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Here you can find information about various project I am working on, or have worked on in the past.




- 2013 -

 

Tech-Oscar

Official video (select section 5): [[WWW]]   

Abstract: In February 2013 I received a technical achievement award ("tech-oscar") from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for my work on the wavelet turbulence algorithm! Details can be found here here, yay :)

As a consequence, there was lots of press coverage, e.g.:
- AMPAS, "9 Scientific And Technical Achievements To Be Honored With Academy Awards"
- Scientific American, "Oscars Honor Ingenious Screen Engineering"
- Inside Science, "Oscar Sci-Tech Awards Honor Ingenious Screen Science And Engineering"
- CTV, "Software developers from Canada win Oscars for technical achievement"
- Uni. Erlangen, "More than smoke and mirrors: FAU alumnus wins Technical Achievement Award"
- Int. Science Grid, "Bang goes the Simulation"
Here's a longer list.




- 2012 -

 

Movie Contributions

IMDB Info: [WWW]   

Abstract: As part of my work at ScanlineVFX, I've contributed to a variety movies in the last years. Unfortunately, the number of entries in the credits is usually quite limited, but my name still shows up in some of them :)

I've been involved in:
- 300, Rise of an Empire (2014, N. Murro)
- Man of Steel (2013. Z. Snyder)
- Die Hard 5 (2013, J. Moore)
- Iron Man 3 (2013, S. Black)
- The Avengers (2012, J. Whedon)
- Battleship (2012, P. Berg)
- Journey 2: the mysterious Island (2011, B. Peyton)
- Immortals (2011, T. Singh)
- Super 8 (2011, J. J. Abrahams)
- Gullivers Travels (2010, R. Letterman)
- Hereafter (2010, C. Eastwood)

There are also a few cool movies that I contributed to more or less directly, such as:
- Life of Pi (2013, Ang Lee)
- Cloud Atlas (2012, Tykwer and Wachovsky)
- Harry Potter 7b (2012, D. Yates)




- 2010 -

 

Mesh based fluids teaser

Video: [WWW]   

Abstract: This animation summarizes the highlights of our research on mesh-based surface tracking. It contains re-rendered sequences from our SIGGRAPH 2010 papers:
- A Multiscale Approach to Mesh-based Surface Tension Flows and
- Physics-Inspired Topology Changes for Thin Fluid Features,
plus an additional illustration of the main advantages of mesh-based surface tracking for fluids.



- 2009 -

 

Wavelet Turbulence

Project and source code: [WWW]   

Abstract: Our paper on wavelet turbulence was very well received by the VFX industry and has become an integral part of many production pipelines and special effects tools. The following movies were (to our knowledge) the very first to make use of the technique shortly after it was published:
- Monsters vs Aliens (the final mothership explosion)
- Transformers 2 (e.g., the pyramid sequences)
It was used in at least 20 feature films so far in total.
In addition, the following software packages have adopted the up-res workflow and make use of wavelet turbulence to add detail:
- FumeFX, from Afterworks (they were the first to integrate it)
- Houdini, from SideFX Software
- Blender, available with the full source code.




- 2008 -

 

Magic Fluid Control, Animation

Video: [MPG]    Webpage: [WWW]    YouTube (uploaded by someone else): [WWW]   

Abstract: The movie consists of three clips to demonstrate the possibilities of controlled water simulations: 1. A magician pulls out water from a basin which forms a teapot by moving his hand upwards from the basin. 2. Water flows magically upwards a stair where it forms a human figure. This is achieved by using control particles from a reversed water simulation and from an invisible model. 3. The magician moves a duck out of water from one basin to another and vice versa. Finally, he pulls out two ducks from both basins which end up in a short "fight".

So far, the animation was shown at the following events:
- Eurographics 2006, Animations & Interactive Media
- Computer Graphics International 2007, Video Festival
- SIGGRAPH 2007, Computer Animation Festival
- Melbourne International Animation Festival 2008




- 2005 -

 

SQDOF - 4 images

Preview: [JPG]   

Abstract: These images were designed to recreate some of the effects typically seen in macro photography of liquids. They were simulated using the free surface LBM solver, and rendered with PBRT. Originally, each of the four images came with 5 smaller supplementary images containing variations of the main motive.

These images won the "audience choice" award at the CGI 2006 conference.





Fluids in Blender

Blender Fluidsim Docs: [WWW]    Download Blender: [WWW]    Summer of Code: [WWW]   

Abstract: The goal of this project was to include the LBM fluid solver of my Phd thesis into Blender. It got started nicely with a Google "Summer of Code" project. By now, the fluids module is included in all Blender releases, the sources can be found in the Blender repository under blender/intern/elbeem.



- 2004 -

 

NiL (NiL isn't Liero)

Official NiL Homepage: [WWW]    WOP (Wörms of Prey): [WWW]   

Abstract: NiL is/was a fun open source game, with a gameplay mix of Worms and Quake. A while ago I provided some bugfixes for it. Check out the official NiL homepage above.
By now there's an "updated", even cooler version with a whole bunch of new features and game mechanics (ropes, advanced team modes, slow motion zones etc.) that was developed by my LSS-colleagues.



- 2003 -

 

POggPl

Webpage: [WWW]   

Abstract: POggPl was a free Ogg Vorbis player for PDSs with Palm OS 5 or higher. Sourcecode and third alpha version of POggPl were now released. You can still download it, to see if it works :) You need a PalmOS that supports the Palm SoundAPI, and some memory card with .ogg files on it.



- 2001 -

 

WireScout, an online market place for the cable industry

Webpage: [WWW]   

Abstract: WireScout was an onine platform for trading cables and associated materials online. Founded by three friends and me in 2001 as an "Aktiengesellschaft" (incorporated company), the platform was active for several years before it was taken over by Helukabel.



- 1997 -

 

NetBomber, a networked multi-player game

Webpage: [Netbomber gallery]   

Abstract: This is one of the games I developed during my high-school years. It was sold to Enjoy-Entertainment, who sold it to Ikarion. Unfortunately, Ikarion went bankrupt before Netbomber got published... However - the game was quite popular during school breaks :)