Abstract:

Physical simulation has proved to be an important tool for creating extremely realistic, visually appealing animated motion of complex systems. In this talk, I will present my work developing new models of material behavior and simulation methods for computing motion. By incorporating both plastic and elastic deformation, these models allow us to animate materials such as toothpaste, modeling clay, and bread dough that exhibit behaviors of both fluids and solids. Because visual details are essential to computer animation I will also present a method for tracking surfaces in Eulerian simulations. This technique combines the benefits of explicit and implicit surface representations to produce highly detailed surfaces that undergo the frequent topological changes that characterize liquid motion.