Next stop, Disney
Archived article from Nov 9, 2001
By Caroline Yount
He has worked with gargoyles and quarterbacks, gorgons and gurus, and now Don Klingler, a top computer animator and a 1979 graduate of Rutgers-Camden, has come home to train the practitioners of tomorrow.
His studio -- a state-of-the-art classroom in the fine arts building -- may be smaller than he's used to, his audience more spare, but his impact as a visiting assistant professor is undeniably greater.
Whether it's teaching his "Introduction to Digital Film and Visual F/X" class the basics of compositing (the art of multilayering animation for photo-real effects), expounding on the theories of film or explaining the complexities of Discreet Combustion, a cutting-edge computer compositing system that he used when making the film "Final Fantasy," Klingler brings the topic to life by incorporating his own experiences into the classroom instruction.
In a career that spans more than 20 years, Klingler has helped revolutionize the field of computer graphics for video and feature film. Trained as a fine-arts printmaker, he quickly became involved in video production. Through work that has taken him from South Jersey to St. Louis, Silicon Valley, Montreal and as far afield as Greece, he has shaped an industry not only by using the tools of computer animation, but by helping to create them.
He has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including DreamWorks, Industrial Light + Magic, NFL Films and Sony Pictures. In addition to his production career, he helped to develop the digital tools for visual F/X. He was a product manager for the Eastman Kodak, Discreet Logic and Ampex corporations, whose products refashioned the television and film industries.
"His resume is so incredible," says Roberta Tarbell, acting chair of the fine arts department, "and he remains in connection with the movers and shakers of the industry. Our students know that what he is teaching is not just cutting-edge, but is exactly what they need to know to succeed in their future jobs."
"He's someone I want to attach myself to," says senior Michael Barrick. "As a professor and a contact, he's invaluable."
Quite a few students say that working with Klingler has made them realize how little they know, but it also has increased their desire to learn, especially after he handed out a list of the skills Disney expects beginning practitioners to have.
"Your opportunities don't get any better than this," says senior Chip Lotierzo. "It has been easier to get excited about the possibilities, though at first it's easy to get overwhelmed."
This isn't Klingler's first return to the Camden campus. In the early 1980s, he briefly came back to help John Giannotti, then the chair of the fine arts department, develop curriculum for an embryonic computer-graphics program. "We knew this was the future and that we should jump on board," Klingler recalls.
Klingler seems impressed with the program's growth over the last two decades. "There's a depth of experience here and an expertise that other schools don't have. In addition, it's a tremendous bargain for students."
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