Slashdot Mirror

I personally feel it is too bad that the Linux community can't agree to build on one graphical environment.

Yes, Linux needs to grow up and have a single, consistant interface, just like Windows. Look at the many products which accept the need for conformance under Windows. Products like Softimage (example) (though they may have an advantage, being owned by Microsoft for a while), LightWave [6] (example, check out the conforming buttons and tabs), and Kai's Power Tools (example)

Media players naturally conform to the standard Windows look and feel. Winamp led the way. Soon there were competitors like K-Jofol and Sonique which felt that they could make their mp3 players conform even better to Windows GUI standards. RealPlayer quickly followed. Apple realized they couldn't rehash the Macintosh interface for QuickTime, and delivered a version that perfectly matched the Windows standard. Not to be out done, Microsoft released a new version of the Windows Media Player which perfectly complied with the Windows standards for interfaces.

Even the next version of Windows, Windows XP, has been carefully crafted to conform to existing standards. With such strong and unwavering leadership, no one would even think of using an alternate shell or replacing the entire widget set.

Thank you, Microsoft, for getting the world to agree on one graphical environment. Thanks to your efforts to end competition, there is no risk of the Windows platform fragmenting into a pile of inconsistent applications, each making their own rules.

I personally feel it is too bad that the Linux community can't agree to build on one graphical environment.

Yes, Linux needs to grow up and have a single, consistant interface, just like Windows. Look at the many products which accept the need for conformance under Windows. Products like Softimage (example) (though they may have an advantage, being owned by Microsoft for a while), LightWave [6] (example, check out the conforming buttons and tabs), and Kai's Power Tools (example)

Media players naturally conform to the standard Windows look and feel. Winamp led the way. Soon there were competitors like K-Jofol and Sonique which felt that they could make their mp3 players conform even better to Windows GUI standards. RealPlayer quickly followed. Apple realized they couldn't rehash the Macintosh interface for QuickTime, and delivered a version that perfectly matched the Windows standard. Not to be out done, Microsoft released a new version of the Windows Media Player which perfectly complied with the Windows standards for interfaces.

Even the next version of Windows, Windows XP, has been carefully crafted to conform to existing standards. With such strong and unwavering leadership, no one would even think of using an alternate shell or replacing the entire widget set.

Thank you, Microsoft, for getting the world to agree on one graphical environment. Thanks to your efforts to end competition, there is no risk of the Windows platform fragmenting into a pile of inconsistent applications, each making their own rules.

Avid bought the company away from Microsoft two and a half years ago, and although I don't think they started the very next day on a Linux port, I'm sure it wasn't too much later...

I actually don't know if they intend to release an opensourced version of the modeller, but since the render engine was developed by Mental Images and not by them they won't be allowed to release the code.
This is also the same render engine the Softimage|XSI uses, tho in a more powerful version.

That said, the reason why a single frame may be more than that amout is because in order to render the frame there will be multiple layers of the image (like when you're working with an image in Photoshop, you may break the image into several layers). That way, they can go back and change things in one of the layers without having to do the whole image over from scratch. Only when the shot is completely done will they merge the layers back into one.

Now comes the issue of resolution. I agree with you that 4000x4000 (a.k.a., "4K" resolution) is what is necessary to match the effective resolution of 35mm film, but special effects shots in movies are frequently scanned/rendered/printed at "2K" resolution (2000x2000) just to save time and money.

In some cases, such as with "Star Wars Episode I", the director will just decide that 2K is "enough" resolution and go with it. The problem is, 2K just isn't enough. When an image done at 2K resolution is projected on a large movie screen it will look blurry and indistinct. 4K is what is need for the big screen, but unfortunately, many people in the movie business these days just don't care about image quality, and thus don't bother to do 4K, even when they have the resources to do it.

I don't know which they are using for LotR, 2K or 4K, but I fear it will be 2K, thus making all that careful artwork go to waste. I mean, what's the point of spending all that time, money, and effort on creating spectacular images if they are just going to be ruined by the fact that your rendering process is done in low-res mode to save on costs?!

So what software is available for it? This is going to be about useless unless there is some useful software ported to it. I doubt that we are going to see Maya, SoftImage, or any Discreet Logic tools on it anytime soon. Granted, big companies like Digital Domain and ILM can dedicate some programmers to porting in house tools, but why would they want to? For the same amount that it would cost them to pay for the developers time, they can buy a couple more SGIs. I'll be curious to see what the future brings for this product.

In case anyone was wondering what software was used to create the series, Reboot really shows off the capabilities of Avid's Softimage; the program used to create it.
Here's an excerpt from this page that mentions the use of Softimage to create the series:

Proven Productivity
As a result of its 10 years of continuous development and refinement, SOFTIMAGE|3D is a carefully balanced, production-proven creative environment. For example, Mainframe Productions, makers of the weekly animated television series "ReBoot," uses SOFTIMAGE|3D to produce approximately 22 minutes of lip-synched, animated content each week. This is by far the most ambitious 3-D graphics production schedule ever attempted. The reason Mainframe Productions uses SOFTIMAGE|3D is very simple: productivity.

In case anyone was wondering what software was used to create the series, Reboot really shows off the capabilities of Avid's Softimage; the program used to create it.
Here's an excerpt from this page that mentions the use of Softimage to create the series:

Proven Productivity
As a result of its 10 years of continuous development and refinement, SOFTIMAGE|3D is a carefully balanced, production-proven creative environment. For example, Mainframe Productions, makers of the weekly animated television series "ReBoot," uses SOFTIMAGE|3D to produce approximately 22 minutes of lip-synched, animated content each week. This is by far the most ambitious 3-D graphics production schedule ever attempted. The reason Mainframe Productions uses SOFTIMAGE|3D is very simple: productivity.

The Game market is definitely the smart route to take. High-end 3D markets are pretty flat -- a typical film effects house will buy a few copies of soft and be done for the year.

I have to point out however that both Maya and Houdini are actively trying to get into the Game market. A/W, in particular, is actively pushing Maya into the game market with "discounts" for current 3DS MAX users, almost to the point of annoyance. GameBlender should be pretty cool.

No big deal.

Softimage uses a very cool renderer called mental ray and it has been available for linux for a long time.

Also Pixar's Renderman (used in Toy Story) is also available for linux.

So Maya's softimage is one of the last of the leaders of 3d animation to join linux bandwagon. It's a little a bit strange that it happened so late considering that SGI (owner of Alias|Wavefront) seems to be so committed to linux.

hey,

Softimage is shipping Sumatra this week , AND is working on an IA64 / Linux version . So screw Alias, i'm sticking with Softimage -- they've consistently released better products than Alias.

(besides, when Maya 3 ships, Satan will drive a snowplow to work!!) ;-)

/MSmith (too lazy to login)

hey,

Softimage is shipping Sumatra this week , AND is working on an IA64 / Linux version . So screw Alias, i'm sticking with Softimage -- they've consistently released better products than Alias.

(besides, when Maya 3 ships, Satan will drive a snowplow to work!!) ;-)

/MSmith (too lazy to login)

hey,

Softimage is shipping Sumatra this week , AND is working on an IA64 / Linux version . So screw Alias, i'm sticking with Softimage -- they've consistently released better products than Alias.

(besides, when Maya 3 ships, Satan will drive a snowplow to work!!) ;-)

/MSmith (too lazy to login)

hey,

Softimage is shipping Sumatra this week , AND is working on an IA64 / Linux version . So screw Alias, i'm sticking with Softimage -- they've consistently released better products than Alias.

(besides, when Maya 3 ships, Satan will drive a snowplow to work!!) ;-)

/MSmith (too lazy to login)

There is that but I guess it is also because you don't need to be near the great centers to do special effects and animations.

One of the things you might want to do is try to find a relatively new company with good ideas but that haven't had the time to realise all of them. I don't know about NY, but here in Montréal, softimage (their software did Jurassic Park and Titanic among others). It was founded in 1986 and is now one of the industry leader, but they're still young enough to try new cool stuff, instead of only perfecting the old.

Toronto is a nice place (IMHO), and it does have Alias Wavefront.
Montreal has Softimage.

Both of these "near" New York...

mental ray , the renderer that most Softimage shops use, is already ported to Linux (x86 and Alpha) as well as many other flavors of Un*x. It lets a master machine farm out tiles to worker machines and it is multithreaded (takes advantage of SMP) as well.

I just wanted to emphasize that mental ray has been available on Linux x86 and Alpha for at least a couple of years now.

Another major rendering package, Pixar's Photorealistic Renderman Toolkit AKA PRman may already be available for Linux as well. I saw a demo at ACM/SIGGRAPH'98

I just hope that the various 3D modeling and animation packages are ported to Linux as well. The Sidefx Houdini port is a great first step, but I'm hoping that Alias|Wavefront Maya and Softimage|3D are not far behind.