Inside 'Finding Dory': Pixar's Latest Film Uses Tech That Wasn't Possible For 'Finding Nemo'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)-- Disney is hoping it has a hit on its hands as "Finding Dory" finds its way into theaters this summer.

The anticipated crowd-pleaser is a sequel to the popular animated film "Finding Nemo."

When "Finding Nemo" came out, the iPhone didn't exist. A lot of technology has advanced since then, including the technology to make the latest Pixar film, CBS2's Jill Nicolini reported.

Pixar was able to make effects and characters in Dory that it never could make before, according to CNET's Brian Tong. Thirteen years after "Finding Nemo" made a splash, Marlin and Dory are back in action.

Resurrecting those beloved characters wasn't a matter of copying them from the original film. Pixar had to recreate them using updated technology, but still stay true to the characters' look and design.

"They basically had to be rebuilt from scratch, because we could no longer animate with them or light with them," Supervising Technical Director John Halstead said.

However, it was a new character that proved most challenging. Hank the octopus wasn't even technically possible for "Finding Nemo." Simulating everything from an octopus' tentacle movement to its squishyness to its camouflage proved quite complex and time-consuming.

Pixar's first scene featuring Hank took two years to make.

"Actually an engineer worked on Hank for about six months, I think. Just figuring out how to create a new type of curve that the tentacles can use. It can quash, it can stretch, it can move around. If you move a tentacle, the whole body reacts to that motion," Pixar Character Art Director Jeremie Talbot.

Advances in lighting, rendering and Pixar's Presto animation system helped automate processes that took much more manpower and time than the first movie.

A new technology called Auto-Swim provided a recipe for animating swimming fish. The aquarium imagery of water and glass could not look more sophisticated and natural. Unlike "Finding Nemo," they didn't have to scale back on any water effects.

"Water's still challenging. The aesthetic bar for that is really high. But now we have the opportunity to. You know, do as much water effects as we can," Halstead added.

"Finding Dory" opens in theaters on June 17.