Xifeng Gao - Principal Researcher @ Lightspeed Studios, Tencent

Xifeng Gao Principal Researcher @ Lightspeed Studios at Tencent \| xifgao@global.tencent.com [Google Scholar] While I maintain interests in fields related to geometry computing, I am currently focusing on building AI-native tools/pipelines for game development by integrating vision-language models, intelligent agents, and domain knowledge.

We have multiple R&D intern openings for working on AI-native tools/pipelines for game development. If interested, please let me know.

Publications

	Global Discrete Optimization for Quad-Dominant Mesh Reduction Yuzhe Luo, Jingchen Gao, Zherong Pan, Kui Wu, Xuebo Ji, Xiaogang Jin, Xifeng Gao (Equal Contribution) ACM SIGGRAPH 2026* [Paper]
	Feature-Preserving Offset Meshing Hongyi Cao, Gang Xu, Renshu Gu, Jinlan Xu, Timon Rabczuk, Xiaoyu Zhang, Yuzhe Luo, Xifeng Gao ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2026 [Paper]
	Lightmap Compression with Color-Coherent UV Clustering and Cascade Texture Optimization Dehan Chen, Hongyu Huang, Yuzhe Luo, Hao Xu, Yuqing Zhang, Sipeng Yang, Xifeng Gao, Heng Cai, Chao Li, Xiaogang Jin Computer Graphics Forum (Special Issue of Eurographics 2026) [Paper]
	Convex Primitive Decomposition for Collision Detection Julian Knodt, Xifeng Gao Computer Graphics Forum (Special Issue of Eurographics 2026) [Paper]
	SDRS: Shape-Differentiable Robot Simulator Xiaohan Ye, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Zherong Pan, Taku Komura IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2026 [Paper]
	Varying Manifolds in Diffusion: From Time-varying Geometries to Visual Saliency Junhao Chen, Manyi Li, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Changhe Tu Computational Visual Media Journal, 2026 [Paper]
	RL-ACD: Reinforcement Learning-based Approximate Convex Decomposition Yuzhe Luo, Zherong Pan, Kui Wu, Xingyi Du, Yun Zeng, Xiangjun Tang, Yiqian Wu, Xiaogang Jin, Xifeng Gao ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proc. of Siggraph Asia 2025), 2025 [Paper]
	DiffHairCard: Auto Hair Card Extraction with Differentiable Rendering Zhongtian Zheng, Tao Huang, Haozhe Su, Xueqi Ma, Yuefan Shen, Tongtong Wang, Yin Yang, Xifeng Gao, Zherong Pan, Kui Wu ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proc. of Siggraph Asia 2025), 2025 [Paper]
	Internal State Estimation in Crowds via Active Information Gathering Xuebo Ji, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Lei Yang, Xinxin Du, Kaiyun Li, Yongjin Liu, Wenping Wang, Changhe Tu, Jia Pan ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, 2025 [Paper]
	ChatBuilder: LLM-assisted Modular Robot Creation Xin Chen, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Aiguo Song, Lifeng Zhu IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025) [Paper]
	AlignTex: Pixel-Precise Texture Generation from Multi-view Artwork Yuqing Zhang, Hao Xu, Yiqian Wu, Sirui Chen, Sirui Lin, Xiang Li, Xifeng Gao, Xiaogang Jin ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proc. of Siggraph 2025), 2025 [Paper]
	Object-Aware Appearance Transfer for Interior Design Ruisi Ye, Manyi Li, Xifeng Gao, Changhe Tu Computational Visual Media Journal, 2025 [Paper]
	Texture Size Reduction Through Symmetric Overlap and Texture Carving Julian Knodt, Xifeng Gao ACM Transactions on Graphics (To Present at SIGGRAPH 2025) [Paper]
	Animating Water Using Profile Buffer Haozhe Su, Wei Li, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Zhenyu Mao, Kui Wu GPU Zen 3: Chapter 21 [Paper]
	Flowmap Baking with LBM-SWE Wei Li, Haozhe Su, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Zhenyu Mao, Kui Wu GPU Zen 3: Chapter 20 [Paper]
	Design and Optimization of Functionally-graded Triangular Lattices for Multiple Loading Conditions Junpeng Wang, Rüdiger Westermann, Xifeng Gao, Jun Wu Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2024 [Project]
	TexPainter: Generative Mesh Texturing with Multi-view Consistency Hongkun Zhang, Zherong Pan, Congyi Zhang, Lifeng Zhu, Xifeng Gao Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, 2024 [Project]
	Proxy Asset Generation for Cloth Simulation in Games Zhongtian Zheng, Tongtong Wang, Qijia Feng, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2024) [Project]
	Text-Guided Synthesis of Crowd Animation Xuebo Ji, Zherong Pan， Xifeng Gao, Jia Pan Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, 2024 [Project]
	Real-time Physically Guided Hair Interpolation Jerry Hsu, Tongtong Wang, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Cem Yuksel, Kui Wu ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2024) [Project]
	Provably Feasible Semi-Infinite Program Under Collision Constraints via Subdivision Duo Zhang, Chen Liang, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Zherong Pan The IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2024 [Paper]
	Second-Order Convergent Collision-Constrained Optimization-Based Planner Chen Liang, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Zherong Pan IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2024 [Paper]
	GaussianShader: 3D Gaussian Splatting with Shading Functions for Reflective Surfaces YingWenQi Jiang, Jiadong Tu, Yuan Liu, Xifeng Gao, Xiaoxiao Long, Wenping Wang, Yuexin Ma The IEEE / CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference(CVPR), 2024 [Project][Paper][Code]
	Visual-Preserving Mesh Repair Zhongtian Zheng, Xifeng Gao, Zherong Pan, Wei Li, Peng-Shuai Wang, Guoping Wang, Kui Wu IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2024 [Paper]
	Learning Reduced Fluid Dynamics Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu Thirty-Eighth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2024 [Paper]
	Learning Neural Traffic Rules Xuan Zhang, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Zherong Pan IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2024 [Paper]
	Joint UV Optimization and Texture Baking Julian Knodt, Zherong Pan, Kui Wu, Xifeng Gao ACM Transactions on Graphics (presented at SIGGRAPH AISA 2023), 2023 [Paper]
	Texture Atlas Compression Based on Repeated Content Removal Yuzhe Luo, Xiaogang Jin, Zherong Pan, Kui Wu, Qilong Kou, Xiajun Yang, Xifeng Gao SIGGRAPH AISA 2023 [Project]
	Learning based 2D Irregular Shape Packing Zeshi Yang, Zherong Pan, Manyi Li, Kui Wu, Xifeng Gao ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH AISA 2023), 2023 [Paper]
	Real-time Height-field Simulation of Sand and Water Mixtures Haozhe Su, Siyu Zhang, Zherong Pan, Mridul Aanjaneya, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu SIGGRAPH AISA 2023 [Project]
	High-Order Moment-Encoded Kinetic Simulation of Turbulent Flows Wei Li, Tongtong Wang, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Mathieu Desbrun ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH Asia 2023), 2023 [Project]
	Learning Reduced-Order Soft Robot Controller Chen Liang, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Zherong Pan IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2023) [Paper]
	Robust Low-Poly Meshing for General 3D Models Zhen Chen, Zherong Pan, Kui Wu, Etienne Vouga, Xifeng Gao ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2023), 2023 [Project]
	Sag-Free Initialization for Strand-Based Hybrid Hair Simulation Jerry Hsu, Tongtong Wang, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Cem Yuksel, Kui Wu ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2023), 2023 Best Siggraph Technical Paper Award, Honorable Mention [Project]
	Differentiable Learning of Scalable Multi-Agent Navigation Policies Xiaohan Ye, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Bo Ren IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2023 [Paper]
	First-order topology optimization via inexact Finite Element Analysis Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu Computer-Aided Design, 2023 [Paper]
	Environment Warped Gait Trajectory Optimization for Complex Terrains Zherong Pan, Tan Chen, Xianzhong Fang, Timothy Bretl, Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2022 [Paper]
	High quality superpixel generation through regional decomposition Yunyang Xu, Xifeng Gao, Caiming Zhang, Jianchao Tan, Xuemei Li IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology 2022 [Paper]
	3D Mesh Cutting for High Quality Atlas Packing Shiyi Wang, Jiong Chen, Xifeng Gao, Hujun Bao, Jin Huang Computer Aided Geometric Design 2022 [Paper]
	Occluder Generation for Buildings in Digital Games Kui Wu, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of Pacific Graphics 2022), 2022 [Paper] [Video]
	Low-poly Mesh Generation for Building Models Xifeng Gao, Kui Wu, Zherong Pan Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, 2022 [Paper] [Project]
	Graph Embedding for Multi-Robot Path Planning in Complex Environments Xifeng Gao, Zherong Pan, Ruiqi Ni IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2022 [Paper]
	Hex-Mesh Generation and Processing: A Survey Nico Pietroni, Marcel Campen, Alla Sheffer, Gianmarco Cherchi, David Bommes, Xifeng Gao, Franck Ledoux, Riccardo Scateni, Jean-Francois Remacle, Marco Livesu ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG, 2022) [Paper] [Course (SIGGRAPH Asia 2022, Daegu, South Korea)]
	3D-TSV: The 3D Trajectory-based Stress Visualizer Junpeng Wang, Christoph Neuhauser, Jun Wu, Xifeng Gao, Rüdiger Westermann Advances in Engineering Software, 2022 [Paper] [Code]
	Restricted Delaunay Triangulation for Explicit Surface Reconstruction Pengfei Wang, Zixiong Wang, Shiqing Xin, Xifeng Gao, Wenping Wang, Changhe Tu ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2022 [Paper]
	Robust Multi-Robot Trajectory Optimization Using Alternating Direction Method of Multiplier Ruiqi Ni, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2022 [Paper] [UAV Code] [Arm Code]
	A Large Scale Comparison of Tetrahedral and Hexahedral Elements for Finite Element Analysis Teseo Schneider, Yixin Hu, Xifeng Gao, Jeremie Dumas, Denis Zorin, Daniele Panozzo ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2022 [Paper] [Code]
	Joint Search of Optimal Topology and Trajectory for Planar Linkages Zherong Pan, Min Liu, Xifeng Gao, Dinesh Manocha The International Journal of Robotics Research, 2021 [Paper]
	Planning of Power Grasps Using Infinite Program Under Complementary Constraints Zherong Pan, Duo Zhang, Changhe Tu, Xifeng Gao IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2021 [Paper]
	Computational Object-Wrapping Rope Nets Jian Liu, Shiqing Xin, Xifeng Gao, Kaihang Gao, Kai Xu, Baoquan Chen, Changhe Tu ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), 2021 [Paper]
	Decentralized, Unlabeled Multi-Agent Navigation in Obstacle-Rich Environments using Graph Neural Networks Xuebo Ji, He Li, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Changhe Tu The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021) [Paper]
	Robust & Asymptotically Locally Optimal UAV-Trajectory Generation Based on Spline Subdivision Ruiqi Ni, Teseo Schneider, Daniele Panozzo, Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2021) [Paper] [Data] [Code]
	Wearable 3D Machine Knitting: Automatic Generation of Shaped Knit Sheets to Cover Real-World Objects Kui Wu, Marco Tarini, Cem Yuksel, James McCann, Xifeng Gao IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG 2021) [Paper]
	Inner-Approximation of Manipulable and Reachable Regions using Bilinear Matrix Inequalities Zherong Pan, Liang He, Xifeng Gao The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020) [Paper]
	Grasping Fragile Objects Using A Stress-Minimization Metric Zherong Pan, Xifeng Gao, Dinesh Manocha International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2020) [Paper] [Video]
	Globally Optimal Joint Search of Topology and Trajectory for Planar Linkages Zherong Pan, Min Liu, Xifeng Gao, Dinesh Manocha The International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR 2019) [Paper]
	Design and Optimization of Conforming Lattice Structures Jun Wu, Weiming Wang, Xifeng Gao IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2019 ESI Highly Cited Paper [Paper] [Project] [Code of the Graph Generation]
	Field-aligned Quadrangulation for Image Vectorization Guangshun Wei, Yuanfeng Zhou, Xifeng Gao, Qian Ma, Shiqing Xin, Ying He Computer Graphics Forum (Pacific Graphics, PG 2019) [Paper]
	Feature Preserving Octree-Based Hexahedral Meshing Xifeng Gao, Hanxiao Shen, Daniele Panozzo Computer Graphics Forum (Eurographics Symposium on Geometry Processing, SGP 2019) [Paper] [Data] [Code]
	TriWild: Robust Triangulation with Curve Constraints Yixin Hu, Teseo Schneider, Xifeng Gao, Qingnan Zhou, Alec Jacobson, Denis Zorin, Daniele Panozzo ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2019) [Paper] [Data] [Code]
	Poly-Spline Finite Element Method Teseo Schneider, Jeremie Dumas, Xifeng Gao, Mario Botsch, Daniele Panozzo, Denis Zorin ACM Transactions on Graphics (Present in SIGGRAPH 2019); arXiv:1804.03245 [Paper] [Code]
	Sketch Simplification Guided by Complex Agglomeration Yue Liu, Xuemei Li, Pengbo Bo, Xifeng Gao SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences, 2019 [Paper]
	Decoupling Simulation Accuracy from Mesh Quality Teseo Schneider, Yixin Hu, Jeremie Dumas, Xifeng Gao, Daniele Panozzo, Denis Zorin ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH Asia 2018) [Paper] [Code]
	Stitch Meshing Kui Wu, Xifeng Gao, Zachary Ferguson, Daniele Panozzo, Cem Yuksel ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2018) [Paper] [Project] [Video] [Code]
	Tetrahedral Meshing in the Wild Yixin Hu, Qingnan Zhou, Xifeng Gao, Alec Jacobson, Denis Zorin, Daniele Panozzo ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2018) Frontiers of Science Awards by the International Congress of Basic Science Conference link [Paper] [Code] [Figure Data] [10K Input] [10K Triangle Mesh Output] [10K Tetrahedra Mesh Output]
	Robust Structure Simplification for Hex Re-meshing Xifeng Gao, Daniele Panozzo, Wenping Wang, Zhigang Deng, Guoning Chen ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH ASIA, 2017) [Paper] [Datasets (1.5Gb)] [Code]
	Hexahedral Mesh Quality Improvement via Edge-Angle Optimization Kaoji Xu, Xifeng Gao, Guoning Chen Computer & Graphics (CAD/Graphics 2017) [Paper] [Video] [Document/Data/Code]
	Evaluating Hex-mesh Quality Metrics via Correlation Analysis Xifeng Gao, Jin Huang, Kaoji Xu, Zherong Pan, Zhigang Deng, Guoning Chen Computer Graphics Forum (Eurographics Symposium on Geometry Processing, 2017) [Paper] [Documents 1 and 2] [Documents 3] [Data (3Gb)] [Code] [Bibtex]
	Robust Hex-Dominant Mesh Generation using Field-Guided Polyhedral Agglomeration Xifeng Gao, Wenzel Jakob, Marco Tarini, Daniele Panozzo ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH, 2017) [Paper] [Video/Dataset of Hex-dominant Meshes/Documents] [Code] [Bibtex] [Dataset of 106 Tetrahedral_Meshes, Link to the Surface Meshes]
	Hexahedral Meshing with Varying Element Sizes Kaoji Xu, Xifeng Gao, Zhigang Deng, Guoning Chen Computer Graphics Forum, 2017 [Paper] [Supplementary] [Bibtex]
	A Local Frame based Hexahedral Mesh Optimization Xifeng Gao, Guoning Chen 25th International Meshing Roundtable, Research Note, September, 2016 [Paper] [Bibtex]
	A Modified Fuzzy C-means Algorithm for Brain MR Image Segmentation and Bias Field Correction Wenqian Deng, Xuemei Li, Xifeng Gao, Caiming Zhang Journal of Computer Science and Technology (Computational Visual Media 2016) [Paper] [Bibtex]
	A Simple Algorithm of Superpixel Segmentation with Boundary Constraint Yongxia Zhang, Xuemei Li, Xifeng Gao, Caiming Zhang IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2016 [Paper] [Bibtex]
	Structured Volume Decomposition via Generalized Sweeping Xifeng Gao, Tobias Martin, Sai Deng, Elaine Cohen, Zhigang Deng, Guoning Chen IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2016 [Paper] [Supplementary 1] [Supplementary 2] [Data] [Video] [Bibtex]
	Hexahedral Mesh Re-parameterization from Aligned Base-Complex Xifeng Gao, Zhigang Deng, Guoning Chen ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2015) [Paper] [Supplementary] [Video] [Bibtex]
	An Evaluation of The Quality of Hexahedral Meshes Via Modal Analysis Xifeng Gao, Jin Huang, Siwang Li, Zhigang Deng, Guoning Chen The First International Workshop on Hex-Meshing: Theory, Applications, and Evaluation, 2014. [Paper] [Bibtex]
	A Robust High Capacity Affine-Transformation-Invariant Scheme for Watermarking 3D Geometric Models Xifeng Gao, Caiming Zhang, Yan Huang, Zhigang Deng ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications (TOMM), 2012 [Paper] [Bibtex]
	Intraoperative Registration of Preoperative 4D Cardiac Anatomy with Real-time MR Images Xifeng Gao, Nikhil V. Navkar, Nikolaos V. Tsekos, Zhigang Deng IEEE 12th International Conference on BioInformatics and BioEngineering (BIBE 2012) [Paper] [Bibtex]
	Disparity Adjustment for Local Stereo Matching Xia Hu, Caiming Zhang, Wei Wang, Xifeng Gao International Symp osium on Frontier of Computer Science, Engineering and Applications (CSEA 2010) [Paper] [Bibtex]
	Similarity-Transformation In-variant Reversible Watermarking Method for 3D Models Xifeng Gao, Caiming Zhang, Yan Huang, Xia Hu, Anping Zhu The Springer Lecture Notes on Electrical Engineering (ISCIS 2010) [Paper] [Bibtex]
	A Highly Adaptable Capacity and Invisibility 3D Watermarking Based on Four-Points Sets Xifeng Gao, Caiming Zhang, Yu Wei, Weitao Li The 12th ACM Multimedia and Security Workshop (MM & Sec 2010) [Paper] [Bibtex]
	Reversible Watermarking of 3D Mesh Models Using Prediction-error Expansion Anping Zhu, Caiming Zhang, Xingqiang Yang, Xifeng Gao The 3rd International Conference on Image and Signal Processing (CISP 2010) [Paper] [Bibtex]
	A new reversible watermarking of 3D models based on ratio expansion Huamin Ji, Caiming Zhang, Xingqiang Yang, Xifeng Gao The 3rd International Conference on Image and Signal Processing (CISP 2010) [Paper] [Bibtex]