Chris Wojtan // Computer Animation

The realistic simulation of complex processes in the physical world is the focus of research in the Wojtan group. Using numerical techniques, they create computer simulations of physical phenomena such as fluids, deformable bodies or cloth. Such accurate representations are required not only for computer animation, but also for medical simulations, computational physics and digital modeling. In their work, the Wojtan group combines mathematical methods from computational physics with geometric techniques from computer graphics. A key contribution of the Wojtan group is the efficient treatment of topological changes with deforming meshes that split and merge, in order to simulate highly detailed surface tension phenomena, such as the formation of water droplets and splashes. This method is used for the realistic animation of flowing and splashing water. Latest research of the group couples high-resolution embedded surface geometry to low-resolution simulations, to simulate detailed animations of elastic, plastic, and fluid phenomena.