International Journal of Information Technology

Vol. 8 � No. 2 2002 (Special Issue)

Guest EditorialSpecial Issue on 3D Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality

3D Computer Graphics and virtual reality are perhaps the areas where advances are driven or even demanded by the user base more than by the IT professional. This is obvious in the computer games arena where the gaming public is never completely satisfied with the realism, resolution and response of the interactive 3D graphics of the latest game to hit the market. Less apparent, but equally true are the demands of users in other application domains where interactive 3D graphics plays an important role. At the First International 3D Digitization Workshop (3DD-2002) organised earlier this year at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, the Centre for Advanced Media Technology brought this aspect of research into focus clearly. The workshop explored the fundamentals, basic theories and practices of 3D digitization. 3DD endeavours to represent real objects in a 3D environment with optimal accuracy and realism. The growth of 3DD applications has been predicted to be exponential and many research activities are progressing in various parts of the globe. In this issue of the International Journal of Information Technology we have selected a representation of the papers delivered at 3DD-2002 to give our readers an update of developments in the fields of medicine and human physiology. Three of the papers illustrate selected areas in the field of medicine. Accurate modeling of the various anatomical structures of the human body is helping physicians and surgeons in understanding the behaviour and hence the design of implants and prosthetic devices. The need to “get it right” the first time round does not need to be stressed, and computer models based on accurate measurements from the digitization process makes a significant contribution. Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, or in laymen’s terms nose cancer has a high incidence amongst Asians but is rare in the West. The research reported here (paper #4) will assist the radiologist in the diagnosis and treatment planning. One of the continuing challenges in virtual reality is to create realistic and life-like humans models. Two papers (papers #2, #6) have been selected for inclusion in this volume to represent some the work in presenting realistically the appearance of the human face and to animate it to express human emotions. The third paper (paper #3) in this area discusses the possibility of classifying the human body shape. It is hoped that this focus issue of IJIT is helpful and of interest to our readers and future issues focusing on other topics relevant to our membership are planned. Tony K.Y. Chan, Guest Editor

Tony K.Y. Chan


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