Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, November 18, 1998

Location:

DC 2303

Time:

1:30

Chair:

Stephen Mann

1. Adoption of the Agenda - additions or deletions

2. Coffee Hour

Coffee hour last week: Michael McCool

Coffee hour this week: Eric Hall

Coffee hour next week: Patrick Gilhuly

3. Next meeting

Date:

Wednesday, November 25, 1998

Location:

DC 1304

Time:

1:30

Chair:

Marryat Ma

 

Technical presentation:

Stephen Mann

4. Forthcoming

Chairs:

1. Ed Dengler (December 2nd) 
2. Olivier Michallat (December 9th) 
3. Dan Milgram (December 16th) 

Tech Presenters:

1. Marryat Ma (December 2nd) 
2. Michael McCool (December 9th) 
3. Olivier Michallat (December 16th) 

5. Technical Presentations

Presenter:

Viêt-Tâm Luu

Title:

Flint, Flame, Inferno

Abstract:

Discreet Logic's flame*, effect* (formerly known as flint*), and inferno* (FFI) are a family of software products used throughout the television and movie industry to create special effects and to composite and manipulate images. I will give a brief overview of FFI's features, capabilities, along with a few examples of how FFI is being used to create effects for ads, TV shows, and movies.

6. General Discussion Items

7. Action List

• Dec 2 - Meet in DC 1302 or Lab

8. Director's Meeting

9. Seminars

•      Wednesday, November 18, 1998
            Master's Thesis Presentation
            ``Automatic Comparison of Execution Histories
            in the Debugging of Distributed Applications.''
            Jessica Han, CS Graduate Student, U. of Waterloo
            2:30 - 3:30 p.m.; DC1302
  

•      Wednesday, November 18, 1998
            Theory Seminar
            ``Multicoloring of Paths and Trees: `Coloring by Numbers' ''
            Andrzej Proskurowski, University of Oregon
            3:30 p.m.; DC1302 (Note: not the usual room)
  

•      Friday, November 20, 1998
            Master's Thesis Presentation
            ``Event-Predicate Detection in the Monitoring of
            Distributed Applications''
            Mark R. Fox, CS Graduate Student, University of Waterloo
            1:30 - 2:30 p.m.; MC 5158A (Note Room & Bldg)
  

•      Friday, November 20, 1998
            Scientific Computation Seminar
            ``Convergence of Lattice and PDE methods for Pricing Asian Options''
            Peter Forsyth, Computer Science, U. of Waterloo
            3:00 - 4:00 p.m.; DC1331
  

•      Tuesday, December 1, 1998
            The infraNET Project Distinguished Speaker Seminar
            "Building and Managing Large-Scale Web Sites
            - The France 98 World Cup Experience"
             David Yach, Vice President and Chief Architect Sybase, Inc.
            2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; Davis Centre, Room 1302
            Register via our web site at: http://infranet.uwaterloo.ca/
            call 519-888-4567 ext. 5611.
  

• ******************************************
  Friday November 20, 1998
  ******************************************
  
  Combinatorics and Optimization
  Tutte Colloquium
  
  "Efficient Algorithms for Petersen's Matching Theorem"
  
  Erik Demaine
  Dept. of Computer Science
  University of Waterloo
  
  3:30pm
  MC 5158
  
  Abstract
  
  Petersen's theorem is a classic result in matching theory from 1891.  It states
  that every 3-regular bridgeless graph has a perfect matching.  Our work
  explores algorithms for finding perfect matchings in such graphs.  This has
  several applications, including quadrangulation, terrain guarding, and dynamic
  mesh refinement.  Previously, the only relevant matching algorithms were for
  general graphs, so the best algorithm for these graphs ran in O(n^(3/2)) time.
  We have developed an O(n log^4 n)-time algorithm for matching in a 3-regular
  bridgeless graph.  For when the graph is also planar, which is the case for the
  applications mentioned above, we have an optimal O(n)-time algorithm.
  
  This is joint work with Therese Biedl, Prosenjit Bose, and Anna Lubiw,
  

• Univerisity of Toronto
  Department of Computer Science Colloquium
  Thursday November 19, 1998
  Walberg Building Room 115, 4:00 p.m.
  
  "Will Digital Actors Need Agents?"
  Michael Cohen, Microsoft Research
  
  In this talk Michael Cohen will discuss the possibility that we will soon
  see virtual actors that are indistinguishable from real human actors.  Most
  of the talk will be devoted to examining the state-of-the-art in the many
  technologies required to make this come true.  He will concentrate on teh
  work going on in the Graphics Group at Microsoft Research but will also
  touch on relevant research on going elsewhere.  In particular, work on
  facial modelling, character animation, and camera control will be
  highlighted.
  
  Michael Cohen has undergraduate degrees in Art and Civil Engineering, A MS
  degree in Computer Graphics from Cornell and a PhD in Computer Science from
  Utah.
  
  Refreshments will be served in LP266 from 3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
  

10. Lab Entropy Reduction