2014 IEEE 2014 International Conference on Computer, Communication, and Control Technology (I4CT 2014), September 2 4, 2014 - Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
Developing an Architectural Visualization using 3D for Photo Tourism Arifah Fasha Rosmani, Umi Hanim Mazlan, Siti Zulaiha Ahmad, Adlil Ammal Mohd Kharul Apendi Dept. of Computer Science Universiti Teknologi MARA 02600 Arau, Perlis
[email protected] developed in order to show and introduce Masjid Zahir in an attractive way.
Abstract—Tourism is one of the factors in contributing to economic growth and it also provides the knowledge based in historical and architectural places around the country. However, many people did not realize the speciality and uniqueness about these historical and architectural places especially the mosque and the Islamic architecture, this may happens because of the lack of interest and appreciation among the community. Therefore, this study undertakes two tasks in order to venture into building interest of the community. First, to investigate and model a 3D virtual environment of Masjid Zahir that is situated in Kedah and second is to develop a multimedia montage for photo tourism. Thus, the focus of the project is on developing a building model in three dimensional forms. This project is developed using Autodesk Maya software that includes building the model, rendering, and camera motion. From this project, the results show that new attraction is created and effective understanding is developed to the viewer from its earlier days. It also shows that the project enables people to view in a better way. The heuristic evaluation and usability test was conducted by an expert and civilian in order to allow researchers to understand the needs, response and understanding of the viewer regarding the project.
II. BACKGROUND OF RESEARCH A. Photography and Tourism Photography has many purposes such as information recording, capturing memories, and other artistic activities. Digital photography has become an extremely important part of daily routine due to the progress of digital media. Sharing and advertising photos are used a lot through a web service and other multimedia fields in order to build a social network, promotion, and communication [1]. Tourism sector is one of the biggest and most effective growing sectors and is an important factor for national and local financial systems around the world [2]. Tourism sector uses lot of photographic features in its growth. It is proven by research that photography and tourism are mutually inclusive to each other starting from the 20th century [3]. This means that photography plays an important role in tourism. Moreover, photography and tourism are commonly considered to be basically related. Photography plays an important part in the advertising of tourist destinations, working through a range of media such as catalogues, television commercials, and others. Meanwhile the practice of photography is often organized to be very well related to the condition of being a traveler. Today, many developers are changing their images or photos into three dimensional views. The reason is simple. They want the viewers to feel more realistic with the environment of the photos and at the same time, increase their customer’s interest. With the appearance of digital times, if three dimension animation technology and still image incorporate together, much better art style of photos can be produced [4].
Index Terms—3-dimensional, Masjid Zahir, architectural visualization, photo tourism.
I. INTRODUCTION Nowadays the needs of 3-dimensional (3D) images, animation or virtual reality in promoting, attracting and introducing interesting places are increasing. They engaged tourists to be more interested and enjoy in viewing and searching for interesting places. This increases the number of tourists’ visits as well as the growth of tourism industry. This is very significant to Malaysia as it is well known to have such beautiful and attractive places to be visited. One of the most important and beautiful architecture in the North of Malaysia is Masjid Zahir. Currently, Masjid Zahir is captured and shown using 2-dimensional (2D) images. Unfortunately, this situation decreases attention of the beautiful architecture of Masjid Zahir even though it is one of the beautiful mosques in Malaysia. Therefore, an application of architectural visualization using 3D for Photo Tourism of Masjid Zahir has been
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B. Architectural Visualization Visualization technology is widely applied in modeling and simulation today [5]. Visualization of 3D model brings more interactive use to the viewers. Interactive visualization has a mathematically considerable purpose and positive impact on the results of understanding and sharing to the viewers. As a result, using the 3D model visualization achieves greater efficiency, better quality of outcome, and greater knowledge
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gains [6]. Visualization is one of the factorss in big computing programs. For example, mathematical simulations s often integrate a visualization factor to be able to gain insight into the outcomes. In medical computing, visualizattion may be along with database components to allow peersonal individual information to be extracted, visualized,, compared, and evaluated [7]. d life activities Furthermore, visualization is used in daily like education, advertisement, product visualization, interactive multimedia, and in architecture. Visualizatiion is particularly useful because it allows constructing intelllectual procedures and supports more on concentrated discussions [6]. This is because of the possibilities of virtual reality to generate virtual experiences that tourists may take as repllacements for real visitations to their selected place. For exam mple, many tourists are using the Internet to search for travel infformation, tourism agency, attractive and interesting places, andd many more. This proved that it gives an impact and benefit to the tourism sector [8].
considered like a table of conteents of a book by providing a list of the major categories of info formation [9]. It is important to sketch the sitemap to view thee structure of the project that is being developed as Fig. 2. beloow. There are two main pages in this application which are thhe 1) montage; introduction to Kedah and its interesting placess with related information and 2) Masjid Zahir; 3D model and annimation.
M Menu Main
Montage
Fig. 2. 2 Sitemap
Storyboard is a method or medium m for demonstrating ideas visually that can be used to heelp understand the cases and to identify the situation. Storyboard was also being used as a tool because visual presentation of ideas i helps to enhance the ideas and imagination [10]. In this phase there was a need to sketch and illustrate the storyboard in order to demonstrate the project design. Example of storyboard is as shown in Fig. 3.
III. METHODOLOGY This section focuses on the methods thaat have been used throughout the project. Firstly after defininng the information that had been gathered, all information was analyzed in order to get suitable information that can be usedd in developing of the project. From here, design of the project has been obtained and storyboard has been drawn as illustratioons of the project. Autodesk Maya software was used for 3D modeling, m rendering and animation. After all the processes havee been completed, the project has gone through testing phasse which includes usability test and heuristic evaluation to gaain feedback from users and experts. All these feedbacks havee been analyzed in order to improve the project for the future im mplementation. The research methodology was as shown in Fig. 1. 1
•Storyboard •Illustrations
Develop •3D Model •3D Animation
Design
Masjid Zahir (3D Model and Animation
••Usability Test • •Heuristic Evaluation
Fig. 3.. Storyboard
Test
The last activity in this phhase was designing the montage interface as shown in Fig. 4. Adobe Flash Professional was used as an interface platform foor this project.
Fig. 1. Research Methodology
A. Design During this stage, there were three partts involved, which were designing the sitemap, storyboard, and interface. Sitemap e a map, or better known as diagram overview is essentially diagram, or textual description of the structuure or content of a project. The general design of a sitemap is i graphical maps, hierarchal structure, and textual list of conntents. Sitemap is
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Fig. 6. 3D Modelling Process Fig. 4.Montage Interface
After finishing the modeling phases it was animate by setting the key frame and rotation tools to make it spin 360 degrees. Finally, rendering functions was performed to obtain the suitable colour, lighting and textures for the mosque. In this page, users may view the beautiful architecture of Masjid Zahir in 3 dimensional forms.
Montage page included several multimedia elements such as animation, audio and graphics together with information and content about interesting places in Kedah. Fig. 5. shows the screenshot of the montage in this photo tourism application which will be automatically played when the user starts the application. This montage has incorporated some multimedia elements such as text, sound, animation and graphics in order to attract user to watch the application. The image that was chosen is suitable with the color and related to the main scope. Background music which is a slow instrumental music was used and it will be played when the user starts the application. Subsequently, the application will show some tourism places and interesting facts about Kedah and finally shown the main images of the project which is Masjid Zahir in 3D form.
Fig. 7. 3D Rendering Process
After completing the rendering process, the animations were combined using Apple QuickTime. For sound editing, Audacity was used as the main tool and lastly, Adobe Flash Professional is used to create a montage as the final platform of the project as depicted in Fig. 7. This was used as a medium to show viewers about the whole project and also the other tourism places in Kedah illustrated in Fig. 8.
Fig. 5. Completed Montage
B. Development In this phase, the 3D model and rendering of Masjid Zahir were developed. The 3D model, rendering features, 3D animation, and lighting effect were integrated into the Autodesk Maya software. Autodesk Maya was used to develop the 3D model, environment and 3D animation. The main focus in this application is Masjid Zahir which has been created in 3D form. The mosque was developed using polygon shape and modified using functions such as extrudes, append, toon tools and others as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 8. 3D Integration with Flash
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TABLE I. USABILITY TEST RESULT This application has involved storyboard design, modeling design, development of 3D model and animation and creating montage with integration of multimedia elements inside the application. C. Testing After the development phase, the project went through the testing phase before completion. Testing means a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use [11]. Furthermore, testing is also a way of getting feedback from the viewers. From that, it can be known if the project achieves its objectives. There were two different types of testing that have been conducted, which were Usability Test and Heuristic Evaluation. Heuristic Evaluation is a testing method where experts examine applications and determine where the applications violate predetermined policies for good usability [12]. The strength of the method is that it is quick, cheap, and easy to do [13]. This method is very useful when examining an interface for an iterative design process [14]. Five evaluators have been participated in this evaluation process. The evaluators were given specific time to look and comment about the project and answer a questionnaire to obtain their feedback, opinion and recommendation towards the project. Usability testing is necessary for interfaces and interactive products [15]. From this testing, it is possible to identify most of the major problems or issues in usability and collect feedbacks on subjective aspects of usability such as satisfaction and aesthetic appeal [16]. The test was participated by software experts and participants from the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences in order to gather feedbacks on the usage of interface design, images, font and text, background sound, colour, 3D animation and the content of the project.
Description
Feedback
1.
Montage design is very attractive and suitable
2.
Use suitable background
Interface : The interface is well and suitable with the project
3.
Text clear and readable
4.
Suitable color for the text
Text : All participants agree with the usage of the color and understand the sentences
5.
Understandable sentences
6.
Sound could help in learning process
7.
Sound is clear and suitable
8.
Color is suitable with the project
Color: Mostly agreeable with the color
9.
3D models useful in the project
10.
3D model can be understood easily
3D: Mostly agree with the usage of 3D model can enhance the learning process of understanding
Sound : Satisfied with the music choice and arrangement and sound is clear to hear
B. Heuristic Evaluation Based on the heuristic evaluation process, there were some parts of the project that needs to be improvised and reconstruct in order to enhance the project to be more attractive. The animation of Masjid Zahir model should be more accurate to make it more interesting. Finally, most of evaluators agreed that the project has used suitable interface design and it was attractive. TABLE II. HEURISTIC EVALUATION RESULT
IV. TEST RESULTS These are the results received from the Usability Test and Heuristic Evaluation performed in order to received feedbacks on the 3D application. A. Usability Test Based on the observation, overall of the users were satisfied with the image, sound and the information that was provided in the application. They were also satisfied with the 3D model of Masjid Zahir. With this project, many of them agreed that they have gain some new information and knowledge of interesting place in Kedah. This will attract them to visit the places in the future. Some users suggested that this application will allow the virtual exploration inside the mosque and this will be taken into consideration for future works.
Description
Feedback
1.
Application design is very attractive and suitable
2.
Use suitable background
Interface : The interface is well and suitable with the project
3. 4.
Text clear and readable Suitable color for the text
5.
Understandable sentences
6.
Sound could help in learning process
7.
Sound is clear and suitable Color is suitable with the project
8.
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9.
3D models useful in the project
10.
3D model can be understood easily
Text : All evaluators agree with the usage of the color and the sentences Sound : Satisfied with the music choice and arrangement Color: Mostly agreeable with the color 3D: Mostly agree with the usage of 3D model but its better if the 3D model is more deeply accurate.
I. CONCLUSION [11] Y. Yorozu, M. Hirano, K. Oka, and Y. Tagawa, “Electron spectroscopy studies on magneto-optical media and plastic substrate interface,” IEEE Transl. J. Magn. Japan, vol. 2, pp. 740–741, August 1987 [Digests 9th Annual Conf. Magnetics Japan, p. 301, 1982]. [12] Livingston, I. J., R. L. Mandryk, et al. (2010). Critic-proofing: how using critic reviews and game genres can refine heuristic evaluations. Proceedings of the International Academic Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, ACM: 48-55. [13] Chattratichart, J. and G. Lindgaard (2008). A comparative evaluation of heuristic-based usability inspection methods. CHI '08 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems. Florence, Italy, ACM: 2213-2220. [14] González, M., L. Masip, et al. (2009). "Quantitative analysis in a heuristic evaluation experiment." Advances in Engineering Software, 40(12): 1271-1278. [15] Andrzejczak, C. and D. Liu (2010). "The effect of testing location on usability testing performance, participant stress levels, and subjective testing experience." Journal of Systems and Software, 83(7): 1258-1266. [16] Au, F. T. W., S. Baker, et al. (2008). Automated usability testing framework. Proceedings of the ninth conference on Australasian user interface - Volume 76. Wollongong, Australia, Australian Computer Society, Inc.: 55-64.
This Architectural Visualization using 3D for Photo Tourism project was based on the problem that is related to elements of attraction which was to attract people to visit and discover tourism places in Kedah. The objective of the project has been achieved by the development of Masjid Zahir in 3D virtual environment and montage page as a platform to the 3D animation. This montage can be used as one of tourism advertisement and promotion for Kedah. Some improvement and refinements have been done and taken into account due to the feedbacks received in heuristic evaluation and usability testing. These improvements were implemented and can be improved in the next stage to make the montage become more attractive and interesting to the viewer regardless of their age. Nevertheless, there are many other enhancements that can be implemented in the future to create the best methods in promoting and advertising tourism places around Malaysia. REFERENCES [1] Jung, H. and K. Connelly (2007). Exploring design concepts for sharing experiences through digital photography. Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Designing pleasurable products and interfaces. Helsinki, Finland, ACM: 313-327. [2] Scott, D. and C. Lemieux (2010). "Weather and Climate Information for Tourism." Procedia Environmental Sciences1(0): 146-183. [3] Belk, R. and J. H.-y. Yeh (2011). "Tourist photographs: signs of self." International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research5 (4): 345 - 353. [4] Li, M., X. Y. Huang, et al. (2011). "Application of 3D Animation Technology in Movie Art Design." Advanced Materials Research (Volume 267)Manufacturing Systems and Industry Application: 164-169. [5] Yang, N., S. Yuan, et al. (2011). Discussion on the Application of Visualization Technology in Modeling and Simulation. Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering (ICIII), 2011 International Conference on. [6] Bresciani, S. and M. J. Eppler (2009). "The Benefits of Synchronous Collaborative Information Visualization: Evidence from an Experimental Evaluation." Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on15(6): 1073-1080. [7] Wood, J., K. Brodlie, et al. (2008). A Web Services Architecture for Visualization. eScience, 2008. eScience '08. IEEE Fourth International Conference on. [8] Guttentag, D. A. (2010). "Virtual reality: Applications and implications for tourism." Tourism Management31(5): 637-651. [9] Pilgrim, C. J. (2007). Trends in sitemap designs: a taxonomy and survey. Proceedings of the eight Australasian conference on User interface - Volume 64. Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Australian Computer Society, Inc.: 95-102. [10] Walsh, T., P. Nurkka, et al. (2011). Collecting cross-cultural user data with internationalized storyboard survey. Proceedings of the 23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference. Canberra, Australia, ACM: 301-310.
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