Kevin A. Bjorke 2670 Webster Court Computer Animation Santa Clara, CA 95051 Tel (408)249-3359 Cel (808)778-3167 bjorke@botzilla.com May, 2003 ================================================================ Professional Experience ======================================== ================================================================ NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, California. April 2002-Present. Shading Engineer and evangelist for developer marketing and content development; involved intimately with the creation and use of the Cg shading language and CgFX format for realtime shading. Created numerous shaders, sample scenes, tutorials, educational talks, lab classes, online videos, tools. Visited and interfaced with a wide variety of production studios in both the film and game industries. Worked with the software and architecture groups of NVIDIA to bring high-end 3D rendering capabilities into realtime hardware. Lectured at graphics developer events around the US and the world including Siggraph 2002, Game Developer's Conference 2003, Developer Deep Fry Austin, Iron Developer Tokyo, Gathering 2 and Dawn to Dusk London. Contributed to the book "The Cg Tutorial," worked directly with the providers of CAD and DCC tools (such as Maya, SolidWorks, 3DStudio Max, and SoftImage XSI) to ensure that high-quality realtime shading was available at every 3D artist's desktop around the world. Square USA, Honolulu October 1998-April 2002 "Imaging Supervisor," which included tasks as Senior Layout Artist, Lighting Supervisor, and Shading Supervisor for the feature film "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." Layout tasks have included guiding the work of the department layout artists; reviewing story continuity and technical feasability; designing camera work and staging for most of the film; directing scratch-track audio sessions; interfacing scene planning with mocap; designing and implementing layout- and editorial-related software and Mel tools; and of course creating shots and sequences. Lighting- and shading-related tasks have included design and supervision of the RenderMan/MtoR rendering pipeline in use at Square for this large bilingual project, a task which has cut across all production departments. To my knowledge, this is the world's largest MtoR site and also the largest RenderMan site outside Pixar and ILM. Designed interfaces, Mel scripts, shaders, workflows, photo reference, and training; developed systems monitoring procedures and help specify systems and pipeline issues for the studio as a whole; planned schedules and estimated expenses for the entire film. Designed and redesigned interfaces and setups for hair, skin, cloth, and sets. Provided studio-wide troubleshooting and training -- and of course also lit and shaded shots. Portions of the lighting and shading work became the basis of the "Advanced RenderMan 3" course presented at Siggraph 2001 (Los Angeles), and "Industrial-Strength Rendering" at SoftExpo 2001 (Seoul, Korea). After completion of "Final Fantasy," a similar suite of tasks was performed for "Final Flight of the Osiris," a sequellette for "The Matrix;" including design and execution to upgrade the entire render system, greatly expanding the shading and rendering power for modeling and lighting artists. This redesign accomodated not only toward greater control over the RenderMan process but also expandability for alternative future rendering pipelines. Pixar Animation Studios, San Francisco May 1993-July 1998. Contributed to the feature films "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life;" both "Toy Story" CD-ROMs; the "Toy Story" video games; and the Clio-winning Listerine commercial "Arrows" (a.k.a. "Robin Hood"). On "Toy Story," contributions included modeling and shading the characters "Rex" and "Etch;" creating numerous props in Andy's and Sid's houses, using Pixar proprietary software, Alias Designer, and Mac-based software of my own design; creating custom shaders for those models and many others in the gas station scene; executing and supervising scene layouts for numerous sequences, including the final truck chase; performing a wide variety of "firefighting" animation support; developing a number of key scene-building techniques, and rewriting the virtual-camera software (including esoteric uses such as special cameras for creating ViewMaster(TM) disks or performing 2D video game scrolling). Wrote software in a variety of common and proprietary languages. For the "Toy Story" video games and CD ROMs, I provided general technical support, participated in most animation gag sessions, and created the animation and sprites for several game units, such as the "Buddy Builder." On "A Bug's Life," focused primarily on layout -- rewrote the animation camera system (twice), adding such extras as depth of field and fog previews, pan-and-scan controls, and view-camera-style shifting, along with powerful animation controls that permitted greater focus on the dramatic elements of the shot; created early crowd tests using the "Blizzard" particle system, and built the crowd tools used by layout and animation departments to rough-in all bulk crowd animation; wrote numerous animation utilities, documentation, and tools that enjoyed wide use among other layout artists, character animators, and TDs; more esoteric but widely-used tools such as the "waddler," "scooter," and "pivot" objects; and web-based tools such as the web interface to Pixar's image disk farm; provided direct firefighting support to the animation department; and did scene layout for hundreds of shots. Lightmotive Entertainment, Los Angeles March 1992-May 1993 Supervised and created software for the live action feature film "Super Mario Brothers," a project whose scope grew from two 3D background shots to over 170 digital effects. During the course of the production, built an entire mini-studio based on SGI and Macintosh computers, including the first film to use the now-ubiquitous "Flame" paint software. Supervised the operation and handling of in-house and out-of-house scanning, printing, and animation, purchased or specified or developed all software used in the production. Developed the kernel of the "Blizzard" particle-animation system as part of the tool set for this production (Blizzard is available and has been used by other studios for animation effects ever since). Acteurs Auteurs Associes (AAA)/Selena Audiovisuel, Paris February 1991-January 1992. Performed a wide array of tasks for the 3D animated film "Kazhann," based on the "bande desinne" comic-book universe of Philippe Druillet. Tasks included the creation of budgets and detailed schedules for every aspect of the production; coordination of hiring and interviews; equipment purchasing; presentations to press and investors; software analysis and development for SoftImage and RenderMan animation and interfaces; character animation samples; agency and direct contacts with potential film directors in France, the USA, and Japan; script rewrites and translations. Kevin Bjorke Computer Animation, Hollywood January 1991-August 91 Consulted on computer-based character animation for entertainment clients including Walt Disney Imagineering, Golden Era Productions, Full Moon Entertainment, IBM, and Barking Art. Invited speaker, Siggraph '91 (Las Vegas), in a talk similar to (but expanded from) that from the previous year. deGraf/Wahrman, Inc., Los Angeles March 1989-January 1991 Led computer animation production and software development in a varied environment including Silicon Graphics, Sun, Symbolics, and Ardent workstations; Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga; Sony 1125/60 (including the world's first digital HDTV studio); with Pixar, Symbolics, Wavefront, in-house and other software. Animation projects included a Sony HDTV promotion for the Disney/MGM studio tour; The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, a 70mm simulator ride; and three widescreen 3D park attractions for Japan and the U.S. Worked closely with the clients of all of these projects, from initial bidding stages through design, production and delivery. Software projects included RScript, a script-based programmable front- end program for RenderMan renderers; MMaker, a patch-and-polygon-based geometric modelling program that directly manipulates RenderMan "RIB" files; revisions of Perform, a real-time 3D electronic puppetry program; image-processing and translation programs for Pixar Picio, TIFF, Symbolics, SGI, X-Windows, Postscript, PICT, and IFF; and a special 3D renderer for creating cel animation on paper. Spoke at the Siggraph '90 (Dallas) course on The RenderMan Interface, and contributed to the book The RenderMan Companion. R/Greenberg Associates, New York January 1988-March 89 Director of 3D Software Development -- wrote and supervised rendering software, real-time animation tools, modellers, and digital video support (D1, aka 4:2:2) on Sun workstations, VAX, Pixar Image Computer, Pixar RenderMan Accelerator, AT&T Pixel Machine, Iris 4D, Sony D1, Abekas A60/64, Mac II, Amiga. Was Pixar's first off-site production user of RenderMan. Animated 3D spots and special projects; consulted for network newsrooms; helped specify and build New York's first all-D1 video suite; and lectured at the Siggraph '88 course "3D Character Animation By Computer." Programs written included "Boing," a program which allowed the user to freely deform 3D models in a "claymation" style by drawing deformed outlines around them, and "Hop," a hierarchical, interactive 3D motion editor. Kroyer Films, Hollywood July-December 1988 Developed Kroyer's unique rendering environment, mixing 3D animation with traditional cartoon cels for the animated TV series "UltraCross" and the 1988 Oscar Nominee "Technological Threat." Wrote a full-featured 3D object editor for the SGI Iris 3130 that was compatible with Wavefront's "PreView" software, and the Kroyer hidden-line rendering system. Digital Productions/Abel & Associates/Omnibus, Los Angeles December 1984-March 1987. Senior Technical Director. Animated, produced and supervised television and cinema commercials, music videos, broadcast graphics packages and special-project films -- all of involving heavy use of computer graphics. Used COS, VMS and Unix operating systems; IMI, SGI, VAX, Macintosh and Cray computers; Fortran, C, Smalltalk, Forth, Lisp, and other more esoteric languages. Initiated, wrote and maintained software projects, including the core filming drivers of the DP3D system; 3D model generators and processors such as "graftal" garden generators; 2D & 3D typesetting utilities; 2D texturing programs; particle system manipulators; paint programs; and "robotic" automated-animation aids. National Pixel Products/Consultant, Los Angeles/New York 1983-1996 Began consulting while in college. First clients were Sunrise, Inc. and Timex/Sinclair Computers, writing utilities and games for the as-of-then unreleased Sinclair Spectrum (Timex 2068). Other clients included Chem Sources, Inc., of Mission Hills, CA; Ampex Corporation; Activision/Mediagenic. Also wrote "shareware" programs such as a revision of the CP/M "Small-C" compiler, the ALGOL-M interpreter, the Phantom RBBS, and the portable and much-copied game Core Wars. Under the National Pixel Products banner, have offered Amiga diversions, animation and CASE tools. Also produced animation for the Stuart Gordon feature film "Robo-Jocks," and "Max Headroom for President" for Coca-Cola. California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Los Angeles Fall 1982-Spring 1984 Co-taught the Advanced Computer Graphics Workshop; Assistant to Kris Malkiewisz (author of "Cinematography"); Camera & Recorder technician. Freelanced as a gaffer during this period. ABC Television/KSTP-TV, Minneapolis/St. Paul Summer 1981. Interned as Associate Producer of "Twin Cities Today," a one-hour daily local news-and-talk program. Gospel Films/Golden West, Inc, Los Angeles Fall 1980 Assistant Director and SPFX animator on "Where's the Barn?" a half-hour animated film. Century Communications Inc., Minneapolis Spring 1978-Fall 1979 Managed a professional photo/cine equipment house, sales and rentals. Worked as a commercial photographer/assistant during the same period. Donaldson's, Minneapolis Fall 1976-Summer 1977 Special Events Advertising -- named by "Seventeen" magazine as one of the nationally outstanding young advertisers of 1977. Little Bit Magazine/Little Bit Publications Inc, Minneapolis Fall 1974-Spring 1977 Became an assistant editor at this local magazine. Also wrote the cover story for the first issue of the sister spin-off magazine, "Little Bit of Houston." ================================================================ Computer Animation Awards ====================================== ================================================================ Clio 1988 - Best Computer Animation, "LBS Fantasie" (Supervising Technical Director). Clio 1987 - Best Computer Animation, "Samsung Human Tech" (Animator, Supervising Technical Director). Clio 1986 - Best Computer Animation, "STP Engine" (Animator, Supervising Technical Director). Clio 1994 - Best Computer Animation, "Listerine Arrows" (Modeling and Shading). Monitor Award 1987 - Best Technical Direction, Marvel Comics "Spiderman" (Supervising Technical Director). Prix Pixel (Monte Carlo) 1991 - "Effets Speciaux," "Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera" (Supervising Technical Director). Prix Pixel 1985 - "Clip" for the Mick Jagger video "Hard Woman" (Supervising Technical Director). Prix Pixel 1985 - "Realisme et Simulation" award for collected work (Various roles: TD, Supervising TD, Animator). NCGA 1985 - Best Video, "Hard Woman" (Supervising Technical Director). NCGA 1986 - 2nd Prize Commercials, "Samsung Human Tech" (Supervising Technical Director). New York International Festival 1986 - Silver Medal CGI, "Samsung Human Tech" (Supervising Technical Director). Houston Film Festival 1985 - Best Music Video, "Hard Woman" (Supervising Technical Director). Parigraph (Paris) 1986 - Prix Animation, "Hard Woman" (Supervising Technical Director). Billboard Music Awards 1986 - Best Animated Video, "Hard Woman" (Supervising Technical Director). ================================================================ Education ====================================================== ================================================================ California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Los Angeles Fall 1980-Spring 1984 BFA degree in Live-Action Film and Video, with a minor in Theatre (acting). After graduating, have appeared at CalArts as an invited "visiting artist" lecturer in animation. UCLA, Summer 1980 Program in Fiction Writing. Sherwood Oakes Experimental College, Hollywood Fall 1979-Spring 1980 Programs in TV sitcom-writing and in standup comedy performance, also screenwriting with John Milius. Film in the Cities, St. Paul Spring 1980-Fall 1980 Studied film making and film analysis under Frantisek Daniel, former dean of the Czech state film school and the AFI. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul 1976-1977 Filmmaking program. St. Anthony Village HS, Minneapolis Graduated Spring 1977 National Merit Scholar. Taught a computer mathematics course as an upperclassman; had been using mainframe computers (Cyber-60's and 70's) since the fourth grade, and making animated films for about the same length of time. ================================================================ Affiliations =================================================== ================================================================ Academy of Television Arts and Sciences International Photographers, IATSE Local 644 ACM Siggraph IEEE ======================================================= end ====