From left to right: Bonnie L Mitchell, Ed Catmull, and Frederic Parke
In this episode of SIGGRAPH Spotlight, ACM SIGGRAPH History Archive Co-Director Bonnie L. Mitchell is joined by two legends in computer graphics: Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, and Frederic Parke, whose early innovations set the stage for decades of digital advancement. The conversation journeys through the early days of SIGGRAPH, the rapid evolution of digital imagery, and the lasting impact of a community that continues to drive computer graphics and animation forward.
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About Our Guests
Ed Catmull, President, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, retired.
Dr. Catmull is an ACM Turing Award Laureate and has received five Academy Awards, including two Oscars for his work and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. Ed Catmull was co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and served as President of Pixar for 33 years and Walt Disney Animation Studios for 13 of those 33 years. He was previously Vice President of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he was hired to bring high technology to the entertainment industry, particularly computer graphics, video editing, and digital audio.
Catmull’s New York Times bestseller, “CREATIVITY, INC.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration,” which Fast Company described as “what just might be the most thoughtful management book ever,” was published by Random House in 2014. The Expanded Edition of the book was released in June 2023.
He founded three of the leading centers of computer graphics research – including the Computer Division of Lucasfilm Ltd. and Pixar Animation Studios. These organizations have been home to many of the most academically respected researchers in the field and have produced some of the most fundamental advances in computer graphics, including image compositing, motion blur, subdivision surfaces, cloth simulation and rendering techniques, texture mapping, and the z-buffer. He is one of the architects of the RenderMan rendering software, which has been used in over 90% of Academy Award® winners for Visual Effects over the past 20 years.
He is active in several professional organizations and has been a dedicated participant in ACM SIGGRAPH for 50 years. He is also a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Visual Effects Society, and he has received numerous awards from these organizations.
Dr. Catmull earned B.S. degrees in physics and computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah.
After setting up successors, he retired as President of Pixar and Disney Animation on Jan 1, 2019, and is active in consulting and speaking.
Frederic I. Parke received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah where he did seminal work in facial modeling and animation. He is currently Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University where he was Director of the Visualization Laboratory. His most recent work has been in the development of low cost spatially immersive visualization environments. Previously, he was at IBM in Austin working in multimedia and human centric computing including interactive facial animation. Prior, he was Professor of Computer Science and Director of the NYIT Computer Graphics Laboratory involved in broad R&D efforts in computer graphics and the development of production animation systems. While at NYIT he was also Vice-President of Research and Development at Computer Graphics Laboratories, Inc. He was awarded tenure as Associate Professor of Computer Engineering at Case Western Reserve University specializing in computer graphics and multi-processor architectures. Prior to his graduate work at the University of Utah, he was an officer in the U. S. Air Force working with real-time data acquisition, interactive data visualization and systems simulations. He has an undergraduate degree in Physics.
