Research projects
ANR project INVTERRA
In a world where digital communication drives a pressing need for virtual environments, a challenge lies in the authoring of a central component of these synthetic worlds: the mountains, plains, and other landforms, represented as terrains. This problem is notoriously difficult because terrains result from the interplay of physical events over geological time scales. This project aims to explore the inversion of simulation parameters as a novel paradigm for terrain generation in virtual worlds, combining geological consistency, natural diversity, and expressive user control for the first time.
Sketch-based design of fluid annimations
Fluids are one of the most common yet challenging effects to model for digital content. The tremendous amount of research in that field brought simulation tools that produce impressive results, but they are unfortunately hard to control. I develop new sketching metaphors for the efficient control of fluid animations while exploring the use of data-driven approaches to reduce the computation time and yield interactive feedback.
Generation of large scale mountain ranges
Current computing capabilities allow for rendering and exploring gigantic digital sceneries. Populating these massive environments increases the need for large scale objects, such as mountain ranges. In this project, I explore the use of geology inspired physical models to generate such content (e.g., fluvial and glacial erosion, plate tectonics and crust compression), and I adapt the resulting algorithms to provide users with interactive and intuitive control.
Interleaved phenomena for landscape synthesis
At medium scales, the visual aspect of landscapes is driven by the competition of interdependent phenomena. I propose new solutions to the efficient combined simulation of numerous complex physical events that operate at various time scales. The applications range from the generation of landscapes including erosion and ecosystems to the simulation of the evolution of snow cover over a season.