Hiraki, T. Laboratory

“Texture Manipulation Method Based on Reality Augmentation by Controlling Shape and Reflection Properties of Real Objects Using Projected Light” (Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) “Analysis and synthesis of deep SHITSUKAN information in the real world” Publicly Offered Research, Principal Investigator: Takefumi Hiraki, FY2021 – FY2022）

　To realize technology for manipulating and editing textures, it is necessary to develop technology to control the visual information of real objects without any sense of strangeness. This kind of technology has been studied in the context of Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR), such as projection mapping. However, in previous SAR systems, the system controlled only the projected images; thus, the benefits could only be achieved in the projection space of projectors, and the system only followed the dynamic changes of the target objects and could not change the appearance or shape of the objects’ material. In this project, we develop a reality-augmented type of texture manipulation technology that people can use without being aware of the boundary surface between the real and virtual worlds by cooperatively controlling the shape and reflection characteristics of real objects with their projected light as well as the superimposition of images. Primarily, we build design principles for both real objects to be projected, which can change their reflective characteristics and shape, and projectors, which are devices for projecting images that can control the reflection properties and shape of the objects. We will develop both approach to colorize the projection target object and deform the projection target object. We explore texture manipulation techniques through these developments in which the image and the projection object work complementarily, departing from the conventional visual texture representation that relies on the projection images. So far, some students in our laboratory have already participated in this research project, and we are also promoting the research in collaboration with domestic and international research institutions.

Reference links:
(1) https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/en/grant/KAKENHI-PUBLICLY-21H05798/
(2) http://shitsukan.jp/deep/en/