Abstract

Abstract
The municipal planning and management tasks are generally performed based on text documents or through digital maps provided by geographic information systems (GIS). However, most municipal GIS follow different data models, leading to interoperability problems when there is a need to combine data from different sources. Furthermore, most of the time these tasks are performed in a collaborative way between the municipal technicians, emerging some difficulties in decision making due to the three-dimensional nature of urban space. Thus, this paper describes a methodology which can integrate multiple sources of real data from diverse municipal GIS, in a unified data model based on the CityGML specification. This model is mapped onto an urban ontology oriented for procedural modeling, which, in turn, produces the threedimensional models of the urban environments. The system developed operates in a client-server approach, where the server is responsible for mapping the urban information to the unified data model and the client represents the procedural modeling technology that generates the urban environment in three-dimensional format, allowing users to interact and amplify the existing urban information.

Abstract
This paper presents a solution for geometric manipulation in procedural modeling as an Application Programming Interface (API). This approach intends to enable a more powerful control over the geometric entities by performing selections based on their attributes, similar to picking features in graphical interfaces. This is achieved through the definition of a topological structure, which features a set of properties, such as scope, spatial localization and semantic information. The applicable modeling operations allow a more customized control, as well as successive tracking, which induce a greater, faster and more intuitive approach for geometry generation. This approach still constitutes ongoing work, but has already been successfully applied for the generation of large virtual urban environments.

Abstract

Abstract
One of the most challenging tasks for an animator is to quickly create convincing facial expressions. Finding an effective control interface to manipulate facial geometry has traditionally required experienced users (usually technical directors), who create and place the necessary animation controls. Here we present our sketching interface control system, designed to reduce the time and effort necessary to create facial animations. Inspired in the way artists draw, where simple strokes define the shape of an object, our approach allows the user to sketch such strokes either directly on the 3D mesh or on two different types of canvas: a 2D fixed canvas or more flexible 2.5D dynamic screen-aligned billboards. In all cases, the strokes do not control the geometry of the face, but the underlying animation rig instead, allowing direct manipulation of the rig elements. Additionally, we show how the strokes can be easily reused in different characters, allowing retargeting of poses on several models. We illustrate our interactive approach using varied facial models of different styles showing that first time users typically create appealing 3D poses and animations in just a few minutes. We also present in this article the results of a user study. We deploy our method in an application for an artistic purpose. Our system has also been used in a pioneer serious game context, where the goal was to teach people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to recognize facial emotions, using real time synthesis and automatic facial expression analysis.

Abstract