Professor of Computer Science
New York University
NYU Media Research Laboratory;
715 Broadway, Rm 1202, NY, NY 10003
(212) 998-3386
perlin AT mrl DOT nyu DOT edu
Educational experience:
2/86
Ph.D. in Computer Science
at Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, New York University, Computer Science Dept.
Thesis: ``Simulating Realistic Textures by
the Composition of Perceptually Motivated Functions''
Advisor: David Lowe.
6/84
M.S. in Computer Science at Courant Institute
of Mathematical Sciences, New York University.
7/79
B.A. in Theoretical Mathematics at Harvard University.
Employment:
10/2008-present
Director,
NYU Games for Learning Institute.
7/1997-present
Professor,
NYU Media Research Laboratory,
Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, New York University.
7/1994-6/2004
Director, NYU Center for Advanced Technology.
7/1993-6/1997
Associate Professor,
Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, New York University.
6/1987-6/1993
Assistant Professor,
Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, New York University.
9/1986-6/1987
Research scientist,
Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, New York University.
10/1984-8/1987
Head of Software Development, R/GREENBERG
Associates, NY, NY.
7/1979-9/1984
Research scientist,
Mathematical Applications Group, Inc., Elmsford, NY.
After 9/81 was System Architect of
SynthaVision
system for computer generated animation.
Honors:
2008
ACM/SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Acheivement Award.
2007
TrapCode award for achievement in computer graphics research.
2004
First featured Net Artist at the
Whitney Museum of American Art in 2004.
2002
New York University Sokol Faculty Award in the Sciences.
New York City Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology.
1997
Technical Achievement Award
from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
for the development of Perlin Noise, a technique used to produce natural
appearing textures on computer
generated surfaces for motion picture visual effects
1991
National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award.
1986
Janet Fabri Memorial Award for outstanding doctoral dissertation.
Some Publications and Invited Talks:
2018
World Builders: Building Towards Intuitive MultiUser
Content Creation in Virtual Reality,
Xia, H., Herscher, S., Perlin, K., Wigdor D.,
SIGCHI 2018 VR Workshop.
2014
Mechanical force redistribution: enabling seamless, large-format, high-accuracy surface interaction
Grau, A., Hendee, C., Rizzo, J., Perlin, K.
SIGCHI 2014.
2008
IMPAD: An Inexpensive Multitouch Pressure Acquisition Device,
UIST'08 Demo, Monterey, October, 2008.
Invited keynote, DarkLight Festival, Dublin, June 2008.
"Games for Learning" (with Jan Plass),
Games for Change Summit, New York, June 2008.
Invited talk, University of Maryland, May 2008.
Invited keynote, GCDSE Conference, February 2008.
2007
Invited talk, CUNY, New York, December 2007.
Invited keynote, VIEW Conference, Turin, November 2007.
Invited talk, Microsoft Faculty Summit, Redmond, July 2007.
Invited talk, AIIDE Conference, Stanford, June 2007.
Plass, J. L, Goldman, R., Flanagan, M., Diamond, J., Dong, C., Looui, S.,
Hyuksoon Song, H., Rosalia, C. & Perlin, K.
RAPUNSEL: How a computer game
designed based on educational theory can improve girls. self-efficacy and
self-esteem. Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association ,
Chicago, April 2007
Invited talk, University of New Mexico, NM, April 2007.
Invited keynote, GCDSE Conference, February 2007.
Invited talk, Microsoft Research, Bangalore, January 2007.
2006
Invited talk,
Montreal International Games Summit, Montreal, November 2006.
Invited talk,
Develop Conference, Brighton, July 2006.
Invited talk,
Imagina, Monte Carlo, January 2006.
2005
Toward Interactive Narrative.
Ken Perlin,
International Conference on Virtual Storytelling
2005: 135-147
The Rapunsel Project
Ken Perlin, Mary Flanagan, Andrea Hollingshead,
International Conference on Virtual Storytelling 2005: 251-259
2004
Physical Objects as Bidirectional User Interface Elements ,
Dan Rosenfeld, Michael Zawadzki, Jeremi Sudol, Ken Perlin,
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications;
Vol. 24 No. 1.
2003
Measuring Bidirectional Texture Reflectance With a Kaleidoscope,
Jefferson Y. Han,
Ken Perlin,
Computer Graphics; Vol. 36 No. 3.
2002
Improving Noise,
Computer Graphics; Vol. 35 No. 3.
2001
Procedural Shape Synthesis on Subdivision Surfaces
Luiz Velho, Ken Perlin, Lexing Ying, Henning Biermann,
Proc. Symposium on Computer Graphics and Image Processing
(SIBGRAPI) 2001.
Recent Advances in the NYU Autostereoscopic Display,
K. Perlin, C. Poultney, J. Kollin, D. Kristjansson, S. Paxia
Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 4297. San Jose, California. January 22-24, 2001.
Flow Noise
K. Perlin, F. Neyret,
SIGGRAPH Technical Sketches and Applications, August 2001.
2000
An Autostereocopic Display,
with Salvatore Paxia and Joel Kollin,
Computer Graphics; Vol. 33 No. 3.
Responsive Actors in Shared Virtual Worlds,
2000 International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Simulation,
San Diego.
1999
Nested User Interface Components,
with Jon Meyer,
ACM UIST 99, Asheville, Nov 7-9, 1999.
Human-Guided Greedy Search: Combining Information Visualization and Heuristic Search
David Anderson, E. Anderson, N. Lesh, J. Marks, K. Perlin, D. Ratajczack, and K. Ryall,
CIKM'99:
Workshop on New Paradigms in Information Visualization and
Manipulation, Kansas City, Nov 6, 1999.
Texturing and Modeling; A Procedural Approach, Second Edition;
Ebert D. et al, AP Professional; Cambridge 1998.; chapter entitled: "Noise,
Hypertexture, Antialiasing and Gestures"
Improvisational Animation, with Athomas Goldberg
1999 International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Simulation,
San Francisco.
1998
Quikwriting: Continuous Stylus-based Text Entry,
ACM UIST 98 Technical Sketch
Texturing and Modeling; A Procedural Approach, Second Edition;
Ebert D. et al, AP Professional; Cambridge 1998.;
chapter entitled: "Noise, Hypertexture, Antialiasing and Gestures"
1997
Layered Compositing of Facial Expression,
ACM SIGGRAPH 97 Technical Sketch
1996
Pad++: A Zoomable Graphical Sketchpad for Exploring Alternate Interface
Physics.
Bederson, B., Hollan, J., Perlin, K., Meyer, J., Bacon, D., and Furnas, G.,
Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 7, 3-31, 1996.
Improv:
A System for Scripting Interactive Actors in Virtual Worlds
with Athomas Goldberg, Computer Graphics; Vol. 29 No. 3.
1995
Live Paint: Painting with Procedural Multiscale Textures;
with Luiz Velho, Computer Graphics; Vol. 28; No. 3.
Real Time Responsive Animation with Personality,
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics; Vol 1 No. 1.
1994
Texturing and Modeling; A Procedural Approach;
Ebert D. et al, AP Professional; Cambridge 1994.;
chapter entitled: "Noise, Hypertexture, Antialiasing and Gesture"
1993
Pad: An Alternative Approach to the Computer Interface;
with David Fox,
1993 Computer Graphics (proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Conference);
Vol. 26 No. 3.
This paper describes a spatial metaphor
for computer interface design, providing an intuitive
base for the support of such applications as electronic marketplaces,
information services, and on-line collaboration.
Pad is an infinite two dimensional information plane that is shared
among users, much as a network file system is shared.
occupies a well defined region on the Pad surface.
We describe the Pad interface,
we discuss how to efficiently
implement its graphical aspects,
and we illustrate some representative applications.
1993
A New Scheme for Drawing Hypergraphs; with M.V. Kritz,
vol. 49 no. 1+2 of the International J. of Computer Mathematics
A ``hypergraph'' over a set S is a graph whose
nodes are subsets of S. Visualizing hypergraphs
has always been problematic. We describe a
fundamentally new scheme to visualize and
interact with hypergraphs, based on a dynamic
multiscale representation.
Procedural Texture Synthesis,
section
in Computer Graphics Encyclopedia;
Kodansha Dai-Ichi Shuppan Publishing; Tokyo.
Synopsis of how to use
parametrically controlled procedural models
to create widely varying visual textures.
1992
Controlling 3-D objects by sketching their 2-D projections;
with Ronie Hecker,
Sensor Fusion V/IRCV Program; SPIE Conference paper 1828-06 Nov. 1992.
Using simple freehand drawn sketches to animate three dimensional
articulated figures. The interesting part is resolving
front/back ambiguities without burdening the user.
Procedural Modeling and Rendering Techniques,
Course; ACM SIGGRAPH Conference.
Vol. 26 No. 3.
Practical tips and techniques for modeling and rendering
Hypertexture.
1991
Advanced Techniques in Volumetric Modeling,
Course; ACM SIGGRAPH Conference. Vol. 25 No. 3.
Using freeform wavelets for rendering, given only surface sample points
with local gradients.
Allows variable "fuzziness"; good for soft
focus, fuzzy shadows, and scattered light propagation.
Multiscale Interfaces for Collaborative Work,
NSF Coordination Theory and Collaboration Technology Workshop; June 3-5 1991.
Describes the application of multiscale interfaces
to network based on-line collaboration
and information exchange.
A Multiscale Approach to Interactive Display Organization,
Workshop in ``Navigation Through Information Spaces''; ACM SIGCHI 91.
Presents an alternative to Window/Icon based interfaces that
allows users to handle
infinite quantities of information at arbitrary scales
through recursive zoomable views and hyperlinks
on a virtual surface.
1989
Hypertexture; with Eric Hoffert,
1989 Computer Graphics (proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Conference);
Vol. 23 No. 3.
Procedurally generated textures evaluated
throughout volumes to synthesize the appearance of highly textural
shapes: flame, fluids, eroded materials, fur.
An extension of results from {\it Image Synthesizer} paper
to shape synthesis.
Simulation Software for the Utah/MIT Dextrous Hand;
with James Demmel and Paul Wright,
International Journal of Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing;
Vol. 5 No. 4.
A simulation environment
for evaluating transitions within
a proposed grasp taxonomy for the Utah/MIT robotic hand.
1988
Function Based Computer Graphics Modeling,
Course; ACM SIGGRAPH Conference. Vol. 22 No. 3.
Several new methods of rendering isosurfaces of implicit functions.
Efficient Approximation of Shadow Penumbra; with Xue Dong Yang,
NYU Robotics Technical Report.
Technique for inexpensive visual approximation
of penumbra, using occlusion distance to index into masking pyramids.
1985
An Image Synthesizer, Computer Graphics; Vol. 19 No. 3.
(also in Computer Graphics: Image Synthesis; IEEE Salem 1988)
Combines five ideas for visual texture synthesis:
- R3 as the texture domain,
- an intermediate ``point/normal pixel'' format,
- allow arbitrary procedural mappings from point/normal pixels =>
intensity,
- a powerful primitive for introducing controllable noise,
- an interactive language and environment for texture design.
Used to create realistic visual textures of:
marble, water waves, fire, clouds, oil films.
Uses of Integration in Image Synthesis,
Course on State of the Art in Image Synthesis; ACM SIGGRAPH Conference. Vol. 19 No. 3.
Describes applications of readily integrable functions
and preintegrated tables and images in visual
simulation, including image blurring, feature blending, and atmospheric
modeling and rendering.
1984
A Unified Texture/Reflectance Model,
Course on Advanced Image Synthesis; ACM SIGGRAPH Conference. Vol. 18 No. 3.
Describes a method to
unify surface perturbation and light reflectance models,
allowing smooth transitions between them
as visual scale changes in computer graphic rendering.
Patents (partial list):
1998
Granted:
U.S. Patent 5764794
Method and apparatus for electronically storing alphanumeric characters.
1997
Submitted:
A method and apparatus for writing.
Submitted,
A method and apparatus for autostereoscopic display.
1996
Submitted, with Athomas Goldberg:
Directably Autonomous Improvisational Animation.
1991
Granted, with Prof. Jacob Schwartz,
U.S. Patent 5341466: Fractal computer user interface
with zooming capability
describes the "Pad" multiscale
alternative
to window systems. Pad allows a user to handle an unlimited quantity of
information at arbitrarily small scale through recursive zoomable
magnifying glasses on a virtual surface.
Graduated Ph.D. students:
Hubert Chang
Aaron Hertzmann
Andruid Kerne
David Fox
Matthew Fuchs
Xue-Dong Yang
Professional Participation:
Member, Association of Computing Machinery and ACM Siggraph
Board of Directors, NY Siggraph;
Have been a reviewer for ACM SIGGRAPH every year since 1985.
Have also reviewed for IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
and The Visual Computer.
Have been a member of four National Science Foundation
grant proposal review panels.
Have presented invited papers at Universities including
Berkeley, Columbia, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale,
and at corporate research centers including
Apple Computer,
BellCore, Bell Laboratories, IBM, Interval Research, MERL,
Microsoft, NYNEX,
and Xerox PARC.
Participation at ACM/SIGGRAPH98 conference in Orlando (July 20-24, 1998):
Sid and the Penguins (an interactive film at Electronic Theatre);
Course instructor: Virtual Humans: Behaviors and Physics, Acting and Reacting;
Panelist: Dis-Illusion of Life: Becoming a Digital Character Animator;
Panelist: Behavioral Modeling and Animation: Past, Present, and Future;
Presenter: Web3D roundup;
Presenter: Digital Campfire;
Participant: SIGGRAPH Bowl III.
Additional Experience
Worked on numerous award winning commercials
while at R/Greenberg Associates.
System designer and project leader of
Where the Wild Things Are
animation test at
MAGI with Walt Disney Productions,
winner of 1985 I.N.A. International Computer Graphics Conference at
Monte Carlo Grand Prize for Animation.
Developed large part of the software for Walt Disney Productions'
1982 feature film
TRON.
Have developed software for numerous commercial
and feature film
projects.
Frequent invited speaker
on computer graphics
at research labs, conferences and universities
around the world.
Have had computer graphic imagery appearing in
numerous books, art exhibitions and periodicals.