It has played an important role in the history of computer graphics and animation, as founders of Pixar and Lucasfilm, including Turing Award winners Edwin Catmull and Patrick Hanrahan, began their research there.
[2][3][4][5] The lab was initially founded to produce a short high-quality feature film with the project name of The Works.
Many of the original CGL team now form the elite of the CG and computer world with members going on to Silicon Graphics, Microsoft, Cisco, NVIDIA and others, including Pixar president, co-founder and Turing laureate Ed Catmull, Pixar co-founder and Microsoft graphics fellow Alvy Ray Smith, Pixar co-founder Ralph Guggenheim, Walt Disney Animation Studios chief scientist Lance Williams, Netscape and Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark, Tableau co-founder and Turing laureate Pat Hanrahan, Microsoft graphics fellow Jim Blinn, Thad Beier, Oscar and Bafta nominee Jacques Stroweis, Andrew Glassner, and Tom Brigham.
[6][7] Researchers at the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab created the tools that made entirely 3D CGI films possible.
[10][11] NYIT CG Lab was regarded as the top computer animation research and development group in the world during the late 70s and early 80s.