Sketching and annotation for the modelling and animation of natural phenomena

Contact: Marie-Paule Cani

http://www-evasion.imag.fr/Membres/Marie-Paule.Cani/


The creation of natural scenes and the control of animated natural phenomena are usually very tedious processes. This is due to the large complexity in the number of elements, each of which having to differ from their neighbours (think of the vegetation for instance), to the need to edit large and heterogeneous data structures (such as terrain models on which other data such as rivers, prairies and forests are defined), and to tune a large number of parameters, in particular for animated phenomena.

The aim of this work is to explore a novel strategy, namely rough sketching and annotation of 3D models, to facilitate the creation and control of natural scenes. Sketching techniques have recently attracted a lot of interest for the effective modelling of simple, cartoon-like character and for the control of their motion, as well as for specific applications such as architectural design and the creation of virtual garments. To our knowledge, these techniques have not been applied yet to the specification and control of natural scenes. This work will rely on the prior work performed in our group on specific phenomena such as the animation and rendering of vegetation, the phenomenological animation of the ocean, of clouds, and the animation of streams and rivers, but will tackle the problem of large scale specification and controls of heterogeneous scenes combining these models.

Prerequisite: C++, OpenGL, basic techniques in Computer Graphics.

This PhD position is granted by the VISITOR European project.
Candidates should check their eliginility and apply according to the guidelines in: http://www.inrialpes.fr/movi/pub/Visitor/