TheNew York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab is acomputerlab located at theNew York Institute of Technology (NYIT), founded byAlexander Schure. It was originally located at the "pink building" on the NYIT campus. It has played an important role in thehistory of computer graphics and animation, as founders ofPixar andLucasfilm Limited, includingTuring Award winnersEdwin Catmull andPatrick Hanrahan, began their research there.^[1] It is thebirthplace of entirely 3DCGI films.^[2][3][4][5]

The lab was initially founded to produce a short high-quality feature film with the project name ofThe Works. The feature, which was never completed, was a 90-minute feature that was to be the first entirely computer-generatedCGI movie. Production mainly focused aroundDECPDP andVAX machines.

Many of the original CGL team now form the elite of the CG and computer world with members going on toSilicon Graphics,Microsoft,Cisco,NVIDIA and others, includingPixar president, co-founder andTuring laureateEd Catmull, Pixar co-founder and Microsoft graphics fellowAlvy Ray Smith, Pixar co-founderRalph Guggenheim,Walt Disney Animation Studios chief scientistLance Williams,Netscape andSilicon Graphics founderJim Clark,Tableau co-founder and Turing laureatePat Hanrahan, Microsoft graphics fellowJim Blinn, Thad Beier,Oscar andBafta nomineeJacques Stroweis,Andrew Glassner, and Tom Brigham. Systems programmerBruce Perens went on to co-found theOpen Source Initiative.^[6][7]

Researchers at the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab created the tools that made entirely 3DCGI films possible.^[8][9] Among NYIT CG Lab's many innovations was an eight-bit paint system to ease computer animation.^[10][11] NYIT CG Lab was regarded as the top computer animation research and development group in the worldduring the late 70s and early 80s.^[12][13][14]

The lab is presently located at NYIT's Long Island campus,^[15][16] and NYIT currently offers a Ph.D. program in Computer Science.^[17]

• NYIT Computer Graphics Lab, People Behind The Pixels
• Brief History of the Computer Graphics Lab at NYIT

40°48′45.52″N73°36′27.15″W / 40.8126444°N 73.6075417°W /40.8126444; -73.6075417

• Computer graphics
• Laboratories in the United States
• New York Institute of Technology
• Computer science institutes in the United States
• History of computing
• Research institutes in New York (state)

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