About Me
Chang Yu

I am a Computer Science Ph.D. student at Artificial Intelligence & Visual Computing Lab, UCLA Department of Mathematics, co-advised by Prof. Chenfanfu Jiang and Prof. Demetri Terzopoulos. I graduated with honors from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), and I was a Research & Development intern at Taichi Graphics, where I was fortunate enough to be supervised by Dr. Tiantian Liu.

My research interests lie in computer graphics and computational physics. In particular, I devote myself to physically-based simulation and high-performance computing on modern graphics architecture.

Resume / Github / LinkedIn / Email: [email protected]
Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science Los Angeles, USA, Jul 2023 – Now
University of California, Los Angeles
B.Eng. (Hons) in Software Engineering Chengdu, China, Aug 2019 – Jul 2023
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Publications
VR-GS: A Physical Dynamics-Aware Interactive Gaussian Splatting System in Virtual Reality
Ying Jiang*, Chang Yu*, Tianyi Xie*, Xuan Li*, Yutao Feng, Huamin Wang, Minchen Li, Henry Lau, Feng Gao, Yin Yang, Chenfanfu Jiang (* joint first authors)
Arxiv, 2024 [Preprint] [Project Page]
Our proposed VR-GS system represents a leap forward in human-centered 3D content interaction, offering a seamless and intuitive user experience. By developing a physical dynamics-aware interactive Gaussian Splatting in a Virtual Reality setting, and constructing a highly efficient two-level embedding strategy alongside deformable body simulations, VR-GS ensures real-time execution with highly realistic dynamic responses.
Gaussian Splashing: Dynamic Fluid Synthesis with Gaussian Splatting
Yutao Feng*, Xiang Feng*, Yintong Shang, Ying Jiang, Chang Yu, Zeshun Zong, Tianjia Shao, Hongzhi Wu, Kun Zhou, Chenfanfu Jiang, Yin Yang (* joint first authors)
Arxiv, 2024 [Preprint] [Project Page]
We demonstrate the feasibility of integrating physics-based animations of solids and fluids with 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) to create novel effects in virtual scenes reconstructed using 3DGS. Leveraging the coherence of the Gaussian splatting and position-based dynamics (PBD) in the underlying representation, we manage rendering, view synthesis, and the dynamics of solids and fluids in a cohesive manner.
MeshTaichi: A Compiler for Efficient Mesh-based Operations
Chang Yu*, Yi Xu*, Ye Kuang, Yuanming Hu, Tiantian Liu (* joint first authors)
ACM Transactions on Graphics [Proceedings of SIGGRAPH Asia], 2022 [Paper] [Project Page] [Video]
We propose MeshTaichi, a novel mesh compiler that provides an intuitive programming model for efficient mesh-based operations. MeshTaichi achieves a consistent speedup ranging from 1.4 times to 6 times, compared to state-of-the-art mesh data structures and compilers.
Real-time Physics Engine Based on MPM & PBD
Yilong Wu*, Chang Yu* (* joint first authors)
2020 International Conference on Virtual Reality and Visualization (ICVRV) [Paper] [Video]
We have proposed a real-time physics engine that can handle various materials and phenomena, including deformable objects, granular objects and water. Furthermore, based on the latest MLS-MPM method proposed by academia, our engine can handle the coupling of water and sand.
Experiences
Mar 2021 - Jul 2023 Research & Development Intern , Taichi Graphics, China Development of the Taichi programming language, simulation research based on Taichi Lang
Research, development and deployment of MeshTaichi extension
A research project. Developed and deployed a novel GPU mesh compiler based on Taichi that provides an intuitive programming model for efficient mesh-based operations. Devised the programming interface and backend code generation. Implemented XPBD, Projective Dynamics, and Lagrangian-force MPM for experiments. Submitted a patent. Work published in SIGGRAPH Asia 2022.
Development of prototype of Taichi's Vulkan GPU backend
Developed and deployed an IR builder to convert CHI IR (Taichi Lang's Intermediate Representation) into SPIR-V (Standard Portable Intermediate Representation), which could be compiled and executed by Vulkan SDK and OpenCL. Served as a Taichi deployment solution for non-CUDA GPU environment and Ahead-of-Time compilation. Technical talks presented on TaichiCon01/02.
Teaching
Teaching Assistant of Taichi Graphics Course S1 (in Chinese), Fall 2021