I Was a Teenage (well, 22 yr old) Model for a Lamp
In which I jump over a trash can. We did a lot of reference footage, back in the day. Here, specifically, in the mid 1980s, we wanted some reference for Luxo, Jr. So, out to the parking lot… Read More
Hayao Miyazaki gave me this Cat Bus. No you can’t have it.
Back in the late 80s, Hayao Miyazaki came to visit Pixar. He brought gifts. He had something for everyone, he gave the animation group a Seiko Talking Pyramid Clock. Craig Good and I spent the afternoon trying to… Read More
David Bowie Wants Ideas
I grew up just down river from Ann Magnuson, one half of Bongwater. They informed the world of David’s needs in this wonderful song. In between leaving Pixar and starting back to grad school, I connected with then-former… Read More
Turdpaint
In my computer graphics youth, everyone wrote two programs – a 2D paint program and a 3D renderer. Such was the curriculum of the time. Ed Tripp taught CIS 781-2-3, a three quarter sequence that took you from… Read More
MacRenderMan
Some historical floppy disk fun from old Pixar days. When Pixar decided to sell RenderMan to the public we had to come up with a good name (It was REYES, Renders Everything You’ve Ever Saw / Seen). You… Read More
The PICS 2000
A medical imaging workstation – the beginning of volume imaging When I got my interview at Pixar, I was at Ohio State working on volumetric rendering of CT and MR images. There are a few callbacks to that… Read More
Highland Aire
I just finished a row. It’s about 99% humidity this morning, which, to credit Chris Wedge, reminds me of having just rowed inside someone’s mouth. Chris and I used to ride our bikes together when we were at… Read More
Cat Came Back Jeans
Sometime in the late 80’s, I was a guest at a Spike n’ Mike animation festival, Santa Cruz I think. A bunch of us from Pixar went down, JL was probably the only ‘true’ special guest, but somehow… Read More
Pixar Goes Commercial…
An article from Computer Graphics World, circa June 1986. $125K for the entry level, in mid-1980’s dollars. You still needed a host (Sun-2 at the time was a good choice) and, if I recall, a display device. There’s… Read More
Sony XBR Club
The XBR was Sony’s top-of-the-line consumer CRT TV, back in the good old days. So elite, you got to join a club. I believe it stood for “eXtra BRight”. Steve May used to mock it, calling it the… Read More