Showing posts with label graphics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label graphics. Show all posts

2013-03-29

Beyond The 'Uncanny Valley'

Activision R&D Real-time Character Demo - YouTube



This animated character is being rendered in real-time on current video card hardware, using standard bone animation. ...

Is It Real? With New Technology Has Activision Crossed The 'Uncanny Valley?' : The Two-Way : NPR

Mashable asks the pertinent, philosophical question: Does this next-generation animation cross the so-called "uncanny valley?"

The term was coined in 1970 by the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori. He said humans can relate to robots — think R2-D2 — but once they get too humanlike, but not close enough — think the animated Angelina Jolie in Beowulf — they feel disgust. That disgust — that "uncanny valley" — subsides at the other side: when the robot is indistinguishable from reality.

So, have we crossed that valley with this animation?

Jorge Jimenez – Next Generation Life


We believe this technology brings current generation characters, into next generation life. At 180 fps in a Geforce GTX 680.
The team behind this technology consists on Javier Von Der Pahlen (Director of R&D), Etienne Danvoye (Technical Director), Bernardo Antoniazzi (Techical Art Director), Zbyněk Kysela (Modeler and Texture Artist), Mike Eheler (Programming & Support) and me (Real-Time Graphics R&D).
You have a teaser of the slides here:
Next-Generation-Character-Rendering-Teaser.pptx

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2010-03-21

Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) Simulating Real and Imaginary Worlds

Digital Molecular Matter

Digital Molecular Matter, better known as simply DMM, is a middleware physics engine developed by Pixelux. It is designed for computer, video games, and other simulation needs by attempting to simulate physical real-world systems. Unlike traditional realtime simulation engines which tend to be based on rigid body kinematics, the use of soft body dynamics via FEA allows for DMM to simulate a more general set of properties. Developers assign physical properties to a given object (or portion of an object) and then at runtime they behave as they would in the real world (e.g. ice, gummy bear, etc.) In addition the properties of objects (or even just parts of objects) can be changed at runtime allowing for additional interesting effects.


LucasArts: Digital Molecular Matter Tech Demo




outerbox



How it Works
 
DMM handles the simulation of diverse materials by using an advanced method from scientific computing called finite element modeling (FEM). Materials are represented in FEM by a set of "material parameters" that the simulation takes into account. A DMM content creator has complete control over these parameters to tune an object's material, being able to adjust, for example, how soft or rigid an object is and how easily it may fracture. Side effects such as having objects weaken and break after repeated bending occur naturally as an artifact of material settings. The DMM collision system is very robust and handles the collision of the complex shapes that arise from deformation and fracture.




These demos show what can be done with the DMM Plug-in for Maya. They were created entirely with DMM Plug-in for Maya, no other physics system was used.

Cliff House

A wooden shack on a cliff gets destroyed by boulders.
Spaceship

A spaceship gets destroyed by asteroids.
Crash

A heavy soft body falls onto a wooden beam destroying it. An animated object further destroys the beam, shattering it to tiny pieces.

Twist

Only the two red items attached to the wooden bar are animated. Because of the stress caused by the torsion, the wood brakes and shatters the glass box.
Rubber Car

A rubber car is thrown onto a circuit. Nothing is animated.
Trestle

A boulder is given an initial velocity. It then falls on a wooden trestle with metal railways. The resulting destruction is entirely simulated by DMM.





Sources:
  1. Digital Molecular Matter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. YouTube - LucasArts: Digital Molecular Matter Tech Demo
  3. Pixelux Entertainment SA - DMM Technology
  4. Pixelux Entertainment SA - Movies
  5. YouTube - DMM(Digital Molecular Matter) Cliff House
  6. YouTube - Rubber Car Pixelux Demo
  7. YouTube - Twist Pixelux Demo
Related:
  1. Digital Molecular Matter: Realistic material damage for military training simulations using real-time Finite Element Analysis - By Steve Griffith (Objective Interface Systems)
  2. Pixelux releases DMM plug-in for Autodesk Maya 2010 (physics simulation) - Software News for Maya News
  3. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself (Playlist).
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2009-11-15

The Mandelbulb a 3D Mandelbrot Set

clipped from en.wikipedia.org
Fractal
A fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"[1] a property called self-similarity.

The Mandelbrot set is a famous example of a fractal

clipped from en.wikipedia.org
Mandelbrot set
The Mandelbrot set is self-similar under magnification [...]
Zoom animation
Regardless of the extent to which one zooms in on a Mandelbrot set, there is always additional detail to see.
Mandelbrot color zoom.gif
clipped from www.youtube.com

Exterminate - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom Music Video

clipped from www.skytopia.com


The Real 3D Mandelbulb

It's found by following a relatively simple math formula. But in the end, it's still only 2D and flat - there's no depth, shadows, perspective, or light sourcing. What we have featured in this article is a potential 3D version of the same fractal.

Resulting renders

But it wasn't until I incorporated proper shadowing that the subtleties of this incredible object became apparent. For the renders below and exploration afterwards,

blog it
clipped from www.skytopia.com
Further exploration of the 3D Mandelbulb

What does it look like on the inside?

Any interesting analogues to the 2D Mandelbrot set?


A 3D Mandelbrot stalk (a deep zoom inside the Bulb)

A 2D Mandelbrot stalk

A 3D Mandelbulb spiral (found at a deeper zoom inside the "Ice Cream from Uranus" picture). Click to enlarge, and see this page of the thread for how it was found.

A 2D Mandelbrot spiral

Are gorgeous flyovers and parallax zooms now possible?

clipped from www.youtube.com

Mandelbulb zoom

A zoom into the 3D mandelbulb (split in half), with full light sourcing. Enjoy.

clipped from www.youtube.com

3D Mandelbulb mountain cross sections

Over 1000 cross sections of a zoomed in section from the 3D Mandelbulb. Observe the absurdly ornate detail within. This took around a couple of days to render.


blog it

Sources:
  1. Fractal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. Mandelbrot set - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. YouTube - Exterminate - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom Music Video
  4. Mandelbulb: The Unravelling of the Real 3D Mandelbrot Fractal
  5. The Unravelling of the Real 3D Mandelbrot Fractal
  6. YouTube - mandelbulb zoom
  7. YouTube - 3D Mandelbulb mountain cross sections
Related:
  1. Welcome - True 3D mandelbrot type fractal
  2. Patterns of Visual Math - Mandelbrot Set
  3. Skytopia - Mystery of the Real 3D Mandelbrot Fractal
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2008-03-13

Electric Sheep

About Electric Sheep: a distributed computing project for animating and evolving fractal flames.
clipped from electricsheep.org

electric sheep


Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver run by thousands of
people all over the world. It can be installed on any ordinary PC or
Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the
computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the
work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The
result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's
novel Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
clipped from electricsheep.org
Video documentary in MPEG-4
format, and an older streaming version in cinepak.
High resolution music video in MEPG-4
format.
The FAQ,
wiki,
and hires stills.



Good new quicktime
sample.
Short old quicktimes:
1700,
2507b.
clipped from video.google.com
165-star-oasis by Electricsheep.org





blog it

Related:
the electric sheep screen-saver
A Guided Tour of Electric Sheep
Electric Sheep - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On Lisa Rein's Radar: Node Zero Gallery Opening Thursday, March 13 - Live w/Spot Draves
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2008-03-05

Math Art

Where Mathematics and Art blends into a zen-like state of peace

Math-Art.net is a gallery-cum-blog-cum-magazine of sorts, featuring arts that were formed by mathematical imagery, and mathematical imagery formed in arts. Some examples:
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