Over the last thirty years computer graphics research has created technology that improves both the realism and generation speed of computer-generated images. However, there is no widely used method for creating realistic images, and it remains difficult in practice to create realistic images. This project aims to develop a practical method for realistic image creation that addresses the visual effects believed to be salient by the graphics and perception communities. The method is intended to be robust, relatively simple, and to have the potential to be interactive in the next decade.
The ability to rapidly generate realistic images is useful in many applications. For example, flight and driving simulators rely on realistic imagery, but the interactive nature of these systems limits the realism that is feasible. The proposed work should extend these limits. The proposed method would also be useful for generating images for planning and education; images could be created to help visualize the results of reconstruction efforts, habitat change, and urban planning. Finally the method should be useful for generating synthetic images for input to automated vehicles, where many different scenes and atmospheric conditions could be generated rapidly and at low expense.
