(Press-News.org) Sound effects and visual effects have long been standard tools for entertaining audiences, but even as storytellers increasingly turn to haptic feedback to engage the sense of touch in games, theme park rides and movies, they have lacked a common vocabulary to describe or access these "feel effects." Researchers at Disney Research Pittsburgh are beginning to fill that gap.
In a study to be presented at the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, Aug. 8-9, in Vancouver, Canada, Disney researchers worked with human participants and a Carnegie Mellon University psychologist to establish a library of 40 feel effects matched to descriptions that designers without a deep background in haptic effects can readily understand.
"Currently there are no guidelines to design haptic experience, so we formulated a procedure that associates haptic patterns to events in the story the same way as we describe these events with words and phrases," said Ali Israr, senior research engineer at Disney Research Pittsburgh.
The feel effects explored in the study range from common phenomenon, such as heavy rain or light rain, to more specific experiences, such as squeezing into a cockpit or feeling a hamster run across your back. And the library of effects are categorized and described in such a way as to help designers develop new sensations as needed.
Haptic feedback comes in a variety of forms, but this study concerned only vibrotactile effects and specifically those created by an array of vibrators embedded into a chair back, such as in gaming chairs, theater seats and ride vehicles, or in apparel such as game vests.
The researchers began by designing preliminary feel effects for descriptions in everyday language. Participants read the description, experienced the associated haptics, and then were asked to rate how well each effect matched the description.
Using a simple interface with sliders they were also given the chance to show how the effect might be changed to better fit the description. The initial feeling of "light rain," for example, might be changed by sliding the value for "how many drops" to the lower end of the scale. The final effects and their descriptions were then tested on a second group of participants to see if there was agreement between different subjects. They also were tested to determine how well the descriptions matched to synonyms – heavy rain vs. a downpour.
Israr said there was general agreement between the groups, though some feel effects gave the subjects more trouble than others. "Squeezing into a cockpit" and "squeezing into a cave" were low scoring effects and some people had a hard time differentiating between an elbow poke and a joystick poke. In some cases, he said, that may be because people have less real-life experience with the effect; in some cases, it may reflect a technical shortcoming in the effect.
The effects were organized into families – rain, multi-legged locomotion, striking, brushing, pulse and motor sounds. People were asked to identify the extreme ranges for each family – a heavy vs. light rain, a calm heartbeat vs. a racing heartbeat. "This enables a designer to pick a desired feel effect and then have some tools to control them, to tune them to a given situation," Israr said.
Many more feel effects need to be added to the library and many more issues remain to be addressed, such as how different array configurations alter a feel effect and how vibrotactile sensations can be coordinated with other feel effect modalities, he added.
INFORMATION:
In addition to Israr, the research team included Jill Lehman, Siyan Zhao and Kaitlyn Schwalje of Disney Research Pittsburgh and Roberta Klatzky, Carnegie Mellon professor of psychology. More information is available on the project web site at http://www.disneyresearch.com/project/feel-effects/.
About Disney Research
Disney Research is a network of research laboratories supporting The Walt Disney Company. Its purpose is to pursue scientific and technological innovation to advance the company's broad media and entertainment efforts. Vice Presidents Jessica Hodgins and Markus Gross manage Disney Research facilities in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Zürich, and Boston and work closely with the Pixar and ILM research groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Research topics include computer graphics, animation, video processing, computer vision, robotics, wireless & mobile computing, human-computer interaction, displays, behavioral economics, and machine learning.
Disney Researchers develop 'feel effect' vocabulary to tell stories with sense of touch
Methodology established for describing and designing haptic feedback experiences
2014-08-08
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Disney Researchers develop method to capture stylized hair for 3D-printed figurines
2014-08-08
Perhaps no aspect of 3D printing has captured the popular imagination more than personalized figurines with the facial features of real people. Now, researchers at Disney Research Zurich and the University of Zaragoza have developed a method that can incorporate an individual's hairstyle as well.
The researchers will present their new method at ACM SIGGRAPH 2014, the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Vancouver, Aug. 10-14.
Miniature statues with a person's likeness are nowadays produced by scanning the individual's face with ...
Do women and men ride differently?
2014-08-08
For centuries, horse riding was largely restricted to males. The previous situation is in stark contrast to the present day, when nearly 80 percent of riders are women. Modern-day equestrian sports are unique in that men and women compete directly against one another at all levels, from beginners in gymkhanas to national champions in the Olympic Games. "For this reason it is interesting to consider whether a theory of riding that was developed exclusively for men can be applied to women," explains Natascha Ille, the first author of the recent publication.
A rider is ...
The immediate aftermath of an oil spill
2014-08-08
The immediate aftermath of an oil spill
The fate of oil during the first day after an accidental oil spill is still poorly understood, with researchers often arriving on the scene only after several days. New findings from a field experiment carried out in the North Sea provide valuable insight that could help shape the emergency response in the immediate wake of disasters.
It is well known that oil and water don't mix. Less well known is the fact that when petroleum is spilt onto a water surface, a fraction of the oil immediately begins to evaporate into the air or ...
Wiggly microRNA binding implies a more complex genome regulation
2014-08-08
(PHILDELPHIA) – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate protein-coding gene abundance levels by interacting with the 3´ end of various messenger RNAs. Each target site matches the first few nucleotides of the targeting miRNA, the so called "seed" region, and this interaction leads to the degradation of the target or prevents its translation into amino acids. This dogma has led researchers to largely look for perfect base-pair matching of the "seed" region among candidate targets.
New research published today (August 8th) in Nature's open access journal Scientific Reports suggests ...
Scientists unravel mystery of brain cell growth
2014-08-08
In the developing brain, special proteins that act like molecular tugboats push or pull on growing nerve cells, or neurons, helping them navigate to their assigned places amidst the brain's wiring.
How a single protein can exert both a push and a pull force to nudge a neuron in the desired direction is a longstanding mystery that has now been solved by scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborators in Europe and China.
Jia-huai Wang, PhD, who led the work at Dana-Farber and Peking University in Beijing, is a corresponding author of a report published ...
Microtubule-based strategies for promoting nerve regeneration after injury
2014-08-08
After injury, damaged axons have the capacity to regenerate, but the regenerative capacity of the axon, particularly axons of the central nervous system, is quite limited. This is because the damaged axons tend to retract, because they encounter obstacles such as scar tissue and inhibitory molecules, and because their growth rates simply do not match those of a juvenile axon. Prof. Peter W. Baas from Drexel University, USA focus on microtubules as among the most important factors in encouraging injured adult axons to regenerate. Microtubules are hollow polymeric filaments ...
Role of Notch-1 signaling pathway in PC12 cell apoptosis induced by amyloid beta-peptide (25-35)
2014-08-08
Recent studies have demonstrated that Notch-1 expression is increased in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease patients. Huimin Liang and co-workers from Second Affliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China speculate that Notch-1 signaling may be involved in PC12 cell apoptosis induced by amyloid beta-peptide (25-35) (Aβ25-35). In a study reported on the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 13, 2014), PC12 cells were cultured with different doses (0, 0.1, 1.0, 10 and 100 nmol/L) of N-[N-(3,5-Difuorophen-acetyl)-L-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butyl ester, a Notch-1 ...
Violent solar system history uncovered by WA meteorite
2014-08-08
Curtin University planetary scientists have shed some light on the bombardment history of our solar system by studying a unique volcanic meteorite recovered in Western Australia.
Captured on camera seven years ago falling on the WA side of the Nullarbor Plain, the Bunburra Rockhole Meterorite has unique characteristics that suggest it came from a large asteroid that has never before been identified.
Associate Professor Fred Jourdan, along with colleagues Professor Phil Bland and Dr Gretchen Benedix from Curtin's Department of Applied Geology, believe the meteorite is ...
A*Star scientists make breakthroughs in ovarian cancer research
2014-08-08
Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) and the Bioinformatics Institute (BII) have found new clues to early detection and personalised treatment of ovarian cancer, currently one of the most difficult cancers to diagnose early due to the lack of symptoms that are unique to the illness.
There are three predominant cancers that affect women – breast, ovarian and womb cancer. Of the three, ovarian cancer is of the greatest concern as it is usually diagnosed only at an advanced stage due to the absence of clear early warning symptoms. Successful treatment ...
Study: Few juvenile suspects exercise constitutional rights during interrogations
2014-08-08
WASHINGTON –- Even when not under arrest, juvenile suspects being interrogated for a crime may be strikingly unaware of their constitutional rights and confess without legal counsel or even a parent present, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention.
An analysis of 57 videotaped juvenile interrogations at 17 police departments around the country revealed none of the suspects, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, had an attorney present while they were questioned, according to Hayley Cleary, PhD, of Virginia Commonwealth ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?
Pink skies
Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research
Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered
% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?
An app can change how you see yourself at work
NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals
New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China
Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds
Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea
New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea
Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes
Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others
Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke
Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition
Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life
Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy
Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming
Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly
Alcohol makes male flies sexy
TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income
Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression
Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring
Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs
AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders
First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes
Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows
Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission
UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages
In pancreatic cancer, a race against time
[Press-News.org] Disney Researchers develop 'feel effect' vocabulary to tell stories with sense of touchMethodology established for describing and designing haptic feedback experiences