3-D That
Could Transform the Web
AUGUST 10, 2000
Alan Hall in
New York
Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
This video-compression technique
delivers lifelike images and may usher in a new era
for game makers and manufacturers
Most of us still try to eke enough
bandwidth out of our PCs so that movies and animations
don't look like paper flip books. But here comes the
next step: 3-D images. A team of researchers has
developed a way to compress detailed geometrical data
so that it can be transmitted on the Internet and
viewed and manipulated on personal computers, just as
images are now.
"Geometry is poised to become
the fourth wave of digital-multimedia
communication," says Wim
Sweldens of Bell Labs' Mathematical Sciences
Research Center. "The first three waves were
sound in the 1970s, images in the '80s, and video in
the '90s."
Sweldens and his colleague, Peter
Schroder of the California Institute of
Technology's computer science department, reported at
SIGGRAPH 2000, a major technical conference on
computer graphics and multimedia recently held in New
Orleans, that they have developed a new mathematical
algorithm for what is known as "digital-geometry
compression." It can reduce enormous amounts of
data 12 times more efficiently than the MPEG4 standard
that's now used to send photos and other images over
the Internet. Beyond sending your 3-D picture to mom,
the development may also have an impact in fields as
diverse as manufacturing, entertainment, medicine,
education, and retail sales.
KEY TOOL. Geometric data has
been a difficult problem to crack for computer
scientists. Typically it's acquired by scanning all
surfaces of an object -- anything from a person to
aircraft parts -- with a laser. The information is
saved as "meshes" of millions -- or even
billions -- of triangles.
The challenge: using the fewest
possible number of bits to store and transmit the
image, then expand it into a precisely accurate
representation of the original. To accomplish that
feat, the team turned to a mathematical concept
developed in the 1980s, called wavelet transformation,
that offers advantages over the method used to
compress images. "The kind of signal processing
used before simply cannot handle geometry," says
Sweldens. "Wavelets can."
First to surf the new wave are
expected to be producers of animated films and video
games. "Imagine a multiplayer, Internet-based
video game that looks as good as Toy Story," says
CalTech's Schroder, who is on leave from Bell Labs.
But manufacturers won't be far behind. The new
technology will allow them to create virtual catalogs
of parts and, when changes are made, use the scans to
guide fabrication equipment. Compressed geometry is
likely to become a key tool from design through
production to sales and order fulfillment.
VIRTUAL FIT. What about the
rest of us? "Think of real estate," says
Sweldens. Today, someone selling a house puts pictures
of all the rooms on the Web. "When geometry
processing reaches the desktop, you'll not only be
able to see any view of any room in the house but
you'll also be able to see how it will look after you
knock out a wall, repaint the rooms, and drop in new
furniture," he adds.
Or maybe you just want some new
threads? Your haberdasher will scan your body -- and
keep it confidential, we hope -- then transmit the
information to a factory. Your custom-made duds could
then be delivered the next day. Sound far-fetched?
It's the 21st century, and in a few years, 3-D could
well be the fourth wave of digital communications.
Further Information:
Copies of Progressive
Geometry Compression and Normal
Meshes presented at SIGGRAPH
Copyright 2000, by The McGraw-Hill
Companies Inc. All rights reserved. Terms
of Use
