The history of Pixar does not begin with its founding., as the story of a tech company rarely does. Rather, the original spark usually comes from a university lab, a renegade group from a large company, or a hobbyist who builds things for fun. The history of Pixar does not even begin with the creation of the computer graphics group of lucasfilm who developed the Pixar Image Computerthe company’s first product.
The story, on the other hand, dates back to a time when computer graphics researchers across the United States they began to see that technology enabled a new art form: the creation of digitally animated movies. A few of us started talking about when someone would make the first “The Movie” and the enormous computing power it would take to make it.
In the mid 1970s, that computing power was not affordable. But with the Moore’s Law advancing steadily, there was every reason to think that the cost of computing power would drop sufficiently in a decade or so. In the meantime, we focused on developing the software that would make it possible”The movie“.
Somewhat atypical beginnings
By definition, “The Movie” could not incorporate any hand drawing. The tools to build it emerged little by little. First came the software that allowed computers to create two-dimensional images and, later, 3D virtual objects. Next, we figured out how to move those objects around, shade and light them before rendering them as movie frames.
This vision began to be investigated in the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) since 1975. The owner of the NYIT, alexander schurehired Ed Catmull, Malcolm Blanchard and Alvy Ray Smithand soon after added to David DiFrancesco.
DiFrancesco and Alvy Ray they had been using and developing software that manipulated pixels by “painting” images on Xerox Park. Catmull and Blanchard had worked at the University of Utah with software designed to build geometric objects in 3D.
The four of them were tasked with figuring out how to incorporate computers into the traditional process of cel animation, a two-dimensional technique that dates back to 1915 and that it has changed little over the years. An extraordinary amount of time and talent was required, with teams of animators drawing and then hand-painting each frame, and it was clear that computers could at least facilitate, if not automate, many of the steps.
This NYIT group ended up producing a 22-minute short film using computer-aided cellular animation technology they developed, but not until 1979. And “The Movie” was still a long way off: Not only was it short, but it still required a lot of hand drawing.
In 1980, the original four members of the NYIT team had been hired by Lucasfilm to form its Information Technology Division. This division was in charge of computerizing the editing, sound design and mixing, special effects and company accounting, as if this fourth challenge was going to be as difficult as the other three. Catmull, who headed the Computer Science Divisionappointed Alvy Ray Smith as head of the Computer Graphics Group, who was entrusted with the special effects project.
At Lucasfilm, they were still developing the software needed for computer-generated three-dimensional movies.. And they were also working on specialized hardware, designing a computer, called Pixar Image Computer, which could perform its calculations 4 times faster than comparable general-purpose systems, but only for pixels. They were still hoping that Moore’s Law would get general computers where they were needed; And so it was, but this strategy gave them a push for a few years.
They failed to get one of the fully CG cinematic sequences to appear in a major motion picture until 1982, with the one-minute “Genesis” sequence in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It showed a bare planet catching fire, melting, and then forming mountains, seas, and green forests. After this groundbreaking film, a short sequence was included in 1983 in return of the jedi, with a hologram of the Death Star.
The arrival of Lucas Arts
But then the Computer Graphics Group, which already had 40 peoplereceived the news that the Information Technology Division was going to be cut.
George and Marcia Lucas divorced in 1983. Since California is a community property state, George lost half of his fortune overnight. Over the next two years, this caused the Computer Division to be divided into several salable units, all except the Games Project, which would become Lucas Arts in 1985.
“We’re going to be fired, Ed. George has never really understood who we are, and he can’t pay us anymore. It would be a sin to let this world-class group disperse. We’re going to start a company to give them a home.”
Alvy Ray entered Ed Catmull’s office and announced to him.
It was about two computer geeks talking to each other. Neither of them had more than an average manager’s sense of budgets and resources, and no detailed knowledge of raising money. So they bought two books each about how to create companies
“What will the company do?” Ed asked reasonably. They both knew that he Infographic Group it couldn’t become an independent company that relied on movies, not yet, or, more importantly, that it would be difficult to capitalize on the company with that prospect. And his calculations convinced them that neither a software company nor a digital and commercial effects house would produce enough income to support the group of 40 people. It had to be the hardware.
They had a prototype computer with a special purpose, the Pixar Image Computer. So Ed and Alvy Ray wrote a business plan for build and sell computers from Pixar imagecalling them “supercomputers for pixelsWithin the company, they would keep a small team of computer animation experts working for the next 5 years, ready to make “The Movie” once doing so was realistic by their calculations.
But first they had to sell the idea of starting a company to the other 38 members of Lucasfilm’s Computer Graphics Group. They described the plan, emphasizing that each employee would own a part of the new companyregardless of your job description.
And Steve Jobs entered the scene…
Later, Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray began looking for funds for the new company. The first idea was to go to venture capital investors. They didn’t seem to fit his idea of a start-up company, and they all turned them down, 35 of them.
So they considered making a “strategic association” with a large company. Of the 10 with whom they spoke seriously, 8 rejected them. But they almost closed a joint agreement with two big companies, General Motors and Philips.
They dealt with the division of General Motors which was previously an independent company, Electronic Data Systemsdirected by H.Ross Perot. GM saw in Pixar’s technology a way to replace its expensive clay modeling technique for the designs of new model cars. Phillipswhich partnered with GM to share the financial burden, was interested in rendering technology that made it possible to obtain three-dimensional internal views of human beings from CT scans.
They signed a letter of intent with GM, Philips and Lucasfilm, dated November 7, 1985. But that deal never came to pass. Three days before the signing, Perot had rebuked GM’s board of directors for the purchase of Hughes Tools worth more than 5,000 million dollars. It was a year before Perot really left General Motorsbut it immediately became clear, when the news appeared in the Wall Street Journal, that anything that happened at GM that involved Perot was dead. The deal fell right into that crack.
The GM-Philips tandem had been the last hope. Ed and Alvy Ray in the airport limo on their return trip to California, came up with a “Hail Mary”: go to Steve Jobs.
It was not the first time they spoke with Jobs. Three months earlier, on August 4, Steve had invited Ed, Alvy, and Ajit Gill, the CFO, to to his mansion in Woodside, California. Steve, who had just been fired from , proposed to them to buy Lucasfilm and run them as his next company.
they said nowho wanted to run the company themselves, but would accept their money in the form of a venture investment. Lucasfilm agreed, and Steve Jobs became the venture capitalist who financed Pixar.
But when Steve presented his proposal to Lucasfilm, they ignored him. His number was 7 to 14 million dollars. GM and Philips were talking about 20 to 36 million dollars.
Keep in mind that Steve Jobs did not buy Pixar. He financed a spin-off company that was partly owned by employees; Steve got 70% and the employees got 30%.. Steve capitalized the company with $10 million. They took the first check for $5 million, and Ed immediately endorsed it to Lucasfilm. That bought them the rights to the technology they had developed there, including the Pixar Image Computer.
The Pixar Company was officially born on February 3, 1986., in San Rafael, north of San Francisco. They had managed to keep the team together. And they thought they had an exciting product in the Pixar Image Computer. Meanwhile, Steve had started running another computer company, NeXT, an hour and a half away, south of San Francisco. That physical separation turned out to be a blessing.
They kept the possibility of “The Movie” alive for the next 5 years with a series of short films, such as:
- Luxo Jr. (1986), Oscar nominee
- Tin Toy (1988), Oscar winner
- Red’s Dream (1987)
- Knick Knack (1989)
These were 4 of the shining jewels who sustained them during these otherwise difficult years.
Each of these pieces represented continuous improvements in the underlying internal technologies. Luxo Jr., for example, it incorporated the first articulated objects that self-shadowed from multiple light sources. Red’s Dream displayed the Pixar image computer: the main background of the piece, a bike shopwas the most complex computer graphics scene ever rendered at the time.
The fifth jewel was CAPSthe Computer Animation Production System they created for Disney, based on the experience of cell animation tools at NYIT. This kept Pixar and Disney in a relationship of mutual admiration. and was a major source of income for the fledgling Pixar. All the Disney animations of the following years were made with this system, up to a total of 18…
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