# Macs in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640 "2003-08-03T01:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/41 "2003-08-04T22:30:53Z")
Data point: when I interviewed at Pixar a few years ago, I was given a short tour. I was told that SGIs were used for modeling, Macs were used for other art, and Suns were used on the render farm. This was during the very begining of the Bugs project, though. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/42 "2003-08-04T22:32:37Z")
Oh, and Suns were used on the render farm apparently because Sun offered them at a rock-bottom price, not for any particular performance reasons. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/43 "2003-08-05T07:05:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by keithnmick \* > \*\*picunurse - what type of graphics in the movie industry are you talking about? I’m an industrial designerand I have a lot of friends in the industry - one interned at ILM, one was an assistant director on the LOTR trilogy (first unit, no less). What exactly are you claiming they use macs for? The music industry and graphic design are where macs shine and are used more than PCs (although it’s not exclusive). > Video editing is typically done on a PC running AVID, although, like I mentioned earlier, Final Cut Pro is finding a lot of supporters. > 3d modeling, animation, and rendering are all done on either PCs or Unix boxes. > > As was posted earlier, it’s usually paid product placement: > [http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/starringapple.html](http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/starringapple.html) \*\* Sorry, My son committed suicide in 2000 I guess like everything, Hollywood moves on. He worked for Graphic Orb. They were (are?) responsible for many (most of the print ads for the industry. ---
**Author:** ![keithnmick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@keithnmick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keithnmick)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/44 "2003-08-05T12:06:33Z")
I’m really sorry to hear that. It looks like I may have been mistaken regarding video editing, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/45 "2003-08-05T12:15:07Z")
Thank you, I do know that even the print media at that time was moving to new and faster machines. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/46 "2003-08-05T17:06:04Z")
It’s slightly OT, but here’s a data point on what the industry uses: a news item discussing Disney’s use of Photoshop on Linux for animations: [http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1210083,00.asp](http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1210083,00.asp) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/47 "2003-08-06T14:59:25Z")
**Slight hijack** I have some transparencies of movie stills that were used to make movie posters and print ads. They are 8"x10" some bigger a few smaller, are they worth anything? (some were made on a Mac, and one is an ad For Apple :)) ---
**Author:** ![Lagged2Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lagged2Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lagged2Death)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640/48 "2003-12-05T15:53:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Punoqllads \* > \*\*Oh, and Suns were used on the render farm apparently because Sun offered them at a rock-bottom price, not for any particular performance reasons. \*\* John Carmack, of Doom and Quake fame, visited Pixar during the production of Toy Story 2. When he asked why Sun machines were used for the render farm, [he got a surprising answer.](http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2678&cid=1500858) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macs-in-movies/192640.md?page=2)