Watch how the Incredibles transformed from pencils to pixels. All images © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar Animation Studios. All rights reserved.

At the VES Festival more than a year ago, I cornered art director Ralph Eggleston and asked him how the 3D transition was going on The Incredibles. He said he had been brought in to help Brad and his team and described how frustrating it was for the writer-director. “It takes forever to see results!” But Eggleston said he reassured Bird by telling him: “Be patient… just show us the look you want and whatever it is we can reproduce it in 3D.”

Well, judging from the finished film, Bird got exactly what he wanted… a wildly entertaining and artistically triumphant combination of old and new school animation. The Incredibles is also a compendium of everything the trailblazing Pixar is capable of and more, thanks to Bird’s passion and prodding.

Now, with the latest Disney/Pixar animated feature opening in theaters today [Nov. 5, 2004], Bird and two of his colleagues, supervising technical director Rick Sayre, and effects supervisor Sandra Karpman, an 18-year ILM veteran, describe in separate conversations how and why The Incredibles is such a milestone for Pixar and the animation industry.

Director Brad Bird, supervising technical director Rick Sayre and effects supervisor Sandra Karpman.

Bill Desowitz: How difficult was the transition to 3D for you?

Brad Bird: It wasn’t that difficult. There are so many elements that go into a given shot. You sit in a review session and go, `What do you think? What’s this giant blue ball?’ `Don’t pay any attention to the giant blue ball — it won’t be there.’ ` What about the guy that’s impaled on himself and naked?’ `Don’t pay attention to that. But what do you think of the shoes? Are they the right kind of shoes?’ So, I’d say, `Well, they’re pink.’ `Don’t worry: they won’t be like that.’ Pretty soon I was asking, `What am I looking at again because nothing on the screen is what it’s supposed to be?’ And they would assure me that eventually it would. So I got to the point where I was seeing through The Matrix and I didn’t even mention what was screwed up because I assumed they would fix it.

BD: What was the learning curve like?

BB: The learning curve was understanding the Alice in Wonderland quality of the world. I don’t think 3D films are any easier. In fact, in some ways I think they’re a little harder. But in a strange way, they are just as hand made. The computer doesn’t do anything you don’t tell it to. And often times it does exactly the opposite of what you intended it to do. So you have to pull every trick in the book to bend it around, to present what you want it to present. It’s just a really elaborate tool. I think that what you learn is what is harder and what is easier than 2D. Getting something into animation is infinitely easier in 2D. If you create a new character for only one scene as a solution to a problem, you can do a couple of drawings and say, `Go!’ if you have people that you can trust to run with it. You see animation start to come in within a week.