Abstract

Doug James: New algorithms for simulating deformable systems

Computer models of physically deforming systems are important in many current and future areas of computer animation, biophysics, virtual medicine, computational robotics, computer-aided design, interactive entertainment, etc. Although simulating deforming mechanical systems using classical numerical methods is well understood, it can be computationally demanding. The sheer computational complexity of many realistic systems makes low-latency simulation difficult, and this frustrates important human-computer interaction applications such as surgical simulation, and emerging interactive virtual environments involving sound or haptic force feedback.

Fortunately, there is clear evidence that new simulation algorithms can provide orders-of-magnitude speedups to key simulation stages. In this talk I will discuss our work in this area, and also ideas for future projects.