Redefining A in RGBA: Towards a Standard for Graphical 3D Printing

Advances in multimaterial 3D printing have the potential to reproduce various visual appearance attributes of an object in addition to its shape. Since many existing 3D file formats encode color and translucency by RGBA textures mapped to 3D shapes, RGBA information is particularly important for practical applications. In contrast to color (encoded by RGB), which is specified by the object's reflectance, selected viewing conditions and a standard observer, translucency (encoded by A) is neither linked to any measurable physical nor perceptual quantity. Thus, reproducing translucency encoded by A is open for interpretation. In this paper, we propose a rigorous definition for A suitable for use in graphical 3D printing, which is independent of the 3D printing hardware and software, and which links both optical material properties and perceptual uniformity for human observers. By deriving our definition from the absorption and scattering coefficients of virtual homogeneous reference materials with an isotropic phase function, we achieve two important properties. First, a simple adjustment of A is possible, which preserves the translucency appearance if an object is re-scaled for printing. Second, determining the value of A for a real (potentially non-homogeneous) material, can be achieved by minimizing a distance function between light transport measurements of this material and simulated measurements of the reference materials. Such measurements can be conducted by commercial spectrophotometers used in graphic arts. Finally, we conduct visual experiments employing the method of constant stimuli, and derive from them an embedding of A into a nearly perceptually uniform scale of translucency for the reference materials.Comment: 20 pages (incl. appendices), 20 figures. Version with higher quality images: https://cloud-ext.igd.fraunhofer.de/s/pAMH67XjstaNcrF (main article) and https://cloud-ext.igd.fraunhofer.de/s/4rR5bH3FMfNsS5q (appendix). Supplemental material including code: https://cloud-ext.igd.fraunhofer.de/s/9BrZaj5Uh5d0cOU/downloa

Perception based heterogeneous subsurface scattering for film

Many real world materials exhibit complex subsurface scattering of light. This internal light interaction creates the perception of translucency for the human visual system. Translucent materials and simulation of the subsurface scattering of light has become an expected necessity for generating warmth and realism in computer generated imagery. The light transport within heterogenous materials, such as marble, has proved challenging to model and render. The current material models available to digital artists have been limited to homogeneous subsurface scattering despite a few publications documenting success at simulating heterogeneous light transport. While the publications successfully simulate this complex phenomenon, the material descriptions have been highly specialized and far from intuitive. By combining the measurable properties of heterogeneous translucent materials with the defining properties of translucency, as perceived by the human visual system, a description of heterogeneous translucent materials that is suitable for artist use in a film production pipeline can be achieved. Development of the material description focuses on integration with the film pipeline, ease of use, and reasonable approximation of heterogeneous translucency based on perception. Methods of material manipulation are explored to determine which properties should be modifiable by artists while maintaining the perception of heterogenous translucency

Pushing the Limits of 3D Color Printing: Error Diffusion with Translucent Materials

Accurate color reproduction is important in many applications of 3D printing, from design prototypes to 3D color copies or portraits. Although full color is available via other technologies, multi-jet printers have greater potential for graphical 3D printing, in terms of reproducing complex appearance properties. However, to date these printers cannot produce full color, and doing so poses substantial technical challenges, from the shear amount of data to the translucency of the available color materials. In this paper, we propose an error diffusion halftoning approach to achieve full color with multi-jet printers, which operates on multiple isosurfaces or layers within the object. We propose a novel traversal algorithm for voxel surfaces, which allows the transfer of existing error diffusion algorithms from 2D printing. The resulting prints faithfully reproduce colors, color gradients and fine-scale details.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures; includes supplemental figure

PREDICTIVE VALUE OF FETAL NUCHAL TRANSLUCENCY IN SCREENING OF CHROMOSOMAL ABERRATIONS

In search for specific early ultrasound signs that could indicate an increased risk of hereditary or acquired disorders of the fetus, scientific researches confirm the value of exceptional ultrasound findings of nuchal translucencey (NT). The aim of the study was to determine the predictive value of the diameter of fetal NT in the detection of chromosomopathy. The investigation included 317 pregnant women with monofetal pregnancies, gestational age 11-14 weeks. The control group consisted of pregnant women in whom, after amniocentesis, a regular result of fetal karyotype was obtained. The limits of physiological and pathological findings of the NT value were not determined; instead, we used the diameters of NT that were obtained in pregnant women with pathological score of amniocentesis as potentially pathological values. Mean value of NT in the control group was 1.92±0.39mm, and in the group with pathological findings of fetal karyotype it was 2.49±0.37mm, which is a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). Mean value of the rump-crown length in the control group was 64.83±8.23mm, and the group with pathological karyotype 60.12±8.48mm; gestational age in the control group was 7.10±87.40 days, and in the pathological one 85.69±3.98 days, which speaks of homogeneity of the investigated sample (p>0.05).The probability that a patient with negative NT findings be healthy is 0.97. NT sensitivity as a marker for chromosomopathy was 0.97. The rate of false positive findings was 0.027. Specificity of NT as a marker for chromosomopathy was 0.97. The probability that a patient with positive findings NT really be ill was 0.66.Valid findings of NT can be considered safe ultrasonographic markers in the assessment of absence of chromosomopathy. Pathological finding, given the low positive predictive value of NT, must be amended by other prenatal tests before a pregnant woman is advised on prenatal invasive diagnostics

Contemporary Surface Architecture : The correspondence between surface and space

This thesis aims to investigate aspects of contemporary architecture that concentrate on the role of surface, in sense of demateriality. The word 'demateriality' denotes the spatiality rather than a physical substance; it does not refer to the actual absence of matter or the abolishment of the solid materials of construction. Rather it describes the phenomenal perception of a particular spatialisation that the surface creates through either the way it is formed or through the optical quality of its materials. The terms surface and surface architecture discussed in this thesis thus have specific meanings beyond the generally received understanding of 'architectural surface', 'material surface' and so on. What is focused on is the particular role of surface architecture as a spatial boundary, especially between inside and outside spaces. In this context, the research aims to explore the correspondence between the surface and space, between the forms of the surface and the experience that they induce. As a programme of PhD with design, this research includes both theoretical and practical approaches, including a design research project supported by an extensive literature review and theoretical argument. The thesis mainly consists of five parts. It begins from an Introduction including subject and questions, context, definition and methodology of the research. Chapter One is about a critical review of history of surface-space architecture, both in theory and design will be considered first. This will mainly focus on the architecture of 20th century modernism. Chapter Two focus on contemporary theories and practices of surface architecture, as well as the conception of surface in other intellectual areas such as philosophy and cultural theory. Based on a rigorous theoretical framework built by the historical and contemporary research, a series of design works will be developed in Chapter Three, and attempt to offer a further understanding and rethinking of the knowledge gained from the first phase. Finally, at the end of the thesis, there is a brief Conclusion

Separable Subsurface Scattering

In this paper, we propose two real-time models for simulating subsurface scattering for a large variety of translucent materials, which need under 0.5 ms per frame to execute. This makes them a practical option for real-time production scenarios. Current state-of-the-art, real-time approaches simulate subsurface light transport by approximating the radially symmetric non-separable diffusion kernel with a sum of separable Gaussians, which requires multiple (up to 12) 1D convolutions. In this work we relax the requirement of radial symmetry to approximate a 2D diffuse reflectance profile by a single separable kernel. We first show that low-rank approximations based on matrix factorization outperform previous approaches, but they still need several passes to get good results. To solve this, we present two different separable models: the first one yields a high-quality diffusion simulation, while the second one offers an attractive trade-off between physical accuracy and artistic control. Both allow rendering of subsurface scattering using only two 1D convolutions, reducing both execution time and memory consumption, while delivering results comparable to techniques with higher cost. Using our importance-sampling and jittering strategies, only seven samples per pixel are required. Our methods can be implemented as simple post-processing steps without intrusive changes to existing rendering pipelines

The Impact of Surface Normals on Appearance

The appearance of an object is the result of complex light interaction with the object. Beyond the basic interplay between incident light and the object\u27s material, a multitude of physical events occur between this illumination and the microgeometry at the point of incidence, and also beneath the surface. A given object, made as smooth and opaque as possible, will have a completely different appearance if either one of these attributes - amount of surface mesostructure (small-scale surface orientation) or translucency - is altered. Indeed, while they are not always readily perceptible, the small-scale features of an object are as important to its appearance as its material properties. Moreover, surface mesostructure and translucency are inextricably linked in an overall effect on appearance. In this dissertation, we present several studies examining the importance of surface mesostructure (small-scale surface orientation) and translucency on an object\u27s appearance. First, we present an empirical study that establishes how poorly a mesostructure estimation technique can perform when translucent objects are used as input. We investigate the two major factors in determining an object\u27s translucency: mean free path and scattering albedo. We exhaustively vary the settings of these parameters within realistic bounds, examining the subsequent blurring effect on the output of a common shape estimation technique, photometric stereo. Based on our findings, we identify a dramatic effect that the input of a translucent material has on the quality of the resultant estimated mesostructure. In the next project, we discuss an optimization technique for both refining estimated surface orientation of translucent objects and determining the reflectance characteristics of the underlying material. For a globally planar object, we use simulation and real measurements to show that the blurring effect on normals that was observed in the previous study can be recovered. The key to this is the observation that the normalization factor for recovered normals is proportional to the error on the accuracy of the blur kernel created from estimated translucency parameters. Finally, we frame the study of the impact of surface normals in a practical, image-based context. We discuss our low-overhead, editing tool for natural images that enables the user to edit surface mesostructure while the system automatically updates the appearance in the natural image. Because a single photograph captures an instant of the incredibly complex interaction of light and an object, there is a wealth of information to extract from a photograph. Given a photograph of an object in natural lighting, we allow mesostructure edits and infer any missing reflectance information in a realistically plausible way

Exploration of Mouth Shading and Lighting in CG Production

The lighting and shading of human teeth in current computer animation features and live-action movies with effects are often intentionally avoided or processed by simple methods since they interact with light in complex ways through their intricate layered structure. The semi-translucent appearance of natural human teeth which result from subsurface scattering is difficult to replicate in synthetic scenes, though two techniques are often implemented. The first technique is to create an anatomically correct layered model, and render the teeth with both theoretically and empirically derived optical parameters of human teeth using physical subsurface materials. The second technique largely takes advantage of visual cheating, achieved by irradiance blending of finely painted textures. The result visually confirms that for most situations, non-physically based shading can yield believable rendered teeth by finely controlling contribution layers. In particular situations, such as an extremely close shot of a mouth, however, a physically correct shading model is necessary to produce highly translucent and realistic teeth

Pathophysiology of Increased Fetal Nuchal Translucency Thickness

SummaryIncreased fetal nuchal translucency thickness is associated with trisomy 13, trisomy 18, trisomy 21, Turner syndrome, other sex chromosome abnormalities, as well as many fetal anomalies and genetic syndromes. This article provides a comprehensive review of the cardinal proposed pathophysiology including altered composition of the extracellular matrix, abnormalities of the heart and great arteries, and disturbed or delayed lymphatic development