Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue Next Page ComputerTHE MAGAZINE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT CREATION AND PRODUCTION ® January 2006 www.cgw.com WORLD Gorilla Tactics King Kong’s larger-than-life effects The Power of X The Xbox 360 defines a new era in gaming Dragon Quest Adding digital magic to Harry’s latest adventure Starting a Studio If you build it, will they come? Forward COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD to a friend! ® $4.95 USA $6.50 Canada Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue NextPage A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS 101010101010110101001010101010101 010101010110101001010101010101011 101010110101001010101010101011010 010110101001010101010101011010100 110101001010101010101011010100101 101001010101010101011010100101010 001010101010101011010100101010101 010101010101011010100101010101010 101010101011010100101010101010101 010101011010100101010101010101101 101011010100101010101010101101010 011010100101010101010101101010010 010100101010101010101101010010101 100101010101010101101010010101010 101010101010101101010010101010101 010101010101101010010101010101010 101010101101010010101010101010110 010101101010010101010101010110101 101101010010101010101010110101001 101010010101010101010110101001010 010010101010101010110101001010101 010101010101010110101001010101010 101010101010110101001010101010101 010101010110101001010101010101011 101010110101001010101010101011010 010110101001010101010101011010100 110101001010101010101011010100101 101001010101010101011010100101010 We can teach you how to make animals out of zeros and ones. Now that’s intelligent design. INTERIOR COMPUTER ARTS PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHITECTURE NEW MEDIA ILLUSTRATION GRAPHIC DESIGN ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN A F Ma S C W Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BE G A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS 1.800.544.ARTS/WWW.ACADEMYART.EDU REGISTER NOW FOR SPRING-CLASSES START JANUARY 30 79 New Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA 94105 80% of our graduates are working in the art and design industry Nationally Accredited by ACICS, NASAD, FIDER (BFA-IAD), NAAB - Candidate Status (M-ARCH) Online Studies Available Image by Eva Kolenko, BFA Photography Student MOTION INDUSTRIAL ANIMATION & PICTURES & ADVERTISING FINE ART TELEVISION FASHION DESIGN VISUAL EFFECTS A F Ma S C W Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BE G A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Maya® 7, the latest release of the award-winning 3D software, is packed with innovative new features allowing you to realize your creative vision faster and more easily than ever before. Capitalizing on Alias MotionBuilder® technology, Maya 7 makes character animation easier and more accurate. Other improvements such as advanced render layering and new modeling, texturing and effects tools help you achieve more with Maya. To find out how the new and innovative features of Maya are changing the face of 3D, visit www.alias.com/maya7. Image created by Meats Meier (www.3dartspace.com) © Copyright 2005 Alias Systems Corp. All rights reserved. Alias, the swirl logo, Maya and MotionBuilder are registered trademarks and the Maya logo is a trademark of Alias Systems Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. 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 January 2006 • Volume 29 • Number 1 THE MAGAZINE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT CREATION AND PRODUCTION Also see www.cgw.com for computer graphics news, special surveys and reports, and the online gallery. Computer WORLD 22 Departments Editor’s Note 4 Kong is King, Again CG continues to proliferate at the box offi ce, thanks in no small part to the 16 26 cutting-edge effects in King Kong and 28 Harry Potter. As a result, opportunities abound for artists and animators, some Features of whom may be tempted to open their own shop. Cover story Long Live the King 16 Spotlight 6 FILM | Director Peter Jackson Products challenged Weta Digital to think big NEW@ cgw.com while creating the effects in King Kong. D2’s Nuke 4.5 Web story exclusives: The studio answered with a breathtaking Avid’s Liquid product line jungle setting, an authentic 1930s The Cutting Edge ATI’s Radeon X1800 XT New York City, and Kong himself. Professional media creators continue Iridas’s SpeedGrade Onset By Barbara Robertson to embrace the Mac platform as a Services cost-effective way to easily create highly Let the Games Begin 22 stylized video. Nice Shoes’s Nice Spots Web-based GAMING | By taking advantage of media exchange for project review Self-Promotion: Part 3 and collaboration the industry’s latest breakthroughs, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console is changing This series for digital artists continues with getting noticed by way of users groups. Tech Viewpoint 8 the look and feel of game graphics. By Karen Moltenbrey The Bleeding Edge Trial By Fire Workstation vendors push technological Industrial Light & Magic creates the fi re boundaries in order to get an extra A Draconian Test 26 for Harry Potter’s digital dragon, using step ahead of their competitors. DIGITAL EFFECTS | ILM uses its digital a novel simulation engine that evolved magic to conjure up a fi ery dragon in from the studio’s collaboration with Portfolio 32 the latest Harry Potter adventure. Stanford University. Human Modeling By Barbara Robertson Workstations Review 34 with ‘The Look’ Luxology’s Modo 201 Starting a Small Studio 28 BUSINESS TRENDS | Want to be your Want more than just blazing-fast New+Improved 36 own boss? Owning your own VFX studio processing? We found workstations can be rewarding...and challenging. that offer cool components coupled Backdrop 40 with a stylized look that any CG artist Out of Water By William “Proton” Vaughan will appreciate. See www.cgw.com for a more On the cover: in-depth version of this article. Pushing the technological envelope, Weta Digital crafts the great ape Kong in this epic remake. See pg. 16. Image courtesy Weta Digital / Universal Studios. www.cgw.com JANUARY 2006 Computer Graphics World | 3 A F Ma S C W Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BE G A CW Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page BEF MaGS Kelly Dove Editor-in-Chief note KELLY DOVE: Editor-in-Chief Kong is King, Again [email protected] KAREN MOLTENBREY: Executive Editor [email protected] As I sit down to write this, it’s not quite 2006. In fact, it is exactly one day, 17 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: hours, 24 minutes, and 52 seconds before the premiere of King Kong. As you Jenny Donelan, Audrey Doyle, Evan Marc Hirsch, George Maestri, might expect, I can hardly wait to get in line. Martin McEachern, Stephen Porter, Barbara Robertson editor’s Academy Award-winner Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated remake of the 1933 cult classic King Kong is set to take us, once again, into the mind SUZANNE HEISER: Art Director [email protected] of a visionary fi lmmaker whose penchant for great storytelling and eye for outstand- DAN RODD: Senior Illustrator ing CG and visual effects brings back the Kong-mania moviegoers must have expe- [email protected] rienced more than 70 years ago. BARBARA ANN BURGESS: Production Manager The merchandising for Kong is defi nitely feeding the frenzy. Now, not only can [email protected] you carry Kong in your pocket in the form of a credit card, you also can download CHRISTINE WARD: Ad Traffi c Manager Jackson’s offi cial behind-the-scenes postproduction diaries or buy them on DVD, and [email protected] purchase stop-motion armature prop replicas, in case you want to make your own SUSAN HUGHES: Marketing Communications Manager [email protected] Kong-based creation someday. Game publisher Ubisoft is fueling the gorilla madness, encouraging gamers on every platform imaginable to “Play as Man. Play as Kong,” in MICHELLE BLAKE: Circulation Manager michelleb@pennwell Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Offi cial Game of the Movie. MARK FINKELSTEIN: Vice President, This month, CGW does its share to spotlight Kong, as contributing editor Barbara Computers & Electronics Group Robertson details the making and grooming of this magnifi cent CG creature in “Long [email protected] Live the King” on pg. 16. COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD Executive and Editorial Offi ces: Kong is but one of the many CG effects-laden fi lms debuting this holiday season. 98 Spit Brook Rd. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is being heralded in the media as the best movie Nashua, NH 03062-5737 (603)891-0123; FAX:(603)891-0539 yet in the popular J.K. Rowling series is also featured on pg. 26 with a technology Q&A CGW ONLINE: www.cgw.com with Tim Alexander, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic, discussing For customer service and subscription inquiries only: the creation of water and cloth simulation for the movie (pg. 40). [email protected] TEL: (847) 559-7500 FAX: (847) 291-4816 POSTMASTER: Send change of address form to Computer As CG continues to proliferate at the box offi ce, the desire for artists and animators Graphics World, P.O. Box 3296, Northbrook, IL 60065 to break into the business of delivering visual effects for fi lm, games, and entertainment We make portions of our subscriber list available to continues to grow. Some may even