Jeffrey James Varab is a leading animator and visual effects

Visual effects

Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...

 artist and one of the pioneers of 3D 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....

. His work on the 1995 film Casper

Casper (film)

Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...

marked the first fully computer-rendered lead character in a feature film, beating Woody and Buzz Lightyear of the fully computer-animated Toy Story

Toy Story

Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...

 by six months.

Career

Originally hired at Disney Animation in 1977, Varab was trained on the movie Pete's Dragon

Pete's Dragon

Pete's Dragon is a 1977 live-action/animated musical film from Walt Disney Productions and the first Disney film to be recorded in the Dolby Stereo sound system...

 by one of "Disney's Nine Old Men

Disney's Nine Old Men

Disney's Nine Old Men were the core animators at The Walt Disney Company who created some of Disney's most famous works, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs onward to The Rescuers. Walt Disney jokingly called this group of animators his "Nine Old Men," referring to Robert S...

", Eric Larson

Eric Larson

Eric Larson was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios starting in 1933 and was one of the "Disney's Nine Old Men."...

. Classmates at Disney Animation included filmmakers such as 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...

's John Lasseter

John Lasseter

John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....

, Tim Burton

Tim Burton

Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

 and Don Bluth

Don Bluth

Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...

. Since then, Varab has done work for Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

' Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...

, Universal Pictures and Don Bluth

Don Bluth

Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...

. Varab's work has appeared in such films as The Fox and the Hound, Tron

Tron (film)

Tron is a 1982 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Lisberger, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Jeff Bridges as the protagonist Kevin Flynn; Bruce Boxleitner in a dual role as security program Tron and Tron's "User", computer programmer Alan Bradley; Cindy...

, Mulan

Mulan

Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...

, Balto

Balto

Balto was a Siberian Husky sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. The run is commemorated by the...

, Land Before Time, Casper

Casper (film)

Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...

, The Tigger Movie

The Tigger Movie

The Tigger Movie is a 2000 animated comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Jun Falkenstein. Part of the Winnie-the-Pooh series, this film features Pooh's friend Tigger in his search for his family tree and other Tiggers like himself...

, Titan AE, Tugger: The Jeep 4x4 Who Wanted to Fly, Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)

Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...

, The Lion King and Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights.

Over the past 3 years Varab has been heavily involved in pioneering the use of stereoscopic rendering and autostereoscopy

Autostereoscopy

Autostereoscopy is any method of displaying stereoscopic images without the use of special headgear or glasses on the part of the viewer. Because headgear is not required, it is also called "glasses-free 3D" or "glassesless 3D"...

 in animation. He is currently in pre-production on a series of feature films that will showcase this technology. He has also been involved in designing tool sets for 2d-3d stereoscopic conversion.

In August 2010 Jeff Varab was charged with 13 counts of fraud and arrested in Osceola County

Osceola County, Florida

Osceola County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 172,493. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 244,045, making it the 17th fastest-growing county in the United States. Its county seat is Kissimmee.- History :Osceola County was...

Florida.

External links

• Jeffrey Varab's home page