Brad deGraf

Called by Wired Magazine "an icon in the world of 3D Animation" and by Animation Magazine one of the "people to watch in 2001," Brad deGraf, has been a leader in the entertainment uses of computer since 1982, particularly in the areas of real-time characters, ride films, feature films, and the Web.

Brad currently acts in a variety of consultancy roles focused on next-generation digital media technology, in addition to pro-bono work exploiting disruptive media technologies in service of public-interest media. In the latter role, he created and manages Books We Like , co-directs the Moving Image archive at the Internet Archive ,and is executive director of the Internet Bookmobile project , among others. As a consultant, he is senior analyst for Jon Peddie Research and industry specialist on digital media projects for the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the International Executive Service Corps .

Brad began his career in 1979 as a Fortran programmer for Science Applications International (SAIC), engineering interactive training systems and digital mapping applications for the US Army National Training Center in Fort Irwin, CA.

In 1982, he joined Digital Productions in Los Angeles, as Head of Technical Direction, and oversaw production there on numerous groundbreaking feature film, ride-film, and commercial projects.

He co-founded deGraf/Wahrman in 1987, where, inspired by a collaboration with Jim Henson, he created the first live computer-generated character, and produced several “firsts” in computer-generated ridefilms.

In 1992, he joined Colossal Pictures, the leading San Francisco animation company for two decades, to start up a digital media division, to replace their previous co-production relationship with Pixar, which had recently shifted over to producing features with Disney. He grew the department to 30+ people, producing all forms of digital media, including Robocop the Ride in Imax for Iwerks; two CD-ROMs for Broderbund; Cartoon Network’s launch character; numerous commercials and music videos; and several early interactive television interface designs including the Full Service Network for TimeWarner/SGI, and First Person, the precursor to Java.

In late 1994, he and his partners spun off to create Protozoa (aka Dotcomix) for which he served as Chairman, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer. In those roles, he oversaw the creation of over 24 hours of televised animation and a year of daily web cartoons, and raised over $13M.

Credits include:
· Moxy, emcee for the Cartoon Network, the first virtual character for television;
· Floops, the first Web episodic cartoon;
· Peter Gabriel's Grammy award- winning video, Steam;
· Duke2000.com, a 2001 presidential campaign with Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury, including one-hour on Larry King Live, and over 50 appearances on morning talk shows *;
· "The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera", the first computer- generated ride film;
· “Journey to the Fourth Dimension” for Sanrio Puroland, Tokyo, the first stereoscopic ride film;
· Feature films "The Last Starfighter", "2010", "Jetsons: the Movie", "Robocop 2";
· and many others.

Brad has a BA in Mathematics from UC San Diego, and studied sculpture and architecture at Princeton University. He has a patent for a chair design and was published in Fine Woodworking Magazine's Biennial Design Book.