William Reeves (animator)

William Reeves
Reeves in December 2011 at the Pixar campus
Born	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Spouse(s)	Ricki Blau
Children	Julia, Oliver, & Ian Reeves
Awards	1987 - Nominated: Animated Short Film Luxo, Jr. 1988 - Won: Animated Short Film Tin Toy 1997 - Won: Scientific and Engineering Award For the original concept and the development of particle systems used to create computer generated visual effects in motion pictures. 1998 - Won: Scientific and Engineering Award For the development of the Marionette Three-Dimensional Computer Animation System.

William Reeves on rendering algorithms, raytracing and global illumination, 1995, after the release of Toy Story.

William "Bill" Reeves is a pioneer in the field of computer graphics. He was the technical director who worked with John Lasseter on the animation breakthrough shorts: Luxo Jr and The Adventures of André and Wally B..

After obtaining a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and completing a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, Reeves was hired by George Lucas as a member of the LucasFilms Industrial Light and Magic, Computer Graphics Group. He was one of the founding employees of Pixar when it was sold in 1986 to Steve Jobs. Some of the patents he developed for Pixar earned international reputation. Reeves is the inventor of the first Motion Blur algorithm and methods to simulate particle motion in CGI.

Lasseter and Reeves received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (Oscar) in 1988 for their work on the film Tin Toy. Their collaboration continued with Reeves acting as the Supervising Technical Director of the first feature length, computer-animated film: Toy Story.

Filmography

• Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) (Computer Graphics Artist)
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) (Computer Graphics)
• The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984) (Forest Design And Rendering/Models)
• Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (Computer Animation)
• Luxo Jr. (1986) (Producer/Modeling/Rendering)
• Red's Dream (1987) (Technical Director/Modeling And Animation Software)
• Tin Toy (1988) (Producer/Technical Director/Modeler/Additional Animator)
• Toy Story (1995) (Supervising Technical Director/Modeling/Animation System Development/Renderman Software Development)
• A Bug's Life (1998) (Supervising Technical Director)
• Finding Nemo (2003) (Lead Technical Development)
• Ratatouille (2007) (Global Technology Supervisor)

External links

• William Reeves at the Internet Movie Database