Over the next few months we are going to be producing a series of videos on the history
of computer animation. In the last video we saw the ways early innovators used computers
for expression and how Hollywood first embraced computer generated special effects. In this
video we will step away from the abstract towards the adorable and the terrifying as
advancements in technology make fully computer-animated narratives a reality.
Since the 1920s, animation had been largely defined by American cartoons.
Many of the characters featured in these films became beloved pieces of pop culture, with some even eclipsing
their creators, becoming part of the national identity.
With the technological limitations of early computing, artists could not render anthropomorphic figures,
instead relying on abstract imagery.
By the early 1980s, graphic interfaces had advanced to the point where humans and computers could
collaborate with relative ease.
In 1984, Eddie Garrick produced The Magic Egg: A Computer Odyssey.
Intended for IMAX, The Magic Egg has been described as “a computer-graphics
Fantasia.” It was an audio/visual experience created entirely on computer, featuring synthesizers
and animation commissioned from artists and research labs. Contributors included John
Whitney, who we discussed at length in part one, as well as the Computer Graphics Lab
at the New York Institute of Technology. At the time, NYIT was the top computer animation
research facility in the world. It had been founded with the purpose of not only simplifying
the animation process but of taking the medium in new directions.
In 1979, the lab began production on what it hoped would be the first ever fully computer animated narrative
film, titled The Works.
Written by researcher Lance Williams, The Works was to be a futuristic
sci-fi story following a charming robot and a pilot in their battle with a super computer
who has taken over Earth. The project progressed slowly. The staff at NYIT were constantly
developing new technology in order to keep up with their vision and resources were diverted
to commercial projects to fund the ambitious film. Despite having the most powerful computers
available, it still would have taken seven years to generate enough images needed for
the planned 90 minute run-time. In total, 10 minutes of footage and designs were produced
before The Works was abandoned in 1986.
NYIT’s goal of creating the first computer animated
narrative would be eventually be achieved in Montreal, Quebec by a group of professors
at the University of Montreal. Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, Philippe Bergeron and Daniel Thalmann
had been experimenting with 3D modelling, specifically 3D character modelling. In 1982,
they produced the 8 minute short, Dream Flight. This featured an alien dreaming of flying
through space and arriving on Earth, exploring the natural world as well as Paris and New York
Bergeron would collaborate with Pierre Lachapelle, Daniel Langlois and Pierre Robidoux
for the landmark short Tony de Peltrie. Finished in 1985, Tony de Peltrie tells the story of
a faded piano player recalling his past glory. Tony was the first computer-animated human
to convey emotion through facial expressions and mannerisms. While he very much falls into
the uncanny valley, we as an audience are still able to feel his melancholy and his joy.
In 1987, Nadia and Daniel produced Rendezvous In Montreal, in which Humphrey Bogart and
Marilyn Monroe agree to come back from the dead, meeting at a Montreal cafe. This marked
the first time a deceased actor’s likeness had been digitally reproduced, an effect accomplished
by mapping out polygons on sculptures of the actors and creating a 3D model. While I think
the plot of this film is absurd, the concepts it introduces are terrifying. The idea that
actors, or anyone for that matter, could emulated on film or video posthumously, or not even,
brings up all sorts of legal and ethical questions but more on that in the next video.
Montreal was on fire during the ‘80s, not only with incredible creative output but also technological
innovation. Every one of these films feels years ahead of its time, each in a different
way, but one of the most influential developments came from Tony de Peltrie co-director Daniel
Langlois. In 1986, he founded the company Softimage and began working on a program that
would allow artists to model, animate and render 3D images specifically for animation.
The result, Softimage3D, became the industry standard and was used not only to create fully
3D environments, but also video game graphics as well as special effects. It was adopted
by George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, who had revolutionized CGI in the late 1970s.
In 1979, Lucas had poached the top talent in the field of computer graphics to establish
a department within ILM dedicated to creating computer generated effects. The Graphics Group,
as it was known, was headed by Edwin Catmull. As we covered in the last video, Catmull had
been on the forefront of computer animation throughout the 1970s. He had been working
at NYIT and on The Works when he was approached by Lucas, and along with Alvy Ray Smith, had
made several breakthroughs there, most notably, alpha compositing. When it was clear The Works
was in trouble, Smith jumped ship and joined Catmull at ILM. Their first project here was
the Genesis sequence in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.
Both Catmull and Smith came from a science background. I’m sure they were aware that
while technical issues had ultimately doomed The Works, it also suffered from the fact it was
being produced by researchers, rather than filmmakers.
In December of 1983, Catmull brought on animator John Lasseter,
who had recently been fired from Disney, to assist them in creating their first computer
animated narrative. Now while we are going to be addressing the accomplishments of John
Lasseter, I feel it’s worth mentioning that in November 2017, he faced allegations of
sexual misconduct towards employees. As we are living in a time where more and more media
is tainted by this sort of behaviour, I think it’s important to note that film and animation
are collaborative art forms and his contribution and success would not have been possible without
the work of many talented individuals. Like Alvy Ray Smith, who in 1984 conceived and
directed The Adventures of André & Wally B. It is the simple story of a pestering bee
but it’s execution pushed the boundaries of what computer animation was capable of.
It was revolutionary in its use of motion effects and 3D backgrounds, a look towards
the future of animation very much rooted in the tradition of classic American cartoons.
The short was a hit and in 1986, The Graphics Group renamed themselves Pixar, breaking away
from Lucasfilm with funding from Apple founder Steve Jobs. Under Jobs, they would release
a commercial version of their hardware system known as the Pixar Image Computer. Over the
next few years they produced a series of animated shorts intended to promote the Image Computer’s
capabilities. Though powerful, it would sell less than 300 units before the hardware department
was sold off in 1990. However, one client who was very pleased with their purchase of
an Image Computer was The Walt Disney Company. Their Feature Animation department utilized
the hardware for its Computer Animation Production System, or CAPS, which allowed hand-drawn
animation to be digitally inked and coloured. 1990’s The Rescuers Down Under was the first
Disney feature to be entirely produced with this process, followed by Beauty and The Beast
in 1991. Beauty and The Beast also made use of CAPS ability to blend hand-drawn and computer
animation. The film’s famous ballroom scene finds Belle and Beast dancing through a 3D-environment.
Disney executives were impressed with this sequence and decided to invest more resources
into computer animation. Despite the financial struggle caused by the poor sales of the Image
Computer, Steve Jobs agreed to finance Pixar’s Tin Toy. The short was intended to showcase
their Renderman software, which allowed photorealistic 3D rendering, and featured a baby interacting
with a musical toy. The film ended up winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short, the first
computer-animated film to do so, and garnered attention from Disney. Disney approached Pixar
with the possibility of producing a feature-length computer-animated narrative, which had long
been a goal of Catmull and Smith. After tense negotiations, they agreed to produce a film
based off Tin Toy, entitled Toy Story. The plot and characters went through many changes,
with the original version being so dark and mean-spirited that the production was even
temporarily shut down. Production was restarted in February 1994, now with the story of two
toys vying for the attention of their owner. The film featured the voice talents of Tom
Hanks and Tim Allen as pull-string cowboy Woody and astronaut Buzz Lightyear, who throughout
the film go from rivals to the best of friends. Each shot passed through eight different animation
teams before going into a render farm of 117 computers running 24 hours a day. It took
anywhere between 45 minutes and 30 hours to render a frame, translating to about three
minutes of finished animation per week. The film was released on November 22, 1995 to
universal praise. For all involved, Toy Story was a dream realized. It was a technical marvel
and ushered in a new era of animation. During this period computer animation became more
and more integrated into filmmaking with Toy Story representing the pinnacle of decades
worth of work and innovation. Its success opened the floodgates and the possibilities
now seemed endless.
I will leave links to relevant material down in the description.
If you enjoyed this video, give us a thumbs up and if you haven’t, please subscribe
and be sure to check out the other videos in this series. We should be wrapping it sometime
in November but with October here, expect all sorts of horror and Halloween themed content
so stay tuned and as always, thanks for watching!