Disney's Impressive Rendering Technology

As Joseph Volpe of Engadget reports, the technology that went into creating Disney's upcoming movie Big Hero 6 is insane. Here, he writes about their proprietary rendering software, Hyperion:

“It’s responsible for environmental effects — stuff most audiences might take for granted, like when they see Baymax, the soft, vinyl robot featured in the film, illuminated from behind.That seemingly mundane lighting trick is no small feat; it required the use of a 55,000-core supercomputer spread across four geographic locations.”

[...]

To put the enormity of this computational effort into perspective, Hendrickson says that Hyperion “could render Tangled from scratch every 10 days.”

Even more impressive to me as a moviegoer is the invisibility of such wizardry. Most people will never notice or even think about what it took to build and illuminate the complex world of the film, and that's what makes it so magical.

A Day in the Life of John Lasseter [Video]

Speaking of John Lasseter, this 25-minute documentary provides a fascinating look at a typical day in the man's life—namely: Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011.

The camera follows him from breakfast at his incredible house all the way through his workday at Pixar HQ. I particularly liked how he can work remotely from an iPad using Pixar's in-house apps, and of course getting a peek at the creative process is awesome too.

Am I a weirdo for finding this sort of thing entertaining? Maybe. I don't care.

John Lasseter on Storytelling

Caitlin Roper of WIRED examines the kind of philosophy that allowed John Lasseter and other members of Pixar to completely revitalize Disney's animation studio over the last decade:

“And the emotional core of a movie is what Lasseter pursues. Anybody can make films that dazzle you with technical wizardry or crack you up with biting humor. But that’s not enough for Lasseter. More than anything, the world’s most emotional executive wants to make movies that you connect with, movies that make you feel.

[...]

“The connection you make with your audience is an emotional connection,” Lasseter says. “The audience can’t be told to feel a certain way. They have to discover it themselves.”

Though I am neither an animator nor filmmaker, John Lasseter is one of my biggest heroes, right alongside Hiyao Miyazaki. These guys have set the standard for modern storytelling, and I aspire to approach writing in the same way they have film. I'm not there yet, of course—it's a work in progress.

The article also includes a line from Ed Catmull excellent book, Creativity, Inc., that aligns perfectly with what I said yesterday about words being more important than design:

“Visual polish frequently doesn’t matter if you are getting the story right.”