you need to scroll up... ---- In 1997 I received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for work I had done on pro

you need to scroll up... ---- In 1997 I received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for work I had done on procedural texture. For example, the NYU Torch on the right is made entirely from procedural textures (except for the text along the bottom). The flame, background, and metal and marble handle are not actually 3D models - they are all entirely faked with textures. A hi-res image of a marble vase I made using this technique can be found here. A bunch of other texture images I created can be found here. I then improved it, and wrote a paper about that. You can play with interactive demos of the improved version here. You can play with designing noise-based textures yourself with a really nice interactive Java Applet created by Justin Legakis. Also, the interactive fractal planet demo on my home page is made using these techniques. It seems that my techniques found their way into the various software packages, such as Autodesk Maya, SoftImage, 3D Studio Max, Dynamation, RenderMan, etc., that folks use to make the effects for feature films, which is way cool. Movies look better now, and I guess that makes me a good American. Here's what the award actually says: To Ken Perlin for the development of Perlin Noise, a technique used to produce natural appearing textures on computer generated surfaces for motion picture visual effects. The development of Perlin Noise has allowed computer graphics artists to better represent the complexity of natural phenomena in visual effects for the motion picture industry. Needless to say, my Mom was very happy.