Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue Next Page ComputerINNOVATIONS IN VISUAL COMPUTING FOR THE GLOBAL DCC COMMUNITY June 2007 www.cgw.com WORLD Making Waves Digital artists create ‘pretend spontaneity’ in the documentary-style animation Surf’s Up
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June 2007 • Volume 30 • Number 6 INNOVATIONS IN VISUAL COMPUTING FOR THE GLOBAL DCC COMMUNITY
Also see www.cgw.com for computer graphics news, special surveys and reports, and the online gallery. ______» Director Luc Besson discusses Computer WORLD his black-and-white fi lm, WORLD Post Angel-A. » Trends in broadcast design. » Getting the most out of canned music and sound. See it in www.postmagazine.com Features
Cover story Radical, Dude 12 3D ANIMATION | In one of the most unusual animated features to hit the Departments screen, Surf’s Up incorporates a documentary fi lming style into the Editor’s Note 2 CG medium. Triple the Fun Summer blockbusters are making their By Barbara Robertson debut at theaters, and this year, it is Wrangling Waves 18 apparent that three’s a charm, as ani- 3D ANIMATION | The visual effects mators upped the graphics ante in 12 supervisor on Surf’s Up takes us on an Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3, and At World’s incredible behind-the-scenes journey End. Yet, others are making a techni- as the fi lm takes shape. cal splash as well, including Surf’s Up and Ratatouille. By Rob Bredow
Spotlight 4 Mind Expansion 20 GAMING | A look at the AI tools and Products technology that are helping to make Apple’s Final Cut Studio 2, Final Cut Server state-of-the-art non-player characters Eyeon’s Vision, Rotation more intelligent. Blackmagic’s Intensity Pro, Multi- By Martin McEachern bridge Eclipse, HDLink Pro 20 AJA’s FS1, GEN10 Effects Driven 30 User Focus VFX | A plethora of digital techniques, KONA 3 cards keep the fi lm The including colorful greenscreen work Flock on course. and a novel CircleVision camera appli- cation, create drama for the new TV Viewpoint: CG 10 series Drive. Wave Effects By Karen Moltenbrey The digital technology that made waves in Surf’s Up. GPU Computing Uncovered 34 TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGY | Under Portfolio 38 the microscope: High-performance 30 SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater computing on the GPU, and what it means to DCC professionals. Products 42 By Alex Herrera Classifi eds 43
On the cover: Surfi ng penguins and water that becomes a main character, that’s what’s up in the unique CG “mockumentary” Surf’s Up from Sony Pictures Imageworks, pg. 12.
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Karen Moltenbrey Chief Editor note
KAREN MOLTENBREY: Chief Editor [email protected] 36 East Nashua Road Triple the Fun Windham, NH 03087 (603) 432-7568
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: As I write this editorial, summer is nearly here—that is, according to the cal- Courtney Howard, Jenny Donelan, Audrey Doyle, Evan Marc Hirsch, endar. But if you look at the theater releases, the season has already begun. George Maestri, Martin McEachern, Stephen Porter, Barbara Robertson Kicking off the 2007 summer movie fest is a trio of “threequals,” whose CG WILLIAM R. RITTWAGE editor’s technology has set new standards in feature films and beyond. Publisher In early May, nearly everyone became ensnared in Spider-Man’s web, as SALES this number 3 shattered box-office records, raking in a reported $148 million during MERLE MODEL: East Coast Sales Manager its first three days. (As a result, Spidey bested last year’s record debut of $135.6 million [email protected] (781) 255-0625 captured by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.) In Spider-Man 3, Peter Parker MARI KOHN: West Coast Sales Manager grows into his superhero role, and as he struggles to do so, he has to face not only [email protected] (818) 291-1153 inner demons, but also more intense villains sporting unique powers that could only LISA QUINTANILLA: Advertising Manager be had through quantum leaps in digital technology (see “Facing the Darkness,” May Marketplace • Education • Recruitment [email protected] 2007, pg. 8). A complicated rigging system turns Venom into a creepy, intelligent crea- (903) 452-5560 ture. Dynamic particle simulation and animation makes The Sandman a huge force to Editorial Office / LA Sales Office: be reckoned with. And intricate face replacement, matchmoving, and stunt work give 620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, CA 91204 (800) 280-6446 Spider-Man and the villains commanding performances. Overall, the battles are more
intense, the performances more engaging, and the action more realistic. PRODUCTION Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, another third, hit some rough seas dur- KATH CUNNINGHAM: Production Director [email protected] ing its opening weekend at the box office, failing to surpass the stellar figures for last (818) 291-1113
year’s Dead Man’s Chest but turning a respectable sum of coinage nevertheless. Last MICHAEL VIGGIANO: Art Director year, a compelling performance by a CG Davy Jones and his digital mates resulted [email protected] in Oscar gold. This year, the VFX crew is hoping to repeat that success by extend- CHRIS SALCIDO: Account Representative [email protected] ing Davy’s performance and that of his cursed pirates (see “All Hands on Deck,” May (818) 291-1144 2007, pg. 18). Along with more magical mocap moments, simulations proved extreme- ly seaworthy in the film, especially the fluid sims that result in a CG maelstrom that becomes an unforgettable battle at sea. In Shrek the Third (see “Merry Tales,” April 2007, pg. 12), the ogre matures into a father and a temporary king. Likewise, the CG technology in this fractured fairy tale matured at the hands of DreamWorks. For instance, consider the cast’s clothing. WILLIAM R. RITTWAGE President and Chief Executive Officer The weave in Shrek’s burlap outfit is far more detailed than before, but the crow-
ing achievement is the cloth simulation, which opened up more story possibilities. Computer Graphics World Magazine is published by Computer Graphics World, In addition, the film’s “hairy tales” boast a new simulation engine that realistically a COP Communications company.
moves Merlin’s long beard and Rapunzel’s long braids. And when Puss and Donkey Computer Graphics World does not verify any claims or other information appearing in any of the advertisements become drenched, their matted, wet fur looks fantastic. Already in production on contained in the publication, and cannot take any responsibility for any losses or other damages incurred Shrek 4, DreamWorks is planning a Shrek 5, which is expected to bring this endear- by readers in reliance on such content. ing series to The End. Computer Graphics World cannot be held responsible for A new just-released animated feature, Surf’s Up (see “Radical, Dude,” pg. 12), offers the safekeeping or return of unsolicited articles, manuscripts, photographs, illustrations or other materials. a new spin on penguins, and on CG animation. Last year’s Happy Feet brought song Address all subscription correspondence to: Computer Graphics World, P.O. Box 3296, Northbrook, IL 60065-3296. and dance to the medium, along with an Oscar (see “Happy Feat,” November 2006). Subscriptions are available free to qualified individuals within the United States. Non-qualified subscription rates: In Surf’s Up, the 3D birds show off their surfing skills, and Sony Pictures Imageworks USA—$55 for 1 year, $90 for 2 years; Canadian subscriptions —$75 for 1 year and $104 for 2 years; introduces a documentary style to the world of CGI, once again extending not only the all other countries—$115 for 1 year and $160 for 2 years. Digital subscriptions are available for $27 per year. technical, but also the storytelling boundaries, of computer graphics. Subscribers can also contact customer service by calling As we go to press, Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille is poised to hit theaters, and the film is 847-559-7310 or sending an email to [email protected].______Change of address can be made online at http://www. already creating buzz in family kitchens everywhere. The imagery, created from some omeda.com/cgw/ and click on customer service assistance. new technical ingredients, is truly unique, and promises to whet theater-goers’ appe- Postmaster: Send Address Changes to Computer Graphics World, P.O. Box 3296, tites for more of this type of CG delight. Northbrook, IL 60065-3296
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Take your 3D skills to a whole new level with these latest animation guides from Sybex.
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Available at www.sybex.com and wherever books are sold.
Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and / or its affiliates. Autodesk, Autodesk Maya, Maya, and 3ds Max are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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VIDEO Apple Unveils Final Cut Studio 2, Final Cut Server
Apple polished its reputation in the Cut Studio 2 also contains Color, a new ing automatically catalogs large collec- broadcast realm by rolling out two professional color-grading and finish- tions of assets and enables searching PRODUCTS major releases, Final Cut Studio 2 and ing application for consistent color Final Cut Server. and signature looks. A significant upgrade, Final Cut Final Cut Studio 2 is available now Studio 2 includes Final Cut Pro 6, which for $1299, or $499 as an upgrade. introduces Apple’s ProRes 422 format In another big announcement, for uncompressed HD quality at SD file Apple unveiled Final Cut Server, a sizes, and support for mixed video for- new application that works seam- mats and frame rates in a single time- lessly with Final Cut Studio 2 to pro- line. The suite also includes Motion 3, vide media asset management and featuring an intuitive 3D environment, workflow automation for both paint, and new behaviors; Soundtrack postproduction and broadcast Pro 2, with a number of new tools for professionals. multi-track editing, surround mix- A scaleable server app that sup- across multiple volumes via an intui- ing, and conforming sound to pic- ports variable-sized work groups, tive user interface. ture; Compressor 3, delivering batch Final Cut Server includes a cross-plat- Final Cut Server, available this encoding for multiple formats with a form client that enables content brows- summer, will cost $999 for one server single click; and DVD Studio Pro 4.2 ing, review, and approval from within and 10 client licenses, or $1999 for one for SD and HD DVD authoring. Final a studio or over the Internet. The offer- server and unlimited client licenses.
POSTPRODUCTION Eyeon Shows Its Vision and More
With its focus on image-processing has been designed as an add-on to the company’s Fusion compositing sys- solutions, Eyeon Software announced NLEs and postproduction suites, with tem, providing an all-inclusive package PRODUCTS the addition of two new products, fields/frames and PAL/NTSC support. for the demands of rotoscoping, keying, Vision and Rotation. Extensive motion graphics capabilities and retouching. The integrated script- A postproduction system for the are combined with a scripting engine ing and bins system make Rotation broadcast industry, Vision’s tool set to automate repetitive tasks, such as part of the collaborative workflow. station packaging and promos. Vision Large departmentalized film facili- is resolution-independent, with 64 ties can use this solution to create roto times the color fidelity of 10-bit video. mattes, while retouched clean plates Sporting multiple plug-in APIs, Vision can be funneled to the senior compos- allows for hundreds of extra features iting suites for finishing. from many third-party manufacturers. Vision and Rotation are shipping Rotation, meanwhile, complements now for $695 and $1495, respectively.
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Intensity introduces high definition HDMI editing for only $249
Intensity is the world’s first HDMI capture and Multi Camera HD Production Studio playback card for Windows and Mac OS X Perform live production with 2 Intensity cards systems. If you want to go beyond the quality and cameras plugged into your system using limits of HDV or you need big screen HDMI the included On-Air software. On-Air sync’s edit monitoring, then only Intensity will let you HDMI cameras, handles monitoring and recording, plus is so easy to upgrade to true Hollywood production quality. use, it’s ideal for education, theater, corporate training and more.
Beyond the Limits of HDV Use your Favorite Software Working in HDTV is exciting, however, HDV’s heavy compression Intensity is fully integrated with both Adobe Premiere Pro on and limited 1440 x 1080 resolution can cause problems with quality Windows and Apple Final Cut Pro on Mac OS X, as well as After and editing. Intensity eliminates these problems using direct HDMI Effects, Photoshop and many more. Intensity also works in 1080i capture from the camera image sensor, at full 1920 x 1080 HDTV HD, 720p HD, NTSC and PAL for worldwide compatibility. resolution and uncompressed video quality.
Cinema Style HDMI Monitoring Intensity If you’re editing in DV, HDV, uncompressed or JPEG video, you can use Intensity’s HDMI output for incredible digital video monitoring. US$249 Now you can use big screen televisions and video projectors for breathtaking cinema style edit monitoring and experience the true quality of your work. Learn more today at www.blackmagic-design.com
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VIDEO Blackmagic Unveils Three New Offerings
Blackmagic Design made a trio of product announcements at mal HD-SDI, while retaining compatibility with normal HD-
PRODUCTS NAB, including Intensity Pro, a new, low-cost yet high-qual- SDI and standard-definition SDI equipment. The 3Gb/sec SDI ity video capture and playback card for professional videog- allows 4:4:4 video using a single BNC-type connection, while raphers; the Multibridge Eclipse editing system; and HDLink Blackmagic Design’s new 2K via SDI ability enables high-reso- Pro, a new model of the popular HDLink converter. The Intensity Pro is said to be the first card to combine the high quality of HDMI capture and playback with the wide compatibility of analog component, NTSC, PAL, and S-Video, along with analog audio capture and playback. It enables users to capture directly from the HD camera’s image sensor, bypassing the video compression chip for true uncompressed lution, real-time 2048x1556 feature-film editing. The system video quality. also includes color management via built-in 3D lookup tables. Intensity Pro can be connected to any big-screen televi- Multibridge Eclipse will be available in July for $3495. sion or video projector for edit monitoring, since current com- In addition, the company announced the HDLink Pro, like- puters don’t have the processing speed to render complex, ly the first monitoring solution for DVI and HDMI displays multi-layer, real-time effects in HDV playing back to FireWire that features 2K support via 3Gb/sec SDI. A new model of the cameras. Included with every Intensity Pro card for real-time HDLink converter that allows low-cost DVI and HDMI dis- video mixing is On-Air software, which enables customers to plays to be used for SDI monitoring, HDLink Pro allows any plug two Intensity or Intensity Pro cards into a computer for supported DVI or HDMI display to be used for HD-SDI moni- two-camera mixing for live video production. toring. Moreover, HDLink Pro supports the new 3Gb/sec SDI The card is available for $349. standard for twice the SDI data rate than normal HD-SDI. Ideal Also at the show, the company unveiled its Multibridge for HD or 2K film monitoring, HDLink Pro switches between Eclipse, possibly the first editing system with 3Gb/sec SDI, SD, HD, and 2K instantly. HDLink also features a new chassis HDMI, and analog video capture and playback, 16-channel with all connections on one side. audio, and 2K film via SDI resolution capture and playback. Expected to be available in July, HDLink Pro will be priced Multibridge Eclipse allows twice the SDI data rate of nor- at $795.
CONVERTER AJA Launches New Converters AJA Video announced two new converters: the FS1, support- 1080 and 720 formats. For audio, the FS1 supports eight-chan- ing virtually any video input or output in HD or SD, and the nel AES, balanced analog, or embedded audio with flexibility.
PRODUCTS GEN10, an SD/HD/AES sync generator for professional video The converter is also network-ready, supporting SNMP moni- post and broadcast environments. toring and Web-based remote control. The FS1 is a universal HD and SD audio and video frame The GEN10 is a flexible solution for synching video and synchronizer and converter. With a flexible architecture, the audio devices across a facility or network. The GEN10 con- FS1 can simultaneously support both HD verter features seven outputs, including two groups of inde- and SD video—all in full 10- pendently controlled SD/HD sync outputs and one AES-11 bit broadcast-quality video output. The SD outputs can be switched between black or and 24-bit audio. Also, the color bars, and HD tri-level sync can be switched between 19 FS1 supports virtually any input HD formats, including all that are in use today. Moreover, the or output as analog or digital, HD, or SD. It can up- or AES-11 output can be switched between silence and tone, and down-convert between SD and HD, provide simultaneous out- all outputs are in sync with one another and are sourced from puts of both formats, and support closed-captioning and the an accurate master time base. conversion of closed-captioning between SD and HD formats. FS1 and GEN10 are expected to ship this month. FS1 car- FS1 also includes 10-bit HD-to-HD cross-conversion for ries a price of $3990, while GEN10 costs $390.
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Multibridge Pro has HD-SDI and analog editing with HDMI monitoring for only $1,595
Multibridge Pro is the first bi-directional World’s Highest Quality converter that’s also an editing system. Multibridge Pro works natively in 10 bit 4:2:2 and features the Featuring a built-in PCI Express link, you can industry’s only true 14 bit analog conversion with uncompressed connect to Windows or Apple Mac systems video capture/playback. With uncompressed 10 bit capture and for the highest quality editing solution. playback, you’ll always retain that pristine film look.
Connect to any Deck, Camera or Monitor Dual Use – Converter and Capture Card Multibridge Pro supports standard and high definition 10 bit SDI Get the world’s most amazing editing solution for Apple Final and analog YUV,as well as NTSC/PAL video in and out. Multibridge Cut Pro™ and Adobe Premiere Pro™. When not connected via the Pro also features 4 channels of sample rate converted AES audio PCI Express link to your computer, Multibridge Pro also works and analog stereo XLR audio in and out, combined with two as a bi-directional video and audio converter. Multibridge Pro is channel RCA audio outputs, great for low cost HiFi monitoring. really two products in one, always adapting to your needs.
Advanced HDMI Monitoring Multibridge Pro includes built-in HDMI out. Multibridge Pro Perfect for connecting to the latest big screen televisions and video projectors for incredible US$1,595 digital cinema style edit monitoring.
The Drawn Together images are courtesy of Comedy Partners. Learn more today at www.blackmagic-design.com
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DI WORKFLOW Keeping The Flock Process On Course
In the recently released action/drama The Flock, a vigilant ished this film without the KONA 3 card. The folks at AJA state agent (Richard Gere)—while training his young female worked closely with us to ensure that our pipeline was run- replacement—must track down a missing girl who the agent ning smoothly.” believes is connected to a paroled sex offender he is inves- The Flock is the first major feature film finished in 2K, USER FOCUS tigating. Working against the clock, the pair sort out the DPX, 4:4:4 log color space using Final Cut Pro, and both
details while tracking the potential Images courtesy Bauer Martinez Studios. killer. Similarly, those working on the movie had to work against the clock while solving difficult issues. To this end, the group facilitated its unique 2K workflow and digital intermediate process by using AJA Video’s KONA 3 video capture card. KONA 3 is AJA’s uncompressed capture card for SD, HD, Dual Link
Blum and Rizkallah credit the success of this workflow to the card. Because the offline Final Cut Pro sequence was too complex for all the visual effects and editing to be repli- cated within the production company’s timetable, Rizkallah customized a pipeline using Cinema Tools combined with original software to create pull lists for scanning, and then set the handles of the scan to match the Media Manager han-
HD, and 2K for PCI Express (PCIe) Apple G5 Power Macs dles set in Final Cut Pro to the KONA 3 2K setting. Using and Mac Pro systems. Supporting any uncompressed SD or AJA’s DPX-to-QuickTime Translator, the sequential DPX files HD format, KONA 3 also captures and plays back uncom- were wrapped as QuickTime files for proofing and rendering, pressed 10-bit and 8-bit digital video and 24-bit digital and then converted back into sequential DPX frames, which audio. With this flexibility, the card was an integral part were then delivered to Warner Bros. for color correction on a of the film’s Apple Final Cut Pro editing pipeline. Warner FilmLight Baselight system. Bros. performed the scanning, color correction, and film- “We chose the KONA 3 for several reasons,” says offline out for the project. editor and Product Factory owner Rizkallah, who was the DI David Blum of Phoenix-based Catalyst FX served as the supervisor for The Flock. “When you’re doing a 2K conform visual effects supervisor on the film, and he recruited George in Final Cut, you have huge file sizes and amounts of data Rizkallah of the Burbank, California, Product Factory to to work from. AJA is the only solution that can handle files develop a customized 2K pipeline that would enable the team of those sizes. The fact that the KONA 3 can do HD or SD to do a final conform on the feature using Apple’s Final Cut down-converts from the 2K in real time is a huge timesaver, Pro. The pipeline employed four KONA 3 cards running on as is the fact that you can look at an accurate 2K image on Apple Mac Pro systems with Final Cut Pro on an XSAN net- an HD monitor, especially when the alternative is renting a work with 26TB of storage. The systems were connected via very expensive 2K or 4K projector. Most importantly, AJA’s 2Gb Fibre Channel. tech support provides immediate solutions to problems as “Because of the way that our visual effects shots were they arise.” created—many multi-layer timeline effects on more than Rizkallah points out that the key to the group’s success 800 shots—the only practical way to complete the film on was AJA’s DPX Translator. “The fact that AJA technology can time and on budget was to do our final conform in Final convert DPX to QuickTime is incredibly efficient—QuickTime Cut Pro,” says Blum. “The AJA KONA 3 provided the per- can be easily read in Final Cut or just about anything else fect solution and performed brilliantly. I could not have fin- that uses QuickTime out there,” he says.
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A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS C C Pictures Imageworks. supervisor atSony is aneffectsanimation Matt Hausman in water surfaces styles forthe chose several Imageworks Surf’s Up approach and produce a test that, while while that, atest produce and approach 10 uct, more than adequately proved the the proved adequately than more uct, most work. A couple of months were were ofmonths Acouple work. most large-scale project such as this, it will itwill this, as such project large-scale required to hammer out the basic basic outthe tohammer required those goals was the one that took the the took onethat the was goals those crude in comparison to the end prod- end tothe comparison in crude of latter the that nosurprise as come offinal 20minutes ofproducing capable surfing footage as efficiently as possible. possible. as efficiently as footage surfing | For anyone who has worked on a ona worked whohas For anyone W W ComputerGraphics World . At the onset of onset At the real, and make the entire process process entire the make and real, wave and water tothe regard the effects: Make it look 80 percent percent 80 itlook Make effects: view in directives main two given pointCG Surf’s Up Surf’s “Radical, Dude,” pg. 12). Dude,” 12). pg. “Radical, The rig deformed arect- deformed rig The wave rig was developed developed was wave rig any lateral cross sec- cross lateral any that so patch angular from flat water, to tubing, water, flat totubing, from ments: character rig- character ments: in Autodesk’s Maya that Autodesk’s that Maya in a departments, rigging be animated through through be animated the specifics and craft a a craft and specifics the the evolution ofatwo- evolution the could patch ofthe tion the surfing waves (see waves (see surfing the the between effort tive production pipeline that provided the motion of of motion the provided effects, and lighting. out toiron ayear over overall technical strate- dimensional wave shape, dimensional effects and character character and effects spanned five depart- ging, layout, animation, animation, layout, ging, well took Itthen gies. In acollabora- In rvosPage Previous rvosPage Previous effects team was was team effects Wave Effects development, development, JUNE 2007 Contents Contents “wave trains,” simply defined as the sum of continuous wave patterns of varying ofvarying wave patterns ofcontinuous sum the as defined simply “wave trains,” varied and natural look of the ocean surface. The peaks of waves could be deter- be ofwaves could peaks The surface. ocean ofthe look natural and varied water, we ocean ’s byTessendorf work onsimulating part in Inspired surface. water visualize dominant wave and surfing features, such as the white-water explosion of the ofthe explosion white-water the as such features, surfing wave and dominant visualize a narrow subset of real-world characteristics, such as forward velocity, lateral break break lateral velocity, forward as such characteristics, ofreal-world subset a narrow Wave trains suchasthesewere usedtoaddtextural detailtothewatersurface. mined and isolated in the shader to create areas of aerated water or to be used as as used ortobe water ofaerated areas tocreate shader the in isolated and mined nisms and with a great deal of time spent getting the motion to appear to generally obey obey togenerally toappear motion the getting spent oftime deal agreat with and nisms into three ranges: low, medium, and high, each with individual control over ampli- over control individual with each high, and low, medium, ranges: three into waves ofthe higher-frequency small, the toprovide waves, notdesigned itwas ing responding surface stretching. For composition and timing purposes, the ability topre- ability the purposes, timing and For composition stretching. surface responding boring cross sections of the wave patch, the motion of a tubing wave could be achieved. achieved. be wave could ofatubing motion wave the patch, ofthe sections cross boring the source of emission for particle effects. Data, output from the simulation system, system, simulation the from output Data, effects. forparticle ofemission source the spe- and noise-based forgeneral made were Provisions speed. and cuspiness, tude, dead almost from ranged “styles.” These surface water several we chose tailored, through collapse, and back to flat again. By offsetting in time the animation ofneigh- animation the time in offsetting By again. toflat back and collapse, through physically based but whose frequency ranges and angles of propagation were hand- were ofpropagation angles and ranges frequency but whose based physically speed. and direction, amplitude, period, describing the frequency ranges and propagation angles and speeds of the wave ofthe speeds and angles propagation and ranges frequency the describing fora wave trains ofthe reduction ofamplitude ofareas control hand-tailored cific segregated were wave trains ofthe frequencies The chaotic. and tostormy calm employed system The surface. water displaced overall waves forthe ocean open tosimulate system RenderMan-based Pixar and Houdini- aSideEffects developed crashing wave and the wake from a surfboard, was incorporated into the rig as well. as rig the into incorporated was asurfboard, from wake the wave and crashing speed, a lip that fell at a speed close to gravity, plausible volume preservation, and cor- and preservation, volume plausible togravity, close ataspeed fell that alip speed,
While the function of the wave rig was to provide the gross animation of the surf- ofthe animation gross the toprovide was wave rig ofthe function the While The waves were animated in this way entirely by hand without procedural mecha- procedural without byhand way entirely this in waves animated The were By creating sets of Gerstner-style wave trains whose speeds, by default, were were bydefault, speeds, whose wave trains ofGerstner-style sets creating By www.cg.com ______omIn Zoom omIn Zoom omOut Zoom omOut Zoom rn Cover Front rn Cover Front erhIssue Search erhIssue Search By MattHausman etPage Next etPage Next A A B B E E F F M M a a G G S S A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS
trains was input into the water displacement shader for rendering. Ambient foam—foam created from crashing waves, splashes, surfboard wakes, and shore break—all were critical components of the look of the Surf’s Up water. From the start, it was important to create methods for general and specific foam placement, erasure, dissolution, and animation. Used not only to create a more real- istic look, different foam patterns and formations were employed to distinguish wave styles and locations from one another. Three distinct foam patterns were designed from live-action reference and con- sultation with the visual development department: a patchy foam used for choppier water and splashes from rocks and characters; a more elegant graphic style referred to as “web foam” taken from specific photographic examples and used with calmer water at the North Beach location; and a convected bubbly foam used with the beach break system of small waves lapping at the shoreline. A distinction was made between “standing” foam, foam that was generated with procedural noise functions in the shader, and “interactive” foam, which was specifi- cally placed or the result of a specific event like a splash or wake. Interactive foam used the same noise functions as standing foam but was placed on the water using Upper: An early test rendering of a pipeline point clouds sampled in the reference space of the water, with attributes describ- wave. Lower: An early lighting test show- ing search radius and density. Once enough points, collected in the reference space, ing various shadow-casting techniques. crossed a density threshold, foam would appear in the additive space of the points’ search radii on the corresponding part of the wave surface. Similar to the methods In retrospect, it seems odd that a of amplitude reduction of the wave trains, areas of foam could be erased or reduced computer-generated movie with so procedurally with noise fields or specifically with artist-designed maps projected much water in it would have been onto the ocean surface. made without the use of a fluid solver at any point in its production. But that Particle Matter fact underscores the overall method- All the spray effects in Surf ’s Up—the white water, lip spray, surfboard sprays, char- ology used by the effects and anima- acter splashes, rock splashes, and so forth—were rendered entirely, or in part, as tion teams on Surf’s Up, which were dense clouds of RiPoints calculated at render time in RenderMan. To accomplish this, initiated in response to the following a proximity-based particle instancing scheme, called Cluster, was developed as a quandary: How to efficiently create a RenderMan DSO. The instancing algorithm produced new points along and around lot of realistic-looking surfing waves in the vectors between pairs of seed points from sparse particle simulations with many a production pipeline whereby the pri- parameters controlling point size, distribution, density, opacity falloff, and attri- mary animation of the waves occurs bute blending. Because the final particle counts required for white water or lip spray during layout and key features of the in a given shot would most often exceed the memory limitations of the renderfarm wave need to be previsualized and machines, methods for rendering subsections of the elements had to be developed. altered during animation. Thus, a scheme for slicing cluster renders into layers based on distance from the cam- As more sophisticated ocean-simula- era plane and for managing the compositing of those layers was implemented. tion techniques become available, CPUs Throughout the show, the cluster DSO was optimized in an attempt to render become faster, and memory more expan- as many points as possible and, ultimately, was capable of rendering without slic- sive, future answers to this question may ing nearly 45 million motion-blurred points. For a big Mavericks wave shot in Surf ’s not rely on any of the strategies outlined Up, the combined point count of the white water, lip spray, and foam ball (the white- above. However, given the demands water explosion inside the tube) could easily reach 500 million points. of an animated feature, during which The clustered effects were lit using deep shadows, which were rendered from each keeping creative and technical options light: typically a key, rim, and fill. The final beauty render of the element was a “util- open for as long as possible through- ity” pass with equal contributions of the key, rim, and fill lights segregated into the out the pipeline is strongly desired, the RGB channels of the image to be balanced and color-corrected into the shot during approach of layering linked yet discreet compositing. Extra passes for specular glints, particle life, and density variation also solutions to the primary wave features were provided to increase the detail of the element. To save time, especially during proved highly successful. sliced renders, the matting of other objects was handled by rendering deep shadows of the occluding geometry from the shot camera and sourcing them into the white-water Matt Hausman is an effects animation super- and spray shaders for opacity variance. visor at Sony Pictures Imageworks.
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. . . . 3D Animation
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3ONY 0ICTURES )MAGEWORKS CREATES TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR ½ LMING THE WORLD´S ½ RST ANIMATED MOCKUMENTARY "Y "ARBARA 2OBERTSON
It’s all about Cody Maverick, an aspiring surfer, who is the subject of a surfi ng documen- tary and the star of Sony Pictures Animation’s Surf’s Up.
Images courtesy Sony Pictures Animation.
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)F SUR½ NG WERE A RELIGION the fi rst two commandments would be: “Live in the moment,” and “Have as good a time as you can.” So, if you were fi lming a documentary about surfers, even if those surfers were penguins and not people, you’d want to capture that spontaneity. To do that using animation, in which every frame is handcrafted and precisely controlled, would be...well...radical, dude. Yet, that’s exactly what the directors and producers at Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) did, thanks to a crew of approximately 250 talented anima- tors and artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks. And the result is one of the most unusual animated features ever to hit the screen. In Sony Pictures’ Surf’s Up, a documentary fi lm crew follows a young hot-dog surfer named Cody Maverick from Shiverpool, Antarctica, to the Big Z Memorial Surf Off on Pen Gu Island. It’s the fi rst feature ani- mation mockumentary. “It was fun to fake that whole style to create the illusion of reality, the believability of characters, to shoot with a handheld camera, to even have access to archival footage,” says Ash Brannon, who directed the fi lm with Chris Buck. Producer Chris Jenkins sparked the idea. Jenkins, who came to SPA from Disney Feature Animation where he worked as a visual effects supervisor and effects animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and other fi lms, thought of turning a story about surfi ng penguins into a Spinal Tap-like documentary. “This is a new way to tell a story and a way to realize great ani- mation,” Jenkins says. “We had to create ‘pretend spontaneity.’ We had to pretend to interview someone who we happened to catch. But, it was all planned, of course.” The planned spontaneity in the mockumentary forced changes through the entire production, from recording sessions to water sim- ulation. The characters needed to be self-aware. The camera had to be handheld. The water became a character. To help give the dialog track the freshness of a real conversation, the directors recorded actors two or three at a time, something that rarely happens for animated fi lms. Usually directors record each character’s dia- log separately. “Animation is tending to become very shticky,” Jenkins says. “The characters deliver lines, and there’s almost like music hall pitter-patter to the timing. We let the actors read the script, and then we threw the script away and had them put it in their own words.” For example: During Surf’s Up, the documentary crew making the fi lm about Cody often captures the Sports Penguin Entertainment Network (SPEN) crew, which is covering the surfi ng championship event. Real-life XGames sports announcer and surfer Sal Masekela is SPEN’s sports announcer in the fi lm, and two of the top surfers in the world—Kelly Slater and Rob Machado—voice the penguins playing his roving reporters on the beach.
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. . . . 3D Animation
“We did several recording sessions basic, stripped-down puppet that was with them when we could catch them,” faster than a slower rig with a lot of cool says Buck. “We’d show them footage, features,” he says. “It was a complete and they would riff on it. They added a joy to animate because we were free to cool sense of believability.” The directors explore without the technical burdens not only used the improvised dialog, they typically found in a character rig with caught flubs, microphone hits, coughs, lots of bells and whistles.” Or, as it turns and so forth, all of which gave the record- out, some of the logistical strictures typi- ing an on-the-spot feeling. cal of most animated features. To create an animated film, typically the layout department first creates cam- When the documentary crew interviews era moves based on the storyboards. characters on camera, the directors Then, for the most part, animators per- wanted to capture that same feeling of form the characters from the camera’s spontaneity. view. The pre-determined camera moves, “These characters are not just deliver- camera angles, pans, zooms, and so forth ing lines to drive a story in a narrative rarely change because that would affect fashion,” says David Shaub, animation the animation. But to capture the doc- into the virtual, animated world. As he director, who led a team of approximately umentary feel for Surf’s Up, the action or she moved the camera, the scene in 60 animators at the peak of production. needed to drive the camera and the cam- the virtual world changed. It’s a process “Rather, they are aware of themselves and era needed to be flexible. similar to that used for virtual sets. “If how they might appear on camera. What “When we decided we needed a real- you turn around, you’re turning around a character is saying and what he’s think- time camera, the challenge was to put in the virtual world,” says Bredow. “And, ing (or what he really means) might be that camera inside Maya,” says Chris you can zoom in and out.” entirely different things.” The documen- Juen, digital producer. “We did a lot of tary camera adds another layer of com- development early on to make that work, plexity to the subtext. Some characters but it really sealed the documentary feel- Here’s how the “Handicam” system liked being on camera; others didn’t. ing of the movie. It affected everything.” affected the animation process: First, But, what appears to be spontaneous One of the most obvious changes was layout artists blocked out the approxi- on screen is the result of animators having that layout artists controlled the virtual mate positions for the characters and an crafted the performance down to the last camera with a real, handheld camera. approximate camera move. “Unlike the eye dart. “The difference between a believ- “We bought a $250 camera on eBay and usual straight-ahead narratives with spe- able performance and one that is over- Frankensteined a motion-capture unit cific beats and actions, we had a wide- played can be as subtle as a bottom eyelid on top,” says Rob Bredow. The motion- open palette,” says Shaub. “We could cut raised a touch too high,” says Shaub. capture unit had six lenses that looked loose and animate.” Because Shaub wanted animators to at flashing infrared markers on the ceil- When the directors approved that experiment with acting ideas, he asked ing to track the camera’s position in real basic performance, the layout artists for fast, responsive rigs. “From my per- time. The camera operator/layout artist filmed the action with the Handicam. spective, it was better to animate with a looked through the camera’s viewfinder The shots then went back to the anima-
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3D Animation. . . .
When they shot from shore, the lay- The documentary crew cut some of out artists used a telephoto lens; when this footage into their film, as well as that a character was surfing and the camera from little video cameras on the beach crew was standing in the water, they’d and other cameras. Each of these sources often use a wide-angle lens. To clear an had a different look, from the high-defi- area in the middle of their workspace at nition quality of the SPEN footage to the Imageworks for filming, the 12 layout art- footage from yesteryear. ists moved their desks to the edges of the “As you’re watching the documen- room. In the center of the ceiling above tary [about Cody] being filmed,” says them was the grid of infrared lights. Williams, “various crews are shooting “We jumped, we fell over, we did all the the competition as well. And when some- things a documentary camera crew would one is interviewed, you might see archi- do,” says Williams. When Cody is injured, val footage.” the camera crew runs after the characters For the archival footage, the effects transporting him for help. When a pen- artists dragged film prints through the guin throws shells at a cameraman, he parking lot, scanned them, comp’d the ducks. “By physically placing a camera on scratches into final shots, and added At top, from l. to r.: Imageworks modeled your shoulder, you truly felt present in the dust, penguin feathers, and other effects three types of waves with blendshapes, scene for the first time,” Williams adds. to “age” the images. Some shots in the generated particles from the shape, ani- mated the wave using concentric rings, The scene was optimized geometry archival film and in the documentary added the surfboard and surfer, and then that played in Autodesk’s Maya, which used cameras with limited depth of field rendered a final image (above). meant that once the layout artists cap- and imperfections around the lens. “All tured a camera move, it became the vir- the shots are based on real-world surfing tors. When they finished the animation, tual camera move for the scene without documentaries,” says Bredow, “all the they had the final camera to go with it. needing any translation. way down to the lenses.” Although at first the crew thought that John-Paul Beeghly, director of pho- inserting the Handicam into the process tography for the surfing documentary might be a bottleneck, it not only pro- In addition to the documentary crew, the Step into Liquid, offered advice on lenses vided the handheld feel they were after, it SPEN television crew also shot footage and camera speeds. When he invited became a timesaver. during Surf’s Up. For this footage, the lay- Bredow to accompany him on location at “I’d say about 85 to 90 percent of the out artists created camera rigs in Maya Cortes Bank 100 miles off the Southern movie was filmed with the handheld cam- that could displace themselves with the California coast where surfers ride era,” says James Williams, layout super- movement of the water, as if the SPEN some of the biggest waves in the world, visor. “Because it was relatively easy to crew had attached the cameras to a boat Bredow jumped onboard (see “Wrangling do in terms of setup, and the technology or surfboard. For helicopter shots, the lay- Waves,” pg. 18). He shot reference of surf- was robust, we ended up using it even for out artists translated the camera in Maya ers unafraid to ride 60-foot waves and, of static shots. When we’re looking at the using motion paths, and then used their course, of the waves. “At that point we characters, we get the slight movements, Handicam system to simulate the feeling still didn’t know how we were going to the slight adjustments in frame.” of a camera crew looking out the window. do the waves,” he says.
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. . . . 3D Animation
At left, the raw edge of the rendered wave becomes realistic when, at right, particle spray is added.
and checked the animation against math- After testing rigs with various num- Bredow had helped develop CG water ematical equations using a virtual speed- bers of rings, Clark settled on 19 for for dramatic shots in the film Cast Away. ometer and gravity balls. most of the waves, although a few spe- But water in those shots had appeared in A speedometer placed in the mid- cial waves needed 38 rings. By rotating night scenes. Now, he needed to lead a dle of the wave measured how fast the the rings, he could drive the wave from team that would create believable, surf- wave moved forward and broke from flat, to peaking, to breaking, to crash- able CG waves for shots in broad daylight. left to right. Gravity balls placed on the ing, to flat again. “By animating one ring “There was no room to hide,” he says. lip and released as the lip reached its at a time and offsetting that animation, And there was a second problem: apex measured whether the lip fell at I created the down, or the line-breaking “We needed the waves to know where to the correct speed. action of the wave,” he says. put the characters, the camera needed “Animators or layout artists could At the same time, Clark would ani- to know where the white water was to animate the waves like characters,” mate such attributes as how far the lip frame the characters, and we needed to says Bredow. “They could also preview know where the character was so we the effects that go along with the waves wouldn’t cause it to disappear in white in real time—the white water and the water,” Bredow says. “We needed all wake trails from the surfboards. The three all the time, and it wasn’t clear wake enabled the camera operator to which needed to come first.” frame the shot properly and position the Rather than trying to create water characters.” with a fluid simulator, they decided to model three types of waves using blend- shapes that an animator or layout artist John Clark, the wave animation lead and working in Maya could use to change the a lifetime surfer, helped refine the Maya- wave’s action. The idea is similar to using based rig. He also created 22 generic ani- blendshapes to manipulate a model into mations for each of the waves that anima- various facial expressions over time (see tors could use as starting points. “Wave Effects,” pg. 10). Clark began by modeling the Maver- The modelers used reference footage icks wave. “Imagine a huge NURBS plane to create three base models: Mavericks, a created by a set of parallel curves,” he says. huge, gnarly wave that looked like those “Each one of those curves is responsible off the coast at Half Moon Bay, California; for a certain number of isoparms. The rig Pipeline, a perfect tube wave like those in has a series of concentric rings that run Hawaii; and spilling breakers that don’t along the surface, and as I rotate those have enough power to throw water over rings, they drive the curves through their At top, appearing on camera makes some characters uncomfortable. At bottom, to the lip (the part of the wave that curls over blendshape stages.” By swapping blend- create “archival footage” for the mocku- at the top). Then, they animated these shape curves, he could use the same rig mentary, the effects crew aged animated waves to look like the reference footage, for the three different wave types. sequences in various ways.
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3D Animation. . . .
would throw out or curl over, the depth it’s about the water,’” says Lydia Bottegoni, with the number of wave shots in the of the trough, the thickness and thinness coproducer. “But there are many impres- film; we generated 48 trillion particles.” of the lip, the height and width of the sive effects. The sand moves and inter- Lighters working in Imageworks’ wave, and the roundness of the face. The acts with the characters every time they new proprietary Katana software sent squarer the wave, the more powerful it take a step on the beach. Branches and hundreds of layers to Pixar’s RenderMan was. In addition, for helicopter shots, he bushes and trees move.” for final renders. “Lighting was a huge, could control how much volume of water CG supervisor Daniel Kramer wrote complicated problem,” Bredow points was behind the wave, and for all shots, what the group calls the “sandbox” tool, out. “The directors wanted the water to the amount of digital noise that added which worked in Side Effects Software’s look believable and photorealistic. And, texture to the lip and face. Houdini. “It was a newer incarnation they wanted to art-direct it.” For photo- Clark also blocked out surfing shots of the technology we used to put foot- realism, they used raytracing and refrac- so that the layout department could film prints in snow in previous films,” says tion. For art direction, they provided them. “I had detailed storyboards, but Bredow. “The simple simulator in sand- a “zone system,” which controlled the I made some adjustments once I got a box allowed the sand to fill in the foot- shading on the waves. character on the CG wave to re-create the steps. Ironically, it was also the core “The water is astonishing,” says Jen- feel and action they were after,” he says. engine for the wakes.” kins. “You can really feel the waves. I “When I had the generic waves set up, I’d bring characters in and block out shots really fast. The nice thing about having the waves and the timing right is that it dictates what the character and camera must do. The surfer has to keep with the lip of the wave. There is a certain amount of time. And that all dictates what the camera will do.”
The water dictated what the surfboard would do. “We constrained the surf- board to the forward translation of the wave,” says Shaub. “It was locked to the surface of the wave, and then we had off- sets on the board with moveable pivots. So, we had an infinite number of posi- Lani, the lifeguard, and Cody share a moment. Their surfboards have moveable pivots so tions to pivot on the board. If Cody stands that when they’re surfing, the board follows their movement. on the nose hanging six, the board piv- ots from there. It swings around from the Technical director Tom Kluyskens always knew we had a very special idea. pivot on the tip.” built a system in Maya and Houdini that But, I couldn’t have imagined how phe- To make it possible for the short-legged produced little breakers rolling onto shore. nomenal it would look. There’s a shot of birds to run and, more important, surf, And wave development lead Deborah Cody and Z on the beach. We’re looking the animated penguins had to have lon- Carlson sent waves moving along the sur- at their backs. The full moon is creating ger legs than real penguins, and they had face of the ocean into infinity, whether glitter on the ocean. When they showed to have knees. “We couldn’t have any- the weather was stormy or calm. that shot to me, I was kind of overcome. I thing that would be bashed by the surfing The nearly 50 people in the effects was amazed by the quality, the technical community,” says Shaub, “from the way department also created lava, feathered achievement, the mastery of CG, where they carry the board with its tip down a penguins, and one chicken; they ani- we’ve come to now. It’s not the The Little little bit, to how they surf on the water.” mated crowds and generated hundreds Mermaid, that’s for sure.” Despite having surfing as the theme of particle simulations. “Everything gen- for the film, however, much of the action erates particles,” says Bredow. “We have Barbara Robertson is an award-winning takes place on the beach and in the jun- spray coming off the boards, off the lip writer and a contributing editor for Com- gles on Pen Gu Island. of the waves. The average wave shot has puter Graphics World. She can be reached
“People look at this film and go, ‘Wow, 460 million particles. We calculated that at [email protected].______
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. . . . 3D Animation
"Y 2OB "REDOW
JP Beeghly: Hey Rob, can you get down to Dana else entirely. But one thing was clear: We were style, we all had fallen in love with the movie and Point within three hours? making a movie with waves and surfi ng penguins. the surf documentary genre in general. I looked up Rob Bredow: 7AVESUh, yeah. It moved up? This was the movie that I wanted to be a part of. some of the people involved in the movie’s creation JP Beeghly: Yup, Sean thinks the swell is coming After meeting up with everyone on the boat, and John-Paul (JP) Beeghly, the producer and cine- early. Jamie Stirling and Carlos Burle are already in the night was spent trying to sleep below deck as matographer, visited Imageworks to give a lecture the air from Hawaii. We’re leaving tonight. the vessel made its way 100 miles out to sea in to our crew on shooting a surfi ng documentary. Rob Bredow: I’ll grab my camera, and I’ll be on large swells. There was a reporter from New York JP and the camera assistant spent the morn- my way. who, unfortunately, didn’t take any seasickness ing assembling the camera on a special stabiliz- pills...he was literally green. ing rig on the back of the deck and getting ready The next 48 hours became my fi rsthand intro- to shoot. The surfers prepped their boards, and duction to the world of big-wave surfi ng. I tagged we did a presurf interview with them about their along, invited by award-winning cinematographer 7ATER 7ORKS expectations of surfi ng the legendary Cortes Bank, and producer JP Beeghly as his sound guy and grip Sony Pictures Imageworks has a long history of a break only a few surfers have ever braved. They on an expedition to Cortes Bank with several profes- working with water, and I have been a part of were hoping for the biggest waves of the year. I sional surfers. Cortes Bank is a break 100 miles off most of those projects. From early small-scale, remember the moment the captain of the boat the coast of California, created by a giant underwa- photorealistic water in Stuart Little (1999) to the pointed out the window to white water breaking ter mountain that makes the water shallow enough full-scale nighttime storm in Cast Away (2000), on the horizon: Our fi rst glimpse of the break in the to create breaking waves with 30- to 60-foot faces Sony Imageworks has been a part of making water middle of the ocean. under the right conditions. Sean Collins, who runs serve the needs of fi lmmakers for years. However, We took away several important things from surfl ine.com, is the master at predicting these waves Surf’s Up was clearly going to raise the bar a few JP’s lecture and the movies we had been studying to and had just moved our timetable up by another 30 notches, since it required more than 20 minutes help us with our goal of making waves which were hours so we wouldn’t miss this swell. of tropical waves with surfi ng penguins. Where to detailed enough that the audience would leave the In the summer of 2003, I found myself sitting start? We began by collecting reference from every theater feeling as though they had actually been in a pitch meeting during the early days of Sony surfi ng documentary we could fi nd. out there riding inside the tube themselves. We Pictures Animation. The fi rst pitch was a detailed I remember waking up in the early morning knew we needed to handle slow motion naturally series of 10 or more boards full of illustrations fea- because the boat stopped rocking as violently as throughout every department, since most spectac- turing a bear and a mule deer, who we all know it had been. I climbed up to the deck to see the ular wave shots are photographed at 240 fps. We today as Boog and Elliot, the stars of Open Season predawn sky and noticed that we were passing needed the camera to go above and below the (see ”Bearing Up,” September 2006). The story an island, which shielded the boat from the giant surface. We needed to create a wide variety of was well under way, and the movie already had swells and made the water as smooth as glass. A waves, and we needed to fi gure out how to push the momentum of a picture going into production. couple of minutes later, we left the shelter of the 20 minutes of wave shots through multiple depart- Almost as an aside, the story artist wandered over island, and the boat began its familiar rocking as ments. It was going to require a substantial team to a single board that contained some of the fi rst we continued toward Cortes Bank. of wave experts. drawings illustrating the next movie in the produc- One fi lm that stood out for me and Ash Our boat was drifting slowly, with engines run- tion pipeline. At that point, the story team was still Brannon and Chris Buck, the directors of Surf’s Up, ning off the left shoulder of the break about 150 to working out whether the story was ”West Side was Step Into Liquid. Because of its outstanding 200 yards away from the white water. Even at that Story meets The Endless Summer” or something photography and authentic view of the surfi ng life- distance, the waves looked huge. By 11 am, the
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3D Animation. . . .
surfers were being loaded onto the jet skis that would be pulling them into the break. With long lenses we could watch the surfers drop onto the 40-foot faces of these waves and disappear behind the swell before we could see them again getting picked up by the jet skis. A couple of times a surfer would get caught in the churn, and it was diffi cult for the skis to get in to save them between the closely timed sets. It was pretty amazing. Fortunately, Surf’s Up was the type of project that attracted some of the best tal- ent in the industry. Our CG supervisor in charge of all the effects animation was Daniel Kramer, who came from a strong effects back- ground and led the team in writing tools and driv- ing the look of the water. Matt Hausman handled fi rsthand many of the hardest water elements in the movie Castaway, and returned as one of the VFX animation supervisors on this fi lm (see “Wave Effects,” pg. 10). Debbie Carlson joined the team, having just completed some of the most challeng- ing sequences in The Polar Express, and imple- mented much of the water surface and wave shad- ing issues for our fi lm. We also found our wave animation lead early in the project’s life: John Clark, who brought years of actual surfi ng experience to the crew and, in the end, animated many of the waves himself. We fi nished the day eating fresh fi sh that the crew had caught and reviewing the tape that we shot. The most popular was the helmet-cam foot- age of one of the wipeouts during which Carlos was forced down over and over again as the sets poured in over him. He hit with such impact that it ripped apart his backpack that held the waterproof recorder, but, somehow, he and the equipment both survived. Everyone had amazing stories to tell. In the end, we made an animated documen- tary starring surfi ng penguins and waves. The waves were keyframed and controlled just like the rest of the characters in the fi lm, and they played a starring role. Whether it was the 50- foot breaks in the sequence during which Cody gets pummeled by the giant Pen Gu break (modeled after the Mavericks break off the shore of California), or the overhead pipe- line waves that Cody and Geek surf on the south shore, the movie has the authentic feel of a surfi ng documentary.
Rob Bredow is a visual effects super- visor at Sony Pictures Imageworks.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TAKES CENT
Part one of a two-part series.
The great American author Henry James once posed this ques- tion: “What is incident but the illustration of character; what is char- acter but the determination of incident?” To look for such depth in the actions of the non-player charac- ters (NPC) currently inhabiting modern video games would be laughable, to say the least. Often seen walking into walls, stymied by doors, or falling down readily apparent holes, NPCs have gained little in gray matter over the years. Indeed, while motion capture has brought lifelike authenticity to their motion cycles, and soaring polygon counts and intensive normal mapping have defi ned the pores in their skin and the weave of their garments, advancements in artifi cial intelligence have not proceeded apace. Today’s NPCs are, unfortunately, all beauty and no brains. They’ve been lobotomized, in part, by a lack of processing power available for pathfi nding—the term used for the technology required to make an NPC react to his or her situation and move from Point A to Point B. Pathfi nding can be so taxing on the CPU that the cities and streets of video games—while always store- lined and well landscaped—are curiously bereft of crowds in that they sometimes resemble ghost towns. In addition, writing pathfi nding algorithms can be so chal- lenging that programmers often resort to “cheats” by oversimplifying landscapes, thoroughly scripting the characters’ actions, or manually positioning pathfi nding data into the world to direct the NPCs—like blind men with canes—around obsta- cles or toward hiding places. Even worse, the developers might limit the NPCs’ interactivity with the envi- ronment if they cannot, for example, climb stairs or use an elevator. Moreover, the characters’ physical reactions are confi ned to a fi nite set of canned animation cycles, which soon grow stale, repetitive, and boring. These crutches not only rob the NPC of autonomy, but also more importantly, rob the player of the anticipation of unexpected reactions, a feeling so crucial to fueling suspense in movies, novels, and other storytelling forms. Otto images courtesyOtto Softimage. images
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ER STAGE IN NEXT-GENERATION GAMES
By Martin McEachern
As the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 shatter the hardware barri- ers that have previously handicapped AI, several new technologies are emerging to capitalize on this newfound power; fi nally, this will enable NPCs to set their crutches aside and take the fi rst steps toward moving on their own. And, they will do so in unprecedented numbers, fi lling the ghost towns of yesteryear’s games with bustling, intelligent crowds. Thanks to advancements in behavioral AI and real-time, synthe- sized human movement, NPCs will be capable of reacting and moving on their own, and have almost infi nite freedom in responding to a situation; they will even learn from human players, game designers, and from their own mis- takes, like truly adaptive organisms.
Natural Motion’s Euphoria Of course, implanting a highly developed brain into an NPC would mean lit- tle without a sophisticated motor control and nervous system to make the char- acters’ bodies carry out those high-level decisions. Typically, animators would keyframe or motion-capture cycles for various actions, such as running, falling, or jumping, and then blend those same animations ad nauseam during gameplay. Take the example of a baseball player charging home plate and colliding with the catcher as he receives a throw from the outfi eld. Whether the runner slides headfi rst or feetfi rst, or tries to swerve around the catcher, the play at the plate can only unfold through a fi nite set of animations created for each player. The moment is always “canned” (so much for unexpected reactions). Now, imagine if every time the runner collided with the catcher, the collision would transpire according to the characters’ muscular responses, just like in real life. In effect, every single collision would be different. Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS) is poised to cut the puppet strings off digi- tal characters—both in fi lms and now in games. Through Euphoria, the real-time version of NaturalMotion’s Endorphin software, DMS can assume control over a
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Rewriting the Rules of Animation It is the opinion of Haden Blackman, project lead for Indiana Jones, that traditional rag- doll animation eventually will become obso- lete. “Ragdolls typically look like sacks of flour tied together; characters using Euphoria behave in far more realistic and natural ways because they are literally infused with a cen- tral nervous system that takes into account the ways in which muscles, nerves, and skel- eton all interact in a real human body,” he says. “Ragdolls flop around when knocked over or thrown; Euphoria-enabled characters NaturalMotion’s Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS) technology uses the processing protect their heads, roll with punches, try to power of the computer’s CPU to create character movements in real time that result in brace themselves when falling, and even try to adaptive behaviors like those in the football tackles shown above. regain their balance. You’ll never see a falling ragdoll character grab for another character or character at any time during gameplay and adaptively drive the object in the world, but at LucasArts, we have Euphoria charac- character’s movements using AI motion controllers that simu- ters that can perform these types of [self-preserving] behaviors.” late the character’s biomechanics, muscles, motor control, and With the Xbox 360 running on three processors and the nervous system in response to sensory input. As a result, it pro- PlayStation 3 firing on as many as seven, Torsten Reil, CEO and duces interactive animations and, more importantly, unique co-founder of NaturalMotion, believes that the new generation game moments. of consoles will take their place in gaming history as the birth- The first title to introduce this technology to the world will be place of intelligent, interactive animation. It’s an inevitable evo- LucasArts’ tentatively titled Indiana Jones, scheduled for release lution, because, as Reil says, “We finally have the CPU power in 2008. At E3 2006, onlookers were astounded by a sequence and technology to simulate characters, rather than just playing set in 1939 San Francisco during which Indiana Jones balances back animation data. Moreover, it is what gamers want. You atop a moving trolley car, fending off enemies pursuing him in just need to take a look at some of the major gaming forums on jeeps. The enemies drove the jeeps in real time, responding to the Web. People want characters that are believable, that act the traffic around them; and if the henchmen hanging onto the differently every time. Rendering quality is very high already, vehicle sides sensed an impending crash, they would jump onto but people are dismayed by the artificial nature of static ani- the trolley—not to attack Indy, but to avoid the accident. When mation playback.” one was thrown into an oncoming truck, not only did the driver Euphoria comprises two components: an authoring tool attempt to swerve out of the way, but as the enemy hit the wind- chain for tuning DMS Behaviors (Euphoria:Studio) and a run- shield and rolled off the hood, he clung desperately to the grill time engine (Euphoria:Core) to execute them during gameplay. before getting pulled under the tires. After modeling and rigging a character—in Autodesk’s Maya or Self-preservation dictates these behaviors, not a scripted rou- 3ds Max, for example—an artist uses Euphoria’s Maya or Max tine or predefined animations. Through the use of a physics plug-in to create the Euphoria skeleton based on the full charac- engine, Euphoria-enabled characters acquire sensory informa- ter rig. This skeleton also includes collision volumes represent- tion about the position, direction, and speed of other characters ing the character’s mesh. or objects, and adjust their behavior accordingly. (For Indiana Using the Euphoria skeleton, an animator—often working Jones, LucasArts is using Havok Physics for both collision detec- closely with a behavior engineer and AI programmer—deter- tion and rigid-body simulation.) mines and tunes a character’s behavior during a scene. The art- Astonishingly, many viewers reacted with empathy for char- ist can direct a character to act drunk, look at another character, acters that seemed to be engaged in an independent pursuit attempt to cling to an object or another character, or pursue any of their own self-preservation. Judging by this early reaction, other goal. In essence, an animator works much like a director consumer expectation for unique game moments and height- directing actors. To trigger the DMS behavior during gameplay, ened identification with NPCs may force the entire industry to the game engine sends the current frame of the running ani- adopt DMS. Obviously, animators and programmers alike are mation to Euphoria:Core, which seeds its skeleton with the in- nervous about how such technology will affect their futures. game skeleton, and then takes over. The process simply reverses Will it spell the demise of ragdoll, keyframed, or motion-cap- itself on the handover back to the animation data. tured animation? Since Euphoria is skeleton agnostic, it can assume control ______www.cgw.com JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 23 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . Gaming Image courtesy LucasArts. Image courtesy LucasArts is using NaturalMotion’s Euphoria to generate intelligent characters in its upcoming title based on the Indiana Jones film series. over any kind of skeleton created in any modeling software—be Having unlimited interactivity within a game sequence it biped, quadruped, or the more exotically articulated. In fact, has triggered a radical mind shift in the way LucasArts now the software does not affect a developer’s existing modeling, approaches the creation of game environments. “I think that, rigging, or animation pipeline, nor does it place a greater bur- as an entire team, our mentality has shifted towards creating den on the AI programmer. “Your existing rig, including muscle environments and situations that take advantage of our charac- deformers, weightings, and blendshapes, continues to work as ter’s behaviors and capabilities,” says Blackman. “The Euphoria- usual,” adds Reil. In this way, Euphoria can also play canned enabled characters can do some surprising things, and finding animation cycles at the same time as a DMS simulation, so a ways to spotlight these behaviors and interactions is a totally simulated action can run simultaneously with facial animation different—and sometimes challenging—mind-set for design- or lip-syncing, for example. ers and engineers. We’re always asking: In this encounter or For armor-clad characters, such as the stormtroopers in area, where are the opportunities to show the player something the upcoming next-generation Star Wars: The Force Unleashed they’ve never seen before?” (scheduled for a Spring 2008 release), Euphoria will make A huge amount of variation in behavior can result from the the armor and other accoutrements, such as hats and weap- slightest changes in the environment. “A character thrown from ons, interact naturally with the simulation of the body. Though a balcony might try to catch his fall when he hits the ground, but Euphoria’s focus is currently character simulation, it can also a character thrown from a balcony over a canopy of trees will control vehicles and other rigid objects while interfacing seam- try to grab hold of branches or perhaps shield his face before he lessly with all the major physics engines, such as those from hits the ground,” Blackman notes. Moreover, changing the size, Havok and Ageia. weight, and build of a character—from fat to skinny, for exam- ple—will also alter the simulation. LucasArts on DMS So, what will become of the traditional keyframing animator in Collaboration across the pipeline this new era? “Keyframed animations and motion capture will By strengthening the collaborative relationship between char- still have a prominent role in game development, and always acter TDs, animators, AI, and gameplay engineers, Euphoria will,” says Blackman. “At LucasArts, the size of our anima- is breaking down the compartmentalization of the production tion teams hasn’t really changed. However, rather than wast- pipeline. This unifying effect extends to the physics team as ing time animating the tenth variation of a punch impact or a well. “Our [behavior] engineers need to be aware of the impact fall, for instance, these animators are able to focus on charac- of physics simulation on the characters and their behaviors. ter performances and signature animations such as attacks. So, We all have to collaborate, iterating on the behaviors to ensure we have the best of both worlds: endless variation supplied by that we get the best payoff for everything the player does,” Euphoria, and handcrafted and memorable animations where says Blackman. they are really needed most.” Blackman asserts that in addi- While Indiana Jones 2007 will only feature Euphoria-enabled tion to handcrafting animations, LucasArts animators will work humanoids, Blackman says that LucasArts is considering apply- closely with engineers to develop Euphoria behaviors, and both ing the technology to the creatures, droids, and even vehicles of will be able to adjust parameters to achieve the best effect and forthcoming, next-generation Star Wars games. Another revolu- most authentic reactions. tionary technology set to debut on LucasArts’ next-generation 24 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 ______www.cgw.com A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Gaming. . . . titles will be Pixelux’s Digital Molecular Matter (DMM). ing traction or requiring a discrete change of state. If they fall, A breakthrough in material physics simulation, DMM they can automatically lunge toward a protective position. They enables every substance in the virtual word—be it organic, can climb ropes, tackle others, or be tackled themselves—all in inorganic, rigid, or soft—to behave with the properties of its unscripted ways. real-world counterpart. Glass shatters like glass, wood splinters and breaks like wood, rubber bends like rubber, stone crumbles like stone, and so forth. Thanks to DMM, even Jabba the Hutt’s blubberous rolls of fat and the loose wattles of flesh dangling from the cackling Salacious Crumb will jiggle and jostle with unprecedented realism. “We’re truly bringing together two bleeding-edge, simula- tion-based technologies to make the interactions with charac- ters and environments much more rewarding, surprising, and authentic,” notes Blackman. “A stormtrooper thrown at a DMM wooden beam knows that beam exists and might try to grab onto it. The DMM beam also knows about the stormtrooper, which means the weight of the stormtrooper might cause the Havok’s Behavior enables artists to control the transition logic and beam to splinter and eventually break, resulting in the storm- animation blends in a game. trooper losing his grip or falling, at which point he might flail or attempt to break his fall.” “Our goal is to keep creative control in the hands of the artists, without requiring a lot of custom programming. With Havok Havok’s Behavior Behavior, artists can immediately pull animation and charac- While Euphoria is set to imbue next-generation NPCs with neu- ter assets directly from 3ds Max, Maya, or XSI, and combine romuscular autonomy, new behavioral tools are enabling ani- them with physics, procedural animation, real-time IK, and mators to author extremely complex behaviors quickly by combining huge numbers of animation assets into graphi- cally created blend trees based on “finite-state machines” %,0,,!")".8 (branches of motion). Two of these middleware solutions 8 8 9 are Havok’s Behavior and NaturalMotion’s Morpheme, and ".#,.*8!8*,!")&+$8 +! they’re giving artists control over the transition logic and *" /1."*"+0/8 ),+$83&0% 0"401."8"40. 0&,+8 +! blends of their in-game animations—a power previously *". 8/,)10&,+/8&+ %,0,,!")".8%"+ reserved for programmers. "4-,.085,1.8! 0 8#,. With either of these tools, animators can layer anima- !"0 &)"!8*,!")&+$8 $ &+/0 ($.,1+!8&* $"/8&+ tions for a given situation and evaluate them with a “what - ( $"/8/1 %8 /8 5 801!&,8 48 you see is what you get” result. Moreover, NaturalMotion’s &+"* 8 8"0 Morpheme can seamlessly integrate with Euphoria to real- ize an infinitude of emergent behaviors. While Behavior does 1/"85,1.8 *". 80,8!,8!8*,!")&+$88/ ++&+$ not use DMS, it does offer some behavioral controllers, such ,/08"##" 0&2"8*"0%,!8#,.8!8*,!")&+$8,#8." )93,.)!8, '" 0/ 3,.(8 "03""+8%,0,,!")".8 +!8!8*,!")&+$8/,#03 ."8)&("8 5 83&0%8 1. 0")5 as grab, tackle, and climbing, to add emergent performance * 0 %"!8 ($.,1+!8&* $"/ to an NPC. To illustrate this capability, imagine a character 8 8 7 88 8 "00".8* 0 %&+$8,#8 ($.,1+!8&* $".58&+8!8- ( $"/8 5 8 48 8 8"0 standing inside a building just as a missile strikes. As bricks &*-,.08/ +8! 0 8,.8*,!")/8#.,*8"40".+ )8!8*,!")&+$8 (8&+0, %,0,,!")".8#,.80"401.&+$8,.8-.,'" 08."#&+"*"+0 and rubble rain down, the character can use Havok Physics &!" )&6"8*,!1)"8#,.8."*,2&+$8 ))8!&/0,.0&,+/8#.,*8." )9 *". 8&* $"/ to query for information about collidable objects, such as the proximity and velocity of the debris, and then, using Behavior, procedurally cover his head, run for cover, duck under a doorway, or access any number of other “states” to handle the event. ,+ + !"+ +!#+#+"++ + + # !+ )+#+ # +' !#+# +(+("+ !+" $# + + "#++ "+ " #+# Moreover, Behavior-driven characters will deflect when # + $ #+ !+"# !# +# $#+ # !+ ."+ &+ )+$ # +# & $ ++ "" +# +#+#+ +$!(+&+&!+ +# +%- they brush up against a wall or another person. They can reach out to touch or grab a nearby object, stagger differently !+ !+ ! # +%"# +______&&&-%,0,*,!")". based on the direction from which they are hit, and blend +" " ______ # ! ++*++# +! + continuously between a walk, run, and turning without los- ______www.cgw.com JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 25 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . Gaming even facial animation, to create event-driven character perfor- mances that react to changes in the game,” says Jeff Yates, vice president of product management at Havok. According to Yates, Havok Behaviors comprise “states,” each representing a specific mode of movement for the character (such as cover, run, or hide). Within each state, the artist can empower a character with a wide array of capabilities through the use of blending trees. Using a collection of built-in and user-written nodes, artists can blend different motion types while acknowledging the physical world to alter movements and event-change states. Blended transitions between the states provide a smooth bridge for shifting a character seamlessly between different modes when a key event occurs. “The real backbone of Havok Behavior is the generalized node processing tree that comprises NaturalMotion’s new Morpheme, an advanced animation engine each state,” says Yates. “The processing tree for a particular and graphical authoring tool chain, gives animators unprecedented state is analogous to shader trees in today’s 3D modeling tools, control over the look of their in-game animations. except that in Havok Behavior, the nodes of the tree are motion generators, not shader programs.” tapping into the values that control blends, transition times, animation speeds, ease in/out values, and so forth, based on Character Behavior the particular circumstances of an event. At critical moments, Once animation cycles have been developed for a character, just before transitions, the AI can intercept event traffic and the animator brings the character into Havok Behavior. Here, a alter the behavior based on more global conditions that perhaps behavior “container” is filled with related states, each compris- only the AI knows or understands. ing a component of the behavior. Within each state, a blend tree Havok Behavior also fully exploits other physics-based capa- is built that synthesizes animation for the character, using a bilities of the Havok physics engine, including ragdoll simulation variety of operators, or nodes. While the simplest of these oper- and ragdoll “muscle” or constraint systems, which, together, drive ators is an animation clip, more complex operators can blend the pose of the character in controllable ways. A developer can a variety of clips; at a higher level, they can incorporate phys- choose, for example, to transition from an animation-driven state ics, IK, and purely synthetic or procedural operators that per- to a ragdoll node. “This transition equates to the familiar ‘death form special operations that may sense the environment using by ragdoll’ effect,” says Yates. “But even better, a game developer collision detection from Havok Physics. In those, sensory infor- may choose to blend the ragdoll death with a [keyframed] ‘death mation is incorporated into the resulting motion, allowing the pose’ or ease it slowly into a ‘getting up’ pose so that the character character to reach and grab a nearby object, for instance. is lying in the right position to return to its feet.” “The process of building the behavior is akin to rigging a The Havok Behavior tool and SDK both extend and build character,” explains Yates. “It is a task that can be allocated to upon other Havok products, including Havok Animation and a single person, like a character TD or a game designer who is Havok Physics, all of which target PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo in charge of the ‘logic’ of a particular character’s motion graph. Wii, making it attractive to developers hoping to produce games This does not need to directly involve the animators, but it can.” across multiple platforms. “Havok Behavior augments [tradi- To program a character to catch a football, for example, art- tional animation] tools by harvesting the keyframe animations ists use Behavior to create nodes for a character that sense the they produce, and giving the game creator a tool designed spe- environment (through collision detection and raycasting) to cifically for an event-driven, run-time world,” says Yates. determine when the ball is within reach; the character then Of course, Havok demurs at LucasArts’ grim forecast for the attempts to reach it through an IK end effector. Complex, pro- future of ragdoll animation, which is integral to Havok’s suite of cedural interactions between characters, such as tackling, com- software. “This is someone’s personal opinion,” counters Yates. bine balance nodes and keyframe animation with environmen- “This seems to imply that Euphoria characters are unique in per- tal sensing. When the player senses the other character, Behavior forming self-preservation behaviors, and that they do it alone. drives the end effectors of the arms to the proper location, and Euphoria characters are very much dependent on physics and then drives to a pose to close the hands around the other player. AI to tell them where they are in the world, and that there is a Simultaneously, the “tacklee” senses collision events and deter- threat approaching. Ragdolls are still the basic building blocks mines if they are severe enough to cause a “recoil,” or to warrant for creating character performance, whether you’re using DMS a large-state transition—perhaps to a fully ragdoll-driven state. or Behavior, or any other tool. Without a stable skeleton with At any time, the game’s AI can modify Havok Behaviors by defined joint constraints and correct mass distribution parame- 26 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS ______ ______ ______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . Gaming Morgan, senior manager of business development for Softimage. “So, if you have a dynamic emotion engine at runtime, and a list of X number of facial emotional states that you have to create, Face Robot will help you make those facial states on your mesh more easily and more quickly.” Typically, says Morgan, to set up a robust facial ani- mation system within a game pipeline—a challenge that game developers must now inevitably confront— Though not a game AI tool per se, Softimage’s Face Robot allows artists to cre- usually takes more than a year’s work. “If you want to ate high-quality facial animations for characters that are far more expressive. do something with the quality level that next-genera- tion gamers are going to expect, Face Robot will reduce ters, you have nothing to apply your higher-level behaviors to.” to a matter of weeks, even days, that long and complex Indeed, ragdolls have advanced since Havok pioneered them process of getting faces set up and into an animation pipeline.” six years ago. At GDC 2005, Havok demonstrated a new genera- As Morgan points out, building a facial animation system tion of ragdolls that can be imbued with sophisticated behaviors, from scratch is something that happens at the pre-production such as ducking to avoid a missile or rolling to protect the body stage, and typically a developer doesn’t get that lead in time to from blows. These new-gen doll behaviors are created through build an entirely new animation pipeline. “Facial animation is blending procedural controllers such as reach IK and physics. different and specialized compared to full-body character ani- mation; what Face Robot offers is an end-to-end solution for that Softimage’s Face Robot part of their pipeline, shortening the development cycle and As progressively autonomous characters cultivate greater empa- providing facial animation at a speed and level of realism that thy and identification in the player, the need for advanced, real- would be otherwise impossible,” he adds. time facial animation systems to express and heighten their LucasArts is also recognizing that the need for greater facial emotions will only increase. For example, in Valve’s Half-Life 2 expressivity will only intensify in the wake of advancing AI. (see “Larger than Half-Life,” March 2004), the game engine and According to LucasArts’ senior engineer Steve Dykes, “We’re AI combined 34 blendshapes non-linearly to make the charac- presently working closely with Industrial Light & Magic on ters express a wide range of emotions. new motion-capture techniques, including facial mocap tech- To address this growing need, Softimage Face Robot has niques that will allow our characters to actually act and show now been updated for real-time use. Face Robot provides art- an incredible range of emotions.” ists with tools for creating high-quality facial animations. At the For both the player and the characters, these emotions stem heart of the system is a proprietary soft-tissue solver (referred from the constant thwarting of expectations during gameplay. to as the Jellyfish Solver) that procedurally simulates the flesh, Watching a character struggle to cope with such an unyielding muscles, and bones of the face using motion-captured data or world is what allows the player to root for or against their suc- keyframed poses. It will work with any facial mesh that fol- cess. But since this struggle has, until now, always been pre-pro- lows the flow lines of the face. Once key points on the mesh are grammed, video games have been unable to exploit this rooting selected, Face Robot automatically determines the underlying mechanism within the player and, hence, unable to unlock the musculature and binds the soft-tissue solver to the skin, then full emotional potential of the medium. allows the artist to animate the face and fine-tune its deforma- “Soon gamers will feel like they’re no longer playing a pro- tions to achieve the desired look. grammer, but a thinking entity. It puts them in an entirely new With the new game export tool, Face Robot can transfer head space,” says Dr. Paul Kruszewski, chief technology officer the entire performance onto a game-ready version of the face, at Engenuity, a leader in artificial intelligence solutions. While which is typically, but not necessarily, lower resolution, by com- experts disagree over the specifics of the impending AI revolu- puting an optimal envelope and animating a user-specified set tion, one thing is certain: This is the generation that will sow of bones to closely match the original performance. To capture the seeds of emergent intelligence, seeds that may ultimately the highly detailed wrinkles and furrows that could only be grow to realize Henry James’ ideal in the interactive world. achieved through a denser model, Face Robot’s game export tool Next month, Part 2 of this series looks at several AI middleware also generates a series of blendable normal maps and applies tools aimed at improving AI in next-generation games. them to the face as the bone-weighted mesh deforms, thus re- creating all the fine creases found on the high-resolution mesh. Martin McEachern is an award-winning writer and contributing “Face Robot is all about making it much easier for the artist editor for Computer Graphics World. He can be reached at mar-__ to create those intensely lifelike facial expressions,” says Gareth [email protected].______ 28 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Join the CAUSE! Become an active and proud member of the CGWCGW community!community! CGW is very excited to introduce a live 24/7 forum! This new community site is specifically designed for you and we hope you’ll enjoy the access and privi- leges of being a participant in this excit- ing industry. Within the forum you can now share your expertise, offer support to your peers, post your work, look for opportunities and much more... We take our responsibility here at CGW seriously and believe it is our duty to offer as many ways for our industry to touch one another beyond the printed pages – We encourage you to take the time to JOIN US! A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . VFX or the past several years, Zoic The segment moves seamlessly from that required the production and effects Studios has helped fast-track the open highway and into, around, and crews to follow a meticulous road map; movie-quality visual effects on through six cars and a motorcycle, guid- that map itemized and scheduled each television by creating stunning imagery ing the audience to the leader and the step in the lengthy and complex process. for a number of series, including Battle- star of the series, Nathan Fillion, at the The previz not only considered the tech- star Galactica, Serenity, Buffy the Vampire front of the pack. Zoic accomplished nical limitations of the camera equip- Slayer, Firefl y, CSI: Crime Scene Investi- this through a combination of live-action ment, but also established the technical gation, and more. Most recently, the stunt photography, a 220-degree matching requirements of the sequence. The end facility found itself behind the wheel in a highway psyclorama, greenscreen stage result appears to be one layer, although, new action-fueled Fox Television drama work, CG cars, refl ections, and charac- in reality, it comprises several thousand called Drive. ters. “Drive required the entire gamut of layers. Moreover, it doesn’t appear to Drive follows a diverse group of visual effects practices to accomplish the have much technical fl ash; the effect is Americans driving for their lives, or the new techniques in the scene,” says Loni almost invisible, save for the fact that the lives of a loved one, in a sinister, cross- Peristere, creative director and partner at viewers have this improbable omniscient country road race. Some of them have Zoic. The result is a seamless experience view, says Peristere. been coerced into joining the race, while in race photography as seen through the The script called for a shot that moved others have sought out the race on their eyes of an omniscient camera whose lens into the Florida Keys over Highway 1, own amid rumors of a $32 million prize. is not bound by physics or structure. then down onto the road where the cam- To put viewers on the edge of their seats era would pass in and out of seven vehi- (and in their seats) during the pilot, Zoic EaVcc^c\i]Z9g^kZ cles involved in the race, thus introduc- created a cutting-edge, two-minute open- According to Peristere, the dramatic open- ing the cars and the drivers. With this ing sequence that employs a range of dig- ing sequence was made possible through in mind, Peristere and creative director ital and photographic techniques. extensive previsualization and planning Chris Jones met with Robyn Roepstorff, 30 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS VFX. . . . Images courtesy Zoic Studios. a senior previz supervisor who built the coordinator, used Matchbox cars to illus- previsualization in Autodesk’s Maya. The trate the shot pieces to the drivers, so artists at Zoic then brought this layout to everyone could see the action from the the set, where they used it as a working top down. “From there, we jumped into template for shooting, giving CG super- the vehicles, rehearsed, and then shot the visor Jarrod Davis the ability to make pieces,” Peristere says. “The stunt team, changes when necessary. led by Spiro Ratzos, had to hit dangerous, As Peristere explains, he and others hard marks at high speeds. Once we had gathered the stunt team and professional our take for the performance, we had to Zoic Studios created a number of digital drivers around the monitors to discuss the retake the scene using CircleVision (con- images and effects for the new Fox Televi- layout of the 37 pieces of the puzzle they sisting of several independent film plates) sion drama Drive. What looks real often is would need to make the shot whole. After for our psyclorama.” not, as this image series illustrates. Above, they viewed the previz, the group moved According to Peristere, this meticu- from top to bottom, shows the elements comprising the final comp (above, right). to a long table where Andy Gill, the stunt lous prep enabled the group to cut the ______www.cgw.com JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 31 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . VFX The camera moves seamlessly among vehicles in the opening sequence. Yet, the actors were never actually on the ride, thanks to VFX. shooting schedule in half, and as a result, All the driving shots involved digital ZoicEarth is a 2D/3D proprietary imple- make the action and coverage broader compositing and 3D reflections and light- mentation of immersive CircleVision and better—“key successes for television ing applications. So, everything was, to camera plates that gives the director the production,” he adds. some extent, affected digitally, despite freedom to move the camera in any way the fact that the imagery originated from he or she desires. This became ideal for GdVYh^YZ6hh^hiVcXZ photography. “The actors never went on the show’s backgrounds, as it allowed The sequence, at its core, shows an entire the road. We used visual effects to put the camera to move freely on the stage, freeway with several hundred cars, all them there,” Peristere points out. “We thereby creating an extra level of real- incorporated into a continuous two-min- needed to move freely in and out of the ism to the shots. However, this process ute shot. And the layers add up: fore- vehicles, and the CG windscreens and results in a terminal parallax that can- ground live action, onstage greenscreen car interiors at times allowed us to shoot not account for near-ground vehicles. technocrane match plates, background without limitations.” Therefore, those cars had to be computer- CircleVision psycloramas, a live-action Similarly, the car exteriors could generated or shot on stage. Zoic did both, exit, 3D tracking, 3D reflection passes, only be used in a limited fashion, so CG depending on the story point. 3D specular passes, 3D key lighting, a vehicles—modeled in Luxology’s Modo, “The [CircleVision] effect involved 3D beauty pass, a 3D ground pass, a 3D animated in Maya, and rendered with a high level of R&D, and we actually tire pass, a secondary 3D traffic pass, and NewTek’s LightWave—often were placed more. In addition, Zoic had to introduce within the real-world environment 11 characters in seven moving vehicles to augment the scenes. According without a cut. to Peristere, the CG cars were used “It’s two minutes-plus, and the most mainly when the practical cars could challenging part was creating the illusion not be timed to meet the complex of a camera that seems to move freely performance demands. up and down the freeway at high speed, The most pressing demand was passing in and out of cars as it introduces for a solution that would allow the the characters,” describes Peristere. “No camera to move around the free- equipment or solution alone could make way in an apparently omniscient this happen; it required a concept of ideas manner without the usual motion- developed by many experienced people.” control limitations. Moreover, While the end result is an invisible the team needed to carry the effect that seems simple and unimpressive, effect into episodic production, quite the opposite was true. According which can require the work to to Peristere, the plan initially seemed come together in literally less improbable from the concept stage. “It than a week. And key to this was a creative idea that did not have a was an internal application solution that could be applied out of the dubbed ZoicEarth, which, in box,” he says. “Rather, it required a giant itself, became a complicated think tank involving stunts, production, R&D project, albeit one that special effects, and post to even begin to worked well toward Zoic’s fathom, and even with all that planning, endgame of creating a vir- All the actors were filmed on a greenscreen set (above); we were unsure of its final potential.” tual “drive-through” world. Zoic added background imagery to finish the shots. 32 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS VFX. . . . that later were used not only as post. In all, Drive will feature more than background imagery but also as 120 greenscreen composites per episode, a lighting and reflection kit in 3D transporting the viewer and the cast all for placing on the road the vehi- over the US and beyond, and Zoic will be cles that were shot on stage. navigating that work, in addition to con- Zoic then used the lighting tributing a number of 3D set extensions. chart gathered on location to light So, how is the effects work for Drive the greenscreen set. Working in helping Zoic push the state of the art Adobe’s After Effects, Apple’s Shake, on television yet again? According to and Autodesk’s Combustion, the com- Peristere, the work has opened up the positors prepped the plates, added the creative aspect somewhat. “The stage backgrounds, and color-corrected production of location work is not only the imagery, then handed them off economical but practical. We can shoot to Steve Meyer, composite supervisor, 14 pages a day without worrying about who brought all the big pieces together tow rigs and wild walls,” he says. “This in an Autodesk Flame system. is efficient and exciting.” “One of the cool things about doing so Furthermore, the composited world much photography for this [sequence] was opens up production value, allowing the On set, Zoic used its proprietary ZoicEarth, the quick comp. On stage it looked good, crew to travel to exotic locations—or just which gave the director the freedom to but the comp had mismatched lighting down the street—without the myriad move the camera without limitation, result- and reflections that could not come from of complications that come along with ing in a virtual drive-through world. any other place besides a digital applica- taking the first unit there. “It is really a tion applied by an artist with a good eye,” beginning for a tool and a process that walked down several roads until we says Peristere. In the end, Meyer, along will evolve and give us a great deal for found the best one,” says Peristere. “The with Nate Overstrom, brought these ele- less,” says Peristere. “The realism of the photographic technique we used in the ments together using 3D renders of CG work also gives production new answers final was not a sure thing, and we actu- vehicles provided by Davis. to problems that they may have written ally overbuilt the CG assets to protect themselves out of before. Now they can ourselves if we failed in the photographic ;^cVa9Zhi^cVi^dc keep the idea in the show because we can approach. The big question we had going In all, this VFX trip took a 16-person give it to them without breaking the bank in was whether or not the lack of paral- team at Zoic nearly six weeks to com- or the schedule.” lax in the near-ground would render the plete. Along the way, they photographic method unusable; in post encountered new sites— we discovered this wasn’t an issue, as requiring the formation the nodal point of the CircleVision rig of the ZoicEarth applica- and its offset were good enough to render tion, which is now part of the midground authentically. The near- the facility’s tool set. Says ground on the highway wasn’t an issue Peristere: “It’s one killer here, and when it became one later, we tool, but it wasn’t easy to used CG. That is why the motorcycle was set up.” built in CG.” And Zoic is continu- The series of shots, just like every ing its journey on this driving shot in the show, was a com- series. Drive features posite; the actors never left the sound locations all over the stage. The CircleVision camera system country, but production The vehicles do not have windows, allowing for the camera to uses up to nine motion-picture cam- will never leave the city freely move in and out of the car interiors. eras to capture a 360-degree picture in of Los Angeles. The exte- motion and in sync. The resulting plates rior driving sequences, which take the As Zoic proved, anything can happen were then stitched together and rendered audience from location to location, will on a road trip. out for the ZoicEarth application, which be photographed on a greenscreen stage, involved the application of a 3D track and while the location-based exteriors will be Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor for the subsequent rendering of 3D passes shot by a second unit and combined in Computer Graphics World. ______www.cgw.com JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 33 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . Trends and Technology t’s offi cial. GPUs are not just about mable shader units. Primitive in their outputs colors (or Z) into a quad/trian- graphics any longer. With the release fi rst incarnations, these units today have gle region; there was no memory man- of its latest generation G80 chip and evolved to deliver massive amounts of agement on the GPU; no communica- accompanying CUDA driver, Nvidia’s fl oating-point power—power made avail- tion existed between stream processing I GPUs are now equal-opportunity, able to the programmer through high- stages (everything in and out of mem- fl oating-point compute engines aimed level shader languages. ory); there was no scatter support, load, at a wide variety of uses. Make no mis- With successive generations of shader- or store functions; the primary GPU data take: The company isn’t backing off 3D based GPUs, vendors and analysts alike type was a stream, whereas the CPU was graphics, and the G80 promises to push began pointing out that GPUs had not a word (32 bit); graphics languages were both throughput and render effects to only achieved parity with most CPUs very different and more diffi cult to pro- the next level. But now the company has in terms of complexity, but in a cou- gram; and GPUs were limited in instruc- another angle to push its chips: high-per- ple of important aspects they reigned tions, all geared to rendering. formance, general-purpose computation supreme. GPUs trounce CPUs on matrix Most notably, the programmer had to for demanding, fl oating-point intensive fl oating-point mathematics and tend to think—and structure instructions and applications in a new category called be coupled with a huge amount of band- data—in terms of geometry and pixels. GPU Computing. width for streaming applications. And The GPU operated on a stream of verti- the growth in that raw horsepower, bet- ces and output colors (and Zs) restricted The GPU Grows Up ter exported to the application via pro- to memory regions defi ned as triangles Once upon a time, hardwired graph- grammable shader architectures, had or quads. Also, there was no support for ics accelerators ruled the graphics world. not gone unnoticed in technical and sci- scattering data—that is, writing data to Limited to the subset of features that hard- entifi c communities. some location based on an index—and ware designers chose to implement, a per- A grassroots campaign has since awkward, incomplete support for gather- son could turn a rendering function on or grown from a few factions of the sci- ing data. Data was output strictly as pixel off, albeit with very limited control on how entifi c communities and become more colors scanned into a quad or triangle. it rendered. The user might have Z-buff- organized, looking for ways to harness Feeding the GPU often meant organiz- ered triangles with Gouraud shading and all those FLOPS for general-purpose com- ing input data as textures, and that was depth-cued vectors, but not much more. puting. The idea of high-performance something only the pixel shader could do, And as far as using the accelerator for any- computing (HPC) on GPUs was born. not the vertex shader. thing other than rendering, forget it. But hopeful users soon found more All in all, this was not a pretty sight During the past fi ve years, that has all than a few issues in porting their code for programmers accustomed to CPUs. changed, and in a big way. The year 2001 and algorithms to GPUs, all of which Advocates of HPC on the GPU loved the marked the advent of the programmable stemmed from the basic principle that processing power, but to program, they graphics shader with Nvidia’s GeForce3. GPUs were built specifi cally for graphics needed to see more of a typical comput- Hardwired vertex transform/lighting and and CPUs were not. ing model rather than a typical render- pixel engines gave way to ISV program- These included the idea that: the GPU ing model. 34 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Trends and Technology. . . . A Step Forward for HPC data in from video memory, through a Nvidia and ATI were surely intrigued by shader, and then back out to memory. the possibilities of HPC on the GPU. Both Even with the help of the G70 and DX would welcome the prospects of fi nd- 9c, the technology was still limited to a ing new pockets in the market to gener- select few. These were typically academics GPU ate more volume. But one problem was who were desperate to fi nd some reason- that the early vocal GPU adopters weren’t ably priced, capable hardware solution to promising much volume, but, rather, were work their hugely compute-intensive prob- presenting traditional HPC opportunities, lems, but who also possessed deep insight such as scientifi c computing, geosciences, into the 3D graphics pipeline. In order to Computing and non-polygonal graphics like fi nal- tap into all those FLOPS, a person faced frame or volume rendering. Nvidia, for the daunting task of tearing apart the one, generates remarkable revenue-ply- algorithm and data and then effectively ing niches in the professional ranks, but repackaging it as a stream-based graphics does so primarily with the same silicon rendering operation. designed for the consumer/gaming ranks. Uncovered Making incremental changes to a complex The As, Bs, and Cs chip in order to serve new markets is a of GPU Computing High-performance powerful proposition for any vendor. Recently, the industry got a look at the fi rst In 2005, the HPC community got some fruits of Nvidia’s labor. As part of the roll- computing on the GPU: help for free, thanks to Nvidia’s G70 GPU out of its latest G80 GPU, Nvidia unveiled the and Microsoft’s DirectX 9c API. There category of GPU Computing, the company’s was nothing in DX 9c specifi cally for fi rst comprehensive answer to the demands Where it has come from, HPC, but advancements built for graphics of HPC on the GPU. GPU Computing cov- helped nonetheless. Single-precision (32- ers both hardware solutions specifi cally tai- where it is going, and bit) fl oating-point throughout, dynamic lored to the needs of the HPC market and branching, larger code sizes, and vertex software, in the form of CUDA, or Compute why CPUs will never textures eased some of the programming Unifi ed Device Architecture, a C compiler issues. Vertex texture support—the read- and standards libraries that provides a com- be the same again ing of indexed texture data into the vertex pletely new programming environment for shader—in particular, helped address the GPUs—one designed and optimized for gen- lack of gather support. eral-purpose data parallel computing. By Alex Herrera With the G70 and DirectX 9c, the pro- Nvidia opened up GPU Computing in grammer had a reasonable, though still conjunction with the launch of the G80, far from simple, solution—streaming the code name of the GeForce 8 series, With the release of Nvidia’s CUDA, users are able to accomplish high-performance computation for fl oating point-intensive applications. Here, an artist can see quick results while manipulating a complex model. ______www.cgw.com JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 35 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS . . . . Trends and Technology with a couple of key pieces of the planned environment—the Engineering AG, which, along with Acceleware, is working with debugger and profi ler, and double-precision accuracy—follow- researchers at Boston Scientifi c to investigate the impact of mod- ing later. The GPU Computing model exploited the G80’s unifi ed ern design parameters on implantable medical devices, such as shader architecture, where shader resources are not built specifi c pacemakers, when exposed to electronic magnetic fi elds. Nik to vertices or triangles and can be more effi ciently allocated to Chavannes, director of software at Schmid & Partner Engineering, whichever processing threads are active and demand attention. states: “Running electromagnetic simulations using Nvidia hard- Most notably, CUDA provides: a dedicated, general-purpose ware empowers faster processing times by factors of 25 or more, computing model, standard C language, load/store support, and enabling the analysis and optimization of medical products apply- a more complete instruction set. The parallel data cache elimi- ing a level of complexity that nobody dreamed of, even two years nates the need to make multiple passes to memory, and concurrent ago. Nvidia’s and Acceleware’s solutions have opened completely threads can share data. Specifi cally, with CUDA, GPU Computing new worlds for Computational Electromagnetics.” Listen closely, programmers get their own dedicated computing model. The driv- and you’ll probably hear more cheering from all those HPC users ers and models can run concurrently, in two separate contexts, anxious and ready to put that boatload of G80 FLOPS to work. allowing developers to, for example, calculate physics in the CUDA context and send results off to a graphics (DirectX) context. Changing Tide Running multiple threads on unifi ed, general-purpose Nvidia—not to mention AMD/ATI and, most likely, Intel—are pav- shaders, CUDA eliminates the awkwardness of mapping algo- ing the way for dramatic changes in the computer architecture. Any rithms and code-to-triangle rasterizers and graphics shad- vendor is going to claim that its new technology will change the ers. Programmers can thankfully forget about vertices, trian- industry; that’s just marketing. But when can you tell that a vendor gles, and pixels, and stick with a model that better mimics what is really serious about such claims? When it puts its money where they’re used to. Textures are still available (for free, as they its mouth is, and Nvidia’s done just that with GPU Computing. have to be there for graphics), and are something an image fi l- Adding cost, schedule, and risk to a GPU is a serious commit- tering application might use, for example. ment, but that’s what Nvidia did. And it plans to continue doing The programming language is standard C, and in the so, tipping its hat about double-precision fl oating-point operations CUDA model, programmers call a function, specifying how in some next-generation GPUs later this year. Double-precision many threads to run. The G80’s Massively Multi-Threaded fl oating point today has virtually no applications in graphics ren- Architecture manages hundreds of threads, allocated across the dering, so it would have to justify itself based exclusively on GPU chip’s 128 shader units (each running at 1.35 GHz). Computing. Yep, Nvidia is bullish on the notion of GPU Computing, The G80 implements a parallel, software-managed cache, and it’s willing to take on signifi cant risk to make it work. which CUDA uses as a central repository to store and share data What’s pushing them? Maybe it was that promise of sub- among shader units and the threads running on those units. stantial incremental volume for GPUs running as processors With the cache and thread manager, threads can share data and for high-performance computing markets. Or maybe Nvidia pass along output directly to other threads and shader units, was taking the “build it and they will come” approach, count- thereby resolving another of the oft-quoted complaints of GPU ing on creative developers to come up with new killer applica- Computing programmers. tions that can take advantage of an HPC-optimized GPU solu- Nvidia is working with ISV partners to optimize code to best tion. Or maybe it was something else. exploit CUDA and the GPU Computing engine. With the new capability, Nvidia promises big bumps in throughput. Beyond easing the programming burden, Nvidia’s GPU Computing technology promises bigger boosts in computation throughput. Holding up a host of test cases from applications in weather, oil/gas exploration, medical imaging, simulations, and, of course, physics, Nvidia is touting some spectacular numbers, as compared to Intel’s recent Core 2 Duo CPU (at 2.66 GHz). There is no clear way of commenting on Nvidia’s specifi c sped-up numbers, but we don’t have trou- ble believing they’re substantial. Schmid & Partner Nvidia’s GPU Computing technology allows for far greater computational throughput, making it ideal in the medical realm, where users regularly interact with very dense imagery. 36 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Trends and Technology. . . . In this industry, if you’re a vendor of peripheral chips, you’re line architecture would take. Whether it is the CPU taking on GPU constantly looking over your shoulder for the relentless threat of functionality, CPUs sharing the motherboard with GPUs, or a fully obsolescence by integration. Remember discrete chips for audio, integrated combined CPU/GPU, AMD felt it critical to improve its telephony, and networking? Gone. footing—critical enough to justify the $5.4 billion buyout of ATI. Earlier this year, before ever revealing its intentions regard- Looking to the Future ing ATI, AMD had already tipped its hat when it made a fl urry Integration has taken a toll on those vendors making a living of announcements paving the way both for GPGPU and the ATI off graphics already. Remember, it’s Intel that sells more graph- acquisition. First it announced it would license Opteron’s cache- ics hardware than anyone, integrating controllers in its north coherent HyperTransport and socket, allowing third-party pro- bridge. Arguably, gaming is the only reason that graphics inte- cessors to share the motherboard with its fl agship processor. grated in memory controllers have not relegated both ATI and Then it followed up with Torrenza, a platform formalizing the Nvidia to niche roles. GPUs are continually under pressure to concept of “socket fi llers,” allowing OEMs to build hybrid sys- justify themselves as discrete components. tems optimized to deliver maximum performance for specifi c One sure way to ensure that a peripheral is not subsumed application demands. by the CPU is for it to stop being a peripheral. In fact, Nvidia From Torrenza, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine the CPU is not the fi rst GPU vendor to substantially shift its architec- integrating all or part of that third-party accelerator. And this past ture toward general-purpose computing, though it is the fi rst to October, that’s precisely what AMD announced with its Fusion deliver a comprehensive solution to market. program, promising future multi-core chips starting in 2008, In last year’s R520, ATI already made advances to make combining both CPU and GPU cores on a single processor. its architecture more general purpose, for example, with a So, what’s Intel doing during all of this activity? For a couple big array of general-purpose registers (providing inter-thread of days, Wall Street, for one, was guessing it would go and acquire communication a la Nvidia’s parallel data cache) as well as its Nvidia, resulting in a short-term spike in its stock price. But there UltraThreading technology, preceding the G80’s GigaThread. were lots of reasons that made such a move unlikely. Intel’s got And in early October, ATI more formally positioned its hard- graphics technology in-house, though it has not had success doing ware for more general-purpose computing applications with its the type of innovative, high-performance designs as Nvidia or ATI. announcement of StreamComputing, an initiative that will prob- To date, Intel hasn’t been as vocal on how it is position- ably look something like CUDA when it’s offi cially unveiled. ing itself for this changing landscape. But at the latest Intel But guess what? GPU vendors aren’t the only ones reading Developer Forum last September, the company did unveil the the tea leaves to make sure they’ll still be around in 10 years. concept for a future large-scale, multi-core platform called With the capabilities of GPUs on par—or exceeding—CPUs, Terascale. Terascale combines both general-purpose and special- don’t think companies like AMD and Intel aren’t concerned purpose cores in a processor, supported by a new interconnect about the incursion of GPUs on their turf. We’ve just witnessed fabric. Intel didn’t say so, but one can imagine the general-pur- the blockbuster acquisition of ATI by AMD—what do you think pose core would be a conventional x86 core, and a special-pur- that was all about? pose core might be a GPU or some subset/variant thereof. AMD had to be ready. It needed the graphics expertise to ensure For its part, Nvidia is going it alone, at least for now. With GPU that it was prepared to evolve, no matter what direction the base- Computing, it is fi rst to market with a better-thought-out, compre- hensive solution for carrying out HPC tasks on a GPU. It should lead to incremental business for Nvidia GPUs, fi rst and foremost in higher-volume gaming, as well as a non-trivial amount in lower-volume but higher-margin workstation applications. As it has in the past, Nvidia is taking risks and aggressively blazing its way ahead. And if the past is any indication of future success, Nvidia is sure to be rewarded handsomely. Alex Herrera is a senior analyst with Jon Peddie Research and author of “JPR’s Workstation Report.” Based in Tiburon, CA, JPR provides consulting, research, and other specialized ser- vices to technology companies, including graphics develop- ment, multimedia for professional applications and consumer electronics, high-end computing, and Internet-access product development. For more information about the reports, visit www.___ ______jonpeddie.com/special/Workstation.shtml. ______www.cgw.com JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 37 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Portfolio SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater SIGGRAPH Electronic Clockwise from top: Often called the Academy Awards of computer graphics, the annual SIGGRAPH Ark (Best of Show) This creative animation, produced Electronic Theater is a premier event for the world’s most innovative and amazing by Marcin Kobylecki and Grzegorz Jonkajtys of Poland, digital films and video creations. This year, an internationally recognized eight-person captured the SIGGRAPH Animation Festival jury’s eye to take jury—which, collectively, has expertise in all the various segments of the industry— the top prize. selected 39 submissions for the honor of appearing in the 2007 Electronic Theater. All Dreammaker (Jury Honors) From Germany, this piece by told, the jury, in three and a half days, reviewed more than 900 entries, which is 20 per- Leszek Plichta of Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg surpassed the expectations of the jury, thereby receiving accolades from cent more than the total of the previous record for submissions. The jury’s choices rep- some of the industry’s top representatives. resent outstanding achievements for this era in the particular area of computer graph- En Tus Brazos (Award of Excellence) Another student ics that each animation represents, says chair Paul Debevec of the USC Institute for entry, this short from directors Francois-Xavier Goby, Edouard Creative Technologies. Jouret, and Matthieu Landour of Supinfocom/Premium Films, The entries to the Computer Animation Festival—which comprises the Electronic also garnered a coveted prize. Theater and Animation Theaters—are representative of the wide range of interests in 38 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS © Nvidia © Nvidia computer graphics present at SIGGRAPH, including animation, visual effects, research, Clockwise from top left: scientific visualization, art, broadcast, and real time. Similarly, they reflect CG excel- HP Hands “Paulo Coelho” This image is from a spot for HP by lence from around the globe: 72 animations are from outside the US. “I am thrilled creative directors Rich Silverstein and Steve Simpson from Motion Theory in the US. with the jury’s selections and feel they did a great job not only in choosing innovative and excellent pieces, but also in selecting those from across the board in all the submis- Cascades This still is from a technical animation by the Nvidia Demo Team. sion categories,” says Debevec. Aside from the Electronic Theater pieces, another 93 were chosen for the Animation Nvidia Real-Time Graphics Research: The GeForce 8 Demo Suite This image is also from R&D by the Nvidia Theaters. This content will be presented in themed segments that will play throughout Demo Team. the show. A Gentlemen’s Duel This amusing animated short film was sub- Three groundbreaking films received the coveted SIGGRAPH festival awards: “Ark,” mitted by Blur Studio. Best of Show; “Dreammaker,” Jury Honors; “En Tus Brazos,” Award of Excellence. “This year’s winners are perfect examples of how computer graphics is enabling small, JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 39 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS PortfolioPortfolio Clockwise from top left: independent groups to create films with vast landscapes, complex characters, and Happiness Factory This still is from a compelling commer- amazing visuals,” says Debevec. “Just as CG blurs the line between real and virtual, cial directed by Todd Mueller and Kylie Matulick of Psyop. each of these, in its unique way, explores what is tangible and what is imaginary, and Gears of War This game image is courtesy of Mark Rein and whether that difference is important.” Epic Games. According to Debevec, this is a notable year for studio shorts in the Electronic Formation of a Spiral Galaxy A wondrous visual, this proj- Theater. There are always tent poles of the show that everyone looks forward to, and ect came from The Four-Dimensional Digital Universe Project they include Pixar’s “Lifted,” Blue Sky’s “No Time for Nuts,” and Blur’s “A Gentlemen’s by the National Astronomical Observatory in Japan. Duel,” he notes. “Not every show is lucky to have three of the major studios with a Travelers: Snowball Complex in composition, this still is major shorts effort.” from a piece courtesy of Dan Lemmon, visual FX supervisor, 2007 is also a big year for real-time content; to that end, there are nearly 10 min- and Weta Digital. utes of real-time material in the theater. One highlight is a documentary of a new game 40 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS module for Half-Life 2, called “Portal,” which has an especially innovative gameplay At right, from top to bottom: element. Additionally, there will be a montage comprising various real-time techni- Swirl An intriguing still from the animation presented by Lee cal advances in gaming, as chosen by the jury. Also, the show features various scien- Griggs of the UK. tific visualizations, including a breathtaking animation of a galactic formation, called Raymond An image from a piece by Fabrice le Nezet, Jules “Formation of a Spiral Galaxy.” Janaud, and Francois Roisin of The Mill in the UK. “Every piece is there because it is different—it pushes beyond the borders of what Sears Tools “Aboretum” This selection comes from an ani- we have seen before,” says Debevec. “And there are more than a few laugh-out-loud mation by Sabrina Elizondo of Method Studios in the US. moments that are humorous in unexpected ways.” In other words, there is something 300’s Liquid Battlefield The highly stylized movie 300 con- for everyone to enjoy. tains a number of CG achievements by various facilities, includ- ing this work by Scanline VFX, submitted by Stephan Trojansky A small selection of images from this year’s the Electronic Theater is presented in and Danielle Plantec. these pages. —Karen Moltenbrey JUNE 2007 Computer Graphics World | 41 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS products For additional product news and information, visit www.cgw.com______ NEWS FROM solution with FilmLight’s Truelight color-man- PLUG-INS agement system as part of a calibrated, on-set to deliverables production pipeline. Baselight Fx for Final Cut control for Spirit Datacines and Truelight color Mac Noise Industries unveiled its FxFactory management for Bones Dailies are available for Apple Final Cut Studio 2, a visual effects this month. tool for postproduction and broadcast pro- SOFTWARE FilmLight; www.fi______lmlight.ltd.uk fessionals. FxFactory Version 1.05 includes Grass Valley; www.thomsongrassvalley.com GPU-accelerated, native visual effects plug- ins for Final Cut Pro 6 and Motion 3, via VIDEO Encoding in a Flash Apple’s FxPlug architecture. The latest edi- Win Kulabyte is shipping the Kulabyte tion also boasts custom presets, new fi l- Camera and Color Control Professional Flash Encoding Suite, introduced Win FilmLight and Grass Valley demon- at NAB2007. The video encoding solution strated FilmLight’s Baselight system in direct uses industry-standard codec engines and control of the entire command block of the combines Kulabyte’s Live 2-pass variable bit Grass Valley Spirit Classic DataCine camera. rate encoding and on-demand broadcast- This event marked the fi rst time a software- ing. The Kulabyte system enables media cre- based color-grading system has been used ators to encode and distribute digital content to control a Spirit DataCine, and the pairing more than 12 times faster than industry-stan- lends to a more productive telecine work- dard codec times, while also delivering high ters, and GPU-accelerated rendering. The fl ow. Baselight controlled the system’s fi lm picture quality and optimal bandwidth use. included FX for Motion Pack offers Glitch, transport, primary and secondary color, focus, Kulabyte’s Professional Flash Encoding Suite, 3D Shatter, Panel Vision, and RGB Trails resize and rotate, sharpness, and degrain fea- packaged with the On2 VP6 codec engine, effects plug-ins; whereas the FX for Editing tures. The companies also have integrated starts at $8000. Pack contains Cheshire Fade, Explode Away, Grass Valley’s Bones Dailies postproduction Kulabyte; www.kulabyte.com Panels Mix Off, Spinner, and Zipper transi- ______ 42 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 ______www.cgw.com A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS classifieds PRODUCTS • SERVICES • EMPLOYMENT For Advertising Rates & Schedules Contact: Lisa Quintanilla, (903) 295-3699, [email protected]______ EMPLOYMENT ACOUSTIC EQUIPMENT ® Final Cut Pro Editor/Producer/Writer (2) Toll-Free Number: 888-765-2900 Full product line for sound control Job Number: 7137MASN9 and noise elimination. MASN, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, television home of the Baltimore Orioles and Washington www.acousticsfirst.com Nationals is seeking 2 exceptionally talented Editor/Producers to create award winning network promos. Positions are full-time with competitive salary and benefits. Projects will run the gamut from the creation of high production value campaigns to versioning MUSIC LIBRARY game day promos and producing topical spots promoting MASN’s sports programming. Qualifications: • Minimum of 5 years editing experience • Well-seasoned editor with commercial/promo production experience • Extensive editing experience in Final Cut Pro • Technical/engineering expertise: Must be able to troubleshoot and maintain systems • Graphics and animation savvy • Strong design sense • HD knowledge • Strong shooting/lighting skills • Creative • Ability to work on own • Baseball savvy • Producing/writing skills helpful ______Please send cover letter, resume and creative/production reel to Dick Goggin, MASN, 333 West Camden Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Submitted materials will not be returned. WANT TO REACH A TARGET AUDIENCE OF 70,000 working professionals in Production, Film/TV, Broadcast, Cable Special Effects, Audio Recording Engineers, Animators, Game Developers, Graphic Artist, Creative Production, Industrial Designers, and Entertainment? COP Communications We have print and online combination packages that can help you fill those open • California Offset Printers positions. Avoid those high cost agency and headhunter fees, • Interactive Color Inc. Digital with a targeted ad! • Computer Graphics World • Post Magazine Contact Lisa Quintanilla Advertising Manager [email protected]______FOR REPRINTS AND ph: 903-295-3699 ON-DEMAND PRINTING + www.copprints.com (800) 280-6446 a winning combination! Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 ______www.cgw.com | 43 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS products tions. Noise Industries also demonstrated are housed in metal enclosures and powered to a SATA 2 I/O card. The external card was two new FX Packs: ImageFlow FX with 10 dif- by an external AC/DC power supply and lock- mounted in a 3U, 16-drive chassis with 16 ferent animation styles, and TextFlow FX with ing connector. RedThing and BlueThing are Hitachi 1TB SATA 2 drives running Adobe’s 10 beat-synchronized text animation effects. priced at $1695 and $2095, respectively. video editing suite and supporting multiple FxFactory Pro is priced at $399 and includes Bluefish 444; www.bluefish444.com______streams of HD video. The scalable RAID system the Motion and Editing Packs. Version 1.0.5 is is designed to meet the bandwidth demands a free update for current owners of FxFactory. Collaborative Encoder of HD, 2K, and 4K video applications. The Motion and Editing Packs are each avail- Win Kulabyte and AMD partnered at NAB Ciprico; www.ciprico.com______able for $99. to demonstrate the Kulabyte Professional Noise Industries; www.noiseindustries.com______Encoding Suite, a multi-core encoding system, driven by Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors PREVIZ in an eight-socket server. This 16-core video HARDWARE encoder server is said to deliver a 60 percent speed increase over comparable multi-core VIDEO processing systems, which are largely limited to a maximum eight cores in a single server. Red or Blue? The product combination is well suited Bluefish 444 to DVD authoring houses, introduced its postproduction facilities, tele- Precision with Previzion RedThing and vision studios, and produc- Cinital showcased the latest motion-track- BlueThing com- ers of mobile video. Kulabyte’s ing and visual effects features in Previzion pact multi-standard suite is infused with TimeSlice tech- HD Studio, the company’s end-to-end vir- HD-SDI to DVI-I converters, nology, designed to deliver faster encod- tual studio solution for previsualization and enabling HD and SD signals to be viewed ing and improved picture quality. visual effects creation. Previzion aids artists on virtually any LCD, plasma, or projector dis- Kulabyte; www.kulabyte.com______at visual effects and film, television, and mul- play. The solutions automatically sense and AMD; www.amd.com______timedia companies in integrating computer- size incoming signals and output resolution generated graphics and live video to create to ensure image conformity with 16:9 and 4:3 synthetic visual spaces. The solution com- screens. Its high-quality spatial and temporal STORAGE bines camera motion tracking, scene integra- video processing deliver frame-rate conver- tion technology, and advanced features such sion, scaling, and de-interlacing to provide It’s a RAID as keyed subject occlusion. Use of the FBX high image quality on inexpensive displays. Ciprico demonstrated a direct-attached stor- file format ensures camera motion data can Other features include DVI-D and DVI-I out- age system using the new PCI Express exter- be recorded and imported into popular 3D put, a test-pattern generator, support for nal cabling standard and based on the compa- programs, including Autodesk Maya and 3ds output resolutions between 1024x768 to ny’s RAIDCore software RAID stack. Ciprico’s Max, Softimage XSI, Luxology Modo, and 1920x1200, and proc-amp, gamma, and color RAIDCore was running on a direct-attached Maxon Cinema4D. matrix controls. Both RedThing and BlueThing 20GB/sec PCI Express 8x external connection Cinital; www.cinital.com______ June 2007, Volume 30, Number 6: COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD (USPS 665-250) (ISSN-0271-4159) is published monthly (12 issues) by COP Communications, Inc. Corporate offices: 620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, CA 91204, Tel: 818-291-1100; FAX: 818-291-1190; Web Address: [email protected]. Periodicals postage paid at Glendale, CA, 91205 & additional mailing offices. COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD is distributed worldwide. Annual subscription prices are $55, USA; $75, Canada & Mexico; $115 International airfreight. To order subscriptions, call 847-559-7310. Ride along enclosed. © 2007 CGW by COP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without permission. 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Box 3296, Northbrook, IL 60065-3296. 44 | Computer Graphics World JUNE 2007 www.cgw.com______ A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Any one of the 12 majors available from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco will give you more than a degree. They’ll give you the skill, the vision and the experience necessary to build your portfolio. So, whether you study online or on campus, you’ll be ready to pursue the career you’re passionate about. www.academyart.edu 1.800.544.2787 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Welcome to your edit suite. Imagine true broadcast-level HD editing in places you never thought possible. Io HD, paired up with Apple’s MacBook Pro and Final Cut Studio 2, gets you a no-compromises HD editing suite wherever you want to work. One FireWire cable to the Mac is all you need to work with full-resolution 10-bit 4:2:2 HD and SD video, using the powerful new ProRes 422 codec from Apple, uniquely integrated directly into Io HD’s hardware. Add in Io HD’s 10-bit up/down/cross conversion and unmatched video and audio connectivity, and you’re seamlessly working in any format you want, anywhere you need it... in a portable, professional package. Check out Io HD at our website, or give us a call to find an authorized AJA Desktop Dealer near you. www.aja.com 800.251.4224 A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS