IPAM - IPAM Research in Industrial Projects for Students "RIPS" 2005

IPAM Research in Industrial Projects for Students "RIPS" 2005

Projects and Company Information

Arete Associates, Inc

Company Information:

Arete was founded in 1976 and conducts leading-edge research and development in:

Sensor hardware technology, data analysis, signal processing, and algorithm development;
Applied oceanography including experimental design and execution, instrumentation development, and data analysis;
Physics-based modeling, simulation, and high-resolution scene generation;
Assessment of the impact of advanced technologies on military capabilities.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Project Work Statement (PDF file)

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Project Work Statement (PDF file)

Pixar Animation Studios is the industry leader in the creation of original stories in the medium of computer animation. Pixar has combined creative and technical artistry to create five of the most successful animated films of all time: Academy Award-winning Toy Story (1995); A Bug’s Life (1998); Golden-Globe-winner Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); and, Finding Nemo (2003).

Pixar began with its first animated short film, Luxo Jr., shortly after being founded by Steve Jobs in 1986. For the next five-years, Pixar focused on developing the technologies necessary to produce the first completely computer animated feature film.

Toy Story was released Thanksgiving Day weekend in 1995, marking a milestone in the movie industry as the first fully computer animated feature film. Toy Story became the highest grossing film of 1995, making over $358 million in worldwide box office receipts. With the release of Toy Story, the feature film industry was forever changed, demonstrating the near limitless possibilities of computer animation. The following two years led to the release of two new feature films, A Bug’s Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999). Pixar Animation’s newest films, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo feature many highly advanced technologies that have raised the bar in computer animation. Pixar is currently in production on The Incredibles (November 2004) and Cars (holiday 2005).

Overall, Pixar Animation Studios and its employees have received more than 100 awards and nominations for their animated films, commercials, and technical contributions. Pixar’s relentless pursuit of creative technical solutions to the needs of the underlying story has made its films a unique mixture of cutting-edge visual special effects and good old fashion storytelling.

Recent research advancements in fluid animation have once again raised the bar in computer graphics, providing motivation for Pixar to explore the animation of high viscosity/viscoelastic fluids.

Project Work Statement (PDF file)