The School of Informatics is part of the Yorkshire & Humber Skillset Media Academy.
University of Bradford.
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The Visual Computing (VC) group currently undertakes research in the areas of geometric design, animation, graphics, visualisation, augmented reality, virtual learning environments, virtual studios, multimedia, applied imaging and machine learning research.
The group conducts its research in close collaboration with both national and international collaborators both in academia and industry. For example, research in digital media and content generation is underpinned by the close working relationship with the (External) National Media Museum (a division of the National Science Museum), located close to the campus.
Research in modelling and animation within the VC group is facilitated by the Vicon 12-camera Motion Capture system run by the Informatics Innovation Unit and a RenderFarm within EIMC enabling the state of the art in the respective fields.
The research in this area is focussed on development of intuitive techniques for geometric modelling and animation, engineering design analysis and automatic shape optimisation. Such work include the use of mathematical entities such as Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) to create complex and manipulate complex geometry, develop sophisticated techniques for computer animation and utilise these fundamental concepts in real life applications such as 3D face recognition and authentication.
This work also bears relation to the ongoing simulation based design research within the group.
Geometric Modelling and Design.
Research in this area includes automated detection, verification and/or classification of filaments, active regions and sunspots. Research also includes integrating imaging and machine learning by designing automated feature extraction algorithms in real-time. Furthermore, we are working on solar image enhancements, rotation and large-scale analysis and association for years of stored images. Recent work included 3D representation of solar features by combing multi-wavelength solar images.
Intelligent virtual environments offer engaging experiences for a wide range of applications. In this research the focus is on real-time path planning for gaming environments, action recognition for AI and multi-modal interfaces for interaction.
Intelligent Virtual Environments.
Work in this area of research include virtual cloth modelling, dynamic terrains, crowds simulation, explosion simulation and virtual navigation. We also work on novel approaches for virtual character behaviour simulation, which adopts a genetic algorithms approach to simulate human’s self-learning as an evolutionary process.
Virtual Simulations.
Research in 3D physical modelling involves handling of emotional responses for Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and Collaboratories for modelling and simulation. In particular we work on novel algorithms for control of avatar facial expressions, emotions and modelling of gesture, posture and attitude.
Three D Physical Modelling.
Research in this field involves extracting significant features from 2D digital images and then placing them on a 3D grid. 3D processing is applied to these points to extract significant regions of interest. Machine learning algorithms (i.e., neural networks, SVM, RBF, etc.) can aid in the extraction, verification or classification of these regions. Possible applications include 3D processing of digital mammograms (medical imaging), image compression, modelling and classification of solar features (solar imaging), etc.
Three D Topological representation of real-life digital images.
Other work involves using two or more images of a scene taken from different directions to build a 3-D map of the scene. The archaeological example below, by J. G. B. Haigh and S. S. Ipson, shows a Hill fort in Scotland, an anaglyph for viewing using coloured glasses and elevation maps of the whole scene and the summit region.
Three D Topological representation of real-life digital images.
Three D Topological representation of real-life digital images.