Prof. Daniel Thalmann is a Swiss and Canadian computer scientist and a pioneer in

Virtual humans Virtual humans (or digital humans) are simulations of human beings on computers. The research domain is concerned with their representation, movement and behavior. There is a wide range of applications: simulation, games, film and TV productions, ...

. He is currently Honorary Professor at EPFL, Switzerland and Director of Research Development at MIRALab Sarl in Geneva, Switzerland.

Biography

After a master's degree in

Nuclear Physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

(1970) and a combined Certificate in Statistics and Computer Science (1972) both from the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

, he earned a PhD in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

(1977) also from the

. In his PhD, he worked very early on the concept of abstract machines for portable compilers and operating systems. From 1977 to 1989, he was Professor at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, in Canada, where he started to work on computer graphics and animation. Then, he came back to Switzerland and founded the

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

lab (VRlab) at EPFL, Switzerland. He has been Visiting Professor/ Researcher at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, and

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

. From 2009 to 2017, he was Visiting Professor at the Institute for Media Innovation,

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various inte ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. He is co-editor-in-chief of the ''Journal of Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds'', and member of the editorial board of six other journals. Thalmann has published more than 650 papers in graphics, animation, and virtual reality. He is coeditor of 30 books, and coauthor of several books including ''Crowd Simulation'' (second edition 2012) and ''Stepping Into Virtual Reality'' (2007), published by Springer.

Research

In the 1980s, Thalmann together with

Nadia Magnenat Thalmann Nadia Magnenat Thalmann is a computer graphics scientist and robotician and is the founder and head of MIRALab at the University of Geneva. She has chaired the Institute for Media Innovation at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore ...

became interested in the realistic computer modelling and rendering of the human form, in motion. In 1988, they directed the short film ''

Rendez-vous in Montreal Rendez-vous in Montreal is an animated film that used advanced computer techniques to achieve such effects as modelling the film stars Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart. The film was directed by Nadia Magnenat Thalmann and Daniel Thalmann and prod ...

'', which is widely regarded as the first computer film to employ synthetic actors, in this case

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

and

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

. In the 1990s, Thalmann focused his research on behavioural animation of Virtual Humans, introducing the concept of synthetic vision for autonomous virtual humans, and developing methods for realistic

gait Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on speed, terrain, the need to maneuver, and energetic efficiency. Di ...

modelling. In the late 1990s, he launched the first project on

crowd simulation Crowd simulation is the process of simulating the movement (or ) of a large number of entities or characters. It is commonly used to create virtual scenes for visual media like films and video games, and is also used in crisis training, architect ...

of virtual humans, initiating a new field of animation that now attracts many researchers. Rendering of tens of thousands of agents, collision detection and generation of varieties of individual people became important issues. He also introduced, with Marcelo Kallmann, the concept of

smart objects A smart object is an object that enhances the interaction with not only people but also with other smart objects. Also known as smart connected products or smart connected things (SCoT), they are products, assets and other things embedded with proc ...

as objects that describe their own possible interactions. He recently extended his research from virtual humans to social robots, working in the team on

Nadine Social Robot Nadine is a gynoid humanoid social robot that is modelled on Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann. The robot has a strong human-likeness with a natural-looking skin and hair and realistic hands. Nadine is a socially intelligent robot which returns ...

. Thalmann is also recognized in the area of Virtual Rehabilitation, a term he coined with Professor Grigore Burdea of

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

(US). He has also created with him the International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation and is a founder of the International Society of Virtual Rehabilitation.

Awards and honors

Thalmann received an Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from Paul-Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, in 2003. He also received the

Eurographics Eurographics is a Europe-wide professional computer graphics association. The association supports its members in advancing the state of the art in computer graphics and related fields such as multimedia, scientific visualization and human–compu ...

Distinguished Career Award in 2010 and the 2012 Canadian Human Computer Communications Society Achievement Award. In 2015, he received the CGI Career Achievement Award from the Computer Graphics Society (CGS).CGI'15
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References

External links

List of publications
at EPFL
List of publications
at Google Scholar
Homepage and CV
at EPFL

Films/Demos

, Daniel Thalmann
Rendez-vous a Montreal
1987 * Jonathan Maim, Barbara Maim, Daniel Thalmann
Crowd Simulation
2006 * Helena Grillon, Daniel Thalmann
Attention Crowds
2007 * EPFL VRLab demos
YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thalmann, Daniel Computer graphics researchers Canadian computer scientists Computer graphics professionals Swiss computer scientists Living people Place of birth missing (living people) University of Geneva alumni People associated with CERN 1946 births