6. Point-Based Computer Graphics
Sunday, Full Day, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Room 502A
Level: Intermediate

Point primitives have experienced a major "renaissance" in recent years, and considerable research has been devoted to efficient representation, modeling, processing, and rendering of point-sampled geometry. There are two main reasons for this new interest in points: First, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the polygonal complexity of computer graphics models. The overhead of managing, processing, and manipulating very large polygonal-mesh connectivity information has led many leading researchers to question the future utility of polygons as the fundamental graphics primitive. Second, modern 3D digital photography and 3D scanning systems acquire both the geometry and the appearance of complex, real-world objects. These techniques generate huge volumes of point samples, which constitute discrete building blocks of 3D object geometry and appearance, much as pixels are the digital elements for images.

This course presents the latest research results in point-based computer graphics. After an overview of the key research issues, affordable 3D scanning devices are discussed, and novel concepts for mathematical representation of point-sampled shapes are presented. The course describes methods for high-performance and high-quality rendering of point models, including advanced shading, antialiasing, and transparency. It also presents efficient data structures for hierarchical rendering on modern graphics processors and summarizes methods for geometric processing, filtering, and resampling of point models. Other topics include: a framework for shape modeling of point-sampled geometry, including Boolean operations and free-form deformations, and Pointshop3D, an open-source framework that facilitates design of new algorithms for point-based graphics.

Prerequisites
Familiarity with the standard computer graphics techniques for surface representation, modeling, and rendering. No previous knowledge of point-based methods is required.

Intended Audience
Computer graphics researchers who want to learn more about point-based techniques.

Co-Organizers
Markus Gross
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich

Hanspeter Pfister
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs

Matthias Zwicker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lecturers
Marc Alexa
Technische Universität Darmstadt

Markus Gross
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich

Mark Pauly
Stanford University

Hanspeter Pfister
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs

Marc Stamminger
Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Matthias Zwicker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Schedule

8:30	Introduction Gross
8:45	Acquisition of Point-Sampled Geometry and Appearance Pfister
9:45	Point Based Surface Representations I Alexa
10:15	Break
10:30	Point Based Surface Representations II Alexa
11	Algorithms for High Quality Point Rendering Zwicker
12:15	Lunch
1:45	Effiecient Data Structures Stamminger
2:30	Processing, Sampling and Filtering of Point Models Gross
3	Efficient Simplification of Point-Sampled Geometry Pauly
3:45	Break
3:45	Pointshop3D: An Interactive System for Point-Based Surface Editing Gross
4:15	Shape Modeling of Point-Sampled Geometry Pauly
4:45	Pointshop3D Demonstration Pauly
5:15	Panel on the Future of Point-Based Computer Graphics All