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Chief Executive Officer, Don Brittain
Dr. Brittain has a broad range of experience ranging from computer graphics research to commercial software development. Prior to founding Instant Effects, he was one of the original architects of Autdoesk's 3ds max™, a Windows-based 3D modeling, animation and rendering package used to create special effects, product designs and general 3D animated graphics. This product currently holds the dominant position in the computer game and video production markets with cumulative sales well exceeding a third of a billion dollars. Before that, Brittain served as Vice President of Research for Wavefront Technologies. In addition to his role as architect of Wavefront’s Data Visualizer product, he received Wavefront's Outstanding Contribution Award for his groundbreaking work on platform-independent interactive graphics frameworks. Brittain holds a Bachelor Degree in Mathematics from MIT and a Doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds ten patents in the fields of interactive computer graphics and animation. |
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VP Business Development, Mike WilsonMr. Wilson has broad experience managing the specification, development, and marketing of computer graphics effects software. Mr. Wilson also has experience in both technology licensing and the venture finance process. As Director of Product Technology with Wavefront Technologies, he served as technical lead in the company’s successful Initial and Secondary Public Offerings, as well as in Wavefront’s eventual acquisition by Silicon Graphics and merger with Alias Research. Mr. Wilson then became product manager for Alias|Wavefront’s next-generation 3D animation system – Maya. As part of that project he negotiated licensing contracts for embedded technology, managed product specifications, packaging, and pricing, orchestrated product launch, and managed development of marketing themes and materials. Maya has subsequently won numerous awards – including an Academy Award for Technical Achievement - and become a leading 3D animation and effects solution that is used by all major film studios and many high-end computer games and video post-production companies. In his most recent position as Director of 3D Interactive Technologies at Alias|Wavefront, his focus has been on emerging markets associated with real-time interactive graphics applications.
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VP Software Development, Dave Immel
Mr. Immel’s knowledge of computer graphics ranges from the design of graphics APIs, file formats, and authoring systems to high-end rendering. While working at Silicon Graphics, he was a principal designer and implementer of the OpenInventor graphics toolkit, a landmark toolkit for creating interactive graphics applications. He was also instrumental in defining the original VRML format specification and associated authoring system, CosmoWorlds. The VRML specification was a pioneering effort in allowing an end user to author interactivity. He was the primary designer and implementer for Alias/Wavefront’s MayaCloth, Trax nonlinear animation editor, and recent Real-Time Authoring portions of the Maya animation system. His earlier career work focused on high-end ray tracing and radiosity research for which he has been published. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science as well as a Master of Science degree in computer graphics from Cornell University. He also holds two patents in the areas of scene composition and virtual cloth garment modification. |