Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 14, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The new Disney research laboratory is scheduled to begin operations in central Zurich this autumn. As part of a research and development initiative, the Walt Disney Company will establish a second laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, in addition to the lab at ETH Zurich. The cooperation with the two universities was announced at SIGGRAPH, the world’s largest computer graphics conference, in Los Angeles. Developing the next generation of technologies requires collaboration with leading universities, Ed Catmull, president of Pixar Animation Studios, part of the Walt Disney Company, is quoted as saying.
Creating a Creative Hub
In the medium term, up to 20 researchers will work in the new laboratory, focusing on areas including computer animation, geometric modeling, computational photography, image generation, video processing, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The model calls for several small research groups, each led by an experienced specialist (Senior Principal Investigator), to work together. “Bringing Disney specialists and ETH researchers together under one roof will greatly foster creativity on both sides,” said Professor Markus Gross of the Department of Computer Science and designated director of the new laboratory.
Markus Gross is convinced that ETH Zurich can benefit in many ways from working with a globally active industry partner such as the Walt Disney Company. Beyond the research collaboration itself, the plan is for Disney’s highly qualified researchers and engineers to become involved in teaching and doctoral programs. The researchers at “Disney Research” in Zurich are employed by Walt Disney; the laboratory and its infrastructure will be housed in an existing building in the ETH center.
Disney’s Only Laboratory in Europe
The laboratory will conduct its research in close cooperation with ETH Zurich’s Department of Computer Science, particularly Markus Gross’s Visual Computing and Computer Graphics Laboratory: “For example, we want to develop new algorithms to take both traditional animation techniques and 3D computer animation to a new level of perfection.”
Being selected as the only location in Europe shows “that ETH Zurich enjoys a strong international reputation for the quality of its research, in this particular case in information technology and visual computing,” said Peter Chen, ETH Zurich’s vice president for research.
Several business units of the Walt Disney Company are involved in the collaboration with the two universities: Disney Animation and Live Action Studios, Interactive Games, Disney Interactive Media Group, ESPN, and Pixar. Pixar Animation Studios produced computer-animated films including “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo.”
