Pacific Data Images

Background
Pacific Data Images was founded in 1980 by Carl Rosendahl in Sunnyvale, California (a suburb of Silicon Valley and San Francisco), his partners Richard Chuang and Glenn Entis wrote the company's computer software one year later on a DEC PDP-11/44, which transitioned into a DEC VAX-11/780, which was to be a part of the studio's goal to incorporate computer graphics into the entertainment field. Some of its early projects included the TV special The Last Halloween with Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, the 1989 PBS logo with John LePrevost, the NBC "Let's All Be There" ID promotional film with Harry Marks, and the "Homer³" segment from The Simpsons S7 episode "Treehouse of Horror VI" with Gracie Films and Film Roman. In 1998, PDI collaborated with the feature animation division of DreamWorks SKG to produce the feature film Antz. The studio was purchased by DreamWorks in 2000 and was renamed PDI/DreamWorks, in which the two companies worked within a single entity, comprised of the original PDI studio in Redwood City and the DreamWorks campus in Glendale, which became "DreamWorks Animation". On January 22, 2015, PDI/DreamWorks closed its doors as part of a restructuring of DreamWorks Animation due to the box office flop of Penguins of Madagascar. The studio's biggest hit was the 2004 film Shrek 2.

1st Logo (June 5, 1989)
Logo: On a black background, we see a golden 19th century decorated design of the words "PACIFIC Data Images" with "PACIFIC" in an arc and "Data" inside a scroll. Underneath it is "Times New Roman".

FX/SFX: The logo shining.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the short.

Availability: Extremely rare, only found on the CGI short Locomotion.

2nd Logo (October 2, 1998)


Nicknames: "The Cameraman", "Man with the Camera", "Man Holding a Camera", "PDI Cameraman" "Action Man"

Logo: We see a stickman jumping in and somersaulting. He lands on on a floor with white dots and causes the wooden letters "PDI" to shake. A film camera drops from above, which the man then catches, making him kneel, and the dots fade out.

FX/SFX: A mixture of 2D and 3D animation. Ironically, this was actually animated by DreamWorks.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare. This only appeared at the end of Antz.

Editor's Note: It is worth noting that the animation for this logo was done by DreamWorks, as mentioned earlier.

3rd Logo (April 22, 2001-May 27, 2005)


Logo: An in-credit logo. The words "PDI" and "DreamWorks" appear next to each other in the DreamWorks font. The words are separated by DW's "Moon Boy" symbol, which is rotated to this right in this logo.

FX/SFX: The text scrolling up in the credits.

Music/Sounds: Whatever music is playing over the credits.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen at the end of Shrek, Shrek 2 and Madagascar. Don't expect to find this at the end of Shark Tale, which is DreamWorks' first CGI film without PDI's involvement.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (May 18, 2007-November 26, 2014)
Logo: On a black background we see the white letters: serif fading in.

FX/SFX: Just the fade in.

Music/Sounds: None or the closing theme of the movie.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen at the end of the last PDI/DreamWorks films from the time until the company shut down, which are Shrek the Third, Megamind, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and Penguins of Madagascar. Don't expect this logo to appear at the end of Shrek Forever After, as the animation of said film was outsourced to the main DreamWorks division. As of 2015's Home, the main DreamWorks division animates all of their newer films.