Wednesday, April 2nd, 2007
at 5:30PM

A new 3D modeling method to create various 3D models from a generic model by few simple steps: selection of body parts from a generic model, selection of target images, and sketch drawing on top of the image. Given these user inputs, proposed geometry morphing algorithm automatically deforms the generic 3D body parts into the user drawn 2D sketch while preserving the important characteristics of the original geometry. Therefore, the system allows user to construct desired 3D shapes only by a set of 2D inputs guided by the images.

Timbre or tone quality is the characteristic that distinguishes different types of musical instruments or sound production. For example, the same pitch is played on a trumpet and a violin, with the same loudness and duration; timbre is what allows us to tell the difference between the two instruments.

Timbre analysis usually involves extracting information from the spectrum and amplitude envelope of a sound. Commonly used timbral characteristic include brightness, noisiness, and acoustic roughness, an estimate of the harshness of a sound. We will overview techniques for measuring perceptually significant timbral features, and how timbral analysis is used in music information retrieval, music perception studies and real-time performance systems. A brief survey of my current and future projects will conclude the talk.

Jun Murakawa is a graphics API R&D engineer at Sony Computer Entertainment America from June 2006. Jun has been working on Playstation 3 Graphics Library (PSGL) and helped several PS3 launch game titles. Jun received masters in computer science from San Francisco State University in May 2006. Jun's research was focusing on computer graphics and 3D modeling.

Bill Hsu is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at SFSU. His research interests are in timbre analysis, interactive music systems, computer architecture and performance evaluation. URL: http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~whsu.