Storytelling is an art that’s been part of human civilization since its beginning. Stories remain one of the most effective ways of conveying ideas and entertaining. Pixar, along with other mediums like images, blogs, videos, and audio, has evolved storytelling by showcasing diverse formats for sharing narratives.
A visual stimulus tends to have maximum impact on our minds. The craft of creating videos and depicting stories therefore, is the most convincing procedure to put a point across. Movies, documentaries and short films have a worldwide viewership catering to an audience across all social, creative and physical fragments. Audiences cherish animated movies for their craft and the simple, comforting entertainment they consistently provide.
The secret of Pixar’s story telling
Creating characters like Wall-E, Casper, and Ratatouille’s detailed surfaces combines art, science, math, and boundless imagination. Pixar Animation Studios excels at creating beloved animated characters that captivate audiences and inspire merchandise and dedicated fan communities. With hits like Toy Story, The Incredibles, Wall-E, and Finding Nemo, has defined animated movie excellence.
Pixar: Where Math Meets Art to Create Unforgettable Stories
Pixar’s motto, “Where story is king,” combines technology, science, and art to craft unforgettable, heartwarming scenes etched in memory. Pixar as an organization has believed in mathematics as an important element in the world of animated movies.
Pixar’s president, a computer scientist, envisioned using computer graphics to create groundbreaking animations and thoughtful, engaging stories. Tony DeRose left his tenured University of Washington position to join Pixar, inspired by using math to tell compelling stories.
Today’s animation industry widely uses mathematical tools like trigonometry, geometry, calculus, linear algebra, and numerical analysis. With advancing technologies, he foresees the implementation of better and novel mathematical concepts intertwined with pure art.
People in the organization have profound love for computer graphics. Danielle Feinberg, Pixar’s photography director, highlights lighting’s crucial role in enhancing the storytelling of animated movies. In her TED Talk, she explains Wall-E’s design using optical physics, with binoculars featuring triple-layered lenses.
The robot appeared too mechanical, lacking features or voice to express emotions, making it feel entirely non-human. Lighting was used at the right angle and intensity to make the lenses appear more like real eyes. Such is the magic of using science, technology and mathematics in letting lenses emote.
Light also plays a massive role in describing fine details in underwater scenes. In Finding Nemo, light was used to depict underwater currents and rays that dispersed to the sea bed. Global Illumination estimates light between points, considering factors like time, orientation, geography, and colors. This calculation is reiterated for every pair of points in the environment using integral calculus.
Mathematics creates your favourite characters
Mathematics enhances both the environment and characters, playing a key role in their creation. Pixar masters technical, creative, and production expertise to create intricate scenes through a seven-step process. Each scene in an animated movie is a product of a seven-step long and complex process.
The seven steps cover story/art, modeling, shading, layout, animation, effects, lighting, and rendering in movie production. The story is created using flash cards, scripts, and images, then modeled with characters and scenes. Sculptors and artists take days to sketch characters and environments corresponding to the scenes.
Scanning the 3D models along an X-Y-Z coordinate system digitizes the sculptures and designs, allowing rotation and viewing from any angle. Subdivision surfaces use vector and tensor design to efficiently represent complex shapes with smoothness in graphics. A simple split-and-average process animates these shapes into dynamic figures.
The appeal of “Cars” lies in using complex differential equations and coordinate geometry for their design. After animating scenes and models, artists adjust colors, textures, and lights to achieve a realistic, magical result. They render the finished scenes into a transitional reel of continuous frames, creating a movie for the audience.
Pixar’s lesser-known math wizards turn complex arithmetic, geometry, and theory into some of the world’s most beloved stories. This organization blends scientists, artists, and thinkers, as affirmed by a quote from Pixar’s co-founder.
“From the beginning, I kept saying it’s not the technology that’s going to entertain audiences, it’s the story. You don’t leave a great live-action film thinking, ‘That Panavision camera made the film so good. The computer is a tool, and it’s in the service of the story.“ —John Lasseter, co-founder of Pixar
