This blog is a central point for announcements that are relevant to my Meetup group, SF NURDS. Also, it serves as a venue for me to occasionally pontificate on all things 3D related.
This week I was blown away by Asphyxia, a motion capture and dance project by Maria Takeuchi and Frederico Phillips'. Using the XBox Kinect, they create a moving, virtual, sculpture of dancer, Shisho Tinaka's movements. She becomes a moving web of light in the dark screen. The collaborative team put equal effort into art and technology aspects. The project required iterative studies on styles and a number of 3D tools after motion data was captured using "inexpensive tools." Amazing and inspirational!
Gareth Morgan, 3D NURDS Organizer gave talk on James Kajiya's The Rendering Equation at the San Francisco Chapter of "PapersWeLove (PWL)." The equation was first published by Kajiya at the 1986 Siggraph. PWL is self described as, a repository of academic computer science papers, and a community who loves to read them. Comp Sci not your thing? That's okay. Co-Organizer Ines Sombra openly encourages any scholarly paper, and corresponding topic you'd like to present. This was my third attendance, and her welcoming attitude is mirrored by the atmosphere: kindness and curiosity. Presenters are encouraged to be clear and simple so that everyone can engage as much as possible.
Kajiya's equation measures light energy passing from one point to another in the world. This calculation is vitally important for 3D graphics and computer generated images. Morgan argues, the most important: "Every image in a screen is an attempt to solve the rendering equation," and the concept itself revolutionized 3D graphics. The mini talk presented is from February 19, 2015 at Yammer HQ. Morgan uses diagrams to break down each of the equations terms, and how they contribute to the solution. The full talk will happen in Spring 2015. Look forward! And yes, there will be libations. Video Caption: Gareth Morgan presents on The Rendering Equation at the 12th Papers We Love. Morgan is preceded by Veronica Ray on Experimenting at Scale with Google Chrome's SSL Warning and followed by the evening's main event: Caitie McCaffrey on Orleans: A Framework for Cloud.
