Tutorial 1 (TUT1) Monday 11th (full day), morning and afternoon

Will Chang, Hao Li, Niloy Mitra, Mark Pauly, Szymon Rusinkiewicz, Michael Wand

Computing Correspondences in Geometric Data Sets

Length: 360 minutes.

Abstract: Shape registration and, more generally speaking, computing correspondence across shapes are fundamental problems in computer graphics and vision. Problems from this area show up in many different variants such as scan registration, deformable shape matching, animation reconstruction, or finding partial symmetries of objects. Computing correspondences is a main prerequisite for higher level shape processing algorithms, such as building statistical models, non-local denoising, or inverse procedural modeling. Our tutorial addresses correspondence problems in geometric shapes. We will look at the problem from two different perspectives: In the first part of our tutorial, we will motivate the problem and explain the problem structure (formal models for shape matching), its variants (partial vs. complete matching, deformable vs. rigid, etc) and specific challenges (such as noise, incomplete data, and statistical descriptions thereof). In the second part, we will look at algorithms for solving these problems, and at applications of these. Again, we will focus on the main ideas and principles. Our overall goal is to give the attendee a "coordinate system" of the field, to convey the main problem structure and the main approaches to solve the problem, as well as open questions and research challenges. Topics covered will include rigid and deformable shape matching, local and global correspondence algorithms, as well as symmetry detection and applications.

 

Tutorial 2 (TUT2) Monday 11th (half day), morning only

Pedro Company, Peter Varley

Sketch Input of Engineering Solid Models

Length: 180 minutes.

Abstract: In this tutorial, we describe the state of the art of sketch input of engineering solid models. The tutorial is in four parts. In the first part, we show how sketching has historically been an important aspect of engineering culture, and remains a useful tool in the early design phase as it has been demonstrated that sketching enhances creativity. We discuss and classify various current approaches to computer interpretation of sketches. We introduce the problem of deducing design intent, which we understand as a mix of geometry, psychology and engineering, and note how no existing approach to interpretation of sketches has considered the explicit capture of design intent from the input sketch. In the second and third parts, we present our selection of the most important algorithms currently used for interpreting wireframe drawings (part two) and natural line drawings (part three) of engineering objects. In part two, the algorithms we look at are: for finding faces in wireframes; for inflating wireframes to 3D; and for processing rounds and fillets. In part three, we look at: line labelling; inflation to 2.5D; and deducing hidden topology. In part four, we discuss some of the most interesting open problems: making virtual paper and pencil more usable than actual paper and pencil; interpreting annotated engineering sketches; and creating assemblies from sketches.

 

Tutorial 3 (TUT3) Monday 11th (half day), afternoon only

John Collomosse, Jan Eric Kyprianidis

Artistic Stylisation of Images and Video

Length: 180 minutes.

Abstract: The half-day tutorial provides an introduction to Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR), targeted at both students and experienced researchers of Computer Graphics who have not previously explored NPR in their work. The tutorial focuses on two-dimensional (2D) NPR, specifically the transformation of photos or videos into synthetic artwork (e.g. paintings or cartoons). Consequently the course will touch not only on computer graphics topics, but also on the image processing and computer vision techniques that drive such algorithms. However the latter concepts will be introduced gently and no prior knowledge is assumed beyond a working knowledge of filtering and convolution operations. Some elements of the course will touch upon GPU implementation, but GPU concepts will be described at a high level of abstraction without need for detailed working knowledge of GPU programming.

 

Tutorial 4 (TUT4) Tuesday 12th (quarter day), after lunch

Alexander Wilkie, Andrea Weidlich

(Bi)spectral Rendering in Practice

Length: 90 minutes.

Abstract: Amongst graphics technologies, spectral rendering is something of a wallflower. Most engineers know that it exists, but few have actually used it in practice. And very probably, not that many graphics engineers could give an accurate assessment as to why this is so. Which is a bit odd, since if one considers the rationale behind the simulation of light transport (i.e. the physics background of computer graphics), spectral rendering should be a much more natural way of computing light-surface interactions than the colour-space computations that are standard practice in rendering these days. And as current technology shows, spectral rendering is, in fact, really not required to achieve good results in a lot of common usage scenarios. However, in some cases, it is really necessary - one of them being scenes in which fluorescent surfaces are present. Such usage scenarios, and their correct handling, are what this course is all about. This course attempts to provide a comprehensive, stand-alone overview of this topic area, both in terms of when to use spectral rendering (the theoretical background presented should enable attendees to positively identify all usage cases that require spectral rendering), and how to do it from a technical perspective - including an overview of the design of an existing, complex bi-spectral rendering system.

 

Tutorial 5 (TUT5) Tuesday 12th (quarter day), late afternoon

Alexander Wilkie, Andrea Weidlich

Rendering with Layered Materials

Length: 90 minutes.

Abstract: This course serves as a guide on the considerable potential of layered surface models. The key advantage of using such layered BRDFs over traditional, more general shading language constructs is that the end result is automatically highly physically plausible. However, this does not mean that these models cannot be used for artistic purposes. In particular, we demonstrate on a simple layered surface model that combines several traditional well known BRDF components how a surprisingly large number of interesting and important surface types can be efficiently represented by using the same, not particularly complex, BRDF code. We also show how handy such an approach is for the eventual end user, whose main concern is the ease with which one can describe object appearance based only on a few intuitive parameters. We first discuss layered surface models in general and the constraints of modelling object appearance in a physically plausible fashion. We then demonstrate the techniques that can be used to efficiently evaluate layered BRDF models, both for high quality offline rendering as well as in a real-time setting before we give examples of the surface types that can be described in this way and demonstrate how they can be created. We also go beyond plain surface models, and showcase how a texture-based combination of layered surface components can be used to describe highly complex object appearance attributes, while implicitly remaining physically plausible.

 

Tutorial 6 (TUT6) Tuesday 12th (half day), afternoon only

Camilla Forsell, Matthew Cooper

Scientific Evaluation in Visualization

Length: 180 minutes.

Abstract: The objective of this half-day introductory tutorial is to increase awareness of what constitutes a sound scientific approach to evaluation in Visualization and to provide basic theoretical knowledge of and practical skills in current research practice. The content presents the current challenges and trends related to how to characterize and optimize the complex interactive visual displays present in Visualization today. It will cover the most basic and relevant issues to consider during different phases of evaluation: planning, design, execution, analysis of results and reporting. The content outlines how to proceed to achieve high quality results and point out common pitfalls and mistakes which are threats to high quality results. The main focus is on quantitative experimental research but the general knowledge applies to all kinds of studies. The tutorial will present the main part of the content by means of a lecture style using power-point presentations, and will use example studies from the tutorial leaders' own publications as well as other relevant work. There will also be demonstrations of different techniques for capturing data during an evaluation study. The participants will be given the opportunity to try out some of these methods hands-on to further facilitate a discussion of their potential suitability for different kinds of studies. Taking part in this tutorial will not train a novice participant to be fully capable of designing and conducting an evaluation study and analyzing its outcome, such a goal would require a substantially larger course. The aim is to introduce the topic, provide a general knowledge about what is important to consider and what resources are available to guide them in further study in this area. Further, participants will also learn to better judge the relevance and quality of a publication presenting an evaluation when reviewing such work since the same rules apply.