Brett R . Jones

I love turning advanced technologies into magical products. I have 14 years of experiences in inventing and developing new products using advanced sensing & display technologies. Most of my work is in XR (AR/VR), projected AR (projection mapping), and spatial interfaces.

I’m working on something new at Amazon Devices as the head of product and design. I co-founded Lightform, a VC backed startup making projection mapping easy with computer vision. I have a PhD in Computer Science from UIUC, at the intersection of computer vision & design. I’ve worked for Walt Disney Imagineering on projection mapping tools for the parks, and Microsoft Research on the projected AR concepts IllumiRoom and RoomAlive.

Amazon Devices

2022

Building something new. Leading a team of talented folks across product management, program management, UX design, and UX research within Amazon Devices (Lab126) New Products.

Now hiring in product, design, hardware, software, and computer vision: reach out if you are interested in innovating on the future of computing.

Lightform

2015 – 2022

Lightform‘s products transform spaces & experiences using projection mapping, adding magical effects & ambient interfaces to any object. Lightform uses computer vision to make projection mapping easy. Lightform was a VC backed hardware startup in San Francisco. 

Grew PhD thesis into a hardware company shipping 12,000+ units, with 26 full-time employees, and raising $18M Seed to Series A. Experienced in full lifecycle B2B and B2C product design & go-to-market. Invented, shipped, & sustained 3 new hardware / software products with an additional 3 products in development: 1 in private beta, 1 in development, 1 in R&D.

Product: Managed a product/design team, wrote initial PRDs, spec’d minimum lovable product, and post-launch spec’d new features and hundreds small improvements and bugs resulting in our flagship product at 72 NPS.

Marketing: Directly owned product marketing, website design & backend, and press. Contributed to organic & paid ads content.

Operations: Raised $18M including Lux Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, Seven Seas Partners, Baidu Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund, and more. Owned fundraising, investor reporting, & financials.

LFX. 2021

LF2/C Launch Video. 2020

LF1 Launch Video. 2018

Education 👨‍🏫

PhD, 2015
UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) #5 US university in CS
Computer Science: computer vision meets HCI/design. Focused on VR/AR.
Advised by David Forsyth (computer vision) & Brian Bailey (HCI)

BS, 2008
UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) #5 US university in CS
Computer Science. Minor equivalent in fine art.
Bronze tablet (summa cum laude) 3.99/4.00 GPA.

IllumiRoom

Invented IllumiRoom, a projector that surrounds your TV with immersive visuals with Hrvoje Benko, Andy Wilson and Eyal Ofek.

CHI 2013 paper (Best paper award & best video award)

RoomAlive

Created a unified, scalable framework, RoomAlive, for covering an entire room in interactive projection mapping via multiple projector-camera units. With Raj Sodhi, Mike Murdock, Ravish Mehra, Hrvoje Benko, Andy Wilson, Eyal Ofek, Blair MacIntyre, & Lior Shapira.

UIST 2014 paper

@brettjonesr

Disney Imagineering 🐭

2008,2009,2010

VR/AR and projection mapping tools with Mark Mine & Bei Yang.

PhD UIUC 🌽

2008-2015

Projectibles

Optimizing surface color for projection

@UIUC
UIST 2015

Arto

The future of photography with depth sensors

@UIUC
2013

Around Device Interaction

Spatial input for navigation

Build Your World

Surface particles for generative projected AR content

@UIUC
ISMAR 2010

Electronic Arts 🎮

Technical artist intern at Electronic Arts on the Sims 3. Implemented plugin for Maya enabling in Maya previews of final game procedural textures

2007

Publications 📰

RoomAlive: magical experiences enabled by scalable, adaptive projector-camera units
BR Jones, R Sodhi, M Murdock, R Mehra, H Benko, A Wilson, E Ofek, …
UIST 2014

BeThere: 3D mobile collaboration with spatial input
RS Sodhi, BR Jones, D Forsyth, BP Bailey, G Maciocci
CHI 2013

Idea generation techniques among creative professionals
SR Herring, BR Jones, BP Bailey
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2009

Around device interaction for multiscale navigation
BR Jones, R Sodhi, D Forsyth, B Bailey, G Maciocci
MobileHCI 2012

Build your world and play in it: Interacting with surface particles on complex objects
BR Jones, R Sodhi, RH Campbell, G Garnett, BP Bailey
ISMAR 2010

Where’s my drink? Enabling peripheral real world interactions while using HMDs
P Budhiraja, R Sodhi, BR Jones, K Karsch, B Bailey, D Forsyth
arXiv, 2015

IllumiRoom: immersive experiences beyond the TV screen
BR Jones, H Benko, E Ofek, AD Wilson
Communications of the ACM 2015

Projectibles: Optimizing surface color for projection
BR Jones, R Sodhi, P Budhiraja, K Karsch, B Bailey, D Forsyth
UIST 2015

Lightform: procedural effects for projected AR
B Factura, L LaPerche, P Reyneri, BR Jones, K Karsch
SIGGRAPH Studio 2018

Patents 📄

System and methods or augmenting surfaces within spaces with projected light
R Sodhi, B Jones, K Karsch, P Budhiraja, P Reyneri, D Rieck, A Kilkenny
US Patent App. 17/017,128
2020

Method for augmenting a scene in real space with projected visual content
K Karsch, R Sodhi, B Jones, P Budhiraja, P Reyneri, D Rieck, A Kilkenny, …
US Patent App. 16/872,237
2020

Method for augmenting surfaces in a space with visual content
R Sodhi, B Jones, K Karsch, P Budhiraja, P Reyneri, D Rieck
US Patent App. 16/776,077
2020

System and methods or augmenting surfaces within spaces with projected light
R Sodhi, B Jones, K Karsch, P Budhiraja, P Reyneri, D Rieck, A Kilkenny
US Patent 10,805,585
2020

Method for augmenting a scene in real space with projected visual content
K Karsch, R Sodhi, B Jones, P Budhiraja, P Reyneri, D Rieck, A Kilkenny, …
US Patent 10,692,233
2020

Method for augmenting a scene in real space with projected visual content
K Karsch, R Sodhi, B Jones, P Budhiraja, P Reyneri, D Rieck, A Kilkenny, …
US Patent 10,373,325
2019

Immersive display with peripheral illusions
H Benko, BR Jones, E Ofek, A Wilson, G Perez
US Patent 9,480,907
2016

Awards 🏆

Lightform

Grad School

Undergrad

  • Bronze Tablet (Summa cum laude), 2008. 3.99/4.00 GPA (BS in CS)
  • Dunn Systems Undergraduate Scholarship, 2008
  • University Highest Honors – Bronze Tablet, 2008
  • Daniel L. Slotnick Scholarship, 2007
  • Ruth and Harold Hayward Scholarship, 2007
  • Illinois General Assembly Legislative Scholarship, 2005

Skills 👨🏼‍💻

 

Languages: C/C++, C#, Python, Matlab
Libraries: OpenCV, Qt, OpengGL, PCL, FFmpeg, Unity, UE
Software: Adobe (Ps, Ai, Pr, Ae), TouchDesigner, Maya, Jira admin

Talks 💁🏼

Hobbies 🏃🏼

  • Endurance sports: running (mostly 1/2 marathons), triathlons (70.3 Ironman)
  • New media: creative coding, motion graphics, 3D modeling, photography, cinematography, graphic design.
  • Traditional media: oil/acrylic painting, sculpture, wood working.

Favorite reading 📚