Interactive physically-based control of visual phenomena

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Advances in tools for the creation of visual media have seen huge growth in the past 25 years, expanding the range and applications of visual computing. The accessibility, usability, utility, and expressiveness of these tools is variable, naturally aligning to the complexity of the attendant visual phenomena. Realistically animating characters, faces, water, fire, smoke, and animals remains a painstaking task for animators, since our tools have favoured simulation ("If I push this, where will it go?") over control ("How do I get this to do that?"). Furthermore, as the complexity of the phenomenon increases, the problem of controlling it becomes ever more difficult. My research will focus on the interactive control of complex visual phenomena, with the aim of reducing the myriad ways that affect the behaviour of a phenomenon into a small set of user-centred variables. This will enable the application of realistic animation in areas beyond entertainment, including training, emotional avatars, and realistic virtual and augmented reality.