[comp.sys.amiga] Tin Toy

jal@wsu-cs.uucp (Jason Leigh) (04/02/89)

I guess this is kind of history but did anyone catch the Academy Awards
last week? I heard something about Tin Toy from Pixar winning for
some category. Any ideas what it was about?

Jason

dwl10@uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) (04/02/89)

In article <677@wsu-cs.uucp> jal@wsu-cs.uucp (Jason Leigh) writes:
>I guess this is kind of history but did anyone catch the Academy Awards
>last week? I heard something about Tin Toy from Pixar winning for
>some category. Any ideas what it was about?
>
>Jason

Best Animated Short Subject. Was it done on an Amiga?

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ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (04/03/89)

In article <677@wsu-cs.uucp> jal@wsu-cs.uucp (Jason Leigh) writes:
>I guess this is kind of history but did anyone catch the Academy Awards
>last week? I heard something about Tin Toy from Pixar winning for
>some category. Any ideas what it was about?
>
	Pixar won the Oscar for best animated short subject.  The film was
_Tin Toy_.  It's about a small toy that looks like a one-man band, and his
adventures with a baby.  It is not possible to describe it and do it
justice; it must be seen.

	I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty happy about this.

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Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
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dooley@helios.toronto.edu (Kevin Dooley) (04/03/89)

In article <677@wsu-cs.uucp> jal@wsu-cs.uucp (Jason Leigh) writes:
>I guess this is kind of history but did anyone catch the Academy Awards
>last week? I heard something about Tin Toy from Pixar winning for
>some category. Any ideas what it was about?
>
>Jason

Tin Toy won the Oscar for best short animation.  I haven't seen
this film myself, but I have seen what it beat (NFB's "The
Cat Came Back" among others) so it must have been pretty hot
stuff (it *BETTER* have been!!).  In their acceptance speech they
made a point of thanking Steve Jobs in addition to the Pixar folks.
Anybody know what Mr. Jobs did to assist this film, or was it
just that these guys like their Macs?


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baer@percival.UUCP (Ken Baer) (04/04/89)

In article <11217@well.UUCP> ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes:
>	Pixar won the Oscar for best animated short subject.  The film was
>_Tin Toy_. 
>	I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty happy about this.

I'm VERY happy about this!  This is a breakthrough for all of us involved
in computer animation, especially the story telling end of it.  Tin Toy
won, not because of the fact that a computer made the images, but because
of its story and characters.  If you're going to tell stories with 
computer animation, you have to understand traditional animation techniques.
John Lassiter obviously does, that's why he won.  Now that the acadamy
recognized computer animation as just another animation medium, rather
than medium for engineers and physicists, we can look forward to seeing
more computer animated film be accepted by the public at large.  I think
this Oscar has opened a door for a bunch of us budding computer animators.
Now lets show them that you don't need a PIXAR machine to do fantastic
character animation (with REAL stories)!

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ward@eplrx7.UUCP (ward) (04/05/89)

From article <760@helios.toronto.edu>, by dooley@helios.toronto.edu (Kevin Dooley):
.
.
.
> stuff (it *BETTER* have been!!).  In their acceptance speech they
> made a point of thanking Steve Jobs in addition to the Pixar folks.
> Anybody know what Mr. Jobs did to assist this film, or was it
> just that these guys like their Macs?
> 
> 
> -- 
>  Kevin Dooley         UUCP - {uunet,pyramid}!utai!helios.physics!dooley
>  Physics Dept.        BITNET - dooley@utorphys
>  U. of Toronto        INTERNET - dooley@helios.physics.utoronto.ca

 Steven Jobs owns Pixar.  His company motto was something alongs the lines
of: Don't worry about profits, just make an impact.

Well, he made an impact.

Rick

PS Is Pixar still working on a color graphics board for the
   Next cube?


.
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gbuce@pixar.UUCP (George Buce) (04/05/89)

In article <11217@well.UUCP> ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes:
>In article <677@wsu-cs.uucp> jal@wsu-cs.uucp (Jason Leigh) writes:
>>I guess this is kind of history but did anyone catch the Academy Awards
>>last week? I heard something about Tin Toy from Pixar winning for
>>some category. Any ideas what it was about?
>>
Tin Toy is a toy's perspective of a young child (about 12 months) who takes
every toy he finds, beats it against the floor to make noise, then puts it in
his mouth and slobbers all over it.  Tinny is a one man band toy that tries to
quietly escape, but everytime he moves, the drums or cymbals or horn go off
attracting the baby's attention.  Fun, merriment, and toy terror ensue.

The film was created by John Lassiter, Bill Reeves and a bunch of very creative
artists here at Pixar.  It uses proprietary modelling and generating software
along with the new RenderMan rendering library for final rendering.  If I'm not
mistaken, it was generated on the VAX11/780 (possibly on a Sun, Renderman works
across many machines) and recorded on film on a Dunn analog camera.

The big advance for this animation was the complex modelling that occured to
accurately model the facial expressions of the baby.  Over fourty muscle groups
were created and algorithmically linked to enable simple high level commands
that made the baby smile, blink and sneeze.  Even though the baby's face is not
easily confused with that of a real human, the subtle nuances of emotion do
come through very well.  If there is an animation festival coming through where
you live, check to see if Tin Toy is playing, it's worth seeing!

>
>	I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty happy about this.
>

Well, I'm pretty happy about it.  It means a great deal to Pixar and a great
deal to the computer graphics industry in general since it is the first Oscar
ever won for a computer generated entry!  I was an Amigoid long before I came
to Pixar, but the work you can do at home on an Amiga is about the closest you
can come to a Pixar without spending $20K++.

George Buce (8{>
...!ucbvax!pixar!gbuce

david.mercer@canremote.uucp (DAVID MERCER) (04/05/89)

Can we take that as a promise, Leo?
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gbuce@pixar.UUCP (George Buce) (04/06/89)

In article <760@helios.toronto.edu> dooley@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Kevin Dooley) writes:

>                                  In their acceptance speech they
>made a point of thanking Steve Jobs in addition to the Pixar folks.
>Anybody know what Mr. Jobs did to assist this film, or was it
>just that these guys like their Macs?
>
>
>-- 
> Kevin Dooley         UUCP - {uunet,pyramid}!utai!helios.physics!dooley
> Physics Dept.        BITNET - dooley@utorphys
> U. of Toronto        INTERNET - dooley@helios.physics.utoronto.ca

Actually, Steve Jobs owns a large chunk of Pixar.  About three years ago,
George Lucas (no relation to the 68020 board) sold off the Pixar Computer
Graphics Division of Lucasfilm to Steve Jobs and the employees of Pixar.
Stever bought 70% and the employees bought 30%.  In many ways Steve has been a
'benefactor' of Pixar just as in the renaissance there were 'patrons' of the
arts.  Except in this case, we intend to make a profit for Steve.

None of the work for Tin Toy was done in a MacIntosh, thought we will support
the Mac II soon as a host through the SCSI port.  

George Buce (8{>
...!ucbvax!pixar!gbuce

451061%UOTTAWA.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu (Valentin Pepelea) (04/07/89)

> Tin Toy won the Oscar for best short animation.  I haven't seen
> this film myself, but I have seen what it beat (NFB's "The
> Cat Came Back" among others) so it must have been pretty hot
> stuff (it *BETTER* have been!!).  In their acceptance speech they
> made a point of thanking Steve Jobs in addition to the Pixar folks.
> Anybody know what Mr. Jobs did to assist this film, or was it
> just that these guys like their Macs?

Mr. Jobs owns two computer companies. One is the little known do-nothing
company named Next (is Jobs color blind?) and the other one is the very
well known, very progressive graphics workstation company named Pixar. (well,
perhaps he isnt)

Valentin
_________________________________________________________________________
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                                        Usenet: Use cunyvm.cuny.edu gate
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baer@percival.UUCP (Ken Baer) (04/08/89)

In article <3799@pixar.UUCP> gbuce@pixar.UUCP (George Buce) writes:

>None of the work for Tin Toy was done in a MacIntosh, thought we will support
>the Mac II soon as a host through the SCSI port.  
>
>George Buce (8{>
>...!ucbvax!pixar!gbuce

So how about supporting the Amiga as a host (you knew this question was
coming didn't you :-)?  Considering the Amiga has a much wider range of
Animation software, it seems the logical choice.  In fact, the Amiga is
the only micro computer (to my knowledge) to have animation software
specifically designed for character animation (ala Tin Toy).  And there
are more Amigas out there than MacIIs (but not the other Macs).

BTW, Congrats to all who worked on Tin Toy.  The Oscar was well deserved!

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timg@ziebmef.uucp (Tim Grantham) (04/13/89)

In article <3799@pixar.UUCP> gbuce@pixar.UUCP (George Buce) writes:

>Actually, Steve Jobs owns a large chunk of Pixar.  About three years ago,
>George Lucas (no relation to the 68020 board) sold off the Pixar Computer
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Actually, there *is* a relationship... Brad Fowles works for *Anakin*
Research... I leave it to you to figure out the connection.

Tim.


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