Thesis Defense

by | Nov 4, 2019 | AR, Opinions, Photogrammetry, Rendering, Software, Theater, Thoughts, VR, XR

After nailing down my thesis in the summer it was time to convene my defense committee. This was more of a challenge than it appeared as committee member schedules needed to be taken into consideration. We eventually targeted November after September and October didn’t workout. I can’t say I was nervous or anxious as I felt my thesis was strong and I was confident in my research and work. It was an exciting couple of hours and after a short deliberation I was awarded my Master’s degree!

 

My thesis title is Altered Perceptions – Discerning the Natural from the Virtual in Extended Reality. Here is the abstract:

 How we perceive our environment is paramount to our interactions and choices. Our view of reality is shaped by our senses, neural processing and learned meanings. Pondered by many fields of inquiry, the concept of reality is bantered around with careless disregard when applied to virtual, augmented and mixed applications, all under the umbrella of extending reality. The challenge of discerning the natural from simulation requires an understanding of the technology and techniques used to create spatial audiovisual media and its integration into extended reality hardware and software solutions. The implementation of applications using elements of photogrammetry, spatial audio and real-time rendering provides a glimpse into present-day capabilities and limitations. By observing and studying what cues can be ascertained between real and virtual experiences, we can adapt to future changes and share learnings of how perception is affected as these experiences become commonplace.

 

It is accessible in the University of Calgary Prism Vault. You can read and explore the source files for projects here.