Richard Chuang, a co-founder of PDI has been involved with different types of pipelines; live action, animation, AR, VR, etc., for a long time, and brings a level of experience and oversight that comes with that. He will talk about the early days from building the first pipeline to where it’s at now. Then look at developments in the industry in terms of where we would like to be vs. where we actually are. Finally closing with ideas on what we might expect in the future such as when A.I. becomes integrated into the pipeline
Richard was the co-founder of PDI (PDI/DreamWorks) from 1981 to 2008. He helped pioneer the studio’s proprietary animation system, for which he received his first Academy Technical Achievement Award in 1998, and his second in 2016.
He was a forerunner in computer animation and visual effects for both animated and live-action films. Besides co-creating PDI’s animation language (script) with Glenn Entis, he created many of the initial key production tools including PDI’s first interactive animation tool (e_motion), renderer (p2r), interactive lighting tool (led), compositing system (matte) and PDI’s first long format pipeline in the early 90’s.
His credits range from directing commercials to winning an Emmy Award for graphics design. He has 16 live-action film credits as visual effects supervisor.
While at DreamWorks Animation, he led efforts to set up DreamWorks’ first TV series and production around the globe, most notably in China and India.
After PDI, Richard founded Cloudpic, a tech company focused on distributed data storage and synchronization, digital content creation and multi-channel deliveries. He consulted and served as CEO for studios worldwide for projects and business development, directed studios and startups into new markets like artificial intelligence/machine learning, augmented/virtual/mixed reality, real-time production, mobile and game development. He advised studios on capacity, quality enhancement, and talent development for mobile, film, and television. He also was the creative producer that launched Oddbods, a daily-animated CG show.
Past projects included the design and development of an augmented reality application for the Petersen Automotive Museum featuring characters from Pixar’s Cars animated franchise.
Richard served on the Strategic Advisory Committee for ACM SIGGRAPH, foreign adviser for the Beijing Film Academy’s Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, Advisor for UC Davis College of Engineering, and adjunct professor for AR/VR at University of Silicon Valley (formerly Cogswell College).
Currently he advises multiple startups from biomedical engineering to augmented reality, leveraging creativity and innovation.