The EG2012 calendar is available in via Google. If you use Google Calendar, you can click the button to the left to add the EG2012 calendar to your calendar list. Otherwise, just try the feed.

Keynotes

KEYNOTE 1: From Spider-Man to Avatar, Emily and Benjamin: Achieving Photoreal Digital Actors

Prof. Paul Debevec
Associate Director, Graphics Research
University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies

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

Abstract. Somewhere between "Final Fantasy" in 2001 and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in 2008, digital actors crossed the "Uncanny Valley" from looking strangely synthetic to believably real. This talk describes some of the technological advances that have enabled this achievement. For an in-depth example, the talk describes how high-resolution face scanning, advanced character rigging, and performance-driven facial animation were combined to create "Digital Emily", a collaboration between the USC ICT Graphics Laboratory and Image Metrics. Actress Emily O'Brien was scanned in Light Stage 5 in 33 facial poses at the resolution of skin pores and fine wrinkles. These scans were assembled into a rigged face model driven by Image Metrics' video-based animation software, and the resulting photoreal facial animation premiered at SIGGRAPH 2008. The talk also presents techniques which may allow digital characters to leap from the movie screen and into the space around us, including a 3D teleconferencing system that uses live facial scanning and an autostereoscopic display to transmit a person's face in 3D and make eye contact with remote collaborators.

About the Speaker. Paul Debevec is a research professor at the University of Southern California and the associate director of graphics research at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies. Debevec's Ph.D. thesis (UC Berkeley, 1996) presented Façade, an image-based modeling and rendering system for creating photoreal architectural models from photographs. Using Façade he led the creation of virtual cinematography of the Berkeley campus for his 1997 film The Campanile Movie whose techniques were used to create virtual backgrounds in The Matrix. Subsequently, Debevec pioneered high dynamic range image-based lighting techniques in his films Rendering with Natural Light (1998), Fiat Lux (1999), and The Parthenon (2004); he also leads the design of HDR Shop, the first high dynamic range image editing program. At USC ICT, Debevec has led the development of a series of Light Stage devices for capturing and simulating how objects and people reflect light. They have been used to create photoreal digital actors in films such as Spider Man 2, Superman Returns, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Avatar. He received ACM SIGGRAPH's first Significant New Researcher Award in 2001 and co-authored the 2005 book High Dynamic Range Imaging from Morgan Kaufmann. In addition, he chaired the SIGGRAPH 2007 Computer Animation Festival and is Vice President of ACM SIGGRAPH. In February 2010, he received a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award® for his work on the Light Stage systems.

KEYNOTE 2: Efficient and Effective Representations for Shape Modeling

Prof. Leila De Floriani
Geometric Modeling and Computer Graphics Group
University of Genova

Wednesday, May 16th, 14:00-15:00 in Room P

Abstract. Data structures play a fundamental role in describing the geometry and topology of shapes in computer graphics, scientific visualization and spatial data processing. In this talk, I will review relevant issues in designing data structures for geometric shapes that are efficient (in time and space) and effective (for specific applications). I will first discuss recent contributions on compact representations for structured and unstructured meshes in two, three and higher dimensions. I will then describe multi-resolution data structures, focusing on hierarchical simplicial decompositions and on their application to modeling scalar fields, such as terrains, and static or time-varying volume data. Finally, I will point out future advances in shape representation, such as data structures for high-dimensional shapes and topological representations for shape analysis and understanding.

About the Speaker. Professor Leila De Floriani received the Laurea degree in Mathematics from the University of Genova, Italy, where she founded the Geometric Modeling and Computer Graphics group. She has written over 200 publications in the fields of geometric modeling, computer graphics, visualization and geographic data processing. Her current research interests include multi-resolution shape modeling, shape analysis and understanding, scientific visualization, and terrain modeling. She is and has been on the editorial board and on the program committee of major journals and conferences in the field and has coordinated both national and international projects in these areas. She has held positions at the Italian National Research Council, the University of Genova, the University of Nebraska, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Maryland. She is a member of ACM, IEEE, and a Fellow of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR).

KEYNOTE 3: Material Appearance Modeling

Prof. Holly Rushmeier
Professor and Chair of Computer Science
Yale University

Friday, May 18th, 11:00-12:00 in Room P

Abstract. The field of computer graphics has seen significant advances in modeling material appearance. In this talk I will review the advances in this area with particular emphasis on applications in biology, industrial design and cultural heritage. I will outline areas where more research is needed including authoring material appearance models, search techniques for materials, and combining appearance and geometric properties of materials.

About the Speaker. Holly Rushmeier is professor and chair of Computer Science at Yale University. She received the BS (1977), MS (1986), and PhD (1988) in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. Since receiving the PhD she has held positions at Georgia Tech, NIST and IBM TJ Watson Research. Her area of interest is computer graphics. Her current research focuses on scanning and modeling of shape and appearance properties, and on applications in cultural heritage. Her past projects include a project to create a digital model of Michelangelo's Florence Pieta and models of Egyptian cultural artifacts in a joint project between IBM and the Government of Egypt. She is coauthor of the text "Digital Modeling of Material Appearance." Dr. Rushmeier has served as the co-chair of the ACM Publications Board, the Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Graphics and as papers chair or co-chair for several conferences including the ACM SIGGRAPH conference and IEEE Visualization. She currently serves as co-Editor-in-Chief of Computer Graphics Forum and on several other editorial boards. She is an ACM Distinguished Engineer, and a Fellow of the Eurographics Association.