If ever there was a community of manufacturers that listened to their end users and actively worked to implement their ideas, it’s those wacky plug-in guys. That was the message I got a short while ago from Todd Prives, product marketing manager at GenArts, makers of Sapphire plug-in products for most major platforms (including the new version 4.0, for Autodesk systems).
I asked Todd how formal and layered is the system that GenArts uses to solicit input from its users and evaluate that input for possible inclusion in future products or versions of products. “They call us up or Email us,” Todd replied simply, and he went on to tell me the story of how Angus Kneale, creative director and co-founder of The Mill in New York, got into his ear many months ago with all sorts of specific suggestions for useful tweaks to add to Sapphire.
“He wanted racking focus with his own custom lens shape rather than just the ones we included, and along with that, to boost highlight parameters, and other things like that,” says Prives. “We thought he had a good point, so we came up with ‘Convolve’ (a defocus plug-in that is part of the new V. 4 for Autodesk users which lets users create various blur effects using arbitrary filter shapes and colors) to address those concerns.”
That sort of back-and-forth is happening continually at GenArts, according to Prives. So, if you have some suggestions, pop over to booth 321 and let him hear about them.
–Michael Goldman
Much like children, technology eventually needs to find its own way in the world, and the slow but steady development path of Cinital’s Previzion HD studio (basically, an advanced camera motion tracking/previsualization technology for visual effects work) exemplifies that. I had a nice chat with Cinital’s founder, Eliot Mack, this morning and the very first thing he told me illustrated that point. Previzion, Eliot explained, was very much developed for the broadcast/corporate end of the video production spectrum initially, only to find itself instead drawing interest primarily from the Hollywood visual effects community for high-end work as a possible tool for efficient on-set previz in real time.
It’s in that arena that Cinetal is primarily testing the technology today, and in recent months, the company has been putting the system through its paces at Stargate Digital in Los Angeles–a company known for doing extensive greenscreen work for high-end computer graphics projects. Eliot says the process has brought the technology to “a whole new level of performance,” by solving or improving issues related to the system’s keyer, real time depth of field, better tracking, and rapid encoding of HD background imagery, among other things.
He seemed confident that the system will shortly be applied to a major Hollywood feature for the first time, but what I f ound particularly refreshing was that Eliot admitted it’s been a long haul to develop the system to meet Hollywood’s specifications, and that it hasn’t always been easy going.
“About three years-plus of very hard work,” he told me. “We had the system quite advanced for some time. But now, we’re working on that little difference between being almost there and being all the way there. We’ve made such great strides in how we match lighting, even sunlight, for instance. We’ve got more work to do, but we’re pleased with how things are shaping up.”
–Michael Goldman
One of the amazing and great things about the Siggraph show is the breadth of people you meet–from computer gurus, to animation wizards, to students and enthusiasts. Obviously, it’s important for Digital Content Producer and Millimeter to be a part of such a show, not only to to get the info on the latest technology for you, our readers–but, it also gives us a chance to meet and interact with our readers. These are always great, and revealing moments.
I’m at Siggraph not only to represent the magazines, but to also promote our new online community, Reel-exchange.com. I just had a great chat with one of our members, Vincent MacTiernan, who (not trying to be too self-serving, here, but…) was ecstatic about the site and the number of sales leads he’s gotten via the “Request A Reel” feature. He notes, “Not just small folks in the middle of nowhere. I’m talking about the big guys in LA and NY.”
During our talk, he turned me onto a great way for members to track their page views, traffic, and overall web presence. We are currently in the works development-wise to add reel counters and other functions to Reel-Exhcange in the future. For now, though, MacTiernan finds alexa.com to be highly valuable.
Anyway, if you’re a Reel-Exchange.com member and you’re at Siggraph, be sure to stop by and say hi to us at Booth 420.
More Siggraph news from our ongoing virtual press conference
Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), ), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, has teamed up with graphics technologies leaders NVIDIA Corporation and mental images® to extend sophisticated shader technology to every user in the style and digital mock-up review processes, the companies announced today. Wider access to shading tools enables companies to create richer, more detailed simulations that yield higher quality 3D renderings that reflect the real world. more…
Thus far my first day of Siggraph has been pretty gnarly. Our game (www.shankethegame.com) we built for the Art Institute seems to be going over extremely well! It’s amazing to see something we worked so hard on over the last few months being played by so many people. I haven’t had the chance to meet any of my artistic heroes as of yet, but I plan to!
At the beginning of their Monday afternoon press conference, Marc Stevens, vice president and general manager for Softimage, announced with a smile that the Montreal-based company had gone on a buying spree and bought Autodesk.
While no one took the bait–Autodesk is many times the size of Softimage‘s owner Avid, with a healthy balance sheet to boot–Stevens was reacting to that day‘s news that Autodesk was the one going on a buying spree with the announcement of its plans to purchase New Zealand-based Skymatter Limited, the developer of Mudbox 3D modeling software. (Somewhat similar to Pixologic‘s Zbrush software, Mudbox enables 3D brush-based modeling; users can sculpt organic shapes in 3D space with brush-like tools.) more…
More Siggraph news from our ongoing virtual press conference
SAN DIEGO (SIGGRAPH Booth #1249) Aug. 7, 2007 - Sony and mental images are announcing a joint project that will allow the Academy Award® winning mental ray® high-end rendering software to operate with Sony‘s new prototype Cell Computing Board in a range of visualization workflows that feature Cell Broadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.) technology. more…
More Siggraph news from our ongoing virtual press conference
San Diego — Aug. 7, 2007 — Allegorithmic, an emerging 3D technology company developing advanced texturing tools for real-time 3D content, today announced ProFX 2.6, the newest version of its patented procedural texturing middleware. Featuring a newly optimized core that runs faster and on a wider range of machines (starting with Pixel Shader 2.0), ProFX 2.6 is the only middleware that allows game developers to professionally author and render high-quality procedural textures. Designed for use with MaPZone Pro 2.6, Allegorithmic‘s advanced texture authoring software, ProFX 2.6 lets game studios produce texture assets up to two times faster than with regular techniques. more…
More Siggraph news from our ongoing virtual press conference
San Diego, CA - SIGGRAPH 2007, Booth #1720 (August 7, 2007)-The software division of award-winning visual effects studio Frantic Films today announced the release of Awake, a plug-in pack for eyeon Software‘s Fusion 5. Awake includes six powerful plug-ins: Lens Distort, Stereo Image Stacking, Stereo Image Unstacking, Frequency Blur, Spherical Distort, and Digital Camera Noise. Awake will be demonstrated at the eyeon Software booth, Booth #815 and at the Frantic Films booth, Booth #1720 at this year‘s SIGGRAPH Conference from August 7-9, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. more…
More Siggraph news from our ongoing virtual press conference
San Diego, CA - SIGGRAPH 2007 (August 6, 2007) - Massive Software, the leading developer of AI driven 3D animation systems, and mental images®, the premier rendering software for entertainment, scientific and architectural visualization, today announced native support for mental ray® in Massive. mental ray is software for high-end, photorealistic rendering. Massive is artificial life-based software for producing realistic character animation with up to hundreds of thousands of autonomous performances. more…
