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EdCatmull

Dr. Ed Catmull

Dr. Ed Catmull (b. March 31, 1945) is one of the co-founders of Pixar. He was President and CTO of Pixar and now is President of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.

Biography

Early Years

When Catmull was young, he wanted to become an animator for Disney. But in high school he realized he wasn't good at drawing, so he began to focus on computers. He felt that the newly emerging field of computer graphics could be used to create a full-length animated film.[1]

After high school he attended the University of Utah and received bachelor degrees in physics and computer science. After a short stint at Boeing he came back to the University to get his doctoral degree. His focus was computer graphics and three-dimensional curves. During this time he came up with a number of contributions to the field. These included the study of bicubic patches and the development of the z-buffer, a way for a computer to track the depth of a three dimensional object. In this way the computer can determine which parts of the object are hidden from view by other objects and which should be visible. He also invented texture mapping, where a two dimensional image can be applied to the surface of a three dimensional object.[1] This allows the object to take on any look desired, such as steel, wood or cement. Catmull received his Ph.D. in 1974.

New York Institute of Technology

After receiving his Ph.D., Catmull took a programming job at a small CAD software company. But he knew this was not what he was interested in. Fortunately, a short while later he was invited to become the head of the Computer Graphics Lab at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), which was founded by Alexander Schure. Schure wanted the lab devoted to researching computer animation. This was exactly what Catmull was looking for, so in November of 1974 he became Director of the lab. He brought with him a co-worker, Malcolm Blanchard, and then hired Alvy Ray Smith and David DiFrancesco, both from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).[2]

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 Price, David A. (2008). The Pixar Touch. New York, Alfred A. Knopf
  2. Paik, Karen (2007). To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books LLC.
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