Pixar – Toy Story Zoetrope

Mass Customization has the potential to impact business, but it can also help produce amazing art.

This Zoetrope was produced by the artists at Pixar to coincide with a show at the Museum of Modern Art and is currently on display at the Disney California Adventure hotel. Hundreds of little models are placed on a spinning platform and when it rotates you get Pixar animation in “real” 3D.

Using Pixar’s animation software the artists created an animated scene and 3D printed the characters at various stages of movement. When rotated and complemented with a strobe light it mimics the traditional animation process. It is an amazing effect and a stunning experience.

A project like this could be done by hand provided you had a spare decade or two to work on it, but was made practical by custom manufacturing technology like 3D printers. The action really starts about 0:42 into the clip. A hi-res version is available at the VNOG Blog!

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Tagged as: 3D modeling, Animation, Arts, Computer animation, Lego, Maker Faire, Museum of Modern Art, Pixar, Zoetrope