Loren C. Carpenter (born February 7, 1947) is a computer graphics researcher and developer. He is co-founder and chief scientist of Pixar Animation Studios. He is the co-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. He retired in early 2014.In around 1967 Carpenter began work at Boeing Computer Services (a part of aircraft maker Boeing) in Seattle, Washington. 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. Some of his work concerned using computer technology to improve Boeing's mechanical design processes, which were still entirely done by hand on paper.In 1980 he gave a presentation at the SIGGRAPH conference, in which he showed "Vol Libre", a 2 minute computer generated movie. 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). There Carpenter worked on the "genesis effect" scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which featured an entire fractally-landscaped planet.He and his wife Rachel founded Cinematrix, a company that researches computer-assisted interactive audience participation.Carpenter invented the A-buffer hidden surface determination algorithm.The PXR24 compression scheme used in Industrial Light & Magic's Open EXR file format is based on Carpenter's work.In 2006 made improvements to the popular Mersenne Twister random number generator.Carpenter is a grandnephew of Charles Schmidt, the creator of Sgt. Pat of Radio Patrol, a nationally syndicated police comic strip which ran in the '30s and '40s.
Visual Effects, Miscellaneous Crew, Art Department
Education
University of Washington
Awards
Academy Scientific and Technical Award (Award of Merit), Academy Scientific and Engineering Award
Visual Effects
Title
Year
Status
Character
Monsters, Inc.
2001
additional effects developer - as Loren C. Carpenter
Toy Story 2
1999
rendering software engineer
A Bug's Life
1998
modeler
Toy Story
1995
modeling & animation system development - as Loren C. Carpenter / modeling team - as Loren C. Carpenter / renderman software development - as Loren C. Carpenter / shader team - as Loren C. Carpenter
André and Wally B.
1984
Short 3D rendering
Rescue on Fractalus!
1984
Video Game visual effects
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982
computer graphics: ILM
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Monsters University
2013
researcher: software research and development, Pixar Studio Team
Brave
2012
360 group: Pixar studio team
Up
2009
theme parks and 360: Pixar studio team
Cars
2006
development team: Renderman
The Incredibles
2004
software engineering
Finding Nemo
2003
studio tools research and development - as Loren C. Carpenter