I can imagine multiple uses for MIT's GelSight technology which was domo'ed at Siggraph '09 in New Orleans.
"GelSight measures the texture and geometry of objects that touch its surface. The sensor is made of clear elastomer (a gel-like material) with a painted skin. Viewed from behind, an object pressed into the sensor appears as a shaded surface with a uniform reflectance. These properties allow for 3D reconstruction of the object's surface."
Showing posts with label siggraph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label siggraph. Show all posts
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display & Holography
3D Video Stabilization Presented at SIGGRAPH 2009
I've been fascinated with the original Steadycam when I had an opportunity to meet the inventor and try on the vest at Siggraph'95. The quality of precision and engineering to achieve such a fluid and balanced mechanical device is simply amazing.
Fast forward nearly 15 years later, and the same effect can be now be achieved without bulky equipment. The stabilization software demo'ed at Siggraph 2009 is pretty incredible. See for yourself.
Fast forward nearly 15 years later, and the same effect can be now be achieved without bulky equipment. The stabilization software demo'ed at Siggraph 2009 is pretty incredible. See for yourself.
Monday, May 11, 2009
3D Depth from Flash Photography
Sometimes the simple ideas can be the most effective. Case in point with the method used by researchers at the University of Manchester, UK, to extract the 3D depth of ancient artifacts using flash photography.
Read research paper (PDF)
The new technique is already being used to add depth and realism to the ancient carvings that will appear in Maya Skies - a full-dome digital projection for planetariums that tells the story of the Mayan people. Maya Skies will be released in 2009.
Link to websiteRead research paper (PDF)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Haptic Telepresence
At Siggraph 2008, I was fortunate enough to demo this product by a company called Butterfly Haptics. Although the range of motion was not great, the sensation of precision was incredible.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Real-Time Gradient-Domain Painting
The following research is done by James McCann and Nancy S. Pollard. Real-time Gradient-domain Painting, ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2008), August 2008, Vol 27. No. 3.
Abstract
We present an image editing program which allows artists to paint in the gradient domain with real-time feedback on megapixel-sized images. Along with a pedestrian, though powerful, gradient-painting brush and gradient-clone tool, we introduce an edge brush designed for edge selection and replay. These brushes, coupled with special blending modes, allow users to accomplish global lighting and contrast adjustments using only local image manipulations -- e.g. strengthening a given edge or removing a shadow boundary. Such operations would be tedious in a conventional intensity-based paint program and hard for users to get right in the gradient domain without real-time feedback. The core of our paint program is a simple-to-implement GPU multigrid method which allows integration of megapixel-sized full-color gradient fields at over 20 frames per second on modest hardware. By way of evaluation, we present example images produced with our program and characterize the iteration time and convergence rate of our integration method.
Portraits sketched by M. Mahler using Gradient-Domain Painting Program
Link to website
Link to PDF research paper
Link to video
Abstract
We present an image editing program which allows artists to paint in the gradient domain with real-time feedback on megapixel-sized images. Along with a pedestrian, though powerful, gradient-painting brush and gradient-clone tool, we introduce an edge brush designed for edge selection and replay. These brushes, coupled with special blending modes, allow users to accomplish global lighting and contrast adjustments using only local image manipulations -- e.g. strengthening a given edge or removing a shadow boundary. Such operations would be tedious in a conventional intensity-based paint program and hard for users to get right in the gradient domain without real-time feedback. The core of our paint program is a simple-to-implement GPU multigrid method which allows integration of megapixel-sized full-color gradient fields at over 20 frames per second on modest hardware. By way of evaluation, we present example images produced with our program and characterize the iteration time and convergence rate of our integration method.
Portraits sketched by M. Mahler using Gradient-Domain Painting Program
Link to website
Link to PDF research paper
Link to video
Shading Based Surface Editing
The following research is by Yotam Gingold and Denis Zorin In Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2008, Los Angeles, USA, Aug.'08
Link to website
Link to PDF research paper (14MB)
Abstract
We present a system for free-form surface modeling that allows a user to modify a shape by changing its rendered, shaded image using stroke-based drawing tools. User input is translated into a set of tangent and positional constraints on the surface. A new shape, whose rendered image closely approximates user input, is computed using an efficient and stable surface optimization procedure. We demonstrate how several types of free-form surface edits which may be difficult to cast in terms of standard deformation approaches can be easily performed using our system.
Link to website
Link to PDF research paper (14MB)
Freeform surfaces from single curved panels
The following research is by H. Pottmann, A. Schiftner, P. Bo, H. Schmiedhofer, W. Wang, N. Baldassini, and J. Wallner. - (ACM Trans. Graphics, Vol. 27/3 (2008).Proc. SIGGRAPH 2008)
Abstract:
Motivated by applications in architecture and manufacturing, we discuss the problem of covering a freeform surface by single curved panels. This leads to the new concept of semi-discrete surface representation, which constitutes a link between smooth and discrete surfaces. The basic entity we are working with is the developable strip model. It is the semi-discrete equivalent of a quad mesh with planar faces, or a conjugate parametrization of a smooth surface. We present a B-spline based optimization framework for efficient computing with D-strip models. In particular we study conical and circular models, which semi-discretize the network of principal curvature lines, and which enjoy elegant geometric properties. Together with geodesic models and cylindrical models they offer a rich source of solutions for surface panelization problems.
Developable Surfaces - Curved Folding
Curved Folding by Martin Kilian, Simon Floery, Zhonggui Chen, Niloy J. Mitra, Alla Sheffer, Helmut PottmannACM SIGGRAPH 2008
Abstract:
Fascinating and elegant shapes may be folded from a single planar sheet of material without stretching, tearing or cutting, if one incorporates curved folds into the design. We present an optimizationbased computational framework for design and digital reconstruction of surfaces which can be produced by curved folding. Our work not only contributes to applications in architecture and industrial design, but it also provides a new way to study the complex and largely unexplored phenomena arising in curved folding.
Link to website
Abstract:
Fascinating and elegant shapes may be folded from a single planar sheet of material without stretching, tearing or cutting, if one incorporates curved folds into the design. We present an optimizationbased computational framework for design and digital reconstruction of surfaces which can be produced by curved folding. Our work not only contributes to applications in architecture and industrial design, but it also provides a new way to study the complex and largely unexplored phenomena arising in curved folding.
Link to website
Link to PDF research paper (Siggraph 2008)
Link to 22MB slide presentation
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Textured graphics can be captured in a flash
Colin Barras via newscientist - 12:30 27 August 2008
The virtual worlds in computer games provide a realistic backdrop to the action. But step too close and the effect is lost – you'll see that textures and patterns are usually displayed on flat surfaces that look dull and artificial.
A simpler way to add depth to textured surfaces could change that.
The new technique can reconstruct the depth of a surface simply by taking two photos of it – one with a flash and one without (see video, right). Merely analysing the resulting shading patterns can capture the surface's 3D texture.
Until now making realistic textures required the use of bulky and expensive laser scanners, says Mashhuda Glencross at the University of Manchester, UK. And the process is really time-consuming, she adds.
Link to article
Link to Advanced Interfaces Group
The virtual worlds in computer games provide a realistic backdrop to the action. But step too close and the effect is lost – you'll see that textures and patterns are usually displayed on flat surfaces that look dull and artificial.
A simpler way to add depth to textured surfaces could change that.
The new technique can reconstruct the depth of a surface simply by taking two photos of it – one with a flash and one without (see video, right). Merely analysing the resulting shading patterns can capture the surface's 3D texture.
Until now making realistic textures required the use of bulky and expensive laser scanners, says Mashhuda Glencross at the University of Manchester, UK. And the process is really time-consuming, she adds.
Link to article
Link to Advanced Interfaces Group
Friday, August 22, 2008
Realistic special effects coming soon to home movies
11:17 21 August 2008
NewScientist.com news service Colin Barras
Digital photographers are used to tinkering with their photos at home. Now, amateur video makers can create movie special effects thanks to prototype software from Microsoft.
Their application, called Unwrap Mosaics, makes adding a moustache to a family member in a video as easy as scrawling on a digital picture. A video (right) shows it in action.
For example, drawing a tattoo on a person's arm requires editing only a single image. The programme makes the change throughout the video, making it ripple realistically with their skin.
Easy editing
A video is simply a sequence of still images that capture the movement of objects over time. But editing the appearance of objects in even a short movie is difficult because every frame shows objects differently and must be edited separately.
"We thought it would be good if you only had to draw your edit once and [the software] propagate the information from that single edit through the whole video," says Alex Rav-Acha at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
Rav-Acha and colleagues at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK, have done just that. Editing objects using their software is a one-step process.
Special effect
Unwrap Mosaics was developed by Rav-Acha, Andrew Fitzgibbon, Pushmeet Kohli and Carsten Rother. It virtually strips the skin from a selected object in a video, producing a 2D surface that can be easily edited using photo-editing software.
Rav-Acha likens that surface to a tiger-skin rug: a flat surface that once covered a 3D object. The software reverses the process after any edits are complete, wrapping the edited skin back around the 3D object. Because the edits are attached to the skin, they then move with the object throughout the movie.
The 2D skin has to capture every inch of the 3D surface for edits to match the object when it is wrapped up again. For example, an "unwrapped" face must include information from both sides of the nose so that changes to the nose remain realistic even when the head turns from side to side.
To fully unwrap an object the software tracks 5000 points spread evenly across its surface, making sure that all of those points are present in the final 2D skin.
Reverse unwrap
That means the final unwrapped skin contains more information than any individual video frame. For instance, if the video shows a person's head from the front and then turning to the left, the unwrapped skin contains a full view of the ear as well as a forward view of the eyes, nose and mouth.
The user makes their edits to the skin before the unwrapping process is reversed to send those changes throughout the final movie.
Rav-Acha and his co-workers have successfully tested their software on a range of videos. "There are professional tools that can do these kind of edits but it's an incredibly skilled procedure," says Fitzgibbon. "We believe that with this procedure anyone should be able to edit video."
Alex Rav-Acha's team presented their work at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles last week.
NewScientist.com news service Colin Barras
Digital photographers are used to tinkering with their photos at home. Now, amateur video makers can create movie special effects thanks to prototype software from Microsoft.
Their application, called Unwrap Mosaics, makes adding a moustache to a family member in a video as easy as scrawling on a digital picture. A video (right) shows it in action.
For example, drawing a tattoo on a person's arm requires editing only a single image. The programme makes the change throughout the video, making it ripple realistically with their skin.
Easy editing
A video is simply a sequence of still images that capture the movement of objects over time. But editing the appearance of objects in even a short movie is difficult because every frame shows objects differently and must be edited separately.
"We thought it would be good if you only had to draw your edit once and [the software] propagate the information from that single edit through the whole video," says Alex Rav-Acha at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
Rav-Acha and colleagues at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK, have done just that. Editing objects using their software is a one-step process.
Special effect
Unwrap Mosaics was developed by Rav-Acha, Andrew Fitzgibbon, Pushmeet Kohli and Carsten Rother. It virtually strips the skin from a selected object in a video, producing a 2D surface that can be easily edited using photo-editing software.
Rav-Acha likens that surface to a tiger-skin rug: a flat surface that once covered a 3D object. The software reverses the process after any edits are complete, wrapping the edited skin back around the 3D object. Because the edits are attached to the skin, they then move with the object throughout the movie.
The 2D skin has to capture every inch of the 3D surface for edits to match the object when it is wrapped up again. For example, an "unwrapped" face must include information from both sides of the nose so that changes to the nose remain realistic even when the head turns from side to side.
To fully unwrap an object the software tracks 5000 points spread evenly across its surface, making sure that all of those points are present in the final 2D skin.
Reverse unwrap
That means the final unwrapped skin contains more information than any individual video frame. For instance, if the video shows a person's head from the front and then turning to the left, the unwrapped skin contains a full view of the ear as well as a forward view of the eyes, nose and mouth.
The user makes their edits to the skin before the unwrapping process is reversed to send those changes throughout the final movie.
Rav-Acha and his co-workers have successfully tested their software on a range of videos. "There are professional tools that can do these kind of edits but it's an incredibly skilled procedure," says Fitzgibbon. "We believe that with this procedure anyone should be able to edit video."
Alex Rav-Acha's team presented their work at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles last week.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Online High-Res Panoramic Viewer - xRez
I saw Eric Hanson's work at Siggraph 2008 last week. I must say it is quite impressive to see what seemed like a 100' wide x 6' tall panoramic in high resolution. It is an exercise just walking around to view the whole thing.
Link
Link to Panoramic QTVR
Link to Oahu, Hawaii Panoramic
Video of Peace River's PixOrb in operation
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