Subject: Raytracing JELL-O brand gelatin From: CG.geek@empty.cabi.net Date: 1 Dec 1996 20:19:01 GMT Organization: Raytracers Anonymous Newsgroups: comp.graphics.rendring.raytracing, comp.graphics.algorithms I was reading Glassner's "Introduction to Ray Tracing Book" and I came upon a reference for raytracing Jello: @InProceedings{Heckbert:1987:RTJ, author = "Paul S. Heckbert", title = "Ray Tracing {Jell}-{O} Brand Gelatin", volume = "21", year = "1987", month = jul, booktitle = "Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '87 Proceedings)", pages = "73--74", editor = "Maureen C. Stone", conference = "held in Anaheim, California; 27 -- 31 July 1987", } I hopped over to my university library to photocopy the said paper from the archive of past SIGGraph proceedings they stock. Well... the techniques described are, let's say, unique and I urge anyone serious about ray tracing, and rendering in general, to get hold of a copy. Does anyone have any background concerning the motivation behind the writing of this paper? -- J = 0 Subject: Re: Raytracing JELL-O brand gelatin From: baraff@cs.cmu.edu (David Baraff) Date: 1 Dec 1996 22:04:42 GMT Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Newsgroups: comp.graphics.algorithms, comp.graphics.rendring.raytracing In article <1827hgd7@empty.cabi.net>, wrote: >I was reading Glassner's "Introduction to Ray Tracing Book" and I came >upon a reference for raytracing Jello: > >@InProceedings{Heckbert:1987:RTJ, > author = "Paul S. Heckbert", > title = "Ray Tracing {Jell}-{O} Brand Gelatin", > volume = "21", > year = "1987", > month = jul, > booktitle = "Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '87 Proceedings)", > pages = "73--74", > editor = "Maureen C. Stone", > conference = "held in Anaheim, California; 27 -- 31 July 1987", >} > > Does anyone have any background concerning the >motivation behind the writing of this paper? I believe that at the time the paper was written, Paul Heckbert (the author) also applied for a software patent on the algorithms described in the paper. His hope was that publication in Siggraph would serve as a "wake-up" call to the graphics community concerning the overwhelming need for photorealistic rendering of food products in general. By simultaneously holding a patent on key techniques, this would have put Heckbert in a great position. Unfortunately, the patent office requires working models or demonstrations for certain types of patents. It's rather a long story, but by the time the original models (i.e. the food) and the simulations (i.e. the images) were received by the patent office for side-by-side comparison, well what with the lengthy backup in processing by the patent office (as well as a nasty bout of food poisoning by a patent officer, which I'd rather not go into) no patent was forthcoming, and the whole thread sort of just fizzled out... But I'm sure Paul can relate more details on this. Paul? Subject: Re: Raytracing JELL-O brand gelatin From: preston@cguhpb.cgu.mcc.ac.uk (Martin Preston) Date: 2 Dec 1996 10:49:50 GMT Organization: Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Newsgroups: comp.graphics.rendring.raytracing, comp.graphics.algorithms CG.geek@empty.cabi.net writes: >I was reading Glassner's "Introduction to Ray Tracing Book" and I came >upon a reference for raytracing Jello: >....... >Well... the techniques described are, let's say, unique and I urge >anyone serious about ray tracing, and rendering in general, to get >hold of a copy. >Does anyone have any background concerning the >motivation behind the writing of this paper? :-) To demonstrate to the world that computer graphics researchers have a sense of humour? This isn't the only `spoof' paper out there, I vaguely remember seeing a fake SIGGRAPH schedule I(spelt SGIGRAPH of course!) which included a paper about 'telecollaborative audio virtual reality', which allowed multiple users, separated geographically, to participate in a shared audio virtual world where collaborative work was possible using a new input/output device called a telephone. (The word telephone probably had a few inappropriate capitals, version numbers, and the world `Virtual' in front of it, but you get the idea!). All of which pales into insignificance against the run of fake papers written by Werner Purgathofer and crew for the Videa conference debacle. ("Optimising Radiosity for closed scenes without light sources" was one I remember). So you see, we may be maladjusted, spend too much time in poorly lit rooms, forget what our loved ones look like, and derive cheap thrills from making pretty pictures....but CG researchers can still write cheap gags! -- Martin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Martin Preston, Computer Graphics Unit, MC, | T: (+44) 161 275 6045 | |University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, U.K. | F: (+44) 161 275 6040 | |W: http://info.mcc.ac.uk/CGU/staff/preston/ | E: preston@mcc.ac.uk | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 50th Anniversary of stored program computing: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/mark1/ -- Martin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Martin Preston, Computer Graphics Unit, MC, | T: (+44) 161 275 6045 | Subject: Re: Raytracing JELL-O brand gelatin From: larrymb@gramercy.ios.com (Pacarana) Date: 05 Dec 96 18:06:25 -500 Organization: IDT Newsgroups: comp.graphics.rendring.raytracing, comp.graphics.algorithms C> I was reading Glassner's "Introduction to Ray Tracing Book" and I came C> upon a reference for raytracing Jello: C> booktitle = "Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '87 Proceedings)", C> I hopped over to my university library to photocopy the said paper C> from the archive of past SIGGraph proceedings they stock. C> Well... the techniques described are, let's say, unique and I urge C> anyone serious about ray tracing, and rendering in general, to get C> hold of a copy. Does anyone have any background concerning the Heh heh. Well the background was just to be silly and also to get in a sneaky dig against the Amiga which, at the time, was making some noise as the first home computer platform to start to move into being able to handle ray-tracing and the like. They scoffed at the idea but in just a few years they actually began loosing some business to it. So there. Subject: Re: Raytracing JELL-O brand gelatin From: Craig Reynolds Date: 1996/12/10 Organization: Silicon Studio Newsgroups: comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing,comp.graphics.algorithms ph+@cs.cmu.edu wrote: > CG.geek@empty.cabi.net asked: > > I came upon a reference for raytracing Jello: > > author = "Paul S. Heckbert", > > title = "Ray Tracing {Jell}-{O} Brand Gelatin", > > booktitle = "Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '87 Proceedings)", > > Does anyone have any background concerning the > > motivation behind the writing of this paper? > > I think the author was insane at the time... That sort of personal attack is completely inappropriate for this newsgroup! What if the esteemed author of that seminal research happened to read this newsgroup and saw your thoughtless post?! > If you're interested in writing a modern update to "Ray Tracing > Jell-O Brand Gelatin", I recommend several possible titles: > ... > Java Pong > ... This would have to be a survey paper, there is already a significant corpus of research on that topic: http://www.ttisms.com/PJF/pong/ http://netleaders.com/Bounce.html http://www.cs.umd.edu/~bberk/pong.html http://simon.cs.vt.edu/~begolej/Ppong.html http://www.metamor.com/pages/_play_pages/billpong.html http://weber.u.washington.edu/~jgurney/games/ping2.html Craig Reynolds http://reality.sgi.com/craig/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Raytracing JELL-O brand gelatin From: The Dragon Date: 1996/12/10 Organization: Maritime Internet Services Newsgroups: comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing,comp.graphics.algortihms > > Well... the techniques described are, let's say, unique and I urge > > anyone serious about ray tracing, and rendering in general, to get > > hold of a copy. Does anyone have any background concerning the > > motivation behind the writing of this paper? Better yet, does anyone have the paper in txt? =} Id love to read it, and I really would like to see some raytraced jello. Theres a way to actually CODE (Im a graphics coder) B-Splines and stuff to do it... I cant exactly remember how it works now, but its slow... the jiggling IS cool tho. > Two extra pages in the Proceedings? C'mon, there's always room for > Jell-O(tm)! I saw this paper for the first time earlier this year. ^^^^^^^^^^^ I agree... I think it would be an awesome trace. The Dragon PS: If you have said article, please send it to york@mi.net =} Id really appreciate it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: (no subject) From: "James E. Gary" Date: 1996/12/06 Organization: OneNet Newsgroups: comp.graphics.algorithms Pacarana wrote: > > C> I was reading Glassner's "Introduction to Ray Tracing Book" and I came > C> upon a reference for raytracing Jello: > C> booktitle = "Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '87 Proceedings)", > C> I hopped over to my university library to photocopy the said paper > C> from the archive of past SIGGraph proceedings they stock. > C> Well... the techniques described are, let's say, unique and I urge > C> anyone serious about ray tracing, and rendering in general, to get > C> hold of a copy. Does anyone have any background concerning the > Heh heh. Well the background was just to be silly and also to get in a sneaky > dig against the Amiga which, at the time, was making some noise as the first home computer > platform to start to move into being able to handle ray-tracing and the like. > They scoffed at the idea but in just a few years they actually began loosing some business > to it. So there. I recall that the talk was very funny. Heckbert even had video of some guys shooting a laser into jello to measure the index of refraction. Academic conferences would be a lot more fun if more of these tongue in cheek papers were approved. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------