Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2004

CUHK Wins HK$8 Mi l l ion Grant for Digital Entertainment Technologies To p r omo te d i g i t al entertainment i n H o n g K o n g, the I n n o v a t i on a nd T e c h n o l o g y C o m m i s s i o n i n v i t e d proposals to develop new technologies for t he i n d u s t r y. Th r ee s u ch p r o p o s a ls submitted by the Faculty of Engineering have subsequently been selected; a total of HK $8 m i l l i o n was a w a r d ed b y the commission for the purpose. The first project is conducted by Prof. M i c hael R.T. L y u of the De p a r t me nt of Compu t er Science and Engineering. He w i l l d e v e l op ‘ A u g m e n t e d R e a l i t y ' t e c h n o l o g i es t h at can be a p p l i ed to entertainment kiosks and mobile phones, enab l i ng better i n t e g r a t i on of real-life images and computer animation i n video game s. H i s p r o j e ct is c o n d u c t ed i n collaboration w i t h three local firms: CSL, Global D i g i t al Creations Ho l d i n gs Ltd., and Video Club International. I n the second project, Prof. John C.S. L u i of t he C o m p u t e r Sc i en ce a n d Engineering Department teams u p w i t h Infoislive, a local mobile game developer, to design a software system specifically for de v e l op i ng mu l t i - p l a y er on-line games t h a t c an be p l a y e d i n t he w i r e l e ss environment. Such a game engine w i l l be the first of its k i n d i n H o n g Kong. The project is supported by Group Sense Ltd., a mobile phone manufacturer. T h e t h i r d p r o j e c t i n v o l v e s t he development of computer-aided design technologies for the presentation of curved or wa v ed objects. Such technologies are pa r t i cu l a r ly useful for p o r t r a y i ng game characters i n action such as Chinese K u n g Fu masters, or characters w i t h l ong hair or we a r i ng l ong gowns. The project is headed b y Prof. K.C. H u i of the Department of Automatior a n d C o m p u t e r- a i ded Engineering, and conducted i n collaboration w i t h several computer g a m e d e v e l o p e r s , i n c l u d i n g GameOne and DigitFORCE. Research Highlights T o generate more interest i n the University's research activities, the Chinese University Bulletin continues to b r i ng to readers highlights of research projects suppo r t ed by the Research Grants Council and other research funds. A n a r t i c le o n n e w s t r a t e g i es f o r u l c er prevention i n patients w i t h arthritis and vascular diseases can be f ound on pages 48-51. Research N e ws 47