Papers from an October 2001 conference explore technologies and applications of enhanced environments, with a focus on the specific areas of virtual heritage, immersive art and creative technology, and virtual design in industry, architecture, and medicine. Topics include visualizing archaeological reconstruction, cemetery preservation and laser scanning, interactive TV, and a stereo vision-based augmented reality system with marker and natural feature tracking. Other topics include modeling electronic arts and ubiquitous computing in a virtual environment, design considerations for an oxygen flute, character- driven story generation in interactive storytelling, and the role of place in cyberspace. This work lacks a subject index. c. Book News Inc.

This volume comprises the proceedings of the Third International Euro-Mediterranean Conference (EuroMed 2010) on the historical island of Cyprus. The focal point of this conference was digital heritage, which all of us involved in the documentation of cultural heritage continually strive to implement. The excellent selection of papers published in the proceedings reflects in the best possible way the benefits of exploiting modern technological advances for the restoration, preservation and e-documentation of any kind of cultural heritage. Above all, we should always bear in mind that what we do now may be used by people in another century to repair, rebuild or conserve the buildings, monuments, artifacts and landscapes that seem important. Recent events like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, fires and insurrections show that we can never be too prepared for damage to, and loss of, the physical and, non-tangible elements of our past and, in general, our cultural heritage. To reach this ambitious goal, the topics covered included experiences in the use of innovative recording technologies and methods, and how to take best advantage of the results obtained to build up new instruments and improved methodologies for do- menting in multimedia formats, archiving in digital libraries and managing a cultural heritage. Technological advances are very often reported in detail in specialized fora. This volume of proceedings establishes bridges of communication and channels of co- eration between the various disciplines involved in cultural heritage preservation.

Virtual Humans are becoming more and more popular and used in many applications such as the entertainment industry (in both film and games) and medical applications. This comprehensive book covers all areas of this growing industry including face and body motion, body modelling, hair simulation, expressive speech simulation and facial communication, interaction with 3D objects, rendering skin and clothes and the standards for Virtual Humans. Written by a team of current and former researchers at MIRALab, University of Geneva or VRlab, EPFL, this book is the definitive guide to the area. Explains the concept of avatars and autonomous virtual actors and the main techniques to create and animate them (body and face). Presents the concepts of behavioural animation, crowd simulation, intercommunication between virtual humans, and interaction between real humans and autonomous virtual humans Addresses the advanced topics of hair representation and cloth animation with applications in fashion design Discusses the standards for Virtual Humans, such as MPEG-4 Face Animation and MPEG-4 Body Animation.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Databases in Networked Information Systems, DNIS 2005, held in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan in March 2005. The 17 revised full papers presented together with 8 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in topical sections on information interchange and management systems, Web data management systems, networked information systems applications, and networked information systems implementations.

The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments was developed to explore Virtual Learning Environments (VLE’s), and their relationships with digital, in real life and virtual worlds. The book is divided into four sections: Foundations of Virtual Learning Environments; Schooling, Professional Learning and Knowledge Management; Out-of-School Learning Environments; and Challenges for Virtual Learning Environments. The coverage ranges across a broad spectrum of philosophical perspectives, historical, sociological, political and educational analyses, case studies from practical and research settings, as well as several provocative "classics" originally published in other settings.

"This book applies the principles of research in the study of human cognition to games, with chapters representing 15 different disciplines in the learning sciences (psychology, serious game design, educational technology, applied linguistics, instructional design, eLearning, computer engineering, educational psychology, cognitive science, digital media, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, computer science, anthropology, education)"--Provided by publisher.

In the past twenty years digital technology has had a radical impact on all the disciplines associated with the visual arts - this book provides expert views of that impact. By looking at the advanced ICT methods now being employed, this volume details the long-lasting effects and advances now made possible in art history and its associated disciplines. The authors analyze the most advanced and significant tools and technologies, from the ongoing development of the Semantic Web to 3D visualization, focusing on the study of art in the various contexts of cultural heritage collections, digital repositories and archives. They also evaluate the impact of advanced ICT methods from technical, methodological and philosophical perspectives, projecting supported theories for the future of scholarship in this field. The book not only charts the developments that have taken place until now but also indicates which advanced methods promise most for the future.