VizWorld.com

Intermap is offering a free 45-minute webinar next week to demonstrate how high-resolution 3D Digital Elevation Maps (DEMs) are enabling GIS and geospatial applications across several industries.

As the fields of digital mapping and geospatial analysis continue to grow, the use of 3D data is becoming more widespread. One of the most common types of 3D data is a digital elevation model, or DEM. In this Webinar, we’ll talk about what DEMs are and how they differ from other types of spatial data. We’ll also look at some of the sources of DEM data, their quality, and how they are generated. Lastly, we’ll look at examples of how you can use DEMs in sophisticated geospatial analysis to solve real-world problems.

via Introduction to Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) – Geo: International.

Science geospatial, gis, intermap, webinar

Recently there has been some discussion about the abilities of MachStudio Pro in photo-realistic renderings.  StudioGPU took it as a challenge, and have a new blog post discussing the possibilities.

I’ve read several comments in which, although artists were amazed by the performance and quality of MachStudio Pro, they were specifically searching for a solution to replace their offline photo-realistic rendering engines. A typical comment was something like: “Well V-Ray/Mental Ray/Brazil renders this architectural/automotive/product image like this. How close can MachStudio Pro get to this kind of photo-realistic render?”

In the image above, one image is from MachStudio Pro and the other is from V-Ray.  Can you tell the difference?  Read their post for the answer, and to see some great movies of architectural fly-throughs rendered with MachStudio Pro.

via StudioGPU Blog: Photo realistic rendering in MachStudio Pro?.

Graphics architectural, machstudio, photorealistic, studiogpu

If you go near the the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University soon, then you should stop by and check out the new RealityServer demo center.  Visitors get to see the real-time interactive views of an aircraft, changing not only the viewpoint but the design.

“We are excited to partner with mental images to bring RealityServer to our facility,” said Fernando Toledo, manager of NIAR’s Virtual Reality Center. “Utilizing RealityServer’s innovative rendering capabilities will allow us to provide a valuable visualization tool to our clients.”

via Nov 4 – mental images, NIAR Launch RealityServer Demo Center.

Hardware, Science mental images, nvidia

Allan Weis

This week’s recommended resource comes from Allan Weis, author of “The Business of Changing Lives”, detailing the potential and history of Tele-Immersion.

Imagine being with your grandson who is 1000 miles away – but he’s sitting on your lap and you can feel him and he can feel you.  Give him a hug!  He feels it.  You can smell the freshness of his washed hair and feel the texture of his smooth skin.  And the garlic on his breath from the pizza he had at lunch.  Every one of your senses is alive and working in all dimensions.

Both of you like the beach so you change the backdrop of the environment to a sandy shore line and now you can smell the salt water and hear the waves crashing.   Uncle Joe joins you from California – now there are three people on the beach.  You can reach out and pick up a computer-generated crab and describe the species to your grandson.

Just about anything that you can imagine can be at your fingertips.  Want to talk about molecular forces with your grandson, just say it and grab some molecules – feel the forces that act between them.

What a learning tool!  Think about how schools could use this technology.  Whatever exists in real life, or anything that is computer generated, is at your fingertips – and you can touch, feel, push and pull it to understand it.
Over thirteen years ago, we had the dream of a new paradigm for human communication – the ultimate synthesis of networking and media technologies – we called it Tele-Immersion.

It took a few years to demonstrate that dream and have computers recognize the presence and movements of individuals and track those images in three dimensions.  In parallel, we projected those images in realistic, multiple geographically distributed immersive environments where individuals could interact with each other and with computer-generated models.

These immersive environments started out being only visual.  You could sit with your grandson in the same room – you could move your head and look behind and see his dog.  But, thirteen years from now all of the senses will be transportable – and wow hold on to your seat.

The only real limit is the speed of light!  It’s too slow to make Tele-Immersion really effective at great distances – but that is something someone will work on next!  To learn more of the detail about Tele-Immersion read “The Business of Changing Lives” by Allan Weis.

Be sure to check back next week for our next recommendation!

Science feature, resource of the week, teleimmersion

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research are working with museums in Florence on a joint project called 3D-COFORM which aims to digitally scan and reconstruct works of art from all over the world.  In addition to simply scanning & storing them for display, they are working on a way to link and correlate objects, creating digital collections and creating a searchable database.

“But we are still a long way from being able to sensibly correlate 3D data between different objects,” says Dr. André Stork, Head of Department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD in Darmstadt and a partner in the 3D-COFORM consortium.

via History In 3-D: Digitally Archived Works Of Art.

Science art, fraunhofer

CGDigest has compiled a great list of 14 plugins for 3dsMax that add a wide range of functionality.  Some of them you’ve definately heard of like Rayfire, Vray scatter, and RealFlow, but some you may not have.

3d max plugins.

Graphics 3dsmax, list, plugin

GenArts, makers of Sapphire, have just announced that they have purchased wondertouch, makers of the particleillusion plugin.  Initially both products will remain distinct and separate, but with the lead programmer becoming a GenArts employee, that’s likely to change.

“We are really excited about taking the core particles engine technology and seeing what we can do by combining that with the great technology and resources that we have at GenArts to build great next-generation products,” says Bannerman. “We’re hoping those next-gen products will serve a broader audience that will include both Alan’s customers and the current GenArts customers.”

When asked how GenArts feels about one of their main competitors, Trapcode Particular, they had an interesting response:

“Obviously, our customers highly value that type of functionality,” says Bannerman. “Yet one of the things they’ve consistently struggled with is the fact that Trapcode Particular is only really available as an After Effects plug-in. For customers that don’t have After Effects in their pipeline or don’t need After Effects in their pipeline, they have very limited choices: they can insert After Effects into the process and move out of something like a Flame, or even an Avid, and then back again, but they lose a lot of efficiency that way. Or they could just hand it over to the 3D guys and let them figure our how to do it in Maya, which is also really complicated. You almost have to be a programmer to figure out how to do particles in Maya.

via Studio Daily Blog » Why wondertouch Particles Matter to GenArts.

Graphics genarts, particleillusion, sapphire, software, wondertouch

The new F80 1080 DLP projector from projectiondesign will be demonstrated for the first time at the upcoming Virtual Efficiency Congress in Germany (November 5-6), in a stereo visualization configuration using embedded INFINITEC wavelength multiplex imaging filter technology.  Basically, it’s a fancy way of saying it will be displaying passive stereo 3D images perfect for bright large-screen environments and viewable from any angle.

“We’re delighted to be involved in the Virtual Efficiency Congress, as it gives us a chance to deliver a hands-on and immersive presentation of some of the world’s leading Virtual Reality applications,” comments Løkke. “These cover fields as diverse as mechanical engineering, automotive, financial, consumer goods, medicine, textile techniques, communication and movie-making – all areas in which we are already very successful and with some of our trusted key partners.”

Read the full release after the break.

Read more…

Hardware dlp, projectiondesign, projector, stereoscopic

Zoic has launched a new Visual Effects blog entitled “I Design Your Eyes”, and celebrated the launch with a great writeup on the tools and techniques used in the new ABC series “V”.

The ship interiors were created before the related greenscreen shots were filmed. For the episodes shot after the pilot, Zoic provided the production with its new, cutting edge proprietary Zeus system, which allows filmmakers to see actors on a real-time rendered virtual set, right on the greenscreen stage. The technology is of immeasurable aid to the director of photography, crew, and especially the actors, who can see themselves interacting with the virtual set and can adjust their performances accordingly. Zeus incorporates Lightcraft Technology’s pre-visualization system.

via I Design Your Eyes.

Graphics television, v, vfx, zoic

AMD’s Developer Central has been updated with a pair of new demos showcasing some of what’s possible in DirectX11 with the new Radeon HD5800 cards.  First is the “Mecha Demo”:

The Mecha demo shows the results of a new approach to rendering semi-transparent objects without pre-sorting, known as order-independent transparency (OIT). It is made possible by the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series of graphics processors and the new features of Microsoft® DirectX® 11 technology. Blending is an order-dependent operation that requires sorting objects before rendering them. Atomic operations and append buffers make it possible to construct per-pixel fragment lists and sort them on the GPU. The results are a significant increase in speed and accuracy over those possible with traditional techniques.

Second is the “Ladybug Demo”:

The Ladybug demo shows the results of a new approach to simulating lens-accurate depth-of-field effects based on real-world parameters of focal length and focus distance. This technique is made possible by the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series of graphics processors and the Microsoft® DirectX® 11 and Direct Compute 11 technologies. Depth-of-field is used in feature films by cinematographers to subtly guide a viewer’s attention through a shot or to heighten the emotion of a scene. This technique finally provides developers with a way to achieve the same effects and bring new levels of cinematic realism to their games. This approach is enabled by features such as atomic operations and shared memory.

If you’ve got the necessary hardware & software, hit their website for the EXE’s to see for yourself.  Otherwise, hit their website to download the H264 HD movies showing what you’re missing.

ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series Graphics Real-Time Demos.

Hardware ati, demo, directx11