t Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 t Efficiency Research and Benchmarking t Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Research Introduction The Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012: Defining a Coherent and Efficient Suite Pipeline ..................................Page 3 t This document presents key findings of a benchmarking Integrating the Entertainment Creation Suite: project designed to assess the Tapping all the available potential ......................................................page 4 impact of the Autodesk® 3ds MotionBuilder: Overview ....................................................................page 5 Max® Entertainment Creation MotionBuilder: The Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Pipeline .........page 6 Suite 2012 on the productivity MotionBuilder: Efficiency in Managing Animations .............................page 7 of 3D professionals. MotionBuilder: Working with Motion Capture Data .............................page 8 MotionBuilder Creative potential: Virtual Studio Work .........................page 9 t More specifically, the research project focused on three Softimage: Overview ........................................................................page 10 of the software products Softimage: The Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Pipeline .............page 11 included in the 3ds Max Softimage: Realistic Fluid Simulation with ICE ..................................page 12 Entertainment Creation Suite Softimage: Creation of Complex Particle Systems.............................page 13 2012 Premium: Autodesk® Softimage Creative Potential: Sophisticated Physical Simulations .....page 14 MotionBuilder® 2012, Mudbox: Overview ...........................................................................page 15 Autodesk® Softimage® 2012 Mudbox: The Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Pipeline ................page 16 and Autodesk® Mudbox® Mudbox: Sculpting Complex Objects ................................................page 17 2012 software, and analyzed Mudbox: Painting and Map Creation .................................................page 18 their potential impact on the Mudbox Creative Potential: Vector Displacement Maps ....................page 19 efficiency and the creative Considering Return on Investment ....................................................page 20 potential of the 3D production MotionBuilder ROI Scenarios ............................................................page 21 pipeline. For details on Softimage ROI Scenarios .................................................................page 22 the methodology used to Mudbox ROI Scenarios .....................................................................page 23 conduct these benchmarks, Methodology: How We Measure Productivity ....................................page 24 see “Methodology: How We Measure Productivity” at the end of this report. Table of Contents t Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Research s T About the 3ds Max 2012 stem extu Sy ring cle Entertainment Creation Suite rti Pa Defining a Coherent model that draws its efficiency from the and Efficient Suite Pipeline use of the right tool from the outset, rather Softimage al Feature than using specialized applications such as ction Reac With the Entertainment Creation Suite 2012, Fun h MotionBuilder and Mudbox only in situations R e Autodesk has decided to expand 3ds Max n where their use has become indispensable. d 2012, by integrating it with the animation e MotionBuilder r software , the 3D sculpting Exploring the productivity gains i of Exc n as elle g Mudbox g Are nc environment , as well as (in the case of n e Softimage Exploring the productivity of the tool-sets i the Premium version of the Suite) . g g and the overall efficiency of this new way of i Integration and efficiency working is the aim of this research project and R report. In order to provide a real benefit to the user, the key aspect of a worthwhile software suite is For three of the software products of the the degree of integration it provides between 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012, 3ds Max 2012 we are exploring not only the productivity the core applications: just bundling together MotionBuilder it provides, but also some of the creative individual software packages is not enough; P need to be able to move smoothly potential other software products provide, a users i n from one toolset to the other exploring and documenting an expanded, t in order to i n g coherent pipeline that draws upon the g reap the benefits of the sophistication and n i capabilities of the software products. t features the additional tools provide without a m clogging down their production pipeline. The i Mudbox n Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 provides A this through one-click integration between 3ds Max 2012 and the other Autodesk tool- sets. S Grasping the potential c u l p t i n g g n i l e d But there is another important benefit of o a software suite: by offering a coherent, M expanded feature set, a software suite encourages and supports a more sophisticated, fine-tuned production The Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Premium extends pipeline ; it provides an expanded pipeline the functional reach and the efficiency of 3ds Max 2012 t Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Research Necessity-based Integrating the Entertainment pipeline Creation Suite 2012 In the typical 3ds Max 2012 pipeline, it is Tapping all the available potential common to achieve whatever is possible Defining a coherent pipeline that unlocks using the core application, Software functionality Additional all the available potential of the Maya and to move to additional Indispensable toolsets only if a problem Entertainment Creation Suite Premium 2012 can otherwise not be requires a basic change of attitude. While solved — even if the core application is not many 3D professionals use software such as Reduced the most efficient tool Efficiency MotionBuilder or Mudbox, they do so in what for all aspects of a job. necessity-based pipeline could be called a , i.e. they will use these specialized programs only Core as a last resort, when the job at hand can not be Application Area of achieved within the core application — even if Excellence another application would be more efficient in Reach Functional Feature handling the task at hand. Using the proper tool for the job Efficiency-based 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 pipeline creates the basis for a more efficiency-based pipeline Using the Entertainment , by providing a coherently integrated Creation Suite 2012, an environment, where several specialized tools are efficiency-based pipeline available to the user. can be established, which moves between Software In other words, there are many cases where software products Additional a specific operation (the creation of maps, for whenever a task can Complete example) is achievable in the core software be more efficiently achieved in an another packages — yet using another component of the software product. Specialized Feature Reach Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 (in this case, (As an example: MotionBuilder is more Mudbox) makes the process more efficient. efficient in tasks that it Throughout this report, we will explore how would not be used for in a MotionBuilder, Softimage and Mudbox can be necessity-based pipeline.) Core Application used to create such an integrated Suite pipeline. Area of Excellence Functional Feature Reach Functional Feature t Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Research t MotionBuilder t MotionBuilder is a character animation system that surpasses complete 3D software in many respects. t MotionBuilder is capable of handling and playing back complex character animation in real-time — even when numerous, high-polygon models are active in a scene; its ease for retargeting, and mixing different animations makes it a valuable addition to the 3ds Max 2012 pipeline. t The speed for handling complex scenes and animations also makes MotionBuilder a powerful tool for Virtual Studio work, where complex scenes and shots can be planned and arranged in real- time. © 2011 Paramount Pictures & Marvel Entertainment, Thor, Image courtesy of The Third Floor Pictures & Marvel© 2011 Paramount Entertainment, Thor, MotionBuilder: The MotionBuilder: MotionBuilder: MotionBuilder Creative Entertainment Creation Efficiency in Managing Working with Motion Potential: Suite 2012 Pipeline Animations Capture Data Virtual Studio Work t Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 Research MotionBuilder: The Entertainment Creation Suite Pipeline Key Features MotionBuilder offers extensive Working with motion capture data is one of tools for re-using, retargeting and the key applications of MotionBuilder in the combining different Suite pipeline, but the usefulness of the software animations: data exceeds this specific area. MotionBuilder is sets from different a dedicated tool for efficiently managing environments and animations, and excels at managing, software packages. combining and retargeting animations. MotionBuilder can be used to plan complex Essential capabilities: scenes even when rigs are extended and Working with animations from different customized at a later origins and data types: Biped, HumanIK, stage in 3ds Max. keyframe animations, motion capture data, purchased animations that can come from certain other software applications. Efficiency and real-time playback of complex animations with large character sets. Device support for real-time