Subject: modelling methods

From: Lance Norskog <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 10:50:03 PDT

This was last night; I didn't go.  But it sounds interesting anyway.
BTW, Glassner edited the first Graphics Gems book, which you need
on your shelf.

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The Bay Area chapter of ACM/Siggraph - the Special Interest Group on Computer
Graphics and Interactive Techniques - announces its April meeting

                    TWO COOL NEW TECHNIQUES FOR MODELING

                              Andrew Glassner
                                Xerox PARC

                                  8:00 pm
                              Tuesday, Apr. 28
                               McBean Theatre
                             The Exploratorium
                             San Francisco, CA

As the field of rendering matures, modeling has begun to loom larger as
a limiting factor in making computer graphics imagery.  This talk will
discuss two new modeling techniques; one that amplifies the geometry of
a substrate shape, and another that generates new shapes under the
control of designed networks.  These techniques are both relatively
simple to implement, and provide some new options for creating complex
models.

The first method is motivated by observing that details are important.
One of the challenges a designer faces when creating rich, expressive,
and interesting models is the specification of large amounts of
appropriate surface detail. Automatic methods for generating detail are
known as shape amplification techniques.  This talk will show how some
simple concepts of geometric and topological transformations may be used
to automatically build detail that resonates with an underlying surface,
in order to create complex models from simpler structures.

Another way to create shapes is to create them interactively.  The
second technique discussed tonight for creating complex 3D models is
based on a network representation.  The technique is based on the
principles that guided audio synthesis: there are a small number of
carefully-designed modules, and a single type of wire that carries a
single data type.  This makes it easy to understand the action of the
network at a glance, and interactive design may proceed intuitively.