James O'Brien

Research Areas

Graphics (GR)
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Scientific Computing (SCI)
Computer animation, physical simulation, surface modeling, human perception of motion, computational geometry, image processing, scientific computing

Research Centers

Biography

Dr. James F. O'Brien is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include computer graphics, computer animation, simulations of physical systems, human perception, rendering, image synthesis, machine learning, and the forensic analysis of images and video.

In addition to his research pursuits, Prof. O'Brien has worked with film and game companies on integrating advanced simulation physics into games and special effects. His methods for destruction modeling have been used in over 200 feature films and game titles. Prof. O'Brien was Chief Scientist at Pixelux and Avametric, and is currently a technical advisor to Juice Labs and Chief Scientist/co-founder at Get Klothed. He has also served as an expert witness or consulting expert in multiple patent cases.

In 2015 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his work in destruction modeling with an Academy Award for Technical Achievement. In 2000 he received his doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology where his thesis received the College of Computing's Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. Professor O'Brien is a Sloan Fellow, recipient of the Jim and Donna Gray Endowment Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and FIU College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni. He was selected as one of Technology Review's TR-35, awarded Georgia Tech's 15 Year Impact award, and received research fellowships from the Okawa and Hellman Foundations. From 2010 through 2016 he served as Director at Large for ACM SIGGRAPH. In 2020 he received an award for Technical Achievement from Dreamworks Animation.

http://obrien.berkeley.edu

Education

2000, Ph.D., Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
1997, M.S., Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
1992, B.S., Computer Science, Florida International University

Selected Publications

C. Shen, M. Kasra, and J. O'Brien, "This photograph has been altered: Testing the effectiveness of image forensic labeling on news image credibility," Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 1--17, May 2021.
S. W. Bailey, D. Omens, P. Dilorenzo, and J. O'Brien, "Fast and Deep Facial Deformations," ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 94:1--15, Aug. 2020.
C. Shen, M. Kasra, W. Pan, G. A. Bassett, Y. Malloch, and J. O'Brien, "Fake images: The effects of source, intermediary, and digital media literacy on contextual assessment of imag credibility online," New Media and Society, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 438--463, Feb. 2019.
S. W. Bailey, D. Otte, P. Dilorenzo, and J. O'Brien, "Fast and Deep Deformation Approximations," ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 119:1--12, Aug. 2018.
R. A. Albert, D. Y. Chan, D. B. Goldman, and J. O'Brien, "Approximate svBRDF Estimation From Mobile Phone Video," in Eurographics Symposium on Rendering, Vol. 37, The Eurographics Association, 2018, pp. 12.
M. Kasra, C. Shen, and J. O'Brien, "Seeing Is Believing: How People Fail to Identify Fake Images on the Web," in Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI 2018 Extended Abstracts, 2018, pp. 1--6.
P. Gillespie, G. Casini, H. Iben, and J. O'Brien, "Simulation of Subseismic Joint and Fault Networks Using a Heuristic Mechanical Model," Subseismic Scale Reservoir Deformation, vol. 459, pp. 14, April 2017.
M. Kasra, C. Shen, and J. O'Brien, "Seeing Is Believing: Do People Fail to Identify Fake Images on the Web?," in Presented at AoIR 2016: The 17th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, 2016, pp. 4.
S. W. Bailey, M. Watt, and J. O'Brien, "Repurposing Hand Animation for Interactive Applications," in Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation, 2016, pp. 1--10.
P. Manteaux, W. Sun, F. Faure, M. Cani, and J. O'Brien, "Interactive Detailed Cutting of Thin Sheets," in Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Motion in Games, 2015, pp. 1--8.
W. Koh, R. Narain, and J. O'Brien, "View-Dependent Adaptive Cloth Simulation with Buckling Compensation," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 1138-1145, Oct. 2015.
G. Brown, A. Samii, J. O'Brien, and R. Narain, "Resampling Adaptive Cloth Simulations onto Fixed-Topology Meshes," in Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation, 2015, pp. 1.
R. Narain, R. A. Albert, A. Bulbul, G. J. Ward, M. S. Banks, and J. O'Brien, "Optimal Presentation of Imagery with Focus Cues on Multi-Plane Displays," ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 59:1--12, Aug. 2015.
E. Kee, J. O'Brien, and H. Farid, "Exposing Photo Manipulation from Shading and Shadows," ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 165:1--165:21, Sep. 2014.
M. Banks, A. Bulbul, R. Albert, R. Narain, J. O'Brien, and G. Ward, "The Perception of Surface Material from Disparity and Focus Cues," Journal of Vision, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 1315, Aug. 2014.
M. Zannoli, R. A. Albert, A. Bulbul, R. Narain, J. O'Brien, and and Martin Banks, "Correct blur and accommodation information is a reliable cue to depth ordering.," Journal of Vision, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 138, Aug. 2014.
R. A. Albert, A. Bulbul, R. Narain, J. O'Brien, and M. Banks, "Can 3D Shape be Estimated from Focus Cues Alone?," Journal of Vision, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 732, Aug. 2014.
W. Koh, R. Narain, and J. O'Brien, "View-Dependent Adaptive Cloth Simulation," in Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation, 2014, pp. 1--8.
M. Stanton, B. Humberston, B. Kase, J. O'Brien, K. Fatahalian, and A. Treuille, "Self-Refining Games using Player Analytics," ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. xx:1--9, July 2014.
T. Pfaff, R. Narain, J. M. de Joya, and J. O'Brien, "Adaptive Tearing and Cracking of Thin Sheets," ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. xx:1--9, July 2014.

Awards, Memberships and Fellowships

Technical Achievement (Oscar) Award, 2015
ACM Distinguished Scientist Award, 2009
Jim and Donna Gray Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of Computer Science, 2008
Hellman Fellow, 2004
MIT Tech Review Top 100 Innovators Under 35 (TR100), 2004
Sloan Research Fellow, 2003
Okawa Research Grant, 2000

Research Support

Elise Mills
382 Cory
elisem@berkeley.edu