Advances in computational and device technologies, combined with the commercial success and acceptance of 3D, haptic, and various other media presentation devices, has increased commercial interest in engaging additional senses within the multimedia experience. This integration is leading to a paradigm shift away from traditionally defined multimedia systems, and towards more interactive Multiple Sensory Media (MulSeMedia) systems. Multiple Sensorial Media Advances and Applications: New Developments in MulSeMedia provides a comprehensive compilation of knowledge covering state-of-the-art developments and research, as well as current innovative activities in MulSeMedia. This book focuses on the importance of Multiple Sensorial Media and its importance in media design with an emphasis on the applicability to real world integration and provides a broad perspective on the future of the technology in a variety of cohesive topic areas.

State of the Art in Computer Graphics Aspects of Visualization This is the fourth volume derived from a State of . . . the Art in Computer Graphics Summer Institute. It represents a snapshot of a number of topics in computer graphics, topics which include visualization of scientific data; modeling; some aspects of visualization in virtual reality; and hardware architectures for visu alization. Many papers first present a background introduction to the topic, followed by discussion of current work in the topic. The volume is thus equally suitable for nonspecialists in a particular area, and for the more experienced researcher in the field. It also enables general readers to obtain an acquaintance with a particular topic area sufficient to apply that knowledge in the context of solving current problems. The volume is organized into four chapters - Visualization of Data, Modeling, Virtual Reality Techniques, and Hardware Architectures for Visualization. In the first chapter, Val Watson and Pamela Walatka address the visual aspects of fluid dynamic computations. They discuss algorithms for function-mapped surfaces and cutting planes, isosurfaces, particle traces, and topology extractions. They point out that current visualization systems are limited by low information transfer bandwidth, poor response to viewing and model accuracy modification requests, mismatches between model rendering and human cognitive capabilities, and ineffective interactive tools. However, Watson and Walatka indicate that proposed systems will correct most of these problems.

TRACK 1: Innovative Applications in the Public Sector The integration of multimedia based applications and the information superhighway fundamentally concerns the creation of a communication technology to support the ac tivities of people. Communication is a profoundly social activity involving interactions among groups or individuals, common standards of exchange, and national infrastruc tures to support telecommunications activities. The contributions of the invited speakers and others in this track begin to explore the social dimension of communication within the context of integrated, information systems for the public sector. Interactions among businesses and households are described by Ralf Strauss through the development within a real community of a "wired city" with information and electronic services provided by the latest telecommunications technologies. A more specific type of interaction between teacher and student forms the basis of education. John Tiffin demonstrates how virtual classrooms can be used to augment the educational process. Carl Loeffler presents yet another perspective on interaction through the integration of A-life and agent technologies to investigate the dynamics of complex behaviors within networked simulation environments. Common standards for communication in the form of electronic documents or CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work), according to Roland Traunmiiller, provide en abling technologies for a paradigm shift in the management of organizations. As pointed out by William Olle, the impact of standardization work on the future of information technology depends critically upon the interoperability of software systems."

Art and Technology of Entertainment Computing and Communication takes a blue sky research perspective on the field of interactive media for entertainment computing. Adrian David Cheok argues that entertainment as an end-product is useful for interactive play, however it is also a powerful tool for learning and communication and it is also a key driver for the development of information technology. This book explores the future of entertainment technologies used for communication and describes quantum step research. It will inform and inspire readers to create their own radical inventions and innovations that are not incremental, but which break through ideas and non-obvious solutions. One of the main explorations is the examination of how new forms of computer interaction can lead to radical new forms of technology and art for entertainment computing. Art and Technology of Entertainment Computing and Communication is an informative and inspirational text for students and the next generation of researchers. It s main aim is to provide information that will hopefully help change the world and society for the better, through new modes of entertainment and communication. Academics, researchers, engineers, game designers, and interaction designers, will find the content both interesting and valuable. Entertainment is the "engine" to inspire people and drive innovation in interactive digital media design. The pioneer of the field, Prof. Adrian David Cheok, takes you on an exciting tour of the future shaped by the Entertainment Technologies. Hiroshi ISHII, Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Laboratory."

Human Face Recognition Using Third-Order Synthetic Neural Networks explores the viability of the application of High-order synthetic neural network technology to transformation-invariant recognition of complex visual patterns. High-order networks require little training data (hence, short training times) and have been used to perform transformation-invariant recognition of relatively simple visual patterns, achieving very high recognition rates. The successful results of these methods provided inspiration to address more practical problems which have grayscale as opposed to binary patterns (e.g., alphanumeric characters, aircraft silhouettes) and are also more complex in nature as opposed to purely edge-extracted images - human face recognition is such a problem. Human Face Recognition Using Third-Order Synthetic Neural Networks serves as an excellent reference for researchers and professionals working on applying neural network technology to the recognition of complex visual patterns.

The goal of this book is to present the most advanced research works in realistic computer generated images. It is made up of the papers presented during a Eurographics workshop that has been held in Rennes (France) on June 1990. Although realism in computer graphics has existed for many years, we have considered that two research directions can now clearly be identified. One makes use of empirical methods to efficiently create images that look real. As opposed to this approach, the other orientation makes use of physics to produce images that are exact representations of the real world (at the expense of additional processing time), hence the term photosimulation which indeed was the subject of this book. The objectives of this workshop were to assemble experts from physics and computer graphics in order to contribute to the introduction of physics-based approaches in the field of computer generated images. The fact that this workshop was the first entirely devoted to this topic was a bet and fortunately it turned out that it was a success. The contents of this book is organized in five chapters: Efficient Ray Tracing Meth ods, Theory of Global Illumination Models, Photometric Algorithms, Form-Factor Cal culations and Physics-Based Methods.

Multimedia Mining: A Highway to Intelligent Multimedia Documents brings together experts in digital media content analysis, state-of-art data mining and knowledge discovery in multimedia database systems, knowledge engineers and domain experts from diverse applied disciplines.

Multimedia documents are ubiquitous and often required, if not essential, in many applications today. This phenomenon has made multimedia documents widespread and extremely large. There are tools for managing and searching within these collections, but the need for tools to extract hidden useful knowledge embedded within multimedia objects is becoming pressing and central for many decision-making applications. The tools needed today are tools for discovering relationships between objects or segments within multimedia document components, such as classifying images based on their content, extracting patterns in sound, categorizing speech and music, and recognizing and tracking objects in video streams.

This volume introduces machine learning techniques that are particularly powerful and effective for modeling multimedia data and common tasks of multimedia content analysis. It systematically covers key machine learning techniques in an intuitive fashion and demonstrates their applications through case studies. Coverage includes examples of unsupervised learning, generative models and discriminative models. In addition, the book examines Maximum Margin Markov (M3) networks, which strive to combine the advantages of both the graphical models and Support Vector Machines (SVM).

Make your 3D world a reality Some of the dramatic visual effects you've seen in top-grossing movies and heralded television series got their start in Blender. This book helps you get your own start in creating three-dimensional characters, scenes, and animations in the popular free and open-source tool. Author Jason van Gumster shares his insight as an independent animator and digital artist to help Blender newcomers turn their ideas into three-dimensional drawings. From exporting and sharing scenes to becoming a part of the Blender community, this accessible book covers it all! Create 3D characters--no experience required Build scenes with texture and real lighting features Animate your creations and share them with the world Avoid common rookie mistakes This book is the ideal starting place for newcomers to the world of 3D modeling and animation.

COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS Becoming a pervasive paradigm In recent years the area of collaborative networks is being consolidated as a new discipline (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh, 2005) that encompasses and gives more structured support to a large diversity of collaboration forms. In terms of applications, besides the "traditional" sectors represented by the advanced supply chains, virtual enterprises, virtual organizations, virtual teams, and their breading environments, new forms of collaborative structures are emerging in all sectors of the society. Examples can be found in e-government, intelligent transportation systems, collaborative virtual laboratories, agribusiness, elderly care, silver economy, etc. In some cases those developments tend to adopt a terminology that is specific of that domain; often the involved actors in a given domain are not fully aware of the developments in the mainstream research on collaborative networks. For instance, the grid community adopted the term "virtual organization" but focused mainly on the resource sharing perspective, ignoring most of the other aspects involved in collaboration. The European enterprise interoperability community, which was initially focused on the intra-enterprise aspects, is moving towards inter-enterprise collaboration. Collaborative networks are thus becoming a pervasive paradigm giving basis to new socio-organizational structures.

This comprehensive book offers a full picture of the cutting edge technologies in the area of "Multimedia Retrieval and Management". It addresses graduate students and scientists in electrical engineering and in computer science as well as system designers, engineers, programmers and other technical managers in the IT industries. The book provides a complete set of theories and technologies necessary for a profound introduction to the field. It includes multimedia low-level feature extraction and high-level semantic description in addition to multimedia authentication and watermarking, and the most up-to-date MPEG-7 standard. A broad range of practical applications is covered, e.g., digital libraries, medical images, biometrics, human palm-print and face-for-security, living plants data management and video-on-demand service.

Today one of the hardest parts of computer aided design or analysis is first modeling the design, then recording and verifying it. For example, a typical vehicle such as a tank, automobile, ship or aircraft might be composed of tens of thousands of individual parts. Many of these parts are composed of cylinders, flats, and simple conic curves and surfaces such as are amenable to modeling using a constructive solid geometry (CSG) approach. However, especially with the increasing use of composite materials, many parts are designed using sculp tured surfaces. A marriage of these two techniques in now critical to continued development of computer aided design and analysis. Further, the graphical user interfaces used in most modeling systems are at best barely adequate to the required task. Critical work on these interfaces is required to continue pushing back the frontiers. Similarly, once the design is modeled, how are the varied and diverse pieces stored, retrieved, and modified? How are physical interferences prevented or eliminated? Although considerable progress has been made, there are still more questions and frustrations than answers. One of the fundamental problems of the 1990s is and will continue to be modeling. The second problem is interpretation. With the ever increasing computational power available, our ability to generate data far exceeds our ability to interpret, understand, and utilize that data.

Mobile Computing Environments for Multimedia Systems brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this fast moving area. Mobile Computing Environments for Multimedia Systems serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most challenging research issues in the field.

Explorations in Art and Technology is about the creative process in action through the eyes of practitioners and researchers. The book explores the fascinating relationship between artist and technologist through studies of innovative projects that push the boundaries of digital art. The research sheds new light on the nature of interaction between people and computers and provides insight into the characteristics of environments in which creativity can be enhanced. In doing so, it presents a case for organisations to develop strategies for offering environments in which collaborative, sustainable partnerships can thrive. What emerges is a compelling story of new visions and new forms in a field that is set to transform traditional norms in both art and technology as we move through the 21st Century. Additional information and links are available at: http://www.creativityandcognition.com

Deformable avatars are virtual humans that deform themselves during motion. This implies facial deformations, body deformations at joints, and global deformations. Simulating deformable avatars ensures a more realistic simulation of virtual humans. The research requires models for capturing of geometrie and kinematic data, the synthesis of the realistic human shape and motion, the parametrisation and motion retargeting, and several appropriate deformation models. Once a deformable avatar has been created and animated, the researcher must model high-level behavior and introduce agent technology. The book can be divided into 5 subtopics: 1. Motion capture and 3D reconstruction 2. Parametrie motion and retargeting 3. Musc1es and deformation models 4. Facial animation and communication 5. High-level behaviors and autonomous agents Most of the papers were presented during the IFIP workshop "DEFORM '2000" that was held at the University of Geneva in December 2000, followed by "A V AT ARS 2000" held at EPFL, Lausanne. The two workshops were sponsored by the "Troisu me Cycle Romand d'Informatique" and allowed participants to discuss the state of research in these important areas. x Preface We would like to thank IFIP for its support and Yana Lambert from Kluwer Academic Publishers for her advice. Finally, we are very grateful to Zerrin Celebi, who has prepared the edited version of this book and Dr. Laurent Moccozet for his collaboration."

Proceedings of the FISITA 2012 World Automotive Congress are selected from nearly 2,000 papers submitted to the 34th FISITA World Automotive Congress, which is held by Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAE-China ) and the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA). This proceedings focus on solutions for sustainable mobility in all areas of passenger car, truck and bus transportation. Volume 6: Vehicle Electronics focuses on: *Engine/Chassis/Body Electronic Control *Electrical and Electronic System *Software and Hardware Development *Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) *Vehicle Sensor and Actuator *In-Vehicle Network *Multi-Media/Infotainment System Above all researchers, professional engineers and graduates in fields of automotive engineering, mechanical engineering and electronic engineering will benefit from this book. SAE-China is a national academic organization composed of enterprises and professionals who focus on research, design and education in the fields of automotive and related industries. FISITA is the umbrella organization for the national automotive societies in 37 countries around the world. It was founded in Paris in 1948 with the purpose of bringing engineers from around the world together in a spirit of cooperation to share ideas and advance the technological development of the automobile.

"Elsevier's Dictionary of Computer Graphics" contains 10,540 terms with more than 2,600 cross-references that are commonly used in the theory and practice of computer graphics. Included are terms from all areas related to a) the theory of computer graphics - descriptive geometry, projective geometry, topology, fractal geometry, color science; and b) the practice of computer graphics - computer-aided design (CAD) systems, technical drawing, computer art, computer animation, business graphics, scientific visualization, virtual reality, graphical programming, image processing, graphical computer devices.

As well as the commonly used terms in the above-mentioned areas, the dictionary also includes terms that are currently coming into use, especially in the areas of computer-aided design systems, computer art, computer animation, virtual reality and graphical programming.

Elsevier's Dictionary of Computer Graphics will be a valuable tool for engineers, scientists, artists, students and for everyone who takes an interest in computer graphics.

This volume provides an overview of multimedia data mining and knowledge discovery and discusses the variety of hot topics in multimedia data mining research. It describes the objectives and current tendencies in multimedia data mining research and their applications. Each part contains an overview of its chapters and leads the reader with a structured approach through the diverse subjects in the field.

Video on Demand Systems brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this fast moving area. Video on Demand Systems serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most challenging research issues in the field.

Multimedia data comprising of images, audio and video is becoming increasingly common. The decreasing costs of consumer electronic devices such as digital cameras and digital camcorders, along with the ease of transportation facilitated by the Internet, has lead to a phenomenal rise in the amount of multimedia data generated and distributed. Given that this trend of increased use of multimedia data is likely to accelerate, there is an urgent need for providing a clear means of capturing, storing, indexing, retrieving, analyzing and summarizing such data. Content-based access to multimedia data is of primary importance since it is the natural way by which human beings interact with such information. To facilitate the content-based access of multimedia information, the first step is to derive feature measures from these data so that a feature space representation of the data content can be formed. This can subsequently allow for mapping the feature space to the symbol space (semantics) either automatically or through human intervention. Thus, signal to symbol mapping, useful for any practical system, can be successfully achieved. Perspectives on Content-Based Multimedia Systems provides a comprehensive set of techniques to tackle these important issues. This book offers detailed solutions to a wide range of practical problems in building real systems by providing specifics of three systems built by the authors. While providing a systems focus, it also equips the reader with a keen understanding of the fundamental issues, including a formalism for content-based multimedia database systems, multimedia feature extraction, object-based techniques, signature-based techniques and fuzzy retrieval techniques. The performance evaluation issues of practical systems is also explained. This book brings together essential elements of building a content-based multimedia database system in a way that makes them accessible to practitioners in computer science and electrical engineering. It can also serve as a textbook for graduate-level courses.