Graphical Visionday, Friday 30 May 2008

Abstracts

08.00 Registration, exhibition, demonstrations, coffee, and rolls
 
Session I
 
09.00 Welcome and introduction
  Vice-Rector, Professor Knut Conradsen, DTU
09.10 Precomputing Visibility for Real-Time Rendering of Large Scenes
  Michael Wimmer, TU Wien
  Visibility computation is an essential part of any real-time rendering pipeline for large scenes. Visibility can either be precomputed offline, which is a good strategy for static scenes, or calculated at runtime, which avoids precomputation and works well for dynamic scenes. In this presentation, I will cover the latest advances in both of these principal directions. For visibility precomputation, we have shown that sampling is superior to full geometric approaches for practical applications, due to its efficiency and robustness. For online visibility culling, we show how to make the best possible use of hardware occlusion queries without introducing latency and overhead.
10.00 Coffee, exhibition, demonstrations
 
Session II
 
10.15 An Introduction to GPGPU Programming using CUDA
  Ojaswa Sharma, DTU Informatics
  CUDA is a new GPU programming framework provided by NVIDIA. With the advent of CUDA, it is possible to do scientific computation on the GPU without worrying about the underlying graphics pipeline. It exposes a massively parallel execution environment available on the GPU. This talk is an introduction to CUDA and it's various aspects. An implementation of the Level Set Method on the GPU will be shown along with a small walkthrough on the CUDA code.
10.40 Manipulating Digital Photographs on the GPU
  Bjarke Jakobsen, Phase One
  GPU processing should be considered by any software product in which intense processing of image data is involved. The software package Capture One from Phase One is indeed such a product. The talk will give an overview of the approach chosen in order to port the existing CPU implementations of the algorithms to the GPU. A more detailed description is given of the implementation of a single processing step.
11.15 3D Graphics for User Interfaces
  Thomas Lauritzen, Bang og Olufsen
  Bang & Olufsen has a long tradition for world class design and user interaction in our audio/visual products. Now we are entering the digital paradigm of home entertainment systems. This puts great new requirments on our products, their user interfaces and how user interaction works. Displays will grow in size and capabilities and the products will be more interactive. We want to be a leader in this market by applying our signature high quality design and performance to this area. This talk will present an overview of how Bang & Olufsen faces this challenge from a computer graphics point of view.
11.45 Presentation of student posters
12.00 Lunch, exhibition, demonstrations
 
Session III
 
13.00 Creating Digital 3D Models of Real-World Objects
  Michael Trøst, Modelfabrikken
  This talk will cover four topics:
  1. First of all I’d like to tell you how we got started, what kind of clients we have and what kind of assignments we can solve.
  2. Next I will talk about the Principe of 3D scanning; laser and structured light scanning.
  3. I will show some examples of assignments we have had, from check scanning of tiny subjects to scanning of cars and people.
  4. Lastly I will show, step by step, how we get from raw scan data, to a parametric model in solidworks.
13.45 Analyzing Material Properties Using Graphics Techniques
  Jeppe Revall Frisvad, Microsoft
  The first purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the different graphics techniques that have emerged for acquisition of volumetric optical properties. The second purpose is to discuss the new potential applications of graphics techniques in analysis of material properties.

If you want a more detailed abstract here you go:
Digital reconstruction of objects is of considerable interest in both computer graphics and computer vision. Traditionally, reconstruction techniques have focused on acquisition of geometry. However, to achieve a high degree of realism, the optical properties of materials are indispensable. Until recently, graphics techniques for acquisition of optical properties have focused on the reflectance properties of opaque objects. Measurement of volumetric optical properties has been left for the optics society. Such measurements usually involve expensive tomographic or optical equipment. Graphics techniques for acquisition of optical properties are based on inversion of image rendering techniques and, consequently, the equipment is based on less expensive camera technology. In recent years, several graphics techniques for acquisition of volumetric optical properties have emerged, and this new graphics research field seems to continue to grow rapidly. Since it is possible to link volumetric optical properties to the contents and conditions of materials, these new acquisition techniques enable analysis of material properties using camera technology.
14.15 Coffee, exhibition, demonstrations
 
Session IV
 
14.30 Rendering Youropa
  Mikkel Fredborg, Frecle
  This presentation will give an insight into how a small game development studio can efficiently produce high quality results with limited resources. We will primarily look at modular graphics and content reuse, but also show a few different effects and rendering tricks. The speech takes its offset in the work-in-progress puzzle/platform game Youropa and presents general methods applicable to most game genres regardless of team size.
14.50 Using Shadow Mapping to Fake Wind Pressure
  Keld Ølykke, NDS
  The shadow map technique is applicable to more than just shadowing fragments occluded by light. A camera frustum producing a shadow map may be used to define a bounded force field affecting only geometry visible from the camera’s point of view. Combining the force field of a dynamic camera with dynamic geometry presents a real-time solution for faking wind forces that only have impact on ”visible” geometry. The camera can be perceived as a force caster and the force receivers are geometry utilizing the shadow map to determine whether or not to deform them selves.
15.10 The Technical Challenges Facing an Indie Developer
  Gorm Lai, 3 Lives Left
  In this talk, I will briefly talk about 3 Lives Left and what creative and technical liberties and limitations the indie life provides. With a focus on the technical challenges, I will also provide a small intro to The Ark, which is our current game in development. The Ark is a online tactical turn-based game with a focus on character development and user generated content.
15.30 Coffee, exhibition, demonstrations
 
Session V
 
15.45 The Rendering Technologies of the CryENGINE® 2
  Martin Mittring, CryTek
  The presentation is describing all major graphic techniques that are available in the CryEngine2. Here we describe the properties and why they are in the engine in that form. All techniques work well together and provide a good solution for current and near future generation of graphics hardware. We briefly discuss alternatives to clarify why the chosen implementation was the right choice for us.
16.30 Recreating Copenhagen of the Golden Age for the Computer Game - HCA the Ugly Prince Duckling
  Søren Buus, GuppyWorks
 

When the Computer Game “HCA the Ugly Prince Duckling” hit the shelves of game stores all over Denmark in the fall of 2006, it was the culmination of several years of hard work for a very small group of dedicated games and graphics designers and programmers.

Having been turned down for financial support by the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation as a project of no particular cultural value, the games company Guppyworks nevertheless managed to scrape together sufficient funding to start production in 2004.

The Game is the story of a 14-year old Hans Christian Andersen, who arrives at the gates of Copenhagen one sunny autumn day back in 1819 without a penny in his pocket. In this almost true story, aimed at kids from the age of 8, Hans Christian has to get by and climb the ladders of society by interacting with the people of Copenhagen.

Incidentally the production came in at a modest budget. Less than the H.C.Andersen 2005 Foundation paid for a 10-minute playback performance by Tina Turner for the ill-fated opening concert in celebration of the 2005 H.C.Andersen year.

In my talk I will give a brief definition of “The Golden Age”, and try to put our story into a historical, economical and political perspective.

Due to my role as art director on the project, with a primary responsibility for the background graphics, I will primarily focus on the production aspects from a Graphics designer’s point of view, like the first design decisions linked with the technical conditions of the project.

I will touch on technical aspects of 3D-graphics and rendering such as Global illumination, Ambient occlusion, displacement mapping etc.

My talk will be centered round the screening of a number of images, from step-by-step how-we-did-it images, to scraped ideas, to final in-game graphics.

Finally I’ll show a small selection of clips from the actual game.
17.00 Highlights from graphics projects at IMM, followed by poster prize and concluding remarks
  J. Andreas Bærentzen, DTU Informatics
17.30 Exhibition, demonstrations, refreshments (Dalux is beer sponsor)
19.00 The Graphical Visionday ends