Fact # 01
You may not have known that Pixar’s lamp has a name! It’s called Luxo Junior, named after the short of 1986 animated short made by Pixar.
Luxo Junior is the name of the animated lamp that appears in Pixar’s opening logo. In 1986, Pixar released their first animated short under the title Luxo, Jr., which caused a stir in the animation industry. The short was so popular that it was adapted into a children’s book and it became the logo for Pixar Animation Studios.
Fact # 02
Traditionally, animators have been thought of as artists who “give life” to a character. Hence, the word “animation” literally means “soul-making”!
Animators are the unsung heroes of our favorite animated classics. The process of animating is actually called “animation.” The word comes from the French verb for “to enliven” and literally translates to “soul,” so animators are really giving animated characters their “soul” or life.
Fact# 03
Walt Disney was not only awarded with an Oscar for his work on the cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, but also with a large figurine and seven smaller ones.
Walt Disney received one large statue (of Snow White) as well as seven smaller ones. The larger one, a replica of Snow White, is holding a staff topped with an apple.
Fact # 04
“Toy Story” is the first film with a 1 hour, 25-minute runtime and 3D graphics created entirely with a computer.
Toy Story was the first feature-length film to be fully modeled and created with the help of 3D technology. The first use of this technology was in a short student film called “The Adventures of André and Wally B” in 1984 by Egon Albrecht and John Lasseter. This new animation technique had never been used before in the history of film, which made it a ground-breaking moment in the industry.
The process of creating a film using 3D technology is incredibly labor intensive and requires a large amount of creativity. Because the process is new, it takes more time and money to create one movie with this type of animation than it would if they were to use 2D imagery. In addition, there are trade offs that must be considered when filming in this style; background images can only move along horizontally in 3D movies, so animators must make creative choices to make the scene convincing.”The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, “Avatar”, “How to Train Your Dragon” and Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” are all examples of successful 3D films.
Fact # 05
who do you think is the richest animator ever? Walt Disney doesn’t even make the top 5, yet South Park’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are global sensations.
Walt Disney may be the most famous animator in history, but he is not the wealthiest. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, are ranked as the wealthiest animators ever. They have a net worth of $300 million dollars each.