CAREER: Constraint-based Adaptive Simulation of Deformable Objects

本研究的目标是开发强大而有效的技术来建模，仿真和与软对象交互。可变形物体的物理建模是许多图形和科学可视化应用的基础和关键组成部分之一，提供了一种有效的方式来显示和与虚拟物体交互，更好地代表真实的物理性质，超越不切实际的刚体近似。软物体建模已被广泛研究使用离散模型和连续介质力学模型。然而，两个主要问题仍然构成重大挑战。首先，计算效率和生物力学现实主义之间的冲突要求指导我们进行权衡或牺牲一个。其次，软物体和直观控制之间的相互作用的鲁棒处理往往被忽视，由一个单一的接触点或给定的外力。PI将解决以下方面的问题：1）区域分解方法来表示复杂的对象结构; 2）自适应细化和简化模型，同时保持整体动态行为; 3）鲁棒的基于约束的碰撞和接触分析可变形对象之间; 4）约束操作直观灵活的用户界面; 5）快速集群计算环境及相关并行算法。该项目的教育部分包括：1）开发新的基于物理的建模和仿真课程，2）为虚拟手术系统开发逼真的组织变形模型，用于培训医学生和外科医生，3）为K-12学生和公众开发功能解剖学在线可视化系统，及四）举办“事物如何运作”工作坊及动画比赛，为本科生及研究生提供早期研究经验。

The goal of this research is to develop robust and effective techniques to model, simulate and interact with soft objects. The physical modeling of deformable objects is one of the fundamental and crucial components of many graphics and scientific visualization application providing an effective way to display and interact with virtual objects that better represent true physical nature, beyond unrealistic rigid-body approximation. Soft object modeling has been studied extensively using both discrete models and continuum mechanics-based models. However, two major issues still pose a significant challenge. First, the conflicting demand between computational efficiency and biomechanical realism directs us to take trade-offs or to sacrifice one for the other. Second, the robust treatment of interaction between soft objects and intuitive control is often overlooked, being represented by a single point of contact or given external forces. The PI will address issues in the following areas: 1) domain decomposition method to represent a complex object structure; 2) adaptive refinement and simplification of the model while preserving overall dynamic behavior; 3) robust constraint-based collision and contact analysis between deformable objects; 4) constrained manipulation for intuitive and flexible user interface; and 5) fast cluster computing environment and associated parallel algorithms. The educational component of this project includes 1) development of a new physically-based modeling and simulation curriculum, 2) development of a realistic tissue deformation model for a virtual surgery system which will be used for training medical students and surgeons, 3) development of functional anatomy online visualization system for K-12 students and the general public, and 4) hosting "How Things Work" workshop and animation contest to foster research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students in their early academic careers.