2021

Youssef Alami Mejjati

Dr Kwang In Kim

Creative Editing and Synthesis of Objects in Photographs Using Generative Adversarial Networks

MSCA Ph.D (University of Bath)

Image editing is traditionally a labour-intensive process involving professional software and human expertise. Such a process is expensive and time-consuming. As a result, many individuals are not able to seamlessly express their creativity. Therefore, there is a need for new image editing tools allowing for intuitive and advanced image edits. In this thesis we propose novel algorithms that simplify the image editing pipeline and reduce the amount of labour involved. We leverage new advances in artificial intelligence to bridge the gap between human-based edits and data-driven image edits. We build upon existing models learned from data and propose four new solutions that allow users to edit images without prior knowledge on image editing.

Having completed my Ph.D, I now work in a startup called Synthesia.io. I am a senior research scientist and I lead a team that investigates photoreal digital human synthesis. Our goal is to disrupt the video generation industry. That is, instead of using a camera, going to a studio and hiring actors, we develop software that allows to skip all the former steps. Users can use our platform to generate video by using text only, they just chose a synthetic actor, and write the content of the video.

2018

Daniela De Angeli

Supervisor
Prof Eamonn O’Neill

Museums in the Digital Age: Understanding Visitors’ Behaviour with Real and Virtual Content

Digital technologies are part of our every day lives, affecting how people communicate and perceive the world, and pressuring museums into rethinking their exhibitions in order to stay relevant and drive visits. Visitors increasingly expect experiences that are not only educational and authentic, but also entertaining and relevant for them. However, museums are struggling to balance their traditional rigor with the requirements of a changing society and are increasingly considering participatory activities as a solution to better understand visitors and design experiences that are more relevant and engaging for the public.

Among participatory practices, games are well-established and have been successfully used both as a co-design technique and as a method to collect data from and about players. Moreover, games are both engaging and relevant; they have a key role in contemporary society as they are played by an increasing number of people all over the world. Thus, games are gaining reach in entertainment, popular culture, and as an academic field of study. But despite their growing popularity and their potential as a participatory method, games are still used in museums for educational purposes rather than as a design and research method.

The core of this research of game-based activities – or gamefulness – as a tool to promote authentic and entertaining experiences in museums. In order to address this main research topic, I used a combination of methods, building upon theoretical work and a series of empirical studies. First, I developed an understanding of authenticity and entertainment, outlining their relevance in contemporary museums. Then, I planned a series of activities that involved playing and making games with both museum professionals and the general public. Through those game-based studies I investigated how to collect data to support the design of new interactive experiences.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I applied for the EngD in Games because I am deeply passionate about exploring new technologies for informal education. I would like to design innovative digital games that both educate and entertain people within institutions of informal education, such as museums and cultural organisations. While formal education is often conservative, informal learning can be experimental and innovative.I was interested in studying the effects of digital games on young players, focusing on their learning process.

Thesis:The Gameful Museum: Authenticity and Entertainment in the Digital Age

View Daniela’s Research Outputs

2018

Alistair Barber

Supervisor
Prof Darren Cosker

Modern Approaches to Camera Tracking Within the Visual Effects Pipeline

Visual Effects (VFX) are a crucial component in a large proportion of feature films being produced today. The work done in producing VFX usually takes place after filming has happened, and by a specialised VFX facility. The process of producing visually realistic, and compelling, effects is complex and labour-intensive, requiring many skilled workers to complete different stages of the VFX ‘pipeline’. One of these tasks is Camera Tracking, the goal of which is to accurately calculate the movement of the camera used to film the original footage. Without this solution for camera movement, it would not be possible to convincingly render ComputerGenerated (CG) assets onto the original footage.

this project is a detailed investigation into the process of Camera Tracking at a VFX facility, utilising a large dataset of real shots from major Hollywood feature films. One of the main conclusions from this investigation is that Camera Tracking for VFX work, due to the nature of the work encountered in film production, is better regarded as a problem-solving exercise rather than a pure SfM problem. The quantitative results obtained in this work strongly suggest that having more data available about the scene being filmed and camera used is one of the most effective ways to reduce the time spent on the Camera Tracking process. This research project then investigates the use of additional on-set hardware to make obtaining this information easier. It also develops new methods for determining information about changes in parameters of the camera being used to film the scene using visual footage alone, under conditions in which other traditional Computer Vision methods would likely fail. The impact of this work has been a valuable contribution to the methods and tools available to artists performing these tasks, allowing them to operate more efficiently in this competitive and global industry, where the standards expected for the quality of VFX rise with each new film released.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I chose to do an EngD with the CDE whilst working on my MSc in Computer Vision. I was keen to see how work in this field could be applied to solve real-world problems, and I’ve always been interested in film production and computer graphics- so the CDE offered an ideal opportunity.I knew that I wanted to continue my academic career and research, so it was great to be able to do this and also get practical experience in an incredibly exciting industry.

Where did you complete your placement?

I’ve had an amazing 4-and-a-bit years with the CDE and Double Negative. It’s been a great privilege not only to develop exciting new ideas and techniques with leading academics, but also to be able to put them into practice with Double Negative on Hollywood blockbusters as they were beingproduced! My work looked at the process of Camera Tracking, which is a huge area of research within the computer vision community, but for various reasons is a fairly labour-intensive and time-consuming process in VFX production. We took a look at the overall pipeline and gathered statistics on the impact thatdifferent types of footage have on the time taken to produce a VFX shot. We also looked at how new types of hardware could be used on set to measure camera movement, anddeveloped new computer vision techniques to handle footage that contained large amounts of motion blur.

Thesis: Modern Approaches to Camera Tracking Within the Visual Effects Pipeline

View Alistair’s Research Outputs

2021

Simone Barbieri

Unified Animation Pipeline for 2D and 3D Content

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

As this project is part of an Engineering Doctorate, together with the contribution to knowledge, it needs to provide impact in the industry. Not only the research must be beneficial to the companies that contributed to the project, but it also has to push the industry forward. The impact is achieved in particular with the unified animation pipeline. This, in fact, provides an important advantage during the production of animation. The real-time rendering provided by the pipeline, thanks to the employment of a game engine, offers significant economic and time-saving, allowing the filmmakers to preview the scenes they’re working on instantly and very close to the final product in terms of visual quality.

The research consists of two main parts. The first one is the generation of 3D characters and animations from existing 2D drawings. The second is a unified animation pipeline for animation production and videogames.

Where did you complete your placement?

My research project has been carried out in cooperation with two companies: Thud Media and Cloth Cat Animation. Cloth Cat produces animated series, both 2D and 3D, while Thud Media deals with interactive experiences, such as videogames, applications, and websites.

My experience with both companies has been very positive. I had never worked in the animation industry before, so the experience brought me to a better understanding of how exactly this industry operates.

Moreover, I’m satisfied with how the project evolved over time. Started to employ 2D characters in VR, the project ended up in the generation of 3D characters from drawings and state-of-the-art pipeline for animation production, which is now in testing and will be employed next year.

The companies I worked with during the EngD have been very invested in the project, so, as they plan to keep developing it, I will continue working with them! I really enjoyed working on this project, so I’m glad I can keep working on it.

View Simone’s Research Outputs

2022

Tobias Bertel

Supervisors
Dr Christian Richardt,
Dr Neill Campbell,
Prof Darren Cosker

Image-based Rendering of Real Environments for Virtual Reality

MSCA Ph.D (University of Bath)

“VR experiences can greatly differ depending on the used underlying scene representation and the meaning of real-world VR heavily depends on the context, i.e., the system or format at hand. Terminology and fundamental concepts are introduced which are needed to understand related IBR and learned IBR (neural) approaches, which are categorically surveyed in the context of end-to-end pipelines to create real-world IBR experiences. The applicability of the discussed approaches to create real-world VR applications is categorised into practical aspects covering capture, reconstruction, representation, and rendering, which yields a fairly good overview of the research landscape to which this thesis contributes” (Bertal 2022).

I did an internship at Fyusion Inc. in San Francisco 2020 which was amazing. As a computer scientist, being at the heart of Silicon valley was absolutely amazing. I can heavily recommend any student to join a thriving tech company, anywhere, ideally at the heart, in California.

How are you feeling now you have defended your thesis?

Really good. I am really glad for the experience overall but very happy as well to move on and do something new.

What are your plans for the future?

I started to work as a Freelancer in Q1 2022 and then had several customers, e.g. Loci Ltd., Max-Planck Institute for Informatics, and Blue Kraken Online (BKO). I am currently leading the smart contract development of BKO and have put my focus professionally on blockchain technology.

Research Impact

VR is an interesting technology, in particular, modern hardware is very sophisticated, e.g. Oculus Quest 2 etc. Nevertheless, VR lacks the right content to create a mass market. In my research, I focused on casually creating 3D photography, basically a suitable scene format for VR which can be captured with a hand-held camera (casually). My research shows a robust way of casually capturing various scene types suitable for VR. In my opinion, such a technique is necessary to make VR photography as mainstream as 2D photography is nowadays.

Note that neural networks, in particular Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF, Mildenhall et al. [2020]), have greatly influenced the research landscape of casual 3D photography over the last few years. Mapping such techniques to VR, e.g. constrained by speed, resolution, bandwidth, etc., while providing scenes with reasonable action spaces, e.g. the space to virtually move in, are very interesting ongoing research topics.

2015

Naval Bhandari

Influence of Perspective in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly popular, both domestically and commercially. The potential domain applications are ever-growing. In the domestic sector, VR is predominantly used for video games, whereas commercially, it is used for training. VR has been used to enable the occlusion of physical space from a user’s eyes, and instead replace it with a virtual environment (VE). Most, if not all VR content and applications are viewed using a first-person perspective (1PP). That is, they are viewed as if a camera in the VE is placed at the position of user’s physical eyes. Most headset-based VR devices allow users to manipulate the orientation of this camera by rotating their head, and some devices even let users manipulate the position of the camera. Perspective manipulation is common in other digital mediums than VR, but most notably in video games on 2D screens. The most common form of perspective manipulation in video games is to allow a third-person perspective (3PP). This typically allows a user to view a virtual character’s body and space around them in a video game. The techniques which enable perspective manipulation do not naturally carry over into VR. There have been few studies that have conclusively determined how perspective influences users in VR.

This thesis is focused on determining how perspective impacts users within multiple areas. The areas focused on in this thesis are task performance, spatial perception, and user presence. These are measured over several domain applications. This thesis also looks at how perspective may interact with other variables, such as display screens and invoked emotion. This thesis progressively investigates several aspects of perspective manipulation with a series of user studies. The thesis presents original research on key components for the design and implementation of 3PP in VR.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I really enjoyed my undergrad, and did an industrial year between my 2nd + 3rd year. I loved working on real problems as well as in academia and couldn’t make my mind up which path to pursue. A degree like this seem tailor made for my situation, so I jumped at the opportunity. Bath was the best in the country for it, so it made the decision relatively easy.

Where did you complete your placement?

I enjoyed working at BMT Defence Services. The work was interesting and somewhat related to my research, and the people were wonderful. I found it very hard to actively apply anything to my research, however. Beyond learning programming skills that could contribute to the research, there was little else that it helped in terms of the EngD itself. It took a lot of my time up that would have otherwise been spent working on the research.

How are you feeling post thesis defence?

Incredibly relieved. I didn’t think about it much prior and wasn’t particularly anxious leading up to it. I followed my supervisor’s advice of brushing over the main bits of my thesis, particularly interesting points, and most importantly the limitations. Since it’s where they were going to “attack” it helped to have thought about it prior. I didn’t think I’d be as relieved as I was, but it’s a definite top 10 moment!

What are you plans for the future?

I’m out of academia! I found that it wasn’t for me. Just didn’t suit me, to be honest. I much prefer coding. I’d nearly finished writing up when my funding ran out. I found a Software Engineering job to start the day after my funding ran out! I’ve since been promoted to VP of Software Engineering at the same company, leading the software department where I focus on architecture and implementation of MLOps things. The light of academia is still burning gently in me however, as I’d love to publish papers on findings from my work.

How would you describe theImpact of your research?

The biggest impact is that standard first-person perspective shouldn’t necessarily be the default for VR applications, and that other views can be utilised and served for different purposes depending on the context in which it is used.

View Naval’s Research Outputs

2019

Andreea Bizdideanu

Research

Strategies for reconstructing and reusing light transport paths in dynamic environments.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I discovered my passion for light transport simulation during my employment at PERCRO, a laboratory of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, when I came across articles like ‘A shading model for atmospheric scattering considering luminous intensity distribution of light sources’, ‘Display of the earth taking into account atmospheric scattering’ and ‘A layered, heterogeneous reflectance model for acquiring and rendering human skin’. As a computer scientist I was simply fascinated to observe the extent to which the behaviour of light could be simulated on a computer. I had to learn more about light and the simulation of its behaviour and that meant, beyond any doubt, pursuing a doctorate.

Finding the Centre for Digital Entertainment was a great joy for me as realistic image synthesis was one of the major research topics stated in the call for applications. Moreover, being fully funded entailed no other concerns than those related strictly to my research. Indeed, the generous grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council supported both my studies and the deepening of my knowledge about cultures. It was truly extraordinary to partake, as a student, in events such as world-renowned conferences and attend expert discussions around the globe. Equally precious was to immerse myself in the English culture and use my travels to learn more about other cultures around the world.

Like Saint-Exuery advised, I shall use the experiences acquired throughout my doctorate like a scenery, without complaining of my foundation, without regretting the difficulties or what I have conquered, for today is born out of my entire past.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement with Optis, a software development company with considerable experience in the field of optical simulation. I discovered Optis at SIGGRAPH 2013 Exhibition and it represented an extraordinary opportunity to shape and conduct my research.

The focus of my research was on developing an apparatus of path manipulation strategies that extends bidirectional path tracing to reuse light transport paths in the temporal domain. Despite being one of the most robust state-of-the-art light transport algorithms, bidirectional path tracing was designed for static scenes and thus it discards the generated paths immediately after the evaluation of their contributions. Limiting the lifespan of paths to a generation-evaluation cycle imposes a static use of paths and of sampling techniques. The path manipulation algorithm harnesses the potential of the sampling techniques to supplant the static manipulation of paths with a generation-evaluation-reuse cycle. An intra-subpath connectivity strategy was devised to reconnect the segregated chains of the subpaths invalidated by the geometric transformations of the scene. Successful intra-subpath connections generate subpaths in multiple pieces by reusing subpath chains from prior frames. Subpaths are reconstructed generically, regardless of the subpath or scene dynamism type and without the need for predefined animation paths. By reconstructing and reusing subpaths, the path manipulation algorithm obviates the regeneration of the entire path collection, reduces the computational load of the original algorithm and supports scene dynamism.

Thesis:Path manipulation strategies for rendering dynamic environments

2021

Adam Boulton

Generating Engagement With Video Games Through Frustration And Hindrance

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2021

Rory Clark

Supervisor
Dr Feng Tian

Industrial Supervisor: Adam Harwood

Understanding Hand Interactions and Mid-Air Haptic Responses within Virtual Reality and Beyond

My work spanned across three projects, two studies and one development, all focused around the usage of optical hand tracking with mid-air ultrasound haptics within virtual reality.  The first study was a look into the differences between user response when visual stimuli within a set of 3D user interfaces was modified.  This was aimed at helping to understand the best possible options available to 3D user interface designers, an area that has received less exploration within our technological world, but a key subject for stereoscopic virtual reality experiences.

The second study was a direct comparison between hand tracking and more conventional VR controllers. Users were tasked with completing two fine motor skill tasks: stacking and dismantling towers of blocks, and sorting objects of varying visual information into their correct containers. Each participant would complete the tasks with hand tracking, hand tracking with mid-air haptics, VR controllers, and VR controllers with contact haptics. This work was undertaken to understand multiple performance and opinion metrics between the two different input modalities, and to understand any extra impact caused by the haptic feedback.

Finally, the development piece was around the creation and implementation of a custom user study recording suite of tools for use within the Unity game engine. Unlike conventional video or CSV recording, this tool would record scene logic within Unity, allowing for playback within the game engine, without having to modify what had already been created. This meant that you were able to introduce logic and computation to your user study recording, after the user had undertaken it. For example, you could introduce further logic to capture the average velocity or an object while it was grasped, just by adding a small bit of code back into the original scene and pressing play.

Supervisory Team:

Feng Tian, Bournemouth University

Adam Harwood, Ultraleap

Why did you choose the EngD with CDE:

During my undergraduate games course, I found that my original passion for game development had led to my directed interest of applied realtime interaction research. Understanding what makes people tick when it comes to interacting with computers, especially virtual reality, was considerably more fulfilling than I was originally anticipating. When I discovered the CDE it was a no brainer. Being able to continue the type of research I enjoyed, while being placed within a company gave considerable weight and purpose to the work I would be doing.

Placement:

My placement at Ultraleap was absolutely fantastic, working with cutting edge technology with so many unknown questions led to so many possible avenues to be explored. While researching at a university is great because you get to experience so many different disciplines from your peers, being heavily embedded into a research culture where everyone is working on similar fundamental technology is something far greater. I not only learnt a large amount about the technologies and research principles from my colleagues, I was also able to contribute to multiple similar research projects beyond my own.

Post-thesis defense:

Defending my thesis was surprisingly calmer than I expected! I’m glad to have completed it and feel happy to know that both my research and conclusions felt valid to others too.

Future Plans:

I’m currently still within Ultraleap, working directly on interaction research and implementation. I not only get the joy of developing and discovering new ways of interaction but also get to work on fun ways of showing it off through company demos!

Potential impact:

My research has helped to direct current and future work within Ultraleap on the improvement of object and user interface interaction. I am currently working on a new, physics-based interaction toolkit for hand tracking, fundamentally attempting to combat issues and theories discovered and validated within my research.

Download Rory’s Research Profile

2019

Anamaria Ciucanu

E-StopMotion: Reconstructing and Enhancing 3D Animation of Stop Motion Characters by Reverse Engineering Plasticine Deformation

EngD (University of Bath)

The aim of this research was to create a novel pipeline for reconstructing and enhancing stop motion animation from three-dimensional (3D) character scans, obtained from multi-view images. Deformation, non-rigid registration and interpolation techniques were used to fulfill this aim. These procedures were aided by information about the material a character is made from and the character’s structure. The underlying inquiry of the project was to see whether reverse engineering the artist’s plasticine modelling process can result in physically plausible deformations between scans and more accurate non-rigid registrations.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I wanted some time to explore the computer animation field, without the immediate stress common in industry.

Also, I felt the need to solve real problems that the industry faces at the moment.

Where did you complete your placement?

Formerly working with Fat Pebble

Stop Motion Animation is the traditional craft of giving life to handmade models.The unique look and feel of this art form is hard to reproduce with 3D computer generated techniques.This is due to the unexpected details that appear from frame to frame and to the sometimes choppy appearance of the character movement.The artist’s task can be overwhelming as he has to reshape a character into hundreds of poses to obtain just a few seconds of animation.The results of the animation are usually applied in 2D mediums like films or platform games.Character features that took a lot of effort to create thus remain unseen.

We explored a novel system that allows the creation of 3D stop motion-like animations from 3D character shapes reconstructed from multi-view images.Given two or more reconstructed shapes from key frames, our method uses a combination of virtual clay deformation,non-rigid registration and as-rigid-as-possible interpolation to generate plausible in-between shapes.This significantly reduces the artist’s workload since much fewer poses are required.The reconstructed and interpolated shapes with complete 3D geometry can be manipulated even further through deformation techniques. The resulting shapes can then be used as animated characters in games or fused with 2D animation frames for enhanced stop motion films.

https://vimeo.com/289971097

Video accompanying the publication:
Anamaria Ciucanu, Naval Bhandari, Xiaokun Wu, Shridhar Ravikumar, Yong-Liang Yang, Darren Cosker. 2018. E-StopMotion: Digitizing Stop Motion for Enhanced Animation and Games. In MIG 18: Motion, Interaction and Games (MIG 18), November 8-10, 2018, Limassol, Cyprus. ACM, New York, USA, 11 pages.

Thesis:E-StopMotion: Reconstructing and Enhancing 3D Animation of Stop Motion Characters by Reverse Engineering Plasticine Deformation

Anamaria’s Research Profile

2021

Javier DeHesa

A Novel Neural Network Architecture with Applications to 3D Animation and Interaction in Virtual Reality

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

In 2014, after I had finished my undergrad studies and an MSc, I considered moving ontoa PhD. However, I was not attracted by the kind of topics I could work on at my university, so I set out to look for other options. I literally learned about the CDE, and what an EngD is, from the website FindAPhD. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me, not only because of the theme of digital entertainment, but an EngD also seemed more aligned with my interest, since I was actually a bit worried about staying away from the industry for too long if I started a PhD. I applied, but unfortunately, it was too late, and there were no places available anymore. I gave up on the academic career path, and starting working as a software engineer for a company in Germany. After ten months, I received an email asking me whether I would still consider an interview to start an EngD with the CDE, I said yes.

It was not easy for me, though, to make that final decision. Even though I was very interested in academic research, I have always been keen on working in the industry too, and going back to being a student when I was already established in a well-paying job required some thought. However, I am glad I made that decision, and I am now very happy with the way my EngD resulted and my current position.

Outline of research:

We investigated different applications of neural networks to the field of digital entertainment, specifically 3D character animation and interaction in VR environments. We considered a sword fighting VR scenario, where a player has to fight against a virtual character using a VR controller to drive their sword. Our research focused on the generation of realistic reactions to the actions of the player, such as identifying incoming attacks and correctly blocking the strike. To this end, we designed an interaction framework comprised of three pieces: a gesture detection neural network model, which recognises the strikes in the player input; a behaviour planning module, which decides how to react to the detected input based on some rules and parameters; and an animation synthesis neural network model, which generates the actual pose for the character based on the desired behaviour. Using motion capture data to train our models, it was possible to achieve highly realistic results with minimal involvement of animators in the process.

The animation synthesis model we developed for this work, which we dubbed “Grid-Functioned Neural Network”, is a contribution of our research on its own. This neural network model uses a grid of expert parameterisations to subdivide the space of the problem, making it easier to learn local patterns in the data. We studied its application to several synthetic regression problems, showing its advantage over conventional neural networks, and also compared to a state-of-the-art architecture in a different animation scenario, where it showed advantages in terms of stability and computational performance.

Where did you complete your placement?

My placement was with the video games studio Ninja Theory, in Cambridge. While I know any other partner company would have been excellent too, I consider myself really lucky to have been given the opportunity to work with them. I was not the first EngD student that Ninja Theory had taken in, so they were well aware of how things worked with the CDE, and what they might expect from me. The team was very welcoming and supportive, I never found myself being pressured to take in work unrelated to my research, and whenever I needed assistance with some tool, participants for a study or just general advice, I could count on it. Even though I was not, technically, an employee, I was always treated as one, and included in all company activities and events. On the more practical side, Ninja Theory was a really privileged place to develop my research, as they have their own motion capture facilities, and virtually any other hardware or equipment I could possibly need. They also have a very talented staff, and my supervisor, Andrew Vidler, was really involved in my research and provided very useful technical advice. After I finished my EngD, Ninja Theory offered me a permanent position as a research engineer in their R&D team, which allowed me to continue developing some of the work I had been doing, and exploring new research topics.

How are you feeling now you have defended your thesis?

Finishing the EngD really feels like having a massive weight off your back. I am happy that I did it, but it is, without a doubt, a huge challenge, and there have been many difficult moments along the way. There was more than one occasion where I really thought I would not be able to finish it and I should just drop it, and I might just have done that if it was not for the solid support I got from my supervisory team, as well as my friends and family. Looking back, a lot of the doubts and hurdles that were troubling me do not seem so bad anymore. I think it is important to remind yourself to keep a broad perspective and realistic expectations, and to be kind to yourself. Failure, barriers and doubts are all things that are expected to happen during a doctorate, and they do not make you any less deserving of the title’”rather the opposite.

What are your plans for the future?

After finishing my EngD, I started working as a research engineer for my placement company, Ninja Theory. I have not barred myself from doing more academic research in the future, but at the moment I am focusing on a career in the industry. The knowledge and skills I acquired during my doctorate are now a big part of my professional background and an important item in my resume, and I am confident they will be a huge help towards achieving my goals in the future.

What is the Potential Impact of your research?

The ultimate goal of my research was to empower and facilitate the work of video game developers. It builds on a recent trend of using data-driven methods to lighten the less creative task involved in the process of building interactive virtual worlds. In this case, we looked in particular at the problems of recognising the actions of a player in VR and generating reactive animations in real-time. In a conventional setup, this would involve a significant amount of work analysing player input data and editing and assembling large amounts of animation data to this end. Our system uses machine learning to automate the most tedious parts of this process, while allowing developers to design precise behaviours that make use of the trained models. The animation synthesis models we proposed is a significant step in this direction, as it addresses aspects that are critical to video game development, like stability and computational performance. As video games continue growing in complexity, this kind of technique will take a more significant role in the industry, and become a standard tool in the development process.

Current Employment/Job Title

Ninja Theory / Research Engineer

View Javier’s Research Outputs

2021

Rahul (Ray) Dey

Procedural Generation of Features for Volumetric Terrains using a Rule-Based Approach Dataset

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2020

Era Dorta

Learning models for intelligent photo editing

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

It is difficult to make the decision of whether to purse an academic career or work in industry. The EngD provided an opportunity to explore both. Moreover, the program included generous funding that allowed me to explore interesting research ideas and attend a number of conferences.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at Anthropics Technology Ltd. This company provides intelligent photographic editing tools, with a focus on human face manipulation. This means that research in machine learning models is at the heart of the company. Thus making it the ideal place for an EngD placement.

Current Employment/Job Title

View Garoe’s Research Outputs

2016

Tara Douglas

Dr Bronwen Thomas and Dr Chindu Sreedharan

Leslie MacKenzie

Tales of the Tribes: Animation as a Tool for Indigenous Representation

In India, animation practice is almost completely dominated by commercial production. Much of this is outsourced to India by foreign companies, but even the animation that is produced for national broadcast shows characteristics of animation design of Westernorigination with regard to content, presentation and art style. Consequently, modes of commercially driven animation are dictating the expectations of the medium in India, and have become widely regarded as the normative standard. The forces of global expansion have accelerated the arrival of commercial media entertainment into the various peripheral regions of India. The indigenous communities there have been represented by outsiders since colonial times and have no representation of their own in the medium of animation. As a consequence, young indigenous people are growing up with media entertainment that has no cultural relevance to them. It is challenging their identities and through this process, they are losing touch with their own cultural heritage.

In this research I set out to investigate whether animation is a medium that can be used to retell indigenous folktales and reconnect young indigenous audiences to their traditional narratives. The development and production of a sample collection of short animation films, Tales of the Tribes through participatory film-making practice presents case studies of the process of collaborating with indigenous artists and cultural practitioners from selected communities to examine these issues of representation and to investigate how adaptation can be negotiated from oral to audio-visual forms of cultural expression.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I completed my research thesis ‘Tales of the Tribes: Animation as a Tool for Indigenous Representation’. You can read more about my project here.

I was lucky enough to visit Papua New Guinea during my EngD. Find out more about my experience within the CDE Blog.

Where did you complete your placement?

West Highland Animation and Adivasi Arts Trust

Thesis:Tales of the tribes: animation as a tool for indigenous representation

Current Employment/Job Title

Co-founder, Secretary, Film Maker and Artist at Adivasi Arts Trust, Post Doctoral Researcher at North Easternhill University, India

2018

Kwamina Edum-Fotwe

Supervisor
Dr Paul Shepherd

Dan Harper

Procedural Reconstruction of Architectural Parametric Models from Airborne and Ground Laser Scans

This research addresses the problem of efficiently and robustly reconstructing semantically-rich 3D architectural models from laser-scanned point-clouds. It first covers the pre-existing literature and industrial developments in active-sensing,3D reconstruction of the built environment and procedural modelling. It then documents a number of novel contributions to the classical problems of change detection between temporally varying multi-modal geometric representations and automatic 3D asset creation from airborne and ground point-clouds of buildings. Finally this thesis outlines ongoing  research and avenues for continued investigation – most notably fully automatic temporal update and revision management for city-scale CAD models via data-driven procedural modelling from point-clouds. In short this thesis documents the outcomes of a research project whose primary aim was to engineer fast, accurate, and sparse building reconstruction algorithms.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Where did you complete your placement?

Cityscape

Recovery of Sparse Architectural Models from Aerial and Ground-Based LiDAR (Point-Clouds) for use in Interactive Visualisation and Simulation. The focus of my project was the efficient recovery of sparse architectural models from aerial and ground-based LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scans. The key objective is to be able to turn unstructured point-clouds into clean, lightweight 3D models for use in Interactive Visualisation and Simulation. The research relies heavily on Computer Graphics, Image Processing and Data-Driven Procedural Modelling.

Thesis:Procedural Reconstruction of Architectural Parametric Models from Airborne and Ground Laser Scans

View Kwamina’s Research Outputs

2017

Daniel Finnegan

Supervisors
Prof Eamonn O’Neill,
Dr Michael Proulx

Rob McHardy

Compensating for Distance Compression in Virtual Audiovisual Environments

Virtual environments are increasingly being used for various applications. In recent times, with the advent of consumer-grade systems, virtual reality has reached a critical mass and has exploded in terms of application domains. Extending from games and entertainment, VR is also applied in military training, remote surgery, flight simulation, co-operative work, and education. While all of these applications require careful design with respect to the interaction and aesthetics of the environment, they differ in their requirement of veridical realism: the impression of suspending disbelief to the point where perception in the environment is equal to the real world. At the same time, research in human centred disciplines have shown predictable biases and `errors’ in perception with respect to the environment intended by the designer. This can be a challenge when certain perceptual phenomena prohibit the applicability of VR due to a discontinuation in what is rendered and what is actually perceived by the observer.

This thesis is focused on a specific perceptual phenomenon in VR, namely that of distance compression, a term describing the widespread underestimation of distances that occur in VR relative to the real world. This perceptual anomaly occurs not only in visual-based virtual environments, as compression has been observed and studied in auditory only and audiovisual spaces too. The contribution of this thesis is a novel technique for reducing compression, and its effectiveness is demonstrated in a series of empirical evaluations. First, research questions are synthesized from existing literature and the problem is introduced and explained through rigorous review of previous literature in the context of spatial audio, virtual reality technology, psychophysics, and multi-sensory integration. Second, the technique for reducing distance compression is proposed from an extensive literature review. Third, the technique is empirically tested through a series of studies involving human participants, virtual reality hardware, and bespoke software engineered for each study. Finally, the results from the studies are discussed and concluded with respect to the research questions proposed.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2018

Dhana Frerichs

Supervisor
Prof Christos Gatzidis

Andrew Vidler

Computer Graphics Simulation of Organic and Inorganic Optical and Morphological Appearance Changes

Organic bodies are subject to internal biological, chemical and physical processes as well as environmental interactions after death, which cause significant structural and optical changes. Simulating corpse decomposition and the environmental effects on its surface can help improve the realism of computer generated scenes and provide the impression of a living, dynamic environment. The aim of this doctorate thesis is to simulate post-mortem processes of the human body and their visual effects on its appearance. The proposed method is divided into three processes; surface weathering due to environmental activities, livor mortis and natural mummification by desiccation. The decomposing body is modelled by a layered model consisting of a tetrahedral mesh representing the volume and a high-resolution triangle surface mesh representing the skin.

A particle-based surface weathering approach is employed to add environmental effects. The particles transport substances that are deposited on the object’s surface. A novel, biologically-inspired blood pooling simulation is used to recreate the physical processes of livor mortis and its visual effects on the corpse’s appearance. For mummification, a physically-based approach is used to simulate the moisture diffusion process inside the object and the resulting deformations of the volume and skin. In order to simulate the colouration changes associated with livor mortis and mummification, a chemically-based layered skin shader that considers time and spatially varying haemoglobin, oxygen and moisture contents is proposed.

The suggested approach is able to model changes in the internal structure and the surface appearance of the body that resemble the post-mortem processes livor mortis, natural mummification by desiccation and surface weathering. The surface weathering approach is able to add blemishes, such as rust and moss, to an object’s surface while avoiding inconsistencies in deposit sizes and discontinuities on texture seams. The livor mortis approach is able to model the pink colouration changes caused by blood pooling, pressure-induced blanching effects, fixation of hypostasis and the purple discolouration due to oxygen loss in blood. The mummification method is able to reproduce volume shrinkage effects caused by moisture loss, skin wrinkling and skin darkening that are comparable to real mummies.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

After completing my undergraduate degree, I was interested in pursuing a doctorate. However, I wasn’t sure about the idea of spending so much time in academia without getting any experience in industry. An EngD is a good way to bridge that gap; you are still a student, but you can pick up real world skills and experience working at a company in a professional workplace. It makes the transition back to reality after finishing the EngD that much easier. For myself, the idea of working in the video game industry was an exciting prospect. Funding security was also a factor for me. Being able to focus on study and research without having to worry about ongoing funding applications is very helpful.’‹

I am relieved to have finished at last. Finally being done and holding the book in my hands gave me an appreciation for how much work I had put in. At the same time I am sorry to be moving on from the CDE. The CDE has been a great community to be a part of for the last few years and the team has always been very supportive. There has been a great camaraderie among the students; I’ve made some good friends, met interesting people and learned a lot.

Where did you complete your placement?

For my EngD placement I was working with the video game developer Ninja Theory.

Thesis:Computer graphics simulation of organic and inorganic optical and morphological appearance changes

Current Employment/Job Title

Senior Research Engineer, Ninja Theory

View Dhana’s Research Outputs

2018

David Gillespie

Research

User-appropriate viewer for high resolution interactive engagement with 3D digital cultural artefacts

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Where did you complete your placement?

National Museums Liverpool.

Three dimensional (3D) laser scanning has been adopted from the engineering and aeronautical industry and is an invaluable tool for the documentation of objects within museum collections (La Pensée, 2008). The datasets created via close range laser scanning are extremely accurate and the created 3D dataset allows for a more detailed analysis in comparison to other documentation technologies such as photography. The dataset can be used for a range of different applications including: documentation; archiving; surface monitoring; replication; gallery interactives; educational sessions; conservation and visualization. However, the novel nature of a 3D dataset is presenting a rather unique challenge with respect to its sharing and dissemination.

The research that is being undertaken at the National Museums Liverpool (NML): focuses on both the dissemination and sharing of high resolution 3D cultural heritage artefacts via the internet and WebGL but it is also undertaking the novel challenge of creating textures for these 3D artefacts. Colour information that can be captured for an artefact via a laser scanner or other techniques (i.e. photogrammetry) can be flawed; where they can contain visual artefacts and they may not capture a full visual representation of the original artefact. The research with NML will focus on the use of 3D texture synthesis instead of 2D textures. Attempting to resolve some of the issues surrounding computation and memory required for the synthesis of such textures.

Thesis:User-appropriate viewer for high resolution interactive engagement with 3D digital cultural artefacts

Current Employment/Job Title

Research Associate of Software Development, Manchester Metropolitan University (previous experience: Research Engineer, National Museums Liverpool (5y), R&D Software Developer, OpenShadow (2y))

View David’s Research Outputs

2017

Oliver Gingrich

Alain Renaud

Evoking Presence on Pepper’s Ghost Displays

This thesis proposes a theoretic framework for the analysis of presence research in the context of Pepper’s ghost. Pepper’s ghost as a media platform offers new possibilities for performances, real-time communication and media art. The thesis gives an overview on the 150-year-old history, as well as contemporary art creation on Pepper’s ghost with a specific focus on telepresence. Telepresence, a concept that infused academic debate since 1980, discusses the topic of remote communication, perceived presence transmitted through networked environments. This discourse of telepresence revealed shortcomings in current analytical frameworks. This thesis presents a new model for presence in the context of my research. The standard telepresence model (STM) assumes a direct link between three fundamental components of presence and a measurable impact on the audience. Its three pillars are conceptualised as presence co-factors immersion, interactivity and realism, presented individually in the framework of my practice. My research is firmly rooted in the field of media art and considers the effect of presence in the context of Pepper’s ghost. This Victorian parlour trick serves as an interface, an intermediary for the discussion of live-streaming experiences. Three case studies present pillars of the standard model, seeking answers to elemental questions of presence research. The hypothesis assumes a positive relationship between presence and its three co-factors. All case studies were developed as media art pieces in the context of Pepper’s ghost. As exemplifiers, they illustrate the concept of presence in respect of my own creative practice. KIMA, a real-time sound representation experience, proposes a form of telepresence that relies exclusively on immersive sound as a medium. Immersion as a co-factor of presence is analysed and explored creatively on the Pepper’s ghost canvas. Transmission, the second case study, investigates the effect of physical interaction on presence experiences. An experiment helps to draw inferences in a mixed-method approach. The third case study, Aura, discusses variations of realism as presence co-factor in the specific context of Pepper’s ghost. The practical example is accompanied by an in-depth meta-analysis of realism factors, specifically focusing on the intricacies of Pepper’s ghost creative production processes. Together, these three case studies help to shed light on new strategies to improve production methods with possible impact on presence in Pepper’s ghost related virtual environments – and beyond.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

The combination of a top tier corporate industry network and academic excellence at one of the UK’s foremost centres for media, entertainment and postproduction as well as the close relationship with the NCCA, the National Centre for Computer Animation, made the Centre for Digital Entertainment the obvious choice for an industry oriented engineering doctorate. My research focuses on conceptions of presence in virtual environments, specifically in the context of Pepper’s ghost, a Victorian parlour illusion that has been frequently employed as a virtual reality interface. Analysing this concept across three conceptual pillars, I created three practical applications in the field of Media Art. My research investigates the effect of external factors on presence, seeking to optimise the impact of virtual representations on Pepper’s ghost displays. Working within a creative and academic environment of like-minded researchers broadened my horizon enormously. Coming from a purely artistic and creative background with an MA in Fine Arts, my technical knowledge improved throughout my curriculum from absolute novice, to reasonably skilled. I am now in a position to program, and design, create technical diagrams and to approach creative challenges from an academic-analytical as much as from a conceptual-technical angle. My national and international network has massively profited from the activity. At the same time, my artistic standing with Analema Group has gained wide visibility with shows at key venues such as the Roundhouse or Union Chapel. As a centre of worldwide excellence between industry and academia, the CDE is unique as an international hub for knowledge creation in providing skills, expertise, and academic support. With its unparalleled support for personal and academic development, the CDE opens doors for creative engagement, facilitating professional discourse between industry experts and academia. Combining technical know-how with a network of the UK’s foremost media professionals, the Centre for Digital Entertainment can be regarded as the country’s top graduate institution for media expertise.

Where did you complete your placement?

MDH Hologram, formerly Musion Systems, is international market leader in holographic projection. As hub in an international network of distributors, London is the centre for operations and content creation. As Art Director, I oversee a team of people, assuring quality control and impact. My corporate environment allowed me gain insight into production processes that would not have been accessible to me, my academic standing substantially influenced my industrial practise. Being able to engage with fundamental factors of my practise analytically enriched and deepened my understanding, leading to optimisations in key areas such as immersive sound, interaction design and visual optimisations. At the same time, my standing within the company improved during this period: Our team valued my sincere interest in core-elements of our corporate practise. My promotion to art director was a direct outcome of my active engagement with production processes fuelled by academic research at the Centre for Digital Entertainment.

Thesis:Evoking presence through creative practice on Pepper’s ghost displays

Current Employment/Job Title

Postdoctoral Research for Media & Arts Practice – NCCA Bournemouth University (previous experience: Artist / Producer, Analema Group (8y), Creative Director MDH Hologram (10y))

View Oliver’s Research Outputs

2018

Alex Gouvatsos

Supervisors
Dr Zhidong Xiao,
Prof Jian Jun Zhang

Jerry Hibbert

3D Storyboarding for Modern Animation

Animation is now a classic medium that has been practiced for over a century. While Disney arguably made it mainstream with some hand-drawn classics, today’s industry is focused on Three-Dimensional (3D) animation. In modern 3D animation productions, there have been significant leaps in terms of optimising, automating and removing manual tasks. This has allowed the artistic vision to be realised within time and budget and empowered artists to do things that in the past would be technically more difficult. However, most existing research is focused on specific tasks or processes rather than the pipeline itself. Moreover, it is mostly focused on elements of the animation production phase, such as modelling, animating and rendering. As a result, pre-production parts like storyboarding are still done in the traditional way, often drawn by hand. Because of this disparity between the old and the new, the transition from storyboarding to 3D is prone to errors. 3D storyboarding is an attempt to adapt the pre-production phase of modern animation productions. By allowing storyboard artists access to simple but scale-accurate 3D models early on, drawing times as well as transition times between pre-production and production can be reduced.

However, 3D storyboarding comes with its own shortcomings. By analysing existing pipelines, points of potential improvement are identified. Motivating research from these points, alternative workflows, automated methods and novel ideas that can be combined to make 3D animation pipelines more efficient are presented. The research detailed in this thesis focuses on the area between pre-production and production. A pipeline is presented that consists of a portfolio of projects that aim to: • Generate place-holder character assets from a drawn character line-up • Create project files with scene and shot breakdowns using screenplays • Empower non-experts to pose 3D characters using Microsoft Kinect • Pose 3D assets automatically by using 2D drawings as input.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Being a part of the CDE has been an incredible journey. I met amazing people, travelled to amazing places and learnt how to be a successful independent researcher. Having experienced my viva, I feel like I have a more complete understanding of what a doctorate (at least an engineering one) is about. I feel relieved and happy and ready for my next challenge.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at Hibbert Ralph Animation. I plan to keep applying the skills the CDE and Hibbert Ralph Animation empowered me with, while working on impressive films that I love. I never planned to do a PhD, but when I saw what the EngD offered I immediately applied. With its strong industrial ties, the CDE allowed me to join the industry I loved and carry out research directly within a company.

My research mostly focused around 3D animation pipelines. More specifically, I’m interested in creating an efficient bridge between traditional 2D elements of the animation pipeline such as storyboard drawings and the 3D elements that come later. Apart from developing new algorithms, this also includes understanding what information can be used to make artists more efficient throughout.

I am now working for Double Negative as an R&D Software Developer.

Current Employment/Job Title

Double Negative, R&D Software Developer (previous experience: R&D, Hibbert Ralph Animation (5y))

View Alex’s Research Outputs

2016

David Greer

Supervisors
Prof Jian Jun Zhang,
Dr Zhidong Xiao

Joss Knight and Alberto Aguado

Physics-based Character Locomotion Control with Large Simulation Time Steps

Physical simulated locomotion allows rich and varied interactions with environments and other characters. However, control is difficult due to factors such as a typical character’s numerous degrees of freedom and small stability region, discontinuous ground contacts,and indirect control over the centre of mass. Previous academic work has made significant progress in addressing these problems, but typically uses simulation time steps much smaller than those suitable for games. This project deals with developing control strategies using larger time steps. After describing some introductory work showing the difficulties of implementing a handcrafted controller with large physics time steps, three major areas of work are discussed.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I had long been interested in working in the video games industry, but I was also interested in doing a doctorate, and couldn’t decide which option I wanted to pursue. When I found out about the CDE, it was the perfect solution for me.

I found my time with the CDE a wonderful challenge and hugely rewarding, and I would definitely recommend it.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at Natural Motion.

Physically simulated locomotion allows rich and varied interactions with environments and other characters. Previous academic work has produced effective control strategies, but typically uses very small simulation time steps with computational requirements which limit practicality for interactive applications. This research focuses on three major areas of work – trajectory optimization to provide physically valid motions suitable for tracking in simulation, a sampling-based approach to generate open loop control policies, and feedback control generated using evolutionary algorithms to correct for deviations from the ideal motion. Together, these three approaches allow successful control for a walking motion at 60 time steps per second, with control and simulation time of less than 1ms per time step, which means that the technique could plausibly be used within the demanding performance constraints of real time applications such as games. Accurate and computationally inexpensive prediction of controller stability was also demonstrated using machine learning, which will allow high level control strategies to be explored in future.

I am now working at Klarismo, a company which performs image analysis and segmentation on MRI data to determine quantitative information such as muscle and fat volumes.

Thesis:Physics-based character locomotion control with large simulation time steps

Current Employment/Job Title

Software Engineer at Amazon Game Services (previous experience: Research Engineer, NaturalMotion (5y), Software Engineer, Klarismo (1y))

View David’s Research Outputs

2017

Lisa Haskel

Nicola Triscott

Participatory Design and Free and Open Source Software in the Not for Profit Sector ‘the Hublink Project’

This industry-based thesis undertakes a multifaceted and longitudinal exploration of the design and implementation of a Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) based information system in a consortium of small-scale community organisations. The research is centred on the design, production and implementation of a case management system with and for a group of nine not-for-profit organisations in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets who work as a consortium. The system, called Hublink, is based on the FLOSS framework Drupal. The system was designed during 2013 and has been in everyday use by those organisations since January 2014, acting as the consortium’s primary information infrastructure. This research therefore encompasses both design and use. The design process was based on Participatory Design (PD) principles and methods. Because of the project’s long-term nature, Hublink has been an exceptional opportunity to focus on the legacy of a PD process into the later stages of the software development life-cycle. This research has therefore been able to draw on themes that have emerged through real-world use and an extended collaboration and engagement. In this thesis I place the Hublink project description within literature covering Participatory Design, Community Informatics and Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS), extending into infrastructuring, appropriation and end user development. Through a literature review and presentation of evidence collected during this research project, a clear argument emerges that relates the mutual learning outcomes of Participatory Design, with sustainability through infrastructuring activities, while also showing how the communities of practice of FLOSS projects create an infrastructure for not-for-profit organisations, enabling them to build sustainable systems that can meet their needs and accord with their values. The thesis argues that while Participatory Design strengthens the human element of infrastructure, FLOSS provides a complementary element of technical support, via the characteristics of generativity and extensibility, and their communities of practice.

This research provides a deeply descriptive study that bridges design and use, centred on the core values of Participatory Design, contributing to the understanding and development of practices around sustainability and Participatory Design in the not-for-profit sector. The research offers a conceptual pathway to link FLOSS and Participatory Design, suggesting directions for future research and practice that enhance the connections between these two important areas of participatory production.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

It has been a fantastic privilege to be a CDE Research Engineer. For me, it has been an opportunity to bring together my practical and academic interests, and work on a long-term project with real-world impact.

It has not always been easy to balance the competing requirements of academic work and practice-based research and writing up at the end felt like a very long haul. But being a Research Engineer is a fantastic route to a doctorate in which you have to grow as a person, as a practitioner and as an academic. The staff, supervisors and fellow students have been a great support.

Attending workshops and conferences internationally has expanded and developed my work enormously. I have had the opportunity to present papers and travel to workshops as far afield as Windhoek in Namibia, as well as closer to home in Belgium, Denmark and Ireland, all supported by CDE.

My own experience has left me fully in support of practice-based and industry-based doctoral study, despite its challenges. I look forward to taking my research further, but will miss the support of CDE and I’m hoping I can give back to the programme as much as I can, and keep in touch with stuff and students.

Where did you complete your placement?

My placement was at Arts Catalyist – London

My Research was in Participatory Design, focussing on the the benefits that using Free and Open Source software in Participatory Design projects can offer to grassroots organisations. As part of my research, I developed and still support a case management information system for a consortium of voluntary sector organisations in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets who offer advice and advocacy services in the community. While a Research Engineer at CDE, I presented a case-study at the bi-annual Participatory Design Conference, and as part of my public engagement activities, I helped run a ‘Code Club’ in a Lambeth primary school.

Since graduating from CDE I have worked as a Senior Developer for NDP studio, and I am now delighted to be passing on my skills and experience as a Senior Lecturer, in the brand new Computer Science Department at theUniversity of Roehampton.

Thesis:Participatory design and free and open source software in the not for profit sector ‘“ the Hublink Project

Current Employment/Job Title

Senior Lecturer, Computer Science,School of Arts,University of Roehampton

2018

Charlotte Hoare

Supervisor
Prof Eamonn O’Neill

Exploring synchronous second screen experiences to television

The way we interact with media has changed. Devices such as laptops, phones and tablets now supplement television watching for many. This behaviour allows viewers to engage more deeply with, or engage with content unrelated to, the television content they are simultaneously watching. This leads to the possibility of leveraging devices in a living room to deliver a synchronous, holistic experience over two screens: a companion screen experience. Although some examples of commercial companion screen experiences have been attempted, few have offered a genuinely enhanced experience to audiences.

This thesis examines how it is possible to design experiences that truly add value to a television experience, asking the central research question, how should companion screen experiences be designed? A number of companion screen experiences are developed and evaluated. A comparison chapter discerns how using the space around a TV to deliver a companion experience impacts a users experience when compared to a companion experience delivered more traditionally on a tablet. This leads to a more thorough investigation of the orchestration of companion experiences, addressed by using the novel approach of involving television professionals and audience members in the very initial stages of developing a companion screen experience, as a way of generating design guideline[s] for a companion experience. A potential guideline is uncovered for further investigation in the form of a hypothesis for testing. This hypothesis is then put under test in order to rigorously validate this design guideline for producers and designers of companion screen experiences. This rigorously-validated design guideline then leads to an important implication for broadcasters when it comes to providing and producing companion screen experiences. A final contribution of this research is the many potential directions for future research that the thesis yields.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Where did you complete your placement?

BBC R&D

Charlotte was embedded within the user experience group at BBC R&D in Salford. Charlotte’s research focused on multi-screen experiences in the living room, specifically looking at the implications for the user. This involves prototyping multi-screen experiences, developing methodologies to evaluate them, and ultimately providing recommendations for designers of future interactive living rooms.

Thesis:The Companion Experience: A Thesis from the Study of the Evolving Home Television Experience

Current Employment/Job Title

Software Engineering Team Lead, BBC

2015

Jake Hobbs

Mike Molesworth

Audience Engagement & Monetisation of Creative Content in Digital Environments: A creative SME Perspective

Creative SMEs face a number of limitations that can hamper their ability to develop and establish original content in digital environments. These limitations include a lack of resources, struggles for visibility, limits of engagement, audience pressures and free culture. The constant pressures from growing competition and fragmented audiences across digital environments amplify these limitations, which means SMEs can struggle in these highly competitive, information-rich platforms. Researchs ought to explore how creative SMEs may circumvent these limitations to strengthen their positioning in digital environments. Two areas of focus are proposed to address these issues; firstly a study and development of audience engagement, and secondly an analysis of the monetisation options available for digital content and their links to engagement. With a focus on audience engagement the theoretical grounding of this work is based within the engagement literature. Through this work a new Dynamic Shaping of Engagement is developed and used as a foundation of analysis, which informs the development of practical work in this study.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

The CDE offers a fantastic opportunity to carry out academic research in an industrial setting, all the while providing a great network of support that enable you as a researcher and practitioner to grow professionally.

Being part of the CDE gave me the opportunity to work on live projects and in turn access to a great support network within the broader cohort of students. Since completing my research in 2010 I have been working full-time with WONKY, where I head up the company’s digital output.

Where did you complete your placement?

My research encompasses a practice-led project undertaken over a four-year period at a small creative animation studio exploring the experiences of creative SMEs in delivering original content in highly competitive digital environments. With a theoretical grounding in engagement this study explores the limitations facing creative SMEs in successfully delivering original content and the methods and practices that may help circumvent them.

I completed my placement at Wonky.

Since finishing the EngD I have been working as Head of Digital at WONKY and Online Editor for ‘Show me the Animation’. I will soon be moving on to a new role as I have recently accepted a Lecturing position within the Creative Computing Course at Bath Spa University.

Thesis:Audience engagement and monetisation of creative content in digital environments: a creative SME perspective

Current Employment/Job Title

Senior Lecturer – Creative Computing – Bath Spa University

View Jake’s Research Outputs

2015

Lindsey Howell

Supervisor
Prof Peter Hall

Philip Child

Investigating how computational tools can improve the production process of stop-motion animation

Stop-motion animation is a traditional form of animation that has been practised for over 100 years. While the unique look and feel of stop-motion animation has been retained in modern productions, the production process has been modernised to take advantage of technological advancements. Modernstop-frame animation production integrates digital imaging technology and computational methods with traditional hand-crafted skills. This portfolio documents three projects undertaken at Aardman Animations, each investigated with the aim of improving efficiency in the stop-motion production process.

Advancing state-of-the-art research is only one of the challenges when working in a production studio such as Aardman Animations. Additionally, findings must be integrated into the production pipeline. This research discusses the challenges and constraints faced when conducting research in this environment. In order for stop-motion animation to remain competitive it is vital that production companies stay up-to-date with technological advancements in research areas that can contribute to their production processes. I conclude by discussing whether technological advancements can help Aardman Animations in improving the efficiency of their stop-motion production pipeline.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

The experience of working on industrial research and working towards academic goals helped to develop a number of skills:

• I now have a deep understanding of the animation industry and of production processes. The opportunity to view professional work first-hand was invaluable.
• I have learnt to understand academic papers and translate the content into working code.
• My writing skills have improved enormously.
• My project management skills have been developed with the management of complex research projects involving multiple parties.
• My presentation skills have improved, with numerous presentations and to far larger audiences than I had ever presented to before.

Overall, I am much more confident in my abilities to rigorously research a project and I feel capable of discussing research projects in both academic and industrial environments. It has developed my ability to articulate my ideas clearly and to think on the spot.

I now have a much deeper understanding of the complexities of industry-university partnerships. It is a complicated balance and I feel well informed about the benefits and the challenges involved. I have learnt that conferences and meetings with like-minded people can really help and I found it important to engage with others.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at Aardman Animations.

My research was about the development of technical tools for traditional stop-motion animation production. Technological methods must ensure that the traditional hand-crafted look is retained. My work involved researching and developing computational tools that could be used to make improvements to the production pipeline.

Aardman Animations was my host company. They create films, short-form animation, television series and commercials using both computer-generated and stop-motion animation. Their most famous characters are Wallace and Gromit and Morph. I was based in the commercials computer graphics department and my supervisor Philip Child is a Senior Technical Developer within that team. The main areas that I researched during my EngD were:

• Solutions for rig removal in post-production.
• Solutions for fixing set shift.

Solutions for simulating plasticine materials computationally

Thesis:Investigating how computational tools can improve the production process of stop-motion animation

Current Employment/Job Title

Senior Lecturer at the University of West England (previous experience: Researcher, Aardman Animations (4y))

2019

Richard Jones

Droplets, splashes and sprays: highly detailed liquids in visual effects production

An often misunderstood or under-appreciated feature of the visual effects pipeline is the sheer quantity of components and layers that go into a single shot, or even, single effect. Liquids, often combining waves, splashes, droplets and sprays, are a particular example of this. Whilst there has been a huge amount of research on liquid simulation in the last decade or so, little has been successful in reducing the number of layers or elements required to create a plausible final liquid effect. Furthermore, the finer-scale phenomena of droplets and sprays, often introduced in this layered approach and crucial for plausibility, are some of the least well-catered-for in the existing toolkit. In lieu of adequate tooling, creation of these elements relies heavily on non-physical methods, bespoke setups and artistic ingenuity.

This project explores physically-based methods for creating these phenomena, demonstrating improved levels of detail and plausibility over existing non-physical approaches. These provide an alternative to existing workflows that are heavily reliant on artistic input, allowing artists to focus efforts on creative direction rather than trying to recreate physical plausibility

Where did you complete your placement?

Double Negative

Richard worked alongside VFX studio Double Negative to develop improvements to the liquid simulation toolset for creating turbulent liquid and whitewater effects for feature film visual effects. The current toolset for liquid simulation is built around the creation of simple single-phase liquid motion, such as ocean waves and simple splashes, but struggles to capture the often more exciting mixed air-liquid phenomena of very turbulent fluid splashes and sprays. Therefore the creation of turbulent effects relies very heavily on artistic input and having the experience and intuition to use existing tools in unorthodox ways. By incorporating more physical models for turbulent fluid phenomena into the existing liquid simulation toolset, his project aims to develop techniques to greater capture realistic turbulent fluid effects and allow faster turnover of the highly detailed liquid effects required for feature film.

Thesis:Droplets, splashes and sprays: highly detailed liquids in visual effects production

Current Employment/Job Title

R&D Programmer – Double Negative (previous experience: Research Engineer, Prime Focus World (1y), Research Engineer, Double Negative (4y))

View Richard’s Research Outputs

2020

Ieva Kazlauskaite

Compositional Uncertainty in Models of Alignment

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

This program offered an opportunity for me to gain experience in both academia and industry and allowed me to put my background in Mathematics to good use.

Impact:

My project was inspired by a real industrial problem within my host company.

The project investigated the use of machine learning techniques to improve the interactrive animation of game characters based on motion capture data.

Learning from sequential data is challenging as data might be sampled at different and uneven rates, sequences might be collected out of phase, etc.Consider the following scenarios: humans performing a task may take more or less time to complete parts of it, climate patterns are often cyclic though particular events take place at slightly different times in the year, the mental ability of children varies depending on their age, neuronal spike waveforms contain temporal jitter, replicated scientific experiments often vary in timing.However, most sample statistics, e.g.mean and variance, are designed to capture variation in amplitude rather than phase/timing. This leads to increased sample variance, blurred fundamental data structures and an inflated number of principal components needed to describe the data. Therefore, the data needs to be aligned in order for dependencies such as these to be recovered. This is a non-trivial task that is often performed as a pre-processing stage to modelling.’‹Further difficulties arise when the the dataset contains observations from several distinct sequences. Consider, for example, a set of motion capture experiments that include tasks such as running, jumping and sitting down. Data for each of these three types of sequence can be aligned to themselves but a global alignment between them may not exist.

In this project we analysed the aforementionedscenariosusingprobabilistic non-parametric approaches.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at Electronic Arts. During my time there I got an opportunity to take part in multiple different projects in graphics, physics and AI. My main focus over the final two years was on probabilistic modelling of time series with applications to analysis and synthesis of motion capture data.

What Next?

I’m currently doing a postdoc in the Civil Engineering department at Cambridge with Prof Mark Girolami. I don’t have a well-defined research direction yet, but I expect it to be a continuation of some of my previous work with more of an emphasis on theory.

Current Employment/Job Title

Postdoc in the Civil Engineering department at Cambridge

View Ieva’s Research Outputs

2015

Charalampos (Babis) Koniaris

Supervisors
Prof Darren Cosker,
Dr Xiaosong Yang

Kenny Mitchell

Real-time Rendering of Complex, Heterogeneous Mesostructure on Deformable Surfaces

In this thesis, we present a new approach to rendering deforming textured surfaces that takes into account variations in elasticity of the materials represented in the texture. Our approach is based on dynamically warping the parameterisation so that parameterisation distortion in a deformed pose is locally similar to the rest pose; this similarity results in apparent rigidity of the mapped texture material. The warps are also weighted, so that users have control over what appears rigid and what not. Our algorithms achieve real-time generation of warps, including their application in rendering the textured surfaces. A key factor to the achieved performance is the exploitation of the parallel nature of local optimisations by implementing the algorithms on the GPU. We demonstrate our approach with several example applications. We show warps on models using standard texture mapping as well as Ptex. We also show warps using static or dynamic/procedural texture detail, while the surface that it is mapped on deforms. A variety of use-cases is also provided: generating warps for looping animations, generating out-of-core warps of film-quality assets, approximating high-resolution warps with lower-resolution texture-space Linear Blend Skinning and dynamically preserving texture features of a model being interactively edited by an artist.

Where did you complete your placement?

Texture mapping is a standard technique in computer graphics that is commonly used to map complex surface detail -in the form of images- to 3D models so that the latter appear more visually complex than they really are. A drawback is that when models animate, parts of them stretch or compress, and at those parts the mapped surface detail behaves like rubber due to distortion in the mapping introduced by the deformation. In this project, we develop methods to control this behaviour so that we can represent surface detail with heterogeneous elasticity characteristics that properly correspond to the portrayed materials.

My Placement was completed at Disney Research.

Thesis:Real-time Rendering of Complex, Heterogeneous Mesostructure on Deformable Surfaces

Current Employment/Job Title

Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University

2021

Andrew Lawrence

Supervisors
Prof Darren Cosker,
Dr Neill Campbell

Using Bayesian Non-Parametrics to Learn Multivariate Dependency Structures

Andrew’s research at the University of Bath focused on unsupervised learning with Bayesian non-parametrics, specifically publishing work at NeurIPS and ICML on generative latent variable models capable of learning multivariate dependency structures.

Current Job Title: Research Scientist – Team Lead Company: causaLens.

I have been working here since November 2019 and plan to continue working here in the future.

Outline of current research: Causal discovery, causal inference, fairness. The majority of my work is product-related research so the work ends up in our main platform and not disclosed in papers in conferences/journals.

Potential impact of current research: The most impactful aspect would be with respect to fairness. We are working on methods to assess and correct fairness in algorithms. For example, if a bank has an algorithm that determines if a person is approved or rejected for a loan, we can check if the algorithm uses protected characteristics, such as gender, race, etc to make this decision. If it does, that is unfair. However, it is not as simple as checking if it uses those features. There are often proxy variables (such as salary, post code, etc) that capture the sensitive information without specifically using gender/race in the decision.

2016

Chris Lewin

Professor Phil Willis, Dr Chris Williams, Dr Tom Waterson

Dr. Mike Bassett

Constraint Based Simulation of Soft and Rigid Bodies

This dissertation presents a number of related works in real-time physical animation, centered around the theme of constraint-based simulation. Methods used for real-time simulation of deformable bodies tend to differ quite substantially from those used in offline simulation; we discuss the reasons for this and propose a new position-based finite element method that attempts to produce more realistic simulations with these methods. We also consider and adapt other methods to make them more suitable for game physics simulation. Finally, we adapt some concepts from deformable body simulation to define a deformable rod constraint between rigid bodies that allows us to represent the kinematics of the human spine using fewer degrees of freedom than required with a strictly joint-based model.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at EA Games.

Rigid body physics has become a standard feature in modern video games. However, very few things in the real world behave in a rigid way; even metal-framed buildings and vehicles will deform under enough force. My project centered around efficiently simulating soft body behaviour in ways that are appropriate for use in games.

The requirements of high performance and robustness tend to expose weaknesses in the standard implicit force-based methods; instead, we have adopted a fast position-based approach to simulating the deformation of finite element meshes.

Thesis:Constraint based simulation of soft and rigid bodies

Current Employment/Job Title

Software Engineer at Improbable (previous experience: Research Engineer & Software Engineer, Electronic Arts (EA) (8y))

View Chris’ Research Outputs

2022

Zack Lyons

Virtual Therapy for Aqcuired Brain Injury Rehabilitation

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Here Zack explains why he chose the EngD within CDE.

Virtual Therapy – A Story-Driven and Interactive Virtual Environment for Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation

An estimated 350,000 people are affected in the UK each year by an acquired brain injury (ABI). When such injuries affect frontal lobe areas, a person can start to exhibit challenging behaviours that preclude community integration. Even seemingly basic everyday tasks, such as buying a bus ticket or searching for a shop, can be profoundly difficult and highlight significant behavioural obstacles to overcome. A crucial concern for clinicians is therefore to assess such obstacles by witnessing how well people with an ABI manage apparently routine tasks.

Our research has generated an immersive and interactive virtual environment that places people with ABIs into a realistic community setting. The environment challenges their ability to organise tasks, think creatively about solutions, and seek answers through social interactions. By delivering tasks that mirror the demands of the real world, clinicians may be able to better predict how people will behave in the community and train them to overcome these difficulties.

Where did you complete your placement?

Zack’s placement was completed with Designability,a national charity that enables disabled people to live with greater independence. Using human-centred design to create products with and for disabled people to improve and enrich their lives, giving them greater choice every day.

Current Employment/Job Title

Director of Studies, Department of Computer Science, University of Bath

View Zack’s Research Outputs

2021

Tom Matko

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of Dissolved Oxygen in Oxidation Ditches

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I wanted to do the EngD so I could focus entirely on industrial related research. I had previously worked in industry and done research in fluid simulation (water and built environment) and in computer animation. The EngD allowed me to spend my first year on a computer animation project on the fluid simulation of animal swimming. Thereafter all my time was spent on the main fluid simulation project that relates to wastewater engineering.

Where did you complete your placement?

During my doctorate I did a placement in Wessex Water’s offices in Bath. The benefits included modelling and taking measurements from operational wastewater treatment plants. The project studies the effect of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and bubble size distribution (BSD) on dissolved oxygen in one of Wessex Water’s wastewater treatment plants. In my case I was fortunate I was able to use the facilities of Bournemouth University and the University of Bath.

Thesis: –Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modelling of Dissolved Oxygen in Oxidation Ditches

Current Employment/Job Title

Principal CFD Modeller at Jacobs

View Tom’s Research Outputs

2021

Ifigeneia Mavridou

Emotion in Virtual Reality (VR)- Thesis title: Affective State Recognition in Virtual Reality

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2021

Lazaros Michailidis

Exploiting physiological changes during the flow experience for assessing virtual-reality game design

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I genuinely found the idea of an EngD to fully align with my goals. My goal was to bring academic research standards to the study of video games, but having had little to no formal training in the latter, a placement within PlayStation was the missing piece. Carrying out research in my beloved field, whilst also gaining experience from industry experts did not require second thoughts: Sign me up!

The research aimed to measure the flow experience in virtual reality video games with a strong focus on player characteristics rather than solely the game’s design as conventionally practiced in existing research. To this end, we recorded the players’ physiological responses to game levels designed to induce three mental states, i.e., flow, anxiety, and boredom, whilst keeping the game’s difficulty commensurate with each mental state. The physiological measures used were electrooculography, heart-rate variability, and electroencephalography (EEG). We showed that game design practices are not always consistent with the player’s experience. More specifically, we found that the players’ personality, as expressed through the Big Five dimensions, explained a significant portion of the flow experience across the three design levels. In addition, we were among the first to investigate the reduction of a medium-resolution EEG to a minimal subset for commercialization purposes. Evidently, electrophysiological activity converged to six scalp sensors, indicating an overlap between our game design and the player-reported experience of flow.

Where did you complete your placement?

Overall, I’ve had a very positive experience at PlayStation as a student, though I did struggle with the academia-industry divide during my first year. Companies operate on different schedules and deadlines, and I was more acquainted with the comfort of the academic world. Hence, my time management took a hit causing a ripple effect that endured for a long while. Nevertheless, environments with diverse thought and skillsets can only be beneficial to a new starter. I also enjoyed benefits exclusive to Sony employees, such as activities and off-site trips, which enriched my experience and made me feel part of the company.

Now that I have defended mythesis I feel extremely relieved. Defending your work is not exclusive to an EngD. I think that defending your work in your professional life can be far more intimidating. I definitely succumbed to stress, even though I knew I was not alone. The viva itself was not as dreadful as I’d originally made it out to be and I’ve got the examiners and the chair to thank for that. There are so many interesting things to explore and investigate, this was only the beginning!

I have become a permanent employee at PlayStation and I really enjoy my time here. I wouldn’t know how far in the future my plans could change, but I’m definitely happy to be where I am. Truly appreciative of the opportunity this program has given me.

Current Employment/Job Title

Sony Interactive Entertainment / Research and Development Engineer

View Lazaros’ Research Outputs

2017

Milto Miltiadou

Supervisor
Dr Neill Campbell

Dr Michael Grant

Efficient Accumulation Analysis and Visualisation of Full-Waveform LiDAR data in a Volumetric Representation with Applications to Forestry

Full-waveform (FW) LiDAR is a particularly useful source of information in forestry since it samples data between tree branches, but compared to discrete LiDAR, there are very few researchers exploiting this due to the increased complexity. DASOS, an open-source program, was developed, along with this thesis, to improve the adoption of FW LiDAR. DASOS uses voxelisation for interpreting the data and this approach is fundamentally different from state-of-art tools. There are three key features of DASOS, reflecting the key contributions of this thesis: Firstly, visualisation of a forest to improve fieldwork planning. Polygonal meshes are generated using DASOS, by extracting an iso-surface from the voxelised data. Additionally, six data structures are tested for optimising iso-surface extraction. The new structure, `Integral Volumes’, is the fastest but the best choice depends on the size of the data. Secondly, the FW LiDAR data are efficiently aligned with hyperspectral imagery using a geo-spatial representation stored within a hashed table with buckets of points. The outputs of DASOS are coloured polygonal meshes, which improves the visual output, and aligned metrics from the FW LiDAR and hyperspectral imagery. The metrics are used for generating tree coverage maps and it is demonstrated that the increased amount of information improves classification. The last feature is the extraction of feature vectors that characterise objects, such as trees, in 3D. This is used for detecting dead-standing Eucalypt trees in a native Australian forest for managing biodiversity without tree delineation. A random forest classifier, a weighted-distance KNN algorithm and a seed growth algorithm are used to predict positions of dead trees. Improvements in the results from increasing numbers of training samples was prevented due to the noise in the field data. It is nevertheless demonstrated that forest health assessment without tree delineation is possible. Cleaner training samples that are adjustable to tree heights would have improved prediction.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2021

Valentin Miu

Supervisor
Dr Oleg Fryazinov

Chris Smith & Mark Gerhard

Computer Vision with Machine Learning on Smartphones for Beauty Applications

The aims were to port existing desktop computer-oriented computer vision techniques to smartphones, by lowering the computational requirements, or by developing alternative methods. This research contributed to the creation of various beauty-related smartphone and web apps using Unity, as well as TensorFlow Lite and TensorFlowJS for the machine learning components. The projects included a novel 6DoF machine learning system for smartphone object tracking, an improved wrinkle and facial blemish detection algorithm and implementation in Unity, as well as research on neural architecture search for facial feature segmentation, and makeup style transfer with generative adversarial networks.

Why did you choose the EngD with CDE?: I had a significant interest in the more technical aspects of computer graphics. Since all my other options for a doctorate were physics, the CDE EngD option stood out to me when I discovered it.

Placement: The target of the placement company changed from AR games to beauty applications early during the placement. This led to much implementation work to achieve parity with other augmented reality and computer vision-based beauty apps, which may have limited novelty of research. From the placement, I learned how to use machine learning frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow, how to optimize for smartphones with TensorFlow Lite, and how to program for the Unity game engine. Given the requirements of my current job, learning Unity has been most useful.

How are you feeling now you have defended your thesis and completed the EngD? Completing the EngD has allowed me to move on to headset-based augmented reality, which I find more interesting and less limited than smartphone-based augmented reality.

I am currently working at the Austrian Institute of Technology doing augmented reality research engineering. I want to learn Unreal Engine and virtual production out of personal interest.

Potential Impact of your research: The benefit to the placement company, from creation of some machine learning models and work on implementation.

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View Valentin’s Research Outputs

2021

Mark Moseley

Research

The Development of Assistive Technology to Reveal Knowledge of Physical World Concepts in Young People Who Have Profound Motor Impairments

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I was a member of the Bournemouth University based EU funded SHIVA project team whilst working at Victoria Education Centre (VEC) as an Assistive Technologist. SHIVA introduced me to the world of applied research and led to my applying for the EngD. The EngD is particularly well suited to this type of research and enabled real-world problems relating to my field of work to be tackled.

Where did you complete your placement?

I had worked at Victoria Education Centre as an Assistive Technologist for 8 years, and so it seemed logical and beneficial that my research take place there. During my research I created Assistive Technology (AT) accessible digital assessments and an eye gaze controlled robotic arm with hand-based haptic feedback. These were used with two pupil participants at VEC, with the aim of identifying and extending their knowledge of the physical world. Their disabilities meant that they were unable to speak and had little reliable movement of most of their limbs, and so lacked opportunities to interact with and learn about the physical world. The AT system helped to provide such opportunities.

Further information about Livability Victoria Education Centre can be found on their website: https://www.victoria.poole.sch.uk/

Current Employment/Job Title

Assistive Technologist at both VEC and Langside School. Research Assistant at Bournemouth University.

View Mark’s Research Outputs

2019

Elena Marimon Munoz

Digital Radiography: Image Acquisition and Scattering Reduction in X-ray imaging

During the CMOS X-ray detector product design phase, it is crucial to detect any shortcomings that the detector might present. Image characterization techniques are a very efficient method for finding these possible detector features. This first part of the thesis focused in taking these well-known test methods and adapt and optimise them, so they could act as a red flag indicating when something needed to be investigated. The methods chosen in this study have proven to be very effective in finding detector shortcomings and the designs have been optimised in accordance with the results obtained. With the aid of the developed imaging characterization tests, new sensor designs have been successfully integrated into a detector, resulting in the recent release into the market of a new family of Varex Imaging CMOS X-ray detectors. The second part of the thesis focuses in X-ray mammography applications, the gold standard technique in breast cancer screening programmes. Scattered radiation degrades the quality of the image and complicates the diagnosis process. Anti-scatter grids, the main scattering reduction technique, are not a perfect solution.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

An EngD program allows you to work in a research project while offering you an insight and experience in industry. This was a perfect solution for me, as I wanted to continue my studies but wasn’t sure about pursuing a career in academia. The CDE programme allowed me to work in a very interesting funded project and provided me with the experience, tools and skills needed to work in both industry and academia.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at Dexela Ltd (Varex Imaging, former PerkinElmer). Varex Imaging is a X-ray imaging solution provider that covers medical to industrial applications. My project explored the image acquisition and image processing areas of digital radiography, by seeking the improvement in the design of a new family of Varex Imaging CMOS X-ray detectors and by developing a method to reduce the scatter contribution in mammography examinations using image post-processing techniques.

Thesis:Digital radiography: image acquisition and scattering reduction in x-ray imaging

Current Employment/Job Title

Physicist at Unitive Design and Analysis (previous experience: Detector Physicist, Varex Imaging Corporation (6 years))

2015

Maryam Naghizadeh

Supervisors
Prof Darren Cosker,
Dr Neill Campbell

Multi-Character Motion Retargeting for Large Scale Changes

“Multi-character motion retargeting (MCMR) aims at generating motion for multiple target characters given the motion data for their corresponding source subjects. Unlike single-character motion retargeting, MCMR algorithms should be able to retarget each character’s motion correctly while maintaining the interaction between them. Existing solutions focus on small-scale changes between interacting characters. However, many retargeting applications require large-scale transformations. For example, movies like Avatar (2009) use motion retargeting to drive characters that are much taller or shorter than the human actors controlling them. Current solutions in the industry require a significant amount of clean-up, increasing costs and post-processing time considerably.

In this research, we propose a new algorithm for large-scale MCMR using space-time constraint-based optimisation. We build on the idea of interaction meshes, which are structures representing the spatial relationship among characters. We introduce a new distance-based interaction mesh that embodies the relationship between characters more accurately by prioritizing local connections over global ones. We introduce a stiffness weight for each skeletal joint in our optimisation function, which defines how undesirable it is for the interaction mesh to deform around that joint. This parameter increases the adaptability of our algorithm for large-scale transformations and reduces optimisation time considerably. Our optimisation function also incorporates: a) a pose prior model, which ensures that the output poses are valid; b) a balance term, which aims at preserving balance in the output motion; and c) a distance adjustment element, which adapts the distance between characters according to their scale change. We compare the performance of our algorithm with the current state-of-the-art MCMR solution (baseline) for several motion sequences based on runtime, bone-length error, balance and pose validity metrics.

Furthermore, we complete two more experiments to evaluate our method’s competency against the baseline. The first experiment involves converting retargeting results to an angular representation and measuring inverse kinematics (IK) error. For the second experiment, we conduct a user study and ask participants to rank the output of our method and the baseline according to their retargeting quality for various test sequences. Our results show that our method outperforms the baseline over based on runtime, balance, pose validity, IK error and retargeting quality score measures. They display similar performance regarding bone-length error.”

What are your plans for the future?

I am planning to continue working on animation-related problems within the entertainment industry in the UK.

Potential Impact of your research:

Extending existing motion retargeting solutions in the movie industry for more than one character

What are you currently up to?

I am working as a junior animation programmer at Ninja Theory.

2022

Thu Nguyen Phuoc

Supervisors
Dr Yongliang Yang,
Prof Eamonn O’Neill

Neural Rendering and Inverse Rendering using Physical Inductive Biases

MSCA Ph.D (University of Bath)

The computer graphics rendering pipeline is designed to generate realistic 2D images from 3D virtual scenes, with most research focusing on simulating elements of the physical world using light transport models or material simulation. This rendering pipeline, however, can be limited and expensive. For example, it still takes months or year seven for highly trained 3D artists and designers to produce high-quality images, games or movies. Additionally, most renderers are not differentiable, making it hard to apply to inverse rendering tasks. Computer vision investigates the inference of scene properties from 2D images, and has recently achieved great success with the adoption of neural networks and deep learning. It has been shown that representations learned from these computer vision models are also useful for computer graphics tasks. For example, powerful image-generative models are capable of creating images with a quality that can rival those created by traditional computer graphics approaches. However, these models make few explicit assumptions about the physical world or how images are formed from it and therefore still struggle in tasks such as novel-view synthesis, re-texturing or relighting. More importantly, they offer almost no control over the generated images, making it non-trivial to adapt them for computer graphics applications.

In this thesis, we propose to combine inductive biases about the physical world and the expressiveness of neural networks for the task of neural rendering and inverse rendering. We show that this results in a differentiable neural renderer that can both achieve high image quality and generalisation across different 3D shape categories, as well as recover scene structures from images. We also show that with the added knowledge about the 3D world, unsupervised image generative models can learn representations that allow explicit control over object positions and poses without using pose labels, 3D shapes, or multiple views of the same objects or scenes. This suggests the potential of learning representations specifically for neural rendering tasks, which offer both powerful priors about the world and intuitive control over the generated results.

Combining prior knowledge of the physical world and machine learning for more powerful and expressive rendering algorithms

Industrial Partner:

Lambda Labs.

What are your plans for the future?

To keep researching

Potential Impact of your research:

My research aims to fundamentally change the way new visual content is created and displayed

Any new research you are working on?

Neural Rendering for AR/VR/MR

LinkedIn profile

View Thu’s Research Outputs

2017

Ralph Potter

Supervisor
Dr Russell Bradford

Dr. Alastair Murray and Dr. Paul Keir

Programming models for heterogeneous systems with application to computer graphics

For over a decade, we have seen a plateauing of CPU clock rates, primarily due to power and thermal constraints. To counter these problems, processor architects have turned to both multi-core and heterogeneous processors. Whilst the use of heterogeneous processors provides a route to reducing energy consumption, this comes at the cost of increased complexity for software developers. In this thesis, we explore the development of C++-based programming models and frameworks which enable the efficient use of these heterogeneous platforms, and the application of these programming models to problems from the field of visual computing. Two recent specifications for heterogeneous computing: SYCL and Heterogeneous System Architecture, share the common goal of providing a foundation for developing heterogeneous programming models.

In this thesis, we provide early evaluations of the suitability of these two new platforms as foundations for building higher-level domain-specific abstractions. We draw upon two use cases from the field of visual computing: image processing and ray tracing; and explore the development and use of domain-specific C++ abstractions layered upon these platforms. We present a domain-specific language that generates optimized image processing kernels by deeply embedding within SYCL. By combining simple primitives into more complex kernels, we are able to eliminate intermediate memory accesses and improved performance. We also describe Offload for HSA: a single-source C++14 compiler and programming model for Heterogeneous System Architecture. The pervasive shared virtual memory offered by HSA allows us to reduce execution overheads and relax constraints imposed by SYCL’s programming model, leading to significant performance improvements. Performance optimization on heterogeneous systems is a challenging task. We build upon Offload to provide RTKit, a framework for exploring the optimization space of ray tracing algorithms on heterogeneous systems. Finally, we conclude by discussing the challenges raised by our work and open problems that must be resolved in order to unify C++ and heterogeneous computing.

Where did you complete your placement?

Codeplay

SYCL/C++ combination and HSA based ray tracing.

Thesis: Programming Models for Heterogeneous Systems with Application to Computer Graphics

Current Employment/Job Title

Lead Khronos Standards Engineer at Samsung Electronics (previous experience: Research Engineer, Codeplay (2y))

2022

Kyle Reed

Supervisor
Prof Darren Cosker

Industrial Supervisor: Steve Caulkin

Improving Facial Performance Animation using Non-Linear Motion

Industrial Partner:

Cubic Motion

Research Project: Improving Facial Performance Animation using Non-Linear Motion

Cubic Motion is a facial tracking and animation studio,most famous for their real-time live performance capture. The aim of this research is to improve the quality of facial motion capture and animation through the development of new methods for capture and animation.

We are investigating the utilisation of non-linear facial motion observed from 4D facial capture for improving the realism and robustness of facial performance capture and animation. As the traditional pipeline relies on linear approximations for facial dynamics, we hypothesise that using observed non-linear dynamics will automatically factor in subtle nuances such as fine wrinkles and micro-expressions, reducing the need of animator handcrafting to refine animations.

Starting with developing a pipeline for 4D Capture of an performer’s range of motion (or Dynamic Shape Space); we apply this information to various components of the animation pipeline including rigging, blendshape solving to performance capture and keyframe animation. We also investigate how by acquiring a Dynamic Shape Space of multiple individuals we can develop a motion manifold for the personalisation of individual expression, that can be used as a prior for subject-agnostic animation. Finally we validate the need of non-linear animation through comparison to linear methods and through audience perception studies.

MSc Digital Entertainment – masters project:

Using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to predict occluded facial expressions when wearing head – mounted displays (HMDs) for VR.

Background: Computer Science

BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Industrial Placement Year, University of Bath.

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View Kyle’s Research Outputs

2017

Sean Soraghan

Alain Renaud

Ben Supper

A Perceptually Motivated Approach to Timbre Representation and Visualisation

Musical timbre is a complex phenomenon and is often understood in relation to the separation and comparison of different sound categories. The representation of musical timbre has traditionally consisted of instrumentation category (e.g. violin, piano) and articulation technique (e.g. pizzicato, staccato). Electroacoustic music places more emphasis on timbre variation as musical structure, and has highlighted the need for better, more in-depth forms of representation of musical timbre. Similarly, research from experimental psychology and audio signal analysis has deepened our understanding of the perception, description, and measurement of musical timbre, suggesting the possibility of more exact forms of representation that directly reference low-level descriptors of the audio signal (rather than high-level categories of sound or instrumentation).

Research into the perception of timbre has shown that ratings of similarity between sounds can be used to arrange sounds in an N-dimensional perceptual timbre space, where each dimension relates to a particular axis of differentiation between sounds. Similarly, research into the description of timbre has shown that verbal descriptors can often be clustered into a number of categories, resulting in an N-dimensional semantic timbre space. Importantly, these semantic descriptors are often physical, material, and textural in nature. Audio signal processing techniques can be used to extract numeric descriptors of the spectral and dynamic content of an audio signal. Research has suggested correlations between these audio descriptors and different semantic descriptors and perceptual dimensions in perceptual timbre spaces. This thesis aims to develop a perceptually motivated approach to timbre representation by making use of correlations between semantic and acoustic descriptors of timbre. User studies are discussed that explored participant preferences for different visual mappings of acoustic timbre features. The results of these studies, together with results from existing research, have been used in the design and development of novel systems for timbre representation. These systems were developed both in the context of digital interfaces for sound design and music production, and in the context of real-time performance and generative audio-reactive visualisation. A generalised approach to perceptual timbre representation is presented and discussed with reference to the experimentation and resulting systems.

The use of semantic visual mappings for low-level audio descriptors in the representation of timbre suggests that timbre would be better defined with reference to individual audio features and their variation over time. The experimental user studies and research-led development have highlighted specific techniques and audio-visual mappings that would be very useful to practitioners and researchers in the area of audio analysis and representation.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Current software interfaces for digital music production facilitate the design and manipulation of widely varying musical timbres. However, their interfaces are often complex and technical, presenting a cognitive barrier to some users. This research project aims at developing a perception-based approach to interface design by exploiting synaesthesic correlations between vision and hearing.

An EngD offers a great combination of self-motivated academic research and industry-led practical experience. With the CDE there is a wealth of opportunity, with courses available from two excellent universities, as well as many world-renowned industry contacts.

Where did you complete your placement?

My placement during the EngD was at ROLI. ROLI are a design-led technology company based in Dalston, London. Founded in 2009 by Roland Lamb, they make hardware and software products and services designed to increase the bandwidth of interaction between people and technology.

I recently joined Audiokinetic in Montreal, Canada, as a software engineer. Looking ahead, the main aim is to continue making fun and/or useful interactive things.

Thesis:A perceptually motivated approach to timbre representation and visualisation

Current Employment/Job Title

AudioKinetic / Software Engineer (previous experience: Research Engineer & R&D Software Engineer Contractor, ROLI (4y))

View Sean’s Research Outputs

2020

Joanna Tarko

Graphics Insertions into Real Video for Market Research

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Often, when asked, people can’t explain why they bought a specific product. The aim of market research is to design research methods that help to explain why the decision was made. In a perfect scenario, study participants would be placed in a real, but fully-controlled shopping environment; however, in practice, such environments are very expensive or even impossible to build. Virtual reality (VR) environments, in turn, are fully controllable and immersive, but they lack realism.

My project is on combining video camera footage with computer-generated elements to create sufficiently realistic (or plausible) but still controlled environments for market research. The computer graphics elements can range from texture replacement (as on the screen of a mobile phone) through to complete three-dimensional models of buildings (such as a petrol station). More commonly, billboards, posters and individual product items comprise the graphics models. After working with standard cameras, I focused on 360° cameras (cameras that capture everything around them in every direction), which are rapidly gaining in popularity, and may provide a good replacement for VR content in terms of immersion.

Where did you complete your placement?

My placement was with DC-avtiv. Dc-activ combine insight, design and tech to help brands Win At Retail by digitising commercial capability across 6 pillars. Underpinning these capabilities is impact xp, a unique ecosystem of services designed around our client’s commercial priorities.

Current Employment/Job Title

R&D Engineer at Ncam Technologies Ltd

View Joanna’s Research Outputs

2021

Catherine Taylor

Research

Deformable Objects for Virtual Environments

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I chose the EngD with the CDE as it allowed me to work on novel academic research as well as learn how to carry out research in an industrial environment. The CDE also offered the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse range of individuals and present my work at conferences all over the world.

My research focused on tracking non-rigid objects for virtual environments with the goal of creating novel, immersive interactions for VR and AR. I designed several neural network-based approaches for predicting the pose and shape of deformable objects from RGB images. I also created a new dataset containing hand-object interaction sequences.

Where did you complete your placement?

My placement was with the experiential art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast. This is a creatively led company, so I enjoyed learning about how VR and AR can be used to design exciting art exhibitions and tell stories. I also learned about the faster pace of research in the industry as compared to academia. I got the opportunity to take part in several Innovate UK projects as well as see the company grow and the importance of research increase.

How are you feeling now you have defended your thesis?

I was very relieved when I passed my viva! The EngD was challenging so I felt proud to see 4 years of work come together.

What are your plans for the future?

I have now started a job as an Image Analysis Research Engineer at Canon Medical Research Europe. I am working on researching and writing software for analysing medical images.

Potential Impact of your research:

Throughout my EngD, deformable objects have become a key focus of MLF’s research, and my EngD has help informed the direction of that research. With the continuing popularity of VR and AR, there are many applications which could be enhanced by using object of hand-object tracking as a means of interaction. For example, games, art exhibitions and training environments.

Current Employment/Job Title

Image Analysis Research Engineer at Canon Medical Research Europe Ltd.

View Catherine’s Research Outputs

2018

Matthew Thompson

Supervisor
Dr Julian Padget

Building abstractable story components with institutions and tropes

Though much research has gone into tackling the problem of creating interactive narratives, no software has yet emerged that can be used by story authors to create these new types of narratives without having to learn a programming language or narrative formalism. Widely-used formalisms in interactive narrative research, such as Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale and Lehnert’s Plot Units’ allow users to compose stories out of pre-defined components, but do not allow them to define their own story components, or to create abstractions by embedding components inside of other components. Current tools for interactive narrative authoring, such as those that use Young’s Mimesis architecture or Facade’s drama manager approach, direct intelligent agents playing the roles of characters through use of planners. Though these systems can handle player interactions and adapt the story around them, they are inaccessible to story authors who lack technical or programming ability.

This thesis proposes the use of Story Tropes to informally describe story components. We introduce TropICAL, a controlled natural language system for the creation of tropes that allows non-programmer story authors to describe their story components informally. Inspired by Propp’s Morphology, this language allows for the creation of new story components and abstractions that allow existing components to be embedded inside of new ones. Our TropICAL language compiles to the input language for an Answer Set solver, which represents the story components in terms of a formal normative framework, and hence allows for the automated verification of story paths. These paths can be visualised as branching tree diagrams in the StoryBuilder tool, so that authors can visualise the effect of adding different tropes to their stories, aiding the process of authoring interactive narratives. We evaluate the suitability of these tools for interactive story construction through a thematic analysis of story authors’ completion of story-authoring tasks using TropICAL and StoryBuilder. The participants complete tasks in which they have to describe stories with different degrees of complexity, finally requiring them to reuse existing tropes in their own trope abstractions. The thematic analysis identifies and examines the themes and patterns that emerge from the story authors’ use of the tool, revealing that non-programmer story authors are able to create their own stories using tropes without having to learn a strict narrative formalism.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

Where did you complete your placement?

Sysemia

Computer games and virtual reality environments offer new experiences in interactive entertainment. However, the stories in these new media remain the same: linear and scripted, unaffected by the decisions a player makes. I was looking into ways to create stories that react to a player’s actions, in order to create infinitely replayable games and interactive experiences.

Thesis:Building Abstractable Story Components with Institutions and Tropes

Current Employment/Job Title

Lecturer, Bath Spa University

View Matthew’s Research Outputs

2019

Fabio Turchet

Supervisor
Dr Oleg Fryazinov

Dr Sara Schvartzman

Physics-based modelling, simulation, placement and learning for musculo-skeletal animations.

This work is a collection of projects completed at the hosting company MPC London focused on the main components needed for the animation of musculo-skeletal systems: primitives modeling, physically accurate simulation, interactive placement. Complementary projects are also presented, including the procedural modeling of wrinkles and a machine-learning approach for deformable objects based on Deep Neural Networks. Primitives modeling aims at proposing an approach to generating muscle geometry complete with tendons and fibers from superficial patches sketched on the character skin mesh. The method utilizes the physics of inflatable surfaces and produces meshes ready to be tetrahedralized, that is without compenetrations. A framework for the simulation of muscles, fascia and fat tissues based on the Finite Elements Method (FEM) is presented, together with the theoretical foundations of fiber-based materials with activations and their fitting in the Implicit Euler integration. The FEM solver is then simplified in or- der to achieve interactive rates to show the potential of interactive muscle placement on the skeleton to facilitate the creation of intersection-free primitives using collision detection and resolution.

Alongside physics simulation for biological tissues, the thesis explores an approach that extends the Implicit Skinning technique with wrinkles based on convolution surfaces by exploiting the gradients of the combination of bones fields. Finally, this work discusses a possible approach to the learning of physics-based deformable objects based on deep neural networks which makes use of geodesic disks convolutional layers.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2021

Asha Ward

Music Technology for Users with Complex Needs

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

The EngD offered the chance to gain an academic foundation as well as to develop research within an industry based setting. The framework that the CDE provided offered both the support and the resources to be able to carry out the research I undertook effectively.

Where did you complete your placement?

I completed my placement at the Three Ways School in Bath which is a special educational needs school for children and young people aged 4-18. Working with the school carried on a relationship that started when I was doing my degree and saw me working with an industrial mentor to create new music-making technology that could really be adapted to the context it was being used within. The flexibility that the research allowed meant that I also got to work with several other research sites which then fed back into the final research outputs. It was a great experience to be able to work with so many dedicated practitioners and professionals and feed this through into creating technology that helped people to access music-making.

The impact of my research has always been centered around using technology to give access to the experience of music-making to those that would otherwise encounter barriers to music-making. The impact of my research will hopefully grow as the tools that were created from it and the insight that was gained is repurposed and carried forward by others. The tools that were created will be being used in the settings that they were developed in and are open for future development.

I am currently working as a Research Fellow in Digital Storytelling methodologies for supporting the transitions of autistic children, at Southampton University.

(Previous: West Howe Community Enterprises as skills and activities coordinator)

Current Employment/Job Title

Research Fellow in Digital Storytelling methodologies – Southampton University

View Asha’s Research Outputs

2021

Phil Wilkinson

Supervisor
Dr Mark Readman

Exploring Expectations of Technology in Education

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

I chose it over the standard PhD route because I specifically wanted to work with external stakeholders (particularly those interested in education) as part of my research. Doing research that was immediately impactful and informed by the contextual realities and best practices of educators was important to me.

The impact of my research so far has been on the communities of educators, parents, and teachers I have already worked with as they are much more confident and adept in their use of technology. From a broader perspective, my hope is to change the way we talk about technology in educational settings, especially with regard to parents and the unhelpful negative assumptions surrounding their digital capabilities.

I am now a full-time academic, leading my own degree progamme but continuing to work with external partners on the research I started as part of my work with the CDE.

Where did you complete your placement?

My research was concerned with expectations and attitudes toward education.Expectations of technology are not universal, but there is a prevalent solutionist perspective that provides a simplistic account of technology. The critical issue that l be explored is the way in which underlying ideological values inform constructions of what does, or does not, constitute legitimate educational practices with technology. This has a detrimental impact on children, their parents’ and educators’. This research was presented as a portfolio of work that involved collaboration with multiple external partners including a digital marketing agency, local councils, educational institutions, and international technology providers.

The placement experiences I had were invaluable. Each contributed to my own personal development in several ways but also contributed to the overall value and societal impact of my research. Having worked with multiple external partners I am in a better position to collaborate with external stakeholders in the future, as I can understand and undertake research that has value from multiple perspectives.

Current Employment/Job Title

Full Time Academic – Bournemouth University – Faculty of Media and Communication

View Phil’s Research Outputs

2017

Steve Willey

Supervisor
Prof Peter Hall

Jeff Clifford and Ted Waine

Improving the Pipeline for Stereo Post-Production

We investigate some problems commonly found when dealing with stereo images. Working within the context of visual effects for films, we explore software solutions to issues arising with stereo images captured on-set. These images originate from a wide variety of hardware which may or may not provide additional data support for post-production needs. Generic software solutions are thus greatly to be preferred. This dissertation documents contributions in the following three areas. Each project was undertaken at Double Negative and investigated with the aim of improving the post-production pipeline for 3D films.

We provide an extensive exploration of the requirements of 3D films in order to make them presentable in the cinema. Through these projects, we have provided improvements to the stereo workflow and shown that academic research is a necessary component of developing tools for the visual effects pipeline. We have provided new algorithms to improve the 3D experience for moviegoers, as well as artists, and conclude by discussing the future work that will provide further gains in the field.

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

2022

Thomas Williams

Supervisors
Dr Elies Dekoninck,
Dr Simon Jones,
Dr Christof Lutteroth

Dr Hazel Boyd

Exploring the Potential of Augmented Reality to Support People Living with Dementia to Complete Tasks at Home

My research project explored the use of augmented reality (AR) as a task prompting tool to support people living with dementia to complete tasks at home. Dementia affects more than 850,000 people in the UK, a figure that continues to rise year on year. People living with dementia often have difficulties completing everyday tasks, leading to a reliance on family or professional carers. However, assistive technology, such as task prompting tools, can support people living with dementia to maintain their independence and live at home for longer. AR is an increasingly prevalent technology and has been used as a task prompting tool in industrial settings to support complex maintenance and assembly tasks. The use of AR for task assistance has also been identified as a promising area for development in domestic settings. Despite this, relatively little was known about the efficacy of augmentations for everyday tasks.

In order to develop a holistic understanding of the use of AR in a domestic setting, I chose to involve multiple stakeholders in my project, including: health professionals; a general adult population; older adults without cognitive impairment; and, people living with dementia and their family carers. The project consisted of four key studies:

1. In-person interviews with professionals with experience of working with people living with dementia.
2. A lab experiment with older adults to compare four AR visual prompting techniques to prompt five basic actions found in many everyday tasks.
3. Co-design of AR prompts in a kitchen context, and their evaluation with a general adult population using an online survey.
4. Online interviews with people living with dementia and their family carers to explore the results of the previous three studies and how AR could be beneficial from the point of view of people with lived experience of dementia.

The overall findings show that AR as a tool to support task prompting of domestic tasks was received positively by the participants of my studies. A combination of text, audio, and a ghosthand image demonstrating the action to carry out could be most beneficial for people with dementia, but AR prompts should be easily customisable to cater for different abilities, preferences, and personalities. Furthermore, early introduction of AR will be key for uptake when the technology has been developed further.

Why did you chose the EngD with CDE?

I wanted to use my technical problem solving skills to help others, and the EngD felt like a qualification that would enable me to do just that. Having said that, I did not know what project I would end up pursuing, but am very pleased that my EngD journey led me to the field of HCI and dementia.

Placement:

The team at Designability were wonderful colleagues and mentors. I enjoyed working with creative and passionate people, and felt welcomed from the get go. The company went through a lot of change during my time there, and of course the pandemic was unprecedented for everyone, but I always felt supported and enabled to complete my EngD research.

How are you feeling now you defended your thesis and completed the EngD?

I am immensely proud to have completed the project and defended my thesis. I even enjoyed my viva! I owe it to the people supporting me who encouraged me to persevere when decisions and life became difficult and I feel incredibly grateful to have had such an understanding and supportive supervisory team.

What are your plans for the future?

Over the course of my EngD journey, I realised that I enjoy working with people and have a desire to help individuals more directly. I was lucky enough to meet occupational therapists who inspired me to pursue a career in occupational therapy. I am keeping an open mind, but may decide to pursue an academic research career and I am interested in filling the space between technology development and occupational therapy.

The potential impact of your research:

My work provides support for the use of AR as a task prompting tool for people living with dementia and for AR task prompting in domestic settings in general, adding to the growing basis of research in these areas. The general findings about how AR prompts should look for domestic task prompting will be useful for developers of AR prompting for people with and without dementia. My original contribution is the development of AR prompts for domestic tasks that have been evaluated with multiple stakeholders both with and without cognitive impairment. My project could be continued by future students to further explore the practical implications of using AR to support people living with dementia at home.

Download Thomas’ Research Profile

2018

Hashim Yaqub

Research

Reducing simulator sickness while maintaining presence in first-person head-mounted VR applications

Why did you choose the EngD / CDE?

My research involves evaluating the effectiveness of consumer off-the-shelf HMDs in Virtual Maritime Training.

Where did you complete your placement?

I am based at BMT Defence Services, Bath, with a department who specialises in developing training solutions for naval platforms. My work involves using new consumer VR technologies like the Oculus Rift in training scenario’s which include platform familiarisation, maintenance, and emergency procedures. Currently my projects are extending to having multiple users interacting with each other in the same environment via these devices.

Thesis:Reducing Head Mounted Display VR Sickness Through Dynamic Field of View Constriction

Current Employment/Job Title

Unity 3D Developer, BMT Defence Services