Volume 22 (2003)
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Item A Survey of Inverse Rendering Problems(Blackwell Publishing, Inc and Eurographics Association, 2003) Patow, Gustavo; Pueyo, XavierInverse rendering problems usually represent extremely complex and costly processes, but their importance in many research areas is well known. In particular, they are of extreme importance in lighting engineering, where potentially costly mistakes usually make it unfeasible to test design decisions on a model. In this survey we present the main ideas behind these kinds of problems, characterize them, and summarize work developed in the area, revealing problems that remain unsolved and possible areas of further research.ACM CSS: I.3.6 Computer Graphics Methodology and Techniques I.3.7 Computer Graphics-Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism I.4.1 Image Processing and Computer Vision Digitization and Image Capture I.4.7 Image Processing and Computer Vision Feature Measurement I.4.8 Image Processing and Computer Vision Scene AnalysisItem Table of Contents CGF 22-3(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Fellner, Dieter W.; Brunet, Pere-Item Animation of Bubbles in Liquid(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Hong, Jeong-Mo; Kim, Chang-HunWe present a new fluid animation technique in which liquid and gas interact with each other, using the exampleof bubbles rising in water. In contrast to previous studies which only focused on one fluid, our system considersboth the liquid and the gas simultaneously. In addition to the flowing motion, the interactions between liquid andgas cause buoyancy, surface tension, deformation and movement of the bubbles. For the natural manipulationof topological changes and the removal of the numerical diffusion, we combine the volume-of-fluid method andthe front-tracking method developed in the field of computational fluid dynamics. Our minimum-stress surfacetension method enables this complementary combination. The interfaces are constructed using the marching cubesalgorithm. Optical effects are rendered using vertex shader techniques.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: AnimationItem The Stringed Haptic Workbench: a New Haptic Workbench Solution(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Tarrin, N.; Coquillart, S.; Hasegawa, S.; Bouguila, L.; Sato, M.The workbench is an interesting semi-immersive configuration for interactive tasks. However, haptic feedback, i.e.force and tactile feedback, is one important cue which is missing. To the authors' knowledge, the sole proposedsolution consists in installing an arm force feedback device on one-screen workbenches. This solution, however,has several drawbacks. The arm can perturb the stereoscopic display, cross virtual objects or hide parts of thevisualization space. Furthermore, the interaction space is limited by the size of the arm, which may also damagethe screen or perturb the electromagnetic tracking system. Some of these difficulties may even be worth with a two-screenworkbench. This paper discusses an alternative solution, which consists in integrating a stringed hapticdevice on a workbench. This approach is less invasive, more flexible and well-suited to a two-screen workbench.Item Volumetric Filtering, Modeling and Visualization for Nano-Medicine(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Bajaj, ChandrajitThe 3D structures of individual proteins or small complexes, such as most of the Protein Data Bank entries, are still unable to yield the 'full picture' of a functional biological complex. The study of large macromolecular complexes, such as viruses, ion channels, the ribosome and other macromolecular machines of various types, offer more complete structural and functional description of the nano-machinery of life.In addition to x-ray crystallography. NMR spectroscopy, electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) imaging of single particles, and in-vivo molecular tomographic imaging has become indispensable at revealing the structures of large macromolecular complexes at subnanometer resolutions.In this talk, I shall describe some of the recent computational advances in filtering, modeling, analysis and visualization, that have propelled structure determination by cryoEM and tomographic imaging, to steadily increasing accuracy.Item Real-Time Caustics(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Wand, M.; Strasser, W.We present a new algorithm to render caustics. The algorithm discretizes the specular surfaces into samplepoints. Each of the sample points is treated as a pinhole camera that projects an image of the incoming lightonto the diffuse receiver surfaces. Anti-aliasing is performed by considering the local surface curvature at thesample points to filter the projected images. The algorithm can be implemented using programmable texturemapping hardware. It allows to render caustics in fully dynamic scenes in real-time on current PC hardware.Categories and Subject Descriptors: I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture/Image Generation - Display Algorithms;I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Real-Time Consensus-Based Scene Reconstruction Using Commodity Graphics Hardware?(Blackwell Science Ltd and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Yang, Ruigang; Welch, Greg; Bishop, GaryWe present a novel use of commodity graphics hardware that effectively combines a plane-sweeping algorithm with view synthesis for real-time, online 3D scene acquisition and view synthesis. Using real-time imagery from a few calibrated cameras, our method can generate new images from nearby viewpoints, estimate a dense depth map from the current viewpoint, or create a textured triangular mesh. We can do each of these without any prior geometric information or requiring any user interaction, in real time and online. The heart of our method is to use programmable Pixel Shader technology to square intensity differences between reference image pixels, and then to choose final colors (or depths) that correspond to the minimum difference, i.e. the most consistent color. In this paper we describe the method, place it in the context of related work in computer graphics and computer vision, and present some results.ACM CSS: I.3.3 Computer Graphics-Bitmap and framebuffer operations, I.4.8 Image Processing and Computer Vision-Depth cues, StereoItem Interpolating an Unlimited Number of Curves Meeting at Extraordinary Points on Subdivision Surfaces*(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Nasri, Ahmed H.Interpolating curves by subdivision surfaces is one of the major constraints that is partially addressed in the literature. So far, no more than two intersecting curves can be interpolated by a subdivision surface such as Doo-Sabin or Catmull-Clark surfaces. One approach that has been used in both of theses surfaces is the polygonal complex approach where a curve can be defined by a control mesh rather than a control polygon. Such a definition allows a curve to carry with it cross derivative information which can be naturally embodied in the mesh of a subdivision surface. This paper extends the use of this approach to interpolate an unlimited number of curves meeting at an extraordinary point on a subdivision surface. At that point, the curves can all meet with eitherC0orC1continuity, yet still have common tangent plane. A straight forward application is the generation of subdivision surfaces through 3-regular meshes of curves for which an easy interface can be used.Item A Survey of Real-time Soft Shadows Algorithms(Blackwell Publishing, Inc and Eurographics Association, 2003) Hasenfratz, J. -M.; Lapierre, M.; Holzschuch, N.; Sillion, F.; Artis GRAVIR/IMAG-INRIARecent advances in GPU technology have produced a shift in focus for real-time rendering applications, whereby improvements in image quality are sought in addition to raw polygon display performance. Rendering effects such as antialiasing, motion blur and shadow casting are becoming commonplace and will likely be considered indispensable in the near future. The last complete and famous survey on shadow algorithms — by Woo et al. [52] in 1990 — has to be updated in particular in view of recent improvements in graphics hardware, which make new algorithms possible. This paper covers all current methods for real-time shadow rendering, without venturing into slower, high quality techniques based on ray casting or radiosity. Shadows are useful for a variety of reasons: first, they help understand relative object placement in a 3D scene by providing visual cues. Second, they dramatically improve image realism and allow the creation of complex lighting ambiances. Depending on the application, the emphasis is placed on a guaranteed framerate, or on the visual quality of the shadows including penumbra effects or “soft shadows”. Obviously no single method can render physically correct soft shadows in real time for any dynamic scene! However our survey aims at providing an exhaustive study allowing a programmer to choose the best compromise for his/her needs. In particular we discuss the advantages, limitations, rendering quality and cost of each algorithm. Recommendations are included based on simple characteristics of the application such as static/moving lights, single or multiple light sources, static/dynamic geometry, geometric complexity, directed or omnidirectional lights, etc. Finally we indicate which methods can efficiently exploit the most recent graphics hardware facilities.Item Automatic Hybrid Hierarchy Creation: a Cost-model Based Approach(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Masso, J. P. Molina; Lopez, P. GonzalezWhile using hierarchical search structures has been proved as one of the most efficient acceleration techniques when rendering complex scenes, automatic creation of appropriate hierarchies is not solved yet. Well-known algorithms for automatic creation of bounding volume hierarchies are not enough. Higher performance is achieved by introducing spatial uniform subdivision, although algorithms proposed up to now are not truly automatic, as they need some parameters to be adjusted. In this paper we present a full-automatic hierarchy creation scheme that structures the scene in a hybrid way, combining bounding volumes and voxel grids in the same tree, selecting the search structure that best fits to each scene region. It uses no parameters at all. This efficient proposal relies on a new cost model that estimates the goodness of a hybrid hierarchy if used for rendering the scene.ACM CSS: I.3.7 Computer Graphics-Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Progressive Hulls for Intersection Applications(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Platis, Nikos; Theoharis, TheoharisProgressive meshes are an established tool for triangle mesh simplification. By suitably adapting the simplification process, progressive hulls can be generated which enclose the original mesh in gradually simpler, nested meshes. We couple progressive hulls with a selective refinement framework and use them in applications involving intersection queries on the mesh. We demonstrate that selectively refinable progressive hulls considerably speed up intersection queries by efficiently locating intersection points on the mesh. Concerning the progressive hull construction, we propose a new formula for assigning edge collapse priorities that significantly accelerates the simplification process, and enhance the existing algorithm with several conditions aimed at producing higher quality hulls. Using progressive hulls has the added advantage that they can be used instead of the enclosed object when a lower resolution of display can be tolerated, thus speeding up the rendering process.ACM CSS: I.3.3 Computer Graphics-Picture/Image Generation, I.3.5 Computer Graphics-Computational Geometry and Object Modeling, I.3.7 Computer Graphics-Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Ray Differentials and Multiresolution Geometry Caching for Distribution Ray Tracing in Complex Scenes(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Christensen, Per H.; Laur, David M.; Fong, Julian; Wooten, Wayne L.; Batali, DanaWhen rendering only directly visible objects, ray tracing a few levels of specular reflection from large, low-curvaturesurfaces, and ray tracing shadows from point-like light sources, the accessed geometry is coherentand a geometry cache performs well. But in many other cases, the accessed geometry is incoherent and a standardgeometry cache performs poorly: ray tracing of specular reflection from highly curved surfaces, tracing rays thatare many reflection levels deep, and distribution ray tracing for wide glossy reflection, global illumination, widesoft shadows, and ambient occlusion. Fortunately, less geometric accuracy is necessary in the incoherent cases.This observation can be formalized by looking at the ray differentials for different types of scattering: coherentrays have small differentials, while incoherent rays have large differentials. We utilize this observation to obtainefficient multiresolution caching of geometry and textures (including displacement maps) for classic and distributionray tracing in complex scenes. We use an existing multiresolution caching scheme (originally developed forscanline rendering) for textures and displacement maps, and introduce a multiresolution geometry caching schemefor tessellated surfaces. The multiresolution geometry caching scheme makes it possible to efficiently render scenesthat, if fully tessellated, would use 100 times more memory than the geometry cache size.Item A Fast Rendering Method for Refractive and Reflective Caustics Due to Water Surfaces(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Iwasaki, Kei; Dobashi, Yoshinori; Nishita, TomoyukiIn order to synthesize realistic images of scenes that include water surfaces, the rendering of optical effectscaused by waves on the water surface, such as caustics and reflection, is necessary. However, rendering causticsis quite complex and time-consuming. In recent years, the performance of graphics hardware has made significantprogress. This fact encourages researchers to study the acceleration of realistic image synthesis. We present herea method for the fast rendering of refractive and reflective caustics due to water surfaces. In the proposed method,an object is expressed by a set of texture mapped slices. We calculate the intensities of the caustics on the objectby using the slices and store the intensities as textures. This makes it possible to render caustics at interactive rateby using graphics hardware. Moreover, we render objects that are reflected and refracted due to the water surfaceby using reflection/refraction mapping of these slices.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.1 [Computer Graphics]: Hardware Architecture I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Siggraph 2003(Blackwell Publishing, Inc and Eurographics Association, 2003) Laycock, S. D.; Laycock, R. G.Item Adaptive Ray Tracing of Subdivision Surfaces(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Müller, Kerstin; Techmann, Torsten; Fellner, Dieter W.Subdivision Surfaces as well as (interactive) ray tracing have become an important issue in computer graphics.But ray tracing of subdivision surfaces has received only little attention. We present a new approach for raytracing of subdivision surfaces. The algorithm uses a projection of the ray onto the surface and works mainly intwo dimensions along this projection. While proceeding from patch to patch, we examine the bounding volume oftheir borders: the lower the distance between ray and subdivision surface, the more refinement steps are adaptivelyapplied to the surface but only along the projection of the ray. The adaptive refinement of a patch is controlled bycurvature, size, its membership to the silhouette, and its potential contribution to the light transport. The algorithmis simple and mainly consists of elementary geometric computations. Hence it is fast and easy to implementwithout the need for elaborate preprocessing. The algorithm is robust in the sense that it deals with all features ofsubdivision surfaces like creases and corners.Categories and Subject Descripters (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: RaytracingItem State of the Art in Global Illumination for Interactive Applications and High-quality Animations(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Damez, Cyrille; Dmitriev, Kirill; Myszkowski, KarolGlobal illumination algorithms are regarded as computationally intensive. This cost is a practical problem when producing animations or when interactions with complex models are required. Several algorithms have been proposed to address this issue. Roughly, two families of methods can be distinguished. The first one aims at providing interactive feedback for lighting design applications. The second one gives higher priority to the quality of results, and therefore relies on offline computations. Recently, impressive advances have been made in both categories. In this report, we present a survey and classification of the most up-to-date of these methods.ACM CSS: I.3.7 Computer Graphics-Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Planning Collision-Free Reaching Motions for Interactive Object Manipulation and Grasping(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Kallmann, Marcelo; Aubel, Amaury; Abaci, Tolga; Thalmann, DanielWe present new techniques that use motion planning algorithms based on probabilistic roadmaps to control 22 degrees of freedom (DOFs) of human-like characters in interactive applications. Our main purpose is the automatic synthesis of collision-free reaching motions for both arms, with automatic column control and leg flexion. Generated motions are collision-free, in equilibrium, and respect articulation range limits. In order to deal with the high (22) dimension of our configuration space, we bias the random distribution of configurations to favor postures most useful for reaching and grasping. In addition, extensions are presented in order to interactively generate object manipulation sequences: a probabilistic inverse kinematics solver for proposing goal postures matching pre-designed grasps; dynamic update of roadmaps when obstacles change position; online planning of object location transfer; and an automatic stepping control to enlarge the character's reachable space. This is, to our knowledge, the first time probabilistic planning techniques are used to automatically generate collision-free reaching motions involving the entire body of a human-like character at interactive frame rates.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and RealismItem Interactive Rendering with Bidirectional Texture Functions(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Suykens, Frank; Berge, Karl; Lagae, Ares; Dutre, PhilipWe propose a new technique for efficiently rendering bidirectional texture functions (BTFs). A 6D BTF describesthe appearance of a material as a texture that depends on the lighting and viewing directions. As such, a BTFaccommodates self-shadowing, interreflection, and masking effects of a complex material without needing anexplicit representation of the small scale geometry. Our method represents the BTF as a set of spatially varyingapparent BRDFs, that each encode the reflectance field of a single pixel in the BTF. Each apparent BRDF isdecomposed into a product of three or more two-dimensional positive factors using a novel factorization technique,which we call chained matrix factorization (CMF). The proposed factorization technique is fully automatic andsuitable for both BRDFs and apparent BRDFs (which typically exhibit off-specular peaks and non-reciprocity).The main benefit of CMF is that it delivers factors well suited for the limited dynamic range of conventionaltexture maps. After factorization, an efficient representation of the BTF is obtained by clustering the factors intoa compact set of 2D textures. With this compact representation, BTFs can be rendered on recent consumer levelhardware with arbitrary viewing and lighting directions at interactive rates.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-DimensionalGraphics and RealismItem Rendering and Affect(Blackwell Publishers, Inc and the Eurographics Association, 2003) Duke, D.J.; Barnard, P.J.; Halper, N.; Mellin, M.Previous studies at the intersection between rendering and psychology have concentrated on issues such as realismand acuity. Although such results have been useful in informing development of realistic rendering techniques,studies have shown that the interpretation of images is influenced by factors that have little to do with realism. Inthis paper, we summarize a series of experiments, the most recent of which are reported in a separate paper, thatinvestigate affective (emotive) qualities of images. These demonstrate significant effects that can be utilized withininteractive graphics, particularly via non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). We explain how the interpretation ofthese results requires a high-level model of cognitive information processing, and use such a model to account forrecent empirical results on rendering and judgement.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.m [Computer Graphics]: MiscellaneousItem Auditor-s Report(Blackwell Publishing, Inc and Eurographics Association, 2003)