Manjula Patel

ARCO - an architecture for digitization, management and presentation of virtual exhibitions

A complete tool chain starting with stereo photogrammetry based digitization of artefacts, their refinement, collection and management with other multimedia data, and visualization using virtual and augmented reality is presented. Our system provides a one-stop-solution for museums to create, manage and present both content and context for virtual exhibitions. Interoperability and standards are also key features of our system allowing both small and large museums to build a bespoke system suited to their needs

An approach to accessing product data across system and software revisions

Long-term users of engineering product data are hampered by the ephemeral nature of CAD file formats and the applications that work with them. STEP, the Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (ISO 10303), promises to help with meeting this challenge, but is not without problems of its own. We present a complementary solution based on the use of lightweight file formats to preserve specific aspects of the product data, in conjunction with a registry of relevant representation information as defined by the Open Archival Information System Reference Model (ISO 14721). This registry is used to identify suitable destination file formats for different purposes, and provides a resource to aid in the recovery of information from these formats in the future.

Digitisation to Presentation: Building Virtual Museum Exhibitions

We describe an innovative system designed for museums to create, manage and present multimedia based representations of museum artefacts in virtual exhibitions both inside and outside museums. Our system creates digital surrogates through a novel stereo photogrammetry system with little user interaction. The resulting 3D objects are refined using state-of-the-art 3D modelling software configured for ease of use by museum staff. A repository of such digital surrogates is managed in an XML enabled relational database and provides the basis for the creation and presentation of virtual museum exhibitions, allowing current museum websites to evolve from a 2D to a 3D multimedia-rich domain. In this paper, we discuss the modelling and refinement processes which are based on stereo photogrammetry and the creation and visualisation of virtual museum exhibitions using virtual and augmented reality techniques.

Metadata requirements for digital museum environments

We describe a system which addresses all the processes involved in digitally acquiring, modelling, storing, manipulating and creating virtual exhibitions from 3D museum artefacts. More specifically, we examine the significance of metadata in enabling and supporting all of these processes and describe the extensive facilities provided for authoring, maintaining and managing metadata. The development of the system has been heavily influenced by factors relating to interoperability, standards, museum best practice and feedback from two museum pilot sites. Finally, we briefly consider the system in the wider context of applications such as virtual learning environments and distributed repositories of archives.

A grand challenge: immortal information and through-life knowledge management (KIM)

‘Immortal information and through-life knowledge management: strategies and tools for the emerging product-service business paradigm’, is a Grand Challenge project involving eleven different UK universities and incorporating substantial industry collaboration. It is investigating a range of issues associated with the move towards a product-service paradigm in the engineering sector, in particular the long-term curation of digital data, learning from production and use, and appropriate governance and management techniques.

Annotation of lightweight formats for long-term product representations

Companies operating in todays global economy are increasingly expected to manage the entire lifecycle of their products, and are finding advantage in a distributed, collaborative working style. However, existing three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) systems are not well adapted to this way of working. This paper highlights some limitations in the current applications, and presents a framework for overcoming them based on three strands of current research: lightweight representations, the annotation of CAD models, and representation information as defined by the Open Archival Information System Reference Model (ISO 14721:2003). In the proposed framework, a ‘stand-off’ method is used to layer information, in the form of annotations, on top of both CAD models and lightweight representations alike. These annotations can be circulated independently of the geometry, facilitating more flexible information flow across the whole product lifecycle. The approach is demonstrated with an industrial case study.

Colouration Issues in Computer Generated Facial Animation

In everyday interactions with one another we use the face for recognising people and for communicating with them. Despite the considerable amount of research into computer generated facial animation, one particular aspect, that of the colouration of the face appears to have been neglected. In this paper we address issues pertinent to the use of colour for both modelling the appearance of the face and for enhancing communication during facial expression and animation. Colouration is an integral part of the face, which helps in the recognition of faces as well as in the interpretation of the often subtle signals emitted by the human face.

Lightweight product lifecycle information management for small enterprises

In an increasingly competitive and global market, small enterprises can benefit just as much from product lifecycle management (PLM) as larger enterprises. However, the software currently available to support PLM is aimed at larger enterprises and does not entirely suit the more flexible business processes and heterogeneous systems environment of smaller enterprises. We argue that some of the most important benefits of PLM may be achieved by small enterprises using the combination of a full-featured CAD system with lightweight visualisation formats and a system of overlaid annotations that may be applied to a model regardless of its format. We outline a proof-of-concept implementation of these ideas and indicate where further work is needed.

The Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES 2008)

The Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects was held at the British Library on September 29–30, 2008, with the theme “Joined Up and Working: Tools and Methods for Digital Preservation”. Topics ranged from the technical foundations of digital preservation through preservation system architectures to the organizational and policy issues facing the custodians of digital resources. There were also sessions dedicated to dealing with particular types of content, training needs, and methods for auditing needs and services.

A scanline method for solid model display

The modelling of solid objects is becoming increasingly important in the application of computer graphics to a wide variety of problems, such as CAD/CAM, simulation, and molecular modelling. A variety of methods for rendering solid objects exists, including 2‐Buffer, Scanline and Ray Tracing. This paper is concerned with a scanline method for the production of still images of complex objects. The implementation of a scanline algorithm is discussed, in conjunction with a consideration of its performance in relation to the z‐buffer method.