Jan Novák

Jan Novák is a researcher in computer graphics with a focus on physically-based rendering and global illumination. He completed his PhD at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2014 under Carsten Dachsbacher, with prior degrees from Czech Technical University in Prague and academic experience at Union College (US) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). He has held research internships at Disney Research Zurich (2011) and Pixar Animation Studios (2012), before joining Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2013 and returning to Disney Research Zurich in 2014.

• Education:
  • B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Czech Technical University in Prague (2007-2009)
  • PhD in Computer Science at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (2014)

Research Interests include global illumination, participating media, ray tracing acceleration techniques, and GPU computing. His work addresses challenges in realistic light transport simulation for scenes with complex volumetric effects and glossy materials.

Publication Trends reveal a consistent focus on light transport optimization through GPU-accelerated techniques. Key contributions span visibility caching, path-space manipulation, beam/light representations for volumetric effects, and bias compensation methods. His research bridges theoretical advancements with practical implementations for scalable rendering systems.

Teaching Experience includes multiple practical courses on GPU computing and graphics programming at KIT between 2010-2013. He also served as a reviewer for prestigious venues including ACM Transactions on Graphics, Eurographics, and SIGGRAPH conferences.

Student Supervision covers bachelor and diploma theses on advanced rendering topics, including visibility caching techniques, virtual spherical lights, subsurface scattering algorithms, and 2D path tracing implementations.