About

Marcus Volz is a Melbourne-based artist with a background in engineering, mathematics, computer simulation and data science.

He has a PhD in engineering from The University of Melbourne where he later worked as a research fellow undertaking fundamental and applied mathematical research into geometric networks, optimisation, computational geometry and operations research.

Marcus has significant industry experience as a consultant developing computer simulations and animations of industrial processes in a range of industries including transport and logistics.

Recently, Marcus turned his attention to 3D visualisation, and has worked as an FX artist helping to create simulations of natural phenomena for visual effects in film.

Marcus uses creative coding and 3D software to develop artistic visualisations of real (collected) and simulated scientific data in the following fields:

Data source: City of Melbourne Open Data – Building outlines 2015

Data processing / wrangling
Static 2D charts and plots
Dynamic 2D animations
3D renderings and videos
Geospatial visualisations
Interactive visualisation tools and dashboards
Dynamic documents and reports
R packages / software tools

2D and 3D visualisations of mathematical patterns and structures (fractals, cellular automata, parametric curves and surfaces, L-sytems, networks and graphs)
Animated and interactive mathematical diagramming
Prototype implementations of algorithms from academic papers for the purpose of visualisation
Generative systems: Design, development and implementation of generative algorithms

3D renderings and animations of scientific data
Industrial animation
Simulations of natural phenomena: Particle systems, rigid bodies, soft bodies, smoke and flame, liquid
Emergent systems / agent-based modelling: Swarming, flocking
Procedural and generative modelling: Cities, buildings, roads

Marcus is an avid runner and has completed over 20 ultra marathons, including five 100km events and one 100 mile event.