Procedural Tree Generation: How to efficiently predict branching structures from foliage?

The objective of this project is to train a model that transforms a tree with its foliage into only its branch structure. This is achieved by employing machine-learning techniques, specifically Generative Adverserial Networks (GANs). By utilizing the proposed method, a predictive model is built that automatically minimizes its own error function...

Procedural Tree Generation: Compressing 3D tree for faster rendering

Trees are essential components of both real and digital environments. Therefore, it is important to have 3D models of trees that are of high quality and computationally efficient. One way to achieve this is by compressing a high-quality model using billboard rendering, which involves partitioning the tree into multiple planes to produce a...

Shining a light on material appearance: Mapping NDFs to heightfields

This research proposes a new algorithm for mapping Normal Distribution Functions to Heightfields in order to answer its research question: ”Given an NDF, how can we generate a corresponding Heightfield using simple optimization algorithms?”. This research is important, as it helps us to gain a better understanding of how limited statistics-based...

Extended Geometry based Watermarking of 3D Meshes: Improving robustness of geometrical 3D mesh watermarking by introducing mesh regularization

Digital watermarking has been used extensively in media in recent years. Yet, there are still relatively few techniques for watermarking 3D meshes. In this paper we implement a watermarking algorithm proposed by O. Benedens that encodes a bit string in the distribution of the normals of the faces of the mesh and investigate a method to improve...

Augmented Reality Water Effects Visualization

Simulating visually compelling water is difficult especially in Augmented Reality environments where the water has to interact with the user’s surroundings. In this paper, implementations of reflections, refractions and transparency effects that are physically inaccurate but result in visually compelling water simulation in Augmented Reality...

Using Chromostereopsis to Enhance Depth Perception in Photos by changing the Hue

The following paper explores the use of chromostereopsis for the purpose of enhancing the perceived depth in photos. Contrary to previous work, this is achieved by using a continuous depth map as input and creating a natural-looking photo with enhanced depth even when viewed without any type of three dimension technology. This is the first...

Efficient direct lighting calculations for area lights with light portals

Direct lighting calculation is an essential part of photorealistic rendering. Standard importance sampling techniques converge slowly in scenes where a light source is only visible through small openings as visibility is not considered. This problem is often addressed by manually placing light portals, marking the openings to the light. However,...

Matting using a known background and a chroma-key minimization scheme

In this paper, we investigate the problem of segmenting the foreground objects from the known background. The target application is a setting where a large display serves as the backdrop for a scene. The method proposed in this paper solves this problem in two steps. We try to separate the foreground and the background with the modified...

Measurement Light Bulb: Light source and camera synchronization

This document describes the design process the prototype of a measurement light bulb which is able to project spherical harmonics of orders 0-1-2. Photographs of these projections can be combined to represent many light distributions. The measurement light bulb can be used in the field of research focused on the computation of the illumination...

Measurement Light Bulb: Control

This document describes the design process the prototype of a measurement light bulb which is able to project spherical harmonics of orders 0-1-2. Photographs of these projections can be combined to represent many light distributions. The measurement light bulb can be used in the field of research focused on the computation of the illumination...

BobRossNet: Accelerating rendering by partial inpainting

Before you lies the report that resulted from the Individual Research Project of Vera Hoveling. For this project, a neural network has been developed to complete partially rendered images: BobRossNet. In this document you will find the details of the project, the architecture of BobRossNet, its training, results and a reflection on its future.