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Keynote Presentation

Taking the “Virtual” Out of Virtual Reality

Carlo H. SéquinUniversity of California, Berkeley

Abstract

Today’s graphics programs cannot only produce stunning photo-realistic images or convincingly real scene displays for interactive exploration, they can also produce physi-cal output -- thanks to the emergence of several different layered manufacturing technologies. For many design activi-ties creating tangible models through some rapid-prototyp-ing prcess is a new and crucial feedback loop for debugging the functionality or customer-appeal of a new product.

Dr. Séquin has two decades of experience with creat-ing mathematical visualization models and designs ranging from university buildings to abstract geometrical sculp-tures. Turning these virtual creations into physical realities, however, raises a whole new set of issues that are often over-looked in the initial virtual design phase.

Bio

Carlo H. Séquin is a professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. degree in experimental physics from the University of Basel, Switzerland in 1969. From 1970 till 1976 he worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, on the design and investigation of Charge-Coupled Devices for imaging and signal processing applications. At Bell Labs he also got introduced to the world of Computer Graphics in classes given by Ken Knowlton.

In 1977 he joined the faculty in the EECS Department at Berkeley. He started out by teaching courses on the subject of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits, thereby build-ing a bridge between the CS division and the EE faculty. In the early 1980’s, jointly with Dave Patterson, he introduced the `RISC’ concept to the world of microcomputers. He was head of the Computer Science Division from 1980 till 1983. Since then he has concentrated on computer graphics, geo-metric modeling, and on the development of computer aided design (CAD) tools for circuit designers, architects, and for mechanical engineers. Around 1990 he served as the head of the building committee for the new Computer Science Building at U.C.Berkeley. In that context, together with his

students, he developed an efficient walk-through program for virtual buildings; some of the techniques developed for this purpose are still used in interactive video games today.

For more than two decades, Dr. Séquin has also been teaching courses in creative geometric modeling and in procedural object generation. In these classes students explore subjects ranging from the geometry of gear wheel assemblies, or the fractal-based modeling of plants, to the generation of virtual museums filled with mathematical vis-ualization models. More recently he has added a rapid-pro-totyping component to these classes and now pursues the goal ofo streamlining the path from a creative idea to a first demonstrable model.

Since the mid-1990’s, Séquin’s work in computer graphics and in geometric design have provided a bridge to the world of art. In collaboration with a few sculptors of abstract geometric art, in particular with Brent Collins of Gower, MO, Séquin has found yet another domain where new frontiers can be opened through the use of computer-aided tools. Large bronze sculptures resulting from collabo-rations between Brent Collins, Steve Reinmuth of the Bronze Studio in Eugene, OR, and Carlo Séquin have been installed in the lobby of Sutardja Dai Hall at U.C. Berkeley and in the courtyard of the H&R Block headquarters building in Kansas City.

Dr. Séquin is a Fellow of the ACM, a Fellow of the IEEE, and has been elected to the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. He has received the IEEE Technical Achievement Award for contributions to the development of computer-aided design tools, the Diane S. McEntyre Award for Excellence in Teaching, and an Outstanding Service Award from the University of California for Exceptional Leadership in the Conception, Design and Realization of Soda Hall.