bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Advanced Visualization Laboratory of the University of Maryland, College Park
Authors: Goodrich C. C. , McNabb D. A.
Published: November 2005

The Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) of the University of Maryland, College Park campus, was created in October, 1991 to facilitate the use of state-of-the-art visualization techniques on campus. The complementary goals of the AVL are to meet the general graphics needs of the academic community by offering new user services, and to meet the specific needs of individual researchers by working with them to produce new visualization tools.Underlying the structure of the AVL is our conviction that strong ties must be maintained to both the academic research community and to university computing service organizations. Thus the AVL is a joint initiative of the Computer Science Center (CSC), which is responsible for academic computing support campus-wide, and the Astronomy Department, which has expertise in image processing and three-dimensional data visualization.The AVL provides several new user services. First, the laboratory provides a demonstration site where faculty and students can do hands-on evaluation of a variety of visualization software on a range of computers in a friendly environment. We currently have workstations from Apple Computer, Digital Equipment, IBM, Next, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems. Basic assistance in the use of software packages such as AVS, IBM Data Explorer, Data Visualizer, IDL, IRIS Explorer, PV-Wave, and Spyglass is available from the laboratory staff. Finally, but certainly not least, the AVL provides color output facilities on a fee-for-materials basis. We have a color printer, film recorder, and S-VHS/VHS videotape facility that is capable of frame accurate recording and digitization.
Surface reconstruction from unorganized points
Authors: Hoppe Hugues , DeRose Tony , Duchamp Tom , McDonald John , Stuetzle Werner
Published: November 2005

We describe and demonstrate an algorithm that takes as input an unorganized set of points {x
l
, . . . . x
n
} ⊂ R
3
on or near an unknown manifold M, and produces as output a simplicial surface that approximates M. Neither the topology, the presence of boundaries, nor the geometry of M are assumed to be known in advance - all are inferred automatically from the data. This problem naturally arises in a variety of practical situations such as range scanning an object from multiple view points, recovery of biological shapes from two-dimensional slices, and interactive surface sketching.
Careers in computer graphics
Authors: Brown Judith R , Culanag Don
Published: November 2005

Information is unquestionably today's most important commodity. Computer graphics, as a means of expressing that information, now appears in virtually every application area. When we began gathering information for this article, we intended to describe each job title and cross-reference each title by applications which utilize computer graphics. However, there no longer appears to be any application, no matter how seemingly obscure, where computer graphics is not used to some extent. For example, techniques similar to those used a few years ago in charting the surface of the moon are now being used in a Skin-Imaging Computer to select cosmetic supplies.The most important distinction in computer graphics careers is between working in the computer graphics industry and using computer graphics as a tool in an occupation whose main focus is not computer graphics. By "working in the computer graphics industry," we mean the jobs of researching, designing and marketing graphics equipment, researching and writing graphics languages, libraries and application software, preparing documentation, consulting on graphics hardware and software and teaching graphics courses. Careers in these areas require more extensive knowledge of computers in general and computer graphics in particular than do careers involving applications which use graphics work stations. In both cases, however, some specialty is required in addition to computer graphics experience.
A tutorial on developing a computer-controlled camera system
Authors: Sullivan Neil , Rogers C Durward , Daniel Stephen
Published: November 2005

A research organization or graphics house often has a need for custom pictures for presentations or other purposes. These pictures may be prohibitively expensive, if not impossible to create, if they are produced by a commercial art firm. For groups that have such a need, an in-house computer-controlled camera may be a solution. To develop a quality system, users will have to overcome a series of electronic, mechanical, photographic and computer-related hurdles. This tutorial deals with adjustments to the system in four classes to achieve the best possible pictures. The adjustments are for clean signal, image placement and focus, contrast and brightness, and software interface. In each case, common problems are discussed, some options are given, and the chosen solution is explained.
Computer graphics course recommendations in computer science education
Authors: Ohlson Mark R
Published: November 2005

The SIGGRAPH education committee has been considering recommedations for inclusion of graphics in various curricula for higher education. Several issues of computer graphics in computer science or computer science/engineering curricula are identified here. Recommendations as outlined in this paper are being prepared through the SIGGRAPH education committee, and feedback by interested parties is needed and encouraged. Emphasis is on the enlarged scope of material available for graphics courses, and the need to identify legitimate "core" material for all undergraduates and elective material for students with strong interest in graphics specialization.
Combining physical and visual simulation—creation of the planet Jupiter for the film “2010”
Authors: Yaeger Larry , Upson Craig , Myers Robert
Published: November 2005

By integrating physical simulation, in the form of numerical fluid dynamics, with visual simulation, in the form of particle rendering, texture mapping and traditional polygonal modeling techniques, we have achieved a uniquely realistic and organic special effects sequence of a planetary atmospheric flow. This paper examines the selection, implementation, and application of these techniques, know collectively as VORTEX, to produce the moving images of the planet Jupiter in the film "2010." Details of the generation of the flow field and the fluid dynamic algorithms employed are presented, along with issues relating to the generation and updating of the atmospheric images. We also describe the integration of these techniques with an advanced computer graphics imaging system. The VORTEX system provides a fairly general solution to a class of imaging problems involving two-dimensional fluid flows, and we remark upon its application to other projects. VORTEX, as an example of the marriage of physical simulation to visual simulation, demonstrates the importance of computer graphics to the computational sciences and of the physical sciences to the field of computer graphics.
Fast constructive-solid geometry display in the pixel-powers graphics system
Authors: Goldfeather Jack , Hultquist Jeff P M , Fuchs Henry
Published: November 2005

We present two algorithms for the display of CSG-defined objects on Pixel-Powers, an extension of the Pixel-Planes logic-enhanced memory architecture, which calculates for each and every pixel on the screen (in parallel) the value of any quadratic function in the screen coordinates (
x,y
). The first algorithm restructures any CSG tree into an equivalent, but possibly larger, tree whose display can be achieved by the second algorithm. The second algorithm traverses the restructured tree and generates quadratic coefficients and opcodes for Pixel-Powers. These opcodes instruct Pixel-Powers to generate the boundaries of primitives and perform set operations using the standard Z-buffer algorithm.Several externally-supplied CSG data sets have been processed with the new tree-traversal algorithm and an associated Pixel-Powers simulator. The resulting images indicate that good results can be obtained very rapidly with the new system. For example, the commonly used MBB test part (at right) with 24 primitives is translated into approximately 1900 quadratic equations. On a Pixel-Powers system running at 10MHz (the speed at which our current Pixel-Planes memories run), the image should be rendered in about 7.5 milliseconds.
Continuous tone representation of three-dimensional objects illuminated by sky light
Authors: Nishita Tomoyuki , Nakamae Eihachiro
Published: November 2005

Natural lighting models to date have been limited to calculation of direct sunlight. However, this paper proposes an improved model for natural lighting calculations that adequately considers both direct sunlight and scattered light caused by clouds and other forms of water vapor in the air. Such indirect natural light is termed skylight and can be an important factor when attempting to render realistic looking images as they might appear under overcast skies.In the proposed natural lighting model, the sky is considered to be a hemisphere with a large radius (called the sky dome) that acts as a source of diffuse light with nonuniform intensity. In order to adequately take into account the nonuniform intensity of such skylight, the sky dome is subdivided into bands. The light intensity within individual bands can be assumed to be transversely uniform and longitudinally nonuniform and therefore the total luminance emanating from each band can be calculated more accurately.The proposed method significantly improves the realism of natural lighting effects. Its advantages are particularly apparent when simulating lighting under an overcast sky or when rendering surfaces that fall within a shadow cast by an obstruction lit by direct sunlight.
A radiosity method for non-diffuse environments
Authors: Immel David S. , Cohen Michael F. , Greenberg Donald P.
Published: November 2005

A general radiosity method accounting for all interreflections of light between diffuse and nondiffuse surfaces in complex environments is introduced. As contrasted with previous radiosity methods, surfaces are no longer required to be perfectly diffuse reflectors and emitters. A complete, viewer independent description of the light leaving each surface in each direction is computed, allowing dynamic sequences of images to be rendered with little additional computation per image. Phenomena such as "reflection tracking", reflections following a moving observer across a specular surface are produced. Secondary light sources, such as the light from a spotlight reflecting off a mirror onto a wall are also accounted for.
The rendering equation
Authors: Kajiya James T.
Published: November 2005

We present an integral equation which generalizes a variety of known rendering algorithms. In the course of discussing a monte carlo solution we also present a new form of variance reduction, called Hierarchical sampling and give a number of elaborations shows that it may be an efficient new technique for a wide variety of monte carlo procedures. The resulting rendering algorithm extends the range of optical phenomena which can be effectively simulated.
Automated conversion of curvilinear wire-frame models to surface boundary models; a topological approach
Authors: Brewer John A. , Courter S. Mark
Published: November 2005

An algorithm is presented for automatically converting data representing unambiguous, three-dimensional objects in wire-frame form with curvilinear edges into a boundary representation. The method is an important extension to a previously published algorithm based on graph theory and topology. The new method automatically detects and resolves anomalies, such as necks which may appear to be faces, that formerly required human intervention. The topological basis for the solution to this problem is given along with a description of what topological properties a well defined three-dimensional object should have. An implementation has been coded and examples of results are included.
Managing geometric complexity with enhanced procedural models
Authors: Amburn Phil , Grant Eric , Whitted Turner
Published: November 2005

We illustrate two enhancements to procedural geometric models which allow autonomous procedures to jointly satisfy mutual constraints. One of the techniques adds communications paths between procedures which may affect one another. Conflicts are resolved by modifying communicating procedures as they execute.The second technique is a generalization of widely used subdivision procedures. The termination test of typical subdivision methods is replaced with a "transition" test. The subdivision procedure is augmented with a "script" in the form of a state transition table which controls the procedures' response to external events as well as to the normal termination conditions.In the examples we show how effective these techniques are building complex geometric models with very sparse input.
A consistent hierarchical representation for vector data
Authors: Nelson Randal C. , Samet Hanan
Published: November 2005

A consistent hierarchical data structure for the representation of vector data is presented. It makes use of a concept termed a
line segment fragment
to prevent data degradation under splitting or clipping of vector primitives. This means that the insertion and subsequent deletion (and vice versa) of a vector leaves the data unchanged. Vectors are represented exactly and not as digital approximations. The data is dynamically organized by use of simple probabilistic splitting and merging rules. The use of the structure for implementing a geographic information system is described. Algorithms for constructing and manipulating the structure are provided. Results of empirical tests comparing the structure to other representations in the literature are given.
Ray tracing deformed surfaces
Authors: Barr Alan H.
Published: November 2005

A collection of new methods for ray tracing differentiable surfaces is developed. The methods are general, and extend the set of "ray-traceable" surfaces suitable for use in geometric modeling. We intersect a ray

l

=

at

+

b

,
t
> 0 with a parametric surface

x

=

f
(u, v)

, and with implicit surfaces
f(x,y,z)
= 0. A smooth surface is treated as a deformation of a flat sheet; the intersection problem is converted to a new coordinate system in which the surfaces are flat, and the rays are bent. We develop methods for providing good initial estimates of the parametric intersection values, and a "closeness criterion," to reduce computation. These same criteria help us substitute a set of simpler surfaces for the more complex surface. The parametric method produces the intersection values of
u, v
, and
t
. These are suitable for shading calculations and for mapping textures onto the surface; they can also produce the local coordinate frame values, suitable for anisotropic lighting models.
Entertainment driven collaboration
Authors: Harris Michael
Published: November 2005

Location-based-entertainment (LBE) attractions are the most publicly visible applications of digital graphics, visualization and other disciplines. In the amusement industry, convincing sensory illusions and natural interactivity can translate directly into fascination for players and profit for owners.As with most technology-enabled opportunities today, the focus is often on the details: 70mm, simulation, full motion, HDTV, networking, cyberspace, virtual reality and so on. But these are (conceptually) "adjectives." What will the "nouns" be? What will players
do
with the technology? Where is the true value? Are these entertainments useful for something besides improving hand-eye coordination and encouraging aggressive behavior?LBEs are pure human interfaces. Here, at the beginning of an era of awesomely capable technologies, there is a remarkable opportunity to create new frameworks, scenarios, situations and mythologies.Most schools have taught that collaboration is the equivalent of cheating; but now it is becoming obvious that, although some individuals may win by themselves, more certain wins for more people are likely through collaboration. LBEs can be networked simulations; thus they can help people learn cooperation through play. LBEs can be groupware, and may be uniquely supportive of collaboration.
Military networking technology applied to location-based, theme park and home entertainment systems
Authors: Katz Warren
Published: November 2005

Theme parks and location-based entertainment (LBE) systems are evolving away from scripted scenario, movie-based motion rides, and towards computer image-generated, interactive experiences. Though the passive ride attractions will not be displaced entirely, a new breed of smaller, distributed, multi-player pods, running networked, real-time simulations of virtual worlds, will attract customers desiring more interactivity. Some of these systems are presently in use, such as BattleTech™, Virtuality™, Fightertown™, etc.These systems are weak in several areas, including large-scale networking. Typically, these systems can network up to four nodes on a local area network (LAN). The next generation of these systems will likely use cutting edge networking technology developed by the military, specifically distributed interactive simulation (DIS) technology. DIS allows thousands of participants to be networked via LANs and long-haul networks (LHN). Theme park attractions with dozens of pods networked to each other, and in turn networked to similar facilities at other locations, are easily attainable with today's technology.
If VR is so great, why are VR entertainment systems so poor?
Authors: Latham Roy W.
Published: November 2005

The concept of three-dimensional graphics in interactive entertainment systems is powerfully attractive. Could anything be more fascinating than exploring an artificial world, reacting to and--these are entertainment systems--shooting things therein? Yet many people are not impressed by today's interactive entertainment systems. To be sure, there are enthusiasts for today's systems and undeniably, some systems are more interesting than others. Enthusiasts overlook limitations that others catmot. There were, for example, enthusiasts for the very first home computers despite the limitation of being programmed through panel switches. Today's VR attractions usually require a similar forgiving attitude. The wonder is not that it is clone well, it is that it is done at all.
Bridging across content and tools
Authors: Davenport Glorianna
Published: November 2005

Over the past 10 years, I have contributed to the development of two kinds of "multimedia environments." In the first, the human-machine partnership evolved as a means of accessing specific content for discovery and enjoyment - this was true for works such as "New Orleans in Transition" (1987), "Elastic Charles" (1988) as well as for several fictional narratives. In the second, the human-machine partnership was designed to allow users facilities for describing, managing and sequencing content. Both types of environments encourage the invention of richer human-readable pneumonics and incorporate machine-readable description as tools for content-look-ahead. What has fascinated me over the years is the complementarity which binds the generation of content and the design of tools. In fact we cannot talk about form without discussing content and the tools for accessing that content.
Research-guided design of multimedia research tools
Authors: Beichner Robert J.
Published: November 2005

Since this issue of the newsletter features both multimedia designers and research-oriented users, I thought it would be interesting to merge the two viewpoints and describe my approach to the design of some of the multimedia software I use in my research. The main point of this article is to describe how the findings of prior research can be used to guide the design of software which itself is to be used for additional research. The beginning of the discussion will center around the development of a C program called "VideoGraph." The name furnishes a hint as to what the program does---it provides introductory physics students with a tool for graphically analyzing video sequences. A second package was designed to provide a multimedia editing environment for use by middle school students. Although these two projects sound very different, the software for both shares the same purpose---it gives students multimedia tools to help them learn science topics while minimizing the distraction of the software itself. The research investigated the educational impact of the software.
Usable software in advanced educational computing projects
Authors: Hopper Mary E.
Published: November 2005

Success in exploiting the potential of advanced computing systems that are currently emergning could depend upon how well we learn lessons from those who have already experimented with them. This was the purpose of the doctoral research study conducted by Mary Hopper of Purdue University, which is the subject of this paper. The following projects were the focus of this study:• Engineering Specific Career-Planning and Problem-Solving Environment, Educational Research and Information Systems, Purdue University• Context 32, Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship, Brown University• TODOR and Mechanics 2.01 Problem Set Solutions, Athena, Massachusetts Institute of Technology• The Physical Geology Tutor, Center for Educational Computing Initiatives, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyInterviews with 19 key participants and information from major documents were used to construct a description of the relationships between educational goals and important technical characteristics. In each project, the predominant reason for the choice of software was based on the need to access the particular set of functions perceived to be most congenial to representing a specific academic body of knowledge. The following are the three main functions of computers which relate to improved representations of particular aspects of disciplines during this study:• Powerful database functions allowed for the inclusion and management of more extensive representations of the knowledge-base of the discipline• Multimedia functions allowed for more realistic and powerful representations of multimodal and experiential content• Microworlds were emphasized for their ability to provide students with the ability to interact with computational representations of dynamic systems and processesWhile each project began with a primary emphasis upon the particular type of software function they needed for the type of data to be represented, each project was eventually also constrained by a set of convergences and circumstances related to the question, "How can the software be more usable?" Some courseware projects in this study arrived at their answer to this question for practical reasons, while others arrived at it for educational reasons, but they all ended up appreciating the importance of usable educational software from both the learner's and author's perspective.
Computer graphics curriculum
Authors: Owen G. Scott , Larrondo-Petrie María M. , Laxer Cary
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics is a field driven by technology. Whereas the technology has changed enormously in the past 15 years, the way most computer science faculty teach computer graphics courses has not changed. The authors believe that faculty should seriously consider changing the content and approach of their computer graphics courses, and in this paper we discuss the rationale for the change and our recomendation for a new course. Note that Maria Larrondo-Petrie organized a panel session on this topic for the SIGGRAPH '94 conference (with panelists Jack Bresenham, John Lansdown, Cary Laxer and Scott Owen).
A nontraditional computer graphics course for computer science students
Authors: Xiang Zhigang
Published: November 2005

The recent theoretical and technological advancement in computer graphics has brought not only exciting changes to the computing field but also new challenges to computer science educators. One of the challenges is effective teaching of computer graphics to computer science students. Several speakers at the SIGGRAPH "91 educators' program addressed various aspects of this theme (Owen, 1991; Schweitzer, 1991; Clevenger, 1991). A SIGGRAPH '92 panel consisting of representatives from academia and industry exchanged ideas and viewpoints on issues ranging from syllabus to the role of graphics in a computer science curriculum. I had the pleasure of being a member of that panel and this paper is a further elaboration of my brief statement in the conference proceedings (Schaller, 1992, 1993).The Department of Computer Science at Queens College offers computer graphics as an elective at the senior level for undergraduate students. The department also offers computer graphics at the graduate level. Since the majority of our graduate students have had no prior training in computer graphics, the two courses do not constitute a one-year sequence and the following considerations are applicable to both cases.The traditional way of teaching computer graphics to computer science students places an emphasis on vector graphics. After some general introduction, discussion typically proceeds to graphical primitives and their attributes, then windowing and geometric transformations, followed by segments and interactive techniques, leading to the use of a standard library such as GKS. Additional 3-D topics may include representation, transformation, projection and hidden surface removal algorithms. Color, and especially shading models, are not discussed until near the end of the semester.While this traditional approach has made invaluable contributions to computer graphics education, it needs to be improved in order to keep up with the rapid growth of the field over the last several years. In the next section, I present a nontraditional syllabus along with a detailed explanation. Sample assignments are in section 3. A comparison of the two syllabi and concluding remarks are in section 4.The computer graphics course described in this paper is quite similar to the course taught by Scott Owen (Owen, 1994).
Computer graphics in the undergraduate biology laboratory
Authors: Blystone Robert V.
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics use by biology undergraduate students is now a mainstay in the microanatomy course taught at Trinity University. By using desktop computer graphics, these students are able to take ownership of histological images in ways not possible just five years ago. Digital frame grabs of microscope slides serve as the basis of student produced graphics. These graphics allow the undergraduate students to dramatically improve their learning opportunities and to visualize biological microstructures. Analytical study, dimensional reconstructions, presentation graphics for laboratory practical exams, multimedia presented term projects and "digital legacies" are now a part of these students' cognitive armamentarium. A description of the activities of the class reliant on computer graphics follows.
SIGGRAPH future search survey
Authors: Sage Jacklyn
Published: November 2005

As detailed in the previous article by Chair Mary Whitton, a survey was distributed over the Internet this past April in order to solicit opinions from the computer graphics community about SIGGRAPH. The initial results of this survey are summarized below. The survey itself is reprinted following this article. We encourage you to respond. Input from the community is vital to planning for the future of SIGGRAPH.
A 3D sketching tool
Authors: Poletti Helen
Published: November 2005

For centuries, the use of a sketch book as an experimental space and as a spontaneous, reference resource has been widespread amongst artists and designers. This is evident from the wealth of ideas expressed in the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci [1] and in the accounts of Delacroix who was said to have loosened up his hand by drawing from the imagination, producing a variety of sketches that provided him with ideas to be used at a later date.By sketching, a designer releases a fluid stream of visual experiences, not all of which can mentally be retained. However, single sketches give only single view point representations of objects. It is therefore necessary to translate "…the back of-the-envelope stuff…" [2] into a three dimensional scaled model in order to fully realize a form. Much creativity and enthusiasm is dissipated during this transformation. Similarly, the precise preparation needed for input to a standard CAD system for a computer generated models is not consistent with the excitement of creative exploration expressed by Henry Moore. "The act of converting an idea into line and other marks on paper often excites the mind and frees the imagination encouraging the flow of creative thought." [2]The desire to observe and create directly in a 3D space, capturing the essence of the sketch and receiving instantaneous three dimensional feedback, has inspired the development of this project.
Representing representation
Authors: Burton Ed
Published: November 2005

The study of children's drawing has shifted from the study of drawings as static artifacts to the study of drawing as a process. Here it is suggested that a process can be most suitably embodied in a medium appropriate to its active nature. This project uses computer programming as a medium to both represent and investigate a personal interpretation of children's drawing. The result is a computer application called Rose (Representation Of Spatial Experience). Inspired by the drawings of young children, Rose simulates the perception of the general shape and structure of three-dimensional computer models and constructs childlike two-dimensional representations of them.
Logical screen operations for graphics software fuzzy QA
Authors: Wright Tom
Published: November 2005

Some types of graphics software lend themselves to an automated form of quality assurance (QA) that greatly increases productivity and confidence in product quality. The techniques described below allow automated checking of graphics software output with adjustable error tolerances. In my own instance, I am able to automatically test the accuracy of my graphics product with much higher reliability than I had previously attained with ad hoc techniques, especially through the use of fuzzy comparisons described below.
Teaching computational geometry
Authors: Overmars Mark H.
Published: November 2005

This paper describes a possible approach to teaching computational geometry to students. It gives a brief introduction in computational geometry, followed by three ways of treating the area: mathematically, algorithmically and application-oriented. Next a course outline is described, introducing computational geometry from an application-oriented point of view. Finally, some remarks are made about implementation issues.
Special focus
Authors: Sorensen Vibeke
Published: November 2005

The author questions the origin of the artist/scientist split, manifest in the structure of our higher educational institutions, and comments on the many existing and potential contributions of art to science, especially computer graphics and visualization. It is the author's view that the distinction between and separation of art and science is artificial and increasingly anachronistic, and that education is both a problem and a solution."'Truth,' as defined by Alfred North Whitehead, 'is the conformation of Appearance to Reality.' What makes any set of bedrock truths slippery is that every age and every culture defines this conformation in its own way. When the time comes to change a paradigm --- to renounce one bedrock truth and adopt another - the artist and physicist are most likely to be in the forefront." [1]
Top ten blunders by visual designers
Authors: Horton William
Published: November 2005

Literacy in a medium means being able to use it to communicate to our fellow human beings. Literacy means that we can recognize good and bad attempts in the medium and avoid the latter while employing the former. By that standard, many, even in the graphics field, are not visually literate.As a consultant I'm called in to fix what's gone awry. I want to share with you some of the most frequently made --- and easily prevented --- blunders by visual designers, especially as they move to electronic media.
Visual illiteracy
Authors: McGregor George N.
Published: November 2005

Visual illiteracy occurs whenever there is insufficient understanding in the purpose of a visual presentation. Close collaboration between the designers and end users of biomedical analysis software will alleviate visual illiteracy problems. Two case histories illustrating this approach are presented.
Visual literacy and the design of digital media
Authors: Roth Susan
Published: November 2005

Visual literacy, defined as the ability to create, comprehend, and communicate effectively using visual language, is based on an understanding of principles and concepts derived from gestalt psychology and other theories of visual perception, media studies, and visual communication design. Previously applied to the design of print media, environmental design, and fine art these principles and concepts can successfully be applied to the design of digital media, including interactive interface design and computer graphics.
Integrating XTANGO's animator into the SR concurrent programming language
Authors: Hartley Stephen J.
Published: November 2005

XTANGO's animation interpreter program, animator, has been very useful as a tool for animating concurrent programs written for an operating systems or concurrent programming class. Additional print statements can be added to a program and the output of the program can be read by the animation interpreter. The resulting algorithm animation will appear in a new window on the user's workstation running X-windows. SR is a concurrent programming language that can be used by students in an operating systems or concurrent programming class.This paper describes integrating XTANGO's animation interpreter into SR so that procedure calls can be made directly to the animation code, rather than generating an intermediate output file or piping the SR program's output to the animator program. Two new animation commands, stepjump and stepjumpto, were added so that more that one object can be moving at a time in the XTANGO window.Algorithm animation using SR is now even easier. An example SR program is included.
China
Authors: Shi Jiaoying , Pan Zhigeng
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics education started in China in the late 1970s and has expanded considerably during the last 10 years. Universities all over the country have computer graphics in their programs, In addition, there are job training courses for students and training seminars for computer graphics educators and researchers. Computer graphics knowledge can be acquired in universities and training centers, and computer graphics education usually forms part of a curriculum of a more general subject (usually computer science).Academic education in China takes place at universities, where three levels of education programs are offered. The undergraduate student program, which leads to a bachelor's degree, takes four to five years. At this level, an introduction to the basics of computer graphics and related subjects is given. Key universities, such as Tsinghua University, Nanjing University and Zhejiang University, provide undergraduate courses on computer graphics.The graduate student program, which leads to a master's degree, takes two and one-half to three years. Here the depth of the subject increases and a special subfield can be chosen. Students have some required courses and many optional courses. The graduate study ends with the master's thesis which allows students to go deeper into a special field. Many universities offer the master's degree in computer graphics.At the highest level is the Ph.D. candidate program which leads to a doctorate and takes three to four years. For a doctorate, a written dissertation is required. In the first three semesters, the Ph.D. candidate may take several courses related to his research topic. For example, if the Ph.D. student's research topic is computer graphics, he or she may take courses such as realistic graphics, geometric modeling or computer-aided design. In China, only some key universities offer the Ph.D. degree to students in the field of computer graphics.
France
Authors: Sillion Francois
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics is a very fast moving field throughout the world, and France is certainly no exception. While preparing this article, I discovered a half dozen graduate graphics courses that were offered for the first time this academic year. Considering the time that will elapse before this issue is sent to you, the reader, I will not claim to offer a complete view of computer graphics education in France. Rather, I would like to briefly explain the structure of the French education system, illustrate the recent evolution of the field and present a broad picture of the current offerings that revolve around computer graphics. More complete information on specific courses and programs, including some syllabi, can be found on-line as indicated below.Let me begin with the observation that French high schools are not typically very well equipped with computers. Therefore, we can consider that computer science (and computer graphics) education only begins at the higher education level. I shall start with a quick presentation of the French higher education and research system, this being necessary to understand the computer graphics education scene.
Spain
Authors: Brunet Pere , Navazo Isabel
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics education is becoming more and more relevant in technical studies in Spain. This positive evolution is partly due to the changes in the curricula structure in the undergraduate studies in Spain in recent years. New and updated curricula are being set up in most universities with a semester structure for their courses. As a consequence, a good number of computer graphics courses have been created, and the number of universities offering graphics courses has clearly increased.Due to the converging interests in computer graphics education, a Computer Graphics Education Group has existed within the Spanish chapter of the Eurographics Association since 1992. The main activities of the group include annual meetings to discuss curricula, covered topics, methodology and resources. Relevant information and support materials are accessible and shared through the Internet (
http://smagris.eleinf.uv.es/DOCEN-CIA_IG/docencia.html
).Undergraduate university studies in Spain are either technical (three years) or high (five years). Most of the computer graphics courses are offered in both curricula. Graduate courses are organized in Ph.D. programs. Ph.D. programs in computer graphics are emerging as the new universities settle their studies. In the next two sections we briefly summarize the organization and contents of the computer graphics courses in Spain.
Turkey
Authors: Özgüç Bülent
Published: November 2005

In a formal or an informal manner, computer graphics has been a field of research and education since the early 1970s in Turkey. The earlier examples of academic research work came from Istanbul Technical University and Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Istanbul Technical University research efforts were basically on computer-aided design, whereas at the Middle East Technical University, more theoretical computer graphics work has been carried on.Two examples can be given of early theoretical graphics work: A hidden line elimination algorithm by Ibrahim Canbulat, and an automated drafting algorithm by the author [2, 3]. To the best of my knowledge, the earliest official computer graphics course was offered at the Middle East Technical University in 1979. With the establishment of Bilkent University in Ankara, the first private university in Turkey, computer graphics became an official track of study, not only in computer engineering, but in fine arts as well.In this paper, we examine the current state of computer graphics education in Turkey under two main headings. First, the educational activities within the departments of computer science will be examined. Then, the educational activities within the schools of art and design will be looked at. In order to find out the educational activities at various universities, we have written to 52 departments at 40 universities. The information given in this report is based on the responses from these departments. Many departments at various schools offer technical drawing courses by the use of drafting software. These have not been classified as computer graphics courses.
United Kingdom
Authors: Brodlie K. W. , Mumford A. M.
Published: November 2005

This article gives a flavor of graphics education in the United Kingdom. We begin with a short section on the educational system within which graphics is taught at universities and then look at national support for graphics educators through the Advisory Group for Computer Graphics. We finish with a description of a typical graphics offering at a U.K. university.
uisGL
Authors: Grissom Scott
Published: November 2005

Computer graphics is an important part of the computer science curriculum [8]. The advancement of graphical user interfaces and increased hardware performance allows almost anyone to create stunning pictures using commercial software. However, we are interested in teaching computer science students how to
create
these software tools rather than just
use
them [3, 11]. Students must have a firm understanding of the underlying algorithms and
how
the computer renders images.Content of the introductory course has increased in complexity to allow the advanced courses to remain at the frontier of graphics research [9]. Some suggest that an introductory course should emphasize 3D rendering of realistic images [10]. Most introductory graphics courses teach the traditional graphics pipeline that includes three steps: model building, transformations and rendering [5].
Addressing student problems in learning computer graphics
Authors: Shabo Amnon , Guzdial Mark , Stasko John
Published: November 2005

Our goal is to improve the performance of computer graphics students by including problem-solving activities and situating their knowledge of computer graphics in authentic problems. The framework for achieving this goal is based on the apprenticeship model of training and integrates four modules:• An interactive notes module which includes note pages, in-depth pages and a variety of activities such as interactive visualizations and algorithm animations, aimed at enforcing the acquisition of conceptual and factual knowledge.• A case library which consists of stories of projects in computer graphics and maps them to common problems encountered in these projects.• A problem-solving module which presents problems to the learner in a real-world context and provides him/her with support to solve the problems.• A collaborative tool to support the undertaking of complex projects by teams of students.
Multimedia coverage of organismal diversity in freshman biology at Clemson University
Authors: Flagg Stephen D. , Kosinski Robert J.
Published: November 2005

At Clemson University in the fall of 1994, spring of 1995 and the spring of 1996, HyperStudio multimedia modules were used to teach the portion of freshman biology dealing with "diversity" (the different types of animals, plants and microorganisms in the living world). Working individually in our AV center, the students completed the modules outside of class. This experiment saved much class time, and instructional results were positive. This paper discusses this project's methods, problems and results
An effective tool for learning the visual effects of rendering algorithms
Authors: Wolfe Rosalee , Sears Andrew
Published: November 2005

Visual analysis is important to computer science students taking graphics courses. We created a tool called TERA to help students hone their visual analysis skills. We evaluated TERA's effectiveness by recording student performance on the visual identification portion of the midterm for two quarters. In the first class, students did not have access to TERA. In the second, they did. Students having access to TERA scored better on the visual identification portion of the midterm.
A simple naturalistic hair model
Authors: Rankin John , Hall Richard
Published: November 2005

We propose a new computer graphics model to render naturalistic human hair. In this model, a simplified progressive polyline simulation was used for fast processing. The problems of inter-hair collisions and hair-head collisions were avoided by certain assumptions, and the bend in the hair was provided by angle-dependent pseudo-force equations. Several hair-colour and shadowing techniques were tested. Despite the simplicity of the hair model itself, when it was combined with the coloring and shadowing techniques described here, the proposed model did effectively render hair, as illustrated by the still images.
Digital domain: T2 goes 3D
Authors: Parisi Paula
Published: November 2005

Terminator 2 -3D (T2-3D)
is wowing audiences at Universal Studios Florida. This Digital Domain (DD) production pushes the filmmaking envelope on many levels. On the production end, the desire for state of the art 3D imagery necessitated the retooling of a technology that remained largely unchanged since its popularization in the '50s (although it was significantly updated in the '80s).
In-house vs. off-the-shelf graphic software tools
Authors: Martino Linda , Newell Paul Allen
Published: November 2005

In this article, we discuss the software tools that Rhythm & Hues uses to create such award-winning effects as those featured in
Babe,
the Coca-Cola Polar Bears commercials and ride films such as
Seafari.
The primary topic for discussion is the question of internal "in-house" proprietary software versus external "off-the-shelf" commercial software, as relates to our company.To help explain what we are doing today, we will look at the environment when Rhythm & Hues was founded, how the industry has changed and the challenges we face today. Since this is a complex subject, there are varying opinions about the analysis of the situation within the company, so the description below should not be viewed as fact, but as a presentation of the authors' views.
Multi-process structuring of user interface software
Authors: Lantz K A
Published: November 2005

Many contemporary user interface management systems suffer from the lack of adequate operating system support for multi-process structuring. They either adopt a single-process server approach, resulting in monolithic code, or are implemented as run-time libraries, resulting in a high degree of redundancy and complex synchronization problems. This paper, on the other hand, describes a methodology that takes advantage of lightweight processes and fast interprocess communication to structure user interface software as multiple cooperating processes. It demonstrates that such an approach can lead to exceptional flexibility -- with respect to the addition of new functionality, in particular -- without sacrificing performance.
Dialogue management for gestural interfaces
Authors: Rhyne J
Published: November 2005

Gestural interfaces are electronic analogues to pencil and paper. Since the effectiveness of such interfaces depends heavily on enduser familiarity with pencil markup of printed documents, the interface must conform to the user's behaviour and not rely on educating the enduser. Spatial relationships among the gestural forms partially determine the syntactic interpretation of gestures, along with information about the context in the neighborhood of the gesture. Temporal grouping of gestural forms is more important than their temporal sequence. Such characteristics suggest a form of dialogue recognition in which rules do not specify temporal ordering of forms, and in which multiple parses are carried out in parallel.