Robert L. Cook (December 10, 1952) is a

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...

researcher and developer, and the co-creator of the

RenderMan The name RenderMan can cause confusion because it has been used to refer to different things developed by Pixar Animation Studios: * RenderMan Interface Specification (RISpec), an open API An application programming interface (API) is a connec ...

rendering

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

. His contributions are considered to be highly influential in the field of animated arts. In 2009, Cook was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

for building the motion picture industry's standard rendering tool. Cook was born in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

and educated at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. While at Cornell, Cook worked with

Donald P. Greenberg Donald Peter Greenberg (born 1934) is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Graphics at Cornell University. Early life Greenberg earned his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University, where he played on the tennis and soccer ...

Education

*B.S. in physics, 1973, Duke University, N.C. *M.S. in computer graphics, 1981, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Career

Robert Cook was involved with

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...

and later had the position as Vice President of

Software Development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...

, which he left in 1989. In November 2016, he became the Commissioner of the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

Technology Transformation Services Technology Transformation Services (TTS) is a digital services department within Federal Acquisition Service of the General Services Administration, General Services Administration (GSA) of the United States Government. TTS services and programs ...

department.

Computer Animation Rendering

* ''

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Nicholas Meyer and based on the television series ''Star Trek''. It is the second film in the ''Star Trek'' film series following '' Star Trek: The Moti ...

'' (1982) computer graphics:

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

* ''

André and Wally B. André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal, ...

'' (1984) 3D rendering * ''

Luxo, Jr. ''Luxo Jr.'' is a 1986 American animated short film produced and released by Pixar. Written and directed by John Lasseter, the two-minute short film revolves around one larger and one smaller desk lamp. The larger lamp, named Luxo Sr., looks o ...

'' (1986) rendering * ''

Red's Dream ''Red's Dream'' is a 1987 American animated short film written and directed by John Lasseter and produced by Pixar. The short film, which runs four minutes, stars Red, a unicycle. Propped up in the corner of a bicycle store on a rainy night, Re ...

'' (1987) reyes / miracle tilt * ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...

'' (1995) renderman software development * ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and the first sequel to Toy Story. It is the second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and was directed by J ...

'' (1999) rendering software engineer * ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Cobu ...

'' (2001) software team lead * ''

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

'' (2006) software team lead * '' Up'' (2009) software development: Pixar studio team

Awards

* 1987,

ACM SIGGRAPH ACM SIGGRAPH is the international Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques based in New York. It was founded in 1969 by Andy van Dam (its direct predecessor, ACM SICGRAPH was ...

Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions to the fields of computer graphics and visual effects. * 1992, Scientific and Engineering Award for the development of "RenderMan" software which produces images used in motion pictures from 3D computer descriptions of shape and appearance. * 1999,

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

. * 2000, Academy Award of Merit (Oscar) for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar's RenderMan. ''Their broad professional influence in the industry continues to inspire and contribute to the advancement of computer-generated imagery for motion pictures.'' * GATF InterTech Award * MacWorld World Class Award * Seybold Award for Excellence * 2009, The Steven Anson Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics * 2009, Elected to the

References

1952 births Living people American animators American computer scientists American physicists Computer graphics professionals Cornell University alumni Duke University alumni People from Knoxville, Tennessee 1999 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Lucasfilm people Pixar people {{Compu-bio-stub