www.aec.at  
 
 
 
 

Loren Carpenter on the Computer Animation / Visual Effects Jury
Computer animated films as we are know them today could not exist without the program RenderMan – developed by Loren Carpenter of Pixar – jury member of Prix Ars Electronica as early as 1987.

Loren Carpenter (USA) is senior scientist at Pixar Animation Studios. In 1980, applying old mathematical concepts in a novel way, Carpenter created realistic computer-generated landscapes that viewers could move through and see from different perspectives. That application became part of the RenderMan software. The internal design of RenderMan was a breakthrough in being able to handle the extremely complex scenes needed by the film industry. It makes three dimensional animated movies possible, as well as the creation and integration of visual effects elements in live action films. Renderman has been used in Pixar's movies, and many other box-office hits, such as "Star Quest" (1987), Terminator II (1991), "Toy Story" (1995), and most recently in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002).

In 2001 Carpenter and his colleagues Ed Catmull and Rob Cook have been awarded an Oscar for RenderMan - the first Academy Award given specifically for the development of a software program.

Concurrently with his leadership of Pixar, Loren and his wife Rachel founded Cinematrix to explore the intersection of computers and art. Currently Cinematrix's Interactive Entertainment Systems division is focusing on the development of an interactive audience participation technology that enables thousands of people to simultaneously communicate with a computer, making possible an entire new class of human-computer interaction.

One of his last "films": a three-dimensional astrology chart generated automatically – to be viewed on mobile phones and PDAs.



10.4.2003
Ingrid Fischer

Cinematrix
Kinoetic Evolution
© Ars Electronica Linz GmbH, info@aec.at