Visual Computing

We are daily exposed to a mass of information that we could not process, understand or act upon without the help of computers. This is even more critical in many key scientific fields such as life and environmental sciences that collect huge quantities of data, which must then be carefully analyzed.

Computer Graphics is concerned with computational methods for the creation of realistic synthetic images, intricate 3D geometries, and compelling computer animations. It combines the beauty of mathematics, the power of computing and the aesthetics of visual imagery for exciting new applications in diverse fields such as entertainment, education, medicine, engineering, and architecture.

Current computer science technology has proved very good at handling structured information as epitomized by Google’s phenomenal success. By contrast, making sense of unprocessed visual information that humans are so comfortable with is still well beyond what is currently possible. This is the challenge Computer Vision and Computer Graphics address. We intend to give computers of tomorrow the ability to understand and represent such data, as well as act upon this understanding. In other words, computers should eventually be able to see, display and animate data in ways that mirror human abilities and facilitate human-machine interaction.

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