O’Reilly.net: Python Helps Disney Write a New Script

[ Thanks to S.Ramaswamy for this link.
]

“While digital motion pictures such as Dinosaur may have
captured the public’s imagination, much of the work from Walt
Disney Feature Animation (known as “WDFA”) continues a tradition
that began with Snow White in 1937. Hundreds of artists still
spend up to five years creating hundreds of thousands of hand-drawn
images for full-length features. What has changed–and continues to
evolve–is the computerized production process, and in that realm
WDFA is breaking ground with Python in a bold new
application.“

“WDFA is a heavy Perl shop, but some shortcomings with Perl led
the software group to investigate other scripting alternatives for
the company’s new software project. Brent Burley, one of WDFA’s
senior development software engineers, not only found Python simple
and consistent by comparison, but Python’s object-oriented nature
held a distinct advantage over Perl. “In the months since I first
evaluated Python,” he remarks, “I’ve had no stability problems and
the language and API always seem to do what I expect.”

“Computers have been a part of Disney animation since Tron in
1982 and The Black Cauldron in 1985. Today, it’s an extremely busy
operation stocked with workstations running SGI IRIX, Sun Solaris,
Linux, Windows NT, and Mac OS. “And we’re constantly evaluating
additional platforms,” notes Burley. He and a staff of more than 80
engineers in WDFA’s software group create 2-D and 3-D animation
tools for use on multiple productions, as well as
production-specific software for features such as Tarzan and the
latest Disney offering, The Emperor’s New Groove. A new feature,
Atlantis, is scheduled for release in June 2001.”

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