Luxo Jr.

Who would've thought that the little lamp that is the mascot which hops onto the screen with the Pixar logo when Pixar shorts and films are showed has a name?!  I always thought it was cute, but I found out during the lecture on animation that the lamp has a name, and it is Luxo Jr.

Here Luxo and Luxo Jr. are contemplating the distractions and possible fun of this ball.  Professor Winkel told the class that this short had pioneered the art of light, having it brighten up certain parts of the scene and be even brighter when both lights were shining on the same spot using depth-map based lights.  Around the time that this short, titled "Luxo Jr." came around, Steve Jobs decided to take on Pixar and the animation studio broke away from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). 

John Lasseter who was once let go from Disney after pitching ideas for a new film and wanting to enhance the animation industry back in the early 80's.  He is now the Chief Executive Officer of Pixar and Disney Studios and is also the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.  John Lasseter is able to help design theme parks as well as give the go-head for films.  It goes to show no matter how hard people may shut you down for your ideas and desires, you might just nip them back in the bud years down the road, ending up in a position higher than you could have imagined at the beginning.