Centre Universitaire d'Informatique

M. Ugo Bonanni soutiendra, en vue de l'obtention du grade de docteur ès science, mention informatique, sa thèse intitulée

Haptic Interaction with Virtual Hair

Abstract :

Hair is an important visual attribute characterizing the personal physical appearance and unique identity of individuals. The strong impact of hairstyles is noticeable in everyday life, movies and pictures – but also on digital models used e.g. in virtual reality (VR) environments, computer games or 3D productions for the film industry. However, representing hair is a critical issue in 3D games and production movies: the creation of complex, attractive virtual hairstyles using computer graphics tools requires a specialized know-how and is a long and tedious task even for professional 3D modelers. Therefore, the use of complex hairstyles is often avoided in favor of time-saving design choices. A possible remedy to this shortcoming is to provide 3D professionals with supportive authoring tools allowing for a more intuitive modeling approach. The use of manual skills and well-known styling gestures such as digital “combing” could prove helpful to simplify and speed-up virtual hairstyling. As a first step towards these unexplored territories, this thesis presents a framework enabling the interaction with digital hairstyles using force-feedback devices. Its objective is to investigate methods enabling the haptic interaction with virtual hair for the future application in innovative hair modeling facilities. The main contribution of this work is the fusion of hair dynamics and haptics techniques into one framework enabling the physically plausible interaction with real-time animated hair. Haptic interaction with simulated strands is achieved by defining a multirate architecture running a fast haptics thread which is decoupled from the numerical integration of the hair dynamics. The resulting force feedback during interaction is computed according to the motion of the styling tool and selected physiochemical hair constants such as frictional hair surface properties and fiber bending stiffness. The user of our system can physically "touch" the hair during combing interactions - an unprecedented experience. Next to the video games and movie sectors, other industries interested in the haptic interaction with hair are cosmetics and fashion, where novel modeling techniques could foster the virtual prototyping of hairstyles and related care products. The results of this thesis, however, can also be more generally applied to the interaction with a variety of thin deformable objects and slender structures such es e.g. suture threads, catheters or cables.

Date: Mardi 7 septembre 2010 à 11h00

Lieu: Site de Battelle (bât. A, auditoire rez-de-chaussée) - 7 route de Drize - 1227 Carouge

À la Une