Computer Graphics World articles from October 2007

Computer Graphics World archives from October 2007

Clone wars.(editor's note)
October 1, 2007... For years now, digital artists have been trying to solve one of the most difficult challenges in computer graphics today: the creation and animation of realistic digital humans. Indeed, feature-film studios--even television studios-have done a...

Side effects launches Houdini 9.(PRODUCTS: MODELING-ANIMATION)(Side Effects Software Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Side Effects Software released Houdini 9, which includes a new artist-friendly user interface that makes the software easier to use, as well as python support, fluid dynamics, rendering enhancements, and new character tools. [ILLUSTRATION...

Softimage optimizes Alienbrain 8 for artists.(PRODUCTS: ASSET MANAGEMENT)(Avid Technology Inc.'s Alienbrain 8 software)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Avid Technology has made available Alienbrain 8 software, asset management software developed by Avid's Softimage subsidiary that enables CG artists to visually track, control versions, manage, and share any kind of digital document--from 3D...

Wacom's Bamboo offers natural workflow.(PRODUCTS: INPUT DEVICES)(Wacom Technology Corp. introduced Bamboo and Bamboo Fun two new pen tablets )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Recently, Wacom Technology introduced a new corporate look and branding structure, as well as rolled out Bamboo and Bamboo Fun, two new pen tablets that provide a natural and creative digital input. Bamboo, geared to office productivity, is...

Luxology adds sculpting and animation to Modo.(PRODUCTS: MODELING-ANIMATION)(Luxology released Modo 301)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Luxology released Modo 301, which includes new sculpting and item animation, as well as extensive improvements to its modeling, painting, and rendering tool sets, making it easier for artists to create, texture, and animate virtually any kind...

Dell launches new mobile workstation.(PRODUCTS: WORKSTATIONS)(Dell Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Dell recently introduced the Precision M6300, a mobile workstation offering desktop-level performance. The Dell Precision M6300 sports some of the latest technologies--within the areas of processors, OpenGL graphics, screen resolutions, and...

Imagineer Systems Mocha combines tracking, rotoscoping.(PRODUCTS: TRACKING)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Imagineer Systems rolled out Mocha, the company's new standalone tracking station, leveraging Imagineer's advanced 2.5D planar tracking technology to simplify and significantly accelerate the tracking and rotoscoping workflow for VFX artists....

Moven's mocap system.(PRODUCTS: MOTION CAPTURE)(Xsens Technologies launched Moven)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Xsens Technologies launched Moven, a comfortable suit with integrated inertial sensors for capturing human motion in real time with lifelike fluidity. Moven can be used indoors or outdoors. Neither cameras, emitters, markers, nor a...

Panoram unveils second-gen, 4k imaging table.(PRODUCTS: MOTION VISUALIZATION)(Panoram Technologies)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Panoram Technologies, provider and integrator of visualization technologies, announced the DIT-2 digital imaging table for next-generation collaboration. The DIT-2 delivers 8.5 million pixels of resolution based on a unique application of the...

Vicon on cutting edge.(PRODUCTS: MOTION CAPTURE)(Vicon Motion Systems)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Based on its own systems development experience and that of its mocap facility, House of Moves, Vicon recently announced Blade, its new motion-capture processing software system for Vicon's real-time mocap systems. Blade provides a single,...

Toxik 2008 bridges 2D and 3D workflows.(PRODUCTS: COMPOSITING)(Autodesk Inc.'s Toxik 2008)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Autodesk launched Toxik 2008, the latest version of its desktop software for feature-film procedural compositing. Designed for visual effects artists, Toxik 2008 combines an extensive creative tool set with real-time, interactive compositing of...

A massive debut.(PRODUCTS: ANIMATION)(Massive Software released Massive 3.0)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Massive Software released Massive 3.0, a major upgrade to its Al-driven animation system, with improved dynamics, dynamic hair and fur, lanes, layer simulations, and more. Massive allows artists to create and direct any object, human, or...

State-of-the-art compositing.(viewpoint of a digital compositor)(Viewpoint essay)
October 1, 2007... When people ask me what I do for a living, my response varies: from the simple, "I work in the movie business," to the more informative, "I am a visual effects artist," to my actual job, "I am a digital compositor." The hoi polloi...

Moving on up: motion-capture technology has been on the verge of breaking into wide use for nearly 20 years. Has the time come?(Motion Capture)
October 1, 2007... In Part 1 of a two-part series, we look at some non-entertainment applications of mocap. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The figures $50 million to $100 million are commonly bandied about to describe the entire motion-capture market. Compared...

Big buzz: DreamWorks tackles scope and scale to infuse bee movie with Jerry Seinfeld's humor.(Jerry Seinfeld )
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A short while before DreamWorks released its animated feature Bee Movie, writer and producer Jerry Seinfeld fielded a comment at a screening from an audience member who had been reading about a bee crisis in the...

Preconceived motions: previz arists carve out a niche on film and television sets.(Previsualization)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The year 2007 would have been heaven on earth for Alfred Hitchcock. The great director--who once claimed to have shot every frame of his films before the camera rolled, and even hired artist Saul Bass to sketch every...

Nvidia's top model. a technology test results in a near-photoreal replica of model/actress Adrianne Curry.(CG Humans)
October 1, 2007... Nvidia has made a habit out of turning heads at industry trade shows with its short animations. First, it did so with the fetching fairy Dawn, a semi-realistic real-time character created by the graphics card vendor to highlight the use of...

Portfolio: global eyes, Part 2.(2007 SIGGRAPH)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] When SIGGRAPH introduced the Art Gallery to the conference and exhibition many years ago, the roots of digital art were taking hold within the CG community, though outside this nourishing environment, digital art...

Preparing for a game dev career.(Knowledge & Career)(trends in video games industry)
October 1, 2007... Finding a job in video game development may seem like a dream to some, but it is a dream that is achievable. If you are looking to work in the video game industry, one of the most important things to recognize is that development teams are...

Chapman University gets serious: thanks to generous donations, this Orange County-based college is attracting film students from around the globe.(Knowledge & Career)
October 1, 2007... My first visit to the chapman University campus was in 1995, when I was a visiting lecturer on the topic of editing. At the time, the fledgling film program had little in the way of facilities and equipment. There were two editing rooms...

Online identity.(CHARACTER MODELING)(Genemation Ltd provides service of animation on mobile phones)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Platform independent Genemation, Ltd., maker of 3D face synthesis and head character modeling tools for digital content artists, has expanded its face and feature tracking technology to the mobile phone, video game,...

Upgraded utility.(CHARACTER MODELING)(Caligari Corporation has released TrueSpace Version 7.5)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Win Caligari Corporation has released TrueSpace Version 7.5, updated to include new tools for character posing, animation, modeling, rendering, and collaboration. The TrueSpace animation editor provides access to keyframes, motion capture,...

Virtual version.(CHARACTER MODELING)(Eon Reality Inc launched new Eon Human technology graphic software)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Platform independent Eon Reality, Inc. debuted Eon Human technology, which can generate a 3D face and body online using a single photo. The technology translates actual images of people into virtual reality, in 3D and on the Web. It produces 3D...

Image expansion.(PANORAMIC IMAGES)(RealViz upgrades image processing software)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Win * Mac RealViz has upgraded its Stitcher Unlimited photo-stitching and image-assembling software to Version 5.6. Designed for the creation of digital panoramas and 360-degree virtual tours, Stitcher Unlimited 5.6 provides compatibility with...

Plug-in packs.(VFX)
October 1, 2007... Mac Noise Industries, makers of visual effects tools for postproduction and broadcast, has partnered with Core Melt, Industrial Revolution, and Sugarfx to launch FxFactory Expansion FxPacks for Apple Final Cut Studio 2.0. The Core Melt...

GroBoto grows.(ANIMATION)(Mac Braid has updated its GroBoto 3D)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Win * Mac Braid Art Labs has updated its GroBoto 3D art and animation software to Version 2.1. The upgrade includes new bots and hot presets, self-illuminating textures and objects, layered fog atmospherics, sky gradients, and scene presets....

Community gaming.(GAMEPLAY SHARING)
October 1, 2007... Win Geelix Technologies has introduced the Geelix HUD (heads-up display) Desktop 4.0, which enables users to share live and captured gameplay. HUD Desktop automatically captures, encodes, and shares live video gameplay through the Geelix social...

Color-correction conundrum.(VIDEO)
October 1, 2007... Win * Mac Automatic Duck and Red Giant Software have partnered to bridge a color-correction gap between Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects. For the first time, Red Giant's Magic Bullet Colorista color-correction plug-in can serve as...

Viper for video.(VIDEO CARD)(Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Diamond Multimedia has begun shipping the PCI-Express version of its Viper HD 2900XT. The new graphics card features ATI's Radeon RV600 GPU with a 512MB G-DDR3 interface, a core clock speed of 740MHZ, 825GHZ memory...

Quadro trio.(GRAPHICS CARD)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Nvidia unveiled the Nvidia Quadro GPU architecture for notebook computers with the introduction of the Quadro FX 1600M, 570M, and 360M mobile graphics cards. Nvidia's latest cards are designed for professionals in the digital content creation,...

A sharp blade.(STORAGE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Cepoint Networks has unveiled its Blade Server data-storage solution for high-performance computing and enterprise environments. The Cepoint Blade Server is housed in a 19-inch industry rack, which accommodates up to 10 blades in a 7U...

19-sensor system.(MOTION CAPTURE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Animazoo has unveiled the next generation of its inertial gyroscopic motion-capture system, the IGS-190. Replacing the Gypsy Gyro 18, the IGS-190 features an improved global translation system and an additional InertiaCube gyroscopic sensor,...

Dell rebounding in the workstation market.(WORKSTATIONS)
October 1, 2007... If you think the workstation is some last-century relic whose fortunes in the market have long since faded, think again. As Jon Peddle Research again finds with its second-quarter 2007 tabulations, the workstation market is more than simply...