computer graphics world 2013-03-04

7/28/2019 Computer Graphics World 2013-03-04

1/52
http://www.cgw.com/


2/52
http://www.cg-masters.com/


3/521March/April 2013

ON THE COVER

SEE IT IN

Some giant leaps in technology were required by DigitalDomain to create the CG giants in the live-action film Jack theGiant Slayer, including the cook, pictured on the cover. Further

developments from MPC were needed to grow the beanstalk.See page 24.

Audio post team at Universal talksabout Cinemaxs Banshee.

Interview with A Good Day to Die Harddirector John Moor.

Oscar-nominated director David O.Russell talks Silver Linings Playbook.

FeaturesWizardry in the Land of Oz

10Visual effects artists create a fantastical landscape and two digital charactersfor Oz the Great and Powerful.

By Barbara Robertson

Console Wars Redux

16

Next-generation game systems will begin rolling out this year, with new

players heating up the competition.

By Karen Moltenbrey

Staying on the Grid

20Nvidias Project Shield game controller, the new kid on the gaming block.

By Jon Peddie

Growing a Giant Fantasy

24ForJack the Giant Slayer, VFX studios had a big undertaking: developing giantcharacters and growing a giant beanstalk.

By Barbara Robertson

Also:

COVER STORY

30 Digital Specimens

32 Crood Awakening

36 Games to Film and Around Again

42 Adobe After Effects Turns 20

March/April 2013 Vol. 36 Number 3 I n n o v a t i o n s i n v i s u a l c o m p u t i n g f o r D C C p r o f e s s i o n a l s

DepartmentsEditors Note Going Green

2For a while now, visual effects creators have been struggling to stay afloatas facilities have been forced to close their doors. Sadly, Rhythm & Hueshad to file for bankruptcy protection just days before receiving an OscarforLife of Pi. How did the situation across the industry erode so quickly?And, what can be done to rectify this situation for facilities and artists?

Spotlight4

Products OptiTracks Motive. The Foundrys HieroPlayer. NewTeksLightWave 11.5. Blackmagic Designs DaVinci Resolve 9.1. nPowersPowerSurfacing. Nvidias Quadro K4000, K2000, K2000D, K600.

Viewpoint

8No Production Pipe Dream.

Review

45Maxons Cinema 4D R14.

Back Products46Software and hardware releases.
http://www.postmagazine.com/


4/52March/April 20132

A

s I write this, St. Patricks Day is nearly upon us, and everyone is thinkinggreen. Green shirts, green beer, green hair. Green is also on the minds of

those in the visual eects community, albeit for a completely dierent (andless festive) reason. Immediately after the Academy Awards, digital eects prac-titioners and their supporters began substituting their Facebook prole pictureswith a bright-green square to signify their support for the VFX industry that is

going through a nancial crisis and the hundreds of artists fromRhythm & Hues (R&H) and elsewhere who more recently wereseeing a dierent color, pink, as in pink slips.

During his acceptance speech after winning the visual eectsOscar for R&Hs work on Life of Pi, VFX Supervisor Bill West-enhofer began addressing the crisis in the industry that led to thefacility ling for Chapter 11 protection just days before the Acad-emy Awards and discussing the protest by R&H artists and sup-

porters just hours before the event. But before he could get morethan a sentence delivered, his voice was drowned out by theJawstheme signifying time was up (rather ironic, huh?). Westenhoferwas able to continue his comments backstage, as did Ang Lee after

receiving his Oscar for best director. But what he had to say was hardly supportive.What Westenhofer had to say on stage and backstage aected nearly everyone sit-

ting in that theater, whether they are part of a VFX-heavy movie or a live-action ickthat relies on digital eects, invisible or not. And this is not a situation unique toR&H. Nearly all US visual eects facilities are suering, as well as some abroad. Andthe Oscars provided a perfect setting to bring this to light and that is what formerILM GM and DD Founder Scott Ross believed. So he sent a Tweet early in the day:I had a dream, 500 VFX artists near the Dolby (Kodak) theater on Oscar day waving

signs that say I want a piece of the Pi too. People responded. After all, how couldartists spend close to a year producing Academy Award-winning work, only to ndthemselves without a paycheck immediately after? e thought was incredulous.

What Happened?Studios are having to close their doors because they have been forced to take on workfor much lower prices often breakeven or worse just so they can keep the lights onand retain sta. at can only go on for so long. As a result, VFX artists have turnedinto migrant workers, chasing jobs across the country and abroad. Additionally, theyare doing so without health benets or consistent benets that follow them from jobto job. When they are employed, they are required to work very long hours on a pro-duction, often without overtime pay. e facilities, like R&H, value their employees

and their skills. ey just do not seem to have a choice anymore.How did the situation degrade so fast? It has been a problem brewing in our

industry for the past several years but has now reached epic proportions.Turn back the clock, and starting in the mid-1980s, US visual eects studios

provoked envy across the globe. For the most part, these studios were formed basedon the passion and vision of artists and technical gurus. ey achieved things thathad never been done before in visual eects: TRON, Jurassic Park, Star Wars.Later, we began to see more and more work on major movie productions beingdone outside of Hollywood. Little by little, pixel by pixel, work was sent around theglobe. Today, London (particularly Soho) boasts a bustling digital production regionwhere you can nd big names and big talent: Cinesite, Framestore, Double Negative,e Moving Picture Company, e Mill, and more. Meanwhile, Weta established

The Magazine for Digital Content Professionals

EDITORIAL

KAREN MOLTENBREYChief Editor

[email protected] (603) 432-7568

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Courtney Howard, Jenny Donelan, Kathleen Maher,George Maestri, Martin McEachern, Barbara Robertson

WILLIAM R. RITTWAGEPublisher, President and CEO,

COP Communications

ADVERTISING SALES

MARI KOHNDirector of SalesNational

[email protected](818) 291-1153 cell: (818) 472-1491

JEFF VICTORDirector of SalesWest Coast

[email protected](224) 436-8044

LISA BLACKCorporate Sales ExecutiveEvents,

Custom and Integrated Print/Publishing [email protected]

(818) 660-5828

Editorial Office / LA Sales Office:620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, CA 91204

(800) 280-6446

CREATIVE SERVICES

AND PRODUCTION

MICHAEL VIGGIANOArt Director

[email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONS(818) 291-1158

CUSTOMER [email protected]

1-800-280-6446, Opt 3

ONLINE AND NEW MEDIAStan Belchev

[email protected]

Computer Graphics World Magazine

is published by Computer Graphics World,

a COP Communications company.

Computer Graphics Worlddoes not verify any claims or other information appearing in anthe advertisements contained in the publication, and cannot take any responsibility for a

losses or other damages incurred by readers in reliance on such content.

Computer Graphics Worldcannot be held responsible for the safekeeping or return ofunsolicited articles, manuscripts, photographs, illustrations or other materials.

Address all subscription correspondence to: Computer Graphics World, 620 West Elk AvGlendale, CA 91204.

Subscriptions are available free to qualified individuals within the United States.Non-qualified subscription rates: USA$72 for 1 year, $98 for 2 years;

Canadian subscriptions $98 for 1 year and $136 for 2 years;all other countries$150 for 1 year and $208 for 2 years.

Digital subscriptions are available for $27 per year.Subscribers can also contact customer service by calling

818-291-1158, or sending an email to [email protected].

Postmaster: Send Address Changes toComputer Graphics World,

620 W. Elk Ave., Glendale, CA 91204

Please send customer service inquiries to620 W. Elk Ave., Glendale, CA 91204

EditorsNote

Recent awards:

Going Green

continued on page 47
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


5/52
http://okino.com/mailto:[email protected]://okino.com/


6/524 March/April 2013

OptiTracks Motive to Simplifythe Motion-Capture Process

Motion-capture provider OptiTrack has launched Motive, a unied sotwareplatorm or eliminating the complexities historically associated with motion-

capture workfows. Motive delivers cleaner motion data, enables larger capturevolumes, and can be tailored to meet a range o needs.

With an easy-to-navigate interace, Motive helps solve data management andprocessing issues as well as skeleton solving. When customized with the MotiveBody Module add-on, the system delivers simultaneous ull body and nger

tracking, even in very large

capture areas.Motive contains a 64-bit,

multi-threaded architecturethat acilitates the track-ing o more objects andactors, longer recordings,and support or hundredso cameras per system.A new shot managementsystem allows drag-and-drop

asset selection. Moreover, setup and calibration is ast. The Body Module add-onprovides one-click subject calibration, precision nger tracking (with Flex 13 or

Prime cameras), and kinematic labeling or clean real-time output. Overall systemsetup has been simplied to reduce prep time by 75 percent and can be handledby a single operator.

Motive costs $999, and the Body Module add-on sells or $1,499. Existing Opti-Track customers with current sotware licenses can upgrade to Motive or ree.

The LightWave 3D Group, adivision o NewTek, is oering

LightWave 11.5, the newest versiono its 3D modeling, animation, andrendering sotware or artists anddesigners at no charge or all regis-tered LightWave 11 customers.

The upgrade includes neweatures and unctionality that

enhance creativity and streamlineproductivity, including the Genomainstant character-rigging systemwith modular presets, makingit easy to rig a simple biped orquadruped or animation withoutthe need or specialized riggingtools. The release also containspredator and prey focking capabili-ties, per-object instancing control,and sot-body bullet dynamics withsupport or FiberFX. Also included

are interchange tools supportingAdobe Ater Eects cameras andPixologics Zbrush, stereoscopicand depth-o-eld motion blur in theViewport Preview Renderer (VPR),and more.

LightWave 11.5 costs $1,495.LightWave 11 customers canupgrade to 11.5 ree. Educationaland other upgrade pricing are alsoavailable. A ree 60-day, ull-eaturetrial o LightWave 11.5 is available at

www.lightwave3d.com/try.

NewTek Turns onLightWave 11.5

INTER

NATIONAL

The Foundry Forges HieroPlayer

The Foundry has launched HieroPlayer,a VFX review and playback tool or

artists. It gives Nuke users the power toplay back every shot on the VFX timelinein context on their own workstation. Thistool is priced at approximately $300including one years maintenance. ANuke user with a HieroPlayer can exportthe shot or sequence that they are working on in Nuke, then play it back andreview it in context with ull audio on HieroPlayers VFX timeline. They will alsohave easy access to multiple versions o their shots.

HieroPlayer also complements Hiero, The Foundrys shot management,conorm, and review tool set. With HieroPlayer, Nuke users get access to a ullHiero project on their VFX workstation.
http://www.lightwave3d.com/tryhttp://www.lightwave3d.com/try


7/52

Terms: POs accepted from schools and government agencies. All checks require 710 days to clear. Defectiveproducts replaced promptly. RMA number required for all merchandise returns. Returns accepted within 20days, in original packaging, postage prepaid, undamaged. Opened software not returnable. Shipping chargesnot refundable. Returns subject to a 18% restocking fee. Not responsible for typos. Prices subject to change.

800-544-6599

www.sharbor.comS O L U T I O N S F O R G R A P H I C S P R O F E S S I O NA L S

Safe Harbor Computers530 W. Oklahoma Ave. Ste. 500

Milwaukee, WI 53207

800-544-6599 Information & Orders

414-615-4560

414-615-4567 FaxMonFri 8:30am4pm CST

2013 Safe Harbor Computers. All rights reserved.

Cinema 4D R14

Now with all new, fully integratedsculpting system, new cameramatching functionality, exchangeplugins and more. Available infour flavors tailored to yourneeds: Prime, Visualize,Broadcast, and Studio.Academic pricing and manyupgrade options available.

Adobe Creative Suite 6

Production Premium

High-performance toolset witheverything you need to createproductions for virtually anyscreen. Log, edit, design, animate,composite, and refine audio andcolor. Now with Adobe Prelude

and SpeedGrade. Bundle withWacom tablets or NVIDIA cardsand save. Free ground shipping.

www.7-t.co.uk

NVIDIA Quadro K5000

The NVIDIA Quadro K5000graphics card takes advantage ofthe NVIDIA Kepler architectureto dramatically accelerate pro-fessional applications. You getgreater levels of interaction whendesigning with the most complex

models, richer scene details andeffects for content creation.Includes free ground shipping.

modo 601

modo is artist-friendly 3Dsoftware that combines modeling,sculpting, painting, animation andrendering in a natural workflow.Ideal for artists and designersin advertising, packaging, gamedevelopment, film and broadcast,architectural and designvisualization, and education.

Your workflow is unique make sure the power behind it is too. Withtodays creative professionals facing more competition than ever before,its time to give yourself the edge you need. Building on over 20 years ofexperience, let Safe Harbor Computers help you configure your custom

graphics workstation, designed to meet both your needs andyour budget.

www.sharbor.com/CGWMAGVisit this unique link for a specialworkstation offer to CGW readers

Configured with your choice of hardware and software, a TSUNAMI fromSafe Harbor Computers is the professionals first choice for 3D graphics.Maximize productivity with 64-bit 16-core processing power and up to128GB of memory. With an optional NVIDIA Quadro display card, ampup your entire production workflow and make your machine perfect forrendering 3D models, motion graphics, animation and more.

mocha Pro v3.1

Intelligent Planar Tracking utilityfor post production and VFXprofessionals that combinesadvanced tools for: roto, motiontracking, object removal, insert,stabilization and 3D camera solveinto a single desktop application.

Seamless integration with industrypopular editing, compositing, 3Danimation/conversion pipelines.

RealFlow and Maxwell Render

Coming soon: RealFlow 2013 -Hybrido2, RealFlow Graphs, MaxwellRender previews and more! Free forall customers on support andmaintenance. Maxwell Render - Fast,reliable and robust - ideal for the VFXindustry. Academic discounts andLearning Editions available. Bothproducts available on Mac and PC.

Cintiq 22HD

Work naturally and intuitivelydirectly on the surface of thedisplay, while enjoying all thecreative and efficiency gains thatmake Cintiq the first choice amongcreative professionals. Combinesa 21.5" HD, wide-format LCD

with industry-leading pen inputcapabilities, all in a traditionaldesktop display. Free shipping!

G-SPEED Q - 4/8/12/16TB

High speed RAID with quad interfacefeatures built-in RAID controller andcan be easily transported and usedon a laptop or desktop. Compactand whisper quiet, G-SPEED Qfeatures four hot-swappable HitachiEnterprise-class 7200 RPM 3GbitSATA hard drives, and can beconfigured in RAID 0 or 5.
http://www.sharbor.com/http://www.sharbor.com/http://www.sharbor.com/http://www.sharbor.com/CGWMAGhttp://www.sharbor.com/CGWMAGhttp://www.sharbor.com/



Nvidia has rolled out a range o Quadro proessional graph-ics products that oer much greater workstation peror-

mance and capabilities.Built on the ecient processing power o the Nvidia Kepler

GPU architecture, the new lineup includes:Quadro K4000 A high-end card that delivers blazing-ast

perormance or graphics-intensive applications. It has 3GB o

onboard memory, multi-monitor support, and stereo capabilityin a single-slot conguration. It costs $1,269.

Quadro K2000 A mid-range card that oers outstandingperormance with a broad range o proessional applications. It

comes with 2gb o onboard memory to hold large models andmulti-monitor support or enhanced desktop productivity. It ispriced at $599.

Quadro K2000D A variant o the Quadro K2000, withnative support or two dual-link DVI display connectors orinteracing with ultra-high-resolution medical imaging displays.This is also priced at $599.

Quadro K600 An entry-level card with great perormanceand certications or leading proessional applications. It isequipped with 1gb o onboard memory, comes in a low-proledesign or maximum usage fexibility, and is priced at $199.

Nvidia Releases New Kepler-based Quadros

Blackmagic Shines with

DaVinci Resolve 9.1

Blackmagic Design has unveiled a major release o DaVinciResolve 9.1, the latest update to its advanced color-correc-

tion tool that contains Apple support. DaVinci Resolve 9.1 nowenables customers to use Resolve with Apples Macbook Retinatechnology. DaVinci Resolve 9.1 also supports FCP X Audi-tion, enabling stack and scroll through multiple shots in a single

location in a timelineor easily transerringles between the twosystems. Improvementsin mixed rame-rate XMLintegration also will allow

better workfow betweenResolve, FCP X, andFinal Cut Pro 7 projects.

DaVinci Resolve 9.1 supports improvements or Avid AAF, SonyXAVC, and AVC-Intra les, and a number o audio and perormanceimprovements.

DaVinci Resolve 9.1 or Mac, Windows, and Linux is now availableor download rom the Blackmagic Design website ree o charge orall existing ull-eature DaVinci Resolve customers. DaVinci ResolveLite 9.1 public beta is available or both Mac OS X and Windows,and is ree to all users.

INTERN

ATIONAL

nPower Empowers

SolidWorks

nPower Sotware has revealed Power Surac-ing, an industrial design plug-in or SolidWorks3D sotware that makes the design process ormodeling Class-A organic, reeorm suraces inSolidWorks more intuitive.

A shape designed with Power Suracing is asingle, unied object, which can be modied insubtle and signicant ways without pulling apartthe resulting NURBS suraces. Once convertedinto a native SolidWorks part, those sub-Dmodels are treated as i they had been createdwith traditional SolidWorks tools, so that Solid-

Works eatures, like Booleans, llets, shells, andso orth, can be applied. For design changes,Power Suracing users can go back to the origi-nal sub-D orm and modiy the surace shape,and downstream eatures will be reapplied.

Power Suracing can quickly and accuratelyconvert virtually any sub-D model (even sub-Dmodels that have some triangles) into theprecise NURBS representation. It also createshigh-quality suraces, which accurately interpo-late the vertices o the original sub-D mesh.


9/52
http://fmx.de/


10/528

No Production Pipe Dream

With lms lie Te Hobbit creating worldwide excitement

around new technologies and techniques lie 3D, 4k, and

high rame rates, the blocbuster bar has been raised once

again. Directors seeing to wow an audience will begin to demand big-

ger, better, and bolder movies than ever be-

ore. As Hollywood (and Wellywood) pio-neers continue to adopt new technologies

to tell better stories on screen, the amount

o data created in modern lmmaing will

only continue to increase.

For many, this might seem lie a great

opportunity to test new ideas, but some

studios and independent artists may be

worried about how they can meet dead-

lines while still delivering eects that sell

movie ticets.

Tis balance between creativity and

capability has always been a challenge indigital production. Te distance between

the two always threatens to grow wider

as technology advances. oday, many are

nding that they can bridge the gap with

fash memory acceleration or their wor-

stations. With fash, even the independent

contractor can manipulate 5k content in a

world without proxies.

Hollywoods Petabyte Era

Te amount o data that is processed during the production o your

average blocbuster has been a growing problem or years. Te era othe terabyte is long gone. odays lms are reaching into petabytes o

total data, as Weta Digital discovered while creatingAvatar.

Just by shooting in 5k instead o 4k, the amount o data created is

increased by 150 percent or 600 percent when compared to 2k. I you

add higher rame rates, lie 48 rames per second (ps), that amount o

data is doubled. Add 3D to the mix and it doubles again. Ten, with

multiple camera angles and taes, it becomes enormous. Tat means a

lm lie Te Hobbitcan generate 24 times the data per second whencompared with a 2k lm and this is beore any visual eects are added

to the mix.

o wor around these huge le sizes, studios oten use proxies in

order to wor on movies more easily. However, in 3D compositing,

editing, and digital intermediates (DI), where every pixel counts, many

eects must be wored on and reviewed in ull resolution, meaning

proxies are out o the question. Te perormance requirements can

quicly bring an unprepared studio to a screeching halt, or require cor-

ners to be cut in order to meet deadlines.

The Effect of VFX on Data

As i the amount o raw data in a lm wasnt enough to satisy the ap-petite, special eects add layers and layers o pixelated data to pipelines,

Data FilesBy VINCENT BRISEBOIS

March/April 2013

Vincent Brisebois is director of visual com-

puting at Fusion-io, a computer hardware

and software systems company based in

Cottonwood Heights, Utah, that designs

and manufactures memory technology. He

has designed technology solutions for 2D

and 3D production in the visual effects,

video game, and design industries for over

15 years.

Simplifying 5K 48 frames per second workflows in a flash

Vincent Brisebois o Fusion-io (let) acknowledges that working with todays huge les can be dicult andtime-consuming. However, fash memory acceleration oers a viable solution.


11/529

further bottlenecking the production process.

And this is before the lm even gets to color

grading. e data added by modern special ef-

fects can easily dwarf a lms raw footage.

e layered footage created by digital artists

is so data-intensive, it usually has to be upload-

ed to a massive array, and then reviewed in acentralized location with enough through-

put to eectively composite footage into one

semi-nal product.

Flash memory, the same memory that pow-

ers smartphones and tablets, is now helping

digital artists accelerate their pipelines by pro-

viding the power and throughput needed to

work on 2, 4, and 5 content interactively

from their workstations, even in full resolution.

With the ability to achieve reads up to 6/

sec as in gigabytes, not gigabits ash is more

than capable of delivering the performanceneeded to manipulate 5 content. And as more

lms begin to jump on the 48 fps bandwagon,

the industry will need to shift to new solutions,

like ash application acceleration, to meet

deadlines.

e beauty of ash-based solutions is that

digital artists wont have to change the way they do anything. Flash

acceleration just means that artists will spend

a lot less time sitting around, waiting for appli-

cations to load les and process changes. It will

also mean artists can edit stereoscopic content

in real time, so they wont have to upload shots

to a shared storage appliance to be viewed in a

review room. Your own machine can now havethe power to process even the most data-inten-

sive tasks.

ere was a time when it was too costly for

independent artists to incorporate powerful

solutions like this into their home studios, let

alone for larger facilities to deploy application

acceleration across the studio. Today, solutions

can be aordably incorporated to allow any de-

vice even a tablet with a PCIe or under-

bolt connection to gain the throughput needed

to work in 5.

Making great movies is about telling betterstories. With powerful ash memory platforms,

artists can focus on the most important part of

their job, instead of worrying whether their sys-

tems can keep up with their creativity. As a life-

long fan of VFX blockbusters and the creativity

of our industrys artists, I cant wait to see what

visual magic is unleashed by the power of ash.

March/April 2013

Peter Jacksons The Hobbitshowed us the nextevolution in filmmaking: shooting at 5K, in 3D,at 48 frames per second, resulting in a plethoraof data that can create production bottlenecksof epic proportion.

A SMALL SELECTION OF VFS ANIMATION & VISUAL EFFECTS ALUMNI CREDITS INCLUDE The Amazing Spider Man Amy Lu, Senior Animator | Cedric

Lo, Senior Animator | Cobal Yu, Digital Artist | Laurie Powers, Compositor | Marco Leone, Stereo Compositor Matt Wheeler, Lighting TD | Mike Dhamey, Senior

Animator | Argo Geoffrey Hancock, Visual Effects Supervisor | Jamie Bowers, Texture Artist | Jose Yapor, Visual Effects Artist Assassins Creed III Dan

Vargas, Senior Artist | Magdalena Dadela, Senior Character Artist The Avengers Aaron Gilman, Animation

Supervisor | Stephen King, Lead Animator | Cedric Lo, Lead Animator | Scott Jones, Creature TD | Daphne de Jesus,

Senior Digital Paint Artist | Nicholas Markel, Previsualization SupervisorThe Bourne Legacy Emanuele Bignone, GeneralistTD | Jose Julian Karam Lopez, Compositor | Saptarshi Chakraborty, Compositor | Gia Sadhwani, Visual Effects Artist | Pietro

Ponti, CG Sequence Lead Brave Bill Watral, Effects Artist | Justine Codron, Lighting TD Cars 2 Stephen King, Animator | Sherrie

Law, Digital Painter Cloud Atlas Kyeyong Peck, Senior Modeler/Texture Artist | Geoffrey Hancock, Visual Effects Supervisor

Jamie Bowers, Texture Artist | Jose Yapor, Visual Effects Artist | Ian Sorensen, Lead Modeler | Alberto Landeros, Digital Compositor

Lisa Nolan, Visual Effects Artist Conan the Barbarian Giancarlo Derchie, Lead Compositor | Tim Chou, Stereoscopic

Conversion Compositor | Giacomo Cavalletti, Environment Modeler The Dark Knight Rises Dean Mangion, Matchmove Artist

Frederik Lillelund, Lighting TD Dead Rising 2 Fredrick Fass, Animator Dead Space 2 Wayne Gonsalves, Environment Art Lead

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Ryan Nickell, Senior Animator Diablo III John Miller, Environment Artist | Alvaro Buendia, Cinematic Artist

Steven Chen, Cinematic Artist District 9 Neill Blomkamp, Director/Co-Writer | Shawn Walsh, Visual Effects Executive Producer

Robert Bourgeault, Lighting Lead | Paul Copeland, Character TD | James Stewart, Creature Supervisor Dragon Age II Nathan Zufelt, Senior Cinematic

Animator Family Guy Michael Loya, Storyboard Artist Fast Five Rommel Shamoun, Compositor | Anthony Di Ninno, Animator FIFA 13 Jason

McNamar, Associate Modeler Futurama Claudia Keene, Prop Designer Halo 4 Steve Dyck, Lead Animator | Mark Tanner, Senior Animator | Kolby

Jukes, Senior Character Artist | Andrew Bosold, 3D Environment Artist Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Henry South,

CG Modeler | Joshua Herrig, Lead Lighting Artist | Jozef van Eenbergen, Pipeline Developer | Nuno Nisa Pereira, Visual Effects TD The Hobbit:

An Unexpected Journey Adam Bradley, Senior Digital Paint Artist | Louis Cox, Camera TD | Michael Cozens, Senior Animator | Aaron Gilman,

Senior Animator | Tamir Diab, Lighting TD | Cesar Rodriguez Bautista, Senior Paint Artist Hotel Transylvania Chad Ellis, Senior Animator | Eva Fan,

Animator | Will McCrate, Digital Artist Hugo Geeta Basantani, Lead Compositor Ice Age: Continental Drift Borae Cho, Pipeline TD | Graham Silva, Animator

Scott Lemmer, Animator | Thom Roberts, Animator Life of Pi Alex Berson, Roto/Paint Artist | Andrew Juano, Roto/Prep Artist | Diego Piccinato,

Digital Compositor | Jason McKeeman, Lead Creature FX TD | Kirk Chantraine, Pipeline Software Engineer | Oded Granot, Compositing TD | Richard Sur, Lighting

TD | Ryan B. Clarke, Senior Compositor | Teh-wei Yeh, Lighting TD Mass Effect 3 Nathan Zufelt, Cinematic Animator | Bartek Kujbida, Cinematic Animator

Men in Black 3 Juan Carlos Mendoza, Digital Compositor | John Iskandar, Lighting and Compositing TD | Raphael Santos, Roto Artist | Ricardo Gomez, CG Artist

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Jayson Thiessen, Supervising Director | James Wootton, Director Prometheus Gerard Van Ommen Kloeke, Character Rigging

Supervisor | Chrystia Siolkowsky, Roto Artist | Giancarlo Derchie, Digital Compositor | Louis Cox, Camera TD Resident Evil: Retribution Corey Coates, Compositor | Juan

Carlos Mendoza, Digital Compositor | Diego Piccinato, Digital Compositor | Ricardo Gomez, CG Artist | Arthur Logo, Digital Compositor | Karan Awasthi, Digital Compositor

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Carolyn Wong, Creature TD | Richard Sur, Lighting TD | Chrystia Siolkowsky, Motion Editor Sleeping Dogs Andrew Poon, Cinematics Animator | Corey Kleim,

Lead World Artist | Hani Abu-Ghazaleh, Art Director | Rob Starr, Lighting Artist | Sota Yuyama, Gameplay Animator | Terence Wong, Character Artist Smurfs Jeff Struthers, Character Animator

Michael Dharney, Senior Animator SpongeBob SquarePants Andrew Overtoom, Animation Director Supernatural Christopher Richardson, Compositor/Lead Artist | Sebastian Fernandez Hyde,

Digital Compositor | Werner ten Hoeve, Compositor Thor Daphne De Jesus, Roto/Paint Artist | Eric Petey, Animation Supervisor | Rex Fang, Animator Toy Story 3 Daniel Holland, Sets Artist

Tristan Ikuta, Simulation & Effects Artist Transformers: Dark of the Moon Serguei Kalentchouk, Lead Character TD | Jooyong Lee,

Digital Artist The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Abel Vargas, Paint/Roto Artist | Arthur Lobo, Digital Compositor

Corey Coates, Compositor | Frank Akrong, Digital Compositor | Giorgio Bertolone, Senior Rigger | Karan Awasthi, Digital Compositor

Marcela A. Silva, Paint/Roto Artist Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception Mike Yosh, Lead Gameplay Animator | Jason Richmond, Game

DirectorWreck-It RalphAndrew Lawson, Animator | Justin Hammond, Senior Lighting Artist | John Wong, Animator Zero Dark ThirtyShivas Thilak Anthikkat, Paint/Roto Artist | Jessica Wan, Compositor | Chun-Ping Chao, Digital Compositor TO NAME A FEW VFS STUDENT WORK BY CHASE WALLER
http://vfs.com/cgw



VFXStereo 3D

Artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks createdall the fantastical landscapes for Oz theGreat and Powerfulas well as China Girl(top) and the monkey Finley (not pictured).

efore the wizardof Oz became wonderful, he, too, needed toleave black-and-white Kansas, follow a yellowbrick road, determine who was good and evil,and discover greatness within himself. In Ozthe Great and Powerful, an imagined prequelto the Wizard of Oz, the would-be wizard isa cunning magician, Oscar Diggs (played by

James Franco), in a small-time circus. A tor-nado (of course) sucks his hot-air balloon in-side, and he emerges from the vortex in thecolorful but threatened Land of Oz. Can hesave it from the wicked witch? Or, is his magiconly an illusion?

e biggest illusions in the lm, however,are the Land of Oz itself and Ozs travelingcompanions: the monkey Finley voiced byZach Bra, and a tiny China Girl voiced by

Joey King. Sam Raimi, known for Darkman

and the Spider-Man trilogy,directed the WaltDisney Pictures production. A crew at SonyPictures Imageworks provided a majority ofthe visual eects, as they had done for RaimisSpider-Man trilogy and, perhaps more akin tothis lm,Alice in Wonderland.

Visual Eects Supervisor Scott Stokdyk,who won an Oscar for the visual eects inSpider-Man 2 and Oscar nominations forSpider-Man and Hollow Man,was overall su-pervisor for the lms approximately 1,500shots. Imageworks took on between 1,000 and1,100 shots, including the main digital char-acters and most of the environments.

Artists at Luma created the tornadoand a ying action scene between two

witches at the end. Digiscope, Evil Eye,and Method artists handled much of the 2Dcompositing work.


13/52March/April 2013 11

VFXStereo 3D

On this movie, we art-directed every singlething with an eye to consistent detail,Stokdyk says. And along the way, there

was a massive amount of hand-done, art-directed work. We had massive environmentsand a massive amount of animation.

At Imageworks, a crew of approximately300 created the eects, including 50 anima-tors at peak who performed the two digitalstars that appear in the lm: the little ChinaGirl and the ying monkey Finley. Becausethese characters appear with Oz throughoutthe lm, and for consistency, it made sense tohave Imageworks handle the environments.

is is a traveling buddy movie, says Digi-tal Eects Supervisor Francisco De Jesus. Ozstarts in one place and walks to the EmeraldCity on the yellow brick road, and all this timeyou see all the way to the horizon in daylight.

All along the way, the Land of Oz is a fabri-cated world.

ere was no location photography, Stok-dyk says. is lm is very art-designed, very,very sculpted. Sam Raimi, Robert Stromberg[production designer], and Peter Deming[director of photography] wanted a stage-based look. A classic Hollywood look. So, theydecided to shoot it all on stages.

e production team chose shooting onstages to create a style based on 1920s lms.ey wanted to harken back to the 1900publication of Frank Baums booke Won-derful Wizard of Oz, and the 1902 stage playrather than the famous 1939 lm. We triedto build sets for as much as we could and usebluescreens, our modernized version of back-drops, Stokdyk says. Our goal was to bestage-based. We fought to get on-set builds

and not be in a sea of blue. To a large extent,though, this is a traveling movie, so once yougo 200 or 300 feet from one environment toanother, it didnt make sense to build a set.

And we couldnt build a set for only one shot.So we ended up having probably ve to 10 all-blue environments.

Landscape DesignIncluding the set extensions, the crew atImageworks built approximately 50 environ-ments interiors, exteriors, the Emerald City,the witch Glindas courtyard, and many othersin a variety of shapes and forms.

We start in Kansas during the Dust Bowl,Stokdyk. Im familiar with the landscape I grew up in Kansas so to add interest, wegave Kansas rolling hills like the Flint Hills[in eastern Kansas]. en, we go into a fan-

2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Visual effects artistscreate a fantasticlandscape and two digitalactors for Oz the Greatand Powerful


14/52

nn VFXStereo 3D

12 March/April 2013

tastical landscape, a land o jagged peaks andwateralls, and into a lush area. All through themovie, we explore dierent corners o Oz.

Production Designer Robert Stromberg,who won Oscars or the art direction onAvatarandAlice in Wonderland, created the conceptart or the lm. o urther guide the postpro-duction crew, he painted over dailies shot onthe elaborate sets.

Robert married the concept art with theset, says De Jesus. Because his paint-overs

would have gone through Sam [Raimi], theygave us the rst solid approved look o a sceneor a shot. We paid very, very close attention tothose paint-overs. He provided lighting cuesin addition to what they built.

On set, the Imageworks team scanned andphotographed each set and collected HDRIsat two heights or each lighting setup. Wehad almost 1,000 HDRI pairs at the end o

the shoot, Stokdyk says. We could ully re-construct what Deming lit or any set. But,you always art-direct a bit away rom that orput special lighting in to make it look moreartistically beautiul. On set, the DP is con-cerned with making a shot look beautiul. Realis automatic. But in visual eects, we have adual challenge. We have to make the shot lookbeautiul and look real. I we cheat the lightingand put a rim light around our monkey, he islit more beautiully even though the lightingisnt real. So, its something we have to weighconstantly. Tis is a antasy movie with a yingmonkey in a antastic world. We wanted it to

look real, but also antastically beautiul.Most o those antastic environments were

hybrids: A set or the near-ground, CG exten-sions or the mid-ground to background, anddigital matte paintings in the ar background.

Working rom Strombergs paint-overs, a teamat Imageworks mapped out the assets the crew

would need to build.Te rst step was matchmoving. Layout

artists positioned the stereo virtual cameras inthe same position as the on-set camera, albeitinside a digital environment that matched theoutlines o the set. Layout worked in [stereo]3D all the time, De Jesus says. Tis lmand Spider-Manwere our rst native shows.Because we had native stereo rom day oneand had the [digital] stereo cameras rom thematchmove, there was no reason not to look atstereo in layout and in animation sometimeseven in eects as early as possible to get a sense

o where to play up the stereo.Ten the layout department looked at

the previs or each shot and the images thatStromberg had painted over the dailies. Wehad to reconcile how they cheated with what

we could do, De Jesus says. For example,they might have used orced perspective, but

when we had to create the shot in stereo, itwould break.

Next, the layout artists set the stage or theanimators, and ordered assets. Our layoutand model departments worked hand-in-hand, De Jesus says. Ordering props wasan ongoing process: Modeling was constantly

meeting layouts requirements. Te nal lay-out with the shot ully set-dressed with up-graded models would happen ater animation.

Flowers and Trees

Modelers built all the props to work romany angle so the assets could be re-used, andthey made the set extensions rom scans o thesets so that the digital replicas would perectlymatch. We always tried to be efcient andbuild only to camera, but the reality is that thisis the directors playground and directors liketo move around, De Jesus says. Althoughmany models could be re-used, the texturepainting was done more to camera. I we hadshots only rom a particular angle, wed paintonly those assets in high detail.

o link the unique landscapes, the visualeects artists populated areas in each withsimilar assets, and used a similar layout or the

ground cover.Wed mix and match the assets, but they

were the thread that takes us rom start toend, Stokdyk says. For example, we mighthave a corneld next to the yellow brick road,

with a unique lighting, layout, and eel. But,the owers in the oreground would appear inthree or our other places, as would the enceposts along the yellow brick road.

Te cloth and hair teams created theground cover, the grass, and owers. Telayout team managed the trees, with eectsadding dynamics. By the end o the lm, theteams had created a orest library with 500

Ozwas flmed entirely on stage. There were no exterior locations. Most o the landscapes were hybrids with a set piece inthe oreground, CG set extensions in the mid-ground and background, and matte paintings in the ar background.


15/52

VFXStereo 3D nnn

March/April 2013 13

unique trees modeled, textured, and ried.We explored usin L-systems and more

procedural or dedicated sotware or the trees,ut our modelers and texture painters are veryparticular aout the spans and how they wantthe UVs laid out, De Jesus says. It proved toe as much work to chane an out-o-the-oxtree model as to do one rom scratch. Mosto our trees were eometry, ut or the distantones, we used textures on at cards. We keptour renders as ecient as we possily could.

rees not on at cards had animation cyclesthat could e scaled up or down in intensity orspeed to help rin the landscape alive. De-pendin on the shot, the lihtin team could ad-

just the movement with a slider, De Jesus says.Why the lihtin team? Teres a simple

act that any director can comment on certaindetails only when a shot is close to comple-tion, De Jesus says. Te director miht have

reviewed a shot 10 or 20 times or animationand have the character perormance he wants.But only ater lihtin and compositin canhe consider the whole alance o the rame.Somethin on the riht miht distract rom acharacter in rame let.

Havin the sets lessened the amount ouildin the Imaeworks crew needed to do,ut it also made their work harder. When youhave an all-CG shot, its a really well-under-stood pipeline these days, Stokdyk says. Youtrack the actors on luescreen, track the cam-era, rotomate to cast shadows. But when youhave set extensions, you have to make sure youmatch-move 100 percent in every part o therame. You have to ure out where to split thelines and lend the two, especially in [stereo]3D. I the lihtin in part o the set is too hotor out o the sweet spot o lihtin, i theres anerrant shadow, you have to replace that part othe set. I somethin accidentally covers the set,you have to remove it. Te more you uild o aset, the more challenes there are. You trade theeauty o ettin somethin in camera with thetechnical challenes in post.

Flighty BubblesDurin one sequence, Oz, the ood witchGlinda (Michelle Williams), China Girl, andFinley travel inside enormous ules acrossa landscape. Te ule voyae eins atdawn, says De Jesus. Tey are runnin romthe ad witch, jump of a precipice into theclouds, and when they emere, they are in theules. Tey travel on ules to her castle,oin around, throuh, aove, and elowCG clouds.

With clouds desined to mimic the land-scape elow, the crew needed to art-direct

the volumes. We worked out a way to turnany eometric model into a cloud volume,De Jesus says. Te layout team could placethe shape and it would turn into a ull-onvolumetric.

Te ules were spheres deormed y thecharacters inside when they pushed aainstthe surace with their hands and eet. Glindais eleant and poised, so her ule has thatcharacter, De Jesus says. Oz stumles andounces around inside his ule.

De Jesus considers these scenes with char-acters inside ules to e one o the techni-cal achievements on the lm. For reerence,the crew took stills and videos o iant soapules several eet across in various lihtinconditions. On past shows, we used our vol-ume renderer SVEA and we had to do a lot ocheats. Sometimes efects Ds would liht thevolumes and the compositors tried to alance

the passes to create a look. But aout two orthree years ao, we incorporated SVEA into

Arnold, our loal illumination renderer, andthat did away with holdouts and lihtin is-sues. It means, or example, i we have smoke

next to a red wall, the smoke automatically

ets the red ounce. All these sutle thinstake a scene to the next level. It makes it lookreal and, in some cases, look eautiul.

Tus, or Oz, the artists could liht theentire environment and render the scene to-ether with the volumetrics. Te shadowin,loal illumination, and ounce liht all workout o the render, De Jesus says. Our renderservers have 24gb o RAM, so we piled on de-tails until we hit that limit, and then we weredone. You can never have enouh detail; thecomplexity is what makes the scenes look realand interestin.

Some o that complexity came rom efects

that is, rom elements inserted into the at-mosphere. Every scene has an atmospherictheme, Stokdyk says. In Kansas, we hadstraw and dust lowin throuh the ore-round, which ave us texture and allowed usto art-direct throuh the [stereo] depth. And,throuhout the movie, we have snow, clouds,dandelion pufs, and sparks. We had the 3Dphotoraphy and the concept artwork, utthere are still a lot o art-direction decisions wecan make in visual efects. Where to put treesto dapple shadows. Where to position a mattepaintin or the sky and have clouds that com-plement the oreround. And we made dozensand dozens o depth choices. It was a reat cre-ative outlet.

China Townwo o the most creative innovations devisedy the crew solved the prolem o ivin

James Franco a way to interact on set with hissmall CG uddies: China Girl and Finley, themonkey.

Oz discovers China Girl when he stumlesacross her destroyed villae. On set, James

Franco crouched down and peered into a

small-scale set uilt y a crew at New Deal.We had New Deal, which is a miniaturecompany, uild the sets or this little world,Stokdyk says. But we shot it as one-to-onescale. It has iant teapots, which are the homesor China Girl, her amily, and her villae. In-side the teapots is miniature-scale urniture.

On set, Franco could hold a China Girlpuppet in his hand, ut 99 percent o the timeChina Girl is CG. Her size, only 18 inches tall,made it dicult to ive him useul eyelinesand interaction. A tennis all on a stick or alaser pointer could provide an eyeline, ut notthe interaction, and she was too short to have

The bubbles moving across Oz were geometric spheres deformed by the characters inside and thenconverted into volumes.


16/52

nn VFXStereo 3D

14 March/April 2013

young voice actor Joey King play the dollspart on set.

We couldnt squeeze Joey King down intoa corner, Stokdyk says. So, we had a mario-nette version o China Girl on set and a masterpuppeteer, Philip Huber, who has been doingthis or 40 years. He was able to get great nu-ances out o a simple model, even though hecould only open and close its eyes. In post, wepainted out the puppet and Philip when he

was in rame, and replaced the puppet withthe CG version.

Easy to say, but time-consuming and te-dious or the painters. It was painul or all

involved, De Jesus says. Te puppeteer wasin a blue suit in the scene, casting a shadow,crossing in ront o the actor. So, the amounto paint work we had to do was staggering. Ittook a long time to get there. Ater we nishedthe animation and renders, we waited anotherthree weeks or the paint work. When it wasdone, though, the shots actually did work.

On set, as James Franco acted with the mari-onette, he wore ear buds to hear King who

watched rom a nearby booth perorm ChinaGirls voice. Sam [Raimi] directed the peror-mances, so later we had this great source materi-al to draw rom, Stokdyk says. ory Salida, our

animation supervisor, could pick and choosewith Sam how much to take rom the puppetperormance and how much rom Joey.

Modelers created the CG character withball and socket joints like the real puppet. A-ter the marionette had appeared on set and indailies or ve months, the puppeteered ver-sion had become the China Doll character inpeoples minds.

Philips [Huber] instincts were good, Sali-ba says. Te perormance was simple, subtle,and poignant. And because o the puppetslimitations, his China Girl had quirky things

we wouldnt have invented as we animated.

Whether we used the surreal and awkwardpuppet or Joey, the little girl, depended on

which Sam ell in love with. But even whenhe leaned toward Joey, wed go toward the sur-real puppet.

Te big challenge or the animators was inperorming the ace o the porcelain doll. De-spite her brittle ace, China Girl needed to bea living, breathing character. We didnt wanther to move her mouth like a ventriloquistsdummy, Saliba says. We needed to eel thatshe was speaking, and we wanted that sweetlittle girl ace. But, we didnt want her aceto eel like rubber. Her ace has that crackled

surace like old china, and we wanted thatdenitive texture. So, we worked with Scott[Stokdyk] to minimize the eshiness withoutmaking her look old and haggard.

o have emotions play across her ace ina scene without breaking the eeling that she

was made o porcelain, the animators deviseda unique solution. Her expressions had to bereadable, so when they change within a shot,

we tried to hide the change in the gross move-ment o her head, Saliba says. Or, wed cutaway to James Franco. When we cut back,the expression was there. We didnt modulate.Tat limitation sometimes made our job di-cult. But, it was exciting. Usually we ghta tendency to rely on ormula. Tis time,

we couldnt pull rom our old bags o tricks.China Doll eels like a character you dontusually see. I think shes endearing. Te scene

when you rst meet her in Chinatown is

heart-wrenching.

Monkey BusinessLike China Girl, the CG monkey Finleyson-set presence was a challenge, but the chal-lenge was distinct. Finley stands three eetrather than 18 inches tall, so in scenes whenthe monkey is on a rock or a tree stump,Franco could have been at eye level withZach Braf, who was the digital charactersvoice. But not when Oz (Franco) walked andtalked with Finley at his side. And, the mon-key ies.

When Oz is walking on the yellow brickroad, you want the CG monkey to interact

with him, Stokdyk says. We wanted thatinteraction between James [Franco] andZach [Braf].

Rather than using a marionette or the mon-key as they had or China Girl, though, thecrew devised a unique solution. We had a pup-peteer in a blue suit with a monitor on a pole,Stokdyk says. We called it puppet cam.

In addition to the small monitor, the pup-pet cam pole had a lipstick camera, all covered

in blue neoprene. Te puppet cam operatorswere rom the KNB EFX Group, which pro-vided special efects.

On set, Franco and Braf would rehearsescenes and block out action, and then Braf

would move to a soundproo booth equippedwith two monitors. Te main camera ed theootage the DP shot to one monitor. Teother monitor showed ootage rom the lip-stick camera on the puppet cam pole; in other

words, rom the monkeys point o view, theview Braf would have had i he were on setrather than in the booth.

Also in the booth was a camera aimed at

At top, the china village was a miniature set built at New Deal Studios. On set, a puppeteer perormed ChinaGirl, but in the flm, she was computer-generated 99 percent o the time. At bottom, the monkey Finley wasalways digital.


17/52

VFXStereo 3D nnn

March/April 2013 15

Bras ace that ed images to the monitor onthe puppet cam pole. Tus, Franco could seeBras ace on the small monitor on the pole.

And, Bra could see Francos ace. In addi-tion, both actors had ear buds so they couldhear each other.

Te puppet cam operator would put themonitor and lipstick camera where the mon-keys head was supposed to be, so James al-

ways had a live actors ace and eyeline, Salibasays. I the monkey was on the ground, theoperator had a three-oot rope, so he knew

where the monkeys head would be. He couldmove the stick up and down with a lever, andhe had a joystick to swivel the monitor on theend o the stick, like a little head. I dont knowi anyone expected this, but it gave the thing alittle personality as well.

Certainly more personality than a tennisball on a stick and a laser pointer. It ended

up working very well, Saliba says. Its a bigstretch or an actor to visualize a character

when we have a personal assistant readinglines o camera and a tennis ball on set. Zach

and James could play o each other, and wegot a much more tactile perormance rom

James on stage. Even when they brought backZach post-shoot to change a line, it was worthit because James Francos perormance was sovibrant.

Animators had reerence rom the rehearsalto see how Bra gestured, ootage rom Brain the booth or acial expressions and lip sync,and ootage o monkeys. I the monkey wasdoing something physical, we leaned towardreerence o the animal behavior, Saliba says.I he was acting, we tended to rely more onthe videotape o Zach.

Tere was no reerence, however, thatshowed how a three-oot-tall monkey wouldy. He couldnt y like a bird, Saliba says.He was a monkey with wings. We didnt havea benchmark. We had to fgure out how thephysics would work.

Once the animators had created a ightcycle that elt right or Finley given his weightand shape, they realized the same physics

wouldnt produce a good image when he hov-ered. He could propel himsel with the per-ect amount o agility, but when he hovered,his head bobbed up and down, which didnt

work or conversation or with the eyeline,Saliba says. We had to fgure out a way tomake his physics believable without havinghim bob. It took trial and error.

Finley is small and cute, and has bird-likewings with eathers. Te baboons in the mov-ie, which y in hoards, have one purpose: kill.Te baboons have big, boney bat wings,Saliba says. We had to experiment. We usedall the reerence we could fnd rom nature,but nothing that big ies.

Digital Actors

In addition to the two main characters, theanimators created swarms o butteries, digi-tal doubles or the main characters, and putthousands o people in the Emerald City.

When James Franco ran into a big vista,once he got to a certain distance, our digi-doubles took over, Saliba says. We had vol-unteers run up ramps on a motion-capture

stage calculated to match the environments.So, with a bit o adapting in the computer,

we could continue having the actor run intoa vast land.

Te crew also used motion capture or thecrowds o characters in the Emerald city. Wescanned all the hero extras on set and photo-graphed the rest o the extras or weeks, Salibasays. Ten, once we got back to Imageworks,

we captured artists and volunteers rom ourteam doing actions needed or the citizens, likecheering and loading carts or battle. Whenthe crowds got really big, we had help rom theguys in our Massive department who used bits

o motion capture or, in the case o butteries,bits o animation.

As the animators worked, the director andEditor Bob Murawski took notes. Tey

would ask why we didnt have a particular per-son working on a character, Saliba says. Tey

were very conscientious. Teyd see things theyliked and note who did it. Ive never experi-enced that beore. Sam had done Spider-Man,o course. But, this was the frst movie orthem in which the two main characters whoemote and carry chunks o the flm are com-pletely digital. Tey worried about whetherthey could carry the perormance.

In the 1939 flm Te Wizard of Oz, themain character Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland)had three buddies, three actors wearing suits,any o which would have been eligible or Os-car nominations. Filmmaking magic has ad-ventured a long way since then: In this movie,

the main character travels with two digitalbuddies.

We can trace the frst digital companionsback to the dragon created 17 years ago at

ILM or the 1996 DragonHeart, and Image-works own Stuart Little in the 1999 flm othe same name both o which received Oscarnominations or Best Visual Eects. Indeed,

early this year, two o the fve flms nominatedor visual eects had main digital characters

with dialog Te Avengersand Te Hobbitand all fve nominees had realistic, believabledigital characters.

Perhaps someday well see an Oscar awardor best digital actor in a supporting role. Itstime to pull back the curtain and ully honorthe great and powerul wizards in the wonder-ul world o visual eects. n

Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a

contributing editor forComputer Graphics World. She can

be reached at [email protected].

At let, animators cut between dramatic changes in acial expression to give China Girl expressions withoutturning her ace rubbery. At right, a monitor on a stick allowed Oz (actor James Franco) to interact on setwith actor Zach Bra, who provided Finley the fying monkeys voice.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


18/52

Gaming

16 March/April 2013

2013 is the yearwhen the Big

Three face offagain, but expectsome unexpected

competition

By Karen Moltenbrey

most of us probably do not remember the rst generation of video gameconsoles, or the second for that matter. In all likelihood, the third gen-eration (the Nintendo Entertainment System) kicked o console videogaming for the majority of us in the mid-1980s, introducing us to Ma-

rio, Luigi, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and other fun, beloved, pixelated characters.A few years later came the fourth-generation consoles, and approximately veyears after that, the fth generation, which included the Sony PlayStation andNintendo 64.

e sixth-generation game consoles surprise rolled out nearly ve yearslater (notice a trend?). ese are the systems that helped dene a totally new erain gaming, starting with Segas Dreamcast, followed a year later by Sonys PlaySta-tion 2, Microsofts Xbox, and Nintendos GameCube. With this hardware, and

with the seventh-generation systems (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) a half-decade later, gameplay moved into a whole new realm thanks to high-denition CGI delivering amazing eects, realistic, emotive characters,and jaw-dropping environments. Nintendo, however, took a dierentroute, as the Wii focused less on gaming realism and more on fun viamotion tracking and sensing.

Its now been seven years since we have seen a major upgrade in termsof gaming hardware. But, the time has now arrived and we are seeing therst embers of the next round of console wars, which will be heating up

in the coming months.

The Big ThreeFirst to market in the eighth-generation console war was Nintendo, with its

Wii U in late 2012, although some do not consider the Wii U part of thisnext generation. e Wii U is the rst Nintendo console to support high-

denition graphics (so seventh generation) capable of producing video outputup to 1080p. It also sports 2 of RAM, with half of that dedicated to the con-soles operating system. e Wii U ships in two versions: one with 8 of internalash storage, and another with 32. e systems Wii U GamePad controllercontains an embedded touch screen for gameplay when the television is o. esystem also connects to the Nintendo Network Nintendos network infrastruc-ture answer to the Sony PlayStation Network and Microsoft Xbox Live (again, solast generation, but a necessary catch-up to the last-gen consoles).

The Ouya is an inexpensive console that runs arevised version of the Android operating system.


19/52

Gaming

March/April 2013 17

Without question, the featurethat is getting the most attention is Wii Us

touch-screen controller. e 6.2-inch screenis about the size of a tablet computer. How-ever, that is where the comparison to a tabletends, as the screen in no way functions likea tablet computer. e display on the Wii Ucontroller, though, can work in a few dier-ent ways. It can be used to add extra infor-mation or control options to a game that isbeing played on a television screen; it alsocan display the same information shown onthe TV. And, it can serve as the only gamingscreen in use when the system is in O TVPlay mode.

Alas, the system did not meet with thefanfare that the original Wii did back in2006, when many shoppers were lured bythe unique gameplay of the system and itslower price in comparison to the PlayStation3, released in the same timeframe.

e Wii U may have gotten an early jumpin 2012, but it appears that 2013 is gearingup to be the big start of the next-generationrollout. And, in all likelihood, there will besome new players in both the console andhandheld sectors. To this end, expect E3 to be

a very busy place, as companies unveil theirplans and provide a look at their new wares.

e market is ripe with talk of Microsoftsnext-generation Xbox console, expectedsometime this year. Details, as you would ex-pect, are slim well, practically non-existent.e same holds true for Sonys PlayStation 4,also estimated for a late-2013 release. Specu-lation on whether either system will have 3Dstereo capability has been rampant but un-substantiated.

With few hard facts, the industry has beenanxious to learn more about Sonys or Micro-softs new gaming vision. Which one would

throw down the gauntlet rst and reveal de-tails about their oering? e answer: Sony.In a press conference at the end of February,Sony revealed plans to roll out the next gen-eration, indeed called PlayStation 4, in timefor the holiday shopping season. It redenesrich and immersive gameplay with power-ful graphics and speed, intelligent person-alization, deeply integrated social capabili-ties, and innovative second-screen features,stated Jack Tretton, president and CEO ofSony, in a recent blog. When we designedPlayStation 4, we focused on building an ar-chitecture that will allow the greatest gamedevelopers in the industry to push boundar-ies and dig deep within their imaginations tocreate the most immersive and unique gamesfor you to enjoy.

Tretton promises that the PS4 will changethe way gamers interact when playing withfriends. Embracing the social media phe-nomenon, PlayStation 4 will let players in-stantly share images and videos of their fa-vorite gameplay moments on Facebook witha single press on the DualShock 4 control-

lers share button; they can also broadcastwhile playing in real time through Us-tream, so friends can comment or jumpinto the game in new ways. LeveragingPlayStation Network with Gaikaitechnology, PS4 will makeit easier for you toplay your favoritegames and accesscontent whereveryou are. We see PSVita as the ultimatecompanion devicefor PS4, and its our

long-term vision to make mostPS4 games playable on PS Vita, so

you can bring your favorite gamesfrom the big-screen TV to your PS

Vita over Wi-Fi, he noted of the Re-mote Play feature.Also on tap is a PlayStation app for

iPhone, iPad, and Android devices thatacts as a second screen, allowing forunique gameplay possibilities, such as

viewing maps during an adventure gameor remotely watching friends play during anepic battle right from a smartphone or tab-

let, wrote Tretton.In terms of specs, the PS4 will have an

eight-core 64-bit x86 Jaguar CPU fromAMD, with a next-gen Radeon-based GPUcomprising 18 compute units capable ofhandling 1.84 teraops. Moreover, the ma-chine will have full-3D support with 4/2compatibility. It will also support 3D Blu-ray. So, what is the price of the PS4? at isstill unannounced.

New Kids on the Block

All eyes are not solely on Nintendo, Micro-soft, and Sony. ere are new contendersvying for attention and a piece of this lu-crative market. Expected this summer is aninexpensive console from Ouya that runsa revised version of the Android operatingsystem. e system boasts 8 internal ashmemory and 1 RAM. e Ouya also willoer users access to the OnLive streaming

The GameStick is an Android-based consolethat connects directly into a TVs HDMI slot.

The portable Razer Edge Tablet isa high-end gaming system packedinto a tablet.


20/52

nn Gaming

18 March/April 2013

ame service and to an Ouya store or ame

purchases. Another i attraction, aside romits $99 price ta, is the aility to easily accessthe hardware or ame development, withouthavin to pay or developer kits.

Is an inexpensive, independent systemready to take on the Bi Tree? Only time willtell, ut many are ettin on the Ouya, which

was the rainchild o Julie Uhrman o Boxer8and unded via Kickstarter. In act, the und-raisin oal o $8 million to spur development

was achieved in less than eiht hours.Another new and rather unique console

expected this year is called GameStick, alsoan Android-ased, crowd-unded project viaKickstarter rom PlayJam, a casual amescompany. Te new device will connect directlyinto a television via the HDMI slot and run

Android ames. It also ships with a Bluetoothcontroller. For amin on the o, the Game-Stick slides sideways into the controller orportaility to a new location, where the player

just plus the GameStick into a V and theconsole is connected and ready to o. Aain,the pulic supported this venture, as well,providin more than six times the requested

$100,000 Kickstarter undin oal, and thatoriinal oal was otained within 30 hours.

o aument the GameStick, UK-asedPlayJam will utilize its smart V technoloy,allowin players to download content and net-

work with GameStick users.A quote rom the GameStick Kickstarter

pae sums up why this system has potential:Tere are over 1,416,338,245 Vs in the

world ut less than 1 percent o them are usedto play ames! Crazy. We think thats ecausetraditional ames consoles and content are tooexpensive. So 12 months ao, we set out tochallene that y makin the most aordale,

open, and portale V ames console ever

created. At $79, GameStick oers the most a-ordale route to playin ames on your V.

Basically, the company is ollowin the suc-cessul model o its casual ames usiness withits use o open platorms via Android. As a re-sult, developers would e ale to create amesaster and cheaper, and this would open upame development opportunities or studios oall sizes.

Te GameStick has an Amloic 8726-MXprocessor with 1gb DDR3 memory and 8gbfash memory, and contains a content down-load manaer with cloud storae system orames. It also supports ull 1080p HD video.See a Q&A with PlayJam CMO Anthony John-son about GameStick, accessible under Extras inthe March-April 2013 issue box on CGW.com.

Who knows more aout amin than aame developer? Nearly a decade ao, ValveCorporation (Half-Life, Team Fortress 2) un-

veiled Steam, a diital distriution, diitalrihts manaement, multiplayer, and commu-nications platorm. In essence, Steam is used todistriute ames and related media online, andlast year, it started includin non-amin sot-

ware, as well. Steam was initially developed oruse on Microsot Windows, ut has expandedto OS X and Linux (pulic eta), with limitedunctionality on the PlayStation 3 console andiOS and Android moile devices. With suchsolid inrastructure in place (servin an estimat-ed 50 million users), the next step seems almostovious: uildin a ame console. And that isexactly what Valve has planned.

Dued Steam Box y the industry, theconcept is a hyrid PC/ame console. Tisunique hardware would e tuned to runSteam and, in turn, the ames and mediaalready availale throuh the roust service.

All indication is that Valve will oer three

tiers, or versions, o the ox: ood, etter, est.Tese will e priced accordinly ased on thecomponents and eared or the casual amer,the typical amer, and the hard-core amer,respectively. While the operatin system is stillanyones uess at this point, there is specula-tion that it will run Linux and would e aleto handle Windows.

Portables on the Rise

Meanwhile, the portales are experiencin anupdate, as well. More than a year ao, Sonyreleased the PlayStation Vita, with ront andrear cameras or aumented-reality experi-ences, and a touch screen. Te device is alsocross-platorm compatile with the PlaySta-tion 3, so ames can e started on one system,saved, and continued on the other. However,sales o the Vita (oriinally priced at $249 and$299 or a Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi/3G version, re-

Game development for the PS4 is already under way for some, including Sucker Punch ProductionsInfamous: Second Sontitle.

Nintendo rolled out its next-gen game system, the Wii U, in 2012. The Wii U GamePad controller sports an

embedded touch screen, enabling users to play a game while the TV is turned off.


21/52

Gaming nnn

March/April 2013 19

spectively) were dismal durin its rst year onthe market. As a result, industry pundits ex-pect the price to e reduced this year.

Te PS Vita competes aainst the Nin-tendo 3DS, which was released in the sprin

o 2011. A successor to the popular NintendoDS, the 3DS rins the novelty o autostereoto the screen meanin no 3D lasses or otherdevices are needed or the 3D eects. Te 3DShas three cameras: one in the ront that cap-tures standard 2D imaes, and two rear-acincameras on the ack that can e used to cap-ture 3D imaes.

Apparently many were not ready to pay$249 or stereo on a handheld, and less than sixmonths ater its release, the price was slashed to$169 in liht o anemic sales. Last July, Ninten-do released an updated version, the 3DS XL,

which sports much larer screens and lonerattery lie and a larer price ta ($200).

What some were hopin would result romthe Wii U controller that it could e usedindependently o the Wii U console itsel, asits own amin device can e ound in the

Wikipad amin talet. A newcomer on thescene, the Wikipad is larer than the Wii UGamePad controller, thouh it oasts similarameplay eatures that include an analo stickcontroller and control unction/input uttonsto the side o the screen. However, the talet is

detachale rom the controller ase, automati-cally ecomin a seven-inch Android talet.Furthermore, when the talet is attached tothe controller ase, it can still unction as atalet computer.

Te talet, attached or detached, containsan Nvidia era 3 processor and 16gb ofash memory, and runs Gooles open-source

Android operatin system. So, rather than de-scried as a ame controller that unctions as atalet, the Wikipad is etter descried as a ta-let computer that can also act as a ame control-ler. Well, sort o.

Most o the riple-A console ames require

the stick and uttons on the sides o the Wiki-pad device to control ameplay, as opposed tousin a talet-like swipin motion. Conversely,most Android ames were developed or touch-screen input and do not support typical console

controllers (joystick, uttons). Nevertheless,there are a numer o moile titles that, in act,do support ame controllers. And, the Wikipadruns Sony titles developed or the PlayStationmoile platorm that is, the PS Vita.

Another talet device that is expected to de-ut this year is the Razer Ede alet, which

will run Windows 8. Purported to e a hih-end amin system packed into a talet, it ispowered y Intel Core processors and NvidiaGeForce raphics cards with Optimus, andoasts 8gb DDR3 RAM plus a 10.1-inch HDmulti-touch display.

Razer descries the device as a talet thatis also a ull-feded moile amin PC. In-deed, the Ede is a ull-unctionin Windows8 talet that is compatile with Windows 8applications and ames. When the talet is at-tached to a keyoard dock, the device ecomesa noteook-style PC. When it is attached to

the amepad controller, the talet unctionsas a moile PC ame device, with the uttonsand joysticks on the side o the amepad usedto control the PC ame action. Te dockinstation connects to a desktop display and pe-ripherals or hooks up to an HDV or larer-picture amin. Without question, the deviceis extremely versatile. But, it carries a hih priceta. Te standard Razer Ede with an IntelCore i5 processor and 4gb o DDR3 RAM

will sell or $999, while a Core i7 version with8gb o RAM will carry a $1,299 price.

Another entry into the moile aminmarket is Nvidias Project Shield, an Androidera ame device with an attached ve-inch,720p display. For open platorms, ProjectShield is an Android portale ame player.

And, like many o the newcomers, it has anadditional unction here, it is a wireless clientto a GeForce GX PC. (For an in-depth look

at Nvidias Project Shield and what it meansor Nvidia and the industry, see Stayin onthe Grid, pae 20.)

Without question, 2013 will e a hue yearor amin machines, titles, and player expe-rience. Expect Sony and Microsot to up theante, ut also expect the rise o the Android

and open systems to expand ame develop-ment into studios that could never et a seat atthe exclusive development kit tale. Once thedomain o simplistic-lookin casual ames,the Android operatin system is on the vereo revolutionizin the industry or even themost serious amer. Also, the cloud is helpinto lihten the load or new consoles and de-vices, makin them more powerul and moreportale than ever eore. n

Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of Computer

Graphics World.

The WikiPad controller

contains a detachable tablet that func-tions as an Android tablet computer.

The Witness, an open-world puzzle game for next-gen gaming, will be rolled out for the PS4 only, takingadvantage of Sonys new console technology.


22/52

nn Gaming

20 March/April 2013

Project Shield, Nvidias Android egra game control-ler with a screen, is striking when frst seen. How-ever, the confguration is not novel. Game control-lers that hold a mobile phone or a tablet have been

available or a while.Project Shield consists o a console-like game controller

with a dedicated and permanently attached fve-inch, 720pmulti-touch display, powered by Nvidias latest ARM-basedprocessor, egra 4, running Googles Jellybean version o

Android.It is an appealing product and irresistible to pick up. But

is that enough to make it disruptive? Mobile phones certain-ly existed beore Apple introduced the iPhone, yet not many

would dispute that it was a transormational and disruptiveproduct but was it?

In Clayton M. Christensens 1997 best-selling bookTe Inno-vators Dilemma, he separates new technology into two categories:

sustaining and disruptive. Disruptive technology lacks refnement, o-ten has perormance problems because it is new, appeals to a limitedaudience, and may not yet have a proven practical application.

Te description o disruptive hardly fts Nvidias Project Shield, orthe iPhone or that matter. It is doubtul that Project Shield will havemany, i any, perormance problems any more than any new productdoes, including the iPhone. It may have a limited audience, namely gameplayers, but there are about 30 million o them (hard-core gamers or allplatorms approach 300 million), and so it is a matter o scale when makingthe determination o limited. In addition, the iPhone and Project Shieldcertainly have proven practical applications.

Is the new project shield

disruptive technology orjust a Grid peripheral?By Jon Peddie


23/52

Gaming nnn

March/April 2013 21

A Grid Peripheral?Announced at Nvidias 2012 GPU ech-nology Conerence, Grid is the companysapproach to an on-demand gaming service.Nvidia claims it will provide advantages overtraditional console gaming systems. In addi-tion, it is an any-device gaming service, andaccording to Nvidia, it ofers high-quality,low-latency gaming on a PC, Mac, tablet,smartphone, or V.

Nvidia has combined its development orunning a game on an x86-based PC witha GeForce graphics add-in board (AIB) andstreaming the game to a non-x86 device.Tat technique uses the non-x86 device asa thin client (C), allowing the C to sendcommands as well as display the streamedresults. Except or the latency, which is aunction o the network, the users experi-

ence is as i the powerul AIB was in hisor her local device be it a smartphone ortablet. Nvidia has schematized the conceptin the Diagram on page 22.

What is not shown in the diagram is apicture o the equipment that comprises the(green cloud-like) Grid in the middle. Tatpresumably will be a generic server withan Nvidia GeForce AIB and Nvidias low-latency encoder and ast rame bufer capturetechnology. According to Nvidias calcula-tions, Grid will be able to deliver the samethroughput and latency as a console.

Added to list o devices that can connect tothe Grid is the new Project Shield. Further-more, through its HDMI output, ProjectShield can also drive a large-screen V as itsdisplay, making it even more console-like.

A Disruption?But, is any o this disruptive? I think not.Interesting, yes. Clever, yes. Well executed,time will tell. But Nvidias track record sug-gests it will be.

Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidias charismat-

ic president and ounder, said hebuilt Project Shield because no

one else was going to makea mobile device like it.

He told GamesBeat,Were not trying

to build a console.Were trying tobuild an Android

digital device in thesame way that Nexus 7

[users] enjoy books, magazines,and movies. Tis is an Android device orenjoying games. Its part o your collection o

Android devices. Te reason why I builtthis device is because only we can build thisdevice.

I only Nvidia can build the device, andi the device only runs rom an Nvidia Gridserver, and only on an Nvidia egra pro-cessor, then Nvidia has built a proprietary,closed garden o sorts. I other services, suchas Amazon, Google, Steam, or Origin, take

up the Grid, then it will be more catholic.However, until other providers embraceGrid, the perormance on Project Shield maybe less than stellar, or Nvidia will have to be-come a streaming game service like Micro-sot, Sony, and others. Tat could be a licens-ing nightmare and suck enormous resourcesrom the company not something Huang

will undertake lightly.Nvidia thinks it is a bit o a stretch to

compare Project Shield to closed-gardenconsoles. Although Grid is a componentin the marketing o Project Shield, it is notthe main component. Nvidia sees Project

Shield as an Android device player.Assuming the content distribution part o

the equation can be worked out and I haveno doubt it will be i it hasnt already been Nvidia wouldnt have made these announce-ments with an empty gun, and the adoptiono Project Shield becomes one o economics.

Huang has indicated he is not interested inthe hardware-subsided game console model,

nor should he be since he does not own anycontent. Tereore, Project Shield has to sellor cost-o-goods (COG) plus margin, andNvidia has plenty o pressure rom investorsabout maintaining margin. By my reckoning,the COG o Project Shield is about $175.

Tereore, to allow some margin or dis-tributors and resellers, the unit will probablysell or $250 to $300, which is about twice asmuch as an add-on controller device like theMOGA, but almost the same as the Phone-

Joys expected price.Smartphones with 5.3-plus-inch, 1280x768

screens will challenge Project Shields 5-inch,

Nvidia is rolling out Project Shield, an Android Tegra-based gaming device that will run titles such asDead Trigger 2(top) and Real Boxing 2013(bottom).


24/52

nn Gaming

22 March/April 2013

1280x720 screen. And whereas Haung saysProject Shield will be part o your collectiono Android devices, a lightweight controllerthat your phone can snap into might be a bet-ter choice. Moreover, smartphones can drivean HDV, too.

Disruptive to Nvidias Business?By introducing Project Shield, Nvidia has putitsel in competition with its customers. Nvid-ia would argue that there is nothing quite likeProject Shield; its unlikely that Nvidias cus-tomers will see it that way. Sony, one o thosecustomers, will certainly see the competitionor console and handheld players. Nvidiamight argue that Sony only oers games orSony handhelds and consoles, whereas ProjectShield is an Android game player. Tereore,Project Shield only enhances the competitionto Sony rom Android.

In addition, Lenovo, one o Nvidias part-ners, has certainly noticed Project Shield.Peter Hortensius, president o Lenovosproduct group, told CNE, I dont think itshould surprise anybody that people are try-

ing things.... I [Nvidia] gets a lot o successand wants to move into our space, OK, wellcompete with them. But people look at be-ing in the device business, and theres a lotmore to this business than they realize. Wellsee how many o them are still around doingthat in a ew years. Tat sounds like throw-ing down the gauntlet to me. It also soundslike Lenovo may have a phone controller oits own in the works.

It also is surprising to hear that Nvidia didnot pre-brie Hortensius on Project Shield. I

would have imagined Nvidia showed, i notthe device, the plans or it to all its partners,

looking or someone to build and market it,i nothing else.

One Tiny Thin Mint?In an old (1983) movie, Monty Pythons Te

Meaning of Life, a large diner, Mr. Creosote,explodes ater eating a tiny thin mint. Nvidiamay think Project Shield is such a small devicein price and size that it would not bother itspartners. Yet, it may be more explosive thanNvidia thinks. It is also surprising that loyalpartner Asus would not have taken on sucha product.

Te act is none oNvidias partners havethe reach into the tech-nology and the gamerecosystem that Nvidiadoes. Remember, Nvidiagot started serving thegamer community, andalthough it has expandedand brought out lots oother products, it hasnever lost its relationship

to the gamer market. Inact, the game market is the second-highestrevenue producer or the company.

The Other StuffI youre new to Nvidia and think o it as beinga semiconductor supplier, an end-user prod-uct like Project Shield may seem like a strange,distractive, and maybe even dangerous prod-uct diversion. I Nvidia were only a semi-conductor supplier, it would be strange, anddangerous. For one thing, you need a seriousdedicated support team or end-user devices totake calls, oer help, receive, repair, and return

units, not to mention the marketing costs.However, Nvidia already has all those parts inplace and has had them or a while.

ake note Nvidia sells mid-range Nvidia-branded AIBs in the retail channels like BestBuy. It sells end-user consumer products, like3D Vision, all sorts o paraphernalia, like caps,-shirts, and jackets, and even remarkets othercompanies products, like Jambox and FinePixcameras. As or support, it has had a supportteam almost since day one ever hear o thingcalled a driver?

Adventurer or Aggregator?Project Shield couldnt be done by a start-up,no matter how well unded. An existing con-sumer supplier like HP or Microsot probablycant do it, either. Nvidia has pulled togetherall the stu it has done elsewhere in the com-pany and brought those technologies, inra-

structure, and talents to make Project Shield.Once the company decided to do it, it didnttake very long to produce it.

Nvidias ocus with Project Shield is rais-ing the bar or native Android gaming, andallowing PC gamers to extend their gamingexperience to anywhere in their house. ProjectShield, Nvidia emphasizes, is a stock Android[device], with access to all the Google appsand ecosystem.

Why is this important? Te company sur-veyed its customers and ound that 82 percento them play games on multiple platorms.

Gamers are called that because they like to playgames. And they will play games on various de-vices, in various situations (home, on a bus, in a

waiting room, and so orth). Just as we use dier-ent devices or listening to music or watching avideo depending where we are, game playing re-quires (needs) devices suited to the environmentthe users fnd themselves in. n

Jon Peddie is president of Jon Peddie Research, a Tiburon,

CA-based consultancy specializing in graphics and multi-

media that also publishes JPRs TechWatch. He can be

reached [email protected].

Nvidias concept of the Grid: A central green cloud communicating with a range of devices.

Controller assembly, speakers, and mic $15

Hi-res 5.4-inch LCD panel $50

Touch screen $18

Circuit board, semis, batteries, charger $90

Total $173

Gross Proft $80

Retail price $253

Estimate of Nvidias Shield costs
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


25/52

SUBSCRIBEONLINEAT

CGW.COM/SUBSCRIPTIONS.ASPX
http://cgw.com/SUBSCRIPTIONS.ASPXhttp://cgw.com/SUBSCRIPTIONS.ASPXhttp://cgw.com/SUBSCRIPTIONS.ASPX


26/52


27/52

Despite wicked business machinations grinding in the background, Digital Domain artists produced allthe lms airy-tale giants 15 unique characters, o which eight, including the two-headed monster, had star-ring roles with dialog. From those, the crew created a crowd that sometimes included as many as 100 giantsand provided them with costumes, complete with cloth simulations. Te Moving Picture Company (MPC)artists grew the beanstalk, a giant creature that rockets out o a armhouse in one sequence and out the bellyo a giant in another. Each o these studios developed new technology and new techniques to accomplishthe work. For Digital Domain, an evolution o the virtual production system used on Real Steel, new skinshading techniques, and HDR imaging. For MPC, tricks or rendering a behemoth beanstalk.

Pre-capAt Digital Domain, Visual Efects Supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum brought his experience working onAvatarto the crews located in Venice, Caliornia, and Vancouver, Canada. On-set Supervisor Swen Gilbergbrought his experience at Digital Domain on Real Steelto virtual production.

I came on as principal photography started, Gilberg says. While Stephen ran things on the WestCoast, I spent ve months in England working with Hoyt Yeatman [overall visual efects supervisor] on set.Te idea was similar to what we did or Real Steel, but more rushed.Do mocap rst, put that into a block-ing previs. Ten, put that in a virtual space that matches where you would later shoot. We did the pre-capin two weeks beore principal photography.

o do the pre-cap, Giant Studios and Digital Domain shipped their equipment and crews to England,where principal photography would take place. Te Giant Studios crew handled the body capture and vir-tual camera, while at the same time, the Digital Domain crew used a proprietary system dubbed Beatriceto capture acial expressions or the actors playing the CG giants: Bill Nighy as the main General Fallonhead and John Kassir as General Fallons small head, Cornell John as Fee, Andrew Brooke as Fye, BenDaniels as Fumm, and Philip Philmar as the giant cook.

We used our cameras to capture the aces, Rosenbaum says, two cameras on either side, which gaveus true 3D inormation. We could see the jaw line, see how the lips curled out with certain words. Tething Im most proud o in this show is that the actors perorma

computer graphics world 2013-03-04

Documents