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Computer Animation Production System

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The Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) is a proprietary collection of software programs, camera systems and custom desks developed by The Walt Disney Company together with Pixar in the late-1980s. Its purpose was to computerize the ink and paint and post-production processes of traditionally animated feature films produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation.

CAPS was the first digital ink-and-paint, compositing, and rendering system, designed to replace the expensive process of transferring animated drawings to cels using India ink or xerographic technology, and painting the reverse sides of the cels with gouache paint. Using the CAPS system, enclosed areas and lines could be easily colored in the digital computer environment using an unlimited palette; transparent shading, blended colors and other sophisticated techniques that were not previously available.

The completed digital cels were composited over scanned background paintings and camera and/or pan movements were programmed into the system. Also complex multiplane shots giving a sense of depth were possible. Unlike the analog multiplane camera, the CAPS multiplane cameras were not limited by artwork size. Extensive camera movements never before seen were incorporated into the films. The final version of the sequence was finally rendered and printed onto film.

The first usage of the CAPS process was the ending rainbow scene of The Little Mermaid in 1989; the rest of the film uses painted cels. Subsequent films were made completely using CAPS; the first of these, The Rescuers Down Under, was the first 100% digital feature film ever produced.

Since the animation elements exist digitally, it was easy to integrate other types of film and video elements, including three-dimensional computer animation. Sequences from Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame take advantage of the 2D/3D integration.

Tarzan was the first Disney animated feature printed to a digital film format directly from CAPS; the subsequent Disney features followed suit. For the Special Edition IMAX and DVD versions of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Mulan, new renders of the original elements were done and output to a digital master format. In addition, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King had newly animated sequences added to their special editions, and both of those films and Aladdin had significant cleanup/restoration done on the original digital sequence elements to enhance detail, correct mistakes, and solidify clean-up animation and drawing.

In 1991 the team that developed CAPS won an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Engineering Award. They were:

CAPS was capable of an image quality that has never been duplicated since. The final frames were of a higher resolution than HDTV, and the artwork was never scanned at less than 100% resolution, no matter how complex the shot.

In 2004, Disney Feature Animation management decided that audiences wanted only 3D computer animated features and closed down their traditional 2D animation department. CAPS was dismantled and the custom designed equipment was scrapped. As of 2005, only one desk system remained (and that was only for the purpose of reading the data for the films that were made with this ground-breaking system).

The acquisition of Pixar by Disney in 2006—along with the corresponding influx of artists and management, including Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter—means that the future of traditional, 2D animation at Disney may not yet be decided. Pixar prides itself not only on its world-class 3D skills and knowledge, but many of its artists and managers also pay deep homage to traditional, 2D animation. Since the merger with Pixar, Disney President and CEO Robert Iger has stated that 2D animation will be considered as an option for future, feature-length projects, and Disney director Eric Goldberg has noted that the upcoming film, The Frog Princess, will be created in 2D, however CAPS is now considered outdated, and Disney has recently bought off-the-shelf software which offers an updated, more technically advanced digital animation system for that film.

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