GFX Cafe Seminar Friday Nov 30, 2007

More goodies from the folks at GFX Cafe.  GFX Cafe Seminars are held in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building on UNM's main campus, North North-East of the School of Engineering main building (and the intersection of Central and University Blvd).   Room 118 is... well, it might take a minute or two to find.

The seminar series has been very popular, so come early to get a good seat.

___
GFX Café Seminar Friday November 30, 2007
12noon, ECE118

Food will be served

TITLE:
Porter and Duff Compositing and Volume Rendering
by Kenneth Moreland, Sandia National Labs


ABSTRACT:
Everyone knows how to composite transparent images as outlined by
Porter and Duff in 1984, right?  This image algebra holds a
fundamental part in just about every piece of computer software
including powerful image manipulation programs like Photoshop and
Gimp, 3D rendering systems like OpenGL, and the legible rendering
of fonts by modern windows systems.  Despite its importance, many
of us have only a passing knowledge of image compositing: one that
leads to mistakes.  I will review the fundamental concepts of Porter
and Duff compositing, highlight common misconceptions, and discuss
how to correct for them.  I will also discuss the topic of volume
rendering within the context of compositing.  I will show where
the two theories intersect and where they diverge.  I will
demonstrate how to correctly use compositing within the volume
rendering task while identifying pitfalls and discussing how to
avoid them.

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation,
a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of
Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract
DE-AC04-94AL85000.


BIO:
Kenneth Moreland is a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Sandia
National Laboratories.  He received a B.S. degree in Computer Science
and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology in 1997, an M.S. in Computer
Science from the University of New Mexico in 2000, and later a
Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico in 2004.
His research interests include large scale, parallel rendering and
scientific visualization, volume rendering, information visualization,
and comparative visualization and post-processing.  Dr. Moreland is
currently Sandia's technical lead for ParaView development.



--
Pradeep Sen
Assistant Professor
Advanced Graphics Lab
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of New Mexico
_______________________________________________
gfx-cafe mailing list
gfx-cafe@lists.eece.unm.edu
http://lists.eece.unm.edu/mailman/listinfo/gfx-cafe

--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
MSC04 2570
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

[Gfx-cafe] GFX Cafe Seminar Friday Nov 30, 2007

GFX Café Seminar Friday November 30, 2007
12noon, ECE118

Food will be served

TITLE:
Porter and Duff Compositing and Volume Rendering
by Kenneth Moreland, Sandia National Labs

ABSTRACT:
Everyone knows how to composite transparent images as outlined by
Porter and Duff in 1984, right? This image algebra holds a
fundamental part in just about every piece of computer software
including powerful image manipulation programs like Photoshop and
Gimp, 3D rendering systems like OpenGL, and the legible rendering
of fonts by modern windows systems. Despite its importance, many
of us have only a passing knowledge of image compositing: one that
leads to mistakes. I will review the fundamental concepts of Porter
and Duff compositing, highlight common misconceptions, and discuss
how to correct for them. I will also discuss the topic of volume
rendering within the context of compositing. I will show where
the two theories intersect and where they diverge. I will
demonstrate how to correctly use compositing within the volume
rendering task while identifying pitfalls and discussing how to
avoid them.

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation,
a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of
Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract
DE-AC04-94AL85000.

BIO:
Kenneth Moreland is a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Sandia
National Laboratories. He received a B.S. degree in Computer Science
and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology in 1997, an M.S. in Computer
Science from the University of New Mexico in 2000, and later a
Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico in 2004.
His research interests include large scale, parallel rendering and
scientific visualization, volume rendering, information visualization,
and comparative visualization and post-processing. Dr. Moreland is
currently Sandia's technical lead for ParaView development.

--
Pradeep Sen
Assistant Professor
Advanced Graphics Lab
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of New Mexico
_______________________________________________
gfx-cafe mailing list
gfx-cafe@lists.eece.unm.edu
http://lists.eece.unm.edu/mailman/listinfo/gfx-cafe

Two events this week

From the UNM News Minute.

First, a reminder about this Friday's ARTS Lab Friday and the second, not really an 'event' a but a good chance to get rid of your old electronic items in an environmentally friendly way...

13. FROM EXPERIMENTAL ART to "Beowulf" in 3-D, fulldome productions go
beyond the planetarium. Two of the world's leading experts will present
the history, current state and possible future of the fulldome medium on
Friday, Nov. 30, 2-4:30 p.m. at the University of New Mexico ARTS Lab
Garage, 123 Pine St. NE, near the intersection of Central Avenue and
University Boulevard.
http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/002440.html#more


16. STUDENTS, FACULTY and staff have the opportunity to recycle old
personal computers, cell phones, clock radios, cords, TV sets, DVD
Players, VCRs and other electronic items in an environmentally safe way on
Saturday, Dec. 1. The event, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
will be held at the far west end of the T Lot on the corner of Lomas and
University N.E. Additionally, volunteers are needed to help staff the
event. For more information contact Linda McCormick at (505) 269-6131 or
via e-mail at, lindamcc@unm.edu.
http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/002390.html#more

--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
MSC04 2570
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

Next Friday @ ARTS Lab: Fulldome - - State of the Medium

Next Friday (November 30th) at ARTS Lab, two of the world's leading experts in fulldome production will be taking attendees through the history, current state and possible future of the fulldome medium.  I'm talking, you might guess, about ARTS Lab's David Beining and Hue Walker -- and there's more on that below.

I'm not sure if 'fulldome' is the next big thing.  Though the proliferation of screens today is pretty serious, I imagine a young entrepreneur at Lascaux thinking he had something with his drawings and flickering lights 17,000 years ago or so. We believe he was right, but these things take time...

However, watching Beowulf in 3D this weekend, seeing the trailers for upcoming 3D shows (and the relative box office take for 3D screens), and watching trends for virtual worlds and other work in immersive space, it feels like developing an understanding for these media, their production essentials and how audiences experience them is at least a good idea.

Hope some of you can join us -- and very best wishes to everyone for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Fulldome: The State of the Medium

Friday, November 30, 2007
Location: ARTS Lab Garage, 123 Pine St NE (Just off Central Ave Near the University Blvd intersection)
Time: 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm @ ARTS Lab (gDome)

Fulldome — large-format, immersive, crazy-resolution, digital dome theater — is a young, powerful and rapidy diffusing medium. And New Mexico above all other places is a major focal point for fulldome production, education and research. In this show-and-tell, ARTS Lab Immersive Media Director David Beining describes and demonstrates the state of fulldome technology, market, productions and programming. To demonstrate state of fulldome production, clips from DomeFest and other programs will be screened in the gDome. Please note this workshop is not a 'how-to' on dome production, rather an overview on the fulldome industry, technology and what's being produced for distribution. Look for how-to workshops in the spring semester.

ARTS Lab Immersive Media Director David Beining explains what that means and explores content creation and qualities for this new media environment.

For more information and registration (space is limited, so you must sign up), visit: http://artslab.unm.edu/rsvp/fridays.htm

--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
MSC04 2570
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

Sundance Fellow to screen film @ UNM 11/20/07

From Mary K. Bowannie of the Native American Studies Program:


The University of New Mexico
Department of English and the Joseph M. Russo Endowment
presents

Four Sheets to the Wind

A film by Sterlin Harjo

Director Sterlin Harjo, Seminole/Creek will be at the
screening
to introduce his film and answer questions

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
SUB Theatre

6:00 p.m.

no admission fee, everyone welcome

And please join the UNM Native community for
an Indigenous Day/Sterlin Harjo potluck
4:00 PM
(before the show)
Native American Studies
3080 Mesa Vista Hall
For more information contact: Native American Studies @
277-3917

http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/002426.html#more
http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=4695



--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

Amazon Web Service Workshop TODAY

A special event just announced by NMITSA and the Technology Integration Group (TIG), Amazon's Web Services Evangelist Jeff Barr will be giving a workshop today from 11:30 to 1:00 PM at TIG.

Amazon has a truly revolutionary set of "cloud computing" tools giving developers access to near infinite scale for their computing needs... it's really pretty amazing.

Space is limited for the workshop, so RSVP and get details from phil@nmitsa.org to reserve a spot.

[Gfx-cafe] GFX Cafe Seminar Friday Nov 16, 2007

GFX Café Seminar Friday November 16, 2007
12noon, ECE118

Food will be served

TITLE:
Design of a high-resolution plenoptic camera
by Viktor Chekh, Graduate researcher, Advanced Graphics Lab

ABSTRACT:
Known models of compact light field photo cameras have
great additional possibilities comparing to traditional
ones, such as infinite focus depth, refocusing, etc. From
the other hand, their main disadvantage - much lower
spatial resolution - makes them not so attractive for
professional and amateur photographers.

We propose the simple idea to combine the advantages of
both plenoptic and conventional cameras: separate the
light with the prism and use two sensors for the same
shot: one is usual, another one with an array of
microlenses ahead, i.e. plenoptic. We propose to extract
the depth map from the plenoptic image and use it for the
restoration of the high resolution one.

We will illustrate the idea with the results of computer
modeling and also with possible hardware design sketches.

BIO:
Viktor Chekh is a graduate student in the Advanced Graphics Lab with
interests in new plenoptic camera technologies and segmentation and
registration algorithms. He has a Masters Degree from the National
Technical University of Ukraine.

--
Pradeep Sen
Assistant Professor
Advanced Graphics Lab
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of New Mexico
_______________________________________________
gfx-cafe mailing list
gfx-cafe@lists.eece.unm.edu
http://lists.eece.unm.edu/mailman/listinfo/gfx-cafe

Tricklock's Belladonna Opens Friday

TRICKLOCK COMPANY PRESENTS:

BELLADONNA
A Rock N Roll Fairy Tale Nightmare

Created & Performed by
Tricklock Company

Original Story & Script by Aaron Hendren and Juli Hendren
Directed by Summer Olsson
Assistant Director Kevin R. Elder

November 16 – December 2, 2007
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm ;  Sundays @ 6pm
Tickets:  $15 General; $12 Seniors; $10 Students
SPECIAL STUDENT RUSH EVERY NIGHT!
$5 Tickets –FIVE minutes before curtain (must have valid student ID)

THEATRE X  - UNM's Center for the Arts< BR>Tic kets available at UNM Ticket Offices
505.925.5858 or online at www.unmtickets.com

Tricklock Company returns to the Albuquerque stage after a highly-successful international tour with its latest creation, Belladonna. Belladonna is a beautiful but naive young woman whose scientist father has just invented a potion that brings ultimate power to the drinker.  After witnessing her father's kidnapping by a cruel and merciless dictator who wants the power for his own, Belladonna finds herself crippled by the Curse of the Four Witches Tongues, making her only able to speak in the lyrics of four female rockstars of the1980's. Accompanied by her loyal but suffocating sidekick, Belladonna embarks on a journey to rescue her father.  Along the way, in a gritty, volatile rock n' roll bar, she accidentally crashes into her One True Love and tries to convince him to help her.  In the end, will she choose to make a horrible sacrifice in order to save the world?  If only she could speak in her own words…
 
Using masks, choreography, original songs, a healthy dose of bloody Grand Guignol, and calling on the spirits and music of Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, and other mavens of rock, Tricklock brings to life an entire world of magic and mayhem.   Belladonna is a twisted fable, a rock n' roll, glitzy fairytale turned nightmare where happy endings are negotiable.  This new original work by Tricklock Company asks, what is the relationship between sacrifice and gain, and how are either justified?  
 
Created and performed by the award-winning and internationally-acclaimed Tricklock Company, Belladonna will show for three weeks at UNM's State-of-the-art Theatre X.  Special Student Rush tickets will be available every night FIVE MINUTES prior to curtain.  All UNM students with valid ID will receive a Rush Ticket of $5.  For More Information  on this show and on Tricklock Company, visit www.tricklock.com < http://www.tricklock.com>

Tricklock Company is an international theatre organization founded in 1993. Its mission is to create, tour, and produce theatrical productions as a permanent resident company at the University of New Mexico, committed to artistic risk, physicality, absurdism, and poetic work. The company's website is www.tricklock.com

 
 

revolutionize.  see theatre.

 

--
Musical Theatre Advisor
Department Publicity Director
Department of Theatre and Dance
The University of New Mexico
Office: CFA 2437
phone: (505) 277-9125
mobile: (505) 238-6029
FAX: (505) 277-8921
email:kathleenclawson@comcast.net
http://www.unm/~theatre

--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

Women & Creativity Film Festival - Call for Submissions - Deadline: Dec. 3

The Annual Women and Creativity Festival put together by NHCC and the Harwood Arts Center is a great multi-day event (with some special guests you're really going to like).  This year to make things even more exciting, they've added a film festival -- it's a really good opportunity. More info below -- and coming soon.

 

---

 

Call for Submissions

 

Women and Creativity Film Festival

 

Deadline: December 3, 2007

 

 

The National Hispanic Cultural Center and the Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico seek film/video submissions for the Women and Creativity Film Festival to take place in March 2008. We are interested in works that utilize the art form for original storytelling of the diverse experiences of girls and women. The film must be directed or co-directed by a girl or woman.

 

For further details, see the attached PDF or refer to the website: http://www.nhccnm.org (select: Programs/Media Arts).

 

Feel free to forward this information to anyone who may be interested. We look forward to hearing from you!

Women and Creativity Film Festival Committee

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail, including all attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited unless specifically provided under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of this message. -- This email has been scanned by the Sybari - Antigen Email System.

--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

Working with ARTS Lab @ the Garage this Friday 2-4:30 PM

Hi all... And welcome to the next ARTS Lab Friday announcement!
(info on following Fridays below)
Please distribute to faculty, staff, students and potential collaborators!

The Art, Research, Technology and Science Lab -- ARTS Lab -- is an interdisciplinary center for research and development of digital media at UNM.  Its facility, the ARTS Lab "Garage" includes the gDome, a fulldome theater for student, staff and faculty production, and a blackbox theater with advanced theatrical lighting, an 8 camera Motion Capture system, and an 18' x 30' Greenscreen studio.

Can students, staff and faculty get access to these facilities?

Are they available to outside organizations and commercial productions?

Are ARTS Lab staff available for work on UNM and other projects?

The answer to these questions is yes, but for specifics on proposing a project to ARTS Lab, using the space and more, we invite you to attend our next ARTS Lab Friday session, November 16th from 2-4:30 PM when ARTS Lab Program Coordinator Eric Renz-Whitmore will go over the project proposal form, cost structure and more.

The ARTS Lab Garage is located at 131 Pine St., NE, one block west of University Blvd., and half a block north of Central Avenue.

Friday, November 30:  FULLDOME 101 w/ David Beining (Limited Seating)
Friday, December 6:  The Digital Rights Management Game w/ Greg Heileman
Friday, December 13: TBA
Friday, January 11:  4th Annual Media Industries Conference

___



--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu

HALO 3 @ ARTS Lab -- whew!

what a night...

Over 60 attendees, 47 players

And it came down to a tie.

--and a three minute sudden death elimination.

Apparently our winner is nationally ranked -- #48?

Many thanks to Microsoft and the uPublic

and the students of the UNM Advanced Graphics Lab!

[Gfx-cafe] Halo3 Party sponsored by AGL and ARTS Lab

AGL/ARTS Lab Halo3 Party Friday November 9, 2007
7pm-11pm, Black Box Theatre, ARTS Lab

Food will be served

Join us for an evening of prizes and fun as we hold the
first annual Halo3 competition co-sponsored by the Advanced
Graphics Lab and the ARTS Lab. The stations will be set
up for play starting at 7pm and the tournament-style
competition will start at 9pm. Prizes will be awarded
at the conclusion of the competition.

The ARTS Lab's Digital Media Garage is located at
131 Pine St., NE, just north of Central and one block
west of University.

See you there!

--
Pradeep Sen
Assistant Professor
Advanced Graphics Lab
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of New Mexico
_______________________________________________
gfx-cafe mailing list
gfx-cafe@lists.eece.unm.edu
http://lists.eece.unm.edu/mailman/listinfo/gfx-cafe

[Gfx-cafe] GFX Cafe Seminar Friday Nov 9, 2007

GFX Café Seminar Friday November 9, 2007
12noon, ECE118

Food will be served

TITLE:
Toward Greater Artistic Control for Interactive Evolution
of Images and Animation
by David Hart, Disney Interactive Studios

ABSTRACT:
We present several practical improvements to the interactive
evolution of 2D images, some of which are also applicable to more
general genetic programming problems. Two new expressive mutation
types are given, and genotype transforms are introduced as a way to
make genotypes more receptive to mutation. For evolving animation, we
introduce tree alignments in order to eliminate previous limitations
using the genetic cross dissolve. We create an algorithm for
constructing the dissolve expression using an alignment, and present
several alignment methods, each with different advantages. The goal
of these improvements is to strengthen the interactive evolution
toolset and give the artist greater control and expressive power.

BIO:
David A. Hart earned his B.S. in computer science with honors from the
University of Utah in 1997, and M.S. in computer graphics with honors
from Cornell University in 1999. After completing the M.S., he
returned to the University of Utah to work with the Scientific
Computing and Imaging group for a year researching remote
visualization techniques. In 2000, he joined the effects department
at PDI/DreamWorks where he developed and animated effects for a half
dozen feature films including the "Shrek" series, and led new shader
development for "Madagascar". David again returned to Utah in 2005,
and currently develops console video games for Disney Interactive
Studios.

--
Pradeep Sen
Assistant Professor
Advanced Graphics Lab
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of New Mexico
_______________________________________________
gfx-cafe mailing list
gfx-cafe@lists.eece.unm.edu
http://lists.eece.unm.edu/mailman/listinfo/gfx-cafe

Game Events @ UNM / Land of Entrapment @ the Guild (11/4)

A few game events next week at UNM -- please take a look:

The week start's off with the Novint Falcon "Swoop" tour. 
http://home.novint.com/swooptour/
Monday 11/5 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
UNM SUB Mall
You've probably heard of Novint's Falcon, their haptic 'force feedback' device for gameplay, but if you haven't had a chance to play with it yet (or would like to get a little more comfortable with the terms 'haptic' and 'force feedback') here's your chance.
Novint is a local company with ties to UNM and Sandia Labs (they're also among the NMITSA IT Excellence Awards nominees), and the device and the games they've developed are really cool.  They've recently partnered with Merscom games and put together a nationwide tour to demo their product so... they're one of the small companies helping spread the idea of cool and innovative work here in New Mexico.
For more information visit their website or call 277-5602

On Wednesday, the XBOX GAMES U TOUR visits UNM.
November 7th, SUB Atrium, 10am-2pm, FREE!
Apparently college students enjoy electronic entertainment -- who knew?!
UNM's Student Events group has known this for quite some time, and we're getting more and more visits from these game demo tours.  If you don't have an XBox of your own, and are a little hesitant to visit your nearest Ninja Monkey Gaming Center, this is a good chance to play a few cool games (I'm pretty sure they'll have Guitar Hero III out too).  It's also a good opportunity to get a feel for the people who play games.
Stop by the SUB Atrium to play the newest XBOX games on over 40 flat screen tvs! For more information call 277-5602. View their website by clicking here.

HALO 3 Tournament at ARTS Lab
November 9th, ARTS Lab Garage, 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM FREE!
We're also working with UNM's Advanced Graphics Lab to have a little HALO 3 Tournament of our own.  We won't have 40 kiosk systems, but if you want to meet some of the people who will be programming and designing the next generation of games -- or get the inside scoop on how to master HALO 3, this is your chance.
Visit http://artslab.unm.edu/igda to sign up.

But sooner than all that, this Sunday... another local film opens at Albuquerque's Guild Cinema.
From the folks at 505 Films (another local group that's really producing)

WE HAVE A PREMIERE!!!

That's right, at long, long last, Land of Entrapment is nearly finished and we've scheduled a showing! The premiere will be at the Guild Cinema on Sunday, November 4, at 1:00 p.m.. Tickets are $7 general, $5 for students. Most of the cast and crew will be there, so bring a few friends, check out the flick, and meet the people who made it!

Here's the blurb I'm sending out to summarize the plot. I simultaneously hate and am terrible at summarizing anything, but I'm pretty happy with this:

Clint is about to graduate from UNM and is looking forward to a dream job teaching English in Japan. But his plans hit a snag when he finds out that Jessica, his longtime girlfriend, won't be going with him. As he struggles to decide whether to follow his dreams or stay with his girlfriend, Clint navigates the perils of life in the student ghetto, from flaky roommates and dead-end jobs to empty one-night stands.

The cast is good, their short "Duke City Nights" has been picked up by the Santa Fe Film Festival... Check it out if you can.  More info at their blog:
http://www.505films.com/Blog.html

Finally... Tromadance is coming, November 16-18th

And then there's a little thing called the Santa Fe Film Festival...


--
For more information about NM Media-related Events, visit: http://nm-media.blogspot.com/
--

Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator
ARTS Lab
505-277-2253
http://artslab.unm.edu