RI Podcast 23: Ed Catmull Part 2 – Creativity, Innovation and Pixar

Remotely Interested

Ed Catmull has been at the forefront of computer graphics since his time at the University of Utah. His position as CTO and one of the two founding members of Pixar - which later evolved into a role as President of Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios – is just the tip of the ice berg when describing Ed’s career. It is no exaggeration to say Catmull is part of the fabric of the 20th century and early 21st century. That is, via technical achievements like subdivisions of surfaces (for which his work in the field was awarded an Oscar by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and through the stories created by Pixar. The people Ed has called peers throughout his life include many of the architects of personal computing as we know it, such as Alan Kay, as well as iconic figures like Steve Jobs and George Lucas. Ed sits down with Adam and the Remotely Interested Podcast to discuss the years after Pixar went out on its own with Steve Jobs. Part 2 of the interview includes the road to building Pixar into the company that got acquired by Disney in 2009; the importance of short films like Luxo Jr in its history; the Brain Trust and other sociological elements important when supporting and nurturing creativity, as well as the human side of innovation. The interview ends with a name association, which includes founding members of Adobe, Silicon Graphics and Netscape. Ed has called all these people friend or peer in both an organic and sincere way throughout his life. Creativity Inc: http://www.creativityincbook.com/about/ How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity http://dialogos.com/files/4114/4189/3028/How_Pixar_Fosters_Collective_Creativity-HBR.pdf Disney’s Nine Old Men https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_Nine_Old_Men Luxo Jr: https://youtu.be/D4NPQ8mfKU0 Dear Basketball https://vimeo.com/258552634 FIRSTS: THE FIRST ALL-CGI CHARACTER, MADE BEFORE PIXAR BECAME PIXAR https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/firsts-the-first-all-cgi-character-made-before-pixar-became-pixar How this small team at Pixar revolutionized computer graphics with software called ‘RenderMan’ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/23/pixar-renderman-technology-behind-pixar-films.html How Departing Leaders Can Pass Along Their Wisdom to Employees https://hbr.org/2019/04/how-departing-leaders-can-pass-along-their-wisdom-to-employees Why All Pixar Movies 'Suck' (At First) https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2014/09/11/why-all-pixar-movies-suck-at-first/#12b4bbb67a6d Names discussed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._R._Licklider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Clark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Warnock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Newell_(computer_scientist) http://alvyray.com/