I'm a Principal Research Scientist at Weta Digital based out of Wellington, NZ. My interests include fundamental algorithms in computer graphics with a recent emphasis on new representations of shape and their applications in various diverse domains such as computer-aided design, 2D sketching, digital typography, visualization of molecular conformations, protein folding, and color. Project thumbnails follow.

 

New -- Computational Art Page -- Check it out here: artwork\index.htm. Starting from an empty digital canvas, I generated each of the images on this page through purely computational means. The generation code (written in C, C++, JavaScript, and GLSL) contains various algorithms for inking, sketching, painting, stroking, filling, texture synthesis, and the like with the intended goal of providing a compelling tool set for digital artists to create their best work. The particular images shown are my attempt at demonstrating this tool set as well as producing compelling art pieces for their own sake.

 

 

 

Saffron: A New Framework for Representing, Rendering, and Animating Type

- Saffron Web Page
- Technology Summary
- Saffron adopted by Adobe Flash

- Saffron adopted by Amazon Kindle

- Saffron adopted by Monotype

- Technical Material

Sketch Technology (Mischief)

- Technology Summary and Gallery

- Our first ImagineFX review (5/5 stars)

- Initial Tumblr excitement

- Review by Josh Janousky

- Review by art director Ron Doucet

- Background / review by The Drawing Board

- Background / review by Graphics.com

- Background / review by VentureFizz.com

- The Tech of ADFs by FXGuide

- Review by Creative Bloq (4/5 stars)

- Fast Company Article

Sapphire: High Accuracy NC Milling Simulation Using Composite Adaptively Sampled Distance Fields

- CAD Journal 2012 PDF Paper
- U.S. Patent: NC milling simulation
- U.S. Patent: Swept volumes
- U.S. Patent: Rendering Distance Fields

 

PCT_sq_1

Proximity Cluster Trees

- Journal of Graphics Tools, Vol. 13(1), 2008 (PDF)

- Richard Tapia Computing Conference (Poster)

- Richard Tapia Computing Conference (Slides)

SIG2006_StrokeSketch_Alt

An Improved Representation for Stroke-based Fonts

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 PDF Technical Sketch

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 PPT Sketch Slides

SIG2006_ShapeCourse

Interactive Shape Editing

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 PDF Course Notes

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 PPT Course Notes

AmericanScientist

Molecular Morphing

- American Scientist September 2006 PDF

- Molecular Images

SMI2005_Teaser

Designing with Distance Fields

- Keynote Invited Talk SMI 2005 PDF Abstract
- Shape Modeling International 2005 PPT Slides
- Shape Modeling International 2005 PDF Slides

MFCS_2004

Theory and Applied Computing: Observations and Anecdotes

 

- 29th International Symposium on Mathematical
- Foundations of Computer Science 2004 (PDF)

ADF_TreeTraversal_Teaser

Simple and Efficient Traversal Methods for Quadtrees and Octrees

- Journal of Graphics Tools, Vol. 7(3), 2002 (PDF)
- Source code examples (C text file)
- U.S. Patent

EucDF_FromRange

Efficient Estimation of 3D Euclidean Distance Fields from 2D Range Images

- IEEE/SIGGRAPH Symposium on Volume
- Visualization and Graphics 2002 (PDF)
- PPT Slides
- PDF Slides
- U.S. Patent: Distances From Range Images
- U.S. Patent: Generating Textured Range Images
- U.S. Patent: Editing 3D Models via 2D Images

 flower

Kizamu: A System For Sculpting Digital Characters

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Paper
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PPT Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Slides
- U.S. Patent: Distance-based Constraints
- U.S. Patent: Selective Regeneration
- U.S. Patent: Surface Following
- U.S. Patent: Sculpting
- U.S. Patent: Control Point Editing

- U.S. Patent: Correcting the Distance Field
- U.S. Patent: ADF Conversion to Triangles

- U.S. Patent: Tiled Generation

adfCourse

New Directions in Shape Representations

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PPT Course Notes
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Course Notes

softBody

A Computationally Efficient Framework for Modeling Soft Body Impact

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Technical Sketch
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PPT Sketch Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Sketch Slides
- U.S. Patent: Modeling the Interaction of Objects

rangeImageCowModel

Computing 3D Geometry Directly from Range Images

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Technical Sketch
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PPT Sketch Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Sketch Slides
- U.S. Patent: Distance Maps from Range Images
- U.S. Patent: Shape from Range Images
- U.S. Patent: Range Data To 3D Models
- U.S. Patent: Single Lens 3D Camera

dynamicMesh

Dynamic Meshing Using Adaptively Sampled Distance Fields

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Technical Sketch
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PPT Sketch Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Sketch Slides
- U.S. Patent: View Dependent Rendering
- U.S. Patent: Detail Directed Visibility Elements
- U.S. Patent: Level-of-detail Modeling with ADFs
- U.S. Patent: Combining Multiple ADFs

NPR_ADF_TR

A New Framework For Non-Photorealistic Rendering

- MERL 2001 PDF Technical Report

Gamut_ADF_TR

A New Representation for Device Color Gamuts

- MERL 2001 PDF Technical Report

NovaDocTeaser

NOVA Documentary - "The Search for a Safe Cigarette"

- NOVA Web Site
- An example nicotine ADF molecule (1)
- An example nicotine ADF molecule (2)

sig2000_Bottle

Adaptively Sampled Distance Fields: A General Representation of Shape for Computer Graphics

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2000 PDF Paper
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2000 PPT Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2000 PDF Slides
- U.S. Patent: Base
- U.S. Patent: Sculpting
- U.S. Patent: Color Gamut

ArtGallery_Teaser

SIGGRAPH Art Gallery Submission

- Artist Statement
- Snapshot of the piece
- Artifact 1
- Artifact 2
- Artifact 3
- Artifact 4

ADF_Talks_Teaser

Miscellaneous Talks on ADFs

- Short PPT Presentation 2/14/2002
- Short PDF Presentation 2/14/2002
- Long PPT Presentation 2/28/2002
- Long PDF Presentation 2/28/2002

ADF_Gallery

Gallery of ADF Models

- "The Lord of the Rings" Concept Models
- Volumetric Renderings
- Machine Parts
- Miscellaneous Models

 

 

ShadermapsPins

Shadermaps: A Method For Accelerating Procedural Shading

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Technical Sketch
- U.S. Patent: Shadermaps
- U.S. Patent: Generalization of Shadermaps

SPIDER_Contours

A New Method For Numerical Constrained Optimization

- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Technical Sketch
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PPT Sketch Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 2001 PDF Sketch Slides
- U.S. Patent: Constraint Handling
- U.S. Patent: Polytope with Constraint Handling

  LineSamplingResults

Antialiasing with Line Samples

- Rendering Workshop 2000 PDF Paper
- Rendering Workshop 2000 PPT Slides
- Rendering Workshop 2000 PDF Slides
- U.S. Patent

FelineFilter

Feline: Fast Elliptical Lines for Anisotropic Texture Mapping

- ACM SIGGRAPH 1999 PDF Paper
- ACM SIGGRAPH 1999 PPT Slides
- ACM SIGGRAPH 1999 PDF Slides
- U.S. Patent

GamePlay

Game Playing with Individual
Anonymous Laser Pointers


- SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater Proposal
- U.S. Patent

 

 

 

Code Samples

 

 

 

Saffron and Mischief Related Patents

 

Antialiasing an Object Represented as a Two-Dimensional Distance Field in Image-Order

Antialiasing an Object Represented as a Two-Dimensional Distance Field in Object-Order

Animating Two-Dimensional Objects

Converting Two-Dimensional Objects to Distance Fields

Converting a Two-Dimensional Distance Field to a Set of Boundary Descriptors

Converting Two-Dimensional Pen Strokes to Distance Fields

Generating a 2D Distance Field within a Cell Associated with a Corner of a Two-Dimensional Object

Antialiasing a Set of Objects Represented as a Set of 2D Distance Fields in Image-Order

Generating a Composite Glyph and Rendering a Region of the Composite Glyph in Image-Order

Generating an Adaptively Sampled Distance Field of an Object with Specialized Cells

Antialiasing a Set of Objects Represented as a Set of 2D Distance Fields in Object-Order

 

Generating a Composite Glyph and Rendering a Region of the Composite Glyph in Object-Order

Rendering Cell-Based Distance Fields Using Texture Mapping

Typesetting a Set of Glyphs Represented as a Set of Two-Dimensional Distance Fields

Rendering Using a Progressive Cache

Improving character outlines using multiple alignment zones

Improving uniform width character strokes using multiple alignment zones

Generating a distance field of an object represented by outlines

Converting outline characters to stylized stroke characters

Generating a distance field of an object represented by stylized strokes

Converting Paths Defined by a Nonzero Winding Rule

Labeling Segments of Paths as Interior or Exterior

Modeling Graphical Objects with Topological Hints

Embedding Messages into Documents

Rendering Paths Without Outlining Artifacts

 

 

Odds and Ends

 

- Curriculum Vitae

- Ron Perry Bio

- Ron Perry Pictures

- Ron Perry Parallel Page

- Ron Perry Artwork Page

- Pictures of Brooker

 

Note: The images and papers on this site are copyrighted. Ronald Perry, Computer Scientist, 2022.