MARK BANAS

Although I'm old enough to have seen the first Star Wars in a theater, I've been involved in computer graphics since the 5th grade. My fascination continued while studying design in college, working with early 3D industrial design software on exotic computer systems. After 13 years as a high-end fashion retoucher (starting in the early '90's, at the emergence of desktop digital imaging), cameras finally caught up to where I had been all along. Rather than 36 frames on a strip of chemically-treated plastic, the advent of full-color sensors and capacious memory cards removed the need for the developing and scanning that was so vexing. All of my visual work was done with computers anyhow. With the help of some fantastic mentors, I expanded the bounds of photorealistic 3D rendering for international advertising, and later worked on the software that continues to power this industry.