The Pixar Touch
by David A. Price · first published 2008
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Detailed history of Pixar's early years, covering both the business story and the technology behind its computer animation; well suited to readers interested in computer graphics or tech companies.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Pixar Touch is a lively chronicle of Pixar Animation Studios' history and evolution, and the "fraternity of geeks" who shaped it. With the help of animating genius John Lasseter and visionary businessman Steve Jobs, Pixar has become the gold standard of animated filmmaking, beginning with a short special effects shot made at Lucasfilm in 1982 all the way up through the landmark films Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and others. David A. Price goes behind the scenes of the corporate feuds between Lasseter and his former champion, Jeffrey Katzenberg, as well as between Jobs and Michael Eisne
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If anyone is interested, The Pixar Touch by David Price is a pretty fantastic look at the early history (both from a business standpoint and from a technological standpoint) of the company. http://www.amazon.com/Pixar-Touch-Vintage-David-Price/dp/030...
on “How Pixar Bosses Saved Their Employees from Layoffs” ↗Yeah, if you read "The Pixar Touch" you get a good picture of what Jobs hoped to achieve with Pixar (focusing on selling the hardware to consumers). His main contribution was money. I think it was only after Toy Story did he truly "get"…
on “Steve Jobs' old resume from his mac.com page” ↗"Pixar Touch"[1] is fantastic. Highly recommended. Also, the 2007 documentary about Pixar ("The Pixar Story"[2]) is well worth a watch - Extremely well done. There's a shorter, 23 minute mini-documantary about Pixar…
on “The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?” ↗…workings of the company and the philosophy. "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi on the importance of networking and building relationships. "Trade-Off, Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't" "The Pixar Touch" Great history of Pixar and how they came about. "Call me Ted" - Ted Turner's autobiography "How the Mighty Fall" Jim Collins
on “Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?” ↗The Pixar Story has some issues with it--largely cuts out Alvy Ray Smith and gives a lot more credit to Steve Jobs than deserved. I'd recommend reading The Pixar Touch for a balanced portrayal of the company. For what it's worth, I got to know Alvy by running into him at various Seattle breakfast spots over the years (he's in Berkeley now). If you ever get to hear…
on “How Pixar Bosses Saved Their Employees from Layoffs” ↗The Pixar Touch (http://www.amazon.com/The-Pixar-Touch-ebook/dp/B0010SKT0M/) is a great book about Catmull and Pixar.
on “Inside Pixar's Leadership” ↗The Pixar Touch describes the creation of the company and first few films that Pixar made. I especially enjoyed it because of my interest in computer graphics, but it's probably a worthwhile read for most tech folks.…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗I just finished "The Pixar Touch"... pretty good read on the evolution of Pixar
on “Ask hackers: what books have you read lately and would recommend me?” ↗Currently reading The Pixar Touch by David A. Price and they talk a lot about the types of software and standards for rendering they had to create over the years. Incredibly interesting looking back at what they were able to achieve.…
on “Pixar Universal Scene Description” ↗It's in a book called "The Pixar Touch" by David Price I have on order from amazon, but you can read the anecdote here. http://www.amazon.com/Pixar-Touch-Vintage-David-Price/dp/030... It says: John Lasseter has instilled an intense commitment…
on “Pixar’s Latest Film Has Wall Street on Edge” ↗I can't speak to the recruiting of staff in the early days of Apple or NeXT, but many of the "world class" people at Pixar got involved before Jobs purchased the company. See: http://www.amazon.com/Pixar-Touch-Vintage-David-Price/dp/030...
on “You are not Steve Jobs” ↗…he was kicked out of Apple and stayed there in what is posssibly the "darkest" time of his life (pre-NeXT and Pixar, and Apple part 2) EDIT: I'm not "speculating" -- this is direct from the book: "The Pixar Touch", unfortunately, there's no source online.
on “Steve Jobs gets OK to raze his house” ↗Have you read The Pixar Touch? If so - what did you think? The feeling I got from the book, was that Steve Jobs was really bad when it came to the vision for Pixar. He had 0 faith in their movie making abilities, but the Pixar team…
on “Pixar Studio Stories: The Movie Vanishes” ↗