Lights, Camera, Simulation!

UBC computer scientist Robert Bridson reviews the state-of-the-art in physics-based animation in a new Perspective article in Science.

"The movement and collisions of rigid bodies have long been the mainstay of physics-based animation, but modelling and integrating frictional contact remains a serious challenge," write Bridson and graduate student Christopher Batty.

The researchers look at new science behind modelling some of the most difficult animation challenges in film today--including simulating hair and clothing, muscle movement, fluid dynamics, and fire and smoke. Bridson and Batty also discuss the issue of scale and computational power required for a new generation of physics-based animation.

"Unlike traditional science, reality does not necessarily provide a ground truth against which film models can be compared," notes Bridson. "Film production on a set already demands something enhanced beyond reality. Tackling the problem of objective and useful evaluation will likely demand cross-disciplinary efforts in understanding the human perception of complex dynamics."

Bridson, associate professor in the Imager and Scientific Computing laboratories at UBC, has worked on code used to animate major motion pictures, including Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Inkheart, and The Dark Knight.

Computational Physics in Film www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6012/1756.full.html