5^th International Conference and Expo on Computer Graphics & Animation September 26-27, 2018 Montreal, Canada

André Gaudreault, Canada Research Chair in Film and Media Studies (2015-2022), is a Professor at the Department of Art History and Film Studies at the Université de Montréal, Canada. Recognized for his specialization in the fields of early cinema, narratology and editing, He is currently conducting research on historiography and technological innovations. Since 1992, he has founded and directed the Research Group on the Advent and Training of Film and Stage Institutions (GRAFICS), and has participated in the founding of the Center for Intermediality Research (CRI, now CRIalt ) in 1997, two important international infrastructures. He acted as director of the cinematographic film review Cinemasfrom 1999 to 2016. He is also director of the Quebec Cinema Observatory (OCQ, co-founded with Denis Héroux in 2007). He is also Director of the Canadian Section of the International TECES Research Partnership. He is also at the origin of the creation, in 2007 at the University of Montreal, of the first PhD program in film studies offered in Canada.
His research has been crowned on a number of occasions with scholarships, prizes and distinctions, including the coveted 1996 Killam Scholarship (Canada Council for the Arts) and the Jean-Mitry International Prize in 2010. (Giornate del Cinema Muto Festival, Italy) and, in 2013, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (US). He was also named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in September 2014 and received, in the fall of 2014, the André Laurendeau Award, presented by the Association francophone pour le savoir-Acfas.
He has been visiting professor at numerous institutions in Mexico (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla), Taiwan (National University of the Arts), France (Paris-Est University Marne-la-Vallée, University Rennes 2, University Paris 3, European Higher School of Image, University Paris 1 and Ecole normale supérieure), Switzerland (University of Lausanne), Spain (Universidade Santiago de Compostela), Argentina (Universidad de Buenos Aires), Italy (Università di Bologna) in Norway (Nordic Academy for Advanced Study) and Brazil (Universidade de São Paulo).

His research interest in Computer Graphics,Digital transition and technological innovations, History of cinema, Theories of cinema, Cinema of the first times, Narratologie, Mounting, intermediality and Studying the role that technological innovation has played in the development of cinematic forms and practices.
His research will lead to a new way of looking at the history of media by reconsidering the impact of technology.

Marina L. Gavrilova holds Full Professor with Tenure appointment at the Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Canada. Her publication list includes over 150 journal and conference papers, edited special issues, books and book chapters, including World Scientific Bestseller of the Month (2007) – “Image Pattern Recognition: Synthesis and Analysis in Biometric,” Springer book (2009) “Computational Intelligence: A Geometry-Based Approach” and IGI book (2013) “Multimodal Biometrics and Intelligent Image Processing for Security Systems”. She has received support from CFI, NSERC, GEOIDE, MITACS, PIMS, Alberta Ingenuity, NATO and other funding agencies. She is an Editor-in-Chief of Transactions on Computational Sciences Springer Verlag Journal series and on Editorial board of seven journals. She also directs the two laboratories Biometric Technologies Laboratory (BTLAB) and Spatial Analysis Research in Computational Science Lab (SPARCS). She received numerous awards and her research was profiled in newspaper and TV interviews, most recently being chosen together with other five outstanding Canadian scientists to be featured in National Museum of Civilization, National Film Canada production, and on Discovery Channel Canada.

Her research interests lie in the areas of machine intelligence, bio-metric recognition, image processing, pattern recognition and GIS.

Kate Edward is the CEO and Principal Consulatant of Geogrify and is the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). In addition to being an outspoken advocate and industry leader, she is an applied geographer, write, and corporate strategist. She is better known for her leadership and culturalization work in the video game industry, including her most recent role as Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) from 2012 - 2017. Formerly as Microsoft’s first Geopolitical Strategist in the Geopolitical Strategy team she created and managed. She also co-organizer of the Game Localization Summit at GDC, and is a regular columnist for MultiLingual Computing magazine. In October 2013, Fortune magazine named her as one of the “10 Most Powerful Women” in the game industry. In December 2014, she was named by GamesIndustry.biz as one of the six “People of the Year” in the game industry.

Her interest in subject matter expertise in geopolitics, cartography, content culturalization, policy making, corporate cultures, negotiation with governments, crisis management, geopolitical training, cross-cultural competence, advocacy, political engagement, video games, game industry.

Newton Lee is CEO of Newton Lee Laboratories LLC, President of the Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships (IFERS), Adjunct professor at Woodbury University’s School of Media, Culture & Design, and Editor-in-Chief of ACM Computers in Entertainment(CiE). Previously, he was a Computer Scientist at AT&T Bell Laboratories, senior producer and engineer at The Walt Disney Company, and research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses. He was founder of Disney Online Technology Forum, creator of Bell Labs’ first-ever commercial AI tool, and inventor of the world’s first annotated multimedia OPAC for the U.S. National Agricultural Library. Lee graduated Summa Cum Laude from Virginia Tech with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Computer Science, and he earned a perfect GPA from Vincennes University with an A.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate in Computer Science. He is the co-author of Disney Stories: Getting to Digital; author of the Total Information Awareness book series including Facebook Nation and Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity; coauthor/editor of the Digital Da Vinci book series including Computers in Music and Computers in the Arts and Sciences; and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games.

His research interest includes computer graphics, games, artificial intelligence, information science, and media technology.

Dr. Edmond Prakash is a Professor and Head of Creative Technologies at the University of Westminster. Prior he was Professor in Computer Games Technology, Bournemouth University, UK and Department of Computer Science and Technology at University of Bedfordshire. He has also held positions at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He has also held visiting positions at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali Colombia; State University of New York-Stony Brook, USA; University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA; and Beijing Normal University, China. He has over 150 publications in journals, conferences and monographs. He has also published 5 books.

His research interests are in Games Technology, Games AI, Mobile Games, Mobile Apps, Facial Animation, Visual Computing, Volume Visualisation, Cloud Computing and High Performance Computing.

Christel Chamaret is Principal Scientist at Technicolor Research & Innovation in Rennes, France. She is working in different projects related to VFX workflow. She received the Ph.D. degree from University of Rennes in 2016, completed in parallel of her activities. Her research interest deals with any technologies related to Human Perception and more recently using deep learning approaches. She has previously worked on visual attention models and quality metric. She has also designed and conducted a number of user studies to validate computational models and image processing algorithms.

Her main interest deals with image processing and computational modeling. More precisely, She is working on visual attention model, emotional impact model and aesthetic metric. She have previously contributed to image retargeting and attention-based application dedicated to stereoscopic content. She have interest in experimental protocols: quality assessment, eye-tracking and physiological signals.

Professor David Xu is tenure associate professor at Regent University, specializing in computer 3D animation and movie special effects. He got MFA Computer Graphics in 3D Animation from Pratt Institute in NY. He has served as a senior 3D animator in SEGA, Japan; a senior CG special effector in Pacific Digital Image Inc., Hollywood; and as a professor of animation in several colleges and universities where he developed the 3D animation program and curriculum. He has been a committee member of the computer graphics organization SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, where he was recognized with an award for his work. In 2011, he published the book "Mastering Maya: The Special Effects Handbook" invited by Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House.

3D Animation and special effects, Christian-themed, 3D movies, Maya

Petyo Vasilev Budakov graduated from the New Bulgarian University of Sofia, Bulgaria in December 2012 with PhD in Visual arts (3D in graphic design). He is a faculty in the Department “Cinema, advertising and show business”. As a chief assistant professor, most of his doctoral research has been devoted on the 3D Digital media, lighting and renders engines, brand identity development as well as designing and delivering effective presentations. In 2016, he was awarded with a DAAD scholarship grant, and currently he is a visiting researcher in Germany. He is a co-founder of the online learning vocational training school – Adacademy®.

3D Digital media, lighting and renders engines, brand identity development, Computer Graphics, 3D, 3D in graphic design

Francisco J. Perales is a researcher and full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of (UIB) and he is the Head of the Computer Graphics and Vision Group. He obtained his BS & MS in computer science at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 1986. In 1993 he obtained a Master of Digital Image Processing at the UAB. He received a PhD degree in Computer Science at the University of Balearic Islands in 1993. He has published more than 120 research papers in the field of computer vision, user interfaces and neuroscience. He has 3 years of research and accreditation to CU in 2013. He actively participates in the development of national and European R & D projects in the field of multimodal interfaces and intelligent agents. Reviewer of international journals is affiliated to ACM-SIGGRAPH, IEEE, IAPR and EUROGRAPHICS. He is Senior Member of the IEEE and General Co-chair of the AMDO (Articulated Motion and Deformable Objects) of the AERFAI / UIB that is organized biannually.

He is a specialist in the area of graphics and computer vision and its applications. His research interests cover several topics such as human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence and their applications.

Nickolas S. Sapidis is a Professor at the University of Western Macedonia, Kozani, Greece. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester, USA in 1993. He has been pursuing/supervising research on “Computer Graphics”, “Computer-Aided Design (CAD)”, “Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)”, “Geometric Modeling”, “Virtual Engineering” and “Mechanical Design”. He is the author of more than 70 papers on the above subjects. He is a member of the Editorial board of more than ten international scientific journals in the fields of Computer Graphics, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Product Lifecycle Management and Engineering Informatics.

Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality, 3D Reconstruction, 3D Image Processing, Image Segmentation, Computer-Aided Design, Image Processing, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition, 3D Vision, Visualization

Dr Dimitrios Makris is assistant professor in the Department of Interior Architecture, Decorative Arts and Design at the Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Athens. He is founding member of the Research Laboratory "Advanced Research Technologies for Investigation and Conservation - ARTICON" TEI of Athens. He holds a PhD in Informatics from Université de Limoges, France (2005), a MSc in Architecture, (Computing and Design) from the East London University, UK (1999) and a Diploma of Interior Design from T.E.I. of Athens, Greece (1995). He coordinates teaching and research on "CAD Methodology", "Digital techniques of three-dimensional imaging". He is a visiting scholar in the Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art. He was a visiting scholar in the Athens School of Fine Arts.

His scientific interests focus on research within scientific fields of design methods and informatics. In particular, his research interests lie in the area of Computer-Aided-Design, computing and interior design, declarative scene synthesis, aesthetic style modelling, and applied artificial intelligence (genetic algorithms – genetic programming). His most recent research work is in the development of methods for declarative scene modelling based on theatrical texts, literature novels based augmented reality, and cultural heritage 3D digital restoration and display.

Dr Qingde Li received the BSc in mathematics from Beijing Normal University in 1982 and PhD in computer science from the University of Hull in 2002. He has been a Lecturer in Computer science at the University of Hull since 2001. Previously he was a professor and the deputy head of Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Anhui Normal University, China. He was a visiting scholar in the Department of applied Statistics at the University of Leeds from Oct 1990 to May 1992, and in the Department of Computing at the University of Bradford from Sept 1996 to Aug 1997. Before he joined the University of Hull, his research interests were mainly with fuzzy sets and random sets. His most current research interests are in the area of 3D graphics, such as shape modeling, medical image processing and visualization, GPU-based scientific simulation and special graphics effects.

His current research interests are in the areas of computer graphics and mixed reality technology, with a particular focus on high precision geometric modelling of real objects.

Khalid Djado is an Associate Professor at the Montreal Computer Science Center, University of Sherbrooke, Canada. He is a CEO of ItemsLab Inc. which established in May 2016. He was also a game developer at Amusement Cyanide in Montreal. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from the University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah in Morocco, and a master’s degree in modeling, simulation, and optimization from the University of Bretagne Sud in France. He has been a member of ACM Siggraph since 2006. He also a member of Montreal ACM Siggraph Chapter.

His research interests include computer graphics, augmented reality, image recognition, realtime gesture recognition and advanced 3D mesh processing and analysis.

Yulin Wang is a full professor and PhD supervisor in International School of Software, Wuhan University, China. He got PhD degree in 2005 in Queen Mary, University of London, UK. Before that, he has worked in high-tech industry for more than ten years. He has involved many key projects, and holds 8 patents. He got his master and bachelor degree in 1990 and 1987 respectively from Xi-Dian University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. In recently 10 years, Prof. Wang has published as first author 3 books, 40 conference papers and 45 journal papers, including in IEEE Transactions and IEE proceedings and Elsevier Journals. He served as editor-in-chief for International Journal of Advances in Multimedia in 2010. He served as reviewer for many journals, including IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, Elsevier Journal of Information Sciences. He served as reviewer for many research funds, including National High Technology Research and Development Program of China ( ‘863’ project). He was the external PhD adviser of Dublin City University, Ireland during 2008-2010. He was the keynote speakers in many international conferences. He has been listed in Marcus ‘who’s who in the world’ since 2008.

His research interests include digital rights management, digital watermarking, multimedia and network security, and signal processing.