Overview
With an original positioning across Computer Graphics and Computational Mechanics, the ELAN team strives to simulate the physics of visually rich mechanical phenomena, such as cloth folding, ribbon coiling, plant growth, granular flowing, or hair entangling. Target applications encompass the digital entertainment industry (e.g., feature film animation, special effects), as well as virtual prototyping for the mechanical engineering industry (e.g., aircraft manufacturing, cosmetology); though very different, these two application fields require predictive and scalable models for capturing complex mechanical phenomena at the macroscopic scale. An orthogonal objective is the improvement of our understanding of natural physical and biological processes involving slender structures (such as plant growth, granular flows, DNA supercoiling), through active collaborations with soft matter physicists. To achieve its goals, the team is striving to master as finely as possible the entire modeling pipeline, involving a pluridisciplinary combination of scientific skills across Mechanics and Physics, Applied Mathematics, and Computer Science.
The ELAN team is focussed on three main research axes:
- The numerical modeling of slender elastic structures (rods, plates, and shells), especially when prone to large displacements and buckling
- The discrete handling of frictional contact problems, within the framework of nonsmooth contact mechanics
- The modeling, analysis and solving of inverse elastic design problems with applications in non-invasive parameter estimation.
What's new
Siggraph 2021 paper on physical validation
We have a paper accepted at ACM Siggraph 2021 on the validation of physics-based simulators for rods, plates, and frictional contact. This work combines theoretical, numerical, and experimental contributions, performed in tight collaboration between computer scientists and physicists.
Oscar for alumnus Gilles Daviet
Congratulations to alumnus Gilles Daviet, who prepared a PhD at Inria Grenoble, defended in 2016, on hair and granular simulation. He then continued to develop innovative hair simulation systems at Weta Digital, which were used for instance in the movies « War for the planet of the Apes » and « Alita: Battle Angle ». For his outstanding technical contributions and the impact of his work, he has been recognized for this year’s Scientific and Technical Achievements Oscar:
https://oscars.org/sci-tech/ceremonies/2020
“To Niall Ryan, Christoph Sprenger and Gilles Daviet for the Synapse Hair Simulation System.
The Synapse Hair Simulation System is a robust, predictable and highly scalable position-based dynamics system with a novel inverse parameter solver. It has helped Weta Digital artists create a wide range of photorealistic digital characters and digital stunt doubles.”
Congratulations Gilles !!!