Lance J. Williams (September 25, 1949 – August 20, 2017) was a prominent graphics researcher who made major contributions to

texture map Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Image texture, the spatial arrangement of color or intensities in an image * Surface texture, the smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface c ...

prefiltering, shadow rendering

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

facial animation Computer facial animation is primarily an area of computer graphics that encapsulates methods and techniques for generating and animating images or models of a character face. The character can be a human, a humanoid, an animal, a legendary creatu ...

, and

antialiasing Anti-aliasing may refer to any of a number of techniques to combat the problems of aliasing in a sampled signal such as a digital image or digital audio recording. Specific topics in anti-aliasing include: * Anti-aliasing filter, a filter used be ...

techniques. Williams was one of the first people to recognize the potential of

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. ...

to transform film and video making. Williams died at 67 years old on August 20, 2017, after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Education

Williams was an Honors student majoring in English with a minor in Asian Studies at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and graduated with a B.A. in 1972. While a student at KU he competed in collegiate chess tournaments and is said to have had a rating of 1800. He was drawn to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

by a "Humanistic Computation" summer seminar held by

Jef Raskin Jef Raskin (born Jeff Raskin; March 9, 1943 – February 26, 2005) was an American human–computer interface expert who conceived and began leading the Macintosh project at Apple in the late 1970s. Early life and education Jef Raskin was bo ...

at KU. He joined the graduate

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

program at the

in 1973 and studied computer graphics and animation under Ivan Sutherland, David Evans, and Steven Coons. At this time in the early 1970s, the

was the hub for much of the pioneering work being done in computer graphics. Lance left Utah (having completed his PhD course work and exams except the writing of a thesis) in 1977 to join the

New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a Private university, private research university, research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York (state), New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long I ...

(NYIT). While at NYIT, Williams invented the

mipmapping In computer graphics, a mipmap (''mip'' being an acronym of the Latin phrase ''multum in parvo'', meaning "much in little") is a pre-calculated, optimization (computer science), optimized sequence of digital image, images, each of which has an i ...

technique for texture filtering, which is ubiquitously used today by graphics hardware for PCs and video games, and wrote and directed the abandoned project '' The Works'' which would have been the first entirely 3D CGI film had it been finished in the early 1980s as intended. Williams was awarded his PhD in 2000 from the University of Utah based on a rule allowing someone who published three seminal papers in his field to bind them together as his thesis. The three papers are ''Casting Curved Shadows on Curved Surfaces'' (1978), ''Pyramidal Parametrics'' (1983) and ''View Interpolation for Image Synthesis'' (1993).

Professional career

Williams worked at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) from 1976-1986 on research and commercial animation, and the development of

shadow mapping Shadow mapping or shadowing projection is a process by which shadows are added to 3D computer graphics. This concept was introduced by Lance Williams in 1978, in a paper entitled "Casting curved shadows on curved surfaces." Since then, it has b ...

and "mip" texture mapping. Williams, acting as lab director, was also the creator of The Works, a feature film project in development at the lab from roughly 1978-1982. The film was eventually canceled due to the lack of sufficient technology. Subsequently Williams consulted for Jim Henson Associates, independently developed

facial tracking Facial motion capture is the process of electronically converting the movements of a person's face into a digital database using cameras or laser scanners. This database may then be used to produce computer graphics (CG), computer animation for mo ...

for computer animation, worked for six years in

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

's Advanced Technology Group starting in 1987. While there he collaborated with Eric Chen to pioneer early image based rendering work, developed "Virtual Integral Holography," (with Dan Venolia), created 3D paint systems and contributed to QuickTime VR. He has pioneered work in motion capture facial animation systems for over 20 years. In 1997, Williams joined DreamWorks SKG. In 2002 he became Chief Scientist at

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...

. In 2006, Williams joined Google and worked with the Google Geo Group (Maps and Earth). In 2008 he was a Principal Member of Research Staff at Nokia and as of 2012, he joined

NVIDIA Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

Research.

Publications

• “Shadows for Cel Animation," (with Adam Finkelstein et al.) ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2000 Proceedings)'' 511-516. • "Motion Signal Processing," (with Armin Bruderlin) ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '95 Proceedings)'' 97-104. • "Animating Images with Line Drawings," (with Pete Litwinowicz) ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '94 Proceedings)'' 409-412. • “View Interpolation Image Synthesis," (with Shenchang Eric Chen) ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '93 Proceedings)'' 279-288. • "Living Pictures," (invited paper) ''Computer Animation '93'', Switzerland, 1993. • "Shading in Two Dimensions," ''Graphics Interface '91'', Calgary, Alberta, 1991. • "3D Paint," Computer Graphics 24, 2, 1990 ''Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics'', 1990. • "Performance-Driven Facial Animation," ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '90 Proceedings)'' vol. 24, no. 4, 235-242. • "Pyramidal Parametrics," ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '83 Proceedings)'' vol. 17, no 3, 1-11. • "Casting Curved Shadows on Curved Surfaces," ''Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH '78 Proceedings)'' vol. 12, no. 3, 270-274.

Recognition

*1971 - Five State Intercollegiate Chess Championship *On August 15, 2001, Williams won the

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 ...

Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to computer graphics. *On March 2, 2002, Williams was awarded a 2001 Technical Achievement Award by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

for "his pioneering influence in the field of computer-generated animation and effects for motion pictures." *2002 - Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Columbus College of Art and Design.

References

External links

University of Utah Computer Graphics History2001 Coons Award AnnouncementThe 74th Scientific & Technical Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 2001 , 2002Lance Williams Obituary - Lawrence Journal World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lance 1949 births 2017 deaths Computer graphics professionals Google employees University of Utah alumni University of Kansas alumni New York Institute of Technology faculty Nvidia people