Things you might find here

Hello. I am Armin. To your right is a picture of me. I have been told it is dark and unwelcoming. This is incorrect. My face has a rainbow on it. That makes it friendly.

My research interests are are in graphics- specifically, computational photography. There are about 3,000 photos uploaded to Facebook every second (my favorite statistic), and that number ignores the rest of the internet and all the photos that never make it through the tubes. I want to play with this data- make it easier to access, generate, modify, display, and share.

I will try to keep this site somewhat up to date. In case I don't, I'll note the last update: 6 May 2012.

Contact: [lastname]@eecs.berkeley.edu

Computer Science Research
  • Image Sorter
    My senior thesis. A research project aimed at objectively analyzing images and resorting based on "importance." Its purpose is to automatically detect poor photos and repetitions, sorting photographs in a way that prioritizes both unique and high-quality images.
    (Outdated) Project Web Page • UCSC Senior Thesis / Technical Report
  • Garden Path
    Assisting Professor Bruce Bridgeman in his research on human visual perception. Used OpenGL to render 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, is important to Bridgeman's research. Comes with a GUI to adjust flicker rate and color.
    Project Web Page
  • Artist Decision Modeling
    Work-in-progress. Is it possible to model the decision process of an artist as s/he edits a photograph? How? Stay tuned.
  • Adaptive Cloth
    Working with postdoc Rahul Narain and Prof. James O'Brien. Planned submission to SIGGRAPH Asia 2012. Stay tuned.
    • Miscellaneous Applications
    • Vocabulary Quizzer
      Designed to help me personally on the GRE Verbal Exam. Unfortunately, I spent too much time creating this application and not enough memorizing information which ETS believes to be an indicator of intelligence. (See: Howard Gardner)
      Application Web Page
    Photography

    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.

    Equipment

    Body:
    Nikon D80 (Previously D60, pictured to the right)

    Lenses:
    Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (kit lens)
    Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 (kit lens)
    Nikkor 50mm f/1.4

    Lighting Design
    A lighting designer is invisible. The naive audience member should not know of my existence. The mood set by the lights should just feel right. If this is not the case, I have made a mistake.

    Of course, some shows should not follow this philosophy, and some designers may wholeheartedly disagree.

      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 .)
    More on Me

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

    I'm 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 and Image Manipulation (see the main page). I completed my undergrad at UC Santa Cruz, working with James Davis as my advisor.

    I have my aging high-school website still alive. It hasn't been updated in years and the layout is beginning to look like it was designed in the 18th century. You can go play with that if you like, it has a few cool online-image-manipulation features.