Abstract: A method comprises the steps of: transmitting a map request from a client computer to a server; receiving in the client computer data representing a map from a map server; receiving, in the client computer, dynamic, location-based data from a content provider separately from the data representing the map; generating within the client computer a rendering of the dynamic, location-based data overlaid on the map; and displaying the rendering on the client computer.

Abstract: Recursive ray tracing is a simple yet powerful and general approach for accurately computing global light transport and rendering high quality images. While recent algorithmic improvements and optimized parallel software implementations have increased ray tracing performance to realtime levels, no compact and programmable hardware solution has been available yet.This paper describes the architecture and a prototype implementation of a single chip, fully programmable Ray Processing Unit (RPU). It combines the flexibility of general purpose CPUs with the efficiency of current GPUs for data parallel computations. This design allows for realtime ray tracing of dynamic scenes with programmable material, geometry, and illumination shaders.Although, running at only 66 MHz the prototype FPGA implementation already renders images at up to 20 frames per second, which in many cases beats the performance of highly optimized software running on multi-GHz desktop CPUs. The performance and efficiency of the proposed architecture is analyzed using a variety of benchmark scenes.

Abstract: In this paper we present "reflective shadow maps", an algorithm for interactive rendering of plausible indirect illumination. A reflective shadow map is an extension to a standard shadow map, where every pixel is considered as an indirect light source. The illumination due to these indirect lights is evaluated on-the-fly using adaptive sampling in a fragment shader. By using screen-space interpolation of the indirect lighting, we achieve interactive rates, even for complex scenes. Since we mainly work in screen space, the additional effort is largely independent of scene complexity. The resulting indirect light is approximate, but leads to plausible results and is suited for dynamic scenes. We describe an implementation on current graphics hardware and show results achieved with our approach.

Abstract: We present a signal-processing framework for light transport. We study the frequency content of radiance and how it is altered by phenomena such as shading, occlusion, and transport. This extends previous work that considered either spatial or angular dimensions, and it offers a comprehensive treatment of both space and angle.We show that occlusion, a multiplication in the primal, amounts in the Fourier domain to a convolution by the spectrum of the blocker. Propagation corresponds to a shear in the space-angle frequency domain, while reflection on curved objects performs a different shear along the angular frequency axis. As shown by previous work, reflection is a convolution in the primal and therefore a multiplication in the Fourier domain. Our work shows how the spatial components of lighting are affected by this angular convolution.Our framework predicts the characteristics of interactions such as caustics and the disappearance of the shadows of small features. Predictions on the frequency content can then be used to control sampling rates for rendering. Other potential applications include precomputed radiance transfer and inverse rendering.

Abstract: The serving of one or more ads to a user device considers determined characteristics of a user device, such as whether or not the user device supports telephone calls. At least some ads may include call-on-select functionality. When such an ad is selected (e.g., via a button click), instead of loading a document (e.g., Web page) for rendering, a telephone number associated with the ad by an advertiser can be automatically dialed.

Abstract: In this work we present a flexible framework for GPU-based volume rendering. The framework is based on a single pass volume raycasting approach and is easily extensible in terms of new shader functionality. We demonstrate the flexibility of our system by means of a number of high-quality standard and non-standard volume rendering techniques. Our implementation shows a promising performance in a number of benchmarks while producing images of higher accuracy than obtained by standard pre-integrated slice-based volume rendering.

Abstract: We present a modified photon mapping algorithm capable of running entirely on GPUs. Our implementation uses breadth-first photon tracing to distribute photons using the GPU. The photons are stored in a grid-based photon map that is constructed directly on the graphics hardware using one of two methods: the first method is a multipass technique that uses fragment programs to directly sort the photons into a compact grid. The second method uses a single rendering pass combining a vertex program and the stencil buffer to route photons to their respective grid cells, producing an approximate photon map. We also present an efficient method for locating the nearest photons in the grid, which makes it possible to compute an estimate of the radiance at any surface location in the scene. Finally, we describe a breadth-first stochastic ray tracer that uses the photon map to simulate full global illumination directly on the graphics hardware. Our implementation demonstrates that current graphics hardware is capable of fully simulating global illumination with progressive, interactive feedback to the user.

Abstract: Contrast in image processing is usually defined as a ratio between the darkest and the brightest spots of an image. In this paper we introduce a different contrast definition. The newly introduced Global Contrast Factor (GCF) corresponds closer to the human perception of contrast. GCF uses contrasts at various resolution levels in order to compute overall contrast. Experiments were conducted in order to find weight factors needed to calculate GCF. GCF measures richness of detail as perceived by a human observer, and as such can be used in various application areas like rendering, tone mapping, volume visualization, and lighting design.

Abstract: A method, system and computer readable medium for the blocking of recording digital content at an end user multimedia end-user-system during the rendering of encrypted digital multimedia files. Before the process of rendering of encrypted digital multimedia can be started all rendered media stream during playback are opened to ensure that this multimedia content is not recorded. This blocks the usage of the multimedia interfaces including devices and/or ports that can be used to store un-encrypted content that has been decrypted for the purposes of playing or rendering. The method also includes an exception, which allows recording with permission from the present invention.

Abstract: Illustrations play a major role in the education process. Whether used to teach a surgical or radiologic procedure, to illustrate normal or aberrant anatomy, or to explain the functioning of a technical device, illustration significantly impacts learning. Although many specimens are readily available as volumetric data sets, particularly in medicine, illustrations are commonly produced manually as static images in a time-consuming process. Our goal is to create a fully dynamic three-dimensional illustration environment which directly operates on volume data. Single images have the aesthetic appeal of traditional illustrations, but can be interactively altered and explored. In this paper we present methods to realize such a system which combines artistic visual styles and expressive visualization techniques. We introduce a novel concept for direct multi-object volume visualization which allows control of the appearance of inter-penetrating objects via two-dimensional transfer functions. Furthermore, a unifying approach to efficiently integrate many non-photorealistic rendering models is presented. We discuss several illustrative concepts which can be realized by combining cutaways, ghosting, and selective deformation. Finally, we also propose a simple interface to specify objects of interest through three-dimensional volumetric painting. All presented methods are integrated into VolumeShop, an interactive hardware-accelerated application for direct volume illustration.

Abstract: This paper presents a physically-based, visually-realistic interactive cloud simulation. Clouds in our system are modeled using partial differential equations describing fluid motion, thermodynamic processes, buoyant forces, and water phase transitions. We also simulate the interaction of clouds with light, including self-shadowing and light scattering.We implement both simulations - dynamic and radiometric - entirely on programmable floating-point graphics hardware. We use "flat 3D textures" - 3D data laid out as slices tiled in a 2D texture - to implement 3D simulations on the GPU. This has scalability advantages over the use of traditional 3D textures. We exploit the relatively slow evolution of clouds in calm skies to enable interactive visualization of the simulation. The work required to simulate a single time step is automatically spread over many frames while the user views the results of the previous time step. This technique enables the incorporation of our simulation into real applications without sacrificing interactivity.

Abstract: Rendering participating media is important for a number of domains, ranging from commercial applications (entertainment, virtual reality) to simulation systems (driving, flying, and space simulators) and safety analyses (driving conditions, sign visibility). This article surveys global illumination algorithms for environments including participating media. It reviews both appearance-based and physically-based media methods, including the single-scattering and the more general multiple-scattering techniques. The objective of the survey is the characterization of all these methods: identification of their base techniques, assumptions, limitations, and range of utilization. It concludes with some reflections about the suitability of the methods depending on the specific application involved, and possible future research lines.

Abstract: A system and method for displaying an electronic program guide (“EPG”), the EPG allowing for the controlling of recording functionality of an appliance and/or playing of media. The displayable EPG includes a listing of playable media from which the user may select a program of interest for recording or playing. The EPG may also include a display of prior recorded media for playing. Options may be presented to allow for a selection of a rendering device on which selected media is to be played.

Abstract: This paper presents importance-driven feature enhancement as a technique for the automatic generation of cut-away and ghosted views out of volumetric data. The presented focus+context approach removes or suppresses less important parts of a scene to reveal more important underlying information. However, less important parts are fully visible in those regions, where important visual information is not lost, i.e., more relevant features are not occluded. Features within the volumetric data are first classified according to a new dimension, denoted as object importance. This property determines which structures should be readily discernible and which structures are less important. Next, for each feature, various representations (levels of sparseness) from a dense to a sparse depiction are defined. Levels of sparseness define a spectrum of optical properties or rendering styles. The resulting image is generated by ray-casting and combining the intersected features proportional to their importance (importance compositing). The paper includes an extended discussion on several possible schemes for levels of sparseness specification. Furthermore, different approaches to importance compositing are treated.

Abstract: We present a new technique for importance sampling products of complex functions using wavelets. First, we generalize previous work on wavelet products to higher dimensional spaces and show how this product can be sampled on-the-fly without the need of evaluating the full product. This makes it possible to sample products of high-dimensional functions even if the product of the two functions in itself is too memory consuming. Then, we present a novel hierarchical sample warping algorithm that generates high-quality point distributions, which match the wavelet representation exactly. One application of the new sampling technique is rendering of objects with measured BRDFs illuminated by complex distant lighting --- our results demonstrate how the new sampling technique is more than an order of magnitude more efficient than the best previous techniques.

Abstract: Point-based geometries evolved into a valuable alternative to surface representations based on polygonal meshes, because of their conceptual simplicity and superior flexibility. Elliptical surface splats were shown to allow for high-quality anti-aliased rendering by sophisticated EWA filtering. Since the publication of the original software-based EWA splatting, several authors tried to map this technique to the GPU in order to exploit hardware acceleration. Due to the lacking support for splat primitives, these methods always have to find a trade-off between rendering quality and rendering performance. In this paper, we discuss the capabilities of today's GPUs for hardware-accelerated surface splatting. We present an approach that achieves a quality comparable to the original EWA splatting at a rate of more than 20M elliptical splats per second. In contrast to previous GPU renderers, our method provides per-pixel Phong shading even for dynamically changing geometries and high-quality anti-aliasing by employing a screen-space pre-filter in addition to the object-space reconstruction filter. The use of deferred shading techniques effectively avoids unnecessary shader computations and additionally provides a clear separation between the rasterization and the shading of elliptical splats, which considerably simplifies the development of custom shaders. We demonstrate quality, efficiency, and flexibility of our approach by showing several shaders on a range of models.

Abstract: One of the main challenges in computer graphics is still the realistic rendering of complex materials such as fabric or skin. The difficulty arises from the complex meso structure and reflectance behavior defining the unique look-and-feel of a material. A wide class of such realistic materials can be described as 2D-texture under varying light- and view direction, namely, the Bidirectional Texture Function (BTF). Since an easy and general method for modeling BTFs is not available, current research concentrates on image-based methods, which rely on measured BTFs (acquired real-world data) in combination with appropriate synthesis methods. Recent results have shown that this approach greatly improves the visual quality of rendered surfaces and therefore the quality of applications such as virtual prototyping. This state-of-the-art report (STAR) will present the techniques for the main tasks involved in producing photo-realistic renderings using measured BTFs in details.

Abstract: We examine a rendering system that interactively ray traces an image on a conventional multiprocessor. The implementation is "brute force" in that it explicitly traces rays through every screen pixel, yet pays careful attention to system resources for acceleration. The design of the system is described, along with issues related to material models, lighting and shadows, and frameless rendering. The system is demonstrated for several different types of input scenes.

Abstract: Color management and color-managed workflow concepts are applied to lighting apparatus configured to generate multi-colored light, including lighting apparatus based on LED sources. In particular, color management principles are employed to facilitate the generation of variable color light from a given lighting apparatus based on any of a number of possible input specifications for a desired color. In one example, a transformation between an arbitrary input specification for a desired color and a lighting command processed by the lighting apparatus is accomplished via the use of a source color management profile for the input specification of the desired color, a target color management profile for the lighting apparatus, and a common working color space. Colors defined in the common working color space may be reproduced or approximated (e.g., according to one or more rendering intents) by one or more lighting apparatus.

Abstract: In volume data visualization, the classification step is used to determine voxel visibility and is usually carried out through the interactive editing of a transfer function that defines a mapping between voxel value and color/opacity. This approach is limited by the difficulties in working effectively in the transfer function space beyond two dimensions. We present a new approach to the volume classification problem which couples machine learning and a painting metaphor to allow more sophisticated classification in an intuitive manner. The user works in the volume data space by directly painting on sample slices of the volume and the painted voxels are used in an iterative training process. The trained system can then classify the entire volume. Both classification and rendering can be hardware accelerated, providing immediate visual feedback as painting progresses. Such an intelligent system approach enables the user to perform classification in a much higher dimensional space without explicitly specifying the mapping for every dimension used. Furthermore, the trained system for one data set may be reused to classify other data sets with similar characteristics.

Abstract: Volume visualization is a method of extracting meaningful information from volumetric data using interactive graphics and imaging. It is concerned with volume data representation, modeling, manipulation, and rendering. Volume data are 3D (possibly time-varying) entities that may have information inside them, may not consist of tangible surfaces and edges, or may be too voluminous to be represented geometrically. They are obtained by sampling, simulation, or modeling techniques. When volumetric data are visualized using a surface-rendering technique, a dimension of information is essentially lost. In response to this, volume rendering techniques were developed that attempt to capture the entire 3D data in a single 2D image. Volume rendering conveys more information than surface-rendered images but at the cost of increased algorithm complexity and consequently increased rendering times. To improve interactivity in volume rendering, many optimization methods both for software and graphics-accelerator implementations as well as several special-purpose volume rendering machines have been developed.

Abstract: A system and method for capturing, displaying, and navigating text annotations in a non-modifiable document is disclosed. Once it is determined that a text annotation is to be created, the system determines the file position of the selected object. The file position of the selected object is stored along with the created text annotation in another file or a non-read only portion of a file storing the document. Using the file position, the text annotation may be properly identified with the selected object without modifying the non-modifiable document. Once a text annotation is displayed a user may easily navigate among the captured annotations.

Abstract: A remote control device has a display monitor for rendering an image and a touch screen for user interaction. The touch screen is pressure-sensitive. The device has an operational mode wherein the image is being scaled dependent on a value of the pressure registered by the touch screen.

Abstract: We consider real-time rendering of scenes in participating media, capturing the effects of light scattering in fog, mist and haze. While a number of sophisticated approaches based on Monte Carlo and finite element simulation have been developed, those methods do not work at interactive rates. The most common real-time methods are essentially simple variants of the OpenGL fog model. While easy to use and specify, that model excludes many important qualitative effects like glows around light sources, the impact of volumetric scattering on the appearance of surfaces such as the diffusing of glossy highlights, and the appearance under complex lighting such as environment maps. In this paper, we present an alternative physically based approach that captures these effects while maintaining real time performance and the ease-of-use of the OpenGL fog model. Our method is based on an explicit analytic integration of the single scattering light transport equations for an isotropic point light source in a homogeneous participating medium. We can implement the model in modern programmable graphics hardware using a few small numerical lookup tables stored as texture maps. Our model can also be easily adapted to generate the appearances of materials with arbitrary BRDFs, environment map lighting, and precomputed radiance transfer methods, in the presence of participating media. Hence, our techniques can be widely used in real-time rendering.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that uses three-dimensional (3D) and other rendering effects within a graphical display environment on a mobile device to enable a new application to be displayed while a currently-running application window remains visible within a main viewing area of a screen. During operation, the system receives a request to display a new application in the graphical display environment. Next, in response to the request, the system generates a slanted view of the currently-running application window by slanting the currently-running application window through a 3D rendering effect and moving the currently-running application window towards an edge of the screen to make room for the new application. Finally, the system displays the new application in a new display window next to the slanted view of the currently-running application window.

Abstract: Harvesting the power of modern graphics hardware to solve the complex problem of real-time rendering of large unstructured meshes is a major research goal in the volume visualization community. While, for regular grids, texture-based techniques are well-suited for current GPUs, the steps necessary for rendering unstructured meshes are not so easily mapped to current hardware. We propose a novel volume rendering technique that simplifies the CPU-based processing and shifts much of the sorting burden to the GPU, where it can be performed more efficiently. Our hardware-assisted visibility sorting algorithm is a hybrid technique that operates in both object-space and image-space. In object-space, the algorithm performs a partial sort of the 3D primitives in preparation for rasterization. The goal of the partial sort is to create a list of primitives that generate fragments in nearly sorted order. In image-space, the fragment stream is incrementally sorted using a fixed-depth sorting network. In our algorithm, the object-space work is performed by the CPU and the fragment-level sorting is done completely on the GPU. A prototype implementation of the algorithm demonstrates that the fragment-level sorting achieves rendering rates of between one and six million tetrahedral cells per second on an ATI Radeon 9800.

Abstract: Point clouds have recently become a popular alternative to polygonal meshes for representing three-dimensional geometric models. 3D photography and scanning systems acquire the geometry and appearance of real-world objects in form of point samples. Rendering directly with points eliminates the complex task of reconstructing a surface and allows handling of non-surfaces like models such as trees. With modern acquisition techniques producing larger and larger amounts of points, efficient schemes for compressing such data have become necessary.

Abstract: A method and system for creating a transition between a first scene and a second scene on a computer system display, simulating motion. The method includes determining a transformation that maps the first scene into the second scene. Motion between the scenes is simulated by displaying transitional images that include a transitional scene based on a transitional object in the first scene and in the second scene. The rendering of the transitional object evolves according to specified transitional parameters as the transitional images are displayed. A viewer receives a sense of the connectedness of the scenes from the transitional images. Virtual tours of broad areas, such as cityscapes, can be created using inter-scene transitions among a complex network of pairs of scenes.