Browsing by Author "Tucker, Thomas J."

Now showing 1 - 20 of 31
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    Alchemically, an Educational Role-Playing Game
    Freeman, Lucas Jerome (Virginia Tech, 2019-04-29)
    Alchemically is an educational role-playing game that functions as a classroom aid for boosting middle school and high school students' memorization of molecular formulas and molecule's attributes. The game implements several diverse teaching methodologies, including trial and error, practice and feedback, and the presentation of information from audio and visual cues. It also motivates students to continue learning through both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Student players craft molecules by choosing and placing atoms into a crafting table, then bonding them together. To help players build molecules, players can reference a journal that includes images, diagrams, and factual information on the molecules included in the game.
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    Artifacts of the Kree
    Fine, Justin Mitchell (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-18)
    The work presented in this thesis explores the creation and curation of fictional artifacts. The goal was to simultaneously explore and create a wholly fictitious civilization as a means of self-actualization and a grasp at the ineffable. The "Artifacts of the Kree" is a real-time interactive rendering of digitally fabricated objects belonging to a civilization that inhabited a planet far beyond the reaches of humanity. These objects were curated second hand by an unknown sentient species and cataloged in the system presented here.
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    The Ashes and the Portal: An immersive stereoscopic experience on Cyclorama
    Liu, Xindi (Virginia Tech, 2019-08-05)
    the Ashes and the Portal is an immersive stereoscopic animated short capturing the burned library after a fire disaster at Mzuzu University, Malawi, Africa, and it also witnesses the new design of the library from Virginia Tech architecture students. This animated short recreates the burned library and presents the new library design with photo-real image sequences which can immersively bring the audiences onto the site. The Ashes and the Portal utilizes the Cyclorama system, which is a 32 feet diameter and 16 feet tall cylindrical screen with four projectors that can display visual content. The surrounding panels with rendered footage could provide an immersive experience within this semi-public space. This is a collaboration project between the School of Visual Arts and the School of Architecture + Design, also with technical support from the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. This project explores the potential use of Cyclorama system as a platform for CG works, especially for stereoscopic animation.
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    The Battle of the Kings
    Gorjian, Mahshid (Virginia Tech, 2019-10-22)
    The work presented in this thesis explores the possibility to integrate 2D drawings with 2.5D animated characters in 2.5D computer graphics. The purpose was to show the effects of the illustrated artistic style and produce an effective emotional and story in motion without realistic animation look. Inspiration for the story comes from a true story based on Iranian history and an epic story that occurred just thousands of years ago. I focused my work on the context of Iran's history.
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    The Beat's Interior
    Petersen, Tamar (Virginia Tech, 2017-09-08)
    The Beat's Interior seeks to answer the simple question: What does the inside of a beat look like? This thesis provides a solution as an audiovisual projection-mapping project inspired by the song, "Pyramids" by Frank Ocean. It explores the relationship between music and architecture. Influenced by scientific theories of cosmic space and the philosophical ideas of space and rhythm, this installation becomes an immersive experience within a constructed form. Original video is mapped onto the skin of the dome using four projectors that are orchestrated through Madmapper. Eight individual parts of a single track are played separately on designated stereos located on the periphery of the room. Changes in the video and music are triggered by GyrOSC data filtered into Max/MSP/Jitter.
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    Calvary
    Bush, Zachary (Virginia Tech, 2017-01-20)
    Calvary is a 3D fictional cathedral that is based around Christian beliefs. It is a new way to experience spiritual landmarks, fictional or nonfictional, using virtual reality. The goal is to allow the viewer to experience this space wherever they are located and to create a dialogue about who God is to them.
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    Christiansburg Institute
    Fralin, Scott; Finney, Trevor; Cline, David P.; Ogle, J. Todd; Tucker, Thomas J. (Virginia Tech, 2016-08-22)
    This exhibit features work from Virginia Tech's Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies and computer science, education, and public history programs and an app developed around the history of the CI called CI-Spy. Founded in 1866 with 200 students, the Christiansburg Institute (CI) was a school that educated newly emancipated African Americans. As schools desegregated, fewer students attended the CI, and in the spring of 1966, its final senior class of 22 students graduated. 2016/08/22 - 2016/09/30
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    Come with Me
    Nikoo, Elham (Virginia Tech, 2018-02-27)
    Come with Me is the process of making a short 3D animation. Introducing the practice as a research method, I explored 3D animation production steps in a non-linear workflow. Each production step is then introduced along with the mind processes as Come with Me was developed from the story to the final animated scenes. The failed attempts are also included as an important part of this research. In the end, the workflows that allow for mistakes at each step of the 3D animation production are being explored.
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    Composing Holochoric Visual Music: Interdisciplinary Matrices
    Rhoades, Michael Jewell (Virginia Tech, 2021-02-01)
    With a lineage originating in the days of silent films, visual music, in its current incarnation, is a relatively recent phenomenon when compared to an historically broad field of creative expression. Today it is a time-based audio/visual territory explored and mined by a handful of visual and musical artists. However, an extensive examination of the literature indicates that few of these composers have delved into the associable areas of merging virtual holography and holophony toward visual music composition. It is posited here that such an approach is extremely rich with novel expressive potential and simultaneously with numerous novel challenges. The goal of this study is, through praxis, to instantiate and document an initial exploration into the implementation of holochory toward the creation of visual music compositions. Obviously, engaging holochoric visual music as a means of artistic expression requires an interdisciplinary pipeline. Certainly, this is demonstrated in merging music and visual art into a cohesive form, which is the basis of visual music composition. However, in this study is revealed another form of interdisciplinarity. A major challenge resides with the development of the means to efficiently render the high-resolution stereoscopic images intrinsic to the animation of virtual holograms. Though rendering is a challenge consistent with creating digital animations in general, here the challenge is further exacerbated by the extensive use of multiple reflections and refractions to create complexity from relatively simple geometric objects. This reveals that, with the level of computational technology currently available, the implementation of high-performance computing is the optimal approach. Unifying such diverse areas as music, visual art, and computer science toward a common artistic medium necessitates a methodological approach in which the interdependency between each facet is recognized and engaged. Ultimately, a quadrilateral reciprocative feedback loop, involving the composer's sensibilities in addition to each of the other facets of the compositional process, must be realized in order to facilitate a cohesive methodology leading toward viability. This dissertation provides documentation of methodologies and ideologies undertaken in an initial foray into creating holochoric visual music compositions. Interlaced matrices of contextualization are intended to disseminate the processes involved in deference to composers who will inevitably follow in the wake of this research. Accomplishing such a goal is a quintessential aspect of practice-based research, through which new knowledge is gained during the act of creating. Rather than formulating theoretical perspectives, it is through the praxis of composing holochoric visual music that the constantly arising challenges are recognized, analyzed, and subsequently addressed and resolved in order to ensure progression in the compositional process. Though measuring the success of the resultant compositions is indeed a subjective endeavor, as is the case with all art, the means by which they are achieved is not. The development of such pipelines and processes, and their implementation in practice, are the basic building blocks of further exploration, discovery, and artistic expression. This is the impetus for this document and for my constantly evolving and progressing trajectory as a scholar, artist, composer, and computer scientist.
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    Designing for Reflection: Utilizing slow technology to create tangible interactive designs for reducing technostress
    Behzad Behbahani, Armaghan (Virginia Tech, 2019-11-12)
    Technostress is an emerging and significant psychological phenomenon associated with the use of technology. It impacts human behavior and distracts from living a healthy and meaningful life. As humans increasingly encounter computational technology on a daily basis, there is a need to understand and manage the anxieties and tensions that can result from these interactions. Using the lens of critical design, this thesis explores this concept of technology induced stress and promotes reflection, personal growth and awareness through three different design research methods. It further builds on the topic of slow technology which unfolds in the form of a design fiction, design probe and design artifacts, challenging our understanding of technostress while embracing constructive discussions and creative designs to speculate the human-technology relationship.
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    Desire and Hope
    Tasooji, Reza (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-07)
    "Desire and Hope" is three short animations. The main concept in these three animations is human desires; the goal in each animation was to explore a ways to tell this concept by adding some level of ambiguity, so viewers can watch it through their own vision.
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    Forbidden City: An Immersive Virtual Reality World Using the HTC VIVE to explore the real imperial palace of China
    Liu, Fang (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-07)
    Forbidden City is a 3D virtual tour of an ancient Chinese architectural masterpiece, first of the world's top five palaces -The Imperial Palace in Beijing, China. This travel guide is designed to give you useful information that will greatly enhance your experience, and it will bring you into an immersive virtual world by using the device of the HTC VIVE rather than static texts and images. This 3D guide integrates cultural and historical information, which is practical and informative. You can get a comprehensive understanding of the palace history, architectural characteristics and Chinese culture through interaction within the immersive experience. Forbidden City travel guide 3D virtual tour provides all the necessary functions and information for planning a visit to the Forbidden Cty palace in the capital of Beijing, China. With the tour guide character "Doctor Guider" within this experience/game, your tour to this Forbidden City will be purposeful and fun.
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    Immunology Virtual Reality (VR): Exploring Educational VR Experience Design for Science Learning
    Zhang, Lei (Virginia Tech, 2018-05-14)
    Immunology Virtual Reality (VR) project is an immersive educational virtual reality experience that intends to provide an informal learning experience of specific immunology concepts to college freshmen in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech (VT). The project is an interdisciplinary endeavor between my collaboration between people from different domain areas at VT: Creative Technologies, Education, Biological Sciences, and Computer Sciences. This thesis elaborates on the whole design process of how I created a working prototype of the project demo and shares insights from my design experience.
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    Imperceivable World
    Nguyen, Phat Hung (Virginia Tech, 2017-01-09)
    Imperceivable World is an immersive multi-media exhibition that allows the audience to explore the imperceivable micro world of various organisms. These microorganisms occupy a space within our world that is so minuscule that it might seem like fiction. A series of short animations are an exploration into how these organisms behave and interact, giving the viewer a brief glimpse into this micro world. Imperceivable World utilizes the Cyclorama, which is a massive cylindrical screen that can display 3D stereoscopic animations which provide the audience a larger than life perspective of these microorganisms. Along with cyclorama Imperceivable World uses the Cube's audio space to give the audience a fully immersive experience.
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    Jan. 25 ( Story of a Girl )
    Ramadan, Hadeel M. (Virginia Tech, 2015-02-03)
    The work presented in this thesis explores the possibility to integrate two dimensional drawings with three dimensional animated characters in 3D computer graphics. The goal was to preserve the effects of the cartoonish artistic style and produce a strong emotional and moving story without realistic animation feel. Inspiration of the storyboard was based on a true story from the Arab Spring events that occurred in several Arab countries, I focused my work on the context of Egypt.
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    Libero
    Mittra, Anirudh (Virginia Tech, 2017-03-27)
    Libero is a 2D video game that aims to explore the concepts of dealing with personal issues such as insomnia and anxiety. It is a 2D stealth puzzle game that takes influence from older dungeon-crawlers and rogue-likes from the 1990s as well as inspiration from modern games designed for mobile platforms such as iOS and Android phones. The game experiments with new 2D normal mapping technologies for a unique take on pixel art.
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    Mending
    Jones, Tacie (Virginia Tech, 2019-12-03)
    Mending is a body of artwork created in response to ancestral trauma inherited between women. This paper discusses the exhibition of work, which consists of media installation, sculpture, and photography. Mending confronts Walter Benjamin’s patriarchal argument that one must intellectually excavate deep memory. Rather, the processes used to create the body of work engage a sensorial approach, and attempt to both reconstruct embodied memory and reconcile trauma. The act of mending is an historically feminine gesture appropriate for resolving the transgenerational trauma of the female body’s experience. Additionally, the media serves as witness, and has the potential to act as an impartial observer in the process of unraveling embodied trauma, allowing for reflexive self-witness. Overall, Mending rejects the thought-centric process of excavation, instead centering sensory-based spiritual practices in contemporary art related to nature immersion, meditative ritual, and collaboration between women working to heal handed-down victimization.
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    Muted Blue
    Ngo, Huy Quoc (Virginia Tech, 2020-07-01)
    Muted Blue (Whale Level) is a Virtual Reality educational experience that explores the possibility of creating an alternative learning method in an informal learning setting such as a museum. This project seeks to merge art, technology and education to create an immersive, interactive learning experience that is geared toward Gen Z and Millennial but can be enjoyed by every age group. Unreal 4 game engine along with other 3D packages made it possible to develop a Virtual Reality experience that can be used as a complimentary piece that can possibly exist along side a museum exhibit.
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    Octavia
    Farber, Michelle Ann (Virginia Tech, 2019-04-18)
    Octavia is a 3D animated story based on experiences of Army divers in the waters of Southeast Asia. I built a strong core set of skills in end-to-end 3D animation throughout my time in the graduate program, and I wanted to incorporate them into a real story for this thesis. The myriad of stories I grew up with inspired the development of this 3D animation due to their uniqueness and their nature as a verbal history. This thesis is based on two objectives: technical excellence in the process of 3D animation, and sharing a previously verbal history to a larger audience. I achieved these goals using a variety of technical animation tools including ZBrush, Maya, Arnold, and Premier. Octavia itself is a modified story from my father's time diving in South Korea. The story details the interactions between an exceptionally curious octopus, Octavia, and a diver, taken from Octavia's perspective. The animation was well received during my defense for its technical difficulty and unique art styles. Octavia will be available online on my website.
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    Open Education Forum 2021: Connecting the Opens: Open Access, Open Education & More
    McNabb, Kayla B.; Miles, Rachel A.; Wolfe, Mary Leigh; DePauw, Karen P.; Ogejo, Jactone Arogo; Tucker, Thomas J. (Virginia Tech, 2021-03-01)
    Join faculty presenters from around the university, University Library faculty, and the Future Professoriate Graduate class in a robust discussion about nuances, similarities and differences in the "opens." Learn about open access (OA) trends in the U.S., Europe, and at Virginia Tech. Learn about the differences between open access and open educational resources (OER). Presenters and panelists include Karen DePauw (Dean, Graduate School), Jactone Ogejo (Biological Systems Engineering), Mary Leigh Wolfe (Biological Systems Engineering), Thomas Tucker (School of Visual Arts), Kayla McNabb and Rachel Miles (University Libraries). Slides from this presentation are available at http://bit.ly/pfpopened2021