HISTORY OF DIGITAL IMAGING ACADEMY SCI-TECH AWARDS
Last Updated: February 5, 2006

(1984)

To JOHN WHITNEY JR. and GARY DEMOS of Digital Productions, Incorporated for the practical simulation of motion picture photography by means of computer-generated images .

Motion picture scenes created by Digital Scene Simulation are originated mathematically and electronically by computer programming. Three-dimensional images of high resolution are stored and can be displayed graphically in two-dimension and in any perspective before they are transferred to film, offering the industry an opportunity to create motion picture segments entirely from the imagination without the physical requirements of sets or props. The action produced can be previewed and altered before a print is made, or it can be called back from the computers memory at a later date for post-production refinement.

(1997)

To WILLIAM KOVACS for his creative leadership and ROY HALL for his principle engineering efforts that led to the Wavefront Advanced Visualizer computer graphics system .

The Wavefront system was the first commercial software package for modeling, animating and rendering computer-generated elements and scenes that was adopted into widespread use to create digital images with sufficient quality for theatrical motion pictures.

(1997)

To JAMES J. KEATING, MICHAEL WAHRMAN and RICHARD HOLLANDER for their contributions that led to the Wavefront Advanced Visualizer computer graphics system .

(1997)

To GREG HERMANOVIC, KIM DAVIDSON, MARK ELENDT and PAUL H. BRESLIN for the development of the procedural modeling and animation components of the Prisms software package .

Through a procedural building-block process, the Prisms 3D animation Software is used to simulate natural phenomena, and create particle effects, complex three-dimensional models, and motion for feature film visual effects.

(1998)

To GARY TREGASKI for the primary design and DOMINIQUE BOISVERT, PHILIPPE PANZINI and ANDRE LEBLANC for the development and implementation of the Flame and Inferno software .

The Inferno System, and its predecessor, Flame, provide high-speed, efficient integrated digital compositing and visual effects tools.

(2001)

To DR. LANCE J. WILLIAMS for his pioneering influence in the field of computer generated animation and effects for motion pictures. .

The ongoing influence of Lance Williams is exemplified in his three seminal papers "Casting Shadows on Curved Surfaces", "Pyramidal Parametrics" and "View Interpolation for Image Synthesis."

(2002)

To ALIAS/WAVEFRONT for the development of a 3D animation, dynamics, modeling and rendering production tool known as Maya.

With its significant and dominant impact on the motion picture industry, the Maya software package offers a robust and widely used commercial visual effects tool with a rich infrastructure for extension and customization.

(2002)

To MARK ELENDT, PAUL H. BRESLIN, GREG HERMANOVIC and KIM DAVIDSON for their continued development of the procedural modeling and animation components of their Prisms program, as exemplified in the Houdini software package.

Through a procedural building-block process, the Houdini software is used to simulate natural phenomena using particle effects and complex three-dimensional models.

Scanning/Recording:

(1991)

To RAY FEENEY, RICHARD KEENEY and RICHARD J. LUNDELL for the software development and adaptation of the Solitaire Film Recorder that provides a flexible, cost-effective film recording system .

This electronic film recorder adaptation is a self-calibrating, modular, automatic, plug and play system which allows special effects facilities to have affordable in-house capabilities.

(1994)

To GARY DEMOS and DAN CAMERON of Information International, DAVID DIFRANCESCO and GARY STARKWEATHER of Pixar and SCOTT SQUIRES of Industrial Light and Magic for their pioneering work in the field of film input scanning.

(1994)

To LINCOLN HU and MICHAEL MACKENZIE of Industrial Light and Magic and GLENN KENNEL and MIKE DAVIS of Eastman Kodak for their joint development work on a linear array CCD (Charge Coupled Device) film input scanning system .

(1994)

To RAY FEENEY, WILL MCCOWN and BILL BISHOP of RFX, Inc. and LES DITTERT of Pacific Data Images for their development work with area array CCD (Charge Coupled Device) film input scanning systems .

(1994)

To DR. MIKE BOUDRY of the Computer Film Company for his pioneering work in the field of film input scanning .

Film input scanning systems are utilized to convert motion picture sequences into digital data which is used for post-production manipulation, enhancement, compositing, and visual effects with a quality level previously unmatched by conventional opticals.

(1994)

To DAVID A. ADDLEMAN and LLOYD A. ADDLEMAN for the development of the Cyberware 3030 3D Digitizer .

The Cyberware 3030 3D Color Digitizer uses laser and video technology to capture the shape and color of an object in three dimensions-the computer equivalent of a 3D camera. This results in a computer database that can be manipulated and animated for use in motion pictures.

(1996)

To BRIAN KNEP, CRAIG HAYES, RICK SAYRE and THOMAS WILLIAMS for the creation and development of the Direct Input Device .

The Direct Input Device is an encoded armature which allows stop-motion animators to bring their skills and artistry directly into computer animation.

(1998)

To DAVID DIFRANCESCO, BALA S. MANIAN and THOMAS L. NOGGLE for their pioneering efforts in the development of laser film recording technology .

This pioneering laser film recorder, designed and used for motion pictures, demonstrated the potential of this technology for recording digital data onto intermediate film stock.

Animation:

(1991)

To RANDY CARTWRIGHT, DAVID B. COONS, LEM DAVIS, THOMAS HAHN, JAMES HOUSTON, MARK KIMBALL, DYLAN W. KOHLER, PETER NYE, MICHAEL SHANTZIS, DAVID F. WOLF and THE WALT DISNEY FEATURE ANIMATION DEPARTMENT for the design and development of the "CAPS" production system for feature film animation .

This computer animation production system allows traditional animation to be digitally processed and filmed. The use of new digital techniques have resulted in more detailed and accurate reproduction of the artists original pencil and brush work, maintaining very high image quality throughout the process.

(1997)

To CRAIG W. REYNOLDS for his pioneering contributions to the development of three-dimensional computer animation for motion picture production .

The early contributions of Mr. Reynolds in the digital animation arena have become both influential and instrumental in the architecture of many later systems developed at companies throughout the computer animation industry.

(1997)

To EBEN OSTBY, WILLIAM REEVES, SAMUEL J. LEFFLER and TOM DUFF for the development of the Marionette Three-Dimensional Computer Animation System .

The creators of Marionette introduced a procedural system for computer animation with an extensible and flexible software architecture that allows creation of high-level controls for the animator. This system was used to create the first, three-dimensional computer animated feature film, "Toy Story."

(1997)

To DOMINIQUE BOISVERT, REJEAN GAGNE, DANIEL LANGLOIS and RICHARD LAPERRIERE for the development of the "Actor" animation component of the Softimage computer animation system .

The commercially available Softimage 3D system is widely used in computer animation of three-dimensional characters for the film industry. The "Actor" component provided breakthroughs in animation control and efficiency that led to the widespread use of Softimage in visual effects and animation production.

(1997)

To RICHARD CHUANG, GLENN ENTIS and CARL ROSENDAHL for the concept and architecture of the Pacific Data Images (PDI) Animation System.

Pacific Data Images created an extensible and flexible procedural architecture for computer animation. This early proprietary system is still in use, meeting the increasing demands of contemporary visual effects and animation production.

(1998)

To CARY PHILLIPS for the design and development of the "Caricature" Animation System at Industrial Light & Magic .

By integrating existing tools into a powerful interactive system, and adding an expressive multi-target shape interpolation-based freeform animation system, the "Caricature" system provided a degree of subtlety and refinement not possible with other systems.

(2002)

To DICK WALSH for the development of the PDI/Dreamworks Facial Animation System.

This effective software simulation system is used to create and control natural, expressive, highly-nuanced facial animation on a wide range of computer-generated characters.

Rendering:

(1992)

To LOREN CARPENTER, ROB COOK, ED CATMULL, TOM PORTER, PAT HANRAHAN, TONY APODACA and DARWYN PEACHEY for the development of "Renderman" software which produces images used in motion pictures from 3D computer descriptions of shape and appearance .

Utilizing a computer description, the "RenderMan" software provides the means to digitally create complete scenes or elements that may be composited with other footage.

(2000)

To ROB COOK, LOREN CARPENTER and ED CATMULL for their significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar's "Renderman.".

Their broad professional influence in the industry has and continues to inspire and contribute to the advancement of computer generated imagery for motion pictures.

(2002)

To THOMAS DRIEMEYER and the TEAM of MATHEMATICIANS, PHYSICISTS, and SOFTWARE ENGINEERS of MENTAL IMAGES for their contributions to the Mental Ray rendering software for motion pictures.

Mental Ray is a highly programmable computer-graphics renderer incorporating ray tracing and global illumination to realistically simulate the behavior of light in computer generated imagery.

Morphing:

(1992)

To TOM BRIGHAM for the original concept and pioneering work and DOUGLAS SMYTHE and THE COMPUTER GRAPHICS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC for the development and the first implementation in feature motion pictures of the MORF system for digital metamorphosis of high resolution images.

This system has made practical, for the first time, the creation of metamorphosis and transformation effects for motion pictures by synthesizing a smooth transition between two film elements.

(1996)

To PERRY KIVOLOWITZ for the primary design and DR. GARTH A. DICKIE for the development of the algorithms for the shape-driven warping and morphing subsystem of the Elastic Reality Special Effects System .

These components form the core of an efficient and easy-to-use system which greatly simplifies the creation of shape-changing visual effects in motion pictures.

2D/3D Paint:

(1993)

To MARK LEATHER, LES DITTERT, DOUGLAS SMYTHE and GEORGE JOBLOVE for the concept and development of the Digital Motion Picture Retouching System for removing visible rigging and dirt/damage artifacts from original motion picture imagery .

This was the first practical system to digitally allow the removal of visible wire/miscellaneous rigging and other defects from original motion picture photography that does not require frame-by-frame painting by the operator and which exhibits no image degradation, even under large-screen theatrical projection.

(1996)

To JOHN SCHLAG, BRIAN KNEP, ZORAN KACIC-ALESIC and THOMAS WILLIAMS for the development of the ViewPaint 3D Paint System for film production work .

ViewPaint is an interactive 3D paint system that allows artists to apply color and texture details to computer generated effects.

(1997)

To RICHARD SHOUP, ALVY RAY SMITH and THOMAS PORTER for their pioneering efforts in the development of digital paint systems used in motion picture production .

Much of the foundation for the numerous contemporary digital paint products for motion pictures can be traced directly back to the early work of these digital pioneers.

(2001)

To DR. GARLAND STERN for the concept and implementation of the Cel Paint Software System..

All current cel painting applications in the motion picture industry can be traced back to the original idea and pioneering implementation of Garland Stern.

(2002)

To ERIC DANIELS, GEORGE KATANICS, TASSO LAPPAS and CHRIS SPRINGFIELD for the development of the Deep Canvas rendering software.

The Deep Canvas software program captures the original brush strokes of the traditional background artist to render elements in three dimensions for animated films.

Digital Matting/Keying:

(1994)

To PETRO VLAHOS and PAUL VLAHOS for the conception and development of Ultimatte Electronic Blue Screen Compositing Process for motion pictures .

This process is not just an improvement over the optical approach, it is a replacement approach with major advances. In particular, it is able to provide solutions for black gloss, impure and uneven backing lighting, noise, and difficult object characterizations such as hair, motion blur, transparency, arbitrary colors, and shadows.

(1994)

To GEORGE SAUVE, BILL BISHOP, ARPAG DADOURIAN, RAY FEENEY and RICHARD PATTERSON for the Cinefusion software implementation of the Ultimatte Blue Screen Compositing Technology .

This computer-based implementation of the Ultimatte Cinefusion process uses intelligent matte decision algorithms and a powerful graphical interface to create an intuitive blue screen matte extraction tool.

Compositing:

(1995)

To ALVY RAY SMITH, ED CATMULL, THOMAS PORTER and TOM DUFF for their pioneering inventions in Digital Image Compositing .

This groundbreaking methodology has significantly influenced the development of the compositing of images using digital techniques.

(1995)

To DOUGLAS SMYTHE, LINCOLN HU, DOUGLAS S. KAY and INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MAGIC for their pioneering efforts in the creation of the ILM Digital Film Compositing System .

This early work illustrated and introduced some of the capabilities that digital compositing techniques could provide feature motion picture production.

(1995)

To COMPUTER FILM COMPANY for their pioneering efforts in the creation of the CFC Digital Film Compositing System .

This early work illustrated and introduced some of the capabilities that digital compositing techniques could provide feature motion picture production.

(1995)

To GARY DEMOS, DAVID RUHOFF, DAN CAMERON and MICHELLE FERAUD for their pioneering efforts in the creation of the Digital Productions Digital Film Compositing System .

This early work illustrated and introduced some of the capabilities that digital compositing techniques could provide feature motion picture production.

(2001)

To BILL SPITZAK, PAUL VAN CAMP, JONATHAN EGSTAD and PRICE PETHEL for their pioneering effort on the NUKE-2D Compositing Software..

The Nuke-2D compositing software allows for the creation of complex interactive digital composites using relatively modest computing hardware.

(2004)

To Lindsay Arnold, Guy Griffiths, David Hodson, Charlie Lawrence and David Mann for their development of the Cineon Digital Film Workstation.

Cineon pioneered a commercial node-graph compositing system establishing a new visual method for direct manipulation of the compositing process, which influenced and defined modern digital compositing workflows.

Particles:

(1996)

To WILLIAM REEVES for the original concept and the development of particle systems used to create computer generated visual effects in motion pictures .

The concept of particle systems inspired and continues to influence further developments in the area of computer generated tornadoes, flames, sparks, snow, clouds and other visual effects.

(1996)

To JIM HOURIHAN for the primary design and development of the interactive language-based control of particle systems as embodied in the Dynamation software package .

Dynamation is used to create a wide variety of computer generated effects such as tornadoes, flames, sparks, snow and clouds in motion pictures.

Hair & Fur:

(1996)

To JAMES KAJIYA and TIMOTHY KAY for their pioneering work in producing computer generated fur and hair in motion pictures .

This pioneering work inspired the development of the computer-generated fur and hair systems that are in use today.

(1996)

To JEFFERY YOST, CHRISTIAN ROUET, DAVID BENSON and FLORIAN KAINZ for the development of a system to create and control computer generated fur and hair in motion pictures.

This system represents a significant advancement for controlling computer generated short fur and long hair in a motion picture production environment.

Noise:

(1996)

To KEN PERLIN for the development of Perlin Noise, a technique used to produce natural appearing textures on computer generated surfaces for motion picture visual effects .

The development of Perlin Noise has allowed computer graphics artists to better represent the complexity of natural phenomena in visual effects for the motion picture industry.

Modeling:

(1997)

To JOHN GIBSON, ROB KRIEGER, MILAN NOVACEK, GLEN OZYMOK and DAVE SPRINGER for the development of the geometric modeling component of the Alias PowerAnimator system .

The Alias PowerAnimator system is widely regarded in the computer animation field as one of the best commercially available software packages for digital geometric modeling. Used by many motion picture visual effects houses, it has been a benchmark for comparison of modeling tools and has had a major influence on visual effects and animation.

(2000)

To VENKAT KRISHNAMURTHY for the creation of the Paraform Software for 3D Digital Form Development.

This system streamlines the creation of 3D computer graphics models by allowing artists to convert the data from automatically scanned physical models into a user-specified configuration of patches well suited for use in computer applications.

Tracking/Reconstuction:

(1998)

To DR. DOUGLAS R. ROBLE for his contribution to tracking technology and for the design and implementation of the TRACK system for camera position calculation and scene reconstruction .

The TRACK system is an integrated software tool that uses computer-vision techniques to extract critical 2D and 3D information about a scene and the camera used to film it.

(1998)

To THADDEUS BEIER for the design and implementation of ras_track, a system for 2D tracking, stabilization, and 3D camera and object tracking.

Ras_track allows the user to determine the position and location of the camera and objects in a scene by tracking points in a scanned sequence.

(2001)

To STEVE SULLIVAN and ERIC R. L. SCHAFER for the development of the ILM Motion and Structure Recovery System (MARS.).

The MARS system provides analysis of camera motion and object motion, and their dimensions. It employs a rich set of user-interface tools and sophisticated algorithms.

(2001)

To DR. UWE SASSENBERG and ROLF SCHNEIDER for the development of "3D Equalizer," an advanced and robust camera and object match-moving system..

This dominant commercial tracking system provides "survey-free" tracking, which significantly reduces the need for painstaking, error-prone measurements on sets.

Fluid Simulation:

(1998)

To NICK FOSTER for his software development in the field of water simulation systems .

This software technique provides an efficient and flexible method for the creation of flowing streams, oceans, tidal waves and turbulence for motion picture visual effects.

Image-based Rendering:

(2000)

To GEORGE BORSHUKOV, KIM LIBRERI and DAN PIPONI for the development of a system for image-based rendering allowing choreographed camera movements through computer graphic reconstructed sets.

This component of the Manex Visual Effects Virtual Cinematography System provides theatrical quality virtual settings.

Dynamic Simulation:

(2001)

To JOHN R. ANDERSON, JIM HOURIHAN, CARY PHILLIPS and SEBASTIAN MARINO for the development of the ILM Creature Dynamics System..

This system makes hair, clothing, skin, flesh and muscle simulation both directable and integrated within a character animation and rigging environment.

Crowd Simulation:

(2003)

To STEPHEN REGELOUS for the design and development of Massive, the autonomous agent animation system used for the battle sequences in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.

Massive takes a new approach in simulating behaviors of large numbers of computer generated extras (a.k.a.) "agents." Each "agent" contains a primitive software "brain" used to develop behavioral rules simulating a wide range of behaviors. In THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, over 200,000 agents were controlled in several scenes.

Subsurface Scattering:

(2003)

To HENRIK WANN JENSEN, STEPHEN R. MARSCHNER and PAT HANRAHAN for their pioneering research in simulating subsurface scattering of light in translucent materials as presented in their paper "A Practical Model for Subsurface Light Transport".

This mathematical model contributed substantially to the development and implementation of practical techniques for simulating of the subsurface scattering of light in translucent materials for computer generated images in motion pictures.

(2003)

To CHRISTOPHE HERY, and JOE LETTERI for their groundbreaking implementations of practical methods for rendering skin and other translucent materials using subsurface scattering techniques.

These groundbreaking techniques were used to create realistic-looking skin on digitally created characters.

Motion Capture:

(2004)

To Dr. Julian Morris, Michael Birch, Dr. Paul Smyth and Paul Tate for the development of the Vicon motion capture technology.

Vicon Motion Systems developed special-purpose cameras for motion capture with software systems that maximized their impact on the motion picture industry.

(2004)

To Dr. John O. B. Greaves, Ned Phipps, Antonie J. van den Bogert, David J. Warrender and William Hayes for the development of the Motion Analysis motion capture technology.

Motion Analysis Corporation developed special-purpose cameras for motion capture with software systems that maximized their impact on the motion picture industry.

(2004)

To Dr. Nels Madsen, Vaughn Cato, Matthew Madden and Bill Lorton for the development of the Giant Studios motion capture technology.

The software solution created by Giant Studios applied a unique biometric approach that has influenced the development of motion capture technology for motion pictures.

Volume Rendering:

(2004)

To Alan Kapler for the design and development of Storm , a software toolkit for artistic control of volumetric effects.

"Storm" employs an efficient method for directly manipulating volumetric data to create effects such as clouds, water and avalanches with familiar operators inspired by image compositing and painting operations.

Cloth Simulation:

(2005)

To David Baraff, Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures.

Their 1998 paper titled “Large Steps in Cloth Simulation” was a seminal work, providing the key in demonstrating to the industry that the calculations necessary to simulate realistic, complex cloth could be achieved efficiently and robustly. Their work provided the conceptual foundation for many cloth simulation systems in use today.

(2005)
To John Platt and Demetri Terzopoulos for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures.

Their 1987 paper, “Elastically Deformable Models,” was a milestone in computer graphics, introducing the concept of physically-based techniques to simulate moving, deforming objects.

Subdivision Surfaces:

(2005)

To Ed Catmull, for the original concept, and Tony DeRose and Jos Stam for their scientific and practical implementation of subdivision surfaces as a modeling technique in motion picture production.

Subdivision surfaces has become a preferred modeling primitive for many types of motion picture computer graphics.