OO O O   O      Karl Stiefvater
OO OOO   O      qarl@qarl.com
O  OO    O      www.qarl.com
O OO  O  O      
O O O  O O      
 OO O  O O      
 OO O  OO       
 OO O  OO       2004 Open Season - Sony Pictures Imageworks
 O O  OO O      
 O O OOO           created tool for rendering maya scenes with Renderman - compiling
O O O O O          Maya's shader networks into Renderman shaders (functionality very
O O O   O          similar to Pixar's "Renderman for Maya".) led team of developers to
 OO  O  O          extend functionality.
 OO  O OO       
O  O O  O          created tool for translating Maya scenes to in-house tool "birps",
O  O  O O          greatly reducing time required for lookdev. (prop lookdev time
   O O  O          decreased by 80%.)
O  OO   O       
 O  O  O O         created tool for modeling/rendering trees.
 O  OO O O      
O O OO O O      
O O   O OO      
O  O  OO O      2003 The Matrix:Revolutions - ESC Entertainment
O  OOO O O      
   O O O O         called in to assist sentinel swarm team meet production
 O   O O O         deadline. created software to "destroy" sentinels - using both
O OO  OO O         a hand-animated library for gross movement and dynamics for
O OO OO  O         sentinel legs and debris. handled difficult task of transition from
O  O OOO           "live" mode to "dead" mode. software was used through-out battle
 O  O O O          sequences.
 O  O OO O      
 O OO OO O         created software to filter undesirable high-frequency jitter from
 OO O  O           swarm animation. created software to re-time swarm animation.
 OO OO OO       
 OO OOO OO         worked with the pipeline team to optimize rendering of swarm
O   OOO O          (created module for their in-house tool "plexus".)
O  O OOOO       
O  O OO OO         worked with pipeline team to create utility mental ray shaders.
O  O  O O       
OO O  O         
O  O O O O      
O  O O O        2003 The Matrix:Reloaded - Sony Pictures Imageworks
 O O O O        
 O O  OO           created tool (Maya) which allowed modelers to easily create miles
 O  O OO           of pipe needed for underground tunnels. created tool to import
O   OO O           hand-modeled pipe, so that the pipe could later be rendered
O    O   O         procedurally in Renderman.
O O O O  O      
OO  O O O          created the "Hindenburg effect" for the Nebukadnezar destruction at
OO  O O O          the end of "Reloaded". metal burned away from the underlying frame
OO O  O O          in a way reminiscent of the Hindenberg blimp.
O OO   OO       
O  OO  OO          created the dynamics system (in Maya) for twisted metal and
 O  O O O          windshield debris for the Nebukadnezar destruction. created
 O  OOO O          particle-based fire and smoke for the explosion.
 O O O  O       
  OOOO OO       
  O O O O       
O O O O O       2002 The Matrix:Reloaded, The Matrix:Revolutions - Centropolis FX
O O O   O       
O O  O  O          called in to troubleshoot Centropolis' atmospheric renderings using
O O  O OO          global illumination in mental ray. created a photon-density cache
O O  O  O          mechanism, decreasing render times by a factor of 5.
O O O O  O      
    O OO O         created an artificial intelligence system to guide the 600 sentinel
  O O OO O         attack on the Mjolner in "Revolutions". the system - an advanced
  O O O  O         flocking system - directed the sentinels in a high-speed chase in
O O O O  O         which they attacked in coordinated groups, dodged incoming fire,
OO O   O O         landed on the Mjolner, crawled along its surface in pursuit of the
OOO O  O           broadcast antenna. learned Maya in the process of development -
OOO O  O O         completed task in 10 days.
OO  O  O O      
O  O  O OO      
O O   O OO      
  O  OO  O      2001-1999 mental images
O O   O  O      
O O O OOO          worked to create a "phenomena" (shader) library for the mental
O O O  OO          ray renderer, and then release the collection under the title
O  OO O O          "Phenomena for mental ray" to be published by Springer Verlag. the
O  OO OO           project has been cancelled.
O OO   OO       
O O OO O O      
O O OOO  O      
O OO O   O      
OOO O O O       2001-1999 Washington University - Adjunct Faculty
OOO O O O       
 O O  O O          created and taught courses in computer graphics (both undergraduate
 O O OO  O         and graduate level) including "Computational Art" and "Graphics
 O O O   O         Laboratory".
O O OO   O      
O O OO  O          coordinated a student effort to create a data-flow based graphics
O O O O O          library similar in function to Houdini.
  O O O O       
O   O OO O         coordinated a student effort to create (with a budget of $500) a
O  OO OO O         real-time virtual water environment.  "The Waterworks" has shown at
O O  O O O         several prestigious events, including SIGGRAPH 2001.
 OO  OO OO      
 O   OO O          at the time of this writing (2005) Washington University is ranked
OO  O O O          at 11th place in US News and World Report's list of top national
OOO O  O O         universities.
OO O O  O       
 O O  OO O      
 O OO O  O      
 O OO  OO       1999-1996 Lume - Founder
O O O  O O      
O  O  OO O         created a suite of photo-realistic tools for the mental ray
O  O   O O         renderer. the tools used the then-ground-breaking technique of
O  O O O           high-dynamic-range light, creating impressive water, metal,
O  OO  O           lighting and atmospheric renderings.
OO OO O         
OOO O O O          founded the company Lume, Inc., and supervised the porting of the
O O O O OO         tools to Renderman, Lightwave, Maya, and 3D Max.
 O  O O OO      
 OO O OO O      
O O O  O O      
 O  OO O O      1997-1995 Cyan - Riven: The Sequel to Myst
 O  O O  O      
O O O O  O         created the shader collection used in the rendering of Riven,
O O O   O          including shaders for lighting, atmosphere, water (surface,
 O O   OO          subsurface, and displacement), metals, terrain, etc.
O  O  O O       
O OO  OO O         created the render queuing software used by Cyan to efficiently
  O O  O           exploit their render farm.
 OO O O O       
 O  O O O       
OO O     O      
OOOOO  O O      Other
 OOOO  O O      
 OO O O OO         i have 20 years experience developing software under a variety of
 O OO O O          operating systems and languages and design paradigms - primarily
 O OO O            unix based - including Solaris, Irix, Linux, BSD, MacOS 9 and 10,
 O  O O            Windows, etc. C, C++, Objective C, assembly, Scheme, perl, tcl/tk,
  O O O  O         awk, sh/csh, Postscript, etc. i have done development with the
  O O O OO         following software packages: Maya, Houdini, Softimage, Renderman,
 OO O O O          mental ray, Lightwave, Entropy, Shake, Eddie, Photoshop, The Gimp.
 O OO O O       
 O O  OO           i placed in the 98th and 99th %ile for the computer science and
OO OO O  O         math GREs, respectively.
O  OO O  O      
O  OO O O          i was first published nationally at age 15 (Analog Magazine,
OO O OO O          February 1986.)
 O O OO O       
 O OO OOO       
 O  O  O        
 O OO  O O      
 O O O OO       
 O O O  O       References
OO OOO  O       
OO OOO  O          Bret St. Clair - Meteor Studios
O  OO   O       
O  OOO O           Mike Morasky - ESC Entertainment
O OO O OO       
 OO O O O          Jamie Pilgrim - Sony Pictures Imageworks
OO  O OO O      
O O O  O O      
OOOO O OO       
O OO OO O       Matrix vfx demo reel available online at:
 O O  O O       
 O O  O OO      http://www.qarl.com/menu/resume/matrix-demo.mov