Frederic Ira Parke is an American
computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...
researcher and academic. He did early work on animated computer renderings of human faces.
Parke graduated from the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
with a BS degree in physics in 1965. He was then a graduate student of the
University of Utah College of Engineering where he received his MS (1972) and PhD (1974) in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
.
In 1972, in a project partially financed by
DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...
, Parke made the first
3D animation of a
representation of a human face, his wife's face. This animation used a wireframe geometry overlaid with
Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading ( ), named after Henri Gouraud (computer scientist), Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by Polygon mesh, polygon meshes. In practice, Gouraud ...
that produces approximate renderings of
curved surfaces. The technique was invented by Parke's Utah colleague
Henri Gouraud.
[
]
A Computer Animated Face
In 1974, he created a more complex, parametric model of a human face, demonstrating various expressions and speech synchronization. Snippets of this animation, along with
Ed Catmull's
1972 animation of his left hand, were used in the 1976 film ''
Futureworld
''Futureworld'' is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film '' Westworld'', and is the second installment in ...
'' and
The Walten Files. Several of the faces also appeared in the music video of
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...
' 2013 song "
We Can't Stop".
He has worked at the
New York Institute of Technology
The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a Private university, private research university, research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York (state), New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long I ...
Computer Graphics Laboratory.
Parke teaches at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
in the Visualization Sciences program.
References
External links
Homepageof Frederic I. Parke at Texas A&M University
1943 births
Living people
Computer graphics professionals
Texas A&M University faculty
University of Utah alumni
New York Institute of Technology faculty
Scientists from Salt Lake City
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