Matting is the classic computer graphics and vision problem of separating an object from its background by computing a "matte" image that marks the foreground region. Since 1958 the film industry has used special background screens to simplify matting. We were the first to automatically compute mattes for video of natural scenes without special backgrounds or lighting. We also merged those techniques with special backgrounds to generate exceptionally high quality and real-time mattes in the studio.

This project investigates new paradigms for programming graphics hardware without writing source code. This allows artists and hobbyists to create more compelling content, and empowers programmers to develop applications faster.

Stylized images like cartoons can communicate shape and motion better than photorealistic images. This makes them prefferable for many applications like entertainment and medicine. However, stylized images have proven more challenging to produce than photorealistic ones. This project investigates new algorithms for rendering 3D objects in artistic styles using graphics hardware.

We described several new optimizations for the shadow volume method of shadow casting that then appeared in video games like Doom 3, and characterized the properties of shadow volumes to introduce new theoretical and practical bounds on runtime performance.

G3D is a commercial-grade 3D Engine available as Open Source (BSD License). It is used in games, tech demos, research papers, military simulators, and university courses. It provides a set of routines and structures so common that they are needed in almost every graphics program. It makes low-level libraries like OpenGL and sockets easier to use without limiting functionality or performance. G3D gives you a rock-solid, highly optimized base from which to build your application.