William Reeves (computer scientist)

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William Reeves (2011)

William Thomas Reeves (born July 19, 1951 in Toronto , Canada ) is a Canadian computer scientist who has contributed to significant developments in computer graphics and animation. He is a three-time Oscar winner.

Life

Reeves studied mathematics at the University of Waterloo until 1974 and graduated with a bachelor's degree . This was followed by a master's degree in computer science at the University of Toronto until 1976 and finally his dissertation at the same university, which he successfully defended in 1980. In his master's thesis, Reeves had dealt with the implementation of interactive computer graphics in small computers; his doctoral thesis was entitled Quantitative representations of complex dynamic shape for motion analysis .

In 1980 George Lucas brought Reeves to the computer-generated special effects department of Industrial Light & Magic , the animation studio belonging to Lucasfilm . From 1982 to 1986 he was the project manager of the model creation and animation team. During that time he worked as a computer graphic artist in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi . His image synthesis technique " Particle Systems ", developed in 1982, allowed the generation of very complex and detailed images and was subsequently used for the computer-animated representation of fire, grass, flowers and trees. The function allowed, among other things, an explosion scene in The Return of the Jedi and the animation of thousands of trees in The Adventures of André and Wally B. For the development of Particle Systems, Reeves received the 1997 Oscar for Science and Development .

Steve Jobs bought the division in 1986 and renamed it Pixar . Reeves was one of the founding fathers of Pixar alongside Jobs and John Lasseter . Here he was responsible for numerous innovations. Among other things, he was one of four technicians who developed Pixar's proprietary animation program for modeling, animation and lighting, Puppet , for which Reeves won his second Academy Award in 1998 in the Science and Development category. As technical director, Reeves has been involved in short animated films such as The Little Lamp . He received an Oscar for Tin Toy , which Reeves created with John Lasseter .

Reeves is married with three children.

Filmography

Publications (selection)

  • 1980: Quantitative representations of complex dynamic shape for motion analysis
  • 1981: Towards a laboratory instrument for motion analysis
  • 1981: Inbetweening for computer animation utilizing moving point constraints
  • 1983: Particle Systems - a Technique for Modeling a Class of Fuzzy Objects
  • 1983: The simulation of natural phenomena (panel session)
  • 1985: Approximate and probabilistic algorithms for shading and rendering structured particle systems
  • 1986: A simple model of ocean waves
  • 1987: Rendering antialiased shadows with depth maps
  • 1988: Approximate and probabilistic algorithms for shading and rendering structured particle systems

Awards

literature

  • Reeves, William . In: Jeff Lenburg: Who's who in animated cartoons . Applause, New York 2006, pp. 299-300.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. math.uwaterloo.ca
  2. ↑ See animatormag.com
personal data
SURNAME Reeves, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reeves, William T .; Reeves, William Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian film technician
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Toronto , Canada