written by David Steffen
This summer at the Science Museum of Minnesota, the touring exhibit was The Science Behind Pixar. There are sections of the exhibit for every stage of the production from concept art, storyboarding, clay modeling, modeling, rigging, motion capture, rendering, and lighting.
If you’ve ever wondered how computer animation in general is done, or Pixar’s consistently excellent movies in particular, this is a great exhibit to visit.
There are some statues of the characters for photo ops, video interviews of most every position in the Pixar pipeline, videos explaining many of the different visual effects, and lots and lots of interactive exhibits. The interactive exhibits include simulations of lighting controls, stop motion animation station, 3-D modeling, and lots more.
The exhibit is at the Science Museum of Minnesota through Labor Day, so you don’t have much time at this location! There is a national USA tour as well as an international tour (currently in Edmonton). If you want to get a sample of the exhibit check out The Science Behind Pixar website where they have some of the videos you can see on the exhibit.
