FRS 123: Technology in Art and Cultural Heritage Dramatis Personae • Szymon Rusinkiewicz smr@cs.princeton.edu • Tim Weyrich tweyrich@cs.princeton.edu Modus Operandi • Each class meeting: – Lecture / discussion of technical topic – Discussion about art / art history • Assignments – Four regular assignments + final project – Mixture of writing and other (hands-on) projects – Class participation What’s This Class About? • Premise #1: advances in science and technology have affected the progress of art • Premise #2: advances in science and technology have affected our ability to study art What’s This Class About? • Premise #1: advances in science and technology have affected the progress of art • Premise #2: advances in science and technology have affected our ability to study art Realism in Art: Perspective Realism in Art: Light, Shadow, and Materials Color Perception Photography Computers as Artistic Tools What’s This Class About? • Premise #1: advances in science and technology have affected the progress of art • Premise #2: advances in science and technology have affected our ability to study art Computer Graphics • By simulating phenomena, we understand them more thoroughly Computer Graphics • Can also simulate traditional media, artistic styles Computer Graphics • Can also simulate traditional media, artistic styles interactively Imaging Imaging 3D Scanning 3D Scans – Interactive Image Synthesis 3D Scans – Changing Lighting 3D Scans – Revealing Detail Perspective Historical Context • Renaissance, Italy, 15th century • Move towards accurate representation of reality • “Discovery” of perspective credited to Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) Basic Premises • Light travels in straight lines • Light rays reaching the eye pass through a point Object Pinhole Camera • “Camera obscura” – known since antiquity Image plane Image Pinhole Object Pinhole camera Pinhole Camera • “Camera obscura” – known since antiquity Image plane Image Pinhole Object Pinhole camera • First recording in 1826 onto a pewter plate (by Joseph Nicéphore Niepce) Mathematics of Perspective Fixed yo zo yi yo zi z o zi yi Mathematics of Perspective yo yi ~ zo yo zo zi yi Mathematics of Perspective • Conclusion: size ~ 1/distance • Main calculation in computer graphics: x x/ z y y / z z Demo What is Preserved by Perspective Projection? • Straight lines? • Distances? – Distances parallel to image plane? • Angles? • Parallel lines? Vanishing Points • Groups of parallel lines in the world intersect at a point in the image – Does this always happen? If not, when? • Different vanishing points for each direction of parallel lines Well-known Perspective Constructions • 1, 2, 3-point perspective • Tile floor • Alberti’s construction