William Reeves (animator)
| William Reeves | |
|---|---|
 Reeves in December 2011 at the Pixar campus | |
| Born |
May 5, 1959 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Supervising Technical Director, Modeling, Animation System Development, Renderman Software Development |
| Employer | Pixar Animation Studios |
| Spouse(s) | Ricki Blau |
| Children | Julia, Oliver, & Ian Reeves |
| Awards |
1987 - Nominated: Animated Short Film For the development of the Marionette Three-Dimensional Computer Animation System. |
William "Bill" Reeves (May 5, 1959) is a Canadian animator and technical director known for working with John Lasseter on the animated shorts Luxo Jr. and The Adventures of André and Wally B.[1]
After obtaining a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and completing a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, Reeves was hired by George Lucas as a member of Lucasfilm's Computer Division, Computer Graphics Group. He was one of the founding employees of Pixar when it was sold in 1986 to Steve Jobs. Reeves is the inventor of the first Motion Blur algorithm and methods to simulate particle motion in CGI.
Lasseter and Reeves received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (Oscar) in 1988 for their work on the film Tin Toy. Their collaboration continued with Reeves acting as the Supervising Technical Director of the first feature length, computer-animated film: Toy Story.
In 1996 he became the 2nd awardee of the J.W. Graham Medal, named in honor of Wes Graham an early influential Professor of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, and annually awarded to an influential alumnus of the University's Faculty of Mathematics.[2]
Filmography
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) (Computer Graphics Artist)
- Return of the Jedi (1983) (Computer Graphics)
- The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984) (Forest Design And Rendering/Models)
- Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (Computer Animation)
- Luxo Jr. (1986) (Producer/Modeling/Rendering)
- Red's Dream (1987) (Technical Director/Modeling And Animation Software)
- Tin Toy (1988) (Producer/Technical Director/Modeler/Additional Animator)
- Toy Story (1995) (Supervising Technical Director/Modeling/Animation System Development/Renderman Software Development)
- A Bug's Life (1998) (Supervising Technical Director)
- Finding Nemo (2003) (Lead Technical Development)
- The Incredibles (2004) (Technical Development)
- Cars (2006) (Technical Development)
- Ratatouille (2007) (Global Technology Supervisor)
- Up (2009) (Global Technology Engineer)
- Toy Story 3 (2010) (Global Technology Supervisor)
- Monsters University (2013) (Global Illumination)
- Inside Out (2015) (Second Unit and Crowds Supervisor/Global Technology Supervisor)