1. CSc 4841/6841 Computer Animation Lecture 2 Overview of 3D Computer Graphics

2. Outline ● A brief history of 3D computer graphics ● Computer graphics applications ● Major topics in 3D computer graphics

3. What is Computer Graphics? The word “Computer Graphics” means different things to different people. We will focus on 3D interactive computer graphics: – How to create and store geometry objects (Modeling) – How to manipulate geometry objects (Animation) – How to generate and display images of geometry objects (Rendering) – User interaction Images courtesy Discreet Lord of the Rings

4. Major Topics in Computer Graphics ● Modeling – How to create and store geometry objects ● Animation – How to manipulate geometry objects ● Rendering – How to generate and display images of geometry objects

5. General Goals of CG ● Modeling & rendering: create photo-realistic images – Is it real or is it CG? ● Animation: create visually realistic simulation ● Towards true real-time performance – 60 frames per second – Flexible user interaction ● Use CG techniques to advance other research fields – Scientific visualization and engineering simulation

6. Computer Graphics: A Brief History ● 1960s: – William Fetter of Boeing coins the term “Computer Graphics” (1960) – Basic computer graphics algorithms/concepts are introduced: hidden line detection, homogeneous coordinates, line drawing, back-face culling, parametric curves & surfaces, etc. – Spacewars, first video game, is developed at MIT (1961) – SketchPad: first interactive computer graphics software (1962) – Bell Labs builds first frame buffer (3 bits) – First use of CGI for commercials – MAGI for IBM (1969) Spacewars Image courtesy MIT Media Lab

7. Computer Graphics: A Brief History 1970s – Many fundamental computer graphics algorithms/technologies are introduced: visible surface detection, Gouraud shading, Phone shading, Z-buffer, curved surface rendering, texture mapping, reflectance and environment mapping, anti-aliasing, curved shadow, bump mapping, ray tracing, keyframe based animation, etc. – First SIGGRAPH conference (1973) – Microsoft is founded (1974); Special effects powerhouse, Industrial Light & Magic, is founded (1975) – The first flight simulator for Apple II is released (1978) (later purchased by Microsoft) First flight simulator Image courtesy simflight.com

8. Computer Graphics: A Brief History 1980s: – Many major companies in the graphics field are founded: Silicon Graphics Inc., ATI, SUN, Pixar, Adobe, AutoDesk, Alias, Softimage, Side Effects, etc. – More graphics algorithms are introduced: radiosity, motion capture, motion blur, morphing, etc. – The birth of RenderMan (1988) – Wavefront – the first commercially available 3D software package (1984) – AutoCAD 1.0 (1982) – Tron (1982): 1 st film to make extensive use of computer graphics Tron

9. Computer Graphics: A Brief History 1990s – The release of major 3D graphics libraries: OpenGL, DirectX, Java3D – The release of major 3D modeling & animation packages: 3D Studio, 3D Studio Max, Maya, etc. – The rise and fall of SGI – NVIDIA releases first Graphics Processing Unit (1999) – Increasing use of 3D special effects in feature films: Terminator 2, Titanic, etc. – First 3D computer animated feature film: Toy Story by Pixar – The release of Doom and Quake Titanic

10. Computer Graphics: A Brief History 2000 – present – Powerful Graphics Processing Units on PC graphics card: NVIDIA Geforce, ATI Radeon – High level shading languages: Cg, HLSL, GLSL, etc. – New generation game console: Xbox/360, Playstation 2/3, Nintendo Wii, etc. – Widespread use of CGI special effects in feature films: War of the Worlds, Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Matrix, Finding Nemo, Shrek, The Cars, Wall-E, etc.

11. Major applications ● Entertainment ● Training and simulation ● Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) ● Medical applications ● Scientific visualization ● CG art

12. Medical Visualization Human body modeling 3D medical image visualization – Volume rendering Virtual surgery simulation Computer Assisted surgery Virtual Reality for patient care – E.g. Immersive Virtual Reality for pain control Volume Rendering Images courtesy GE Modeling human head Images courtesy Stanford University

13. Scientific Visualization Visualizing and analyzing engineering & scientific data – Bioinformatic visualization Molecular Modeling – Fluid Dynamics simulation and analysis – 3D structure electromagnetic field simulator – E.g. visualization for Data Mining Collaborative visualization CAVE: immersive virtual environment Collaborative Visualization Images courtesy SGI 2003 Hurricane Season Forecast Images courtesy NASA

14. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) Computer assisted engineering analysis Finite Element Analysis Images courtesy SGI

15. Computer Aided Design (CAD) & Manufacture (CAM) Widespread use of CAD and CAM in manufacture industry – E.g. Automobile design and manufacture Geometric Modeling Product design and analysis Computer Aided Manufacturing Images courtesy SGI Computer Aided Design Images courtesy SGI

16. Visual Simulation Simulate real world experience using graphics software and hardware Used for civil or military training, mission planning, etc. – E.g. flight, ground, space, maritime simulation Flight Simulation Images courtesy Link Simulation & Training Marine Simulation Images courtesy SGI

17. Architectural Visualization & Simulation Urban simulation for city planning Real estate preview Urban Simulation Images courtesy MultiGen-Paradigm Real Estate Preview Images courtesy SGI

18. Art Computer Graphics Art Art preservation – Digital Michelangelo Project Michelangelo’s David Images courtesy Stanford University Computer Graphics Art Images courtesy Dan Raabe, Toolbox Films

19. 3D computer graphics industry ● 3D Graphics related industry is huge and growing – By 2010, U.S. sales of video games are expected to grow to $15 billion. – Video gaming is expected to generate more than 250,000 jobs by 2009 – The average age of gamers was 33 years, and 25% of players were older than 50. – In general, the video game industry is one of the few bright spots in the current economic recession.

20. Hardware and software ● Graphics hardware is advancing rapidly – Creating CG content no longer requires expensive hardware – Most of the development is done on PC now ● CG software packages (Maya, 3DS Max, DirectX, OpenGL) has matured – Open source tools like Blender have also matured

21. Hardware Advances SGI InfiniteReality Server (1998) NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra (2004) Triangles/sec13 Million600 Million Cost $100,000 $500

22. Web sites for CG information ● Major companies’ web sites (nVidia, AMD, Autodesk, Discreet, etc.) ● www.siggraph.org www.siggraph.org ● News: – www.extremetech.com www.extremetech.com – www.cgw.com www.cgw.com – www.gdmag.com www.gdmag.com – www.gamasutra.com www.gamasutra.com

23. How to search and find papers? ● http://www.siggraph.org/publications/bibliography/ http://www.siggraph.org/publications/bibliography/ – The most comprehensive database of CG publications ● Most of the recent journal papers are online – Find them through GSU library web page: E-journal Locator www.library.gsu.edu/ejournals/ www.library.gsu.edu/ejournals/ ● SIGGRAPH papers since 1974 are also online – Go to http://www.library.gsu.edu/ejournals/ and search for “computer graphics” and then click on “computer graphics proceedings …”http://www.library.gsu.edu/ejournals/ ● Search by paper title on Google. ● Find one of the authors’ homepage. They often have links to their papers.

24. Notable companies ● Hardware – NVIDIA (GeForce card, Cg) – ATI (Radeon card), acquired by AMD – Intel (integrated graphics chipset) ● Software – Microsoft (DirectX, games) – AutoDesk (3D Studio Max, AutoCAD, Maya) – SoftImage (SoftImage)

25. Notable companies ● Animation film studio – Pixar, DreamWorks, etc. ● Visual special effects – Industrial Light & Magic, Rhythm and Hues, etc. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_effects#Notabl e_visual_effects_companies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_effects#Notabl e_visual_effects_companies

26. Notable companies ● Game – Electronic Arts – Sony – Microsoft ● Other – Adobe – Apple ● For a more comprehensive list, visit SIGGRAPH 2008 exhibitor directory at http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/exh ibition/ http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/exh ibition/

27. How to develop 3D graphics applications ● Write programs ● Use modeling and animation tools ● Combine both programming and modeling/animation tools

28. 3D Graphics Programming APIs ● OpenGL ● Microsoft DirectX

29. Shading languages and tools ● Shading language – OpenGL Shading Language – High Level Shading Language in DirectX – Cg ● Shading language development tools – RenderMonkey RenderMonkey – CgFX viewer CgFX viewer

30. Modeling and animation tools ● Maya, 3DS Max, and Softimage Maya3DS MaxSoftimage – All three are now owned by Autodesk ● Blender – The leading open source tool ● For a list of major packages, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_computer_gra phics_software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_computer_gra phics_software

31. Blender ● Blender (www.blender.org) – A free 3D modeling, animation, and rendering tool