Computer Graphics World articles from January 2003

Computer Graphics World archives from January 2003

The `buttering' edge. (editor's note).(Column)
January 1, 2003... Last mouth in this column, I urged developers of interactive 3D computer graphics to look to innovation as the means to expanding the Web 3D market. But are there really any applications on the Web that can support 3D content pioneers willing...

Speedy Trees from IDV. (modeling).(Interactive Data Visualization's SpeedTreeRT)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... SpeedTreeRT, the latest addition to Interactive Data Visualization's (IDV's) line of tree creation software products, is optimized for game and simulation development. The program comes with a library of more than 90 trees based on 30 different...

Clouds and water for Final Cut Pro. (simulation).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Digital Anarchy has introduced two natural phenomena 3D plug-ins for Apple's Final Cut Pro--Psunami and Aurora Sky. Both packages were already available for Adobe Systems' After Effects, and Psunami runs with Discreet's combustion as well. ...

Softimage adds behavioral animation. (animation).(Softimage/Behavior )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Softimage has announced a new behavioral animation system that allows animators to create "intelligent" crowds of 3D characters. The Softimage|Behavior system, which features a direct pipeline to Softimage|XSI, provides users with the ability...

Media 100 intros 844/Xi editing system. (video editing).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The 844/Xi editing and compositing system from Media 100 is the newest member of the company's 844/X family. Two system configurations--844/Xe and 844/Xi--are now available. Both provide editing and real-time compositing and effects with 10-bit...

NXN alienbrain manages code, images. (asset management).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Version 6.0 of NXN Software's alienbrain asset management software enables software developers and digital artists to coordinate both source code and imagery within the same system. Major additions include advanced software configuration...

Desktop Alias. (web).(Digital Bucket's screen saver)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Each Sunday millions of people tune in to the hit television drama Alias to watch the young, daring double agent Sydney Bristow as she outwits and outfights enemies, including the very people she works for at the rogue spy organization SD-6....

Aping the apes. (digital video).(Viewpoint Studios uses Discreets Smoke and Flame)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... What do chimps and humans have in common? More than you might think. Recently, Boston-based Viewpoint Studios completed a worldwide on-air promotion for Discovery Networks International's special week of programming called Chimps Like Us....

Shadow play. (games).(Electrofiction's Shadows of Winter)
January 1, 2003... Electrofiction is emerging from the shadows of independent game development with its first computer game--an online title for the PC called Shadows of Winter, a third-party modification of Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege fantasy role-playing...

Rocket boy. (broadcast).(Nickelodeon.com's Jimmy Neutron Gotta Blast Rocket Race game commercial)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Imagination, when combined with computer graphics, can be extremely powerful, as an unsuspecting boy discovers in "How to Play," a TV commercial promoting Nickelodeon.com's Jimmy Neutron Gotta Blast Rocket Race game. The 60-second spot...

Modern mosaics. (art).(Junhwan Kim and Fabio Pellancini's innovation)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Updating a composite painting style originally introduced during the Renaissance, computer scientists at Cornell University, Junhwan Kim and Fabio Pellancini, have developed an algorithm that can pack random 2D shapes, or "tiles," inside any...

Color coding. (compression).(Xianfeng Gu and Steven Gortler at Harvard and Hugues Hoppe at Microsoft)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... A team of computer graphics researchers--Xianfeng Gu and Steven Gortler at Harvard and Hugues Hoppe at Microsoft--has devised a unique way to convert the geometry of irregular 3D surfaces that could lead to better image compression and...

Graphics wars heat up. (market outlook).(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2003... This is going to he one heck of an interesting time for graphics, with ATI's R300, Nvidia's NV30, 3Dlabs' P10, Trident's XP4, and Matrox's Parhelia--we haven't had so many great graphics chips all at once in many a year. Nvidia may be a...

When best isn't enough. (Viewpoint: film).
January 1, 2003... In Hollywood, Happy New Year brings happy anticipation as a slew of awards competitions and ceremonies begin leading to the big one, the Oscars in March. This year, a new awards ceremony will be slipped in amongst the venerable Golden Globes,...

The projection connection. (Viewpoint: DV).
January 1, 2003... When shopping for a projector, users traditionally have spent the majority of their time comparing the available models on the basis of four key characteristics: brightness, resolution, weight, and price. But as projectors have become more...

Collision course: integrating CG and practical effects allows Star Trek's Enterprise to boldly crash as no Enterprise has crashed before. (Film).
January 1, 2003... It's hard to believe that it has been nearly four decades since the television show Star Trek, now a science-fiction phenomenon, was first beamed into our living rooms. Over the years, Star Trek fans have been treated to several incarnations of...

A knight to remember; Dirk the Daring and other Dragon's Lair characters return with a new look in an expanded story. (Gaming).
January 1, 2003... Game graphics have never looked so good, thanks to the new generation of graphics cards and processors, including those in the latest consoles. While most developers are using these advancements to increase the level of realism in their games,...

Peeling out: Hollywood's A52 burns up the road with its latest commercial spot for Nissan. (Broadcast).
January 1, 2003... "There's going to be this sleek new black Maxima tearing down a desert road. It's going to be moving so fast that the paint is going to start peeling off, beginning at the front and continuing to the rear, until there's not a speck of paint...

Ice-scape: James Bond dodges icebergs as well as bullets in Die Another Day. (Film).
January 1, 2003... Bond is back. Prom Asia to London to Cuba, the debonair spy James Bond, aka Agent 007, returns to the big screen in an action-packed adventure as he hunts clown another megalomaniac while attempting to prevent a cataclysmic war in Die Another...

Art studio.(Frank Vitale)
January 1, 2003... From digital illustration and motion graphics to animation and visual effects, professional artist Frank Vitale of Phoenix has done it all while working in the film, broadcast, gaming, and publishing markets. A formally trained artist, Vitale...

ZBrush 1.5.1: pixologic's 2.5D sculpting and painting tool. (Modeling And Painting).
January 1, 2003... Pixologic promotes ZBrush as a 2.5D digital art creation program for the artist, game developer, graphic designer, hobbyist, and professional artist. I have to admit I was skeptical about how much it could accomplish, but I was also curious to...

Absolute character tools 1.5: muscles for 3ds max from cgCharacter. (Modeling).(from cgCharacter)
January 1, 2003... As any animator can tell you, one of the biggest challenges in creating realistic character animation with only skin and bones is that the skin does not deform properly. When Jurassic Park premiered, a highlight of the movie was the incredible...

Plant modeler. (Modeling And Animation).(Bionatics' natFX 2.0 for Maya)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... [Win-Mac] natFX Version 2.0 for Maya from Bionatics is a procedurally based plant modeler that provides users of Alias|Wavefront's Maya with both ready-made and customizable plant life. Version 2.0 supports subdivision surfacing, which allows...

Video encoding. (Video/Multimedia).(Discreet's cleaner 6)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... [Mac] Discreet is now shipping cleaner 6 video encoding software for the Mac. The product works as a complement to nonlinear editing tools such as Apple's Final Cut Pro, Adobe Systems' Premiere, and Avid's Xpress DV, providing encoding for...

Video previewing. (Video/Multimedia).(Synthetic Aperture's Echo fire 2.1)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... [Win-Mac] Synthetic Aperture has added support for Mac OS X to Version 2.1 of Echo Fire, its digital video previewing package for Adobe Systems' After Effects and Photoshop. Additional upgrades include more flexible video output options and...

World maker. (Web).(Pandromeda's MojoWorld 2.0)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... [Win-Mac] The MojoWorld 2.0 software line from Pandromeda includes MojoWorld Generator, MojoWorld Generator Demo, MojoWorld Transporter Pro, and MojoWorld Transporter. MojoWorld software enables users to create, explore, and animate entire...

Events.
January 1, 2003... JANUARY 6-10 Macworld Conference and Exhibition, held in San Francisco. Contact: IDG World Expo; www.macworldexpo.com Jan 30-Feb 1 The New York Digital Video Show and Visual Effects World, held in New York City....

Digital visions: the effects in Star Trek: Nemesis dazzle, but their first job is to seamlessly support the story. (back drop).
January 1, 2003... A behind-the-scenes interview with a digital content professional Q What is the scale of digital effects in Star Trek: Nemesis compared to other Star Trek films? A What we have tried to accomplish here is more expansive in look. For...