Former Texas A&M University students Gary Bruins and John Reisch have received Annie award nominations for their individual work on Pixar's Ratatouille. Annies are considered animation's highest awards.

The Annies are presented by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, for outstanding and technically innovative animation in film, television, video games and commercials.

The men are competing against each other in the category Individual Achievement in Animated Effects.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," said Reisch, laughing, "I have the most respect for [Bruins] as an effects artist. It's great either way this goes."

The movie, which was widely applauded for its detailed computer-generated images, was released last summer and was nominated for 13 Annie awards -- the most of any film this year -- including Best Animated Picture.

After hearing of the nomination, Reisch said "Oh, man, I was just completely floored. It's huge news.

"The effects team was relatively small. ... For sure, Ratatouille has taken the level of work in effects, lighting and animation higher. It has just really lifted the bar for us."

Bruins agreed. "I think that the film, Ratatouille, is one of the films that Pixar produced where all of the departments involved have gone above and beyond their previous work, raising the bar for future films as far as quality goes. And so in some ways, it's really nice to see the number of nominations and I feel that it speaks for all the work that everyone put into the film."

The Aggies' skills were honed through A&M's masters in visualization sciences program, which is part of the College of Architecture. Bruins said A&M's "viz lab" program has earned respect at Pixar, and that it is "heavily recruited from."

"One thing that's really nice about the program at A&M," Bruins continued, "is that it really prepares you for a career in the computer graphics industry, especially the entertainment industry. Much of what we learn in the curriculum is directly related to the work we do here at Pixar, so it's a great way to figure out what areas of this industry and of computer graphics appeal to you without having to discover that on the job."

Bruins and Reisch -- who just missed studying together at A&M -- have found success quickly.

Reisch, who graduated in 2006, had an internship to work on Cars through the viz lab, through which he was offered a job.

Bruins has also worked on Cars, The Incredibles and Disney-Pixar's Academy Award-winning Finding Nemo. His career started with a bang, receiving a job at Pixar even before finishing his masters thesis.

Winners of the awards will be announced Feb. 8 at the University of California-Los Angeles.

• Charlotte Sellmyer's e-mail address is charlotte.sellmyer@theeagle.com.

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