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Edwin Catmull

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Edwin Earl Catmull(born March 31, 1945) is an Americancomputer scientistand animator who served as the co-founder ofPixarand the President ofWalt Disney Animation Studios.[3][4][5]He has been honored for his contributions to 3Dcomputer graphics,including the 2019ACM Turing Award.

Edwin Catmull
Catmull in 2015
Born
Edwin Earl Catmull

(1945-03-31)March 31, 1945(age 79)
Parkersburg, West Virginia,U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Utah(B.S. Physics and Computer Science; Ph.D. Computer Science)
Known for
SpouseSusan Anderson
Children3
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
Institutions
ThesisA Subdivision Algorithm for Computer Display of Curved Surfaces(1974)
Doctoral advisorRobert E. Stephenson[1]

Early life

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Edwin Catmull was born on March 31, 1945, inParkersburg, West Virginia.[6]His family later moved toSalt Lake City,Utah,where his father first served as principal ofGranite High Schooland then ofTaylorsville High School.[7][8]Born in a Mormon family, Catmull was the eldest of five brothers and, as a young man, served as a missionary in the New York City area of the 1960s.

Early in his life, Catmull found inspiration inDisneymovies, includingPeter PanandPinocchio,and wanted to be an animator; however, after finishing high school, he had no idea how to get there as there were no animation schools around that time. Because he also liked math and physics, he chose a scientific career instead.[9]He also made animation usingflip-books.Catmull graduated in 1969, with a B.S. in physics and computer science from theUniversity of Utah.[6][8]Initially interested in designingprogramming languages,Catmull encounteredIvan Sutherland,who had designed the computer drawing programSketchpad,and changed[vague]his interest todigital imaging.[10]As a student of Sutherland, he was part of the university'sDARPAprogram,[11]sharing classes withJames H. Clark,John WarnockandAlan Kay.[8]

From that point, his main goal and ambition were to make digitally realistic films.[12]During his time at the university, he made two new fundamental computer-graphics discoveries:texture mappingandbicubic patches;and inventedalgorithmsforspatial anti-aliasingand refiningsubdivision surfaces.Catmull says the idea for subdivision surfaces came from mathematical structures in his mind when he appliedB-splinesto non-four sided objects.[13]He also independently discoveredZ-buffering,[14]which had been described eight months before by Wolfgang Straßer in his PhD thesis.[15]

In 1972, Catmull made his earliest contribution to the film industry: a one-minute animated version of his left hand, titledA Computer Animated Hand,created withFred Parkeat the University of Utah. This short sequence was eventually picked up by a Hollywood producer and incorporated in the 1976 filmFutureworld,[8][16]which was the first film to use3D computer graphicsand a science-fiction sequel to the 1973 filmWestworld,itself being the first to use apixelatedimage generated by a computer.[17]A Computer Animated Handwas selected for preservation in theNational Film Registryof theLibrary of Congressin December 2011.[16][18]

Career

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Early career

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In 1974, Catmull earned his doctorate incomputer science,[1]and was hired by a company calledApplicon.By November of that year, he had been contacted byAlexander Schure,the founder of theNew York Institute of Technology,who offered him the position as the director of the institute's newComputer Graphics Lab.[19][20]In that position, in 1977, he invented Tween, software for 2D animation that automatically produced frames of motion in between two frames.[21]

However, Catmull's team lacked the ability to tell a story effectively via film, harming the effort to produce a motion picture via a computer.[22]Catmull and his partner,Alvy Ray Smith,attempted to reach out to studios to alleviate this issue, but were generally unsuccessful until they attracted the attention ofGeorge LucasatLucasfilm.[23]

Lucasfilm

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Lucas approached Catmull in 1979 and asked him to lead a group to bring computer graphics, video editing, and digital audio into the entertainment field. Lucas had already made a deal with a computer company calledTriple-I,and asked them to create a digital model of anX-wing fighterfromStar Wars,which they did. In 1979, Catmull became the Vice President atIndustrial Light & Magiccomputer graphics division at Lucasfilm.[24]

Pixar

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In 1986,Steve Jobsbought Lucasfilm's digital division and foundedPixar,where Catmull would work.[25]Pixar would be acquired by Disney in 2006.[26]

In June 2007, Catmull and long-time Pixar digital animator and directorJohn Lasseterwere given control ofDisneytoon Studios,a division ofDisney Animationhoused in a separate facility in Glendale. As president and chief creative officer, respectively, they have supervised three separate studios for Disney, each with its own production pipeline: Pixar, Disney Animation, and Disneytoon. While Disney Animation and Disneytoon are located in the Los Angeles area, Pixar is located over 350 miles (563 kilometers) northwest in theSan Francisco Bay Area,where Catmull and Lasseter both live. Accordingly, they appointed a general manager for each studio to handle day-to-day affairs on their behalf, then began regularly commuting each week to both Pixar and Disney Animation and spending at least two days per week (usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays) at Disney Animation.[27]

While at Pixar, Catmull was implicated in theHigh-Tech Employee Antitrustscandal, in which Bay Area technology companies allegedly agreed, among other things, not to cold-call recruit from one another.[28][29][30]Catmull defended his actions in adeposition,saying: "While I have responsibility for the payroll, I have responsibility for the long term also."[31][32]Disney and its subsidiaries, including Pixar, ultimately paid $100 million in settlement compensation.[28][29]

In November 2014, the general managers of Disney Animation and Pixar were both promoted to president, but both continued to report to Catmull, who retained the title of president of Walt Disney and Pixar.[33]On October 23, 2018, Catmull announced his plans to retire from Pixar and Disney Animation, staying on as an adviser through July 2019.[34]

Thatgamecompany

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In March 2022,Thatgamecompanyannounced the addition of Catmull as principal adviser on creative culture and strategic growth.[35]

Personal life

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As of 2006, Catmull lives inMarin County, California,with his wife, Susan Anderson, and their three children.[36]

Catmull has an inability to formmental imagerywithin his head, a condition known asaphantasia.[37]

Awards and honors

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In 1993, Catmull received his firstAcademy Scientific and Technical Awardfrom theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences"for the development ofPhotoRealistic RenderMansoftware which produces images used in motion pictures from 3D computer descriptions of shape and appearance ". He shared this award withTom Porter.In 1995, he was inducted as a Fellow of theAssociation for Computing Machinery.Again in 1996, he received an Academy Scientific and Technical Award "for pioneering inventions in Digital Image Compositing".[38]

In 2000, Catmull was elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineeringfor leadership in the creation of digital imagery, leading to the introduction of fully synthetic visual effects and motion pictures.

In 2001, he received an Oscar "for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar's RenderMan". In 2006, he was awarded theIEEE John von Neumann All-Medal Crown Of Trophiesfor pioneering contributions to the field of computer graphics in modeling, animation and rendering. At the81st Academy Awards(2008, presented in February 2009), Catmull was awarded theGordon E. Sawyer Award,which honors "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry".[39]

In 2013, theComputer History Museumnamed him a Museum Fellow "for his pioneering work in computer graphics, animation and filmmaking".[40]

His bookCreativity, Inc.was shortlisted for theFinancial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award(2014),[41]and was a selection forMark Zuckerberg book clubin March 2015.[42]

Catmull shared the 2019Turing AwardwithPat Hanrahanfor their pioneering work on computer-generated imagery.[43][44]

Filmography

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Films

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Year Film Credited as
1976 Futureworld Producer: Animated Face and Animated Hand Film
1982 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Computer Graphics:Industrial Light & Magic
1995 Toy Story Executive Producer,RenderMan(R) Software Development
1998 A Bug's Life Executive Team - uncredited
1999 Toy Story 2
2001 Monsters, Inc.
2003 Finding Nemo
2004 The Incredibles
2006 Cars Executive Team
2007 Meet the Robinsons Executive Team
Ratatouille Executive Team
2008 WALL-E Pixar Senior Staff
Tinker Bell Executive Team:PixarandWalt Disney Animation Studios
Bolt Executive Team
2009 Up Pixar Senior Staff
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure Executive Team: Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios
The Princess and the Frog Disney Senior Staff
2010 Toy Story 3 Pixar Executive Team
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Executive Team: Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tangled Studio Leadership
2011 Winnie the Pooh
Cars 2 Pixar Senior Leadership Team
2012 Brave
Secret of the Wings Executive Team: Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios
Wreck-It Ralph Studio Leadership
2013 Monsters University Pixar Senior Leadership Team
Planes Studio Leadership: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Frozen Studio Leadership
2014 The Pirate Fairy Studio Leadership: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Planes: Fire & Rescue
Big Hero 6 Studio Leadership
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast Studio Leadership: Walt Disney Animation Studios
2015 Inside Out Pixar Senior Leadership Team
The Good Dinosaur
2016 Zootopia Studio Leadership
Finding Dory Pixar Senior Leadership Team
Moana Studio Leadership
2017 Cars 3 Pixar Senior Leadership Team
Coco
2018 Incredibles 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet Studio Leadership
2019 Toy Story 4 Pixar Senior Leadership Team
Frozen II Studio Leadership
2020 Onward Pixar Senior Leadership Team

Publications

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  • Catmull, Ed; Amy Wallace (2014).Creativity Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.New York: Random House.ISBN978-0-8129-9301-1.OCLC851419994.
  • Catmull, Ed (2016). "Part 2: Wealthy § Ed Catmull." Pp. 309–13 inTools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers,edited byTim Ferriss.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN9781328683786.

References

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  1. ^abCatmull, Edwin Earl (1974).A subdivision algorithm for computer display of curved surfaces(PDF)(PhD thesis). University of Utah.Archived(PDF)from the original on September 26, 2020.
  2. ^Catmull, E.;Clark, J.(1978)."Recursively generated B-spline surfaces on arbitrary topological meshes"(PDF).Computer-Aided Design.10(6): 350.doi:10.1016/0010-4485(78)90110-0.S2CID121149868.
  3. ^Cook, R. L.;Carpenter, L.;Catmull, E.(1987)."The Reyes image rendering architecture"(PDF).ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics.21(4): 95–102.doi:10.1145/37402.37414.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 4, 2016.RetrievedAugust 28,2015.
  4. ^Price, David P. T. (2009).The Pixar Touch (Vintage).London: Vintage.ISBN978-0-307-27829-6.
  5. ^Michael Rubin,Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution(2005),ISBN0-937404-67-5
  6. ^abAvery, Laura (2004).Newsmakers.Gale Research. p. 61.ISBN978-0-7876-6806-8.ISSN0899-0417.OCLC17977680.
  7. ^Katie, Harmer (June 20, 2013)."Pixar ties to Utah run deep".Deseret News.Archived fromthe originalon June 27, 2013.RetrievedOctober 9,2014.
  8. ^abcdDavid A. Price (2008).The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company.Alfred A. Knopf.pp.12–13, 21.ISBN978-0-307-26950-8.RetrievedJanuary 4,2016.
  9. ^Ed Catmull: Creativity, Inc.
  10. ^Catmull & Wallace,p. 11
  11. ^"A conversation with Ed Catmull - ACM Queue".acm.org.
  12. ^Innerview - Edwin CatmullArchivedMarch 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine
  13. ^Oral History of Edwin "Ed" Catmull; 2013-03-01
  14. ^"Edwin Catmull".awards.acm.org.RetrievedApril 11,2023.
  15. ^Straßer, Wolfgang. Schnelle Kurven- und Flächendarstellung auf graphischen Sichtgeräten, Dissertation, TU Berlin, submitted April 26, 1974
  16. ^ab"2011 National Film Registry More Than a Box of Chocolates".Library of Congress.December 28, 2011.RetrievedDecember 28,2011.
  17. ^Trenholm, Richard."Westworld's twists were hidden in Futureworld all along".CNET.RetrievedMarch 19,2020.
  18. ^Itzkoff, Dave (December 27, 2011)."'Silence of the Lambs', 'Bambi' and 'Forrest Gump' added to National Film Registry ".New York Times: Artsbeat.RetrievedDecember 28,2011.
  19. ^Hanrahan, Pat (November 13, 2010)."A Conversation with Ed Catmull".queue.acm.org.RetrievedJune 27,2019.
  20. ^"Edwin Catmull".2008.RetrievedJune 27,2019.
  21. ^Catmull & Wallace,p. 24
  22. ^Catmull & Wallace,p. 25
  23. ^Catmull & Wallace,pp. 25–27
  24. ^"The Pixar Story: Dick Shoup, Alex Schure, George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and Disney".August 14, 2013.
  25. ^Catmull & Wallace,pp. 42–43
  26. ^Catmull & Wallace,p. 145
  27. ^Lev-Ram, Michal (December 31, 2014)."A candid conversation with Pixar's philosopher-king, Ed Catmull".Fortune.Time Inc.RetrievedJanuary 11,2015.
  28. ^abJohnson, Ted (February 2017)."Animation Workers Reach $100 Million Settlement With Disney in Wage-Fixing Suit".Variety.RetrievedMarch 21,2020.
  29. ^abAmidi, Amid (July 11, 2014)."Pixar's Ed Catmull Emerges As Central Figure In The Wage-Fixing Scandal".Cartoon Brew.RetrievedMarch 21,2020.
  30. ^Ames, Mark."REVEALED: Emails, court docs show how Sony stood up to Steve Jobs' and Pixar's wage-fixing cartel".Pando.Archived fromthe originalon March 21, 2020.RetrievedMarch 21,2020.
  31. ^Rosenblatt, Joel (November 20, 2014)."A conspiracy or a lawsuit all about money?".independent.ie.RetrievedMarch 21,2020.
  32. ^Cano, Georgia (February 2019)."Op-Ed: Why I Filed The Wage-Theft Lawsuit Against Major Animation Studios".Cartoon Brew.RetrievedMarch 21,2020.
  33. ^Graser, Marc (November 18, 2014)."Walt Disney Animation, Pixar Promote Andrew Millstein, Jim Morris to President".Variety.Variety Media, LLC.RetrievedNovember 18,2014.
  34. ^"Pixar Co-Founder Ed Catmull to Retire".The Hollywood Reporter.RetrievedOctober 23,2018.
  35. ^"Sky and Journey maker Thatgamecompany raises $160M".VentureBeat.March 3, 2022.RetrievedMarch 17,2023.
  36. ^Eller, Claudia (June 12, 2006)."Disney's Low-Key Superhero".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedMarch 18,2020.
  37. ^Gallagher, James (April 9, 2019)."Aphantasia: Ex-Pixar chief Ed Catmull says 'my mind's eye is blind'".BBC News.RetrievedApril 15,2022.
  38. ^"Three Pixar execs get special Oscars".San Francisco Chronicle.February 1, 1996.RetrievedMarch 12,2009.
  39. ^Moody, Annemarie (January 6, 2009)."Academy to Honor Ed Catmull with Gordon E. Sawyer Oscar".Animation World Network.RetrievedMarch 19,2020.
  40. ^"Edwin Catmull—CHM Fellow Award Winner".Computerhistory.org. March 30, 2015. Archived fromthe originalon April 3, 2015.RetrievedMarch 30,2015.
  41. ^Andrew Hill (September 24, 2014)."Shortlist unveiled for FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year".Financial Times.Archivedfrom the original on December 10, 2022.RetrievedNovember 12,2014.
  42. ^Richard Feloni (March 3, 2015)."Why Mark Zuckerberg thinks everyone can learn something from Pixar".Business Insider.RetrievedApril 19,2015.
  43. ^Metz, Cade (March 18, 2020)."Pixar Pioneers Win $1 Million Turing Award".The New York Times.RetrievedMarch 18,2020.
  44. ^Thomas, Zoe (April 5, 2020)."Pixar animators win 'Nobel Prize' of computing".BBC News.RetrievedApril 6,2020.
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