The realistic behaviour of light is a key element in virtual worlds. Shafts and shadows can convey certain moods or atmospheres. During his PhD research, Dr Timothy R. Kol developed tools for artists working on animated movies, special effects, and video games to manipulate the effects of light.
Light shafts bath a virtual scene. (Photo: Timothy Kol)
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The artist adds holes to the shadow map to allow more light to pass. (Photo: Timothy R. Kol)Text…
The user paints red, grey and orange spots on different locations to create a light map that will produce an effect similar to that of a stained glass window when light virtually passes through. (Photo: Timothy R. Kol)Text…
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In the left image, the background is very uniform while in the right image it is more heterogeneous. The user has also “painted” smoke coming out of the chimney. (Photo: Timothy R. Kol)
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The artist paints red, grey and orange spots at different locations to create a light map that will produce an effect similar to that of a stained glass window through which light virtually passes. (Photo: Timothy R. Kol)Kol created a brush to be used directly on a scene so that artists can create a certain atmosphere by colouring light shafts. The user paints spots in the preferred colours and the software generates a lightmap and applies it to the shafts.
These new techniques are a big step forward, explains Kol, as shaft colouring was a very difficult effect to create manually, especially in animated scenes. His tools now even make it possible to duplicate the effect in different scenes.
In the left image, the background is very uniform while in the right image it is more heterogeneous. The user has also ‘painted’ smoke coming from the chimney. (Photo: Timothy R. Kol)Particles in the atmosphere scatter light. Depending on the density of these particles, the lighting conditions can significantly vary. For instance, on foggy nights, car lights do not appear in perfect straight lines. Instead, you can see the fog patterns in it. Kol developed a tool to replicate the varying density of particles reflecting the light, which can also be used in animated images to show the swirling patterns of smoke or fog.
Apart from working on the artistic expression of virtual worlds, Kol has done research on realistic and illustrative visualisations too. During his years as a PhD candidate, he improved the simulation of light behaviour and created a system to represent 3D cities in a way that helps users navigate through maps. Finally, he studied the efficient storage of large high resolution virtual worlds using a method called voxels, achieving unprecedented results in real-time compression.
Kol is now working as a researcher for OLM Digital, an animation studio in Tokyo (Japan), further developing tools for 3D artists. “What I really like about computer graphics is that you actually see your boring mathematics codes come to life in a beautiful picture”.
Timothy R. Kol, Representing Large Virtual Worlds, PhD supervisor Elmar Eisemann, Faculty of EEMCS, May 4, 2018.
Glowing particles in a night scene. (Photo: Timothy R. Kol)A realistic representation of the world can be crucial if the viewer or player is to be immersed in a scene. However, sometimes the priority is the artistic representation of a scene which may not be realistic but should be plausible.
Dr Timothy Kol, who defended his thesis at the beginning of May, developed various techniques to influence light shafts on a virtual scene. Then he created intuitive tools that enable people without any technical knowledge to manipulate these effects. “Artists want to create a pretty picture that they can control precisely to produce the image they have in mind”.
The artist adds holes to the shadow map to allow more light through. (Photo: Timothy Kol)
Shafts are created when light is blocked or partly blocked by objects in front of it, like sunlight passing through clouds. Kol developed a tool for artists to control the occlusion of light. By changing the number and size of the holes through which light passes, the artists add, remove or enhance shafts. If artists fill the holes there are fewer light shafts, while if they add holes there are more.
The artist paints red, grey and orange spots at different locations to create a light map that will produce an effect similar to that of a stained glass window through which light virtually passes.
Kol created a brush to be used directly on a scene so that artists can create a certain atmosphere by colouring light shafts. The user paints spots in the preferred colours and the software generates a lightmap and applies it to the shafts.
These new techniques are a big step forward, explains Kol, as shaft colouring was a very difficult effect to create manually, especially in animated scenes. His tools now even make it possible to duplicate the effect in different scenes.
‘Boring codes come alive in a beautiful image’
In the left image, the background is very uniform while in the right image it is more heterogeneous. The user has also ‘painted’ smoke coming from the chimney. (Photo: Timothy Kol)
Particles in the atmosphere scatter light. Depending on the density of these particles, the lighting conditions can significantly vary. For instance, on foggy nights, car lights do not appear in perfect straight lines. Instead, you can see the fog patterns in it. Kol developed a tool to replicate the varying density of particles reflecting the light, which can also be used in animated images to show the swirling patterns of smoke or fog.
Apart from working on the artistic expression of virtual worlds, Kol has done research on realistic and illustrative visualisations too. During his years as a PhD candidate, he improved the simulation of light behaviour and created a system to represent 3D cities in a way that helps users navigate through maps. Finally, he studied the efficient storage of large high resolution virtual worlds using a method called voxels, achieving unprecedented results in real-time compression.
Kol is now working as a researcher for OLM Digital, an animation studio in Tokyo (Japan), further developing tools for 3D artists. “What I really like about computer graphics is that you actually see your boring mathematics codes come to life in a beautiful picture”.
Timothy R. Kol, Representing Large Virtual Worlds, PhD supervisor Elmar Eisemann, Faculty of EEMCS, May 4, 2018.
Glowing particles in a night scene. (Photo: Timothy Kol)
Top-down view (left) and canonical view (right) of the same scene. (Photo: Timothy Kol)
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