Luxo Jr

[yitbos96bb]

Wow... I was shocked no one on the podcast team knew Luxo Jr. I figured they would have seen the animated short with the same name... I'm pretty sure they used it as a short before one of the Pixar movies (although the short predates all the films).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCWPZfK8pI&feature=related

For anyone who hasn't seen it... Funny Stuff. I remember watching this in my Computer Animation class in college.

 

[wishspirit]

I was shocked too! I love that little lamp!

 

[FireDancer]

Luxo Jr. was used as a short before Toy Story 2 but it is way more important than that. The Luxo Jr. short was a proof of concept for Pixar and computer animation in 1986, a full 9 years before their first feature film.

 

[OKW Lover]

Luxo Jr. was used as a short before Toy Story 2 but it is way more important than that. The Luxo Jr. short was a proof of concept for Pixar and computer animation in 1986, a full 9 years before their first feature film.

For those of you that have Netflix, check out the Pixar Short Films DVD. Its got a whole bunch of these shorts and you can see the progression of the art from the earliest technical concepts to the more recent versions. There is also some behind the scenes discussion stuff where they talk about the early days. Luxo Jr. was actually a simple technical study of techniques to model light and shadow. As the story goes, Pixar realized they were on to something when after a public screening somebody asked of the lamp was a boy or a girl. That made the point that people look for a story, not just the technical attributes. Something that Walt knew in 1928.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Luxo Jr. was used as a short before Toy Story 2 but it is way more important than that. The Luxo Jr. short was a proof of concept for Pixar and computer animation in 1986, a full 9 years before their first feature film.

I know... I thought I said it was created way before... I couldn't remember which film I had seen it in front of...

You ever see the first Pixar short. The baby is creepy looking.

 

[yitbos96bb]

For those of you that have Netflix, check out the Pixar Short Films DVD. Its got a whole bunch of these shorts and you can see the progression of the art from the earliest technical concepts to the more recent versions. There is also some behind the scenes discussion stuff where they talk about the early days. Luxo Jr. was actually a simple technical study of techniques to model light and shadow. As the story goes, Pixar realized they were on to something when after a public screening somebody asked of the lamp was a boy or a girl. That made the point that people look for a story, not just the technical attributes. Something that Walt knew in 1928.

Plus the whole reason Steve jobs started Pixar was to sell high end animation equipment... They didn't do that well there (he considered selling several times before they got big), but obviously were much better with story telling. One of the reasons I think John Lassiter should be the Public face of Disney.

 

[mainegal]

For those of you that have Netflix, check out the Pixar Short Films DVD.

You can also get this at your local public library!

 

[FireDancer]

Plus the whole reason Steve jobs started Pixar was to sell high end animation equipment...

Steve Jobs did not start Pixar. It was started as a division of Lucasfilm in 1979. Steve Jobs bought it in 1986, when it was already 7 years old.

It is true that it was not meant to produce movies but to sell both hardware and software.

 

[challer]

I recommend the documentary "The Pixar Story." That's how I learned about Luxo.