[VRセンターセミナー] Danielle Belko氏講演のお知らせ

UTokyo VR Center Seminar Series #1

Title: Towards enabling photorealistic telepresence

Speaker: Danielle Belko (Facebook Reality Labs/ACM SIGGRAPH 2020 Emerging Technologies Program Chair)

Date: Monday, November 11th, 2019
Time: 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room AD,  the 6th Building of Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
(東京大学本郷キャンパス 工学部6号館 3階セミナー室AD)

Language: English
Admission: Free (no registration required)

Abstract:
In this talk, I will be describing the steps Facebook Reality Labs (FRL), Pittsburgh has taken towards enabling photorealistic
telepresence: realtime social interactions in AR/VR environments that are indistinguishable from real life. Imagine having a digital avatar that looks, moves and sounds like you, that you can use to spend meaningful time with friends or family thousands of miles away.

In order to achieve the level of realism that gets us out of the uncanny valley, we have been using an approach we call Codec Avatars: the use of neural networks to address the computer vision (encoding) and computer graphics (decoding) problems in signal transmission and reception. In order to create these avatars, we have built some of the world’s densest capture systems, which I will also describe in this talk.

Bio:
Dani Belko is a Technical Program Manager at Facebook Reality Labs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she works closely with researchers, engineers, and specialists to enable social interactions in virtual environments that are indistinguishable from real life. Creating opportunities for people to connect and interact in meaningful ways has been a main focus in Dani’s work since receiving her Masters degree from Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center. After graduating, Dani worked at Schell Games, a Pittsburgh-based games company that specializes in developing transformational experiences. Additionally, she co-produced a large innovation and music festival that brings thousands of people together to discuss innovative topics, share ideas, and enjoy live performances. She has been involved with ACM’s SIGGRAPH conference for the past 7 years, and is always looking for new ways to bring the world closer together.