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

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

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 (technical specification) developed by Pixar for a standar ...

rendering

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

. 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, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

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

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

and educated at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. While at Cornell, Cook worked with Donald P. Greenberg.

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 and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

and later had the position as Vice President of

Software Development Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...

Pixar Animation Studios 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 ...

, which he left in 1989. In November 2016, he became the Commissioner of the Technology Transformation Service of the U.S.

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

Computer Animation Rendering

* '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' (1982) computer graphics:

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...

* '' André and Wally B.'' (1984) 3D rendering * ''

Luxo, Jr. ''Luxo Jr.'' is a 1986 American computer-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. ...

'' (1986) rendering * ''

Red's Dream ''Red's Dream'' is a 1987 American computer-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 ni ...

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

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...

'' (1995) renderman software development * ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to ''Toy Story'' (1995), it wa ...

'' (1999) rendering software engineer * ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...

'' (2001) software team lead * ''

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

'' (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 f ...

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 concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

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 member ...

. * 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 Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Lucasfilm people Pixar people {{Compu-bio-stub