Franco Tecchia

• Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies

In this paper we propose a development technique for low-power devices with limited computing capacity to obtain efficient, high-performance and non-CPU-invasive Augmented Reality (AR) applications. The paper will discuss how to exploit both the available hardware and software resources. Many boards on the market are equipped with CPUs with low com...

In this paper we present Bestbrau, a reactive programming framework for the development of 3d real-time applications. We show its most relevant features, explaining how it differs from the systems used nowadays in commercial game engines and underlining which new functionalities it would provide to a 3D engine integrating it. Our framework is entir...

This paper has the purpose to show a stabilization video-streaming methodology feasible to low-power wearable devices. Thanks to an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) mounted together with the camera we are ready to stabilize directly on video-stream without the delay and the complexity due to image processing used by classic software stabilization te...

The drive toward ubiquitous communications has long been encompassed by the concept of a connected or smart city. The idea that data transfer and real-time data analysis can enhance the quality of life for urban inhabitants is compelling, and one can easily envision the provision of exciting new services and applications that such an information-dr...

Virtual museums are becoming increasingly popular, especially thanks to the recent spread of low-cost immersive technologies enabling even small cultural realities to enrich their technology-based offer. The growing availability of computational power and high-quality visual elements enables the use of virtual characters in order to add depth to th...

Distributed collaborations between two or more participants on a task involving tangible artifacts (e.g., a machine, a patient, a tool) have become increasingly common in recent years due to rapid development in information and communication technologies. In this paper we focus on a specific type of remote-collaboration system where a remote helper...

In this work we describe a system composed by an optical see-through AR headset---a Microsoft HoloLens---, stereo projectors and shutter glasses. Projectors are used to add to the device the capability of occluding real-world surfaces to make the virtual objects to appear more solid and less transparent. A framework was developed in order to allow...

The development of technological applications that allow people to control and embody external devices within social interaction settings represents a major goal for current and future brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Prior research has suggested that embodied systems may ameliorate BCI end-user's experience and accuracy in controlling exter...

Virtual Reality is widely regarded as an extremely promising solution for industrial training purposes, as it allows to perform simulated hands-on activities in a controlled and safe environment. In this paper we present a Virtual Reality system aimed at providing a training solution for safety inside a generic power plant environment. The system i...

In this paper, we present a general architecture for Mixed Reality applications. The proposed solution has been developed in order to provide a useful instrument to develop Cultural Heritage applications. During the design of the system, particular attention was given to intangible knowledge, such as manual activities, performing arts, lost civiliz...

This paper presents the AMICA VR system, aiming at exploiting immersive visualization paradigms enabling visitors to be physically and emotionally involved in a virtual experience conceived for the dissemination of the activities related to craftsmanship of printmaking. The developed platform aims at spreading a better knowledge about printmaking b...

Complex virtual environments often require computational resources exceeding the capabilities of a single machine. Furthermore immersive visualization can exploit multiple displays fostering the needing of computational power. We hereby present a system, called XVR Network Renderer, allowing rendering load to be distributed throughout a cluster of...

The surrounding world has a strong impact on the way we feel and perceive the events that happens in daily life. The power of environments to elicit emotions in humans has been widely studied in experimental psychology by using exposure to photographs or real situations. These researches do not reproduce the vividness of events in ordinary life and...

Lightweight, head-up displays integrated in industrial helmets allow to provide contextual information for industrial scenarios such as in maintenance. Moving from single display and single camera solutions to stereo perception and display opens new interaction possibilities. In particular this paper addresses the case of information sharing by a B...

Newly available technologies and natural interaction in video games are reshaping the role of immersion and interaction on game enjoyment. The current work aims at assessing a highly immersive setup exploiting natural user interaction, combining Head Mounted Display and a depth camera, with the objective of evaluating its use as a platform for Seri...

Social experience can deeply impact on gaming experience and is often used to increase enjoyment and retention. In the literature two main categories of social interaction can be identified: competition and collaboration. Player engagement has been widely studied under different conditions related to the type of social interaction taking place duri...

Social interaction in videogames has a big impact on players experience and is often used to increase enjoyment and retention. In the current study a highly immersive setup based on the Oculus Rift and depth cameras and exploiting natural user interaction is compared with a classical Keyboard & Mouse configuration in the context of a videogame expe...

This paper presents “A Day In The HOspital”, a Digital Serious Game aiming at providing a technological tool for both evaluating and training ethical skills of medical staff personnel. During the game, the player interprets the role of a physician who has to perform a decision-making process that involves his ethical and medical skills. Usability a...

This paper presents the evolving embodiments of “A Virtual Laboratory”, a VR-based videogame simulating an experiment of medical distillation in a medieval alchemy lab. Players are encouraged to acquire the knowledge needed to master the operations to be performed by consulting the digital representation of an ancient treatise on distillation hoste...

Virtual Reality technology is increasingly used for game based learning application, i.e. Digital Serious Games. Simulating reality serious games improve technical skills in different fields and it is often used in medical area. In this research is described “A Day In The HOspital” (ADITHO), a serious game aiming at increase the process of decision...

This paper presents our ongoing work for operators training exploiting an immersive Mixed Reality system. Users, immersed in a Virtual Environment, can be trained in assembling or disassembling complex mechanical machineries. Taking input from current industrylevel procedures, the training consists in guided step-by-step operations in order to teac...

Supporting a wide set of linked non-verbal resources remains an evergreen challenge for communication technology, limiting effectiveness in many applications. Interpersonal distance, gaze, posture and facial expression, are interpreted together to manage and add meaning to most conversations. Yet today's technologies favor some above others. This i...

The paper describes the multimedia museum installation realized on the occasion of the restoration of the Polyptych of Simone Martini, introducing objectives in terms of communication, fruition and documentation, presenting design and architectural solutions, and discussing the obtained results against the set objectives, demonstrating also the ada...

This paper presents a novel fully immersive Mixed Reality system that we have recently developed where the user freely walks in a life-size virtual scenario wearing an HMD and can see and use her/his own body when interacting with objects. This form of natural interaction is made possible in our system because the user's hands are real-time capture...

This paper introduces our ongoing work on the Foot Controller Device as an interface for navigation in Immersive Virtual Environments. The Foot Controller is a special, arduino-based control mat equipped with an array of pressure sensors and able to function as a touch surface for feet. What makes it special is that sensor cells can be accessed ind...

This paper presents LawVille, a Web-Based Collaborative 3D Serious Game aimed at teaching citizenship and the Italian Constitution to secondary school students, by making them the protagonists of a fantasy story meant to solicit their direct involvement in a series of political questions.

This poster introduces a fully immersive Mixed Reality system we have recently developed, where the user is free to walk inside a virtual scenario while wearing a HMD. The novelty of the system lies in the fact that users can see and use their real hands - by means of a Kinect-like camera mounted on the HMD - in order to naturally interact with the...

En In this paper we present a Digital Serious Game set in a medieval alchemical laboratory, aimed at disseminating the ancient knowledge of medicine distillation contained in the famous Adam Lonicer's Kreuterbuch (1569) treatise. The application is based on interactive Virtual Environments and available on multiple visualization technologies, rangi...

This paper presents the work related to the 3D reconstruction of the scene depicted in the famous Piero della Francesca's fresco “The Resurrection”. The work has presented many challenges due to the fact that deliberate alterations to a mathematically correct perspective were introduced by the artist in order to visibly underline the contrast betwe...

The use of stereographic systems is spreading out in modern society, from the revolution of cinematography to its adoption in high-tech products such as portable gaming devices or photo cameras. However, the fruition of immersive stereographic systems by more than one person at a time is still a research issue. In more detail, the class of passive...

The current study evaluated the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms, developed within the scope of the SKILLS Integrated Project, for industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) tasks training. VR and AR systems are now widely regarded as promising training platforms for complex and highly demanding IMA tasks. However, th...

Nowadays technologies used in equipment and machinery are becoming increasingly complex and ubiquitous. The technical complexities of the equipment often require specialized knowledge and expertise to operate and maintain. However, experts who have the required knowledge and expertise are not always locally available. When a machine breaks down, th...

In the BEAMING project we have been extending the scope of collaborative mixed reality to include the representation of users in multiple modalities, including augmented reality, situated displays and robots. A single user (a visitor) uses a high-end virtual reality system (the transporter) to be virtually teleported to a real remote location (the...

When we think to bas-relieves it is natural to compare them with sculptures, because they share some common properties such as techniques, materials and shapes. However, from a different perspective, bas-relieves have even deeper connections with other bi-dimensional forms of art, such as the frescoes; both have been used to decorate walls surfaces...

A collaboration scenario involving a remote helper guiding in real time a local worker in performing a task on physical objects is common in a wide range of industries including health, mining and manufacturing. An established ICT approach to supporting this type of collaboration is to provide a shared visual space and some form of remote gesture....

MUBIL is an international research project aiming at establishing a novel learning framework based on Virtual Environments technologies in order to disseminate the content of libraries archives, especially ancient manuscripts. The project, lead by the Gunnerus Library of Trondheim, Norway, and participated by the NTNU (Norway) and Scuola Sant'Anna...

Industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) is usually a complex task that involves the knowledge of specific procedures and techniques for each machine. Each technique and procedure requires cognitive memory and knowledge of the way the task should be performed as well as motor knowledge about the movements and forces that should be applied. IMA tas...

Free viewpoint telepresence is currently an active and very interesting field of research. Its focus is reproducing in real-time a remote subject (or environment) in a way it can be rendered from an arbitrary point-of-view. This paper presents a novel approach to real-time reconstruction and transmission of a high-quality 3D model of the subject/en...

There is currently a strong need for collaborative systems with which two or more participants interact over a distance on a task involving tangible artifacts (e.g., a machine, a patient, a tool). The present paper focuses on the specific category of remote-collaboration systems where hand gestures are used by a remote helper to assist a physically...

The Beaming project recreates, virtually, a real environment; using immersive VR, remote participants can visit the virtual model and interact with the people in the real environment. The real environment doesn't need extensive equipment and can be a space such as an office or meeting room, domestic environment, or social space.

This paper presents the use of our multimodal mixed reality telecommunication system to support remote acting rehearsal. The rehearsals involved two actors, located in London and Barcelona, and a director in another location in London. This triadic audiovisual telecommunication was performed in a spatial and multimodal collaborative mixed reality e...

Although telerehabilitation systems represent one of the most technologically appealing clinical solutions for the immediate future, they still present limitations that prevent their standardization. Here we propose an integrated approach that includes three key and novel factors: (a) fully immersive virtual environments, including virtual body rep...

In order to rehearse for a play or a scene from a movie, it is generally required that the actors are physically present at the same time in the same place. In this paper we present an example and experience of a full body motion shared virtual environment (SVE) for rehearsal. The system allows actors and directors to meet in an SVE in order to reh...

Vulnerability of cultural properties can be significantly reduced through specific disaster plans, focused on safeguarding cultural assets in emergency situations. The effectiveness of these plans may be enhanced by the use of innovative technologies for visualization and verification purposes. In this paper we propose an alternative application of...

Although telerehabilitation systems represent one of the most technologically appealing clinical solutions for the immediate future, they still present limitations that prevent their standardization. Here we propose an integrated approach that includes three key and novel factors: (a) fully immersive virtual environments, including virtual body rep...

The current work describes design guidelines for the development of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) platforms to train technicians on maintenance and assembly tasks of industrial machineries. The main skill involved in this kind of tasks is the procedural skill. Based on past literature and studies conducted within the SKILLS projec...

There is currently a strong need for collaborative augmented reality (AR) systems with which two or more participants interact over a distance on a mobile task involving tangible artefacts (e.g., a machine, a patient, a tool) and coordinated operations. Of interest to us is to design and develop an AR system for supporting a mobile worker involved...

Real-time 3D content distribution over a network (either LAN or WAN) has many possible applications, but requires facing several challenges, most notably the handling of the large amount of data usually associated with 3D meshes. The scope of the present paper falls within the well-established context of real-time capture and streaming of OpenGL co...

Training for service technicians inmaintenance tasks is a classical application field of Augmented Reality explored by different research groups. Mostly technical aspects (tracking, visualization etc.) have been in focus of this research field. In this chapter we present results of interdisciplinary research based on the fusion of cognitive science...

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology which has become very popular in the last years. In this context also the idea of using of AR for training applications has become very important. AR offers a large potential for training only if the training is well focused to the skills that have to be trained and if the training protocol is well designed. O...

This paper presents results and experiences coming from 10 years of development and use of XVR, a flexible, general-purpose framework for virtual reality (VR) development. The resulting architecture, that comes under the form of a self-sufficient integrated development environment (IDE) organized around a dedicated scripting language and a virtual...

In the context of training for industrial maintenance the capturing and modeling of interaction forces are important elements that allow to characterize the skills of users. This paper describes a device that can be used for acquiring such forces for later use in the context of a training system. The device has been designed for managing the force...

Real-time 3D content distribution over a network requires facing several challenges, most notably the handling of the large amount of data usually associated with 3D meshes. The scope of the present paper falls within the well-established context of real-time capture and streaming of OpenGL command sequences, focusing in particular on data compress...

Real-time 3D content distribution over a network (either LAN or WAN) requires facing several challenges, most notably the handling of the large amount of data usually associated with 3D meshes. The scope of the present paper falls within the well-established context of real-time capture and streaming of OpenGL command sequences, focusing in particu...

The work addresses the topic of software integration in the context of complex virtual reality applications. We propose a novel method to render in a single graphical context objects handled by separate programs based on different VR frameworks, even when the various applications are running on different machines. Our technique is based on a networ...

Real-time global illumination in VR systems enhances scene realism by incorporating soft shadows, reflections of objects in the scene, and color bleeding. The Virtual Light Field (VLF) method enables real-time global illumination rendering in VR. The VLF has been integrated with the Extreme VR system for real-time GPU-based rendering in a Cave Auto...

The present paper describes a multimodal training system to be used in the context of Industrial Maintenance and assembly. The system is being developed by the SKILLS consortium members as a dedicated platform to conduct controlled skill transfer exercises as well as the technological platform to develop a dedicated training program. The paper prov...

This paper presents the Virtual Museum of Sculpture (VMS) of Pietrasanta, a permanent Virtual Reality installation enabling users to interactively explore a museographical diffused virtual space. The virtual environment hosts several digital 3D models of sculptures realized by important Italian artists of the XX century, connected for historical an...

Complex Virtual Environments applications may require computational resources exceeding the capabilities of a single machine. Our system, called "XVR Network Renderer" , allows rendering load to be distributed throughout a cluster of machines operating concurrently. The proposed solution consists in a set of software modules structured as a single-...

People who experience an immersive VR system usually report feeling as if they were really in the displayed virtual situation, and can often be observed behaving in accordance with that feeling, even though they know that they're not actually there. Researchers refer to this feeling as "presence" in virtual environments, yet the term has come to ha...

The Presenccia project takes an operational approach to the concept of presence. Presenccia's approach lets the project team assess the extent of presence using tools beyond traditional questionnaires, and therefore avoid many of the problems involved with sole reliance on these. Instead, the team considers the extent to which mixed reality and VR...

The creation of applications of Virtual Reality enabled with Haptic interaction and dynamic simulation requires usually to cover many implementation details that increase the development time and the effectiveness of the application itself. This work presents one game application that has been developed using a Haptic toolkit for the rapid applicat...

The development of a complete Virtual Reality application is a complex activity that requires good knowledge of several time-critical tasks: Computer Graphics, real-time Physics, Haptics and network programming are examples of the components needing to coexist in a modern Virtual Reality system.Each of these building blocks constitutes a research f...

The present paper presents the hands-on results of the use of a large screen stereoscopic installation to train technicians on maintenance tasks of large machineries for a leading mechanical industry. Such machinery, deployed from the company in remote locations around the world, need complex and lengthy maintenance procedures, to be performed peri...

This paper present an innovative VR application where the users, guided through structured narrative paths, are able to explore the space and the history of Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa. The application was realized in the course of a research project whose objective was to create a complete multimedia system related to the renowned monumental compl...

In this paper we present XVR, an integrated development environment for the rapid development of Virtual Reality applications. Using a modular architecture and a VR-oriented scripting language, XVR contents can be embedded on a variety of container applications. This makes it suitable to write contents ranging from web-oriented presentations to mor...

In the Museum of Pure Form, we explore a novel way of presenting art to visitors of a museum, allowing them to virtually touch artefacts in a virtual museum. In order to realise this the statues are first digitised with a scanner so that they can be placed in a virtual museum. The virtual museum is then displayed on a 3D stereo screen. The visitor...

The global scope of the CREATE project is to develop a mixed-reality framework that enables highly interactive real-time construction and manipulation of photo-realistic, virtual worlds based on real data sources. This framework will be tested and applied to cultural heritage content in an educational context, as well as to the design and review of...

SICAR is an internet-based system for the management of the information gathered during restoration analysis and intervention (alphanumeric and raster data), which is mapped and geo-referenced to 2D or 3D models. Joining the skills of a set of multidisciplinary partners, an integrated and innovative system will be developed, to permit to link to an...

Real-time crowd visualization has recently attracted quite an interest from the graphics community and, asinteractive applications become even more complex, there is a natural demand for new and unexplored applicationscenarios. However, the interactive simulation of complex environments populated by large numbers of virtualcharacters is a composite...

Populated virtual urban environments are important in many applications, from urban planning to entertainment. At the current stage of technology, users can interactively navigate through complex, polygon-based scenes rendered with sophisticated lighting effects and high-quality antialiasing techniques. As a result, animated characters (or agents)...

In this paper we present some preliminary results concerning a realtime visualisation system for densely populated urban environments. In order to be able to render the large number of humans without compromising too much the image quality, we developeda method basedon Image-Based Rendering techniques. To allow them to move freely in the city while...

In this paper, we address the problem of shadow computation for large environments including thousands of dynamic objects. The method we propose is based on the assumption that the environment is 2.5D, which is often the case for virtual cities, thus avoiding complex visibility computation. We apply our method for virtual cities populated by thousa...

This paper presents a study about the comparison of several methods of image cache management; image caching is a recent approach of rendering, based on the concepts of impostors and hierarchical scene subdivision, which exploits the coherence of consecutive frames in a graphic sequence. Anyway existent methods don't exploit the aspects in common w...

this paper we propose new methods for the rendering and culling of these highly populated scenes

Computer Graphics have become important for many applications and the quality of the produced images have greatly improved. One of the interesting remaining problems is the representation of dense dynamic environments such as populated cities. Although recently we saw some successful work on the rendering such environments, the real--time simulatio...

Computer Graphics have become important for many applicationsand the quality of the produced images have greatly improved. Oneof the interesting remaining problems is the representation of densedynamic environments such as populated cities. Although recentlywe saw some successfulwork on the rendering such environments,the real?time simulation of vi...

In this paper we present a fast collision detection method with an application to a densely populated urban environment. The method uses graphics rasterization hardware to discritise the environment and to create a look-up table with heights which can be used not only for preventing the humans from walking through buildings but also for determining...

We present a method for the fruition of artistic works that is integrative to traditional museums' presentation. The work has been organized as an interactive virtual environment in which the user can navigate. The whole environment has been organized for the best fruition. Animation and interaction effects have been inserted for facilitating navig...

We present a virtual reality platform for the navigation of artistic paintings. We have investigated the employment of computer graphic technologies as an instrument for the “representation” of pictorial works. Particular attention has been paid to the modelling aspects, to the performance constraints and to the architectonic design. We present som...

This paper presents a new type of transducer based on Hall effect sensors. This transducer is actually used at PERCRO as a small low cost, low displacement friction system for tracking hand position. A description of several displacement sensors as well as the Hall effect is reported. The mathematical model was tested by means of an experimental ap...

We present a new algorithm for detecting the collision of objects in a virtual environment. The algorithm which is based on an efficient data structure for evaluating collisions has been organised to support the following features: data sharing with the graphical description; representation and management of deformable objects; and quasi real-time...

The problem of dealing with the graphical representation of 3D environments by means of computer systems is introduced. The hardware and software tools that allow the 3D visualisation of virtual models by starting from an abstract representation of the virtual environment are presented. The objectives for the design of a software module allowing hi...