16/09/2020

Inspired by Da Vinci, Velho believes in a 'return to the Renaissance'

Cecilia Manzoni

Inspired by the time of Leonardo da Vinci, when mathematicians were also philosophers, painters, and sculptors, Luiz Velho believes we are moving towards a "return to the Renaissance." A period that will be marked by greater intersection between diverse areas of knowledge, with enriching benefits. "Even within mathematics, which is quite compartmentalized, major advances began to happen when you combine tools from different areas," he emphasizes.

The idea of the scientist as a visionary figure is one of the concepts that has guided Velho's entire career. From his student days, when he divided his time between school and art courses at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, to his role as lead researcher at Visgraf ( the Computer Graphics Laboratory at IMPA). Created in 1989 with mathematician Jonas Gomes – a member of IMPA's Board of Directors – the laboratory is today a hub for mathematicians, designers , programmers, and computer scientists who carry out innovative projects at the forefront of technology.

“Interdisciplinarity is fundamental to the work in applied computational mathematics for media that we are developing. To do something revolutionary in media, it is necessary to have the foundations of science and technology, but also of art and culture,” explains the researcher.

The son of literature professor Teresa and an engineer also named Luiz, Velho became acquainted with IMPA in his childhood, while studying at Colégio Santo Inácio, a traditional private school in the southern zone of Rio de Janeiro. Because of his excellent performance in mathematics, he was selected for a visit to the institute, which at the time was still located on Luís de Camões street in the city center. “My teacher made it very clear to the group that we were in a kind of Olympus of mathematics, inhabited by demigods of science, with intellectual capacity far superior to ours,” recalls the researcher.

In his youth, his interest in film, theater, and photography led him to other places. São Paulo was his first destination. At 16, he left his parents' home to act in the play "Lulu" by Wedekind, directed by Ademar Guerra, which was opening in the São Paulo capital. He discovered computer graphics during an internship at Grupo Bandeirantes, where he edited television promos and title cards. "I was completely fascinated by the technology. The field was still developing, but I wanted to learn more and resume this technological education at the beginning of my undergraduate studies."

He returned to Rio de Janeiro to study Economics and Business Administration at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). In a programming course offered by the institution, he experimented with computers and increased his interest in the field. “I was working with an IBM 1130 and a 1627 Plotter. I made my first graph and discovered that I loved programming and didn't even know it! A tradition of art with computers was already being established. I started studying it and got lost in the process,” says Luiz, who ended up not finishing the course.

A pioneer in computing and animation.

He finally found his professional calling at the Higher School of Industrial Design (ESDI) of UERJ, where he enrolled in 1976. Through purchases of imported books at the Livraria Ciência Moderna bookstore, he immersed himself in the subject. Alongside his undergraduate studies, he worked at SERPRO (Federal Data Processing Service), building the first Brazilian commercial computer, during his internship and specialization in computer science at PUC-Rio. "I made the printed circuit boards for the national computer. It was great to be able to interact with researchers from UFMG and São Paulo who were also on the project."

The graduation project at ESDI also had its share of originality: it produced the first computer-animated film in Brazil. This achievement certainly contributed to its selection, a few years later, to spend time at the National Film Board in Canada. “There, I chose to work with a subject I had never studied before, computer-controlled animation. I explored the Slit Scan technique, a very powerful technique used in special effects, which is fundamentally mathematics.”

Fotografia tirada por Luiz Velho no National Film Board, 1981

After an unassuming application, Velho was accepted into the master's program at the prestigious MIT Media Lab, a laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The ambition of the researchers caught his attention. “Any research developed there was for ten or twenty years from now. Research for five years from now was considered insignificant… This desire to see far into the future is a great standard of quality, when used in the right way,” he says.

The fierce competition within the lab caused discomfort in the initial months, but this was overcome with time. “I suffered quite a bit at the beginning, but after I passed the trial by fire, I relaxed and started to enjoy it. I made friends that I still keep in touch with today. But it's very different from Canada. In Toronto, everyone wanted to help. I learned a lot about how to create a research institution there.”

Luiz Velho (sentado à cadeira), com os colegas Mair Tavares e Lauro Escorel na TeleCine Maruim, 1982

Return to Brazil and founding of Visgraf

With the birth of his first daughter, came the desire to end his time abroad and return to Brazil with his family. Back in his home country in 1987, he began working as a development coordinator at Globo Computação Gráfica, a company responsible for creating visual effects and simulation systems for Rede Globo.

But he felt he lacked a good mathematical foundation to solve the problems that arose at work. "I realized that all computer graphics problems were very deep mathematical problems," he says. To strengthen his ties with the discipline, he ended up getting closer to IMPA, in a relationship that would pave the way for the creation of Visgraf.

Two years later, following the success of the "Introduction to Computer Graphics" mini-course offered in the Summer Program, Velho and Jonas Gomes began developing the new research line at the institute. The support and confidence of the then Director-General of IMPA, Elon Lages Lima, was fundamental to the success of the undertaking. "Elon didn't know the area, but he believed in us. He only emphasized that the group needed to be one of the best in the world. And today we are one of the best computer graphics laboratories in the world," highlights the researcher, who divided his time between the laboratory and his doctoral studies in computer science at the University of Toronto.

Contributions to prestigious conferences and scientific journals in the field have consolidated Visgraf's position on the international stage. Since 1990, Velho has actively participated in the annual SIGGRAPH congress, contributing technical papers, tutorials, and organizing the event. The researcher's technical and scientific output is extensive and includes more than 488 publications, among them 70 articles in scientific journals, 268 conference papers, and 90 technical reports.

Virtual reality, geometric modeling, data visualization, and image processing are all part of Visgraf's daily routine. As the lab's lead researcher, Velho is dedicated to developing a keen eye for society and trying to anticipate its demands in the field of technology and media. "We are always looking ahead to try to see the trends. We seek in mathematical theory the scientific foundations necessary to transform a demand into reality," he explains.

The process for validating the group's research involves many steps, "unlike other areas," he points out. "To validate their work, a pure mathematician thinks about a theorem and the proof. An applied industrial mathematician compares the numerical data from their simulations with real data. For us who work with media, it's necessary to go further and get to the applications, to understand if people will perceive it the way you conceived it."

Despite being versed in predictions, the researcher says he is not a "futurist." "I have no fear of being wrong, I take a lot of risks. I have an internal motivation to do and understand things. I follow my intuition and they appear naturally," he reveals. For the coming years, Velho hopes to maintain his momentum and continue with a high level of productivity in his projects. "I am in one of the most productive moments of my career, with enormous energy. I want to be able to collaborate with Visgraf and IMPA, which is in a very good moment, for much longer."