Theodore Kim

@[email protected]
340 Followers
40 Following
63 Posts
Yale CS Prof | Former Pixar Senior Scientist | Academy Awards 2012, 2022 |
Bylines: WaPo, LATimes, SciAm, SFChron, TIME
http://www.tkim.graphics/
Theodore KimJul 4, 2025
Yoehan OhJul 3, 2025

Excited to share my Op-Ed on The Opinion Pages: "Amid ICE Raids, Immigrants Shouldn’t Look to Rooftop Koreans in LA, but Chinese Contractors in NY." https://theopinionpages.com/2025/07/amid-ice-raids-immigrants-shouldnt-look-to-rooftop-koreans-in-la-but-chinese-contractors-in-ny/

I contributed this through the Public Voices Fellowship, hosted by the Yale Women Faculty Forum in partnership with The OpEd Project. A big thank you to Jennifer L. Mueller for her invaluable support!

Amid ICE Raids, Immigrants Shouldn't Look to Rooftop Koreans in LA, but Chinese Contractors in NY | The Opinion Pages

Shortly before the June 5 I.C.E. raids in the Los Angeles Fashion District and arrest of 45 workers, President Donald J. Trump explained that when he speaks about his goals to move more manufacturing to the USA, “We're not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts.” His remarks reflect the reality that, according to theAmerican

The Opinion Pages
Theodore KimMay 9, 2025
Yoehan OhMay 9, 2025
My colleague, Dr. Eun-Joo Ahn, lecturer and Presidential Visiting Fellow at Yale, publishes an article on _Physics Today_: "Re-remembering Benjamin Whisoh Lee [1935-1977], promoter of gauge theories"! There are so much to unpack this Korean American theoretical physicist's life and work in colonial/liberated Korea and the U.S. Please check out at: https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/online/44264/Re-remembering-Benjamin-Whisoh-Lee-promoter-of
Show threadTheodore KimOct 14, 2024
@vandorb12 @FormerlyStC The curly hair algorithm my Pixar colleagues developed for "Brave" was rejected from SIGGRAPH, even though it had already been successfully used in the film. The bias that the conference has shown towards straight hair has been entrenched for a long time.
Show threadTheodore KimOct 13, 2024
@FormerlyStC Now we know why Frozone was bald.
Show threadTheodore KimOct 13, 2024
@peterdrake Added. Thanks!
Show threadTheodore KimOct 10, 2024
@Oliviastarstuff This is great! Ah, of course Prof. Ko has a strong take on this. Don't know why I didn't think of it, but I'm glad you did. 👍
Show threadTheodore KimOct 9, 2024

We will present this paper at #SIGGRAPHAsia2024. More info in the Yale press release.

This work was with A.M. Darke, Alvin Shi, and Haomiao Wu.

Thanks to the Bungie Foundation, Kareem Shuman, H.D. Harris, Carvell Wallace, Elijah Richmond, and most of all, Jet Appling for making this work possible.
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https://seas.yale.edu/news-events/news/researchers-publish-landmark-study-hair-animation

Researchers Publish Landmark Study in Hair Animation

We have grown accustomed to seeing many aspects of our everyday world depicted using computer graphics, but some phenomena remain difficult for even the most experienced animators. Hair, specifically

Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science
Show threadTheodore KimOct 9, 2024

This is NOT another paper that shows one sad curly example after a dozen pages of straight hair. Those are *obviously* straight hair algorithms.

We treat hair as curly from the beginning. As a high-frequency helix, not a half-parabola.
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https://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/wu-haomiao/publication/curlyCue.html

Curly-Cue: Geometric Methods for Highly Coiled Hair

In Proceedings of SIGGRAPH Asia, 2024

Show threadTheodore KimOct 9, 2024

We identify three geometric phenomena unique to highly coiled hair: phase locking, switchbacks, and period skipping.

These phenomena do NOT appear in straight hair, and thus have been ignored at #SIGGRAPH, and CGI in general, for half a century.
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Theodore KimOct 9, 2024

There has NEVER been paper at #SIGGRAPH on Black, Afro-textured hair in its entire 50 year history.

UNTIL NOW.

We introduce CURLY-CUE: GEOMETRIC METHODS FOR HIGHLY COILED HAIR. When you STOP assuming straight hair is a universal baseline, lots of new science opens up.
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