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A major piece of animation and VFX history is on the block this weekend in Berkeley, California, as Oscar-winning animator and effects pioneer Phil Tippett closes his longtime studio and sells off decades of props, models, artwork, equipment, and memorabilia.<\/p>\n
The 6,200-square-foot Tippett Studio facility is being emptied in a three-day liquidation sale running through Sunday. According to the sale listing<\/a>, Tippett has occupied the Berkeley location for 35 years, and \u201ceverything goes,\u201d from stop-motion and motion-capture equipment to cameras, model-making tools, production documents, and hundreds, possibly thousands, of objects from the studio\u2019s productions.<\/p>\n Items include models and sketches from Mad God<\/em><\/a>, an artist-proof AT-AT model from The Empire Strikes Back<\/em>, Starship Troopers<\/em> miniatures, signed posters, storyboards, costumes, prototypes, and three models connected to the Dejarik chess sequence in the original Star Wars<\/em>. The sale also includes working effects studio infrastructure, including computers, 3D printers, lighting equipment, welding gear, drill presses, mold-making equipment, and entire toolboxes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Two things that Tippett won\u2019t be letting go of in the sale are his Oscars.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re the big-ticket items, and they were the most significant moments in my journey,\u201d the 74-year-old filmmaker told<\/a> CBS San Francisco of the Academy Awards he received for Return of the Jedi<\/em> and Jurassic Park<\/em>. Of parting with the rest, he admitted, \u201cI\u2019d get a little twinge of regrets sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n