Computer Graphics Project 1(Report of Jim Foley's Speech)

Today(October 9th), Professor Jim Foley comes to our school and make a speech about a Computer Graphics grand challenge, which is called "How real is real" on the morning. This is a very interesting topic and Professor Foley shows us a lot  of examples that is appealing to us. 

According to Professor Foley, a major challenge facing computer graphics researchers is knowing how much realism is enough realism and it is always tempting to create the very most realistic images using the latest and greatest techniques. However, although we can create many images that fool the eye, it dependson the purpose for which the graphics are being created. In fact, Fool-the-eye realism is not always the right answer. Realism has two components, one of which is the static things, such as surface property modeling, shape modeling, illumination modeling, and the other one is dynamic behavior, such as motion modeling and behavioral modeling. Sometimes "more is more", but there're also some times, "less is more". 

As for "More is More", Professor Foley shows us the natural and forced animated smile and many other specific things, which is very interesting and can also illustrate the meaning of "More is More". Meanwhile, in order to explain the "Less is More", Professor Foley gives us many other examples with movies, such as the Finding Nemo, the Shrek and the Uncanny Valley. What's more, VR(Virtual Reality) Therapy is also used to introduce the topic. During the speech, Professor Foley also makes some little quiz with us that help us understand what he has said. In conclusion, "More is more" is to jump over the Uncanny Valey while "Less is more" is to stay away from Uncanny Valley. 

After the speech, even if I haven't understand the difference between "More is more" and "Less is more" totally, I've got a lot of knowledge from the questions asked by classmates.

On October 10th, Professor Foley gives us another speech about the User Experience Design Process and the Information Visualization. 

First of all, Professor Foley shows us that UI is not just webs and apps, but also used in many other areas, such as the google glass and leap motion. In order to help us make a better understanding on the topic, he makes an experiment during the speech with the google glass and the leap motion, which is the first time I've ever seen them. To be honest, what you heard is not as the same as what you saw, and in my personal opinion, they're totally different. 

As Professor Foley said, "Pay now or Pay (more) later." That means that invest in UI early, or pay the price later, which tells us the importance of UI Design. Also, he tells us the approaches of the UI Design and the develop process. In a word, user is the god so that whatever we do must make the users as the center. In this process, we must give up our ego and serve the users heart and soul. We must understand what they need, get inside their heads and know their personalities, cultures and even motivations to serve them better. In conclusion, the goal is to gather lots of infomation via mutiple methods.

What's more, Professor Foley metions about the HCI(Human-Computer Interface), which is illustrated with google glass and leap motion. It's really an amazing application of computer which gives the users exciting experiences.

Through the two speeches, I get a better understand of "How real is real", the User Experience Design Process as well as the Information Visualization. It makes me more curious about the Computer Graphics and give me an opportunity to see the advanced technologies such as google glass and leap motion. I'm looking forward to making such things with HCI in the future.