Dear Fellow Scholars, this is Two Minute Papers
with Dr. Károly Zsolnai-Fehér. If we study the laws of physics and program
them into a computer, we can create a beautiful simulation that showcases the process of baking,
and if we so desire, when we are done, we can even tear a loaf of bread apart. And with this previous method, we can also
smash oreos, candy crabs, pumpkins, and much, much more. This jelly fracture scene is my long-time
favorite. And this new work asks a brazen question only
a proper computer graphics researcher could ask - can we write an even more extreme simulation? I don’t think so, but apparently, this paper
promises a technique that supports more extreme compression and deformation, and when they
say that, they really mean it. Let’s see what this can do through five
super fun experiments. Experiment number one. Squishing. As you see, this paper aligns well with the
favorite pastimes of a computer graphics researcher, which is, of course, destroying virtual objects
in a spectacular fashion. First, we force these soft elastic virtual
objects through a thin obstacle tube. Things get quite squishy here…ouch! And, when they come out on the other side,
their geometries can also separate properly. And watch how beautifully they regain their
original shapes afterwards. Experiment number two. The tendril test. We grab a squishy ball, and throw it at the
wall, and here comes the cool part, this panel was made of glass, so we also get to view
the whole interaction through it, and this way, we can see all the squishing happening. Look - the tendrils are super detailed and
every single one remains intact and intersection-free despite the intense compression. Outstanding. Experiment number three. The twisting test. We take a piece of mat, and keep twisting
and twisting, and… still going. Note that the algorithm has to compute up
to half a million contact events every time it advances the time a tiny bit, and still,
no self intersections, no anomalies. This is crazy. Some of our more seasoned Fellow Scholars
will immediately ask - okay, great, but how real is all this? Is this just good enough to fool the untrained
eye, or does it really simulate what would happen in reality? Well, hold on to your papers, because here
comes my favorite part in these simulation papers and this is when we let reality be
our judge, and try to reproduce real-world footage with a simulation. Experiment number four, the high-speed impact
test. Here is the real footage of a foam practice
ball fired at a plate. And now, at the point of impact, this part
of the ball has stopped, but the other side is still flying with a high velocity. So what will be the result? A ton of compression. So what does the simulator say about this? My goodness. Just look at that. This is really accurate. Loving it. This sounds all great, but do we really need
this technique? The answer shall be given by experiment number
five, ghosts and chains. What could that mean? Here, you see Houdini’s Vellum, the industry
standard simulator for cloth, soft-body and a number of other kinds of simulations. It is an absolutely amazing tool, but, wait
a second. Look. Artificial ghost forces appear, even on a
simple test case with 35 chain links. And I wonder if the new method can deal with
these 35 chain links? The answer is a resounding yes. No ghost forces. And not only that, but it can deal with even
longer chains, let’s try a 100 links. Oh, yeah! Now we’re talking! And now, only one question remains. How much do we have to wait for all this? All this new technique asks for is a few seconds
per frame for the simpler scenes, and in the order of minutes per frame for the more crazy
tests out there. Praise the papers! That is a fantastic deal. And, what is even more fantastic, all this
is performed on your processor, so of course, if someone can implement it in a way that
it runs on the graphics card, the next paper down the line will be much, much faster. What a time to be alive! Thanks
for watching and for your generous support, and I'll see you next time!
