104 September/October 2007 Published by the IEEE Computer Society 0272-1716/07/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE

Spherical Imaging for FacesThe Aguru Dome is a spherical imaging device from

Aguru Images that’s used primarily for capturing theshape and reflectance properties of the human face.The device uses a combination of mirrors, varyinglight intensities, and cameras to rapidly and accuratelycapture the object from many angles in many lightingconditions.

Because face capture requires accuracy beyond tra-ditional applications, the dome models faces with mil-lions of polygons and captures reflectance data on theskin’s translucence for each polygon. The dome can beoperated at a fixed location or transported for use inthe field.

Visit http://www.aguruimages.com for more information.

Aguru Images’ Aguru Dome on display at the 2007ACM Siggraph Conference in San Diego

Motion Tracking Minus the MarkersStage is Organic Motions’ human motion-capture sys-

tem that works through optical tracking. The systemuses artificial intelligence and can reportedly track high-ly accurate, full-body motion in real time with no mark-ers, body suits, or marker occlusion.

The product offers data that’s available for immedi-ate review and analysis, flowing in real time intoAutodesk’s MotionBuilder or other animation soft-ware, reportedly clean and production-ready. It out-puts all major bone segments, 3D mesh data, and fullsurface textures.

The system is supposed to be easy to use, taking 3 min-utes to calibrate the system and less than 1 minute tocalibrate the actor. According to the manufacturer,everything should be set up and running in less than 3hours. The artist or animator should be able to use thesystem directly, with no technician needed.

Visit http://www.organicmotion.com for more information.

Example of Organic Motion’s Stage system capturingan actor’s motion (without a special suit or markers)and outputting a variety of angles on-screen

Capture 3D Scenes in Real TimeMesa Imaging announced a miniature range and

monitoring camera called SwissRanger SR-3000. Thiscamera acts as an optical imaging system, offering high-resolution 3D image data in real time.

The product is compact and reportedly easy to use in avariety of conditions, such as monitoring hazardous areasin buildings, vehicles, or on machines. The SR-3000 isbased on the time-of-light principle and works with a mod-ulated infrared light source. The emitted light pulses arereflected by the objects in the scene and travel back to thecamera, where their precise time of arrival is measuredlocally in each smart pixel of a custom image sensor.

In contrast to conventional cameras, the SR-3000range camera not only determines the local brightnessin the scene, but also the complete distance map—thatis, the 3D model of its environment.

Visit http://www.mesa-imaging.ch for more information.

Hardware____________________________________________________________

Tools and Products Editors: Carl Machover and David J. Kasik

Continued on page 89

Tools and Products

IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 89

Seamless Eye TrackingEyeTech’s ET3 system uses dark pupil tracking and

robust algorithms to provide accurate and seamless eyetracking. ET3 consists of a high-definition camera withstrobed infrared lights embedded into one compactmodule. The included software integrates into otherapplications such as games, kiosks, research, and cus-tom-embedded solutions.

ET3’s advantages include monocular or binoculartracking, accuracy, and a wide range of head motion.The calibration process is simple and features auto-pilot,one-point calibration for quick automated eye tracking.

For more information visit http://www. eyetechds.com.

(a) EyeTech’s ET3 high-definition tracking system canbe customizably embedded (b) and automaticallytracks eye gazing with a camera and strobed infraredlights

3D Spherical DisplayThe OmniGlobe from ARC Science is reportedly the

first true 360-degree spherical screen display.Combining high-performance digital projectors withARC’s proprietary optics, the system is simple and thecontrast screen treatment shows well under brighterambient light conditions.

The system also works well under typical museumlighting conditions. It’s available with 32-inch (80-cm)and 60-inch (1.5-m) screens.

In addition to the natural earth, solar system bodies,and space, subject matter for the spherical display caninclude geophysical and meteorological data, globalgraphics regarding the environment, ecology, demo-graphics, geopolitics, or historical subject matter.

For installations with limited space, ARC offers theDayGlobe, a half-sphere system with HD detail for wallmounting.

For more information visit http://www.arcscience.com.

Holographic 3D DisplayHolografika announced HoloVizio, a glassless, holo-

graphic 3D display system that enables the user to watchan image in a wide field of view with continuous motionparallax. Overcoming the limitations of stereoscopic ormultiview systems, it gives the user a natural view fromany direction.

Each image visualized by HoloVizio contains infor-mation that’s equivalent to almost 100 conventional 2Dimages. Every single voxel of HoloVizio emits lightbeams at a different color and intensity to various direc-tions. If these lights are controlled appropriately, itappears as if they were emitted from behind or in frontof the screen. In such a case, viewers perceive the pointsof an image behind or in front of the screen floating inthe space.

ToolsThe following is a tool that might be of

interest to the computer graphics community.

Automated Fault-Finding TesterMoravia Worldwide announced the release

of its business unit’s (QASight’s) FaulFindertesting tool. Designed by QASight’s testingand engineering teams, this tool helpsincrease the quality of testing and acceleratesthe testing process by automating therecognition of GUI defects and providing thisinformation in customizable reports.

The tool runs automatically in thebackground during manual testing, findingGUI defects and reporting them in apredefined format. This way engineers cancombine specific manual test runs—eitherduring localization or functional testing—along with continuous GUI testing, withoutneeding to deploy large-scale commericalautomation tools.

For more information visit http://www.moraviaworldwide.com.

Email Us!Email your “Tools and Products” recommen-

dations to us at cga@computer.org.

Continued from page 104

(a)

(b)Holografika’s HoloVizio displays a Rubik’s cube in aholographic, wide 3D field of view

Tools and Products

90 September/October 2007

Software ____________________________________________________________

Advanced DLP Stereoscopic ImagingTexas Instruments released technology for the first

DLP 3D high-definition television. The technology usesdigital-light-processing chips that contain a rectangu-lar array of up to two million hinge-mounted micro-scopic mirrors. Each of these micromirrors measuresless than one-fifth the width of a human hair and retainsmore accurate resolution than competing technologies,such as liquid crystal displays.

Combining the hardware with software so that sig-nals can be controlled and synchronized, the technolo-gy is capable of displaying the left and right viewsrequired for stereoscopic, or 3D, imaging. Users wearshutter glasses and then a synchronization signal is gen-erated for each eye and transmitted optically. The glasses process the signal and control the shutter foreach eye, ensuring display of the correct view.

The product supplies a 60-Hz frame rate signal to

each eye (equivalent to 120 Hz) to reduce flicker. Ascompared to anaglyphic (red/blue) glasses, the system’sshutter glasses reportedly offer enhanced color fidelityand picture depth.

For more information visit http://www.dlp.com.

Animates in 3D Using Artificial IntelligenceAntics Technologies has released Antics Pre-Viz

Version 2.5, a 3D animation software built upon an arti-ficial intelligence platform with more than 2,000 inter-active characters, props, sets, and motion captureanimations. The latest version comes with 12 contentpacks in addition to the core content library.

The user can simply point and click to move charac-ters and objects. The camera capabilities make it easyfor a writer, director, producer, production designer, orcinematographer to preplan scenes as well as easily con-vey to others the vision in their mind.

A one-year subscription license to Antics gives youfull use of the product for $165. For a free trial down-load and more information visit http://www.antic3d.com.

Corrects Color for Large VolumesPictoColor announced the release of iCorrect EditLab

ProApp 6.0, a color-correction software for large-volume digital image workflows. The new applicationfeatures fast batch-processing color correction.

With its technology, tools, and workflow enhancingfeatures, iCorrect EditLab ProApp saves time and min-imizes the frustration of making color adjustments.The goal of the product is to help photographers spendless time in front of the computer and more timebehind the camera.

Visit http://www. pictocolor.com. for more information.

HoloVizio is ready for collaborative use, with no posi-tioning required. It’s also compatible with third-partysoftware through Holografika’s software package,including the OpenGL wrapper.

For more information visit http://www.holografika.com.

Displays High-Speed MotionField Emission Technologies announced its 240-Hz

drive nano-Spindt field emission display (FED). Thedrive’s high-emission efficiency aids the display in cap-turing and showing high-speed motion images.

The product’s drive has a frame rate of 240 Hz—fourtimes higher than the standard video frame rate—providing smooth, flowing video. The nano-Spindt FEDadopts a newly developed short decay-time phosphor andlow latency (low resistance and capacitance) cathode raystructure, which has superior motion traceability.

For more information visit http://www.fe-tech.co.jp/.

Customizable Eye TrackingTobii offers off-the-shelf or customized eye tracking

components for seamless integration into variousdevices. The Tobii eye-tracking components provideeye gaze point, eye/head position, and pupil sizedata.

The hardware comes with an interface and softwarelibraries for eye control and eye gaze analysis, alongwith a complete toolbox for eye tracking. The productis packaged as a single, compact design with no exter-nal cameras or lightning units. Integration is report-edly easy, requiring no large modifications to yoursystem.

The components allow the user to move freely and donot require that the user has to wear anything. Accordingto the manufacturer, tracking is fully automatic with highaccuracy, regardless of glasses, contacts, eye color, age,ethnic background, or lighting conditions.

For more information visit http://www.tobii.com.

Micrographic photo of an ant leg on a digital-light-processing chip surface

Automates Creating Surface DesignsArtlandia updated its pattern design plug-ins to be

compatible with the Creative Suite 3 versions of AdobeIllustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Artlandia’sSymmetryWorks 4 and Artlandia SymmetryShop areused by designers in the textile, print, Web, and illus-tration markets. The update ensures a smooth transi-tion for designers wanting to take advantage of thefeatures in Creative Suite.

Artlandia’s SymmetryWorks and SymmetryShopautomate the process of creating surface designs inIllustrator and Photoshop. SymmetryWorks lets the usercreate and interactively edit patterns with both vectorand raster elements, while SymmetryShop specializesin creating patterns from large scanned images andhigh-resolution photographs.

The update is available for both Windows and Macoperating systems. For more information visit http://www.artlandia.com.

Customizable Image PublishingCerebrosoft released B*Gallery version 3.0, a

Windows, Macintosh OS X, and Linux application forcreating HTML image galleries. With the latest version,users can update, extend, and share the Web galleries,connecting the images into photo albums.

Users can also incorporate sound and video clips intothe galleries, which come with preconfigured and cus-tomizable themes. Each theme offers a feature set,including a gallery index page, album slideshow, andphoto details page. Advanced users have full access tothe template files that make up a theme, and can fullyintegrate galleries into their Web sites, matching theirlook and feel.

B*Gallery lets users regenerate their Web pages ifthey want to update their gallery. Users can also resizeevery image in their gallery with a few clicks.

Users can try B*Gallery for free, with the limitationthat albums only contain a maximum of eight photos.Registering B*Gallery for $24.95 removes this limita-tion and entitles you to technical support. For moreinformation visit http://www.b-gallery.biz/.

Multiple-Point 3D VisualizationsCEI announced that its latest release of EnSight

includes a sophisticated camera feature, which lets userscreate 3D visualizations with multiple vantage points.The new feature provides users with nearly limitlessviewing options and makes it possible to create walk-throughs and walkarounds, following trace particlesthrough flows and simulating real-world test cameras,such as those used in automotive crash tests.

The feature eliminates the need to move a virtual objectsimply to view it from a different perspective. Users cannow view objects from any angle by moving virtual cam-eras around the object on user-defined pathways or bypositioning static cameras at any defined point.

The new feature provides several ways to define amoving camera’s path. Users can create splines by usingthe cursor tool, inputting control points or X, Y, and Zcoordinates, or positioning a camera on any movingobject. The moving object can even be a trace particle,making it possible for a camera to essentially ride a traceparticle through a flow path.

The camera feature is now available to all licensedEnSight users in version 8.2.4b, which can be downloaded at http://www.ensight.com/downloads/index.php.

IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 91

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