Scene Composition Research Articles

The effects of visual scene composition on the latency of saccadic eye movements of the rhesus monkey

This study examined how variations in the visual scene affect the generation of bimodal saccadic latency distributions, the first mode of which is called the population of “express saccades”. The surface media used to make stimuli visible and the composition of the background were varied to determine the conditions under which express saccades can be generated in rhesus monkeys. The results show that express saccades to singly presented targets can readily be elicited when the stimuli are made visible by virtue of either luminance contrast, color contrast or motion cues. Express saccades are rarely obtained when stimuli are made visible by virtue of only stereoscopic depth or texture cues. Express saccades can, however, be elicited using random-dot stereograms or textures when luminance or chrominance information is added to the target. When single target stimuli are presented simultaneously with a set of non-target stimuli, express saccades are for the most part prevented unless either the non-target stimuli are near threshold or their numerosity is very high, in which case they form a texture-like array. However, when the non-target stimuli are continuously present in the display, express saccades reemerge. These findings suggest that express saccades are not unique to experimental situations in which only a single stimulus appears on an otherwise homogeneous surface; they can readily be generated as long as the target stimulus is made visible by virtue of luminance, chrominance, motion or a combination of more than one surface medium and as long as the target does not appear concurrently with a salient group of other non-target stimuli.

Snap-dragging in three dimensions

A large portion of the user interface in interactive solid modeling systems is devoted to the problem of placing and orienting objects in three dimensions. In particular, many operations must be provided for selecting control points, curves and surfaces, and for translating, rotating and scaling scene components into precise relationships with other scene components. By factoring these operations carefully, it is possible to provide the desired functionality so as to reduce both the size of the user interface and the time that it takes to use it. With snap-dragging, the user takes advantage of three main elements that work together: a general-purpose gravity function, alignment objects that can be created many at a time, and smooth-motion affine transformations. Scene composition is achieved in a single perspective view using a mouse and keyboard. With 19 mouse commands, 15 keyboard commands, 5 menus of numbers, and 1 single-level menu of numerical transformations, this user interface has fewer commands and requires fewer keystrokes than the skitters and jacks technique reported earlier.

Composition of Didactic Scenes in Mark's Gospel

Composition of Didactic Scenes in Mark's Gospel

The prediction of scenic beauty from landscape content and composition

Two studies were conducted to examine distance classes of vegetation (foreground, middleground and background) and scene composition (presence of vegetation in left, center or right section of the image) as predictors of perceived scenic beauty. In study one, 41 students rated 63 landscape scenes with regard to scenic beauty. The Scenic Beauty Estimation Method was used to derive interval scale beauty values (SBEs). For each landscape image, areal measures of vegetation in each distance class and for each vertical section were taken and used as predictors. Presence of haze, clouds and human impacts were also recorded. Among the most important contributors to scenic beauty were amount of center middleground vegetation, and center background vegetation. Left foreground vegetation and right foreground vegetation were found to have significant and opposing regression weight signs—negative for the left and positive for the right. Study two was conducted to determine whether these opposing regression weight signs for foreground vegetation were due to a perceptual right-left bias or to some specific content in the image itself. In the second study, the photographic slides used to present landscape scenes to subjects were reversed so that the content which was previously on the right was now left, and vice versa. Thirty-nine students rated the reversed slides with regard to their scenic beauty. The signs of the regression weights in study two shifted such that left foreground was now positively valued and right foreground was negatively valued. This finding suggests that viewers are sensitive to foreground content and its placement in the image, and not simply to one side of the field of vision.

The Composition of the Clarence Scenes in "Richard III"

The Composition of the Clarence Scenes in "Richard III"

Discharge patterns and functional organization of mammalian retina.

Discharge patterns and functional organization of mammalian retina.