1 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Technology with Tuck Stuff from Stuff. Hey there, and welcome 2 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: to tex Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, flying solo again. 3 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: This is part one of what I expect will be 4 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 1: a two part episode saga about one of my favorite companies, 5 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,639 Speaker 1: or at least a company that produces some of my 6 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: favorite entertainment pis are I um decided to cover Pixar 7 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: because I've been interested in this company for a while now, 8 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: but I didn't know a whole lot about it apart 9 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: from some general notes, and as I dug down into it, 10 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: I found it much more interesting than I was already aware. 11 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 1: And this is one of those places where when you 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: see video of the Pixar campus and the amazing building 13 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: and the way people work there, it's very inspiring. But 14 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: to learn about the full history, it's pretty cool, and 15 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: it's actually kind of amazing that it even happened, because 16 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,839 Speaker 1: the company, or the various entities that would eventually become 17 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: Pixar didn't always have the smoothest ride. There were a 18 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: lot of issues along the way, and the company could 19 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: have easily disappeared and we might not have ever seen 20 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: the films that Pixar created as a result. So the 21 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,320 Speaker 1: story will overlap with another episode of tech Stuff from 22 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: two thousand and twelve, a good old classic episode. That 23 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: episode is called tech Stuff looks at Industrial Light and Magic, 24 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: So Pixar in Industrial Light and Magic actually have a 25 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: shared history in some ways. Um, I'm gonna look at 26 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: that innovation of of Pixar, but it's not just a 27 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: story about computer animated films. Pixar has developed tons of 28 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: technology in the field of computer graphics and image processing. 29 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: When the company found out that there was no tech 30 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: that could do what they wanted to do, they started 31 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: building it and then selling it to other people. We'll 32 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: get into that in this episode. Now, to talk about 33 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: the history of Pixar, we first have to chat about 34 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: some of its founders. But I'm not talking about John Lastner, 35 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: I'm not talking about George Lucas, I'm not talking about 36 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs. They will all factor into this discussion, but 37 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: those are not Those aren't the people who were there 38 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: at the very beginning. Uh, At the very beginning was 39 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: Dr edwind E Catmoll now Dr Catmull was born in 40 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: nine in West Virginia, and as a child he dreamed 41 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: of working for the Walt Disney Company, but eventually kind 42 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: of gave up on that dream. He felt that he 43 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: lacked artistic talent and felt that, you know, there's just 44 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: no room for me at Disney, which is kind of funny. 45 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: So he decided to study computer science and physics instead. 46 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: You know, if you can't be an animator for Disney, 47 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: going to co eater science in physics. He attended the 48 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: University of Utah and that's where he earned a bachelor's 49 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 1: degree in computer science. He earned another one in physics, 50 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: and he got a PhD in computer science. So he's 51 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: a smart dude, and he was granted his PhD in 52 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four. Now, in nineteen seventy two, while he 53 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: was still in school, Dr Catmill created a computer animated 54 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: version of his own left hand that was incorporated into 55 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: the film Future World, and that marked the first full 56 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: length feature film to have computer animation in it. Now, 57 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: this was just a tiny little segment that was featured 58 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: in part of the movie. It wasn't like it wasn't 59 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: like they made a feature length movie about a guy's 60 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: left hand. They've they've since done movies like that, but 61 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: that was not what this one was about. And you 62 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: can actually view the animation and how it was made 63 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: on YouTube. There's the clip available right there. The title 64 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: is called a Computer Animated Hand nineteen seven two, and 65 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: then the video you see that they started with a 66 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: physical model of Captain Bill's hand. I'm guessing they cast 67 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: in his hand, so, in other words, they made a 68 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: mold and then filled that mold with some sort of 69 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: resin or something along those lines, and the finished product 70 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: was a copy of Captain Mill's left hand. Then they 71 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: drew polygons on the surface of the model hand, so 72 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: they physically drew these polygon shapes so that it could 73 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: be translated into a digital form. They digitized the model 74 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: by scanning it with a tiny little scanner that was 75 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: kind of a attached to an arm, so they could 76 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,039 Speaker 1: like a like a like a mechanical arm, not a 77 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: not a human arm, but almost like one you would 78 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: see on a lampstand, and they traced out the hand. 79 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: This created the digital model, so they ended up with 80 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: a wire model inside the computer. They then did a 81 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: halftone sequence on top of this wire model, and then 82 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: a smooth shading sequence, and that ended up creating a 83 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: three D model of the hand, which they then could 84 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: animate and make it do different gestures and rotated and 85 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff and give it that sort of 86 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: three dimensional appearance. Now, that and other projects that he 87 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: was working on that Ketmol was working on got the 88 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:31,679 Speaker 1: attention of a somewhat eccentric, wealthy entrepreneur named Alexander Shure, 89 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: and Sure had founded a technical college, the New York 90 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: Institute of Technology, one of the first dedicated higher learning 91 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: institutions that specifically looked at technology, and he ended up 92 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: hiring Dr Katmull to come over and become the director 93 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: of a brand new division called the Computer Graphics Lab. 94 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: This was in nineteen so right after he got his PhD, 95 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: Dr Cammel came over to New York and began to 96 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: work at the New York Institute of Technology. At that 97 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: Computer Graphics Lab, Ketmel met with other pioneers in computer 98 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: graphics and one of those was ALV. Ray Smith. Now, 99 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: Smith is also a name we have to mention when 100 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: you talk about the beginnings of Pixar. Smith is is 101 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: as important to those early days as cat'n Moll. He's 102 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,919 Speaker 1: a co founder of the company and he earned a 103 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: bachelor's degree in nineteen sixty five and electrical engineering from 104 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: New York. It's from New Mexico State University rather, and 105 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty uh he also earned his PhD in 106 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: computer science from Stanford. He taught electrical engineering and computer 107 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: science at New York University and the University of California 108 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: at Berkeley before joining Xerox Park. Xerox Park, by the way, 109 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,359 Speaker 1: fascinating place. We mentioned it on a few previous episodes 110 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff from way back. It's one of those 111 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:06,040 Speaker 1: R and D divisions that really shaped computers. Things like 112 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: the graphical user interface and the mouse all came out 113 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: of Xerox Park. They were not invented by Apple. It 114 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: was actually a Xerox invention first and then eventually made 115 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: its way into other devices and personal computers. Now, when 116 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: he was at Park, uh Smith actually helped develop a 117 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: computer graphics paint program, which he would continue to to 118 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: uh you know, work in that field after moving over 119 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: in the computer graphics lab at the n y I 120 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: t Now, also that lab was another guy named David 121 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: Di Francesco who graduated from the University of Wisconsin. He 122 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: would become a founding member of Pixara as well, and 123 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy seven some other folks joined. Ralph Guggenheim, 124 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: who had freshly graduated from Carnegie In University with a 125 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: degree in communications, joined the lab and he also would 126 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: become part of Pixart later on. So they start working 127 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: in this graphics lab. They're working to UH TO to 128 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: push the boundaries of computer graphics, which was a very 129 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: very young discipline at that point. They were actually kind 130 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: of defining the rules as they were going along. And 131 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: this went for a couple of years until nineteen seventy nine, 132 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: and that's when George Lucas was putting together Industrial Light 133 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: and Magic. Lucas really wanted to push film editing and 134 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: production technology forward. He felt that Hollywood had been relying 135 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: upon the same tools for decades, and he felt that 136 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: because of the rise of computers and other technologies, the 137 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: industry was ripe for change. He just had to find 138 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 1: the right people to do it. So he created UH 139 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: Lucasfilm Computer Division in Industrial Light and Magic, and he 140 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: recruited doctor ed Catmull from the New York Institute of 141 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: Technology to head the new department. So here's cat Moll. 142 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: He's been working at n y i T for a 143 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: few years. He was named the director immediately upon being hired, Like, 144 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: imagine this. Imagine going to college and then immediately after 145 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:22,080 Speaker 1: you get your bachelor's degree, imagine pursuing your post graduate 146 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: work and getting your PhD. Then imagine you're immediately hired 147 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: to be the head of a brand new department in 148 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: the first Technical Institute of the United States of America. 149 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: Then imagine that George Lucas wants you to go and 150 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: work for him. Now, it's pretty charmed life if you 151 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: ask me. At any rate. Uh, he recruited Dr ca'm 152 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: moll and Camill came along, and then he brought along 153 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: Alvi ray Smith, David D. Francesco, and Ralph Guggenheim from 154 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: the Graphics Computer Lab to join the new departments. So, 155 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: in a way, I'm not saying that he necessarily intended 156 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: to do this, but Lucas raided the Graphics computer Lab 157 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: at n y I T to create his own computer 158 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: division and Industrial Light and Magic. So cat Will became 159 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: vice president of the division and managed development and not 160 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: just film editing, but also computer graphics, digital audio, and 161 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: video games. One of his earliest projects it was actually 162 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: coming up with a method to imitate motion blur with 163 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: computer graphics so that looks more like a fast moving 164 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: action that's usually cut on film, because if you're using 165 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: film and things are moving quickly, you get this blur effect. 166 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: And without that blur, the graphics would remain too sharp 167 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: and then seem fake or unrealistic. If you've ever watched 168 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: uh a television set that has a really high refresh 169 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: rate and you just feel like things don't look right, 170 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: even though everything's very clear and very sharp, it doesn't 171 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,679 Speaker 1: look right. That might be part of it. It's the 172 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: removal of that blur. Well, that a camel was actually 173 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: learning how to insert a blur so that things would 174 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: look more natural when they were on screen. Over the 175 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: next few years, Cammell's team pioneers computer graphics for film, 176 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: and they published more than one hundred papers on the 177 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: subject in various publications. So they continue doing this work, 178 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: developing the technology necessary to do computer graphics, but they 179 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: realized there's a big, big problem. Computer graphics requires a 180 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: decent amount of processing and the technology just wasn't up 181 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: to speed to do this in an efficient way. It 182 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,839 Speaker 1: was really expensive to produce computer animation and really difficult 183 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:46,440 Speaker 1: as well, very time consuming because processors just weren't fast 184 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 1: enough to handle data at the speeds necessary to turn 185 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: this stuff out quickly, and so there was actually real 186 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:57,559 Speaker 1: discussion about how Moore's Law would eventually solve this problem, 187 00:11:57,720 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: but it would require them to wait a round a 188 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,679 Speaker 1: bit in order to get to it. So they kept 189 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: on pushing against those barriers, but they acknowledged that there 190 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: was only so much you could do without spending ridiculous 191 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: amounts of money. And in fact, this entire department within 192 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: Lucas's empire was a money losing proposition. It costs more 193 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: money to develop and produce the computer animation than the 194 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: division was generating, or at least you could argue that. 195 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,839 Speaker 1: In nine three, John Lastner joined Capt. Moll's team as 196 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: a contract employee. Here's the thing about John Lastner. He 197 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: had worked for Disney two times already, although that's kind 198 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 1: of misleading. The first time John Lastner worked for Disney 199 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: he was a skipper for the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. 200 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: So if you've ever ridden the Jungle Cruise ride, you 201 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: know who these people are. There, the folks who are 202 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: your host as you get on the the boat, and 203 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: they mostly pepper you with puns and really wacky jokes. 204 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: As you go through the ride, so they might say 205 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: things like, uh, you know, that's an African elephant. How 206 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: can you tell? And the answer is because we're in Africa, 207 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: instead of you know the ears or anything like that. 208 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: Or you go behind the waterfalls, is everyone look here, 209 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: it's the backside of water. A joke so old and 210 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: repeated so frequently that weird Al Yankovic worked it into 211 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: his song Skipper Dan. So John Laster was a skipper 212 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 1: on the Jungle Cruise ride and uh, he you know, 213 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:45,319 Speaker 1: that was a job he had when he was a 214 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: young man, like a teenager. Uh. And then later on 215 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: John Lastner would join Disney as an animator. So he 216 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: worked there for a while but was eventually let go 217 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: or fired if you prefer. And they're different reasons that 218 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: have been given for this, but the one that I 219 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: see that seems to be repeated the most frequently is 220 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 1: that he was so interested in computer animation. He was 221 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: really pushing for Disney to start looking into computer animation 222 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 1: as a means of telling stories, but the company wasn't interested, 223 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,200 Speaker 1: and eventually they just didn't have anything for him, so 224 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: they let him go. But Captain Bull and Smith were 225 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: frequent visitors to Disney. They would go to Disney to 226 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: check things out, and they met John Lassen when they 227 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: went to Disney Animation. So as soon as Laster was fired, 228 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: cat Will said, Hey, you should come over here and 229 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: work for us. So he joined the graphics group and 230 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: worked on a short film titled The Adventures of Andre 231 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: and Wally b. Now, at that time he was a 232 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: contract employee. He was not a full time employee because 233 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: cat Will only had certain amount of authority to do 234 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: things like higher on new people. He would join as 235 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 1: a full time employee the Computer division in nine and 236 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: his title at that time became Interface designer. And the 237 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: reason he was an interface designer is because Captain Will 238 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: didn't have the authority to hire on an animator, so 239 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: they made up the title, or they gave him a 240 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: title that wasn't really what he did in order to 241 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: be able to hire him. At the conference of the 242 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: a c m S Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics 243 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: better known as siggraph S I g g R A 244 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: p H, seven of the thirty papers that were accepted 245 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: for publication for that conference came from this Lucasfilm team 246 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 1: headed by Captain Bill so. In other words, they were 247 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: dominating the space. They were providing a lot of the 248 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: uh most forward thinking ideas in computer graphics, and they 249 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: were defining the process more than anyone else was at 250 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: that time. So they were instrumental in getting computer animation 251 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: and computer graphics integrated into entertainment. It was pretty impressive. 252 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: Some of the movies that the team worked on during 253 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: their time there included Star Trek to the Wrath of Cohn. 254 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: If you're familiar with the movie, you know there's a 255 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: sequence in which, uh, the Genesis program, the Genesis device 256 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: transforms a dead planet into one that's just teeming with 257 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: life and you get this, um this interesting effect as 258 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: you watch the plant kind of sprout life everywhere. That 259 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: was one of the sequences that this group worked on. 260 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: In fact, Alvi ray Smith himself directed that sequence. He 261 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: was the one in charge of it. It was also 262 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: used in some stuff in Return of the Jedi, and 263 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: they provided a sequence in Young Sherlock Holmes that ended 264 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: up being a first So Young Sherlock Holmes is the 265 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: story of Sherlock Holmes when he's a young man. He's 266 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: attending a school and John Watson ends up being put 267 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,760 Speaker 1: into the same school and the two of them have 268 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: to try and solve a mystery, and at one point 269 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: a character is hit with a dart that has a 270 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: hallucinogenic on it, and the hallucinogenic makes these terrible things 271 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: seem to happen to people, and it mostly drives them 272 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 1: to do terrible things like jump in the way of 273 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: a of a carriage that's racing down the street, and 274 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: thus they end up dying. But it looks like they're 275 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 1: committing suicide, but in reality they are trying to escape 276 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: this freaky vision they have. In this case, the freaky 277 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,640 Speaker 1: vision was a figure in a stained glass window appears 278 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: to come to life, jump free of the window and 279 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:55,199 Speaker 1: attack a person. And this marked the first time computer 280 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: graphics were incorporated into a scene with live action actors 281 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: and done in a convincing way. Before when you had 282 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: computer graphics in movies, it was essentially the entire frame 283 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: you're looking at a computer graphic. It's not something that's 284 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: interacting with live action characters, or it might be something 285 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: that's on a screen within a scene, but not something 286 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: that's actually supposed to be in the physical space along 287 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: with the actors. This marked the first time that happened 288 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: uh if you have not seen Young Sherlock Holmes, I 289 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: recommend it. It's not the best film, but it is 290 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: interesting and it is entertaining. I think it gets a 291 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: little um, maybe a little self satisfied, but it's worth watching. 292 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: I actually saw it in the theater, So this is 293 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,880 Speaker 1: one of those moments where I think I witnessed history. 294 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:55,120 Speaker 1: I saw a movie in which the first computer generated 295 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: character had an interaction with a live action actor. Didn't 296 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: know that that at the time, but now it's true. Now, 297 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 1: the technology that the team needed to produce these sorts 298 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,919 Speaker 1: of effects didn't really exist, at least not in a 299 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: way that was attainable for a a division within a 300 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 1: production studio. So the group began to develop a specialized 301 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: computer called the Pixar Image Computer. So that this is 302 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: where they get their name of the company. Spoiler alert, 303 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,280 Speaker 1: but Pixar Image Computer. The name came from Alvi ray 304 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:36,159 Speaker 1: Smith and Lauren Carpenter, who were trying to brainstorm and 305 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: name for this device. Uh. Alvi ray Smith wanted to 306 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: come up with a name that had almost kind of 307 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: a Spanish verbs sound to it, and he wanted to 308 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: be a little, um, a little uh futuristic sounding too, 309 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: and they decided to go with pixar as if it 310 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 1: were a verb to to make a picture. But it 311 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:02,479 Speaker 1: was all on at it and ultimately they thought Pixar 312 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,159 Speaker 1: sounded kind of cool, and that's what they called the computer, 313 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,959 Speaker 1: the Pixar Image Computer. The computer allowed for both image 314 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:13,399 Speaker 1: processing and computer graphics development on the same device. So 315 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: up to that point, those processes had to be done 316 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: separately on different machines, which limited the sort of stuff 317 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: you could actually produce. But the Pixar Image Computer changed 318 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: that and created a new discipline called image computing. So 319 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: it's sort of a combination of the two previously existing 320 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: disciplines and it allows you to do a lot more 321 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: interesting stuff. The Pixar Image Computer had a chap channel processor, 322 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: which is a four parallel processor chip capable of performing 323 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 1: forty million instructions per second, which was not bad for 324 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: the mid nineties, and it had a twenty four megabyte 325 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: picture memory AH and that memory could be expanded to 326 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: forty eight megabytes UH memory bus could access that memory 327 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: and a blistering two forty megabytes per second, and the 328 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: system was also expandable. Two additional chaps could be added 329 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: to provide up to a hundred twenty million instructions per 330 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: second um. This is, you know, obviously not state of 331 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: the art compared to today's standards, but in the eighties, 332 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,159 Speaker 1: to be able to create this device specifically so you 333 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:27,360 Speaker 1: could do image computing was pretty impressive. The video controller 334 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: bus was twice as fast as the memory bus at 335 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,120 Speaker 1: four eighty megabytes per second, and depending upon the software 336 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: load out, the computer would work with in TSC PAL 337 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: and ten twenty four by seven r GB displays. The 338 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: Pixar Image Computer required a host computer, so it wasn't 339 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: a standalone device on its own, and you actually had 340 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 1: to pair it with another computer in order to control it. 341 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: This typically was a big, expensive computer that was not 342 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,560 Speaker 1: meant for personal you. So this wasn't a personal computer. 343 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: It's not like it was a an Apple one or 344 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: anything like that. It wasn't anywhere along those lines. We're 345 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: talking about like a Sun system or a similar computer, 346 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: where uh, it's a pretty massive, powerful system all on 347 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: its own, and then you would connect that, you would 348 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: network it to the Pixar Image Computer and it would 349 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: communicate over cables a transmission rate of eighty megabytes per second. Uh. 350 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: The computer was not cheap. It cost one thirty five 351 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: thousand dollars, and keep in mind this is the mid 352 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, so it would be significantly more than that 353 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,199 Speaker 1: today if you adjust for inflation. And also keep in 354 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,840 Speaker 1: mind that a hundred thirty five thousand dollars just gets 355 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: you the Pixar image computer. You still need that host computer, 356 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: which could cost another thirty five thousand dollars. So hundred 357 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,400 Speaker 1: seventy thousand dollars just for this one method of image 358 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: computer geting, it's pretty pretty expensive. The list of customers 359 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: was small, but it included some very influential ones, and 360 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:13,679 Speaker 1: in fact, the company envisioned, or rather the division at 361 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: this time within LucasArts or Lucasfilm, envisioned six different markets 362 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: for its image computer, and that included medical imaging, remote 363 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: sensing and mapping, seismic imaging, design and animation, graphic arts 364 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 1: and science, and scientific visualization. So that's kind of incredible 365 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: when you think about it, like this was a company 366 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 1: that eventually becomes known for creating computer animated films, but 367 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: early on they were trying to generate revenue through developing 368 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:51,120 Speaker 1: hardware and selling it to a diverse group of clients, 369 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:56,239 Speaker 1: not just other entertainment companies, but medical industries, you know, 370 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: and and scientific research centers. So it was kind of incredible. 371 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: One of the customers that was interested in this technology 372 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:11,359 Speaker 1: was Disney that the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney 373 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: Company approached the Computer Graphics division over at Lucasfilm and said, hey, 374 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: we have this idea, but we can't put it together. 375 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: We need someone else to design it for us, but 376 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: we want a computer animation production system or CAPS, And 377 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 1: this was their attempt to update the cell animation process. 378 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: It was to digitize the cell animation animation process. So 379 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:41,880 Speaker 1: in other words, they still weren't going away from hand 380 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: drawn animation. They still wanted to do that, but they 381 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: wanted an updated method to process each of those cells 382 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: to make it more efficient and uh more effective. So 383 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: the process of creating the system CAPS spanned a couple 384 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 1: of years. By the time it was ready, the division, 385 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: this computer Graphics division was no longer part of Lucasfilm. 386 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: It actually would take so long for them to finish 387 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: the CAP system that it was when it was done 388 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:20,879 Speaker 1: when Pixar became its own entity. Now, Smith continued to 389 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 1: work on other projects, including creating a new channel for pixels. 390 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: So by channel, I mean how do you describe a pixel? 391 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: You already had the color channels of red, green, and blue, 392 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,320 Speaker 1: but Smith added an alpha channel, and the alpha channel 393 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: allowed you to tag pixels with extra data that could 394 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: be used for matting, for a compositing, for overlays, and 395 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: for anti aliasing. So you can think of it as 396 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: here's an extra way of being able to describe this pixel, 397 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: to get a specific effect beyond just what color is it? 398 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: That's kind of cool Now around, Alvie Smith was looking 399 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: into creating the first feature length computer animated film, and 400 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: he started actually having some serious conversations about it. It 401 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: was going to be a collaboration with a Japanese company, 402 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,520 Speaker 1: and the movie they had decided to try and make 403 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 1: would be a story inspired by the famous Chinese novel 404 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: Journey to the West. But when Alvi Ray Smith sat 405 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: down to seriously look at how much would that cost? 406 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: What would the film's budget need to be, he realized 407 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,919 Speaker 1: that the industry wasn't efficient enough to allow for a 408 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,679 Speaker 1: realistic budget. It's just that it would be too expensive, 409 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: it would never get made, and he came to the 410 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:46,159 Speaker 1: reluctant conclusion that they would continue to wait for Moore's 411 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: law to keep on being Moore's law and bring down 412 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: those costs. Keep in mind, Moore's law at its heart 413 00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: really isn't about how quickly computer power increases. It's really 414 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:07,680 Speaker 1: about how quickly computer power becomes more affordable. Uh. When 415 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 1: Gordon Moore made the observation, it was really from an 416 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: economic standpoint, not a technological capability standpoint. He said that 417 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: when the price of developing more powerful processors comes down, 418 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,679 Speaker 1: then obviously people develop more powerful processors. And he's noticed 419 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: that that tends to happen every eighteen to twenty four months. 420 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: So it's interesting to think that More's laws really more 421 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: about economics than it is about how many discrete elements 422 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: you can cram onto a square inch of a silicon wafer. 423 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 1: But at any rate, UH Smith recognized there just was 424 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: not going to be a full length computer animated feature 425 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: film until the technology was caught up to make it, 426 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: you know, economically feasible. In February six, the Computer Graphics 427 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 1: Division was spun off from Lucasfilm. The technology the team 428 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 1: had developed had applications beyond the film industry, like we mentioned, 429 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,959 Speaker 1: you know, was the medical field and seismic studies as 430 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: well as things like meteorology. All of them had different applications, 431 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: so the technology was valuable, but Lucas was ready to 432 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: get rid of it because while the division was accomplished, 433 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,199 Speaker 1: it had been losing money for several years and it 434 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 1: was really expensive to make good computer graphics. But on 435 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 1: top of that, Lucas had other reasons that he didn't 436 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: want to have this financial drain hitting him. For one thing, 437 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: Return of the Jedi had come out in nineteen eight three. 438 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: Now we're talking about nineteen eight six, three years later. 439 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 1: Star Wars merchandise sales were starting to slack off pretty 440 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: big time. By so the huge checks that had been 441 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: coming in we're starting to dry up at this point. 442 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: On up of that, Lucas had had a very expensive 443 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:09,080 Speaker 1: divorce in nine three, and he was having lots of issues, 444 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: uh surrounding that, which is an entirely different episode that 445 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,479 Speaker 1: doesn't involve technology, So I don't know who will ever 446 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: cover it, but it is a fascinating story. Oh and 447 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: and Lucas also had one other albatross around his neck. 448 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 1: He made a little movie called Howard the Duck, and 449 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: it didn't perform quite as well. As he had hoped. 450 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: You remember I mentioned that if you haven't seen young 451 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: Shelock Holmes, it's worth seeing. The same is not true 452 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: for Howard the Duck, although if you've got a bunch 453 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: of friends over and you just want to make fun 454 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: of a movie, it's a pretty decent candidate. So Lucas 455 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 1: wanted to dump this computer graphics division, and cap'n mill 456 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: and Smith knew about this. They knew that this was coming, 457 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: They saw the writing on the wall, and so for 458 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: about a year before for this happened, they began to 459 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: talk to potential investors who might be able to give 460 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: some capital to the spun off company. And uh they 461 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: ended up courting a certain Steve Jobs as a potential 462 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: backer for that new company. And it had happened for 463 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 1: about a year and Captain Bill Smith became co founders 464 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,959 Speaker 1: of this new company, which they now named Pixar. So 465 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: they took the name from the computer they had developed, 466 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: which wasn't an easy decision, by the way, there were 467 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: a lot of internal disagreements within Pixar about what to 468 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 1: call the new company. Uh, the temporary name on the 469 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: documents at around that time was actually g f X, 470 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: so I'm glad that they dropped that and went with Pixar. 471 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs provided capital for the company. He signed a 472 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: five million dollar check specifically to Smith and to Captain Mill, 473 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: who then signed it over to Lucas. Now that five 474 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: million dollars was to essentially pay Lucas for the the company. 475 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: He gave the company another five million dollars to act 476 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: as starting capital for Pixar itself. And like I said, 477 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: Jobs wasn't the only person that they talked to about 478 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: the possibility of investing in this new company. Another person 479 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: who almost funded Pixar. This story would be different if 480 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: this had come to pass. The person who almost funded 481 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: Pixar was Ross Pero. And guys, if you're old enough 482 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 1: to remember, you know Ross Pero was an entrepreneur and 483 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:43,320 Speaker 1: a former presidential candidate, independent candidate UM and certain character too. Man. 484 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: I mean Saturday Night Live had a lot of fun 485 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 1: imitating Ross Pero for a few months. Anyway, Ross Perrow 486 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: almost was the one to fund Pixar, but that deal 487 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: fell through at the last minute and Steve Jobs stepped in. Meanwhile, 488 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,720 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs himself was going through a bit of a transition. 489 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: He had co founded Apple computers in the seventies. But 490 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 1: by this time Apple had more or less forced him 491 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 1: out of the company. The board had made his life 492 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: incredibly difficult. They kind of removed all of his responsibilities, 493 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: so he didn't have anything to do, and they kind 494 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 1: of sent him off off to the side, so he 495 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: was more or less forgotten. So he just kind of 496 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 1: left and they paid for it. That company did not 497 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: do so well without Steve Jobs. In fact, Apple began 498 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: to lose focus. At one point the company was in 499 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: danger of completely going bankrupt. And only then was really 500 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs asked to come back and try and work 501 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: on fixing that. And he did come back and eventually 502 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: was made CEO of Apple and turned everything around. But 503 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: that's another story. In fact, we've covered that on Tech Stuff. 504 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,320 Speaker 1: We've talked about the story of Steve Jobs and his 505 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: exodus from Apple, his his exile, and then his triumphant 506 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: returned later on. Now you might have heard that Steve 507 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: Jobs has been referred to as a founder or the 508 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: founder of Pixar, or the owner of Pixar, and technically 509 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: neither of those were true at the time that Pixar 510 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: was founded. Now he had a majority stake in the company. 511 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 1: He had seventy ownership of the company and the employees 512 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 1: had the other thirty percent. But it was Smith and 513 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: cat Moll who actually founded the company and ran the operations. 514 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,880 Speaker 1: They were the the president or well, Catmill was the 515 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: president and Smith was the vice president of the company. 516 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: They managed the company. So what Steve Jobs did was 517 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 1: provide that starting capital. And he also was a master 518 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: marketing genius type. We all know this if you've ever 519 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: seen any Steve Jobs presentation. The guy knew how to 520 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: sell like he was really good at expressing interesting ideas 521 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: and getting you excited about them. So what he started 522 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: to do with Pixar is marketed as a computer hardware company, 523 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,760 Speaker 1: like the makers of the Pixar Image computer, and that 524 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,920 Speaker 1: became a major product under his watch, and Pixar sold 525 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: several to various entities, including the Walt Disney Company. Now 526 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs was technically providing money to Pixar to buy 527 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,680 Speaker 1: the technology rights to the systems that they built that 528 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: picks our image computer and other technologies that they built 529 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: while they were at Lucasfilm. That was where that first 530 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:32,800 Speaker 1: five million dollars went. And uh, like I said, they 531 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,799 Speaker 1: he had seventy of the ownership and the employees had 532 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: thirty ed. Catmill and Alvie Smith owned the majority of 533 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: that thirty percent, and that's how they ended up also 534 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,840 Speaker 1: becoming the managers, or rather they were also the managers 535 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: for Pixar, the president and vice president respectively. And they 536 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: weren't really as keen on the idea of being a 537 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: hardware company. They lies that there was a necessity for 538 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,800 Speaker 1: it in order for them to remain afloat while waiting 539 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 1: for Moore's Law to kick in so that they can 540 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: actually start doing what they wanted to do in the 541 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:15,320 Speaker 1: first place, which was produced computer animation in an economical way. 542 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: And when Pixar formed, Catmill and Smith brought along around 543 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 1: thirty eight employees of the computer graphics division with them 544 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: from Pixar. That included John Lasseter, so Lasted was one 545 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: of forty Lucasfilm employees who became Pixar employees, and Lasted 546 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: also really wanted to push computer animation, just as he 547 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: was still doing a Disney before they fired him. He 548 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,480 Speaker 1: really wanted computer animation to become a thing, and he 549 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,760 Speaker 1: got the freedom to work on a few projects. Now, 550 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: it wasn't that Steve Jobs was interested in having this 551 00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:01,440 Speaker 1: company produced computer animated shorts or films. That wasn't the case. 552 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,440 Speaker 1: Lasseter was able to make the argument, Hey, we have 553 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:10,480 Speaker 1: this equipment, this Pisar image computer, and you need to 554 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,879 Speaker 1: be able to sell it to people. So you need 555 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: to show them some interesting demonstrations of what the computer 556 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,400 Speaker 1: is capable of doing. How about we shoot some computer 557 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,360 Speaker 1: animated shorts and that will act as almost like a 558 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 1: sales pitch, a demo of the technology itself. And he 559 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: got the go ahead. So Laster kind of found a 560 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 1: work around in order to get to do what he 561 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:39,120 Speaker 1: wanted to do, which was to make computer animated films. Uh, 562 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: but these weren't intended at least not originally to reach 563 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: a wider audience. It was really meant to pitch to 564 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:50,399 Speaker 1: potential customers. But that did change. So in a little 565 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: bit later on, after it spun off and started It's 566 00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:00,400 Speaker 1: It's shaky first Steps, Pixar premiered the film Luxo Junior 567 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 1: at Siggraph. Now that's the short that introduces the famous 568 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:11,760 Speaker 1: Luxo desk lamp. That little lamp that bounces into frame 569 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,759 Speaker 1: with the Pixar logo, jumps up and down, on the 570 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:19,799 Speaker 1: ball and then becomes the eye for Pixar. Uh, this 571 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:23,840 Speaker 1: is where that that character comes from. And the short 572 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,720 Speaker 1: received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film, 573 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 1: so people took notice of it. The award actually ended 574 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,800 Speaker 1: up going to a different film called a Greek Tragedy. 575 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: But it's okay because Pixar would end up getting a 576 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 1: lot of Academy Awards over its history, and I'll mention 577 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: quite a few of them in both this one and 578 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: more importantly in the second episode about the Pixar story. 579 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: So by getting that notoriety of being a nominative for 580 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:59,760 Speaker 1: an Academy Award, it helped the company lands some commercial 581 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,759 Speaker 1: get pigs and design animation for other studios, so it 582 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: kept business going, although Pixar as a company was still 583 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:11,360 Speaker 1: losing money, and when it would lose money, Steve Jobs 584 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:14,000 Speaker 1: would invest a little more money to keep it going 585 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: in the hopes that it would eventually pay off big time. 586 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: Um more on that in just a minute. So in 587 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,680 Speaker 1: nineteen eight seven, Pixar debuts a short film titled Red's 588 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 1: Dream r e. D Red's Dream, also directed by John Laster, 589 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:38,239 Speaker 1: and they premiered that at the seven cigagraph in they 590 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,160 Speaker 1: have another short film come out. This one is called 591 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:45,239 Speaker 1: Tin Toy t I n Tin Toy, and it won 592 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: an Academy Award for Best Best Animated Short. That exposure 593 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,760 Speaker 1: helped the company a lot and led to the eventual 594 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: partnership with the Walt Disney Company. It got Disney's attention 595 00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:03,120 Speaker 1: and eventually would lead to discussions between the two companies now. 596 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 1: That same year, Night Pixar finished development on an animation 597 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,719 Speaker 1: system called mens M E n V, which stands for 598 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:15,080 Speaker 1: Modeling Environment. Um. I'll go into more detail on some 599 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:20,239 Speaker 1: of the technologies they developed in our second episode. In nine, 600 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,200 Speaker 1: Pixar completed work on a new short called knick Knack, 601 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 1: one of my favorites. It features a very determined plastic 602 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,640 Speaker 1: snowman inside a snow globe and he's trying so hard 603 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:36,320 Speaker 1: to get to a Hawaiian themed like a tropical themed 604 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:43,840 Speaker 1: setting including a a a lovely young lady toy. So 605 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:45,839 Speaker 1: you've got the snowman who gets a crush on this 606 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:49,720 Speaker 1: on this whole you know, sort of tropical uh toy, 607 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:52,879 Speaker 1: and is trying really hard to break out of his 608 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:56,000 Speaker 1: snow globe in order to get over to there. That's 609 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: an adorable little short pixel. Pixar also started work on 610 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:05,480 Speaker 1: some commercials at that time. My favorite commercial that pixarre, 611 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:08,799 Speaker 1: or actually it's really it was an ad campaign that 612 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:11,239 Speaker 1: Pixar worked on, because it wasn't just a single commercial 613 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: came out in the early nineties around that was an 614 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:20,799 Speaker 1: ad campaign for a cool mint, Listerine. So if you've 615 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,400 Speaker 1: ever seen those commercials, those are the ones where you 616 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: see a little bottle of listerine swinging through the jungle 617 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,160 Speaker 1: and Baltimore's Tarzan Boy is playing in the background, which 618 00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: is an awesome poppy song. So I remember those distinctly 619 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:40,480 Speaker 1: because I remember seeing those commercials come on and they 620 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,960 Speaker 1: actually affected me, Like I thought, well, it's a neat commercial. 621 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,480 Speaker 1: Most of the time, I ignore them, but I like those. 622 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,480 Speaker 1: So pis are just kind of had this ability to 623 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: inject personality into objects that otherwise would be inanimate, and uh, 624 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,759 Speaker 1: it was something that would serve them very well as 625 00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:02,120 Speaker 1: they moved forward into the feature films later on. Getting 626 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 1: back to the nineteen eighties, in nineteen eighty nine, Pete 627 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:10,439 Speaker 1: Doctor and Andrew Stanton both joined Pixar, and they both 628 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,920 Speaker 1: become very important later on. Both of them end up 629 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:17,319 Speaker 1: writing and directing films for Pixar. According to the book 630 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,919 Speaker 1: To Infinity and Beyond, by this time or around this time, 631 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs had invested more than fifty million dollars into 632 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,319 Speaker 1: Pixar over the years, mostly as an attempt to just 633 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:33,280 Speaker 1: keep the business going. Sales of the Pixar Image Computer 634 00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:37,000 Speaker 1: had really dropped off by this point, the computer, the company, 635 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: rather it was losing money, so Jobs ended up doing 636 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:43,560 Speaker 1: a round of downsizing, in other words, firing a lot 637 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,640 Speaker 1: of employees, and Jobs was also in the middle of 638 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:51,959 Speaker 1: dealing with another troubled venture, his company, Next Incorporated, which 639 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,640 Speaker 1: produced the Next Computer, which is incredibly expensive but pretty 640 00:41:56,640 --> 00:42:00,359 Speaker 1: impressive machine. The machine itself failed to make a large 641 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,759 Speaker 1: impact in the market, but it was the thing that 642 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,359 Speaker 1: convinced Apple's board to bring Steve Jobs back a little 643 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,640 Speaker 1: bit later. So by nine Steve Jobs decided he wanted 644 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 1: to sell off the hardware division of Pixar to refocus 645 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:18,080 Speaker 1: Pixar into an animation studio and no longer be a 646 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:23,800 Speaker 1: company that's developing hardware for other industries. So he sold 647 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:27,080 Speaker 1: that hardware division for two million dollars to a company 648 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:31,480 Speaker 1: called Vicom Systems. Didn't do so well, for Vicom Systems. 649 00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:36,520 Speaker 1: They filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy the following year. In ninete, 650 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs fired half of Pixar's employees. The company was 651 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 1: still losing money in he demanded all employees stock shares 652 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,600 Speaker 1: of the company, so he essentially bought the employees shares. 653 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:54,719 Speaker 1: In fact, he kept doing that throughout the years that 654 00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:58,560 Speaker 1: fifty million he invested in the company. Uh, most of 655 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:02,680 Speaker 1: the time that ended up him being him purchasing employee 656 00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:06,239 Speaker 1: stock share, So little by little he was increasing his 657 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,440 Speaker 1: ownership of Pixar. But it wasn't necessarily because he thought 658 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,240 Speaker 1: it was going to be a huge hit. It was because, uh, 659 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:16,080 Speaker 1: he had to keep investing money for it to stay around, 660 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:20,399 Speaker 1: and he wanted to have that that investment payoff. If 661 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,200 Speaker 1: he let the company just die, he would lose all 662 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,359 Speaker 1: that money, he would not have recaptured it at all. 663 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:32,440 Speaker 1: So at one point he technically shut down Pixar like 664 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:36,920 Speaker 1: Pixar was done, but he formed a new company called Pixar, 665 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,400 Speaker 1: so really it was shut down on paper only it 666 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,520 Speaker 1: wasn't really shut down. And he hired on all the 667 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:47,120 Speaker 1: people that he had not fired in that round of downsizing, 668 00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:51,280 Speaker 1: and he had full ownership of the company. The employees 669 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,680 Speaker 1: did not get shares in the company. That would end 670 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,640 Speaker 1: up benefiting Steve Jobs big time in just a few years. 671 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,319 Speaker 1: One of the employees who left Pixar in was its 672 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:09,440 Speaker 1: co founder alv Ray Smith, so he had been there 673 00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,120 Speaker 1: from the very beginning. His name was on the founding 674 00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:16,400 Speaker 1: documents along with Ed Catnill. But this was his time 675 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,880 Speaker 1: to leave, so he departed Pixar and went on to 676 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:24,200 Speaker 1: co found a company called Altamira Software Corporation, which was 677 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 1: later acquired by Microsoft. Then he worked for Microsoft for 678 00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:32,319 Speaker 1: a while until he retired in nine so he kind 679 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,520 Speaker 1: of departs our story at this point. It was also 680 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:39,839 Speaker 1: right around this time that Pixar got a message from 681 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:45,640 Speaker 1: a little company called Disney, and they decided that Disney 682 00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:50,040 Speaker 1: would fund Pixar in making the first feature length computer 683 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:56,640 Speaker 1: animated film. By those those conversations had developed a little further, 684 00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,680 Speaker 1: Pixar actually agreed to go into a partnership with Disney 685 00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:03,880 Speaker 1: and minute to a three picture deal three movies for 686 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:08,719 Speaker 1: twenty one million dollars. So the three movies essentially each 687 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 1: had a budget of seven million if you just divide 688 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,440 Speaker 1: it up evenly. The first movie that was to be 689 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:18,000 Speaker 1: produced under that deal. Is the movie that became Toy Story. 690 00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:23,560 Speaker 1: Now that came out in Steve Jobs had still been 691 00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:26,880 Speaker 1: shopping the company around in those last couple of years, 692 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:29,440 Speaker 1: kind of seeing if anyone wanted to buy it. But 693 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: he wasn't ready to just give up on it. He 694 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 1: wanted to recapture the money he had invested in the 695 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:38,880 Speaker 1: in the company that fifty million dollars, which is a 696 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,839 Speaker 1: little tricky to do, you know, if people don't think 697 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,719 Speaker 1: that the company is worth that much. And he almost 698 00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:47,200 Speaker 1: sold it a couple of times. He almost sold it 699 00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:51,440 Speaker 1: to Microsoft at one point, but instead he held onto 700 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:53,839 Speaker 1: it and he wanted to see how Toy Story would 701 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 1: do at the box office. Uh. They had screened Toy 702 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,640 Speaker 1: Story to critics it had not come out in theaters yet, 703 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:09,280 Speaker 1: and the early response was overwhelmingly positive. It was looking 704 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:13,160 Speaker 1: pretty good. So right around that time, Steve Jobs named 705 00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 1: himself Pixar CEO. According to several sources, this was mostly 706 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,800 Speaker 1: done out of necessity. The idea was put a recognizable 707 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,480 Speaker 1: name as CEO of the company. Steve Jobs was someone 708 00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:28,880 Speaker 1: that people they knew who he was, so it's almost 709 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:31,800 Speaker 1: like having a celebrity as the head of your company 710 00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:36,799 Speaker 1: to get that recognition out there. Technically, Cat Moll was 711 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:40,759 Speaker 1: really still the one calling the shots for Pixar, but 712 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:45,840 Speaker 1: the question was would Steve Jobs hold onto the company 713 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:50,880 Speaker 1: or not. It all would depend on the success of 714 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:57,400 Speaker 1: Toy Story. And here's where we end part one a cliffhanger. 715 00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:01,960 Speaker 1: Will Toy Story be a hit? This is the problem 716 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,880 Speaker 1: with making a cliffhanger for a show that's about a 717 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:08,920 Speaker 1: stuff that's already happened. You guys already know the answer 718 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:12,319 Speaker 1: to that question, but play along with me. Join me 719 00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:16,840 Speaker 1: for the next episode where I really focus on Pixar 720 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:22,040 Speaker 1: as it becomes a power player in computer animation and 721 00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:27,600 Speaker 1: feature films. UH, in pushing technology forward an innovation. There's 722 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:32,480 Speaker 1: some great stories in there, including UH stories that transform 723 00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:37,080 Speaker 1: not just Pixar, but the Walt Disney company itself. These 724 00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,160 Speaker 1: are big deals. I mean, we're talking about billions of 725 00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:45,480 Speaker 1: dollars from a financial standpoint, millions of people entertained from 726 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:50,480 Speaker 1: another perspective. So UH, tune in next week to hear 727 00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:54,080 Speaker 1: part two. And if you guys have any suggestions for 728 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:58,520 Speaker 1: future episodes of Text Stuff, maybe there's a topic you've 729 00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:00,719 Speaker 1: always wanted to hear. More about Maybe you've got a 730 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:04,719 Speaker 1: specific technology you would like me to explain, or there's 731 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,799 Speaker 1: someone you would like me to interview, or if you 732 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,400 Speaker 1: have an idea of someone that should be a perfect 733 00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:14,279 Speaker 1: guest host in the future, let me know. Send me 734 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:18,280 Speaker 1: an email. The address is tech stuff at how stuff 735 00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:21,719 Speaker 1: works dot com, or drop me a line on Facebook 736 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:24,279 Speaker 1: for Twitter, the handle of both of those is tech 737 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:29,359 Speaker 1: stuff hs W, and I'll talk to you again, really sick. 738 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:37,319 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, stuff 739 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:47,840 Speaker 1: works dot com