Ken Perlin

Ken's Website

A few comments about this site, and again more criticism for NYU. Ken's site is pretty lame aesthetically speaking. I really appreciate all the applications on it but visually, it's not particularly engaging. Then I realized Ken's site is part of the nyu.edu which means that the University, not Ken probably designed and sponsored the site. NYU needs to work on this because I feel like the design of the site make Ken look less credible as a graphic designer than he actually is! NYU: get on it.

Also, did anyone happen to check out the easter bunny application Ken did for Google last easter? It's one of his demo games on the site and I would just like to say kudos!

And, additionally, thumbs down to NYU for not publicizing this information. This was an issue I previously have had with the University. I feel like I get junk email all the time from the University but never know about all these resources we have. I still vote PR revamp!

Ken's Blog

I appreciate Ken's blog (and site) a lot for the sheer accessibility of it. Most of us in class aren't familiar with the computer science that goes into these technologies but Ken, like Noah and Rich all put their thoughts into language that was colloquial and useful. Individuals like Ken who make efforts to link technology to other things (example, Ken's poetry on his blog and Noah's fictional narratives) make the field more lucrative to those not initially interested.

Ken's Inventions: NOISE-TURBULENCE and PAD

First off, Noise-Turbulence is one of those technologies that resonates with me just because I can visually recognize moments and when this technology was used, so for me, it becomes easier for me to make connections and recognize the importance of technology when I feel a personal tie to it. I l-o-v-e Toy Story (and most Pixar films) so was thrilled when I found out Ken contributed.

PAD is something I would actually use and use frequently. I know he has this patented but I feel like there's something similar to it out there...I think I keep thinking of multiple iphone/cloud computing technologies combined so I'm probably off on that hunch. I wonder if this can be applied to websites and create a personally annotated online open source interface? Even just using this for notes for class or storing personal information (of literally any kind). Has Ken been approached by anyone about using these technologies in software? I feel like he should, again maybe this is a lack of marketing on NYU's part for not getting Ken's ideas out there.