COMPUTER-AIDED AND VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNIQUES

FOR GRAPHICAL ARTWORKS

Héla Ben Mallem

1,2

, Mickael Naud

, Paul Richard

, Jean-Louis Ferrier

and Abdelaziz Labib

Laboratoire Lumières et Modernité, Université Tunis El-Manar, Tunis, Tunisia

Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Automatisés (LISA), Université d’Angers, Angers, France

Keywords: Computer graphics, Virtual environments, 3D interaction techniques, Graphical artworks.

Abstract: Recent advances in computer graphics and 3D interaction devices raise new possibilities for artworks.

However, extended analyses of the underlying technology as well as usability experiments have to be

carried out. Moreover, 3D interaction techniques have to be proposed and evaluated. Another important

aspect concerns the way computer technology may assist or support artistic creation. The objective of the

work presented in this paper is to propose both a theoretical framework for the analysis of computer-aided

artistic creation and 3D interaction techniques allowing user-centered artworks. Two immersive

configurations along with 3D interaction techniques are proposed and analyzed. These interaction

techniques are based on infrared cameras and 3D interaction devices such as a data-glove or the Nintendo

Wiimote

1 INTRODUCTION

Art has entered in a new phase of experimentation,

reinforced by the creation and the implementation of

complex models. The process of artistic creation has

evolved since its origins in terms of tools, forms,

styles and contents. This evolution is undergoing an

important step through the opportunities offered by

computing technology (Couchot et al., 1988), (Jaspart

et al., 2001), (Benayoun, 1998), (Chevalier, 2010)

(Bilda et al., 2005), (Bird et al., 2007), (De Gotzen et

al., 2008), (Candy et al., 2002), (Saunders et al.,

2002), (Costello et al., 2005). 3D interactive

environments and virtual reality (VR) technology

participate to this evolution in an original and

consistent manner.

With the continuous improvements in computer

technology, it is now possible to develop 3D artworks

with standard high-end personal computers and low-

cost interaction devices such as the Nintendo

Wiimote

. However, extended analyses of the

underlying technology as well as usability

experiments have to be carried out. Moreover, 3D

interaction techniques have to be proposed and

evaluated. Another important aspect concerns the

way computer technology may assist or support

artistic creation.

In this paper, we propose a framework for the

analysis of computer-aided artistic creation and new

3D interaction techniques allowing user-centered

artworks. Two immersive configurations along with

interaction techniques are proposed and analyzed.

They are based on projection displays and propose

3D interaction techniques based on infrared cameras

and 3D interaction devices such as a data-glove or the

Nintendo Wiimote

In the next section we present the proposed

theoretical framework for the description,

classification and analysis of computer-aided

graphical artwork. In section 3, we describe the

proposed configurations and interactions techniques.

The paper ends by a conclusion and proposes some

tracks for future works.

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Our theoretical approach was guided by the AIP cube

(Autonomy-Interaction-Presence) proposed by

Zeltzer to describe and analyze VR systems (Zeltzer,

1991). We propose a framework to describe, classify

and analyze computer-aided environment for artistic

creation. This framework (the CIA cube) illustrated in

Fig. 1, has three independent components: creativity,

immersion, and autonomy.

In the proposed framework, the creativity axis is

related to the user’s creativity, i.e. what he/she could

imagine and create without the assistance of the

347

Ben Mallem H., Naud M., Richard P., Ferrier J. and Labib A..

COMPUTER-AIDED AND VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNIQUES FOR GRAPHICAL ARTWORKS .

DOI: 10.5220/0003377603470351

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (GRAPP-2011), pages 347-351

ISBN: 978-989-8425-45-4

 2011 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

Figure 1: The CIA (Creativity, Immersion, Autonomy)

cube.

computer. Some examples of software are Paint,

Illustrator, or Photoshop. Autonomy is the related to

the automatic generation of 2D or 3D artworks based

on complex algorithms, iterated function systems,

etc... Immersion refers to the immersive aspect of the

working environment and the underlying possibility

for the user to be immersed and observe his/her own

creation from different viewpoints. Immersion could

be achieved through the use of a head-mounted

display (full immersion), or a single large back-

project stereoscopic display (partial immersion).

3 CONFIGURATIONS AND

INTERACTION TECHNIQUES

In order to study computer-aided artistic creativity,

we have developed 3D interaction techniques and

real-time applications in which the user may perform

some graphical artworks using dynamic gestures. We

therefore focus on the following point: C=1, I=0.5,

A=0 and C=1. In this case, the computer is only used

for basic features such as 3D gestures acquisition and

graphical rendering. The user is partially immersed in

the working environment.

3.1 Immersive Configuration using a

Data-glove

3.1.1 Interaction Technique

Sturman has shown that the hand can be used as a

sophisticated computer input device, and allows real-

time realization of complex tasks requiring several

degrees of freedom (Sturman, 1992). Thus, we

developed an immersive configuration allowing the

user to realize 3D graphical artwork using a 5DT

data-glove. User’s movements and dynamic gestures

are tracked in a large workspace using a motion

capture system based on two infrared cameras (Fig.

2). The data-glove has been therefore equipped with a

infrared reflector placed in the palm (Fig. 3).

Figure 2: Top view of the system: rear projected screen,

infrared (IR) cameras and workspace.

Knowing the specific parameters of the infrared

cameras (intrinsic parameters) and the relative

positioning of these cameras (extrinsic parameters) it

is possible to calculate the position of any 3D points

within the workspace.

The glove-based interaction technique allows the

user to perform graphical artwork such as 3D

drawing. Dynamic gestures are used to control the

color of the lines or curves during hand movement in

space, and for specific action such as erase the

drawing, stop and start to draw. A primary RGB color

has been assigned to each finger. Thus, the thumb

finger controls the red (R) component, the index

finger controls the green component (G), and the

middle finger controls the blue component (B).

Therefore, simultaneous bending of the three fingers

results in black color. Flexion of the ring finger

reduces the size of the drawn lines or curves, as

flexion of the little finger increases it. A flat hand is

used stop drawing. A fist gesture (all fingers fully

flexed) erases the whole drawing.

The immersive platform is equipped with a large

rear projection display (2 m x 2.5) that allows

stereoscopic viewing using passive (polarized

glasses). The platform is based on a single HP

Workstation WX6400 composed of a dual processor

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348

Figure 3: A user performing 3D graphical artworks using

the 5dt glove-based interaction technique.

Intel Xeon 5130 (2 GHz) and a MSI 8800 GTX

graphics card with 768 MB of memory. This

workstation is connected to two Barco IQ R300

projectors. Each projector is equipped with a

polarizing filter (circular).

3.1.2 Analysis and Limits

We measured the absolute error of mocap system

along the x (depth), y (width) and z (height) direction.

The results revealed that the system accuracy was

good and relatively consistent throughout the whole

workspace. However, the configuration requires a

calibration session (for both the IR mocap system and

the glove). Indeed, if one of the IR reflectors is not

visible, the drawing is interrupted, resulting in

unexpected straight lines as illustrated in Fig.3. Thus,

although very interesting and exciting, the overall

system was judged relatively difficult to use. Indeed,

the few users that performed 3D artworks using this

technique reported some difficulties concerning the

control of color. The mocap system was judged quite

efficient and accurate.

3.2 Immersive Configuration using the

Wiimote

3.2.1 Interaction Technique

In order to overcome the above cited drawbacks and

the overall cost of the system, we proposed a

bimanual interaction technique based on the Nintendo

wiimote

. This technique has been developed on a

large-scale rear-projected stereoscopic display, but

can be used with any projected display or large LCD

or OLED TV screen. A single optitrack

infrared

camera is used to track the user’s movements

(dominant hand and the Wiimote

) in 3D space.

The movements of the user’s dominant hand (right

hand in fig. 4) are used to draw 3D continuous or

dashed lines. The user may also select other

primitives such as cubes, spheres (solid or wire), or

other predefined form or patterns using the

Wiimote

. This device is equipped with a IR

reflector and is moved by the users’ non-dominant

hand (left hand in fig. 4) within a colorimetric RGB

cube used to control the color or the drawing.

3.2.2 Analysis and Limits

As for the previous systems, we measured the

accuracy and also the available workspace of the

infrared Optitrack

camera. The selected

Optitrack

camera is the one with the wider field of

view (three possible lens are available for the same

product). As for the STT IR camera, we observed that

the accuracy is relatively good and does not vary

within the workspace. Results also showed that the

user have to be quite far from the camera if he/she

want to work in a large workspace and thus decrease

the system accuracy and reliability. The solution is to

increase the size of the reflective markers.

Figure 4: Illustration of the bimanual interaction technique.

In order to evaluate the usability of the proposed

bimanual interaction technique, we carried out a non-

formal experiment. Five students were asked to

perform artworks during 30 minutes and were

interviewed. Some best results are shown in Fig. 5, 6,

7, 8, 9. We observed that the students needed some

time to understand and use efficiently the interaction

techniques. They reported that it was quite difficult

and not very intuitive to select a color within the

RGB cube. Moreover, they reported that fixed

COMPUTER-AIDED AND VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNIQUES FOR GRAPHICAL ARTWORKS

349

position of the cube in space constrained the

movements of their dominant hand.

Figure 5: Graphical artworks realized using the bimanual

interaction technique (line primitive).

Figure 6: Graphical artworks realized using the bimanual

interaction technique (sphere primitive).

Figure 7: Graphical artworks realized using the bimanual

interaction technique (solid cube primitive).

Figure 8: Graphical artworks realized using the bimanual

interaction technique (wire cube primitive).

Figure 9: Graphical artworks realized using the bimanual

interaction technique (multiple primitives).

4 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE

WORK

In this paper, we proposed both a theoretical

framework for the description, classification and

analysis of computer-aided artistic creation. Two

immersive configurations along with new interaction

techniques have been proposed. They are based on

large back-projected displays, infrared cameras and

3D interaction devices such as the 5dt data-glove and

the Nintendo Wiimote

. Preliminary experiments

have been carried out using short number of subjects.

Results and observations revealed that the proposed

configuration and interaction techniques required

some training. However, after being acquainted with

the interaction techniques, the subjects were able to

perform and enjoy some interesting 3D graphical

artworks. In the future we will investigate other

possible 3D artwork applications defined by our

theoretical framework and will focus on the

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integration of complex algorithms to assist the user.

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