Browsing by Subject "Virtual environments"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
Editing heightfield using history management and 3D widgets
(IEEE, 2009-09) Yalçın, M. Aydın; Çapin, Tolga K.
In virtual environments, terrain is generally modeled by heightfield, a 2D structure. To be able to create desired terrain geometry, software editors for this specific task have been developed. The graphics hardware, data structures and rendering techniques are developing fast to open up new possibilities to the user and terrain editor functionalities are following such improvements (such as real-time lighting updates during editing operations and multi-texture blending). Yet, current terrain editors mostly fail to give the user feedback about their actions and also fail to help the users understand and undo the editing operations on the terrain. The aim of this study is to investigate the 3d-widget based visualization of possible editing (sculpturing) actions on terrain and to help user undo previous operations. © 2009 IEEE.
Open Access
The effect of sound environment on spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual outpatient polyclinic
(Elsevier, 2021-12-28) Dalirnaghadeh, Donya; Yilmazer, Semiha
This study examines the impact of the sound environment on spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual outpa- tient polyclinic. Outpatient polyclinics have a salient role in determining early outpatient treatments of COVID- 19 to prevent hospitalization or death and reduce the burden on hospitals. However, they have not been widely investigated in the literature. The studies on spatial knowledge have identified environmental elements mainly related to vision with no focus on sound. Currently, there is limited research on the effect of sound environment on spatial knowledge acquisition in virtual outpatient polyclinics. In this study, a virtual simulated outpatient polyclinic has been created with varying levels of visual and audio cues. Eighty participants were assigned to one of the four groups: a control (no visual signage), a visual (visual signage), an only audio (no landmarks and no visual signage), and an audio-visual group. The virtual environment was presented as a video walkthrough with passive exploration to test spatial knowledge acquisition with tasks based on the landmark-route-survey model. The results showed that a combination of visual signage and sound environment resulted in higher spatial knowledge acquisition. No significant difference was found between the performance of the visual group and the control group that shows that signage alone cannot aid spatial knowledge in virtual outpatient polyclinics. Data from the only audio group suggests that landmarks associated with sound can compensate for the lack of visual landmarks that may help design a wayfinding system for users with visual disabilities.
Open Access
The effect of the sound environment on spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual outpatient polyclinic
(2022-05) Dalirnaghadeh, Donya
This study examines the impact of the sound environment on spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual outpatient polyclinic. Outpatient polyclinics have a critical role in determining early outpatient treatments to prevent hospitalization or death and reduce hospital burden. However, they have not been widely investigated in the literature. The studies on spatial knowledge have identified environmental elements mainly related to vision with no focus on sound. Currently, there is limited research on the effect of the sound environment on spatial knowledge acquisition in virtual outpatient polyclinics. In this study, a virtually simulated outpatient polyclinic has been created to analyze the effect of varying levels of visual and audio cues. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to one of the four groups: a control (no visual signage and no sound), a visual (visual signage), an only audio (no landmarks and no visual signage), and an audio-visual group (visual signage, landmarks and sound). The virtual environment was presented as a video walkthrough with passive exploration to test spatial knowledge acquisition with tasks based on the landmark-route-survey model. The results showed that a combination of visual signage, landmarks, and the sound environment resulted in higher spatial knowledge acquisition. No significant difference was found between the performance of the visual group and the control group, which shows that signage alone cannot aid spatial knowledge in virtual outpatient polyclinics. Data from the only audio group suggests that landmarks associated with sound can compensate for the lack of visual landmarks that may help design a wayfinding system for users with visual disabilities.
Open Access
Spatial updating of objects after rotational and translational body movements in virtual environments
(Elsevier, 2008-05) Sancaktar, İ.; Demirkan, H.
Spatial reasoning in architectural design can be better understood by considering the factors that affect the spatial updating process of the individual in an environment. This study focuses on the issue of spatial updating of viewed and imagined objects after rotational and translational body movements in a virtual environment (VE). Rotational and translational movements based on an egocentric frame of reference where there is no control of the user are compared in a desktop VE. Moreover, preference in architectural drawing medium and gender are analyzed as the factors that affect the spatial updating of objects in each body movement type. The results indicated that translational movement was more efficient than the rotational movement in judgment of relative directions in viewed objects. Furthermore, the viewed objects were more correctly spatially updated than the imagined ones both in translational and rotational body movements. In comparison of hand, computer and both as the drawing media, findings indicated that preference in computer medium in architectural design drawings was an effective one in spatial updating process in a VE. Contrary to the previous studies, it is found that there was no significant difference between gender and movement types.