Graphics

Applications  Digital media  Entertainment  Art  Visualization  Science  Modeling  Games  Software  Virtual Reality

Monsters, Inc  Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios  2.5 million rendermarks (measure of computing power)  Technical achievements:  depiction of fur and hair –shadowing, density, lighting, and movement –Sulley’s coat includes nearly 3 million hairs –Boo’s hair and pigtails  Motion –Boo’s T-shirt moves independently of her body

Shrek  PDI/DreamWorks  275 people, 3 years –computer animators, software developers, and engineers  "Holy Grails of CG Animation“ –realistic humans facial animation systems –natural environments large-scale organic wind, foliage –textures clothing –motion simulation fire

Art  Photorealism  Digital art

Visualization  Medicine  GIS  Motion  biology

Science  Mathematics of curves and surfaces  Physics of light and color

When photography is not possible  Outer space  Molecular modeling  Simulation of dangerous phenomena

Games

Software - Pixar Animation Studios  Pixar’s RenderMan ® 3D rendering software –used for Pixar’s own feature film productions. –used in 32 of the last 36 films nominated for a Best Visual Effects Oscar  Movies which have used RenderMan –Finding Nemo –The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Return of the King –Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets –Men in Black II –Minority Report –The Scorpion King –Spider Man –Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones 

Virtual Reality (VR)  Immersive 3d graphics with intuitive interfaces  Interactive  Virtual environments  Augment reality  History –term “virtual reality” coined by Jaron Lanier –VPL Research, Inc (1983)  Spurred high-performance consumer-level computing –Pong (1971), Doom (1992), Quake (1996) … –computer and video game industry now produces revenues of $6 billion per year

Virtual hardware  Head mounted display –provides stereo images and sound –computer tracks user’s head so it can create illusion of stable, 360 degree environment  Gloves –make gestures and interact with objects in the virtual world

VR system components  Hardware –Sensor/tracking hardware –Display devices –Graphics hardware  Software –graphical modeling –physical simulation –user input processing –artificial intelligence

Cave Automatic Virtual Environment  CAVE  Electronic Visualization Lab, UI Chicago  Provides illusion of immersion by projecting stereo images on the walls and floor of a room-sized cube

Immersive VR  Head-referenced viewing provides natural interface for navigation in three-dimensional space –allows for look-around, walk-around, and fly-through capabilities in virtual environments  Stereoscopic viewing enhances depth perception and sense of space.  Virtual world presented full scale, proportioned to human size  Realistic interactions with virtual objects via data glove and similar devices allow manipulation, operation, and control of virtual worlds  Illusion of being fully immersed in an artificial world enhanced by auditory and other non-visual technologies  Networked applications allow for shared virtual environments

Challenges in VR design  Interactivity  real-time systems –system must respond to user inputs without any perceptible delay  Real-time constraint –fast computation and graphics  3D interface design  Tracking hardware  High-resolution display hardware  Must be compelling!