NARRATOR:
Sculptures like these, called maquettes, are key to developing the look of a character.
John Lasseter, Creative head of Pixar Studios:
JOHN LASSETER: Once we get drawings that we like, it's really important to take a look at the character in 3-D because that's the way he is going to appear on the screen.
NARRATOR:
With maquettes, the artists can check a character from every angle.
In the central black panel here, the head at the upper left is Woody from Toy Story. In this early version, he’s a ventriloquist’s dummy – you can tell by the slots in his chin. And that big guy at the upper right is his astronaut friend, Buzz Lightyear. This was the final model used for the film.
The pencil line grids can be used as guides for creating models in the computer. Each place the lines cross becomes a point that animators can move around to make a character smile or swim, frown or fly.
JOHN LASSETER: No one ever looks at a drawing created by pencil and thinks that the pencil created that. But when people look at computer work, they often think the computer created it. It is just not true.
NARRATOR: The exhibition continues downstairs.
