Simon is commended for his method of making computer graphics realistic

Simon  Johansson gets Knowit’s new innovations award of 34 000 Swedish  crowns.County governor Barbro Holmberg will give out the award at a  seminar at Gävle University on the 13th of April.

Simon,  who has studied Creative Computer Graphics, gets the first innovation  award for his degree project. A project that deals with material  properties within computer graphics.

Most people guess

”I  observed that the majority of people that create material within  computer graphics guess what the material should look like; how shiny,  dark or light it should be.”

Simon thought it would  be much better to investigate the actual material e.g. plastic or wood,  and with the help of findings recreate it in the computer.

Developing his own method

What  he did was to take photos of the object with  special filters, and with  the help of the photos, recreate an image of the material in the  computer.

“I use others’ techniques but I have  developed my own method to solve this problem. One could say that it is a  method to help others.”

The method is especially  useful for those who are new to computer graphics, or those who work in  small companies, or people who do it in their free time.

“They don’t often either have the time or the money to be able to do advanced investigations of material properties.”

About the award

”It feels great, I feel honoured. Gävle University was a nice place that I appreciated a lot,” says Simon.

He  now works as a 3-D graphic artist at a company in Uppsala where they do  product visualisations for companies in the form of applications for  ipads and telephones.

”I am very happy about the  collaboration with Knowit. Innovation and research are prioritized areas  at the university” says Maj-Britt Johansson, Vice-Chancellor of Gävle  University.

For more information please contact:
Simon Johansson, 3D-graphic artist
Email:simonjohansson_91@hotmail.com

Text:Douglas Öhrbom
Photo: Private