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Wo r l d
GraphicsComputer
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Why did you decide to use
stereoscopic visual effects in
Spy Kids 3-D?
I wanted to bring stereo 3D
effects back to theaters. And I
thought doing a sci-fi movie for
kids and setting it in a video game would be
a great way to do it. The first thing I did was
get Chris Olivia, a lead artist at Troublemaker
Digital, to work up some test shots using
footage from Spy Kids 2. It was astounding.
We had this rush of adrenaline. It worked
so well that we ended up making 90
percent of the movie in stereo.
Stereoscopy in films seems
to have been merely a
novelty. Is it intended to be
something more this time?
If you look at stereo 3D movies
from the past, you see why they
didnt work: The stories werent
very good, the stereoscopic effect was
not very good, and it wasnt used as a
crucial element in the story. So I think
people just assumed that the idea wasnt
a good one. What I wanted to do was
form the movie around the experience of
being immersed in a virtual world. When
you and the main characters put on the
glasses, you enter the world of the game.
What was the best
stereoscopic movie?
Most people would say,House
of Wax. But when I realized
that, I knew we were home free.
We all knew we could easily
beat that, and be the best stereo movie
ever made. Thats one of the main rea-
sons I wanted to do the movie. Its a
genre we could redefine.
Why did filmmakers
abandon stereo 3D effects?
It was very difficult to do. In
fact, now that Ive made a
movie using the latest in high-
definition cameras and 3D digi-
tal equipment, I dont even know how
filmmakers ever pulled it off before. They
were shooting blind. They had to lock
down the camera, set a convergence,
then let it ride. Its just impossible to see
what youre doing when shooting on
film, but for stereo 3D thats critical. Film
is obsolete. Im hoping the industry
wises up and lets it go the way of the
eight-track tape where it belongs.
Why is making a stereo-
scopic film easier now?
This movie could not have
been made even a year ago,
because this is all very new
technology. We have HD mon-
itors and a dual HD projector on the
set. We can put on glasses and watch
the stereo effect as were shooting. And
we can change the intraocular distance
and monitor convergence on the spot.
But, that said, it all starts with a
moviemaker who really wants to go out
and do something different, someone
who is willing to learn the technology
and use it in a creative way.
Is it also less expensive to
produce stereo 3D now
given the new digital tools?
It was less expensive than if we
were to shoot it on film. In fact,
this movie had the same budget
as the first two Spy Kids movies. So with
careful planning, there were no extra
costs, and the movie is bigger than the
last two in every way.
Is this the first of a new
wave of stereo 3D films?
Id love to do another 3D movie,
if for no other reason than to put
to use the knowledge my crew
and I have gained over the past
year. As for others, its up to those who are
willing to go out and learn it and apply it in
a way that makes it worthwhile to the
audience. I certainly hope there are more.
What has been the
response from audiences?
The response has been even
stronger than I thought it
would be. Ive been to theme
parks where they have 10-
minute 3D movies, and those always get
big responses. But theres something
really different about seeing a long nar-
rative story set in the 3D world. You can
invest more in the characters and in the
world, and be transported beyond what
a regular movie could ever hope to
achieve. You are immersed in this game,
and like some of the characters in the
movie, you dont want to leave.
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56| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
dropRobert Rodriguez isthe director of Spy Kids
3-D: Game Over. For more
information about the
movie, see Spying in
Stereo, pg. 24.
By Phil LoPiccolo
Moving in Stereo
back
By adopting the latest digital filmmaking technologies,
Spy Kids 3-D sets a new course for stereoscopic effects
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World
Graphics
Comp
uter
August2003
www.cgw.com
The
HumanTouchAnimators add depth to digital actors
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Editors Note 4
Digital Future-Proofing
Spotlight 6
Products
Avids Media Composer Adrenaline
Discreet 3ds max 6
Wondertouch particleIllusionThe Foundrys Keylight 2.0
Voice-O-Matic and Di-O-Matic
User Focus
Steele VFX Engineers Chickens
Click 3xs New Spin on Mosaics
Nvidias Next Animated Pixie
Technology
Cloth-Simulation Techniques
Market Outlook, Industry News
Server Adoption Rates Rise
Blur Studio Relocates
Digital Video Viewpoint 14
Video in Stereo
Game Viewpoint 16
The Plays the Thing
Art Studio 40
SIGGRAPH Animation Festival, Part II
Reviews 42
3Dlabs Wildcat VP990
Cebas finalToon
Products 46
Backdrop 56
Moving in Stereo
Cover story
Character Studies 18
ANIMATION| Short films from
SIGGRAPHs Electronic Theater
expand the range of virtual
human actors.
By Jenny Donelan
Spying in Stereo 24
FILM| Spy Kids 3-Ds stereoscopic
effects place moviegoers in the
middle of the action.
By Audrey Doyle
Animated Angels 32
WEB| Internet animations offer
fans a prologue to the new film,
Charlies Angels: Full Throttle.
By Courtney E. Howard
The Art of Espionage 38
GAMING| Ubi Soft spent a yeartweaking the graphics in its Splinter
Cellgame to exploit the hardware
power of each major platform.
By Karen Moltenbrey
Departments
Features
18
24
August 2003 Volume 26 Number 8
On the cover:
The artist spotlighted in Sam Chens
award-winning animated short, Eternal
Gaze, grapples with the creative
process. Turn to pg. 18 for more.
Also see www.cgw.com for computer graphics
news, special surveys and reports,
and the online gallery.
32
w w w . c g w . c o m AUG UST 2003 Computer Graphics World| 3
38
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products
modelin
ganimation
Discreet has announced 3ds max 6,
the latest upgrade to its flagship 3D
modeling, animation, and rendering
software. With Version 6, the company
affirms its commitment to game
development and introduces new
features and enhancements.
New features that game develop-
ers in particular will welcome
include a robust 3D painting and
texturing application based on Right Hemispheres Deep Paint engine. It
enables artists to paint multiple channels of information on multiple objects
using multiple layers. Discreet also adds to the rendering options by bundling a
license of Mental Ray 3.2 and integrating it tightly with the software.
Enhancements to 3ds maxs interface include a complete rework of
Schematic View that makes the product more efficient and user friendly. Vertex
Paint has been updated to include pressure-sensitive brushes and blurring. The
package also makes automating technical tasks easier by adding a command
line interface to the renderer and Maxscript.
Character animators will appreciate the new
skinning tools, which permit envelopes to be
mirrored across a character. For effects artists,
Discreet has created Particle Flow, an event-driv-
en particle system with an easy-to-use, node-
based interface. In another nod to the game
development environment, Reactor, 3ds maxs
physics engine, is bundled with Version 6 and
has been updated to include vehicle and human
dynamics. Scheduled to ship this summer, 3ds
max 6 costs $3495. George Maestri
Discreet; www.discreet.com
infoNOW 50
Deep Textures Come to 3ds max
For a direct link to more
product information and
vendor Web sites, click on
www.onlinecenter.to/cgw
spotlight Your resource
for news, products,
user applications,
and market research
Desktop SD Videofrom AvidAvids Media Composer Adrenaline video-editing system com-
bines the companys Media Composer software with its special-
purpose Adrenaline hardware, which features a unique hybrid
architecture that takes advantage of both host-based processing
and hardware-based acceleration. The new system is designed
to provide workstation-level video-editing capabilities on a
desktop PC or Mac, at a price in the low five figures.
The Adrenaline hardware device, which is part of Avids
recently announced DNA (digital nonlinear) family of
accelerators, connects to a desktop unit through a single
FireWire connection. According to the company,
Adrenaline is the first system to support uncompressed SD
(standard definition) video over standard FireWire. In
addition to real-time, multi-stream, uncompressed SD
video editing, Adrenaline offers 10-bit high-definition
media expandability. Other features include 24P Film
Composer offline editing functionality, 24-bit audio, and a
real-time, automated color-correction tool.
Adrenaline can operate in a collaborative workflow with
the Avid Unity MediaNetwork. It provides native support and
timeline mixing for Avid Meridian JFIF, ABVB, DV25, DV50,
IMX, and uncompressed 601 media formats. The Media
Composer Adrenaline system costs $24,995. Jenny Donelan
Avid Technology Inc.; www.avid.com
infoNOW 51
products
videoediting
6| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
Imagecourte
syDiscre
et.
Imagecourte
syAvid.
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spotlight
For the past several months, Nvidia has been turning
heads at industry trade shows with its short animation of
the fetching fairy Dawn, a realistic-looking real-time
character created by the graphics card vendor for show-
casing the power of programmable shaders and vertex
processing on its GeForce FX line. Since the E3 trade
show in May, Dawn has been sharing the spotlight
with her pixie pal Dusk, also created by the Nvidia
development team to draw attention to the same pro-
grammable features used in Dawnin particular,
the use of customized skin, hair, and wing shadersbut
with the addition of real-time shadow effects.
In the original demo, a fresh-faced Dawn prances
along a tree branch, as soft sunlight filters through her col-
orful, translucent wings and is absorbed by her light-
peach skin. In contrast to this sun-kissed setting is the
more robust, dark, grungy environment of Dusk. In the
Dusk animation, the moonlight is reflected on the charac-
ters black leather and lace clothing and on her silver wings,
along with projected real-time shadow effects.
Our goal [with these animations] is to show that the new
graphics hardware now supports the kind of shading language
that the film industry has been using for years, only in real
time, says Curtis Beeson, manager of the companys technical
demonstration team. We initially did this with Dawn, and she
had this soft, high-dynamic-range lighting effect that people
werent used to seeing in real
time. But something was con-
spicuously absentshadows. So
when we released the GeForce
FX 5900
Ultra, which
supports the
same function set used
for Dawn, we were able
to go back and add that
detail.
Produced by Nvidias con-
tent development team (led by
Daniel Hornick), Dusk was
created in much the same way as
Dawn. To model the character
and the background, the group used
Discreets 3ds max and character
studio (mainly for touch-up) and
Alias|Wavefronts Maya (mostly
for the character setup, skinning, and rig-
ging). Texturing was accomplished in Adobe
Systems Photoshop and Right Hemispheres
Deep Paint.
To animate Dusk, the Nvidia team hired a
modern dancer, whose
movements were cap-
tured with a 24-camera
Vicon8 optical system
by House of Moves. The
motion-capture facility
then processed the data
using its Diva software.
Nvidia imported the
raw data into character
studio, and applied it to
the model. More intri-
cate movementssuch
as hand/finger anima-
tions, facial expressions,
and wing movement
were hand-animated in
3ds max.
Rendering was accomplished with a custom-built real-
time system similar to current game engines. We use Cg, a
high-level Nvidia shading language in OpenGL, or HLSL in
[Microsofts] DirectX, to draw the image, says Beeson.
Even though Dusk was intended to show off Nvidias
high-end consumer cards, the animation required a profession-
al Quadro FX 2000 solution for the content creation.
One of the biggest challenges to making Dusk, accord-
ing to Beeson, was figuring out how to assign the shaders
before they were supported in the software used to generate
the content. Most of this software supports Cg internally
now, which will make it easier to prototype the look of an
effect in the future, he notes. Through Cg, artists can now
create photorealistic shaders and modify them in real time
within their viewports, enabling them, for instance, to alter
the sheen of Dusks skin from dry to oily by adjusting sliders
in the application, and the change will be calculated and ren-
dered in real time. Conversely, we had to invent tools along
the way and export the effects into our engine before ever
seeing what they were going to look like.
In all likelihood, Dawn and Dusk are probably the most
realistic real-time characters appearing today, and they have
demonstrated to game developers what can be accomplished
using state-of-the-art technology, especially programmable
skin shaders. And, Hornick expects that other characters will
soon be sporting similar skin effects in upcoming game titles,
including Tiger Woods 2004 from Electronic Arts. As with
Dusk, this game includes improved self-shadowing, with
advanced DirectX 9.0 pixel shaders creating accurate shadows.
Were shooting for a cinematic look that is more in tune
with movies than current game content, says Hornick. KM
KEY TOOLS: GeForce FX and Quadro FX cards, Nvidia
www.nvidia.com
infoNOW 82
userfocu
s
multimedia From Dawn to Dusk
10| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
Unlike its Dawn animation, which is
entirely GPU-driven, only some of Nvidias
Dusk (above) is processed in the GPU.
Images
Nvidia
Corp
ora
tion.
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spotlight
According to the recent TrendWatch report, Visual Effects/
Dynamic Media, the number of facilities planning to purchase
servers is significant across all markets (see chart below) and has
risen 17 percent compared to a year ago.Several factors are driv-
ing this growth:Visual effects and dynamic media organizations
increasingly are buying servers for tasks such as rendering, and
running Linux on the systems.And the transition to digital video
production formats is creating the need for additional storage and
dedicated servers for specific tasks. Moreover, prices have
declined,making servers a must haveinvestment even for small
studios and independent freelancers.Jim Whittington, prin-
cipal of market research firm TrendWatch, Mill Valley, CA.
marketoutlook
Source: Excerpted from the TrendWatch Visual Effects/Dynamic Media Report
Percent of all U.S. visual effects/dynamic
media studios/facilities planning to buy servers in 2003
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
54%
44%
31%
25%
22%
20%
19%
Web/Interactive Media Cos.
Animation/Effects Studios
Postproduction Facilities
Broadcast/Cable Studios
Recording/Mixing Studios
Corp. Film & Video Companies
Production Companies
Serving Up
One of the biggest snags in computer animation has been
to simulate how clothing bunches up and then relaxes
again, as when a characters elbow bends or arm moves
across the front of the body. The problem with conven-
tional cloth-simulation techniques is that during such
motions, fabric becomes sandwiched in areas where it
intersects with the body and itself, and it gets pulled,
stretched, and tangled. As a result, it can flutter, wiggle,
and appear jagged. And then, when the body parts sepa-
rate, it can remain pinched and tangled instead of falling
loosely and naturally back to its original shape.
To avoid these problems, David Baraff, Andrew
Witkin, and Michael Kass of Pixar Animation Studios
have devised two cloth-collision algorithms described last
month at SIGGRAPH in a paper titled Untangling Cloth.
The first is called collision flypapering, which eliminates
nearly all visible artifacts in regions of body intersection by
carefully controlling the motion of any trapped or pinched
cloth points. The accompanying figure shows how the fly-
papering algorithm produces realistic cloth simulations
when clothing would otherwise get pinched from typical
body motions of a CG character (above).
The researchers also have developed
a cloth-to-cloth collision algorithm that
performs a global intersection analysis
(GIA) of the interacting cloth meshes. It
instantaneously characterizes the current
intersection state of the fabric in order to guide the cloth
back to an untangled state where intersections occur. The
two images at the right demonstrate how a crumpled shirt
looks with the GIA algorithm turned off (top) and then
turned on (bottom). Phil LoPiccolo
technolo
gy
simulation Untangling Cloth
Imagescopyrigh
tandre
prin
tedwith
permission
ofPix
arAnim
ation
Studio
san
dA
CM.
In Brief
12| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
Blur Studio (Venice, CA), a creator of visual effects and
animation, moved into a new headquarters measuring
20,000 square-feet, nearly three times the size of its formeroffices. Blur also added roughly 24 computer artists to its staff,
bringing the current head count to 65. Blur Studios immediate
reason for expansion is to meet current production deadlines,
whereas its longer-term goal is to become a major player in
feature animation.... Discreet (Montral), a division of
Autodesk, has formed a strategic partnership with Criterion
Software (Austin, TX), the maker of RenderWare middleware
tools and technology, to develop and promote a game devel-
opment pipeline between Discreets 3ds max modeling, ani-
mation, and rendering product and RenderWare.... IMAXCorporation (Mississauga, Canada) recently retired approxi-
mately $22 million in face value of its $200 million of senior
notes due December 2005 in exchange for newly issued com-
mon shares.According to the company, it has reduced its total
debt by more than 40 percent in less than two years. IMAX
also announced an agreement with EuroPalaces, one of the
largest commercial exhibitors in Europe, to open a new IMAX
3D theater at Frances Disneyland Resort Paris in June 2004.
news
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DV
stereoscopic films and videos is fairly high. However, that doesnt mean anybodys giv-
ing up. This year, for example, movie-going audiences were treated to the release of two
high visibility stereoscopic moviesGhosts of the Abyss (see Atypical Stereo, July
2003, pg. 44) and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over(see Spying in Stereo, this issue, pg. 24).
Interestingly, the two movies used completely different stereoscopic techniques. For
Ghosts of the Abyss, director James Cameron chose to use a polarized technology that
requires the use of two projectorswith one projecting an image for the right eye and
the other projecting an image for the left eyeand calls for audience members to wear
special polarized glasses. In contrast, for Spy Kids 3-D, director Robert Rodriguez chose
to use 1950s anaglyph technology, which enables the use of one projector and requires
audience members to wear those funky red and blue glasses. Though not as advanced
as the polarized technology, the anaglyph approach has the advantage of being able to
be displayed in mainstream cinemas from a traditional film projector.
Moving to the Mainstream?
While its unlikely that these two films alone will suddenly make stereoscopic movies
wildly popular, their release does prompt a discussion of developments in the stereo-
scopic 3D world that just might have the potential to push the technology toward
greater mainstream acceptance. One important effort in this regard aims to take advan-
tage of recent advances in digital-video, video-projector, and computer-server technolo-
gies to create a much less expensive way of displaying stereoscopic films and video.
Spearheading this trend is a partnership of three companiesEdwards Technologies (El
Segundo, CA), Panasonic (Secaucus, NJ), and nWave (Culver City, CA).
Edwards Technologies has been in the business of building multi-sensory experi-
Since at least the 1950s, when
studios released a blizzard of
3D movies, technologists and
artists have been fascinated by
the challenge of creating a
compelling 3D moving picture
experiencein which the action on the
screen extends beyond the surface of
the screen and out into the audience.
To date, the stereo-
scopic technologies that
have the potential to
make such experiences
possible have achieved
the greatest degree of
acceptance in the techni-
cal world, where engi-
neers, researchers, and
scientists routinely use
stereoscopic technolo-
gies in car design, med-
ical research, and oil and
gas exploration applica-
tions. In addition, stereo-
scopic technologies are
used regularly and suc-
cessfully in special enter-
tainment venues, such as
IMAX theaters and 3D
theme park rides.
Despite those suc-
cesses, the stereoscopic
3D experience has yet to
significantly penetrate
the mainstream of the
film and video world. In
part, thats because its
a lot more difficult to
create a great stereo-
scopic experience using
live-action footage than
it is using computer graphics. Beyond
that, the cost of making and displaying
Video Goes Stereo
view
By Stephen Porterpoint
Although stereoscopic 3D movies are still the exception rather than the rule, the
emergence of new digital video-based projection systems promises to make stereo
3D projects more affordable to create and distribute.
Stephen Porters a contributing editor
ofComputer Graphics
Worldand a freelance
writer who has coveredideo, graphics, and
digital content creation
echnologies and appli-
ations for more than 15
ears. He can be reached
Advances in
stereoscopic
technology
push 3D
video to the
forefront
14| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
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Film
animated short films shown at
SIGGRAPHs Electronic Theater
last month advance the state of
the art not in terms of Is it real or is it
CG? realism, but in creating characters
who, with their movements and expres-
sions, engage audiences in some of the
same ways a human actor might. Eternal
Gaze, Chainsmoker, and Plumber
each feature a lone protagonist who
engages audiences not with beauty, charm,
or flowing photorealistic hair, but with the
earnestness with which he or she tackles a
problem. Their difficulties range from the
mystical (the artist in Sam Chens Eternal
Gaze grapples with madness,
mortality, and the creative
process, all in the space of 16
minutes) to the mundane (Ulf
Lundgrens nursing home
patient goes to great lengths
to enjoy a forbidden cigar in
Chainsmoker), while the hero of Andy
Knight and Richard Rosenmans Plumber
does battle with a surreally malfunctioning
faucet. Though each of these animated
humans has different problems, they each
pull us into their world in a similar way
with their efforts and their expressive faces.
18| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
By Jenny Donelancharacter
studies
Short f i lms
advance
the art of
human
character
animation
3
Their moods range from deep and
portentous (above) to wryly humorous
(left) to slapstick (below), but each
short animated film featured here
has a character with whom audiences
can readily identify.
E T E R N A L G A Z E
C H A I N S M O K E R
P L U M B E R
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E T E R N A L G A Z EDirector Sam Chen sees many similarities
between himself and the subject of his film
Eternal Gaze. Chen spent two and a half
years in relative isolation while making his
computer-animated short about the twen-
tieth-century artist Alberto Giacometti,
whereas the Giacometti of his film labors
alone in his studio. Both men worked with-
out assistants, Giacometti preparing his
own clay and stretching his own canvases,
and Chen doing his own research, model-
ing, animation, and post-production. Most
of all, says Chen, both he and the late artist
share an extraordinary single-mindedness
about the creative process.
For Chen, this particular all-consuming
project began with research into the life
and art of Giacometti, whom he describes
as one of the greatest but least recognized
artists of our time. Chen had never heard
of Giacometti until he read about him in an
assigned text in a college course, but he felt
immediately drawn to the man, who was
known for his moodiness, his melancholy
humor, and his exacting standards.
Chen also studied Giacomettis sculp-
tures so that he could digitally reproduce
their distorted and agitated surfaces in his
film, and the animator took a sculpting
class as well. As everyone knows, Chen
says, animators are actually frustrated
actors. I took the sculpting class in order to
get into Giacomettis head.
Chen wrote two scripts, scrapping the
first five months of work to re-orient the
story around the artist rather than the
sculptures as originally planned. Early
thumbnail sketches became a 10-minute
animatic that evolved into a CG layout
that grew into a 16-minute film containing
220 shots. Altogether, Chen modeled 18
different sculptures for the film, using
photographs as his main reference. Giaco-
metti himself is represented by three dif-
ferent models, in part because he ages
nine years during the three-act movie.
The end result, a black-and-white CG
short with no dialog and one human charac-
ter in a single setting, has won numerous
awards, including best animation for the SIG-
GRAPH 2003 Electronic Theater. The film
contains no astonishing special effects or
feats of CG realism. Instead, the overall
visionthe shadowy studio, the original
musical score by Jamey Scott, the hope and
agony on the face of the character as he strug-
gles with guilt, fear, a leaky roof, and a chron-
ic coughcombine to create a compelling
story about the redemptive power of art.
Chens chief inspirations for Eternal
Gaze were movies:Blade Runnermost of
allfor its film noire look, its pacing,
and its melancholy and Citizen Kane, for
its use of black and whiteI watched it
once a month while I was making my
film, he says. He also was influenced by
Pixars short films and Steven Spielbergs
moviesfor their heart and emotion.
In fact, by design, says Chen, the camera
Film
Director Sam Chen modeled artist Alberto
Giacometti (left) in a nonrealistic, carica-
ture style. Giacomettis sculptures (right),
on the other hand, were created to resem-
ble their real-life counterparts as closely
as possible. Much of the action in the film
involves Giacometti creating his works
of art (below).Images courtesy Sam Chen.
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moves in Eternal Gaze resemble those from traditional movies
more than they do camera moves in most CG films.
When he began making Eternal Gaze, Chen had already
directed several movies, including film documentaries and comput-
er animations. He had extensive CG experience, but still found the
challenge of realizing his vision rather formidable. First off, A
mantra for the film was historical accuracy, he says. It was impor-
tant to get the right look and feel for Giacomettis studio in Paris in
the 1950s and 60s, and also to represent the artist in spirit if not exac-
titude. Chen decided that rather than try and fail to represent him
photorealistically, he would exaggerate Giacomettis facial features,
and make his overall proportions
nonrealistic. Nevertheless, he was
careful to make the character
human enough that viewers
would identify with him rather
than dismiss him as a cartoon. I
wanted to capture the essence of
Giacometti, and show his tor-
ment... and ultimately, to have the
audience empathize with him,
says Chen.
To create Giacometti, Chen
used a combination of NURBS,
polygons, and subdivision sur-
faces in Alias|Wavefronts Maya.
Most of the sculptures were mod-
eled in NURBS, and the studio
and other objects within it are in
large part polygonal. Throughout
the film, Chen employed keyframe animation for better control in
achieving the looks and movements he wanted.
The most challenging part of rigging, notes Chen, involved
Giacomettis expressive face, which is the focal point of the film.
Chen used a bone and muscle
system rather than morph tar-
gets, which he thought would
create a canned or artificial
look. He consulted medical
books to find out which facial
muscles deploy for different human emotions, then rigged bones
to simulate the muscle contractions and expansions.
The textures and shaders used in the film are a mixture of pro-
cedurally generated textures and scans, including some taken
from photographs of Giacomettis face. Chen added effects such
as the curls of smoke from Giacomettis cigarette in post produc-
tion using Adobe Systems After Effects.
While Chen says he doesnt regret having to make Eternal
Gaze on his ownin fact, the self-described Jack-of-all-trades
says he wouldnt have been able to make the same film if he had
not been able to control all its aspectshe did have to compromise
here and there because of time constraints and the lack of help.
Given the opportunity, he would have added just a few more
effects. For example, when items in the finished film are
destroyed, there isnt any dust or smoke rising from the debris as
there should be. A related challenge was asset management.
There were so many formats, so many files, so many shots, he
notes. I started having file-naming convention problems. I had to
write my own scripts [here his computer science background came
in handy]. And render wrangling was a nightmare.
Overall, though, Chen is more than pleased with his creation.
I made the film that I wanted to make, he says, adding that this
would not have been possible just a few years ago, when an ani-
mated film this ambitious would have had to be made at a big stu-
dio. Thats one of the things about where the industry is going
the tools are all available now, and its very empowering and
encouraging for the individual artist today. Besides, he adds,
When I watch the movie I forget about the technical difficulties.
Film
20| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
Chens virtual Giacometti, which he
created using photos and film clips
as references, is an exaggerated
version of the late sculptor.
Eternal Gazebegins in color inside a
museum, then morphs to black and white
as we see in the exterior of Giacomettis
Paris studio in the 1950s.
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C H A I N S M O K E RAlthough animator Ulf Lundgren has created special effects for
fantasy-based and futuristic productions such as the Harry Potter
movies and the James Bond filmDie Another Day, he is more fas-
cinated by the little moments of everyday human existence.
Lundgren is a people watcher. So when he set about creating his
first independent project, he decided to concentrate more on
character than on plot.
The films story is simple: An old woman in a nursing home
keeps trying to sneak a cigar, and keeps getting caught. Whats
complex about Chainsmoker is the range of emotions that
crosses the womans wrinkled face: Shes sly, anticipatory, fright-
ened, contrite, and, ultimately, satisfied. As the day goes by, shad-
ows lengthen, and a radio plays 1940s big band music in the back-
ground while she tries again and again to enjoy the cigar she so
obviously craves. But each time shes about to inhale, we hear
authoritative footsteps echoing in the hall, coming closer and
closer. Whether you smoke or not, you find yourself rooting for
this spunky nursing home resident denied of her simple pleasure.
(Lest you forget the perils of smoking, however, a series of lung X-
rays at the movies beginning sets the appropriately morbid tone.)
Giving the woman a personality and
attitude was a blast, says Lundgren.
After having spent years of studying
faces and facial expressions for other
projects, making a film in which the
story centers around reactions and
expressions was extremely exciting.
Lundgrens nursing home resident is
the most realistic-
looking of the three
CG characters exam-
ined here. The artist
created her entirely
in Softimage, hav-
ing first filmed his
cousin acting out
the different epi-
sodes and then re-
timing the perfor-
mance in Adobe
After Effects to give
it more of an ani-
mated feel, using
the film for a refer-
ence. He wanted the
characters expres-
sions and reactions
to be humorous and
a bit slapstick in
nature, but not com-
pletely over the top.
Another notable
feature is the warm, dif-
fused light that changes
to represent the different
times of day in which the
action takes place (the film itself is just under four minutes long).
Ive always been a sucker for light, says Lundgren. This was a
chance to play around with different solutions and light treat-
mentsbut at the same time it turned out to be a lot harder than it
seemed and took a lot more time than I had expected. Lundgren
was slowed down partly because he ended up building his own
light rig that incorporated approximately 30 different raytraced
lights. Time-consuming though this was, his hand-built rig allowed
him to blend various colors so that he could set them
playing in the old womans wrinkles and in the shad-
ows, all of which give the film a richer, softer look.
Altogether, it took Lundgren more than six
months to create Chainsmoker while working at
day jobs such as creating effects for the Bond and
Harry Potter movies. He also was hampered by hav-
ing to render the entire project on his laptop. Though
hes satisfied with the filmIf there were anything
I was really unhappy with I wouldnt have released
ithe hopes to spend more time planning and try-
ing out different visual styles for his next project.
Did chainsmoking help get him through the long
nights of modeling, animating, rendering, and com-
positing? No, Lundgren replies. I was too uncool
in school to smoke, and too smart nowadays.
Film
22| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
Lundgren modeled his nursing home
patient in Softimage, paying particular
attention to her wrinkles (top).The
bandages (right) appear after one of
her smoking-related mishaps.
Different lighting schemes were used
to indicate that time was passing inside
the patients room.
ImagescourtesyUlfLun
dgren.
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w w w . c g w . c o m AUGUST 2003 Computer Graphics World| 23
P L U M B E RThe principals of Red Rover Studios, with a track record of
making television commercials for Toyota and the like, want-
ed to get involved in short film production. To show what
they could donot to mention learn what they could do
they decided to make their own computer-animated short.
The end result, Plumber, features Mario, one very deter-
mined fixer-upper who meets his match in a bathroom faucet
that refuses to stop dripping.
Mario goes to extraordinary lengths to stop the leak, and the
tap meets him every step of the way. In the battle that ensues,
there are explosions, a collapsed ceiling, and a flood so great
that Mario is forced to swim through the inside of his house to
attack the plumbing. The film is a showcase for special effects
such as these, but the real star is the bald and sinewy Mario,
who is annoyed, then angered by the recalcitrant tap, but seem-
ingly unaware that anything out of the ordinary is going on.
When they embarked on the project, the Red Rover artists
applied the same scheduling methods they use to create a televi-
sion commercial, only expanding the timeline from several weeks
to five months. They used an animatic throughout the project,
notes producer Randi Yaffa, which was updated weekly for inter-
nal review. The animatic allowed us to follow the films progress,
make editing and timing changes, and see potential mistakes that
might not have been as evident on a scene-by-scene basis.
All the action takes place in a colorful, semi-realistic, semi-
cartoon-like setting that the films creatorsdirectors Richard
Rosenman and Andy Knight and producer Randi Yaffadescribe
as hyper-real. The bold use of stylized color, notes Rosenman, in
conjunction with global illumination rendering, helped make the
film especially attention-grabbing. But global rendering turned out
to be an especially difficult part of the project. The action takes
place inside Marios house, and interior global rendering is much
more complex than exterior global rendering because the light
sources are more varied, says Rosenman. The team ended up
developing numerous techniques to reduce rendering time.
All the animation in Plumber is keyframed. Mocap has
its applications, says Rosenman, but Plumber was not suit-
able for it. Even before he was animated, the Mario character,
modeled in Discreets 3ds max, presented challenges. He
underwent hundreds of mutations, says Rosenman, before
the creators were satisfied. Similarly, the morph targets for
Marios expressions went through many iterations before he
gained his determined visage.
Marios clothing also was problematic for a while. Until the
team worked out the details of the cloth simulation, the charac-
ters bold, frantic motions were too abrupt for the cloth calcula-
tions, which resulted in his shirt getting stuck in his arms and
other areas. For the underwater scene, the most eye-catch-
ing in the film, the team used fluid dynamics simulation.
Notes Rosenman, We tested for months before we were
able to reach a compromise between realistic-looking water
and production-friendly simulations.
In the end, the Red Rover team was able to imbue its first
short CG film with plenty of humor and visual appeal. As for
the earnest Mario and his battle with the faucetlets just
say he makes a better star of a CG film than a plumber.
Jenny Donelan is a contributing editor for Computer
Graphics World.
Film
Adobe Systems www.adobe.com infoNOW 60
Alias|Wavefront www.aliaswavefront.com infoNOW 61
Discreet www.discreet.com infoNOW 62
Softimage www.softimage.com infoNOW 63
toolbox
The most eye-catching scene in
Red Rovers Plumber is one in
which the lead character swims
underwater through his
flooded house.
The animators experimented
with a variety of looks and
facial expressions for Mario
(above). The brightly colored
world he inhabits straddles a
line between realistic and
cartoon-like (right).
Images courtesy Red Rover Studios.
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Clockwise from top left:
Influencing Bone Remodeling in Osteoporosis, directed by Jane Hurd and pro-
duced by Amalia Delicari, illustrates how the drug actonel suppresses bone loss.
Mekarate, directed and produced by Hiroyasu Shimo, focuses on an inept office worker
who is haunted by a self-destructive wish and plagued with anti-social behavior.
Ode to Summer, directed by Ron Hui and produced by Tony and Raymond Neoh, uses
CG to bring to life the art of Chinese ink-brush painting.
Little Red Plane, directed and produced by Joey Jones and Wira Winata of Shadebox
Animations, uses digital techniques to take a young boy on a spiritual journey.
The Future is Wild, directed by Steve Nicholls and produced by Paul Reddish of 422
Ltd., places 47 unique and highly diverse CG animals into live-action backgrounds for this13-part television series from Animal Planet USA.
Art Studio
Each year, the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival serves as a mir-
ror of what is possible today and as a window into what might be
achieved in the future. The festival is defined by one wordvision,
says chair Darin Grant from Digital Domain.Through a unique blend of
art and technology, it has helped display the vision and achievement of
the pioneering efforts of our industry during the past 30 years.
This year, the Animation Theater projects were shown collectively in
one large venue,rather than in multiple rooms.As a result, the festival jury
had to limit the number of selections, presenting 52 projects compared to66 last year. Of these,28 are international submissions, and 14 are student
TheSIGGRA
PH
ComputerAnimationFestival,PartII
40| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003
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Clockwise from top right:
Pingwin, directed by Wojtek Wawszcyk and produced with Georg Gruber, features a pen-
guin, created in Softimage|3D, which moves to the rhythm of an orchestral selection.
Plumber, directed by Andy Knight and Richard Roseman, and produced by Randi Yaffa of
Red Rover Studios, uses computational fluid dynamics, cloth simulation, and other digital
technologies to create the dynamic imagery in this humorous animated short film.
Time Warner Pigs, directed by Bruno Aveillan and produced by Quad-Believe, is a televi-
sion commercial featuring fantastical CG pigs created by La Maison.
This Wonderful Life, directed and produced by Liam Kemp, shows how a newfound love
can fill the void in a persons heart following the death of a spouse.
Solder Man, directed and produced by Dave Novak, is a story of creation, evolution, andproblem solving, as the main character looks to the only solution he knows: soldering.
productions. Moreover, only 25 pieces were presented in the prestigious
Electronic Theater, compared to 35 during the previous year.
Whether the piece is a fascinating story that has been captured
and told through the use of computer-generated images, a creatively
edited breakdown of the visual effects work from a professional studio,
or a scientific showcase that gives us a glimpse at the edge of our ever-
expanding technological horizons, it always represents the best that our
industry has to offer each year, says Grant.
A selection of images from the Computer Animation Festival appearson these two pages. Karen Moltenbrey
AUGUST 2003 Computer Graphics World| 41
2002 SSNK New York; Quad, Believe.
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Competition in the 3D hardware
market has been fierce over the
past few years. ATI and Nvidia
have been fighting it out in the con-
sumer space, and this battle has crossed
over into the professional workstation
arena as well. Another contender, 3Dlabs
has long been a major player in the
professional space. Now a division of
Creative, 3Dlabs unveiled the Wildcat VP
series, its answer to the less expensive but
still powerful cards that have been flood-
ing the market of late. In fact, the Wildcat
VP line brings a new architecture and ter-
rific quality to price-competitive worksta-
tion cards. The VP990 Pro ups the ante by
including 512MB of video RAM, more than
any card currently on the market.
The VP990 Pro fits in a standard AGP
slot and has the same heatsink and fan
found on other VP series cards. The
heatsink isnt terribly large, but it makes
for a tight fit when theres another card in
the top PCI slot. Its best to leave this PCI
slot open, as the heat-generating VP990
Pro needs all the air it can get. On the back
of the card are two DVI connectors as well
as a stereo jack. For those using CRT mon-
itors, two DVI-to-analog connectors are
included as well.
The software included with the card
installed flawlessly. 3Dlabs provides its
own control panel for adjusting and tweak-
ing screen resolution, as well as OpenGL
and monitor settings. The OpenGL panel
comes with a number of presets custom-
tuned for most major 3D applications.
When first using the card, I did run into a
few problems with screen
refreshes using the default
OpenGL settings. These
problems showed up both
on the desktop and in appli-
cations such as 3ds max
from Discreet. Switching to
the 3ds max settings on the
OpenGL control panel cleared up these
issues and I had no further problems.
The VP990 Pros whopping 512MB of
video RAM is great for anyone using large
amounts of textures in their work. It also
should help those who run high-resolution
or multiple monitors. The card supports
the new 9-megapixel displays from ven-
dors such as IBM and Hitachi, as well as
high-resolution dual monitors. Users cre-
ating content for feature films and HDTV
will be very pleased with the results. I
found images and color to be crisp and
clear, due partly to the cards 10-bit
RAMDACs and its good-quality drivers.
The core of the Wildcat VP is 3Dlabs
P10 visual processing unit (VPU). Most
graphics cards have a single large graph-
ics processing unit (GPU) which resem-
bles a computers CPU, but for graphics.
3Dlabs VPU consists of many small,
single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD)
processors tied together in a supercom-
puter-like array. The Wildcat VP has more
than 200 of these processors on a single
chip, which enables the card to parallel-
process image information, theoretically
making it smoother and more responsive
than a typical graphics card.
These small processors also can be split
up and used for different
tasks, and to offload tasks
normally completed by the
CPU. This is undoubtedly
where professional 3D
graphics is headed, as it
allows rendering times to
be cut significantly. These
processors can handle anything from
antialiasing pixels, to calculating high-
order surfaces, to performing such eso-
teric tasks as wavelet compression and
photoreal rendering. This frees the CPU
for other tasks, speeding up interactivity.
The VP990 shares the same VPU as
the Wildcat VP970, which can crank out
225 million vertices per second. I tested
the card on a dual 1.4GHz Pentium III
with 1.5GB of RAM. Viewperf scores were
good: The board turned in a 3ds max
score of 11.9, a ProE score of 18.3, and a
UGS score of 15.3. While this is fast, it
lags behind some cards on the market,
most notably the Nvidia Quadro FX 2000
and the ATI FireGL X1. However, these
cards currently max out at 128MB and
256MB of video RAM, respectively, so the
additional memory in the VP990 Pro is
certainly a bonus.
Priced at roughly $800, the VP990 Pro
is not cheap, particularly considering that
the VP970, with 128MB of RAM, can be
had for less than $400. Though not the
fastest on the market in terms of bench-
marks, the VP990 Pro is a solid performer.
Its multiprocessor architecture is unique
among graphics cards and offers many
possibilities for expansion and customiza-
tion. And its large amount of video RAM
certainly will appeal to those using lots of
textures or high-resolution displays.
George Maestri is a Computer Graphics
World contributing editor and president
of Rubberbug, an LA-based studio
specializing in character animation.
3Dlabs pi les on the video memory
By George Maestri
Price: Approximately $800
Minimum System
Requirements: Windows98/Me/2000/XP-based machinewith Intel-compatible processorand AGP slot 3
Dlabs,a
division
ofCreative
www.3
dlabs.com
infoNOW9
8
stats
Wildcat VP990 Pro
42| Computer Graphics World AUGUST 2003 w w w . c g w . c o m
The Wildcat VP990 Pro graphics accelerator
from 3Dlabs provides 512MB of video RAM.
r
eviews
Wildcat VP990 Pro
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