Computer Graphics World articles from December 2001

Computer Graphics World archives from December 2001

Virtual tests, real results. (editor's note).(use of CAE tools)
December 1, 2001... There's not much to cheer about on the high-tech financial front these days. Take the mechanical CAD/CAM/CAE industry. Prior to the terrorist attacks on September 11, research firm Datatech had already shaved 2001 growth forecasts for this...

The pitfalls of virtual archaeology. (letters).
December 1, 2001... I would like to point out three issues that came to mind when I read your article on the digital conservation of historical sites and buildings, "Preserving the Past" (pg. 24, September 2001). First is the need to distinguish between work...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2001... Due to a production error, credits did not appear alongside the following images in the story "Preserving the Past" on pg. 24 of the September 2001 issue. The images on pgs. 29 and 32 of the October 2001 story "Seeing with the Mind's Eye"...

Integrated compositing for softimage. (product spotlight).(Avid/Softimage's Softimage/XSI 2.0)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Softimage users who'd like to perform compositing tasks within the modeling and animation program may now do so with Version 2.0 of Softimage|XSI. This newly integrated capability is based on the company's previously existing compositing...

Ashlar-vellum's new drafting program. (product spotlight).(Graphite)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Product design software vendor Ashlar-Vellum has released the first member of its new family of programs, dubbed Designer Elements. The debut program, Graphite, is a drafting product that is based on the company's Vellum Drafting Assistant...

Compaq issues new entry-level workstation. (product spotlight).(Evo Workstation W4000, Evo Workstation W6000 and Evo Workstation W8000)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Compaq has announced a new machine that extends the entry-level end of the company's Evo Workstation line, which features graphics performance optimized for CAD and DCC applications. The Evo Workstation W4000 is based on a single Pentium 4...

Micronet releases 3D atelier IT 3.5. (product spotlight).(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Micronet's 3D Atelier IT Web authoring tool has been available in Japan, where the company is based, for several years. With Version 3.5, however, Micronet has begun to target English-speaking users as well. In the hopes that this new group of...

pmG introduces 3D animation suite. (product spotlight).(pmG WorldWide's messiah:studio)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... pmG WorldWide's messiah:studio 3D character animation package was previewed at Siggraph 2000, then re-previewed with a new interface and architecture at Siggraph 2001. The software, which is scheduled to ship before the end of this year, is an...

Hirschtick steps down, McEleney becomes new CEO of SolidWorks.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Jon Hirschtick, founder and CEO of mechanical design software vendor SolidWorks (Concord, MA), has resigned his role as CEO, becoming instead a group executive for SolidWorks and its parent company Dassault Systemes (France). He will also...

Peddie founds Jon Peddie research.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Computer graphics industry analyst Jon Peddle has left Jon Peddie Associates (JPA), the research firm he founded 16 years ago. Peddie's new firm, Jon Peddie Research (JPR), will offer consulting services and a semi-weekly report, "Jon Peddie's...

Wildcat II leads lightscape results. (benchmark).
December 1, 2001... The latest SPEC results show the Wildcat II 5110 at the forefront of graphics cards among the 10 workstation and graphics card combinations that recently received the best scores for the Lightscape (Light-04) subset of the SPECviewperf 6.1.2...

Population explosion: a new crowd-animation technique lets researchers visualize densely populated virtual environments in real time. (techwatch).
December 1, 2001... Crowds are a virtual-reality developer's nightmare. With today's commercial tools, it is nearly impossible to render large numbers of independent humans in a scene without compromising either image quality or real-time interaction. The main...

Bodies in motion: a new simulation technique optimizes complex collision calculations. (techwatch).
December 1, 2001... The ability to effectively simulate interactions among convex 3D objects in a computer-generated environment has helped graphics and animation specialists achieve unprecedented levels of realism in complex scenes. This has been a particular...

The fellowship of the King: innovative computer graphics techniques help Weta Digital create Tolkien's Middle-earth.
December 1, 2001... The largest setting in which a unique world could be created is, of course, the imagination. And few people have supplied the imagination with as rich a set of materials for envisioning a fantasy world as has J. R. R. Tolkien in his trilogy,...

Computer graphics world's 2001 innovation awards: 20 products demonstrate true innovation.
December 1, 2001... It's encouraging to see that despite a slow economy and uncertain times, the pace of computer graphics innovation continues to be swift. In this year, as in each of the seven preceding it, the editors of Computer Graphics World were confronted...

Magnificent obsession: filmmaker Jason Wen's determination to make an animation pays off.
December 1, 2001... in order to create an identity in a world of sameness, the hero of "f8," a beautifully realized animated film, runs into a building and steals a face. Creating a visible identity in a world of sameness is something Jason Wen, the director of...

For display only: Ford road tests a line of digital vehicles for a multimedia ad campaign.
December 1, 2001... Although the computer-generated car has attained photorealism through advanced rendering techniques and the skill of digital artists, it is still rare for an automobile manufacturer to digitize more than two or three cars for its yearly lineup...

Realistic rendering. (portfolio).
December 1, 2001... For their final course project, students in the Image Synthesis Techniques class at Stanford University put their rendering skills to the test by creating images that accurately depicted physical phenomena. The projects not only accounted for a...

Living in the past: a digital reconstruction provides valuable insight to Jerusalem's archaeological treasures. (simulation).
December 1, 2001... Jerusalem is rich with archaeological sites that hold valuable historical evidence of the way people lived and the customs they observed many years ago. But even though a great deal of the city's ruins have been excavated, it still can be...

Pedal power: digital tools give the Xootr scooter an added push in the marketplace. (cad/cam).
December 1, 2001... To nearly everyone's amazement, the two-wheeled scooter re-emerged last year after a decades-long absence from suburban yards and driveways, and in just a few months, surpassed in-line skates as the mode of personal transportation. Even...

Poser 4 with pro pack: curious labs eases character creation. (reviews).(Evaluation)
December 1, 2001... Stats Poser 4 Price: $219; Pro Pack is $149 Minimum System Requirements: Windows 95/98/NT or Mac OS 8: 32MB of RAM; 400MB of disk space Curious Labs www.curiouslabs.com infoNow 92 MODELING, rigging, and...

MaxPac 6000: a workstation in a briefcase from MaxVision. (reviews).
December 1, 2001... Stats MaxPac 6000 Price as reviewed: $6950 MaxVision www.maxvision.com infoNOW 93 LAPTOPS ARE great for many applications, and you can use them on airplanes or almost anywhere. Their mobility has tradeoffs, however....

Delcam upgrade. (Design Engineering).(PowerInspect 2)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN 95/NT Delcam has upgraded its PowerInspect software for the inspection of prototypes, tooling, and sample parts against CAD data. The new version, PowerInspect 2, features a Geometry Explorer tool that simplifies the process of obtaining...

CAM update. (Design Engineering).(DP Technology's Esprit 2002)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN DP Technology's Esprit 2002 represents the fifth release of the company's flagship CAM software package in two years. Among the improvements are a new solid simulation and verification tool for production turning and milling, a new project...

Adams in the air. (Design Engineering).(Mechanical Dynamics' Functional Digital Aircraft software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|IRIX|SOLARIS|AIX|HP-UX Mechanical Dynamics has begun to target the aerospace industry with its Adams virtual prototyping software. A landing gear module, scheduled for release in early 2002, will be the first offering in the company's new...

Geomagic Studio enhanced. (Design Engineering).(Raindrop Geomagic's Geomagic Studio 4)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|SUN SOLARIS Geomagic Studio 4, Raindrop Geomagic's 3D scanning, modeling, and reverse engineering software, now includes features for registering and processing multiple scans and color data; automatic color, texture, and bump mapping;...

Automatic calculation. (Design Engineering).(Geomate's GrafiCalc 3.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN With Geomate's GrafiCalc 3.0, users no longer have to manipulate external equations to approximate the requirements of a design, or iterate between making changes and manual measurements. Because the software incorporates geometrical...

CAD plug-ins. (Design Engineering).(CValley's BluePrintTools-Pro and EXDXF-Pro)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|MAC A pair of plug-ins designed to turn Adobe Illustrator into a 2D CAD program are available from CValley Inc. Consisting of 13 tools, BluePrintTools-Pro enables users to draw simple blueprints, design with dimension lines, and measure...

Collaboration service. (Design Engineering).(CoCreate Software's OneSpace Select)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|HP-UX|SUN|AIX|MAC OneSpace Select, the newest addition to CoCreate Software's OneSpace product suite, is designed to reduce or eliminate travel between locations by enhancing communications for real-time product design analysis and problem...

Land and sky textures. (Modeling and Animation).(CDs from Marlin Studios)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... WIN|MAC|ALPHA|LINUX|AMIGA "Panoramica-Land & Sky," a set of background imagery CDs created by artist and photographer David Campbell, is available now from Marlin Studios. The CDs feature a collection of photographed and post-processed...

Pyro plug-in. (Modeling and Animation).(electricFX's eFX Pyro)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|MAC Motion graphics and visual effects artists can create 3D fire and smoke effects with eFX Pyro, a new After Effects plug-in from electricFX. Incorporating animation technology developed by Arete Entertainment, the $195 plug-in uses...

Search utility for Mac artists. (Modeling and Animation).(from Turbo Squid)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... MAC Now Mac-based 3D artists and animators who buy and sell content through Turbo Squid's online marketplace can more easily access 3D content developed in such programs as Maya, LightWave, and Poser. Using a free search utility available from...

Maya for Mac OS X. (Modeling and Animation).(Alias/Wavefront's Maya for Mac OS X)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... MAC With this first release of Alias|Wavefront's Maya for Mac OS X, all of Maya Complete becomes native to the Mac. Features unique to this version include support for QuickTime, tear-off menus in the hot box, and a full Aqua interface. Those...

Image processing plug-ins. (Miscellaneous).(Reindeer Games' FoveaPro 2.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|MAC FoveaPro 2.0, the professional version of Reindeer Games' image processing toolkit, is a set of Photoshop-compatible plug-ins for processing scientific measurement of 8- and 16-bit-per-channel images for Mac and Windows applications....

Digital mastering solution. (Miscellaneous).
December 1, 2001... 5D Colossus is a software-based digital grading and finishing solution, available from 5D, that enables directors and directors of photography to grade movies digitally, before the imagery goes back to film. The final output from 5D Colossus is...

Flexible rendering. (Miscellaneous).(SiTex Graphics' Air)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... The Air rendering program from SiTex Graphics offers programmable shading, advanced filtering, motion blur, and depth-of-field effects as well as load-on-demand geometry and textures, raytracing, and global illumination. Network rendering is...

Landscape visualization. (Miscellaneous).(3D Nature's Visual Nature Studio)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|MAC|ALPHA|UNIX According to 3D Nature, its new Visual Nature Studio software can import, grid, and render terrain in a variety of formats, projections, and datums. For instance, the software can drape georeferenced, remotely sensed imagery...

Streamlined motion capture. (Miscellaneous).(Vicon Motion Systems' Vicon iQ)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Vicon's new Vicon iQ software is a single unified application for seamless data handling from motion capture to animation. Rather than discarding data at each stage of the motion-capture process, the software keeps all the captured data intact...

Image management tool. (Miscellaneous).(ACD Systems International's RoboEnhancer)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN Offered as a plug-in to ACDSee, ACD Systems' image management software, RoboEnhancer is designed to manage large quantities of images quickly and easily. With ACDSee users can search, view, and manage their images. Then they can invoke...

OS X upgrade hits store shelves. (Miscellaneous).(Apple's MAC OS X 10.1)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... MAC OS x version 10.1, the first major upgrade to Apple's next-generation operating system, offers a refined Aqua user interface and support for digital media and devices including DVDs, MP3 CDs, MP3 players, printers, digital cameras, and DV...

Video-creation software. (Video/Multimedia).(Magix Entertainment's Video deluxe recording, editing, and video-creation package)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... WIN Priced at less that $50, the Video deluxe recording, editing, and video-creation package from Magix Entertainment Corp. supports both analog and DV formats, so users can record footage from either source and transfer it into the program....

Events.
December 1, 2001... december 3-7 DV Expo, held in Los Angeles. Contact: Colin Zink (415-947-6286); www.dvexpo.com january 7-11 Macworld Conference and Exposition, held in San Francisco. Contact: IDG World Expo,...

Multimedia authoring studio. (Video/Multimedia).(Visviva Software's Visviva Authoring Studio 1.5)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN An object-oriented design tool for creating interactive multimedia presentations, Version 1.5 of the Visviva Authoring Studio incorporates image painting, vector drawing, and 3D composition tools in a point-and-click interface. Available...

A new wave in editing. (Video/Multimedia).(Pinnacle Systems' CineWave 1.2)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... MAC CineWave 1.2, the newest version of Pinnacle Systems' professional video creation program, is a software/hardware combo that provides numerous editing capabilities for acquisition, post-production, and delivery in most formats, including...

Volume rendering. (Boards).(TeraRecon's VolumePro 1000)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... The VolumePro 1000 from TeraRecon is a 3D volume rendering accelerator that provides real-time performance for imaging workstations and CT, MR, EBT, ultrasound, and PET scanners. The VolumePro's target market is medical imaging manufacturing...

A digital cave. (Input/Output).(Fakespace Systems' CAVE immersive visualization system)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Fakespace Systems has announced the commercial availability of a digital version of its CAVE immersive visualization system. Developed at the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with input from Fakespace, the...

Scanner/software combo. (Input/Output).(Roland DGA 's LPX-250 3D laser scanner)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Targeted at engineers, animators, and game developers, the LPX-250 3D laser scanner features a rotary mode, in which it scans entire objects on a fully integrated rotating table; and a plane scanning mode, in which it scans as many as six...

Pure rendering. (Miscellaneous).(Advanced Rendering Technology's Pure PCI rendering board)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... Advanced Rendering Technology's new PCI rendering board, Pure, incorporates eight raytracing graphics processors for photorealistic rendering on graphics workstations. According to the company, Pure is more than 10 times as fast as...

2GHz HPs. (Systems).(x2000 and x4000)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... WIN|LINUX Hewlett-Packard has announced a trio of personal workstations with 2GHz performance. The HP workstation x2000 with Linux is based on the Intel Pentium 4 processor, while the HP workstation x4000 Linux and Windows versions run on the...

Insight.(hurricane Floyd animation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... THE FURIOUS PROGRESSION of Hurricane Floyd along the East Coast of the United States is digitally re-created in this NASA visualization in order to give scientists a new perspective on large-scale weather patterns. Shown here are two frames...