Geometry Processing

Introduction to polynomial interpolation and approximation, parametric and implicit curve and surface representations, Spline curves and surfaces, surface subdivision schemes, CSG, surface analysis using differential geometry, level-of-detail representations, surface reconstruction from point sets, introduction to character animation, riging, scinning and layering, locomotion, motion capturing and (space-time) control, character modeling.

At the end of the semester the students have gained advanced knowledge concerning the mathematical foundations underlying geometric modelling and character animation, and they know the different methods which are typically used in these areas. They are familiar with the mathematical descriptions of curves and surfaces, their internal representation on a computer, and advanced modelling approaches such as subdivision techniques. They are familiar with the different stages in the character animation pipeline, and they can describe the basic methods used in each of these stages. The students can analyse and categorize availaible techniques in terms of functionality, quality and efficiency, and they can model and develop new approaches considering specific requirements. In the lecture the students learn about the different parts and functionality of commonly used modelling and animation tools, and they can use these tools to create own models and animations.

MA0902 Analysis for Informatics, MA0901 Linear Algebra for Informatics

The modul consists of the lecture, where the lecturer conveys to the students the area-specific knowledge, points towards relevant articles and ecourages the students to read and put into relation the presented approaches. The lecturer demonstrates online the capabilities of some of the discussed approaches and uses the white board to exercise specific modeling and animation tasks. The students should become familiar with common modeling and animation tools, and use these tools to create own models. At the end of the semester, the students give short presentations of these tools, and they demonstrate to the class their results.

Powerpoint course slides, white board, online tutorials and demonstrations

Mortensen, Geometric Modeling, 2nd Edition, Wiley Publishers; Farin, Curves and Surfaces for Computer Aided Geometric Design, Academic Press; Parent, Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques, Morgan Kaufmann; Kerlow, The Art of 3D Computer Animation and Effects, Whiley; Blender User’s Manual http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual;

The exam takes the form of a 90 minutes written test. The students demonstrate that they can answer questions concerning the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of computer-aided geometric modeling and character animation. They can analyse and categorize available techniques in terms of quality, efficiency, and suitability for a particular modelling or animation task, and they can build upon these techniques to develop new approaches considering application-specific requirements. They know the basic functionalty of common geometric modelling and computer animation tools.