Home 3D news Pixar Co-founder released a new book – A Biography of the Pixel

Pixar Co-founder released a new book – A Biography of the Pixel

by Anne
New Book from Pixar Cofounder: A Biography of the Pixel by Alvy Ray Smith

Pixar Co-founder and inventor of alpha channel Alvy Ray Smith wrote a new book ” A Biography of the Pixel” explores the history of pixels in modern media

A Biography of the Pixel is a must-read for anyone who has watched a video on a cell phone, played a videogame, or seen a movie.

Exciting new release in August from Pixar cofounder, Alvy Ray Smith. A Biography of the Pixel explains how the pixel is the organizing principle of most modern media, and in a journey that takes us from cave paintings to Toy Story, he presents a few simple but profound ideas that unify the dazzling varieties of digital image-making.

About Alvy Ray Smith

Alvy Ray Smith co-founded Pixar and Altamira Software. He was the first Director of Computer Graphics at Lucasfilm and the first Graphics Fellow at Microsoft. He has also received two technical Academy Awards for his contribution to digital moviemaking technology.

More about A Biography of the Pixel:

The Great Digital Convergence of all media types into one universal digital medium occurred, with little fanfare, at the recent turn of the millennium. The bit became the universal medium, and the pixel—a particular packaging of bits—conquered the world. Henceforward, nearly every picture in the world would be composed of pixels—cell phone pictures, app interfaces, Mars Rover transmissions, book illustrations, videogames. In A Biography of the Pixel, Alvy Ray Smith argues that the pixel is the organizing principle of most modern media, and he presents a few simple but profound ideas that unify the dazzling varieties of digital image making.

Smith’s story of the pixel’s development begins with Fourier waves, proceeds through Turing machines, and ends with the first digital movies from Pixar, DreamWorks, and Blue Sky. Today, almost all the pictures we encounter are digital—mediated by the pixel and irretrievably separated from their media; museums and kindergartens are two of the last outposts of the analog. Smith explains, engagingly and accessibly, how pictures composed of invisible stuff become visible—that is, how digital pixels convert to analog display elements. Taking the special case of digital movies to represent all of Digital Light (his term for pictures constructed of pixels), and drawing on his decades of work in the field, Smith approaches his subject from multiple angles—art, technology, entertainment, business, and history. A Biography of the Pixel is essential reading for anyone who has watched a video on a cell phone, played a videogame, or seen a movie.


Praise for the book:

“Alvy Ray Smith is a magician who overturns the visible world and reenvisions everything that happens on a screen. His innovative history of the pixel is remarkable: there are brilliant insights on every page.”

Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick for Wired Magazine; author of The Inevitable

“We spend half our day staring at a screen, but where do the images on it come from? This engaging, thoroughly researched book by a pioneer of digital image-making explains the history, theory, and technology of every image you see through a computer screen.”

Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google

Read more interesting news about 3D here.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept