312 research outputs found
Fast Collision Culling in Large-Scale Environments Using GPU Mapping Function
International audienceThis paper presents a novel and efficient GPU-based parallel algorithm to cull non-colliding object pairs in very large-scale dynamic simulations. It allows to cull objects in less than 25ms with more than 100K objects. It is designed for many-core GPU and fully exploits multi-threaded capabilities and data-parallelism. In order to take advantage of the high number of cores, a new mapping function is defined that enables GPU threads to determine the objects pair to compute without any global memory access. These new optimized GPU kernel functions use the thread indexes and turn them into a unique pair of objects to test. A square root approximation technique is used based on Newton's estimation, enabling the threads to only perform a few atomic operations. A first characterization of the approximation errors is presented, enabling the fixing of incorrect computations. The I/O GPU streams are optimized using binary masks. The implementation and evaluation is made on largescale dynamic rigid body simulations. The increase in speed is highlighted over other recently proposed CPU and GPU-based techniques. The comparison shows that our system is, in most cases, faster than previous approaches
Haptic Interaction with 3D oriented point clouds on the GPU
Real-time point-based rendering and interaction with virtual objects is gaining popularity
and importance as di�erent haptic devices and technologies increasingly provide the basis
for realistic interaction. Haptic Interaction is being used for a wide range of applications
such as medical training, remote robot operators, tactile displays and video games. Virtual
object visualization and interaction using haptic devices is the main focus; this process
involves several steps such as: Data Acquisition, Graphic Rendering, Haptic Interaction
and Data Modi�cation. This work presents a framework for Haptic Interaction using the
GPU as a hardware accelerator, and includes an approach for enabling the modi�cation
of data during interaction. The results demonstrate the limits and capabilities of these
techniques in the context of volume rendering for haptic applications. Also, the use
of dynamic parallelism as a technique to scale the number of threads needed from the
accelerator according to the interaction requirements is studied allowing the editing of
data sets of up to one million points at interactive haptic frame rates
Real-time simulation and visualisation of cloth using edge-based adaptive meshes
Real-time rendering and the animation of realistic virtual environments and characters
has progressed at a great pace, following advances in computer graphics hardware
in the last decade. The role of cloth simulation is becoming ever more important in
the quest to improve the realism of virtual environments.
The real-time simulation of cloth and clothing is important for many applications
such as virtual reality, crowd simulation, games and software for online clothes shopping.
A large number of polygons are necessary to depict the highly
exible nature of
cloth with wrinkling and frequent changes in its curvature. In combination with the
physical calculations which model the deformations, the effort required to simulate
cloth in detail is very computationally expensive resulting in much diffculty for its
realistic simulation at interactive frame rates. Real-time cloth simulations can lack
quality and realism compared to their offline counterparts, since coarse meshes must
often be employed for performance reasons.
The focus of this thesis is to develop techniques to allow the real-time simulation of
realistic cloth and clothing. Adaptive meshes have previously been developed to act as
a bridge between low and high polygon meshes, aiming to adaptively exploit variations
in the shape of the cloth. The mesh complexity is dynamically increased or refined to
balance quality against computational cost during a simulation. A limitation of many
approaches is they do not often consider the decimation or coarsening of previously
refined areas, or otherwise are not fast enough for real-time applications.
A novel edge-based adaptive mesh is developed for the fast incremental refinement
and coarsening of a triangular mesh. A mass-spring network is integrated into
the mesh permitting the real-time adaptive simulation of cloth, and techniques are
developed for the simulation of clothing on an animated character
Improvements to physically based cloth simulation
Physically based cloth simulation in computer graphics has come a long way since the 1980s. Although extensive methods have been developed, physically based cloth animation remains challenging in a number of aspects, including the efficient simulation of complex internal dynamics, better performance and the generation of more effects of friction in collisions, to name but a few. These opportunities motivate the work presented in this thesis to improve on current state of the art in cloth simulation by proposing methods for cloth bending deformation simulation, collision detection and friction in collision response. The structure of the thesis is as follows. A literature review of work related to physically based cloth simulation including aspects of internal dynamics, collision handling and GPU computing for cloth simulation is given in Chapter 2. In order to provide a basis for understanding of the work of the subsequent chapters of the thesis, Chapter 3 describes and discusses main components of our physically based cloth simulation framework which can be seen as the basis of our developments, as methods presented in the following chapters use this framework. Chapter 4 presents an approach that effectively models cloth non-linear features in bending behaviour, such as energy dissipation, plasticity and fatigue weakening. This is achieved by a simple mathematical approximation to an ideal hysteresis loop at a high level, while in textile research bending non-linearity is computed using complex internal friction models at the geometric structure level. Due to cloth flexibility and the large quantity of triangles, in a robust cloth system collision detection is the most time consuming task. The approach proposed in Chapter 5 improves performance of collision detection using a GPU-based approach employing spatial subdivision. It addresses a common issue, uneven triangle sizes, which can easily impair the spatial subdivision efficiency. To achieve this, a virtual subdivision scheme with a uniform grid is used to virtually subdivide large triangles, resulting in a more appropriate cell size and thus a more efficient subdivision. The other common issue that limits the subdivision efficiency is uneven triangle spatial distributions, and is difficult to tackle via uniform grids because areas with different triangle densities may require different cell sizes. In order to address this problem, Chapter 6 shows how to build an octree grid to adaptively partition space according to triangle spatial distribution on a GPU, which delivers further improvements in the performance of collision detection. Friction is an important component in collision response. Frictional effects include phenomena that are velocity dependent, such as stiction, Stribeck friction, viscous friction and the stick-slip phenomenon, which are not modelled by the classic Coulomb friction model adopted by existing cloth systems. Chapter 7 reports a more comprehensive friction model to capture these additional effects. Chapter 8 concludes this thesis and briefly discusses potential avenues for future work
Real-time hybrid cutting with dynamic fluid visualization for virtual surgery
It is widely accepted that a reform in medical teaching must be made to meet today's high volume training requirements. Virtual simulation offers a potential method of providing such trainings and some current medical training simulations integrate haptic and visual feedback to enhance procedure learning. The purpose of this project is to explore the capability of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to develop a training simulator for surgical cutting and bleeding in a general surgery
New geometric algorithms and data structures for collision detection of dynamically deforming objects
Any virtual environment that supports interactions between virtual objects and/or a user and objects,
needs a collision detection system to handle all interactions in a physically correct or plausible way. A
collision detection system is needed to determine if objects are in contact or interpenetrates. These
interpenetrations are resolved by a collision handling system. Because of the fact, that in nearly all
simulations objects can interact with each other, collision detection is a fundamental technology, that
is needed in all these simulations, like physically based simulation, robotic path and motion planning,
virtual prototyping, and many more. Most virtual environments aim to represent the real-world as
realistic as possible and therefore, virtual environments getting more and more complex. Furthermore,
all models in a virtual environment should interact like real objects do, if forces are applied to the
objects. Nearly all real-world objects will deform or break down in its individual parts if forces are
acted upon the objects. Thus deformable objects are becoming more and more common in virtual
environments, which want to be as realistic as possible and thus, will present new challenges to the
collision detection system. The necessary collision detection computations can be very complex and this
has the effect, that the collision detection process is the performance bottleneck in most simulations.
Most rigid body collision detection approaches use a BVH as acceleration data structure. This
technique is perfectly suitable if the object does not change its shape. For a soft body an update step
is necessary to ensure that the underlying acceleration data structure is still valid after performing a
simulation step. This update step can be very time consuming, is often hard to implement and in most
cases will produce a degenerated BVH after some simulation steps, if the objects generally deform.
Therefore, the here presented collision detection approach works entirely without an acceleration data
structure and supports rigid and soft bodies. Furthermore, we can compute inter-object and intraobject
collisions of rigid and deformable objects consisting of many tens of thousands of triangles in a
few milliseconds. To realize this, a subdivision of the scene into parts using a fuzzy clustering approach
is applied. Based on that all further steps for each cluster can be performed in parallel and if desired,
distributed to different GPUs. Tests have been performed to judge the performance of our approach
against other state-of-the-art collision detection algorithms. Additionally, we integrated our approach
into Bullet, a commonly used physics engine, to evaluate our algorithm.
In order to make a fair comparison of different rigid body collision detection algorithms, we propose
a new collision detection Benchmarking Suite. Our Benchmarking Suite can evaluate both the performance
as well as the quality of the collision response. Therefore, the Benchmarking Suite is subdivided
into a Performance Benchmark and a Quality Benchmark. This approach needs to be extended to
support soft body collision detection algorithms in the future.Jede virtuelle Umgebung, welche eine Interaktion zwischen den virtuellen Objekten in der Szene
zulässt und/oder zwischen einem Benutzer und den Objekten, benötigt für eine korrekte Behandlung der
Interaktionen eine Kollisionsdetektion. Nur dank der Kollisionsdetektion können Berührungen zwischen
Objekten erkannt und mittels der Kollisionsbehandlung aufgelöst werden. Dies ist der Grund für die weite
Verbreitung der Kollisionsdetektion in die verschiedensten Fachbereiche, wie der physikalisch basierten
Simulation, der Pfadplanung in der Robotik, dem virtuellen Prototyping und vielen weiteren. Auf Grund
des Bestrebens, die reale Umgebung in der virtuellen Welt so realistisch wie möglich nachzubilden,
steigt die Komplexität der Szenen stetig. Fortwährend steigen die Anforderungen an die Objekte, sich
realistisch zu verhalten, sollten Kräfte auf die einzelnen Objekte ausgeübt werden. Die meisten Objekte,
die uns in unserer realen Welt umgeben, ändern ihre Form oder zerbrechen in ihre Einzelteile, wenn
Kräfte auf sie einwirken. Daher kommen in realitätsnahen, virtuellen Umgebungen immer häufiger
deformierbare Objekte zum Einsatz, was neue Herausforderungen an die Kollisionsdetektion stellt. Die
hierfür Notwendigen, teils komplexen Berechnungen, führen dazu, dass die Kollisionsdetektion häufig
der Performance-Bottleneck in der jeweiligen Simulation darstellt.
Die meisten Kollisionsdetektionen für starre Körper benutzen eine Hüllkörperhierarchie als Beschleunigungsdatenstruktur.
Diese Technik ist hervorragend geeignet, solange sich die Form des Objektes
nicht verändert. Im Fall von deformierbaren Objekten ist eine Aktualisierung der Datenstruktur nach
jedem Schritt der Simulation notwendig, damit diese weiterhin gültig ist. Dieser Aktualisierungsschritt
kann, je nach Hierarchie, sehr zeitaufwendig sein, ist in den meisten Fällen schwer zu implementieren
und generiert nach vielen Schritten der Simulation häufig eine entartete Hüllkörperhierarchie, sollte
sich das Objekt sehr stark verformen. Um dies zu vermeiden, verzichtet unsere Kollisionsdetektion vollständig
auf eine Beschleunigungsdatenstruktur und unterstützt sowohl rigide, wie auch deformierbare
Körper. Zugleich können wir Selbstkollisionen und Kollisionen zwischen starren und/oder deformierbaren
Objekten, bestehend aus vielen Zehntausenden Dreiecken, innerhalb von wenigen Millisekunden
berechnen. Um dies zu realisieren, unterteilen wir die gesamte Szene in einzelne Bereiche mittels eines
Fuzzy Clustering-Verfahrens. Dies ermöglicht es, dass alle Cluster unabhängig bearbeitet werden und
falls gewünscht, die Berechnungen für die einzelnen Cluster auf verschiedene Grafikkarten verteilt werden
können. Um die Leistungsfähigkeit unseres Ansatzes vergleichen zu können, haben wir diesen gegen
aktuelle Verfahren für die Kollisionsdetektion antreten lassen. Weiterhin haben wir unser Verfahren in
die Physik-Engine Bullet integriert, um das Verhalten in dynamischen Situationen zu evaluieren.
Um unterschiedliche Kollisionsdetektionsalgorithmen für starre Körper korrekt und objektiv miteinander
vergleichen zu können, haben wir eine Benchmarking-Suite entwickelt. Unsere Benchmarking-
Suite kann sowohl die Geschwindigkeit, für die Bestimmung, ob zwei Objekte sich durchdringen, wie
auch die Qualität der berechneten Kräfte miteinander vergleichen. Hierfür ist die Benchmarking-Suite
in den Performance Benchmark und den Quality Benchmark unterteilt worden. In der Zukunft wird
diese Benchmarking-Suite dahingehend erweitert, dass auch Kollisionsdetektionsalgorithmen für deformierbare
Objekte unterstützt werden
A Framework for Dynamic Terrain with Application in Off-road Ground Vehicle Simulations
The dissertation develops a framework for the visualization of dynamic terrains for use in interactive real-time 3D systems. Terrain visualization techniques may be classified as either static or dynamic. Static terrain solutions simulate rigid surface types exclusively; whereas dynamic solutions can also represent non-rigid surfaces. Systems that employ a static terrain approach lack realism due to their rigid nature. Disregarding the accurate representation of terrain surface interaction is rationalized because of the inherent difficulties associated with providing runtime dynamism. Nonetheless, dynamic terrain systems are a more correct solution because they allow the terrain database to be modified at run-time for the purpose of deforming the surface. Many established techniques in terrain visualization rely on invalid assumptions and weak computational models that hinder the use of dynamic terrain. Moreover, many existing techniques do not exploit the capabilities offered by current computer hardware. In this research, we present a component framework for terrain visualization that is useful in research, entertainment, and simulation systems. In addition, we present a novel method for deforming the terrain that can be used in real-time, interactive systems. The development of a component framework unifies disparate works under a single architecture. The high-level nature of the framework makes it flexible and adaptable for developing a variety of systems, independent of the static or dynamic nature of the solution. Currently, there are only a handful of documented deformation techniques and, in particular, none make explicit use of graphics hardware. The approach developed by this research offloads extra work to the graphics processing unit; in an effort to alleviate the overhead associated with deforming the terrain. Off-road ground vehicle simulation is used as an application domain to demonstrate the practical nature of the framework and the deformation technique. In order to realistically simulate terrain surface interactivity with the vehicle, the solution balances visual fidelity and speed. Accurately depicting terrain surface interactivity in off-road ground vehicle simulations improves visual realism; thereby, increasing the significance and worth of the application. Systems in academia, government, and commercial institutes can make use of the research findings to achieve the real-time display of interactive terrain surfaces
Real-Time Collision Detection for Deformable Characters with Radial Fields
Many techniques facilitate real-time collision detection against complex models. These typically work by pre-computing information about the spatial distribution of geometry into a form that can be quickly queried. When models deform though, expensive pre-computations are impractical. We present radial fields: a variant of distance fields parameterised in cylindrical space, rather than Cartesian space. This 2D parameterisation significantly reduces the memory and computation requirements of the field, while introducing minimal overhead in collision detection tests. The interior of the mesh is defined implicitly for the entire domain. Importantly, it maps well to the hardware rasteriser of the GPU. Radial fields are much more application-specific than traditional distance fields. For these applications - such as collision detection with articulated characters - however, the benefits are substantial
New Geometric Data Structures for Collision Detection
We present new geometric data structures for collision detection and more, including: Inner Sphere Trees - the first data structure to compute the peneration volume efficiently. Protosphere - an new algorithm to compute space filling sphere packings for arbitrary objects. Kinetic AABBs - a bounding volume hierarchy that is optimal in the number of updates when the objects deform. Kinetic Separation-List - an algorithm that is able to perform continuous collision detection for complex deformable objects in real-time. Moreover, we present applications of these new approaches to hand animation, real-time collision avoidance in dynamic environments for robots and haptic rendering, including a user study that exploits the influence of the degrees of freedom in complex haptic interactions. Last but not least, we present a new benchmarking suite for both, peformance and quality benchmarks, and a theoretic analysis of the running-time of bounding volume-based collision detection algorithms
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