Initial research topic ideas

Topic: Real-time hair and fur rendering for 3D characters

Issues: One of the final steps toward 'photo-realistic' characters. Very difficult to implement in real-time. Several real-time techniques currently used in games, though non give very good results. A few highly realistic techniques available, but are rarely used in games.

Practical: Investigate current techniques as used in film and games. Assess each technique for cost/benefits. See if realistic techniques can be adapted/optimised for current graphics hardware. Attempt to find optimal technique for real-time game characters.

Particle method:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_system#Snowflakes_versus_hair

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40299

Shell and fin style method:

http://research.microsoft.com/~hoppe/fur.pdf

http://www.gamasutra.com/education/theses/20051028/sheppard_01.shtml

http://edusworld.org/ew/ficheros/2006/paginasWeb/making_of_sotc_files/

Welcome to VOODOOCODE

Hello, welcome my 4th year blog. This is where I'll be keeping all the news, info and development journals for my honours project. I'll try to keep it easy to follow and amusing, as far as possible.

"voodoo programming: n.

1. The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and nobody understands it. Compare magic, deep magic, heavy wizardry, rain dance, cargo cult programming, wave a dead chicken, SCSI voodoo.

2. Things programmers do that they know shouldn't work but they try anyway, and which sometimes actually work, such as recompiling everything."

(Taken from the Jargon File - http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/index.html)