DAVID BOCK
|
Associate Professor Director of Computer Animation & Graphics dbock@parkland.edu, (217) 353-2688 |
Visualization/Graphics Research Programmer dbock@ncsa.uiuc.edu, (217) 244-0637 |
EDUCATION
M.F.A. Graphic
Design
School
of Art and Design, University
of Illinois
M.A. Art
Education
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Southern
A.A.S. Computer Graphics and
Visualization
EMPLOYMENT
Director of Digital Media, Computer Animation, Graphics
Associate
Professor
|
2000 – present
|
|
Visualization/Graphics
Research Programmer NCSA - |
1997 –
present |
|
Computer
Graphics Manager/R&D Software Development TerraGlyph
Interactive Studios, Big Idea Productions, |
1995 –
1997 |
|
Senior
Graphics Researcher Andersen
Consulting, |
1993 – 1995
|
|
Scientific
Graphics Software Developer, Animator |
1990 – 1993
|
|
Graphics Research
Programmer NCSA,
Aviation Research Lab, |
1989 – 1990
|
|
Electrical
& Avionics Engineer McDonnell
Aircraft Company, Coles-Moultrie
Electric Cooperative, |
1987 – 1989
|
TEACHING
Director of Computer Animation & Graphics,
Associate Professor
Developed 3D Computer Animation and Graphics program
Designed curriculum for degrees in 3D
Computer Animation and Graphics Programming
Designed, developed, and currently
teaching all courses in 3D program (see below)
Instituted Alias Maya academic
certification program
Showcased animation program with student
demonstration reel
Articulated courses with
Courses taken as credit electives for BS, Computer Science at
Implemented program marketing and
student recruitment strategies
Organized advisory board of industry
professionals
Teaching courses in 3D animation and graphics programming with
extensive on-line lecture notes and projects:
3D Computer Animation I (w/ Maya) – Modeling and Rendering (form, light, shading,
treatment)
3D Computer Animation
II (w/ Maya) – Motion and Animation
(cinematography and narrative)
3D Computer Animation
III (w/ Maya) – Characters (character design,
modeling, and animation)
Computer Graphics I – Real-time graphics programming fundamentals with OpenGL
Computer Graphics II – Advanced graphics applications (Scientific
Visualization,
Procedural Visual
Effects – Pixar’s RenderMan, Maya C++ API, MEL,
Particle Systems
Student internship and
portfolio
Other programming courses include Object-oriented
programming in C++
RESEARCH
Scientific Visualization Shading
Investigating and developing software for rendering and
visualizing scientific data. Custom representation algorithms are
developed directly in Pixar’s RenderMan shading language (the same technology
used for computer-generated feature films). This technique has been
demonstrated and used for several scientific visualization projects including
the representation of Binary Neutron Stars, AMR galaxy clusters, 3D
Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and hurricane simulations. Further
information available at project web page.
This work has been featured in the book Visual Computing, and
other publications including Computer Graphics World,and Astronomy
Magazine. This research has also been presented at both SIGGRAPH
1999 and 2000.
Particle
Systems Renderer
Researched, designed, and developed a particle systems generator
and renderer to provide a more accurate and realistic representation of
high-density vector data. This software was developed to simulate the
results achieved from real-world smoke chamber tests as a way of analyzing
complex, high-density vector data. The system has been successfully used
to visualize astrophysical gas dynamic data and wind data circulating around
structures and was demonstrated at the SIGGRAPH 1993 Electronic Theater.
Automatic
Shadow Generator
Researched, designed, and developed software to generate shadows
(body and cast shadows) automatically from 2D cel-animated character
sequences. Software uses input such as light direction, coverage, shadow
colors and opacity and outputs shadow files to composite for final game
animation sequences.
Molecular
Modeler
Wrote visualization code to generate atoms and atom bonds in
three-space given atom coordinates and bonding thresholds. Program was
used to generate images for article in Physical Review magazine.
Distributed,
collaborative graphical workplace environment
Co-designed and developed distributed, shared, 3D virtual
environment that served to prototype potential next generation business
workspaces. This system was demonstrated at the Andersen Consulting
Global Consulting Seminar in March, 1994. The system employs RPC/Sockets
and SGI Inventor/GL to share agent representations of users within a graphical
world of interactive, 3D business applications enabling users to share, point,
and view one another.
Motion
mapping and filtering
Researched, designed, and developed software to map 2D
cel-animated, character motion to 3D joints and skeletons used in standard 3D
animation packages. Software also employs FFT transformation on the input
data by filtering in the frequency domain to reduce and remove input noise as
well as alter the motion.
Volumetric
Morphing
Developed a 3D morphing system to
generate surfaces from morphed volumetric representations of data. System
defined and combined input shapes mathematically and output isosurface
generated surfaces to be used in standard 3D animation software packages.
Contour
Extractor
Researched, designed, and developed software to extract outlines
of painted regions from 2D digitized cel images. Software employs
visualization principles of iso-contouring to identify and contour painted
regions based on color information. Software writes out outlines as
geometry for interactive viewing or use with standard animation packages.
This software extracts more accurate clean outlines when compared to similar
off-the-shelf tools.
Advanced
Representation of Business Information
Initiated and co-developed new research initiative within Andersen
Consulting’s Center for Strategic Technology Research to introduce and develop
information visualization of large business data spaces. This initiative
is involved with internal tool development and collaborative client projects to
represent business information in intuitive, multi-sensory forms.
Produced and animated film showing the economic growth of industries within
Andersen Consulting over a five year period. Film showcased at annual
Partner conference, 1995.
Speech Translator
Designed and developed an interface to a typical voice recognition
session including such tasks as enabling/disabling the speech engine, reading a
grammar file, activating/deactivating the microphone, and processing the
speech. This tool also allows a user to open a socket connection and send
the speech to an awaiting process on a remote machine. This tool was
written in C++/MFC under Microsoft's Visual C++ and IBM's ViaVoice SDK for
Windows platforms. Further information available at project web page.
Damaged Structures
Developed an interactive visualization tool depicting the
simulation of a bomb blast and its impact on a neighboring building. The bomb-blast
simulation and building-deformation work was conducted at the Major Shared
Resource Center (MSRC) at the Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment
Station (CEWES) in
Collaborative,
Remote Visualization
Developed C++ API to provide scientific visualization
functionality in a collaborative, heterogeneous computing environment.
Applications written with this API are capable of operating across a spectrum
of platforms including virtual reality environments (i.e. CAVE, IDesk, IWall),
graphics workstations, personal computers, or within a web browser.
Modules provide applications with the ability to share information among
participants through standard message passing. Standard scientific
visualization tasks are implemented through a layer of modules utilizing the
functionality provided by the Visualization Toolkit (VTK). Use of this API allows
application developers to write, without requiring prior knowledge, programs
that render and display across different software and hardware
architectures. Modules also provide the capability for participants to
remotely view a rendered scene in a standard web browser using server push
technology.
Isosurface
Generator
Researched, designed, and developed software to generate
iso-surfaces from volume data. The algorithm used to determine polygonal
surfaces is an implementation based on the method described by Wyvill, Wyvill,
and McPheeters in Visual Computer - August 1986. The software
eliminates the common “holes” problem within surfaces generated from the
popular Marching Cubes algorithm. Program was used for various
visualization productions and images. Software was demonstrated in the SIGGRAPH
1992 Electronic Theater.
SKILLS
Computer
Animation and Post-Production
Alias Maya, Pixar’s RenderMan, 3D
Studio
Adobe AfterEffects, Adobe Photoshop
Web Design – Dreamweaver, Fireworks
Software
Development
C/C++, Java, Xt/Motif, Visual C++/MFC
OpenGL, Performer, TCP/IP Sockets, RPC, Perl
MEL, Maya C++ API
Visualization
Software
Custom visualization shading, AVS, VTK
Alias Maya
Instructor Certification
Learning Maya Introduction
Learning Maya Transition
Character Animation in Maya
PRESENTATIONS
SIGGRAPH
’00 conference
Invited panel presentation
“Visualizing
the Cosmos: smoke or mirrors?”
SIGGRAPH ’99 conference, RenderMan User’s group
Invited talk,
“RenderMan
for Scientific Visualization and Effects”
SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater animations
“Data Driven”, SIGGRAPH '93
“Caustic Sky”, SIGGRAPH '92
CIC Research Computing Workshop
Invited talk,
“Visualization Rendering”
MAPINT ’98 conference
Invited talk, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
“Collaborative Scientific Visualization”
Center for Research in Scientific Computing
Invited talk,
"Scientific Visualization Productions"
MEDIA PUBLICATIONS
SIGGRAPH/EUROGRAPHICS Graphics Hardware Workshop
Real-time Shading Languages, Pat Hanrahan,
Visualization imagery
Computer Graphics World
May 1999 TechWatch article
Article and imagery on Visualization Shading techniques
Physics Today Magazine
September 1999 issue - Cover image
Computer Graphics imagery - Buckyball fullerine composition
Astronomy Magazine
August 1999 issue - 2-page spread
Visualization imagery - Neutron star simulation sequence
Visual Computing
Scientific American Library book by Friedhoff/Peercy, ISBN 7167-5059-7
Commentary and imagery on Neutron Star simulation
Discovery Channel
Science Live television show, 1999
Visualization animation of AMR galaxy cluster simulations
Scientific Computing World Magazine
August/September 1999
Visualization imagery for “Neutron star merger” article
PAPERS & AWARDS
Cantero, M. I., S. Balachandar, M. H. Garcia, and D. Bock (2008),
"Turbulent structures in planar gravity currents and their influences
on the flow dynamics", J. Geophys. Res., 113, C08010, doi:10.1029/2007JC004645.
ICCTA 2006 Outstanding Faculty Award, Parkland College
Brodie Grant Award –
P. Baker, D. Bock, R. Heiland, M.
Stephens, “Visualization of Damaged Structures”,
Department of Defense, CEWES MSRC PET Annual
Technical Report: Year 2, Mar. 1998.
D. Bock, A. Craig, “Collaborative
Scientific Visualization”, Department of Defense,
PET/MSRC Conference Proceedings, Apr.
1998.
D. Bock, “REEVA - A Research
Environment for Exploratory Volume Analysis,”
EPA research proposal,