pixar

If you want to consider a difficult computational problem, try thinking of the algorithms required to animate more than 10,000 helium balloons, each with its own string, but each also interdependent on the rest, which are collectively hoisting aloft a small house.

That was the challenge the production team at Pixar faced when it set out to begin work on "Up," its tenth feature film, five years in the works, which hits theaters on Friday.

There was absolutely no way the team was going to hand-animate the balloons. Not with their numbers in five-figures, and especially not … Read more

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--You might think sitting in a flying armchair would be a blood-pumping, adrenaline-rushing, and terrifying pastime. But I'm here to tell you that it's pretty darn smooth sailing.

I know because on Friday morning, I got a chance to take a ride on, yes, a flying armchair. And while I didn't crash it into power cables or cause a major blackout like Larry Walters, aka "Lawnchair Larry", I did take some serious air.

This was a rare opportunity to take part in what I suppose is the little-known sport of cluster ballooning. Ultimately, … Read more

Coming to a sky near you: a large cluster of multicolored balloons carrying a real-world version of the flying armchair featured in Pixar's forthcoming film, "Up."

The film, Pixar's 10th animated feature, focuses on the fate of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, his house, and a wayward 8-year-old who happens by one day. Together, launched into the sky by a cluster of balloons tied to the roof of Fredricksen's house, the two set off on, you know, the adventure of a lifetime.

For most of us, we'll have to go to the theater to share in … Read more

Pixar showed the first 45 minutes of its next animated feature "Up" at WonderCon here in San Francisco this weekend. I did not see all of those minutes, due to there being some limited-to-first-250-people-to-come BS I didn't have the patience to deal with.

I did get to see about 17 minutes of the film, however, via five scenes Pixar debuted. My impressions after viewing the clips is that the movie looks very good--visually, conceptually, and just for pure entertainment.

"Up" deals with a curmudgeonly old man tying a bunch of balloons to his house and … Read more

Wall-E, the hero of Pixar's latest huge success, has waddled into an unexpected spat.

About fat.

If you have not yet seen the movie, I won't spoil the story.

However, I can tell you that the second half depicts human beings as obese, lazy, mindless slobs who glide around on lounge chairs, slurping humoungously-proportioned cupcake drinks as their flab flaps in the slipstream.

This vision of the future is, naturally, a vast stretch.

However, the National Association To Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is largely unamused.

At its conference in LA, which ends today, the organization enjoyed entertainment from … Read more

Everyone has their own way of dealing with extraneous flesh and respiratory deterioration.

Some control their diet with the rigor of Reese Witherspoon and go for long walks, waving their arms around like angry spouses. (Which many of them appear to be.) Others staple their stomachs like a two-page letter from a lawyer. And there are those of us who go to gyms, where at least one can bike, read a book and laugh (inwardly, of course) at the progress of leotard design.

I choose to exercise at one of the amiable horse boxes in the stable of Crunch gyms.… Read more

If you've ever thought about making professional-quality animations but decided not to because of the cost of the software, your excuse just got up and walked out the door. For Windows, Mac, and Linux, Blender is a free, open-source 3D rendering program that puts the power of the medium back into the hands of the artist.

Blender features a laundry list of animation essentials that can be broken down into categories: Interface, Modeling, Rigging, Rendering, Animation, UV Unwrapping, Shading, Physics and Particles, Imaging and Compositing, and Real Time 3D/Game Creation. The interface, though loaded with complicated tools, is … Read more

Bot-fans are anticipating the debut of Disney's "Wall-E" toys at the next Maker Faire, but you can get a jump on at least one gadget related to the latest Pixar epic right now.

An animated MP3 player that takes the form of the robot--whose name stands for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth Class"--is available for order from the Sharper Image. (Maybe it hasn't gotten much notice because of the chain's uncertain future.)

It's not the $190 "Ultimate Wall-E" full robot, but the 8-inch-tall "iDance Wall-E" does claim … Read more

Ann Mather, a Google board member, could well find herself on the receiving end of a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit regarding stock option transactions made while she was chief financial officer at Pixar Animation Studios.

"On April 23, 2008, Ann was advised by the staff of the Los Angeles office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it intends to recommend that the SEC initiate a civil proceeding against her, alleging violation of federal securities laws related to certain stock option transactions involving her former employer, Pixar Animation Studios," Google said in a regulatory filing Monday. … Read more