Paul Debevec is a researcher in computer graphics at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. He is best known for his pioneering work in high dynamic range imaging and image-based modelling and rendering.
Debevec received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in computer science from UC Berkeley in 1996; his thesis research was in photogrammetry, or the recovery of the 3D shape of an object from a collection of still photographs taken from various angles.[1] In 1997 he and a team of students produced The Campanile Movie (1997), a virtual flyby of UC Berkeley's famous Campanile tower. Debevec's more recent research has included methods for recording real-world illumination for use in computer graphics; a number of novel inventions for recording ambient and incident light have resulted from the work of Debevec and his team, including the light stage, of which five or more versions have been constructed, each an evolutionary improvement over the previous.
Techniques based on Debevec's work have been used in several major motion pictures, including The Matrix (1999), Spider-Man 2 (2004), King Kong (2005), Superman Returns (2006), Spider-Man 3 (2007), and Avatar (2009).
In addition Debevec and his team have produced several short films that have premiered at SIGGRAPH's annual Electronic Theater, including Fiat Lux (1999) and The Parthenon (2004).
Debevec, along with Tim Hawkins, John Monos and Mark Sagar, was awarded a 2009 Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the design and engineering of the Light Stage capture devices and the image-based facial rendering system developed for character relighting in motion pictures.[2]
In 2002, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[3]