CGI Training for the Entertainment Film Industry
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Computer Graphics in Entertainment CGI Training for the Entertainment Jacquelyn Ford Morie Film Industry Blue Sky|VIFX onsider a snapshot from 1996: A bright technology. The company’s animation division isn’t inter- Cyoung woman has just earned a degree ested in computer animation and the exchange does not from a prestigious art college, majoring in computer work out. The graduate student—Ed Catmull—goes on animation (a program her school started four years to found a premier computer animation company.1 ago). She is looking for her first job. An excellent stu- dent artist, top in her class, she does not know how to A bit of history program. She is being courted by all the major West The above scenarios illustrate actual examples of peo- Coast studios and has retained an attorney to get her ple trying to get computer graphics jobs in the enter- the best possible deal (among other things, a starting tainment industry. You may recognize yourself among salary in the $60,000 range). them, depending on when you started in computer Cut back to 1990, just six years graphics. Barely three decades old, the computer graph- earlier: A recent graduate is trying to ics field has been through enormous changes. As the digital film industry find a job. He studied computer Possibilities and experimentation have evolved into graphics as an art student and creat- commonly used and widely accepted tools to create matures, the education ed some respectable short anima- effects, images, and characters for films. The education tions. He took a class in general needed to succeed in the digital entertainment indus- needed to become part of it programming but not graphics pro- try has also changed. The early emphasis on technical gramming. He is not even looking at skills, especially computer science, has broadened to also evolves and shifts. We the big companies in Hollywood include a strong focus on art and animation skills. The because they seek only experienced reasons for this necessitate looking at the industry and must therefore rethink how people. Instead, he sends out education over the last twenty or so years. resumes to and visits small “bou- While this article primarily addresses the entertain- we educate future digital tique” production companies in the ment film industry, that industry offered few digital pro- Southeast or Midwest—any place duction jobs before 1992. We must therefore consider entertainment workers. that will let him get a foot in the door. the role that television commercials (and those ubiqui- Cut back further, to 1986: A stu- tous “flying logos”) played in the development and dent has just graduated with a Master’s degree in com- adoption of digital technology in the film industry. In puter science. He has always been interested in art, but addition to theatrical motion pictures, the fast-growing never thought of it as a way to make a living. He did his digital film industry now produces a wide variety of film- graduate project work in NSF-funded simulation tech- based entertainment, from ride simulators to large-for- niques. He attends Siggraph 1986 in Dallas, resume in mat special-venue theaters such as OmniMax and Imax. hand. He lands a job programming for a newly formed small production company, hoping to make it big doing Industry: 1975 computer-generated imagery (CGI) for the film industry. In 1975, computer graphics had been around little Finally, cut back to 1975: A talented, creative computer more than a decade. Because the field was so new, it did science student wants to explore computer graphics’ ani- take a rocket scientist to do the work required for com- mation potential. His thesis, funded by the DOD, puter graphics. Few basic tools existed, and computer describes a way to render images on the computer with graphics specialists invented the tools they needed from something called a “z-buffer.” His school approaches a the technical and mathematical ground up. Only those large animation company about an exchange program who could write the code could tell the machine what to that brings a student to the company to learn the indus- do artistically. try and a company animator to the school to learn new Hollywood knew little about this fledgling area. The 30 January/February 1998 0272-1716/98/$10.00 © 1998 IEEE . biggest advances involved 2D graphics, and in the 1970s the few movies that employed CGI used either on-screen Educator and Industry Resources graphics (simulating what would be seen on a comput- The following publications provide useful information on how to er terminal or screen readout in a spaceship, for exam- build a career in the digital entertainment industry. ple) or 2D computer imagery. By 1975 CGI had been used Bay Area Multimedia Partnership and Reagan and Associates, A Labor Market in only two major films. In 1973, Westworld featured Analysis of the Digital Media Industry: Opportunities in Multimedia, spon- scenes that showed audiences the world viewed by the sored by the North Valley (NOVA) Private Industry Council, SkillsNet, Los eye circuitry of a synthetic human (played by a very real Angeles, Apr. 1997. Yul Brenner) in a future Western theme park. This effect Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers and the PMR Group, Inc., was achieved with 2D computer graphics tools mostly Making Digits Dance: Visual Effects and Animation Careers in the Entertain- derived from image processing techniques. The 1974 ment Industry, sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Private Industry Coun- sequel to Westworld, Futureworld, used 3D CGI. cil, SkillsNet, Los Angeles, Mar. 1997. Using 3D CGI extensively in films remained a dream. National Research Council, Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment Few in the movie industry believed in CGI, but acade- and Defense, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1997. mic researchers around the country sought to create viable tools. Because no one knew what could be done Useful materials and information for educators, committee- with CGI, it was considered extremely risky, and also sponsored projects, and links to other educational-related sites can very expensive. Making a film was already an expensive be found at Siggraph’s Education Committee Web site at endeavor; using budding CGI technology could signifi- http://www.siggraph.org under “Education.” cantly increase the overall cost, even if it did manage to The SkillsNet Ultimate Entertainment and New Media Guide get done on time and not delay the film’s release date. Web site presents information about the digital entertainment In the meantime, television embraced the fledgling industry, including industry needs and educational programs. Go computer graphics industry. CGI examples tended to to http://www.skillsnet.net. be quite short because the technology was highly tech- nical and tedious, with long rendering times needed to get good-looking images. Short formats, however, at this time (although some schools were starting to worked well for TV with its 30-second commercials and train well-rounded people who would play pivotal roles program openers. Also, rendering for broadcast in the digital film industry’s future). required considerably less resolution than film—about During this decade, the quality of images generated one-tenth the number of pixels per frame—and there- by CGI rose substantially. In addition, people who fore less time as well. worked on traditional effects (optical and physical) Then as now, commercials had to grab the audience’s began working in the digital realm. As CGI infiltrated attention before they launched the sales pitch. the film community, commercial CGI creators also Computer graphics offered a new, glitzy way to do just learned more about the way films were made. that, and the advertising industry had the money to Looking back, 1981 was a milestone year for digital spend on it. The digital film industry owes a great deal film, with 3D computer graphics in two major films. In to advertising’s need for something new to captivate Michael Crichton’s film Looker, Susan Dey’s character audiences. Companies doing primarily TV commercial needed to obtain physical perfection as embodied by a work proliferated in the late 1970s and early 1980s. computer program’s ideal 3D representation of her. These companies had relatively few artists on staff, Based on their work for Futureworld, Triple-I won the however. They needed technically versed workers to task of creating this 3D figure. Though not a box office write new code and manipulate technology into doing success, Looker showed the new medium’s potential. things it hadn’t done before. The commercials’ artistic Also released in 1981 (and also not a box office suc- design generally came from the CGI company’s con- cess), Tron used 3D computer graphics extensively in tracting agency—usually a prestigious ad agency that both concept and actuality. Although traditional opti- could afford CGI’s high price. Most companies thus had cal effects created the characters’ look, the film used the one or, more likely, no artists on staff. Among the few most CGI to date—it took four major CGI companies to exceptions, Triple-I (Information International, Inc.) achieve it all. The light cycles were done by Magi, the had three: Richard Taylor, Art Durinski, and John solar sailor ship by Triple-I, the Tron title logo and wire- Whitney, Jr. frame world by Robert Abel and Associates, and the bit character and Tron opener by Digital Effects. Industry: 1986 The next landmark was The Last Starfighter (1985). By 1986, thanks to all the work done for commercials, Digital Productions created an astounding 27 minutes of digital technology had made inroads in the film indus- CGI for this film. Unfortunately, the film’s success did try—but the work force hadn’t changed much.