Pre-recorded Sessions: From 4 December 2020 | Live Sessions: 10 – 13 December 2020
4 – 13 December 2020
Digital humans are back! Creating and using believable avatars in the age of Covid – Part 2
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Date: Friday, December 11th
Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm
Venue: Main Room
FACS & the Future of Face Tech: The Ever-increasing Importance of Communication
Speaker:
Melinda Ozel, Face the FACS, Expression Scientist, United States of America
Abstract: As we progress with digital human technology, we must recognize the ethical responsibilities of creating products that influence how we interact with each other and our world. We also must acknowledge the growing relationship between science, art, and technology and the importance of clear cross-disciplinary communication.
Speaker(s) Bio:
Melinda Ozel is an expression expert and educator. Her agenda is to push the innovation of expressions in art and technology to greater levels of accuracy and higher standards of ethics. She is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and giving people the tools they need to create or track salient expressions. Melinda has applied her studies to a diverse set of industries from marketing and tech to science and art. Melinda is passionate about integrating concepts from cross-disciplinary fields and promoting others to do so as well.
Soul Machines - Autonomous Digital Humans and Ethics
Speaker:
Mark Sagar, Soul Machines, New Zealand
Rudy Grossman, Soul Machines, New Zealand
Abstract: Dr. Mark Sagar, CEO & Co-Founder, along with Rudy Grossman, Director of Production Technology, will give an overview of the pioneering work at Soul Machines and also discuss the company's leading approach to the Ethics of creating Autonomous Digital Humans. Several of Soul Machines' Digital People are already helping real people across multiple industries and sectors of everyday life during the covid-19 pandemic. These Digital People provide a safe, easily accessible, and engaging way to reach and support real people through Education, Real Estate, Banking, and even the World Health Organization.
Speaker(s) Bio:
Double Academy Award winner Dr. Mark Sagar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Soul Machines and director of the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute.
Mark and his team are bringing technology to life, pioneering the creation of autonomously animated virtual humans with virtual brains and nervous systems, capable of highly expressive face to face interaction and real-time learning and emotional response, to create the next generation of human interaction with artificial intelligence.
Mark has a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Auckland, and was a post-doctoral fellow at M.I.T. He previously worked as the Special Projects Supervisor at Weta Digital and Sony Pictures Imageworks and developed technology for the digital characters in blockbusters such Avatar, King Kong, and Spiderman 2. His pioneering work in computer-generated faces was recognized with two consecutive Scientific and Engineering Oscars in 2010 and 2011.
Mark was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2019.
Rudy Grossman is the Director of Production Technology at Soul Machines. Rudy provides global management and supervision of the production teams developing technology to streamline building digital humans as a scalable product, while also evolving the technology to continually improve overall quality of the next generation digital humans.
Rudy’s technical, creative, and supervisory contributions can be seen in over 40 blockbuster film and television projects, while working at top visual effects studios such as Weta Digital, Digital Domain, Method Studios, and Industrial Light + Magic. These projects include Pirates of the Caribbean, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Deadpool, Maleficent, Hellboy, Xmen, Pacific Rim, and King Kong. Rudy has provided leadership and supervision in over 10 different vfx departments/roles, most recently as a Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Effects Supervisor, and was a key contributor in the developments behind two Scientific and Engineering Oscar awards in 2011 and 2017.
Physics-based Realistic Avatars
Speaker:
Ronald Mallet, Facebook Reality Labs, United States of America
Abstract: Facebook Reality Labs is working on a range of technologies to enable genuine remote human interactions through believable photorealistic avatars for AR/VR applications. This presentation will focus on some of the physically-based approaches that include anatomical full body shape and deformations capture, data-driven modeling and simulation frameworks, and photorealistic rendering techniques.
Speaker(s) Bio:
Ronald Mallet is director and founder of Facebook Reality Labs in Sausalito, focused on pursuing photorealistic physically based virtual humans for AR/VR applications. His research is focused on machine perception, biomechanical motion analysis, data-driven simulations and rendering of genuine human interactions behaviors, spanning sub-disciplines in computer vision, computer graphics, and machine learning. Prior to joining Oculus Research, he was a lead researcher at Industrial Light & Magic, a Lucasfilm division, working on cutting edge technologies to deliver visual effects and digital characters for high-end feature films, including Avatar, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Avengers, Transformers and others. He received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for his ground breaking work on markerless full body on-set motion capture in 2016. Prior to ILM, he held various research and engineering positions since 1997, including leading the awarding-winning MatchMover software project for camera tracking, focusing mostly on 3d data capture and reconstruction for visual effects, and digital image, video and signal processing applications.
Digital humans are back! Panel Discussion
Speaker:
Christophe Hery, Facebook Reality Labs, United States of America
Mike Seymour, fxguide, Motus Lab USYD, United States of America
Melinda Ozel, Face the FACS, United States of America
Mark Sagar, Soul Machines, New Zealand
Rudy Grossman, Soul Machines, New Zealand
Ronald Mallet, Facebook Reality Labs, United States of America
Abstract: Following the success of Tokyo 2018, Digital Humans are back in Siggraph Asia. And this time, they have a clear mission. In the age of covid and social distancing, these avatars and clones have to entertain us, assist us and help us communicate. After all, relatable discussions are what we, Real Humans, long for. Even more so, when isolation is forced upon us. We have invited researchers who will show the next iterations of virtual companions. These pioneers in the field of telepresence and autonomous agents, as well as visual effects and VR/AR practitioners, are not only presenting their work and approaches, but they will expand on the ethical aspects involved and how they envision a bright future for meaningful interactions with these Digital Humans.
Speaker(s) Bio:
Christophe Hery joined Facebook Reality Labs in 2019. Previously, he worked at Pixar, where he held the position of Senior Scientist. After writing new lighting models and rendering methods for Monsters University and The Blue Umbrella, Christophe continued heading the light transport research group in the studio. Christophe’s latest work includes Finding Dory, Coco and Toy Story 4.
An alumnus of Industrial Light & Magic, Christophe previously served as a research and development lead, supporting the facility’s shaders and providing rendering guidance. He was first hired by ILM in 1993 as a senior technical director. During his career at ILM, he received two Technical Achievement Awards from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Mike Seymour is a researcher at the University of Sydney. Mike did his PhD researching Digital Humans as a new form of Human-Computer Interface. Mike is co-founder of fxguide.com and Director of the Motus Lab. His expertise and research interests cover the areas of Digital Humans, innovative UX and VR/AR research, the impact of emotion, on human computer interaction, and engaged research with Industry partners especially in the Media and Entertainment space. Mike has extensive experience in industry, having worked and lived in the UK and USA before returning to Sydney. He has previously Chaired Real-Time Live @ Siggraph Asia.
Melinda Ozel is an expression expert and educator. Her agenda is to push the innovation of expressions in art and technology to greater levels of accuracy and higher standards of ethics. She is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and giving people the tools they need to create or track salient expressions. Melinda has applied her studies to a diverse set of industries from marketing and tech to science and art. Melinda is passionate about integrating concepts from cross-disciplinary fields and promoting others to do so as well.
Double Academy Award winner Dr. Mark Sagar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Soul Machines and director of the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. Mark and his team are bringing technology to life, pioneering the creation of autonomously animated virtual humans with virtual brains and nervous systems, capable of highly expressive face to face interaction and real-time learning and emotional response, to create the next generation of human interaction with artificial intelligence.
Mark has a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Auckland, and was a post-doctoral fellow at M.I.T. He previously worked as the Special Projects Supervisor at Weta Digital and Sony Pictures Imageworks and developed technology for the digital characters in blockbusters such Avatar, King Kong, and Spiderman 2. His pioneering work in computer-generated faces was recognized with two consecutive Scientific and Engineering Oscars in 2010 and 2011.
Mark was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2019
Rudy Grossman is the Director of Production Technology at Soul Machines. Rudy provides global management and supervision of the production teams developing technology to streamline building digital humans as a scalable product, while also evolving the technology to continually improve overall quality of the next generation digital humans.
Rudy’s technical, creative, and supervisory contributions can be seen in over 40 blockbuster film and television projects, while working at top visual effects studios such as Weta Digital, Digital Domain, Method Studios, and Industrial Light + Magic. These projects include Pirates of the Caribbean, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Deadpool, Maleficent, Hellboy, Xmen, Pacific Rim, and King Kong. Rudy has provided leadership and supervision in over 10 different vfx departments/roles, most recently as a Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Effects Supervisor, and was a key contributor in the developments behind two Scientific and Engineering Oscar awards in 2011 and 2017.
Ronald Mallet is director and founder of Facebook Reality Labs in Sausalito, focused on pursuing photorealistic physically based virtual humans for AR/VR applications. His research is focused on machine perception, biomechanical motion analysis, data-driven simulations and rendering of genuine human interactions behaviors, spanning sub-disciplines in computer vision, computer graphics, and machine learning. Prior to joining Oculus Research, he was a lead researcher at Industrial Light & Magic, a Lucasfilm division, working on cutting edge technologies to deliver visual effects and digital characters for high-end feature films, including Avatar, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Avengers, Transformers and others. He received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for his ground breaking work on markerless full body on-set motion capture in 2016. Prior to ILM, he held various research and engineering positions since 1997, including leading the awarding-winning MatchMover software project for camera tracking, focusing mostly on 3d data capture and reconstruction for visual effects, and digital image, video and signal processing applications.