Confessions of a researchaholic

September 23, 2024

A brief history of intelligence

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 8:33 pm
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This is an excellent overview of the evolution of biological intelligence and the relationships to the progress of artificial intelligence so far, covering the five major stages of steering, reinforcing, simulating, mentalizing, and language. Perhaps the major takeaway is the hierarchical structure of different brain components specializing in different tasks, analogous to the computational higher-order and global workspace theories as surveyed in https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708.
The text is very easy to follow and the illustrations are nice to look at.

September 22, 2024

Unexpected intellectual discovery

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 3:31 pm
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There are several aspects of scientific research that excite me: solving a challenging problem, publishing a paper, shipping a product, creating a demo/artwork, presenting a talk, reviewing a submission, serving on a committee, attending a conference, meeting people with shared interests, working with collaborators.

But what excites me the most is discovering new ideas and insights, especially those that are surprising or unexpected.
Looking back at my research career, here are some examples:

  • My PhD thesis work on texture synthesis – fixed neighborhoods, over manifold surfaces, from multiple sources (blending and 3D volumes from 2D views), and order-independent/random-accessible synthesis.
  • Tile-based texture mapping, in particular the math and algorithms for packing and random access.
  • Parallel white noise and blue noise generation, analogous to the order-independent texture synthesis.
  • Inverse texture synthesis, basically a reversal of traditional (forward) texture synthesis.
  • Nonlinear Beam Tracing on a GPU \cite{Liu:2011:NBT} – it is possible to use rasterization to achieve some ray tracing effects.
  • Nonlinear revision control for images – revision control can be applied beyond code and text!
  • Differential domain analysis for non-uniform sampling – the trigonometric expansion of the power spectrum depends only on the relative sample positions, and the subsequent synthesis method of point sampling with general noise spectrum.
  • Improving light field camera sample design with irregularity and aberration – randomness/noise helps with computational photography.
  • Autocomplete painting repetitions, hand-drawn animations, and 3D sculpting – the use of workflows for analysis and prediction.
  • Mapping virtual and physical reality and the subsequent work on leveraging temporary blindness to avoid warping at all for redirected walking \cite{Sun:2018:TVR}.

In retrospect, I tend to have more focus, and likely as a consequence, more innovation during the earlier stage of my career, and more breadth (in terms of topics and applications) towards the later stage.
But it is really the unexpected intellectual discovery that keeps me excited, which I missed.

September 4, 2024

Cupcake wars – motion graphics

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 5:15 pm
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This is an experiment to create motion graphics from the original poster image (in the event email), which, upon looking at it, prompted me to want to animate the cupcake topping.

I started by twirling the topping via Motionleap, selecting the candy particles via Photoshop and animating them via Fresco Motion, followed by generative stylization via a comfyUI workflow (using the MotionLeap + Fresco video as control and its first frame as style input for IP-adapter). The challenge is that the output background won’t be completely black/transparent (which hopefully will be fixed soon in standard generative video workflows), and thus for now I did some masking and keying in After Effects as a workaround for proper compositing.




https://www.behance.net/gallery/207181031/CupcakeWars

September 3, 2024

Side effect of wearing company t-shirt in public

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 6:27 pm
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The conductor on my evening train came to me and joked that “Adobe should lower the price”.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/186107513/PortraitsMotoGStylus/modules/1176410825

August 30, 2024

Cupcake wars – virtual decoration

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 5:36 pm
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There was an employee event for cupcake decoration competition on Thursday afternoon. I took a few bases, which seemed healthier than the toppings, and decorated them virtually via company products.



https://www.behance.net/gallery/206803773/CupcakeWars

August 27, 2024

Reporter trying to “catch” employees

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 5:14 pm
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I received an invitation for a “chat” from a reporter with a major media company for a story he is currently working on about my current employer.
Per company policy I forwarded the inquiry to our PR (public relation) partner, who told me that the reporter is indeed legit but tends to try to “catch” employees unawares to speak to them on the side without PR.

On one hand I am all for the freedom of press and I have enjoyed their reportings, but on the other hand trying to trip employees up is probably not the most ethical way to obtain information.

So I just ignored the reporter and let the PR handle the situation.

August 23, 2024

Fleeting moments

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 8:00 pm
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While driving back home on August 22, 2024 evening around 8:30 PM, I saw this impressive pale blue sky with dark clouds. I did a quick drawing the next evening and planned to refine it later. Then I realized that there are many fleeting moments in life that were better captured without further delays.


https://www.behance.net/gallery/206362211/ImpressionOf22Aug2024EveningAround8PM

August 22, 2024

Electric Caltrain

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 11:02 am
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I took the electric Caltrain for the first time today and found it much quieter and smoother than the diesel one.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/190359367/ExteriorMotoGStylus/modules/1175902253

August 16, 2024

Irregular tortillas

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 8:49 pm
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During July 23 2024 lunch time, I saw the company cafeteria staff trying to fix the tortillas machine that was doling out irregularly shaped portions which I commented to be still edible and uniquely artistic.


https://www.behance.net/gallery/205732405/IrregularTortillas

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