Compaction of Shape Configurations
Time：10:00 am, April 21, 2014
Venue：Meeting Room 202, Office Building, Software Campus
Speaker：Prof. Hao (Richard) Zhang, Simon Fraser University
Host：Prof. Chen Baoquan
Abstract：
Compact shape *representations*, e.g., compression, is a well-studied problem. We are interested in compaction at the shape *configuration* level. The term shape configuration refers to how a shape, real or conceptual, is physically modelled (e.g., in terms of design and composition of its parts) and spatially arranged (e.g., in terms of shape/part positioning and possibly in relation to other shapes). The required storage is the actual physical space the shape configuration occupies. Compact shape configurations can save valuable space in industrial settings, e.g., for storage, shipping, printing, etc., leading to cost reduction. The key difference to compaction at the representation level is that by changing shape configurations, we allow a given shape to undergo significant changes, which are certainly beyond a close geometric approximation. For example, we may change how a shape is decomposed and assembled so it can be better folded or alter its geometry so that it can be more compactly stacked with other shapes. Compact shape configurations can be generated by either re-modeling or re-arranging the parts within one shape or changing the inter-shape spacial relations of a set shapes. In this talk, I will pose three new problems: stackabilization, pyramidaliztion, and foldablization, and present our progress on solving them.
Why is Computer Graphics Hard?
Time：1:30 pm, April 21, 2014
Venue：Lecture Hall, Second Floor, Office Building, Software Campus
Speaker：Prof. Hao (Richard) Zhang, Simon Fraser University
Host：Prof. Chen Baoquan
Abstract：
Computer graphics is traditionally defined to cover all aspects of computer-assisted synthesis and manipulation of image data. Is computer graphics hard? An introductory class on computer graphics mainly teaches how to turn a description or a model, such as a line, a polygon, a mesh, a scene, or an animation sequence, into one or more images. The main objectives have been efficiency, photo, or physical realism. In this setting, computer graphics corresponds to a ``forward'' problem. I admit that it is easier than the inverse problem, one which computer vision battles with.
In this talk, I would like to remind you a few things that make computer graphics hard and ultimately define what I see as a new view of computer graphics. I hope to convince you that (the new) computer graphics is really pretty hard, maybe harder than computer vision, and we are only starting to scratch the surface. All I will do is to add one word and change another in the traditional definition of computer graphics.
If time permits, I will talk about why publishing in SIGGRAPH, the most prestigious venue in computer graphics, is hard, and offer a few personal tips on publishing in SIGGARPH. I believe that some of these tips are useful for students outside computer graphics as well.
Bio：
Hao (Richard) Zhang directs the graphics (GrUVi) lab at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada, where he is an professor in the School of Computing Science. He earned his Ph.D. from the Dynamic Graphics Project (DGP), Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, and then joined SFU in December 2002. He obtained his M.Math. and B.Math degrees both from the University of Waterloo. Richard's research area is computer graphics with a focus on geometry modeling and processing, shape analysis, and 3D content creation. He has published more than 80 papers on these topics. Currently, he serves on the editorial boards of Computer Graphics Forum and Graphical Models. He has served on the program committees of all major computer graphics conferences including SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia, Eurographics, Symposium on Geometry Processing (SGP), among others, and is SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 course chair and a paper co-chair for SGP 2013. He was a winner of the Best Paper Award from SGP 2008 and the Most Cited Paper Award for the journal Computer-Aided Design in 2010. 
