Pacific Data Images
Encyclopedia
Pacific Data Images is a computer animation
production company
that was bought by DreamWorks SKG
. The company is now known as PDI/DreamWorks and is half of DreamWorks Animation SKG
, Inc., the public company formed by merging PDI and the feature animation division of DreamWorks.
PDP 11/44 with 128 kilobytes of memory. This was a lot of memory given that the computer had only 64 kilobytes (16-bits) of address space. It had a 20 megabyte disk. Attached to this was a $65,000 framebuffer which had a resolution of 512×512 and was 32 bits deep.
The first 3D image rendered at PDI was done on March 12, 1982. The image was simply a 4 by 4 by 4 grid of spheres of varying colors. The spheres were not polygonal, they were implicitly rendered and were fully anti-aliased. The resulting image was 512 by 480 by 24 (8 bits for red, green and blue channels) which took 2 minutes to render.
The PDP-11 was soon replaced by a DEC VAX-11/780 and later PDI shifted to another superminicomputer called the Ridge32. This machine was 2–4 times faster than the VAX-11/780 at a fraction of the cost.
The original in-house software evolved into a large suite of tools which included a polygon scan-line renderer (called p2r), an interactive animation program (called e_motion), an animation scripting / scene-description language (called script) and a lighting tool (called led). All of these tools were written in C and deployed on a variety of machines running various flavors of Unix.
The initial investment to start the company was $250,000, about $600,000 in 2005 dollars. Its original offices were in Sunnyvale, California working out of a garage owned by Carl's father. PDI moved to its first real offices in 1985 (Sunnyvale), to its second offices in 1995 (Palo Alto) and to its current location in Redwood City in 2002. The growth of the company was financed solely through profit. The company was run as an open book, monthly financial reviews were shared with the entire company and a detailed monthly financial report was released. Money was never taken out of the company which maintained a 7% investment in R&D. PDI was debt-free when acquired by DreamWorks in 2000. This was quite an accomplishment for a low margin service business with a lot of risk.
PDI's first client was Rede Globo
, Brazil's largest TV network. This gave PDI the major client they needed to fund the building of most of the early software. This also sent PDI into the business of TV motion graphics and logo animation (flying logos). PDI designed some early show openings and other special projects for Rede Globo. The software written was also given to Rede Globo and is the only time the in-house software was given to another company. The contract ended in the mid-1980s, but Rede Globo continued to use the software for many years.
Most of the 1980s were spent creating broadcast graphics for most television networks around the world. PDI was working concurrently for ABC
, CBS
, NBC
, HBO, Cinemax
, MTV
, VH1
, TNT
and Showtime. PDI focused on direct to video production as opposed to film output being done at other early studios. PDI modified the interface to a Sony BVH-2000 using parts put together from a trip to a toy store in order to do single-frame recording. All the rendering was done on fields
at 60 or 50 frames per second (depending of the video broadcasting standard used locally).
PDI controlled a large percentage of this market during this time and they were really the first mass producer of computer animation. One year producing two major networks' graphics packages meant specifically rendered images for over 400 local television stations. Some of the early production contracts included Globo, Entertainment Tonight (produced for Harry Marks), ABC Sports 84 Olympic promos, and NBC News.
PDI planned and proposed a feature-length CG animation film in 1985. Unfortunately, they were unable to raise the funding needed to produce it.
While not the first computer graphics studio founded, PDI is the longest lasting. It has outlived all the other studios which existed in the early 1980s. Of the many reasons for this, one is that PDI never went into significant debt by purchasing expensive hardware. While other studios purchased Cray supercomputers, PDI only bought cheaper hardware, treating it as a commodity which would soon be replaced, enabling lower operating costs.
During these years of transition, PDI moved away from the motion graphics market and focused their attention on commercials and 3D visual effects for feature films. Notable among the commercials was the first Pillsbury Doughboy
created in CG. Pillsbury was the first company to move an established icon to CG. Before this, all previous animated commercials were done with stop-motion. Other notable commercials include the "Bud Bowl" and "Scrubbing Bubbles" spots.
Early in the 1990s, Thaddeus Beier and Shawn Neely developed a method for morphing
that resulted in a much more natural and expressive morph. This technique is called "feature-based morphing". PDI used this technology to create various well-known sequences, including the Exxon
car-into-tiger morph and the extended morph at the end of the "Black or White" music video from Michael Jackson
. These morphing jobs were very easy to do with PDI's software and the effect was in high demand. The algorithms invented by Beier and Neely were published at the annual SIGGRAPH conference and are now the basis of most image morphing tools. For many people, their first exposure to these algorithms was the SGI IRIX software called "Elastic Reality".
PDI broke into the feature film visual effects business with contributions to Batman Forever, The Arrival, Terminator 2, Toys, and Angels in the Outfield. At the time, the strengths of PDI included character animation, lip synch, rendering effects, the aforementioned rig removal and cleanup, and performance animation.
During this era PDI transitioned from the Ridge32 computer to SGI workstations running IRIX. They were not alone in this transition as most of the industry followed suit.
and Rex Grignon officially formed PDI's Character Animation Group with the mandate to develop a group of artists with the creative and technical skills needed to produce a feature-length CG-animated film. The group originally consisted of Johnson, Grignon, Raman Hui
, Glenn McQueen
, Beth Hofer, Dick Walsh, Karen Schneider and Eric Darnell
. Under the auspices of the group, PDI's commercial character animation skills grew and numerous notable short films were produced. Among these are Gas Planet (1992), Sleepy Guy, Bric-a-Brac (1994), Gabola the Great (1997), Fishing and Fat Cat on a Diet.
This character group set the company off in a fun new direction that set the basis for development goals during this period. The shorts (short films) were a way to develop animation techniques as well as being a test bed for software and pipeline procedures and flow.
PDI has always allowed animators to pursue individual products and shorts. This has produced several award-winning short films in this category. Some of the more notable productions are Opera Industrial (1986), Chromosaurus, Cosmic Zoom, Burning Love (1988), and Locomotion (1989).
By 1992, PDI was seriously looking for a partner to produce feature-length animated films. PDI's first CG feature was planned in 1985, and Hollywood was still not ready to say "Yes". PDI landed the "Last Halloween
" TV special which won them an Emmy Award for the CG characters in the otherwise live-action special with Hanna-Barbera. This turned into PDI's first 3D Character Animation pipeline in 1991. Using this pipeline they did a 3D stereo Daffy Duck for Warner Brothers and a CG Homer and Bart Simpson for the 1995 The Simpsons
Halloween episode "Homer3".
The result of all these projects was, finally, a movie deal with DreamWorks SKG in 1995 to make the movie Antz
. At this time DreamWorks purchased a 40% share of PDI.
Glen Entis left PDI for the game industry in 1995, first joining DreamWorks Interactive as CEO. When Electronic Arts purchased DreamWorks Interactive, he moved to their Vancouver office to set up their next-generation games research group. He is a founding board member of Los Angeles' Digital Coast Roundtable, and is chairman of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
, a former member of The Mill
in London
and a CGI
veteran, founded PDI's layout department. The layout department produced PDI's first feature film Antz
which was released by Dreamworks Pictures in 1998. This was followed by Shrek
in 2001. The layout department is now a major part of the PDI/DreamWorks film making process.
After the success of Antz, Carl Rosendahl sold in 2000 his remaining interest in PDI to DreamWorks. PDI was renamed to PDI/DreamWorks and continued to operate as a stand-alone business unit. He left PDI in February 2000 to become managing director for Mobius Venture Capital, a board member of iVAST, an MPEG4 software company, and several other Bay Area technology firms. In May 2001, this sale essentially united the two studios, PDI and DreamWorks, into a single entity which went public a few years later as DreamWorks Animation
(DWA). PDI stopped making commercials in 2002. The PDI studio is now known as PDI/DreamWorks. Animators at PDI work on projects based at the PDI studio, but also assist in DWA projects based in the Glendale DWA studio. Today, the two studios essentially act as a single unit.
In 2008, Richard Chuang, the last of the initial three, left the company to pursue his own ventures.
(1998), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2
(2004), Madagascar
(2005), Shrek the Third
(2007) and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008). With $442.2 million USD in box-office ticket sales, Shrek 2 is currently the second highest grossing animated film of all time. highest grossing animated films of all-time in the United States
.
PDI won their first Oscar for Best Animated Feature for Shrek in 2002.
PDI animators also work on films made primarily at DreamWorks' Glendale campus. See DreamWorks Animation
for a complete list.
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
that was bought by DreamWorks SKG
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
. The company is now known as PDI/DreamWorks and is half of DreamWorks Animation SKG
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
, Inc., the public company formed by merging PDI and the feature animation division of DreamWorks.
History
PDI was founded in 1980 by Carl Rosendahl with a loan of $25,000 from his father. He was joined in 1981 by Richard Chuang and in 1982 by Glenn Entis. Richard and Glenn wrote the foundation of the in-house computer animation software that was to be used for the next two decades. They started work on 3D software at the end of 1981, and 3D production started in the fall of 1982. The initial goal of the company was "Entertainment using 3D computer animation". By the time PDI reached its 25th anniversary in 2005, it had completed over 1000 projects and grown to over 400 employees.1980–1987: Early years
The first computer at PDI was a DECDigital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
PDP 11/44 with 128 kilobytes of memory. This was a lot of memory given that the computer had only 64 kilobytes (16-bits) of address space. It had a 20 megabyte disk. Attached to this was a $65,000 framebuffer which had a resolution of 512×512 and was 32 bits deep.
The first 3D image rendered at PDI was done on March 12, 1982. The image was simply a 4 by 4 by 4 grid of spheres of varying colors. The spheres were not polygonal, they were implicitly rendered and were fully anti-aliased. The resulting image was 512 by 480 by 24 (8 bits for red, green and blue channels) which took 2 minutes to render.
The PDP-11 was soon replaced by a DEC VAX-11/780 and later PDI shifted to another superminicomputer called the Ridge32. This machine was 2–4 times faster than the VAX-11/780 at a fraction of the cost.
The original in-house software evolved into a large suite of tools which included a polygon scan-line renderer (called p2r), an interactive animation program (called e_motion), an animation scripting / scene-description language (called script) and a lighting tool (called led). All of these tools were written in C and deployed on a variety of machines running various flavors of Unix.
The initial investment to start the company was $250,000, about $600,000 in 2005 dollars. Its original offices were in Sunnyvale, California working out of a garage owned by Carl's father. PDI moved to its first real offices in 1985 (Sunnyvale), to its second offices in 1995 (Palo Alto) and to its current location in Redwood City in 2002. The growth of the company was financed solely through profit. The company was run as an open book, monthly financial reviews were shared with the entire company and a detailed monthly financial report was released. Money was never taken out of the company which maintained a 7% investment in R&D. PDI was debt-free when acquired by DreamWorks in 2000. This was quite an accomplishment for a low margin service business with a lot of risk.
PDI's first client was Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
, Brazil's largest TV network. This gave PDI the major client they needed to fund the building of most of the early software. This also sent PDI into the business of TV motion graphics and logo animation (flying logos). PDI designed some early show openings and other special projects for Rede Globo. The software written was also given to Rede Globo and is the only time the in-house software was given to another company. The contract ended in the mid-1980s, but Rede Globo continued to use the software for many years.
Most of the 1980s were spent creating broadcast graphics for most television networks around the world. PDI was working concurrently for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, HBO, Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
, TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
and Showtime. PDI focused on direct to video production as opposed to film output being done at other early studios. PDI modified the interface to a Sony BVH-2000 using parts put together from a trip to a toy store in order to do single-frame recording. All the rendering was done on fields
Field (video)
In video, a field is one of the many still images which are displayed sequentially to create the impression of motion on the screen. Two fields comprise one video frame...
at 60 or 50 frames per second (depending of the video broadcasting standard used locally).
PDI controlled a large percentage of this market during this time and they were really the first mass producer of computer animation. One year producing two major networks' graphics packages meant specifically rendered images for over 400 local television stations. Some of the early production contracts included Globo, Entertainment Tonight (produced for Harry Marks), ABC Sports 84 Olympic promos, and NBC News.
PDI planned and proposed a feature-length CG animation film in 1985. Unfortunately, they were unable to raise the funding needed to produce it.
While not the first computer graphics studio founded, PDI is the longest lasting. It has outlived all the other studios which existed in the early 1980s. Of the many reasons for this, one is that PDI never went into significant debt by purchasing expensive hardware. While other studios purchased Cray supercomputers, PDI only bought cheaper hardware, treating it as a commodity which would soon be replaced, enabling lower operating costs.
1987–1990: transition
PDI's early focus was on network TV productions since they captured over 50% of that market in 1985. However, in 1990, PDI introduced the digital film scanning process. This process was used to popularize automated rig removal and image touch-up. PDI was also instrumental in introducing performance animation for theme parks, ads and movies. This started with a project for a real time performance character for Jim Henson Productions.During these years of transition, PDI moved away from the motion graphics market and focused their attention on commercials and 3D visual effects for feature films. Notable among the commercials was the first Pillsbury Doughboy
Pillsbury Doughboy
Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising icon and mascot of The Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2004 conclude with a human finger poking the Doughboy's stomach...
created in CG. Pillsbury was the first company to move an established icon to CG. Before this, all previous animated commercials were done with stop-motion. Other notable commercials include the "Bud Bowl" and "Scrubbing Bubbles" spots.
Early in the 1990s, Thaddeus Beier and Shawn Neely developed a method for morphing
Morphing
Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes one image into another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence. Traditionally such a depiction...
that resulted in a much more natural and expressive morph. This technique is called "feature-based morphing". PDI used this technology to create various well-known sequences, including the Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
car-into-tiger morph and the extended morph at the end of the "Black or White" music video from Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. These morphing jobs were very easy to do with PDI's software and the effect was in high demand. The algorithms invented by Beier and Neely were published at the annual SIGGRAPH conference and are now the basis of most image morphing tools. For many people, their first exposure to these algorithms was the SGI IRIX software called "Elastic Reality".
PDI broke into the feature film visual effects business with contributions to Batman Forever, The Arrival, Terminator 2, Toys, and Angels in the Outfield. At the time, the strengths of PDI included character animation, lip synch, rendering effects, the aforementioned rig removal and cleanup, and performance animation.
During this era PDI transitioned from the Ridge32 computer to SGI workstations running IRIX. They were not alone in this transition as most of the industry followed suit.
1990–1995: character animation
Early in 1990, Tim JohnsonTim Johnson (film director)
Tim Johnson is an American animation director specializing in CGI animation. Johnson has directed in many films such as Antz, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Over the Hedge.-Career:...
and Rex Grignon officially formed PDI's Character Animation Group with the mandate to develop a group of artists with the creative and technical skills needed to produce a feature-length CG-animated film. The group originally consisted of Johnson, Grignon, Raman Hui
Raman Hui
Raman Hui is a co-director of Shrek the Third, a computer animated / comedy film of the Shrek series. He was also supervising animator and character designer for the original Shrek. He graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1984 and later studied at Sheridan College in Canada....
, Glenn McQueen
Glenn McQueen
Glenn John McQueen was a Canadian supervisor of digital animation and supervising character animator at Pixar and PDI.-Private life:...
, Beth Hofer, Dick Walsh, Karen Schneider and Eric Darnell
Eric Darnell
Eric Darnell is an American director, writer, voice actor, songwriter and animator. He is best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa with Tom McGrath....
. Under the auspices of the group, PDI's commercial character animation skills grew and numerous notable short films were produced. Among these are Gas Planet (1992), Sleepy Guy, Bric-a-Brac (1994), Gabola the Great (1997), Fishing and Fat Cat on a Diet.
This character group set the company off in a fun new direction that set the basis for development goals during this period. The shorts (short films) were a way to develop animation techniques as well as being a test bed for software and pipeline procedures and flow.
PDI has always allowed animators to pursue individual products and shorts. This has produced several award-winning short films in this category. Some of the more notable productions are Opera Industrial (1986), Chromosaurus, Cosmic Zoom, Burning Love (1988), and Locomotion (1989).
By 1992, PDI was seriously looking for a partner to produce feature-length animated films. PDI's first CG feature was planned in 1985, and Hollywood was still not ready to say "Yes". PDI landed the "Last Halloween
The Last Holloween
The Last Halloween is a 1991 live action/animated Halloween television special produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The program received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects...
" TV special which won them an Emmy Award for the CG characters in the otherwise live-action special with Hanna-Barbera. This turned into PDI's first 3D Character Animation pipeline in 1991. Using this pipeline they did a 3D stereo Daffy Duck for Warner Brothers and a CG Homer and Bart Simpson for the 1995 The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Halloween episode "Homer3".
The result of all these projects was, finally, a movie deal with DreamWorks SKG in 1995 to make the movie Antz
Antz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...
. At this time DreamWorks purchased a 40% share of PDI.
Glen Entis left PDI for the game industry in 1995, first joining DreamWorks Interactive as CEO. When Electronic Arts purchased DreamWorks Interactive, he moved to their Vancouver office to set up their next-generation games research group. He is a founding board member of Los Angeles' Digital Coast Roundtable, and is chairman of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
1995–present: feature films
In 1997 Simon J. SmithSimon J. Smith
Simon J. Smith is a British voice actor, director, animator, camera operator and layout artist for DreamWorks Animation and PDI. Smith came to PDI/Dream Works in 1997 as Head of Layout for the company’s feature film division...
, a former member of The Mill
The Mill (post-production)
The Mill is a post-production and visual effects company launched in 1990 with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles.The Mill's Film special effects subsidiary, Mill Film, won an Oscar for its work on the film Gladiator. The Mill was the first UK-based post-production company to set up...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and a CGI
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
veteran, founded PDI's layout department. The layout department produced PDI's first feature film Antz
Antz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...
which was released by Dreamworks Pictures in 1998. This was followed by Shrek
Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
in 2001. The layout department is now a major part of the PDI/DreamWorks film making process.
After the success of Antz, Carl Rosendahl sold in 2000 his remaining interest in PDI to DreamWorks. PDI was renamed to PDI/DreamWorks and continued to operate as a stand-alone business unit. He left PDI in February 2000 to become managing director for Mobius Venture Capital, a board member of iVAST, an MPEG4 software company, and several other Bay Area technology firms. In May 2001, this sale essentially united the two studios, PDI and DreamWorks, into a single entity which went public a few years later as DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
(DWA). PDI stopped making commercials in 2002. The PDI studio is now known as PDI/DreamWorks. Animators at PDI work on projects based at the PDI studio, but also assist in DWA projects based in the Glendale DWA studio. Today, the two studios essentially act as a single unit.
In 2008, Richard Chuang, the last of the initial three, left the company to pursue his own ventures.
Animated films
PDI/DreamWorks has produced six box-office hits with AntzAntz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...
(1998), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2
Shrek 2
Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...
(2004), Madagascar
Madagascar (2005 film)
Madagascar is a 2005 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May 27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked...
(2005), Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third is a 2007 American animated film, and the third film in the Shrek series. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation, and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released in U.S. theaters on May 18, 2007...
(2007) and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008). With $442.2 million USD in box-office ticket sales, Shrek 2 is currently the second highest grossing animated film of all time. highest grossing animated films of all-time in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
PDI won their first Oscar for Best Animated Feature for Shrek in 2002.
Technical awards
PDI/DreamWorks has won four Scientific and Technical Academy Awards. The first was awarded to Les Dittert, along with others, in 1994 for work in the area of film scanning. The second was awarded to Carl Rosendahl, Richard Chuang and Glenn Entis in 1997 for the concept and architecture of the PDI animation system. This award in particular recognized their pioneering work in computer animation dating back to the founding of PDI 17 years earlier. Nick Foster was given an award in 1998 for PDI's fluid animation system (flu) and in 2002 Dick Walsh was given one for the development of PDI's Facial Animation System.PDI productions
These short films were side-projects primarily shown at animation festivals. They were done between the paying jobs.- Teddy Bear Maelstrom (1983, Glen Entis)
- Chromosaurus (1984, Don Venhaus)
- Max's Place (1984, Adam Chin)
- Cosmic ZoomCosmic ZoomCosmic Zoom is a 1968 short film directed by Eva Szasz and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. It depicts the relative size of everything in the universe in an 8-minute sequence using animation and animation camera shots.-Synopsis:...
(1985, PDI Staff) - Burning LoveBurning Love"Burning Love" is a song written by Dennis Linde, first recorded by Arthur Alexander, who included it on his self-titled 1971 album, and made famous by Elvis Presley, who took it to #2 in the United States in 1972...
(1987, PDI Staff) - Opera IndustrielOpéra IndustrielOpéra Industriel is a short film produced by Pacific Data Images in 1986. Parts of the film have been used in compilations such as Beyond the Mind's Eye and State of the Art of Computer Animation. The film portrays a number of humanoid, expressionless robots in a monochrome scene that resembles a...
(1987, Adam Chin, Rich Cohen) - Locomotion (1989, Steve Goldberg)
- Slide Show (1991, Glenn McQueenGlenn McQueenGlenn John McQueen was a Canadian supervisor of digital animation and supervising character animator at Pixar and PDI.-Private life:...
) - Frankie & Johnny (1991, PDI Staff)
- Happy Dog (1992, PDI Character Animation Group)
- Gas Planet (1992, Eric DarnellEric DarnellEric Darnell is an American director, writer, voice actor, songwriter and animator. He is best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa with Tom McGrath....
) - Big Smoke (1993, Eric DarnellEric DarnellEric Darnell is an American director, writer, voice actor, songwriter and animator. He is best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa with Tom McGrath....
) - Sleepy Guy (1994, Raman HuiRaman HuiRaman Hui is a co-director of Shrek the Third, a computer animated / comedy film of the Shrek series. He was also supervising animator and character designer for the original Shrek. He graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1984 and later studied at Sheridan College in Canada....
) - Bric-a-BracBric-a-bracBric-à-brac , first used in the Victorian era, refers to collections of curios such as elaborately decorated teacups and small vases, feathers, wax flowers under glass domes, eggshells, statuettes, painted miniatures or photographs, and so on...
(1995, Cassidy Curtis) - Simpsons 3-D: Homer-3 (1995, PDI Staff)
- Gabola The Great (1997, Tim Cheung)
- Basic Insect (1998, Marty Sixkiller)
- Millennium Bug (1998, Lee Lainer)
- Fat Cat On a Diet (1999, Raman HuiRaman HuiRaman Hui is a co-director of Shrek the Third, a computer animated / comedy film of the Shrek series. He was also supervising animator and character designer for the original Shrek. He graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1984 and later studied at Sheridan College in Canada....
) - FishingFishingFishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
(1999, David Gainey) - Metropopular (2000, Jonah Hall)
- SproutSproutSprout may refer to:* Shoot, the early growth of a plant** Edible sprouts* Sprouting, germination of seed* Brussels sprout, a green vegetable* Sprouts , a pencil-and-paper game...
(2002, Scott B. Peterson)
Notable short projects
- Shrek 4-DShrek 4-DShrek 4-D is a 4-D film at various theme parks around the world. Universal Parks & Resorts owns the main rights to the film which is currently shown at their parks in Hollywood, Florida, Japan and Singapore...
(Theme Park Ride / Short Film) - Father of the PrideFather of the PrideFather of the Pride is an American animated television series that began broadcasting on NBC on August 31, 2004 and was part of a short-lived trend of CGI series in prime-time network TV .-Overview:...
(Computer Animation) - Artificial Intelligence: AI (Digital Visual Effects and Animation)
- Homer3HOMER3Homer protein homolog 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HOMER3 gene.-Interactions:HOMER3 has been shown to interact with TRPC1 and RYR1....
Simpsons Halloween (1995) (3D Computer Animation) - Heart and SoulsHeart and SoulsHeart and Souls is a 1993 fantasy/comedy film about the souls of four deceased people who are trapped on earth and can only be seen by a single living human being who is recruited to help them take care of their unfinished business...
(Title Animation) - Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D (1991, Waldo effects)
- Star Trek VI (Digital Compositing)
- Freddy's Dead: The Final NightmareFreddy's Dead: The Final NightmareFreddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare is a 1991 American slasher film. It is the sixthand as the title suggests, intended to be the lastfilm in the series of films featuring Freddy Krueger...
(Dream Demons Animation) - Terminator 2: Judgment DayTerminator 2: Judgment DayTerminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...
(Additional Digital Compositing) - The Mind's EyeMind's Eye (series)The Mind's Eye series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication. The series began in 1990. It was produced by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions & Miramar Productions...
(Animation) - The Jim Henson HourThe Jim Henson HourThe Jim Henson Hour was a short-lived television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters. Only nine of the twelve episodes produced managed to air on NBC before the low-rated...
(Computer Animation) - ScroogedScroogedScrooged is a 1988 American comedy film, a modernization of Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol. The film was produced and directed by Richard Donner, and the cinematography was by Michael Chapman. The screenplay was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue...
(Network Computer Animation) - Electric Dreams (Additional Graphics)
- Body WarsBody WarsBody Wars was a ride at the Wonders of Life pavilion at Walt Disney World Resort's Epcot. Body Wars is a simulator ride where the riders are "shrunk" and carry out a mission inside a human body. The ride is based upon the Advanced Technology Leisure Application Simulator...
(1989 Brain Animation) - 2011 Kids' Choice Awards2011 Kids' Choice AwardsNickelodeon's 24th Annual Kids' Choice Awards were held on April 2, 2011 at 8 p.m. ET at the Galen Center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles's University Park neighborhood due to renovations disallowing use of traditional venue Pauley Pavilion until at least 2013. Jack Black...
(Po cameos)
Graphics
- Rede GloboRede GloboRede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
IDs (1982) - SiggraphSIGGRAPHSIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
logo animation (1983) - NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
ID (1985) - NBCQuboQubo is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media...
Saturday morning bumpers (1985) - CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
movie intro (1986) - WUSAWUSA (TV)WUSA is a television station broadcasting on channel 9 in Washington, D.C.. Owned by the Gannett Company, WUSA is an affiliate of the CBS television network, and the longest-tenured affiliate of that network...
ID (1987) - NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
movie intro (1987) - CinemaxCinemaxCinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
Opening (1988) - Crest commercial (1989)
- Pillsbury commercial (1992)
- CokeCokeCoke may refer to:* Coca-Cola, a soft drink originally based on coca leaf extract** The Coca-Cola Company, makers of this drink** Cola, any soft drink similar to Coca-Cola** Soft drink, any non-alcoholic carbonated beverage* Coca, a plant...
commercial (1993) - HallsHalls (cough drop)Halls is the brand name of a popular mentholated cough drop. Halls cough drops are sold by the Cadbury-Adams Division of Cadbury plc and have long been advertised as featuring "Vapor Action". Halls was first made in the 1930s in Britain by the Halls Brothers company...
commercial (1995) - Milky WayMilky WayThe Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
commercials (1995) - BudweiserBudweiserBudweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
commercial (1996) - PDIDreamWorks AnimationDreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
Cameraman ID (1996) - Coca-ColaCoca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
commercial (1998) - SegaSega, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
commercials (1999) - TargetTarget CorporationTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
commercial (1999) - Lucky CharmsLucky CharmsLucky Charms is a brand of cereal produced by the General Mills food company of Golden Valley, Minnesota, United States. It first appeared in stores in 1964. The cereal consists of two main components: toasted oat-based pieces and multi-colored marshmallow bits in various shapes, the latter making...
commercial (2000) - Monster.comMonster.comMonster.com is one of the largest employment websites in the world, owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. Monster is one of the 20 most visited websites out of 100 million worldwide, according to comScore Media Metrics...
commercial (2000)
PDI/DreamWorks productions
- AntzAntzAntz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...
(1998) - ShrekShrekShrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
(2001) - Shrek 4-DShrek 4-DShrek 4-D is a 4-D film at various theme parks around the world. Universal Parks & Resorts owns the main rights to the film which is currently shown at their parks in Hollywood, Florida, Japan and Singapore...
(2003) (3D special original movie) - Shrek 2Shrek 2Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...
(2004) - Shark TaleShark TaleShark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing...
(2004) - MadagascarMadagascar (2005 film)Madagascar is a 2005 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May 27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked...
(2005) - Over the HedgeOver the Hedge (film)Over the Hedge is a 2006 computer animated family action comedy film based on the characters from United Media comic strip of the same name. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, and produced by Bonnie Arnold, it was released in the United States on May 19, 2006.The film was produced by...
(2006) - Shrek the ThirdShrek the ThirdShrek the Third is a 2007 American animated film, and the third film in the Shrek series. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation, and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released in U.S. theaters on May 18, 2007...
(2007) - Shrek the HallsShrek the HallsShrek the Halls is a television special that premiered on the American television network ABC on Wednesday, November 28, 2007. The thirty minute Christmas special included the following: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas reprising their roles from the feature films. The...
(2007) (Christmas TV special) - Bee MovieBee MovieBee Movie is a 2007 computer animated family comedy film starring Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, and Patrick Warburton. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it is directed by Simon J...
(2007) - Kung Fu PandaKung Fu PandaKung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
(2008) - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
- Merry MadagascarMerry MadagascarMerry Madagascar is a Christmas special first broadcast on the NBC network on November 17, 2009, which starred the characters from the Madagascar film series. The story appears to take place sometime between the first and second film...
(2008) (Christmas TV special) - Monsters vs. AliensMonsters vs. AliensMonsters vs. Aliens is a 2009 American computer-animated 3-D science fiction film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
(2009) - How to Train Your DragonHow to Train Your Dragon (film)How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 3D computer-animated action fantasy film by DreamWorks Animation loosely based on the 2003 book of the same name. The film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Christopher...
(2010) - Shrek Forever AfterShrek Forever AfterShrek Forever After, taglined as The Final Chapter, is a 2010 animated fantasy-comedy film, and the fourth and final installment in the Shrek film series, produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film was released by Paramount Pictures in cinemas on May 20, 2010 in Russia, and on May 21 in the United...
(2010) - Megamind (2010)
- Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
- Puss in BootsPuss in Boots (2011 film)Puss in Boots is a 2011 computer-animated adventure Western film produced by DreamWorks Animation, directed by Chris Miller , executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, and written by Brian Lynch, with screenplay by Tom Wheeler. It stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob...
(2011)
PDI animators also work on films made primarily at DreamWorks' Glendale campus. See DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
for a complete list.