Updates in progress!

About

Hi! I am Jessica Baron, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science, Visual Computing at Clemson University advised by Dr. Eric Patterson. My research focus is on material modeling for rendering feathers in computer graphics. I am passionate about the paths that the field of graphics opens up for interdisciplinary and international efforts for understanding more of the physical world.

I am a 2020-2021 Fulbrighter at Prof. Wenzel Jakob’s Realistic Graphics Lab (RGL) at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. I spent time abroad, too, in Cologne, Germany at TH Köln and in Wellington, New Zealand at Weta Digital; at both places I developed tools for procedurally generating feather geometry. I additionally interned with the RenderMan team at Pixar Animation Studios (implementing material models) and the Unreal Engine team at Epic Games (implementing rendering data structures).

Here I am with my world-traveling companion, Fresnel the Great Pyrenees, in Bern, Switzerland.

Research

Overview of my research experience and projects.

Feather Research

• Fulbright 2020-2021, Material Capture at EPFL RGL
• NSF-Small Grant, “Developing and Validating a Physically Accurate Light-Scattering Model for the Rendering of Bird and Other Dinosaur Feathers”
• Image analysis and feather statistics (“Computer-Aided Visual Analysis of Feathers”)
• Procedural geometry (“Procedurally Generating Biologically Driven Bird and Non-Avian Dinosaur Feathers”, Weta Digital internship)

Countenance Lab

• Countenance Tool
• Re-topology of Human Faces
• Quad-Mesh Active Appearance Models (AAMs)

Publications

Publications from research work and other projects.

• Li, X., Liu, J., Baron, J., Luu, K., Patterson, E. “Evaluating Effects of Focal Length and Viewing Angle in a Comparison of Recent Face Landmark and Alignment Methods”, EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing 2021.
• Baron, J. and Patterson, E. “Computer-Aided Visual Analysis of Feathers.” Proc. ICPR Workshop on Visual observation and analysis of Vertebrate And Insect Behavior (VAIB) 2020, Milan, Italy, January 2021.
• Patterson, E. and Baron, J. “Face-Specific, Quad-Mesh Active Appearance Models” (Poster), SIGGRAPH Motion in Graphics (MIG), Charleston, SC, October 2020.
• Baron, J. and Patterson, E. “Procedurally Generating Biologically Driven Feathers”, Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Computer Graphics International (CGI), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 2019.
• Patterson, E., Baron, J., and Simpson, D., “Landmark-Based Re-topology of Stereo-Pair Acquired Face Meshes”, Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, International Conference on Computer Vision and Graphics (ICCVG), Warsaw, Poland, September 2018.
• Patterson, E. and Baron, J., “Real-Time Rocks: Shader-Based Labradorite”, Educator’s Forum, SIGGRAPH 2018, Vancouver, Canada, August 2018.
• Patterson, E. and Baron, J., “Automated Re-topology of Polygonal Meshes of the Human Face”, (Poster), Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games, Montréal, Quebec, Canada: 15-18 May 2018. Baron, J., “Procedural Dungeon Generation and Analysis”, ACM Proceedings of the SouthEast Conference, Kennesaw, GA, April 2017.
• Patterson, E., Baron, J., and Simpson, D., “Collaboratively Designing and Building an Extensible Software Toolset for 2D and 3D Facial Modeling and Analysis” Proceedings of the ACM Mid-Southeast Conference, Gatlinburg, TN, USA, November 2016.
• Baron, J. and Gay, K, “Building the METAL PCB Dataset” (Poster), UNCW CSURF Research Showcase, Wilmington, NC, USA, November 2016.

Professional Involvement

ACM-SIGGRAPH

• SIGGRAPH 2021 General Submissions Reviewer
• SIGGRAPH 2020 General Submissions Reviewer
• SIGGRAPH 2019 Posters Reviewer
• SIGGRAPH 2018 Educator’s Forum Speaker
• SIGGRAPH 2017 Student Volunteer
• SIGGRAPH 2016 Student Volunteer
• 2016: UNC-Wilmington SIGGRAPH Chapter President
• 2015-present: SIGGRAPH Student Member

Industry Experience

• RenderMan Software Development at Pixar Animation Studios
• Software Engineering at Weta Digital
• Unreal Engine Rendering Programming at Epic Games

Academic Experience

• Graduate Teacher of Record for Clemson’s Digital Production Arts (DPA) Master’s programs
• Graduate and Undergraduate Research Assitant at Clemson and UNC-Wilmington
• Math, Computer Science, Physics, and Statistics Tutor at UNC-Wilmington and Rockingham Community College (during high school)

Artwork

A mix of 2D and 3D personal works.

Production-Related Pieces

• Pierre the Fox (Modeling, Animation, Layout 2018)
• Surfacing Chopin’s Monument
• Crossbow (3D Model, 2015)
• The Magic of Programming (Ink, 2016)
• Werewolf 2D Sprite (Digital, 2017)

Physical Works

• The Flight and Flames of Fall (Paper Collage, 2014) Awarded 1st place in the Congressional Art Competition for the 6th District of North Carolina.
• Figure Drawings (Charcoal, Digital, Pencil, 2018-2019)
• Philippine Eagle (Charcoal, 2020)
• Inktober (Ink, 2018-2020)
  • 2020 Outpost, Armor, Hope, Teeth, Fancy, Wisp
  • 2019 Build, Legend, Wild, Freeze, Mindless
  • 2018 Tranquil, Weak, Angular

Digital Paintings

• Kolibir Soldier (Digital, 2019) A warrior hummingbird painting I created for the Pixar Employee Art Gallery during my time interning at Pixar.
• Bartgeier (Bearded Vulture) Study (Digital, 2019)
• Kaffee und Optik (Digital, 2020)
• The Light Within Us (Digital, 2018)
• Seahawk-Tiger (Digital, 2016)

Graphic Design

• Official RECHS Logo (Digital, 2014)
• Wilmington Warhawks Quidditch Shirt (Digital, 2015)
• Spirited Card: Cleansing/Clarity (Digital Photograph Collage, 2015)
• Seahawk Village Shirt Design (Digital, 2016)

Other Projects

• Real-Time Labradorite
• Duel of Beaks: A 3D Hummingbird Simulation
• Theft of the Rewolf Flowers
• Procedural Dungeon Generation

Inspiring Quote

More than iron, more than lead, more than gold I need electricity. I need it more than I need lamb or pork or lettuce or cucumber. I need it for my dreams. ~ Racter, The Policeman’s Beard is Half-Constructed

Contact

Email: jrbaron@clemson.edu LinkedIn: Jessica Baron