PIXAR: The Company and Its Founders - Sharyland ISD

A YOUNG COMPANY
department continued its experiments. Even though
the company’s priority was to develop the Pixar
computer, Catmull and Smith continued to invest
money in the animation department.
It was around this time that Lasseter began
using the group’s modeling software, Model Editor
(ME), designed by Bill Reeves. The modeling
software was used to create three-dimensional objects
in the computer and also to animate them. Lasseter
used the software to create a digital model of his desk
lamp. The project evolved into Luxo Jr. The short
film was a breakthrough hit for the new company
when it screened at SIGGRAPH in 1986. At the
same conference, Pixar also screened Flags and Waves,
by Bill Reeves, and Beach Chair,
by Eben Ostby. Both were well
received for their technical and
COMPUTER COMPANY
artistic achievements. But despite
In the late 1980s, Pixar was
these successes, the company still
almost entirely a computer
company. There were only about
needed to generate revenue.
10 animation employees out
By mid-1986, the Pixar
of the roughly 100 employees
working at Pixar. The majority
Image Computer, as it came to be
worked on developing, marketing,
and selling hardware and
called, was ready for market. The
computer would be able to create
software.
images, diagrams, and animations.
Pixar hoped to sell the computer
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