Hong Qin Department of Computer Science

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Stony Brook, NY 11794-4400

Virtual Clay: Haptics-based Deformable Solids of Arbitrary Topology.

In this talk, I will present Virtual Clay as a novel interactive, dynamic, haptics-based deformable solid of arbitrary topology. Our Virtual Clay methodology is a unique, powerful visual modeling paradigm which is founded upon the integration of (1) deformable models, (2) free-form, spline-based solids, (3) procedural subdivision solids of arbitrary topology, and (4) dynamic objects governed by physical laws.

Solid geometry exhibits much greater modeling potential and superior advantages to popular surface-based techniques in visual computing. This is primarily because a CAD-based solid representation of a real-world physical object is both geometrically accurate and topologically unambiguous.

I will first introduce the concept of Virtual Clay based on dynamic subdivision solids. Then, I will formulate the mathematics of Virtual Clay through the integration of the geometry of subdivision solids with the principle of physics-based CAGD.Our Virtual Clay models respond to applied forces in a natural and predictive manner and give the user the illusion of manipulating semi-elastic clay in real-world.

Finally, I will use many examples to showcase our Virtual Clay sculpting environment equipped with a large variety of real-time, intuitive sculpting toolkits. The versatility of our Virtual Clay techniques allows users to easily modify the topology of sculpted objects, while the inherent physical properties are exploited to provide a natural interface for direct, force-based deformation. More importantly, our sculpting system supports the natural haptic-based interaction to provide the user with a realistic sculpting experience.

It is our hope that our Virtual Clay graphics system can become a powerful tool in graphics, computer vision, animation, computer art, interactive techniques, and virtual environments.