VDI (Visualization Design Institute)

Inside Sheridan College there are some research units. The VDI is a unit working on the research about computer visualization and simulation. In the Institute they are development several projects correlated with design and interactivity.

We had the chance to see some of their projects and the technology behind the interface. They have done some work with Flash, using action script to provide to the user the possibility of interactivity. They have done some work for the Justice Knowledge Network to help the law enforcement community. They created a virtual environment in this project to help police officers to understand how to proceed after a car crash. How to measure the trail the car left. So, they produced all the interface animations and also a Random number responsible to generate a variety of scenarios.

Another interesting project is the 3D Ontario virtual world. This kind of project helps us to visualize how possible changes could materialize. They recreated the city with street cars to assist us on how the city would look like. The interactive cinema was really fun to see. A place where we can see a movie and also interact with, choosing the way that we want the story ends.

Here are some links:
- Interactive cinema
- Visualization & Simulation Center
- Virtual Tour
- 3D Brain
- Computer Animation

Computer Visualization and simulation is indispensable to support engineers, medics and designers on the elaboration of their real projects.

Gesture technology

Human gesture expressions are very important aspect of our communication system. Primarily we communicate by speech, but gesture is a key supplement in making ourselves understood. Not surprisingly, there are many new markets coming up to work with gesture technology communication.

Advanced multimedia applications can get large benefits from gesture user interface technology. We can use gesture applications for different kinds of tasks, such as movement control and text editing. At the moment, however, gesture technology is being utilized much more by the graphical application field. This market includes 3D software, games and interactive walls. There is still a huge potential to expand the gesture technology market to day-to day tasks, related to non-graphical applications. One example of these a prospective application would be in a document processing program, where we could virtually delete or change words using our hands.

Gesture technology is something quiet recent in the Multimedia world and we still have to figure out all the possible utilities and applications for this technology. There are some companies in the market exploring this world and building amazing applications. Here are some links:
http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/hispace/
http://www.vividgroup.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjjohg4G-Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwdo5HXCxAs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ra4CxNb80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTEP_voGdFk
3D application

Gesturetek
It was very interesting to see these applications working and understand how they were build. I would like to highlight two applications: the 3D environment and the interactive floor. In the 3D world, the technology behind involves camera capture and real time processing that enables the person who is playing to feel part of the environment.
The Interactive floor looks much simpler, but it has also a enormous impact in the user.

In the other hand this technology has a lot to improve, most of the multimedia environments are still limited to some few hand movements and the user expects more freedom.

Big Interactivity

Our social relations in the contemporary world do not summarize any more to the contact face to face. They are now inserted in multiple environments. A new type of communication is born: the communication mediated for machines.

The evolution of graphical interfaces improves the relation between the user and the machine, creating a context for the action and interaction. A lot of different technologies come out every day from the industry and we need to be prepared to understand the benefits and utilities to create environments where the user is not just one part of the process, but he has also the power to create and interact with the content.

It’s important to our society to have organizations such as InterAccess. Places where we can find information and examples of electronic media arts. The big interactivity is something that everyone wants to see and play with. Here are some links of other places where you can find out information about Media Arts.
http://www.isea-web.org/eng/sympos_guide.html
http://www.pd.org/
http://www.kuda.org/?q=en/

There are people such as David Rokeby working on things that we never thought before. He developed an installation where different sounds were mixed inside computers and the sounds were redirected between the computers. In the presentation we saw many others examples of media arts, such as the “One free minute speech” and the building which we could post messages.

There are companies looking for the new possibilities of working with big interactivity. The consumers are expecting new interfaces and there is a large space for exploration beyond the computer monitor. People want to have new experiences with technology and the market is ready to receive innovations.