MSI goes behind the scenes of Pixar

CHICAGO (WLS) -- From Toy Story's bold adventure to silly Monsters, Inc., antics, Pixar films have made us laugh and cry for years. Now, you can see just how much work goes into these iconic movies at the Museum of Science and Industry's new exhibit: The Science Behind Pixar.

"I just thought like they drew a picture and put it on a screen, not that it took so long just to make one slide of it," said 8-year-old Madeline Bell as she spent time in the interactive exhibit Monday.

The displays allow visitors to tweak animations, create their own designs, and learn about different degrees of detail needed based on where the camera is pointed.

"Everything from computer engineering as well as traditional process where you can make a model and then see how that gets turned into a 3-d image and then back into a 2-d image through the rendering process," said the museum's manager of special exhibitions, Jeff Buonomo.

The hands-on exhibit gives visitors a taste of Pixar's special methods, like "rigging," which is the skeleton, joints and muscles that are designed to make characters move in specific ways after their rough shapes are thought up. Rigging isn't just about motion; it's about feelings too. In fact, an exhibit sign said there may be hundreds of rigging controls in a character's face alone to show emotion.

After the characters and scenery are designed, Pixar still has to take care of traditional film challenges like lighting and camera angles-all in a digital space.

"Both of our daughters really like science and math and so to see what it takes to get to the finished product and how much of that science and math plays a role is very nice for us to be able to do," said Madeline's dad, David Bell.

Don't forget, you get to add your own sense of style to Pixar's iconic look.

The Science Behind Pixar is at the Museum of Science and Industry until January 6th. Check it out before it races off "to infinity and beyond!"

Please note that Pixar and ABC 7 are both owned by The Walt Disney Company.