Speaker:

Wayne Wooten

Title:

"Art, Physics, and Computer Science": How Pixar Blends Art, Science, and Fun to Make Animated Feature Films.

Abstract:

Pixar, recently receiving the 2012 Animated Feature Oscar for the movie "Brave", has developed some of the world's most advanced techniques for generating computer animated feature films. In this talk I plan to discuss the research and development that occurs at Pixar and the technologies behind the film production process. My talk will concentrate on new lighting techniques, based on global illumination, that have made significant advancements to the way visual effects and animated features are produced. Sequences from various feature films and shorts will be used as a case study to show how the various pieces of technology come together to create the final frames you see in Pixar's movies.

 Bio: 

Wayne Wooten has worked at Pixar Animation Studios for the past 16 years. He works as a member of the RenderMan research and development team in Seattle. There he develops new rendering algorithms for use on live action and animated feature films. His film credits include a "A Bug's Life", "Toy Story 2", "Monster's Inc", "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles", "Cars", "Ratatouille", "WALL-E", "Up", "Cars 2", and "Brave". Wayne's recent film credit is for "Monsters University", where he helped develop new lighting methods for the physically realistic lighting effects used in the film. Wayne is currently developing new rendering algorithms for Pixar's upcoming animated films.

Before joining Pixar, Wayne received his PhD in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1998.