Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
On Oscar night in Los Angeles, “WALL•E” director Andrew Stanton accepted a gold statuette for his movie’s being named best Animated Feature Film. Working behind the scenes to make the science fiction flick an Oscar-worthy masterpiece were 17 graduates and four current students from the masters program in visualization science at Texas A&M University, part of the Department of Visualization at the university’s College of Architecture.
“WALL•E” is one sterling example the many ways in which today’s blockbuster films are benefiting from the digital wizardry of Aggie vizzers, or graduates from the Master of Science in Visualization Science program at Texas A&M.
Angelique Reisch, a visualization student, worked on the film as a shot lighting artist.
"We had to really bring (WALL•E’s) eyes to life so you believe that this isn't just a hunk of metal, it's a real character,” Reisch told the Houston Chronicle in a July 24 story about the visualization program at Texas A&M. “I put a lot of work into the reflections of Eve in WALL•E's eyes."
Eve is WALL•E’s romantic interest in the movie.
“There were 21 Aggie vizzers who participated in 15 production categories in ‘WALL•E,’” said Bill Jenks, director of the Visualization Laboratory, which is housed in the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M.
Four of the Aggie contributors served as interns on the film. These were current students in the MS Visualization program who earned internships with Pixar Animatoin Studios through a selection process.
“The Viz Lab and Pixar have had a relationship for more than 10 years now,” said Tim McLaughlin, head of the Department of Visualization. “The evidence of the strength of that relationship shows as the names of former students roll across the screen at the end of ‘WALL•E.’”
McLaughlin said Pixar supports the visualization program at Texas A&M through visiting artist lectures, one-on-one reviews of student work, and scholarships for current students given by former students and matched by contributions from the studio.
As part of that support, former Aggie vizzer and Pixar technical director Keith Klohn, an effects sequence lead and development engineer on the film, came to Texas A&M to visit with students March 5. He and a team of animators won an award from the Visual Effects Society for their work on “WALL•E.”
“Our students know that opportunities to work on great films are real for them at Pixar,” said McLaughlin. “Many of them set that target from their first day on campus and Pixar is there to provide guidance and opportunities to the students to prove themselves along the way."
Following is a list of Aggie Vizzers who worked on “WALL•E”.
| Patrick James | Matte Paint Technical Lead |
| Sajan Skaria | Character Modeling & Articulation Artist |
| Bill Sheffler | Character Modeling & Articulation Artist |
| David Batte | Character Shading Artist + Effects Artist |
| Sarah Fowler DeLuna | Character Shading Artist |
| Brandon Onstott | Character Shading Artist |
| Don Bui | Character Intern |
| Seth Freeman | Character Intern |
| Christina Garcia | Set Dressing Artist + Additional Simulation (Crowds/Simulation) |
| Kevin Singleton | Modeling Artist (Sets) |
| Steven King | Shading Artist (Sets) |
| Charu Sharma Clark | Shot Lighting Artist |
| Angelique Ford Reisch | Shot Lighting Artist |
| Julie Garcia | Shot Lighting Artist |
| Kimberly Ross | Shot Lighting Artist |
| Chris Chapman | Effects Sequence Lead + Development Engineer (Technical Development) |
| Keith Daniel Klohn | Effects Sequence Lead + Development Engineer (Technical Development) |
| Kurt Phillips | Effects Intern |
| Alex Timchenko | Rendering Artist |
| Eric Peden | Rendering Intern |
| Clayborn Welsh | Marketing |
- Posted: March 2, 2009 -
