Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pixar's Library

graphics.pixar.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 33 posts

Re: Pixar's Library

#11

Post by saturdayplace »

riprock wrote: post #4

this reminded me of pixar's "university" that teaches technical skills for all their employees (particularly see page 2): http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/business/yourmoney/29pixar... "Pixar University is at the center of Mr. Nelson's agenda. The operation has more than 110 courses: a complete filmmaking curriculum, classes on painting, drawing, sculpting and creative writing. "We offer the equivalent of an undergr…

Back when I wanted to be an animator, I bookmarked that article for this quote:

>The skills we develop [at Pixar U] are skills we need everywhere in the organization,” Mr. Nelson said. “Why teach drawing to accountants? Because drawing class doesn’t just teach people to draw. It teaches them to be more observant. There’s no company on earth that wouldn’t benefit from having people become more observant.

That show how much they've got this "being an employer" thing down. Can you quantify "people becoming more observant"? Probably not, but they reap enormous benefits out of doing things that other companies wouldn't justify because of the costs. Seriously, at what other company can you essentially attend an undergraduate degree's worth of instruction related to that company's industry? Seems like a no-brainer once you think about it.

Re: Pixar's Library

#13

Post by rhizome »

asolove wrote: post #7
rhizome wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed a kind of arms-race in most of the Pixar/Dreamworks movies I've seen (not nearly all), where in the first 5 or 10 minutes there will always be some new technique being foregrounded. Sully's hair is a great example, they lay the new tech out right away both as a "we're cool" (in a positive sense!) signal to other animators and as a far point of expectations for the animation to the rubes like me. "If this…

Early animated movies mostly did well, and resonated with people, because of excellent voice acting from recognizable actors. (Think Toy Story.) Up's gambit is to show that well-orchestrated music and animation can surpass that. It isn't technically superior, but it is far more important.

I think what "Up" succeeded was even more significant than that: they took animation into the affective territory of live-action movies. Frankly, I don't even really remember the voices.

Making cartoons (which I sincerely believe 3D has been) has been one-upmanship of technology that pretty much builds its own history in lockstep, but to combine that with writing and the animation choices for something that can bring a tear to the eye of an adult is truly great work. The first act of "Up" really is a landmark to me.

Re: Pixar's Library

#14

Post by mixmastamyk »

dpcan wrote: post #3

Hair rendering always blew my mind. I remember seeing Monster's Inc in the theater, and the first shot of Sully was when he was asleep in his bed breathing heavily, and you could see the individual strands of hair on his arm flowing back and forth. I felt the world of animation change right at that moment for me, and now I wait with great anticipation for every new Pixar film that comes out. For me, "Up" was the only…

You might want to check out "Mighty Joe Young" from the late 90's. Not the greatest flick, but pioneering hair vfx to be proud of (from the late Dream Quest Images).

Re: Pixar's Library

#15

Post by bitwize »

dpcan wrote: post #3

Hair rendering always blew my mind. I remember seeing Monster's Inc in the theater, and the first shot of Sully was when he was asleep in his bed breathing heavily, and you could see the individual strands of hair on his arm flowing back and forth. I felt the world of animation change right at that moment for me, and now I wait with great anticipation for every new Pixar film that comes out. For me, "Up" was the only…

Hair rendering is awesome. Here's what blew my mind: In the (non-Pixar) film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, the character Cloud Strife, already recognized for his points-every-which-way hair (from the PlayStation polygon days), wakes up with a distinct and noticeable case of bed head.

Re: Pixar's Library

#16

Post by davvid »

aschwo wrote: post #9

Disney Animation also posts its papers online: http://www.disneyanimation.com/library/list.html I can't find similar pages for PDI/Dreamworks or Blue Sky. If this stuff interests you, check out the SIGGRAPH 2011 papers: http://kesen.realtimerendering.com/sig2011.html

We've also been putting stuff up on github:

https://github.com/wdas

http://ptex.us/

Re: Pixar's Library

#18

Post by williamdix »

I think Ratatouille may in fact be the most productive academic endeavor in 10 years. 7 papers from that film! Did Ratatouille produce more papers than the LHC? I hope so.

Re: Pixar's Library

#19

Post by aschwo »

davvid wrote: post #16
aschwo wrote: post #9

Disney Animation also posts its papers online: http://www.disneyanimation.com/library/list.html I can't find similar pages for PDI/Dreamworks or Blue Sky. If this stuff interests you, check out the SIGGRAPH 2011 papers: http://kesen.realtimerendering.com/sig2011.html

We've also been putting stuff up on github: https://github.com/wdas http://ptex.us/

Ptex is awesome! Any chance Disney's hair tools will get open sourced?
Post reply on HN