As
co-founder of Sidley Wright & Associates, one of the most
interesting projects was the development of one of the first digital
ink and paint systems outside of Disney. The purpose was to give
an "added value" to the company in addition to the
3D animation and 2D compositing services already
offered. The Pixar computer had been adopted as the compositing
engine of choice because
it produced by far the highest quality and resolution composites
available at the time and was well suited to feature film work.
By writing custom software, cel animation line art could be scanned
on a flatbed scanner then digitally "inked and painted"
on a computer workstation then
composited on the Pixar computer and filmed out on 35mm film. This
was a bold innovation that meant
for the first time digital effects could be mixed into a classically
animated feature film. Keep in mind this is in 1991, years before
digital effects had become common.
The first animated feature film to take advantage of this new process
was Bill Kroyer's "FernGully: the Last Rainforest".
Over 30 digital effects shots were produced for FernGully with
all of the animation digitally inked and painted, composited on
the
Pixar, and filmed out on a Solitaire Cine III film recorder. The
next feature film project was Turner Film's "The Pagemaster"
which featured very complex multi-layer shots that were impossible
to do with conventional "cartoon cameras". Digital
effects shots for three more feature films, over a dozen animated
television
commercials as well as the animated video "Mortal Kombat: The
Journey Begins" were created with the proprietary digital ink
and paint software.
As
co-founder of Sidley Wright & Associates, one of the most
interesting projects was the development of one of the first digital
ink and paint systems outside of Disney. The purpose was to give
an "added value" to the company in addition to the
3D animation and 2D compositing services 
already
offered. The Pixar computer had been adopted as the compositing
engine of choice because
it produced by far the highest quality and resolution composites
available at the time and was well suited to feature film work.
By writing custom software, cel animation line art could be scanned
on a flatbed scanner then digitally "inked and painted"
on a computer workstation then
composited on the Pixar computer and filmed out on 35mm film. This
was a bold innovation that meant
for the first time digital effects could be mixed into a classically
animated feature film. Keep in mind this is in 1991, years before
digital effects had become common.
The first animated feature film to take advantage of this new process
was Bill Kroyer's "FernGully: the Last Rainforest".
Over 30 digital effects shots were produced for FernGully with
all of the animation 
digitally inked and painted, composited on
the
Pixar, and filmed out on a Solitaire Cine III film recorder. The
next feature film project was Turner Film's "The Pagemaster"
which featured very complex multi-layer shots that were impossible
to do with conventional "cartoon cameras". Digital
effects shots for three more feature films, over a dozen animated
television
commercials as well as the animated video "Mortal Kombat: The
Journey Begins" were created with the proprietary digital ink
and paint software.