I'm interested in a wide variety of subjects, including mixed reality environments, computer graphics algorithms, wearable computing, ubiquitous computing and computer science education. My latest research is in Augmented Reality; however, because Clayton State is a teaching university my early work revolved around CS/IT education. If you're looking for something more formal, here's my Statement of Research.
Many people have working knowledge of Virtual Reality - either from what they've seen in horrible movies such as Hackers or from first-person video games. Augmented Reality (AR) is a relatively new area of research that is closely related to VR and uses much of the same technology to support it (including parts of the renderer, tracking devices and interaction techniques). Whereas VR attempts to synthesize most, if not all, of the user's experience, AR attempts to embed virtual objects into the existing, physical environment in real time. It has significantly stricter tracking requirements, as the virtual and physical world must be aligned, and it presents us with new application possibilities and interaction challenges. To help better understand the fields of AR and VR, I have posted (below) a few short clips and descriptions of some of the environments/techniques I have developed.
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This video (~17MB) shows a virtual environment for molecular modeling which was governed by a pre-existing (but modified for collaborative interaction) molecular mechanics server (AMMP). In the image on the left, there is a small molecule (SNG) that was loaded from the command line. At the time, we were able to load molecules of around 15K atoms while still running at interactive rates (because of instancing on the graphics card). Multiple users could simultaneously interact within the environment using a P5 data glove (seen in the video as the infrared tracking panel) which allowed for the natural hand gestures of pinching and grabbing. The environment also supported real-time fragment shaders. |
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This is a clip (~9 MB) from an early AR prototype of the molecular modeling environment. The goal was to allow biologists and chemists to visualize and manipulate large molecular structures in a more natural way than VR - such as a conference room. The environment is connected to the molecular mechanics environment as well, but interaction with the molecule did not occur. This video was shot at Georgia Tech around 3AM - when no one else was using the tracker! |
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To better understand how users collaborate within these environments, we ran an exploratory user study that specifically studied referencing between pairs, and showed them this training video (~28M) before each trial. Each group was assigned either as a guide or builder. The guide could see an existing physical model, and the builder had to construct it under a variety of conditions. Users interacted with the environment using the P5 data glove again, but the infrared tracker was replaced with a visual tracker (the ARToolkit). To save time, the system was built using DART. |
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From our first user study, we found that many guides had difficulty referring to objects - most likely due to the lack of depth cues (such as stereoscopy and shadows). This is a training video clip (~11MB) from a follow-up study that independently investigated factors that influence the ability to give and receive references using a virtual arrow. |
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During their December 2000 tour, I toured with Duran Duran as part of the crew (we have the jackets to prove it). Jarrell Pair directed the project while Jeff Wilson, Maribeth Gandy and myself developed the underlying technology that allowed virtual characters to appear "on stage" with Simon Le Bon. We also developed several interesting video filters... |
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To better reference embedded objects, here's a multi-modal skew technique for referencing (~8MB). |
Discipline-related Publications
Chastine, J., Nagel, K., Zhu, Y., Hudacheck-Buswell, M. H. Studies on the Effectiveness of Virtual Pointers in Collaborative Augmented Reality. IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), March, 2008 – Honorable Mention for Best Paper (Acceptance Rate - 28%)
Chastine, J., Zhu, Y., The Cost of Supporting References in Collaborative Augmented Reality Environments. Graphics Interface (GI), Ontario, Canada May, 2008 (Acceptance rate not yet posted)
Chastine, J., Nagel, K., Zhu, Y., Yearsovich, L. Understanding the Design Space of Referencing in Collaborative Augmented Reality Environments. Graphics Interface (GI), Montreal, Canada, June, 2007 (Acceptance rate - 40%)
Chastine, J., Zhu, Y., Preston, J. A.. A Framework for Inter-referential Awareness in Collaborative Environments. IEEE’s CollaborateCom, Atlanta, GA. Nov. 2006
Chastine, J., Brooks, J., Zhu, Y., Owen, G. S., Harrison, R. W., Weber, I.T. AMMP-VIS: A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Molecular Modeling. ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST), Monterey, CA. Nov., 2005 (Acceptance rate – 36%)
Chastine J., Zhu Y., Brooks J., Owen G.S., Harrison R. A Collaborative Multi-View Virtual Environment for Molecular Visualization and Modeling. IEEE Coordinated & Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization. London, UK July, 2005
Chastine, J. Brooks, J. Emphasizing the Area of Interest Using Real-Time Shaders. SIGGRAPH Poster. Los Angeles, CA. July, 2005
Pair, J., Wilson, J., Chastine, J., The Duran Duran Project: The Augmented Reality Toolkit in Live Performance. Poster: The first IEEE International Augmented Reality Toolkit Workshop, Darmstadt, Germany. Oct. 2002.
Education-related Publications
Chastine, J., Preston, J., Teaching 2D Arrays Using Real-Time Video Filters. ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE), Newark, NJ. Oct. 2005
Owen G., Zhu Y., Chastine J. Teaching Programmable Shaders: Lightweight versus Heavyweight Approach. ACM SIGGRAPH Educator’s Program. Los Angeles July, 2005
Chastine, J., Preston. J., Regaining Integrity in the Classroom. Third Annual InterDisciplinary Conference for Teachers of Undergraduates. Barnesville, GA March, 2005
Preston, J., Chastine, J. Using Online Grading, Information-Rich Feedback and Customized Assignments to Enhance Faculty-Student Communication. Third Annual Interdisciplinary Conference for Teachers of Undergraduates. Barnesville, GA,March 2005
Preston, J. A., Chastine, J., Offering Flexibility in Higher Education via Online Course Packets. Teaching Online in Higher Education (TOHE) Conference. Nov. 2004
Chastine, J., Preston, J. A., Google: The Ultimate Cheat Buster. Teaching Online in Higher Education (TOHE) Conference. Nov. 2004
Booth, L., Chastine, J., Eaker, T., Preston, J. A., WebBSIT Course Development: An Analysis of Synergy. 33rd University System Annual Computing Conference. Eatonton, GA0. Oct. 2004
Preston, J. A., Chastine, J., Utilizing Interesting Assignments to Motivate Student Learning. SITE’04 (Atlanta, GA). March, 2004
Chastine, J., Using Augmented Reality to Think Outside the Box. The Second Annual Interdisciplinary Conference for Teachers of Undergraduates (Gordon College, GA) 3/04
Preston, J. A., Chastine, J., Improving Access and Creating Multiple Learning Pathways for Online Learning Materials, Teaching Online in Higher Education (TOHE) Conference, Nov. 2003
Chastine, J., Preston, J. A., Designing Effective Communication Tools for Online Computer Science Courses. 32nd University System Annual Computing Conference. (Eatonton, GA). Oct. 2003.
Preston, J., Chastine, J., Improving Lecture Using Microsoft Agent and a “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” Quiz-Show Approach. Co-authored with Jon Preston. 8th Annual Georgia Conference on College & University Teaching (Kennesaw State University, GA) 2/01
McCracken, M., Newstetter, W., Chastine, J., Misconceptions of Designing: a descriptive Study. 1999 Annual Joint Conference Integrating Technology into Computer Science Education (Krakow, Poland).
Copies of my PhD Qualifiers (Comprehensives): Theory of Computation, Algorithms, and Architecture