Artist Statement
The animations and commercials were shown in 35mm film format.
Videos:
- ©1986 Pixar All Rights Reserved. Luxo is a trademark of Jac. Jacobson Industries.
John Lasseter – direction, animations, models
Bill Reeves – technical direction, models, rendering
Sam Leffler – rendering
Don Conway – laser output scanning
Music provided by Forrest Patten, Kaleidosound
Luxo Jr. is an animated desk lamp, his son, and a ball. Animation was described by a keyframe animation system with procedural animation assistance. Piece demonstrates full self-shadowing with multiple light sources and procedural texturing.
Luxo Jr (1986) was Pixar’s first animation after Ed Catmull and John Lasseter left Industrial Light & Magic’s computer division of Cinetron Computer Systems. It is the source of Luxo Jr., the hopping desk lamp included in Pixar’s corporate logo. In animation, the film demonstrates the use of shadow maps within the rendering software. Lasseter applied the classic animation principles popularized by Disney’s Nine Old Men to convey the lamps’ emotions. [source: Wikipedia]
2. Reds Dream is a 1987 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short film, which runs four minutes, stars Red, a unicycle. Propped up in the corner of a bicycle store on a rainy night, Red dreams about a better place. Red’s Dream was Pixar’s second computer-animated short following Luxo Jr. in 1986, also directed by Lasseter. [source YouTube]\
3. Knick Knack (1989) is Pixar’s fourth short and the final short produced during the company’s tenure as a hardware company. The short stands out from Lasseter’s other early short films at Pixar in its reliance on pure comedy to drive the story. It was inspired by Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, and the work of animators Chuck Jones and Tex Avery. [source: Wikipedia]
4. Pixar Commercials
- John Lasseter, USA en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lasseter. Pixar studios: pixar.com