Craig John McNaughton

Kia ora, Cindy, Harrison and McKenzie. Your family has always provided fun and inspiration for me, whether meeting you as my wonderful tutor in acting, Cindy or as my acting partner, McKenzie in the same class, and yes being undone and humbled in chess, Harrison. I can only imagine the completeness and joy Craig brought to your lives. I saw the pride in his eyes and he saw you receive an amazing award at Junior Prize Giving last year, Harriason. "Deepest condolences" seem too little to say, better is to find the waiata and spirit of aroha that we pray surrounds you and enables you to go forward. Ray and Jacqui

Craig, I wish I could have spoken at the funeral, but to be honest, it was all just a bit too much for me. Others spoke about many parts of your life, so I’ll share a little about the early years. We first met in primary school. My memory is hazy, but I remember Cuisenaire rods, games of bullrush, and a mysterious phenomenon known as sand saucers. We bonded early over books. At first it was the usual stuff, then came fantasy and science fiction. The Hobbit gave way to The Lord of the Rings (which became an annual read). The Silmarillion became the definitive source of truth. There was The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Gormenghast, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which you could quote from cover to cover. Then came the Riverworld series, the Well of Souls series and countless others. I have fond memories of spending time at your house on Hazel Ave. The play space outside your bedroom, and the little cubby inside it, with a vice and a light (the perfect example of an early investment into a child’s future). You spent hours there assembling and painting. On the wall was a poster of a Mack truck with a rubber duck hood ornament. There was a SodaStream machine and a mysterious flavour called “Hawaiian Fruit Punch.” There were Rubik’s cubes, snakes, stars, barrels, and a “missing link.” In late 1977 or early 1978, we went to see Star Wars. It was a big moment. It was the first movie I saw more than once and I think at least two of those times were with you. The Lord of the Rings cartoon was another highlight. For you, these weren’t just movies, they were fuel for your imagination. Lego was a constant theme. you quickly moved beyond simple builds to more technical creations. Perhaps inspired by our mutual jealousy of a friend’s 853 car. There were gears, pistons, rack-and-pinion steering systems and eventually all kinds of engines. Then came computers. We spent afternoons at someone’s father’s office near the Octagon. Wizardry was a favourite, and surely the beginning of your legendary mapping skills, Straight pencil lines on green graph paper. Later came the C64 and endless games of Bruce Lee, Chopper Strike, and Jet Set Willy. You started experimenting with assembly language. I didn’t really understand what that was, but it sounded very impressive. Then came the Amiga, and whatever followed after that. There were many games of Dungeons & Dragons, including one where, faced with a room full of giants, you decided the best course of action was to polymorph one into a blue whale. Of course, you did. There were bike rides, and not nearly enough sunscreen. There was a lot of tinkering. There was the time you poked yourself in the eye with a screwdriver and had to wear an eyepatch, and the time we cast miniatures together by melting down lead fishing lures. Through it all, there was a lot, perhaps too much, Queen, and a lot of laughter. I especially remember a Billy Connolly sketch about the dangers of Australia. You laughed so much you turned purple. For weeks afterwards, just mentioning a box jellyfish would set you off all over again. I miss you deeply. And although many of our moments together will be lost in time, like tears in rain, your spirit lives on in our hearts, and through your loving family. I’ll think of you every time I visit my storage unit full of Lego. The stars look very different today. Simon

Dear Cindy and family, What sad news to hear that Craig has passed away. From the other side of the globe, we wish you strength in coping with this loss. We remember him as a wonderful person, partner, and father. On behalf of all four of us, a big hug and love to you and the rest of the family. Saskia, Sicco, Pelle & Mees

I was in the same class as Craig from Form II at Macandrew Intermediate in 1981 to the end of our schooling at King’s High in 1986 and fondly remember playing alongside Craig in our 7th Form Social Rugby Team. Craig was an outstanding academic student at school and what he achieved afterwards in his stellar career made us all so proud. Most of all, we remember his collegiality. On behalf of his KHS Class of ‘86 and fellow Kingsmen I extend our heartfelt condolences and aroha nui to Craig’s loved ones, whānau and friends. Rest In Peace, Craig.

I taught Craig while he was at King's High School and wrote this mini-bio about him for the King's High School Old Boys Newsletter. Creator of amazing on-Screen Graphics Craig John McNaughton (attended King’s High School from 1982 to 1986) Craig was an outstanding student while at King’s and gained a general excellence prize in all five years of his attendance. In his final year, the school purchased an Apple II computer for Applied Mathematics. Craig did some exceptional work in combining mathematics with his programming skills to produce remarkable animations. Upon leaving school, Craig studied at the University of Otago, completing his BSc in Computer Science in 1989. His research interests included constructive solid geometry and computer animation. He became a student member of ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society. Craig competed with a team of four in the New Zealand programming contest. The team came first and represented New Zealand at the regional competition in Southern California. After surprising the other teams by finishing first in the region, the team reached the finals. At the finals, they came first, beating the nearest competing team by solving all problems in half the time. In doing this, they beat teams from Stanford, Harvard, and UCLA. They became the first non-US team to win the competition. In this year, he had his first research paper accepted for an international conference while still an undergraduate. In 1993, Craig was a research associate at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. About this time, when working as part of a team, he received a Rutherford Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand in recognition of his contribution to science. Taylomade Productions and the Computer Science Department of the Otago University set up Animation Research Limited (ARL) as a joint venture. Taylormade soon acquired the University’s shares in Animation Research, but four of the five members of the original joint venture, including Craig, remained and continued working at Taylormade. ARL’s first 3D production was a title sequence for a Television New Zealand series, University Challenge, the first of many productions for TVNZ. Subsequently, the company produced classic television advertising images such as a water-skiing penguin, seagulls on a Cook Strait fast ferry, and gannets forming a koru. The first commercial was for Chicago-based United Airlines. The computer-generated images depicted a United 747 flying over Paris, the Grand Canyon, Rio de Janeiro, and Hawaii. Worldwide awards were won by the commercial. Craig’s team at Animation Research Limited achieved further international acclaim for virtually revolutionising the way people view televised sport. Working with Television New Zealand, ARL developed the world’s first live 3D animated graphics sports coverage for the America’s Cup yacht racing in 1992. Since then, the team has enriched viewers’ entertainment and understanding by providing real-time Virtual Eye animation graphics for other sports, notably cricket and golf, and by securing a multimillion-dollar contract with the BBC to provide the graphics for its worldwide coverage of the Formula One racing series. The company’s ball-tracking technology has helped take a little of the frustration out of televised cricket by taking some of the guesswork away from umpires. Other varied work has included building an air traffic control simulator for Airways New Zealand. For virtual reality, the camera technology already exists, as do the goggles, but the software tying the two together has been the sticking point. It has been a race to unlock the virtual reality world. ARL team emphasised the technology was not ready yet, and that there was a chance other firms - Google was in the race, too - could beat them to the punch. ‘'But we’re used to solving problems people told us we couldn’t solve,’' ARL software developer Craig McNaughton said.