The institute’s work helped move computer graphics from a niche subject into a fundamental technology and an established field of computer science.
Many everyday applications, from the internet and computed tomography to CAD, would not be possible without computer graphics. Graphics processing is now embedded so deeply in daily life that it often goes unnoticed. Twenty years ago, computer graphics was still a niche field that received little attention.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, founded in Darmstadt in 1987, contributed to the history of the discipline. Early work concentrated mainly on generating two-dimensional representations interactively and integrating them into documents. Three-dimensional data models later became increasingly important. Rendering methods, 3D interaction, multimedia systems, distribution, and cooperative work over networks were central steps in the following years. Developments such as 3D ultrasound, which first enabled three-dimensional images of unborn babies in the 1990s, are now standard in many medical practices. Fraunhofer IGD applications also gradually entered everyday life.
“In the mid-1980s, computer graphics was still in its infancy. Establishing a Fraunhofer institute for computer graphics research was a logical step in advancing its development,” said Professor José L. Encarnação, founder of Fraunhofer IGD. “The time was right for more precise knowledge transfer. After years of sceptical distance, universities and industry could identify new areas of work and applications while opening new partnerships and investment opportunities.”
Fraunhofer IGD is now described as one of the leading centres for applied computer-graphics research. Around 140 researchers have implemented ideas in numerous research projects during that period. A series of successful spin-offs supports the economic relevance of their concepts.
A change of institute director in October 2006 also refocused Fraunhofer IGD’s research expertise. Under Professor Dieter W. Fellner, the institute plans to concentrate on three major research areas. Researchers will increasingly transfer “library” questions to information and communication in engineering and design. “There are currently no tools that can sensibly classify models and animations used in engineering, identify their content, generate abstracts, or archive them over long periods,” Fellner explained. “We now want to implement in the digital world capabilities that are taken for granted in conventional libraries.” A second focus is the capture, preservation, and use of semantics across the complete modelling process. Researchers will also work at the overlap between computer graphics and computer vision, providing the technical foundation for ambient intelligence.
“We will of course continue to use the expertise already developed at the institute,” Fellner said. “But today we are also looking for answers to new questions that industry will face only in a few years.”
