Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract
Art objects might be described as symbolic objects that aim at stimulating emotions. They reach us through our senses (visual, auditory, tactile, or other). They are displayed by means of physical material (stone, paper, wood, etc.) and combine some patterns to produce an aesthetic composition. They convey some message, normally to suggest some state of mind or to induce an emotion and the consequent feeling on the side of the viewer. Digital art differs from conventional art pieces by the use of computers and computer-based artifacts that manipulate digitally coded information, inheriting the almost unlimited possibilities in interaction, virtualization and manipulation of information the computer medium offers. In this chapter the authors propose to analyze and discuss the concepts and definitions behind digital art, emphasizing how the computer medium is itself the tool and the raw material in its creation, especially if we stress the fact that the conception and design of artistic information content is at the heart of any artistic work. Furthermore the authors present a framework for digital art creation that consists of a common design space where digital artists can smoothly progress from the concept until the final artifact while exploring the computer medium to its maximum potential. © 2009, IGI Global.

Abstract
A linear system is a fundamental building block for several mesh-based computer graphics applications such as simulation, shape deformation, virtual surgery, and fluid/smoke animation, among others. Nevertheless, such a system is most of the times seen as a black box and algorithms do not deal with its optimization. Depending on the number of unknowns, the linear system is often considered as an obstacle for real time application and as a building block for offline computations. We present in this paper, a neighboring-based methodology for representing a linear system. This new representation enables a compact storage of the set of equation, flexibility for ordering the unknowns and a rapid iterative solution, by means of an optimized matrix-vector multiplication. In addition, this representation facilitates the modification of part of the linear system without affecting its unchanged part and avoiding the complete rebuild of the system. This specially benefits applications dealing with dynamic meshes, where the geometry, the topology or both are constantly changed. We present the capabilities of our methodology in models with different sizes and for different operations, highlighting the dynamic characteristic of the mesh. We believe that several applications in computer graphics could benefit from our methodology, in order to improve their convergence and their performance, reducing the number of iterations and the computation time. © The Eurographics Association 2009.