<s>
The	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computer	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
graphics	O
computer	O
originally	O
developed	O
by	O
the	O
Graphics	O
Group	O
,	O
the	O
computer	O
division	O
of	O
Lucasfilm	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
later	O
renamed	O
Pixar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Aimed	O
at	O
commercial	O
and	O
scientific	O
high-end	O
visualization	B-Application
markets	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
medicine	O
,	O
geophysics	O
and	O
meteorology	O
,	O
the	O
original	O
machine	O
was	O
advanced	O
for	O
its	O
time	O
,	O
but	O
sold	O
poorly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
team	O
then	O
decided	O
to	O
solve	O
the	O
problem	O
by	O
starting	O
a	O
hardware	O
project	O
,	O
building	O
what	O
they	O
would	O
call	O
the	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computer	I-General_Concept
,	O
a	O
machine	O
with	O
more	O
computational	O
power	O
that	O
was	O
able	O
to	O
produce	O
images	O
with	O
higher	O
resolution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
About	O
three	O
months	O
after	O
their	O
acquisition	O
by	O
Steve	O
Jobs	O
on	O
February	O
3	O
,	O
1986	O
,	O
the	O
computer	O
became	O
commercially	O
available	O
for	O
the	O
first	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
aimed	O
at	O
commercial	O
and	O
scientific	O
high-end	O
visualization	B-Application
markets	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
medical	B-Application
imaging	I-Application
,	O
geophysics	O
,	O
and	O
meteorology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
1988	O
Pixar	O
had	O
only	O
sold	O
120	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computers	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
machine	O
was	O
coupled	O
with	O
a	O
very	O
early	O
RAID	B-Architecture
model	O
,	O
a	O
high	O
performance	O
bus	O
,	O
a	O
hardware	O
image	O
decompression	O
card	O
,	O
4	O
processors	O
(	O
called	O
Chaps	O
or	O
channel	O
processors	O
)	O
,	O
very	O
large	O
memory	O
cards	O
(	O
VME	B-Architecture
sized	O
card	O
full	O
of	O
memory	O
)	O
,	O
high	O
resolutions	O
video	O
cards	O
with	O
10-bit	O
DACs	O
which	O
were	O
programmable	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
frame	O
rates	O
and	O
resolutions	O
,	O
and	O
finally	O
an	O
overlay	O
board	O
which	O
ran	O
NeWS	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
9	O
slot	O
chassis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
full-up	O
system	O
was	O
quite	O
expensive	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
3	O
GiB	O
RAID	B-Architecture
was	O
$	O
300,000	O
alone	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1990	O
,	O
the	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computer	I-General_Concept
was	O
defining	O
the	O
state-of-the-art	O
in	O
commercial	O
image	O
processing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fewer	O
than	O
300	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computers	I-General_Concept
were	O
ever	O
sold	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
computer	I-General_Concept
business	O
was	O
sold	O
to	O
Vicom	O
Systems	O
in	O
1990	O
for	O
$	O
2,000,000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
of	O
the	O
lessons	O
learned	O
from	O
the	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computer	I-General_Concept
made	O
it	O
into	O
the	O
Low	O
Cost	O
Workstation	O
(	O
LCWS	O
)	O
and	O
Commercial	O
Analyst	O
Workstation	O
(	O
CAWS	O
)	O
program	O
guidelines	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
and	O
mid	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
a	O
SIMD	B-Device
architecture	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
good	O
for	O
imagery	O
and	O
video	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
processed	O
four	O
image	O
channels	O
in	O
parallel	O
,	O
one	O
for	O
red	O
,	O
one	O
for	O
green	O
,	O
one	O
for	O
blue	O
,	O
and	O
one	O
for	O
the	O
alpha	B-Algorithm
channel	I-Algorithm
(	O
whose	O
inventors	O
have	O
connections	O
to	O
Pixar	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Unix	B-Application
host	O
machine	O
was	O
generally	O
needed	O
to	O
operate	O
it	O
(	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
keyboard	O
and	O
mouse	O
for	O
user	O
input	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Walt	O
Disney	O
Feature	O
Animation	O
,	O
whose	O
parent	O
company	O
later	O
purchased	O
Pixar	O
in	O
2006	O
,	O
used	O
dozens	O
of	O
the	O
Pixar	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Computers	I-General_Concept
for	O
their	O
Computer	O
Animation	O
Production	O
System	O
(	O
CAPS	O
)	O
and	O
was	O
using	O
them	O
in	O
production	O
up	O
through	O
Pocahontas	O
in	O
1995	O
.	O
</s>
