Understanding Motion Capture for Computer Animation discusses the latest technology developments in digital design, film, games, medicine, sports, and security engineering. Motion capture records a live-motion event and translates it into a digital context. It is the technology that converts a live performance into a digital performance. In contrast, performance animation is the actual performance that brings life to the character, even without using technology. If motion capture is the collection of data that represents motion, performance animation is the character that a performer represents. The book offers extensive information about motion capture. It includes state-of-the-art technology, methodology, and developments in the current motion-capture industry. In particular, the different ways to capture motions are discussed, including using cameras or electromagnetic fields in tracking a group of sensors. This book will be useful for students taking a course about digital filming, as well as for anyone who is interested in this topic.
Networked Graphics equips programmers and designers with a thorough grounding in the techniques used to create truly network-enabled computer graphics and games. Written for graphics/game/VE developers and students, it assumes no prior knowledge of networking.The text offers a broad view of what types of different architectural patterns can be found in current systems, and readers will learn the tradeoffs in achieving system requirements on the Internet. It explains the foundations of networked graphics, then explores real systems in depth, and finally considers standards and extensions.Numerous case studies and examples with working code are featured throughout the text, covering groundbreaking academic research and military simulation systems, as well as industry-leading game designs.
In Silico introduces Maya programming into one of the most fascinating application areas of 3D graphics: biological visualization. In five building-block tutorials, this book prepares animators to work with visualization problems in cell biology. The book assumes no deep knowledge of cell biology or 3D graphics programming. An accompanying DVD-ROM includes code derived from the tutorials, the working Maya computer files, and sample animated movies.
Graphics and game developers must learn to program for mobility. This book will teach you how. "This book - written by some of the key technical experts...provides a comprehensive but practical and easily understood introduction for any software engineer seeking to delight the consumer with rich 3D interactive experiences on their phone. Like the OpenGL ES and M3G standards it covers, this book is destined to become an enduring standard for many years to come." - Lincoln Wallen, CTO, Electronic Arts, Mobile“This book is an escalator, which takes the field to new levels. This is especially true because the text ensures that the topic is easily accessible to everyone with some background in computer science...The foundations of this book are clear, and the authors are extremely knowledgeable about the subject.” - Tomas Akenine-Möller, bestselling author and Professor of Computer Science at Lund University "This book is an excellent introduction to M3G. The authors are all experienced M3G users and developers, and they do a great job of conveying that experience, as well as plenty of practical advice that has been proven in the field." - Sean Ellis, Consultant Graphics Engineer, ARM LtdThe exploding popularity of mobile computing is undeniable. From cell phones to portable gaming systems, the global demand for multifunctional mobile devices is driving amazing hardware and software developments. 3D graphics are becoming an integral part of these ubiquitous devices, and as a result, Mobile 3D Graphics is arguably the most rapidly advancing area of the computer graphics discipline. Mobile 3D Graphics is about writing real-time 3D graphics applications for mobile devices. The programming interfaces explained and demonstrated in this must-have reference enable dynamic 3D media on cell phones, GPS systems, portable gaming consoles and media players. The text begins by providing thorough coverage of background essentials, then presents detailed hands-on examples, including extensive working code in both of the dominant mobile APIs, OpenGL ES and M3G. C/C++ and Java Developers, graphic artists, students, and enthusiasts would do well to have a programmable mobile phone on hand to try out the techniques described in this book. The authors, industry experts who helped to develop the OpenGL ES and M3G standards, distill their years of accumulated knowledge within these pages, offering their insights into everything from sound mobile design principles and constraints, to efficient rendering, mixing 2D and 3D, lighting, texture mapping, skinning and morphing. Along the way, readers will benefit from the hundreds of included tips, tricks and caveats.
Visualization in Medicine is the first book on visualization and its application to problems in medical diagnosis, education, and treatment. The book describes the algorithms, the applications and their validation (how reliable are the results?), and the clinical evaluation of the applications (are the techniques useful?). It discusses visualization techniques from research literature as well as the compromises required to solve practical clinical problems. The book covers image acquisition, image analysis, and interaction techniques designed to explore and analyze the data. The final chapter shows how visualization is used for planning liver surgery, one of the most demanding surgical disciplines. The book is based on several years of the authors' teaching and research experience. Both authors have initiated and lead a variety of interdisciplinary projects involving computer scientists and medical doctors, primarily radiologists and surgeons.
Trying to learn Maya programming from the documentation can be daunting whether or not you are a programmer. The first edition of MEL Scripting for Maya Animators earned the reputation as the best introductory book on MEL, Maya’s scripting language. Now fully revised and updated, the second edition also includes new features, such as a discussion of global procedures, new chapters on fixing programming bottlenecks, advanced user interface techniques, and optimizing character rigs. New chapters on utility nodes and Maya's Web Panel feature provide new ideas on how to use MEL in applications. This new edition has kept the popular style of the first edition that offered very clear explanations of programming concepts to those without programming experience. A generous collection of code examples and Maya scene files is included on the companion Web site. This is a book for animators, artists, game developers, visual effects developers, and technical directors who want to learn the fundamentals of Maya, how to automate tasks, personalize user interfaces, build custom tools, and solve problems with MEL.
In this book we generate graphic images using the software Mathematica thus providing a gentle and enjoyable introduction to this rather technical software and its graphic capabilities. The programs we use for generating these graphics are easily adaptable to many variations.These graphic images are enhanced by introducing a variety of different coloring techniques.Detailed instructions are given for the construction of some interesting 2D and 3D fractals using iterated functions systems as well as the construction of many different types of Julia sets and parameter sets such as the Mandelbrot set.The mathematics underlying the theory of Iterated function systems and Julia sets is given an intuitive explanation, and references are provided for more detailed study.
Physically Based Rendering, Second Edition, describes both the mathematical theory behind a modern photorealistic rendering system as well as its practical implementation. A method known as literate programming combines human-readable documentation and source code into a single reference that is specifically designed to aid comprehension. The result is a stunning achievement in graphics education. Through the ideas and software in this book, you will learn to design and employ a full-featured rendering system for creating stunning imagery. This new edition greatly refines its best-selling predecessor by streamlining all obsolete code as well as adding sections on parallel rendering and system design; animating transformations; multispectral rendering; realistic lens systems; blue noise and adaptive sampling patterns and reconstruction; measured BRDFs; and instant global illumination, as well as subsurface and multiple-scattering integrators. These updates reflect the current state-of-the-art technology, and along with the lucid pairing of text and code, ensure the book's leading position as a reference text for those working with images, whether it is for film, video, photography, digital design, visualization, or gaming.
Rendering is a crucial component of computer graphics— the conversion of a description of a 3D scene into an image for display. Algorithms for animation, geometric modeling, and texturing all must feed their results through some sort of rendering process for the results to be visible in an image. Focusing on realistic images, physically based rendering incorporates ideas from a range of disciplines, including physics, biology, psychology, cognitive science, and mathematics. This book presents the algorithms of modern photorealistic rendering and follows step by step the creation of a complete rendering system. As each new rendering concept is introduced it is also shown implemented in code—there is no better way to understand the subtle and complex process of rendering. The code itself is highly readable, written in the literate programming style that mixes text describing the system with the code that implements it. The result is a stunning achievement in graphics education for students, professionals, and researchers.