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Computer Graphics in Historical and Modern Sky Observations

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Computer Graphics in Historical and Modern Sky Observations Die approbierte Originalversion dieser Dissertation ist an der Hauptbibliothek der Technischen Universität Wien aufgestellt (http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at). The approved original version of this thesis is available at the main library of the Vienna University of Technology (http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at/englweb/). DISSERTATION Computer Graphics in Historical and Modern Sky Observations ausgeführt zum Zwecke der Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der technischen Wissenschaften unter der Leitung von Univ.-Prof. Dr. Werner Purgathofer E 186 Institut für Computergraphik und Algorithmen unter Mitwirkung von Univ.-Ass. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Alexander Wilkie eingereicht an der Technischen Universität Wien Fakultät für Informatik von Dipl.-Ing. Georg Zotti, Bakk.rer.nat. Matrikelnummer 9126124 Ghelengasse 13a, A-1130 Wien Wien, am 29. Oktober 2007 Kurzfassung Diese Arbeit behandelt drei Aspekte von Himmelsbeobachtungen in Kombination mit dem Bereich Computergraphik. Thematisch überstreicht die Arbeit mehrere Jahrtausende und umfaßt Fragen aus Bereichen wie Archäologie, Astronomie, Kulturerbe, digitaler Bildverar- beitung und Computergraphik. Der erste Teil umfaßt interdisziplinäre Arbeit aus den Bereichen Archäo-Astronomie, Vi- sualisierung und virtueller Rekonstruktion. Ein neuartiges Diagramm bietet eine intuitive Visualisierung zur Untersuchung archäologischer Vermessungspläne auf Hinweise astrono- misch motivierter Orientierungen (etwa gegen Sonnenauf- und Untergänge zu den Sonn- wenden, oder zu Auf- und Untergangspunkten gewisser Sterne). Diese Visualisierung wur- de zur Untersuchung gut datierbarer jungsteinzeitlicher Kreisgrabenanlagen in Niederöster- reich entwickelt, und tatsächlich bietet die Anwendung des Diagramms klare Hinweise auf derart astronomisch motivierte Ausrichtung von Toren in einigen dieser Anlagen, was zu- sammen mit einer dazugehörigen astronomischen Erklärung der stellaren Ausrichtung die Aufstellung einer Hypothese über einen Aspekt der praktischen Astronomie der Vorzeit er- möglichte. Virtuelle Rekonstruktionen stellen eine immer stärker genutzte Möglichkeit dar, Erkennt- nisse aus der Archäologie einem breiten Publikum zu vermitteln. Die praktische, publikums- gerechte Aufbereitung der archäo-astronomischen Ergebnisse durch Kombination virtueller Rekonstruktion mit der jeder digitalen Projektion überlegenen Himmelssimulation in einem modernen Planetarium ist daher Thema des folgenden Kapitels. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit behandelt ein konkretes historisches Beobachtungsinstrument und seine Rekonstruktion mit Methoden der Computergraphik. Lange nach der Steinzeit, im Mittelalter, war das Astrolabium das astronomische Beobachtungs- und Recheninstru- ment schlechthin, und sein Bau wurde auch in zeitgenössischer Literatur meist mit um- fangreichen Tabellen der Größen der Konstruktionselemente beschrieben. Heute finden sich derartige Instrumente meist unzureichend erklärt in historischen Sammlungen und Aus- stellungen. Die Vermittlung der verschiedenen Funktionen ist ohne praktische Demonstra- tion schwierig. Hier bieten sich Methoden der prozeduralen Modellierung für dieses Para- debeispiel mathematisch-geometrisch konstruierter Instrumente geradezu an. Dabei wird nicht das gesamte Modell statisch mit primitiven Zeichenoperatoren (Strecke, Kreisbogen) beschrieben, sondern die Konstruktionsanleitung der verschiedenen Diagramme und -teile wird in Prozeduren umgesetzt, die dann zur Erzeugung eines konkreten Instruments mit unterschiedlichen Parametern ausgeführt werden. Auch die Umsetzung der zweidimensio- nalen Diagramme in virtuelle 3D-Modelle ist recht einfach, und man kann sogar aus den Diagrammen mit einem Lasergravierer hölzerne Instrumente zur praktischen Demonstrati- on der Funktionsweise herstellen. i ii Der dritte und längste Teil behandelt Methoden der Himmelssimulation, -darstellung und -erfassung aus dem eigentlichen Bereich der Computergraphik. In dieser Disziplin wur- den in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten große Fortschritte bei der Darstellung des Himmels und atmosphärischer Effekte erzielt, die in einer ausführlichen Literaturübersicht präsen- tiert werden, in der auch Querbezüge zur Literatur aus dem Gebiet der Atmosphärenphysik nicht zu kurz kommen. Die Anspüche von physikalisch basiertem Rendering beinhalten auch ein realitätsnahes Modell der Himmelshelligkeit. Helligkeitsmessungen am klaren Himmel zeigen, daß das derzeit meistverwendete analytische Himmelsmodell [PREETHAM et al. 1999] nur mit Ein- schränkungen einsetzbar ist. Himmelsmodelle ließen sich bisher in 2 große Gruppen einteilen: numerische Simulation der Streuungsprozesse in der Erdatmosphäre und schnelle analytische Modelle. In jüngerer Zeit werden zur Verbesserung des realistischen Eindrucks auch Fischaugen-Photos des ge- samten Himmels mit Digitalkameras erstellt und zu Bildern mit erweitertem Dynamikum- fang (High Dynamic Range, HDR) kombiniert. Diese können durch photometrische Punkt- messungen auf absolute Helligkeitswerte kalibriert werden, und derartige Aufnahmen bie- ten auch Anwendungen außerhalb der eigentlichen Computergraphik. Langzeitbelichtun- gen gestatten auch die Untersuchung und Quantifizierung der nächtlichen Himmelshellig- keit und Lichtverschmutzung durch künstliche Beleuchtung. Ein derartiges System wurde vom Autor entwickelt. Ergebnisse unseres Systems werden hier dargestellt, die notwendi- gen Arbeitsschritte werden in einem Anhang beschrieben. Die Arbeit schließt mit einigen Ideen für zukünftige Arbeiten. Abstract This work describes work done in three areas of research where sky observations meet com- puter graphics. The whole topic covers several millennia of human history and posed com- bined challenges from fields including archaeology, astronomy, cultural heritage, digital im- age processing and computer graphics. The first part presents interdisciplinary work done in the fields of archaeo-astronomy, visualisation and virtual reconstruction. A novel diagram has been developed which pro- vides an intuitive, easy visualisation to investigate archaeological survey maps for evidence of astronomically motivated orientation of buildings. This visualisation was developed and first applied to a certain class of neolithic circular structures in Lower Austria in order to investigate the idea of solar orientation of access doorways. This diagram and its intuitive interpretation allowed the author to set up a new hypothesis about practical astronomical activities in the middle neolithic period in central Europe. How virtual reconstructions of these buildings characteristic for a short time during the neolithic epoch can be combined with the excellent sky simulation of a modern planetarium to communicate these results to a broader audience is described thereafter. The second part of this work describes a certain class of historical scientific instruments for sky observations and its reconstruction with methods of computer graphics. Long after the stone age, in the Middle Ages, the astrolabe was the most celebrated instrument for celes- tial observations and has been explained in contemporary literature, usually with the help of precomputed tables for a certain size or kind of instrument. Today, historical exhibitions fre- quently present one of these instruments, but its various applications are hard to explain to the general audience without hands-on demonstration. For this challenge from the cultural heritage domain, an approach using the idea of procedural modelling is presented. Here, a computer graphics model is not statically drawn but specified by parametrised plotting functions, which can then be repeatedly executed with different parameters to create the final model. This approach is demonstrated to provide a very flexible solution which can immediately be applied to specific needs just by tweaking a few parameters, instead of hav- ing to repetitively draw the whole model manually. From the two-dimensional procedural model, 3D models can be easily created, and even the production of wooden instruments on a Laser engraver/plotter is demonstrated. The third and longest part deals with methods of sky simulation and rendering in the do- main of computer graphics. In this discipline, modelling of skylight and atmospheric effects has developed tremendously over the last two decades, which is covered by an extensive survey of literature from the computer graphics and also atmosphere physics domains. The requirements of physically correct or at least plausible rendering include realistic values for sky brightness. Measurements performed with a luminance meter on a clear sky iii iv in order to verify the currently most widely used analytic skylight model [PREETHAM et al. 1999] shows however its limited applicability. There are two classical groups of clear-sky models: numerical simulations of scattering in the atmosphere, and fast analytical models. Recently, another method for more realistic looking skylight models has been developed: digital images taken with a fisheye lens are combined into high dynamic range images which can be used for scene illumination and as sky background. These images can be calibrated by photometric measurements of ab- solute luminance values. Long-time exposures allow to apply this system to quantitative investigations of sky brightness, sky colours, and also nocturnal light pollution by artificial illumination. Results and other applications of the system are described, and the pipeline for creating such images is described in the appendix. This work closes with some notes of future directions
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