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The ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (ACM SAP) aims to advance and promote research that crosses the boundaries between perception and disciplines such as graphics, visualization, computer vision, haptics and acoustics. ACM SAP 2016 will be held in Anaheim, California, on July 22 and 23, immediately prior to SIGGRAPH 2016. The scope of the conference includes applications and algorithms in any area of research that incorporates elements of perception and computer science, with a major aim of the conference being the promotion of communication between the core perception and computer graphics communities.

ACM SAP 2016 invites submissions of original work in all areas of applied perception. Examples of relevant areas include:

• Modeling, rendering, and animation
• Visualization
• Computational aesthetics
• Haptic rendering, haptic input and perception
• Perception of virtual characters
• Color vision and color appearance modeling
• Perception of high dynamic range scenes and images
• Interaction techniques and interfaces
• Augmented reality
• Virtual worlds
• Display technologies
• Auditory display and interfaces
• Perceptual auditory coding
• Spatialized sound
• Speech synthesis and recognition
• Sensory integration
• Multimodal rendering
• Spatial and temporal vision
• Attention and eye movements
• Statistical learning and perception of natural scenes
• Perception of shapes, surfaces, and materials

Papers

Research can be submitted as a long paper (up to 8 pages and up to 20 minute talk), a short paper (up to 4 pages and up to 15 minute talk), or as a poster presentation (1 page abstract). Papers that are not accepted will be considered for the poster session. Authors of posters accepted by this route will, of course, have the option to decline the opportunity to present a poster. Please check the formatting guidelines before submitting your work.

Posters

A poster presentation is an opportunity for authors to display and discuss achievements that are not ready for publication or have not been published previously. The poster session is always an integral part of SAP with specific time allotted for participants to view and discuss the work. All poster presenters will have the opportunity to give a one-minute description of their work during a poster fast-forward session. Poster presentations are not formal publications. We encourage all types of scholarly poster submissions that fit the scope of ACM-SAP. Poster abstracts should follow the ACM SIGGRAPH formatting guidelines for papers, except that they should be 1 page long.

Further details

All papers will be carefully reviewed by our International Program Committee. Papers will be evaluated as submitted, given limited time between submission and printing of final versions. Under a recent agreement with the ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (TAP) and the ACM Publications Board, the strongest accepted papers will be offered publication as full papers in the ACM journal TAP. These papers will undergo a second review cycle, during which the authors will revise the paper to address concerns posed in the summary review (similar to conditional acceptances at ACM SIGGRAPH). Authors of such special issue papers must agree to present the paper at ACM SAP. As has always been the case, authors of regular ACM SAP papers can still submit to TAP regular issues with appropriate additions.

Conference Chairs: Eakta Jain and Sophie Joerg

Program Chairs: Reynold Bailey and Laura Trutoiu

For more information, or to submit your work, visit the ACM SAP website.

The average person is unlikely to be familiar with the concept of Digital Molecular Matter, though any member of the game-playing or movie-going public has almost certainly encountered it. Repeatedly.

Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) is a physics engine based on an algorithm for fracture and deformation developed by University of California professor James O'Brien. DMM is as pervasive as it is unknown to the general public, though gamers may recall the release of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" in 2009, and the startling new level of realism the game brought. Players were impressed by the dynamic bending, breaking and splintering of virtual materials that, until that point, had not been modeled to such an accurate degree.

Six years later, the engine is still impressive. Realizing this, I decided to ask James some questions about the project — which, to date, has been used in more than 90 feature films.

How did you end up creating the project? Was the original intent for it to be used in other applications, like it is now?

"The initial work on Fracture Simulation was done while I was at Georgia Tech. I published a couple of papers on the basic method, and then I came to Berkeley. At Berkeley, we kept working on the algorithms.

I was approached by a company called Pixelux about commercializing [Fracture Simulation] for use in destruction modeling in games and film. We started working on a highly optimized implementation. Eventually we released a plugin for Maya, a software package used for CGI in films. We also worked with Lucas Arts to integrate the system into "The Force Unleashed" games. We then had a couple of companies, such as MPC, license the code for integration into their own effects pipeline.

The main engineer I worked with at Pixelux was Eric Parker, and the primary engineer at MPC was Ben Cole. In 2015, the three of us shared an Academy Award for our work."

Academy Award Citation: "To Ben Cole for the design of the Kali Destruction System, to Eric Parker for the development of the Digital Molecular Matter toolkit, and to James O’Brien for his influential research on the finite element methods that served as a foundation for these tools. The combined innovations in Kali and DMM provide artists with an intuitive, art-directable system for the creation of scalable and realistic fracture and deformation simulations. These tools established finite element methods as a new reference point for believable on-screen destruction."

I remember DMM being demonstrated before the release of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed." Were you approached by them, or did you pursue companies that you thought might have been interested?

"Pixelux did a pitch to them with an early version of the software. It turned out that one of the Lucas people had been a huge fan of a video game that Eric [Parker] had written years ago, and was very excited to work with us. It’s a small world, sometimes!"

How different is the project now, compared to the 2009 version?

"I’m not actively working on DMM anymore. Pixelux still maintains it and adds features with occasional new releases. Most of my time now is spent working on a new startup activity at a company called Avametric, where we're using cloth simulation to model clothing so customers can virtually try it on."

Is there anything you wish you could add to DMM, or change?

"We’ve done some new work on fracture simulation that uses adaptive meshing. I think that method would work very well for VFX, but it’s fairly different from the tetrahedral method that DMM is built on. So I don’t think Pixelux will pursue it. Perhaps another company will be interested?"

Was there a point where you realized your work was becoming very significant?

"Well, winning the Academy Award was nice. I think that the release of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" was another significant event, as was the first movie to use DMM extensively, "Sucker Punch." I’ve been told that DMM was used in a very small way in "Avatar," but "Sucker Punch" was really the first. Since "Sucker Punch," there have been a steady stream of films using DMM. Last time I looked, it was more than 80 of them. The Wikipedia page has a partial list of some of the places DMM has been used."

Are there any similar projects in "the wild" that you particularly admire?

"The fluid simulation Naiad by Robert Bridson is pretty impressive. However, their company was bought by Autodesk, and I think they are still working to integrate Naiad’s features into an Autodesk product. I’m excited to see what that will be."

If you were to adopt a different career, what would it be?

"Now, why would I want to do that?"

You mentioned a new virtual clothing try-on startup — can you tell me about the company?

"The company is Avametric, and we're focused on developing a system to allow people to virtually try on clothing online. Our system makes it easy for shoppers to capture the 3D measurements of their bodies, for retailers to acquire digital models of their clothing products, and for us to combine the data using physics simulation and realistic rendering to accurately show people how they will look in clothing before they buy it. Personally, I’m very excited about this new project. We are making fast progress, and the results are exciting."

What inspired the new direction?

"In the past, I got a kick out of seeing my work end up in films where millions of people could enjoy it. But the thing with VFX is that if it’s done well, the viewer shouldn't even realize it’s an effect. With this clothing effort, people will be interacting directly with our simulated clothing. That’s going to be awesome."

James O’Brien is a Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, where he teaches courses primarily in computer graphics and animation. He also currently serves as a Director-at-Large of ACM SIGGRAPH.

Each year, ACM SIGGRAPH bestows a small number of awards to members of the computer graphics community, in recognition of exceptional achievements in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Five of the these awards are given out annually, and one (the Steven Anson Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics) is awarded every odd-numbered year.

Nominations for ACM SIGGRAPH awards are due very soon — and nominations from community members are strongly encouraged. Each award is presided over by a committee that carefully reviews each nomination, along with others the committee feels are worthy of consideration.

The ACM SIGGRAPH awards are as follows:

• Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art (nominations due to Artist Award Chair by December 15)
• Computer Graphics Achievement Award (nominations due to Technical Awards Chair by January 31)
• Significant New Researcher Award (nominations due to Technical Awards Chair by January 31)
• Steven Anson Coons Award (nominations due to Technical Awards Chair by January 31 of each odd-numbered year)
• Outstanding Service Award (nominations due to Outstanding Service Award Chair by January 31)
• Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award (nominations due to Thesis Award Chair by January 31)

ACM SIGGRAPH awards are presented at the annual SIGGRAPH conference, the world's largest conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques.

This year marks the launch of a new ACM SIGGRAPH award, the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, which recognizes a recent Ph.D. graduate who has already made a notable contribution very early during their doctoral study.

Though some awards carry cash prizes, all ACM SIGGRAPH award winners receive a plaque, complimentary full conference registration and travel to the awards ceremony at SIGGRAPH.

For more information, or to submit a nomination for one of the awards, please see the ACM SIGGRAPH awards page.

One of the newest — and most successful — entries into the indie game scene is "This War of Mine," developed and published by 11 Bit Studios. Previously known for mobile games such as "Anomaly" and "Sleepwalker's Journey," 11 Bit created a different kind of game altogether with its latest release, which has generated quite a following amongst the gaming community, particularly on the Steam platform.

Among the interesting aspects of "This War of Mine" is the game's tone; the premise is to observe a war from a civilian's perspective, rather than a soldier's. As a result, a large amount of character development is involved, deeply engrossing players in what it might be like to be a victim of a war. We spoke to members of the 11 Bit development team to find out what it was like to create these solemn representations of what happens to people in real life when the tragedy of war strikes their region.

• Dominik Zieliński – Lead & Character Artist
• Olaf Pożoga – Character Artist
• Przemek Marszał – Art Director & Project Lead

"This War of Mine" places heavy emphasis on the fact that civilian life can exist alongside an active war. How did this influence the way that characters were designed in the game?

DOMINIK: When designing the characters for the game, at the back of our minds, we had a message: this war can happen to you. We needed characters that would naturally blend into the game setting and story, so it was a natural choice to go with character scanning. It added an extra layer of depth to the entire game experience. It also made the game more personal for us, because most of the scans were made from 11 Bit Studios team members. The end goal was to populate the game with ordinary, everyday people you might see on the street. This approach to make it plane paradoxically makes TWoM stand out, when you compare it to other games that usually try to sway you with monsters, space ships or miscellaneous eye candy.

From a strictly technique perspective, we were really happy with how clothing turned out. It's important, because the characters are mostly fully clothed. We got good results with a minimal amount of man-hours; it would be more time-consuming to sculpt clothing or simulate it.

OLAF: Drawings in advance were unnecessary: this game is, as Dominik said, about civilians. About you, about us. So we just took exactly ourselves, put on some warmer clothes — and that’s it. Easy, but when you think about it — also very dangerous. Very true.

Did inspiration for characters come from any particular place? Are you (the designer) or others connected to similar sorts of grueling situations that appear in the game?

DOMINIK: The principle idea for “This War of Mine” was put forward by 11 Bit Studios CEO Grzegorz Miechowski, who was reading about different conflicts and horrible situations of people in war zones. He brought up the topic of the incredibly heavy emotional toll civilians need to carry when surrounded by war. I think TWoM captured that message and magnified it… made it reach more people. And, of course, that had an impact (along with other materials) on the way we were thinking about characters. It limited the amount of options we had, but in a good way. We couldn't make people look like they were confident, clean, happy or rested. That affects minute things like the rigging pose, for example. The way the characters walk, how they sneak. We've thrown away many animations that would do perfectly in a different game. Here — they were just out of place.

PRZEMEK: It wasn’t striking at first, but one of the messages of the game — war always happens at somebody’s doorstep — is really true, and it’s very sad. During production of TWoM, I was contacted by an artist from Donetsk in Ukraine. As you probably know, right this minute there's a war going on. He was looking for a job, as he had to leave his country. He was afraid that his family would suffer… afraid for their lives.

Did you learn anything about the life of civilians during the production of said characters? If so, what was most surprising?

PRZEMEK: Probably, this isn’t a rule for every conflict, but I was very surprised to learn that night is a safe time — and day is very dangerous. During the war in Sarajevo, there were a lot of snipers all around the corner of the city. They had a clear view during day, and you could find a lot of signs with "warning: sniper” everywhere. People prayed for a fog. Sadly, this didn’t stop them from moving around — and there were casualties. Night was different. You could hear huge cannons far away, could meet bands of scavengers. But still, it was a better time to move around. We’ve used this idea in TWoM, and so we have has this day/night cycle — with day in your shelter, and night away.

After seeing the massive success of the game, particularly within the Steam community, is there anything you would do differently?

DOMINIK: After the release, I was hooked to the Steam forums — searching for problems that people might have with graphics and animations. I couldn't find any. We still made some improvements in the patches that came after the release. The production pipeline in all areas significantly improved when compared to the early days. Processing scanned characters speed up from four to five days per character to one to two days. That's drastic. It would be nice to prepare with that speed from the beginning. We owe that improvement to experience we gathered, as well as upgrades in software we used.

OLAF: Each character that's created comes back to me after a while, so I can look for some defects. I do try to find as many mistakes as possible. As long as I'm able to spot all faults in my work, I can continue to evolve in what I do. What I lack in our characters is the fact they do not see each other — they always look ahead. So there is no eye-to-eye interaction. They don’t follow others with their head, and so on. Also, I wish people would react to the weather, for example. I would really be happy to see a character who goes under a strong wind and tries to maintain balance. Who tries to hold his or her hat that it isn't blown away.

Was it enjoyable or emotionally draining to create characters that are supposed to elicit negative emotions? Have you designed for anything darker than "This War of Mine?"

DOMINIK: Watching reference material during pre-production was emotionally draining. But that was absolutely imperative for us to know what we were dealing with. All the scanning sessions weren’t that dark. We were using a custom-built platform and putting people on a little merry-go-around. Most of our team switched their Facebook profile pictures to their scanned heads meshes. Having people from the team directly in the game was something new. The aim of all of our work was to recreate real people and their natural behavior inside the game in a creative way, but without adding anything unnecessary.

PRZEMEK: For me personally, the whole game was very draining. And this idea, put together with people scans, had a huge impact on me. As we said, most of the characters in game are us: developers. I was also scanned, but a message in the back of my head stopped me for using my mesh as a person you can play. It was too much. The idea that my scanned character could die … was too much. You can see me as a trader. He is a helping person, and won’t die. I know it's only my imagination, but I don’t want to cross that thin red line.

ACM SIGGRAPH has been in existence since the late 1960s, and is comprised of thousands of enthusiastic members who live all over the world. ACM SIGGRAPH members work in a wide variety of industries, engrossed in myriad occupations – but are all united by a shared passion for computer graphics.

In tribute to the abundant individuality present in our membership, ACM SIGGRAPH has begun to gather the stories of its members and share them with the wider world.

Please join us in celebrating the achievements of our members by getting to know their personal stories, experiencing their work, and learning how their love for computer graphics has shaped their lives.

ACM SIGGRAPH Member Profiles