Images: Pixar's progress

Nighttime scenes used to be unusual in digitally animated films until Pixar set off to explore the territory in the 1987 short "Red's Dream." In it, a unicycle named Red faces life as the lone sale item in the clearance corner of Eben's Bikes.

The 1988 short "Tin Toy" marked the first time a character with lifelike bendable arms and knees, surfaces and facial components was animated digitally. The film won an Academy Award for best animated short.

Life as a snowman trapped in a snow-globe blizzard can be tough. For the 1989 short "Knick Knack," creator John Lasseter says he wanted to do something "pure cartoony, like a Chuck Jones cartoon."

In 1997, Pixar released its animated short "Geri's Game." The film marked advances in the ability to animate skin and cloth.

The birds in the 2000 Academy Award-winning short "For the Birds" have countless feathers. Pixar worked with its existing technology to digitally create natural-looking feathers.