The objective of the Interlab3D project is the production of a didactic tool to teach scene graph concepts in the context of the Java 3D graphics API. Given its features, this software may also be employed in the teaching of other computer graphics concepts. The innovation aspect of this project is in the presentation of na interactive environment in which the learner can manipulate graphic depictions of Java 3D classes and objects and simultaneously view the results. The software developed in this project is available as free software (GPL license) and is under constant improvement. It has been used in different computer graphics courses.

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Although the games interfaces have evolved in the past years, creating environments more graphically sophisticated and allowing elaborated controls, the way of interaction in games has not suffered a relevant change, it remains using directional controls and pushing buttons. Augmented reality breaks this interaction paradigm and enables new ways of interaction and games interfaces. The first main change in game interface is the visualization, which begins to belong to real environment, and not only in a totally virtual world, showed in a display. This project of research aims to integrate technologies related to augmented reality, as capture and processing of video in real-time, identification of fiducials markers and projection of virtual content, implementing the spatially augmented reality. The objective is to merge these technologies to a control system of real objects directed by an user, defining a new platform of interaction between the real environment and the virtual world. The core of the architecture presented will be based on the three-dimensional games generating system, another laboratory’s project.

This project developed the unification of deliberative and reactive process with emotions and social rules, to create agent architectures more interactive and adaptable to the high dynamical situations in computer games. A hybrid agent architecture, deliberative/reactive, was proposed. The deliberative part is done with the Belief-Desire-Intention model. The typical deliberative process of the BDI model was modified to include machine emotions and social rules in the inference process. The reactive part is done with Finite State Machines. The architecture proposed has showed more flexible in situations demanding a higher degree of interaction, especially no combative ones, and also more adaptable to different situations.

This work tries to bridge the gap between a game engine and the average game designer. Nowadays, the development of a computer game presents a great challenge, for its complex and multidisciplinary nature. As any large-scale software, computer games benefit from modularity and flexibility. A game engine is a computer aided tool for software reuse during the creation of computer games, while helping developers to keep their schedules and budgets. Once technological in nature, present commercial and academic game engines tend to focus on number of specific functionalities, sometimes forgetting usability concerns. This limits its access to highly trained programmers. As a business trend, technical knowledge is losing ground to other abilities for a successful and competitive game designer.