More on LoTR Special Effects

sushi writes: "Another LoTR article: this one focusing on the technology used at Weta Digital (the CG shop). Interesting that they are undertaking "major" R&D into running more Linux, and that Linux "delivers about two times the price performance compared to systems running proprietary operating systems". I've been lucky enough to have seen inside this place, and it's cool to see a render-wall of linux boxen. Full story from a New Zealand newspaper." We linked to another good article about WETA a month ago.

Comments

Interesting, isn't it?

[Astral Traveller]

Linux has started to become the platform of choice for extremely complex and involved multimedia production, powering enormous render farms and video storage RAID arrays, yet still, Linux falls on its face for mundane day-to-day productivity work. Linux can render the incredibly lifelike texturing and animation exhibited in "Monsters Inc." and "Titanic", yet it can't even open a simple Word document without formatting errors. While delivering superior performance rendering these intensely detailed and hard-wrought movie scenes, Linux stills falls short of Windows when playing Quake. How did we get into this perplexing state of affairs?

I'll tell you why -- good old fashioned ego. Whereas the low end (kernel developers, compiler writers, etc.) and high end (clustering software, 3D modelling and rendering, etc.) of development is led by strong, well-organised teams of well-trained developers with vision and understanding, the middle ground of the Linux is polluted with warring egos that suffer too much from the problematic NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome. There are a myriad of competing, mutually incompatible yet separately inadequate office suites (Star Office, KOffice, Applix,...), desktop environments (KDE, Gnome, XFCE, CDE, UDE, ROX,...), and X servers (XFree86, MetroX, XiG). We can't even decide on a printing system! I realize that, according to Eric S. Raymond's famous "Cathedral and Bazaar" text, that open-source software is primarily written to scratch an itch and get peer recognition, but this is taking it too far. If all the man-hours poured into KDE and GNOME were combined into a common vision, we would have one perfect end-user desktop, instead of two poor imitations of Windows.

Don't give me the old "competition" argument either. There is only one Linux kernel, which seems to progress just fine without another competing project nipping at its feet and instigating flamewars. The endless KDE vs. GNOME, Applix vs. StarOffice, and other feuds have wasted more productivity than would be gained by and competitive drive.

I, for one, am somewhat miffed that while my operating system powers Hollywood blockbusters and NASA supercomputers, it still can't fully replace Windows on my office desktop. Linux is growing up; its users need to grow up with it, shed their egos and work towards the common goal of creating an excellent working environment.

Re:Interesting, isn't it?

[tswinzig]

While delivering superior performance rendering these intensely detailed and hard-wrought movie scenes, Linux stills falls short of Windows when playing Quake. How did we get into this perplexing state of affairs?
I'll tell you why -- good old fashioned ego.

No no no... I think you mean id.

hmm

[Iamthefallen]

I've seen some screenshots and they don't look that hot, have a look for yourself

I vote the guy who made that the least likely to ever have sex...

Re:What rendering software are they using?

[malducin]

Well PDI, Blue Sky, Rhythm and Hues and other facilities wrote their own renderer because there wasn't any commercial one back then (PDI is over 20 years old!!!). That what Pixar also did when it was still the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group, they created their own renderer, but later on decided to sell it. But even Pixar uses its own animation software called menv or Marionette (for the media). And besides the advantage is that all these companies don't have to wait for new features and also they can tailor it specifically to their pipeline, not that they want punishment.

Ohhh, and WETA Digital is using PRMan. There is one guy from there that frequently posts at the RenderMan newsgroup. He even posted at least once job openings for shader writers. They also use Houdini, which has a Linux port and it has a great RenderMan connection.

Artists, not technology

[SilentChris]

Actually, a far greater tool was used than Linux-boxen in creating Lord of the Rings. Artists.

You could have all the rendering boxes in the world. If you have high-school hacks, you're going to end up doing hack-level work.

Directors at Pixar once said that they hire artists that can use computers, not computer people who claim they are artists. This movie would have been just as impressive if it was made without the technology.

And let's not forget the artistry involved in writing the book, which required millenia-old technology.

Re:Just out of curiousity..

[malducin]

Not at all, they are running PRMan from the looks of it. One guy from WETA digital is a frequent poster at the renderman newgroup and has even posted job openings for shader writers. besides Maya and Shake they are also running things like Houdini which has a great RenderMan connection. Weta does indeed have propietary software like Masive, but as most other places they have a mix of in house built and of the shelf stuff.

Most old timers in the CG arena have in house tools because there wasn't any off the shelf stuff to buy. Besides Rhythm and Hues, you have places like PDI, Blue Sky Studios, Pixar (though they decided to sell their renderer most of their other tools are propietary) and others. Most FX studios run on a mix off commercial and in built software. Most places run mostly SGI but many are switching or at least experimenting with Linux. Rhythm and hues is even helping develop the Film version of the Gimp (for 16 bit work, tha's 16 bit per component).