Abstract: This paper presents a new technique to simultaneously model in both the physical and virtual worlds. The intended application domain for this technique is industrial design. A designer physically sculpts a 3D model from foam using a hand-held hot wire foam cutter. Both the foam and cutting tool are tracked, allowing the system to digitally replicate the sculpting process to produce a matching 3D virtual model. Spatial Augmented Reality is used to project visualizations onto the foam. Inspired by the needs of industrial designers, we have developed two visualizations for sculpting specific models: Target, which shows where foam needs to be removed to produce a model, and Cut Animation, which projects the paths for cuts to be made to reproduce a previous artifact. A third visualization of the wireframe of the generated model is projected onto the foam and used for verification. The final visualization employs 3D procedural textures such as a wood grain texture, providing a simulation of volumetric rendering. Volumetric rendering techniques such as this provide a more natural look that is projected onto the foam. Once the object has been modeled physically and virtually, the designer is able to annotate and paint the finished model. The system has been evaluated through a user study conducted with students from the School of Industrial Design at the University of South Australia.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for scheduling and storing media creation are described. Methods and apparatuses for rendering a plurality of vector graphic objects on a display are also described.

Abstract: Noisy volumetric details like clouds, grounds, plaster, bark, roughcast, etc. are frequently encountered in nature and bring an important contribution to the realism of outdoor scenes. We introduce a new interactive approach, easing the creation of procedural representations of "stochastic" volumetric details by using a single example photograph. Instead of attempting to reconstruct an accurate geometric representation from the photograph, we use a stochastic multi-scale approach that fits parameters of a multi-layered noise-based 3D deformation model, using a multi-resolution filter banks error metric. Once computed, visually similar details can be applied to arbitrary objects with a high degree of visual realism, since lighting and parallax effects are naturally taken into account. Our approach is inspired by image-based techniques. In practice, the user supplies a photograph of an object covered by noisy details, provides a corresponding coarse approximation of the shape of this object as well as an estimated lighting condition (generally a light source direction). Our system then determines the corresponding noise-based representation as well as some diffuse, ambient, specular and semi-transparency reflectance parameters. The resulting details are fully procedural and, as such, have the advantage of extreme compactness, while they can be infinitely extended without repetition in order to cover huge surfaces.

Abstract: This thesis is a study of stochastic image models with applications to texture synthesis. Most of the stochastic texture models under investigation are germ-grain models. In the first part of the thesis, texture synthesis algorithms relying on the shot noise model are developed. In the discrete framework, two different random processes, namely the asymptotic discrete spot noise and the random phase noise, are theoretically and experimentally studied. A fast texture synthesis algorithm relying on these random processes is then elaborated. Numerous results demonstrate that the algorithm is able to reproduce a class of real-world textures which we call micro-textures. In the continuous framework, the Gaussian convergence of shot noise models is further studied and new bounds for the rate of this convergence are established. Finally, a new algorithm for procedural texture synthesis from example relying on the recent Gabor noise model is presented. This new algorithm permits to automatically compute procedural models for real-world micro-textures. The second part of the thesis is devoted to the introduction and study of the transparent dead leaves (TDL) process, a new germ-grain model obtained by superimposing semi-transparent objects. The main result of this part shows that, when varying the transparency of the objects, the TDL process provides a family of models varying from the dead leaves model to a Gaussian random field. In the third part of the thesis, general results on random fields with bounded variation are established with an emphasis on the computation of the mean total variation of random fields. As particular cases of interest, these general results permit the computation of the mean perimeter of random sets and of the mean total variation of classical germ-grain models.

Abstract: Texture mapping is an important technique to add visual detail to geometric models As an alternative to traditional image-based texture mapping, procedural textures are described by a function, with interesting properties such as compact representation, resolution independency and parametric adjustment of the visual appearance Procedural textures are usually defined in the 2D texture space, making the result dependent on texture mapping coordinates assigned to the model, or in the 3D object space, implying in no correlation with the surface model In this work we introduce GeoTextures, an approach that uses the geodesic distance, defined from multiple sources over the model, as a parameter that is taken into account by time-varying procedural textures The use of geodesic distances allows the process to be both independent from the mapping of texturing coordinates and also conforming with the model surface We validate the proposal by applying real-time procedural textures in complex surfaces

Abstract: This demo is an exploration of the world of the procedural one-man indie "MMO LOVE". The demo also showcases the tools used to create assets, like sketch-based modeling, 100% automatic UV mapping, shader and asset management tools, and the layer-based procedural texturing tool.

Abstract: We introduce procedural texture particles, a new texture model at mid-way between procedural textures and example-based texture synthesis. As for example-based texture synthesis, we use an input example to produce similar looking textures. But instead of creating texture images (pixel arrays), our textures are defined in the form of procedural distributions of interchangeable visual elements called particles. As for classical example-based synthesis, our method guarantees a certain visual resemblance with the example, but obtained textures are compact and defined on the entire infinite 2D plane.

Abstract: This poster describes an abstract computation model of the evolution of camouflage in nature. Evolution is represented by genetic programming. Camouflage patterns are represented by procedural texture synthesis. A 2D environment is represented by a supplied photo. A predator is represented by a human's visual perception, interacting through a graphical user interface.

Abstract: We introduce procedural texture particles, a new texture model at mid-way between procedural textures and example-based texture synthesis. As for example-based texture synthesis, we use an input example to produce similar looking textures. But instead of creating texture images (pixel arrays), our textures are defined in the form of procedural distributions of interchangeable visual elements called particles. As for classical example-based synthesis, our method guarantees a certain visual resemblance with the example, but obtained textures are compact and defined on the entire infinite 2D plane.

Abstract: Procedural texturing is a powerful way to add details to the surface of rendered objects. The Worley basis function of Cellular Texture is the most popular one and widely used to create various kinds of solid textures. However, most applications are implemented over 2D textures, which do not present varied illumination and viewpoint information. We present a method for creating surface height maps based on cellular textures and relighting them on 3D scenes. Furthermore, we implement our algorithm on GPU and show real-time relighting performance under arbitrary lighting directions.

Abstract: We present a new solution for temporal coherence in non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) of animations. Given the conflicting goals of preserving the 2D aspect of the style and the 3D scene motion, any such solution is a tradeoff. We observe that primitive-based methods in NPR can be seen as texture-based methods when using large numbers of primitives, leading to our key insight, namely that this process is similar to sparse convolution noise in procedural texturing. Consequently, we present a new primitive for NPR based on Gabor noise, that preserves the 2D aspect of noise, conveys the 3D motion of the scene, and is temporally continuous. We can thus use standard techniques from procedural texturing to create various styles, which we show for interactive NPR applications. We also present a user study to evaluate this and existing solutions, and to provide more insight in the trade-off implied by temporal coherence. The results of the study indicate that maintaining coherent motion is important, but also that our new solution provides a good compromise between the 2D aspect of the style and 3D motion.