Tuesday, 7 (13:30 – 14:30 / Room: MAESTRALE)

Session Chair: Pierre Alliez

KEYNOTE: Computational and Data-Driven Design for Manufacturing.

Dr. Bernd Bickel
Head of the Computer Graphics and Digital Fabrication Group
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria)
https://ist.ac.at/research/research-groups/bickel-group/

Tuesday, May 15th, 18:00-19:00 in Room P

Abstract. Advanced fabrication techniques have grown in sophistication over the last decade, vastly extending the scope of structures and materials that can be fabricated. While new opportunities have emerged for the manufacturing of customized shapes, architected materials with novel functionalities, and active composites that can sense and respond to their environment, their potential impact is limited by the lack of efficient computational approaches for design.
In this talk, I will describe the recent progress in computational fabrication toward novel concepts for modeling, designing, and reproducing objects with nontrivial shapes, topologies, and functionalities. I will reflect on the successes and challenges of computational fabrication and discuss opportunities for further work in this area.

About the Speaker. Bernd Bickel is an assistant professor heading the Computer Graphics and Digital Fabrication Group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria). He is a computer scientist interested in computer graphics and its overlap with animation, robotics, materials science, and digital fabrication. His main objective is to develop new techniques for efficient design, simulation, and physical reproduction of digital content. Bernd obtained his master’s degree in computer science from ETH Zurich in 2006 and graduated with a PhD from ETH Zurich in 2010 where he
worked in the computer graphics laboratory with Markus Gross. From 2011 to 2012, Bernd was a visiting professor at the Technical University of Berlin, and in 2012, he became a research scientist and research group leader at Disney Research. In early 2015, he joined IST Austria. He received the ETH Medal for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in 2011, the Eurographics Best PhD Award in 2012, the Microsoft Visual Computing Award in 2015, an ERC Starting Grant in 2016, the ACM SIGGRAPH Significant New Researcher Award in 2017, and a technical achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2019.

Thursday, 9 (11:00 – 12:00 / Room: MAESTRALE)

Session Chair: Fabio Pellacini

KEYNOTE: Creation and exploration of reality-based models.

Dr. Enrico Gobbetti
Director of Visual Computing
CRS4, Italy
http://www.crs4.it/vic/

Tuesday, May 15th, 18:00-19:00 in Room P

Abstract. The last two decades have seen impressive advances in computer vision, computer graphics, and user interface methods and technologies for creating and exploring high-quality 3D digital replicas of real-world objects. In this talk, I will reflect on the successes, limitations, and challenges of applying these research results in practice, with particular emphasis on the cultural heritage domain. I will also lay out research opportunities lying ahead (or behind us).

About the Speaker. Enrico Gobbetti is the director of Visual Computing at the Center for Advanced Studies, Research, and Development in Sardinia (CRS4), Italy. He holds an Engineering degree (1989) and a Ph.D. degree (1993) in Computer Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). His main research interests span many areas of visual computing, with emphasis on scalable technology for acquisition, storage, processing, distribution, and interactive exploration of complex objects. Systems based on these technologies have been used in as diverse real-world applications as internet geoviewing, scientific data analysis, surgical training, and cultural heritage study and dissemination. Enrico has (co-)authored over 200 papers in visualization and computer graphics, six of which received best paper awards. He regularly serves the scientific community through participation in editorial boards, conference committes, and working groups, as well as through the organization and chairing of conferences. He is a Fellow of Eurographics.

Friday, 10 (11:00 – 12:00 / Room: MAESTRALE)

Session Chair: Elmar Eisemann

KEYNOTE: Predictive simulation for films, fashion, and physics.

Dr. Florence Bertails-Descoubes
Head of the modELisation de l’Apparence des phénomènes Non-linéaires (ELAN) team
INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes / LJK
https://team.inria.fr/elan

Tuesday, May 15th, 18:00-19:00 in Room P

Abstract. In the last decades, physics-based simulation in Computer Graphics has become instrumental in capturing fascinating mechanical phenomena such as cloth folding, ribbon coiling, plant growth, granular flowing, or hair entangling. Complex simulations not only enrich the visual appearance of animations in feature films, but also give the hope in the near future to quickly prototype challenging systems involving post-buckling or collective behaviors, such as virtual garment and hairstyle try-on systems. In soft matter physics, simulation is also on its ways to becoming a fundamental tool for improving our understanding of physical phenomena unexplored so far, and for designing new materials with controlled properties.

In this talk I will show that although building a simulator that is both predictive and scalable remains an open challenge, advances towards this goal can be made possible thanks to a pluridisciplinary modeling
approach combining skills across Mechanics and Physics, Applied Mathematics, and Computer Science.

About the Speaker. Florence Bertails-Descoubes is a tenured researcher at Inria in Grenoble, France, heading the ELAN research team in physics-based simulation. She received in 2002 a MSc in Image, Vision and Robotics and completed in 2006 a PhD on hair simulation at INP Grenoble, which was awarded the national SPECIF prize from the French community in Computer Science. In 2006-2007, F. Bertails-Descoubes worked at the University of British Columbia as a postdoctoral researcher before joining Inria in September 2007 as a permanent researcher in the BiPop research team, specialized in nonsmooth mechanics. In 2017 she has founded the ELAN research team at Inria, positioned across Computer Graphics and Computational Mechanics.
F. Bertails-Descoubes’s research interests deal with the modeling and the simulation of complex mechanical objects, mainly for applications in digital movies and virtual prototyping. In particular, she is interested in the modeling of nonlinear slender elastic structures (such as rods and plates), the discrete handling of dry frictional contact for modeling heterogeneous materials (such as hair or granulars), and inverse elastic design. She regularly presents her work at premier international conferences in Computer Graphics such as ACM SIGGRAPH or Eurographics, and occasionally in Computational Mechanics and Physics since a few years. In 2014 she received an ERC starting grant to work on inverse elastic design in the presence of frictional contact.


Wednesday, 8 (13:30 – 14:30 / Room: MAESTRALE)

Session Chair: Robert Wendrich

IND. KEYNOTE: Unreal Engine in Film and Television + Academy Software Foundation.

Mr. David Morin
Head, Epic Games Los Angeles Lab
Executive Director, Academy Software Foundation

Tuesday, May 15th, 18:00-19:00 in Room P

Abstract.  Unreal Engine is a suite of integrated tools for game developers to design and build games, simulations and visualization – that is increasingly used in non-gaming applications. In this talk we will review a number of use case in Film, Television and Location Based Entertainment that highlight the benefits of real-time computer graphics in the creative process, and point to the next generation of media experiences.

This talk will also provide an overview of the Academy Software Foundation, a new non-profit organization that was created less than a year ago to promote the development of open source software in the motion picture industry, and provide a common base for studios and software vendors to work together on foundational software technologies.

About the Speaker. David Morin is Head of the Los Angeles Lab for Epic Games and Executive Director of the Academy Software Foundation. At the Academy Software Foundation, David works for the Governing Board to develop the use of open source software in the motion picture industry. Previously David was president of David Morin, LLC, a diversified consultancy specializing in immersive production with clients such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Arri Inc., Autodesk, Epic Games, Shotgun Software and others.