ACM TechNews

Stanford Computer Scientist Gets Academy Award for Fluid Simulation

Dr. Dobb's Journal (01/15/08)

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will honor Stanford University computer scientist Ron Fedkiw and partners Nick Rasmussen and Frank Losasso Petterson from the special effects firm Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) with a Scientific and Engineering Award plaque for their work on computer-generated fluids. Their work has produced the life-like rushing floodwaters in "Evan Almighty," the surging seas of the two "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, and the flaming breath of the dragon in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." In using a technique called the "particle level set method," the team mixed the use of particles and level sets so that smooth surfaces could be maintained wherever possible and all the fluid could be kept via the particle representation. The integration of particle level sets, parallel computation, and tools for large-scale water effects worked well within ILM's Zeno framework, and is a sign of the future direction of Fedkiw's computer graphics research. "This year we built a system that allows two-way coupling between rigid and deformable bodies, so we can fully physically simulate bones moving around under flesh--interacting with the environment," Fedkiw says. "Another main result is a two-way, solid-fluid coupling method that can be used with it, so the environment can be water; that is, we're going to be simulating people swimming."

http://www.ddj.com/events/205800373

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