Curriculum Vitae
Education
PhD Electrical Engineering
2019 - present
Dept. of Computer Engineering and Automation (DCA)
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC)
University of Campinas (UNICAMP)
Advisor: Professor Paula Dornhofer Paro Costa
Project: "Speech-Driven Expressive Gesture Generation"
MSc Electrical Engineering
2016 - 2019
Dept. of Computer Engineering and Automation (DCA)
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC)
University of Campinas (UNICAMP)
Advisor: Professor Paula Dornhofer Paro Costa
Co-Advisor: Professor José Mario De Martino
Project: "Motion Retargeting Preserving Spatial Relationship"
BS Physics
2010 - 2015
"Gleb Wataghin" Institute of Physics (IFGW)
University of Campinas (UNICAMP)
Dissertation: “X-Rays and Synchrotron Light Generation”
PDF (Portuguese)
Main Projects
Speech-Driven Expressive Gesture Generation
PhD Thesis, more info here. 2019 - present.
- Created a synchronized audio and motion capture dataset; operated the motion capture system and oversaw the performance of professional actors; processed and analyzed motion capture data.
- Developed an animation synthesis model via audio input for virtual agents using generative AI.
- Implemented, validated, and fine-tuned several state-of-the-art machine learning models.
- Currently conducting a user study to assess the naturalness of generated animations.
Gesture Generation with Diffusion Models Aided by Speech Activity Information
2023.
- Participating team of the GENEA Challenge 20223. Team members: Leonardo Boulitreau, Lucas Ueda, Paula Dornhofer Paro Costa .
- Developed a gesture generation system trained on the provided dataset, based on the Talking With Hands 16.2M
- Research paper submitted and presented at the 25th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction in Paris, France 2023.
PDF | Code
Motion Retargeting Preserving Spatial Relationship
MSc Dissertation, more info here. 2015 - 2019.
- Implemented a motion retargeting algorithm based on 3D pose decomposition and inverse kinematics.
- Conducted a user study, and the results demonstrated that our approach outperformed a traditional motion retargeting algorithm.
- Authored a Python library for handling BVH animation files.
PDF | Code (Python) | Code (C#/Unity 3D)
Signing Avatar in Virtual Reality: An Intelligibility Study
2017 - 2018.
- Recorded motion data of individuals communicating in sign language using motion capture technology.
- Conducted research comparing the intelligibility of sign language presented by a 3D virtual agent in both Virtual Reality and flat-screen devices, specifically focusing on deaf and hard of hearing children.
- Results indicated that sign language comprehension improved in the Virtual Reality setting.
- The research paper was accepted and presented at the XX Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality 2018.
PDF
Production of an X-Ray Source Based on the Phenomenon of Triboluminescence from Peeling an Adhesive Tape
Undergraduate Research Project. 2013.
- Designed a vacuum chamber with two motors for wind and unwind an adhesive tape to study the triboluminescence phenomenon.
- Experiment yielded Bremsstrahlung spectrum, representing radiation emitted by electrons when decelerated.
- Award-winning research project of the XXI Congress of Undergraduate Research of Unicamp in Campinas, Brazil 2013.
- Presented at the XXII Jornadas Jóvenes Investigadores in Valparaíso, Chile 2014. Available at: link pg. 137-138.
- Presented at the 66ª Reunião Anual da SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science) in Rio Branco, Brazil 2014. ISSN: 2176-1221. Available at: link
Extended Abstract (Portuguese) | Poster (Portuguese)
Publications
- (2024) Gesture Generation with Diffusion Models Aided by Speech Activity Information
Rodolfo L. Tonoli; Leonardo B. de M. M. Marques; Lucas H. Ueda; Paula D. P. Costa. GENEA: Generation and Evaluation of Non-verbal Behaviour for Embodied Agents Workshop 2024, ICMI, Costa Rica, November 2024. Available at: https://openreview.net/forum?id=Iso5lbByDI.
- (2024) Benchmarking Speech-Driven Gesture Generation Models for Generalization to Unseen Voices and Noisy Environments
Johsac I. G. Sanchez; Kevin Inofuente-Colque; Leonardo B. de M. M. Marques; Paula D. P. Costa; Rodolfo L. Tonoli. GENEA: Generation and Evaluation of Non-verbal Behaviour for Embodied Agents Workshop 2024, ICMI, Costa Rica, November 2024. Available at: https://openreview.net/forum?id=m6FDIP5o4M.
- (2023) Gesture Generation with Diffusion Models Aided by Speech Activity Information
Rodolfo L. Tonoli; Leonardo B. de M. M. Marques; Lucas H. Ueda; Paula D. P. Costa. In Companion Publication of the 25th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI '23 Companion), 2023, Paris, France. ACM. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/3610661.3616554.
- (2021) Visualização de Componentes Principais em Realidade Virtual
Huang Tzu Jan; Paula D. P. Costa; Rodolfo L. Tonoli. In Proceedings: XXIX Congresso de Iniciação Científica da Unicamp, 2021, Campinas, Brasil. Available at: https://proceedings.science/unicamp-pibic/pibic-2021/trabalhos/visualizacao-de-componentes-principais-em-realidade-virtual?lang=pt-br
- (2021) Visualização de Dados Georreferenciados de Clima e Saúde em Realidade Virtual
Júlia G. Hidalgo; Paula D. P. Costa; Rodolfo L. Tonoli. In Proceedings: XXIX Congresso de Iniciação Científica da Unicamp, 2021, Campinas, Brasil. Available at: https://proceedings.science/unicamp-pibic/pibic-2021/trabalhos/visualizacao-de-dados-georreferenciados-de-clima-e-saude-em-realidade-virtual?lang=pt-br
- (2019) Motion Retargeting Preserving Spatial Relationship
Rodolfo L. Tonoli. Master Dissertation, 2019. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12733/1639986.
- (2018) Signing Avatar in Virtual Reality: An Intelligibility Study
Rodolfo L. Tonoli, Paula D. P. Costa, and José M. De Martino. In proceedings of the WTD 20th Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality, 2018, Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil.
- (2018) Produção de uma Fonte de Raios-X com base no Fenômeno de Triboluminescência ao Desenrolar uma Fita Adesiva
Rodolfo L. Tonoli; Carlos Giles. In Proceedings: 66ª Reunião Anual da SBPC, 2014, Rio Branco, Brasil. ISSN 2176-1221. Available at: https://www.sbpcnet.org.br/LIVRO/66RA/resumos/resumos/6248.htm
Talks
Computer Animation: Applications and New Technologies
Computer Science Week at UNASP, 2020.
Speech-driven Gesture Generation in Virtual Agents
Encontro de Alunos e Docentes do Departamento de Computação e Automação (EADCA), 2020.
Semi-Automatic Application for Motion Retargeting of Libras Signing Avatar
Encontro de Alunos e Docentes do Departamento de Computação e Automação (EADCA), 2017.
Teaching Experience
Experimental Physics for Electrical Engineering
FEEC - Unicamp
07/2020 - 12/2021
Teaching Assistant for the course Experimental Physics for Electrical Engineering for Electrical and Computer Engineering undergraduate students of Unicamp.
Work Experience
Physics Intern
Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory
National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM)
08/2014 - 12/2015
- Developed an interactive GUI-based tool in Matlab. This tool significantly accelerated the analysis of X-ray diffraction data, completing the tasks in a fraction of the time required by commercial software with a minor trade-off in precision.
- Instrumentation and user assistance of the thermal-mechanical simulator Gleeble in the UVX Synchrotron Light Source.
IT Intern
Research and Development Center in Telecommunications (CPQD)
2009
IT support, maintenance, and installation of hardware and software.
Events
Part of the organizing committee of the EADCA 2022 and EADCA 2020.