Section: Overall Objectives

Overall Objectives

ARTIS was created in January, 2003, based on the observation that current image synthesis methods appear to provide limited solutions for the variety of current applications. The classical approach to image synthesis consists of separately modeling a 3D geometry and a set of photometric properties (reflectance, lighting conditions), and then computing their interaction to produce a picture. This approach severely limits the ability to adapt to particular constraints or freedoms allowed in each application (such as precision, real-time, interactivity, uncertainty about input data...). Furthermore, it restricts the classes of possible images and does not easily lend itself to new uses such as illustration, where a form of hierarchy of image constituents must be constructed.

One of the goals of the project is the definition of a more generic framework for the creation of synthetic images, integrating elements of 3D geometry, of 2D geometry (built from 3D geometry), of appearance (photometry, textures...), of rendering style, and of importance or relevance for a given application. The ARTIS project-team therefore deals with multiple aspects of image synthesis: model creation from various sources of data, transformations between these models, rendering and imaging algorithms, and the adaptation of the models and algorithms to various constraints or application contexts. The main research directions in ARTIS address:

• Analysis and simulation of lighting effects. Development of hierarchical simulation techniques integrating the most general and realistic effects, fast rendering, inverse lighting, relighting, data acquisition based on lighting analysis.

• Expressive (“non-photorealistic”) rendering. Definition and identification of rendering styles. Style extraction from existing documents. Development of new view models (mixture of 3D and 2D) and new rendering techniques.

• Model simplification and transformation. Simplification of geometry and appearance, image-based representations, model transformation for various applications, detail creation and creation of virtual models from real data.

Our target applications are dealing with 3D image synthesis, radiative transfer simulation, visualization, virtual and augmented reality, Illustration and computational photography. As application domains we are working on video games, animation movies, technical illustration, virtual heritage, lighting design, rehabilitation after a traumas...