FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 May 2009

For further information:
Brian Ban
+1.773.454.7423
+1.773.915.5050 fax
media@siggraph.org

SIGGRAPH 2009 Technical Papers Focus on Technology and Advanced Techniques

(Chicago, IL) - The SIGGRAPH 2009 Technical Papers program is the premier global forum presenting groundbreaking research from today's leading international organizations. Topics will feature the latest computer graphic innovations from a detailed simulation of intrusive surgical procedures to the development of infra-red flash photography. A total of 439 submissions were reviewed by a distinguished panel of 54 jurors, and 78 papers were selected for presentation at SIGGRAPH 2009.

Papers cover core topics of computer graphics, such as modeling, animation, rendering, imaging, and human-computer interaction, and also explore related fields of audio, robotics, visualization, and perception. Presenters are from all around the globe - from the Czech Republic to Japan.

"These research papers provide a preview of the latest advances in computer graphics, and they highlight how important computer graphics are to art, science, medicine, and other fields," stated Tom Funkhouser, SIGGRAPH 2009 Technical Papers Chair from Princeton University. "SIGGRAPH papers have historically provided the most groundbreaking innovations in computer graphics. This content represents some of the greatest achievements in this field from across the globe and could very well lead to advancements that impact all of our lives."

Select highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2009 Papers Program include:

Interactive Simulation of Surgical Needle Insertion and Steering
This paper presents algorithms for simulating and visualizing the insertion and steering of needles through deformable tissues for surgical training and planning. Novel features include a fast mesh maintenance algorithm and physics-based methods for needle-tissue coupling.

Authors:
James F. O'Brien, University of California, Berkeley
Nuttapong Chentanez, University of California, Berkeley
Ron Alterovitz, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Daniel Ritchie, University of California, Berkeley
Lita Cho, University of California, Berkeley
Kris Hauser, University of California, Berkeley
Ken Goldberg, University of California, Berkeley
Jonathan Shewchuk, University of California, Berkeley

Bokode: Imperceptible Visual Tags for Camera-Based Interaction From a Distance
Detailed analysis of how to enable a commodity camera to photograph and capture a 3mm barcode from two meters away. The key is to exploit camera bokeh, which maps binary data encoded in directionally varying rays into a large disk. The next step is to decode ID as well as camera pose for augmented reality applications.

Authors:
Ankit Mohan, MIT
Grace Woo, MIT
Shinsaku Hiura, Osaka University
Quinn Smithwick, Media Lab MIT
Ramesh Raskar, Media Lab MIT

Dark Flash Photography
Camera flashes produce intrusive bursts of light that disturb or dazzle. In this paper, a "dark" camera flash is presented that uses infra-red and ultra-violet light just outside the visible range to capture pictures in low-light conditions while being two orders of magnitude dimmer than a conventional flash.

Authors:
Dilip Krishnan, New York University
Rob Fergus, New York University

Real-Time Hand-Tracking with a Color Glove
This research describes a system that can reconstruct the pose of the hand from a single image wearing a multi-colored glove and demonstrates a system as a user-input device for desktop virtual reality applications.

Authors:
Robert Y. Wang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jovan Popovic, Adobe Systems Incorporated, University of Washington, and MIT

Harmonic Fluids
This presentation proposes an algorithm for synthesizing familiar bubble-based fluid sounds such as splashing, pouring, and babbling. The researchers acoustically augment existing incompressible fluid solvers with particle-based models for acoustic bubble creation, vibration, advection, and radiation. Acoustic transfer functions are estimated using the fast dual-domain boundary integral Helmholtz solver.

Authors:
Changxi Zheng, Cornell University
Doug James, Cornell University

Directable, High-Resolution Simulation of Fire on the GPU
This presentation proposes a hybrid particle and grid simulation system which utilizes graphics hardware (GPU) to quickly simulate artist-directable, high-resolution fire. Simulation resolutions as high as 2048 are able to be computed in a few hours by parallelizing work among multiple GPUs.

Author:
Christopher Jon Horvath, Industrial Light & Magic

Based upon the popularity of the program at SIGGRAPH 2008, this year's Technical Papers program is once again expanding to include 19 conference presentations for each paper published this year in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG).

For a complete listing of all the papers presented in this year's program visit http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/sessions/technical_papers/index.php.

For detailed information on the SIGGRAPH 2009 dynamically evolving program or to download a copy of the SIGGRAPH 2009 Preview Video visit www.siggraph.org/s2009.

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About SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH 2009 will bring an anticipated 20,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA for the industry's most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Monday, 3 August through Friday, 7 August 2009 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2009 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 4-6 August 2009. More than 200 international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are available at www.siggraph.org/s2009.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.