[non-Blender] An informative and humorous interview with Ed Catmull, President of Pixar
Nick Vasquez writes:
In a series called “Revolutionaries” The Computer History Museum interviews pioneers in the tech industry: Here they present an interview with Ed Catmull, Co-founder of Pixar and current President of Walt Disney / Pixar Animation Studios, (Does the name sound familiar? Think catmull-clark subdivision surface).
Ed Catmull is a true pioneer in the computer graphics field. Someone who would eventually work with people like George Lucas & Steve jobs and create great feature length animated films like Toy Story. While he discusses his book “Creativity, Inc.” we get a very enlightening, informative and at times humorous look at the computer graphics industry, from the very beginning to the present including: managing, and nurturing the creative process and creative people, both technical and artistic. And what he calls “protecting the ugly baby”.
It’s a gem of an interview with too many insights, lessons, and laughs for me to try to list here. However, one thing that struck me is when Ed talks about how he noticed that when creative companies started to grow that they started to falter. It reminded me of Blender. Not that blender is beginning to falter but more in the fact that blender seems to be growing exponentially, and along with that fast growth must come some growing pains.
Protecting the ugly baby. Eh? Do they mention how he and that cadre conspired to limit career opportunities for all of the devoted animators in the field by organizing a subterranean oligarchy complete with wage-fixing and limits on between-company mobility to prevent, what he calls, “talent poaching”, and what everyone else calls, earning the job and the pay that one deserves at the location one would like. Ed Catmull has a name for history, but he has no standing for me anymore.
Good job guys, looking up to a guy who admitted to his own wrongdoings.
Way to keep Blender away from the pack.
Acording to wikipedia Ed Catmull didn’t apologize:
“Like somehow we’re hurting some employees? We’re not. While I have responsibility for the payroll, I have responsibility for the long term also. I don’t apologize for this. This was bad stuff.”