Real-time visual and physical simulation of curtains

Master Thesis

As soon as I took the Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, I was hired by Hypersoft S.r.l. to start working on a real-time CAD for visual and physical simulation of curtains. At the same time, I did want to continue my Computer Science studies, aiming for the Master degree. I managed to do both by working part-time and spending the rest of the day studying.

Even though working and studying was tough, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. The closer I got to the end of my studies, however, the more I started realizing I couldn’t invest enough time for the final thesis. By talking with my professors, we agreed that I could speak about what I had been working on during the past two years: TSim-X. This had been a blessing as I only had to write the thesis.

As mentioned in my portfolio post, TSim-X is a real-time software for the physical and visual simulation of indoor curtains. Its software architecture can be divided into two domains: flexibility and speed. The former was achieved using C# for user interface and business logic. Where speed and efficiency were paramount, however, such as with the rendering and physical engines, C++ was the obvious choice.

Considering my background in computer graphics and GLSL shaders, I spent some extra time into researching and developing some advanced lighting models. One, in particular, was implemented as an alternative to the default Lambertian shader used in TSim-X, which enabled approximation of materials such as velvet and satin.

Download

You can download my thesis from this link (size: 6MB). Hope you enjoy it!