Resources

You are not alone in the universe! Here is a collection of useful assets and learning resources which make our research go smoothly.

• Free Editing Tools and Tips -> Tips & tricks on proper writing by Eric Haines

Imagery

• NPR General Benchmark -> License status unclear
• Unsplash -> Creative Commons Zero Licence
• Pexels -> Creative Commons Zero Licence
• Gratisography -> Free for personal and commercial use

3D Models

• Sketchfab -> downloadable CG models and animation
• McGuire Computer Graphics Archive - Most common CG models with corrected geometry and in OBJ
• TF3DM -> free 3D models (licensing unclear)
• The Mantissa -> photoreal natural models

Vectors

• Undraw -> Open-source illustrations

Shaders

• Shadertoy -> WebGL shader examples
• GLSL noise library -> shaders compiled by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo

Extras

• Adobe Color -> Web-app to find out colors that go well with each other

Node based

• Gratin -> A programmable node-based system for GPU-friendly applications [ paper ]

DCC application based

• MNPR -> A Non-Photorealistic Rendering framework developed in Autodesk Maya using the Maya API, Python and GLSL/HLSL.

Debuggers

• RenderDoc -> stand-alone graphics debugger (Win, Linux)

Domain Specific Languages

• Halide -> DSL for image processing and computational photography
• Opt -> DSL for Non-linear Least Squares Optimization in Graphics and Imaging [ paper ]

VFX Reference Platform

• Standard tools and library versions

HLSL

• Programming Guide for HLSL
• Reference Docs for HLSL

Art Materials

trueart.info - based on excerpts of ART HARDWARE: The Definitive Guide to Artists’ Materials (1987) by Steven Saitzyk

Graphics API

• Raster Tek - Free online tutorials to get started using the Graphics API (DX and OpenGL)
• The Book of Shaders -> WIP book by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo

General Topics

• Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games -> Probably the best way to stay up to date in recent developments and advances in real-time rendering
• GPU Performance for Game Artists -> Good introduction to real-time graphics performance by Keith O’Conor
• The Feynman Lectures on Physics -> Probably the best open resource on physics taught by a Nobel laureate
• Avoid texture repetition -> Solutions by Íñigo Quílez
• blendernpr.org (BNPR)-> Website dedicated to expressive rendering in Blender. Includes tutorials and resources.

Filtering

• Bilateral filtering
  • A Gentle Introduction to Bilateral Filtering and its Applications by Sylvain Paris, Pierre Kornprobst, Jack Tumblin, and Frédo Durand [2008]
• Recursive filtering
  • Recursive Filtering in Image Processing by Martin Vicanek
• Low-pass filters
  • An investigation of fast real-time GPU-based image blur algorithms by Philip S.
• Motion blur
  • Motion blur techniques by Matt Pettineo

Reviews

• Line Drawings from 3D Models by Szymon Rusinkiewicz, Forrester Cole, Doug DeCarlo and Adam Finkelstein [2008]

Stylized rendering in video games

• Learning from Failure: a Survey of Promising, Unconventional and Mostly Abandoned Renderers for ‘Dreams PS4’, a Geometrically Dense, Painterly UGC Game by Alex Evans [ presentation, web ]
• Rendering painted world in JG -> real-time stroke-based painterly rendering by Arthur Rakhteenko [ unity demo ]
• GuiltyGearXrd's Art Style : The X Factor Between 2D and 3D -> anime style rendering of ArcSystemWorks by Junya C Motomura

Anti-Aliasing

• Implementing FXAA v3.11 by Simon Rodriguez
• Temporal Supersampling (0:00 - 19:35) by Marco Salvi [ presentation ]
• High Quality Temporal Supersampling by Brian Karis [ video ]

Noise

• Simplex noise demystified by Stefan Gustavson

Gamma and Linear Space

• What every coder should know about gamma by John Novak
• Gamma and linear space - what they are and how they differ by KinematicSoup
• The Importance of Being Linear by Larry Gritz and Eugene d'Eon

Autodesk Maya

• Cross compiling Maya Plugins using CMake by Chad Vernon