DEFINITION September 2019

FEATURE | S IGGRAPH

Autism XR is an AR ‘game’ for 14 to 18 year olds with autism to help improve their social skills

computers are also being used to make television series and feature films. Director Jon Favreau used Unreal Engine to produce Disney’s remake of The Lion King . At the Unreal Engine Users Group event at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown LA, Favreau talked about the collaborative opportunities of his experience. He recalled: “We would build our sets, upload it into VR and would scout around right in VR. We had this iterative process where we’d go to the location – just like you would on a live-action shoot – and discuss camera angles, pick lenses. Andy [Jones] would do the animation. So we pre-animated everything and we shot it as though we were looking at the lions.” Most of this hardware and software will not produce great results without characters and performances that audiences enjoy. Capture hardware and software was the most ubiquitous tech on the show floor. Passive and active performance-capture hardware, facial motion-capture cameras and software, mobile mocap studios and lidar, and photogrammetry hardware and software for capturing environments filled the exhibit hall. SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 will be held in Brisbane, Australia in November.

IMAGES (Left) Laser 3D scanning from Faro and (below) more mocap acrobatics

there were few interesting examples of adaptive technology. AUTISM GAME The first interesting example was Autism XR, a mobile, web-based, augmented reality ‘game’ (for lack of a better word) for 14 to 18-year-old children with autism to help improve their social communication skills. The project was built by high school students in 3D animation and game design at Kent Career Tech Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Users interact with a friendly 3D-animated character to learn greeting skills. The project utilises facial recognition, spatial detection, voice recognition, eye contact monitoring, expression and emotional recognition to determine a user’s level of interaction. Autism XR is only available on Android devices currently, with plans to branch out to more mobile platforms. Being Henry is an immersive VR documentary, wherein the user experiences life through the eyes of Henry Evans, who has been paralysed by a stroke. Henry can no longer speak and has very limited movement in his neck and one hand. He is able to connect to the world with technology, which allows him to speak, and interactive robots, which go out into the world as his eyes and ears. NEW BIG DOGS Game engines, faster processing and storage rule the day now. Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Unity seemed to be the two big dogs at the show, though based on market cap, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are probably the biggest dogs in the exhibit hall. Unreal Engine and Unity are leading the pack in the convergence of traditional, linear storytelling, such as movies and television, with the technology of game development. The same tools used to build games for mobile phones, consoles and

and A Kite’s Tale . In the former, from easyAction and ShadowMachine, viewers could experience a giant monster attack on a Japanese city. The latter, from Disney Animation, was a soaring flight through the clouds following a majestic dragon kite being annoyed by a small puppy kite. Inside the Immersive Pavilion, an array of presenters showed off games both entertaining and educational, VR experiences, adaptive technologies, emerging technology, 3D printing and a creative studio with art supplies. When the Pavilion opened each morning, a line of people streamed in, primarily to be 3D scanned and then have a 3D-printed bust made of themselves. Only about ten people per day were lucky (and fast) enough to make it in time for this experience. In the future, everyone will be turned into their own free swag in just fifteen minutes. 3D PRINTING Innovating with 3D printing, David Shorey of Shorey Designs demonstrated how to print three-dimensional objects on fabric. The printing layers fuse through porous fabric, creating 3D objects, which are able to move and bend, on a fabric base. Applications in cosplay, costume design and fashion are obvious and intriguing. A new programme this year was a focus on Adaptive Technology. The purpose of this programme, as conference chair Mikki Rose explained, is to “highlight content throughout our conference that helps people in their everyday lives, particularly those with alternate ability levels.” She added: “Throughout the years, we’ve seen research in the realm of computer graphics and interactive techniques strike a chord in this area so, this year, we actively sought it!” There were conference sessions, immersive demonstrations and exhibitors, which focused on adaptive technologies. Meanwhile, in the Immersive Pavilion,

SIGGRAPH 2020 will convene in Washington, DC for the first time in September of 2020.

40 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 9

Powered by