GPU-Based Global Illumination & Research Of Ir-Based Multi-Touch System

The research of Virtual plants growth (plant growth modeling) is derived from computer science, simulation technology, agriculture and forestry science as an inter-discipline. The main research purpose is: exploring the inherent mechanism of plant growth, which is rebuilt and simulated on computers, then guide the further research of agriculture and forestry related technology (e.g., GIS, water and soil conservation, desertification and digital cities etc.). In the research of virtual plants, simulation of illumination is one of the most important elements, which has values not only in visual effects but also in exploring how it affects the growth of plants. The first part of this thesis synthesized the technology of global illumination theory, parallel computing and virtual plants growth and discussed proper lighting model and relevant algorithms.Main work of this part is as follows:1. Researched the Radiosity algorithm and realized it parallel on GPU;2. Researched the Photon Mapping algorithm and realized it parallel on GPU, then discussed its application on 3D virtual plants;3. Completed 3D virtual plants software-wxVisualPlant.Multi-touch systems are becoming an important research direction within recent years due to their higher manipulating dimension and more intuitional manipulating pattern. On large-scale platforms, traditional capacitor panels and resistance panels are not eligible owing to the costs and reliability. The second part of this thesis developed a novel multi-touch system based on IR lights, computer vision and image processing and then synthesis this platform with virtual reality applications, which is based on the TUIO protocol.Main work of this part is as follows:1. Researched and designed the IR-based multi-touch hardware and related touch recognition system;2. Developed control driver based on the system above and TUIO protocol;3. Researched the combination of multi-touch system & virtual reality applications.