Page 22 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

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and making them more intuitive and user friendly than in the past. These systems are now becoming the model for next-generation social platforms. Current VR systems easily connect
to remote users, immersing them in multiuser virtual environments and providing them with all the communication tools (text input, audio chat, graphic and interactive user interfaces, etc.) necessary for multiuser collaboration and interaction [Olszewski].
The aforementioned trends have revived the potential of virtual reality and increased the interest of both the general public and experts from various fields, who see in VR a potential source of innovation and research.
Tele-Immersion
Tele-immersion (TI) is the capacity to virtually connect remote individuals in an artificially generated environment, allowing them to inter- act as though they were physically present. It allows users in different places to work together in a shared, virtual or simulated environment, placing their digital replicas, generated in real time, within the virtual world [Fanti]. It requires large capacity transmission networks, high bit rates, low delay and virtually no data loss from transmission errors. If is formed by the union of virtual reality and video, relying on high comput- ing capabilities. It promotes synergies between communication networks and video processing technologies to improve “collaborating envi- ronments” that combine audio, video, virtual worlds, simulations, tracking gestures and facial expressions, and that capture body position, etc. Tele-immersion has been identified as one of the five key technologies necessary for the future development of the new generation Internet (NGI).
Quality of service (QoS) and quality of experi- ence (QoE) are the main priorities that must be guaranteed in the supply of services or immer- sive applications, while availability and real-time
interaction between users are considered critical challenges that must be met because they ensure a fluid user experience. The network’s new capacities should respond to the volume of data produced by TI applications in real time, which means the new 5G communications network is a key factor for covering the needs of the applications of the so-called “information technologies” (IT) in real time [5Gent].
Fig 6. Block diagram for tele-immersion of the 5G-Media project [5G-Media]
3D Modeling
3D modeling plays a fundamental role in the creation of objects with geometric shapes and natural physical behaviors in three-dimensional virtual spaces. Rigid or deformable geometric shapes can typically be represented by polygons (meshes) or free-form surfaces. Mesh geometry is a popular rendering widely used today for animation and videogames.
On the other hand, the physical behaviors of the objects should also be modeled to illustrate their physical properties and their dynamic behavior, and absorb them into the virtual world.
Fig 7. 3D modeling with time-varying mesh [Maya]
IMMERSIVE CREATIVITY, CREATIVE IMMERSIVITY · JOSÉ MANUEL MENÉNDEZ AND DAVID JIMÉNEZ BERMEJO
Digital Trends in Culture