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That software lent itself to perfectly geometric objects, such as blocks, bouncing balls: the type of things found in Andy’s stash of toys. In some ways, working with computers opened new possibilities, letting animators add details they never would be able to (or would want to avoid, to minimize illustrators’ “pencil mileage”), such as the plaid pattern on Woody’s shirt or the stickers on Buzz’s curved glass helmet.īut it had its limits-and that’s where the toys came in. The goal was to allow the animators, without much engineering background, to control movement and “rig” their own characters. No one had ever tried to make a feature-length film with 3D animation, so the technological capabilities guided much of their creative process, says Lasseter, who worked as an animator at Disney after college.Ĭatmull and computer scientists at Pixar built the software that animators could use to design the film, like RenderMan, which originated from Catmull’s studies at the University of Utah, and Menv (“modeling environment”), which the programmers developed for Pixar’s 1988 short Tin Toy. When it came to Toy Story, the animators didn’t have much choice but to follow Disney’s lead. He notes that part of what made the films so magical was how Walt Disney incorporated all the latest technology of his time, letting that innovation stimulate the illustrations. “We grew up with hand-drawn, done the best at Disney Studios,” Catmull says. All along, he had dreams of illustrating movies himself one day.
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When he was a boy in Utah, he had watched early Disney movies with fascination, his eyes drinking in the color and magic of movement on the screens. The ToysĬatmull’s preparation started early. By the time the Toy Story credits started rolling that first day, the movies would never be the same. The storytelling and technology of Pixar still rests upon the foundation Toy Story built. “The entire company,” he says, “was bet upon us figuring this out.” Reflecting on the experience 20 years later, Catmull notes that the young production studio was up against the wall: one project’s failure would likely mean the end of the three-movie contract, and the demise of Pixar studios. “But there was something fresh about nobody knowing what the hell we were doing.”Ĭatmull was a member of the Pixar “brain trust,” which also included current chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation John Lasseter, the animator selected to direct Toy Story, and screenwriters Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter. So we were all complete novices,” Ed Catmull, who was then a software engineer and is now Pixar and Disney Animation President, tells TIME. We didn’t have any production expertise except for short films and commercials. “At that point, none of us knew what we were doing.