Physically-Based Animation

Computer-animated objects and characters are ubiquitous in entertainment and training applications of computer graphics (e.g. videogames, feature films, surgical simulators, etc.). As opposed to tedious and rather inflexible key-frame animation, physics-based simulation offers a concise, but rich and flexible way of defining the behavior of animated objects and characters, by allowing the laws of physics to determine or guide their motion. A concisely defined behavior is particularly important in simulated scenes with many degrees of freedom or interactive applications.

Mathematical modeling of physical objects such as rigid and deformable objects, or fluids has a long history in mechanical engineering and materials science. In those disciplines, the main objective is to model real-world objects as accurately as possible. In computer graphics, in particular in interactive applications such as videogames or surgery simulators, the primary concern is usually to generate plausible behaviors in a computationally efficient manner. Therefore, the methods devised in computational physics are often neither fast nor stable enough to be used in computer graphics.

At the CGL, we are working on techniques for simulating deformable models, fluids or fracture effects, and algorithms and data structures for collision detection and response. Our results are being integrated in applications such as videogames, offline animation, haptic rendering, or computational medicine. Some of the solutions that we propose feature innovative elements such as the use of particle-based Lagrangian methods for fluid and deformable simulation, volumetric and image-based collision detection algorithms for deformable bodies, or perceptually-driven collision detection algorithms and force models for haptic rendering.

	Example-Based Elastic Materials
	Particle-Based Fluid Simulations
	Turbulence Methods for Fluid Simulations
	3D Mesh-Based Fluid Simulation
	Deforming Meshes that Split and Merge
	Simulating Deformable Models Using the Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method
	Polyhedral Finite Elements using Harmonic Basis Functions
	Fluid Simulations based on the Shallow Water Equations
	Fast Adaptive Shape Matching Deformations
	Fast Arbitrary Splitting of Deforming Objects
	Tight and Efficient Surface Bounds in Meshless Animation
	Deformation, Cutting, and Fracture
	Collision Detection
	Haptic Rendering
	Computational Medicine
	Visibility Transition Planning for Real-Time Camera Control