Time for action – adventuring with André and Wally B

This was Pixar's first animation. It was made in 1984. It was directed by John Lasseter, who had been a traditional cel animator at Walt Disney and was familiar with the standard animation principles. The modeling was very simple, and the storyline goes right back to the simplicity of Felix the Cat. So you can see, even successful and modern companies have learned from the old school, just as you're doing by reading this chapter. Here is where computer animators learned to use the same animation principles. Watch The Adventures of André and Wally B and observe how many of the principles that you can see are still in use:

1. Search on the Web for the term The Adventures of André and Wally B. YouTube, archive.org, or some other site should have the video.
2. Watch it now and enjoy it.
3. You learned about classic animation principles. What animation principles do you see being used?
4. Compare the color use and detailed backgrounds to what Triple I did.
5. Look at the trees, why are they all similar?
6. Compare how dynamic these characters are with Adam Powers by Triple I.
7. Often, animations have inside jokes. Did you notice the gloves on André's hands? Which other animated character wore gloves like that?

What just happened?

The Adventures of André and Wally B was a landmark film in a number of aspects. It took ten VAX-11/750 super-minicomputers and a Cray X-MP/48 supercomputer to render it out, and it was the first computer animation to use motion blur.

More importantly, it was the first computer animation to have used animation principles seriously. For example, in Squash and stretch—when Wally gets ready to chase André, he first squeezes front to back and then straightens out as he flies. Here is a list of the animation principles that were used in this film:

• Anticipation: Notice André's reaction as he first sees Wally B, but we don't.
• Staging: Notice the close up for their first encounter and then the long shot when Wally is chasing André.
• Straight ahead action and pose to pose: You can notice this when André is waking up.
• Follow through and overlapping action: Wally's feet are not attached, but they react to his motion. His wings move faster than his legs.
• Slow in and slow out: Note how André's eyes open and close as he is waking up.
• Arcs: When Wally goes to sting André, he does a barrel roll first.
• Secondary action: Wally moves in to threaten André, and André leans back in response.
• Timing: You can notice this when you see André quaking and then you see Wally for the first time.
• Exaggeration: You can notice this when Wally tweaks André's nose.
• Solid drawing: André and Wally seem to have real weight and mass.
• Appeal: Wally is cute.

The trees are an application of a master object and instance as invented by Ivan Sutherland. Their coloring sets the tone of the animation, and their smooth-rounded shapes contrast with the spiky-busy background. Those gloves on André's hands look suspiciously like Mickey Mouse's gloves.

You can see the difference between this and the Triple I animations. This animation was such a breakthrough that the Association of Computing Machinery had John Lasseter write a paper called Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation for the July 1987 issue of Computer Graphics.

Have a go hero – educating yourself about 3D animation

There are a lot of great animations to look at. You can never watch too many. If you have time, watch any Pixar short films you can find. You might also want to check out the following films for a better idea of the range of animation that was happening back then. Do you see differences in the animation styles of the Americans, the Europeans, and the Japanese?

VintageCG on YouTube has a good collection of early computer animation. Some of the titles are:

• MAGI Synthavision demo reel (1982), this was Triple I's main competitor. Both worked on Tron.
• Sogitec Showreel (1985), this is a European competitor. They used some of the equipment that Triple I built, but had their own studios.
• Japan Computer Graphics Lab (1985) shows what the Japanese were doing at that time.
• Stanley and Stella in Breaking the Ice (1987), the first animation with flocking behaviors to control the birds and fish.
• Reboot Intro (1994), this was the first half-hour TV show that was entirely computer generated.

Your greater understanding of animation will increase your ability to create it.

Back to the present

So far, we've studied the roots of animation and of computers. It's good to see that the great started humbly, and to see how things improved as they practiced. This gives us inspiration. It's the journey we are all on. The changes from Adam Powers to The Adventures of André and Wally B are impressive, as animation professionals moved in and showed the computer boys what using the principles of animation could do for their computer-generated animations.