In the past few years, both the availability and complexity of high-resolution geometric models has continued to increase rapidly, thereby provoking new and detailed research in the field of point-based graphics. The Symposium on Point-Based Graphics 2007, which took place in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 2-3, 2007, brought together the newest research demonstrating the benefits of point primitives for modeling, simulation, rendering, and other computer graphics and geometry processing applications.

The polygon-mesh approach to 3D modeling was a huge advance, but today its limitations are clear. Longer render times for increasingly complex images effectively cap image complexity, or else stretch budgets and schedules to the breaking point. Comprised of contributions from leaders in the development and application of this technology, Point-Based Graphics examines it from all angles, beginning with the way in which the latest photographic and scanning devices have enabled modeling based on true geometry, rather than appearance. From there, it’s on to the methods themselves. Even though point-based graphics is in its infancy, practitioners have already established many effective, economical techniques for achieving all the major effects associated with traditional 3D Modeling and rendering. You’ll learn to apply these techniques, and you’ll also learn how to create your own. The final chapter demonstrates how to do this using Pointshop3D, an open-source tool for developing new point-based algorithms. The first book on a major development in computer graphics by the pioneers in the field Shows how 3D images can be manipulated as easily as 2D images are with Photoshop

Part of a four-volume set, this book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computational Science, ICCS 2007, held in Beijing, China in May 2007. The papers cover a large volume of topics in computational science and related areas, from multiscale physics to wireless networks, and from graph theory to tools for program development.

This volume presents a collection of papers presented at the 15th International Symposium of Robotic Research (ISRR). ISRR is the biennial meeting of the International Foundation of Robotic Research (IFRR) and its 15th edition took place in Flagstaff, Arizona on December 9 to December 12, 2011. As for the previous symposia, ISRR 2011 followed up on the successful concept of a mixture of invited contributions and open submissions. Therefore approximately half of the 37 contributions were invited contributions from outstanding researchers selected by the IFRR officers and the program committee, and the other half were chosen among the open submissions after peer review. This selection process resulted in a truly excellent technical program which featured some of the very best of robotic research. The program was organized around oral presentation in a single-track format and included for the first time a small number of interactive presentations. The symposium contributions contained in this volume report on a variety of new robotics research results covering a broad spectrum including perception, manipulation, grasping, vehicles and design, navigation, control and integration, estimation and SLAM.

The Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB) 2010 is an international, multidisciplinary conference for the presentation and discussion of current research in the theory and application of computational methods in problems of biological significance. Presentations are rigorously peer reviewed and are published in an archival proceedings volume. PSB 2010 will be held on January 4 - 8, 2010 in Kohala Coast, Hawaii. Tutorials and workshops will be offered prior to the start of the conference. PSB 2010 will bring together top researchers from the US, Asia Pacific, and around the world to exchange research results and address pertinent issues in all aspects of computational biology. It is a forum for the presentation of work in databases, algorithms, interfaces, visualization, modeling, and other computational methods, as applied to biological problems, with emphasis on applications in data-rich areas of molecular biology. The PSB has been designed to be responsive to the need for critical mass in sub-disciplines within biocomputing. For that reason, it is the only meeting whose sessions are defined dynamically each year in response to specific proposals. PSB sessions are organized by leaders of research in biocomputing's "hot topics". In this way, the meeting provides an early forum for serious examination of emerging methods and approaches in this rapidly changing field.