bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Content-based retrieval in multimedia databases
Authors: Leung C. H. C. , Hibler J. , Mwara N.
Published: November 2005

The flexible retrieval of pictorial data on the basis of content hinges on the ability to model multimedia data effectively. In using the entity-attribute-relationship model, the main semantic concepts of entity, attribute and relationship can be represented in a simple manner which correspond very closely to the noun, adjective and verb which are the essential components of a simple description of a picture. Such a system has an advantage over traditional ways of representing the data in an automated system in that it allows the concept of relationships between two (or more) objects within a picture to be represented in the database.Our basic starting point is man-machine cooperation in which the pattern processing capability of the human eye is fully exploited. As a result, it should provide a much better degree of flexibility in the identification of complex high-level patterns. We also introduce a picture description language which allows the contents of pictures to be systematically represented, these resultant representations can then be stored for subsequent processing. Picture retrieval is accomplished by specifying picture queries using a picture query language. Evaluation experiments carried out on a prototype system show that this approach is able to yield precision and recall performances of over 62% and 88% respectively.
Challenges facing researchers using multimedia data
Authors: Goldman-Segall Ricki
Published: November 2005

Two distinct communities of visual media users have begun to influence each other over the last few decades --- those who use media as forms of art and entertainment, and those, from a variety of knowledge domains, who use media forms as tools to explain, illustrate or communicate. From the entertainment and cinematic world, a rich grammar has evolved which describes a range of identifiable genres and basic structures --- what Davenport and her research team at MIT refer to as primitives (1991).However, in the world of academia, we have just begun to think deeply about non-print media as being other than vehicles for representing our knowledge via slides, tapes, overheads, images in books and various other visualization or acoustic aids. This article will show why these two communities have much to learn from each other in the light of emerging multimedia networks. First, I will describe the challenges facing researchers who use multimedia data, and then I will explain several features of an existing multimedia research tool which address these challenges.
Yaged
Authors: Culwin Fintan
Published: November 2005

Yaged (yet another graphics editor) is a pixmap graphics editor which has been developed as an environment where novice graphics programmers can implement image manipulation algorithms, two dimensional drawing tools and GUIs, within the context of a realistic application. Yaged has been implemented with the X/Motif toolkit, using defined production processes, and is fully documented using a usability based, object oriented notation. The full source code for the application and the design documentation is freely available via anonymous ftp.
ACM SIGGRAPH education committee activities for computer graphics educators
Authors: Owen G. Scott
Published: November 2005

ACM SIGGRAPH supports computer graphics educators and students through the activities and projects of its education committee. These include curriculum studies, publication of informational materials, support of projects with educational value and several ACM SIGGRAPH conference-related activities. This paper discusses these activities and the associated resources that the education committee is making available for computer graphics educators. The primary focus is on activities that have been initiated since last year's comprehensive report (
Computer Graphics
27(1) January 1993) and ongoing activities.
Literacy in virtual reality
Authors: Sherman William R. , Craig Alan B.
Published: November 2005

Virtual Reality is a new and rapidly developing technology. As a technological extension to computer graphics, and in fact the computer in general, VR is a medium --- a means of communication. Like any medium, the use or "reading" of VR has to be learned. That is, the user becomes literate with the medium.Often, we tend to think of literacy in terms of whether one can read or write words on a page. However, that is just literacy of one medium (the written word). There are many forms of communication, and each has specific issues of literacy, as well as general issues that pervade all media. As a new medium, the "language" of VR is still in its infancy, therefore, the study of VR literacy must look both at the content receiver and the content creator.Like film, Virtual Reality is a medium that does not require much knowledge of the viewer beyond general life experiences. We are able to see and hear the content more or less as we do in day to day living. Because of this, it might be taken for granted that the viewer is literate in the medium. This is not necessarily so. He or she may be able to follow the action, but may be missing the underlying message and cues contained in the content.Much like learning to read and write, gaining literacy in this new medium requires effort on the part of the receiver. This paper will address those issues with which VR participants and developers must be concerned.
Australia
Authors: Cottingham Marion S.
Published: November 2005

This overview of computer graphics education in Australia offers a few surprises in the diversity demonstrated by university curricula, and the languages and hardware used. Computer graphics is taught as a third year course at most Australian universities, with some universities also offering an additional advanced graphics course at the fourth year level.Most universities include what has evolved into a set of core topics that are common to most graphics courses. Most have also added some extra flavor to their courses by providing some unique topics that, although vaguely related, are not normally considered under the heading of mainstream graphics.Each curriculum generally includes all the expected graphics topics, such as line and curve generation, antialiasing, 2D transformations, 3D transformations and 3D viewing, hidden line and hidden surface algorithms, polygon fill algorithms, clipping, illumination and shading models and solid modeling. A good proportion of universities also include texture mapping, color modeling (e.g., RGB and CIE representations), animation, virtual/synthetic camera modeling, GUI design, splines and Bezier surfaces, fractals, ray tracing and human visual perception. Less commonly offered topics are dithering, radiosity and mathematical models.Approximately half of the courses are centered around device independent graphics standards such as GKS and PHIGS, and the SRGP software package is popular in courses based on the PHIGS standard The core topics in these graphics standards courses include graphical input techniques, graphical display devices for output, coordinate systems (world, virtual, and device), graphics primitives, windows and viewports and metagraphics commands.
Germany
Authors: Hansmann Werner
Published: November 2005

The vitality of computer graphics education in Germany persists. The last general inquiry on computer graphics education was made in 1993 by the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics within the German Society of Computer Science (Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)) [2, 3, 4]. Since then, the number of institutions at German universities that offer an education in computer graphics (generally professors appointed for teaching and research in the field) has risen considerably. While the 1993 survey came up with 29 individuals at 26 universities, the current situation shows 40 at 33 universities.In general, the fundamental education in computer graphics at an academic level (i.e. discursive dealing with methods of both computer graphics and various related fields) is carried out at universities, usually as part of the curricula in Computer Science Departments. Education in computer graphics, which is primarily application oriented, can be obtained in Engineering and Art Departments of universities, at technical schools (Fachhochschulen) and art schools (Hochschulen für Kunst). The previously mentioned investigation of 1993 focused on computer graphics education at universities and technical schools. The recent surveys were conducted to determine the current situation of computer graphics as a subject of academic education per se, as well as a means and tool for art education.
Italy
Authors: Falcidieno Bianca
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics is a rapidly expanding field of science and technology, and education in this area is increasingly important. Development in computer graphics and the requirements of different applications have led to an explosion of subdisciplines.These share many fundamental principles, but each has a specialized orientation, with its own techniques and approaches to computer graphics. The basic disciplines, such as geometric modeling of single objects and 2D and 3D scenes, need efficient algorithms that involve computational geometry and knowledge of parallel computation. Other disciplines are oriented toward realistic visualization, and the enhancement of human/machine interaction leads to developing fields such as user interfaces, interactive modeling, multimedia and hypermedia and visual languages. A strong link is also required with related disciplines such as computer vision and image processing.Many of these subjects integrate knowledge derived from different sciences such as mathematics, physics, computer science and engineering, into a variety of applications. In Italy, computer graphics courses are taught in a number of curricula of traditional disciplines such as computer science, mathematics, physics, architecture and engineering. The choice was not to establish specific departments on computer graphics, but to give each discipline an overall sense of computer graphics as a subject into which they can fit their own specialities.This has led a number of universities to propose courses in computer graphics at both fundamental and advanced levels, especially in scientific departments. The variety of topics in computer graphics is so wide that they cannot be easily compressed in one course or a series of courses, but must be split according to the application requirements. A typical feature of computer graphics courses is that they are not usually intended for a single department's students, but they are of broad interest.
Japan
Authors: Inakage Masa , Inakage Hiroko
Published: November 2005

Japan has been one of the leading countries in both computer graphics production and research. In this report, we provide an overview of computer graphics education in Japan today, and conclude with types of job possibilities for Japanese students in the computer graphics industry.We begin with the Japanese education system in general. The Japanese education system is controlled by the Ministry of Education. Six years of elementary school and three years of junior high school are mandatory education, which allows all children to be equally educated. Three years of high school and above are considered as optional education. However, the majority of children will enter high school, and many will pursue higher education. The Ministry of Education has installed personal computers in most of the public elementary and junior high schools. However, in many cases, teachers lack computer literacy. It is very unusual to find computer graphics education taking place below the high school level, although there are some exceptions. The Japanese education system for higher education can be broken down into three categories: graduate level, four-year undergraduate level and two-year junior college level. In addition, there are specialized schools that offer certificates in specific areas.College exchange programs are not common in Japan. For example, art students in an art school are not able to take computer graphics courses offered at another university. It is also difficult for a student in one department to take courses in another department. The lack of cross-disciplinary education is a problem for computer graphics because the subject requires fundamental understanding in both art and design and computer science.
Russia
Authors: Bayakovsky Yuri M.
Published: November 2005

This paper is a first attempt at analyzing the history and the state of the art of computer graphics (CG) education in Russia. Since this collection of information has just begun, the resulting picture is necessarily incomplete.
Sweden
Authors: Kjelldahl Lars
Published: November 2005

This short overview of education in computer graphics and visualization in Sweden was compiled through contact with all the main universities in Sweden. Although we don't know of any "pure" visualization course in Sweden, some visualization material is included in many of the computer graphics courses. There are also courses on related topics, such as multimedia and human computer interaction. Computer graphics teachers in Sweden meet every other year. Also education is one of the interest areas for the Swedish computer graphics society, Sigrad, and we are working with the Eurographics Working Group on Education.
United States
Authors: McConnell Jeffrey J.
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics education in computer science is a very diverse world. This world is undergoing a transformation, albeit slowly, from traditional methods common in the days of limited computing power, screen resolution and available colors, to a modern approach where knowing how to draw lines pixel by pixel may not be as critical as it once was. This paper discusses some of the common trends and methodologies that are currently seen, and some of the resources that are currently available and used.The number of computer graphics courses varies, depending on the institution and whether they have a graduate program. For strictly undergraduate institutions, graphics is usually an upper-level elective, and is limited to one course. Students interested in further study either arrange for an independent study, or get a group together to have a special topics course offered. It is likely that only larger undergraduate institutions will be able to offer more than one course on a regular basis. Schools with graduate programs have greater flexibility, because it is typical for them to have an introductory course at the upper undergraduate level and one or more advanced courses as part of graduate study. Interested and capable undergraduate students are usually allowed to take these graduate level courses.The content of courses can also vary. Traditionally, schools with one course will usually have that course as an overview of 2D and 3D graphics, and those with two courses will sometimes have the first concentrate on 2D methods and the second on 3D. Many schools have a second undergraduate course concentrating on "advanced" rendering techniques like ray tracing and radiosity.
Utilizing CD-ROM in large science classes
Authors: Ramp Paul F. , Staples Carolyn I.
Published: November 2005

Higher education is experiencing a period of both external and internal evaluation of its efficiency. For the most part the external reviews are outcome based, comparing expenditures to some measure of student performance. In contrast, internal evaluations are largely focused on curriculum and how well the current curriculum reflects the current state of knowledge in the field.For many departments, colleges and universities, the outcome of these internal and external reviews has created a situation in which the faculty is expected to do more for a larger student body, usually with fewer resources. In response to this situation, we have developed and placed into use an interactive CD for students of the general biology courses at the University of Tennessee. The underlying premise of this project is that while the student's ability to directly interact with faculty or to have class or lab time for learning through mistake and repetition is diminishing, an interactive CD has the potential to provide much of that inquisitive experience.There are several advantages to working in a multimedia environment. First is the ability to utilize graphics, text and video to reinforce a single concept. Second is the viewer's ability to organize information in a way that is individually meaningful. The parallel/attendant problem is the potential for the viewer to become lost in the information as well as requiring that all of the links need to be programmed, whether they are useful or not.
The virtual Meiji village
Authors: Nakata Hitoshi
Published: November 2005

In January of 1995 museum staff and the Kinjo Gakuin University Multimedia Center agreed to design a multimedia project to boost attendance at Museum Meiji Mura. Under the leadership of Hitoshi Nakata, Kinjo Gakuin University professors, Taisei Construction Co. Ltd. computer graphics technicians and Kinjo Media Mix students (a university club for computers and media) worked together to create the Virtual Meiji Village Project. This type of collaboration, though common in the United States, is rarely done in Japan.
Daylight visual effects
Authors: Lee Tsai-Sun , Hardin Mary
Published: November 2005

Beginning design students often find that it is difficult to master the varied and complex issues of architectural daylighting within a short timescale. Daylight is very dynamic and difficult to capture, and students struggle to document and understand daylighting phenomena through the traditional approaches of physical modeling, graphic techniques and computations. However, computer graphics and multimedia technologies are becoming widely used in educational applications and can facilitate non-linear, interactive learning environments particularly suited to complex concepts.An interactive multimedia courseware prototype, Daylight Visual Effects (DVE), has been designed to provide a demonstration database and easy-to-use interface for beginning design students. Users gain or enhance knowledge about the visual effects of daylighting by reviewing relevant daylighting images, written information animations and 3D computer models in the DVE's database. A live demonstration of the DVE prototype will follow this brief discussion of its inception, development, effectiveness in the studio and potential for future modifications.
Standards pipeline
Authors: Carson George S.
Published: November 2005

This edition of the Standards Pipeline reports on recent activities of Accredited Standards Committee X3H3 whose area of work is computer graphics and image processing. X3H3 also serves as U.S. counterpart to ISO/IEC JTCI/SC24 (Computer Graphics and Image Processing).
GraphicsNet '95
Authors: Clinger Marke
Published: November 2005

Every year demonstrations at the SIGGRAPH conference push the envelope in state-of-the-art graphics. In 1995, SIGGRAPH also pushed the envelope in networking by deploying a conference-wide, production ATM network. GraphicsNet, the conference network, consisted of 400 Ethernet-over-ATM connections and 100 directly attached ATM devices. GraphicsNet was one of the largest ATM backbone networks deployed to date. Using the latest hardware and software available, GraphicsNet provided a switched internet-work to met the requirements of the demonstrations and exhibits at SIGGRAPH 95.SIGGRAPH 95, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, required a network that would integrate voice, video, graphics and data all on one networking infrastructure. The GraphicsNet Team was formed to provide an advanced multi-gigabit-per-second network for the conference. In order to meet the requirements of the participants at SIGGRAPH 95, the combined efforts of FORE Systems, Inc., Hewlett Packard Labs and Pacific Bell were necessary to design and build a state-of-the-art network based on the evolving networking paradigm of switched internet-works. GraphicsNet's Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) based network provided the facility for remote collaboration at SIGGRAPH 95 for exhibitors, Interactive Communities, Interactive Entertainment, Digital Demo and many other locations within the Los Angeles Convention Center and throughout the world.The GraphicsNet'95 sub-committee wanted to push the envelope by pioneering two major applications utilizing the bandwidth available on the ATM network, the GraphicsNet access "kiosks" and the Digital Demo. The GraphicsNet access kiosks brought a VRML representation of SIGGRAPH 95 and full motion video to the attendees through kiosks located in the lobbies. Digital Demo provided participants a hands-on environment to learn about the digital studio process by building a digital studio at the LA Convention Center.GraphicsNet illustrates the evolution of social interaction by supplying high-bandwidth WAN connectivity to SIGGRAPH 95's diverse group of collaborators in the LA area, across North America, and around the world. Due to the nature of high-speed WAN's users were unaware of when they were accessing data on the Local Area Network (LAN) or on the Wide Area Network (WAN).
Computer graphics education in the Czech Republic
Authors: Slavik Pavel
Published: November 2005

Four years ago I wrote an article about the state of the art in the field of computer graphics education in the former Czechoslovakia. This article was published in
Computer Graphics
January 1992. Perhaps the most important statement in this article was the fact that computer graphics has a long tradition in this country. In the final section of this article some future plans and goals that we wanted to achieve were stated. Four years is a period of time long enough to evaluate the results achieved. The following text is information about recent developments in the Czech Republic in the field of computer graphics.
Computer graphics are brittle
Authors: Sterling Bruce
Published: November 2005

With the entertainment industry focus of this issue, I decided to ask a selection of artists for their thoughts on the broad (and deliberately vague) theme: Art, Computer Graphics and Entertainment. The authors come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, each with their own unique perspective on computer graphics.The results constitute this month's Artist's View column. I hope you find these collective musings as stimulating and thought-provoking as I did. Iara Lee and Taylor Dupree's invited visual contribution appears on the back cover of this issue.Many thanks to those who agreed to participate with very short notice, and to the many people who helped out with suggestions.
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss
Authors: Bertram Hal
Published: November 2005

The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss
is a television series based on the books, characters and worlds created by Theodor Suess Geisel, known to most as Dr. Seuss. The show stars traditional puppet characters inside a computer-generated world. The use of computer graphics allows the stories to take place in worlds that could not be realised by any other technique for a similar cost.
Location-based entertainment—small is beautiful!
Authors: Stassen Ben
Published: November 2005

In the information age, computers have pervaded just about every aspect of our lives, from education to business, medicine to entertainment. Computers have also become an integral part of the film world. Though the film industry was initially skeptical and slow to incorporate the potential of computer graphics imaging, CGI certainly gained universal acceptance with the special effects used in Steven Spielberg's monumental
Jurassic Park.
The impact of CGI on the film and television industry goes way beyond the replacement of old special effects technologies with new ones. Computer technology has done far more than provoke a rethinking in the way films could be technically created. It is revolutionizing the entire industry, from the backlot to the front office, in more ways than meet the eye.A computer workstation is nothing less than a mini Hollywood studio on a desktop, with its camera and lighting department, its set construction workshop, its prop and wardrobe department, its special effects unit and an entire post-production department. Until recently, only the large Hollywood studios had access to pools of talented specialists and the range of technical facilities and service companies required to create high tech productions and sophisticated visual effects. The advent of computer-generated imagery and digital effects has changed all that. Now anyone can have access to the technology used to create
Jurassic Park,
regardless of whether they are based in Los Angeles, in the South Pacific, on a Greek Island or in Brussels.The digital technologies have shaken up the sacrosanct position of Hollywood as being the only place where state of the art special effects and high end visuals can be created. But while it is interesting to realize that computers are creating a new universal form of visual communication, the true nature of the digital revolution lies in the fact that for the first time in the history of film and television, the tools used to create the content will soon also be used to distribute the products to the marketplace and to display them to audiences.The best way to take full advantage of the power of digital tools is to set up a fully integrated digital studio capable of controlling the entire development process, the production and post-production phases, the financing and the sales and distribution of the finished products. This is precisely what New Wave International is trying to achieve in the specialised market of location based entertainment.
Computer graphics pioneers
Authors: Machover Carl
Published: November 2005

When Editor Gordon Cameron asked me if I thought a regular column in
Computer Graphics
authored by computer graphics "pioneers" would be a good idea, I responded with an enthusiastic "yes." Then he asked me if I wanted to write it, and I became somewhat less enthusiastic. However, I've been able to convince Sherry Keowen, Executive Director of the Computer Graphics Pioneers, a society comprised of long-time computer graphics professionals, to co-write the column with me. Between the two of us, we should be able to develop a regular feature.Of course, there is one question we might ask: "Is anyone really interested in a column about the Computer Graphics Pioneers?" At the August 1996 board meeting of the editorial board of
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications (CG&A),
I suggested that
CG&A
do something in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of ACM SIGGRAPH conferences. One of our board members looked me in the eye and said, "Is anybody interested in that old stuff?" That's a valid question. However, since we attracted about 2,000 to the "Into The Fifth Decade Of Computer Graphics" panel on the last day of SIGGRAPH 96, I suppose I can respond with a tentative "yes."In any case, we plan to share with you some stories of the people and events that have shaped computer graphics; some quite significant, some modest recollections.
An object-oriented construction and tool kit for human-computer communication
Authors: Fischer G
Published: November 2005

Over the last several years, we have developed an object-oriented, knowledge-based construction kit for human-computer communication (HCC) and a large number of associated tools and intelligent support systems needed to exploit this kit effectively. Answers to the "HCC design question" are given by providing appropriate building blocks which suggest the way HCC's should be built. The object-oriented system architecture is highly flexible and enhances the reusability of many building blocks. In designing new HCC capabilities the designer can use either existing objects or objects with minor modifications, and can thereby rely on standard and well-tested components. Our support tools analyze HCC systems, provide assistance and guidance in building them, and create informative graphical displays of their structure. They help the designer regain control over systems that have become too complex to master without support tools. Our research efforts have given us an understanding of how the concepts and abstractions of our HCC toolkit have evolved and of what it means today to design new systems that make use of various types of graphical representations, icons, windows, and menus.
Some important features and issues in user interface management systems
Authors: Hill R D
Published: November 2005

Some key features that are believed to be required in future User Interface Management Systems (UIMSs) are presented and discussed, as are some key philosophical issues. These features and issues concern the range and quality of user interfaces that can be supported, and the ease with which the user interfaces can be implemented and modified.The arguments presented are based on experience gained with the Sassafras UIMS. Sassafras is a prototype UMIS that was explicitly designed to support some features that were not common in UMISs, but were belived to be necessary to support many styles of interaction.
UIMS support for direct manipulation interfaces
Authors: Hudson S E
Published: November 2005

Recently direct manipulation interfaces have received a lot of attention. The direct manipulation paradigm seems to offer significant advantages, particularly for novice users. In this paper we will consider what direct manipulation is, what this means to user interface management systems, and what we should do about it. We will conclude that to support direct manipulation, syntax should be de-emphasized and decentralized, the presentation component of the system should be made more flexible than most exiting systems, and feedback, particularly semantic feedback, is very important and should be supported in a much more automatic fashion.
Gaining general acceptance for UIMSs
Authors: Myers B A
Published: November 2005

User Interface Management Systems (UIMSs) have now gained acceptance in the research and business communities. Unfortunately, they are still not widely available or used. This paper proposes three reasons for this: that they are too hard to use, that they are still too limited in the types of interfaces that they can create, and that they are not portable with respect to different machines, operating systems and graphics systems. UIMSs can be made easier to use by avoiding programming-language-like techniques, and they can be made more functional by providing the ability to create Direct Manipulation interaction techniques and to integrate them into modern interfaces. UIMSs can be made more portable by inventing new input models and graphics packages that are appropriate for highly-interactive interfaces and that can work in various environments.
Future directions in visual display systems
Authors: Lantz Ed
Published: November 2005

Visual displays have evolved in several parallel application areas including television, computer monitors, graphics monitors, portable displays, projection displays and most recently, immersive displays. Film, too, has matured as the highest resolution display medium available. One might mistakenly proclaim that today's visual displays produce an image quality which nearly matches that of our perception. The truth is that primitive cave petroglyphs viewed in fire-light far exceed the visual capacity of any modern imaging and display system. Our visual displays only represent a small piece of what our eyes perceive to be reality.Consider the visual content in a highly ornate architectural space such as the Sistine Chapel. One is immersed within great columns, arches and a ceiling covered with Michelangelo's paintings containing hundreds of human figures. One could argue that this space is a vast immersive display system designed to invoke a sense of awe and communicate a biblical world view. The environment is static, but viewing it involves a great deal of eye, head and body motion. Even our best large-format film displays are at a loss to reproduce the range of colors, dynamic range of intensities, field of view and level of detail present in such a space.Visual displays are arguably becoming our primary means of information delivery. Their design can profoundly affect how we daily communicate and interact with information. As image capture, generation and display technologies advance, we will see visual systems improve in both realism and level of immersion. Arrayed display systems are already providing a leap in simultaneous wide field of view and high resolution. These advances are fundamentally changing the way in which information can be represented by increasing information bandwidth and enabling a deeper engagement of our visual senses.
Autostereoscopic displays and computer graphics
Authors: Halle Michael
Published: November 2005

Autostereoscopic displays present a three-dimensional image to a viewer without the need for glasses or other encumbering viewing aids. Three classes of autostereoscopic displays are described: reimaging displays, volumetric displays and parallax displays. Reimaging displays reproject an existing three-dimensional object to a new location or depth. Volumetric displays illuminate points in a spatial volume. Parallax displays emit directionally varying image information into the viewing zone. Parallax displays are the most common autostereoscopic displays and are most compatible with computer graphics. Different display technologies of the three types are described. Computer graphics techniques useful for three-dimensional image generation are outlined.
Professional chapters news and notes
Authors: Lang Scott , Cleary Colleen
Published: November 2005

Space for this column is dedicated to activities and issues connected with the SIGGRAPH Professional Chapters. Each quarter, I fill you in on some of the events being organized by our chapters and the ways in which the chapters and the parent organization of SIGGRAPH work with one another.
White paper published; ACM activity update
Authors: Ellis Bob
Published: November 2005

This column covers several items: a synopsis of SIGGRAPH's first policy white paper, ACM public policy activities and the ACM Policy98 Conference.
Computer graphics and architecture
Authors: Dorsey Julie , McMillan Leonard
Published: November 2005

During the three decades since Ivan Sutherland introduced the Sketchpad system [7], there has been an outpouring of computer graphics systems for use in architecture [3, 5]. In response to this development, most of the major architectural firms around the world have embraced the idea that computer literacy is mandatory for success. We would argue, however, that most of these recent developments have failed to tap the potential of the computer as a design tool. Instead, computers have been relegated largely to the status of drafting instruments, so that the "D" in CAD stands for drafting rather than design. It is important that future architectural design systems consider design as a continuous process rather than an eventual outcome.The advent of computer graphics technology has had an impact on the architectural profession. Computer graphics has revolutionized the drafting process, enabling the rapid entry and modification of designs (see Figure 1). In addition, modeling and rendering systems have proven to be invaluable aids in the visualization process, allowing designers to walk through their designs with photorealistic imagery (see Figure 2) [6, 2, 3]. Computer graphics systems have also demonstrated utility for capturing engineering information, greatly simplifying the analysis and construction of proposed designs. However, it is important to consider that all of these tasks occur near the
conclusion
of a larger design process. In fact, most of the artistic and intellectual challenges of an architectural design have already been resolved by the time the designer sits down in front of a computer. In seeking insight into the design process, it is generally of little use to revisit the various computer archives and backups. Instead, it is best to explore the reams of sketches and crude balsa models that fill the trash cans of any architectural studio.In architecture, as in most other fields, the initial success of computerization has been in areas where it frees humans from tedious and mundane tasks. This includes the redrawing of floor plans after minor modifications, the generation of largely redundant, yet subtly different engineering drawings and the generation of perspective renderings.We believe that there is a largely untapped potential for computer graphics as a tool in the earlier phases of the design process. In this essay, we argue that computer graphics might play a larger role via applications that aid and amplify the creative process.
Computer graphics in medicine
Authors: Gross Markus H.
Published: November 2005

Medicine is an extremely challenging field of research, which has been -- more than any other discipline -- of fundamental importance in human existence. The variety and inherent complexity of unsolved problems has made it a major driving force for many natural and engineering sciences. Hence, from the early days of computer graphics the medical field has been one of most important application areas with an enduring provision of exciting research challenges. Conversely, individual graphics tools and methods have become increasingly irreplaceable in modern medicine, where medical imaging systems are only one prominent example.The purpose of the following article is twofold: Without claiming completeness, the first part gives a brief retrospective of the fruitful relationship between computer graphics and individual subareas of the medical field. We start with early imaging and 3D visualization and move via interactive, collaborative data analysis to the emerging field of surgery simulation. The second part of the paper presents a more detailed view on the interdisciplinary field of virtual and simulated surgery which encompasses knowledge from medicine, computer graphics, computer vision, mechanics, material sciences, robotics and numeric analysis The author describes the leading role of graphics and VR as core technologies and summarizes his personal vision of current and future research problems, which have to be pursued for realizing our vision of fully interactive and immersive surgery simulation.
Solving the problems that count
Authors: Fiume Eugene
Published: November 2005

The excitement of doing research in computer graphics has not diminished in its 35 years of life. It remains a quick paced, intellectually challenging field that necessarily bends some traditional scientific methodologies. I think, however, that a recalibration of how we do things is in order. I offer a personal view of the "hows and whys" of that recalibration.
VisAD
Authors: Hibbard Bill
Published: November 2005

In our last
Computer Graphics
issue, Greg Johnson contributed an interesting survey article on collaborative visualization. Another perspective on this hard problem is discussed by Bill Hibbard in the following article. Most of you in the visualization community know Bill from his pioneering work on Vis5D and more recently VisAD. As always, I welcome your comments and thoughts on this column.
Portrait of the artists in a young industry
Authors: Falstein Noah
Published: November 2005

Today's big computer games are often graphics-intensive behemoths with SGI-rendered imagery filled with 3D figures and created with big budgets. But games and graphics haven't always been so closely linked. I was pleased to be invited to write this retrospective, as even though my own background in games began in programming, far from art, I've always enjoyed the special synergy that can develop between artists and programmers working together on a computer game. The programmers are amazed as their crude stick-figure sketches turn into glorious images in the hands of a talented artist. Then it is the artists' turn to smile, as their series of still frames comes to life and responds to their control enabled by the magic of the programmer. How has the role of graphics evolved in games, and what lies ahead?
User performance in relation to 3D input device design
Authors: Zhai Shumin
Published: November 2005

Based mainly on a series of studies the author conducted at the University of Toronto, this article reviews the usability of various six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) input devices for 3D user interfaces. The following issues are covered in the article: the multiple aspects of input device usability (performance measures), mouse based 6 DOF interaction, mouse modifications for 3D interfaces, free-moving isotonic 6 DOF devices, desktop isometric and elastic 6 DOF devices, armature-based 6 DOF devices, position vs. rate control and the form factors of 6 DOF control handle. These issues are treated at an introductory and practical level, with pointers to more technical and theoretical references.
Compatability and interaction style in computer graphics
Authors: Fitzmaurice George W. , Buxton Bill
Published: November 2005

Recent trends in human computer interaction have focused on representations based on physical reality [4, 5, 6, 8]. The idea is to provide richer, more intuitive handles for control and manipulation compared to traditional graphical user interfaces (GUIs) using a mouse. This trend underscores the need to examine the concept of manipulation and to further understand what we
want
to manipulate versus what we
can
easily manipulate. Implicit in this is the notion that the bias of the UI is often incompatible with user needs.The main goal of UI design is to reduce complexity while augmenting the ability of users to get their work done. A fundamental belief underlying our research is that complexity lies not only in what is purchased from the software and hardware manufacturers, but also in what the user creates with it. It is not just a question of making buttons and menus easier to learn and more efficient to use. It is also a question of "Given that I've created this surface in this way, how can it now be modified to achieve my current design objective?" (The observation is that how the user created the surface in the first place will affect the answer to the question.) Our thesis is that appropriate design of the system can minimize both kinds of complexity: that inherent in accessing the functionality provided by the vendor,
and
that created by the user. The literature focuses on the former. In what follows, we investigate some of the issues in achieving the latter. In so doing, we structure our discussion around questions of
compatibility.
Continuous tone representation of three-dimensional objects taking account of shadows and interreflection
Authors: Nishita Tomoyuki , Nakamae Eihachiro
Published: November 2005

The effect of shadows and interreflection created by room obstructions is an important factor in the continuous tone representation of interiors. For indirect illumination, in most cases a uniform ambient light has been considered, even though the interreflection gives very complex effects with the shaded images.The proposed method for indirect lighting with shadows results in the following advanced points:1) The indirect illuminance caused by the surfaces of objects such as ceilings, floors, walls, desks, bookcases etc. gives added realism to images.2) The proposed method is suitable for every type of light source such as point sources, linear sources, and area sources.
Bounding ellipsoids for ray-fractal intersection
Authors: Bouville Christian
Published: November 2005

Recently published papers have shown that, with appropriate intersection algorithms, the rendering of many procedural objects is possible with all the advantages offered by the ray-tracing techniques. In the case of stochastic surfaces, the intersection can be computed by a recursive subdivision technique. The efficiency of this algorithm depends essentially on the bounding volume whose size and shape are directly related to the stochastic characteristics of these surfaces. After a brief review of the rendering of stochastic surfaces and the bounding volume selection problem, two types of bounding volume are studied, describing how their intersection with a ray can be computed and how their size can be derived from the stochastic characteristics. The efficiency then, of these bounding volumes are compared.
Antialiasing through stochastic sampling
Authors: Dippé Mark A. Z. , Wold Erling Henry
Published: November 2005

Stochastic sampling techniques
, in particular
Poisson
and
fittered
sampling, are developed and analyzed. These approaches allow the construction of
alias-free
approximations to continuous functions using discrete calculations. Stochastic sampling scatters high frequency information into broadband
noise
rather than generating the false
patterne
produced by
regular
sampling. The type of randomness used in the sampling process controls the spectral character of the noise. The
average sampling rate
and the function being sampled determine the amount of noise that is produced. Stochastic sampling is applied
adaptively
so that a greater number of samples are taken where the function varies most. An
estimate
is used to determine how many samples to take over a given region.
Noise reducing filters
are used to increase the efficacy of a given sampling rate. The
filter width
is adaptively controlled to further improve performance. Stochastic sampling can be applied
spatiotemporally
as well as to other aspects of scene simulation.
Ray tracing
is one example of an image synthesis approach that can be antialiased by stochastic sampling.
Fast image generation of construcitve solid geometry using a cellular array processor
Authors: Sato Hiroyuki , Ishii Mitsuo , Sato Keiji , Ikesaka Morio , Ishihata Hiroaki , Kakimoto Masanori , Hirota Katsuhiko , Inoue Kouichi
Published: November 2005

A general purpose Cellular Array Processor(CAP) with distributed frame buffers for fast parallel subimage generation has been developed. CAP consists of many processor elements called cells. A cell has video memory for subimage storage, a window controller to map each subimage to an area on the monitor screen, and communication devices, in addition to ordinary microcomputer components such as MPU, RAM, and ROM. Image data in a cell is directly displayed via the video bus. The mapping pattern and the position on the screen of subimages can be changed dynamically. Various hidden surface algorithms can be implemented in CAP using mapping patterns appropriate for the algorithm.Our goal is an efficient interactive visual solid modeler. We adopted a general CSG hidden
surface algorithm that enables display of both
Boundary representation and Constructive Solid Geometry. A technique for hidden surface removal of general CSG models, requiring less memory space for large models in many cases, has been proposed. This technique subdivides the model into submodels by dividing the CSG tree at union nodes. Imagse of each submodel are generated by a CSG or a z-buffer algorithm. If a submodel is just a primitive, it is processed by the z-buffer algorithm, otherwise by the CSG algorithm. Hidden surface removal between submodels is done by comparing the z values for each pixel which are saved in the z-buffer.