PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

In pursuit of the perfectly animated cloud of smoke

Computer scientists make simulations more realistic yet

2015-03-12
(Press-News.org) This news release is available in German.

Simulations of impressive landscapes and alien creatures have become commonplace, especially in fantasy and science fiction films. But simulations are also appearing in ever more medical and engineering applications. However, the road to a perfect illusion is complex and time-intensive. Nils Thürey, professor at the Technische Universität München and his colleagues have developed a methodology that could accelerate these calculations.

The attack takes place at the climax of the blockbuster "Avatar": Rockets slam into the Pandora inhabitants' homeland tree. Explosions, flames and thick clouds of smoke appear on the screen.

To keep the audience pinned to the edge of their seats the images must be realistic. But, especially the simulation of physical processes is tough to implement. This includes the representation of liquids and gasses, which fall into the category of fluids.

Rendering complex, turbulent movements is particularly difficult for programmers, explains Prof. Nils Thürey of the Department of Computer Science at TU München. "Three seconds of such a scene require hundreds of simulations, each of which often takes over ten hours of computing time."

Mimicking nature

Time that is available for large film productions. However, in computer games it becomes painfully obvious that the limits for realistic, fast and flexible simulation of fluids are quickly reached. Rapid simulation of things like air turbulence and blood is also essential in medicine and engineering.

To speed up the computational process, the scientists have gone back to the roots, so to speak. They analyze the behavior of real fluids and gasses. Obtaining data that are useful for simulation calculations from these observations required elaborate techniques in the past. In collaboration with international scientists, Thürey has now demonstrated that the data can be calculated from simple video clips. They are presenting their methodology in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics.

Autocompleting movements

The complex turbulences in phenomena like smoke are barely or not at all discernable in video images. To fill this gap the scientists once again employ simulations. Based on experience and the laws of physics, the program automatically fills in the gaps. "The brain also has this capacity," explains Thürey. "In this way individual dots on a piece of paper suddenly appear as an image, even though they are not at all connected in reality."

Using this principle, the simulation software calculates the most probable course of movements, even when this is not distinctly ascertainable from the data.

Medical diagnoses and spectacular effects

The idea is now to optimize this methodology for various applications. Simulations of blood flow in combination with computer tomography can help assess the acuteness of an aneurism. The simulation of fluids is also essential in the design of airfoils and other aerodynamic bodies. And, of course, the new programs will also improve computer games - and facilitate spectacular explosions on the screen.

INFORMATION:

Photos and videomaterial: http://go.tum.de/869987 Interview with Prof. Nils Thürey (Youtube): http://youtu.be/MMEOMRJEAV4

Publication: James Gregson, Ivo Ihrke, Nils Thuerey, Wolfgang Heidreich: From Capture to Simulation - Connecting Forward and Inverse Problems in Fluids, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) DOI: 10.1145/2601097.2601147

Contact: Prof. Dr. Nils Thürey
Technische Universität München
Fakultät für Informatik
Tel: +49 89 289 19484
nils.thuerey@tum.de



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Government corruption in South Africa contributes to overfishing

2015-03-12
"When I interviewed inspectors they are surprisingly open about this. They tell me that they get a box of fish or just some money from fishermen in exchange for being allowed to break the rules that apply to protected areas or catches," says Aksel Sundström. Many of South Africa's marine fish stocks are overexploited. At the same time, the government actors that are meant to ensure that fishers abide to rules may be a part of the problem. For example, one anonymous inspector is quoted to say: "A Chinese captain that was arrested last week called someone who arrived ...

Liver-sparing operation associated with higher survival rates in cancer patients

2015-03-12
CHICAGO (March 12, 2015): A surgical approach in which a surgeon removes less than a lobe of the liver in a patient undergoing an operation for liver cancer is associated with lower mortality and complication rates, according to new study results published online as an "article in press" in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS). The article will appear in print in the April issue of the Journal. Historically, the most common surgical method of treatment for liver cancer was a major hepatectomy in which a lobe (hemi-liver) is removed in order to remove ...

Low breast density in mammography worsens breast cancer prognosis

2015-03-12
Very low mammographic breast density worsens the prognosis of breast cancer, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland. Disease free survivals as well as overall life expectancies were significantly shorter in women with very low-density breasts in comparison to women with high density breast tissue. The lower the breast tissue density, the less fibroglandular tissue there is compared to fat tissue. In the future, these findings may prove significant for the assessment of breast cancer prognosis and treatment planning. The study involved 270 ...

Actresses must be picky about with whom they work to survive in movie industry

2015-03-12
WASHINGTON, DC, March 12, 2015 -- Actresses need to be pickier than men about with whom they work if they want to survive in the movie industry, suggests a new study. "My research indicates that women in the film industry suffer a lack of access to future career opportunities when they tend to work with people who have collaborated frequently in the past," said Mark Lutter, lead author of the study and head of the "Transnational Diffusion of Innovation" Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Germany. Titled, "Do Women Suffer ...

Special issue of educational researcher examines value-added measures

2015-03-12
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 12, 2015 - The American Educational Research Association has published a special edition of its peer-reviewed journal Educational Researcher (ER) devoted to examining value-added measures (VAM). Since 2009, President Barack Obama's Race to the Top initiative has brought on a wave of value-added-based accountability measures, with value-added now embedded in policy in more than 30 states. AERA's journals have examined the validity and reliability of value-added measures over the past six years. This special issue of ER considers the key questions, ...

Sweet nanoparticles target stroke

Sweet nanoparticles target stroke
2015-03-12
Materials resulting from chemical bonding of glucosamine, a type of sugar, with fullerenes, kind of nanoparticles known as buckyballs, might help to reduce cell damage and inflammation occurring after stroke. A team from the Max Planck Institute in Germany has tested this on mice, opening the door to potential new drugs for the cerebrovascular accident. The majority of stroke occurs when the blood vessels that reach the brain are blocked by clots or fatty deposits which decrease the flow of blood towards its cells. It is then that an ischemic attack occurs, a pathology ...

Post-fire logging can reduce fuels for up to 40 years in regenerating forests, new study finds

2015-03-12
Harvesting fire-killed trees is an effective way to reduce woody fuels for up to four decades following wildfire in dry coniferous forests, a U.S. Forest Service study has found. The retrospective analysis, among the first to measure the long-term effects of post-fire logging on forest fuels, is published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. "Large wildfires can leave behind thousands of acres of fire-killed trees that eventually become fuel for future fires. In the past, post-fire logging has been conducted primarily to recover economic value from those fire-killed ...

Understanding loneliness through science

2015-03-12
Loneliness may be a fundamental part of the human condition, but scientists have only recently begun exploring its causes, consequences, and potential interventions. A special section in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, aims to bring these strands of inquiry together, presenting a series of articles that review the current state of scientific research on loneliness. The section, edited by psychological scientist David Sbarra of the University of Arizona, investigates loneliness across multiple levels, from ...

A 'warhead' molecule to hunt down deadly bacteria

2015-03-12
CHESTNUT HILL, MA (March 12, 2015) Targeting deadly, drug-resistant bacteria poses a serious challenge to researchers looking for antibiotics that can kill pathogens without causing collateral damage in human cells. A team of Boston College chemists details a new approach using a "warhead" molecule to attack bacteria -- and spare healthy human cells -- by targeting a pair of lipids found on the surface of deadly germs, according to a report today in the journal Nature Communications. The new strategy required the researchers to develop a novel type of "warhead molecule" ...

Teen cannabis users have poor long-term memory in adulthood

2015-03-12
Study links oddly shaped hippocampus to poor long-term memory in former marijuana users The longer teens used cannabis, the more abnormal the hippocampus as adults Former users perform 18 percent worse on long-term memory test Cannabis affects short and long-term memory CHICAGO --- Teens who were heavy marijuana users - smoking it daily for about three years -- had an abnormally shaped hippocampus and performed poorly on long-term memory tasks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. The hippocampus is important to long-term memory (also known as ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] In pursuit of the perfectly animated cloud of smoke
Computer scientists make simulations more realistic yet