Assistant Professor and Researcher|Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto

Research Interest

Applied Comptuer Graphics for the medical and entertainment industry.

• Computer Animation
• Geometric Modeling and Deformation
• Human-Computer Interaction

I have pursued the dual paths of programmer and artist. This rare ability to combine both the technical and artistic skills has lead me to the research and development of high-end technology for the entertainment industry. I have developed an application to ease the facial rigging process that is currently being used by major film and videogame companies.

Short Biography

Verónica Costa Orvalho born in 1976, mother of a lovely boy. Holds a Ph.D. in Software Development (Computer Graphics) from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2007), where her research centered on "Facial Animation for CG Films and Videogames" . She has been working in IT companies, such as IBM and Ericsson , and Film companies, like Patagonik Film Argentina since 1994. She has given many workshops and has international publications related to game design and facial animation in conferences like SIGGRAPH and Symposium in Computer Animation . She has received international awards for several projects: "Photorealistic facial animation and recognition", "Face Puppet" and "Face In Motion".

Now, she is a full time professor of Porto University, head of the Porto INteractive Center and Computer Graphics group, and co-founder and CTO of Face In Motion (http://www.faceinmotion.com) . She is also a former research member at the Event Computational Lab (http://moving-event.org/) working on virtual reality and character animation. Current and past collaborations include several film and game companies (Blur Studios , Electronic Arts , Microsoft Portugal , Dygra Films ), and research groups (Stanford University , Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya ). Her current research focus on developing new methods related to motion capture, geometric modeling and deformation, and real time animation.

Full CV:  

PhD

Fast and Reusable Facial Rigging and Animation: Create Once, Use Many
Verónica Costa Orvalho
Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, September 2007.

Abstract

This thesis presents a portable character rigging system that integrates into current animation production pipelines. It automatically transfers the facial rig and animations created for one character to different characters, independent of their shape and appearance. It enables artists to create more lifelike facial models in less time; about 90-99 percent faster than traditional manual rigging. Characters can display complex expressions and behavior, easier and with decreased artistic effort. As a result, we dramatically reduce the time needed to create high-quality facial animations for the entertainment industry.

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Program Committee Member

• SIGGRAPH ASIA 2008
• Digital Games 2008
• Games 2006

Reviewer for Conferences and Journals

• SIGGRAPH ASIA 2008
• SIGGRAPH 2008
• IEEE VIRTUAL REALITY 2008
• Digital Games 2008
• AMDO 2006
• iDiG 2006
• Computer and Graphics