Blog Post # 11- Pixar Image Computer and Pixar Software

We all know Pixar is famous for its movies such as Toy Story, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, as well as short films such as Luxo Jr., Red’s Dream, and Tin Toy.  But did you know Pixar built computers and software back in the day?  Believe it or not, Pixar did build computers and software as a way to get money in its early days. 

After Pixar was formed in early 1986 from the Graphics and Computer Division of LucusFilm, Inc., with the help from Apple’s Steve Jobs,  Pixar needed a core product to generate income to stay alive.  That core product was called the Pixar Image Computer.  It was sold to government agencies, the medical industry, as well as other high-visual markets.  The Walt Disney Company was among the customers who bought several PICs used for there in-house software, Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). 

Here is a picture of the Pixar Image Computer

Here is a scene from the 1985 movie Young Sherlock Holmes, which used the PIC for the 3-D effects, and the first computer-generated character, the knight.

Software:

REYES (Renders Everything You Ever Saw) - First developed while Pixar was still part of LucusFilm. 

Here are from still images using REYES

“The Road to Point Reyes” 1983

“The Genesis Effect” -still image from movie Star Trek II- The Wrath of Khan (1982)

“Shade Trees” (1984)

“1984″ (1984)  *Note the use of blur to simulate motion

“A Simple Model of Ocean Waves” (1986)

RenderMan- New and improved REYES.  Still made by Pixar today.  Used in dozens of films

Scenes from different movies that used RenderMan software:

Terminator II: Judgement Day (1991)- Be aware both clips embedding is disabled: click on Watch on Youtube to view both.  Sorry.

Another great scene from the movie. *Note when the T-1000 goes through the jail cell doors and molds into blades and hooks.

In keeping with the whole Pixar theme, RenderMan was used for many of their own, starting with Toy Story (1995)

Twister (1996)

Armageddon (1998)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

300 (2007)

AND MANY, MANY, MANY MORE!!!!!!!!!  Here is the link to Pixar RenderMan’s page with ALL of the film’s it has been used on.

https://renderman.pixar.com/products/whats_renderman/movies.html

http://renderman.pixar.com/products/index/renderman.html

http://design.osu.edu/carlson/history/lesson11.html

http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/press_box/news/20010305-70673.htm

http://design.osu.edu/carlson/history/tree/pixar.html

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