Chapter 114: Corporate reasons: pixar.
July 1.
The constant investments that Billy has been making, along with the injected income for the Pixar company, haven't provided a satisfactory amount of money for the people at Pixar. This is primarily due to all the investments in technology needed to improve the quality of computer animation and 3D designs, which require numerous upgrades.
Ed Camult has been working on a spatial assembly and modeling team for the first version of the characters. That's why he's in such an important meeting. This idea will only expedite modeling and 3D animation, which Pixar is eager to implement.
-So, I will consider investing 9 million dollars if you are willing to create software that allows for easier use of 3D animation modeling without incurring so many processes. In other words, let's optimize without sacrificing quality. The key is to automate the animation processes, from character movements to hair and clothing movement and texturing. Improving quality can be achieved through frame subdivision to give round or special shapes, - Billy said.
He knows a bit about what is currently impossible to achieve. Subdivision is a process of dividing an image into thousands of small squares or parts to create a chosen shape through modeling.
-The subdivision I'm talking about is dividing the rendered model into small images to achieve better shapes. This can improve character forms. We need to subdivide the model into rendered frames, -Billy explained.
-Well, we could implement some of that in small proportions for now. Let's focus on improving our optimization through annotations, - Ed Camult replied.
-I agree. Don't worry; I will make several necessary investments. The subsidiary companies have been doing well. For now, let's allocate all our resources to toys, textures, and character automation. If you want to hire more personnel, I have no problem with that, - Billy said.
-We can do that, but we'll need a lot of funds. Nine million won't be enough, - Alvy pointed out.
-Well, that's what I can invest this year, but if my resources improve, I will invest more money, as much as possible. But first, we need to address specific issues. I want us to focus on fixing general problems. If we create software that automates complicated processes, it will be easier for us, and perhaps we can save resources. However, I will invest as much money as possible. This film has to be a milestone in animation. If we have to invest more money, there's no doubt on my part, - Billy concluded.
Anne nearly banged her head against the wall. The discussion about being strong with the animators who had already spent $15 million and were still asking for more was getting tiresome.
-It's not that simple, young man. Right now, we have the RenderMan program, which allows us to model characters. And we have the Gepetto program, which helps us create models for situations like gestures and facial expressions. But this still needs a lot of work, - Ed Camult explained.
-I understand, but we can expand at a pace you deem appropriate. I'm just offering a path. If we can recreate motion without having to dwell too much on each step, and the software provides insight on how to do it, we won't need excessive movement. Plus, I'll be working with Stanford University in the future to recruit talent, and with a company you're familiar with to help improve our software. It's still in negotiations, but I plan to buy 60% of the company: Autodesk, - Billy said.
-You want to buy Autodesk? - Ed Camult questioned, surprised by the implications. This was a revelation, and Alvy also seemed curious about it.
-Yes, if we can have multiple workers refreshing our ideas! Just imagine the future solutions for our company. Sometimes, collaboration can give us better designs, - Billy replied.
The purchase price of Autodesk was nearly $50 million, so he could only bid for 60% of the company, with concessions like software exchange between Pixar and Autodesk for software improvement. The private purchase of 60% of the company cost $25 million. Autodesk's current annual revenue is $2-3 million, barely surviving in the job market. However, Billy is confident that some ideas, can improve Autodesk's prospects for the future.
-So, with the purchase of Autodesk, you want to establish a much smoother software collaboration between the companies. Improve the 3D animation model, and you plan to upgrade our computers with CGI, but the purchase price is too expensive. It's just a plan, - Billy explained to the people at Pixar.
Ed Camult was surprised because he understood all the challenges Billy was trying to tackle day by day. CGI could enhance their hardware, and better hardware provides better performance. This is a problem currently plaguing the company. If Billy is willing to invest this much money, it's because he truly wants to create a 3D animated movie, as they originally agreed upon in their negotiations.
-If that's the case, we'll wait until next year, - Ed Camult said, giving up the fight. He realized that the $9 million currently on offer was enough for this year and the next, and it was better not to be greedy.
-The purchase hasn't been finalized yet; there are a few minor things left to do. But by October, I think we can start the collaboration with Autodesk. I'm entirely optimistic, - Billy said.
Autodesk, as a company, has not yet expanded its services and only relies on the AutoCAD program. However, their computers haven't gained much fame in advanced countries, and their software, while excellent, hasn't gained too much popularity. That's why an alliance with Pixar, which creates interesting creation software, can help improve not only their 2D animation system but also their 3D animation processing.
-That's why we'll emphasize creating our software. We'll license the general features, but what will help us make the movies will be for us alone. We'll delay licensing programs as much as possible. Some products will be delayed as long as possible until we have better ones to license. But the 2D animation system we'll save for when my 2D movie is released, - Billy explained.
By seeing the quality of the movie used by Caps, people will become interested in the product, and the licensing fees can be raised to exorbitant prices.
-All right, let's wait as long as we can. The coming years will provide answers to our actions. Although we have improved the Caps program, I'll send a technician to patch your equipment, - Ed Camult said. They had expanded the program and unified some specific functions, such as using the scanner and applying more practical motion footage.
-Thank you; it would help me a lot with the movie. I'm still working on some scenes myself, - Billy said. He had dedicated himself to creating most of the backgrounds on acetate drawn with tempera, a technique he had learned from Hanna-Barbera, which had helped him with the backgrounds. Together with the Caps program, the first three minutes of the animated movie were already completed. They only needed to do the dubbing and production for those three minutes, but it was better to wait and do it at the end.
-Let's hope what we discussed in this meeting is sufficient, - Anne said. She reviewed the meeting agenda, crossing off points 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Only point 6 remained, but that would be discussed with Randal.
The three people from Pixar took a deep breath. Anne was known for being the one who filtered most requests and imposed most of the company's rules.
-Well, I think I'll go pay attention to the guys. We need to continue with the movie, - John Lasseter said. The movie "Toy Story" had been in the animation process for eleven months, and many errors had been corrected. With the scripts provided by Billy, the storyboards for each scene of the movie had been completed, along with character details and some full-color deliverables that portrayed the desired images. The movie had been improving steadily, much faster than expected. It was anticipated that most of the animation process would be completed by the end of 1992.
-I'll join you, John. I always like to see your team's work, - Billy said. He had recently requested a small pitbull and a certified police trainer for Pixar. Pixar's sweet mascot would be featured in the movie "Toy Story," and the trainer, curiously, was an animator with a special fondness for dogs. He had also been tasked with portraying the dog in the film.
Billy turned to Anne, who nodded. Two hours after the meeting, they would leave. For now, he wanted to watch these geniuses at work on character creation and learn some tricks from John's team.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
rollo1019to
rollo1019to I tagged this book, come and support me with a thumbs up!
Chapter 115: Behind the curtain of ID software.
-Good afternoon, Mr. Carson,- Alice said, looking particularly beautiful today. She had a hairpin in her hair, pulling it to one side, making her look especially charming. She wore a large pink jacket that reached down to her hips and tight jeans.
-You're the girl from the party, -- Richard Carson said, eyeing Alice from head to toe. -- Come in, you've arrived just in time for lunch. Billy is helping Helen set the table, - Richard added.
Alice felt somewhat nervous under the gaze of Mr. Thomas Carson. She entered and sat in the living room as discreetly as she could. Billy had mentioned that his family was quite traditional in many ways, so she decided to remain silently prudent, observing the minimalist decor of the house, with only a potted plant adorning one corner.
Thomas Carson continued reading the newspaper, going through the economic section, the legal section, and the national news of the week, this Sunday. He read quietly, occasionally taking a sip of his beer, while his father in the kitchen secretly swiped a few fries from Helen's pot.
Billy appeared at the door and smiled at Alice. -Hello, - he said, looking at the young woman and hugging her.
-Dad, you haven't met Alice yet, - Billy said, taking her by the waist.
-I haven't had the pleasure of meeting this young lady, - Thomas Carson said, shaking hands with the meek Alice, who was facing Billy's imposing father.
-It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carson. I'm Alice Davis, sir, - Alice responded.
-Well, come on, I'll take you upstairs; lunch is almost ready, - Billy said, leading Alice up the stairs to his room. Alice got a glimpse of the room and found Billy's Batman bed sheets quite cute.
-Here, - Billy said, handing her a silver bracelet, bought at a store in San Francisco shortly after the trip to Pixar to keep track of budget balances.
-Thank you, Billy, - Alice said, somewhat enchanted and moved by the thoughtful gesture. She put the bracelet on almost instinctively.
-Well, that's not all. I bought you some comics to read during your free afternoons in Berkeley—The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Iron Giant, - Billy said, holding up the books on his desk, which secretly contained a few dedications on some pages.
-Thank you, - Alice said, feeling even more overwhelmed this time. She hadn't brought anything, and now she felt terrible about it.
-Let's go; my grandpa should be complaining right about now about how his grandson has decided to ignore him, - Billy said.
-Yeah, - Alice replied, following him from a distance, still thinking about the details of Billy's gestures.
Only Billy could think of such rewards for the poor girl who insisted on coming to his house. Although Alice wouldn't be too far from San Jose, Berkeley was only two and a half hours away, very close to Pixar Studios. But it wasn't a short trip, so her parents had encouraged her to stay in the university dormitory.
-Come this way, - Billy said.
The table was set, and his grandmother was still doing the dishes. His father was already at the table, while his grandfather remained in total silence, ignoring Billy and Alice; each one was lost in their world.
-Finally, you're here, my dear. We were waiting for you, - Helen said, eyeing Alice up and down with a furrowed brow. She didn't say anything, though.
The meal was comfortably quiet for all the Carsons except Alice, who came from a livelier household. She tried her best to follow all the manners she had been taught, but the sauce-covered meat ended up smearing her right cheek. In contrast, Richard, who was eating with fervent hunger, hadn't gotten a speck of sauce on his face.
Billy could only wipe her face, leaving Alice with rosy cheeks from embarrassment at the intimate gesture in front of his family. -- You have some sauce on your cheek, -- Billy said before returning to his meal. Alice's blood was boiling, but she simply nodded in response to Billy's unusual attention.
At one point, during the meal, his father received a phone call. He quickly picked up the phone, and upon hearing some words, he stood up urgently from the table, pushing his chair back with a forceful shove, leaving everyone at the table.
From his office, Thomas Carson received news about the game progress sent for distribution by the ID Software team. Together with Pixar, they managed to complete the game in record time.
-I'm glad to hear that, - Thomas said over the phone.
-We've sent different test versions to the companies. They will do the final testing before releasing the product. For now, only Sega has confirmed, and of course, we'll handle the distribution of the game for computers, - said Brian Rilley, one of the four programmers on the team.
-What pleasant news! Regarding the PC distribution, will it proceed? - Thomas asked.
-Oh, John Romero explained that computer games have a limited niche, so we'll be selling through a small PC game distributor. The deal is already in place, and we trust that they will fulfill their promise to distribute it far and wide across the country. While we don't expect high PC sales, we believe that the major console companies will perform better, - Brian Rilley said.
-Have you spoken with Anne? - Thomas inquired.
-Yes, I have. She instructed me to deliver the news to you, and with Sega's approval, the other console companies will likely follow suit. The next step is to establish ourselves as a brand, - Brian Rilley replied.
-Well, Mr. Rilley, in five days, my son will be traveling to Texas to hand over the next project. You can start your vacations for now, but I recommend improving the game engine in the meantime. My son mentioned that the next game will be more complex, and we'll be hiring two or three people. If you have any recommendations, feel free to share them, - Thomas stated.
-Of course, Mr. Carson, I won't hesitate. I'll send a message to Romero and Carmack; they started their own game prematurely, - Brian Rilley said.
-Have a great day, Mr. Rilley, - Thomas concluded, returning to his meal. He didn't receive any calls from Mr. Davis; it seemed that Joe Murrey couldn't attend the meeting.
Meanwhile
-Likewise, Mr. Carson, - Brian Rilley said from his chair. His wife, Alexa Rilley, had overheard the entire conversation and flashed him a smile.
-You heard it, dear. Start buying the tickets for next Sunday. We're heading to the coast of Greece in a few days, - Brian said.
-Yes! - his wife exclaimed with joy. Since they started working for this company, all their problems have been resolved, from their weekly salary to their vacation time. The companies they used to work for were strict and competed for short delivery deadlines that left them exhausted.
-I'll be focusing on improving the game engine. There were a couple of things that we could implement for the characters. Billy Carson mentioned something about automating movements and optimizing code and resources, - Brian mentioned.
Alexa leaned in to give him a farewell kiss.
-Darling, I'll make sure to arrive and assist you. I'll do the shopping and buy the tickets for Greece, - Alexa said, bidding goodbye to Brian.
Brian was a true methodist; his talent lay in executing tasks rather than inventing things. He found inventing to be quite challenging, but his methodical approach made him a genuine programmer. He could accomplish anything given time and study. He was twice as dedicated as his wife, and, most importantly, he could identify errors in minutes.
With his work clear and explicit, he refined the code for the products he wanted. Billy, with his various systems and ideas, such as the straightforward concept of online connectivity, presented revolutionary ideas. However, expressing these ideas was one thing; realizing them was not simple. Brian's talent lay in methodically following each step to address all the errors, like a binary machine. He provided answers, although they weren't always correct. But by fixing the issues through sequence adjustments, only by correcting them, could you reach the desired end goal.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
rollo1019to
rollo1019to
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
29 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment