Karen Laur
For other uses, see Laur (disambiguation). |
| Karen Laur | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical information | |
| Born |
c. 1966[1] |
| Title(s) |
|
| Time period |
January 1997 – March 1999[1] |
Karen Elizabeth Laur is an artist and designer who worked for Valve on Half-Life.
Contents
Biography[edit]
Laur graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1987, with a Major in Anthropology/Equine Studies. She has contributed to Starwave Corporation's Eastwood (1995) and Castle Infinity (1996), and Activision's Zork Nemesis (1996).[1]
She was a texture artist at Valve for Half-Life (1998) and some of the cancelled Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms (2000). She extensively used Worldcraft for final texture passes as well as creation of architecture examples for level designers, she directed the level designers in use of textures, lighting and architectural integrity, she created skyboxes combining photographic and generated elements, and collected over 3GB of photographic reference material.[1]
Work for Half-Life[edit]
- Over 3,500 textures for all environments in the game (doors, buttons, signs, panels, floors, concrete walls, etc.)[1]
- The Waste Processing Area 3 logo and other textures of the area, such as the Tactical Map[2]
- The Advanced Biological Research Lab logo and other textures of the area[2]
- The Sector C plan and other textures of the area[2]
- The High Altitude Launch Center satellite schematics seen on the monitor[2]
- Textures for Sector D and its infamous black and white tiled floors[2]
- Textures for Sector F[2]
- Textures for Xen[2]
- Rock and sand textures, for instance for the Black Mesa desert[2]
- The Retinal scanner textures[2]
- The M2A3 Bradley textures[2]
- The Artillery Cannon textures[2]
- The Alien Trampoline[2]
Trivia[edit]
Karen's name appears in the game as an Easter egg on a Sector C locker.
Selected gameography[edit]
- Half-Life (1998)
- Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
Company biographies[edit]
- Karen Laur - Illustrator/Texture-Maker/Artist at Large
- Karen has contributed to Starwave Corporation's Castle Infinty and Eastwood, and Activision's Zork Nemesis. She was the sole creator of Materia Prima, a texture collection published by the Valis Group, and was head designer for Maya Romanoff, a prestigious producer of hand-made wallpaper. Karen was also owner/operator of the Washington DC restaurant, Dante's.
