MPhil Thesis Defence


"Editing Explosion Simulations"

By

Mr. Heung-Wah Fong


Abstract

Explosion effects are widely used in movies and computer games. Popular
methods in computer graphics synthesize these effects by computing a
velocity and temperature field based on fluid dynamics, such that smoke
and fire behave realistically. In this kind of physics-based simulation,
long computation time and accurate setting of parameters are generally
required in order to obtain a desirable result. Due to this restriction,
it is usually difficult for the animator to control and model a particular
explosion.

This thesis illustrates a straight-forward method for editing
physics-based explosions. Rather than controlling an explosion's behaviour
via simulation parameters and external forces, we allow the user to
directly warp the flow-field and temperature values computed by an initial
simulation.  A particle-system is then played back through the altered
simulation to produce a new explosion that reflects the look and behaviour
specified by the user. This simple approach provides a flexible method to
edit and author convincing explosions that are otherwise difficult to
predict and control.


Date:				Thursday, 3 June 2004

Time:				2:00p.m.-4:00p.m.

Venue:				Room 4333
				Lift 3

Committee Members:		Prof. Michael Brown (Supervisor)
				Prof. Chiew-Lan Tai (Chairperson)
				Prof. Long Quan


**** ALL are Welcome ****