DI's on Computer Animated Features

[Josh Bloomer]

This is more of a historical question that a practical one, so I hope this is okay. I'm curious, though, about the evolution of the workflow that computer animated features use from the time each individual shot is rendered to final release in theaters. I'm somewhat familiar with the post-production process on live action features, but not so much on animated ones.

I believe that Disney's earliest CAPS features, as well as Pixar's first films - which would have been the first completely "digital films" in history - were still filmed out shot-by-shot, and then spliced, color timed, and mastered on film - from which prints for theatrical release and initial home video transfers would have been struck. 

However, does anyone know what the first computer-animated film to be completely mastered digitally was? Meaning final color timing and conforming took place entirely in the digital realm before being output onto film. I read that Tarzan and Toy Story 2 were among the first films to be digitally projected in 1999 - so I'm assuming that they would have been the first animated features to use DI's (and by this I mean a fully realized digital master)? Unless an earlier CAPS or Pixar film beat them to it...

To add to my confusion, though, I noticed that ALL of Pixar's features until as late as 2016 - from Toy Story to Finding Dory - each list a "negative cutter" in the credits. What's the need for a negative cutter if the film is digital from start to finish? And what major transition could have occurred between Finding Dory (2016) and Coco (2017) to have negated the need for a negative cutter on the latter? 

Info on this particular aspect of the production phase is pretty scarce regarding animated features, I've found - and I'm aware that I'm asking some very specific questions - so just hoping some of you who have a better understanding of the cinematographic process might be able to shed light on this. Thanks!