ACM Student Research Award for Daniel Keefe
Daniel Keefe, a graduate student working with Prof. David Laidlaw, recently won second place in the graduate category of the ACM Student Research Competition at SIGGRAPH. His poster, entitled "A Haptic Interface for Creating Smooth 3D Curves with Varying Line Weight", advanced through three rounds of judging. In the final round, the six finalists each gave ten-minute talks about their posters. Plaques and prize money were handed out to the top three finalists. The finalists were also rewarded with invitations to the SIGGRAPH Pioneers reception, where they got to rub elbows with many of the founders of computer graphics research.
The interaction technique introduced in Dan's poster helps artists create more precise and expressive 3D illustrations. A two-handed drawing technique is used to create smooth 3D curves that make up a 3D model. While the artists draws, a force-feeback device is used to simulate 3D paper, providing a virtual surface upon which he can push to adjust the thickness and darkness of the line. This interaction technique helps artists achieve more control and expressiveness, thereby allowing them to tackle more complex subjects with this type of "freeform" modeling. This sci-vis group is using this tool to design scientific visualizations for virtual reality and create scientific and medical 3D illustrations. Artists have also been using the tool to create 3D anatomical illustrations.
The winning poster is currently on display in the CIT 4th floor atrium and at http://www.cs.brown.edu/research/vis/docs/pdf/Keefe-2005-HIP.pdf
The one-page poster abstract is available at: http://www.cs.brown.edu/research/vis/docs/pdf/Keefe-2005-HIC.pdf
