Computer Graphics World articles from June 2004

Computer Graphics World archives from June 2004

Life-altering art.(editor's note)
June 1, 2004... For most new technologies, proof-of-concept presentations are often dry demos of basic research in search of an application. In computer graphics, they can be works of art. That's clearly the case for the latest graphics research that will...

Softimage debuts XSI version 4.(modeling/animation)
June 1, 2004... Softimage has released an upgraded version of its nonlinear 3D production environment, Softimage|XSI. Softimage infused XSI 4.0 with new capabilities, enhanced performance, and increased support to simplify and speed the creation of...

Alias unleashes Maya 6.(modeling/animation)
June 1, 2004... Alias has begun shipping Maya Complete 6 and Maya Unlimited 6, offering hundreds of new and upgraded features to 3D artists in the film, broadcast, game development, digital publishing, and visualization fields. Maya 6 boasts a wealth of...

ViewSonic enhances high-end VP2290b display.(display)
June 1, 2004... ViewSonic has upgraded its popular high-end, digital LCD, the VP2290b. Well suited to the entertainment, gaming, and graphic arts communities, the upgraded monitor is designed to display high-quality, realistic graphics and images without image...

Sony upgrades Vegas to version 5.(video)
June 1, 2004... Sony has announced the latest version of its professional non-linear editing application, Vegas. Vegas 5 boasts such upgraded features as 3D track motion and compositing, keyframable Bezier masks, network rendering, and transition progress...

Imagineer systems presents monet.(video)
June 1, 2004... Imagineer Systems has unveiled its newest offering for broadcast, film, and video postproduction: Monet. The unique technology behind Monet was developed in conjunction with Cinesite for use on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. ...

A spot from broadway.(broadcast)
June 1, 2004... The cast of the Broadway musical Wonderful Town recently made its broadcast debut in a stylized television commercial promoting the show's current run. With help from production facility Boomtown and postproduction house Kinetic, the...

Supersized graphics.(multimedia)
June 1, 2004... When Click 3x created a branding campaign for electronics giant Samsung, the artists had to think big. That's because they were creating the graphics package for display on a giant screen at one of the world's biggest and most famous landmarks...

Flat-panel face-off.(viewpoint video)
June 1, 2004... When it comes to next-generation monitors, digital content professionals know that thin is in. But as they explore which technology is right for their specific applications, they find that the two flat-panel technologies--LCD and...

A bonding experience: electronic arts melds the worlds of film and gaming in its new 007 action title everything or nothing.(Gaming)
June 1, 2004... With the relentless pace of advancements ill gaming graphics, the dream of projecting oneself into a movie and playing the hero has been slowly becoming a reality. From casting celebrities for their voice talent, scanning their faces, and...

Chilling effect: visual effects studios depict the consequences of global warming for this summer's big disaster film, The Day After Tomorrow.(Film)
June 1, 2004... The threat of global warming was put in chilling terms on January 9 when David King, the UK government's chief scientific advisor, wrote in Science magazine that climate change is a greater threat to the world than international terrorism. In...

Adver-driving: Chrysler and WildTangent set the pace with a new series of console-quality advergames.(Web Graphics)
June 1, 2004... With so many console and PC game rifles available, why would a person spend time playing advergames--on-line mini-games created by vendors to promote their product lines? The answer, simply, is that they provide an entertaining way to learn...

Fancy footwork: artists kick things up a notch in a TV commercial featuring two intricately animated mechanical crabs.(Broadcast)(Embassy Visual Effects, Vancouver Canada)
June 1, 2004... Two mechanical crustaceans--as well as the digital artists Who created them-recently proved their mettle on an unusual field of play. In a 30-second nationwide TV commercial, two robotic street crabs--both sporting Nike's new hard-surface...

Ray Caesar.(Portfolio)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Every picture tells a story, but in the case of artist Ray Caesar, his digital imagery speaks volumes. His work has been described as immaculate fragments that when layered together are more like puzzle pieces than individual pictures. While...

Snapshots.(Graphics Cards)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Welcome to the premiere of Snapshot, a new section devised to supply you with up-to-date, industry-specific information about products integral, and critical, to the way you work. This first installment delivers details about the latest...

3Dlabs.(Graphics Cards)
June 1, 2004... 3Dlabs has unleashed its Wildcat Realizm graphics technology. The new graphics architecture combines a nextgeneration Visual Processing Unit (VPU) and a Vertex/ Scalability Unit (VSU) to enable a new family of graphics accelerators ranging from...

Matrox graphics.(Graphics Cards)
June 1, 2004... "Matrox Graphics' latest release is the Parhelia PC1256MB graphics card, offering support for video and composite I/O, as well as multi-board configurations. Priced at $699, the graphics accelerator sports 256MB of DDR memory and a PCI-X...

ATI.(Graphics Cards)
June 1, 2004... ATI Technologies introduced a unique pairing: the Radeon X800 Visual Processing Unit (VPU) and Ruby, a digital character developed to demonstrate the new card's functionality. Appearing in The Doublecross on ATI's Web site, Ruby was born with...

Nvidia.(Graphics Cards)
June 1, 2004... Without uttering a word, the digital spokeswoman for Nvidia's GeForce 6800 Ultra, Nalu the Mermaid, speaks volumes about revolutionary 3D graphics. Nalu, the Hawaiian word for wave, is an impressive creature who demonstrates Nvidia's latest...

Houdini 6.1: the recent upgrade proves powerful.
June 1, 2004... Houdini is the secret weapon of many top effects and animation houses. Perhaps not as well known as other tools, Houdini is one of the most powerful effects and animation packages on the market. It enables artists and technical directors to...

Discreet combustion 3: version 3 is worthy of attention.
June 1, 2004... Discreet's Combustion is a robust, efficient 2D and 3D compositing tool with a host of capabilities that set it apart from the crowd. Among them are intensely cool 2D particle effects, industry-leading color correction and keying, real-time...

Appro Scorpion WH300: a new graphics model performs well.
June 1, 2004... Appro is a respected name in the server market. The company sells high-end servers for a variety of applications. In addition, it uses its expertise in high-end computing to produce graphics workstations. The Scorpion WH300 workstation is a...

In the MaPIZone.(Plug-Ins)
June 1, 2004... Win Allegorithmic has upgraded its maps modeling plug-in, MaPIZone, for Adobe's Photoshop, Adobe's Illustrator, and Jasc Software's Paint Shop Pro to Version 1.5. The upgrade sports more than 300 new preset effects, including fully editable,...

Automatic RE:Flex.(Plug-Ins)
June 1, 2004... Irix RE:Vision Effects has debuted RE:Flex, a new morphing and warping plug-in set for users of Discreet's Flint, Flame, Fire, Inferno, and Smoke. RE:Flex includes two plug-ins--RE:Flex Warp and RE:Flex Morph--that support 8 and 12 bits per...

Graphical Gestures.(Gesture Recognition)
June 1, 2004... Win*Mac*Linux FingerWorks has unveiled its Zeroforce iGesture Pad series of gesture-based user interfaces for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. The company's ultra-thin, hand-size touchpads serve not only as a mouse, by supporting such...

Going Solo.(Video)
June 1, 2004... Adtec Digital's Soloist 3 digital media server combines the functions of a digital video recorder, player, switcher, and server in a single solution. Soloist 3 boasts advanced video scaling, broadcast time delay, and multi-layer features with...

Surface Scanning.(3D Scanner)
June 1, 2004... Roland DGA has introduced the LPX-1200 desktop 3D laser scanner bundled with Pixform Pro reverse modeling software. Well suited to animation applications, the LPX-1200 boasts rotary and planar scanning modes, 5x8-inch scanning volume, an...

Events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 1, 2004... JULY 12-15 Macworld Conference & Expo 2004, held in Boston. Visit www.macworldexpo.com. AUGUST 2-5 LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, held in San Francisco. Contact 800-657-1474, www.linuxworldexpo.com. 8-12 SIGGRAPH 2004, held in...

Real-world reading.(Book Corner)
June 1, 2004... Charles River Media has released a new text, 3ds max 6 Essentials. A Real-World Approach, on Discreet's popular 3D software tool. Written by David Kalwick, a Discreet Certified Instructor, the new book guides readers through complete 3D...

Problem-solving with physics.(Book Corner)
June 1, 2004... Game Physics, by David H. Eberly, is the latest volume in the Morgan Kaufmann and Interactive 3D Technology Series of reference texts. Game Physics provides an introduction to ideas and techniques behind the development of physically realistic...

A gem for graphics professionals.(Book Corner)
June 1, 2004... Addison Wesley Professional announced the availability of GPU Gems. Programming Techniques, Tips and Tricks for Real-Time Graphics, which carries a retail price of $59.99. The full-color, 816-page text is a collection of articles on...

Interactive cinema: games that let users play their favorite film stars represent a new art form and a new challenge for developers.(backdrop)(Interview)
June 1, 2004... Q Why was it so important to re-create real movie actors for the new James Bond game? A James Bond is the most successful, enduring film character in history. When creating a visual experience that takes place in the Bond universe, the...