Cumincad : CUMINCAD Papers : Search Results

CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	48a7
authors	Brooks
year	1999
title	What's Real About Virtual Reality
source	IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 19, no. 6, Nov/Dec, 27
summary	As is usual with infant technologies, the realization of the early dreams for VR and harnessing it to real work has taken longer than the wild hype predicted, but it is now happening. I assess the current state of the art, addressing the perennial questions of technology and applications. By 1994, one could honestly say that VR "almost works." Many workers at many centers could doe quite exciting demos. Nevertheless, the enabling technologies had limitations that seriously impeded building VR systems for any real work except entertainment and vehicle simulators. Some of the worst problems were end-to-end system latencies, low-resolution head-mounted displays, limited tracker range and accuracy, and costs. The technologies have made great strides. Today one can get satisfying VR experiences with commercial off-the-shelf equipment. Moreover, technical advances have been accompanied by dropping costs, so it is both technically and economically feasible to do significant application. VR really works. That is not to say that all the technological problems and limitations have been solved. VR technology today "barely works." Nevertheless, coming over the mountain pass from "almost works" to "barely works" is a major transition for the discipline. I have sought out applications that are now in daily productive use, in order to find out exactly what is real. Separating these from prototype systems and feasibility demos is not always easy. People doing daily production applications have been forthcoming about lessons learned and surprises encountered. As one would expect, the initial production applications are those offering high value over alternate approaches. These applications fall into a few classes. I estimate that there are about a hundred installations in daily productive use worldwide.
series	journal paper
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	7d6c
authors	Chapin, William L., Lacey, T. and Leifer, Larry
year	1994
title	DesignSpace: A Manual Interaction Environment for Computer Aided Design DEMONSTRATIONS: Virtual Reality Multimedia
source	Proceedings of ACM CHI'94 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1994 v.2 pp. 33-34
summary	DesignSpace is a computer-aided-design (CAD) system that facilitates dexterous manipulation of mechanical design representations. The system consists of an interactive simulation programmed with a seamless extended model of the designer's physical environment and driven with continuous instrumentation of the designer's physical actions. The simulation displays consistent visual and aural images of the virtual environment without occluding the designer's sensation of the physical surroundings. Developed at Stanford University's Center for Design Research (CDR), DesignSpace serves as an experimental testbed for design theory and methodology research. DesignSpace includes significant contributions from recent CDR development projects: TalkingGlove, CutPlane, VirtualHand, TeleSign, and VirtualGrasp. The current DesignSpace prototype provides modeling facility for only crude conceptual design and assembly, but can network multiple systems to share a common virtual space and arbitrate the collaborative interaction. The DesignSpace prototype employs three head-tracked rear projection images, head-coupled binaural audio, hand instrumentation, and electromagnetic position tracking.
keywords	Virtual Environment; Dexterous Manipulation; Interactive Simulation; Presence; Spatial Acoustics; Manual and Gestural Communication; Teleconference; Collaboration
series	other
last changed	2002/07/07 16:01

_id	7475
authors	Laurel, B., Strickland, R. and Tow, R.
year	1994
title	Placeholder: Landscape and Narrative In Virtual Environments
source	ACM Computer Graphics Quarterly Volume 28 Number 2 May
summary	The idea of using virtual reality for entertainment purposes is actually quite recent in the history of VR technology. Early VR entertainment applications, appearing in the late 1980s, were extensions of the existing "serious" application of flight simulation training. The other branch of flight - simulator technology - motion platforms used in synchronization with motion video or animation - was much more amenable to the theme park environment. These systems, of which Star Tours is the best known, trade off individual viewpoint control and the sense of agency for thrilling, finely calibrated effects and the optimization of "throughput" - that is, getting the most people through the ride in the least time. Second to motion-platform rides in this regard are networked pods, as used in Virtual World Entertainment systems (previously Battletech). "Classic" virtual reality, with head-mounted displays and various forms of body tracking, are especially problematic in theme park environments for several reasons. It takes time to get the gear onto the participants. Only a handful of people can experience the attraction simultaneously (although a much larger audience might watch what the people "inside" the VR are doing). A hard-driving plot with distinct beginning, middle, and end is a great way to control how long an experience takes, but "classic" VR is inimical to this kind of authorial control - it works best when people can move about and do things in virtual environments in a relatively unconstrained way.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	01ef
authors	Cajati, Claudio
year	1994
title	From Real to Virtual Building Behaviours: “Expert Hypertexts” in the Design Studio
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 243
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.x.w5v
summary	Starting from the refuse of the most impressive, on fashion performances of the so called Virtual Reality, I hypothize for the architectural education of the next decade a strategy based on the following scenario: ()- as regards the form of the virtual studio, it should result from the synergy of many moments and opportunities: telematic interaction; students working at home; students training through assistant design tools in the university venue, with or without teachers’ supervision; informal discussion teachers-students about such training; traditional teachers’ lectures as introductions or resumes; (-) as regards the function of the virtual studio, it should realize the awareness of building behaviours, by teaching architectural design through the critical analysis of positive and - even more important - negative “precedents”.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	0e58
authors	Campbell, D.A. and Wells, M.
year	1994
title	A Critique of Virtual Reality in the Architectural Design Process, R-94-3
source	Human Interface Technology Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, http://www.hitl.washington.edu/publications/r-94-3/: 23 May 2001
summary	An addition to a building was designed using virtual reality (VR). The project was part of a design studio for graduate students of architecture. During the design process a detailed journal of activities was kept. In addition, the design implemented with VR was compared to designs implemented with more traditional methods. Both immersive and non-immersive VR simulations were attempted. Part of the rationale for exploring the use of VR in this manner was to develop insight into how VR techniques can be incorporated into the architectural design process, and to provide guidance for the implementers of future VR systems. This paper describes the role of VR in schematic design, through design development to presentation and evaluation. In addition, there are some comments on the effects of VR on detailed design. VR proved to be advantageous in several phases of the design. However, several shortcomings in both hardware and software became apparent. These are described, and a number of recommendations are provided.
series	other
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	b81d
authors	Davies, C. and Harrison, J.
year	1996
title	Osmose: Towards Broadening the Aesthetics of Virtual Reality
source	ACM Computer Graphics: Virtual Reality Volume 30, Number 4
summary	Osmose is an immersive virtual environment, produced by Softimage in 1994/95. One of the primary goals of Osmose was to push the expressive capabilities of existing 3D tools, to demonstrate that an alternative aesthetic and interactive sensibility is possible for real-time, interactive, 3D computer graphics. Osmose was created under the direction of Char Davies, the Director of Visual Research at Softimage. A former painter, as well as a creator of 3D computer graphic stills, Davies has a particular artistic vision which has driven the project. Davies has been striving for years to represent space as a luminous enveloping medium. This has led her from painting to 3D computer graphics, and finally into creating immersive virtual spaces. One of Davies' intentions for Osmose was to create a space that is "psychically innovating," one in which, to quote Bachelard, participants do not change "place," but change their own nature. Osmose was therefore designed to explore the potential of immersive virtual space to allow participants to shed their habitual ways of looking at (and behaving in) the world. By doing this, we hoped they would then emerge from the virtual world to experience the real world in a fresh way, reawakening a fundamental sense of their own "being-in-the-world." We hoped that this could be accomplished through the visual, aural and interactive aesthetic of the work.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	4f23
authors	Dieberger, Andreas
year	1994
title	Navigation in Spatial Information Environments: User Interface Design Issues for Hypertext and VR Systems Posters
source	Proceedings of the ECHT'94 European Conference on Hypermedia Technologies 1994
summary	The Information City project (presented in a poster at Hypertext 93) uses the spatial user interface metaphor of a city to organize and navigate large collections of hypertextual information. As we are used to navigate real life cities the city metaphor -- enriched with magic features -- should help to navigate information structures. A first implementation of the Information City was started in a MUD system. MUDs are networked multi-user text-adventure games which usually make use of a house / city metaphor. MUDs are conceptually similar to hypertext systems and navigational findings in those systems are therefore relevant also to hypertext. While implementing the first parts of the city research into navigation in MUDs was found necessary. This poster presents some results of this navigational study and describes how knowledge in the domains of architecture and city-planning can be used to design an easy to navigate virtual city. Highlights of the results concern magic features and collaboration. Magic features extend the spatial metaphor beyond typical properties of space. An example is the hypertext link which allows tunneling through the spatial structure. Other results concern the richness of spaces (or space-descriptions) and communication between users. It seems the chief benefit of the spatial metaphor of the city is in communication about spatial relationships of information. The findings probably are valuable in designing any information system using spatial metaphors. They are especially useful for hypertext systems realized in some virtual environment -- be it a MUD or an immerse virtual reality system.
series	other
last changed	2002/07/07 16:01

_id	a4fe
authors	Encarnacao, J. and Goebel, M., Rosenblum, M.
year	1994
title	European Activities in Virtual Reality
source	Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 14, No. 1, January 1994
summary	We survey European activities in virtual reality, with an emphasis on selected efforts in architecture and sound, telepresence, scientific visualization, simulation, software design, and entertainment. This article surveys European activities and funding for VR with two caveats: First, nearly a year separates writing and publication. For most scientific fields, this publication delay for survey material would be minimal: for virtual reality, significant changes might have since occurred in some programs. We took advantage of the revision period to upgrade our information and the references as much as possible. Second, some long standing, significant European efforts go unmentioned as outside the scope of our short survey or as duplicates of others included. Despite the limitations, this sampling of Europe's leading efforts collectively gives an accurate snapshot of current European activity.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	2775
authors	Fuchs, Wladyslaw and Wrona, Stefan K.
year	1994
title	Looking for the Best Place for Computer Models in Architectural Education
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 43-46
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.043
summary	In the past, many Schools of Architecture were mastering skill of preparing hand made models and hand drawings as a main technique in design education (e.g. Warsaw School of Architecture). Introduction of CAAD to teaching process brings a new modelling techniques and a new possibilities. The role of computer models in architectural education is very promissing and still not fully recognized. Development of modelling techniques and communication media is much quicker than development of design studio concepts. Many concepts and experiments in this field had place in architectural schools all over the word. A new concept of design studio based on computer modelling techniques as a communication media is the subject of interest of the Warsaw School of Architecture. The virtuality versus reality in teaching concepts is one of the most important issues in our traditional, professionaly oriented school.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	672c
authors	Hill, Pamela J. and Smeltzer, Geert T.A.
year	1994
title	Virtual Reality in the Architectural Design Studio
source	Reconnecting [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-03-9] Washington University (Saint Louis / USA) 1994, pp. 229-231
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1994.229
summary	In 1994, students from Montana State University took part in a student exchange at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. The goal of this exchange was to investigate the pedagogical results of using Virtual Reality in the architectural design studio as a tool to create, understand, and describe three-dimensional space. At the conclusion of this project, it was discovered that through VR the students were able to understand the spatial qualities of their own designs much more comprehensively than with threedimensional computer models alone. It was also discovered that the understanding of peer students, design, and technical faculty was enhanced as well.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	da71
id	da71
authors	Horne, Margaret
year	2004
title	Visualisation of Martyr’s Square, Beirut
source	CONVR2005 5th Conference of Construction Applications of Virtual Reality, ADETTI/ISCTE, Durham, UK, 12-13 September 2005
summary	Solidere, a Lebanese joint-stock company, was created by government decree in 1994 to reconstruct Beirut city-centre. The company, a form of public-private partnership, has a majority share holding of former owners and tenants of city-centre property. Several projects are underway, including the redevelopment of Place des Martyrs, once the bustling heart of Beirut but badly damaged during the war. Urban planners in Beirut have recently developed a 3D computer model to visually describe the spatial characteristics of Martyr’s Square and its context, prior to inviting design proposals for an international competition. This paper describes issues pertaining to the development of the model to meet the needs of urban designers and town planners. It also considers potential future uses of the simulation, outlining areas for further research and development.
keywords	Beirut, 3D Modelling, Visual Simulation, Town Planning
series	other
type	normal paper
email
last changed	2006/06/08 22:10

_id	0726
authors	Kadysz, Andrzej
year	1994
title	CAD the Tool
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, p. 212
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.x.k7r
summary	What is the role of CAAD as a tool of architectural form creation ? We used to over-estimate the role of computer as significant factor of design process. In fact it serves only to produce technical documentation and to visualise designed buildings. We usually use CAAD to record ideas, not to create designs. We use it like more complex pencil. But it is unsuitable for conceptual design , with imperceptible influence on idea definition. Its practical usefulnes is limited. I would like to consider and find out reasons of that state, present some conclusions and ideas on computer aided architectural form creation. Many tools were invented to extend posibilities of human body or intellect. Microscop and telescop are extensions of human eye. Which organ is extended by computer (especially by CAAD)? CAAD with high developed function of visualising of the object beeing designed seems to be an extension of architect's imagination. It is beeing used to foresee visual efects, to check designed forms, to see something what we are not able to imagine. It performes the role of electronic modeler. Real model and virtual model - the medium of presentation is diferent but ways of using them are similar . Dislocation of place where we build model is not a big achievement, but potential possbilities of CAAD in modeling are almost unlimited (?). What are special features of CAAD as a modeling tool? First we have to consider what is indispensible when building a model: to embody idea. To do this we need space, substance and tools. In architectural design practice space is a real site with definite climate, neigbourhood, orientation. Substance that we shape is an archiectural form composed of many difrent elements: walls, windows, roof, entry, ... , proportions, rhythm, emotions, impresions... The tool is: our knowledge, imagination, talent, experience, norms, law and drawing equipment. Working with the computer, making virtual model, we have many of mentioned elements given in structure of CAAD program and interpreted by it. But many of them have different character. Making traditional dummy of building we operate on reality which is manually accessible. In case of computer model we operate on information. Space, substance and tool (- program) are informations, data. Human being is not an abstract data processor, but creature that lives non stop in close, direct, sensual contact with nature. By this contact with enviroment collects experiences. Computer can operate on digital data that is optionally selected and given by user, independent upon enviromental conditions. Usually architecture was created on basis of enviroment, climate, gravity. But these do not exist in CAAD programs or exist in the symbolic form. Character of these conditions is not obvious. We can watch demeanour of objects in gravity but it can be also antigravity. In theory of systems everything is considered as a part of biger system. In "virtual" reality (in computer space) we deal with accurences which are reduced to abstract level, free upon terms or connections. We work with our CAAD software using geometric space whithout any other principle.
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	caadria2004_k-1
id	caadria2004_k-1
authors	Kalay, Yehuda E.
year	2004
title	CONTEXTUALIZATION AND EMBODIMENT IN CYBERSPACE
source	CAADRIA 2004 [Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 89-7141-648-3] Seoul Korea 28-30 April 2004, pp. 5-14
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2004.005
summary	The introduction of VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) in 1994, and other similar web-enabled dynamic modeling software (such as SGI’s Open Inventor and WebSpace), have created a rush to develop on-line 3D virtual environments, with purposes ranging from art, to entertainment, to shopping, to culture and education. Some developers took their cues from the science fiction literature of Gibson (1984), Stephenson (1992), and others. Many were web-extensions to single-player video games. But most were created as a direct extension to our new-found ability to digitally model 3D spaces and to endow them with interactive control and pseudo-inhabitation. Surprisingly, this technologically-driven stampede paid little attention to the core principles of place-making and presence, derived from architecture and cognitive science, respectively: two principles that could and should inform the essence of the virtual place experience and help steer its development. Why are the principles of place-making and presence important for the development of virtual environments? Why not simply be content with our ability to create realistically-looking 3D worlds that we can visit remotely? What could we possibly learn about making these worlds better, had we understood the essence of place and presence? To answer these questions we cannot look at place-making (both physical and virtual) from a 3D space-making point of view alone, because places are not an end unto themselves. Rather, places must be considered a locus of contextualization and embodiment that ground human activities and give them meaning. In doing so, places acquire a meaning of their own, which facilitates, improves, and enriches many aspects of our lives. They provide us with a means to interpret the activities of others and to direct our own actions. Such meaning is comprised of the social and cultural conceptions and behaviors imprinted on the environment by the presence and activities of its inhabitants, who in turn, ‘read’ by them through their own corporeal embodiment of the same environment. This transactional relationship between the physical aspects of an environment, its social/cultural context, and our own embodiment of it, combine to create what is known as a sense of place: the psychological, physical, social, and cultural framework that helps us interpret the world around us, and directs our own behavior in it. In turn, it is our own (as well as others’) presence in that environment that gives it meaning, and shapes its social/cultural character. By understanding the essence of place-ness in general, and in cyberspace in particular, we can create virtual places that can better support Internet-based activities, and make them equal to, in some cases even better than their physical counterparts. One of the activities that stands to benefit most from understanding the concept of cyber-places is learning—an interpersonal activity that requires the co-presence of others (a teacher and/or fellow learners), who can point out the difference between what matters and what does not, and produce an emotional involvement that helps students learn. Thus, while many administrators and educators rush to develop webbased remote learning sites, to leverage the economic advantages of one-tomany learning modalities, these sites deprive learners of the contextualization and embodiment inherent in brick-and-mortar learning institutions, and which are needed to support the activity of learning. Can these qualities be achieved in virtual learning environments? If so, how? These are some of the questions this talk will try to answer by presenting a virtual place-making methodology and its experimental implementation, intended to create a sense of place through contextualization and embodiment in virtual learning environments.
series	CAADRIA
type	normal paper
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	a887
authors	Kaplan, Nancy and Moulthrop, Stuart
year	1994
title	Where No Mind Has Gone Before: Ontological Design for Virtual Spaces Papers
source	Proceedings of the ECHT'94 European Conference on Hypermedia Technologies 1994 pp. 206-216
summary	Hypermedia designers have tried to move beyond the directed graph concept, which defines hypermedia structures as aggregations of nodes and links. A substantial body of work attempts to describe hypertexts in terms of extended or global spaces. According to this approach, nodes and links acquire meaning in relation to the space in which they are deployed. Some theory of space thus becomes essential for any advance in hypermedia design; but the type of space implied by electronic information systems, from hyperdocuments to "consensual hallucinations," requires careful analysis. Familiar metaphors drawn from physics, architecture, and everyday experience have only limited descriptive or explanatory value for this type of space. As theorists of virtual reality point out, new information systems demand an internal rather than an external perspective. This shift demands a more sophisticated approach to hypermedia space, one that accounts both for stable design properties (architectonic space) and for unforeseen outcomes, or what Winograd and Flores call "breakdowns." Following Wexelblat in cyberspace theory and Dillon, McKnight, and Richardson in hypermedia theory, we call the domain of these outcomes semantic space. In two thought experiments, or brief exercises in interface design, we attempt to reconcile these divergent notions of space within the conceptual system of hypermedia.
keywords	Spatial Hypertext; Interface Design; Information Mapping; Navigation
series	other
last changed	2002/07/07 16:01

_id	06e1
authors	Keul, Alexander
year	1996
title	LOST IN SPACE? ARCHITECTURAL PSYCHOLOGY - PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
source	Full-Scale Modeling in the Age of Virtual Reality [6th EFA-Conference Proceedings]
summary	A methodological review by Kaminski (1995) summed up five perspectives in environmental psychology - patterns of spatial distribution, everyday “jigsaw puzzles”, functional everyday action systems, sociocultural change and evolution of competence. Architectural psychology (named so at the Strathclyde conference 1969; Canter, 1973) as psychology of built environments is one leg of environmental psychology, the second one being psychology of environmental protection. Architectural psychology has come of age and passed its 25th birthday. Thus, a triangulation of its position, especially in Central Europe, seems interesting and necessary. A recent survey mainly on university projects in German-speaking countries (Kruse & Trimpin, 1995) found a marked decrease of studies in psychology of built environments. 1994, 25% of all projects were reported in this category, which in 1975 had made up 40% (Kruse, 1975). Guenther, in an unpublished survey of BDP (association of professional German psychologists) members, encountered only a handful active in architectural psychology - mostly part-time, not full-time. 1996, Austria has two full-time university specialists. The discrepancy between the general interest displayed by planners and a still low institutionalization is noticeable. How is the research situation? Using several standard research data banks, the author collected articles and book(chapter)s on architectural psychology in German- and English-language countries from 1990 to 1996. Studies on main architecture-psychology interface problems such as user needs, housing quality evaluations, participatory planning and spatial simulation / virtual reality did not outline an “old, settled” discipline, but rather the sketchy, random surface of a field “always starting anew”. E.g., discussions at the 1995 EAEA-Conference showed that several architectural simulation studies since 1973 caused no major impact on planner's opinions (Keul&Martens, 1996). “Re-inventions of the wheel” are caused by a lack of meetings (except this one!) and of interdisciplinary infrastructure in German-language countries (contrary to Sweden or the United States). Social pressures building up on architecture nowadays by inter-European competition, budget cuts and citizen activities for informed consent in most urban projects are a new challenge for planners to cooperate efficiently with social scientists. At Salzburg, the author currently manages the Corporate Design-process for the Chamber of Architecture, Division for Upper Austria and Salzburg. A “working group for architectural psychology” (Keul-Martens-Maderthaner) has been active since 1994.
keywords	Model Simulation, Real Environments
series	EAEA
type	normal paper
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa/
last changed	2005/09/09 10:43

_id	c4ae
id	c4ae
authors	Knapp, Robert W. and McCall, Raymond
year	1996
title	PHIDIAS II - In Support of Collaborative Design
source	Design Computation: Collaboration, Reasoning, Pedagogy [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-05-5] Tucson (Arizona / USA) October 31 - November 2, 1996, pp. 147-154
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1996.147
summary	The World Wide Web in combination with Java and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) create great opportunities for collaboration by distributed design teams. To take advantage of these opportunities, we have begun to create a version of the PHIDIAS hyperCAD system (McCall, Bennett and Johnson 1994) that will support communication and collaboration among designers over the Word Wide Web. PHIDIAS is an intelligent, hypermedia-based system for computer-aided design. Our strategy is to divide PHIDIAS into two parts: 1) a client-side user interface and 2) a server-side hyperCAD database engine. The client-side interface is being implemented using Java and VRML. Implementing the PHIDIAS front-end with Java enables program code distribution via the World Wide Web. VRML provides PHIDIAS with client-side computation and display of 3D graphics.
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	d5b3
authors	Knight, Michael and Brown, Andre
year	1999
title	Working in Virtual Environments through appropriate Physical Interfaces
source	Architectural Computing from Turing to 2000 [eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-5-7] Liverpool (UK) 15-17 September 1999, pp. 431-436
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1999.431
summary	The work described here is aimed at contributing towards the debate and development relating to the construction of interfaces to explore buildings and their environs through virtual worlds. We describe a particular hardware and software configuration which is derived by the use of low cost games software to create the Virtual Environment. The Physical Interface responds to the work of other researchers, in this area, in particular Shaw (1994) and Vasquez de Velasco & Trigo (1997). Virtual Evironments might have the potential to be "a magical window into other worlds, from molecules to minds" (Rheingold, 1992), but what is the nature of that window? Currently it is often a translucent opening which gives a hazy and distorted (disembodied) view. And many versions of such openings are relatively expensive. We consider ways towards clearing the haze without too much expense, adapting techniques proposed by developers of low cost virtual reality systems (Hollands, 1995) for use in an architectural setting.
keywords	Virtual Environments, Games Software
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	807e
authors	Maver, Thomas W. and Petric, Jelena (Eds.)
year	1994
title	The Virtual Studio [Conference Proceedings]
source	eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6 / Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, 262 p.
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994
summary	ECAADE was established in 1982 with the intention, across Europe, of facilitating the adoption of the Information Technologies - particularly Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) - within the system of architectural education. The Association, in the 12 years of its existence, has grown in its membership (now close to 350) and in its importance. The annual conferences (Delft 82, Brussels 83, Helsinki 84, Rotterdam 85, Rome 86, Zurich 87, Aarhus 89, Budapest 90, Munich 91, Barcelona 92 and Eindhoven 93) now number 12 and this volume records the 70 or so contributions to the Conference held in Glasgow over the period 7-10 September 1994.The proceedings are arranged according to a number of themes. Theories and Ideas, Teaching and Learning, Visualisation, Multi-Media, Virtual Reality, Virtual Design Studios, Functional Analysis, Design Support Systems and Surveys of Activity. The Conference featured 'long presentations'; and 'short presentations'; the length of these presentations is reflected in the two main sections of this text. To preserve the spirit of conference communication and ensure the rapid dissemination of ideas in a fast grown community of polyglot Europeans, no changes to the papers, which were submitted in Apple Mac and/or PC diskettes, have been imposed; you see them as they were submitted and as the authors intended.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	ca57
authors	Reid, Elizabeth
year	1994
title	Cultural formations in text-based virtual realities
source	University of Melbourne
summary	Beginning with an understanding of virtual reality as an imaginative experience and thus a cultural construct rather than a technical construction, this thesis discusses cultural and social issues raised by interaction on 'MUDs', which are text-based virtual reality systems run on the international computer network known as the Internet. MUD usage forces users to deconstruct many of the cultural tools and understandings that form the basis of more conventional systems of interaction. Unable to rely on physical cues as a channel of meaning, users of MUDs have developed ways of substituting for or by-passing them, resulting in novel methods of textualising the non- verbal. The nature of the body and sexuality are problematised in these virtual environments, since the physical is never fixed and gender is a self-selected attribute. In coming to terms with these aspects of virtual interaction, new systems of significance have been developed by users, along with methods of enforcing that cultural hegemony through power structures dependent upon manipulation of the virtual environment. These new systems of meaning and social control define those who use MUDs as constituting a distinct cultural group.
keywords	Subject Social Evolution; Virtual Reality; Interactive Multimedia; Internet
series	thesis:MSc
email
last changed	2003/02/12 22:37

_id	e1a1
authors	Rodriguez, G.
year	1996
title	REAL SCALE MODEL VS. COMPUTER GENERATED MODEL
source	Full-Scale Modeling in the Age of Virtual Reality [6th EFA-Conference Proceedings]
summary	Advances in electronic design and communication are already reshaping the way architecture is done. The development of more sophisticated and user-friendly Computer Aided Design (CAD) software and of cheaper and more powerful hardware is making computers more and more accessible to architects, planners and designers. These professionals are not only using them as a drafting tool but also as a instrument for visualization. Designers are "building" digital models of their designs and producing photo-like renderings of spaces that do not exist in the dimensional world. The problem resides in how realistic these Computer Generated Models (CGM) are. Moss & Banks (1958) considered realism “the capacity to reproduce as exactly as possible the object of study without actually using it”. He considers that realism depends on: 1)The number of elements that are reproduced; 2) The quality of those elements; 3) The similarity of replication and 4) Replication of the situation. CGM respond well to these considerations, they can be very realistic. But, are they capable of reproducing the same impressions on people as a real space? Research has debated about the problems of the mode of representation and its influence on the judgement which is made. Wools (1970), Lau (1970) and Canter, Benyon & West (1973) have demonstrated that the perception of a space is influenced by the mode of presentation. CGM are two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional space. Canter (1973) considers the three-dimensionality of the stimuli as crucial for its perception. So, can a CGM afford as much as a three-dimensional model? The “Laboratorio de Experimentacion Espacial” (LEE) has been concerned with the problem of reality of the models used by architects. We have studied the degree in which models can be used as reliable and representative of real situations analyzing the Ecological Validity of several of them, specially the Real-Scale Model (Abadi & Cavallin, 1994). This kind of model has been found to be ecologically valid to represent real space. This research has two objectives: 1) to study the Ecological Validity of a Computer Generated Model; and 2) compare it with the Ecological Validity of a Real Scale Model in representing a real space.
keywords	Model Simulation, Real Environments
series	other
type	normal paper
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa/
last changed	2004/05/04 14:42

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