Luxo Jr. (Short 1986)

Luxo Jr. Poster

Luxo Jr. is a 1986 American computer-animated short film produced and released by Pixar in 1986. Written and directed
by John Lasseter, this two-minute short film revolves around one larger and one smaller desk lamp. The larger lamp, named Luxo Sr., looks on while the smaller, "younger" Luxo Jr. plays exuberantly with a ball that it accidentally deflates. Luxo Jr. was Pixar's first animation after Ed Catmull and John Lasseter left Industrial Light & Magic's computer division of Cinetron Computer Systems. It is the source of Luxo Jr., the hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's corporate logo.

Lasseter's aim was to finish the short film for the 1986 SIGGRAPH, an annual computer graphics conference attended by thousands of industry professionals. The film would come from his experiments with modeling his Luxo lamp. Lasseter worked to improve the story within the allotted two minutes. In animation, the film demonstrates the use of shadow maps within the rendering software. Lasseter applied the classic animation principles popularized by Disney's Nine Old Men to convey the lamps' emotions. Catmull and Lasseter worked around the clock, and Lasseter even took a sleeping bag into work and slept under his desk, ready to work early the next morning. In total it took about four and a half months to do.

The commitment paid off, and it was finished in time to be shown at SIGGRAPH. Before Luxo Jr. finished playing at SIGGRAPH, the crowd had already risen in applause. Luxo Jr. is regarded as a breakthrough in the animation medium as a whole, changing traditionalists' interpretation of computer animation. The short was the first work of animation to use procedural animation, the software written by Eben Ostby. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film, becoming the first CGI film nominated for an Academy Award.

In 2014, Luxo Jr. was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

## Plot

In a dark room, a large illuminated balanced-arm desk lamp named Luxo Sr. sees a small yellow ball with a blue stripe and a red star on the front rolling up to him. He eyes the ball curiously, and pushes it away, but the ball comes back to him. He pushes it away again. The ball comes back to him, but this time, it rolls past him. A smaller desk lamp, named Luxo Jr., hops over and continues playing with the ball. Luxo Jr. then balances himself on top of the ball, causing it to deflate. Luxo Jr. flips the deflated ball onto its side and looks up at Luxo Sr. who gently admonishes his son. Luxo Jr. then hops off-screen and is later seen playing with his beach ball. Luxo Sr. looks at the camera, then shakes his head in embarrassment.

## Credits

Story, Design, Models, Animation: John Lasseter

Animation Software, Models, Rendering: Eben Ostby

Models, Rendering: Bill Reeves

Computer Animation Rendering: Pixar: Rob Cook, Sam Leffler, David Salesin

Laser Scanning: Don Conway

Additional Modeling/Inking Supervisor: Paul Heckbert

Sound Effects: Gary Rydstrom/Skywalker Sound

Post Production Coordinator: Craig Good

Computing: Pixar; mickey, donald, CSRG UC, Berkeley

Produced at Pixar, Marin Country, California

Copyright 1986 Pixar

"Luxo" is a trademark of Jac Jacobsen Industries A.S.

## Transcript/Lamp Talk

(Luxo Sr. sees a rubber ball rolling up to him.)

Luxo Sr.: Rubber ball coming in. (He shoves the ball away. It comes back to him.) Oh. Back again. (He shoves it back. It rolls past him.) Huh? There it goes. (Sees Luxo Jr.) Oh. Hi, son.

Luxo Jr.: (looks up at his father) Hi, Dad!

Luxo Sr.: Do you want me to get it for you?

Luxo Jr.: Nope! I got it! (Luxo Sr. looks over at his son proudly and sees the ball.) I’m back! (eyes his ball) Ready! (Hits the ball and giggles)

Luxo Sr.: I love having time with you, son.

Luxo Jr.: Thanks, Dad. (he suddenly jumps on the ball) Check this out, Dad!

Luxo Sr.: Careful, buddy. You don’t wanna fall.

(Luxo Jr. giggles as he shimmies on the ball. It suddenly pops and deflates. He slips off the deflated ball.)

Luxo Jr.: Oh. (flips the ball to one side and looks up at Dad)

Luxo Sr.: Oh, Junior. I’m sure it was an accident. You didn’t mean to do it.

Luxo Jr.: You’re right. I’m sorry. (hops away)

Luxo Sr.: I think it should use a re-inflation. (Looks up) Holy cow!

Luxo Jr.: (as a beach ball rolls past Dad) Hooray! A beach ball! (continues laughing)

Luxo Sr.: (to himself, calmly) A father’s work is never done.