News and details on Toy Story 2 - most recent articles at the top
- MAGAZINE COVERAGE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
There is a 5 page article in Computer Graphics World, November 1999
detailing Toy Story 2. Some of it's technical content has been included
here.
- COMPLEXITY OF TOY STORY 2
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
"Toy Story 2 is twice as complex as A Bug's Life, which was 10
times more complex than Toy Story," says Ed Catmull, Pixar's founder and
chief technology officer.
- PRODUCTION PIPELINE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Pixar used Alias Wavefront's Alias Studio for modeling, Interactive
Effects' Amazon Paint for painting, and a host of custom software for such
taks as modelling, animation, and compositing. Rendering performed using
Renderman.
- PIXAR'S RENDERFARM
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Pixar's Renderfarm running on Sun machines has now grown to
1400 processors. Toy Story 2 pushed the farm to the limit.
- NUMBER FRAMES IN MOVIE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
There are 122,699 frames in the movie.
- RENDERING TIMES PER FRAME
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Ranged from 10 minutes to three days
- FRAME SIZE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Up to 4Gb
- FASTEST OUTPUT IN ONE WEEK
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
14,880 frames of animation
- ANIMATION TIMELINE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Animation on Toy Story was finished in August. Movie released
on 24 November 1999.
- CHARACTER LIST IN MOVIE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Wheezy - an asthmatic toy penguin with a broken squeaker.
Buster - the family dachshund.
Al - of Al's Toy Barn, a broker of toy collections.
Jesse - a cowgirl from Woody's Roundup.
Pete - a prospector from Woody's Roundup.
Bullseye - Woody's horse from Woody's Roundup.
- AL'S MODEL FILE SIZE
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
"If I had to make a rough guess, I'd say that all the source files
that make him up come to 200Mb. Woody is about a tenth of that"
Eben Ostby, modelling supervisor.
- AL'S SKIN
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Subdivision-surface technology was used to create the skin for Al.
The skin was specified using a giant Renderman shader that could create
such skin characteristics as pores, blotchiness, veins, shininess, sweat,
and even whiskers that the shader could grow procedurally.
- AL'S HAIR
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Some hair is modelled using geometry, using an Alias plugin. This
plugin allows the TDs to specify guide hairs for the look and movement of
thousands of hairs once rendered. For other sections of hair, texture
maps are used.
- HUMAN CLOTHES
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
A full dynamic cloth simulation was not developed. Instead the cloth
was sculpted into place. It was decided to model the creases and folds
for certain poses, then use shape interpolation between the changes in
position.
- GEOMETRY, GEOMETRY, GEOMETRY
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Galyn Susman, supervising technical director "In a Bug's Life, the
complexity was in the surfaces. In Toy Story 2 the complexity is in the
geometry". The two most geometrically-complex scenes take place in
downtown and in an airport.
- GEOMETRY IN DOWNTOWN
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Every block had 10 trees or more, every tree has thousands of leaves,
every car has one or two people, and every person has thousands of hairs.
Then there are buildings, grates, stoplights, and parking meters. The
buildings have facets and windows with dirt on them. "None of it is fake,
it's all geometry - Galyn Susman, supervising technical director.
- OBJECT COUNT
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
To create Toy Story the studio used 366 objects. In Toy Story 2 there
are approximately 1200 models that range in size from a pencil to
an airport.
- GEPPETTO
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
To help the animators create performances for the extras, the R&D
department developed new articulation controls for the models. Called
"Geppetto" the software evolves from Pixar's proprietary "PET" (Patch
Editing Tool) technology.
"Gepetto is a way of grouping points and tying an articulated variable
to them", explains Susman. "It gives us a way to build armatures and
transfer them from character and to define what happens procedurally."
With Geppetto, a modeller could import an entire armature to another
human, and it would need only fine-tuning to accommodate different sizes.
- RECREATING THE 1950s
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
To recreate a television shot from Woody's TV show in the 1950s, the
required animation was rendered in colour, converted to NTSC
black-and-white video, then run through a compositor to add jitter,
negative scratches, hair, coffee stains, scan lines, video bloom, and
static. The result is warped to fit onto the television screen Woody is
watching.
- DUST WITH NO PARTICLES
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
The dust on Wheezy's shelf is created using millions of pieces of
stuff - not particles. In fact there are 2.4 million pieces of
stuff, including tiny "hairs" - two-or-three pixel-wide flecks, and little
spheres.
- COMPLEX SPACE SEQUENCES
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
In one shot, Buzz is surrounded by 280,000 individual articulated
robots all shooting at him at the same time.
- IF FAR AWAY, DON'T DRAW
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
Pixar developed a scheme for optimising production including
automatically generating details depending on how close a model is to the
camera. "A human might have 200,000 hairs, but if the camera is very
close or very faw away, you only need to use 500".
- DIGITAL COLOUR TIMING
Source: Computer Graphics World, November 1999
"When we did the first Toy Story, we had the idea that once we were in
production, we wouldn't change software" Ed Catmull says. "It turns out
that's incorrect. We have to change. So we worked out methods for
allowing that change."
- MORE TOY STORY 2 GAME DETAILS
Source: GameOver, .tv, 11th November 1999
The Toy Story 2 game will be in the style of a 3D adventure where the
gamer moves around and sees the world from a toy's perspective.
- CHARACTER INFO
Source: Melanie Schneitkart, 14th January 1999
There may be a troll character in the movie.
- TOY STORY 2 GAME
Source: Arcade Magazine, page 17, December 1998
There is a Toy Story 2 game in development.
- CHARACTER INFO
Source: Rowena Mather, Toy Story fan, September 21st 1998
There are characters in Toy Story 2 called Prospector and Senorita
Cactus involved and Emperor Zurg is also in it. There are new people
providing voices and they are David Odgen Stiers, Joan Cusack, Estelle Harris
and Wayne Knight. Woody's horse is called Bullseye.
- PLOT DETAILS
Source: Rowena Mather, Toy Story fan, June 1st 1998
The name of the obsessive collector is Al. He steals Woody because he is worth lots
of money and Al wants to sell him as a museum piece! Andy's gone away to summer camp
at the time and the other toys need to rescue Woody before Andy gets home.
- TOYS R BACK
Source: The Times, Metro Supplement, page 9, February 21-27th
1998
"To infinity and beyond!". In a break with tradition, Disney has
announced a cinema sequel to its 1995 computer graphics hit,
Toy Story. Up to now the animation studio has viewed follow-ups as a strictly straight-to-video business, a strategy which
paid off with scaled-down but commerically successful continuations of Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. Toy
Story 2 was conceived to be one of those video blockbusters, but Disney bosses are so thriled with early rushes they have
insisted the feature-length toon be re-thought as a theatrical release for Christmas 1999. Tom Hanks will once again provide the
vocals for the churlish cowboy doll Woody, who this time gets kidnapped by an obsessive collector, prompting a rescuse bid by
nice-but-dim Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang from the toy box.
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Most images can be clicked on for a larger version
Image of Al McWhiggin showing his complex skin including five o'clock
shadow, blotchy skin, a small scar, whiteheads, and hair.
Covered with dust, Wheezy tells Woody that he's been forgotten. The dust
is geometry, not a particle effect.
Lighting conditions in Toy Story 2 range from bright daylight to nighttime
scenes such as the one in which Buzz and the toys race to Woody's rescue
in a Pizza Planet truck.
Buzz planning Woody's rescue.
To create a crisp leading edge on the glowing engery balls, the effects
team blurred the objects one-half frame backward in time.
The light shining on Woody's face emulates the particular color of light
emitted from a black-and-white TV set in the 1950s.
An image showing yellow printed material, little stratches, and paint worn
off metal surfaces.
A collection of characters from Toy Story 2.
Andy's toys on the way to Al's Toy Barn.
An image of Woody.
Toy Story 2 storyboard sketch. From Bill Malloy
Toy Story 2 storyboard sketch. From Bill Malloy
Another Toy Story 2 Picture. From Bill Malloy
High Resolution still from Toy Story 2. From Bill Malloy, Paul Smith, and Sam
Click to enlarge to full size
A little more information
Pencil Sketch of Buzz Lightyear. From Bill Malloy
Pencil Sketch of Mr and Mrs Potato-head. From Bill Malloy
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