Edwin Catmull, co-founder of Lucasfilm's computer division — which would become independent in 1986 as Pixar — develops from the late 1970s onward foundational three-dimensional computer graphics techniques, including the Catmull-Clark surface subdivision algorithm (1978, with Jim Clark), which generates smooth curved surfaces from simple polygonal meshes. Patrick Hanrahan, a researcher at Lucasfilm and later at Stanford, designs in 1988 the RenderMan Shading Language, which lets technical artists describe in code how each surface should respond to light — its texture, shininess, transparency, color — in a programmable, reusable way. RenderMan, the photorealistic rendering system built on that foundation, becomes the standard of the animated-film and visual-effects industry: every Pixar film from Toy Story (1995) — the first feature film generated entirely by computer — to the present is rendered with this technology, as are numerous live-action visual-effects productions. Catmull co-founds and leads Pixar Animation Studios, which would become a highly successful independent studio, both commercially and critically, before its acquisition by Disney in 2006, while Hanrahan continues his academic career at Stanford, where his research also influences the development of general-purpose GPU programming languages.