The Story of PIXAR
Just Keep Swimming
LucasFilm
Birthed by renowned director and producer George Lucas, the organization that would eventually become Pixar was able to achieve success because of the patient and determined ownership Steve Jobs. In 1975, George Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic to create special effects for his epic Star Wars franchise.
The Graphics Group, one third of ILM, was asked to create state-of-the-art computer technology for LucasFilm and was launched in 1979 with the hiring of Dr. Ed Catmull, a man who dreamed of becoming a Disney animator.
A place at LucasFilm as part of the computer division was a dream to Catmull, and he could not deny the opportunity, so with him from the New York Institute of Technology came some of the best men in the industry, and thoether they would become the core group of Pixar. George Lucas enabled them to publish their research and tchnology, attracting some of the best people in the industry, including John Lasseteer, whose dream came true when he was hired as a Disney animator fresh out of the California Institute of the Arts.
He ardently tried to get Disney to adopt 3D anmation with no success, a disappointment that hung heavy on his shoulders. "So I followed my dream to work with one of the most amazing people I've ever known in my life-Ed Catmull," John Lasseter plainly stated. At LucasFilm, he was hired as an "Interface Designer," for Ed Catmull was not officially allowed to hire an animator, being they were not an animation department.
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