The video episodes of Pixar in a Box demonstrate how Pixar animators use concepts from computer science and math to bring a story and characters drawn on paper to life.
Included in the self-paced curriculum are Rigging, which shows how controls make characters move; Environment Modeling, where parabolic arcs create the blades of grass in “Brave”; Character Modeling, showing how weighted averages help turn clay models into digital characters; Animation, the fine art of curves; Crowds, which explores how “combinatorics” can create swarms of characters; Sets & Staging, with geometry allowing for the building of virtual sets; and Rendering, showing how algebra allows pixels to be painted.
Just add time, work and creativity, and you’re on your way!
Here’s a quick overview …
Image: Courtesy Pixar/Khan Academy