Kayla Severson
Overview
6
6
years of professional experience
Work History
Department Technical Director
DreamWorks Animation LLC
10.2022 - 01.2024
- Worked with the Look Development team for Trolls 3, developing tools and providing support for shaders, materials, texture maps, fur, hair, and other visual assets, ensuring they are correctly handed off through the pipeline.
- Supported CFX artists on Kung Fu Panda 4, and helped to implement and optimize The DreamWorks Feather System, a toolset that enables artists to manage all aspects of character feathers from card layout through shot work by using intuitive tools and automated pipeline processes.
Senior Graphics Project, "Mariposa"
Stanford University
03.2022 - Current
- Created Mariposa, an interactive butterfly exhibit in VR, adopting ML for species classification and creation.
- Developed a new shading model for blue morpho butterfly iridescence, simulating structural color caused by visible light interacting with rows of tree-like nanostructures on wing scales.
- Implementing a shader that simulates the appearance of glints, to render high resolution normal-mapped specular wing microstructures under sharp point lighting.
Independent Graphics Project, "Bria"
Stanford University
10.2021 - 02.2022
- Created a scene in Maya from scratch, featuring 52 procedurally-generated mesh lights, area lights, and a custom ice crystal halo sky shader to simulate a string-lit snowy tree appearance for my character, with a dress shader in OSL which accurately models thin-film interference of light.
Computer Graphics Research Intern
Stanford University
04.2021 - 08.2021
- Worked on an independent project with Professor Pat Hanrahan, simulating ice crystal refraction effects to model complex atmospheric displays that occur when millions of tiny ice crystals in the sky reflect and refract light.
- Developed a sky shader in Maya to render stylized ice crystal halos for a short animated film project.
- Applied ML to reproduce sky displays from photographs, processing ice crystal population parameters such as solar altitude, aspect ratio, and crystal rotations.
Founder & Co-chair, SIGGRAPH Student Chapter
Stanford University
11.2021 - 06.2022
- Founded a SIGGRAPH Student Chapter at Stanford to create a supportive community of students passionate about graphics and animation.
- Reached 64 members total, organizing film screenings, art + tech workshops, speaker events, and site visits for the upcoming school year
Computer Graphics Research Intern
Stanford University
04.2020 - 08.2020
- Worked on an independent project in procedural environmental modeling and plant growth simulation with Professor Pat Hanrahan, using Maya and Xfrog.
- Experimented with methods of pairing bud growth models with geometric calculations for fantastical environmental elements to be randomly simulated in 3D.
Photovoltaic Array Team Member
Stanford Solar Car Project
09.2018 - 11.2019
- 1 of 22 students selected to join Race Crew, an interdisciplinary team considered essential to racing the solar car in the 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge through the Australian outback.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Computer Graphics & Animation
Stanford University
06.2022
Skills
- Python
- C/C
- Houdini
- OSL, GLSL
- Maya
- Unreal Engine
- Nuke
- Substance
Relevant Coursework
- CS Graphics: Introduction to Computer Graphics and Imaging, Interactive Graphics, Image Synthesis Techniques, Computer Graphics: Animation & Simulation
- Math: Calculus, Linear Algebra and Differential Calculus of Several Variables, Multivariable Integration, Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory
- Art: Drawing I, Drawing from Life, Drawing II, Painting I, Painting II
Accomplishments
- 2024 DreamWorks Technical Achievement Award
- 2020-21 Grace Hopper Conference Scholar
- Winner of the 2018 CS 106A Graphics Contest
- Published author, "Nature’s First Gem is Green"
Timeline
Department Technical Director
DreamWorks Animation LLC
10.2022 - 01.2024
Senior Graphics Project, "Mariposa"
Stanford University
03.2022 - Current
Founder & Co-chair, SIGGRAPH Student Chapter
Stanford University
11.2021 - 06.2022
Independent Graphics Project, "Bria"
Stanford University
10.2021 - 02.2022
Computer Graphics Research Intern
Stanford University
04.2021 - 08.2021
Computer Graphics Research Intern
Stanford University
04.2020 - 08.2020
Photovoltaic Array Team Member
Stanford Solar Car Project
09.2018 - 11.2019
Bachelor of Science - Computer Graphics & Animation
Stanford University
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