2016 Higginson Lecture

	Title of The Talk
	Simulating smoke for Hollywood
	Guest Speaker
	Rob Piekéthe Head of Software at MPC, a world-leading visual effects studio in London
	Event Sponsors:
	The Institution of Engineering and Technology Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Abstract:

From war-timed ramas to super-hero block busters,explosions and fire and smoke are incredibly prevalent in the films we watch. Yet, despite the iron-screen abundance, they are increasingly the digital result of physical simulations wielded by visual effects artists. Underlying theses imulations are the Navier-Stokes equations; discovered centuries ago yet only recently adopted for entertainment applications. This will be a wide ranging talk, ultimately aiming to explain how such academic work can be implemented in software algorithms, with plenty of distractions to look at the past, the future, beer, and how to maximise your chances of surviving a grenade explosion.

Speaker Bio

Now in his tenth year with MPC, Rob has been involved in the development of custom artist tools for dozens of films, from Harry Potter to Guardians of the Galaxy and, mostrecently, The Jungle Book. Rob started programming in BASIC as a kid, and went on to get a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterlooin Canada.With his passion for computer graphics-rendering and physical simulation in particular-the visual effects industry caught Rob’s eye quickly, and he’s never looked back since.