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 The John and Marcia Price College of Engineering at the University of Utah is an academic college of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and computer science. Histo ...

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 Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern ...

of a

representation Representation may refer to: Law and politics *Representation (politics), political activities undertaken by elected representatives, as well as other theories ** Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a ...

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 Henri Gouraud (17 November 1867 - 16 September 1946) was a French army general. He played a central role in the colonization of French Africa and the Levant. During World War I, he fought in major battles such as those of the Argonne, the Dard ...

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 Edwin Earl Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist and animator who served as the co-founder of Pixar and the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, ...

'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 Analog horror is a Genre, subgenre of horror fiction and an offshoot of the Found footage (film technique), found footage film genre, said to have its origins in online horror of the late 2000s and early 2010s, including creepypasta stories and ...

. 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 "We Can't Stop" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus, from her fourth studio album ''Bangerz'' (2013). It was released on June 3, 2013, by RCA Records as the lead single from the album. The song was written and produced by Mike Will Made ...

". 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

Homepage
of 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 {{US-academic-stub