Žiga Kovačič

About me. I am a sophomore studying Mathematics, CS, and College Scholars at Cornell University where I’m fortunate to be advised by Abe Davis. I'm doing research at the intersection of graphics and machine learning. I'm also a co-president of Cornell University Artificial Intelligence (CUAI).

Research Interests. I'm broadly interested in the intersection of computer graphics, machine learning, and cognition. Currently I'm focusing on physically plausible re-simulations, i.e. finding useful representations of real-world objects that can capture not only their shape but also their physical properties and dynamics.

Publications and reprints

Papers sorted by recency. Representative papers are highlighted.

Cool stuff
Žiga Kovačič et al
arXiv preprint, 2024
project page / arXiv / code / models / bibtex

Projects

These are mostly works that have emerged as part of my personal exploration and as final projects for various graduate courses I have taken during my undergrad.

MelodyMesh
3D music visualizer that deforms a mesh based on dominant frequencies in a sound recording
Final Project | CS 6682
code / video

Caustics and Water Surface Simulation - Top Submission
Multi-pass rendering, screen space refractions, shadow mapping, height fields, environmental mapping, and time-varying environmental map
Final Project | CS 4620
video

Ray Tracing From Scratch - Rendering Competition Winner
CSG, distributed ray tracing, fractal rendering, BVH speedup structure, reflections, refractions, anti-aliasing, etc.
Rendering competition | CS 4620
image

Teaching Experience

I have been mentioned in various media in connection with my research. Here's a few selected articles:

2025 - Head TA: CS 4782: Deep Learning | Spring 2025
2024 - TA: CS 4620: Introduction to Computer Graphics | Fall 2024
2024 - TA: CS 4780: Introduction to Machine Learning | Spring 2024 (Teaching Excellence Award)
2023 - TA: CS 2110: OOP and DSA | Spring 2023