Nanographics wins CGF Cover Contest

Nanographics wins CGF Cover Contest

Computer Graphics Forum (CGF) is the leading journal for in-depth technical articles on computer graphics. The rapid publication of articles allows readers to keep up to date with new debates and topics of research. The journal features a lively mix of original research, computer graphics applications, conference reports, state-of-the-art surveys, and workshops.

Computer Graphics Forum is published 8 times per year, consisting of: three regular issues; the annual Eurographics Conference proceedings; and the proceedings from four selected Symposia. This provides subscribers with unequalled coverage of some of the major international events in computer graphics. Each year the photograph, which appears on the cover of CGF, is changed. Therefore CGF organizes a competition for the Eurographics community to find next years cover image. The winning entry is selected by the CGF editorial board.

This year nanographics won the cover contest with the following entry: http://vcg.isti.cnr.it/cgf/winner.php?year=2021

The image shows a process of converting a scientific sketch into a 3D molecular visualization. We see a virion of SARS-CoV-2 whose spike protein has just attached to an ACE-2 receptor of a epithelial cell. To illustrate this process, the scene was roughly sketched by an illustrator. The sketch was then converted into a 3D visualization by using an atomistic model of the virion created by statistical modeling. The scene was then rendered by impostor-based real-time molecular visualization algorithm. The virion model is accompanied by the procedurally generated cell membrane populated by lipids and protein molecules. The background, which shows epithelial cells and their cilia, was modeled and rendered in blender and composed into the visualization to provide the viewers with a context.

Nanographics sponsors Eurographic’s 2021

Nanographics sponsors Eurographic’s 2021

Eurographics’2021 is the 42nd Annual Conference of the European Association for Computer Graphics, which will take place on May 3 − 7, 2021. It is organized by the Research Unit of Computer Graphics at TU Wien. Eurographics’2021 is a unique platform for the computer graphics community to showcase the latest techniques and educational work, and to explore new trends and ideas. Due to the recent events concerning the COVID-19 crisis, the conference will be organized as a purely virtual event.

Presentation at PixelVienna conference 2020

Presentation at PixelVienna conference 2020

Watch the conference talk of our CTO Peter Mindek on how to illustrate a virus! If you’re interested to see which aspects have to be considered when making comprehensible biological illustrations, you can find the link to the video in the comments below. The PIXELvienna is a conference for the community by the community. Every year PIXELvienna gathers great minds of animation, illustration, vfx & games from all over the globe under a single roof in Vienna for talks, workshops and partying.

Nanographics wins VCBM Image Contest 2020

Nanographics wins VCBM Image Contest 2020

In September 2020, the annual Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (EG VCBM) took place in Tübingen, Germany. VCBM addresses the state of the art in visual computing research with a strong focus on applications in biology and medicine. It provides an interdisciplinary forum for experts (researchers and practitioners) from visualization, visual analytics, computer graphics, image processing, computer vision, human computer interfaces as well as experts from biology and medicine, jointly working on next generation visual computing solutions for medicine, healthcare and the biotechnology sector.

With our illustration of a SARS-CoV-2 particle, we have participated in the Image Contest of 10th Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM 2020). We were awarded with the People’s Choice Award chosen by the attendees of the conference. The image shows part of the SARS-CoV-2 life-cycle, which happens in the epithelial cells of lungs of COVID-19 patients. We can see a virion’s spike protein binding to a receptor on the cell surface, another virion entering the cell by fusing with its membrane, and in the background, many new virions exiting an infected cell.

Scientific Paper published at IEEE VIS 2020

Scientific Paper published at IEEE VIS 2020

Nanographics has published a scientific paper presented at the IEEE VIS 2020 conference. We joined a team of biologists and computer scientists who created the most accurate model of SARS-CoV-2 virion. Our contribution was to create visualizations of the model constructed by our scientific partners based on the latest knowledge of the virus. The IEEE Visualization Conference (VIS) is an annual conference on scientific visualization, information visualization, and visual analytics administrated by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Visualization and Graphics. It is the highest rated venue for visualization research and the second-highest rated conference for computer graphics over all.

In this paper a new technique for rapid modeling and construction of scientifically accurate mesoscale biological models is presented. The resulting 3D models are based on few 2D microscopy scans and the latest knowledge about the biological entity represented as a set of geometric relationships. Our new technique is based on statistical and rule-based modeling approaches that are rapid to author, fast to construct, and easy to revise. From a few 2D microscopy scans, we learn statistical properties of various structural aspects, such as the outer membrane shape, spatial properties and distribution characteristics of the macromolecular elements on the membrane. This information is utilized in 3D model construction.

Paper: “Modeling in the Time of COVID-19: Statistical and Rule-based Mesoscale Models