Computer Graphics

Computer graphics is the computational science of visual depiction.

As humans are much better equipped to see and understand images than to generate them, computer graphics plays
a large and wide role in facilitating many different forms of visual communication. The need to expand and enhance
visual communication is constantly growing. Our expectations, however, may not easily reduce to numerical error
measures and may not proceed predictably. As with any communication, the receiver of a message participates in
making sense of a sender’s message. Thus a caricature of a face may well seem more realistic to us than a
beautifully rendered, painstakingly detailed three-dimensional model, and a few moving dots on a screen may convey
more expressive intent than a fully realized animation.

All of this gives the field of computer graphics a huge territory to explore. The 3 faculty, more than
12 graduate students and other collaborators who devote themselves to this field attack the
problems of computer graphics in different ways. We span the main subareas of the field, including
interactive geometric modelling, character and full-body animation, the modelling of natural
phenomena, and illumination and rendering. The applications of our research work extend to
content-creation tools (as found in the products of Autodesk and Adobe, for example), special
effects and animation workflow (such as at Pixar, Industrial Light and Magic, and Core
Productions), computer-assisted art and design, electronic games, scientific visualization,
biomechanics, medicine, biology, geography, and archeology.
If something has an appealing visual manifestation, it is likely to be of interest to computer graphics. Some specific
scientific threads include the use of machine learning in computer graphics, physically-based methods for simulation,
rendering and animation, acquiring salient parameters from the capture of real-life phenomena such as lighting,
motion capture and natural phenomena, signal processing and control theory for rendering and animation, interactive
modelling of natural phenomena such as turbulent smoke and fire, expressive and facial animation, and hardware-
accelerated computer graphics.

Our researchers in computer graphics are internationally-recognized, regularly presenting their work at the top forums
in the field, working with other top international scholars, sitting on and chairing numerous programme committees,
running conferences and awards committees, and garnering various awards (including Academy Awards and Sloan
Fellowships). Our graduates have gone on to excellent universities (e.g., Universities of British Columbia, Waterloo,
California-Davis, Toronto, York, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montreal) as well as start-ups and larger companies (e.g.,
Adobe, Alias/Autodesk, ATI, Pixar, Nokia, ILM, Honda, Google, Okino, Core).

Our graphics lab is run collectively with researchers in human-computer interaction, which permits many synergistic
relationships among graphics and HCI people to emerge. Our lab, the Dynamic Graphics Project (dgp), has a long
history of such very productive interactions.

Computer Vision
The long-term goal of research in computational vision is to understand the visual information that is represented in
images and image sequences. By understanding, we mean that a computer system viewing an image could report on
the contents of an image in a useful manner, where utility may be measured by specific tasks or by the standards of
human perception. Research in the field ranges from practical industrial vision applications to the design and
construction of robotic vision sensors (such as stereo heads) to attempts to understand how the human brain
processes and uses visual information. As a result, there are many sub-areas of research within computational vision,
including edge detection, segmentation, texture analysis, colour perception, stereo tracking, perceptual organization,
object recognition, active and attentive vision, sensor design, motion analysis, event perception, learning and so on.
Impressive successes have been seen, but the research area contains a large number of open problems, making this
an intriguing and challenging topic for many years to come.

Human-Computer Interaction
The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) faculty in Toronto work in several major sub-areas of the field, including
ubiquitous and pervasive computing, development models for interactive systems, knowledge media design, novel
interaction techniques, high-performance input sensing and architectures, computer-supported cooperative work
(CSCW), computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL), information visualization, and empirical evaluation of
user interfaces including associated metrics and predictive models of human performance. Our researchers also
apply HCI research to real-world opportunities such as the design of multimedia eLearning environments and
electronic cognitive prostheses.

We currently have seven faculty members and over twenty graduate students and postdoctoral fellows whose
research spans these areas and offers over half a dozen graduate courses to help students develop and expand their
knowledge of HCI. The group’s research is primarily conducted within the Dynamic Graphics Project (DGP)
laboratory, which houses both the HCI and Computer Graphics groups, and is superbly equipped with state-of-the-art
technology including large scale high-resolution displays, sophisticated optical motion-tracking hardware, 3D
volumetric displays, and numerous other imaging and sensing equipment. Several full-time staff members provide
technical and administrative support to the group.

Reflecting on the inherently interdisciplinary nature of the field, the group collaborates widely with colleagues in
several disciplines including Psychology, Sociology, Information Studies, Architecture, and Mechanical/Industrial
Engineering within the university and at leading academic institutions and industrial laboratories worldwide. These
faculty significantly complement and expand the expertise of our core HCI faculty, and often (co)supervise graduate
students within our department.