· · · Institutional Repository

Enviu is a young foundation that scouts and develops WOW! projects. These WOW! Projects are sustainable projects that have the objective to become an independent businesses on the long term. This graudation project has the objective to develop a new WOW! Project concept for Enviu utilizing 3D printing. The advantages of 3D printing are combined with the requirements of Enviu which has led to multiple ideas for this WOW! project. There is chosen to proceed with the idea to utilize 3D printing for solving eyewear and distribution issues in developing countries. Eyewear is developed as a product that solves health issues of low vision. However, it has become more and more an image building product because the object is dominantly visible. Nonetheless, over 135 million people in the world lack of proper eyewear while they need eyewear to improve their vision. Three causes were identified when analysing the problem. First of all, many developing areas in the world lack knowledge on proper eyecare, hygiene and eye measurements. Too little specialists are present to help the inhabitants of those countries. Besides this, the largest eyewear distribution problems occur in rural areas dealing with low purchase power and far distant to cities. These isolated areas have often insufficient infrastructure which complicates the eyewear distribution towards these areas. By considering these challenges a product service system is model is created visualized in Figure 1. A product service system for in India is developed representing a ‘mobile optician’ addressing these seven steps, explained in Figure 2. Besides an eyewear model construction is designed in which the lenses and the frames are produced with 3D printers, presented in Figure 3. Providing this product and customize it during co-creation in the product service system will solve eyewear distribution issues utilizing 3D printers in rural areas of India.

Material connections are everywhere: from architectural environments to products and electronics. These connections manifest as seams, joints and corners typically resulting in visually apparent orthogonal lines. Graded material transition is an alternative material connection method that challenges the dominance of pronounced orthogonal seams in today’s built environment.

This project at 1uptoys is about the design of a beatboxing themed exocontroller. An exocontroller is comparable to a dedicated games controller for the console, but also provides gameplay as a standalone gaming device. The project goes into game design and prototyping and sound recognition before a concept of the controller and a design proposal are made.

Being a young company in the VIP conversions market, Fokker Services got hit hard by the Economic crisis in 2008. Competitors with more outfitting experience are able to keep the cost lower and the few clients that are currently looking for new VIP aircraft tend to select these cheaper options. Future clients will have to be convinced otherwise to desire FS to build their aircraft. The strength of Fokker Services, delivering high quality and well-engineered products, is their pitfall at the same time. Too much of a quantitative engineering approach is used for the qualitative concept design phase of the design process. This follows through in current communication with clients, but also in the design artefacts that are used to support this communication. Two important factors are at the base of the miscommunications between client and company in design meetings: 1. Fokker Services is using an engineering oriented design process, which underestimates the value of client-company interaction. 2. The presently used design artefacts used in meetings inadequately support sufficient understanding by the client for making proper design decisions. Instead of an engineering approach, FS should use a social design approach to the concept design process. This approach is attuned better to the clients’ world of thought and embodies the value of understandable communication. In previous projects clients tended to change their mind too late in the design process. To counter this, it is important to allow clients to change their mind in the concept design phase of the design process. They have to be confident about their decisions so that they will not change their mind later on in the process. Furthermore this thesis proposes a set of new and adapted design artefacts, which aim to create a better understanding of conceptual interior designs by the client. The focus has been put on the design and user test of an improved interior planner: the layout design kit. It is recommended that Fokker Services develops this tool further by making use of an external design company. Only time will tell if the implementation of the new design artefacts will really aid clients in making confident decisions about to-be-build aircraft interiors, but it certainly looks promising.

The project described in this thesis is named “Investigate how in-car augmented reality can improve or influence the traffic flow and safety in the Dutch traffic”. It strives to research whether visual in-car augmented reality can be beneficial for the traffic flow and safety in the Dutch traffic, and thus Rijkswaterstaat. Visual augmented reality is the field of study that focuses upon adding computer generated images or information to real objects or environments. Instead of showing information on isolated displays, data will be projected in the field of vision of the user. Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality does not create a simulation of reality. Instead, it takes a real object or environment as the foundation and couples it with virtual data and objects. Augmented reality enriches a person’s view on reality by showing information about an object or environment that he/she would not see without augmented reality. Visual augmented reality is becoming an increasingly popular interface on commercial smart mobile devices like the smartphone and tablet. Many industrial companies believe in augmented reality to be the “next big thing”. Expectations are that augmented reality will become big on the smartphone platform, via more interesting applications. This break through of augmented reality on smart mobile devices will boost the development of in-car augmented reality applications. Since it is inevitable that this development will emerge in the automotive environment, it is interesting for Rijkswaterstaat to find out what the influence of this development will be upon the Dutch traffic. Rijkswaterstaat is interested in the opportunities or threats that will occur when a significant percentage of the road vehicles is equipped with augmented reality options. Knowledge in this area can be used to maintain or improve traffic flow and safety in the Dutch traffic. A broad exploratory field study, in which up front parties in the automotive industry have been consulted, showed that visual augmented reality will find its way to the car via 3 possible platforms. A accurate technology roadmap is designed to present a clear overview about these developments up to 2020. In this roadmap is presented that visual in-car augmented reality can be implemented via the display of the smart mobile devices, via commercial augmented reality eyewear or via next generation augmented reality head up displays (HUD). In-car augmented reality applications presented via the display of smart mobile devices will be seen first due to its easy implementation in the car. This platform will be utilized by commercial augmented reality application developers. In fact these applications already exist nowadays. However, the most evident platform for in-car augmented reality use, will be a next generation augmented reality HUD. Within 5 to 6 years from now, this augmented reality HUD will be introduced by the automotive industry to at first realize functions like navigation and night vision object detection. The conceptualization phase in this project concentrated on the development of in-car augmented reality applications. Goal of the conceptualization phase was to find out which in-car visual augmented reality applications might be beneficial for the safety and traffic flow on the Dutch roads. On the other hand it had the goal to find out what threats the in-car implementation of visual augmented reality might incorporate. All applications that have an influence on safety or traffic flow (either positive or negative) have been elaborated to a video impression. In collaboration with experts from different fields of study these impressions have been evaluated. This results in a vision that tells Rijkswaterstaat about the opportunities and threats of in-car visual augmented reality. The studies resulted in the conclusion that visual in-car augmented reality will result in more driver distraction in the form of in-car visual augmented reality infotainment. These infotainment applications will enter the car via the smart mobile devices, and can be of significant danger to the driver safety. However in-car visual augmented reality also offers chances to Rijkswaterstaat. While the development does not directly enhance safety and traffic flow, it will be an ideal communication channel between Rijkswaterstaat and road-user. Being able to explain rules and limitations to the road-user, enhances the user experience and results in more commitment from their side. This research opens and validates further exploration of the topic of in-car augmented reality in the Dutch traffic. (Part C of this Master thesis needs to be viewed with Acrobat).

Current "Philips" practices include development of physical environments in which luminaires can be tested with the user. However "Philips" is also interested in virtual prototyping and thus is turning towards identifying a number of features in 3d environments which influence the human perception of realism. This study utilizes traditional psychophysical analysis to investigate the effect of object induced clutter and its connection to the perception of visual realism in 3d renderings. This project goes beyond the identification of pre-perceived common trends and reveals the actual perceptual value of clutter according to the perceived realism that it brings to virtual scenes. This project strives to define and manage clutter and its affect on the sensation of visual realism in renderings. The project begins with the hypothesis that: “The amount of clutter of objects strongly affects the perception of realism in 3d renderings.” During the development of this project this assumption is thoroughly tested and the needed conclusions are drawn according to the findings that are made. The design of the series of tests in the perceptual experiments is governed by the need to create the large sets of images scaling the clutter features as accurately as intended. These sets are comprised of photographs and renderings or only renderings. The software and hardware used to create these images are chosen to most accurately serve the goals of this experiment and create a project environment in which the participants can better focus on the features of the experiments. The project itself is comprised of 3 perceptual experiments. For the first experiment of this project renderings and Tone Mapped HDR photographs are compared and the effect that the number of objects in them has on their visual realism is shown. For the following stages renderings are compared between each other and unlike the first experiment where the focus is on the number of objects these contain items varying in angle and placement. Thus this project includes a total of 4 participant test stages which test the effect of the number of object, the placement and the angle shift which we argue are the 3 features definitive to object clutter. This study concludes that on the basis of the experiments made clutter did not affect realism greatly. Despite the fact that there is a proven small and consistent rise in realism with the rise of the clutter, that rise is not affected by either the number of objects or their placement in the scene but only by the variable of angle shift. Angle shift under the conditions in which this project took place proved to have a greater effect on the visual perception of realism than the other features of clutter. This was consistent over the samples of the last stage, which we believe is the most detail revealing for the entire project. However, the small difference leads us to believe that the perceptual value the angle shift brings to the visual realism of scenes could be even smaller in a none test environment. Thus an overall conclusion that clutter does not affect the perception of realism greatly is drawn. For professional luminaire designers we believe the current project can serve as a demonstration to what the actual perceptual value of clutter is, while still minding the fact that the resources spent in projects are in most instances case specific. For virtual prototyping of luminaires the outcome of this project points towards a defened simplification of the scenes used. As the number of object in the scene does not greatly contribute to the perceptual value of the renderings we believe that 3d scenes can be stripped off objects inside them and thus made quicker, with less skill required and eventually rendered faster. However we stay far from trying to stipulate that adding any objects to 3d scenes is pointless. This is as besides the actual perceptual value some objects in 3d environments obviously also carry other values such as for instance the artistic. These are yet to be quantified. Nevertheless it is arguable if these are of importance to luminaire prototyping. Still, if we believe that this is the case, it is also questionable what objects should be chosen to be most informative for the characteristics of the luminaires and if not chosen by this criteria then in what way are they contributive to the rendered environments and virtual luminaire prototyping.

This project explored the application of computer vision technology in a social game to develop a web-based photo-bombing game for the HITLab NZ. I performed a literature research to find out more about game design and computer vision methods. Some subjects covered were the psychological background of pranks and social games. My technology research focused on varieties of computer vision to be able to recognise players in uploaded photos. Furthermore, I used the outcomes of a context mapping session with four potential users to develop an interaction vision and define requirements for a successful game. My main conclusions were that social gameplay especially was a major opportunity to include in my game, and that many different computer vision methods have different benefits and disadvantages that should be further explored before incorporating one in my design. This exploration was executed using an evolutionary design method and a design framework based on several elements of game design. Brainstorming sessions and a morphological chart led to game mechanisms that explored the idea scenarios regarding social play and the fulfilment of quests, and a technological development based on QR codes and face recognition. The final design combined both idea scenarios by offering social quests, and used face recognition as identification method. The game was developed and explained in more detail using the game design framework and various diagrams: a function diagram explaining the input, output, and processes of player, website, and servers; and a system diagram to connect the functions and interactions to form a player-friendly interface. Because of technological limitations regarding player identification found in the game development, the final user test focused on the gameplay and user experience compared to my vision and expectations. I tested the enjoyment level, balance, player retention, and tourist reactions. I found that my test persons were reluctant to cross social boundaries for more elaborate photo-bombing quests. They felt that, in theory, the game sounded like an amazing way to spend some spare time on holiday, almost like a treasure hunt. In practice, however, they hardly got round to playing it. My final recommendations were to review the choice of a broad target group and to pay a lot of attention to the implementation of the game, so it becomes socially accepted. More importantly, the success of the game depends heavily on future computer vision developments: as it stands right now, the methods I explored are not reliable enough.

Multitouch tablet computers (tablets) are devices that are particulary suited for education. However, there is a lack of good student applications for tablets, as well as a lack of educational software aimed at student collaboration in general. This project attempts to find methods that can enable student collaboration through the use of tablets in an attempt to enhance the user's education as well. This has resulted in the tablet application concept called PaboCommunity, which aims to combine digital study material available through the tablet with the mechanic of asking and answering questions to one's peers quickly and intuitively. In this way, we enable collaboration between students.