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Re:Asset Management Issue? by malducin · 2002-07-07 19:44 · Score: 2 · on LoTR , Linux, and Database Management

Although the VFXPro site is still a bit busted you can still get the articles about asset management from it and its sister site Design in Montion, or via Google. They have interviews with people from ILM, Imageworks, Pixar and PDI about the subject which gives a nice overview of some of the challenges. I think foobar is right. Here they are:

The State of Digital Asset Management
Interview with H. B. Siegel, Chief Technology Officer, Lucas Digital Ltd.
Interview with Lincoln Hu, SVP and CTO, Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI)
Interview with Jennifer Yu on Pacific Data Images' Asset Management System
Interview with Darwyn Peachey and Greg Brandeau on Pixar's Asset Management System

Re:ask ILM or Henson Associates by malducin · 2002-03-14 08:51 · Score: 2 · on NaN Closes Shop, The End of Blender?

As far as I know is that they get the software and hardware at very discounted prices, particularly from SGI, Alias/Wavefront and Pixar. With Pixar it seems that one of the conditions for Lucas to sell it to Jobs was to have early access to Pixar's technology, mainly PRMan (and I could guess also RAT now). From SGI they get early access to hardware thanks to their JEDI agreement (Joint Environment for Digital Imaging), I think it's JEDI III at the moment. According to some rumors is that part of the agreement is that ILM doesn't mention other platforms. They get the gear and give feedback to SGI along braging rights. From Alias/Wavefront they are also among the beta testers for all new versions. But in the end they wouldn't give it away as an incentive. Even if it was free if it didn't fit their pipeline it would be pointless.

There are plenty of articles detailing Linux increasing use in VFX. Here are a some:

Linux Helps Bring Titanic to Life
The Little Engine That Could
Penguin Power
Linux Invades Hollywood
VESTECH 2000
Linux takes Hollywood by storm
Linux goes to the movies
Nixed for Linux
DreamWorks Feature Linux and Animation
Industry of Change: Linux Storms Hollywood

Lidar by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-11 06:00 · Score: 0 · on Video with Depth

Cameras have been sensing depth with infra-red for years. It's called auto-focus. All this camera has added is recording that data along with the rgb. There is a nifty little method of scanning film location for later 3D reconstruction using Lidar that has already been used in films for some time. Lidar is often also implemented for geographical surveys by folks such as NASA. The resolution of the ZCAM sounds very limited and will not be useful for truly realistic keying. Possibly guy-in-front-of-weathermap applications, but it doesn't look like it can handle fine hair, water, or other transparencies that most keying software can today. If you don't want to deal with a green/blue screen, there's also the option of a "difference key" that compares the shot without anyone in it to the shot when your person walks in. Some systems can now do real time insertions this way. The ZCAM still won't give convincing film quality compositing results. With the advances in photogrammetry and it's applications in movies, I don't think that ZCAM has much use potential

Re:Favorite package? by malducin · 2002-01-30 10:39 · Score: 1 · on Blender Releases Linux 3D Web Plugin

I was talking about commercial 3D packages, as that was the reference on the parent post. yes Blender has been a while, but as far as regular commercial 3D apps Houdini was first, maybe I should have made it clear. I thought Blender was longer than that. I remember seeing Houdini on Linux at SIGGRAPH 2000 (maybe the HP booth?) so Houdini has been ther for a while.

From the little search I did, Houdini for Linux was announced on March of 99, and shown at SIGGRAPH 99 at the E&S booth (beta version I believe). Houdini 4 which became available for Linux was apparently released in January 2000:

Houdini To Support Linux
Side Effects Shows Houdini for Linux
Side Effects Ships Houdini 4.0

Nothing against Blender, sued it myself a little, but basicly they were giving it away. As far as a more established commercial entitity (along with the focus to use it for games) is a little more recent happening. We are just comparing different things ;-).

Re:Favorite package? by malducin · 2002-01-30 10:39 · Score: 1 · on Blender Releases Linux 3D Web Plugin

I was talking about commercial 3D packages, as that was the reference on the parent post. yes Blender has been a while, but as far as regular commercial 3D apps Houdini was first, maybe I should have made it clear. I thought Blender was longer than that. I remember seeing Houdini on Linux at SIGGRAPH 2000 (maybe the HP booth?) so Houdini has been ther for a while.

From the little search I did, Houdini for Linux was announced on March of 99, and shown at SIGGRAPH 99 at the E&S booth (beta version I believe). Houdini 4 which became available for Linux was apparently released in January 2000:

Houdini To Support Linux
Side Effects Shows Houdini for Linux
Side Effects Ships Houdini 4.0

Nothing against Blender, sued it myself a little, but basicly they were giving it away. As far as a more established commercial entitity (along with the focus to use it for games) is a little more recent happening. We are just comparing different things ;-).

Re:Favorite package? by malducin · 2002-01-30 10:39 · Score: 1 · on Blender Releases Linux 3D Web Plugin

I was talking about commercial 3D packages, as that was the reference on the parent post. yes Blender has been a while, but as far as regular commercial 3D apps Houdini was first, maybe I should have made it clear. I thought Blender was longer than that. I remember seeing Houdini on Linux at SIGGRAPH 2000 (maybe the HP booth?) so Houdini has been ther for a while.

From the little search I did, Houdini for Linux was announced on March of 99, and shown at SIGGRAPH 99 at the E&S booth (beta version I believe). Houdini 4 which became available for Linux was apparently released in January 2000:

Houdini To Support Linux
Side Effects Shows Houdini for Linux
Side Effects Ships Houdini 4.0

Nothing against Blender, sued it myself a little, but basicly they were giving it away. As far as a more established commercial entitity (along with the focus to use it for games) is a little more recent happening. We are just comparing different things ;-).

Re:But with by malducin · 2001-11-03 13:08 · Score: 3, Interesting · on Review: Monsters, Inc.

There have been many previous examples of CG hair in film and commercials, for photorealistic hair. Probably the best example was the remake of Mighty Joe Young, done by Dream Quest Images and ILM. Actually the guy that wrote the hair renderer for DQI, Rev Lebaredian, later made a product based on it called JIG, which has been used for many hair rendering related projects:

JIG
JIG hair gallery
JIG credits

Many other FX studios have created their own propietary solutions or used the something like the Curve primitive in Photorealistic RenderMan. Many early project include a commercial with bees by PDI, the Island of Dr. Moreau by Digital Domain, Jumanji by ILM and many others. Other ones include Episode 1 which have many examples of hairy creatures. There has even been CG hair applied to real persons, like in What Lies Beneath.

Early CG hair (1995)
FX for Jumanji (1996)
Articles on Might Joe Young
Hair in Mighty Joe Young

Though of course Pixar did an amazing job with Sulley's hair for this film. They actually made a presentation this past SIGGRAPH at the FX R&D course. You could probably also get some onfo by looking through archives of the RenderMan newsgroup.

LIDAR use before (VFX) by malducin · 2001-09-24 02:20 · Score: 2, Informative · on Mapping Ground Zero with Lasers

LIDAR technology is not soemthing new out of the blue. It has ben used quite a bit before. I saw it once at SIGGRAPH 99 (2 years ago). It's very useful for creating detailed 3D models. Kind of like a range finder, but it sweeps an area to get 3D range data out of it. It has even been used in films like in End of Days and What Dreams May Come. Here are a couple of articles from VFXPro.com

Panavision: Cinema in a New Light
Panavision's Panascan LIDAR System Integrates Cinematography

Interesting to see how this technology can be applied for a critical job. Especially when they start diging deeper below the level of the Hudson to detect any shifts.

LIDAR use before (VFX) by malducin · 2001-09-24 02:20 · Score: 2, Informative · on Mapping Ground Zero with Lasers

LIDAR technology is not soemthing new out of the blue. It has ben used quite a bit before. I saw it once at SIGGRAPH 99 (2 years ago). It's very useful for creating detailed 3D models. Kind of like a range finder, but it sweeps an area to get 3D range data out of it. It has even been used in films like in End of Days and What Dreams May Come. Here are a couple of articles from VFXPro.com

Panavision: Cinema in a New Light
Panavision's Panascan LIDAR System Integrates Cinematography

Interesting to see how this technology can be applied for a critical job. Especially when they start diging deeper below the level of the Hudson to detect any shifts.

Re:sgi hardware by malducin · 2001-07-11 04:25 · Score: 1 · on The Tech behind Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

A previous SGI press release for the Perfect Storm Stated that ILM had upwards of 1500 SGI processors:

ILM and SGI

They still do most of their stuff on SGI's, besides the Rebel Mac Unit, but as far as Linux they have stated that actually they are using it for workstations, not servers, they think it's lacking still for server use:

Linux and FX
VES Tech meeting on Linux

Re:Brazil by Zach+Baker · 2001-04-05 10:00 · Score: 2 · on Hollywood and Hackers

There's a great article on Tron's special effects that appeared last year on VFXPro that should hopefully answer your question. It includes a remarkable bit of insight regarding the incredible digital effects resources that were assembled for Tron only to be scattered to the wind after the end of production:

Ironically, the transition to digital effects begun by "TRON" could have happened much faster. [ Tron effects animator John] Van Vliet, who is currently assembling a book that focuses on the clash of business and art in Hollywood, gave a candid perspective of the import that "TRON" represented to the VFX community in 1982. He recalled that during production, the old regime at Disney essentially had gathered all the major talent who knew how to do CG. "They had a 10-year advantage. They could have been the studio that did 'Terminator 2.' They could have been the first guys there with dinosaurs," Van Vliet said. "They only saw that the show didn't make money and they dumped it. At the end of the production, they flushed everyone away. We, en masse, were amazed. In terms of the moviemaking business, it was one of the dumbest decisions ever made."

How is this new? by ChristianBaekkelund · 2000-07-07 20:35 · Score: 2 · on Using Lasers And Range Finders To Digitize Objects

3D scanners using radar, lidar, the works have been around for a long time now...so what's new here?

The visual effects industry regularly makes models and puts them in a 3D scanner to get a basic mesh to work from. Also, the vfx industry regularly takes full lidar sweeps of outdoor sets to more easily do match-moves, make mattes, and such. For example, see: http://www.vfxpro.com/.getarticle/.772 954741 and http:/ /www.digitalpostproduction.com/Htm/Features/ScanMa ster/ScanMasters.htm

Heck, do a search for 3D scanner, and you come up with tons of hits...here's a couple:

So can someone please tell me what the big news is? Is is the resolution, I take it?...That IS pretty small and pretty cool...

Re:I think that was Titan AE. by Zach+Baker · 2000-06-22 01:45 · Score: 1 · on Net Films Not Eligible For Oscar

Hey, that was cool, thanks. By the way, VFXPro has an article about the many visual effects of Titan AE.

Re:I think that was Titan AE. by Zach+Baker · 2000-06-22 01:45 · Score: 1 · on Net Films Not Eligible For Oscar

Hey, that was cool, thanks. By the way, VFXPro has an article about the many visual effects of Titan AE.

What FX to Expect in The Matrix 2? by Drog · 2000-03-27 00:49 · Score: 1 · on Oscar Wrapup (American Beauty and The Matrix win)

I am especially glad that The Matrix beat out The Phantom Menace for Best Visual Effects since it had such innovative special effects rather than just tons of special effects. I hope they can be just as innovative in the sequels. If the VFXPro interview from April 2, 1999 with John Gaeta (Visual Effects Supervisor for The Matrix) is any hint, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a virtual camera moving around real bullets and real explosions, essentially giving you billionth per second exposure time. Now that will be something to see.

Keeping up with FX by tregoweth · 2000-01-02 21:09 · Score: 1 · on Cool Matrix Filming Techniques

How are people keeping up with the latest and greatest filming techniques?

I'm just a movie/FX geek and not actually in the industry, but I'm particularly fond of Cinefex magazine (20th anniversary issue on sale now!) and the VFX Pro news site. And, yes, Cinefex is expensive for a magazine, but sooo worth it.

-j

A little more info... by garagekubrick · 2000-01-02 07:12 · Score: 2 · on Cool Matrix Filming Techniques

Just for those who don't want to go reading everywhere else...

The really impressive thing about those Bullet Time sequences is not really the camera setup (and yup, they were Canon EOS) - which is one of those ideas that several people seem to have come up with at once - but rather the frame interpolation work Manex did, as explicated in the article above. That was truly flawless stuff, as the individual character elements (live action plates) of Keanu, et. al had frames rendered by a puter to complete the range of motion in an automated fashion.

But even more impressive is that the background plates for those shots were also developed from photographic stills - taken from several different angles on the set or location, and a computer then developed 3 dimensional geometry so that there was a model of said set and textured properly without having to do it by hand. The potential application of this for filmmaking is enormous, and a massive step towards the truly virtual set.

I'm really, really hoping Manex clinch the Oscar this year, for their work truly was groundbreaking as opposed to the Phantom Menace team who refined existing techniques to, admittedly, unbelievable highs. However, none of their work really goes out there in terms of future potential apps. It's a given, though, that ILM will be getting the lil statue this year. Tis a pity.

And for anyone who wants to read about FX advancements, the Bibles are Cinefex, VFXpro, and ALWAYS, American Cinematographer. Read em and weep.

WAY Better Articles on Virtual Cinematography Here by Drog · 2000-01-02 01:29 · Score: 3 · on Cool Matrix Filming Techniques

VFX Pro has two indepth interviews from last April with John Gaeta, the visual effects supervisor for The Matrix, regarding this new virtual cinematography technique, dubbed "bullet time" by the Wachowski brothers. One is here and the other is here.

WAY Better Articles on Virtual Cinematography Here by Drog · 2000-01-02 01:29 · Score: 3 · on Cool Matrix Filming Techniques

VFX Pro has two indepth interviews from last April with John Gaeta, the visual effects supervisor for The Matrix, regarding this new virtual cinematography technique, dubbed "bullet time" by the Wachowski brothers. One is here and the other is here.