Natural phenomena can be powerful visual cues for place and mood in computer generated (CG) animation. Unfortunately, creating and directing natural phenomena in CG animation is difficult and time-consuming. We investigate algorithms and datastructures that simplify the use of natural phenomena in CG animation. Our goal is to give a director the tools needed to interactively create and direct natural phenomena with minimal intervention by technical support staff.
Current Projects
Dramatic clouds in a photograph.
Directable, Artistic Clouds
The BYU Animation Program's next 3D film is called "Kites." Not surprisingly, the film will rely heavily on directable clouds which can be used as both background landscapes and props. We are working on cloud models and shaders which strike a balance between automated physical realism and artistic directability. Projects like this are at the core of our lab mission.
A synthetic goblin created using simulated spheroidal weathering.
Convex geology-based landscape generation
Previous work on computer generated landscapes has focused on fractal models which are excellent models of certain kinds of mountainous terrain. A wide range of more realistic landscapes can be generated by including stratiagraphy and differential errosion in landscape generation. Terrain features randing from mountains with cliff bands to sandstone arches to slot canyons can be generated with differential erosion. The primary technical challenge in this work is modeling rock strata so the differential erosion from a variety of sources can be simulated.
Our first foray into landscape generation focused on the unique rock formations of Goblin Valley State Park, Utah. A senior capstone class in Winter 2007 designed and implemented an algrorithm which mimics the core geological process which creates sandstone goblins. A paper on this work was published in the 2007 Eurographics Workshop on Natural Phenomena.
Learning natural phenomena from photographs and video
Color and motion are important parts of natural phenomena in CG animation. Because people spend so much time outside and looking outside, the eye is good a detecting fake color and motion in nature. One way to create plausible color and motion is to record images of natural phenomena paired with weather observations and the time-of-day. The resulting databases of images paired with weather observations can then be used to learn color and motion patterns as a function of weather phenomena. The resulting color and motion functions can be used to light and animate outdoor scemes based on user generated weather and time-of-day values.
Dr. Jones is the faculty advisor for the CGNP Lab. His graphics research interests focus on algorithms, datastructures and user interfaces for the inclusion of natural phenomena in computer generated animation. He was appointed to the BYU CS faculty in September 2001 and holds a PhD in CS from the U of Utah.
Cory Rheimschussel
Cory is an MS student working on directable, artistic clouds. Cory did the textures for the goblin modeling project and works closely with the BYU Animation Program.
McKay Farley
McKay is an undergraduate student working on directable, artistic clouds and terrain modeling. McKay was the team lead for the goblin modeling project and ported the project from C# and DirectX to C++ and OpenGL.
Jie Long
Jie is a PhD student working in tree modeling. Jie's dissertation will likely focus on modeling tree motion.
