Post on 13-Apr-2020
Computer Graphics GroupArne Schmitz1
Blender in Research & Education
Arne Schmitz
Computer Graphics GroupArne Schmitz2
Overview• The RWTH Aachen University
• The Computer Graphics Group• Research Projects
• Blender in Research• Modeling and scripting• Video editing
• Blender in Education• Modeling• Simulation• Rendering
Computer Graphics GroupArne Schmitz3
RWTH Aachen University• Facts
• Founded 1870• About 27.000 students• About 7.000 personal• 410 professors
• Polytechnical University• 11 Computer Science
Institutes
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The Computer Graphics Group• Head of department
Prof. Dr. Leif Kobbelt• Founded in 2000• Main topics
• Computer Graphics• Multimedia
• Website http://www.graphics.rwth-aachen.de/
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Research Topics• Geometry• Computer Vision and 3D Reconstruction• Image- and Video-Processing• Global Illumination• Physical and Medical Simulation
Computer Graphics GroupArne Schmitz6
Overview• The RWTH Aachen University
• The Computer Graphics Group• Research Projects
• Blender in Research• Modeling and scripting• Video editing
• Blender in Education• Modeling• Simulation• Rendering
Computer Graphics GroupArne Schmitz7
Blender in Research• Blender as a modelling tool• Projects:
• Radio Wave Propagation• Global Illumination• Character Animation
[1] Wave Propagation Using the Photon Path Map, Arne Schmitz, Leif Kobbelt,ACM PE-WASUN 2006, pp. 158 ff[2] Character Animation from 2D Pictures and 3D Motion Data, Alexander Hornung, Ellen Dekkers, Leif Kobbelt, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), vol. 26(1), 2007
Modeling
Video EditingModeling
Modeling
Video Editing
Scripting
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Blender in Research• Blender as a modeller
• Create scenarios for simulation or rendering• For character animation: Rigging and vertex
weight painting
• More complex modeling tasks• Use proprietary software and algorithms
• Remeshing• Mesh decimation• Mesh repair (making it 2-manifold, filling holes)
• Using homegrown OpenMesh toolkit:• http://www.openmesh.org/
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Blender in Research• Radio Wave Propagation
• Modeling of wireless and GSM networks• Blender: Geometry and material assignment
Blender
Scene model
PhotonRT
3D intensity map
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Blender in Research• Blender as a video sequencer
• Supplemental material for conference submissions
• Done either completely in Blender
• Or captured with xvidcap and annotated in Blender
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Blender in Research• Blender scripting• Easy to implement
custom import filters• Modified OFF import
with extra data• Import filter for Acclaim
.asf skeleton files
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Overview• The RWTH Aachen University
• The Computer Graphics Group• Research Projects
• Blender in Research• Modeling and scripting• Video editing
• Blender in Education• Modeling• Simulation• Rendering
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Blender in Education• Why Blender?
• Free (as in beer)• Free (as in speech)
• Pros• Promote usage of free software• Choice and variety is always good• Help students to get to know a complex 3D
program for free• Students have access to sourcecode
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Modeling• Student project for 9th grade school-intern
• Goal: Offer an interesting CG related task• Problem: No sufficient math background for
theoretical work
• Solution: Modeling a theater from blueprints!• Ca. 2.8 million faces• Textured and lit scene
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Simulation• Student project: Cloth simulation
• Plugin/patch for Blender• Simulates cloth [1]
• Mass spring model• Supports self collisions and collisions with objects• Mixed explicit/implicit integration model
• For contact see our website and ask the students (Christian Ebke, Michael Kremer) [2]
[1] Simulation of Clothing with Folds and Wrinkles, Bridson, Marino and Fedkiw, Symposium on Computer Animation 2003[2] http://www.graphics.rwth-aachen.de/index.php?id=48
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Simulation
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Simulation
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Simulation
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Rendering• Diploma thesis: Image Synthesis using Photon
Mapping
• Global Illumination renderercalled Photon• C++ (40k LoC)• Photon Mapping• Distributed Raytracer• Advanced Materials• OpenEXR output
• Download? Not yet, workingon open-sourcing it . . .
Blender
Yafray XML
Photon
Image
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Rendering
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Rendering
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Rendering
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Rendering• Also supports lighting with environment maps
(This image: HDR example lightprobe by Spheron Inc.)
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Rendering
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Conclusion• What can education do for Blender?
• Enlarge user-base• Enlarge visibility• Enlarge group of possible contributors• Enlarge importance in scientific community
• Advantages of Blender• Free software (as in freedom)• Free software (as in free beer)• Scripting abilities• Good and fairly easy to use video sequencer
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Conclusion• Disadvantages of Blender
• Extending the core of Blender with C/C++ difficult for newbies (complex and ancient code)
• Only basic mesh repair, decimation and remeshing capabilities
• Video sequencer could use some additional basic features (e.g. fade to black/white, instead of workaround)