Pixar Image Computer
Developer | Pixar |
---|---|
Manufacturer | Pixar |
Type | Image processing |
Release date | July 24, 1986 |
Units sold | Fewer than 300 |
The Pixar Image Computer is a graphics computer originally developed by the Graphics Group, the computer division of
History
Creation
When George Lucas recruited people from NYIT in 1979 to start their Computer Division, the group was set to develop digital optical printing, digital audio, digital non-linear editing and computer graphics.[1] Computer graphics quality was just not good enough due to technological limitations at the time. The team then decided to solve the problem by starting a hardware project, building what they would call the Pixar Image Computer, a machine with more computational power that was able to produce images with higher resolution.[2]
Availability
About three months after their acquisition by
In 1987, Pixar redesigned the machine to create the P-II second generation machine, which sold for $30,000.
In 1988, Pixar began the development of the PII-9, a nine slot version of the low cost P-II. This machine was coupled with a very early
Demise and legacy
In 1990, the Pixar Image Computer was defining the state-of-the-art in commercial image processing. Despite this, the government decided that the per-seat cost was still too high for mass deployment and to wait for the next generation systems to achieve cost reductions. This decision was the catalyst for Pixar to lay off its hardware engineers and sell the imaging business. There were no high volume buyers in any industry. Fewer than 300 Pixar Image Computers were ever sold.[8]
"It was built to be part of a pipeline, but as we developed it we realized we were competing with Moore's law with CPU and we probably couldn't get far enough ahead of it to justify it so we actually stopped the hardware effort."
— Ed Catmull, [9]
The Pixar computer business was sold to Vicom Systems in 1990 for $2,000,000. Vicom Systems filed for
Many of the lessons learned from the Pixar Image Computer made it into the Low Cost Workstation (LCWS) and Commercial Analyst Workstation (CAWS) program guidelines in the early and mid 1990s. The government mass deployment that drove the PII-9 development occurred in the late 1990s, in a program called Integrated Exploitation Capability (IEC).
Design
The P-II could have two Channel Processors, or Chaps. The chassis could hold 4 cards. The PII-9 could hold 9 cards (4 Chaps, 2 video processors, 2 Off Screen Memory (OSM) cards, and an Overlay Board for the NeWS windowing system). NeWS was extended to control the image pipeline for roaming, image comparison, and stereo image viewing.
Each Chap is a 4-way parallel (
A
Use
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2020) |
In the early 1990s, the Pixar Computer was used for medical imaging, including MRI and CT scans at Georgetown University[8] and mammography at University of California.[13]
Walt Disney Feature Animation, whose parent company later purchased Pixar in 2006,[14] used dozens of the Pixar Image Computers for their Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) and was using them in production up through Pocahontas in 1995.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "John Lasseter on Pixar's early days -- and how 'Toy Story' couldn't have happened without Tim Burton". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- ^ a b John Celestri (3 September 2011). "John The Animator Guy". johncelestri.blogspot.com. Retrieved 22 April 2015. [self-published source?]
- ^ Winter, Christine (10 February 1986). "Pixar May Be The New Apple Of Jobs' Eye". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- CNet.
- ^ ISBN 0-7679-0432-X.
- ^ Isaacson, Walter (2011). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster.
- ^ "Pixar Image Computer".
- ^ a b c "Pixar Image Computer". Rhode Island Computer Museum. Archived from the original on 9 March 2020.
- ^ "Pixar's RenderMan turns 25". 25 July 2013. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
- S2CID 18834615.
- )
- ^ Barbara Robertson (June 1986). "Pixar Goes Commercial in a new Market" (PDF). Computer Graphics World. pp. 61–70. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- .
- ^ La Monica, Paul R. (25 Jan 2006). "Disney buys Pixar". CNN Money. Retrieved 2017-04-25.