Photo Galleries

Animation Wins Big

The Academy honors animation legends, lighting, LCD screens

Posted 25.2.09 at 12:50 pm 0 Comments

<
IMAGE 1 OF 7
>
Ed Catmull at podium
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Publicity Department
Ed Catmull won this year’s Gordon E. Sawyer award, which is the highest award given at the SciTech Oscars. It awards an entire career, which in Catmull’s case involves working on inception of 3-D animation and eventually becoming the first Chief Technical Officer at Pixar. While Steve Jobs gets credit for the vision, and John Lasseter gets the credit for the creativity, it was Catmull who directed the technology that made Woody and Nemo possible.
Tags
Entertainment & Gaming, Academy Awards, animation, movies, Oscars, Pixar
<
IMAGE 1 OF 7
>
<
IMAGE 2 OF 7
>
Mark Kimball at podium
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Publicity Department
While Ed Catmull made his mark with 3D animation, Mark Kimball, winner of the John Bonner medal, worked in nearly every aspect of animation during his decades of work at Disney. Originally a technician at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (Kimball designed parts of the Voyager and Viking probes), Kimball made his way over to Disney where he set up the famous CAPS system. "CAPS was the entire computer animation productions system,” said Kimball. “It sets up a methodology for doing digital animation, and that methodology was set up by working with the people who knew the traditional method for animation the best." The CAPS system was used on every modern animated Disney movie, including Beauty and the Beast, the first major digital animated feature, and still the only animated movie ever nominated for Best Picture in the regular Academy Awards.
Tags
Entertainment & Gaming, Academy Awards, animation, disney, films, movies, Oscars, Pixar
<
IMAGE 2 OF 7
>

More Photo Galleries

0
Entertainment & Gaming
Sony Bravia-drome
Sony have created the world's biggest zoetrope to promote their 200Hz Bravia TVs
24
1
3.65
Entertainment & Gaming
Super-Powered Clothing
A new line of high-tech fabric is having athletes jump higher and run farther than ever before
24
1
2.3
Entertainment & Gaming
New Ways to Play
The biggest PC and video games of 2009
24
1
4
Entertainment & Gaming
A Wonderland of Wacky Gaming Gadgets
When we predicted that 2009 would be a year of innovation for the video game business, who knew it would start by pushing the boundaries of silliness?
24
1
1
Entertainment & Gaming
Netflix Goes HD
See it in action
24
1
2.5
Entertainment & Gaming
Homemade Kicks
And the law allows you to use them if you don't show any after effects
24
1

Popular Tags

Entertainment & Gaming

Regular Features

The Score with Brett Zarda | Sports and science collide
The Breakdown | The physics of YouTube
Cocktail Party Science | The PopSci podcast

All Tags All Photos All Videos

regarding	user	just commented
New HP Enjoys Being Felt Up	Highboy	The last time I was looking
New HP Enjoys Being Felt Up	Highboy	The last time I was looking
The Photons Are Coming!	Highboy	Can't wait to see what this
The Photons Are Coming!	Ulyssus	I've heard a lot about this
Tested: Nissan GT-R	Ulyssus	Like I said before, that is

Featured

Entertainment & Gaming

Balls and Bullets For Bucks
While online poker remains in cloudy legal waters, betting on games of skill can still net you some quick cash—if you're good enough to beat the competition
Hollywood Science: How to Make a Digital World
The high-speed stunner Speed Racer resets reality by creating a fantasyland out of nothing but computers and imagination