Computer graphics are indispensable
In recent years, we can see a lot of contents created by computer graphics, such as movies, games in the entertainment field, visualization of 3D scanned data in the medical field, driving simulation and flight simulation in the simulations field, and even media content on smartphones. Moreover, rapid improvement of computer graphics techniques will be applied to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the near future. Especially, in movies, it is necessary to generate images that give the viewers the same impression as the scenes where the images are taken, by adding visual effects and computing the scene luminance as accurately as possible. That is the goal of our group. To obtain realistic images, it is important to consider the optical and visual aspect. In the optical aspect, we are developing a method that reproduces the reflections of materials, in addition, in the visual aspect, we are exploring a method that is inspired by the processes in the human visual system.
Visualization based on data obtained in the psychophysics field.
The afterimage is a physiological phenomenon that occurs after seeing dazzling light. It can be perceived on a daily basis such as when sunlight is reflected enters into the eyes, when looking directly at the light of the headlamps at night and so on. The history of research on afterimages is long. The well-known scientist, Sir. Isaac Newton was also interested in it and reported that he observed a change of colors in afterimages caused by gazing at the sun in the mirror. (He concluded that the cause of the afterimage is brought by “spirits’’ in the eye. I do not recommend you to look at the sun in the mirror at all!!!) The research has continued for years, however, the biological mechanism that causes afterimage is still unknown. In our group, we developed a method that represents the transition of colors based on observed data. (Of course, our data is more accurate than the data obtained by Sir. I. Newton.) We believe the technique will be applicable to simulations such as driving simulators or media content for head-mounted displays.
