- Debra Lowman

Debra Lowman
http://evlweb.eecs.uic.edu/lowman

Education:: Master of Fine Arts
Electronic Visualization Laboratory , University of Illinois at Chicago
September 1993 - July 1996
MFA Thesis Exhibition showcased:

"A Small Comfort", a computer generated short feature. Models were created with Softimage and C/GL programming, and animation was done with Softimage. Edited on Betacam SP. "A Small Comfort" featured the actions of an imprisoned woman, a stalking cat, and a curious creature on a surreal, alien world.
"ORGWORLD", a virtual reality work on EVL's Immersadesk, a drafting table format projection based virtual reality display. Programmed in C and GL, "ORGWORLD" contained several environments inhabited by creatures exhibiting distinct behaviors and personalities.

: Other works done at EVL included "Food Court", various animations, and several research projects dealing with virtual reality, VRML and Softimage. See Experience.
Bachelor of Fine Arts
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, received cum laude January 1989.

Experience:

Computer Animator/Virtual Set Designer
Turner Production, Atlanta, Georgia
October 1996 - present
Responsible for designing, modeling, lighting, animating and operating virtual sets for television productions at Turner. Used Softimage for modeling and creating animation paths, Lightscape for rendering, Photoshop for image manipulation, ELSET for mapping, scripting and animating sets for real time interaction.

Research Assistant
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
September 1995 - July 1996
Worked with small and mid-sized businesses to encourage the use of virtual reality technology in the areas of design and manufacturing. Projects included:

Collaborating with Space Management Programs on a virtual reality walkthrough of the proposed redesign of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
A VRML application with NCSA for Caterpillar featuring a 3D front loader
Demonstrations of EVL's virtual reality displays to clients and visitors

Teaching Assistant
School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Chicago
January 1994 - May 1995
Teaching and Lab Assistant for Intro to Computer Graphics. Maintained equipment, assisted students with projects, wrote and administered quizzes, taught classes in teacher's absence.

Computer Artist/Animator
Data East Pinball, Melrose Park, Illinois
Summer 1994
Created backgrounds and graphics, retouched and colorized digitized characters, composited characters with backgrounds for video game.

Freelance Computer Artist
WMX Technologies , Oak Brook, Illinois
September 1993 - August 1995
Designed and created images on computer workstation to be used for business presentations, posters, and brochures.

Computer Graphics Specialist
Visual Presentations, Inc., Bedford, Massachusetts
April 1989 - June 1993
Managed and coordinated multiple projects with tight deadlines. Responsible for meeting with clients to determine their needs, then designing and creating images on computer workstation to be used for business presentations, posters, brochures, video and advertisements.

Skills:

Animation/Modeling: 2+ years Softimage experience
Programming Languages: C, Open GL, SGI/GL, HTML, VRML
Operating Systems: Silicon Graphics IRIX, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows
Packages: Photoshop, DeBabelizer, Lightscape, ELSET Virtual Set Software
Video: Full broadcast quality video production and post production.
Film: 16mm experience doing animation on Oxberry

Personal:

Gardening, hiking, swimming, mystery novels, Tetris, sumo wrestling (as a spectator)

Professional Activities:

Member
ACM SIGGRAPH

Student Volunteer
Supercomputing 95, CAVE and Immersadesk exhibition

Student Volunteer
SIGGRAPH 94, VROOM exhibition

Exhibitions:

Imagina - Special Screening, Softimage Booth Screening
Monte Carlo
February 1997

The Fourth Annual New York Digital Salon - Animation Screening
New York, New York
November 1996

Ars Electronica - CAVE Exhibit
Linz, Austria
September 1996

The Bridge, The Digital Bayou - Immersadesk Exhibit
SIGGRAPH 1996 , New Orleans, Louisiana
August 1996

The 6th International Student Film Festival
Tel Aviv, Israel
June 1996

Divine Organic Push/Pop
Gallery 400, Chicago, Illinois
May 1996

EVE4
Gallery 400 and Engineering Research Facility-UIC, Chicago, Illinois
May 1995

Kiosk
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Spring 1993

Speed Show - Ways of Seeing: New Art from Massachusetts
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Fall 1992

Publications:

Leonardo, Volume 29 Number 5
Digital Salon Special Issue, p. 451, image credit

RUIMTE Magazine, April 1996
"...But it Art? Computer Graphics and the Definition of Art"
pp. 18-21, Co-author and image credit

SIGGRAPH 1996 Visual Proceedings
"Neither Here Nor There" Immersadesk Exhibit
Image, production credit

SIGGRAPH 1996 Art Show Slide Set