Ylva Ferstl
PhD in Machine Learning for Character Animation
CV
Overview
I am a Research & Development Scientist at Ubisoft LaForge in Toronto, focusing on animation. I recently completed my PhD at Trinity College Dublin in the Graphics, Vision, and Visualisation group. My project focused on motion synthesis for virtual humans, specifically, automatically generating gesture motion by using machine learning techniques and 3D motion capture technology. I am experienced in capturing, processing, and analyzing human motion. I have developed a strong background in coding, with an emphasis on machine learning, and am experienced in programming immersive virtual reality experiments and other applications in the Unity3D game engine. I have extensive experience in the conducting perceptual/ psychological studies, as well as communicating research results. I have a strong education in human cognition and perception.
Pogramming languages
Python, TensorFlow, Keras, C#, Java, MATLAB, R, Scheme, some experience with C++, HTML, OpenGL
Technologies
Unity3D, Head mounted displays, motion tracking (optical tracking & motion suits)
Languages
English (fluent) , German (native) , Spanish (good), French (some), Latin (some)
Other
Planning, conducting, analyzing, and publishing scientific research in areas of computer science and psychology. Excellent skills in communicating scientific results.
Experience
Education
R&D Scientist
At Ubisoft La Forge, Toronto
[11/2021 - current]
Postdoctoral Researcher
At Trinity College Dublin, department of Graphics, Vision, and Visualisation under Dr. Rachel McDonnell
[3/2021 - 10/2021]
Topic: Animation and design of virtual humans
PhD intern @Facebook Reality Labs
At FRL Sausalito, CA. Work on character animation in VR.
[8/2020 - 12/2020]
SIGGRAPH student volunteer
At the SIGGRAPH conference in Vancouver, BC.
[August 2018]
SIGGRAPH student volunteer
At the SIGGRAPH conference in Anaheim, CA.
[July 2016]
Internship
At Trinity College Dublin, department of Graphics, Vision, and Visualisation with Dr. Elena Kokkinara and Dr. Rachel McDonnell
[1/2016 - 5/2016]
Tasks: Research, planning & setting up of experiments, data analyis
(Ferstl, Y., Kokkinara, E., & McDonnell, R. (2016). Do I trust you, abstract creature?: A study on personality perception of abstract virtual faces. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Applied Perception. In press.)
Research assistant
At the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen for Dr. Stephan de la Rosa (Social and Spatial Cognition group)
[6/2015 - 11/2015]
Tasks: Programming experiments (Unity3D), conducting experiments, data analysis.
Internship
At the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen for Dr. Stephan de la Rosa (Social and Spatial Cognition group)
[3/2015 - 5/10]
Tasks: Programming the experiment (Unity3D, optical motion capture), conducting the experiment.
(De la Rosa, S., Ferstl, Y., & Bülthoff, H. (2016). Visual adaptation dominates bimodal visual-motor action adaptation. Scientific reports 6 (2016): 23829.)
Research assistant
At the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen for Dr. Martin Dobricki (Perception and Action in Virtual Environments group)
[10/2013 - 4/2014]
Tasks: Programming experiments (Unity3D, motion capture, different head-mounted displays), conducting experiments.
PhD in Machine Learning & Animation
At Trinity College Dublin, department of Graphics, Vision, and Visualisation, under supervision of Dr. Rachel McDonnell
[9/2016 - 2/2021]
Topic: Machine learning for synthesizing co-speech gesture animation for virtual humans.
MSc Cognitive Science
University of Tübingen
[10/2013 - 10/2015]
Thesis topic: Social action recognition
(Ferstl, Y., De la Rosa, S., & Bülthoff, H. (2016). Action recognition mechanisms are sensitive to the facial identity of the actor. In progress)
BSc Cognitive Science
University of Tübingen
[2010 - 2013]
Thesis topic: Presence in Virtual Reality