He lectures on computer graphics and computer art, worldwide. He recently left academia to join the Software Group at Digital Domain, where he had helped to model the moon for Apollo 13, and where a variation on his planet-builder code was used to model the CG pyroclastic cloud in Dante's Peak. His movie credits also include Lawnmower Man. They have the potential to generate compelling, immersive environments that we may explore at will, initially in non-real time applications such as movies, and soon in inexpensive interactive systems in your home. This can be done amazingly simply, the key being the artful use of fractals.
Fractals map simplicity, in the model, to complexity, in the visual result.
That is, a relatively simple program can create a universe of visual detail. This talk will outline how we can do this. Simple fractals can create realistic terrains. Greatly simplified models of the Earth's atmosphere can generate aerial perspective, the shift in color and contrast with distance that visually indicates truly large scale. Finally, a simple algorithm allows us render our scenes with the appropriate level of detail at all distances and at all resolutions.