CG Research Supporting Creativity — From Media Expression to Making Things

Department of Media Design, Faculty of Design
Yuki Morimoto, Associate Professor

When people hear the term “computer graphics research,” many may find it difficult to imagine what the actual activities involve. While CG is familiar through movies and games, research in this field is often misunderstood as the creation of works using CG editing software.

At the Morimoto Laboratory, however, our focus is on computer graphics as a field of computer science: we propose and design the underlying technologies that operate inside such software, developing the fundamental algorithms and methods that enable creative expression.

Photorealistic image and video synthesis—producing visuals indistinguishable from real footage—remains a central pillar of CG research. At the same time, many techniques that attract attention on social media, such as artistic style transfer in videos or replacing people in footage, also originate from CG research. Moreover, CG is not limited to visual media; it extends to a wide range of fields that connect digital technology with the real world, including user interfaces, virtual reality, and fabrication.

At Kyushu University’s Morimoto Laboratory, we conduct research on creative media generation technologies based on computer graphics, image processing, and AI. Our research topics include image beautification, dynamic projection mapping onto plants and animals, anime-style rendering, visual simulation, and design support technologies. Some students go beyond academic publications and present their research outcomes as artworks.

By connecting individual interests—such as CG, games, animation, art, and making things—to research, our laboratory aims to contribute to a richer society through technologies that support creativity.

Detailed information about our research is available on the following website.

https://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~morimoto/

■Contact
Department of Media Design, Faculty of Design
Yuki Morimoto, Associate Professor