scholarly journals Navigation Tasks in Desktop VR Environments to Improve the Spatial Orientation Skill of Building Engineers

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 492
Author(s):  
Carlos Carbonell-Carrera ◽  
Jose Luis Saorin ◽  
Allison J. Jaeger

Virtual reality is a powerful tool for teaching 3D digital technologies in building engineering, as it facilitates the spatial perception of three-dimensional space. Spatial orientation skill is necessary for understanding 3D space. With VR, users navigate through virtually designed buildings and must be constantly aware of their position relative to other elements of the environment (orientation during navigation). In the present study, 25 building engineering students performed navigation tasks in a desktop-VR environment workshop. Performance of students using the desktop-VR was compared to a previous workshop in which navigation tasks were carried out using head-mounted displays. The Perspective Taking/Spatial Orientation Test measured spatial orientation skill. A questionnaire on user experience in the virtual environment was also administered. The gain in spatial orientation skill was 12.62%, similar to that obtained with head-mounted displays (14.23%). The desktop VR environment is an alternative to the HMD-VR environment for planning strategies to improve spatial orientation. Results from the user-experience questionnaire showed that the desktop VR environment strategy was well perceived by students in terms of interaction, 3D visualization, navigation, and sense of presence. Unlike in the HDM VR environment, student in the desktop VR environment did not report feelings of fatigue or dizziness.

i-com ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-85
Author(s):  
Matthias Weise ◽  
Raphael Zender ◽  
Ulrike Lucke

AbstractThe selection and manipulation of objects in Virtual Reality face application developers with a substantial challenge as they need to ensure a seamless interaction in three-dimensional space. Assessing the advantages and disadvantages of selection and manipulation techniques in specific scenarios and regarding usability and user experience is a mandatory task to find suitable forms of interaction. In this article, we take a look at the most common issues arising in the interaction with objects in VR. We present a taxonomy allowing the classification of techniques regarding multiple dimensions. The issues are then associated with these dimensions. Furthermore, we analyze the results of a study comparing multiple selection techniques and present a tool allowing developers of VR applications to search for appropriate selection and manipulation techniques and to get scenario dependent suggestions based on the data of the executed study.


Author(s):  
Scott Neurauter ◽  
Sabrina Szeto ◽  
Matt Tindall ◽  
Yan Wong ◽  
Chris Wright

3D visualization is the process of displaying spatial data to simulate and model a real three dimensional space. Using 3D visualization, Geomatic professionals are enabling pipeline engineers to make better decisions by providing an increased understanding of potential costs earlier in the design process. This paper will focus on the value of visualizing Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data through the use of hillshades and imagery-draped 3D models. From free online DEM data to high resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) derived DEM data, the increased availability allows for a broader use of 3D visualization techniques beyond 3D analysis. Of the numerous sources available, two DEM sources will be discussed in this paper, the free low resolution DEM (CDED Level 1) and the more costly but higher resolution LiDAR based DEM. Traditional methods of evaluating potential locations for route and facilities involved a significant cost for ground truthing. Through the use of 3D visualization products, multiple potential locations can be examined for suitability without the expense of field visits for every candidate site. By focusing on the selected candidate locations using a visual desktop study, the time and expense of ground truthing all of the potential sites can be reduced significantly. Exploiting the visual value of DEM permits a productive and cost efficient methodology for initial route and facility placement on hydrocarbon projects.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Ilie ◽  
Eric Shaffer ◽  
Cynthia D’Angelo ◽  
Erhan Kudeki ◽  
Olivia Coiado ◽  
...  

<p>A solid understanding of electromagnetic theory is key to the education of electrical engineering students. However, concepts in electricity and magnetism (E&M) are notoriously challenging for students to learn, due to the difficulty in grasping abstract concepts such as the electric force as an invisible force that is acting at a distance, or how electromagnetic radiation is permeating and propagating in physical space. Building physical intuition to manipulate these abstractions requires means to visualize electromagnetism concepts in a three-dimensional space. This project involves the development of 3D visualizations of abstract E&M concepts in Virtual Reality (VR), in an immersive, exploratory, and engaging environment, with the potential to be adopted by Engineering, Science, Mathematics and Medical college curricula across the country.</p><p>VR provides a disruptive platform for teaching and learning, in a realistic and most importantly, interactive three-dimensional environment. There are many advantages for using VR as a teaching tool, as it has the potential of addressing many challenges traditional teaching usually faces, and can lead to increased student engagement while removing some of the anxiety student experience while in active learning environments. Virtual Reality provides the means of exploration, to construct visuals and manipulable objects to represent knowledge, which in turns leads to a constructivist way of learning, in the sense that students are allowed to build their own knowledge from meaningful experiences.</p><p>The VR labs for E&M courses in the ECE department are generated by Electrical Engineering and Computer Science students enrolled in the “Virtual Reality" course at the same university, as part of the course term projects. This reflects the strong educational impact of this project, as it allows students to contribute to the educational experiences of their peers.  Student competencies around conceptual understanding of electromagnetism topics, as well as their understanding of mathematical concepts, are measured via formative and summative assessments. To evaluate the effectiveness of VR learning, each VR experience is followed by a short 10-minute multiple choice test, designed to primarily measure conceptual understanding of the various topics, rather than measuring the ability to simply manipulate equations, and will be tied to the specific contexts and topics of that lab's instruction.</p><p>This paper discusses the implementation and the pedagogy of the Virtual Reality laboratory experiences to visualize concepts in E&M, with examples for specific labs, as well as challenges, and student feedback with the new approach. We will also discuss the integration of the 3D visualizations into lab exercises and the design of the student assessment tools used to assess the knowledge gain when the VR technology is employed. In addition, we discuss the development of VR labs to visualize concepts pertaining to elements vector calculus, designed to enhance student understanding of the nature of operators such the gradient, curl and divergence, as well as the development of VR labs to visualize concepts pertaining to spatial geometry and coordinate transformations. </p><p> </p><p> </p>


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
Carlos Carbonell-Carrera ◽  
Jose Luis Saorin ◽  
Stephany Hess-Medler

Professional landscape architecture organizations have requested training from educational institutions based on new skills and methodologies in the curriculum development of students. Landscape architects need to visualize and evaluate the spatial relationships between the different components of the landscape using two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) maps and geospatial information, for which spatial orientation skills are necessary. The data from six workshops conducted throughout the 2010–2020 period, in which 560 second-year engineering students participated using different strategies and technical tools for spatial orientation skills’ development, were collected in a unique study. Factors such as the technology used, the gaming environment, the type of task, the 2D/3D environment, and the virtual environment were considered. The Perspective-Taking Spatial Orientation Test was the measurement tool used. The results show that mapping tasks are more efficient than route-based tasks. Strategies using 2D and a 2D/3D combination are more effective than those with only 3D. First-person perspective gaming environments are also a valid alternative. The technologies applied in this study are easy to use and free, and a measurement tool is provided. This facilitates an interdisciplinary approach between landscape architecture education and professional practice since these workshops could also be easily carried out by professional bodies for landscape planning and management.


Geografie ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radek Dušek ◽  
Jakub Miřijovský

2D maps, 2.5D terrain models and 3D visualization are examples of terms which are widely used in computer science, geography, cartography and also in geoinformatics. What do they, however, really mean? The paper tries to clarify the common terminology. Only the issue of three-dimensional space is discussed, without incorporating time and other dimensions. The authors want to draw attention to the often misguiding and pointless use of terms relating to the expression of space. The original and correct terms, originating from informatics and spatial data processing, have been transferred to the field of visualization, in which they are often ill founded and incorrect. An example commonly used in the literature is a reference to perspective projection as a 3D view, etc. Furthermore, the paper points to collisions in the use of these terms. Despite the fact that the terms are already commonly used in the literature, the authors recommend a change of the terms, especially in view of further technological developments in the field of spatial data visualization.


Author(s):  
David A. Agard ◽  
Yasushi Hiraoka ◽  
John W. Sedat

In an effort to understand the complex relationship between structure and biological function within the nucleus, we have embarked on a program to examine the three-dimensional structure and organization of Drosophila melanogaster embryonic chromosomes. Our overall goal is to determine how DNA and proteins are organized into complex and highly dynamic structures (chromosomes) and how these chromosomes are arranged in three dimensional space within the cell nucleus. Futher, we hope to be able to correlate structual data with such fundamental biological properties as stage in the mitotic cell cycle, developmental state and transcription at specific gene loci.Towards this end, we have been developing methodologies for the three-dimensional analysis of non-crystalline biological specimens using optical and electron microscopy. We feel that the combination of these two complementary techniques allows an unprecedented look at the structural organization of cellular components ranging in size from 100A to 100 microns.


Author(s):  
K. Urban ◽  
Z. Zhang ◽  
M. Wollgarten ◽  
D. Gratias

Recently dislocations have been observed by electron microscopy in the icosahedral quasicrystalline (IQ) phase of Al65Cu20Fe15. These dislocations exhibit diffraction contrast similar to that known for dislocations in conventional crystals. The contrast becomes extinct for certain diffraction vectors g. In the following the basis of electron diffraction contrast of dislocations in the IQ phase is described. Taking account of the six-dimensional nature of the Burgers vector a “strong” and a “weak” extinction condition are found.Dislocations in quasicrystals canot be described on the basis of simple shear or insertion of a lattice plane only. In order to achieve a complete characterization of these dislocations it is advantageous to make use of the one to one correspondence of the lattice geometry in our three-dimensional space (R3) and that in the six-dimensional reference space (R6) where full periodicity is recovered . Therefore the contrast extinction condition has to be written as gpbp + gobo = 0 (1). The diffraction vector g and the Burgers vector b decompose into two vectors gp, bp and go, bo in, respectively, the physical and the orthogonal three-dimensional sub-spaces of R6.


2004 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
David Leys ◽  
Jaswir Basran ◽  
François Talfournier ◽  
Kamaldeep K. Chohan ◽  
Andrew W. Munro ◽  
...  

TMADH (trimethylamine dehydrogenase) is a complex iron-sulphur flavoprotein that forms a soluble electron-transfer complex with ETF (electron-transferring flavoprotein). The mechanism of electron transfer between TMADH and ETF has been studied using stopped-flow kinetic and mutagenesis methods, and more recently by X-ray crystallography. Potentiometric methods have also been used to identify key residues involved in the stabilization of the flavin radical semiquinone species in ETF. These studies have demonstrated a key role for 'conformational sampling' in the electron-transfer complex, facilitated by two-site contact of ETF with TMADH. Exploration of three-dimensional space in the complex allows the FAD of ETF to find conformations compatible with enhanced electronic coupling with the 4Fe-4S centre of TMADH. This mechanism of electron transfer provides for a more robust and accessible design principle for interprotein electron transfer compared with simpler models that invoke the collision of redox partners followed by electron transfer. The structure of the TMADH-ETF complex confirms the role of key residues in electron transfer and molecular assembly, originally suggested from detailed kinetic studies in wild-type and mutant complexes, and from molecular modelling.


Author(s):  
Leiba Rodman

Quaternions are a number system that has become increasingly useful for representing the rotations of objects in three-dimensional space and has important applications in theoretical and applied mathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering. This is the first book to provide a systematic, accessible, and self-contained exposition of quaternion linear algebra. It features previously unpublished research results with complete proofs and many open problems at various levels, as well as more than 200 exercises to facilitate use by students and instructors. Applications presented in the book include numerical ranges, invariant semidefinite subspaces, differential equations with symmetries, and matrix equations. Designed for researchers and students across a variety of disciplines, the book can be read by anyone with a background in linear algebra, rudimentary complex analysis, and some multivariable calculus. Instructors will find it useful as a complementary text for undergraduate linear algebra courses or as a basis for a graduate course in linear algebra. The open problems can serve as research projects for undergraduates, topics for graduate students, or problems to be tackled by professional research mathematicians. The book is also an invaluable reference tool for researchers in fields where techniques based on quaternion analysis are used.


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