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Dept Comp Sci & Comp Eng
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La Trobe University
Victoria 3086
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 3 9479 1107
Fax: +61 3 9479 3060
Email: info
@cs.latrobe.edu.au
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Research - Current Postgraduates - Details
Department of Computer Science & Computer Engineering
| Mathews, Raymond |
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Course:
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PhD |
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Research Title/Topic:
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Experiencing three and four dimensional solids in a game environement |
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Supervisor:
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Dr. John Rankin |
Description:
I am investigating the use of four-dimensional geometry in a game context. In the same way that three-dimensional objects can be portrayed on a two-dimensional surface, namely a computer screen, so a four-dimensional object can be portrayed in three-dimensional space. Stereoscopic goggles allow computers to generate three-dimensional scenes suitable for this. In the past, some people have claimed to be able to ?see? four-dimensional space. Charles Howard Hinton claimed to see four-dimensional space not as a theoretical construct, but as a practical engineer would see three-dimensional space. He achieved this by, among other methods, repeated visualisations of how four-dimensional objects could be projected into three-dimensional space. Hinton lived in the early 1900s, and used hand-drawn diagrams and mental imagery. Now, computers can produce interactive representations of four-dimensional objects. A simple interactive game will be used to investigate whether users can develop skills at solving ?4-D? puzzles ? puzzles that involve movement and geometry, rather than mainly logical puzzles such as chess or noughts and crosses. Object rotations in four dimensions will be used initially. The results of a previous, preliminary investigation indicated that such skills can be developed. Ideally, there will be no requirement for the user to understand anything about higher-dimensional space. The skill will be to understand how the interactive controls relate to the unfamiliar but consistent movement and deformations of the objects. There is a possibility of producing innovative puzzles using four-dimensional geometry. |
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