Pixar Research

Pixar Animation Studios Research

Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio that is based in 

Emeryville, California. The studios are best known for its CGI animated features 

that have been created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan. This is its known 

industry standard RenderMan image-capturing animation programme.

Pixar was first founded in 1979; The company first began as a computer division of Lucasfilm; George Lucas wanted to further explore the use of computer graphic in film, so he created a branch of his company which focused on developing state-of-the-art computer technology to be used for film.
Lucas Recruited Ed Catmull of the New York Institute of Technology, in order to develop this division of Lucasfilm.

In 1983, John Lasseter was invited to join the graphics group at the Lucasfilm computer division. The following year, he was hired full time at the division as an 'Interface Designer', and became part of the film making process.

In 1984, the division created their first group short film 'The Adventures of Wally B.' which premiered at SIGGRAPH.


Since the beginning of Pixar's existence, the company has gone on to create many many successful
and wonderful features; these include titles such as Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo, which is to date the most sold DVD of all time. The partnership between Disney became strong due to this.

However, there were many disagreements and complexities between Disney and Pixar after the production of Toy Story 2; It was originally supposed to be intended for video release only, but was upgraded to a theatrical release. Pixar then demanded that the film should be counted towards the three-picture-agreement.


Pixar have created films that can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone. This means that every film they make must be suitable for everyone, a main reason being that young children cannot usually pay to go to the cinema. Pixar's films can also be enjoyed by adults for this reason.