Professor of Motion Picture Science • Rochester Institute of Technology
My research and teaching focuses on the human perception of materials, 3D shape, and motion — primarily through vision and touch. My trajectory spans undergraduate training in architecture and computer graphics at OSU’s Computer Graphics Research Group, UI and animation at Pixar Animation Studios (where I was the original ‘Animation Scientist’), and cognitive science, neuroscience, and mathematical modeling at OSU, Skidmore, and RIT.
Direct laser scans of J.J. Gibson's historic tactile stimuli, cleaned and prepared in Mathematica for 3D printing and haptic shape discrimination experiments.
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Firsthand stories from the pioneering days of computer animation, reference stunts in parking lots, and uncanny encounters.
In which I jump over a trash can. We did a lot of reference footage, back in the day. Here, specifically, in the mid 1980s, we wanted some reference for Luxo, Jr. So, out to the parking lot…
Back in the late 80s, Hayao Miyazaki came to visit Pixar. He brought gifts. He had something for everyone, he gave the animation group a Seiko Talking Pyramid Clock. Craig Good and I spent the afternoon trying to…
I grew up just down river from Ann Magnuson, one half of Bongwater. They informed the world of David’s needs in this wonderful song. In between leaving Pixar and starting back to grad school, I connected with then-former…
I owe Bausch & Lomb an explanation. In high school, I convinced my Chemistry teacher that my time for that class was better spent at the local community college (Go Flood Wall Tech … Steamers?) learning Calculus, since…
Visual perception, volumetric motion capture, material reflectance, and haptic discrimination.
I can’t believe I didn’t update this. A year or so ago, Aidan Montag embarked on a quest to design some affordable and flexible devices for motion capture, camera tracking, and, on a stretch, volume capture. We named…
Cringe! Apple being Apple and Apple Music being Apple Music, I recently ‘lost’ some digitized tapes from gigs I did. My total faith in the cloud (Apple Music Cloud to be specific) meant that I had to go…
In which I jump over a trash can. We did a lot of reference footage, back in the day. Here, specifically, in the mid 1980s, we wanted some reference for Luxo, Jr. So, out to the parking lot…
Back in the late 80s, Hayao Miyazaki came to visit Pixar. He brought gifts. He had something for everyone, he gave the animation group a Seiko Talking Pyramid Clock. Craig Good and I spent the afternoon trying to…