Forever immortalized in ReBoot! https://reboot.fandom.com/wiki/Phong
this was such a great show!!!
The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
41–50 of 50 posts
Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#42> That Bùi’s life story remains so unknown, to others in his field as well as to the broader public, seems to exemplify racist stereotypes about technically skilled but otherwise faceless Asians, and reflects an unwillingness to reckon with Asian American history. Hold up. This seems forced. What would've driven this fellow to household recognition? Even his billionaire, surviving peer, Ed Catmull, and the commercial…
Yea, looking at the list of "Computer Graphics Pioneers" on wikipedia, Mandelbrot and maybe Carmack are the only two I'd think would be recognized by the broader public, and Carmack is the only one I personally could tell you any biographical details about. I don't think there's any reason to think Bùi's obscurity is due to any particular prejudice against Asian Americans.
I guarantee you I could ask any member of my family, including my wife, if they've heard of Mandelbrot or John Carmack, and they'd say "no".
This is indeed a bit forced.
Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#43Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#44> That Bùi’s life story remains so unknown, to others in his field as well as to the broader public, seems to exemplify racist stereotypes about technically skilled but otherwise faceless Asians, and reflects an unwillingness to reckon with Asian American history. Hold up. This seems forced. What would've driven this fellow to household recognition? Even his billionaire, surviving peer, Ed Catmull, and the commercial…
Anecdote of one, but I had heard of Phong but not Catmull, actually. (Because I was curious about Phong lighting, so then read the wikipedia article which pointed me to him). Your comment is the first time I'd ever heard of Ed Catmull.
I tried to extract everything that looked like a name from the History section of the Wikipedia article on computer graphics.
I had heard of Bui Tuong Phong, Henri Gouraud, Ivan Sutherland, John Carmack, John Warnock, Martin Newell, and Nelson Max.
I hadn't heard of Arthur Appel, Dave Evans, David Immel, David Pearson, Edwin Catmull, Elizabeth Waldram, Frank Sinden, Fred Parke, James Clark, James Kajiya, Jim Blinn, Ken Knowlton, Maurice Benayoun, Michael Noll, Ralph Baer, Steve Russell, Tom Stockham, Verne Hudson, William Fetter, or William Higinbotham.
I haven't studied computer graphics, other than doing the Raytracing in One Weekend project.
(Oops, I missed people with accented, abbreviated, or uncapitalized names, like Pierre Bézier, David C. Evans, and Paul de Casteljau. I don't think this will change the ratio much, though.)
Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#45Ohhhhhhh this is where Phong lighting comes from! Legend!
As a kid, probably 12 or 13 playing in 3dsmax, not having a clue what phong did other than make things look smooth. Thats awesome that, even after having zero to do with design or 3d modeling, 20+ years later the name stands out to me.
Had the exact same experience. It's been a term to me, not a name, until now.
Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
It _is_ a bit damning that he died, though, of an ailment that is primarily the outcome of the _carcinogens the US was willingly dumping as an assault on the country_. I mean, it’s not a smoking gun, but does that really matter?
What _is_ up _with_ _this stuff_?
Underscores work as emphasis in many markup languages, including markdown, but not here in HN regrettably.
Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
It _is_ a bit damning that he died, though, of an ailment that is primarily the outcome of the _carcinogens the US was willingly dumping as an assault on the country_. I mean, it’s not a smoking gun, but does that really matter?
What _is_ up _with_ _this stuff_?
Helping you read the intonation of me talking. It’s how I write.
Re: The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible
#48> That Bùi’s life story remains so unknown, to others in his field as well as to the broader public, seems to exemplify racist stereotypes about technically skilled but otherwise faceless Asians, and reflects an unwillingness to reckon with Asian American history. Hold up. This seems forced. What would've driven this fellow to household recognition? Even his billionaire, surviving peer, Ed Catmull, and the commercial…
I'm not sure. Pretty much all but 0.000001% of us tech peeps go completely unnoticed by the general public no matter how awesome our contributions to tech without regard to race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic identity...