Robert Abel (Animator)

Robert Abel (born March 10, 1937 in Cleveland , Ohio , † September 23, 2001 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American director , entrepreneur, computer scientist and computer graphic artist . He is considered a pioneer in the field of computer animation and visual effects . He achieved greater prominence through working with his own company, Robert Abel and Associates .

Origin and education

Robert Abel was born in Cleveland, but grew up in Los Angeles. He studied design and film at UCLA .

Abel gained his first experience with computer graphics in the 1950s while working as an assistant to John Whitney .

In the 1960s and early 1970s Abel directed several documentaries including The Making of the President, 1968 and the concert documentaries Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen , Elvis on Tour , and Let the Good Times Roll .

Robert Abel & Associates

In 1971 Robert Abel and his friend Con Pederson founded Robert Abel and Associates (RA&A) , a commercial film production company that later became one of the first computer animation and computer animated visual effects production companies .

At the end of the 1970s, RA&A began using computers ( mainframes ) in conjunction with vector graphics terminals to plan and preview their (optical) visual effects, which later led to the production of computer animation under the leadership of RA & As's "software guru" Bill Kovacs Robert Abel & Associates developed.

In late 1984, Robert Abel & Associates produced the Brilliance commercial for the Canned Food Information Council , which aired during the 1985 Super Bowl . The finished commercial showed a human-like figure - a female robot - with a realistically simulated chrome skin and realistic human movement and also represented the first commercial application of the motion capture process.

The company history of Robert Abel & Associates ended in 1987 as a result of a merger with the Canadian computer animation company Omnibus Computer Graphics, Inc. , which filed for bankruptcy in 1987 .

After Robert Abel & Associates

After the end of his company, Abel founded Synapse Technologies in the 1990s , one of the first production companies for interactive media based on CD-ROMs . He studied design and film at UCLA .

Robert Abel died on September 23, 2001 of complications from a heart attack at the age of 64.

Awards

Robert Abel has received numerous honors and awards, including a Golden Globe Award (for Elvis on Tour ), two Emmys , and 33 Clios for his company's Robert Abel & Associates commercials.

Web links

Abel explains his hypermedia project on Picasso's Guernica in Douglas Adams ' documentation Hyperland , BBC (1990), film in the Internet Movie Database, English, from 23:55

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Myrna Oliver: Obituaries Robert Abel, 64; Computer animation, Graphics Pioneer . In: Los Angeles Times , September 26, 2001, p. 10.
↑ ^a ^b Ellen Wolff: Remembering Robert Abel . In: Millimeter , October 2001, p. 10.
↑ Rick Parent, David S. Ebert, David AD Gould: Computer Animation Complete: All-in-One: Learn Motion Capture, Characteristic, Point-Based, and Maya Winning Technique . Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington, MA 2009, ISBN 978-0-12-375078-5 , pp. 73–75 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

personal data
SURNAME	Abel, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American director, entrepreneur, computer scientist and computer graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH	March 10, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cleveland , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH	September 23, 2001
Place of death	Los Angeles , California

[MyrnaOliver-1] Myrna Oliver: Obituaries Robert Abel, 64; Computer animation, Graphics Pioneer . In: Los Angeles Times , September 26, 2001, p. 10.

[Wolff-2] Ellen Wolff: Remembering Robert Abel . In: Millimeter , October 2001, p. 10.

[RickParent-3] Rick Parent, David S. Ebert, David AD Gould: Computer Animation Complete: All-in-One: Learn Motion Capture, Characteristic, Point-Based, and Maya Winning Technique . Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington, MA 2009, ISBN 978-0-12-375078-5 , pp. 73–75 ( limited preview in Google Book search).