Thomas A. DeFanti

Thomas Albert "Tom" DeFanti(born September 18, 1948) is an Americancomputer graphicsresearcher and pioneer. His work has ranged from earlycomputer animation,toscientific visualization,virtual reality,andgrid computing.He is a distinguished professor of Computer Science at theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago,and a research scientist at theCalifornia Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology(Calit2).^[1]

Education and early life

Born September 18, 1948, inQueens,New York City, New York and attendedStuyvesant High School.^[2]In 1969, DeFanti received a B.A. in Mathematics fromQueens College,and in 1970 he received a M.S. in Computer Information Science from Ohio State University.^[3]In 1973 he received a Ph.D. inComputer Information Sciencefrom Ohio State University, studying underCharles Csuriin the Computer Graphics Research Group.^[3]For his dissertation, he created theGRASS programming language,a three-dimensional, real-time animation system usable by computer novices.^[4]

Work

In 1973, he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and withDaniel J. Sandin,he founded the Circle Graphics Habitat, now known as theElectronic Visualization Laboratory(EVL).^[5]

At UIC, DeFanti further developed the GRASS language, and later created an improved version, ZGRASS, implemented on the low-costDatamax UV-1.^[4]The GRASS and ZGRASS languages have been used by a number of computer artists, includingLarry Cuba,in his film3/78and the animated Death Star sequence forStar Wars,created within the EVL.^[6]^[7]Later significant work done at EVL includes development of the graphics system for theBally Technologieshome computer, invention of the firstdata glove,^[8]co-editing the 1987NSF-sponsored reportVisualization in Scientific Computingthat outlined the emerging discipline of scientific visualization,^[9]invention ofPHSColograms,and invention of theCAVE Automatic Virtual Environment.^[10]DeFanti's current work includes heading the TransLight/StarLight international multi-gigabit networking project^[11]and co-directing the OptIPuter optical networking and visualization project.^[12]

DeFanti contributed greatly to the growth of theSIGGRAPHorganization and conference. He co-organized early film and video presentations (which became the Electronic Theatre) beginning in 1973, started the SIGGRAPH Video Review archive of computer graphics research in 1979, and served as chair of the group from 1981 to 1985.^[13]^[14]

DeFanti is a Fellow of theAssociation for Computing Machinery.He has received the 1988 ACM Outstanding Contribution Award, the 2000SIGGRAPHOutstanding Service Award, and the UIC Inventor of the Year Award.^[13]

In 2018 DeFanti's work and contribution were included in the Chicago New Media 1973-1992 exhibition, curated by jonCates.^[15]^[16]

Publications

Select books

Brown, Maxine; McCormick, Bruce H.; DeFanti, Thomas A. (1987),Visualization in Scientific Computing(PDF),ACM (published July 1987)

Select articles and papers

DeFanti, T. A.; Sandin, D. J.; Ainsworth, R. A. (1976). "Control structures for performance graphics".The papers of the ACM symposium on Graphic languages.ACM. pp. 79–84.
DeFanti, T. (June 1976). "The Digital Component of the Circle Graphics Habitat".AFIPS '76: Proceedings of the national computer conference and exposition.pp. 195–203.
Campbell, Graham; DeFanti, Thomas A.; Frederiksen, Jeff; Joyce, Stephen A.; Leske, Lawrence A. (August 1986). "Two bit/pixel full color encoding".SIGGRAPH '86: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques.ACM. pp. 215–223.
DeFanti, Thomas A.; Brown, Maxine D.; McCormick, Bruce H. (August 1989). "Visualization: Expanding Scientific and Engineering Research Opportunities".Computer.22(8). IEEE: 12–25.doi:10.1109/2.35195.S2CID 17357523.
Hart, John C.; DeFanti, Thomas A. (July 1991). "Efficient antialiased rendering of 3-D linear fractals".SIGGRAPH '91: Proceedings of the 18th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques.ACM. pp. 91–1008.
Cruz-Neira, Caroline;Sandin, Daniel;DeFanti, Thomas; R.V. Kenyon and J.C. Hart, "The CAVE: Audio Visual Experience Automatic Virtual Environment," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 65–72, June, 1992.
DeFanti, Thomas A.; Sandin, Daniel J.; Cruz-Neira, Carolina (October 1993). "A 'Room' with a 'View'".Spectrum.30(10). IEEE: 30–33, 39.doi:10.1109/6.237582.S2CID 40023851.
DeFanti, Tom; Stevens, Rick (1999),"Teleimmersion",in Foster, Ian; Kesselman, Carl (eds.),The Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure,Morgan Kaufmann, pp.131–155,ISBN 978-1-55860-475-9

References

^"People > Staff and Academic Personnel > Tom DeFanti".Retrieved13 October2009.
^Jones, Steve (2002).Encyclopedia of New Media: An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology.SAGE Publishing. p. 125.ISBN 978-1452265285– via Google Books.
^^a ^b"Future of VR Conference".UCSD.2015.
^^a ^bMagnenat-Thalmann, Nadia; Thalmann, Daniel (1985).Computer Animation: Theory and Practice.Spring-Verlag Tokyo. pp.26–33.ISBN 978-4-431-70005-0.
^Jones, Steve (2002).Encyclopedia of New Media: An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology.SAGE Publishing. p. 398.ISBN 978-1452265285– via Google Books.
^Masson, Terrence(1999).CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference.New Riders. pp. 410–412.ISBN 978-0-7357-0046-8.
^Tribune, Christopher Borrelli | Chicago (2017-05-23)."Blueprints for 'Star Wars' Death Star were created at UIC".Chicago Tribune.Retrieved2024-07-10.
^Sturman, D.J., Zeltzer, D. (January 1994). "A survey of glove-based input".IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.14(1): 30–39.doi:10.1109/38.250916.S2CID 7119184.{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Nielson, Gregory M.; Shriver, Bruce; Rosenblum, Lawrence J. (1990).Visualization in Scientific Computing.IEEE Computer Society Press. pp.3, 19.ISBN 978-0-8186-8979-6.
^Sherman, William R.; Craig, Alan B. (2003).Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design.Morgan Kaufmann. p. 14.ISBN 978-1-55860-353-0.
^"TransLight/Starlight: About".Retrieved13 October2009.
^"OptIPuter".Retrieved13 October2009.
^^a ^b"2000 ACM SIGGRAPH Awards".Archived fromthe originalon 22 November 2009.Retrieved13 October2009.
^"Dig This! SIGGRAPH's Electronic Theater Celebrates 25 Years of Discovery by Wendy Jackson".awn.com.Retrieved21 June2022.
^Picard, Caroline (November 28, 2018)."'Chicago New Media 1973-1992' pays tribute to the city's contribution to video games and digital art ".Chicago Reader.RetrievedSeptember 26,2018.
^Cates, Jon (2018).Chicago New Media, 1973-1992.Illinois, United States: University of Illinois Press. pp. 9, 21.ISBN 978-0-252-08407-2.

External links

Thomas A. DeFantiwebsite at uic.edu

[1] "People > Staff and Academic Personnel > Tom DeFanti".Retrieved13 October2009.

[2] Jones, Steve (2002).Encyclopedia of New Media: An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology.SAGE Publishing. p. 125.ISBN 978-1452265285– via Google Books.

[:1-3] "Future of VR Conference".UCSD.2015.

[thalmann-4] Magnenat-Thalmann, Nadia; Thalmann, Daniel (1985).Computer Animation: Theory and Practice.Spring-Verlag Tokyo. pp.26–33.ISBN 978-4-431-70005-0.

[5] Jones, Steve (2002).Encyclopedia of New Media: An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology.SAGE Publishing. p. 398.ISBN 978-1452265285– via Google Books.

[masson-6] Masson, Terrence(1999).CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference.New Riders. pp. 410–412.ISBN 978-0-7357-0046-8.

[7] Tribune, Christopher Borrelli | Chicago (2017-05-23)."Blueprints for 'Star Wars' Death Star were created at UIC".Chicago Tribune.Retrieved2024-07-10.

[8] Sturman, D.J., Zeltzer, D. (January 1994). "A survey of glove-based input".IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.14(1): 30–39.doi:10.1109/38.250916.S2CID 7119184.{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[9] Nielson, Gregory M.; Shriver, Bruce; Rosenblum, Lawrence J. (1990).Visualization in Scientific Computing.IEEE Computer Society Press. pp.3, 19.ISBN 978-0-8186-8979-6.

[10] Sherman, William R.; Craig, Alan B. (2003).Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design.Morgan Kaufmann. p. 14.ISBN 978-1-55860-353-0.

[11] "TransLight/Starlight: About".Retrieved13 October2009.

[12] "OptIPuter".Retrieved13 October2009.

[:0-13] "2000 ACM SIGGRAPH Awards".Archived fromthe originalon 22 November 2009.Retrieved13 October2009.

[14] "Dig This! SIGGRAPH's Electronic Theater Celebrates 25 Years of Discovery by Wendy Jackson".awn.com.Retrieved21 June2022.

[15] Picard, Caroline (November 28, 2018)."'Chicago New Media 1973-1992' pays tribute to the city's contribution to video games and digital art ".Chicago Reader.RetrievedSeptember 26,2018.

[16] Cates, Jon (2018).Chicago New Media, 1973-1992.Illinois, United States: University of Illinois Press. pp. 9, 21.ISBN 978-0-252-08407-2.

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Authority control databases
International	VIAF
Academics	Association for Computing Machinery DBLP
Artists	Museum of Modern Art