American Cinematographer - October 1989 - 81

a

Disney animator,

science, and

a

a PhD in computer
former security guard/

Opposite Page:
Billy in mid-sneeze
in a composite from

janitor-that will be the focus of this

Tin

two-part story.

Above: Tinny

Tin

Toy, the short for which

in

awe

looks

at the mon¬

ster Lasseter and

Pixar received its award, tells the story
of the first meeting of a small wind-up
one-man-band and his new owner, Billy
the baby. Tinny, as everyone on the team
refers to him, is almost overcome with
fear the first time Billy toddles into his
life. The baby towers over the small toy.
It makes strange noises and something
awful and slimy comes out of its mouth.
It's monstrous. But of course,

Toy.

crew have created.
Below: Storyboard
outlines plan for
camera moves.

Tinny's

attempts to escape his fate only encour¬
age the slightly unsteady Billy to chase
after him. Tinny takes momentary refuge
under the couch where he finds a dozen
other toys cowering in fear. All of a

or so

sudden, poor Billy loses his balance and
falls flat on his face. Tinny is torn be¬
tween fear for his life and the pitiful cries
of the baby. He bravely decides to jour¬

forth to do his duty.
With cymbals crashing, drums
beating and accordion playing he turns
the baby cries to giggles of delight. Of
course, he gets an awful shaking! Then,
with the typical attention span of a tod¬
dler, Billy rejects his new toy for the box
it came in and finally for the bag the box
ney

came

in.
Tin

tion
est

Toy is 3D character anima¬
displayed on a 2D screen. Its clos¬
living relative is stop-motion anima¬

tion for which each character or creature
is built around an articulated skeleton
that defines how the creature looks and
moves. This is the modeling process. It
is the first of three distinct phases in each

project-modeling, animation and ren¬
dering. Of course, the big difference is
that a stop motion animator's puppet is
made with machined aluminum joints
and a foam skin. Eben Ostby and Bill
Reeves make their puppets out of mathe¬
matical algorithms and pixels.
Ostby's credit on Tin Toy reads
technical direction by, but the title
doesn't begin to explain the man or his
talents. A computer scientist by school¬
ing, Ostby can't hide the fact that one of

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the

reasons he's involved in Pixar's ani¬
mation projects is because they're fun.
It's the perfect place for a man who likes
to solve difficult puzzles. He and his
cohort Reeves are primarily responsible
for the first phase of every animation

project. They create the "wireframe"

models, their points of articulation, and

virtual 3D space

the tools that will be needed to animate
each model. It can take a very long time.
"We give John [Lasseter, the
director and animator] a number of tools
to allow him to move his creations in

But," Ostby is pleased to point out,

October 1989

rather than across a cel.

"everything is done in a way that
familiar to traditional animators.

is very

"Modeling is the first step and
in many ways

American

it's the preproduction

Cinematographer

79
American Cinematographer - October 1989

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