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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/H030115/1
Title: Unifying NURBS and subdivision: Extracting sparse shape descriptions using NURBS-compatible subdivision
Principal Investigator: Dodgson, Professor NA
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Dr UH Augsdorfer
Project Partners:
Department: Computer Science and Technology
Organisation: University of Cambridge
Scheme: Standard Research
Starts: 06 September 2010 Ends: 05 September 2014 Value (£): 664,696
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Design & Testing Technology Image & Vision Computing
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Manufacturing Creative Industries
Information Technologies
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
02 Feb 2010 ICT Prioritisation Panel (Feb 10) Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
We will investigate methods to improve the work-flow of 3D designers, in engineering (cars, aircraft, ships) and entertainment (animation and special effects). We begin with our recent work that reconciled the two principal representations of 3D models: NURBS, used in both engineering and entertainment, and subdivision surfaces, used principally in entertainment. Our work brings the flexibility of the subdivision approach to the rigorous requirements of the engineering applications without having to forgo the significant advantages of the NURBS approach. This has been a research goal for thirty years. Our recent paper is the first piece of work to achieve this ( NURBS with extraordinary points: high-degree non-uniform subdivision surfaces published at the prestigious ACM SIGGRAPH conference and in the ACM journal Transactions on Graphics ).This grant carries forward the work in two inter-connected strands.Strand 1 investigates ways in which the new method can speed the capture of 3D models. Many engineering and entertainment models are still made using clay. The clay model must be captured and then converted into a numerical representation, using either NURBS or subdivision. This first strand will look at ways in which we can capture a clay model and produce a good internal representation that can be used for further manipulation of the model. Our new modelling method will be of benefit here, as it allows us to use the flexibility of subdivision, while still being compatible with the engineering-friendly NURBS method.Strand 2 extends the capabilities of our new method. We will investigate various ways in which it can be improved, to provide a richer modelling tool for 3D designers. The improvements will feed across into Strand 1, while the experience in Strand 1 will inform the particular improvements that we investigate in Strand 2.If we are successful, we can expect our methods to be taken up in the main computer-aided design systems. This will bring improvements in 3D design work flow, so that cars, aircraft, and animated characters can be modelled more quickly and more flexibly than before.
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Organisation Website: http://www.cam.ac.uk