Final #2: Six Monocular Depth Cues

This is Final #2: Six Monocular Depth Cues. For this final I had to enter a world and find 6 of the different monocular depth cues, which are size differences, occlusion, lighting and shading, texture density, linear perspective, and atmospheric perspective. I used Second Life. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc  

This picture displays size differences.  Size differences are when objects that are further away appear smaller than the ones that are closer, even though they are actually the same size. The size differences give us a visual clue of what is close to us and what is far away.  In this picture, you can see three light posts.  The one closest to us is bigger, the second one gets a little bit smaller, and the third one is the smallest.  This shows that the posts are actually at different depths and aren't on the same plane as one another.

The next monocular depth cue is Occlusion.  Occlusion is when an object that is closer blocks an object that is farther away. It covers up part of the further image to show that it is in front of it.  The trash barrels in this picture occlude the stand.  It blocks part of the stand so you can't see it.  This shows that the barrels are in front of the stand.

The third monocular depth cue is lighting and shading. On an object that has depth, the surface that is hit with light is the brightest while the other surfaces are darker.  In this picture the tree bark is lighter where the light hits it.  The further back the tree branches go, the darker they are because the light isn't hitting them.  This shows that the branches are extending back.

The next monocular depth cue is Texture Density. This is when real world textures appear more dense the farther away they are. The farther away objects are you can't see their texture and they're close together.  In this picture you can see the texture of the walk way stones when they are close.  They are also spread apart and larger when they are close.  The farther away they get the more dense they become, they are packed closer together, and you can't see the texture of the stones anymore.

The fifth monocular depth cue is Linear Perspective.  This is when objects that are parallel to our sight appear to narrow as they recede. They eventually converge together at a vanishing point.  Linear perspective is shown in this picture in the ocean.  As you look out farther into the ocean, it gets more narrow.  Eventually the ocean disappears and blends with the sky, which is called the vanishing point.

The last cue is Atmospheric Perspective.  This is when objects close to us appear clear, detailed, and sharp, but objects that are farther away from us are blurry, less detailed, and fuzzy.  This is because the further light has to travel, the more atmosphere it has to go through.  In this picture, the closer objects are clear and detailed.  The billboards in the back are fuzzy and you can't even read what they say because they are so far away.  They also have less detail.