Dr. Steve Sullivan has been promoted to research and development director at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Sullivan, who most recently headed up a computer vision team within the R&D group, has been instrumental in developing systems for matchmoving, image-based modeling and rendering, and motion-capture. In 1996, Sullivan received a PhD. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with an emphasis on automatic object modeling, recognition and surface representations. After graduation, Sullivan spent two years with Rhythm & Hues Studios in Los Angeles developing animation and 3D tracking software before joining ILM. In March 2002, Sullivan received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for the MARS motion and structure recovery system. As R&D Director, Sullivan will be charged with anticipating and developing the technology required for ILM's next generation of visual effects. In addition to the R&D team's emphasis on computer graphics, he will focus their efforts on redefining the post-production process itself, exploiting advances in digital filmmaking to give artists and directors new ways to interact with their scenes. Currently, ILM's R&D team is working on new techniques to create and animate photorealistic digital characters, construct comprehensive virtual environments and better integrate real and synthetic actors and scenes. Current productions include TIMELINE, DREAMCATCHER, TERMINATOR 3: THE RISE OF THE MACHINES, THE HULK, PETER PAN, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and VAN HELSING.
