1. A method of controllably localizing particles at specific locations on a substrate, each specific location proximal to an individually addressable force transducing element, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of particles proximal to the substrate;
providing a substantially uniform magnetic field that encompasses the specific locations and the particles;
selecting one or more force transducing elements to be activated; and
controllably localizing one or more particles to the specific locations by activating the selected force transducing elements to transduce a motive force to one or more particles proximal to the corresponding specific location, wherein the magnitude of the transduced force is substantially altered by the presence of the uniform field; and
detecting, at one or more of the activated locations, the number of particles attracted to the location.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uniform field comprises a field from a permanent magnet.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the uniform field includes a time-varying component.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising regulating a passage of electromagnetic radiation by controlling the positioning of one or more of the particles.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the uniform field is produced by a portable device.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of regulating the uniform field or force transducing element to reduce contact between the particles.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of regulating clumping of the particles using a method that is selected from the group consisting of: applying vibrations, applying electrical fields, incorporating charges within the particles, applying magnetic fields, and adjusting fluid flow to reduce contact between the particles.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the particles are selected to comprise one or more discrete groups, and wherein each group has at least one substantially similar physical characteristic that affects localization of the group.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the groups comprises particles of substantially similar size or effective radius.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the groups comprises particles selected to comprise a substantially uniform shape.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of controllably moving at least one of the particles from a first preferred location to a second preferred location by activation of the force transducing elements.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising sensing localization of the particle proximal to a preferred location.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
releasing one or more of the particles from the corresponding specific locations; and
recovering the one or more released particles from the substrate.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the force transducing elements generate a magnetic field, and the particles are magnetically active.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the magnetically active particles include one or more discrete groups that are distinguishable on the basis of physical properties that affect their localization with respect to properties that are selected from the group of properties consisting of: magnetic field strength, time-bearing magnetic fields, viscosity of surrounding fluid, resistance of surrounding fluid, density, mass, inertia, size, geometric shape, and effective radius.
16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first preferred location and the second preferred location controllably exchange one particle.
17. The method of claim 12, further comprising using a microfabricated sensor for sensing localization.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific location includes a crater formed in said substrate proximal the force transducing element.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the particles include magnetized beads, and wherein the step of detecting includes detecting inductance changes in one or more conducting coils proximal the crater, the inductance changes caused by the particles entering the crater.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein the particles are each substantially commensurate in shape and dimension as the crater.
21. The method of claim 18, wherein the particles include magnetic or magnetizable micro-beads.
22. The method of claim 18, wherein the particles comprise a plurality of lid particles, each of sufficient size to substantially close an opening of the crater.
23. The method of claim 18, wherein the particles move a substantial distance, the distance being sufficient to exceed a radius of the respective particle.
24. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the force transducing elements generate a magnetic field.
25. The method of claim 1, wherein the particles controllably localized to the specific locations comprise magnetically active particles.
26. The method of claim 25, further comprising applying the substantially imiform magnetic field to a portion of the substrate to increase the force on or between the magnetically active particles.
27. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting with a sensing element that is selected from the group consisting of: a pH sensor, an optical sensor, a radiation sensor, a matmetic induction sensor, a temperature sensor and a pressure sensor.
28. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting with a sensing element that has a position relative to the specific locations selected from a group of positions consisting of: under the specific locations, adjacent to the specific locations, surrounding the specific locations, above the specific locations, between the specific locations, operably connected to the specific location by a signal-routing conduit, and combinations thereof.
29. The method of claim 1, further comprising controllably repelling at least one of the particles from at least one of the specific locations.
30. The method of claim 1, further comprising localizing a predetermined number of particles to a predetermined one of the specific locations.
31. The method of claim 1, further comprising regulating the number of particles at a location by repelling additional particles from that location.
32. The method of claim 1, further comprising jointly controlling a plurality of the force transducing elements to pass a predetermined number of the particles between two adjacent locations.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein the particles comprise magnetically active particles and the force transducing element generates a magnetic field that transduces force to at least some of the magnetically active particles.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer implemented method for depicting a volumetric effect occupying a volume, comprising the acts of:
providing a plurality of picture elements to define an image of the volumetric effect;
for each picture element casting a ray from an observation location through each picture element;
moving through the volume along each ray in increments;
at each increment, generating a particle;
rendering the particles; and
splatting each particle multiple times to define the image of the volumetric effect.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of generating a particle includes interpolating.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the interpolating is non-linear.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein the interpolating includes applying one of a tri-linear, tri-quadratic, and tri-cubic interpolation.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering of the particles is individually or in batches.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein each particle is rendered on a quadrilateral the size of one of the picture elements.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein each particle has the attributes of position, color, opacity, and velocity.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the observation location is that of a notional camera recording the image.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of casting the ray includes for each ray:
determining its entry and exit point for the volume; and
applying an inverse transformation to the ray.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of increments for each ray is in the range of 50 to 450.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of splatting includes:
weighting each particle by a proportion of the associated pixel covered by the splatted particle.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of splatting includes projecting a vector representing the velocity onto a plane defined by the picture elements, thereby to render motion blur.
13. A computer readable medium storing computer code for carrying out the method of claim 1.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the act of splatting to provide motion blur.
15. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a depth of field of the image.
16. Computer implemented apparatus for depicting a volumetric effect occupying a volume, comprising:
a memory storing a plurality of picture elements defining an image;
a ray caster element coupled to the memory and casting a ray for each picture element from an observation location through each picture element;
a ray marcher element coupled to the ray caster and which moves through the volume along each ray in increments;
a particle generator element coupled to the ray marcher and which generates a particle at each increment;
a particle renderer element coupled to the particle generator and which renders the particles; and
a splatterer element coupled to the particle renderer element and which splats each particle multiple times to define the image of the volumetric effect.