This master thesis explores interactive augmented reality. The aim is to design, create andtest device, which allows interaction between user and augmented reality. First analyzesaugmented reality, devices for its displaying and necessary calibration methods. Then, onthe basis of acquired knowledge, shows design and construction of few prototypes of devicelike this. Finally it shows experiments to test correctness of the concept.

This thesis deals with the study of technologies and techniques for creating virtual reality for mobile devices.  It includes a description of the design and implementation of an action game, using Unity Game Engine, which demonstrates Gear VR's capabilities well. The thesis describes the obstacles that arise in the creation of games for virtual reality as well as their possible solutions. Graphic elements of the game were developed based on the results of continuous user testing. Particular attention was paid to exploring the impact of visual effects and game elements used in games on a user in virtual reality.

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To display large and complex products at sales meetings or fairs can be a challenge for industrial companies. Customers want to experience the product before purchase, yet this is not always possible due to high shipping costs and logistic problems. Virtual Reality (VR) achieved by Head-mounted Displays (HMD) is growing bigger by every day and is becoming accessible to more people. With this technology, there must be a new way to facilitate the sales process in the industry. The first goal with this master thesis was to investigate what challenges and opportunities there are in today’s sales process and develop a concept for a sales tool that uses the VR technology. The second goal was to explore how today’s technology could evolve and how the future sales process could work. To achieve these goals the Research Learning Spiral was used together with interviews and a workshop. By investigating how the sales process works in today’s industry, through interviews with people that are active in the field and a workshop, a number of challenges were identified. Three of these challenges were: to display large and complex products to the customers, to know what arguments that triggers a specific customer and to explain advantages with the product to the customer. Based on data from the interviews a prototype of a sales tool using VR was designed. The goal with the prototype was to counteract the challenges found in today’s sales process. The prototype uses a tablet where the salesman can control a 3D visualization of the product through a menu with different choices. This tablet is connected to the Samsung Gear VR, which is a VR device that uses a HMD to achieve VR, where the customer can experience the product in a virtual environment controlled by the salesman. With data from the interviews together with a conducted workshop, suggestions for the future sales process were obtained. The future sales process is very likely to use VR as a tool to both display products and to reduce traveling. The technology will possibly be smarter and be able to facilitate the sales process, for instance through artificial intelligence, smart materials and 3D printing. VR as a sales tool for large and complex products has the potential to be a great aid for the salesman during the sales process. Companies will not be required to ship large and complex products to fairs or meetings which will save money for the company and also contribute to less impact on the environment. This area of research is fairly new and there are a lot of opportunities still to be investigated.

The introduction of this document presents some basic principles of visual telepresence with analysis of important aspects of the design. Afterwards there is a brief ovrewview of some of the applications of telepresence systems. Subsequently there is a description of the basic parameters and functions of the human visual perception system including the head motion parameters. This document examines the creation of telepresence apparatus through which is the user able to percieve visual stimuli accross distance. The device consist of camera with wide FOV positioned on the last link of the servo-motor chain with 3 DOF. Camera view is projected into scene in position read from actual motor posture. The scene is perceived through the HMD Oculus Rift (DK1, DK2) where the actual head-orientation read from the HMD inertial sensors is the entered end value for the rotation angles of the servomotors. A \csharp (WPF) program was developed for the controling and setting of motors which handles the byte communication through RS485-USB converter and also configures and starts the telepresence mode. The telepresence scene is drawn with help of SharpDX and SharpOVR - the \csharp wrappers of DirectX and LibOVR.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Howard D. Hahn / “There is an alarming gap between awareness and action on [environmental issues]” (Sheppard, 2005). Public awareness of how to cope and change with these issues is lacking (Sheppard, 2004; Nicholson-Cole, 2005; Dockerty et al., 2005), but new visualization technologies can begin to bridge the gap through environmental education. Environmental education focuses on the user exploring an environment, environmental issues, problem solving and ways to mitigate these issues. While the younger generations (middle to high school students) are much more aware of current and future environmental issues than older generations, the solutions to these problems may not be so apparent. By combining the need to educate young adults about climate change, regional ecosystem climate mitigation, and ecological management for technologically driven youth, middle and high school students can better understand their environment’s impact on climate-change regulation. Through literature synthesis, documentation of existing visualization exhibits and technologies, and preliminary technology exploration, a production process, criteria, framework, and technology recommendations were established. These components informed the final storyboards, which visually organized a proposal to build a 3D learning environment focused on the Konza Prairie and its ecological management practices.

Virtual reality headsets, like the Oculus Rift, uses visual tricks to enhance the feeling of immersion in virtual reality applications. This thesis explores the possibilities of creating an immersive sound experience to go along with the visuals. A sound propagation model designed for real-time simulations is presented along with techniques to implement binaural synthesis. The thesis includes an implementation of a 3D cube world written in C# using OpenGL for graphics and FMOD for sound. The implementation is evaluated in the context of realism and possible improvements and optimizations are suggested.

Detta kandidatarbete fokuserar på att undersöka aspekter som kan förstärka en användares upplevelse inom digitala spel. De aspekter som vi valt att fokusera på är användandet av Oculus Rift och Motion Capture då de tar upp viktiga punkter som Virtual Reality, närvaro och inlevelse i spel. Vi valde även att fokusera vår produktion mot skräckgenren då detta är ett område vi båda har stor passion för i diverse media. I vårt arbete har vi fått fram en hypotes om att spel som fokuserar på att lämna karaktären i ett tomt skal (ingen personlighet), lämnar en större chans för inlevelse hos spelaren då användarens egna känslor speglas på karaktären. Användandet av Oculus Rift och realistiska röresler via Motion Capture har en tendens att även stärka detta. / Detta är en reflektionsdel till en digital medieproduktion.

This thesis explores various ways of controlling computer in virtual reality. The aim of this thesis is to create a user interface which would allow the user to control computer in virtual reality. First it explores the possibilities of detecting users actions using sensors and its usability for controls and various interaction techniques in virtual reality. Based on the information gathered about the described topics it focuses on various ways of interactions using hands as controllers. This thesis tackles the issue of selecting and manipulating virtual objects. It introduces the design of three interaction techniques, which are then tested and evaluated.

Alternate realities have fascinated mankind since early prehistory and with the advent of the computer and the smartphone we have seen the rise of many different categories of alternate reality that seek to augment, diminish, mix with or ultimately replace our familiar real world in order to expand our capabilities and our understanding. This thesis presents parallel reality as a new category of alternate reality which further addresses the vacancy problem that manifests in many previous alternate reality experiences. Parallel reality describes systems comprising two environments that the user may freely switch between, one real and the other virtual, both complete unto themselves. Parallel reality is framed within the larger ecosystem of previously explored alternate realities through a thorough review of existing categorisation techniques and taxonomies, leading to the introduction of the combined Milgram/Waterworth model and an extended definition of the vacancy problem for better visualising experience in alternate reality systems. Investigation into whether an existing state of the art alternate reality modality (Situated Simulations) could allow for parallel reality investigation via the Virtual Time Windows project was followed by the development of a bespoke parallel reality platform called Mirrorshades, which combined the modern virtual reality hardware of the Oculus Rift with the novel indoor positioning system of IndoorAtlas. Users were thereby granted the ability to walk through their real environment and to at any point switch their view to the equivalent vantage point within an immersive virtual environment. The benefits that such a system provides by granting users the ability to mitigate the effects of the extended vacancy problem and explore parallel real and virtual environments in tandem was experimentally shown through application to a use case within the realm of cultural heritage at a 15th century chapel. Evaluation of these user studies lead to the establishment of a number of best practice recommendations for future parallel reality endeavours.