Suddenly, we had a method that theoretically offered the manufacturing industry the flexibility the artists enjoy in subdivision.
- Neil Dodgson
The adventures of Woody and Buzz Lightyear have been charming children – and adults – worldwide for 20 years this year. As well as a razor-sharp, hilarious script, Toy Story was the first full-length feature film made entirely using computer-generated imagery, marking the arrival of a new way of creating visual effects in three dimensions.
But the underlying mathematics that brought the toys to life, and continues to be used by a thriving visual effects industry, has actually been around since the 1960s. It’s embedded in how the automotive, aeronautical and other manufacturing industries design their products.
The two branches of design – called subdivision surfaces (used by animators) and Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS, used by the manufacturing industry) – have the same mathematical roots, but they have evolved in different directions.
Recently, however, researchers at Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory have found a way to reconcile the two divergent paths, enabling product designers to access the easier and less-constraining tools used by the animation industry.
This all sounds like good news for the product designers. But, as lead researcher Neil Dodgson, Professor of Graphics and Imaging, explained, “there is understandable caution. Although the method used by designers gives greater freedom and increased usability, manufacturers have a back catalogue of existing models and around 45 years of experience. A move away from the method used by the manufacturing industry has to be sufficiently advantageous to warrant making.” Dodgson believes that current research is providing that advantage.
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Image:Reflection lines on a creased structure
Credit: Jirí Kosinka
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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