Ed Kramer
About Ed Kramer
- Affiliations
- Art Institute of Colorado and ACM SIGGRAPH
- CompuGraph Designs/MTI
- Industrial Light & Magic
- Location
- Denver, Colorado, United States of America
- Bio
Pioneers 2026
Ed Kramer has over 30 years experience creating computer graphics work for commercials, broadcast television, and feature films – including 12 years as a Senior Technical Director at Industrial Light & Magic during the formative years of the industry. He spent another 12 years as Associate and Full Professor, teaching CGI production skills to the next generation of artists before retiring in 2023. He has been Chair of the ACM/SIGGRAPH Pioneers group since 2019.
SIGGRAPH 2015
ED KRAMER received his Bachelor of Science degree at Duke University and his Master of Arts in Film Production from the University of Texas, Austin. He has been a professional CGI artist since 1981, working in Hollywood, New York, Atlanta, and for NASA in Houston. In 1992 he helped animate the iconic Columbia Pictures “Lady with a Torch” logo for Kleiser/Walczak Studios, and worked with Douglas Trumbull supervising CGI for one of the Luxor Hotel ridefilms. Hired at ILM in 1994, he became a Sequence Supervisor for the Scarab shots from “The Mummy,” the Rock Monster shots from “Galaxy Quest,” and the Droid Factory shots from “STAR WARS Episode II” among many others. Since 2010, Ed has been an instructor of CGI Lighting, Modeling, Dynamics, and Portfolio Development, first at the Colorado Film School and currently at the Art Institute of Colorado.
SIGGRAPH 1987
Ed Craner received his B.S. degree In Psychology from Duke University and his M.A. in film Production/Animation from the University of Texas at Austin. As a Graduate student in 1979, he used the Physics Department’s computer lab to create 3D vector animation for a local PBS series, and also experimented with both hand-drawn animation and video special effects techniques. After graduate school he moved to Hollywood, where he spent five years doing computer animation exclusively using video as a production medium, and participated in the evolution from analog to digital techniques. At Image West, he was one of the last analog Scanimate programmers, moving to the digital ADO when it was introduced. He then worked as a Via Video paint system animator at American Video Factory, and as a Computer Image SYSTEM IV programmer at Editel/L.A. Moving to New York in 1985, he became Animator/Art Director for Compugraph Designs, where his work currently makes use of two Bosch FGS-4000’s with the Sun Microsystems off-line object modeler, the Quantel Paintbox, the Abekas Digital Disk Recorder, and a full complement of video production hardware. A winner of numerous awards, his animations include work for CINEMAX, CBS Evening News, Ford, ESPN, Lifetime, Merv Griffin and the World Series.
- SIGGRAPH Member Profile
- Click to view Ed Kramer's member profile
SIGGRAPH Conference Organizing Committee Positions
SIGGRAPH Organization Committee Positions
- Chair
- ACM SIGGRAPH Pioneers
- Leadership History Overview
- Pioneers Chair: 2025-2026 - 2024-2025 - 2023-2024 - 2022-2023 - 2021-2022 - 2020-2021 - 2019-2020
Conference Contributions
SIGGRAPH Organization Contributions
- Community Events Moderated
- 2025 Featured Speaker: The Ed Catmull Story: To SIGGRAPH and Beyond!
- 2022 Panel: Pioneers of Digital Art and Animation
- 2022 Panel: The Analog Years of Computer Animation
- 2024 Panel: A Pioneer’s Perspective on Generative AI – The Sequel
- 2021 Pioneer Interview: Darcy Gerbarg in Two Minutes
- 2025 Pioneer Interview: Scott Ross – Upstart: The Digital Film Revolution
- 2020 Pioneer Interview: Bob Stone
- 2020 Pioneer Interview: Jon Peddie
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1979 Conference Chair Tom DeFanti
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1980 Conference Chair Bob Ellis
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1988 Conference Chair Adele Newton
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1991 Conference Chair Mike Bailey
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1992 Conference Chair – Maxine Brown
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1993 Conference Chair Mark Resch
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1996 Conference Chair John Fujii
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1997 Conference Chair Scott Owen
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 1999 Conference Chair Warren Waggenspack
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2003 Conference Chair Alyn Rockwood
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2009 Conference Chair Ronen Barzel
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2010 Conference Chair Terrence Masson
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2012 Conference Chair Rebecca Strzelec
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2013 Conference Chair Mk Haley
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2014 Conference Chair Dave Shreiner
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2015 Conference Chair Marc Barr
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2016 Conference Chair Mona Kasra
- 2023 Conference Chair Interview: 2020 Conference Chair Kristy Pron
- 2021 Featured Speaker: SIGGRAPH Pioneers 2021 Featured Speaker – Dr. Donna J. Cox
- 2022 Featured Speaker: Ken Perlin
- 2024 Featured Speaker: Nick England – Mary Whitton
- 2024 Recollections and Misc: 2024 Schmoozefest – Pioneers Online Zoom Conversation
- 2020 Featured Speaker: 2020 Speaker Douglas Trumbull – “The Past, Present, and Future of Cinema”
- Community Events
- 2024 Recollections and Misc: Preserving Your Legacy – A User’s Guide to Archiving Computer Graphics History
- 2021 Recollections and Misc: Preserving Your Legacy – Follow up with Ed Kramer and Amanda Wick at the Babbage Institute
- Community Event Videos Edited
- 2026 Panel: The Pioneers of Computer Graphics for Medical Applications
Other Information
- Roles
- ACM SIGGRAPH Village Presenter
- Computer Animation Jury Member
- Course Organizer
- Course Presenter
- History Contributor
- Panel Moderator
- Pioneer Chair
- Pioneer Moderator
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