An overview of the state of CG in European countries, including Eurographics 2012, scheduled for May in Italy. Speakers include:

Michael Bielicky
HFG/ZKM Karlsruhe, Data Driven Narratives

Jorge Jimenez and Diego Gutierrez
University of Zaragoza, New Advances in Real-Time Graphics for Video Games

Mashhuda Glencross and Francho Melendez
University of Loughborough, 3D Recontruction From Images

Francho Melendez
franchomelendez (at) gmail.com

Thomas Roussel from Pixologic presents the latest features of ZBrush and explains how to go from concept to final render.

Computer-generated volumetric elements such as clouds, fire, and whitewater are becoming commonplace in movie production. The goal of this course is to familiarize attendees with the technology behind these effects. The presenters have experience with and have authored proprietary volumetrics tools.

The course begins with an introduction to generating and rendering volumes, then presents a production-usable volumetrics toolkit, focusing on the feature set and why those features are desirable. Special emphasis is focused on the approaches taken in tackling efficient data structures, shading approaches, multi-threading/parallelization, holdouts, and motion blurring.

COURSE SCHEDULE

10:45 am
Introduction to Production Volume Rendering
Bin Zafar

11 am
Volume Modeling Fundamentals Wrenninge

11:40 am
Volume Rendering Fundamentals
Bin Zafar

12:10 pm
Questions and Answers

This method for restoring antialiased edges that are damaged by certain types of nonlinear image processing operations selectively adjusts the local gradients in affected regions of the filtered image so that they are consistent with those in the original image.

This paper demonstrates state-of-the-art edge-aware image processing using Laplacian pyramids. The advantage of this approach is its conceptual simplicity and flexibility, based on simple point-wise nonlinearities; no optimization or post-processing is required. The method produces consistently high-quality results, without degrading edges or introducing halos.

A new approach for performing high-quality edge-preserving filtering of images and videos in real time.

A new efficient method for joint recovery of both reliable local dense correspondences and a global parametric color transformation model between two images. The paper demonstrates several applications of this method for automatic example-based enhancement of photographs that share some content.

This data-driven technique to construct elastic models for cloth creates a database of 10 different cloth materials, each of which exhibits distinctive elastic behaviors. These measurements can be used in simulation systems to create natural and realistic clothing wrinkles and shapes.

A new type of deformable model that combines the realism of physically based models and the usability of frame-based skinning methods. The degrees of freedom are coordinate frames. Viscoelastic forces are computed based on continuous media mechanics applied to the smoothly deformed volume.

This example-based approach for simulating complex elastic material behavior constructs an example manifold that acts as an additional elastic attractor and guides the object toward preferred shapes. It allows implementation of inhomogeneous and anisotropic materials in a direct and intuitive way.

A new method to physically simulate the deformation of objects with heterogeneous material properties and complex geometries using a small number of moving frames.

Have you ever wanted to make a videogame? This session shows how to build a small level in the freely available CryENGINE 3 SDK. Topics include: world building and tools (FlowGraph, CryENGINE's visual scripting language, and Trackview, the camera sequencing and directing tools). In less than an hour, attendees create their own playable video games.

WebGL is a cross-platform, royalty-free web standard based on OpenGL ES 2.0. It is shader-based, using GLSL, and it brings plugin-free 3D to the web, directly into the browser.

This discussion of the OpenSceneGraph open-source system includes new developments, how to use the software, and how people are using it.

Leonardo community members and all SIGGRAPH attendees are invited to hear presentations from selected Leonardo Affiliate Member organizations on cutting-edge research and educational programs in ArtScience around the world.

Physics-Based Virtual Reality
Thanks to their unique physics-based approach, OPTIS light-simulation specialists provide real-time, predictive visualization solutions based on measured physical properties of surfaces and materials. OPTIS solutions are used by engineers, ergonomists, and designers to optimize perceived quality and the visual ergonomics of HMIs.