Download PDF Digital Video Quality Vision Models and Metrics by Stefan Winkler

Sinopsis

Humans are highly visual creatures. Evolution has invested a large part of our neurological resources in visual perception. We are experts at grasping visual environments in a fraction of a second and rely on visual information for many of our day-to-day activities. It is not surprising that, as our world is becoming more digital every day, digital images and digital video are becoming ubiquitous.
 

In light of this development, optimizing the performance of digital imaging systems with respect to the capture, display, storage and transmission of visual information is one of the most important challenges in this domain. Video compression schemes should reduce the visibility of the introduced artifacts, watermarking schemes should hide information more effectively in images, printers should use the best half-toning patterns, and so on. In all these applications, the limitations of the human visual system (HVS) can be exploited to maximize the visual quality of the output. To do this, it is necessary to build computational models of the HVS and integrate them in tools for perceptual quality assessment

Content

1. Vision
2. Video Quality
3. Models and Metrics
4. Metric Evaluation
5. Metric Extensions
6. Closing Remarks

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Hacking Video Game Consoles Turn your old video game systems into awesome new portables by Ben Heckendorn

Sinopsis

On New Year’s Eve 1999, some friends and I were wandering around downtown Madison, Wisconsin, waiting to start celebrating (typically around 3–4 p.m. in our state). During our travels, we came across a used-game store and inside, they had a glass case containing Atari 2600 cartridges. Much to my surprise, some of them were quite expensive!
 

“Do people actually pay money for Atari games?” I asked the friendly shop manager. “Oh yeah...” he replied, kindly pausing from his hamburger consumption to set my feet upon the path of knowledge. “People buy that stuff all the time.”
 

This amazed me. You see, I’ve been an Atari fan as far back as I can remember, which translates to approximately 1980. Because my parents had bought into that “it will ruin your TV!” myth, I was pretty much the only person I knew who didn’t have one, but I still managed to play a lot, thanks to my friends and relatives. A few years later, I managed to get an Atari 800 computer, which held me over pretty well until, one glorious day in 1994, I plunked down $20 for my first, very own Atari 2600 game system (complete with dust, grime, and flaky joysticks). Sure, I played SNES and Playstation during the 90’s like everyone else, but I still kept the Atari hooked up so I could squeeze off a round of Space Invaders or Asteroids if I felt like it.
 

Seeing those Atari games in that store got me thinking... maybe I wasn’t the last fan out there... maybe I wasn’t alone. Luckily, the Internet (and the world) didn’t end at the stroke of midnight as some had predicted, so I was able to do a search the next day. Sure enough, a huge fan base for Atari existed, with people even programming new games for the 2600, as well as other old systems! I felt vindicated!

Content

1.  So You Want to Make a Portable Video Game System, Eh?
2.  Choosing a Game Console to Make Portable
3. Knowing Your Tools
4. Learning Basic Electronics for Portables
5. Hacking Pocket Televisions
6. Using Computerized Cutting Equipment
7. Making Portable Game Consoles
8. Making Your Nintendo Entertainment System Portable
9. Building a Portable Nintendo By Hand
10. Building a Portable Nintendo Using CNC Machinery
11. Making Your Super Nintendo Entertainment System Portable
12. Building a Portable Super Nintendo by Hand
13. Building a Portable Super Nintendo Using CNC Machinery
14. Making Your Sony PSOne Portable
15. Building a Portable Playstation 1 by Hand
16. Making a Portable Playstation 1 Using CNC Machinery
17. Making Your Atari 2600 Portable
18. Building a Portable Atari 2600 by Hand
19. Making a Portable Atari 2600 Using CNC Machinery

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Download PDF Maya 8 The Complete Reference by Tom Meade and Shinsaku Arima

Sinopsis

Maya is a culmination of technologies created by some of the most prominent computer graphics developers of the past two decades. It is the largest commercial computer application ever written, with levels of complexity and functionality exceeding other high-end 3D animation packages.
 

Since its release, film effects companies such as Weta Digital, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Pixar, Sony Imageworks, and Digital Domain have adopted Maya as their standard application for producing 3D animated effects. Recognizing its technological superiority to its competitors, Sony and Microsoft have helped to define Maya as the industry standard for video game production as well, with companies such as Electronic Arts and LucasArts developing content for the PlayStation and Xbox platforms. Web, print, and industrial designers are also poised to adopt Maya as an industry standard for 3D graphics because of the unlimited functionality and price point not offered by any other 3D application on the market today.
 

In 2003, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized these achievements and the software’s impact on the movie industry by awarding Alias with an Oscar for Technical Achievement. In 2006, Alias was purchased and is now owned by Autodesk.
 

Maya comprises a complete, integrated set of practical, easy-to-use tools for creating complicated special effects. These tools enable 3D modeling; animating; texturing, lighting, and rendering capabilities; and dynamics. Maya’s scripting language, MEL (Maya Embedded Language) allows users the flexibility to create and modify existing toolsets to create their own custom functions and streamline their production processes. The unique level of integration of Maya’s tools prevents compatibility problems often caused in competing applications that rely on plugin technologies or that require additional software packages to create all elements of an animated 3D scene.
 

So now that you have Maya installed on your computer, how can you begin realizing your creative potential on the screen in front of you? Before we get into the specifics, it is important that you understand the concepts and processes behind a 3D production. In this chapter, we define these processes and explain how Maya handles them.

Content

1. Introduction to Maya
2. Core Concepts
3. The Maya User Interface
4. Modeling
5. Polygonal Modeling
6. Organic Modeling
7. Basic NURBS Modeling
8. Advanced NURBS Modeling
9. Preparing Models for Animation
10. Character Setup
11. Deformers
12. Joints and Skeletons
13. Skinning and Advanced Deformations
14. Connecting Attributes
15. Character Controls
16. MEL Scripting
17. Animation
18. Animation Basics
19. Character Animation
20. Animation Tools
21. Texturing, Lighting, and Rendering
22. Texture Basics
23. Texturing in Practice
24. Painting in Maya
25. Lights and Cameras
26. Rendering
27. Particles, Emitters, and Fields
28. Particles and Fields
29. Advanced Particle Systems and Effects
30. Rigid and Soft Body Dynamics
31. Maya Hair
32. Postproduction
33. Rendering for Postproduction
34. Compositing in Postproduction

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Download PDF Creating Visual Effects in Maya Fire, Water, Debris, and Destruction by Lee Lanier

Sinopsis

Paint Effects is a unique visual effects system within Maya that produces myriad geometry with the stroke of a brush. Although the geometry is based on primitive tubes, simple meshes, or sprites, its complex growth can emulate a wide range of natural objects, including a variety of plant life, animal fur and feathers, fire, electrical arcs and sparks, base elements such as metal and water, and artistic materials that include pencil, pastel, and oil.
 

You can apply Paint Effects to an empty Maya scene, onto a 2D canvas, or onto a specific surface. With preparation, you can render Paint Effects with Maya Software or mental ray. However, the true power of Paint Effects lies in your ability to adjust hundreds of attributes to create an almost inexhaustible number of permutations. Surface quality, shadow-casting, built-in dynamic animation, and growth patterns are all adjustable.

Content

1.  Adding Foliage, Fire, and Smoke with Paint Effects
2. Growing Short Hair, Long Hair, Grass, and Electric Arcs with Fur and nHair
3. Creating Water, Smoke, and Sparks with nParticles
4. Generating nParticle Swarms and Bubble Masses with Expressions and MEL Scripting
5. Simulating Semi-Rigid and Rigid Debris with Python, PyMEL, and nCloth
6. Producing Dust Puffs, Fog, Trailing Smoke, and Fireballs with Rigid and Fluid Dynamics
7. Animating Fire, Water, and Damage with Effects, Fluid Effects, Deformers, and Textures
8. Building Reference Models and Motion Tracking with Maya and MatchMover
9. Combining nCloth, nParticles, and Fluid Effects to Create Complex Destruction
10. Preparing, Rendering, and Combining Render Passes

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