Rémi Ronfard

I am a research director at Inria, and the scientific leader of the Imagine team. I graduated from Mines Paris Tech in 1986, where I also got my PhD in 1991. I have conducted research in a variety of domains, from geometric design to 3D animation and computer vision. This includes work on non-manifold topology in CATIA (Dassault Systèmes, 1991), mesh LODs (IBM Research, 1992), digital cartoon storyboarding (INA, 1995), aesthetic surface design (IBM Research and Dassault Systèmes, 2000), video indexing (INA, 2000), action recognition and statistical analysis of image and film styles (INRIA 2002-2007). I was an expert in the international MPEG group from 1997 to 2000. In 2007, I joined Xtranormal Technologies in Montreal, where I became R&D director for virtual cinematography. My team created the patented “magicam” system, which was used to produce two million user-generated animation movies. I came back to INRIA in 2009 with a new research program devoted to “directing virtual worlds”. I helped to create the IMAGINE team in 2012, where I now lead the “narrative design” part of the project. Towards this goal, I investigate computational models of visual storytelling and movie-making. This leads to inspiring collaborations with the national film school (ENS Louis Lumière), Célestins Theatre in Lyon, University of Geneva, Bernard Stiegler’s Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation, and with companies UBICAST, Thalès-Angénieux and Binocle 3D. I have co-chaired international workshops on modeling people and human interaction (Beijing, 2005), 3-D cinematography (New York City, 2006; Banff, 2008; Providence, 2012), intelligent cinematography and editing (Quebec, 2014; Zurich, 2015) and computational models of narratives (Atlanta, 2015). I served as head of the “Geometry and Image” Department at Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann, University of Grenoble from 2012 to 2016.

I am a Computer Science researcher with a rich experience in industry and academia in France and North America. I graduated from Mines Paris Tech in 1986, where I also got my PhD in 1991. I have conducted research in a variety of domains, from geometric design to 3D animation and computer vision. This includes work on non-manifold topology in CATIA (Dassault Systèmes, 1991), mesh LODs (IBM Research, 1992), digital cartoon storyboarding (INA, 1995), aesthetic surface design (IBM Research and Dassault Systèmes, 2000), video indexing (INA, 2000), action recognition and statistical analysis of image and film styles (INRIA 2002-2007). I was an expert in the international MPEG group from 1997 to 2000. In 2007, I joined Xtranormal Technologies in Montreal, where I became R&D director for virtual cinematography. My team created the patented “magicam” system, which was used to produce two million user-generated animation movies. I came back to INRIA in 2009 with a new research program devoted to “directing virtual worlds”. I helped to create the IMAGINE team in 2012, where I now lead the “narrative design” part of the project. Towards this goal, I investigate computational models of visual storytelling and movie-making. This leads to inspiring collaborations with the national film school (ENS Louis Lumière), Célestins Theatre in Lyon, University of Geneva, Bernard Stiegler’s Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation, and with companies UBICAST, Thalès-Angénieux and Binocle 3D. I have co-chaired international workshops on modeling people and human interaction (Beijing, 2005), 3-D cinematography (New York City, 2006; Banff, 2008; Providence, 2012), intelligent cinematography and editing (Quebec, 2014; Zurich, 2015) and computational models of narratives (Atlanta, 2015). I am currently serving as head of the “Geometry and Image” Department at Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann, University of Grenoble.