Introduction

In this 5-minute video, Pixar employees Fran Kalal and Alex Woo take us on a tour of Pixar’s offices as they describe the steps of the pipeline process that turns initial sketches into the final movie. Along the way we meet some of the people involved in modeling, rigging, surfaces, sets, cameras, animation, simulation, lighting, and rendering.

Modeling

Toy Story Immersive Set Piece (MOD1)
Digital sculpting creates virtual 3D models
A touchable human-sized mannequin of Buzz Lightyear stands in front of a Toy Story backdrop. A video monitor displays a looping video fades between a wireframe structure and Buzz’s colorful surface. An introductory panel has text and graphics that introduces visitors to the modeling sec- tion, and includes a small-scale touchable Buzz maquette.

Pixar’s Modeling Challenge (MOD2)

Smoothing surfaces with math
Believable, detailed characters are a hallmark of Pixar’s films. Pixar developed the subdivision surfaces method to smoothing out the facets of complex shapes, such as hands and faces. Text, im- ages, and a 2-minute video featuring Tony DeRose, Senior Scientist, explains the algorithm behind subdivision surfaces. Visitors can touch two model hands, one with a faceted surface, and one with a smooth, subdivided surface.