Dec. 12, 1998

Project members :

• Frederic Leymarie     email: leymarie@lems.brown.edu
• Loring Holden      email: lsh@cs.brown.edu
• Robert Zeleznik      email: bcz@cs.brown.edu
• Eileen Vote      email: vote@brown.edu

Past member:

• Daniel Sharvit  

Version 2 of Skip is based on Version 1, with improvements to the interface, interactions and fixing some bugs. The computational part of SkiP is essentially the same as v1; only improvements on texture mapping (onto individual primitives) required a new algorithm.

Here is a list of major differences/modifications/improvements made to SkiP in v2:

• Removed permanent menus and additional windows/xforms:
  • We went back to the "old spirit" of Sketch; the interface is as "simple" as prove useful. Only a main canvas appears, with one initial choice to make between the type of perspective the user wants to consider (i.e., 1, 2 or 3 PtP).
  • Pop-up windows appear when an explanation is required, or some data needs to be inputted via the keyboard.
• Some new functions were moved to keyboard keys, e.g.:
  • "T" for texture mapping of primitive from the underlying picture.
  • "Tab" is used in Phase 3 to bring back the viewpoint to the one calculated as an output of the interactive calibration from the picture (exit of Phase 2). Thus, the user can always go back to the "Camera Station" viewpoint. This function uses a nice flythrough operation, which slows down upon targeting the CS viewpoint.
• Usual key functions of Sketch were introduced in SkiP (this was not done carefully in v1); thus a Sketch user should easily be introduced to SkiP, without much pain.

An example of the looks of SkiP v2 is given in the 1PtP example of the Ames Room.

A real application: The Temple of Petra

One important event during the course of fixing v.2 was the identification of a potential "user", from the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art at Brown. Eileen Vote, a PhD student there, is working on modeling the "temple" of Petra (Jordan). She wants to demonstrate the usefulness of being able to produce a 3D modeling of such an archaeological site for referencing purposes, i.e., to refer excavated artifacts with respect to the 3D model: where, at what height/depth, etc., each artifact were found. This calls for an easy way to produce such a 3D model from all available sources of data: images, surveying, maps, drawings. This also calls for a good way to update the model (as excavation progresses). Ease at sketching 3D primitives, as well as modifying these, make SkiP a potential candidate to address such needs.

Below are some example of 3D reconstruction performed via SkiP on image data from the Petra site (imagery taken by E.Vote, during her stay at Petra, in the Summer of 1998).

Page created & maintained by Frederic Leymarie, 1998.
Comments, suggestions, etc., mail to: leymarie@lems.brown.edu