Hey Pixar fans! - Best looking animation?

[Ronin008]

Who do you think among the big studios create the best looking animation? It didn't occur to me right away that Ice Age was not a Pixar film, because it looked stunning enough to have come from the same artists and studio, that said I was surprised there were other studios making CG films like this Final Fantasy (SoftImage?) notwithstanding. Anyhow, where does Pixar rank in an industry they practically started?

Pixar, Fox, (what others are there?) ?

Nemo set new heights for colors and lighting effects, IMO.

[shrike]

To me Pixar is at the top of the list although Square did an incredible job with the look of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

[Hokeyboy]

Probably their biggest "rival" is Dreamworks/PDI ("Antz", "Shrek", upcoming "Shrek 2" and "Sharkslayer") in terms of commercial penetration and animation quality.

In terms of success rate in both critical and commercial spheres, Pixar is the best damn studio out there period... animation-based or otherwise.

[TomOpus]

I wanna be Steve Lasseter's love child

[Dazed]

John Lasseter is a God.

[DodgingCars]

Big Idea (Veggietales) does Christian-themed computer animated shows -- mostly 30 min features, and not full length movies (except for their recent Jonah),

[Ronin008]

Why so much praise for John Lassetter? He isn't responsible for doing the actual animation or even the story writing. Nemo was written by Anderson wasn't it ? I'm abit behind in my Pixar history, but isn't Lassetter the CEO? Without great talent (artist/writers) he's just another suit.

[Hokeyboy]

Originally posted by Ronin008
Why so much praise for John Lassetter? He isn't responsible for doing the actual animation or even the story writing. Nemo was written by Anderson wasn't it ? I'm abit behind in my Pixar history, but isn't Lassetter the CEO? Without great talent (artist/writers) he's just another suit. :lol:rotfl:lol:rotfl:lol:

"...just another suit..."

:lol:rotfl:lol:rotfl:lol:

Anyway, Lasseter isn't the CEO, that's Steve Jobs. Lasseter is an Executive VP and the head of Pixar's entire Creative department. He directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2, and spent years working as an animator for both Disney and Lucasfilm. I think it's a safe assumption to make that Pixar wouldn't be "PIXAR!!!!!!!!!!" without John Lasseter.

[Dazed]

Originally posted by Ronin008
Why so much praise for John Lassetter? He isn't responsible for doing the actual animation or even the story writing. Nemo was written by Anderson wasn't it ? I'm abit behind in my Pixar history, but isn't Lassetter the CEO? Without great talent (artist/writers) he's just another suit.
:lol: hes the furthest thing from a suit

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0005124/

[jough]

Lassetter is the drive and vision behind the studio. His stamp is on everything they've put out, but of course his team does good work, too. Stanton is one of the original Pixar boys and is a fine director in his own right.

[cruzness]

If I remember correctly Dreamworks PDI and Pixar are the only two major Computer Animation Studios left. Square USA lost a bundle on the animation studio they built in Hawaii because of Final Fantasy's lack of box office reciepts. They won't be focusing on feature animation anymore (I heard somewhere that "Final Flight of the Osiris" was their last project in development - even though it wasn't a full length feature). And I heard that Fox's CG animation studio was shut down shortly after the completion of "Ice Age". Somebody out there should know what I am talking about.

[Dan Average]

And I heard that Fox's CG animation studio was shut down shortly after the completion of "Ice Age".

Fox Animation Studios closed in 2000. As I understand it Blue Sky Studios was mainly responsible for Ice Age. They're still alive and kicking and working on another movie for Fox (Robots).

[Dazed]

Core Digital Pictures (in Toronto) is also developing a Full Length feature directed by Steve Williams (ex ILM). They were an effects house but are now trying to do what Pixar and PDI do so well.

Their CEO is William Shatner, so now you know what Capt Kirk does when not on the Enterprise :)

Rumours were circulating that Disney may be eyeing these guys as possible Pixar replacements but im not sure how true that is.

Either way they must have got a some cash recently as they are recruiting like crazy.

[achau9598]

Don't forget about the upcoming sequel to Ice Age ! :)

[Joe Molotov]

ILM has got that new animation division. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of that.

[Static Cling]

Since this thread is about movies, and not anything specific to DVDs, moving to Movie Talk.

[KTIK]

Some company is making a movie called Delgo and Diego. About fairy-like creatures. Eric Idle, Val Killmer, Chris Kattan are doing voices for it. Looks like a Final Fantasy type project in terms of who they will market it to, or something.

[cruzness]

Originally posted by Dan Average
Fox Animation Studios closed in 2000. As I understand it Blue Sky Studios was mainly responsible for Ice Age. They're still alive and kicking and working on another movie for Fox (Robots).

Oh. I thought Blue Sky was Fox's CG animation division. Thanks for the correction.

[Ronin008]

Originally posted by Dazed
Core Digital Pictures (in Toronto) is also developing a Full Length feature directed by Steve Williams (ex ILM). They were an effects house but are now trying to do what Pixar and PDI do so well.

Their CEO is William Shatner, so now you know what Capt Kirk does when not on the Enterprise :)

Rumours were circulating that Disney may be eyeing these guys as possible Pixar replacements but im not sure how true that is.

Either way they must have got a some cash recently as they are recruiting like crazy.

I'm in Toronto! Shatner is great, but what have they done to garner the attention or rumors of being Pixar's replacement? Those are some big shoes to fill.

Thanks for clearing up who John Lassetter was, guys. He didn't strike me as an animator/creative guy from the excerpts I've watched on the dvds. Andrew Stanton seems to have helmed Finding Nemo from start to finish, though.

[Dazed]

Well, I think its becasue its a well known fact that Pixar want to leave Disney (thus stop paying them 50% of profits) and so disney are probably pooping their pants as their only real successful films in recent years have come from Pixar.

I guess they are desperate for someone to fill the void if that happens. Not sure what Core has done apart from some visual effects work but id be interested to see what they come up with.

John lassetter has an influence on all the shows even if he doesnt appear to be and many of the Pixar directors learned what they know from him. I dont think a film would come out of Pixar without Lassetter having a large say in the story/design.

[devilshalo]

Sony started up an animation unit.. and will be coming out with a full length Chubb Chubb film. They still hold the rights and a script for an animated Astro Boy film.

[RyoHazuki]

We cant forget Delgo!

[jeffkjoe]

Hey guys:

I'm an animator and have worked for Blue Sky Studios (in New York) on Ice Age and now PDI/Dreamworks (in San Fran) on Shrek 2

And just FYI, you're right, Blue Sky is still alive and well, working on Robots, and eventually, Ice Age 2. Robots looks great so far.

But the point is, 3-D animation/CGI is a wonderful industry to be in, and it's important to love what you do for a living! That's why I support my industry and hope it thrives on making more great films.

[Dan Average]

Well, I think its becasue its a well known fact that Pixar want to leave Disney

"Well known" to who?

[jough]

Anyone who reads the trades.

[Dan Average]

There was some discussion (http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=321387) on this subject a month ago and it seemed fairly clear that even if it wasn't exactly a sure thing, Pixar was at least leaning towards inking a new deal with Disney. I haven't seen any updates on the state of the negotiations since then save this (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/movies/article/0,1299,DRMN_23_2402548,00.html), which suggests that the success of the Finding Nemo DVD could end up proving the deal-breaker; given how well Nemo has done since the article was published I would have to say this increases the odds of a renewal of the Disney relationship. If you have any new information indicating otherwise, though, I'm sure we'd like to hear it (since the thread above has been dormant for about a month now).

[jarofclay73]

1. Pixar Animation Studios (http://www.pixar.com/) - The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life: The most consistent CGI studio that puts out a quality story with breakthrough CGI.

2. PDI/Dreamworks (http://www.pdi.com/) - Shark Tale, Shrek 1 & 2, Antz: Shrek was their big breakthrough with high comedy and big name voice actors; Shark Tale (http://www.sharktale.com/) is probably supposed to be their answer to Nemo but more than a year too late.

3. Blue Sky Studios (http://www.blueskystudios.com/) - Ice Age 1 & 2; Bunny: Ice Age was their breakthrough hit; the short film Bunny is a good example of the potential this company has.

4. Sony Imageworks (http://www.imageworks.com/) - Early Bloomer, The ChubbChubbs: With Squaresoft out of the way, Imageworks has been "testing the waters" with a couple of shorts; Sony definitely has the money to do something huge.

5. Industrial Light & Magic (http://www.ilm.com/insideilm.html) - "Work In Progress" (http://www.ilm.com/ilmshorts.html) : A very impressive short film by the wizards at ILM. Quality-wise they could give both Pixar and PDI a huge run for their money. But, not sure if ILM will hire top-notch writers to go along with the fabulous visual. And, ILM will probably need the backing of a major studio to do a feature.

[Shonn]

Square has a new CGI straight to video release, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It is scheduled for release in Summer 2004 in Japan, not sure about everywhere else, and should run 60 minutes. The animation looked very good from the shakey cam footage I saw.