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Heinrich Bülthoff |
The superior performance of natural over artificial intelligence rests on the ability of the human brain to integrate and process complex sensory information for useful actions. Future advances in our understanding of the human brain will need integrating approaches across disciplines, including psychology, computer science, robotics, and neuroimaging.
In Bülthoff´s department a group of about 70 biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists and psychologists study cognitive processes including object recognition and categorization, sensory-motor integration and spatial cognition. |
Traditional psychophysical methods emphasize the analysis of perception using simple stimuli; however, computer vision studies have made it clear that further advances in our understanding of perception and cognition will rely on the use of realistic stimuli and tasks.
In our new building (Cyberneum) we use methods developed from computer graphics and virtual reality to build simulated naturalistic environments under precise experimental control in order to investigate cognition in a closed perception-action loop. In psychophysical studies we could show that humans can integrate multimodal sensory information in a statistically optimal way, in which cues are weighted according to their reliability.
Many of our results from basic research in perception and cognition are further developed into useful application in several of the European Research projects our group leads or participates in: CogVis, COMIC, TOUCH-Hapsys, POEMS, PRA, JAST, Cyberwalk, Wayfinding, BACS .
Perceptual Graphics: Integrating Perception, Computer Graphics and Computer Vision
Heinrich Bülthoff
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Abstract
In our Perceptual Graphics group at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen we combine state-of-the-art
computer graphics and computer vision technology with perceptual research. This integration has two
goals: first of all, the technology allows us to conduct perceptual experiments with highly controlled,
yet very realistic stimuli that advance our understanding of basic perceptual phenomena such as material
perception or the recognition of facial expressions. Second, the results from these perceptual experiments
can be used to improve the technology and to design novel applications that are perceptually effective —
examples include an intuitive material editor for creation of arbitrary materials in computer graphics or
a perceptually realistic facial animation. The human face is capable of producing an astounding variety
of facial movements that are able to transport a large range of communicative meanings. To date, it is
largely unclear, however, which information (including visual as well as auditory information) humans
use to decipher the language of the face. In order to investigate this question systematically, one needs
to have a highly flexible yet at the same time very realistic computer animation system. We are currently
developing such a system in our group using state-of-the-art computer graphics and computer vision
methods. This animation system is then used to create stimuli for experiments on perception of facial
expressions which allowus to, for example, to manipulate the spatio-temporal properties of single regions
of the face in order to determine their importance for recognition of expressions. In addition — and this
constitutes the second aspect of perceptual graphics — we have also used these and similar perceptual experiments to determine the perceptual quality of computer graphics. The results have given us insights
into specific parameters that need to be improved in order to provide an even higher level of realism and
effectiveness.
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David Salesin from Adobe Systems |
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is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington , where he has been on the faculty since 1992; and also a Senior Principal Scientist in the Advanced Technology Labs at Adobe Systems , where he has led the Graphics Research Group since 2005. He received his Sc.B. from Brown University in 1983, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1991. From 1983-87, he worked at Lucasfilm and Pixar , where he contributed computer animation for the Academy Award-winning short film, "Tin Toy," and the feature-length film, Young Sherlock Holmes. During his years at Stanford, he also worked as an intern at the DEC Systems Research Center and Paris Research Lab.
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He spent the 1991-92 year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell University. In 1996, while on the faculty at UW, he co-founded two companies, where he served as Chief Scientist: Inklination and Numinous Technologies (the latter acquired by Microsoft in 1999). From 1999-2005, while still on the faculty at UW, he worked as a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research. Over the years, he has been a consultant at Sogitec Audiovisuel in Paris, Aldus (now part of Adobe ), Xerox PARC, Broderbund, and Microsoft Research .
Salesin received an NSF Young Investigator award in 1993; an ONR Young Investigator Award, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship , and an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow Award in 1995; the University of Washington Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement in the College of Engineering in 1996; the University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award in 1997; The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education 1998-1999 Washington Professor of the Year Award in 1998; and the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award in 2000. He was named a Guest Professor of Zhejiang University and an ACM Fellow in 2002.
Salesin's research interests are in computer graphics and include digital photography and video, automatic design & presentation of information, non-photorealistic rendering, visualization, image-based rendering, digital typography, and color. His outside interests include photography, Aikido (in which he holds a black belt), printmaking, piano, saxophone, flying, traveling, cooking, old films, backpacking, skiing, mountain biking, and chocolate.
From Kant to Computation:
Why AestheticsMatter Now More than Ever,
and What We Can Do about It
David Salesin
Adobe Systems
Abstract
Our sense of aesthetics is grounded in the natural world, our place as living things. Yet our intimate
connection with nature grows more tenuous every day. Indeed, in the last year the world passed an
important milestone: for the first time, half of all people on the planet now live in urban rather than
rural environments. In addition, more and more of our intellectual lives are spent in virtual worlds; a
recent study, for instance, showed that American children ages 8 to 18 spend an average of 6-1/2 hours
a day attending to some form of media, such as TV, videos, computers, and games. In an increasingly
manmade, urbanized, and technological virtual world it is imperative that we keep aesthetic things in our
experience as a counterbalance to these forces. In this talk, I will give a brief history of aesthetics, argue
the need for incorporating aesthetics into our real and virtual environments, and discuss how computer
graphics can play an essential role in this pursuit.
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