Biography

I am currently leading a new research group at the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence (Bonn University) that focuses on the acquisition and post-processing of 4D data, mainly plants and soon again humans. What sounds like an odd combination, turns out to have more in common than one might think. In both cases, the work is highly interdisciplinary and has practical applications. Skeletons can reduce the underlying complexity. Dense correspondences are of great benefit and it is notoriously difficult to get everything right.

After completing my Master’s degree for technical positions in VFX and games, my curiosity about graphics software led me to a PhD in computer graphics. To better understand why some characters look adorable and others creepy (uncanny-valley), I had to develop new algorithms to facilitate controlled perceptual experiments. Technical innovations include facial animation retargeting, texture and shape transfer for stylized characters and creating digital doubles from 3D scans. Receiving in the end the Eurographics PhD Award was a tremendous honor.

From there on I moved to technical roles in academia and start-ups in the field of volumetric video and character animation before taking the risk and switching to plants. The last few years, have been an intense learning period, and after some initial failures, we are starting to achieve high quality results. A recent grant guarantees our group an unrestricted access, to a unique hardware setup for 4D data acquisition and visualisation of plants and humans. The next steps are to invent even better algorithms and to push the boundaries even further.

Simply put, I know the the algorithms behind graphics software such as Maya, Photoshop or the Unreal Engine as well as the artistic workflows in VFX, games and computer animation. I am not afraid to extend similar software in C++ or Python and create 3D assets to showcase the technical benefits of my work. Over the years, I have collaborated with research groups e.g., from Ireland or South Korea as well as within highly interdisciplinary projects. In addition, am familiar with agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban and start-up jargon like KPIs, CLV, burn rate.

For more details, please have a look at my CV, publications and my a bit dated showreel. If you are interested to get in touch with me, please do not hesitate to contact me at mail[at]eduardzell.com.