My Resume

Feel free to download my resume.

My Blog

I have written at brainwagon.org since 2002 — over four thousand posts on telescope making, woodworking, amateur radio, recreational programming, and whatever else has my attention. It is the best picture of what I actually do.

My Story

After 33 years at Pixar Animation Studios, I have unexpectedly found myself searching for my next challenge, which probably is not going to include a primary interest in revenue generation. I’ve done a number of different jobs at Pixar, including working for seven different departments with credits on over twenty feature films, with roles that required leadership, writing and maintaining large code bases, original research which lead to four different patents and technical problem solving at every level.

But now I am trying to find some other interesting things to work on. This includes a renewal of my interest in telescope making, recreational programming, and increasing my woodworking skills. For over three decades I have also been a volunteer instructor at the Telescope Makers’ Workshop at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, teaching people to grind and figure their own telescope mirrors.
If you are interested in hearing from me, feel free to send me an email and tell me of any opportunities that you think may be of mutual interest, not all of which need be centered around the generation of revenue.

My Skills

• Leadership across multiple disciplines, including technical lighting, stereoscopic 3D, software development and workflow development
• Collaboration with people in both artistic and technical disciplines
• Programming, with skills in C++ and Python and familiarity with many other languages
• Curiosity in learning new skills and techniques from others, and adapting existing workflows to new goals and ideas

Pixar Animation Studios Filmography

• Elemental, Lighting Technical Lead, 2023
• Turning Red, Sequences Dailies Lead, 2022
• Pixar Popcorn (six episodes), Rendering 2021
• Soul, Lightspeed Technical Lead, 2020
• SparkShorts, Lightspeed Technical Director, 2018-2020
• Toy Story 4, Lightspeed Technical Director, 2019
• Incredibles 2, Additional Stereo Artist, 2018
• Bao, Lightspeed and Rendering Lead, 2018
• Coco, Lightspeed Technical Director, 2017
• Cars 3, Lightspeed Technical Director, 2016
• Finding Dory, New technology integration engineer, 2016
• Brave, 360 Group, 2012
• Cars 2, 360 Group, 2011
• Burn-E, Special Thanks, Special Army, 2008
• WALL·E, Starfields Development, 2008
• Ratatouille, Technical Development Team, 2007
• The Incredibles, Rendering Technical Artist, 2004
• Finding Nemo, Technical Development, 2003
• Monster’s Inc., Software Engineer, 2001
• A Bug’s Life, Rendering Software Engineer, 1998
• Geri’s Game, Renderman Software, 1997
• Cosmic Voyage, Sofware Engineer, 1996
• Toy Story, RenderMan Software Development, Lighting Team, 1995

Skills

• Leadership of diverse groups of both artists and technical individuals
• Decades of experience with solving technical problems for a film studio
• Development, documentation and communication of productive workflows to enhance team productivity
• Research, development and maintenance of Pixar’s RenderMan product, winner of the IEEE Milestone award
• Development of multiple patents including a light field motion picture camera
• Training and mentoring new technical directors

Patents

• Super Light-Field Lens, US 8,502,909 B2
• Super Light Field Lens with Focus Control and Non Spherical Lenslet Arrays, US 9,179,799
• Super Light-Field Lens with Doublet Lenslet Array Element, US 9,063,345 B2
• Stochastic Level of Detail in Computer Animation, US 6,300,956

Volunteering

• Volunteer restorer of Rachel, the 20” Brashear Refractor at Chabot Space and Science Center which is used for weekly public viewing
• Two decades as a volunteer instructor at the Chabot Telescope Maker’s Workshop, teaching over seven hundred people on the art of telescope making

Education

• M.S. Computer and Information Sciences, University of Oregon