Archive

The Rhine-Main Universities - Technical University of Darmstadt, Goethe University Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz - will receive funding as a University Excellence Consortium from 2027 as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. Fraunhofer IGD congratulates the three universities on this achievement. The institute has maintained close ties with TU Darmstadt in research and teaching for many years.

For a decade, LAIKA has used Cuttlefish®, the full-color 3D printer driver developed by Fraunhofer IGD, to achieve the precision and consistency required for advanced color replacement animation in stop-motion filmmaking

With a new method, Fraunhofer IGD has, for the first time, established the basis for describing, measuring, and reproducibly producing the color and translucency of materials in a uniform, international manner. This benefits, among other fields, 3D printing, dental technology, and medical technology.

Since October 1, 2026, Prof. Dr. Michael Sedlmair has joined the management team of the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD. Together with Dr. Matthias Unbescheiden, he will lead the institute at its locations in Darmstadt and Rostock. In parallel, Sedlmair is taking over the former Chair of Graphical Interactive Systems at TU Darmstadt, which he will continue under the name Visual Computing. His work will focus on human-centered artificial intelligence and on how Visual Computing technologies can support people in complex cognitive and physical tasks.

Vacant lots, infill development areas and other development opportunities exist in many places but are often not systematically recorded. Fraunhofer IGD combines artificial intelligence with official geodata to automatically identify such potential and prepare it for urban, regional and state-level planning.

In high-speed stamping and forming processes, it is crucial to detect quality deviations while production is still running. If wear-related changes are only identified afterwards, defective components have already been produced. With its camera-based Inform-QC system, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD addresses this issue directly within the manufacturing process. The system analyzes the surfaces of formed components inline and detects changes that may indicate tool wear.

The biometrics community is currently coming together at Fraunhofer IGD in Darmstadt for four days of exchange and discussions on current developments in the field. In November, Biometrics Week will continue with a particular focus on research. The Darmstadt Biometrics Research Week will bring together experts from research and practice to discuss current research questions, emerging technologies and future developments in biometrics.

How can different types of forensic imaging data be reliably combined and forensic findings made easier to trace? In the ICON VirtoFusion research project, Fraunhofer IGD and the University of Zurich are developing a platform that automatically integrates different imaging modalities, verifies their consistency and visualizes uncertainties. The aim is to provide reproducible and transparent data for forensic documentation and assessment.

The first Smart Farming Field Day will take place on September 2 at the Thünen Innovation Farm in Tellow. Together with partners from research, industry and start-ups, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Computer Graphics Research IGD and for Large Structures in Production Engineering IGP will demonstrate how artificial intelligence, digitalization and automation can contribute to future-ready agriculture. The focus will be on practical applications and live demonstrations under real-world operating conditions.

With a new high-performance computing infrastructure, Fraunhofer IGD and GSI/FAIR are strengthening their collaboration in the fields of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. The new GPU cluster combines Fraunhofer IGD’s AI expertise with the energy-efficient data center infrastructure of GSI/FAIR’s Green IT Cube and creates the technical foundation for training modern AI models for data-sovereign research and the secure handling of sensitive information.