Pacific Data Images
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Pacific Data Images was a computer animation production company that was bought by DreamWorks SKG. It is now known as PDI/DreamWorks and is half of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., the public company formed by merging PDI and the feature animation division of DreamWorks.
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[edit] History
PDI was founded in 1980 by Carl Rosendahl with a small loan from his father. In 1982, he was joined by Richard Chuang and Glenn Entis, who wrote the foundation of the in-house computer animation software that was to be used for the next two decades. Most of the 1980s were spent creating broadcast graphics for most television networks around the world.
Early in 1990, Tim Johnson and Rex Grignon officially formed PDI's Character Animation Group with the mandate to develop a group of artists with the creative and technical skills needed to produce a feature-length CG-animated film. The group originally consisted of Johnson, Grignon, Raman Hui, Glenn McQueen, Beth Hofer, Dick Walsh, Karen Schneider and Eric Darnell. Under the auspices of the group, PDI's commercial character animation skills grew and numerous notable short films were produced including Gas Planet, Sleepy Guy, Gabola the Great, Fishing and Fat Cat on a Diet.
In the early-1990s, Thaddeus Beier and Shawn Neely developed a method for morphing that resulted in a much more natural and expressive morph. PDI used this technology to create various well-known sequences, including the Exxon car-into-tiger morph and the extended morph at the end of the "Black or White" music video from Michael Jackson.
In the mid-1990s, PDI created The Simpsons episode "Homer3", which eventually led to a movie deal with DreamWorks SKG to make the movie Antz. PDI was later bought by DreamWorks and is now known as PDI/DreamWorks.
PDI/DreamWorks has won four Scientific and Technical Academy Awards. The first was awarded to Les Dittert, along with others, in 1994 for work in the area of film scanning. The second was awarded to Carl, Richard and Glenn in 1997 for the concept and architecture of the PDI animation system (e_motion). This award in particular recognized their pioneering work the computer animation dating back to the founding of PDI 17 years earlier. Then next year Nick Foster was given an award for PDI's fluid animation system (flu) and in 2002 Dick Walsh was given one for the development of PDI's Facial Animation System.
PDI won the first ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature Oscar for Shrek in 2002.
PDI/DreamWorks has produced five box-office hits with Antz (1998), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), Madagascar (2005) and "Shrek the Third" (2007). Their next film slated for release in 2008 is Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape. With $442.2 million USD in box-office ticket sales, Shrek 2 is currently the third highest grossing film of all-time in the United States.
[edit] Short films
These short films were made for as side-projects and were primarily shown at various animation festivals. They were done between the paying jobs.
- Teddy Bear Maelstrom (1983, Glen Entis)
- Chromosaurus (1984, Don Venhaus)
- Max's Place (1984, Adam Chin)
- Cosmic Zoom (1985, PDI Staff)
- Burning Love (1987, PDI Staff)
- Opera Industriel (1987, Adam Chin, Rich Cohen)
- Locomotion (1989, Steve Goldberg)
- Slide Show (1991, Glenn McQueen)
- Frankie & Johnny (1991, PDI Staff)
- Happy Dog (1992, PDI Character Animation Group)
- Gas Planet (1992, Eric Darnell)
- Big Smoke (1993, Eric Darnell)
- Sleepy Guy (1994, Raman Hui)
- Bric-a-Brac (1995, Cassidy Curtis)
- Gabola The Great (1997, Tim Cheung)
- Basic Insect (1998, Marty Sixkiller)
- Millennium Bug (1998, Lee Lainer)
- Fat Cat On a Diet (1999, Raman Hui)
- Fishing (1999, David Gainey)
- Metropopular (2000, Jonah Hall)
- Sprout (2002, Scott Peterson)
[edit] Other notable short projects
- Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D (1991, Waldo effects)
- "Homer³" (1995, for The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror VI")
- Shrek 4D (2002, Theme park 3D film, which also includes various practical effects in the theatre)
[edit] Feature-length films and their ancillary projects
Animated Films made at PDI before the merger to form DreamWorks Animation:
Since the merger, these are the DreamWorks Animation films which have been made entirely or primarily at PDI:
- Shrek 2 (2004)
- Madagascar (2005)
- The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005) (DVD short)
- Shrek the Third (2007)
- Shrek the Halls (2007) (Christmas TV special)
- Madagascar: The Crate Escape (In Production) (2008)
PDI animators also work on films made primarily at DreamWorks' Glendale campus. See DreamWorks Animation for a complete list.
