A Study of Anamorphosis in Video Games

with the use of Head tracking Technology

Patrick Vince Tom Pemberton-ParkerCullan Nhara

What is Anamorphosis?

‘Anamorphosis’ is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image.

Earliest use of Anamorphosis was pioneered by Leonardo Da Vinci in his piece ‘Leonardo’s Eye’ in 1485

LEONARDO'S EYE

Uses of Anamorphosis

One of the most common use of ‘anamorphic’ designs is in road markings. The markings have to be viewed by road users from an unconventional position i.e. at a shallow angle, where the effect of foreshortening (the apparent shrinking of objects as they move further away) is to squash the vertical dimension.

Here is a typical example…

Uses of Anamorphosis

Other uses of Anamorphosis can be found in: Advertising, in sport for example

Video, recent examples include Channel 4’s Idents… VIDEO

Art, such as the work by British artist ‘Julian Beever’

how do we use this in games ?

A few games use it as a gameplay element ECHOCHROME CRUSH

We plan to use it as a ‘Directional Technique’ to guide the player through the game

video games Directional Techniques

Directional technique can be defined as an in-game tutorial on how to play the game or what to do next.

This is most commonly used by having an in-game example informing the gamer on what to do, such as in ‘Kirby’s Epic Yarn’…

Or by having another character tell you what to do with the use of audio and some text in the H.U.D, such as in ‘Call of Duty’…

Some games have chosen to do this with a little more style such as ‘Splinter Cell Conviction’…

Integrating this with Anamorphosis

Our goal is to come up with some new ways of directing a player through a game using different styles of 3d text with anamorphosis.

Current ideas for text include: Projection over objects Objects forming information Graffiti on walls ANAMORPHIC GRAFFITI

Silhouettes cast on objects Walls with extruding bricks

Head tracking

To make the experience of interactive digital anamorphosis all the more immersive, we plan to add the feature of head tracking.

Here is some examples of how head tracking is being experimented with in video games today:

HEAD GESTURES IN GAMESSPRAY N' PRAY

Head tracking Software

Before we mentioned how using a Wii Remote with Infra-Red LEDs can simulate head tracking.

Using a piece of software called ‘Face API’ we can successfully track the user’s head movements using any standard webcam

This will make the appeal a lot more accessible to the majority of the demographic

Face API Demo…

Sound with 3d Audio

Having the right soundtrack is important to help the player feel immersed in the games atmosphere

Using ‘Binaural Recording’ we plan to use various sound effects and signals to help guide the player to points of interest

To achieve the best effect of 3d Audio we will require the player to use a set of headphones or have a surround sound set-up

Here is an example of how well we can place objects and people in 3d space using 3d Audio: 3D AUDIO DEMO

The Concept

So our goal is to create a test 3d environment to implement the use of anamorphosis game direction with head tracking.

The environment will be small but large enough for us to test a variety of the different 3d text direction.

Using a ‘film noir’ art style it should help immerse the player as they unlock clues and solve puzzles using their perspective as a foresight.

The Concept

The overall result should be one of making a game far more immersive. By taking away the tools games use and putting the knowledge back to the user, for them to figure out problems themselves.

Patrick Vince Tom Pemberton-Parker Cullan Nhara