Bill Kovacs

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Bill Kovacs at Rezn8 (2002)

William "Bill" Kovacs (born October 5, 1949 in Pennsylvania , † May 30, 2006 in Camarillo , California ) was an American computer scientist, entrepreneur and computer graphic artist. He is considered a pioneer in the field of computer animation and computer animation software . He was the founder of the former software company Wavefront Technologies .

education

Kovacs studied architecture at Carnegie Mellon University , where he obtained his Bachelor of Architecture in 1971. He then worked for the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architectural firm in their New York office while working on his master's degree in environmental design at Yale University . After successfully obtaining his master’s degree in 1972, he was brought to the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, where he first worked with CAD systems.

Computer animation

In 1978, Kovacs left Skidmore, Owings and Merrill - and the architecture industry as a whole - to take a management position at Robert Abel & Associates , a TV commercials and visual effects production company that became one of the first production companies of Computer animation was. At Robert Abel & Associates, Kovacs became a “technology guru”, a leading specialist in software and technical issues, who largely wrote the (constantly expanded) software for the company's various hardware platforms, which have changed over the course of the company's history.

In 1984, Kovacs left Robert Abel & Associates and founded Wavefront Technologies - the first software company to offer ready-to-use animation software. Until then, it was common for computer graphics production companies to create almost all of their software themselves, and each company used different, specially created software.

In 1995, Silicon Graphics acquired Wavefront Technologies for $ 500 million, along with its largest competitor, Alias ​​Research , and merged the two companies to form Alias ​​| Wavefront .

After leaving Wavefront Technologies in 1994, Kovacs helped found Instant Effects , acted as a consultant for the software company Electronic Arts, and served as the Chief Technical Officer of RezN8 from 2000 until his death .

In 1998, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Kovacs an Oscar in the Science and Development category for his achievements in developing computer animation .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ellen Wolff: The First Wave: The Origins of Wavefront Software. (No longer available online.) In: digitalcontentproducer.com. NewBay Media LLC January 11, 1998, archived from the original July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved June 20, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.digitalcontentproducer.com
  2. ^ A b Ellen Wolff: Remembering CG Pioneer Bill Kovacs . In: millimeters . June 1, 2006, p. 8.
  3. ^ Company News; Silicon Graphics Approved On Acquisitions . In: The New York Times , June 10, 1995. Retrieved July 3, 2014. 
  4. ^ Amy Harmon: A New Dimension: Silicon Graphics to Buy Two 3-D Software Firms . In: The Los Angeles Times , February 18, 1995. Retrieved July 3, 2014. 
  5. ↑ Alias ​​/ Wavefront Celebrates 20th Anniversary and Announces Name Change to Alias . In: Business Wire , July 17, 2003. Retrieved July 3, 2014. 
  6. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000003/1998
personal data
SURNAME Kovacs, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kovacs, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and computer graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 2006
Place of death Camarillo , California