During the last three decades computer graphics established itself as a core discipline within computer science. New and emerging technologies such as digital media, social networks, digital television, digital photography, telecommunication and telepresence, virtual and augmented reality further indicate its potential and pose new challenges in the years to come.
To address these challenges, and in particular to seamlessly blend real and synthetic footage, we have adopted a new and more integrated scientific view of computer graphics as 3D Image Analysis and Synthesis that takes into account the whole image processing pipeline from scene acquisition to scene reconstruction to scene editing to scene rendering. We also take into account human perception on all levels of the pipeline, and we exploit the abundance of digital visual data to extract powerful priors that can assist us in the various tasks.
Our vision and long term goal are completely immersive visually rich environments with sophisticated scene representations and the highest visual quality, fused seamlessly with the real world. Standard 2D screens are being replaced with HDR displays, stereo and automultiscopic screens, portable and wearable displays. Imaging algorithms with embedded perceptual models ensure that the viewing comfort is maximized. Interaction is intuitive and lightweight.