Andrew Witkin
Encyclopedia
Andrew P. Witkin was an American computer scientist
who made major contributions in computer vision
and computer graphics
.
at Columbia College, Columbia University for his bachelor's degree, and at MIT for his Ph.D. After MIT, he worked briefly at SRI International
on computer vision, then moved to Schlumberger
's Fairchild Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence Research, later Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, where he led research in computer vision and graphics; here he invented scale-space filtering
, scale-space segmentation
and Active Contour Models
and published several prize-winning papers. From 1988 to 1998 he was a professor of computer science
, robotics
, and art
at Carnegie-Mellon University, after which he joined Pixar
in Emeryville, California
. At CMU and Pixar, with his colleagues he developed the methods and simulators used to model and render natural-looking cloth, hair, water, and other complex aspects of modern computer animation
.
in 1987. According to CiteSeer
, this paper is the 11th most cited paper ever in computer science.
The 1987 paper "Constraints on deformable models: Recovering 3D shape and nonrigid motion" by (by Terzopoulos, Witkin, and Kass) was also a prize winner.
In 1992, Witkin and Kass where awarded the Prix Ars Electronica
computer graphics award for "Reaction–Diffusion Texture Buttons."
Witkin received the ACM SIGGRAPH
Computer Graphics Achievement Award in 2001 "for his pioneering work in bringing a physics based approach to computer graphics."
As senior scientist at Pixar Animation Studios, Witkin received a technical academy award in 2006 for "pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures."
. He was married to psychologist Sharon Witkin; their children include Emily Witkin and Anna Witkin.
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
who made major contributions in computer vision
Computer vision
Computer vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analysing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions...
and computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
.
Career
Witkin studied psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at Columbia College, Columbia University for his bachelor's degree, and at MIT for his Ph.D. After MIT, he worked briefly at SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
on computer vision, then moved to Schlumberger
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
's Fairchild Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence Research, later Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, where he led research in computer vision and graphics; here he invented scale-space filtering
Scale space
Scale-space theory is a framework for multi-scale signal representation developed by the computer vision, image processing and signal processing communities with complementary motivations from physics and biological vision...
, scale-space segmentation
Scale-space segmentation
Scale-space segmentation or multi-scale segmentation is a general framework for signal and image segmentation, based on the computation of image descriptors at multiple scales of smoothing.-One-dimensional hierarchical signal segmentation:...
and Active Contour Models
Active contour
Active contour model, also called snakes, is a framework for delineating an object outline from a possibly noisy 2D image.This framework attempts to minimize an energy associated to the current contour as a sum of an internal and external energy:...
and published several prize-winning papers. From 1988 to 1998 he was a professor of computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
, and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
at Carnegie-Mellon University, after which he joined Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
in Emeryville, California
Emeryville, California
Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and...
. At CMU and Pixar, with his colleagues he developed the methods and simulators used to model and render natural-looking cloth, hair, water, and other complex aspects of modern computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
.
Awards and honors
The paper "Snakes: Active Contour Models" (by Kass, Witkin, and Terzopoulos) achieved an honorable mention for the Marr PrizeMarr Prize
The Marr Prize is a prestigious award in computer vision given by the committee of the International Conference on Computer Vision. Named after David Marr, the Marr Prize is considered one of the top honors for a computer vision researcher....
in 1987. According to CiteSeer
CiteSeer
CiteSeer was a public search engine and digital library for scientific and academic papers. It is often considered to be the first automated citation indexing system and was considered a predecessor of academic search tools such as Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search. It was replaced by...
, this paper is the 11th most cited paper ever in computer science.
The 1987 paper "Constraints on deformable models: Recovering 3D shape and nonrigid motion" by (by Terzopoulos, Witkin, and Kass) was also a prize winner.
In 1992, Witkin and Kass where awarded the Prix Ars Electronica
Prix Ars Electronica
The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the most important yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music...
computer graphics award for "Reaction–Diffusion Texture Buttons."
Witkin received the ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH is the New York–based Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. It was founded in 1969 by Andy van Dam ....
Computer Graphics Achievement Award in 2001 "for his pioneering work in bringing a physics based approach to computer graphics."
As senior scientist at Pixar Animation Studios, Witkin received a technical academy award in 2006 for "pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures."
Personal life
Andrew Witkin was the son of psychologist Herman A. Witkin and geneticist Evelyn M. WitkinEvelyn M. Witkin
Evelyn M. Witkin, born Evelyn Maisel is an American geneticist whose research has been widely influential in the areas of DNA mutagenesis and DNA repair....
. He was married to psychologist Sharon Witkin; their children include Emily Witkin and Anna Witkin.
Death
Andrew "Andy" Witkin died in a scuba diving accident off the coast of Monterey, California on September 12th 2010.External links
- Andy's CMU home page with photo
- Andy's Pixar website with photo