Armin Samii

I am a computer science graduate student in the Visual Computing Lab at UC Berkeley working with James O'Brien as my advisor. My research interests are primarily in Computational Photography. I completed my Bachelor's at UC Santa Cruz, working with James Davis as my advisor.

I spent the summer of 2012 as an intern at Adobe San Jose working in the Procedural Imaging Group with Radomir Mech and Zhe Lin.

I am funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Contact information: email [lastname]@eecs.berkeley.edu; Twitter; last.fm.

Last update: 02 Nov 2012.

• Artist Decision Modeling (2011)
  UC Berkeley CS 294-69: Image Manipulation and Computational Photography.
  We model the decision process of an artist as s/he edits a photograph using n-grams of the edit history, parsing training data from pre-existing data contained in a photographer's Adobe Photoshop Lightroom catalog.
  [Slides], [PDF]
• Garden Path (2011)
  Research with Psychology Professor Bruce Bridgeman on human visual perception.
  Rendered a flickering image aligned with screen refresh rates. With the right chroma/luminosity combination, humans will see a non-flickering strip of the image. The location of this strip, coined the Garden Path, can be used for various experiments in Bridgeman's research. Comes with a GUI to adjust flicker rate and color.
  Project Web Page
• Image Sorter (2010)
  UC Santa Cruz CMPS 160: Intro to Computer Graphics
  We analyze images and sort them based on an "importance" score. Our goal is to automatically detect low-quality and repetitive photos, sorting photographs in a way that prioritizes both uniqueness and quality. I also submitted this as my senior thesis.
  UCSC Senior Thesis / Technical Report

• Vocabulary Quizzer
  Designed to help me personally on the GRE Verbal Exam. Unfortunately, I spent too much time creating this application and never actually used it. Some features have stopped working, but it should be generally in-tact.
  Application Web Page

Sometimes I take pictures. I am by no means a professional, or even a prosumer, but I thoroughly enjoy a day with my camera, and that's justification enough to have this section. Eventually I'll embed a photo-viewer here.

Flickr

Shows I Have Worked On
• 7 Keys to Baldpate
  Props/Run Crew
  Scripps Ranch High School, Fall 2008
  Though I was a part of the props crew, I followed lighting designer to gain second-hand knowledge.
• Bye Bye Birdie
  Assistant Lighting Designer/Master Electrician/Board Operator
  Scripps Ranch High School, Winter 2009
  (Cuesheet )
• Scripps Ranch Talent Show
  Lighting Designer/Master Electrician/Board Operator
  Scripps Ranch High School, Spring 2009
  The most creative allowance I've had on a show. Various acts on youtube (see related videos by same uploader).
  (Cuesheet )
• Metamorphoses
  Associate Lighting Designer/Board Operator
  San Diego Honor's Theater, Spring 2009
  After my first role as designer in the Talent Show, the Honor's Theater asked me to co-design Metamorphoses.
  (Cuesheet )
• The Laramie Project
  Lighting Designer/Master Electrician/Board Operator
  Scripps Ranch High School, Spring 2009
  (Cuesheet )
• Scripps Ranch Dance Show
  Lighting Designer/Master Electrician/Board Operator
  Scripps Ranch High School, Spring 2009
  (Cuesheet )
• Scripps Ranch Fashion Show
  Lighting Designer/Master Electrician/Board Operator
  Scripps Ranch High School, Spring 2009
• I'm Not Rappaport
  Lighting Crew (and Scene Construction)
  Scripps Ranch Community Theatre, Summer 2009
• Mixed Nutz
  Followspot Operator
  University of California, Santa Cruz, Fall 2009
• Odyssey
  Assistant Lighting Designer
  University of California, Santa Cruz, Spring 2010
  My first university experience with "real" Lighting Design, under the guidance of Designer Becca Van de Vanter.
  (Cuesheet )
• Hair
  Followspot Operator
  University of California, Santa Cruz, Spring 2010
• Social Security
  Lighting Crew (and Scene Construction)
  Scripps Ranch Community Theatre, Summer 2010
• Random with a Purpose
  Assistant Lighting Designer
  University of California, Santa Cruz, Winter 2010
  Assisted in making the plot; in charge of technical aspects of VectorWorks; designed two dances.
• Chautauqua
  Co-Head Lighting Designer
  University of California, Santa Cruz, Spring 2011
  A student festival of plays. Created the plot for nine diverse shows and trained new designers to light the stage.
  (Secret documents to assist new designers .)