Pixar Incorporates Mac OS X Into Workflow

A ppleis WWDC site has published an article that answers a question many curious Mac users have long asked: Does Pixar use Macs? Pixar is headed by a CEO named Steve Jobs, the same Steve Jobs that runs Apple. According to the WWDC site, the answer is yes, Pixar is in fact using Mac OS X in its work flow, and has even developed new apps for internal use using Mac OS Xis Cocoa development environment. From the WWDC article at Appleis site:

Johnson was not an expected attendee that year, but he came to see what was going on with Mac OS X. And it sounds like heis glad he did. Two years later, Pixar Animation Studios, makers of Toy Story, A Bugis Life, Monsters, Inc. and other top-selling animated films, has been finding more and more ways to replace their existing Linux, Sun and Windows-based computer systems with Macintosh computers running Mac OS X. The studiois entire team uses Mac OS X not only for creative work, but for workflow and custom application development. The animators, writers, editors, production staff and administrators cite the benefits offered by the UNIX platform, Cocoa, QuickTime, and the powerful graphics technologies that come with Mac OS X.

"We are looking to OS X for the future," Johnson told a full house in a fascinating lunchtime talk on Wednesday at the WWDC.

In order to explain how and why Pixar is using Mac OS X, Johnson guided the audience through an insideris look at the creative and production processes that Pixar Animation Studios uses to create its award-winning films. After setting the stage by explaining many of the time-intensive, often hand-generated work that goes into creating an animation, Johnson then shared a Cocoa "success story." He explained how he built a powerful storyboarding tool in just a few evenings at home using the Cocoa development environment.

There is more information in the full story, and we recommend it as a very good read.