Microsoft Kinect changes the notion of user interface design. It differs from most other user input controllers as it enables users to interact with the program without touching the mouse or a trackpad. It utilizes motion sensing technology and all it needs is a real-time cameras, tracked skeletons, and gestures. This title will help you get into the world of Microsoft Kinect programming with the C/C++ language. The book covers the installation, image streaming, skeleton and face tracking, multi-touch cursors, and gesture emulation. Finally, you will end up with a complete Kinect-based game.

Computer-Generated Images (CGIs) are widely used and accepted in the world of entertainment but the use of the very same visualization techniques in academic research in the Arts and Humanities remains controversial. The techniques and conceptual perspectives on heritage visualization are a subject of an ongoing interdisciplinary debate. By demonstrating scholarly excellence and best technical practice in this area, this volume is concerned with the challenge of providing intellectual transparency and accountability in visualization-based historical research. Addressing a range of cognitive and technological challenges, the authors make a strong case for a wider recognition of three-dimensional visualization as a constructive, intellectual process and valid methodology for historical research and its communication. Intellectual transparency of visualization-based research, the pervading theme of this volume, is addressed from different perspectives reflecting the theory and practice of respective disciplines. The contributors - archaeologists, cultural historians, computer scientists and ICT practitioners - emphasize the importance of reliable tools, in particular documenting the process of interpretation of historical material and hypotheses that arise in the course of research. The discussion of this issue refers to all aspects of the intellectual content of visualization and is centred around the concept of 'paradata'. Paradata document interpretative processes so that a degree of reliability of visualization outcomes can be understood. The disadvantages of not providing this kind of intellectual transparency in the communication of historical content may result in visual products that only convey a small percentage of the knowledge that they embody, thus making research findings not susceptible to peer review and rendering them closed to further discussion. It is argued, therefore, that paradata should be recorded alongside more tangible outcomes of research, preferably as an integral part of virtual models, and sustained beyond the life-span of the technology that underpins visualization.

Get practical tools to successfully develop collaborative online learning projects! Virtual museums provide an opportunity to spark learning through online access to multi-sensory information, and collaboration between sources is needed to efficiently and effectively catalog and present material. Collaborative Access to Virtual Museum Collection Information: Seeing Through the Walls presents respected authorities exploring the world of virtual collections, from the identification and selection of objects to be included to providing online access using common terminology. Future possibilities and problems are fully detailed, taking into consideration the need for fixed metadata, descriptive standards, and negotiated compromise. Solutions to difficult issues are provided to allow successful development of collaborative virtual museum projects of all types. A virtual museum can provide users with direct, easy access to information, photographs, drawings, sound files, and video clips. However, discipline-based differences in terminology between collections are as much a challenge as integrating detailed locally-developed vocabularies with more general descriptors. Collaborative Access to Virtual Museum Collection Information: Seeing Through the Walls shows how to best achieve consistent information access by providing studies of successful collaborative museum projects which resulted in the creation of catalogs of material from a number of separate collections. The book helps you to understand the challenges of dealing with an unknown online user community as well as the opportunities for presenting information to the virtual museum visitor that differs from that information available during an on-site visit. Four case studies are presented in depth and highlight practical strategies on the development of collaborative common language for future projects. Extensive references provide opportunity for further research while tables clearly illustrate data. Collaborative Access to Virtual Museum Collection Information: Seeing Through the Walls thoroughly explores: cataloging and the digital collection at the Experience Music Project the collaborative cataloging efforts using Dublin Core to unite local heritage organizations the compromises and negotiations necessary to build a common catalog for multiple collaborating organizations the challenges of creating contextual information that places objects in relationship to their creators and the circumstances of their use the partnership between museums with Native American collections and tribally controlled schools the types of images indexed by museum practitioners indexing procedures and systems identifying potentially sensitive information for inclusion or exclusion in online collection databases Collaborative Access to Virtual Museum Collection Information: Seeing Through the Walls is cutting-edge information for museum archivists, librarians, collection curators, and anyone involved in creating catalogs or providing online access to existing museum collection information.

Virtual Politics is a critical overview of the new - digital - body politic, with new technologies framing the discussion of key themes in social theory. This book shows how these new technologies are altering the nature of identity and agency, the relation of self to other, and the structure of community and political representation.

Virtual Culture provides a unique analysis of a previously undocumented aspect of the cybersociety. Until now, the debate about participation in cyberculture has tended to focus on the ways that certain segments of the population are denied access to communications technologies. By contrast, the contributors to this volume scrutinize the way in which under-represented groupsùgay men, women, and special interest groupsùare exploiting the opportunities that the Internet provides for social and political change. Virtual Culture presents contributions from a range of subject disciplines, including communication, sociology, and anthropology in order to reflect on the diverse paradigms currently engaged in the study of electronic communities and networks. It sets out the definitions, boundaries, and approaches to the studies of these topics while demonstrating the theoretical and practical possibilities for cybersociety as an identity-structured space. Virtual Culture will be required reading for all students of communication, media and technology.

Understanding Hypermedia, first published in 1993, firmly established itself in the design and media community as the definitive introduction to this exciting new communications medium. Understanding Hypermedia 2.0 completely revises the original edition, bringing the story of hypermedia bang up to date with full coverage of the Internet and other new developments. The book examines all of the digital media, from Web sites and CD-ROMs to satellite communications. A history of hypermedia and its key players is followed by a survey of the controversial issues that surround it and an overview of the elements that can make up a hypermedia product, including sound, video, animation and hypertext. An extensive gallery of applications shows how the medium is now being used to inform, entertain, sell to and communicate with users worldwide. Practical information on design and production is also included, together with an extensive glossary of technical terms and a comprehensive bibliography. The book concludes with a look towards the digital future in the new millennium.

An examination of subversive games-games designed for political, aesthetic, and social critique. For many players, games are entertainment, diversion, relaxation, fantasy. But what if certain games were something more than this, providing not only outlets for entertainment but a means for creative expression, instruments for conceptual thinking, or tools for social change? In Critical Play, artist and game designer Mary Flanagan examines alternative games-games that challenge the accepted norms embedded within the gaming industry-and argues that games designed by artists and activists are reshaping everyday game culture. Flanagan provides a lively historical context for critical play through twentieth-century art movements, connecting subversive game design to subversive art: her examples of "playing house" include Dadaist puppet shows and The Sims. She looks at artists' alternative computer-based games and explores games for change, considering the way activist concerns-including worldwide poverty and AIDS-can be incorporated into game design. Arguing that this kind of conscious practice-which now constitutes the avant-garde of the computer game medium-can inspire new working methods for designers, Flanagan offers a model for designing that will encourage the subversion of popular gaming tropes through new styles of game making, and proposes a theory of alternate game design that focuses on the reworking of contemporary popular game practices.

A Complete Toolbox of Theories and Techniques The second edition of a bestseller, Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation, and Applications presents systematic and extensive coverage of the primary areas of research and development within VE technology. It brings together a comprehensive set of contributed articles that address the principles required to define system requirements and design, build, evaluate, implement, and manage the effective use of VE applications. The contributors provide critical insights and principles associated with their given areas of expertise to provide extensive scope and detail on VE technology and its applications. What's New in the Second Edition: Updated glossary of terms to promote common language throughout the community New chapters on olfactory perception, avatar control, motion sickness, and display design, as well as a whole host of new application areas Updated information to reflect the tremendous progress made over the last decade in applying VE technology to a growing number of domains This second edition includes nine new, as well as forty-one updated chapters that reflect the progress made in basic and applied research related to the creation, application, and evaluation of virtual environments. Contributions from leading researchers and practitioners from multidisciplinary domains provide a wealth of theoretical and practical information, resulting in a complete toolbox of theories and techniques that you can rely on to develop more captivating and effective virtual worlds. The handbook supplies a valuable resource for advancing VE applications as you take them from the laboratory to the real-world lives of people everywhere.

As the second volume of the "Digital Oil & Gas Pipeline: Research and Practice" series of monographs, this book introduces the implementation strategies, examples and technical roadmaps of two important aspects of the Digital Oil & Gas Pipeline construction: pipeline real-time data integration and pipeline network virtual reality system. Two example of pipeline real-time data integration are elaborated: integration of pipeline WebGIS (Geographic Information System) and pipeline SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) via OPC (OLE for Process Control) technology, integration of pipeline network virtual reality system and pipeline SCADA via OPC, JNI (Java Native Interface) and SAI (Scene Access Interface). The pipeline network virtual reality system aims for the pipeline virtual expression, interaction, and 3D visual management. It can be used for pipeline route visual design and plan, immersive pipeline industry training, remote visual supervision and control, etc. The implementation details of the pipeline network virtual reality system, including 3D pipeline and terrain modeling with X3D (Extensible 3D) technology, improving large-scene display performance and speed in the network environment using LOD (Level of Detail) technology, interaction of virtual pipeline scenes, and pipeline 3D visual monitoring, are also introduced. The knowledge and experience delivered by this book will provide useful reference for the readers from the industries of oil & gas pipeline, GIS, Virtual Reality, industrial control, etc.

Written as the successor to Virtual World Design: Creating Immersive Virtual Environments, this book carries the ideas brought forward in its predecessor to new levels of virtual world design exploration and experimentation. Written by an Emmy award-winning designer with 22 years of experience creating virtual environments for television and online communities, Extending Virtual Worlds: Advanced Design for Virtual Environments explores advanced topics such as multi-regional design, game-based sims, and narrative structure for environments. The book provides bedrock knowledge and practical examples of how to leverage design concepts within the intertwined structures of physics engines, level of detail (LOD) systems, and advanced material editors. It also shows designers new ways to influence the experience of virtual world visitors through immersive narrative and storytelling. With over 150 illustrations and 10 step-by-step projects that include the necessary 3D models and modular components, it delivers hours of stimulating creative challenges for people working in public virtual worlds or on private grids. By using this book, novices and advanced users will deepen their understanding of game design and how it can be applied to creating game-based virtual environments. It also serves as a foundational text for class work in distance learning, simulation, and other learning technologies that use virtual environments.

Create Genuine Visual Realism in Computer Graphics Digital Representations of the Real World: How to Capture, Model, and Render Visual Reality explains how to portray visual worlds with a high degree of realism using the latest video acquisition technology, computer graphics methods, and computer vision algorithms. It explores the integration of new capture modalities, reconstruction approaches, and visual perception into the computer graphics pipeline. Understand the Entire Pipeline from Acquisition, Reconstruction, and Modeling to Realistic Rendering and Applications The book covers sensors for capturing 3D scenes, including regular cameras, wide-angle omnidirectional cameras, active range scanners, and plenoptic (multi-viewpoint) cameras, as well as fundamental algorithms for processing the imagery, such as stereo correspondence and 3D structure and motion recovery. It describes 3D modeling techniques, from generic object models (such as 3D meshes) to more domain-specific models (such as human shape and motion models). The book also discusses how techniques, including image- and video-based rendering, meet speed and realism requirements. Overcome Challenges in Your Own Research Experiments This book is both an accessible introduction to the emerging research of real-world visual computing and a practical guide that shows you how to start implementing frequently encountered methods.

Die uns bekannte Realitat kann heute mit technischen Verfahren aufgezeichnet und wirklichkeitsgetreu wiedergegeben werden. Raum und Zeit werden in der kunstlichen Realitat als Kopie wieder virtuell erschaffen. Die Wiedergabe der virtuellen Realitat beschrankt sich aber nicht auf die reine Kopie des Vorhandenen. Ein Besucher des virtuellen Raumes muss sich nicht mit dem verpixelten Abbild des Altbekannten begnugen, sondern kann in der Scheinwelt irrealen Erscheinungen begegnen, die real nie existiert haben oder sogar physikalisch unmoeglich sind. Das ermoeglicht eine Erweiterung der aufgezeichneten Realitat und erlaubt die Wahrnehmung uberraschend neuer Perspektiven. Eine Perspektive bezeichnet dabei die Wahrnehmung eines Sachverhaltes von einem bestimmten Standpunkt aus und entspricht der Betrachtungsweise. Eine Perspektive ist aber ebenfalls die Beobachtung einer Szene aus einer Betrachtungsposition. Aus verschiedenen Perspektiven entsteht bei der Wiedergabe durch Betrachtung die Illusion der Realitat. Diese Vision beruht weder auf Einbildung noch Halluzination, sondern ist die Grundfunktion der virtuellen Realitat. In diesem Buch werden die Konzepte, Systeme und Technologien zur Erzeugung der virtuellen Realitat von den antiken Anfangen bis in die Gegenwart beschrieben und ein Ausblick in eine moegliche Zukunft gegeben.

How can we interpret cyberspace? What is the place of the embodied human agent in the virtual world? This innovative collection explores the emerging arena of cyberspace and the challenges it presents for the social and cultural forms of the human body. Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk shows how changing relationships between body and technology offer new arenas for cultural representations. At the same time, the contributors consider the realities of human embodiment and the limits of virtual worlds. Topics examined include technological body modifications, replacements and prosthetics, bodies in cyberspace, virtual environments and cyborg culture, cultural representations of technological embodiment in visual and literary productions, and cyberpunk science fiction as a prefigurative social and cultural theory. Academics and students in cultural studies, popular culture, communication, sociology of culture, philosophy will appreciate this intriguing volume, as will general readers with an interest in the Internet.

This book brings you to one of the frontiers of multimedia applications, where computers are used as part of experimental theatre, puppet theatre, art installations, musical performances, museums, entertainment, games and teaching. Bringing together a wealth of knowledge covering theatre production, film production, design, game development, art and software engineering, 3D Production Methods recounts the exciting histories of the origins of specific multimedia products. Each chapter is case-orientated and focuses on the production process, including themes such as: - Scriptwriting techniques- Interdisciplinary co-operative teams- Visualization of ideas- Motivation- Prototyping and experimental systems development- Advice on how to organise multimediaA CD-ROM accompanies this book, containing all figures and video material from some of the cases presented in the book. 3D Production Methods contains edited research papers resulting from a project managed by Professor Lars Qvortrup into Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds. Other volumes include: Virtual Interaction: Interaction in Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds; Virtual Space: Spatiality in Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds; and 3D Virtual Applications: Applications with Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds.