Former Utahn Will Be President of Combined Animation Studios
Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 09:00 CST
By Vince Horiuchi, The Salt Lake Tribune
Jan. 25--Pixar President Ed Catmull, who will serve as president of the combined Pixar and Disney animation studios, is a former Utahn and was a University of Utah computer science luminary in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Catmull was part of a pioneering group of students who went on to become some of the leaders in the computer industry, including Jim Clark (founder of Netscape), Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari and the "Father of Videogames"), and Alan Ashton (founder of WordPerfect).
"We knew we were onto something special," said Catmull, who graduated from Granite High School, in an earlier interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. "It was very exciting. I look back on those days with a lot of good memories."
In 1979, Catmull worked for George Lucas' new computer animation division and created the software Renderman, which was used to animate computer objects and became the core of all the animation in Pixar's films.
In 1986, Jobs bought out Lucas' animation division and formed Pixar with Catmull, first producing the Oscar-winning shorts that included "Luxo Jr.,""Tin Toy" and "Knick Knack."
During the time when Disney was releasing Pixar's films, Catmull has said, the house that Mickey built has never interfered with Pixar's moviemaking.
"Now the creatives are calling the shots," he said. "My job is to make sure they succeed."
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Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
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