CanaDAM 2015 Public Interest Lecture: Imagination Amplication: Empowering creativity with optimization algorithms in computer graphics

Lecture: HLTH 1150, 8:00pm - 9:00pm
Reception: E-Wing Atrium, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Speaker: Professor Michiel van de Panne, Dept. of Computer Science, UBC

Abstract: Optimization algorithms are at the heart of the many “smart” tools that now define modern computer graphics and 3D design. In this talk we go on a guided tour through some of the optimization problems that enable intelligent image editing, 3D modeling of clothes, architecture and mechanisms, and physics-based models of motion. At their heart are a rich variety of discrete and continuous optimization problems. We describe how optimization algorithms provide the key ingredients for rapidly “baking” better and smarter tools. In the end, these tools allow for new and exciting ways for human and computers to work together as “co-designers” in ways that were simply not possible before.

About the speaker: Michiel van de Panne is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. His research interests are in the physics-based animation and simulation of characters, computer graphics, motion planning and control, and applications of machine learning to computer graphics and animation. He recently completed a ten year term term as a Canada Research Chair in Computer Graphics and Animation. In 2002 he helped co-found the ACM/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation (SCA), the leading forum dedicated to computer animation research. His research has seen been applied to visual effects for film, games, and humanoid robotics.

Poster