And the Oscar goes to . . .

Scientific and Technical Award (Scientific and Engineering Award). To Eric Veach for his foundational research on efficient Monte Carlo path tracing for image synthesis. Physically based rendering has transformed computer graphics lighting by more accurately simulating materials and lights, allowing digital artists to focus on cinematography rather than the intricacies of rendering. In his 1997 Ph.D. thesis and related publications, Veach formalized the principles of Monte Carlo path tracing and introduced essential optimization techniques, such as multiple importance sampling, which make physically based rendering computationally feasible.

Scientific and Technical Award (Technical Achievement Award). To Thomas Lokovic and Eric Veach for their influential research and publication of the fundamental concepts of deep shadowing technology. Providing a functional and efficient model for the storage of deep opacity information, this technology was widely adopted as the foundation of early deep compositing pipelines.