Mary Jo Dowling

I am part of the Graphics Deli team here in The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. My office is located in 200 Smith hall, which is located just off Forbes Avenue behind Hamburg Hall on the CMU campus. I am usually in the office between 9:30 and 5:30 Monday-Friday, but I am often out of the office during the day, so please call first to make sure I will be here (268-3814). I read e-mail usually once a day in the morning, so if you have an urgent request, please use the phone. The following are some of the services I provide for members of The Robotics Institute, plus some helpful hints for your own projects.

What I do

• Graphic design, Small 1 page flyers, large posters, displays, books, signs, invitations, Annual Reports, Promotional materials, One to full color, quick and dirty, to printed and bound. I handle it all. I deal directly with many printers around the city to get the job done right. All work is done on-line so changes are quick and the finished project is always available for further use. I use mainly PageMaker or FrameMaker for larger projects, and Illustrator and Photoshop for graphics and image manipulation.
• Layout, Xerox to offset printing press, I can provide the finished product to get the job done the way you need it. We are now fully equipped to handle full color in-line images.
• Studio Photography, Photo shoots of projects in the lab and on location may be scheduled with advance notice. This is how we keep our collection of images of The Institute's work current. Photo shoots require planning and time. The project should be as you wish it to be photographed, and the surrounding area free of clutter and dirt. You should have a good idea of that you are trying to show in the photograph before we start. The more information I have before the shoot, the better it goes for everyone.
• Portrait Photography, Every fall at the beginning of the semester I hold a photo session for SCS members to have their portraits taken. The photos are used for the CS and RI photo boards and the contact sheets and negs are stored here for further use. This year we also took digital photos for personal web pages
  If you need a photo for a journal article or PR purposes, you may request a print. To do this I will need an account number, a desired size, whether they are B&W or Color, and a due date. I usually can have one made within 48 hours.
  Please note: These prints are not acceptable for passports or visas.
• Slide lending, We currently maintain a collection of slides on the various current research projects in The Robotics Institute. These slides can be borrowed for PR purposes, talks, and presentations. We also have an extensive collection of images of Pittsburgh, Oakland, and the CMU campus. These slides must be duplicated (at cost to you) before they can be borrowed, so please add in time for this when requesting to use them.
• Photo distribution for PR, The Robotics Institute lends slides of it's projects out to the media to illustrate stories about our research efforts. We lend them with no fee, but we stipulate that both RI and CMU are given photo credit and that the slides be returned to us.
  We do not lend out slides of our work to media looking for general images of robots. Our projects are too specific to appear without explanation, and we are not a stock photography house.
• RI Photo archives, All images taken of projects and people are kept on file. After a certain length of time they are archived and stored out of circulation. Should you wish to use an older image, for slides‹ duplicates must be made, for prints - prints must me made from the negs. The cost for these shall be paid for by the requester.
• Film-print-CD developing service, We use Sukolsky Brunelle downtown for all our film processing. No negatives or original slides are given to individuals to have prints or dupes made on their own. If you requesting a print or other developing service, I need to know by NOON of that day to arrange for a pickup. I will also need an account number to charge the services to.
  
• Annual Research Review Editor, I am the editor of the Annual Research Review. If you would like to summit an article for one of the reviews, please contact me. Articles are typically 8-12 pages long in total length, they must be submitted in FrameMaker (I have the article templates on line for them) and must be a work that has not been published before. Copies of the Annual Research Review are available on request by sending e-mail to mjd+@cs.cmu.edu. Look from them on-line soon. Coming to a web site in the future.
• Technical drawing, From simple block diagrams to more complex renderings. Just provide a rough sketch, with legible handwriting.
• Standard 35mm & polaroid, and digital camera lending for DIY, We have a Nikon F3 and a Olympus Infinity SuperZoom 330 that we can lend to projects for limited times to photograph their work. This is especially useful for computer screen shots. Instructions are included to do this on your own. We now have an Olympus D-300L digital camera that has 2 resolutions: 1024x768 (stores 30 5-6Meg images) and 640x480 (stores 120 500-600K images).The camera has a built in flash and marco mode for close-ups as well as an LCD screen for viewing images and live preview. The camera must be brought back to the Graphics Deli for downloading the images when you are done.
• 35mm film stock, The Deli keeps a refrigerated stock of professional and some consumer grade 35mm roll film. Film can be purchased for project use at cost, but for large amounts, we suggest you purchase your own stock through a photo supplier.
• Production of 35mm computer generated slides. New to the lab is a Lasergraphic 35mm film recorder hooked up to a RISC Rascol RIP postscript processor. Currently working under APPLE and PC control only, the printer is accessable through the chooser as a regular printer device. Please contact me to get the correct set-up files and further instructions before using this device. Since this process uses 35mm film, please allow processing time after you have imaged your slides.
• Caretaker of Rainbow color printer, Yes, this is my beastie. If something happens to Rainbow, please call me at x8-3814 so that I can place a service call. Please tell me exactly what the problem is so that I can take care of it efficiently. If it is not a printing problem, but a postscript or server problem, let me know also, and I can see if it is truly Rainbow's problem, or our networks.
• maintainer of RI photo board in Smith
  This is updated yearly after the fall photo shoot. If your name is spelled incorrectly, send me mail.
• Maintainer of Signage for Smith Hall Coming, going. . . let me know so I can update the signs and door labels.
• Business cards Nope. Don't do these. I just design them. If you need to have some made, see your departmental secretary and follow the instructions on the form.

• How to make a better poster
• Taking better photos of your project
• Taking photos of your computer screen
• Making readable slides and overheads

Mary Jo Dowling, Art Director,
The Graphics Deli
The Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University