Monday, December 06, 2004
32nd Annual Annie Awards Announced Today
In 1973 Ed Catmull digitized a casting of his hand and animated the 3D computer model scanned from that cast. In the process he ripped all the hair of his hand when it became stuck in the plaster he used to mold his model. He has had his hairless hand in computer graphics ever since. Dr. Ed Catmull earned a bachelor of science degree in both physics and computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah.
In 1974 Ed Catmull had just finished his Ph.D. at Utah and taken a job at Applicon, a CAD/CAM company when he was approached to head up the Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT).
Joining with other graduates from the University of Utah and researchers fresh from Xerox`s famed Palo Alto Research Center Dr. Catmull was the midwife to the young computer graphics industry.
Many of the things we graphic computer artist take for granted today were created at CGL NYIT under the supervision of Ed Catmull, the RGB paint program, networked computer systems, the alpha channel (which he co-authored with Alvy Ray Smith) and his ground breaking Tween program.
In 1979 Dr. Catmull brought his expertise to the film industry as Vice President of the computer division of Lucasfilm, Ltd. where he managed development efforts in the areas of computer graphics, video editing, video games and digital audio.
In 1986 Steve Jobs purchased the computer division of Lucasfilm and with Ed Catmull founded Pixar. Dr. Catmull was named Vice President and Chef Technical Officer of the new computer animaton studio. Ed Catmull is still the CTO at the famed Emmeryville animaton studio but he has moved up to be the President of Pixar.
He is a key developer of RenderMan, Pixar`s Academy Award-winning computer digital effects program. His is the invisible hand always behind Woody, Gerry, Nemo, Mr. Incredible and all the other Pixar characters and magic we love so much.
Dr. Catmull has won 3 Oscars (R) for his technical advancements of the art and science of film making. He has received the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven Anson Coons Award for his lifetime contributions to computer graphics. And this year on Sunday, January 30th at the 32nd Annual Annie Awards at the Alex Thearter in Glendale, ASIFA-Hollywood takes great pleasure in honoring Dr. Edwin Catmull with the Ub Iwerks Lifetime Award for Technical Advancement in the Art of Animation.
For a complete listing of all of the winners of the juried awards and a slate of nominations being placed before the voting membership of ASIFA-Hollywood for this year`s Annie Awards please go to http://www.annieawards.com
In 1973 Ed Catmull digitized a casting of his hand and animated the 3D computer model scanned from that cast. In the process he ripped all the hair of his hand when it became stuck in the plaster he used to mold his model. He has had his hairless hand in computer graphics ever since. Dr. Ed Catmull earned a bachelor of science degree in both physics and computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah.
In 1974 Ed Catmull had just finished his Ph.D. at Utah and taken a job at Applicon, a CAD/CAM company when he was approached to head up the Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT).
Joining with other graduates from the University of Utah and researchers fresh from Xerox`s famed Palo Alto Research Center Dr. Catmull was the midwife to the young computer graphics industry.
Many of the things we graphic computer artist take for granted today were created at CGL NYIT under the supervision of Ed Catmull, the RGB paint program, networked computer systems, the alpha channel (which he co-authored with Alvy Ray Smith) and his ground breaking Tween program.
In 1979 Dr. Catmull brought his expertise to the film industry as Vice President of the computer division of Lucasfilm, Ltd. where he managed development efforts in the areas of computer graphics, video editing, video games and digital audio.
In 1986 Steve Jobs purchased the computer division of Lucasfilm and with Ed Catmull founded Pixar. Dr. Catmull was named Vice President and Chef Technical Officer of the new computer animaton studio. Ed Catmull is still the CTO at the famed Emmeryville animaton studio but he has moved up to be the President of Pixar.
He is a key developer of RenderMan, Pixar`s Academy Award-winning computer digital effects program. His is the invisible hand always behind Woody, Gerry, Nemo, Mr. Incredible and all the other Pixar characters and magic we love so much.
Dr. Catmull has won 3 Oscars (R) for his technical advancements of the art and science of film making. He has received the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven Anson Coons Award for his lifetime contributions to computer graphics. And this year on Sunday, January 30th at the 32nd Annual Annie Awards at the Alex Thearter in Glendale, ASIFA-Hollywood takes great pleasure in honoring Dr. Edwin Catmull with the Ub Iwerks Lifetime Award for Technical Advancement in the Art of Animation.
For a complete listing of all of the winners of the juried awards and a slate of nominations being placed before the voting membership of ASIFA-Hollywood for this year`s Annie Awards please go to http://www.annieawards.com
