Mythbusters' Tested Blog recently posted a special feature from the Toy Story 2 DVD, in which Pixar's Oren Jacob and Galyn Susman recounted how the files for the movie (just 10gb of data!) were almost lost due to both an erroneous Linux command and a bad backup. The folks at The Next Web: Media followed up with Mr. Jacob, and learned that the movie was actually tossed out and reworked from scratch again nine months prior to a release date that was set in stone, not by the computers, but by the filmmakers themselves: How Pixar’s Toy Story 2 was deleted twice, once by technology and again for its own good.
posted by zarq on May 20, 2012 - 63 comments

Monet - the web experience.
posted by Miko on Aug 17, 2011 - 21 comments

Train of Thought is a short film in paper by Leo Bridle and Ben Thomas. Although it used digital compositing software, all the animation and models were done by hand, not with CGI. The film took approximately nine months to complete, from storyboards through to the final edit. [HD on Vimeo]
posted by netbros on Jan 1, 2011 - 9 comments

Triangulation Blog is done by industrial designer, art director Emilio Gomariz, and covers photography, art installations, product design, architecture, animation, technological and digital projects. Gomariz also does Base Times Height Divided By 2, an experimental, scientific and technologic extension of Triangulation Blog.
posted by netbros on Oct 25, 2010 - 4 comments

Vancouver Film School students create a portfolio project or demo reel for graduation designed to demonstrate their creative and technical abilities to potential employers and collaborators. Among the many great samples, I dig Rain Crowds in the 3D animation category, Dance! in classic animation, and Border in digital character animation. But there are literally hundreds to choose from, so please enjoy.
posted by netbros on May 26, 2010 - 7 comments

Five years before Toy Story proved to the world that pure CGI -- a field long relegated to the role of special effects -- could be an art form in its own right, Odyssey Productions attempted to do the same on a slightly smaller scale. Drawing on the demo reels, commercials, music videos, and feature films of over 300 digital animators, the studio collated dozens of cutting-edge clips into an ambitious 40-minute art film called The Mind's Eye. Backed by an eclectic mix of custom-written electronic, classical, oriental, and tribal music, the surreal, dreamlike imagery formed a rough narrative in eight short segments that illustrated the evolution of life, technology, and human society: Creation - Civilization Rising - Heart of the Machine - Technodance - Post Modern - Love Found - Leaving the Bonds of Earth - The Temple - End credits (including names and sources for all clips used). But that was just the beginning... [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Apr 25, 2010 - 62 comments

Dreaming Methods — Atmospheric digital fiction projects designed to be experienced on a computer with the lights down and your sound turned up. Use the mouse to pan around and interact. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 1, 2010 - 8 comments

ReBoot's back! A new online comic book is now available*, and three feature-length films are in development. Remarkably, the comic was developed as a combined effort between producers and fans; fans voted on five different stories and even contributed art. ReBoot was one of the first TV shows to feature 100% digital animation and has a warm place in the hearts of many children of the 90s.
* sign-up required and their web-viewer is a pain, be warned.
posted by PercussivePaul on May 30, 2008 - 28 comments

Oh, yeah. Reboot!, truly one of the geek shows of all time, is returning Fall 2001. Two made-for-television moives have been in production forever. But, now this: not movies, but a freaking full 13 episode season! With talk of another 13 after that! And a season-ending musical number! Fall 2001 can't come soon enough. Reboot! is a Canadian production; anyone know about US release dates and network? (more inside)
posted by mrmorgan on Dec 13, 2000 - 29 comments