Bob Lambert (c. 1957 – September 7, 2012) was an American media executive with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

for more than twenty-five years. Lambert is widely credited with championing the transition to computer animation ( CGI) within Disney and the larger entertainment industry. Lambert was born and raised in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

. Lambert, who was with

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

at the time, developed the plan to transition Disney animated film production from hand-drawn,

cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...

with CGI. Along with leaders at

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

, Lambert spearheaded the development of Disney's

Computer Animation Production System The Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) was a proprietary collection of software, scanning camera systems, servers, networked computer workstations, and custom desks developed by The Walt Disney Company and Pixar in the late 1980s. Although ...

(CAPS), which earned an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 1992. In addition to his work with Disney, Lambert founded and chaired

Digital Cinema Initiatives Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium of major motion picture studios, formed to establish specifications for a common systems architecture for digital cinema systems. The organization was formed in March 2002 by Metro-Goldwyn-Ma ...

(DCI), a consortium encompassing six major film studios. Under Lambert, DCI aided movie theaters' transition to digital exhibition, including

digital cinema Digital cinema refers to adoption of digital technology within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be sh ...

. DCI established industry quality guidelines for theaters for digital content and film projection. Lambert held more than thirty

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s in media technologies. He was honored as a digital industry pioneer by ShoWest, which is now known as

CinemaCon The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the worldwide major theater chains' operators are members, as are hundreds of independent theater oper ...

. In 2013, USC Entertainment Technology Center established the annual Bob Lambert Technology Leadership Award, and Chuck Dages (former executive vice president of emerging technologies at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

) was the first recipient. Bob Lambert died at his home in Glendale, California, on September 7, 2012, at the age of 55. He was survived by his wife, Cheryl Murphy; his brother Paul Lambert; and nephew Nathaniel Lambert.

References

2012 deaths Walt Disney Animation Studios people American film studio executives Virginia Tech alumni People from Glendale, California People from Roanoke, Virginia 1950s births Disney executives 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from California Businesspeople from Virginia {{Disney-stub