Graphics - Optics - Physics: Modeling the Visible World

denominator: on different scales, these disciplines provide descriptions
of the world as our most sophisticated sense, our visual system,
perceives it. An image says more than a thousand words, and vice versa,
a lot can be learned from the way images are formed in nature.
>From the microscopic regime of Maxwell's Equations to the macroscopic
world of the Rendering Equation, modeling the interaction of light
and matter involves knowledge from all three scientific fields.

In this talk, various examples are presented to show how computer
graphics, optics, and physics can benefit from a combined effort
to describe the world around us: a novel optical design for a
BRDF meter makes possible measuring the optical properties of
arbitrary materials fast and on-site; transport theory,
originally developed for building nuclear bombs, enables modeling
the appearance of such unsuspecting objects as a glass of milk;
and volumetric visualization allows earth-inhabiting astronomers
to view the Orion Nebula from angles previously thought reserved
exclusively for Captain Kirk and his crew of the spaceship Enterprise.

If modeling the physics of a real-world scene appears too cumbersome,
taking conventional pictures of it and thereby capturing the static
scene's natural Light Field is an easy way out.
Given enough pictures, and/or a cooperative scene geometry reconstruction
algorithm, arbitrary views of the scene can be rendered at photo-realistic
quality. To store the multi-view imagery, and to transmit it, e.g. over
the Internet, suitable coding schemes have been developed to compress
the heap of images by an order of 1000:1 and more.

Time-varying scenes, on the other hand, give rise to Dynamic Light Fields
that can be recorded using multiple synchronized video cameras.
By fitting generic 3D models to the content of the scene, retrieved model
parameters and textures yield extremely high compression ratios and
versatile rendering possibilities. A combination of headtracker and
projection goggles can be used to create a fully immersive,
three-dimensional viewing experience of Dynamic Light Fields.
Finally, an autostereoscopic display design based on video projectors
enables many people to share the same three-dimensional viewing impression
at the same time, representing a truly 3D movie theater.