91. Same year, Casper debuts in a live action film, integrating semi-transparent overlays into live-action backgrounds. With some dispute, he is the first 3D lead character.
92. “The Lion King” used CGI to animate crowds of 3D wildebeests over painted backgrounds. Disney was very secretive about their new CG department being co-developed with Pixar, and for good reason with what they have in store the following year.
93. The best way to peer inside the illustrative imagination of Tim Burton is to watch his work, most specifically, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” For years, Disney tried to figure out what to do with his talent, imagination, and… well, different perspective. Though thought to be “too dark” for children, they released his gem under the umbrella of Touchstone and is in the Top 5 Best Stop-Motion Animated Films noted for it’s dramatic storytelling and design elements. Still to this day, this film has a huge cult following.
94. Whether or not, you enjoyed “The Mask”, it was the first to use CG effects in the style of Tex Avery in order to turn Jim Carrey into a living cartoon.
95. Thanksgiving, 1994… Disney Animation presents a little film created by Pixar in a garage in California to theatres across America entitled, “Toy Story.” It is the first full-length 3D animated film. The film and it’s director, John Lasseter, receives Academy Awards for development and application of techniques and storytelling.
96. Digital Domain becomes the lead studio on “Titanic” breaking new ground by drowning thousands of digital doubles, animated with help of still young Motion Capture, onboard the ship. The created digital sets, digital water, and used matte backgrounds. The film went on to receive an Oscar for Visual Effects and whistles all the way to the bank earning more money than any film to date.
97. In 1997, animation starts growing on the still breast-feeding internet. “Whirlgirl.com” and “Spumco.com” are the first sites to offer Web Animation.
98. In 1999, “The Iron Giant” takes theatres by storm. Production brought together cel animation with a 3D CG hero created in Maya, rendered in Pixar’s Renderman, and then imported into Cambridge Animation Systems’ Animo.
99. Peter Jackson and his Weta Digital bring the Tolkien books of “The Lord of the Rings” to life. Refining digital techniques and creating some along the way, they brought Uruk-hai, a Cave Troll, a Fiery Balrog, digital double, the Mines of Moria, the Eye of Sauron to life and even shrunk humans to the size of Hobbits!
100. Deciding to quit with the contracts, Disney purchases Pixar in April 2006, naming John Lasseter as Chief Creative Executive of both Walt Disney Animation and Pixar. Not too shabby for someone they fired nearly 20 years ago! He also holds the role of Principle Creative Advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering where they just opened Cars Land in 2012 in Disney’s California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA.