"15 seconds of fame" is an interactive installation which every 15 seconds generates a new pop-ar... more "15 seconds of fame" is an interactive installation which every 15 seconds generates a new pop-art portrait of a randomly selected person from the audience. The installation was inspired by Andy Warhol's ironical statement that "In the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes". The installation detects human faces to crop them from the wide-angle picture of people who are standing in front of the installation. Pop-art portraits are then generated by applying different, randomly selected filters to a randomly chosen face from the audience. These portraits are shown in 15 second intervals on the flat-panel computer monitor which is framed as a painting. Electronic copies of each displayed portrait can be ordered by e-mail.
When people talk to each other, eye contact is very important for a trustful and efficient commun... more When people talk to each other, eye contact is very important for a trustful and efficient communication. Video-conferencing systems were invented to enable such communication over large distances, recently using mostly Internet and personal computers. Despite low cost of such solutions, a broader acceptance and use of these communication means has not happened yet. One of the most important reasons for this situation is that it is almost impossible to establish eye contact between distant parties on the most common hardware configurations of such videoconferencing systems, where the camera for face capture is usually mounted above the computer monitor, where the face of the correspondent is observed. Different hardware and software solutions to this problem of missing eye contact have been proposed over the years. In this article we propose a simple solution that can improve the subjective feeling of eye contact, which is based on how people perceive 3D scenes displayed on slanted surfaces, and offer some experiments in support of the hypothesis.
Cross l. Introduction 2. Review: the correspondence problem over multiple views 3. Results 4. Con... more Cross l. Introduction 2. Review: the correspondence problem over multiple views 3. Results 4. Construction of virtual-reality models for polyhedral scenes 5. Augmented reality 6. Future developments 2 Surface reconstruction from multiple views using apparent contours 25 and surface texture Geoffrey Cross, Andrew Zisserman l. Introduction 25 2. Reconstruction from apparent contours 3. Computing the surface from texture information 4. Minimising reprojection errors using a surface representation 5.
The modeling capabilities of superquadrics can be enhanced with global and local deformations. Gl... more The modeling capabilities of superquadrics can be enhanced with global and local deformations. Global deformations such as tapering, bending or twisting require just a few additional parameters in the superquadric equations. Local deformation, in general, overlay the original superquadric with a new parameterization grid which enables local change of shape. Therefore, local deformations are by its nature not tightly integrated with superquadrics and are in this book just discussed at the end of this chapter. Hyperquadrics, which include superquadrics as a special case, and are generated by taking hyperslices of high-dimensional algebraic hypersurfaces, are also described at the end of the chapter, as well as ratioquadrics which are very similar to superquadrics but have continuous first derivatives everywhere on the surface.
The earlier chapters have already shed some light on the utility of superquadrics in computer vis... more The earlier chapters have already shed some light on the utility of superquadrics in computer vision. The primary role of superquadrics has been in filling a much felt need for a volumetric representation in conjunction with shape recovery and segmentation. Despite initial reluctance in using superquadrics due to their nonlinear form, they have proven to be the modeling primitives of choice for many applications that require volumetric models. It is important to understand the limitations of the basic superquadric models, namely their limited shape vocabulary, and the fact that they are really coarse-grain closed volumetric models suitable, in particular, for object-centered generic shape descriptions. Like any other shape primitive, superquadrics can not represent arbitrary shapes. In the power of representing shapes, they are a subset of generalized cylinders, with a non-linearly varying superelliptical cross-section. For example, complex shapes such as bifurcating elongated objects (blood vessels) are better described by a generalized cylinder defined by a spine function and a cross-section function.
Med algoritmom in družbo- računalniška umetnost Računalniška umetnost je pravzaprav šele na začet... more Med algoritmom in družbo- računalniška umetnost Računalniška umetnost je pravzaprav šele na začetku svoje teoretične osmislitve in zato je seveda razumljivo, da je njeno mesto znotraj dvesto ali celo dvajset tisoč let stare umetniške institucije problem, ki potrebuje pojasnitev. Dandanes je nedvomno pomembnejši, in za nas zanimivejši, pojem umetnosti povezan z romantično uveljavitvijo umetniškosti v ožjem pomenu besede, torej kot produkta ustvarjalnosti novoveškega subjekta, od manj določenega pojma, ki pokriva pojave človeške kulture nasploh. Računalniška umetnost je z modernim pojmovanjem umetnosti v sporu že od svojih prvih refleksij, Vilém Flusser, denimo, piše, da je tehnična slika (tudi tehno-slika) rezultat sodelovanja dveh subjektnih pozicij, konstruktorja aparata, inženirja, in uporabnika, ki šele skupaj sestavljata institucijo sodobnega računalniškega umetnika. Projekta Franca Soline 15 sekund slave in Virtualno smučanje sta zavezana omenjenemu prelomu, saj
With the recent advancements in deep neural computation, we devise a method to recover superquadr... more With the recent advancements in deep neural computation, we devise a method to recover superquadric parameters from range images using a convolutional neural network. By training our simple, fullyconvolutional architecture on synthetic data images, containing a single superquadric, we achieve encouraging results. In a fixed rotation scenario, the model could already be used in practice, but we still need to improve on prediction of arbitrary rotational parameters in the future
ELCVIA Electronic Letters on Computer Vision and Image Analysis
In the doctoral thesis we developed an interactive and user-adaptive information interface based ... more In the doctoral thesis we developed an interactive and user-adaptive information interface based on computer vision and machine learning methods. By using a camera-enhanced digital signage display we employed realtime computer vision algorithms to extract temporal, spatial, and demographic features of the observers, which are further used for observer specific broadcasting of digital signage contents (see Figure 1). The algorithms were chosen and modified to optimize the balance between accuracy and time complexity, subjected to designaim to perform in real-time and using conventional hardware. More particularly, we used the Mixture of Gaussians method for background segmentation, Viola & Jones method for face detection algorithm, Active Appearance Models for face alignment and POSIT algorithm for head pose estimation [3]. The developed interface is used as the key research tool to explore three currently open problems in the field of humancomputer interaction: dynamic anamorphosis, quantitative audience measurement study of digital signage in real-world environment, and modeling of the purchase decision process.
Piano Crossing is an interactive art installation which turns a pedestrian crossing marked with w... more Piano Crossing is an interactive art installation which turns a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes into a piano keyboard so that pedestrians can generate music by walking over it. Matching tones are created when a pedestrian steps on a particular stripe or key. A digital camera is directed at the crossing from above. A special computer vision application was developed, which maps the stripes of the pedestrian crossing to piano keys and detects by means of an image over which key the center of gravity of each pedestrian is placed at any given moment. Black stripes represent the black piano keys. The application consists of two parts: (1) initialization, where the model of the abstract piano keyboard is mapped to the image of the pedestrian crossing, and (2) the detection of pedestrians at the crossing, so that musical tones can be generated according to their locations. The art installation Piano crossing was presented to the public for the first time during the 51st Jazz Festival in Ljubljana in July 2010.
"15 seconds of fame" is an interactive installation which every 15 seconds generates a new pop-ar... more "15 seconds of fame" is an interactive installation which every 15 seconds generates a new pop-art portrait of a randomly selected person from the audience. The installation was inspired by Andy Warhol's ironical statement that "In the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes". The installation detects human faces to crop them from the wide-angle picture of people who are standing in front of the installation. Pop-art portraits are then generated by applying different, randomly selected filters to a randomly chosen face from the audience. These portraits are shown in 15 second intervals on the flat-panel computer monitor which is framed as a painting. Electronic copies of each displayed portrait can be ordered by e-mail.
When people talk to each other, eye contact is very important for a trustful and efficient commun... more When people talk to each other, eye contact is very important for a trustful and efficient communication. Video-conferencing systems were invented to enable such communication over large distances, recently using mostly Internet and personal computers. Despite low cost of such solutions, a broader acceptance and use of these communication means has not happened yet. One of the most important reasons for this situation is that it is almost impossible to establish eye contact between distant parties on the most common hardware configurations of such videoconferencing systems, where the camera for face capture is usually mounted above the computer monitor, where the face of the correspondent is observed. Different hardware and software solutions to this problem of missing eye contact have been proposed over the years. In this article we propose a simple solution that can improve the subjective feeling of eye contact, which is based on how people perceive 3D scenes displayed on slanted surfaces, and offer some experiments in support of the hypothesis.
Cross l. Introduction 2. Review: the correspondence problem over multiple views 3. Results 4. Con... more Cross l. Introduction 2. Review: the correspondence problem over multiple views 3. Results 4. Construction of virtual-reality models for polyhedral scenes 5. Augmented reality 6. Future developments 2 Surface reconstruction from multiple views using apparent contours 25 and surface texture Geoffrey Cross, Andrew Zisserman l. Introduction 25 2. Reconstruction from apparent contours 3. Computing the surface from texture information 4. Minimising reprojection errors using a surface representation 5.
The modeling capabilities of superquadrics can be enhanced with global and local deformations. Gl... more The modeling capabilities of superquadrics can be enhanced with global and local deformations. Global deformations such as tapering, bending or twisting require just a few additional parameters in the superquadric equations. Local deformation, in general, overlay the original superquadric with a new parameterization grid which enables local change of shape. Therefore, local deformations are by its nature not tightly integrated with superquadrics and are in this book just discussed at the end of this chapter. Hyperquadrics, which include superquadrics as a special case, and are generated by taking hyperslices of high-dimensional algebraic hypersurfaces, are also described at the end of the chapter, as well as ratioquadrics which are very similar to superquadrics but have continuous first derivatives everywhere on the surface.
The earlier chapters have already shed some light on the utility of superquadrics in computer vis... more The earlier chapters have already shed some light on the utility of superquadrics in computer vision. The primary role of superquadrics has been in filling a much felt need for a volumetric representation in conjunction with shape recovery and segmentation. Despite initial reluctance in using superquadrics due to their nonlinear form, they have proven to be the modeling primitives of choice for many applications that require volumetric models. It is important to understand the limitations of the basic superquadric models, namely their limited shape vocabulary, and the fact that they are really coarse-grain closed volumetric models suitable, in particular, for object-centered generic shape descriptions. Like any other shape primitive, superquadrics can not represent arbitrary shapes. In the power of representing shapes, they are a subset of generalized cylinders, with a non-linearly varying superelliptical cross-section. For example, complex shapes such as bifurcating elongated objects (blood vessels) are better described by a generalized cylinder defined by a spine function and a cross-section function.
Med algoritmom in družbo- računalniška umetnost Računalniška umetnost je pravzaprav šele na začet... more Med algoritmom in družbo- računalniška umetnost Računalniška umetnost je pravzaprav šele na začetku svoje teoretične osmislitve in zato je seveda razumljivo, da je njeno mesto znotraj dvesto ali celo dvajset tisoč let stare umetniške institucije problem, ki potrebuje pojasnitev. Dandanes je nedvomno pomembnejši, in za nas zanimivejši, pojem umetnosti povezan z romantično uveljavitvijo umetniškosti v ožjem pomenu besede, torej kot produkta ustvarjalnosti novoveškega subjekta, od manj določenega pojma, ki pokriva pojave človeške kulture nasploh. Računalniška umetnost je z modernim pojmovanjem umetnosti v sporu že od svojih prvih refleksij, Vilém Flusser, denimo, piše, da je tehnična slika (tudi tehno-slika) rezultat sodelovanja dveh subjektnih pozicij, konstruktorja aparata, inženirja, in uporabnika, ki šele skupaj sestavljata institucijo sodobnega računalniškega umetnika. Projekta Franca Soline 15 sekund slave in Virtualno smučanje sta zavezana omenjenemu prelomu, saj
With the recent advancements in deep neural computation, we devise a method to recover superquadr... more With the recent advancements in deep neural computation, we devise a method to recover superquadric parameters from range images using a convolutional neural network. By training our simple, fullyconvolutional architecture on synthetic data images, containing a single superquadric, we achieve encouraging results. In a fixed rotation scenario, the model could already be used in practice, but we still need to improve on prediction of arbitrary rotational parameters in the future
ELCVIA Electronic Letters on Computer Vision and Image Analysis
In the doctoral thesis we developed an interactive and user-adaptive information interface based ... more In the doctoral thesis we developed an interactive and user-adaptive information interface based on computer vision and machine learning methods. By using a camera-enhanced digital signage display we employed realtime computer vision algorithms to extract temporal, spatial, and demographic features of the observers, which are further used for observer specific broadcasting of digital signage contents (see Figure 1). The algorithms were chosen and modified to optimize the balance between accuracy and time complexity, subjected to designaim to perform in real-time and using conventional hardware. More particularly, we used the Mixture of Gaussians method for background segmentation, Viola & Jones method for face detection algorithm, Active Appearance Models for face alignment and POSIT algorithm for head pose estimation [3]. The developed interface is used as the key research tool to explore three currently open problems in the field of humancomputer interaction: dynamic anamorphosis, quantitative audience measurement study of digital signage in real-world environment, and modeling of the purchase decision process.
Piano Crossing is an interactive art installation which turns a pedestrian crossing marked with w... more Piano Crossing is an interactive art installation which turns a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes into a piano keyboard so that pedestrians can generate music by walking over it. Matching tones are created when a pedestrian steps on a particular stripe or key. A digital camera is directed at the crossing from above. A special computer vision application was developed, which maps the stripes of the pedestrian crossing to piano keys and detects by means of an image over which key the center of gravity of each pedestrian is placed at any given moment. Black stripes represent the black piano keys. The application consists of two parts: (1) initialization, where the model of the abstract piano keyboard is mapped to the image of the pedestrian crossing, and (2) the detection of pedestrians at the crossing, so that musical tones can be generated according to their locations. The art installation Piano crossing was presented to the public for the first time during the 51st Jazz Festival in Ljubljana in July 2010.
The contents of Proposal is copyrighted by the 26 Ambassadors of Global Initiative: Early Watercr... more The contents of Proposal is copyrighted by the 26 Ambassadors of Global Initiative: Early Watercraft - A global perspective of invention and development. And it is forbiden to use ideas from proposal without Ambassadors permissions.
On the end of February 2018 the list of ambassadors count 61 ambassadors from 31 countries.
On the end of August 2019 the list of ambassadors count 97 individual and 21 official institutional Ambassadors from 48 countries from all global continents.
On the end of January 2020 the list of ambassadors count 110 individual and 32 official institutional Ambassadors from 53 countries from all continents.
The findings of prehistoric vessels (e.g. EarlyWatercraft), logboats and dugout canoes as the oldest evidence (logboat from Pesse, Netherland) as the other forms of watercraft (reed-, skin-, bark- boats, rafts, etc.) all over the world mark the beginning of shipbuilding and transportation traditions and in the sense of far-reaching significance as well as navigation, mobility, orientation, networking, conquering, colonisation, travelling and consequently also the other inventions. Anthropological theory, however, even without the aid of real finds is widely accepted and claims that the watercraft began to be in use for at least 60k years, and some of them even state’ that watercraft has been used even by Homo erectus from 800k years ago.
This great story of transportation on water, which is closely linked to man’s traditional coexistence with water and his life in aquatic environments has a strong symbolic meaning since the vast majority of humanity lives near the seas, lakes and rivers. In the general story of shipping traditions, shipbuilding and watercraft typology in the framework of world heritage, the simple prehistoric vessels or Early Watercraft have not been paid enough attention so far, although they definitely deserve it, as they represent the origins of the mankind’s navigational tradition.
Preventive underwater archaeological surveying in the bed of the Ljubljanica River, conducted at ... more Preventive underwater archaeological surveying in the bed of the Ljubljanica River, conducted at Sinja Gorica in 2008, revealed the remains of an Early Roman wooden barge from the beginning of the 1 st century AD. Detailed documentation of the 4.5m long and 2.8m wide section of the boat followed in October 2012 and included photogrammetric three-dimensional modelling. The construction characteristics and size revealed a boat of the Mediterranean shipbuilding tradition, with an elongated oval shape and a flat bottom and vertical sides, constructed using the shell-first technique and planks fastened with iron clamps, while the hull was reinforced with floor-timbers in a manner not yet published in the relevant literature. The barge, made mostly of beech wood, was built soon after AD 3 according to the dendro-chronological analysis. The wood is very poorly preserved. The barge was presumably used to transport cargo between Nauportus and Emona.
1st Meeting from the Network Deformation Monitoring of ships in museum Bremerhaven, Wednesday, June 28th, 2017
Re- conceptualization of the contemporary maritime museums. Do we really need the original waterlogged wooden artefacts?
Miran Erič,* David Stopar,** Franc Solina,*** Katja Kavkler* Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia * University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Chair of Microbiology, Slovenia ** University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Computer Vision Laboratory, Slovenia ***
MetroArchaeo 2018; 2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2018
The article describes the comparison and analysis of five 3D models of the hunting tool from the ... more The article describes the comparison and analysis of five 3D models of the hunting tool from the Ljubljanica River found near Sinja Gorica. The 40,000 years old Palaeolithic point, discovered by underwater archaeologists during a preventive archeological survey, was made out of yew wood. Five 3D models of the point were taken over the period of ten years, two before and three after the conservation process. The comparison of the 3D models serves two purposes. The primary goal is to evaluate the changes of the artifact that occurred during this period and, specifically, to compare its shape before and after the treatment. Conservation of waterlogged wood is still a delicate and somewhat uncertain process in regards to the long term survivability of such artifacts. The second goal is to asses which software tools are currently available for such comparison, what are technical problems that need to be addressed, and how to effectively present or visualize the sometimes small but critical changes of shape.
Proceedings of 2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (MetroArchaeo 2018) , 2018
The article describes the comparison and analysis of five 3D models of the hunting tool from the ... more The article describes the comparison and analysis of five 3D models of the hunting tool from the Ljubljanica River found near Sinja Gorica. The 40,000 years old Palaeolithic point, discovered by underwater archaeologists during a preventive archeological survey, was made out of yew wood. Five 3D models of the point were taken over the period of ten years, two before and three after the conservation process. The comparison of the 3D models serves two purposes. The primary goal is to evaluate the changes of the artifact that occurred during this period and, specifically, to compare its shape before and after the treatment. Conservation of waterlogged wood is still a delicate and somewhat uncertain process in regards to the long term survivability of such artifacts. The second goal is to asses which software tools are currently available for such comparison, what
are technical problems that need to be addressed, and how to effectively present or visualize the sometimes small but critical changes of shape.
CHNT 24 conference Vienna, 3. - 6. November 2019, 2019
Early watercraft can be considered as one of the first and most significant human inventions from... more Early watercraft can be considered as one of the first and most significant human inventions from technical, cultural and environmental perspectives. The discovery that water – at the beginning rivers, lakes and bays – can be utilised to improve human mobility represents an important historic milestone with a direct impact on human migration, trade and infrastructure development. Most of the early watercraft such as logboats, reed/stalk boats, skin boats, bark boats, and rafts were made from organic material non-resistant to air and UV rays. Hence, these artefacts have mainly been preserved in watery environments which caused their research has always been a logistically complicated process. The lack of archaeological data in the last two centuries resulted in having only logboats being recognised as a significant cultural heritage. However, the recent development of modern underwater archaeology and sophisticated 3D digitisation tools have accelerated the interest of a wider heritage community in studying early watercraft. In 2015, Global initiative: Early Watercraft – a global perspective of invention and development was inaugurated in Vrhnika, Slovenia. The initiative aims to connect researchers interested in early watercraft into a global network and provide an open forum to geo-locate and exchange the data as well as to discuss the strategies to recognise this type of heritage as a significant human achievement. At this stage, 95 individuals from 18 organisations in 43 countries are involved in the network. The initiative coincides with Early Watercraft1 a web-based geospatial information system published by the University of Ljubljana and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. The platform runs on Arches (v3.0), an open source data management system for heritage developed by the Getty Conservation Institute and World Monuments Fund. At this stage, the Early Watercraft platform includes detailed information on almost all known (92) logboats from Slovenia. The platform is aiming to expand into a Global Virtual Cultural Heritage Environment (GVCHE). When Arches will be upgraded to a newer version, it will provide a better user experience. It will also include a European database with almost 3500 logboats recorded from early 19th Century until today.
Early watercraft can be considered as one of the first and most significant human inventions from... more Early watercraft can be considered as one of the first and most significant human inventions from technical, cultural and environmental perspectives. The discovery that water – at the beginning rivers, lakes and bays – can be utilised to improve human mobility represents an important historic milestone with a direct impact on human migration, trade and infrastructure development. Most of the early watercraft such as logboats, reed/stalk boats, skin boats, bark boats, and rafts were made from organic material non-resistant to air and UV rays. Hence, these artefacts have mainly been preserved in watery environments which caused their research has always been a logistically complicated process. The lack of archaeological data in the last two centuries resulted in having only logboats being recognised as a significant cultural heritage (Kröger, 2018). However, the recent development of modern underwater archaeology and sophisticated 3D digitisation tools have accelerated the interest of a wider heritage community in studying early watercraft.
Uploads
Papers by Franc Solina
On the end of February 2018 the list of ambassadors count 61 ambassadors from 31 countries.
On the end of August 2019 the list of ambassadors count 97 individual and 21 official institutional Ambassadors from 48 countries from all global continents.
On the end of January 2020 the list of ambassadors count 110 individual and 32 official institutional Ambassadors from 53 countries from all continents.
The findings of prehistoric vessels (e.g. EarlyWatercraft), logboats and dugout canoes as the oldest evidence (logboat from Pesse, Netherland) as the other forms of watercraft (reed-, skin-, bark- boats, rafts, etc.) all over the world mark the beginning of shipbuilding and transportation traditions and in the sense of far-reaching significance as well as navigation, mobility, orientation, networking, conquering, colonisation, travelling and consequently also the other inventions. Anthropological theory, however, even without the aid of real finds is widely accepted and claims that the watercraft began to be in use for at least 60k years, and some of them even state’ that watercraft has been used even by Homo erectus from 800k years ago.
This great story of transportation on water, which is closely linked to man’s traditional coexistence with water and his life in aquatic environments has a strong symbolic meaning since the vast majority of humanity lives near the seas, lakes and rivers. In the general story of shipping traditions, shipbuilding and watercraft typology in the framework of world heritage, the simple prehistoric vessels or Early Watercraft have not been paid enough attention so far, although they definitely deserve it, as they represent the origins of the mankind’s navigational tradition.
https://prezi.com/eblq2zdrqfy6/1st-meeting-from-the-network-deformation/
1st Meeting from the Network Deformation Monitoring of ships in museum
Bremerhaven, Wednesday, June 28th, 2017
Re- conceptualization of the contemporary maritime museums. Do we really need the original waterlogged wooden artefacts?
Miran Erič,*
David Stopar,**
Franc Solina,***
Katja Kavkler*
Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia *
University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Chair of Microbiology, Slovenia **
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Computer Vision Laboratory, Slovenia ***
are technical problems that need to be addressed, and how to effectively present or visualize the sometimes small but critical changes of shape.
In 2015, Global initiative: Early Watercraft – a global perspective of invention and development was inaugurated in Vrhnika, Slovenia. The initiative aims to connect researchers interested in early watercraft into a global network and provide an open forum to geo-locate and exchange the data as well as to discuss the strategies to recognise this type of heritage as a significant human achievement. At this stage, 95 individuals from 18 organisations in 43 countries are involved in the network. The initiative coincides with Early Watercraft1 a web-based geospatial information system published by the University of Ljubljana and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. The platform runs on Arches (v3.0), an open source data management system for heritage developed by the Getty Conservation Institute and World Monuments Fund. At this stage, the Early Watercraft platform includes detailed information on almost all known (92) logboats from Slovenia. The platform is aiming to expand into a Global Virtual Cultural Heritage Environment (GVCHE). When Arches will be upgraded to a newer version, it will provide a better user experience. It will also include a European database with almost 3500 logboats recorded from early 19th Century until today.