This week we learned more about what goes into building a worldview and learned more about split-screening. For me, the worldview I had designed was lacking and had shortcomings, so I added more elements and wrote out my IDEA to choose the story I wanted to do more.
Elements for forming a world view
History:
• What time period is your story set in?
• How does said time period effect your story?
• What event lead up to your story?
• Global catastrophes? Or Periods of peace?
Geography:
• Where is your story taking place?
• How advanced or primitive is this nation?
• What events lead up to or effect the nation geologically/architecturally?
• Has a history/religion made an impact on said architecture?
Ecology:
• What type of animals live in these rural/ advanced places?
• How has nature been effected or has effected the rest of your world.
• Is it post-apocalyptic with an abundance of nature overflowing abandoned places or is it a barren wasteland with no sign of wildlife in sig
SETS AND PROPS
• Once you have an idea and have fleshed out your world for your story it’s now time to create your sets and props that could be used in your scenes to further push the readability of your world and shots. Barrells in a western, computers in sci-fi, cogs and pipes for steampunk, tropical biomes/abandoned building for a jungle etc.
Building on my previous ideas, I will be improving on my undergraduate design and trying to create a new short story.
Idea1：
Word view：
This is a magical world filled with different kinds of orcs because of the bloodlines passed down from the ancient combination of humans and animals. The Harpy clan occupies the highlands and the cliffs, and among the Harpy clan, there are three religions, and our protagonist is in one of them. This religion is harmonious and friendly and is the postman of the world. They live in groups in the forest with their people, building houses in huge banyan trees. Usually, one tree will house a group.
Idea2：
World view:
The story is happening in a parallel world that has a similar civilization like earth, but the supernatural powers can be used by humans in this world. Humans who can use supernatural powers are called Wizards. They can summon creatures from different dimensions through rituals, and by paying a certain price, the appeared creature will achieve their wishes.
Story line:
After being seriously injured by the enemy, osmin escape into the mountain and met Collatina. Collatina has recognized osmin ’s identity by the necklace with blue ore, therefore gave his heart to osmin , for survive and continue to protect the mountains and forests, but this also determined that Collatina could never leave osmin again. After osmin woke up, Collatina told him everything happened include who he is and the secret of blue ore. osmin was very grateful for the help of Collatina, but he had to avenge the dead villagers. So, after discussion, they decided that osmin could leave the mountain for ten days a month to find the information he need for revenge, and for all the rest of the time he needed to stay in the mountain to help Collatina take care of creatures in the mountain, and use the magic power given to him by the god of mountain when necessary to repel evil creatures. With the consent of both parties, Collatina and osmin entered into a contract. Their adventure story is about to begin here.
Idea3：
This is the mermaid character that I designed last term, and I did come up with some exciting ideas for this character, which is the story of a mermaid meeting a small octopus:
Mermaid is looking for something in the monument Two or three renderings of the monument It found jewels in one place A pile of rusty treasures includes a crown that glows The mermaid is puzzled and wonders why the crown is glowing and reaches out to pick it up when the crown dodges it Underneath the dome was a small glowing octopus, running away with the height. The mermaid chased the crown, occasionally hitting different pillars and walls. The mermaid cracked a corner of the ruins, and a piece of the ceiling collapsed. The mermaid did not want the crown to be crushed and grabbed it and swam away. The mermaid did not want the crown to be crushed and grabbed it and swam away. The mermaid saved the little octopus, and although the mermaid didn’t mean it, it was still happy and followed the mermaid on its journey.
This week our teacher showed us how to make a movable robot hand. Although it was only the finger part, it was still exciting to me, and I have never made a severe movable mechanical model before, so I am looking forward to making the arm afterward. Our teacher asked us to gather information to design our robotic arm. I did have a lot of designs that I wanted to do in terms of the exterior and found some referees. Still, the internal movable design was not so good to add, so these need to be studied further, and it is easier to learn with a 3D model than to sketch directly.
Design draft:
This is my attempt at sketching, but I think it’s easier to see what’s going on in 3D modeling when it comes to this kind of spatial mechanical design, so I made two sketches and then went to watch the teacher’s process, trying to get inspiration directly from the 3D model.
Many tedious and repetitive processes have gone into the making of this robot arm. Because there are so many redundant and simple processes, I will show less of the process and more of what I think and feel about it. I saw what our teacher tried to do when he got this step. This straightforward structure was beyond my knowledge of robotic arms. I thought we were going to make something very complex, but in reality, if we just need it to look complex, why do we need to care too much about the actual logic of the structure?
This is the knuckle of a finger. We use a disc for the movable joint, plus a shell wrapped around the knuckle, with three shafts in between
It is worth mentioning the mirroring function. I know very lack about this function. It is relatively new to me. This is also the first time I know the model can be fused after mirroring. And I have an understanding of the excellent use of the function. This is why technical sessions are essential. Although I am already can in using most of Maya’s features, there are still some details that I rarely use, and watching teacher modeling allows me to review and also learn about some of the time-saving features
This is a finger made by copying and pasting, using multiple elements overlapping, a structure that I find interesting because it is possible to make a mechanical-looking finger using only simple geometric shapes.
This is done by creating groups of models in order and placing them in the appropriate groups so that the fingers are movable. It’s very important that the center of each group is right in the middle of the joint. Once created, you can set keyframes on the group level to animate the finger.
Next copy the other four different fingers. The joint length and angle can then be adjusted according to the different fingers, which can be changed when the fingers are clenched in a fist. I also lightened the finger and put some colour and material on it to see how it would look.
Special duplicate tool allows animations to be copied as well.
When an image is divided into thirds, the human eye is naturally drawn to the points of intersection.
Make the character include as many points as possible in the nine-panel frame.
The horizon should be two-thirds of the way from the top of the frame or two-thirds from the bottom.
Fibonacci sequence：
Basic shot:
EXTREME LONG SHOT
EXTREME CLOSE UP
MEDIUM CLOSE-UP
MEDIUM LONG SHOT
MEDIUM SHOT
LONG SHOT
CUT-IN
ICLOSE UP
The concept of Previs:
Previs is the process of visualizing a scene before it is created.
Previs usually takes the form of a 3D animation, i.e., a rough version of one or more scenes. They typically start with a 2D storyboard. Draft versions of different moving image sequences are created and put together using their compositing and editing skills.
The visual preview process is used to plan shots, calculate scale and timing and give a rough indication of where the character will move. It is used to plan how visual effects (VFX) will fit into other live-action scenes. Creating previews saves films and TV series and shows valuable time and money on set or post-production.
The ideas
Idea1
Set in a fantasy world
At a time when human civilization was not so advanced, and to survive in nature, they combined with monsters and left their offspring. The main characters are the offspring of birds and humans.
Reference to the ancient East
The world is dominated by gods and religion
The protagonist is the son of a divine bird
A rival force destroys the clan, and the protagonist escapes and is saved by a hunter in the mountains.
Three subplots are envisaged.
The protagonist escapes from the overthrown religion
Being rescued by the hunter and lying in the house
Watching the hunter chopping wood
Idea2
Set in a fantasy world
In a time when human civilization was not very advanced and the world was full of different kinds of monsters, the story takes place on a mountain with magical ores and a village at its foot.
The village people live off the mountain gods but are killed by greedy humans because they won’t let the merchants mine the ore recklessly, and the only protagonist who survives escapes into the mountain.
The mountain has a mountain god that looks like a white wolf, born out of the villagers’ faith, who is about to disappear because the village at the bottom of the mountain was slaughtered. As he disappears, he sees the protagonist who escapes into the mountain. The mountain god saves the protagonist and fuses with him.
Three images: the protagonist walks into the cave.
The protagonist sits down against the stone wall and closes his eyes to rest.
He hears a sound and opens his eyes to look in one direction.
In this class, we were exposed to the most basic camera language. This was the first time I had studied something like this, so this knowledge was new to me. I was not too fond of the human story, so I decided to develop a story using previously designed characters, and if I get the chance, I’d like to make the scenes and make a rough model of the characters.
Knowledge points in the video screen：
THE DOMINANT FEATURE
The dominant feature is the object that our eyes are immediatelyattracted to and can be created by any number of techniques
SIZE: The size of an object may draw our attention to it.
In colour films, the dominant is often achieved byhaving once colour stand out from the other.Placing one object in sharper focus than the rest ofFOCUS:the shot can also create a dominant.
COLOUR:
The dominant feature in this shot is Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
THE LIGHTING KEY
Features bright, even illumination and fewHIGH KEY:conspicuous shadows. High key lighting is oftenused in musicals and comedies.
Features diffused shadows and atmospheric pools ofLOW KEY: light. Low key lighting is often use in mysteries andthrillers.
HIGHCONTRAST:
Features harsh shafts of light and dramatic streaksof blackness. High contrast is often used in tragediesand melodramas.
SHOTIANGLEIPROXIMITY
BIRD’S-EYE This shot type can be disorienting and makeVIEW: the object seem very insignificant.
This angle reduces the size of the objectHIGH ANGLE:it can make the object seem harmless andinsignificant.
EYE-LEVELSHOT:
ls the clearest view of a object.
This angle increases the size of the objectLOW ANGLE:giving a sense of power and respect.
OBLIQUEShot on an angle, suggests tension orANGLE: transition This angle is used in the example.
COLOUR VALUES
DOMINANT The dominant colour is the colour most seen onCOLOUR: the screen.
SUBSIDIARY What other colours are found on screen? DoCOLOURS: they contrast with the Dominant Colour?
COLOURSYMBOLISM:
Are the colours used because of theirsymbolism? Do they reflect the characterspersonalities or traits?
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES
After taking in the dominant feature, where does the eye go next?
The Subsidiary Feature in this shot is the Bad Guy’ in theforeground of the shot, he is slightly out of focus with his back to thecamera.
The Colour Value of his costume blend with the set design whichhelps us to focus on the main character of the scene, who’s costumecontrasts against these colours helping to make him theDominant Feature of the scene.
SCREEN DENSITY
How much visual information is packed into the image? ls the sceneSTARK,MODERATE or HIGHLY DETAILED?
Whilst there are a significant number of items or objects in thebackground of this scene, the image is not very dense because thefocus limits the viewer to taking in only two main objects:Arthur and the Bad Guy
The density of this shot is also helped by the Colour Values used, thedull room helps also us to focus on the two main objects.
COMPOSITION
How is the two dimensional space of the screen segmented andorganised? What is the underlying design? Objects in the frame canbe placed to help the audience to connect.
HORIZONTAL:
Horizontal compositions seem visually at rest andsuggest placidity or peacefulness.
Vertical compositions seem visually at rest andVERTICAL:suggest strength.
Diagonal (or Oblique) compositions seemDIAGONAL:dynamic and suggest tension or anxiety. Thiscomposition is used in the example.
DEPTH OF FIELD
On how many planes is the image composed? How much’ is in
focus?
DEEP FOCUS: Allows all planes to be in focus at the same time.
SHALLOW More commonly, shallow focus allows only one orFOCUS: two planes are in focus.
The example has a relatively Deep Focus with the majority of thescene in focus. The foreground is only slightly out of focus, whichdraws our eyes to the back of the room to The Dominant Feature.
CHARACTER PLACEMENT
What part of the framed space do the characters occupy?
The area near the top of the frame can suggest power,TOP:authority and aspiration.
BOTTOM:
SIDES:
The areas near the bottom of the frame tend to suggestsubservience, vulnerability, and powerlessnessThe left and right edges of the frame tend to suggestinsignificance as these areas are farthest from the centre
The example has our protagonist towards the top of the frameimplying power and authority. The antagonist closer to the bottomimplying vulnerability or powerlessness.
SHOT FRAMING
ls the framing TIGHT or LOOSE? Do the characters have no room tomove around, or can they move freely without impediments?
Shots where the characters are places on the edges ofTIGHT: the frame and have little room to move around within theframe are considered tight.
Longer shots, in which the characters have room to moveLOOSE:around within the frame, are considered loose and tendto suggest freedom.
The example has Loose Framing, the characters have the ability tomove around within the frame without going outside the shot.
DIEGETIC AUDIO
Diegetic Audio is a sound whose source is visible on the screen orwhose source is implied to be present by the action of the film.
Character voices, sounds made by objects in the story, music comingfrom instruments in the story space are all examples of DiegeticAudio.
it is important to note that Diegetic Audio can be either on screenor off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frameor outside of the frame (radio playing, family member playing aninstrument, thunder clap)
NON-DIEGETIC AUDIO
Non-Diegetic Audio is a sound whose source is neither visible on thescreen nor has been implied to be present in the action.
Narrators commentary, sounds effects which are added for thedramatic effect mood music / sound tracks are all examples of Non-Diegetic Audio.
It is important to note that just because you cannot see the source ofthe sound, that doesn’t make it Non-Diegetic Audio. lf the sound fitswithin the environment (birds squawking in a forest scene, car hornsnear a busy road), it should be considered Diegetic Audio.
Today, the teacher explained our theme and gave us reference titles to make us think about what we wanted to do in the cooperation project. I had an idea and quickly found the team members. My team members were composed of four 3D animation students and two 2d animation students, and we had a prototype of the idea in the first week.
And we had a rough plan：
Theme: Real Objects to Fantasy Objects
Deadline for pre-design: 1.23
[Includes the design of two scenes, split-screen production, material collection, and animatic if possible,]
Animation-making start date: 1.24
[Animation production will be based on sub-screening. 3d and 2d will start simultaneously, and there will be two stages: background production and animation production. According to the importance of the cut in succession production, expected background production and animation production time: 2.16]
Final composition start time: 2.28
Estimated end time: 3.6 [we need to leave a week in case there are unexpected situations to remedy]
Approximate form of cooperation: 2d and 3d combination. We will have two scenes, virtual and natural scenes, mainly by 3d production background, 2d painting small animation, 3d production character animation.
Target time: about 2 minutes
Cooperation: first, design the pre-design together, decide on a good scene first, make 2d and 3d scenes respectively, then exchange each other to make animation
Theme pure sand sculpture funny: drawing room sculpture
The central theme is that the paintings in the actual studio will be uploaded to the virtual world by the sculptures without permission and then evaluated, reflecting preferences through body language and tiny bubbles, intending to show the preferences of different artists on the style of painting, expressing that there is not only one good style of painting, but art is also diverse.
The general wish is to blend in the idea of a metaverse(virtual space and identity) and a sense of belonging. Being judged by the same standards is a nightmare that everyone shares. By doing this animation, we can show our embrace of the pain and the wish to overcome it with a sense of humor.
The general plot: the paintings of students in the actual studio are scanned into the virtual world without permission and rated by different sculptures for their preferences
Music: optional, at least for sound effects
Objective：
3D: to reflect the flexibility of character animation, the design of scenes, and the use of materials, the main work is summarized in the construction of scenes and the flexibility of character animation
2D: The virtual world’s design style and animation fluency fully reflect the keywords “fantasy” and “sense of belonging.”
Some animations reference（All references are found together for the whole group）
I have gained a lot of new knowledge this semester. As a student studying animation for three years as an undergrad, I thought I had a good grasp of the fundamentals of 3d animation. Still, through this semester, I have discovered that I have many areas for improvement, including some of the most basic animation movements and the binding and setting of models in Maya. The most surprising thing is the use of blend shape. At one time, I was not too fond of this feature. It was tedious and fatiguing for me. But in this term, I learned the most basic mouth animation, and the moment the animation played out, I got an unparalleled sense of satisfaction. I have also learned a lot about my work from my tutor this term; unfortunately I am still determining what I should specialize in for the time being. I still find modeling and animating very interesting, and I still need to know a lot of basic animation knowledge to support my future ideas. In talking to my classmates, my group and I were very interested in one of my past projects, so we are still choosing this subject and planning to redesign the sets and characters to create a complete worldview and story. Overall, I have learned a lot I missed in the past, added many more handy basic skills, and found a subject I want to do animation on.
Through the topic of this report, I think I have gained a new perception of VR, 3D animation has always been a challenge for me, and the use of VR has always been an area of great interest to me as 3D animation and VR are closely linked, I chose the topic of VR and hoped to gain a further understanding of VR by researching this subject, and I would like to experience more VR projects if I can. I had already studied an undergraduate animation course in Australia, and we were not taught how to write a report, so I could be considered a first-time writer. I looked up many essays for this report research, but due to my lack of experience, most of them were unusable, wasting time on serious research without getting valuable intelligence. When I checked my choice of topic with my teacher, he said that I had not chosen a detailed enough scope, so I changed the topic to focus on the educational value of VR. The second time I looked for a reference, I changed my approach. I chose a few papers that were valuable and worthy of criticism, sifting through them to end up with only about 15, which I only partially used when writing my final report. As I understood, the educational value of VR was more than that, but the word count was not enough, and when I finished writing all the points, I found that the word count had exceeded the teacher’s requirements, so I had to cut out some points that were too detailed. In this writing experience, I learned how to quickly find different references, read quickly and accurately capture the key points of the paper, and how write a clear and structured presentation. Regarding the content, I learned about the basic concepts of VR and its ubiquity in the current market, the benefits and drawbacks, and other information about V R. Of course. This report is not perfect. For example, some ideas must be removed because of the word limit. It was a pain to go through the essays because I didn’t know how to filter the references, and some of them don’t fully support the ideas in this report. In conclusion, I hope this report will make more people aware of the possibilities of VR gaming education and allow more people to develop this field to make learning easier for students. I also want to study more VR-related projects in the future to understand what animation can be connected to in VR.
This week I will be enhancing the existing mouth animation. I added the eye controller to the head. Still, I realized I didn’t need to make this controller, so I added the tongue to the model and made the texture to try and make the head more human-like.
Here is a video of the result：
First, I made a simple model of the tongue. I parented it to the skeleton and gave it a different blend shape.
This is the texture drawn in the Substance Painter：
I then added eyebrows to the figure in Photoshop, as the substance painter’s brushes aren’t very flexible.
We conducted a comparative study of student performance on standardized assessments using VR and traditional lecture slides to deliver course content. The results suggest that improving virtual reality’s social interaction and productivity tools is crucial for their more significant impact on higher education.
For university students, knowledge acquisition, course performance, and interaction with tutors/peers are irreplaceable to the learning experience.
The findings suggest that students see virtual reality as an excellent add-on to existing course offerings rather than a disruptive tool that can replace the extensive lectures they receive during their university semester.
Students struggled to recall individually detailed and specific knowledge, such as a particular number, which could be attributed to the shift in attention to visual information in a virtual environment.
For the virtual reality group, students felt they would focus on animated graphics and visualizations on the screen when this information was provided.
Sixty percent of students strongly agreed that virtual reality technology was more interactive than reading or listening in class, and overall, students preferred the immersive environment for learning.
However, there was a wide variation in the ease of access to information. 10% disagreed, 20% were neutral, and 70% strongly agreed. This was attributed to the learning speed, and although it was possible to pause the virtual reality playback, most students were reluctant to interrupt the program. But slide-based learning allows students to take their own pace.
Ease of navigation in the hardware environment: Almost all students agreed that the graphical visualization looked more realistic and accurate. 70% agreed that visual interaction in virtual reality was more helpful than reading the text.
Conclusion: Quantitative and qualitative research methods were combined to triangulate the potential impact of virtual reality on learning in a higher education environment. Virtual reality is, at this stage, an ideal tool for short-term recall to not flush out the content of university lectures, especially in the context of blended learning. But further development of real-time interaction, textual semi-digital information collections, and note-taking is essential to improve the usability of VR for education.
Reference06：Effects of Using a Blended Learning Method on Students’ Achievement and Motivation to Learn English in Jordan: A Pilot Case Study
(Reasons why VR games can grow rapidly in the education sector) The impact of using blended learning methods on the achievement and motivation of Jordanian students in learning English: a pilot case study
Oweis, T.I. (2018) Effects of using a blended learning method on students’ achievement and motivation to learn English in Jordan: A pilot case study, Education Research International. Hindawi. Available at: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/edri/2018/7425924/#results-and-discussion (Accessed: December 24, 2022).
(Oweis, 2018)
The increased motivation can also be attributed to the unfamiliar and novel elements of the English curriculum offered through the computer; the new is always interesting and exciting.
The results suggest that the high performance of the experimental group can be attributed to the advantages of the computer in providing information. The benefits of the computerized program may have contributed to the better performance of the students in the experimental group, who used mechanical materials that were designed to be attractive, exciting, and enjoyable for the students, containing visual and auditory features that went far beyond the rigid pictures in the book, thus making learning more enjoyable.
Reference07：Effects of e-learning on Students’ Motivation
(Reasons why VR educational games can grow rapidly in the education sector / Impact of e-learning on student motivation)
The purpose of this study is to determine whether use of e-learning in higher education affects students’ motivation.
Analyses and Results
In order to test the hypotheses, an expert-designed questionnaire was used for e-learning and intrinsic motivation. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between e-learning and students’ motivation, and that there is not a significant difference in relationship between e-learning and students’ motivation in different ages and different levels of education.
PAGE 7
Conclusion
This study highlighted the significant relationship between e-learning and students’ motivation, so it would be fascinating to utilize e-learning as a standard device in the instruction of university students. However, the following points should be cautiously regarded before utilizing e-learning in teaching.
Reference08：A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study of Norwegian Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs About Sources of Teaching Knowledge and Motivation to Learn From Theory and Practice
(Reasons why VR games can develop rapidly in the education sector) A longitudinal mixed methods study of Norwegian in-service teachers’ beliefs about sources of pedagogical knowledge and motivation to learn from theory and practice
Ferguson, L.E. et al. (2022) A longitudinal mixed methods study of Norwegian preservice teachers’ beliefs about sources of teaching knowledge and motivation to learn from theory and practice: Semantic scholar, Journal of Teacher Education. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871221105813 (Accessed: December 24, 2022).
(Ferguson et al, 2022)
Participants endorsed three types of sources of knowledge about teaching differently, relying more on practical experiences than on theoretically oriented, formalized sources of knowledge, and relying less on social and popular media than on both practical experiences and formalized sources of knowledge.
Reference01： Literature Review on Immersive Virtual Reality in Education: State Of The Art and Perspectives.
(Introduction to essential VR information / Points to note about VR consoles / Advantages of VR gaming) A literature review on immersive virtual reality education. The current state and future of the art.
Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with using special electronic devices. In the 1960s, a mechanical device called Sensorama1 was used to create immersive VR experiences. It included three-dimensional, full-color movies, sound, smell, and movement sensations.
The Oculus Rift’s ‘Health and Safety Warning’ recommends that children under 13 should not use the device.
Immersive VR can offer enormous advantages for learning: it allows for the direct sensation of objects and events out of our physical reach. It supports training in a safe environment, avoiding potentially real dangers. It helps movement in a safe environment, avoids potentially real risks, and increases learner engagement and motivation thanks to the game-like approach while expanding the range of supported learning styles. It also raises the range of supported learning styles. The results show how most papers report on experiments in high school or adult training Higher education or adult training. Very little was said in the area of younger children and disability disabilities.
VR can bring advantages by allowing the physical exploration of objects inaccessible in reality.
People with disabilities are a population where immersive VR can make a difference. In particular, people with intellectual disabilities, in particular, can make use of this approach. Learning in a virtual environment Reproducing the natural environment minimizes the problems associated with the transfer of learning.
However, the continued emergence of teachers requires teachers to mediate and manage the use of VR tools, and the use of VR systems should be limited.
Summary of the reference：
Introduction to VR Virtual Reality is a 3D simulated environment generated by computers after extensive calculations, and many special electronic devices have been designed specifically for virtual Reality to experience this 3D equipment in a fully immersive way. As early as the 1960s, scientists invented VR machines to experience the technology. VR includes 3D images, a full range of stereo sound, and some advanced VR even has simulated smells and simulated visual motion effects.
Critical points of VR gaming machines. Because the overly realistic and immersive gaming experience has the potential for a range of negative consequences (e.g., bloody violence, psychological trauma, etc.), the safety warnings for the Oculus Rift will even mark that children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use the device.
Advantages of VR consoles. Its realistic, immersive experience can significantly benefit the learning environment. VR consoles can have a direct sensory impact on the user creating dangerous scenarios when in fact, the user is in a safe environment so that real danger can be avoided. The realism of VR allows learners to experiment with objects that are inaccessible or difficult to reach in Reality and will enable learners to do so regardless of their limitations. In theory, the disabled community would be the most profitable group. A playful approach would also increase student motivation and engagement and enhance the variety and range of learning styles.
Reference02：A systematic review of Virtual Reality in education
(Examples of VR application areas/applications in education resource saving/impact. Imperfection points/benefits)
A systematic review of virtual reality technology in education
VR can be applied to simulate limited resources, such as laboratories and equipment, for high demand and limited availability.
VR can be used to simulate the interaction of cargo lift patients, to overcome the limited number of cadavers available to students for use in medical education.
The integration of virtual reality platforms into English education can be used to enhance learning autonomy for several reasons: language networks provide an excellent incentive for students to learn spontaneously, as they realize that online English is formed from people and events, has a strong sense of connection to reality, is of practical use, and that this type of education is flexible, has a higher level of accessibility and interactivity, as well as a more incredible wealth of language resources. It also allows students to choose their learning methods, which puts the power of learning squarely in the hands of the students.
VR software could be more usable.
Using VR software in the classroom involves the costs associated with the initial purchase of hardware and software and ongoing expenses, including maintenance. And software, but also the costs of care, support, and training (discussed more in the Training section below There is more discussion of this in the Training section below). However, the actual cost of the initial purchase of VR technology is also high. However, the actual cost of initially purchasing VR education technology is also high, and many schools may need help to justify this cost.
Gesture recognition systems are an input method in VR systems. Still, current VR technology needs to be improved to support capturing perfect gesture input, and even gesture capture with high accuracy still has many limitations.
Despite the upcoming range of HMDs, there still lacks a fit-for-all, or even widely used output peripheral for interaction with them. However, the continual development of novel input interaction technologies gives potential for new approaches to interacting within such an interaction paradigm.
Handwritten notes could potentially be displayed within virtual environments in real time. However, users would still encounter issues in orienting themselves with the device, and a noticeable delay between the physical action and the notes being displayed within the virtual environment would detract from the learning experience.
Users could use a capacitive keyboard to physically orient themselves through the virtual environment, solving the issue of blind-typing for users who cannot touch type.
Summary of the reference：
VR technology is used in various fields:
Entertainment, education, healthcare, sports, engineering, art, history, etc. There are even immersive virtual museums explicitly created for this purpose, so it is clear that VR has a wide range of uses. This article looks at the applications and implications of combining VR and gaming for the education sector.
Applications of VR in education resource-saving:
VR can be applied to simulate limited resources. When people are studying and learning something, they are constantly faced with a lack of resources. Sometimes it may just be a seat or a piece of lab equipment. More often than not, this resource is not something humans can make. For example, the corpses that medical students need to study are not artificial resources. Vr even sometimes needs to simulate natural environments that are not readily available. There are also researchers. Some researchers use VR to simulate solar resources for training and learning.
Examples of the impact of VR education:
Incorporating VR into education can also increase the spontaneity of students’ independent learning. In XX’s experiment, they discovered through real immersion that language is formed from people and events, is accurate and usable, and has a solid link to reality. With this flexible approach to education, the students have a higher and more accessible level of interactivity and many language resources. This learning style puts the students in complete control of their learning. However, in this case, the VR software also presents a problem – it is not very usable in the current context. Cost is a deterrent for most schools.
Critical points of imperfection in VR systems.
The imperfection of the gesture recognition system and current VR technology is not enough to support this fantastic idea. Even the gesture capture system with high accuracy still has many problems and limitations in achieving smooth gesture input.
Handwritten notes are one of the most traditional ways of learning. Still, the inability to take notes smoothly and quickly in a VR device with a highly centralized method of use is one of the significant problems with the imperfect VR system, and combined with the poor positioning of the previous gesture recognition system, the handwritten notes function is, therefore, inadequate. The noticeable writing delays can seriously affect the learning experience and quality of learning.
Reference03：Combining Software Games with Education: Evaluation of its Educational Effectiveness
(Positive and negative applications of VR games/positive effects on learning) Integrating software games with education. Assessing their educational effects
Virvou, M., Katsionis, G. and Manos, K. (2005) Combining software games with education: Evaluation of its … – JSTOR, Combining Software Games with Education: Evaluation of its Educational Effectiveness. International Forum of Educational Technology & Society, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.8.2.54 (Accessed: December 24, 2022).
Educational Technology & Society Vol. 8, No. 2 (April 2005), pp. 54-65 (12 pages)
(Virvou, Katsionis and Manos, 2005)
VR-ENGAGE is an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) that runs through a virtual reality game. It consists of four components: domain knowledge, the student modeling component, the tutoring component, and the user interface.
The game allows students to reason about the domain being taught and provides the environment for a negotiated pedagogical dialogue between the ITS and the students.
Players may also encounter particular objects or animated agents that give hints or direct them to tutorial locations. These objects or animated agents will stimulate students to read and remember essential parts of the taught area.
The evaluation of VR-ENGAGE focuses on assessing the educational effectiveness of the game aspect of the educational software. The evaluation also considered student distraction from the gaming environment, but the authors believe that games should supplement traditional classroom education.
An experiment was conducted to see if ITS games could be motivating and educationally beneficial rather than distracting to students. The game ITS had a virtual reality environment and animated talking agents, whereas the ITS with a traditional user interface did not have a virtual reality environment.
The experiment relates to the basic principle of educational games: to engage students in learning the concepts taught to them in the domain. The investigation also aimed to reveal the degree of the educational effectiveness of students whose performance was considered good, moderate, or poor by their human teachers.
The results showed that VR-ENGAGE users made fewer errors than simple ITS users and that VR-ENGAGE users achieved their learning outcomes at least as effective as traditional educational software.
Improvements in the number of errors were statistically significant for poor, moderate, and excellent learners but not for good students using VR-ENGAGE.
The results showed that the subgroup of previously underperforming students who had used VR-ENGAGE benefited the most from the educational game. At the same time, the subset of once-average performers also helped.
Students who used VR-ENGAGE in-class assignments were fascinated by the idea of a classroom game but were more critical of the game than other commercial games.
(VR games are not mature as educational aids and do not achieve the level of ‘entertainment’ that other entertainment games can achieve)
Teachers were impressed by the game’s impact on formerly underachieving students in geography. These students seemed absorbed by the game environment and worked quietly without talking to anyone or disturbing other students.
(VR games can significantly engage students’ attention and keep them from being distracted while learning, dramatically increasing the motivation of children who dislike traditional teaching methods.)
Students would benefit from educational games in classrooms, and the subgroup of students who used to be poor performers had benefited the most from the game environment.
Students who are not interested in their courses may benefit from extra motivating environments such as VR-educational games, because they are able to attract the attention of students who do not concentrate easily on their assignments due to boredom or other reasons.
Students who had good academic performance did not have any significant difference in their improvement through the use of the VR-environment or the use of the other software.
Students had as much help as they needed from lab instructors during the experiment, and the game environment had to be very competitive with commercial games to attract a high degree of interest from students.
Summary of the reference： Positive aspects. The immersive experience of VR games can stimulate students to read and memorize essential parts of the area being taught, allowing students who are not good at the subject to focus on learning, increasing their interest and concentration levels, and making teaching more enjoyable. Negative aspects. Because teaching by human tutors is necessary, it only partially replaces the classroom in the traditional sense. Students need to interact with their tutors and peers in their learning. The quality of existing VR teaching games cannot be compared to the level of commercial games, so real-time interactivity could be better and needs to be strengthened to develop real-time interactivity and game quality.
Reference04：Virtual Reality with 360-Video Storytelling in Cultural Heritage: Study of Presence, Engagement, and Immersion
(360° immersive experiences/VR games contribute to the dissemination of knowledge about cultural heritage) Virtual reality and 360 video storytelling in cultural heritage. A study of presence, engagement and immersion
Škola, F. et al. (2020) Virtual reality with 360-video storytelling in Cultural Heritage: Study of Presence, engagement, and Immersion, MDPI. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/s20205851 (Accessed: December 24, 2022).
(Škola et al, 2020)
The interactive underwater archaeology 360° VR application was evaluated by 15 participants using questionnaires and EEG physiological readings. The results showed that the VR experience was widely accepted by the participants, maintaining a high level of immersion and engagement while showing enhanced cognitive processing in the EEG readings.
Fundamentals of how VR works:
A 360° immersive experience that increases dynamic engagement and realism, the immersive experience can substantially engage the user’s attention, increase interest in the game, and deepen people’s impressions.
Since the mouth shape work could have had better feedback from the teacher, I redid the blend shape this week, adding a few more different mouth shapes and the neck movement to make it look very similar to the original video.
Also, I modified some of the motion animation work, hoping to improve the inertia and movement of the characters to make it look more natural.
This is a list of my redone blend shapes:
This is the final result:
There is still a significant flaw in lip-syncing. I have been lip-syncing frame by frame, but some lip-syncing is not quite right, and if the mouth opens and closes too quickly, it makes the lip-syncing feel like a pop-up, so I want to continue to improve the lip-syncing animation next week.
The action animation final effect:
We can see in the reference that the man’s movements are just very light, so I tried to make his body movements look weighty without ruining the aesthetics of the movement.
This week I animated the face from the reference, using the head model I made last week and trying to recreate the mouth shape of a person speaking to the reference frame by frame. We also animated a continuous movement. I chose a reference that I liked, drew the keyframes in 2D, understood the dynamic structure of each frame, and then animated it in 3D.
First, I found a video, rendered it as a jpg sequence in AE, imported it into Maya, and used the image sequence while importing the audio file into Maya.
Next, an animation of the blend shape is created frame by frame with the mouth shape. Firstly, the timing of the opening and closing of the mouth is good, as most of the movement of the jaw is when a person speaks.
The next step is to make the mouth shape according to the reference.
This person does not blink, but when a person speaks, not only the mouth move but also the muscles of the face and the eyebrows, so the eyes, nose, cheekbones, cheeks, and eyebrows are animated separately.
eyes
nose
eyebrows
cheek
Final result
Motion animation
There isn’t a lot of skill in motion animation. I import the reference into Maya, create the motion frame by frame, and adjust the curves.
