Sci-Tech Oscars

Over the years, a number of researchers, engineers, and developers have been recognized with Scientific and Technical Academy Awards (“Sci-Tech Oscars”) for contributions to motion pictures related to physical simulation for animation. I’ve tried to collect these below for fun, but let me know if I’ve missed any!

1998

To NICK FOSTER for his software development in the field of water simulation systems. This software technique provides an efficient and flexible method for the creation of flowing streams, oceans, tidal waves and turbulence for motion picture visual effects.

2005

To DAVID BARAFF, MICHAEL KASS and ANDREW WITKIN for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1998 paper titled “Large Steps in Cloth Simulation” was a seminal work, providing the key in demonstrating to the industry that the calculations necessary to simulate realistic, complex cloth could be achieved efficiently and robustly. Their work provided the conceptual foundation for many cloth simulation systems in use today.

To JOHN PLATT and DEMETRI TERZOPOULOS for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1987 paper “Elastically Deformable Models” was a milestone in computer graphics, introducing the concept of physically-based techniques to simulate moving, deforming objects.

2007

To DR. DOUG ROBLE, NAFEES BIN ZAFAR and RYO SAKAGUCHI for the development of the fluid simulation system at Digital Domain.
This influential and flexible production-proven system incorporates innovative algorithms and refined adaptations of published methods to achieve large-scale water effects.

To NICK RASMUSSEN, RON FEDKIW and FRANK LOSASSO PETTERSON for the development of the Industrial Light & Magic fluid simulation system. This production-proven simulation system achieves large-scale water effects within ILM’s Zeno framework. It includes integrating particle level sets, parallel computation, and tools that enable the artistic direction of the results.

To JONATHAN M. COHEN, DR. JERRY TESSENDORF, DR. JEROEN MOLEMAKER and MICHAEL KOWALSKI for the development of the system of fluid dynamics tools at Rhythm & Hues. This system allows artists to create realistic animation of liquids and gases using novel simulation techniques for accuracy and speed, as well as a unique scripting language for working with volumetric data.

To DUNCAN BRINSMEAD, JOS STAM, JULIA PAKALNS and MARTIN WERNER for the design and implementation of the Maya Fluid Effects system. This system is used to create simulations of gaseous phenomena integrated into the widely available Maya tool suite, using an unconditionally stable semi-Lagrangian solver.

To STEPHAN TROJANSKY, THOMAS GANSHORN and OLIVER PILARSKI for the development of the Flowline fluid effects system.
Flowline is a flexible system that incorporates highly parallel computation, allowing rapid iteration and resulting in detailed, realistic fluid effects.

2012

To THEODORE KIM, NILS THUEREY, DR. MARKUS GROSS and DOUG JAMES for the invention, publication and dissemination of Wavelet Turbulence software. This technique allowed for fast, art-directable creation of highly detailed gas simulation, making it easier for the artist to control the appearance of these effects in the final image.

To SIMON CLUTTERBUCK, JAMES JACOBS and DR. RICHARD DORLING for the development of the Tissue Physically-Based Character Simulation Framework. This framework faithfully and robustly simulates the effects of anatomical structures underlying a character’s skin. The resulting dynamic and secondary motions provide a new level of realism to computer-generated creatures.

2013

To RONALD D. HENDERSON for the development of the FLUX gas simulation system. The use of the Fast Fourier Transform for solving partial differential equations allows FLUX a greater level of algorithmic efficiency when multi-threading on modern hardware. This innovation enables the creation of very high-resolution fluid effects while maintaining fast turnaround times.

2014

To BRICE CRISWELL and RON FEDKIW for the development of the ILM PhysBAM Destruction System. This system incorporates innovative research on many algorithms that provide accurate methods for resolving contact, collision and stacking into a mature, robust and extensible production toolset. The PhysBAM Destruction System was one of the earliest toolsets capable of depicting large-scale destruction with a high degree of design control.

To ERWIN COUMANS for the development of the Bullet physics library, and to NAFEES BIN ZAFAR and STEPHEN MARSHALL for the separate development of two large-scale destruction simulation systems based on Bullet. These pioneering systems demonstrated that large numbers of constrained rigid bodies could be used to animate visually complex, believable destruction effects with minimal simulation time.

To MAGNUS WRENNINGE for leading the design and development of Field3D. Field3D provides a flexible and open framework for storing and accessing voxel data efficiently. This allows interchange between previously incompatible modeling, simulation and rendering software.

To ROBERT BRIDSON for early conceptualization of sparse-tiled voxel data structures and their application to modeling and simulation.
Robert Bridson’s pioneering work on voxel data structures and its subsequent validation in fluid simulation tools have had a significant impact on the design of volumetric tools throughout the visual effects industry.

To KEN MUSETH, PETER CUCKA and MIHAI ALDÉN for the creation of OpenVDB. OpenVDB is a widely adopted, sparse hierarchical data structure that provides a fast and efficient mechanism for storing and manipulating voxels.

To BEN COLE for the design of the Kali Destruction System, to ERIC PARKER for the development of the Digital Molecular Matter toolkit, and to JAMES F. O’BRIEN for his influential research on the finite element methods that served as a foundation for these tools. The combined innovations in Kali and DMM provide artists with an intuitive, art-directable system for the creation of scalable and realistic fracture and deformation simulations. These tools established finite element methods as a new reference point for believable on-screen destruction.

2017

To JEFF LAIT, MARK TUCKER, CRISTIN BARGHIEL and JOHN LYNCH for their contributions to the design and architecture of the Houdini visual effects and animation system. Houdini’s dynamics framework and workflow management tools have helped it become the industry standard for bringing natural phenomena, destruction and other digital effects to the screen.

2020

To Hayley Iben, Mark Meyer, John Anderson and Andrew Witkin for the Taz Hair Simulation System. Taz is a robust, predictable and efficient mass-spring hair simulation system with novel formulations of hair shape, bending springs and hair-to-hair collisions. It has enabled Pixar artists to bring to life animated digital characters with a wide variety of stylized hair, from straight to wavy to curly.

To Stephen Bowline for the ILM HairCraft Dynamics System. The ILM HairCraft Dynamics System has a physically robust hair-dynamics model that simulates hair by embedding curves in tetrahedral mesh volumes. Its unique spring-based control system has helped ILM artists create a wide range of photorealistic digital characters and digital stunt doubles.

To Kelly Ward Hammel, Aleka McAdams, Toby Jones, Maryann Simmons and Andy Milne for the Walt Disney Animation Studios Hair Simulation System. The WDAS Hair Simulation System is a robust, predictable, fast and highly art-directable system built on the mathematics of discrete elastic rods. This has provided Disney artists the flexibility to manipulate hair in hyper-realistic ways to create the strong silhouettes required for character animation and has enabled a wide range of complex hairstyles in animated feature films.

To Niall Ryan, Christoph Sprenger and Gilles Daviet for the Synapse Hair Simulation System. The Synapse Hair Simulation System is a robust, predictable and highly scalable position-based dynamics system with a novel inverse parameter solver. It has helped Weta Digital artists create a wide range of photorealistic digital characters and digital stunt doubles.