Flags and Waves

Flags and Waves is a short computer animation test clip created by animator Bill Reeves and Alain Fournier for Pixar in 1986. The clip included waves reflecting a sunset and lapping against the shore. Reeves and Fournier made the project, with the feedback of John Lasseter, to work out details of rendering water and waves realistically including lighting, motion, and shading. It was exhibited at SIGGRAPH in Dallas in 1986, along with Lasseter's landmark computer-animated short Luxo Jr. and another test project, Beach Chair by Eben Ostby. The methods developed during the creation of this project were the basis of the water in Finding Nemo.