Issue 3
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Item Grid Based Final Gather for Radiosity on Complex Clustered Scenes(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Scheel, Annette; Stamminger, Marc; Seidel, Hans-PeterRadiosity methods handle large scenes and complex objects using clustering techniques. To reconstruct a high quality image, usually a second very time consuming final gather pass is applied which exactly recomputes the last light transport before reaching the eye. We propose a new final gather technique which is especially suited for scenes with fine polygonal geometry. In such scenes, substantial parts of the incident illumination vary only smoothly across the surfaces and can be reconstructed on a much coarser structure. We therefore propose a final gather reconstruction based on an object-independent 3D grid. The illumination of each sender is investigated separately: If it varies smoothly across a grid cell, it is interpolated between the vertices of the grid cell, or recomputed exactly, otherwise. We further reduce the number of required samples using view-dependent optimizations. So complex objects with a very detailed structure-plants are good example here-exhibit strong masking effects, which can be exploited by our method. Finally, the estimation of penumbra screen sizes can be used to further reduce costly visibility reevaluations.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.3 [Copmuter Graphics]: Picture/Image generation I.3.7 [Copmuter Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Real-time Animation of Dressed Virtual Humans(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Cordier, Frederic; Magnenat-Thalmann, NadiaIn this paper, we describe a method for cloth animation in real-time. The algorithm works in a hybrid manner exploiting the merits of both the physical-based and geometric deformations. It makes use of predetermined conditions between the cloth and the body model, avoiding complex collision detection and physical deformations wherever possible. Garments are segmented into pieces that are simulated by various algorithms, depending on how they are laid on the body surface and whether they stick or flow on it. Tests show that the method is well suited to fully dressed virtual human models, achieving real-time performance compared to ordinary cloth-simulations.Item Interactive Visualization with Programmable Graphics Hardware(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Ertl, ThomasOne of the main scientific goals of visualization is the development of algorithms and appropriate data models which facilitate interactive visual analysis and direct manipulation of the increasingly large data sets which result from simulations running on massive parallel computer systems, from measurements employing fast high-resolution sensors, or from large databases and hierarchical information spaces.This task can only be achieved with the optimization of all stages of the visualization pipeline: filtering, compression, and feature extraction of the raw data sets, adaptive visualization mappings which allow the users to choose between speed and accuracy, and exploiting new graphics hardware features for fast and high-quality rendering. The recent introduction of advanced programmability in widely available graphics hardware has already led to impressive progress in the area of volume visualization. However, besides the acceleration of the final rendering, flexible graphics hardware is increasingly being used also for the mapping and filtering stages of the visualization pipeline, thus giving rise to new levels of interactivity in visualization applications. The talk will present recent results of applying programmable graphics hardware in various visualization algorithms covering volume data, flow data, terrains, NPR rendering, and distributed and remote applications.Item Advanced Radiance Estimation For Photon Map Global Illumination(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Hey, Heinrich; Purgathofer, WernerWe present a new method to compute radiance in photon map based global illumination simulation for polygonal scenes with general bidirectional scattering distribution functions (BSDFs). Our new radiance estimation uses the actual geometry in the neighborhood of the illuminated point, and does not assume that the nearest neighbor photons lie in the same plane as the point, nor that they are distributed in a circular area around that point. This allows us to achieve accurate indirect illumination by direct visualization of the photon map - which is especially important for the simulation of caustics(LS+DS*Epaths) - even in the vicinity of edges and corners of objects, and on surfaces with differently oriented small geometric details.Item Projective Texture Mapping with Full Panorama(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Kim, Dongho; Hahn, James K.Projective texture mapping is used to project a texture map onto scene geometry. It has been used in many applications, since it eliminates the assignment of fixed texture coordinates and provides a good method of representing synthetic images or photographs in image-based rendering. But conventional projective texture mapping has limitations in the field of view and the degree of navigation because only simple rectangular texture maps can be used.In this work, we propose the concept of panoramic projective texture mapping (PPTM). It projects cubic or cylindrical panorama onto the scene geometry. With this scheme, any polygonal geometry can receive the projection of a panoramic texture map, without using fixed texture coordinates or modeling many projective texture mapping. For fast real-time rendering, a hardware-based rendering method is also presented. Applications of PPTM include panorama viewer similar to QuicktimeVR and navigation in the panoramic scene, which can be created by image-based modeling techniques.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Viewing Algorithms; I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Color, Shading, Shadowing, and TextureItem Color Section(Blackwell Publishers Ltd and the Eurographics Association., 2002)Item Automatic Integration of Facade Textures into 3D Building Models with a Projective Geometry Based Line Clustering(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Lee, Sung Chun; Jung, Soon Ki; Nevatia, RamVisualization of city scenes is important for many applications including entertainment and urban mission planning. Models covering wide areas can be efficiently constructed from aerial images. However, only roof details are visible from aerial views; ground views are needed to provide details of the building facades for high quality 'fly-through' visualization or simulation applications. We present an automatic method of integrating facade textures from ground view images into 3D building models for urban site modeling. We first segment the input image into building facade regions using a hybrid feature extraction method, which combines global feature extraction with Hough transform on an adaptively tessellated Gaussian Sphere and local region segmentation. We estimate the external camera parameters by using the corner points of the extracted facade regions to integrate the facade textures into the 3D building models. We validate our approach with a set of experiments on some urban sites.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Modeling packagesItem Deferred, Self-Organizing BSP Trees(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Ar, Sigal; Montag, Gil; Tal, Ayelletbsptrees and KD trees are fundamental data structures for collision detection in walkthrough environments. A basic issue in the construction of these hierarchical data structures is the choice of cutting planes. Rather than base these choices solely on the properties of the scene, we propose using information about how the tree is used in order to determine its structure. We demonstrate how this leads to the creation ofbsptrees that are small, do not require much preprocessing time, and respond very efficiently to sequences of collision queries.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.5 [Computer Graphics]: Computational Geometry and Object Modeling I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Graphics data structures and data types, Interaction techniques I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Virtual realityItem Representation of Pseudo Inter-reflection and Transparency by Considering Characteristics of Human Vision(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Matsuoka, H.; Takeuchi, T.; Kitazawa, H.; Onozawa, A.We have succeeded in developing a quick and fully automated system that can generate photo-realistic 3D CG data based on a real object. A major factor in this success comes from our findings through psychophysical experiments that human observers do not have an accurate idea of what should be actually reflected as inter-reflections on the surface of an object. Taking advantage of this characteristic of human vision, we propose a new inter-reflection representation technique in which inter-reflections are simulated by allowing the same quantity of reflection components as there are in the background to pass through the object. Since inter-reflection and transparency are calculated by the same algorithm, our system can capture 3D CG data from various real objects having a strong inter-reflection, such as plastic and porcelain items or translucent glass and acrylic resin objects. The synthetic images from the 3D CG data generated with this pseudo inter-reflection and transparency look very natural. In addition, the 3D CG data and synthetic images are produced quickly at a lower cost.Item Transparency in Interactive Technical Illustrations(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Diepstraten, J.; Weiskopf, D.; Ertl, T.This paper describes how technical illustrations containing opaque and non-opaque objects can be automatically generated. Traditional methods to show transparency in manual drawings are evaluated to extract a small and effective set of rules for computer-based rendering of technical illustrations, leading to a novel view-dependent transparency model. We propose a hardware-accelerated depth sorting algorithm in image-space which specifically meets the requirements of our transparency model. In this way, real-time rendering of semi-transparent technical illustrations is achieved. Finally, it is described how our approach can be combined with other methods in the field of non-photorealistic rendering in order to enhance the visual perception of technical illustrations.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Color, shading, shadowing and textureItem Efficient Fitting and Rendering of Large Scattered Data Sets Using Subdivision Surfaces(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Scheib, Vincent; Haber, Jorg; Lin, Ming C.; Seidel, Hans-PeterWe present a method to efficiently construct and render a smooth surface for approximation of large functional scattered data. Using a subdivision surface framework and techniques from terrain rendering, the resulting surface can be explored from any viewpoint while maintaining high surface fairness and interactive frame rates. We show the approximation error to be sufficiently small for several large data sets. Our system allows for adaptive simplification and provides continuous levels of detail, taking into account the local variation and distribution of the data.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): G.1.2 [Approximation]: Approximation of surfaces, Least squares approximation, Piecewise polynomial approximation; I.3.3 [Picture/Image Generation]: Display algorithms, Viewing algorithms; I.3.5 [Computational Geometry and Object Modeling]: Surface representation.Item Texture Particles(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Dischler, J.-M.; Maritaud, K.; Levy, B.; Ghazanfarpour, D.This paper presents an analytical extension of texture synthesis techniques based on the distribution of elementary texture components. Our approach is similar to the bombing, cellular, macrostructured and lapped textures techniques, but provides the user with more control on both the texture analysis and synthesis phases. Therefore, high quality results can be obtained for a large number of structured or stochastic textures (bricks, marble, lawn, etc.). The analysis consists in decomposing textures into elementary components - that we call 'texture particles' - and for which we analyze their specific spatial arrangements. The synthesis then consists in recomposing similar textures directly on arbitrary surfaces by taking into account the previously computed arrangements, extended to 3D surfaces. Compared to 'pixel-based' analysis and synthesis methods, which have been recently generalized to arbitrary surfaces, our approach has three major advantages: (1) it is fast, which allows the user to interactively control the synthesis process. This further allows us to propose a large number of tools, granting a high degree of artistic freedom to the user. (2) It avoids the visual deterioration of the texture components by preserving their shapes as well as their spatial arrangements. (3) The texture particles can be not only images, but also 3D geometric elements, which extends significantly the domain of application.Item Hardware Accelerated Interactive Vector Field Visualization: A level of detail approach(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Bordoloi, Udeepta; Shen, Han-WeiThis paper presents an interactive global visualization technique for dense vector fields using levels of detail. We introduce a novel scheme which combines an error-controlled hierarchical approach and hardware acceleration to produce high resolution visualizations at interactive rates. Users can control the trade-off between computation time and image quality, producing visualizations amenable for situations ranging from high frame-rate previewing to accurate analysis. Use of hardware texture mapping allows the user to interactively zoom in and explore the data, and also to configure various texture parameters to change the look and feel of the visualization. We are able to achieve sub-second rates for dense LIC-like visualizations with resolutions in the order of a million pixels for data of similar dimensions.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3 [Computer Graphics]: ApplicationsItem STRANDS: Interactive Simulation of Thin Solids using Cosserat Models(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Pai, Dinesh K.Strandsare thin elastic solids that are visually well approximated as smooth curves, and yet possess essential physical behaviors characteristic of solid objects such as twisting. Common examples in computer graphics include: sutures, catheters, and tendons in surgical simulation; hairs, ropes, and vegetation in animation. Physical models based on spring meshes or 3D finite elements for such thin solids are either inaccurate or inefficient for interactive simulation. In this paper we show that models based on the Cosserat theory of elastic rods are very well suited for interactive simulation of these objects. The physical model reduces to a system of spatial ordinary differential equations that can be solved efficiently for typical boundary conditions. The model handles the important geometric non-linearity due to large changes in shape. We introduce Cosserat-type physical models, describe efficient numerical methods for interactive simulation of these models, and implementation results.Item Artificial Animals and Humans: From Physics to Intelligence(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Terzopoulos, DemetriThe confluence of virtual reality and artificial life, an emerging discipline that spans the computational and biological sciences, has yielded synthetic worlds inhabited by realistic, artificial flora and fauna. Artificial animals are complex synthetic organisms that possess functional biomechanical bodies, sensors, and brains with locomotion, perception, behavior, learning, and cognition centers. Artificial humans and other animals are of interest in computer graphics because they are self-animating characters that dramatically advance the state of the art of production animation and interactive game technologies. More broadly, these biomimetic autonomous agents in their realistic virtual worlds also foster deeper, computationally oriented insights into natural living systems.Item Designing 2D Vector Fields of Arbitrary Topology(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Theisel, H.We introduce a scheme of control polygons to design topological skeletons for vector fields of arbitrary topology. Based on this we construct piecewise linear vector fields of exactly the topology specified by the control polygons. This way a controlled construction of vector fields of any topology is possible. Finally we apply this method for topology-preserving compression of vector fields consisting of a simple topology.Item Modeling Surperspective Projection of Landscapes for Geographical Guide-Map Generation(Blackwell Science Ltd and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Takahashi, Shigeo; Ohta, Naoya; Nakamura, Hiroko; Takeshima, Yuriko; Fujishiro, IsseiIt is still challenging to generate hand-drawn pictures because they differ from ordinary photographs in that they are often drawn as seen from multiple viewpoints. This paper presents a new approach for modeling such surperspective projection based on shape deformation techniques. Specifically, surperspective landscape images for guide-maps are generated from 3D geographical elevation data. Our method first partitions a target geographical surface into feature areas to provide designers with landmarks suitable for editing. The system takes as input 2D visual effects, which are converted to 3D geometric constraints for geographical surface deformation. Using ordinary perspective projection, the deformed shape is then transformed into a target guide-map image where each landmark enjoys its own vista points. An algorithm for calculating such 2D visual effects semi-automatically from the geographical shape features is also considered.Item Intrinsic Parameterizations of Surface Meshes(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Desbrun, Mathieu; Meyer, Mark; Alliez, PierreParameterization of discrete surfaces is a fundamental and widely-used operation in graphics, required, for instance, for texture mapping or remeshing. As 3D data becomes more and more detailed, there is an increased need for fast and robust techniques to automatically compute least-distorted parameterizations of large meshes. In this paper, we present new theoretical and practical results on the parameterization of triangulated surface patches. Given a few desirable properties such as rotation and translation invariance, we show that the only admissible parameterizations form a two-dimensional set and each parameterization in this set can be computed using a simple, sparse, linear system. Since these parameterizations minimize the distortion of different intrinsic measures of the original mesh, we call them Intrinsic Parameterizations. In addition to this partial theoretical analysis, we propose robust, efficient and tunable tools to obtain least-distorted parameterizations automatically. In particular, we give details on a novel, fast technique to provide an optimal mapping without fixing the boundary positions, thus providing a unique Natural Intrinsic Parameterization. Other techniques based on this parameterization family, designed to ease the rapid design of parameterizations, are also proposed.Item Free-form sketching with variational implicit surfaces(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Karpenko, Olga; Hughes, John F.; Raskar, RameshWith the advent of sketch-based methods for shape construction, there's a new degree of power available in the rapid creation of approximate shapes. Sketch [Zeleznik, 1996] showed how a gesture-based modeler could be used to simplify conventional CSG-like shape creation. Teddy [Igarashi, 1999] extended this to more free-form models, getting much of its power from its 'inflation' operation (which converted a simple closed curve in the plane into a 3D shape whose silhouette, from the current point of view, was that curve on the view plane) and from an elegant collection of gestures for attaching additional parts to a shape, cutting a shape, and deforming it.But despite the powerful collection of tools in Teddy, the underlying polygonal representation of shapes intrudes on the results in many places. In this paper, we discuss our preliminary efforts at using variational implicit surfaces [Turk, 2000] as a representation in a free-form modeler. We also discuss the implementation of several operations within this context, and a collection of user-interaction elements that work well together to make modeling interesting hierarchies simple. These include 'stroke inflation' via implicit functions, blob-merging, automatic hierarchy construction, and local surface modification via silhouette oversketching. We demonstrate our results by creating several models.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.5 [Computer Graphics]: Modeling packages I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Interaction techniquesItem Local Physical Models for Interactive Character Animation(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2002) Oore, Sageev; Terzopoulos, Demetri; Hinton, GeoffreyOur goal is to design and build a tool for the creation of expressive character animation. Virtual puppetry, also known as performance animation, is a technique in which the user interactively controls a character's motion. In this paper we introduce local physical models for performance animation and describe how they can augment an existing kinematic method to achieve very effective animation control. These models approximate specific physically-generated aspects of a character's motion. They automate certain behaviours, while still letting the user override such motion via a PD-controller if he so desires. Furthermore, they can be tuned to ignore certain undesirable effects, such as the risk of having a character fall over, by ignoring corresponding components of the force. Although local physical models are a quite simple approximation to real physical behaviour, we show that they are extremely useful for interactive character control, and contribute positively to the expressiveness of the character's motion. In this paper, we develop such models at the knees and ankles of an interactively-animated 3D anthropomorphic character, and demonstrate a resulting animation. This approach can be applied in a straight-forward way to other joints.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism, Interaction Techniques