Overview

Performance Capture refers to the technology and processes involved in digitally recreating the movements, poses, gestures, appearance, and expressions of a human and its surroundings. Methods to do so typically use body-worn sensors, RGB and depth cameras, and advanced Computer Vision algorithms to record the intricate details of a performer's movements.


Teaser image for Human-Performance Capture course

Objective

The goal of the seminar is to familiarize students with exciting new research topics in this important area but also to teach basic scientific writing and oral presentation skills.

Content

Performance Capture refers to the technology and process involved in capturing and recreating the movements, gestures, and expressions of a human and its surroundings. It's a relevant field for various applications, including animation, virtual reality, and video games. It involves using advanced sensors, cameras, and computer vision algorithms to record the intricate details of a performer's movements, typically focusing on their face, body, clothing, and interactions. We will also explore the technology and applications behind high-end, multi-view capture stages, as the Volumetric Capture Lab recently opened.

Papers from scientific venues such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, and SIGGRAPH will be examined in-depth to explore the latest research in the field. Students present and discuss the papers to extract techniques and insights that can be applied to software & hardware projects.

Format

The seminar is structured to encourage critical reading and discussion of the papers, and the attendance in the weekly meetings is mandatory. We use a case-study format where all students read the same paper each week but fulfill different roles and hence prepare with different viewpoints in mind ( "presenter", "PhD", and “Journalist”). The final deliverables include:

  1. 1x time: 20 Minute presentation as Presenter, giving a short presentation about the paper that you prepare in depth.
  2. 1x time: A4 research proposal as PhD student, proposing a follow-up project for your own research based on this paper
  3. 1x time: A4 summary of the discussion as Journalist, writing an article about the the paper that can be understood by the general public
  4. Every week: All students come up with an alternative title and three questions/comments about the paper before the start of the seminar

Slides

(use ETH credentials to access the file)

  • Introduction
  • 0: Hi4D (Example Presentation)