education
PhD in computer science, ETH Zurich
MSc in computer science, Universität Karlsruhe (TH)
student exchange, ENSIMAG
positions
researcher, Industrial Light & Magic
postdoctoral fellow, Columbia University
visiting postdoctoral researcher, Princeton University
visiting and postdoctoral researcher, EPFL
research intern, Industrial Light & Magic
visiting researcher, Stanford University
research assistant, ETH Zurich
visiting scholar, National University of Singapore
interests
animation reconstruction - non-rigid registration - facial animation - 3-D acquisition - mesh processing - discrete geometry - visual arts
2006 - 2010
2001 - 2006 2002 - 2003
2012
2011
2011
2010
2009
2008
2006
2006
Copyright © 2011 Hao Li
What up yo! This is Hao, I’m a German born punky of Taiwanese descent doing computer graphics. I’m a research lead at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) where I’m developing the next generation real-time performance capture technology for Star Wars: Episode VII. I will join the Computer Science Department of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles as a tenure-track assistant professor in fall 2013. Here is our website and my official song! Prior to joining the force, I spent an exciting year as a postdoc at Columbia and Princeton Universities. I worked on geometric capture of human performances with Eitan Grinspun and Szymon Rusinkiewicz who helped me bridge the gap between data capture and physical simulation. Right after obtaining my PhD from ETH Zurich, I spent a few months at EPFL, visiting my PhD advisor Mark Pauly. During grad school, I spent a wonderful summer at ILM and another one at Stanford University visiting Leo Guibas. I got my Master’s degree in CS from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and went to a French high school in a boonie town called Saarbrücken.
My algorithms on dynamic shape reconstruction and non-rigid registration are widely deployed in the industry, ranging from leading visual effects studios to defense projects and manufacturers of state-of-the-art radiation therapy systems. Hey, some of my stuff even works in industry! I’ve been awarded the SNF fellowship for prospective researchers in 2011 and Best Paper Award at SCA 2009. I’m also the creator of the dynamic geometry processing tool BeNTO3D and co-developed the Kinect-based facial performance capture software faceshift. I’m member of the New York Academy of Sciences, ACM SIGGRAPH, and Eurographics Association. I have absolutely no clue why that actually matters, but who cares? Ahahahaha!
Oh! Since I will become a CS prof. at USC next year (fall 2013), drop me a line if you love math/coding and are excited about doing research with me. I’ll be hiring bright and talented PhD students and maybe Postdocs too. Together with my colleagues, Jernej Barbič and Paul Debevec, we will form a world class computer graphics lab and establish tight collaborations with other top academic institutions and industry.
Industrial Light & Magic - 3Gear Systems - Artec Group, Inc. - Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems - C-RAD AB - Aguru Images, Inc. - XYZ RGB, Inc. - MOVA LLC - Megvii - Marza Animation Planet - Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH - ManhattanMocap & NYU Movement Lab
con$ulting
“What the fuck have you guys smoked to come up with that shit? It’s fucking brilliant! It’s kinda weird too, I actually had a role in a film called Face/Off...”
– Nick Cassavetes on our Face/Off live facial puppetry technology.
“Creativity, not money is used to solve problems.”
“I love your hair!”
– Duncan Jones on my hair style.
Or simply: hao.li
3D Underwater Motion Capture of Dana Vollmer, Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist 2012
with ManhattanMocap & NY Times
Geometric Capture of Human Performances - Faculty Interview
