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INTERVIEW WITH WAYNE CARLSON CONDUCTED BY ROBERT BUTCHE DATE: JUNE 19, 2003 LENGTH OF DOCUMENT: 42 pp.
Summary of the Document Dr. Wayne Carlson has had a long, varied and distinguished career at Ohio State. Born in 1949, and raised in Idaho, he was trained originally in math education, and Theoretical Mathematics. He obtained a master’s degree at Ohio State in 1975 in Computer Systems Administration. While working on his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Ohio State he became interested in the computer graphics program. In 1981 he obtained his doctoral degree from the Computer and Information Science Department at Ohio State, and immediately became Director of Production at Cranston Csuri Productions. Later he became Vice President, and lastly President, although at a time in 1987 when the company underwent Chapter 11 liquidation. In 1988 he joined the faculty at Ohio State as an Assistant Professor in the Computer Information Science Department, but in 1991 he replaced Chuck Csuri, as the Chair of the Department of Industrial, Interior, and Visual Communication Design. Initially his interest in computer graphics centered on geometric modeling, and the study of high-complexity free-form curves and surfaces. For his Ph.D he focused on the creation of complex three-dimensional objects that ultimately would be used in image synthesis. He perfected a solid modeling approach to geometric modeling as applied to free-form curves and surfaces. As his studies evolved he worked on different display approaches, and human modeling, that led in time to presenting such complex objects as smoke, fire and fog in a geometric way necessary for advanced computer animation. His training in both mathematics and computer science was essential for achieving these advances. Many of his graduate students went on to distinguished careers in computer graphics. Wayne Brown authored a textbook on image compression. Steve May became one of the main computer animators at Pixar Studios, and was a scene director for the film Finding Nemo. Ferdis Keepers helped to create an approach to defining human musculature so that characters would be realistic. Satee Ragafachary was a main contributor to the film Prince of Egypt at Dreamworks Studio. The cross-disciplinary culture of the College of the Arts at Ohio State helped innovators such as Carlson and Csuri combine technology with the arts. Carlson joined Csuri’s group in 1977 and was involved in both software and hardware development. Csuri made an “incredible” contribution. He was a visionary, an artist, and a leader. Typically the “hands-on” work was done by his associates. In the early days it was very difficult to create an exact image, such as the head of a person, in a computing environment. Over time, however, the tools and technology to meet such challenges were developed, many by Csuri, Carlson and their associates at Ohio State. In addition to their artistic vision, the researchers needed expertise in physics and mathematics. The real challenge was to come up with clean and predicable mathematical approximations that could, in fact, be computed in a reasonable amount of time in order to get the idea from the conceptual to the realizable. All this was greatly complicated by the relatively primitive computers of that era. They could calculate, for example, fairly simple specific curves, but not the complex polygonal models considered necessary. Csuri did important innovative research in this area in the very early 1970s. One of the first achievements under the more advanced technology developed by Csuri and Carlson was The Hummingbird film. All of these advances in computer graphics and animation, especially in the description of motion, required use of very complex mathematical formulas. Similarly, the conversion of the geometric form or the geometric model into a representation that can appear on screen, or rasterization, required use of complex mathematical structures. Csuri worked with various mathematicians at Ohio State, including James Schaffer, Leslie Miller, and Rick Parent. Collectively, they dealt with a number of different issues from geometry through topology that have something to do with creating three-dimensional forms. Integral calculus and geometry, for example, were indispensable for these purposes. The challenge of applying mathematics to computer graphics did not require the development of any bold new principles of mathematics, but rather the application of principles already understood. Even so, their application to computer graphics enhanced understanding of these principles. For example, on one occasion computer graphics were used to visualize the mathematical theories of a Harvard professor on how galaxies interacted with each other. His theories quickly gained wider credence since there was now a three-dimensional, visual, illustration of these mathematical abstractions. Bob Reynolds, a Professor of Physics at Ohio State, and a member of Csuri’s team, helped on the Harvard project. Csuri’s own expertise was not in mathematics, but in electrical engineering, and his success in enlisting assistance from mathematicians was a major reason for his remarkable successes. Other factors that played a part included his tenure and rank of a full professor; this allowed him to take risks others might not have dared. Carlson allowed also that Csuri “knew all of the right people.” Most important of all was his vision, artistic skill and remarkable ability to persuade others, including university leaders, to follow his dream. All of this came together at Ohio State in the 1960s and 70s. The results achieved were very significant. Csuri organized an inter-disciplinary team known as the Computer Graphics Research Group (CGRG). In the early days, they used off-the-shelf hardware, including the IBM1130 computer. This was attached to a 2250 display device. It was monochrome. But advances came fairly quickly. In the early 1970s one of Csuri’s students, Tom Defonte, helped develop interactive software that allowed the user to interact directly using both the tools and techniques of the computer and the display devices. The sonic pen developed by Csuri and others was a major advance. This was used to define motion and for data creation. Gradually, greater use was made of color images. Another innovation of CGRG was adapting an ampex video recorder to computer control. Csuri also worked with experts from other institutions. He connected with John Stoddheimer of North Carolina State University, and the National Science Foundation, to invent a real-time playback device. This was a hard-drive device that allowed one to compute rastor images. These were solid shaded images that were recorded and played back at the rate of 1/30th of a second. Frame buffers were also a 1970s innovation, but this was not done at Ohio State. The CGRG was located next door to the electrical engineering’s science laboratory, and several of their faculty worked informally with Csuri and his group. One was Bob McGee who was involved in gait studies, or how human and creature motion could be realized robotically. He developed an eight-legged robot that later was funded by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) as a moon or Mars device. McGee’s discoveries aided Csuri’s own goals, and provided a basis for algorithmic solutions. Michael Girrard of CGRG, building on McGee’s studies, developed some algorithms that were clearly based in the physical laws, and enabled Csuri to control the motion of his characters in computer graphics. Thus, both CGRG and Electrical Engineering both benefited from the cross-fertilization. Faculty from the Physics and Geography departments also participated. Mark Howard, recruited from North Carolina State, made a major contribution to CGRG in creating some early frame buffers. These are defined, simply put, as “memory as an interface between a computational activity and a display activity.” The ultimate result of Howard’s work was to be able to pull up memory collections in 1/30th of a second, in a way that you could store sequences in the time frame buffer, and play them back as continuous images. Hardware motion accelerator concepts were also developed in these years, although not at Ohio State. In time, these various hardware innovations developed at CGRG and elsewhere were adapted for use in computer games and commercial devices such as the Sun Micro Workstation. Software developments were also a major focus of CGRG. Among the faculty at Ohio State who participated in these studies were James Schaeffer, a mathematician, Jerry Moorsdorf, later CEO of Applied Innovations Company in Columbus, Manfred Keymeyer, and Tom Defonte, who worked on an animations system called “Grass.” Keymeyer worked on an animation system called “Anima.” The field of computer graphics had evolved to the point that many researchers, at Ohio State and elsewhere, were deeply involved in creating new software programs. Csuri used some of these earlier techniques in a program called “Hummingbird.” Carlson records the various stages of hardware development used by CGRG over time. By 1979 all of the work of CGRG had been converted from Fortran into the C programming language in the UNIX operating system, a vast improvement. Sun workstations were not used until about 1982 or 1983. Csuri’s personal involvement in software development was just as crucial as it had been in hardware development. Furthermore, as Carlson reports, without greatly enhanced software development, such as the development of the C language, one could not achieve the visualization of a concept. Computer languages were not developed at Ohio State, but animation languages were. One of these, known as Grass, developed by Tom Dafonte, then of Ohio State, was used to create a scene in one of the Star Wars movies. Another animation language, known by the acronym AL, was also developed by Steve May at Ohio State. This proved useful to the Pixar group in Hollywood. Various other Ohio State graduate students and faculty, such as Ferdis Keepers, Dave Selser, Frank Crow made significant contributions. Ohio
State was clearly among the national leaders in the development of
the arts and sciences of computer graphics. Carlson was reluctant to
rank it No. 1, or No. 2, or even assign it any national ranking, but
he emphasized that Chuck Csuri’s vision as an artist provided a
critical element not found elsewhere. From an artistic point of
view Ohio State probably contributed more than any other
institution. Major Themes Crucial role of Chuck Csuri in development of computer graphics Major advances in development of computer hardware Carlson’s contributions in development of computer software Growing complexity and importance of computers in arts and sciences Intersections of artistic vision and hard sciences, especially mathematics Contributions of Csuri and other Ohio State faculty to computer animation
Key Individuals Mentioned Brown, Wayne, computer graphics, p. 5 Cuba, Larry, animation artist, pp. 37-38 Csuri, Charles “Chuck,” computer graphics visionary, mentioned throughout Defonte, Tom, worked on Grass animation system, pp. 30-31, 37 Girrard, Michael, computer graphics, p. 26 Howard, Mark, innovator of frame buffers, pp. 24, 27-28 Keepers, Ferdis, computer graphics, pp. 5, 40 Knemeyer, Manfred, animator, p. 31 McGee, Bob, Professor of Electrical Engineering, innovator in gait studies, p. 25 Miller, James, mathematician, p. 12 Moorsdorf, Jerry, p. 30 Reynolds, Bob, Professor of Physics at OSU, p. 18 Ragafachary, Satee, computer graphics, p. 5 Selser, Frank, animation expert, p. 40 Schaffer, James, mathematician, pp. 12, 30 Stoddheimer, inventor of a real time playback device, p. 23
Abstract by Dr. Donald B. Cooper, Prof. Emeritus of History, Nov. 1, 2006 |