Luxo Jr.

Luxo Jr. is a 1986 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short film, which runs two minutes, revolves around two desk lamps: a larger lamp and a smaller lamp. The larger lamp watches while the smaller, "younger" lamp plays exuberantly with a ball but doesn't pick up the knack of correct handling. It was Pixar's first animation after Ed Catmull and John Lasseter left Industrial Light and Magic's computer division. It is the source of the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's corporate logo.

Lasseter's aim was to finish the short film for SIGGRAPH, an annual computer technology exhibition 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 classic animation principles defined 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.

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. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film, becoming the first CGI film nominated for an Academy Award.