What software do the pro studios use?

[Rudyard]

I enjoy video editing as a hobby and use vegas and a little premiere mostly. I am also learning to use 3ds max at uni which does some animating whic I am also trying to learn for a hobby.

Was just wondering, what sort of programs do the movie studios use to produce movies?

And what about animations like shrek and nemo, or tv shows like the simpsons and south park?

In particular animating, would they use something like 3dsmax and maybe autodesk motion builder or MAYA?? Or are these just expensive tools for peoples hobbies??

[videopoo]

Pixar uses custom tools they've developed over several years. I'm pretty sure Dreamworks does the same.

[edDV]

I enjoy video editing as a hobby and use vegas and a little premiere mostly. I am also learning to use 3ds max at uni which does some animating whic I am also trying to learn for a hobby.

Was just wondering, what sort of programs do the movie studios use to produce movies?

And what about animations like shrek and nemo, or tv shows like the simpsons and south park?

In particular animating, would they use something like 3dsmax and maybe autodesk motion builder or MAYA?? Or are these just expensive tools for peoples hobbies??

They use all of the above. Different software programs are used for the various types of programming you mentioned. 2D cartoon animation is very different that 3D modeling. Maya is mainstream for 3D object modeling and animation.

Some intro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_generated_imagery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animated_cartoon
http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/lessons.html

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7639525
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softimage

[guns1inger]

ILM use XSI as a front-end, but with a lot of in-house written scripts and helpers. Many studios use packages like XSI, Houdini and Maya as a starting point, but have TDs who write a lot of custom code - scripts, plugins and shaders - to customise the workflow.

Max is used by some low budget studios for actual effects, but for the most part it is used for pre-viz work and gaming animation.

If you want to find out how Pixar and Dreamworks do it, watch the extras on their DVDs. You won't get all their secrets, but you will get enough.

The Simpsons is still done as 2D, although Futurama made extensive use of 3D for sets and ships. South Park moved to XSI a few years back.

You should also watch some of Pixar's extras especially because they will give you a better insight into how the work is broken down in larger studios.