The Conduit\u27s Garden

This report summarizes the development process of the Interactive Media and Game Development and Computer Science Major Qualifying Project titled The Conduit’s Garden. This game was completed over a three month period at the Osaka University Toyonaka Campus in Osaka, Japan. The Conduit’s Garden is a fourth- dimensional Japanese gardening game developed in Unity3D to work with the HTC Vive virtual reality platform. Players are given the role of a Shinto spiritual conduit tasked with caring for the bonsai trees, Koi ponds, and gravel pits in a fourth-dimensional Japanese garden to appease local nature spirits. This report details the designs, implementations and playtesting that went into developing this game as well as aspirations for future development

Faster data structures and graphics hardware techniques for high performance rendering

Computer generated imagery is used in a wide range of disciplines, each with different requirements. As an example, real-time applications such as computer games have completely different restrictions and demands than offline rendering of feature films. A game has to render quickly using only limited resources, yet present visually adequate images. Film and visual effects rendering may not have strict time requirements but are still required to render efficiently utilizing huge render systems with hundreds or even thousands of CPU cores. In real-time rendering, with limited time and hardware resources, it is always important to produce as high rendering quality as possible given the constraints available. The first paper in this thesis presents an analytical hardware model together with a feed-back system that guarantees the highest level of image quality subject to a limited time budget. As graphics processing units grow more powerful, power consumption becomes a critical issue. Smaller handheld devices have only a limited source of energy, their battery, and both small devices and high-end hardware are required to minimize energy consumption not to overheat. The second paper presents experiments and analysis which consider power usage across a range of real-time rendering algorithms and shadow algorithms executed on high-end, integrated and handheld hardware. Computing accurate reflections and refractions effects has long been considered available only in offline rendering where time isn’t a constraint. The third paper presents a hybrid approach, utilizing the speed of real-time rendering algorithms and hardware with the quality of offline methods to render high quality reflections and refractions in real-time. The fourth and fifth paper present improvements in construction time and quality of Bounding Volume Hierarchies (BVH). Building BVHs faster reduces rendering time in offline rendering and brings ray tracing a step closer towards a feasible real-time approach. Bonsai, presented in the fourth paper, constructs BVHs on CPUs faster than contemporary competing algorithms and produces BVHs of a very high quality. Following Bonsai, the fifth paper presents an algorithm that refines BVH construction by allowing triangles to be split. Although splitting triangles increases construction time, it generally allows for higher quality BVHs. The fifth paper introduces a triangle splitting BVH construction approach that builds BVHs with quality on a par with an earlier high quality splitting algorithm. However, the method presented in paper five is several times faster in construction time

Doctor of Philosophy in Computing

dissertationThe aim of direct volume rendering is to facilitate exploration and understanding of three-dimensional scalar fields referred to as volume datasets. Improving understanding is done by improving depth perception, whereas facilitating exploration is done by speeding up volume rendering. In this dissertation, improving both depth perception and rendering speed is considered. The impact of depth of field (DoF) on depth perception in direct volume rendering is evaluated by conducting a user study in which the test subjects had to choose which of two features, located at different depths, appeared to be in front in a volume-rendered image. Whereas DoF was expected to improve perception in all cases, the user study revealed that if used on the back feature, DoF reduced depth perception, whereas it produced a marked improvement when used on the front feature. We then worked on improving the speed of volume rendering on distributed memory machines. Distributed volume rendering has three stages: loading, rendering, and compositing. In this dissertation, the focus is on image compositing, more specifically, trying to optimize communication in image compositing algorithms. For that, we have developed the Task Overlapped Direct Send Tree image compositing algorithm, which works on both CPU- and GPU-accelerated supercomputers, which focuses on communication avoidance and overlapping communication with computation; the Dynamically Scheduled Region-Based image compositing algorithm that uses spatial and temporal awareness to efficiently schedule communication among compositing nodes, and a rendering and compositing pipeline that allows both image compositing and rendering to be done on GPUs of GPU-accelerated supercomputers. We tested these on CPU- and GPU-accelerated supercomputers and explain how these improvements allow us to obtain better performance than image compositing algorithms that focus on load-balancing and algorithms that have no spatial and temporal awareness of the rendering and compositing stages

TreeSketchNet: From Sketch To 3D Tree Parameters Generation

3D modeling of non-linear objects from stylized sketches is a challenge even for experts in Computer Graphics (CG). The extrapolation of objects parameters from a stylized sketch is a very complex and cumbersome task. In the present study, we propose a broker system that mediates between the modeler and the 3D modelling software and can transform a stylized sketch of a tree into a complete 3D model. The input sketches do not need to be accurate or detailed, and only need to represent a rudimentary outline of the tree that the modeler wishes to 3D-model. Our approach is based on a well-defined Deep Neural Network (DNN) architecture, we called TreeSketchNet (TSN), based on convolutions and able to generate Weber and Penn parameters that can be interpreted by the modelling software to generate a 3D model of a tree starting from a simple sketch. The training dataset consists of Synthetically-Generated \revision{(SG)} sketches that are associated with Weber-Penn parameters generated by a dedicated Blender modelling software add-on. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by testing the TSN with both synthetic and hand-made sketches. Finally, we provide a qualitative analysis of our results, by evaluating the coherence of the predicted parameters with several distinguishing features

Evaluation of depth of field for depth perception in DVR

pre-printIn this paper we present a user study on the use of Depth of Field for depth perception in Direct Volume Rendering. Direct Volume Rendering with Phong shading and perspective projection is used as the baseline. Depth of Field is then added to see its impact on the correct perception of ordinal depth. Accuracy and response time are used as the metrics to evaluate the usefulness of Depth of Field. The onsite user study has two parts: static and dynamic. Eye tracking is used to monitor the gaze of the subjects. From our results we see that though Depth of Field does not act as a proper depth cue in all conditions, it can be used to reinforce the perception of which feature is in front of the other. The best results (high accuracy & fast response time) for correct perception of ordinal depth occurs when the front feature (out of the two features users were to choose from) is in focus and perspective projection is used

Reality Bonsai : Animism and science-fiction as a blueprint for media art in contemporary Japan

Based on the research carried out for my previous publication* and recent research, I am proposing that animism and science-fiction, as communicated via manga and anime, function as the primary sources for Japan’s Media Art. In this thesis, my primary objective is to analyse the historical and theoretical frameworks that inform Japanese Media Art, focusing, in particular, on the influence of religion, folklore and science-fiction, manga, anime and otaku subculture.(1) All of which, the thesis argues, has influenced Japanese artists since 2000; many of whom have produced works ranging from video, animation, interactive installation and live performance. In particular, my thesis will argue that there is a relationship between Shinto, the indigenous spirituality of the Japanese people, science-fictions themes and today’s Japanese Media Art. * Arrighi, M. 2011. Japanese Spell in Electronic Art My theoretical research led to and was complemented by practice-based art works. These took the form of a video installation and a short film, both of which related to my theoretical research in the following ways. They were both informed by synthesizing the findings obtained from my academic research and referenced themes that were addressed by the Japanese Media artists featured in this investigation. The aesthetic parameters of the artworks intentionally resemble the anime and films referenced in the academic part of this study. Through the process of imitating certain visual traits and themes found in the referenced works I gained an in-depth awareness of the narrative choices made by certain Japanese Media Artists. My creative output enabled me to further test, whilst also maintaining my individuality as an artist and author, the hypothesis that their work is underpinned by a fusion of references to animism and science-fiction. Footnote: (1) Otaku is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom. Anime is a Japanese term for hand-drawn, computer-generated and mixed techniques animation. Manga are comics in print or screen created in Japan of which style has been developed in Japan in the late 19th century