Robert L. Cook
Encyclopedia
Robert L. Cook is a computer graphics
researcher and developer, and the co-creator of the RenderMan rendering
software
. Cook was born in Knoxville, Tennessee
and educated at Duke University
and Cornell University
. While at Cornell, Cook worked with Donald P. Greenberg
. He is now Vice President of Software Engineering
at Pixar Animation Studios
.
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
researcher and developer, and the co-creator of the RenderMan rendering
Rendering (computer graphics)
Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
. Cook was born in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
and educated at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. While at Cornell, Cook worked with Donald P. Greenberg
Donald P. Greenberg
Donald Peter Greenberg is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Graphics at Cornell University.Greenberg earned his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University, where he played on the tennis and soccer teams and was a member of Tau Delta Phi and the Quill and Dagger society...
. He is now Vice President of Software Engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
at Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
.
Education
- B.S. in physics, 1973, Duke University, N.C.
- M.S. in computer graphics, 1981, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y
Awards
- 1987, ACM SIGGRAPHACM SIGGRAPHACM SIGGRAPH is the New York–based Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. It was founded in 1969 by Andy van Dam ....
Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions to the fields of computer graphics and visual effects. - 1999, Fellow of the Association for Computing MachineryAssociation for Computing MachineryThe Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
. - 2001, Academy AwardAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
of Merit (Oscar) "for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar's RenderMan." - GATF InterTech Award
- MacWorld World Class Award
- Seybold Award for Excellence
- 2009, The Steven Anson Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics