Event Location: Newell Simon Hall 1507
Bio: Nobuyuki Umetani is a research scientist at Autodesk Research. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Autodesk Research and Disney Research Zurich. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2012 from The University of Tokyo under supervision of Takeo Igarashi. He also spent one year in Columbia University and in TU Delft, and spent three months in Microsoft Research Asia and in UCL. He won the Microsoft Research Asia fellowship in 2011. The principle research question he addresses through his studies is: how to integrate real-time physical simulation into interactive geometric modeling procedure to facilitate creativity. He is broadly interested with physics simulation, especially the finite element method, applied for computer animation, biomechanics, and mechanical engineering.

Abstract: Physical simulation allows validation of geometric designs without tedious physical prototyping. However, since geometric modeling and physical simulation are typically separated, simulations are mainly used for rejecting bad design, and not for assisting creative exploration towards better designs. In this talk, I introduce several interactive approaches to integrate physical simulation into geometric modeling to actively support creative design process. Importance of interactivity in the design system will be discussed in various practical contexts including structurally robust design, musical instrument design, garment design, electric circuit design, and aerodynamics design.