the "unreal" world, and also the interactions between the "real" and the "unreal" worlds are translated into an architectural language as an attempt to investigate the soul. / Master of Architecture

Echo is a 3D animated short film rendered within Unreal Engine from Epic Games. The story is centered around a small child named Echo who has moved to Earth with her mom. The story follows her adventures through her first days at school and what can happen when a parent suddenly disappears from a child's life against their will. Many of the story beats take direct inspiration from personal experiences of either myself, my family members, or stories of immigrant children who come to the United States (US) with their parents in search of a better future. There has been a lot of discussion about the immigration system in the United States in recent years, but not enough discussion on the experiences immigrant children have when going through the system and its issues, therefore this film aims to help shed a light on how just a small act of kindness can help build a new world for those that find themselves lost. The main character and the film are titled Echo because it is an "echo" of the past. Be it past experiences, stories, or events.

Virtual production technology has recently emerged as a transformative tool in the film industry. The technology offers filmmakers new ways to work characterized by collaborative creativity across the boundaries of their roles. This bachelor thesis examines the possibilities and challenges for media producers with the implementation of Virtual Production. It primarily focuses on the producers closest to the technology and their view on the subject.  This group is particularly relevant as they work directly with the technology. As a result, both their workflow and position relative to other roles may shift. The study maps out the opportunities and challenges associated with the technology, as well as qualitatively analyzes the potential consequences.    Data is collected through qualitative interviews with relevant stakeholders in the field. They are allowed to speak relatively freely about their thoughts on the subject and draw conclusions based on their expertise. Topics such as technical challenges, group dynamics, and future perspectives are highlighted in the interviews. The results of the interviews show enthusiasm towards further implementation of the technology, although some challenges undoubtedly arise. However, most argue that the flexibility of the new technology outweighs its shortcomings. Many point out that the future of the technology is uncertain due to the possibility of new software emerging to replace the old and potentially changing the workflow once again. Regarding workflows, there is unanimous agreement that some of the post-production work is shifted to an earlier stage of pre-production. This enables a shift of responsibilities for the Virtual Production-department and the VFX-department to a position where they plan the project at an increasingly early stage than before. New roles are created within the film team, thus creating new communication chains between roles that did not exist before. These new communication chains also come with their own set of advantages and challenges. However, the results indicate that the technology is viewed as an asset. It demonstrates that the industry is ready to embrace the technology despite the challenges it brings.

Kandidatarbetet undersöker virtuell verklighet som ett spatialt och interaktivt realtids-medium för den arkitekturella domänen. Media används vanligtvis inom mäklar-, visualiserings-, och designindustrin för att representera föremål på ett förståeligt och övertygande vis genom bilder eller animerade filmer. Utgångsproblemet har varit användbarheten av högdetaljerad arkitekturell visualisering som representeras i 2D. Studier visar att 2D passar för viss abstrakt information som kronologisk sekvens eller data trender, men för komplicerad information som lokalisering och spatiala relationer är 2D för abstrakt. Målet är att skapa en prototyp i form av ett virtuellt rum vars syfte tjänar kommunikationsverktyg mot intressenter eller inom organisationen för tydligare beslutsförmåga. Fokus låg på användbarhet för att evaluera prototypens design-aspekter navigation, selektion/manipulation och indirekta kontroller. Utgångspunkten var en pragmatisk filosofi med användningen av mixade metoder för att nå djupare insikter i prototypen. Med hjälp av texturerings-  och 3D modelleringsprogram samt spelmotorn Unreal Engine 4 har en virtuell nybyggnation skapats. Därefter har tre användbarhetstester formats som evalueras med hjälp av system usability scale. Detta expanderas på med en kvalitativ intervju där resonemang om användbarhet, kostnadseffektivitet och lämplighet framkommer. Utvärderingen indikerar att användarna är nöjda, men riktad evaluering av interaktions-teknikerna var för sig hade skapat insikter i specifika fallgropar av systemets designområden. / The bachelor thesis investigates virtual reality as a spatial and interactive real-time medium for the architectural domain. Media is usually used in the brokerage, visualization and design industry to represent objects in an understandable and compelling manner through images or animated films. The starting problem has been the usability of high-detailed architectural visualization represented in 2D. Studies show that 2D fits for some abstract information like chronological sequence or data trends, but for complex information such as location and spatial relationships, 2D is too abstract. The goal is to create a prototype in the form of a virtual space whose purpose serves as communication tools with stakeholders or within the organization for patent decision-making. The focus was on usability to evaluate the prototypes design aspects navigation, selection / manipulation, and indirect controls. A pragmatic philosophy was employed with the use of mixed methods to reach deeper insights into the prototype. With the help of texturing and 3D modeling programs and the Unreal Engine 4 game engine, a virtual room has been constructed. Thereafter, three usability tests were formatted and evaluated using system usability scale. This is expanded with a qualitative interview where reasoning about usability, cost-effectiveness and appropriateness emerges. The evaluation indicates that the users are satisfied, but targeted evaluation of the interaction techniques had created insights into specific pitfalls of the system's design areas.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a tool with great potential and is under constant development for use in new fields. The project Fabriksvisualisering (Factory Visualization), has within the digital factory field, developed a tool for companies to build their factories in Unreal Engine (UE) and VR. The tool gives companies the opportunity to test their factory layouts, before implementing in the real world, to avoid costly mistakes. The following report examines possibilities for users to simulate and visualize their factory workflows as a part of the project Fabriksvisualisering. To achieve this, different solutions for visualizing the flow of products, staff and vehicles have been explored. User tests were carried out to test how an effect from UE can be used to visualize a flow of products in VR. The result gives users the opportunity to experience the interactions with factory workflows and visualize how they flow in VR.  The project resulted in two options that visualizes product flow and four options that visualizes workflow. Out of these six solutions, three were chosen and implemented to the project Fabriksvisualisering. These solutions are based on the construction of splines and include both alternatives for product flows and one alternative for workflows. The selection was based on functionality, user-friendliness and how realistic the outcome is. The result gives users the opportunity to experience the interactions with factory workflows and visualize how they flow in VR.  The conclusion is that there are several ways to visualize four out of seven factory workflows. The flows that are possible to visualize are material handling of raw materials, semi-finished and finished products, as well as the transportation and movements of workforce. This can be visualized with the help of AI, a robot system within UE, the construction of splines and Niagara systems connected to splines.

Cette thèse s’intéresse aux différents paradoxes que suscitent les unités lexicales irréel/unreal en grammaire et en linguistique. Il repose, pour ce faire, sur un large corpus français et anglophone d’ouvrages de terminologie linguistique et de grammaires de l’anglais publiées entre le 16e siècle et le 21e siècle. Si de nombreuses études se sont en effet intéressées à l’expression grammaticale de l’irréel, peu se sont penchées sur les discontinuités qui existent entre le mot de la langue générale et le terme tel qu’il est employé dans ces deux domaines de connaissances. Conventionnelle dans la tradition grammaticale française, mais nébuleuse, voire inappropriée pour certains linguistes, l’unité lexicale irréel semble pâtir d’un caractère protéiforme qui pose la question de son statut conceptuel, de la délimitation de son périmètre sémantique et de son utilité pour les grammaires de l’anglais. Notre travail sur corpus s’attache ainsi à étudier la conceptualisation de la notion d’irréalité, à expliquer et tenter de résoudre le problème posé par le foisonnement de ses avatars terminologiques dans les grammaires françaises et anglophones de l’anglais. Nous démontrons qu’eu égard à la façon dont le terme irréel est conçu dans les ouvrages de notre corpus, il apparaît fallacieux d’appréhender le non-factuel de façon binaire (procès actualisés vs procès non-actualisés). À partir d’une lecture sociocognitive du terme irréel, nous proposons donc une modélisation qui conçoit sa structure en termes de prototype. / Based on a vast corpus of grammars and dictionaries of linguistic terminology, all published between the 16th and the 21st centuries in the French and Anglophone traditions, this thesis exposes and unravels the paradoxes raised by the term irréel and its equivalent unreal(ity). If several studies have indeed analysed the linguistic expression of unreality in present-day English, only few have shed light on the discontinuity between the unspecialised use of the term and the specialised one. Notwithstanding that it is a conventional term in the French grammatical tradition, irréel and its equivalent unreal(ity) are often portrayed as referring to nebulous and abstract notions, with polymorphic terminological manifestations, which explains why their adequacy and usefulness are at stake in linguistic descriptions. Our corpus-based approach thus seeks to explain and ultimately solve the problem posed by the complex terminological web that arises out of these notions. A careful perusal of our corpus reveals that, in view of the way unreality is conceptualised in French and Anglophone grammars, non-factuality cannot be conceived as a binary category. In line with the socio-cognitive approach to terminology, we suggest a modelisation of unreality that is articulated around a prototype structure.

<p>The goal of this master thesis is to show the benefit of using computer games of the type First Person Shooter, FPS in the field of military simulations. The main focus in this is around a couple of topics. Creating the AI that controls the behaviour of the computer-controlled characters, the bots. Create an environment where it is possible to supervise the bots and also design a framework that enables cooperation between a group of bots, a squad. </p><p>The result is Total Unreal Studio, TUS, a program where it is possible to add bots to a squad, connect them to a game server and inspect what the bots are doing. Several maneuvers that could be applied to a squad has been implemented such as room clearing where the squad clear a building from eventual enemies, room by room and other different attacking strategies. Also it is very easy to create new maneuvres for a squad as effect of the design. </p><p>As the name of the program indicates, the well-known game Unreal Tournament is used as platform for the simulation. But because we use a interface between the game server and TUS, it is possible to switch to any other game and the interface is the only thing that has to be modified. To get good situation awareness a lot of node analysis is required, for instance calculating good sniping positions, pinch points and advantageous locations from where to perform an ambush.</p> / <p>Målet med detta examensarbete är att påvisa fördelen med att använda datorspel av typen FörstaPersonsSpel, FPS, inom militära simuleringar. Huvudinriktningen hos arbetet har rört ett flertal ämnen: att skapa det AI som kontrollerar beteendet hos datorkontrollerade karaktärer, så kallade botar, skapa en miljö där det är möjligt att övervaka botarna och även designa ett ramverk som möjliggör samarbete mellan botar i en grupp. </p><p>Resultatet av examensarbetet är Total Unreal Studio, TUS, en applikation där det är möjligt att lägga till botar i en grupp, ansluta dem till en spelserver och övervaka deras agerande. Flera manövrar för en grupp av botar finns redan implementerade. Ett par av dessa är rumsrensning där stridsgruppens uppgift är att rensa en byggnad från eventuella fiender rum för rum samt andra attackmanövrar. Designens utseende gör även att det är mycket enkelt att lägga till ytterligare manövrar om så önskas.</p><p>Som namnet på programmet indikerar används det välkända spelet Unreal Tournament som plattform för simuleringarna. Mellan spelet och TUS används gränssnittet Gamebots vilket gör det möjligt att byta till vilket spel som helst och det enda som behöver modifieras är gränssnittet. För att botarna ska kunna ta riktiga beslut behövs ett sätt att få uppfattning om omvärlden. Detta fås genom att analysera de navigeringsnoder som är utplacerade. Denna analys kan gå ut på att hitta bra krypskyttenoder eller fördelaktiga platser att anlägga bakhåll.</p>

The goal of this master thesis is to show the benefit of using computer games of the type First Person Shooter, FPS in the field of military simulations. The main focus in this is around a couple of topics. Creating the AI that controls the behaviour of the computer-controlled characters, the bots. Create an environment where it is possible to supervise the bots and also design a framework that enables cooperation between a group of bots, a squad. The result is Total Unreal Studio, TUS, a program where it is possible to add bots to a squad, connect them to a game server and inspect what the bots are doing. Several maneuvers that could be applied to a squad has been implemented such as room clearing where the squad clear a building from eventual enemies, room by room and other different attacking strategies. Also it is very easy to create new maneuvres for a squad as effect of the design. As the name of the program indicates, the well-known game Unreal Tournament is used as platform for the simulation. But because we use a interface between the game server and TUS, it is possible to switch to any other game and the interface is the only thing that has to be modified. To get good situation awareness a lot of node analysis is required, for instance calculating good sniping positions, pinch points and advantageous locations from where to perform an ambush. / Målet med detta examensarbete är att påvisa fördelen med att använda datorspel av typen FörstaPersonsSpel, FPS, inom militära simuleringar. Huvudinriktningen hos arbetet har rört ett flertal ämnen: att skapa det AI som kontrollerar beteendet hos datorkontrollerade karaktärer, så kallade botar, skapa en miljö där det är möjligt att övervaka botarna och även designa ett ramverk som möjliggör samarbete mellan botar i en grupp. Resultatet av examensarbetet är Total Unreal Studio, TUS, en applikation där det är möjligt att lägga till botar i en grupp, ansluta dem till en spelserver och övervaka deras agerande. Flera manövrar för en grupp av botar finns redan implementerade. Ett par av dessa är rumsrensning där stridsgruppens uppgift är att rensa en byggnad från eventuella fiender rum för rum samt andra attackmanövrar. Designens utseende gör även att det är mycket enkelt att lägga till ytterligare manövrar om så önskas. Som namnet på programmet indikerar används det välkända spelet Unreal Tournament som plattform för simuleringarna. Mellan spelet och TUS används gränssnittet Gamebots vilket gör det möjligt att byta till vilket spel som helst och det enda som behöver modifieras är gränssnittet. För att botarna ska kunna ta riktiga beslut behövs ett sätt att få uppfattning om omvärlden. Detta fås genom att analysera de navigeringsnoder som är utplacerade. Denna analys kan gå ut på att hitta bra krypskyttenoder eller fördelaktiga platser att anlägga bakhåll.

This master thesis presents the design of an implementation of a working prototype for an augmented motion capture acting environment. Motion capture (MoCap), the recording of movements to be applied to characters or objects in computer graphics simulations, is widely used in video games, advertisement, and cinema. MoCap is realized through different techniques, where one common problem is the efficiency to capture actor’s motion performances. To capture motions without obstacles for the motion detectors, actors act blindly, without graphic references while acting. Mistakes or a poor correlation between the actors performances and the computer graphics simulation requires the scene either to be taken many times or to be corrected afterwards in time-consuming post-production. These issues slow down the production process or lead to a low quality product.We suggest that one way to limit the problem of efficiency in motion capture is to let actors perform in a virtual environment. To this end, this master thesis presents a simple prototypeenvironment with the goal to support actors’ performances to improve motion capture efficiency. The idea is to surround an actor with four screens which display the virtual environment. A Microsoft Kinect camera is utilized for motion capture. Gestures are usedto trigger interactions between the actor and the virtual environment. Furthermore, the thesis explores the applicability of open source libraries, game engines, and inexpensivegeneral purpose technology. We suggest, as indicated by demonstrated validity, that virtual environments and augmented motion capture improve the conditions for actors, thus providing more efficient motion capture shots. However, further research and quantitative measurements are needed to understand and fully evaluate the effect of the presented prototype tool.