Stefanie Hahmann receives the 2022 Humboldt Prize

Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation aims to promote international cooperation in the field of scientific research. It funds doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships to encourage foreign scientists to come to Germany for research stays of six months to two years. The Foundation also awards a large number of prizes to internationally reputed scientists. This year, Stefanie Hahmann was a recipient of the Humboldt Prize, during a ceremony that took place in Bamberg on 14 October 2022.

Grenoble INP - Ensimag professor Stefanie Hahmann is also a member of the LJK and Inria joint research team known as ANIMA, which works to animate objects for digital story telling. Her research is based around using geometric models and IT tools for expressive representation, synthesis, modelling and creation of 3D objects. More specifically, it involves representing, modelling and animating 3D shapes for virtual worlds, animation, etc. “For example, we invent geometric properties to give clothing a realistic appearance thanks to physical characteristics, without having to simulate gravity, wind, etc.,” she explains. “Our aim is to develop intuitive virtual creation tools that are accessible to as many people as possible, to allow users to easily create 3D objects without having to be a maths expert.” Stefanie Hahmann is also involved in sketch-based modelling, a new creative approach where a hand-drawn 2D sketch is automatically transformed into a virtual 3D object.

Though at first this research was mainly aimed at prototyping and computer-assisted animation, the potential applications have increased with the development of virtual worlds, 3D printing, video games, etc. Nowadays, there are even more, such as architecture and even fashion. For example, sketch-based modelling was used to develop the first system capable of virtually dressing a 3D model with clothes from 2D stylised fashion drawings. This approach is highly promising, as it relates to a complicated, unresolved research question: how can the “style” of clothes or other sketched objects be defined mathematically?


*CNRS, Grenoble INP - UGA, Inria, UGA