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Early in life, Ed found inspiration in Disney movies such as Peter Pan and Pinocchio and dreamed of becoming a feature film animator. When examined in the light of realism, however, he decided that his talents lied elsewhere. Instead of persuing a career in the movie industry, he enrolled in the physics and computer science programs at the University of Utah. It was there that he make three fundamental computer graphics discoveries: Z-buffering, texture mapping and bicubic patches. White at the University, he also invented an algorithm for anti-aliasing, an algorithm for rendering subdivision surfaces and in his earliest contribution to the film industry, in 1974 he created an animated version of his left hand for Futureworld, the science fiction sequel to the film Westworld and the first film to use 3D computer graphics.
After leaving the University, Ed went to work for George Lucas at Lucasfilm. It was at Lucasfilm that he helped develop digital image compositing technology used to combine multiple images in a convincing way. Later, in 1986, Catmull founded Pixar with Steve Jobs. At Pixar, Catmull was a key developer of the Renderman rending system used in films such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo.
In 1993, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences presented Catmull with his first Academy Award "for the development of Renderman software which produces images used in motion pictures from 3D computer descriptions of shape and appearance." Again in 1996, he received an Oscar "for pioneering inventions in Digital Image Compositing". Finally, in 2001 his third award was "for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar's RenderMan." It was also in 2001 that Ed became the president of Pixar Animation Studios.