Here's the Top Ten Pixar Animated Shorts

I love how Pixar animation has evolved since 1995. My dad was a computer teacher so growing i loved learning how animation was made . I did my Senior (1996) thesis on computer animation based on my love for Toy Story. Pixar movies now are more vibrant with color, more real (if that makes sense). I’m excited to see what they bring in the future.
I love every Pixar movie as they all have their own uniqueness but Toy Story will always have my heart!

That is a very cool subject to focus on for your thesis! I remember when Pixar was able to animate hair more realistically (maybe it was Moana?) and I thought to myself “this is going to change so much” and it has already!

Love pixar

I like how it has gone from 2D looking animation to 3D looking.

In my lifetime, I have seen cartoons and animation grow from flat images and pencil drawings to full blown movies. With depth and the ability to leave you wondering if it is actually real. From Bugs Bunny to Kimba the White Lion. Johnny Quest to Gundam to the amazing things we see today. Disney has always been ahead of the curve on these things. But even Disney and Pixar have learned deeply from others in this aspect.
Change is going to happen. They are making leaps and bounds in the field. I look forward to seeIng the next steps!

Johnny Quest is such a classic! I think some of the newer animation styles are pretty interesting, and I’d love to see some of the graphic novel style illustration come to life!

Pixar has a long history, long before Disney acquired them. Steve Jobs bought them from Lucasfilm and pushed the limits of animation. The agreement they made with Disney on the number of animated films to push out stressed the limits of their animators. Disney bought them from Steve Jobs and they kept pushing out great movies, but not without controversy. I think the early years were great as they tested the ability of computer animation and it was only up from there. My all time favorites (can’t just be one), Cars and WALL-E.

History of Pixar:

Pixar Animation Studios, known for its groundbreaking computer-animated films, was founded in 1986 by Steve Jobs, who acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm.
NOTE:
Jobs did not buy Pixar. He financed a spinout corporation that was partially owned by the employees; Steve took 70 percent and the employees had 30 percent. Steve capitalized the company with $10 million. He took the first check for $5 million, and Ed immediately endorsed it over to Lucasfilm. That bought the rights to the technology developed there, including the Pixar Image Computer.

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Initially a hardware company, Pixar shifted its focus to animation, notably with the release of “Toy Story” in 1995, the first entirely computer-animated feature film. In 2006, Pixar was acquired by Disney, solidifying its position as a leader in animation.

Beginnings:

• Pixar began as part of Lucasfilm’s computer division in 1979, focusing on hardware and software for computer-generated imagery.
• In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the division from George Lucas for $10 million and renamed it Pixar.
• Initially, Pixar aimed to sell its computer hardware, the Pixar Image Computer, and animation software.
• They produced short films like “Luxo Jr.” (1986) and “Knick Knack” (1989), showcasing their animation capabilities.
  NOTE:
  Pixar’s crowning jewel during the pre-Movie years was RenderMan, a groundbreaking piece of software that became an industry standard.

The path to RenderMan began with individual shading techniques, such as Gouraud shading or Phong shading, both from the 1970s at the University of Utah. Then, in the early 1980s, Rob Cook generalized the notion into a comprehensive shading language that acted as a front end to Lucasfilm’s internal rendering solution.
RenderMan freed a picture maker from having to know the specifics of any one company’s rendering hardware. When you buy RenderMan, you get its shading language, a compiler for that language, and a complete rendering system for any hardware that supports the language. A moviemaker, say, has only to know RenderMan’s shading language, and the RenderMan system takes care of the rest—the generation of the pixels—behind the scenes.
Creating a good standard is hard—it must be very well designed in order to work universally and to hold up over time. RenderMan, published in 1990, has become a Hollywood staple for visual effects and animation.

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Rise:

• Pixar secured a deal with Disney in 1991 to produce three computer-animated feature films.
• “Toy Story” (1995) was a groundbreaking success, becoming the first fully computer-animated feature film and a major box office hit.
• Pixar continued its success with films like “A Bug’s Life” (1998), “Toy Story 2” (1999), “Monsters, Inc.” (2001), “Finding Nemo” (2003), and “The Incredibles” (2004).
• The company went public in 1995, with an initial public offering that exceeded Netscape’s as the biggest of the year.

Disney Acquisition:

• In 2006, Disney acquired Pixar for $7.4 billion.
• Steve Jobs became Disney’s largest individual shareholder, and Ed Catmull became president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
• Pixar continued to release successful films under Disney, including “WALL-E” (2008), “Up” (2009), “Toy Story 3” (2010), and “Inside Out” (2015).
• The studio has consistently won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, including wins for “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille,” “WALL-E,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3,” “Brave,” “Inside Out,” “Coco,” and “Toy Story 4”.

Feature-length films

• Toy Story (1995)
• A Bug’s Life (1998)
• Toy Story 2 (1999)
• Monsters, Inc. (2001)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• Cars (2006)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• WALL∙E (2008)
• Up (2009)
• Toy Story 3 (2010)
• Cars 2 (2011)
• Brave (2012)
• Monsters University (2013)
• Inside Out (2015)
• The Good Dinosaur (2015)
• Finding Dory (2016)
• Cars 3 (2017)
• Coco (2017)
• Incredibles 2 (2018)
• Toy Story 4 (2019)
• Onward (2020)
• Soul (2020)
• Luca (2021)
• Turning Red (2022)
• Lightyear (2022)
• Elemental (2023)
• Inside Out 2 (2024)

My Thoughts:
Without the vision and backing of Steve Jobs and Lucas Arts, we may not have what we all take for granted today. It takes someone to dream the impossible and then make it happen - thus proving, nothing is impossible.
Wall-E will always hold the highest place on my Pixar list. The film was based on storytelling and the musical score. These 2 elements held up the entire movie. There was only 17 lines of dialogue and 862 words in the entire movie. The first 20 minutes of the film have no spoken dialogue at all.

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