Loren C. Carpenter (born February 7, 1947) is a
computer graphics researcher and developer.
Biography
He was a co-founder and chief scientist of
Pixar Animation Studios. He is the inventor of the
Reyes rendering algorithm and is one of the authors of the
PhotoRealistic RenderMan software which implements Reyes and renders all of Pixar's movies. Following
Disney's acquisition of Pixar, Carpenter became a senior research scientist at
Disney Research.[2] He retired in early 2014.[3]
In around 1967 Carpenter began work at Boeing Computer Services (a part of aircraft maker
Boeing) in
Seattle, Washington.[4] During his time there Carpenter studied for a B.S. in mathematics (1974) and an M.S. in Computer Science (1976), both from the
University of Washington.[5] Some of his work concerned using computer technology to improve Boeing's mechanical design processes, which were still entirely done by hand on paper.[4]
On July 14, 1980, he gave a presentation at the
SIGGRAPH conference, in which he showed "Vol Libre", a 2-minute computer generated movie.[6] This showcased his software for generating and rendering
fractally generated landscapes, and was met with a standing ovation, and (as Carpenter had hoped) he was immediately invited to work at
Lucasfilm's Computer Division (which would become Pixar).[4] There Carpenter worked on the "genesis effect" scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which featured an entire fractally-landscaped planet.[4]
He and his wife Rachel founded Cinematrix, a company that researches computer-assisted interactive audience participation.[7]
In 2006 made improvements to the popular
Mersenne Twister random number generator.[9]
As of 2022 Carpenter is working with
Ostrich Air Inc and
FireBot Labs Inc as a Private Investor and Technical Consultant for their Fully Autonomous AI Driven Fire Fighting Drone Platform.[10][11]
1992, Scientific and Technical Academy Award (Plaque) for his contributions to the motion picture industry through the invention and development of the RenderMan software.
1994, Distinction by the Prix Ars Electronica jury for his entry Kinoetic Evolution in the category Interactive Art.