To infinity and beyond!

This famous quote most likely brings back

memories of your favorite childhood movie, featuring a witty cowboy and
an over-confident space ranger, who come to life when human backs are
turned. Produced in 1995, Toy Story is more than just an entertaining
movie. It is a revolutionary landmark in both the field of animation and
film. As the first feature film released to use only computer-generated
imagery (CGI), it would not have been possible without Ed Catmull, a
true revolutionary who deserves a place in the Revolutionary Hall of
Fame, because his invention of CGI continues to change the world of
animation.
Before computer animation, a film consisted of millions of hand
drawn frames. Animators had to draw hundreds of the exact same
drawing with slight modifications just to produce a simple movement,
such as walking. Not only do you need a whole team of professionals,
you need a HUGE piggy bank. Ed Catmull however would change all
this.
As a child, Catmull dreamed of becoming an animator for Disney.
However, there was one obstacle holding him back from achieving his
goal. He lacked the ability to draw. Instead, Catmull turned his
interests to computer graphics in hopes that one day computer graphics
could create a full length film.
In 1972, Catmull took the opportunity to create a computer
animated short film for his graduation course, despite that it would take
years for computer technology to advance to the complexity of Catmulls
ambitions. Nevertheless, Catmull created the Z-Buffer, a way for a
computer to trace the depth of three-dimensional objects. According to
Pixar Wiki, The machine could determine which parts of the object are
hidden from view by other objects, but should be visible. In addition, he
also invented Texture Mapping, where two-dimensional images can be
applied to the surface of three-dimensional objects, allowing the object to
take on looks such as wood, steel, cement etc. He used his new
inventions to create a short film entitled A Computer Animated Hand
which was a major breakthrough in animation. This proves that Ed
Catmull is a true revolutionary, because his invention of CGI positively
changed the process of animation.
With Catmulls invention of CGI, he went before The Walt Disney
Company to try to persuade them into using computer generated
animation for their upcoming film. Unfortunately, the Disney
Management was not interested at the time. Instead of relying on Disney
for a career, Catmull founded Computer Graphics Lab, which was later
bought in 1986 by Apple-Co Founder Steve Jobs and renamed
Pixar. Before Catmull knew it, CGI was quickly taking the world of
entertainment by storm. According to Lets-Be-Art-Ticculate, Two recent
hand-drawn movies, The Princess Frog, and Winnie The Pooh, together
grossed about $300 million dollars. But that was nothing compared to
the CGI movies Bolt and Tangled which together grossed about $500
million dollars. Not only do CGI movies bring in more money, they are
also cheaper to produce, and take half as long to create, compared to
traditional hand drawn animation. This means that all these movie
companies can produce way more movies in a short time for little cost.
And what does more movies mean? More money being raked in by the
billion to these companies. Catmulls Z-Buffer and Texture Mapping not
only made the movie process conventional, he introduced types of
money movie companies had never seen before.

Some might say this breakthrough for computer generated films
has caused traditional hand drawn animation to become a dying art
form. According to Lets-Be-Art-Ticculate, The road Runner was my
favorite, followed by Tom and Jerry, and Snow White was my favorite
Disney Princess. All animated. What do you see now-a-days when you
go to a kids movie? Some computer animated cartoon. What happened
to traditional cartoon animation? Money. However, Catmull created the
CGI movie franchise, and made creating an animated movie that much
easier. According to Lets-Be-Art-Ticculate, Traditional cartoon
animation takes a team of professional clean-up artists, painters,
directors, backgound artists and film/crew. Not to mention it takes twice
as long because every drawing/painting needs to be hand drawn as
individual frames. Even though traditional animation has become less
popular over the years, CGI doesnt require the team of professionals
that the traditional form does, which makes its production cheaper.

In conclusion, Ed Catmull was a true revolutionary. His invention of
the Z-Buffer and Texture Mapping changed the world of animation. He
made the movie process cheaper, more conventional, and more popular.
Catmull has won four Academy Awards for his hard work, and with now
all animators relying on his continuous inventions, Catmulls boundaries
are infinite.