Research Engineer: Detailed riggable humans from multi-view video

Contract type : Fixed-term contract

Renewable contract : Yes

Level of qualifications required : Graduate degree or equivalent

Other valued qualifications : Master 2

Fonction : Temporary scientific engineer

The Inria Grenoble research center groups together almost 600 people in 27 research teams and 8 research support departments.

Staff is present on three campuses in Grenoble, in close collaboration with other research and higher education institutions (University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, INRAE, …), but also with key economic players in the area.

Inria Grenoble is active in the fields of high-performance computing, verification and embedded systems, modeling of the environment at multiple levels, and data science and artificial intelligence. The center is a top-level scientific institute with an extensive network of international collaborations in Europe and the rest of the world.

Within the framework of a partnership 

• The project's findings will contribute to a follow up 4-year BPI transfer project (Banque Publique d'investissement) with a consortium of French production companies. The project is liable to begin during this contract period, with discussions with involved partners

Context

Many works nowadays provide solutions for the avatarization process, i.e. obtaining a 3D, animatable model from one or several images. This is a very hard problem as shape fidelity, animatability, fast computation time and low number of required input cameras are all desirable, but hardly realizable simultaneously. For example, obtaining plausible models from a single camera video is nowadays feasable, but often at the cost of shape quality due to the use of low-parametric models such as SMPL. Using many videos for redundancy can allow to acquire more detail, but at the expense of computation speed. And all this detail needs to be animatable, which gets more complex with the scale of detail (i.e. millimeter shape with only a human kinematic rig), again putting a burden on the model and its computation time.

Mission

In recent years the Morpheo team has come up with very precise multi-view reconstruction approaches [1].
In this project, we wish to examine the problem of animating this type of detailed model and rig it, by exploring the stream of recent methods.

During his activity, the candidate is expected to tackle the following tasks

• establish a more complete bibliography of relevant methods based on the initial suggested references
• propose and discuss likely and realizable methodological and architecture innovations / reparametrizations that allow to rig and estimate a detailed animated model from images, grounded in this existing work
• propose and discuss dataset enhancements that would enrich the training toward better performance for these tasks
• demonstrate a proof of concept implementation of an envisioned solution discussed with team research advisers
• identify existing datasets that are relevant for comparative evaluation of performance of his proposals. In-house datasets such as 4DHumanOutfit[2]

• Subsidized meals
• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of teleworking (90 days / year) and flexible organization of working hours
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities
• Access to vocational training
• Complementary health insurance under conditions

From 2,692 € (depending on experience and qualifications).

General Information

• Theme/Domain : Vision, perception and multimedia interpretation
  Scientific computing (BAP E)
• Town/city : Montbonnot
• Inria Center : Centre Inria de l'Université Grenoble Alpes
• Starting date : 2026-11-01
• Duration of contract : 6 months
• Deadline to apply : 2026-10-25

Instruction to apply

Defence Security :
This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. 2011-1425 relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST).Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.

Recruitment Policy :
As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.

Contacts

• Inria Team : KINETIX
• Recruiter :
  Franco Jean / [email protected]

The keys to success

About Inria

Inria, the French national institute for research in digital science and technology, supports the French government in national research and innovation strategies in the digital field, acting as Digital Programs Agency. Inria leads over 300 research and innovation projects with its 3,500 scientists, engineers, and support staff, in partnership with universities and the digital ecosystem (businesses, entrepreneurs, and public stakeholders). Together, we explore strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, cloud technologies, digital transformation in healthcare, digital twins, and digital technologies for defence. We develop practical solutions such as software, tech startups, partnerships with national companies, and cutting-edge training programmes. Our goal is to drive scientific, technological, and industrial excellence to ensure France’s digital sovereignty.