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Pixar Develops "Pixarvision" Laser Recording System For Film
David DiFrancesco
wins Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award
POINT RICHMOND, CA - February
4, 1999 - Pixar Animation Studios today announced that it has developed
a proprietary laser recording system called PIXARVISION ™ for converting
digital computer data into images on motion picture film stock with unprecedented
quality. The new system was successfully tested on the 1998 blockbuster
animated feature film, "A Bug's Life," and will be used to produce
Pixar's future animated features including "Toy Story 2", scheduled
for release this Thanksgiving.
On February 27, 1999, The
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will present a Scientific
and Technical Academy Award to Pixar's David DiFrancesco for "pioneering
efforts in the development of laser film recording technology."
"It's great to see David
recognized for his pioneering work in laser film recording," said
Ed Catmull, Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer. "He
recently lead our team of scientists in developing PixarVision, which
uses solid state lasers to record on multiple film formats with more quality
and speed than ever before."
Traditional film recorders
use cathode ray tubes (CRTs) to create the images that expose the filmstock.
Laser film recorders substitute lasers for CRTs, and are significantly
more complex, due to the technology required to aim and control the laser
beams. Pixar scientists pioneered laser film recording in the early 1980s,
and Kodak briefly sold a commercial laser film recorder in the mid-1990s.
PixarVision is more advanced than any previous laser film recorder, and
provides the following key benefits over traditional CRT-based film recorders:
Higher quality color reproduction:
Solid state lasers produce light at precise frequencies, thereby eliminating
the color "crosstalk" inherent in CRT based recorders (where
trying to write just one color undesirably writes other colors too).
Sharper images: Lasers can
expose smaller spots on the film, resulting in sharper, less grainy
images. In addition, lasers are brighter, thus allowing the use of less
sensitive "intermediate" film stocks. This results in less
"generation loss" (the copying from one filmstock to another,
which degrades image quality).
Faster recording: PixarVision
records all three colors (red, green, blue) simultaneously, rather than
sequentially, resulting in much faster recording - 8 seconds per frame
versus around 35 seconds per frame for traditional CRT based systems.
Pixar Animation Studios combines
creative and technical artistry to create original characters and stories
in the new medium of three-dimensional animation. Pixar created and produced
the first computer-animated feature film and has an equal partnership
with The Walt Disney Company to finance, produce and distribute five co-branded
computer animated feature films and related products. Pixar employs approximately
430 people. The company's stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market
under the symbol PIXR.
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