Luxo Jr.

Luxo Jr. is a 1986 American computeranimated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The twominute 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 Pixars first animation after Ed Catmull and John Lasseter left Industrial Light and Magics computer division. It is the source of the hopping desk lamp included in Pixars corporate logo.

Two balancedarm desk lamps, named Luxo Jr. small and Luxo Sr. large, are playing with a small inflatable rubber ball. When Luxo Jr. tries balancing on it, the ball eventually deflates due to excessive jumping. As a result, he is later seen playing with a beach ball.The Graphics Group, which was one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm, had been associating with Industrial Light amp Magic on special effects in the early 1980s. In 1984, the group produced animated short titled The Adventures of Andr and Wally B., which premiered at the annual SIGGRAPH conference to great fanfare. The group, which numberedindividuals, was spun out as a corporation in February 1986 with investment by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple Computer. Jobs paid 5million to George Lucas for technology rights and put them and 5million cash as capital into the company. A factor contributing to Lucas sale was an increase in cash flow difficulties following his 1983 divorce, which coincided with the sudden dropoff in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi. The newly independent company was headed by Dr. Edwin Catmull as President and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith as Executive Vice President. They were joined on the Board of Directors by Steve Jobs who was Chairman. ........

Source: Wikipedia