Transforming Hollywood Visual Effects with Graphics and Vision

CSE is pleased to welcome Paul Debevec as the division’s Alumni Merit Award Winner for 2023.

Abstract: Paul will describe how a computer vision class he took at the University of Michigan in 1989 started him along a path to developing visual effects technology used in hundreds of movies, including The Matrix, Spider-Man 2, Benjamin Button, Avatar, Maleficent, Furious 7, and Blade Runner: 2049. These techniques include image-based modeling and rendering, high dynamic range imaging, image-based lighting, and high-resolution facial scanning for photoreal digital actors. Paul will also discuss how techniques from his work have been used to create holographic 3D displays, record the first 3D Presidential Portrait, preserve the testimony of survivors of the Holocaust, and lay the foundation for LED volume virtual production techniques used in shows such as Gravity, The Mandalorian, and Ashoka.

Bio: Paul Debevec received degrees in Computer Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1992 and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. He is the Chief Research Officer at Netflix’s Eyeline Studios, an Adjunct Research Professor at the University of Southern California, and a Governor of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as well as a co-chair of the Academy’s Sci-Tech Council. Paul’s work in technology for visual effects and virtual production has been recognized with two Academy Awards for Scientific and Technical Achievement, the Progress Medal from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and in 2022, the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award.