Faculty and students at ACCAD represent a community of researchers and artists, using these technologies in a wide variety of applications. This collective aesthetic/technical expertise has resulted in significant contributions to such varying disciplines as computer graphics, computer art, and scientific visualization. The LIQUID VISION project is providing ACCAD with the ability to expand these contributions in the areas of science education and interactive installations. It also represents an exciting collaboration between entities from the academic and the private sector, working toward solutions to problems that are of interest to both groups.
ACCAD staff and graduate students cooperated with the exhibit design staff at COSI in the evaluation of current exhibits and exhibition methodology. The results of these studies were used by ACCAD to design several components of the LIQUID VISION exhibit. ACCAD staff implemented and tested the simulation programs and software interfaces for these installations, which were subjected to further testing and evaluation on location at COSI.
The installations provide young people the opportunity to experience the same kinds of sophisticated computer hardware and software that are used in motion picture special effects, architectural and industrial product design,advertising, and aircraft flight simulation. Interactive experiences of this type show immense potential as part of a new approach to the educational process,in the sciences as well as in most other disciplines.
A path through a 3D environment is interactively modified, and an object is moved by the computer along this path. Various attributes of the motion can be adjusted by the user, including smoothness and continuity.
Various 3-D objects can be selected by the user, and one of a collection of surface characteristics can be assigned to the model. The view of the object with the new attributes is immediately updated.
Two different video images are selected (optionally including an image of the user). The first image is modified according to the contents of the second image in a time-dependent fashion. An animation is created by the computer that shows the resulting modified image for every stage of the process,resulting in a continuous view of the transformation from one to the other.
A water cannon is placed in a field. The user can interactively adjust several physical parameters, including the volume of water, the angle of opening at the nozzle, the direction that the cannon is pointed, and the gravitational force in the simulated world. The resulting stream is calculated and displayed, as the user attempts to direct it to a target area in the field. The interplay of all of these parameters can be adjusted and viewed by the user, providing insight into the influence of the forces acting on the stream.
In another simulation, a cube of jello is dropped onto the floor in the scene. The viewer can adjust the gravity, and attributes of the object, such as elasticity, so it bounces in various unpredictable ways.
As the user makes sounds or speaks into a microphone, the sounds are converted into a digital representation of their frequencies, and these are drawn on the screen as a continuously rolling "landscape" of peaks and valleys, which are in fact the sound signals. The user can adjust the vantage point and look at it from any angle. An optional wheel rolls along the landscape, bouncing toe heights that are dependent on the amplitude of the sound signal as it hits it.
Stereo view - The user views an object through polarized glasses as the computer updates two stereo views of the object. The image "pops" off the screen as if it is truly defined in three dimensions.
Holography - An object is rendered by the computer from several different pre-calculated viewpoints. These views are composited, and a special projector converts them into a holographic image.
