OpenSubdiv from research to industry adoption

Abstract

Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces were invented in the 1970s. The specification was extended with local edits, creases, and other features, and formalized into a usable technique for animation in 1998. But the extended technology has not enjoyed widespread adoption in animation for a variety of reasons. Recently, Pixar decided to release its subdivision patents and working codebase, in the hope that giving away its high-performance GPU-accelerated code will create a standard for geometry throughout the animation industry. This course answers several questions: •What is a subdivision surface? •What are the extended features, and how exactly do they work? •What is the Feature Adaptive algorithm, and how does it make the surfaces useful on GPUs? •What is OpenSubdiv, and how does it implement these algorithms? •How do you integrate OpenSubdiv into an application and a pipeline? •What are the challenges and solutions associated with putting OpenSubdiv on a mobile device?