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Pixar's Drawing Tool
May Kasahara writes "Millimeter has an interesting look at Pixar's Review Sketch tool, one of this company's latest pieces of proprietary software. It's cool in that it allows directors to draw on top of CG images with a Wacom Cintiq, essentially bringing elements of traditional hand-drawn animation into the 3D realm. The article discusses how the tool came about, how it was used during the production of The Incredibles, and even includes a discussion of the tool's naming."
Did TVPaint let you doodle on something already animated and save the changes automatically when you put the pen down? Did it upload the changes to the server so other artists could get a full transaction history of the suggestions being made? Did it have thoughtful design features, like turning the pen over to erase (obvious) and not allowing someone to delete the whole screen accidentally (not as obvious)? Didn't think so.
"Server? Who needs a stinkin server?"
When you're working on a major motion picture that has several dozen artists, a full team of probably close to a hundred people, and a budget of millions, you need accountability if someone makes a change.
I would think an artist would welcome being able to look back at certain versions of scenes, call them up at any point, and derive how the drawing got to where it is currently. This isn't some starving artist creating basic 3D renders in his garage; this a multi-million dollar business.