This task focuses on evaluating and disseminating project results. We will start by defining a usability testing strategy for the various developed approaches. This protocol will characterize tasks and examine criteria from user requirements to define a set of benchmarks that will allow us to measure application performance against conventional systems for the same task or measure the system against absolute values. The evaluation will be performed during two rounds of user test on both demonstrators resulting from Task 3 and Task 4. The first round starts after the end of first year of the project and it will focus on virtual mockup exploration using the first version of the prototype corresponding to Task 3 (Exploring Virtual Mockup). This round will focus on navigation and visualization of Virtual Mockups using the stereoscopic tabletop and the head mounted display environment. This evaluation will enable to validate the advances of the exploration scenario validating initial approaches and asserting the goals to be achieved by Task 3. The first round will be completed after testing the preliminary version of our direct modeling approach from Task 4 (Direct Modeling of Virtual Mockup) which will mainly rely on push and pull modeling techniques in a mixed reality environment using gestures on and above a stereoscopic multitouch display enriched with tracking sensors. During this first round of tests a particular attention will be given to the usage of virtual prototypes versus physical mockups and the adequacy of virtual reality as a new media for architectural design. Using the initial version of our demonstrators, we will be able to validate the suitability of our interaction techniques and assert the impact of virtual reality technology compared to traditional media such as computer rendered images, desktop-based 3D model viewers and walkthrough videos. The second round will evaluate the final prototype in a more complete usability study considering the inclusion of advanced editing operations based on procedural modeling. Comparisons will be done between our procedural modeling approach and other scripting based shape generation methods. We will also evaluate the suitability of our procedural approach to traditional architectural shape grammars and how it fits in the architectural design workflow. Two technical reports will detail the evaluation protocol and the result of each round of user test.

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