5 ms·

Animating a Blockbuster: How Pixar Built Toy Story 3

42 points by edw519 16y ago

jacquesm 16y ago
Grellas posted this yesterday too. Weird, google still shows it but on grellas' submission list it's gone.
- grellas 16y ago
  Actually, and you might think that this is weird, it was such a nice piece and, when I saw that it was dying without a single upvote, I deleted it about an hour into the posting so that it might be re-posted at a better time without getting caught by HN's dupe filter. It is interesting how quirky the community can get on a post such as this: one day, nothing; the next, almost the exact opposite.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    I think 'edw519' comes with a few automatic upvotes. At least I wasn't hallucinating :) Don't feel too bad by the way, I spent a day and a half writing this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1376083 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1376083 and it sank without even a single comment.
  - Maven911 16y ago
    wow you really took one for the "team", now I don't feel so bad when my stuff gets totally ignored...
RyanMcGreal 16y ago
"We know screwups are an essential part of making something good. That's why our goal is to screw up as fast as possible." The terror of being caught screwing up destroys more creativity, drives more behaviour underground and fuels more petty politicking than just about any other corporate imperative I can think of.
- arethuza 16y ago
  I attended a talk last year at the Edinburgh Science Festival given by one of the Pixar guys - it was absolutely fascinating. Perhaps the most memorable part of the whole thing were the "outtakes" that get produced when their models don't quite work as expected. So even Pixar's mistakes are pretty entertaining.
- nlawalker 16y ago
  Amen to that. Insecurity destroys whole worlds full of ideas every day. "The Myth of the Genius Programmer" is one of my favorite presentations: http://code.google.com/events/io/2009/sessions/MythGeniusProgrammer.html http://code.google.com/events/io/2009/sessions/MythGeniusPro... From a "corporate" perspective, I think insecurity often stems from the mandate to produce output and not waste time, and no one wants to produce half-baked or poorly-thought-out output, so they throw their ideas in the trash. EDIT: Also, the importance of asking stupid questions. Stupid questions are the most important ones to ask, because everyone else was probably too afraid to ask them, resulting in gaps in thinking that you could drive a fleet of trucks through. For this reason, sometimes the most important person on a design team is the person who has the faintest idea of what's going on and asks questions about existing processes that everyone takes for granted - they ask seemingly nonsensical questions that challenge the thinking of everyone stuck in tunnel vision.
  - RyanMcGreal 16y ago
    >EDIT: Also, the importance of asking stupid questions. The company I work for really, really loves acronyms; and different departments often have different names for the same thing. An important early lesson I learned from a manager was to stop during meetings and ask what an acronym means. One of my biggest surprises was discovering that different people had different ideas about what the acronym stood for, and many people - including the people using them - simply had no idea at all.
- jacobolus 16y ago
  Substitute “cultural” for “corporate”, and you’ve just described human society. :-)
joezydeco 16y ago
This article showed up online the same day the magazine arrived in my mailbox. So I read it online, since I was busy at the computer doing other things. So, Wired, why exactly do I need the print version if you're putting everything online at the same time? What do you tell your advertising clients?
johnyzee 16y ago
Single page: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/process_pixar/all/1 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/process_pixar/all/1
MartinCron 16y ago
I've watched most Pixar movies between 3 and 300 times (I have two small children) and I'm still catching bits and pieces of hidden detail that I missed on previous viewings. One of the things that I love about their process is the way they essentially make the movie multiple times, script, storyboard, animated storyboard with stand-in voice talent, and so on, and how at each step of the way they aren't afraid to make changes to make the thing better. If you haven't seen it lately, take another look at Toy Story 2. The characters feel real, every scene transition is perfect, and only one or two lines in the whole movie fall flat.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I can quote you 'monsters inc.' line by line, it is my sons favorite movie...
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- Groxx 16y ago
  Wall-E struck me as quite possibly their most impressive work thus far. It's amazing how much information they pack in with so few words, and their practice with it shows in the start of Up. Pixar is awesome. More places need to take cues, instead of just re-hashing ideas for more money.
10ren 16y ago
fantastic business talk by Ed Catmull (pixar co-founder) at Stanford http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc btw: I find it hard to believe that Toy Story 3 could be any good (because of the "3"). Is it?
- jcl 16y ago
  I haven't seen the movie, but given the history of Pixar and Toy Story, I think there's a good chance Toy Story 3 will be good: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1334660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1334660

42 points by edw519 16y ago

jacquesm 16y ago

Grellas posted this yesterday too. Weird, google still shows it but on grellas' submission list it's gone.

grellas 16y ago
Actually, and you might think that this is weird, it was such a nice piece and, when I saw that it was dying without a single upvote, I deleted it about an hour into the posting so that it might be re-posted at a better time without getting caught by HN's dupe filter. It is interesting how quirky the community can get on a post such as this: one day, nothing; the next, almost the exact opposite.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I think 'edw519' comes with a few automatic upvotes. At least I wasn't hallucinating :) Don't feel too bad by the way, I spent a day and a half writing this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1376083 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1376083 and it sank without even a single comment.
- Maven911 16y ago
  wow you really took one for the "team", now I don't feel so bad when my stuff gets totally ignored...

RyanMcGreal 16y ago

"We know screwups are an essential part of making something good. That's why our goal is to screw up as fast as possible." The terror of being caught screwing up destroys more creativity, drives more behaviour underground and fuels more petty politicking than just about any other corporate imperative I can think of.

arethuza 16y ago
I attended a talk last year at the Edinburgh Science Festival given by one of the Pixar guys - it was absolutely fascinating. Perhaps the most memorable part of the whole thing were the "outtakes" that get produced when their models don't quite work as expected. So even Pixar's mistakes are pretty entertaining.
nlawalker 16y ago
Amen to that. Insecurity destroys whole worlds full of ideas every day. "The Myth of the Genius Programmer" is one of my favorite presentations: http://code.google.com/events/io/2009/sessions/MythGeniusProgrammer.html http://code.google.com/events/io/2009/sessions/MythGeniusPro... From a "corporate" perspective, I think insecurity often stems from the mandate to produce output and not waste time, and no one wants to produce half-baked or poorly-thought-out output, so they throw their ideas in the trash. EDIT: Also, the importance of asking stupid questions. Stupid questions are the most important ones to ask, because everyone else was probably too afraid to ask them, resulting in gaps in thinking that you could drive a fleet of trucks through. For this reason, sometimes the most important person on a design team is the person who has the faintest idea of what's going on and asks questions about existing processes that everyone takes for granted - they ask seemingly nonsensical questions that challenge the thinking of everyone stuck in tunnel vision.
- RyanMcGreal 16y ago
  >EDIT: Also, the importance of asking stupid questions. The company I work for really, really loves acronyms; and different departments often have different names for the same thing. An important early lesson I learned from a manager was to stop during meetings and ask what an acronym means. One of my biggest surprises was discovering that different people had different ideas about what the acronym stood for, and many people - including the people using them - simply had no idea at all.
jacobolus 16y ago
Substitute “cultural” for “corporate”, and you’ve just described human society. :-)

joezydeco 16y ago

This article showed up online the same day the magazine arrived in my mailbox. So I read it online, since I was busy at the computer doing other things. So, Wired, why exactly do I need the print version if you're putting everything online at the same time? What do you tell your advertising clients?

johnyzee 16y ago

Single page: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/process_pixar/all/1 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/process_pixar/all/1

MartinCron 16y ago

I've watched most Pixar movies between 3 and 300 times (I have two small children) and I'm still catching bits and pieces of hidden detail that I missed on previous viewings. One of the things that I love about their process is the way they essentially make the movie multiple times, script, storyboard, animated storyboard with stand-in voice talent, and so on, and how at each step of the way they aren't afraid to make changes to make the thing better. If you haven't seen it lately, take another look at Toy Story 2. The characters feel real, every scene transition is perfect, and only one or two lines in the whole movie fall flat.

jacquesm 16y ago
I can quote you 'monsters inc.' line by line, it is my sons favorite movie...
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Groxx 16y ago
Wall-E struck me as quite possibly their most impressive work thus far. It's amazing how much information they pack in with so few words, and their practice with it shows in the start of Up. Pixar is awesome. More places need to take cues, instead of just re-hashing ideas for more money.

10ren 16y ago

fantastic business talk by Ed Catmull (pixar co-founder) at Stanford http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc btw: I find it hard to believe that Toy Story 3 could be any good (because of the "3"). Is it?

jcl 16y ago
I haven't seen the movie, but given the history of Pixar and Toy Story, I think there's a good chance Toy Story 3 will be good: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1334660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1334660