[visionlist] Jobs: Postdoc and Software Engineering positions in VR Video at Bath, UK

[Christian Richardt]

Two positions are available in the Visual Computing Group at the University
of Bath to work on dynamic scene reconstruction for 6-DoF VR Video:

   1. Postdoctoral Research Associate
   <https://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=CA6136>
   2. Research Software Engineer
   <https://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=CA6137> (PhD desirable,
   but not required)

Both positions are full-time, fixed-term appointments, for 32 months or
until June 2021 (whichever is shorter). The successful candidate is
expected to start in October 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter. The
starting salary will be £33,199–£39,609.

*Project context:*
To feel truly immersed in virtual reality, one needs to be able to freely
look around within a virtual environment and see it from the viewpoints of
one’s own eyes. Immersion requires ‘freedom of motion’ in six
degrees-of-freedom (‘6-DoF’), so that viewers see the correct views of an
environment. As viewers move their heads, the objects they see should move
relative to each other, with different speeds depending on their distance
to the viewer. This is called motion parallax and is a vital depth cue for
the human visual system that is entirely missing from existing 360° VR
video.

To achieve 6-DoF VR video that enables photorealistic exploration of
dynamic real environments in 360° virtual reality, this project will
develop novel video-based capture, 3D reconstruction and rendering
techniques. We first explore different approaches for capturing static and
dynamic 360° environments, which are more challenging, including using 360°
cameras and multi-camera rigs. We start with 6-DoF 360° VR photographs
(i.e. static scenes) and then extend our approach to 6-DoF VR videos.

Our aim is to publish the resulting research and results in leading
computer vision and computer graphics venues, specifically CVPR/ICCV/ECCV,
IJCV and/or SIGGRAPH (Asia)/Transactions on Graphics.

*Job descriptions:*
*Postdoctoral Research Associate*
The main focus of this job is to research and develop novel algorithms for
reconstructing the 3D geometry of the environments from the captured
imagery by extending multi-view geometry/photogrammetry techniques to
handle dynamic 360° environments. Extending image-based rendering to 360°
environments will then enable 6-DoF motion within a photorealistic 360°
environment with high visual fidelity, and will result in detailed 360°
environments covering all possible viewing directions.

*Research Software Engineer*
The main focus of this job is to translate research algorithms into plugins
for industry-standard software like Foundry’s CaraVR/Nuke, for example for
reconstructing the 3D geometry of the environments from the captured images
and videos of 360° environments. Extending image-based rendering to 360°
environments will then enable 6-DoF motion within a photorealistic 360°
environment with high visual fidelity, and will result in detailed 360°
environments covering all possible viewing directions. Another focus of
this job is to oversee the software development within the project team
(and potentially other additional CAMERA projects). This is to ensure best
practices with respect to software design, implementation, testing, version
control and documentation.

You will join the vibrant Visual Computing group at Bath, which comprises
around 30 doctoral students, 5 post-doctoral researchers and 8 academics,
and presents many opportunities for collaborative work and shared
publications.

To find out more about these positions, the application procedure, the
project and/or our group, please contact Christian Richardt (
c.richardt at bath.ac.uk).

Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested in these
positions.

Many thanks,
Dr Christian Richardt <https://richardt.name/>


*Assistant ProfessorUniversity of BathUnited Kingdom*
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