FORA.tv Speaker - Michael B. Johnson

Dr. Michael B. Johnson currently is serving as the lead for Pixar's Moving Pictures Group in the Studio Tools Division, where he and his team design, develop and support the production pipeline for film development, story, and editorial. Dr. Johnson first came to Pixar Animation Studios in May 1993, where he worked on custom tools for production. In 1995, he moved to R&D in Pixar's Interactive division, where he wrote and developed a previsualisation system for 'A Bug's Life'. In 1999, he completed additional pre- visualisation work and wrote lighting tools for 'Toy Story 2'. He created animation tools for 'Monsters, Inc.' and 'Finding Nemo', and developed a 3D paint and set-dressing system for the latter. For 'The Incredibles', he designed animation, review and story tools and for 'Cars' he worked on the Editorial pipeline. For the studio's latest release, 'Ratatouille', his team redesigned the entire story/editorial pipeline, moving it over to a completely digital one. Prior to Pixar, he worked for NCSA, Thinking Machines, IBM and MIT's Media Lab.