Mark Manca
Pixar's RenderMan, Director of Product Management
Animation can give us a surprising connection to what it is to be human. What it is to have passion. What it is to love. What it is to grow beyond yourself. My purpose is to help artists tell their stories by strategizing with and motivating diverse teams to evolve technology to create better (and more efficient) storytelling opportunities for artists.
I value a "yes, if" approach to teamwork rather than a "no, because" mentality. Challenging people to think about "yes, if" to solve a problem encourages the creative solutions required for technology development. A "no, because" response to problem solving stifles innovation.
The most important thing I do is to motivate teams by helping them see the "why" of strategy and requirements -- to help them come to "yes, if" and to then remove barriers to making a project successful.
I bring a right and left brain aesthetic to my work. I bring my entrepreneurial spirit, leadership ability, innovation, strategic thinking, agility, motivation, and technology skills to the table every day.
Pixar's RenderMan
Pixar's RenderMan
For over 30 years, Pixar’s RenderMan has been shaping the look of award-winning animation and visual effects, from Toy Story and Jurassic Park to today’s most ambitious blockbusters. Recognized with the prestigious IEEE Milestone Award, RenderMan has become a cornerstone of cinematic imagery. Today, it continues to push the boundaries of rendering with advanced technologies like the machine learning powered Denoiser, stylized rendering, and RenderMan XPU, a new hybrid CPU+GPU renderer built for the future of production. Join us to explore the future of feature-quality rendering.