Colloquy Cycle SS 2008

Current Schedule
Previous Schedules

In the summer term of 2008 the following talks will be organized by our Institute. The talks are partially financed by the "Arbeitskreis Graphische Datenverarbeitung" of the OCG (Austrian Computer Society)

• Colloquy Cycle WS07/08
• Colloquy Cycle SS07
• Colloquy Cycle WS06/07
• Colloquy Cycle SS06
• Colloquy Cycle WS05/06
• Colloquy Cycle SS05
• Colloquy Cycle WS04/05
• Colloquy Cycle SS04
• Colloquy Cycle WS03/04
• Colloquy Cycle SS03
• Colloquy Cycle WS02/03
• Colloquy Cycle SS02
• Colloquy Cycle WS01/02
• Colloquy Cycle SS01
• Colloquy Cycle WS00/01
• Colloquy Cycle SS00
• Colloquy Cycle WS99/00
• Colloquy Cycle SS99
• Colloquy Cycle WS98/99
• Colloquy Cycle SS98
• Colloquy Cycle WS97/98
• Colloquy Cycle SS97
• Colloquy Cycle WS96/97

Martin Larrea, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentinia

Point counting is a technique used for estimate the composition of a sample. We developed an interactive application designed to facilitate the point counting process through visual computing; this application could be useful in any domain in which the sample image can be digitized. Additionally, we provide other visual analysis tools showing how the application can benefit from the combination of these concepts and the techniques coming from Information Visualization. We utilize the point counting technique on petrographic thin section images in order to perform modal analyses of rocks, but it could be used on many other types of samples in order to estimate their composition.

David Ebert, Purdue University, USA

The goal of computerized image generation is to convey information to the user or viewer, whether for artistic reflection, scientific discovery, or decision making. The history of art, design, illustration, and perception form a rich basis for developing interactive computerized visual environments for discovery, engineering, and analytical decision making. The development of interactive visualization techniques to effectively, rapidly and accurately convey information can fundamentally change the pace of scientific discovery and adoption of new science into usable applications. Moreover, integrated data management, analysis, and interactive visual environments provide insight and information from the massive data generated by computer simulations, sensors, and web-based sources. The potential of these integrated environments has led to a evolution of visualization to visual analytics.
In this talk, I'll discuss the role that computer graphics and interactive integrated visualization and analytics can play in research, discovery, and deployment in a variety of application areas. We have been developing integrated visual analytics environments for a diverse set of applications from homeland security to fundamental computational science. I'll describe some of our integrated visualization, data management, and analytical solutions for weather forecasting, cloud modeling, surgical training, computational nanoelectronics, computational fluid dynamics, cancer care engineering, syndromic surveillance, agricultural food production, and emergency response.

Jaroslav Krivánek, Czech Technical University in Prague

High-fidelity real-time visualization of surfaces under high-dynamic-range (HDR) image-based illumination provides an invaluable resource for various computer graphics applications. Material design, lighting design, architectural previsualization, and gaming are just a few such applications.
We present filtered importance sampling, a technique for image-based lighting of glossy objects using BRDF importance sampling in conjunction with environment map filtering. Furthermore, we extend the algorithm with real-time shadow computation. Free from any pre-computation, the algorithm supports fully dynamic scenes and, above all, is simple to implement.

Ralph Brecheisen, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

In 2005 the university hospital of Maastricht (Netherlands) acquired a Medtronic N20 Polestar, a mobile, low-field, intraoperative MRI scanner which can be used in a standard operating room. To make better use of this scanner and enhance its images with high-quality preoperative imaging data the hospital started a close collaboration with the biomedical image analysis group of the technical university of Eindhoven (prof. Bart ter Haar Romeny). The goal is to define research projects related to image-guided neurosurgery that involve preoperative imaging, intraoperative MRI or a combination of both. For this purpose, the image-guided neurosurgery group was founded in 2007. This group is directly located at the university hospital of Maastricht and therefore at only a minute's distance from the neurosurgeons, one of whom (a resident) is a part-time but active member of this group working on his own PhD. This KV presentation will discuss the image-guided neurosurgery group and some of its past and current projects. Special attention will be given to deep brain stimulation and multimodal visualization, the latter of which was a master's thesis project of the presenter Ralph Brecheisen. His own PhD project in the image-guided neurosurgery group has only recently started and is still ill-defined but will focus on visualization for neurosurgery applications. The main purpose of his visit to Vienna is to find ideas for research and opportunities for collaboration, possibly in combination with the university hospital of Maastricht.

David Banks, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

3D datasets are becoming increasingly large and complex. In medicine, fiber structures within the brain are inferred from diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI), yielding thousands to millions of curved trajectories. In chemistry, billions of atoms are included in large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. In both cases, the resulting geometry becomes difficult to comprehend in part because of its complexity.
We describe two approaches to improving perception of the resulting 3D scenes. The first approach is to apply physically based illumination rather than the conventional "local" illumination. The second approach is to transform the data into an ensemble coordinate system where geometric complexity increases slowly. The utility of these approaches have been validated by performing user studies.

Wolfgang Hamann, Koolhaus Games in Vancouver, Canada

The video game industry is the only entertainment industry that has seen steady, double digit growth over the past fifteen years even out doing the high tech industry.
This provides many opportunities for talented individuals who may not have thought about making games as a career.
Wolfgang Hamann (Pres/CEO - Koolhaus Games, Vancouver, Canada) will be providing an overview of this fascinating field as well as discussing the Game Development Process - the marriage of software development, game design, art and sound