A Framework for Supporting Immersion in Commodity Gaming.

Paper

GSTF Journal on Computing, October 2012, Volume 2, Number 3, pp 35-40, ISSN 2251-3043.

Abstract

Presented here is a case for a higher level of engagement and immersion in gaming by proposing gaming software support for displays that engage the players peripheral vision. It is widely accepted that the sense of “being there” or “presence” is heightened by “removing the frame”, that is, filling the viewers field of view with a virtual environment. Except for a few special cases this is almost entirely unsupported in current commodity games, and yet the importance is readily accepted as is illustrated by the widespread use in commercial simulators and virtual reality environments. This paper will present the general requirements necessary to support a range of seamless immersive displays, that is, displays that engage a significant portion, if not all, of the users field of view. It will further outline a software pipeline split into two parts, a generic section that generates the necessary visual information followed by a section that handles the device/display specific details.

Part of the motivation stems from the realisation that there are many possible hardware configurations for immersive displays and it would be too high a burden on the software developer to support them all. Equally the installation supplier does not have access to the underlying software engine or source code. The proposed solution then is to separate the problem into two pieces, those that are the responsibility of the software developer and those that are the responsibility of the display provider.

P.D. Bourke

Automatic 3D reconstruction: An exploration of the state of the art.

Paper

GSTF Journal on Computing, October 2012, Volume 2, Number 3, pp 71-75, ISSN 2251-3043.

Abstract

Presented here in the form of case study examples are the results from a number of practical exercises to explore the state of the art of automatic 3D reconstructions. That is, deriving the underlying geometry of an object or place based only upon photographs. There is a wide range of applications for this technology; traditionally it has been used for landscape/terrain modeling, geology and by the mining industry. The interest here is in capturing geometric data in archaeology, providing a new data format suited to a richer exploration compared to the more traditional photography. Examples of the use of this 3D geometric representation include the population of virtual worlds and gaming engines. The manual generation of such assets is normally both time consuming and can involve an element interpretation on the part of a human modeler.

P.D. Bourke

Space Filling: A new algorithm for procedural creation of game assets.

Paper

Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Conference on Computer Games Multimedia & Allied Technology (CGAT 2013).

Abstract

Here we present a new algorithm that could be employed to procedurally generate a range of gaming assets including 2 dimensional textures, 2.5 dimensional texture, and 3 dimensional geometry. The approach involves placing shapes randomly, without overlap and with a monotonically decreasing area, within a region on a plane (2 dimensional texture) or within a volume (3 dimensional). If the process is continued to infinity then the result is space filling thus providing a variable and infinite degree of visual detail. It will be proposed/illustrated that the process is independent of the actual shape being used and as such can find a wide range of potential applications.

Paul Bourke, John Shier

On the dynamics of cortical development: synchrony and synaptic self-organisation

Paper

Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, doi: 10.3389/fncom.2013.00004

Abstract

We describe a model for cortical development that resolves long-standing difficulties of earlier models. It is proposed that, during embryonic development, synchronous firing of neurons and their competition for limited metabolic resources leads to selection of an array of neurons with ultra-small-world characteristics. Consequently, in the visual cortex, macrocolumns linked by superficial patchy connections emerge in anatomically realistic patterns, with an ante-natal arrangement which projects signals from the surrounding cortex onto each macrocolumn in a form analogous to the projection of a Euclidean plane onto a Moebius strip. This configuration reproduces typical cortical response maps, and simulations of signal flow explain cortical responses to moving lines as functions of stimulus velocity, length and orientation. With the introduction of direct visual inputs, under the operation of Hebbian learning, development of mature selective response “tuning” to stimuli of given orientation, spatial frequency and temporal frequency would then take place, overwriting the earlier ante-natal configuration. The model is provisionally extended to hierarchical interactions of the visual cortex with higher centres, and a general principle for cortical processing of spatio-temporal images is sketched.

J.J. Wright, P.D. Bourke.

Applications of microtomography to multiscale system dynamics – visualisation, characterisation and high performance computation.

Book chapter

GPU Solutions to Multi-scale Problems in Science and Engineering. Lecture Notes in Earth System Sciences, Springer Link, 2013, chapter 40. ISBN: 978-3-642-16404-0 (Print) 978-3-642-16405-7 (Online)

Jie Liu, Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, Chris Hines, Shuxia Zhang, Paul Bourke, Florian Fusseis, David Yuen.

Immersion: The Challenge for Commodity Gaming

Author: Paul Bourke

Presented here is a case for a higher level of engagement and immersion in gaming by proposing gaming software support for displays that engage the players peripheral vision. It is widely accepted that the sense of “being there” or “presence” is heightened by “removing the frame”, that is, filling the viewers field of view with a virtual environment [1]. Except for a few special cases this is almost entirely unsupported in current commodity games, and yet the importance is readily accepted as is illustrated by the widespread use in commercial simulators and virtual reality environments. This paper will present the general requirements necessary to support a range of seamless immersive displays, that is, displays that engage a significant portion, if not all, of the users field of view. It will further outline a software pipeline split into two parts, a generic section that generates the necessary visual information followed by a section that handles the device/display specific details.

Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Conference on Computer Games Multimedia & Allied Technology (CGAT 2012) ISSN 2251-1679

Publication File:

paper.pdf

Attachment	Size
slides.pdf	6 MB

Stereoscopic Filming For Investigating Evasive Side-Stepping And Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk

Authors: Marcus J.C. Lee, Paul Bourke, Jacqueline A. Alderson, David G. Lloyd, Brendon Lay

Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are serious and debilitating, often resulting from the performance of evasive sides-stepping (Ssg) by team sport athletes. Previous laboratory based investigations of evasive Ssg have used generic visual stimuli to simulate realistic time and space constraints that athletes experience in the preparation and execution of the manoeuvre. However, the use of unrealistic visual stimuli to impose these constraints may not be accurately identifying the relationship between the perceptual demands and ACL loading during Ssg in actual game environments. We propose that stereoscopically filmed footage featuring sport specific opposing defender/s simulating a tackle on the viewer, when used as visual stimuli, could improve the ecological validity of laboratory based investigations of evasive Ssg. Due to the need for precision and not just the experience of viewing depth in these scenarios, a rigorous filming process built on key geometric considerations and equipment development to enable a separation of 6.5 cm between two commodity cameras had to be undertaken. Within safety limits, this could be an invaluable tool in enabling more accurate investigations of the associations between evasive Ssg and ACL injury risk.

Publication File:

marcuspaper.pdf

Evasive sidestepping as a visual-perceptual-motor skill: implications for anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention.

Experts in sport have consistently demonstrated a number of perceptual advantages over lesser skilled athletes that afford them more time to execute perceptual-motor skills. No investigations of this “expert advantage” have been extended to sporting injuries. A number of studies of evasive sidestepping have demonstrated its association with non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Moreover, biomechanical variables during unanticipated sidestepping in response to generic stimuli have been shown to increase ACL injury risk compared with pre-planned sidesteps. As yet, sidestepping in response to ecologically valid visual stimuli has not been investigated. This study attempted to maintain perception-action coupling within the controlled lab environment by examining sidestepping biomechanics of high- and low-level soccer players when evading projected 3D stereoscopic defenders (compared with planned and unplanned arrow stimuli).

A customised integrated stereoscopic system was used to present the stimuli and capture the three-dimensional motion of the sidestep, ground reaction forces and activity of eight knee muscles, of 15 high-level and 15 low-level soccer players during the sidestepping tasks. Participants sidestepped in response to a one-defender scenario (1DS), two-defender scenario (2DS), arrow-planned condition (AP) and arrow-unplanned condition (AUNP). Temporal constraints imposed by the stimuli conditions increased in difficulty from the AP, 1DS, 2DS to the AUNP. Lateral trunk flexion and hip abduction were measured. A kinematic model was used in conjunction with force plate data to investigate knee valgus loading. Muscle activation was measured during a pre-contact and weight-acceptance phase of the sidestep. Knee flexors-extensors co-contraction ratios were established.

Lateral trunk flexion, hip abduction and peak knee valgus moments increased when higher temporal difficulty was imposed by the stimuli during sidestepping. In the 2DS, high level players exhibited decreased hip abduction and knee valgus moments, and an earlier shift from a flexor dominant co-contraction strategy in pre-contact toward extensor dominance in weight-acceptance, compared with the low-level players.

Increased temporal difficulty imposed by the stimuli resulted in more injurious sidestepping biomechanics. Only the 2DS visual-perceptual condition was able to differentiate the sidestepping biomechanics of the high-level and low-level players, potentially due to its realism and high level of complexity. Using 3D stimuli to investigate sidestepping in a controlled environment addresses both the visual-perceptual and motor components of the manoeuvre. Implications for ACL injury aetiology are discussed together with further preliminary data systematically manipulating stimuli complexity (perception) and type of skill (action) within the experimental context presented here.