www.cgw.

com November 2008

Dogged
Pursuit
Disney’s R&D develops new
tools and techniques for the
loose brush style in Bolt

$6.00 USA $8.25 Canada

CGW :1108_p 10/29/08 11:23 AM Page 1
November 2008 • Volume 31 • Number 11 Innovations in visual computing for the global DCC community

10
Features
20 Rethinking Moviemaking
10Animation and visual effects studios, including Disney, DreamWorks, and
others, are using stereoscopic 3D as a new creative tool.
By Barbara Robertson

COVER STORY

Back to the Future

20Disney establishes two unique looks for Bolt: one when the superdog is
in the TV world and another when he is in the “real world.” For the latter,
Disney invented new technology.
By Barbara Robertson

Workstations on the Move

26What is a mobile workstation, and are the recent entries into this market
segment truly worthy of this label?
By Jon Peddie

32 32 Zero to Hero

Departments 32Aanimated
multinational group overcomes a number of obstacles to create its first
feature film, Dragon Hunters.
By Karen Moltenbrey

Editor’s Note Viewer Choices Backdrop

2 Moviegoers today have many choices when it comes to a CG animated
feature film as studios large and small, domestic and abroad, offer up their
latest creations.
47Jean-Philippe Agati of Sparx Animation, discusses the issues his studio
faced in order to bring its first animated feature, Igor, to big screens across
the US.
By Karen Moltenbrey
Spotlight
4Sony’s
Products AMD’s ATI FirePro V5700 and V3700. Boxx’s VizBoxx.
Cell platform.
Softimage.
News Autodesk signs an agreement to purchase

SEE IT IN • Restoring Classic—and not-so-

classic—films.
News Analysis • VFX supes: Getting involved at the
8 Avendor’s
look at Softimage’s past and present as a DCC company, and how the
products and technology may fit within the Autodesk portfolio.
board stage saves time and money
• Director Alan Ball discusses his new
@CGW.com film, Towelhead.
Visit www.cgw.com to listen to an audio interview with Autodesk
and Softimage execs concerning the acquisition.

Knowledge & Career ON THE COVER

40 Autodesk Animation Academy integrates the ABCs of 3D within core
academic subjects such as math and science. Dog gone it, Disney’s done it again. Disney Animation Studios’
Bolt adds a unique bite to CG, offering a novel look achieved
with several new technologies. For added dimensionality, the film
Back Products also will be shown in stereo 3D.
44Recent software and hardware releases from SIGGRAPH 2008.
November 2008 1
 Editor’sNote

Viewer Choices The Magazine for Digital Content Professionals

E D I TO R I A L

W
Karen moltenbrey
hen I was a child, going to the movies on a Saturday afternoon was Chief Editor
karen@cgw.com • (603) 432-7568
a treat. That’s because films geared to youngsters were few and far 36 East Nashua Road
between. In 1971, for instance, Disney released two family movies: The Windham, NH 03087

Million Dollar Duck and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In fact, between 1960 and Contributing Editors
Courtney Howard, Jenny Donelan,
1970, the studio rolled out fewer than 10 films for this audience, and not even Audrey Doyle, Evan Marc Hirsch, George Maestri,
half of those were (traditionally) animated features. And back then, Kathleen Maher, Martin McEachern,
Stephen Porter, Barbara Robertson
Disney had a tight grip on the animated film genre, as only a few
2D animated movies from other studios, such as Hanna-Barbera, WILLIAM R. RITTWAGE
Publisher, President and CEO,
made it into theaters. COP Communications
Today, the situation couldn’t be more different. Old-fashioned
theaters with a single screen and single projector have given way to SA L E S
Lisa BLACK
multiplexes, so moviegoers can choose from among 10, 20, or even National Sales Manager
Classifieds • Education • Recruitment
more films at any given time. With all this opportunity, studios, lisab@copcomm.com • (877) CGW-POST [249-7678]
including Disney/Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, PDI/Dream- fax: (214) 260-1127

Works, and others, have churned out animated hit after hit. This
Editorial Office / LA Sales Office:
year alone audiences have been entertained by the lovable robot 620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, CA 91204
Wall-e, the pampered zoo crew from Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the stuffy mar- (800) 280-6446

tial artists of Kung Fu Panda, the Suessian characters from Horton Hears a Who!,
P rod u c tio n
and more. Far more. Kath Cunningham
In 2008 alone, we were treated to nearly the same number of animated theatri- Production Director
kcunningham@cgw.com • (818) 291-1113
cal releases that were available during the decade from 1960 to 1970.
This month, Disney has unleashed its latest film star, Bolt, who stars in a MICHAEL VIGGIANO
Art Director
feature with the same name (see “Back to the Future,” pg. 20). Bolt has a unique mviggiano@copcomm.com
look. It is not exactly the same style as the traditional 2D Disney films from
Chris Salcido
the studio’s second Golden Age. Yet, considering that Byron Howard—whose Account Representative
csalcido@copprints.com • (818) 291-1144
credits include Brother Bear, Lilo & Stitch, and Mulan—co-directed, the influence
becomes clear. However, wielding great influence was John Lasseter, the master-
ful director of Pixar’s Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, and Cars. Achieving the
movie’s hybrid look also demanded new CG technology across four distinct areas.
It’s not just the industry giants who are entertaining us. Last month, Sparx
Animation (France, Vietnam) released Igor, a twisted tale about a lovable hunch-
back and his motley group of friends (see the Backdrop, pg. 47). Next month,
Fathom Studios (Atlanta) will debut its magical adventure film Delgo, featuring
Computer Graphics World Magazine
epic battles, bizarre monsters, compelling characters, and stunning environments. is published by Computer Graphics World,
a COP Communications company.
And, finally, the storybook-come-to-life The Tale of Despereaux, Framestore’s solo Computer Graphics World does not verify any claims or
other information appearing in any of the advertisements
entry into the feature-film arena, will debut in theaters this holiday season. contained in the publication, and cannot take any
responsibility for any losses or other damages incurred
Another striking animated feature from France, Dragon Hunters, has made its by readers in reliance on such content.

mark abroad but is still hoping for a US release (see “Zero to Hero,” pg. 32). In
this futuristic/medieval world, the characters boast a stylized look and the envi-
ronments are truly different.
Audiences indeed have choices, not just among the animated features, but also
among the live-action movies. So, with so many options, is the market becoming
too diluted with these films? Is an animated movie no longer the “special treat”
it once was? Perhaps. But as long as studios deliver compelling stories augmented
with equally compelling visuals, then there can never be too much of a good thing!
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2 November 2008
August 2008
CGW :808_p 7/18/08 4:46 PM Page 1

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 AMD Rolls Out New Brand, Releases Accelerator Pair
AMD recently unveiled a new brand for its professional graph-
ics accelerators, the ATI FirePro, and then announced two new
professional graphics accelerators—the ATI FirePro V5700 and
V3700—as the first offerings in that new line.
The ATI FirePro V5700 graphics accelerator, priced at $599,
delivers application performance that is well suited for CAD
and DCC professionals. With the new card, users will experi-
ence increased performance for shader-intensive applications,
as much as two times more than the previous generation,
according to the company.
The V5700 also features 512MB of frame-buffer memory and
dual-link DVI and display port connections, while its true 30-
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Boxx Showcases Viz Solution
Boxx celebrated its 10th anniversary at SIGGRAPH 2008,
but instead of blowing out candles, the company demon-
strated a number of its recently released products, including
the VizBoxx, its first offering to power virtual-reality systems
and very large displays, and take advantage of the expand-
ing possibilities of GP-GPU massively parallel computing.
VizBoxx features a balance of CPU and GPU processing
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PRODUCT: COMPUTING
4 November 2008
bilities, and handles the decoding of various
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Sony Unveils Cell Platform
Sony Electronics showed a new workflow solution for faster
processing of high-resolution effects and computer graph-
ics when it unwrapped Zego.
This technology platform is based on the Cell/BE
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designed to eliminate bottlenecks that can occur during
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ing of visual effects.
The first product to utilize the Zego hybrid multi-core cell
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Cell-type architecture, known as on-chip parallelism, pack-
ages a collection of processors and co-processors in a
combination that is specifically designed to optimize specific
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Sony has been working with software companies that
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The BCU-100 computing unit is expected to ship later this
year. Pricing has not yet been announced.
PRODUCT: PROCESSING
CGW :608_p 6/17/08 12:55 PM Page 1

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Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Simulated images. Microsoft and Windows are
U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Windows Vista is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries.
 Autodesk Signs Agreement with Avid to Buy Softimage
Acquisition to accelerate Autodesk’s games strategy; complements digital entertainment and visual communications offering
Late last month, Autodesk and Avid Technology signed a
definitive agreement for Autodesk to acquire substantially all
the assets of Avid’s Softimage business unit for approximately
$35 million (see “Changing Hands,” pg. 8).
Softimage—which develops 3D technology for the film, tele-
vision, and games markets—was founded in 1986 by Daniel
Langlois and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Its flag-
ship product, Softimage XSI, is an extensible 3D animation
software solution used by leading media and entertainment
companies, including Digital Domain, Ubisoft, Sega, CapCom,
Animal Logic, and The Mill. Meanwhile, Autodesk Media and
Entertainment provides animation, visual effects, editing/finish-
ing, and color-grading solutions for the 3D market, including
entertainment and design industries.
“Softimage has been developing state-of-the-art 3D technol-
ogy for more than 20 years, and its products are recognized as
best-of-breed in the entertainment
CGW_Half_HOR:CGW_Half_HOR industry,10:17
9/15/08 ” says AM
MarcPage
Petit, 1
senior vice president, Autodesk Media and Entertainment.
6 November 2008
“Upon the completion of this acquisition, we will be adding
Softimage technology and products to our portfolio, and
welcoming one of the most talented teams in the industry to
Autodesk Media and Entertainment. Both will help us acceler-
ate the work of our Games Technology Group, as we build the
next-generation of real-time, interactive 3D authoring tools for
games, film, and television.”
Gary Greenfield, CEO and chairman of Avid Technology,
adds: “We are excited about what this transaction means for
customers of Softimage. The Softimage 3D product line has
performed well in the video games market, a sector where
Autodesk has a track record of success. Autodesk will provide
a great home for the business.”
Softimage Product Integration
Upon completion of the acquisition, Autodesk states that it
intends to continue developing and selling Softimage’s core
product line, while integrating certain Softimage technology
 into future versions of Autodesk solutions and products.
According to Autodesk, it plans to acquire and continue
developing the following Softimage products:
■ Softimage XSI: Including XSI Essentials, XSI
Advanced, XSI Academic, XSI Mod Tool, and the
XSI software development kit. XSI is production-
proven 3D animation software, offering a complete
3D modeling, animation, rendering, and develop-
ment environment for VFX and custom tools.
■ Softimage Face Robot: A complete software solu-
tion for easily rigging and animating 3D faces. Face
Robot enables studios to create lifelike facial anima-
tion at incredible speeds.
■■ Softimage CAT: This advanced character anima-
tion system is, ironically, a plug-in for Autodesk 3ds
Max software. It is intended to be integrated into the
3ds Max product line.
■ Softimage Crosswalk: This interoperability solu-
tion is intended to be integrated with Autodesk’s
own interoperability technology.
CGW_Half_HOR:CGW_Half_HOR 6/17/08 12:35 PM Page 1
NEWS: ACQUISITION
Petit comments: “As we have demonstrated since the
acquisition of Alias in 2006, we’re committed to giving our
customers choices when it comes to their 3D tools. We plan
to maintain and grow the Softimage product line, and through
Autodesk FBX, provide better interoperability between Soft-
image products, 3ds Max, and Autodesk Maya. FBX also
provides interoperability between Softimage products and our
specialized applications such as Autodesk Mudbox, Autodesk
MotionBuilder, Autodesk ImageModeler, and Autodesk Stitch-
er, as well as numerous third-party applications.”
Petit concludes: “At Autodesk, we care deeply about 3D
technology; we know users invest a lot of time and energy
into mastering their favorite 3D product. To all 3D artists out
there, I want to tell you that we understand your passion for the
creative tools you use daily, and that with Autodesk, you can
choose your passion.” ■
More at CGW.com
Go to www.cgw.com for an audio interview with
Autodesk’s Marc Petit and Softimage’s Marc Stevens
concerning this breaking industry news.
November 2008 7
■ ■ ■ ■ News Analysis
Autodesk to buy Softimge. The news came
during a wild and scary late October week
in the world economy, and in certain cor-
ners of the content creation world, those
words were as surprising and game-chang-
ing as a stock market plunge (or rise, or rise
and plunge).
There are Softimage customers who are
not going to be happy about this news, but
Autodesk, for its part, promises to do right
by Softimage. The company plans to take
advantage of Softimage’s technology to
build out its game development tools. In
a phone interview, Marc Petit, Autodesk
senior vice president and
head of the Media and
Entertainment Group,
contends that this deal
comes at the perfect time
for Autodesk, as the 3D
industry is undergoing
revolutionary changes.
What is definitely a
sign of tough times is the
size of the deal. Autodesk
is acquiring Softimage
for $35 million. This
isn’t a huge amount for
8 November 2008
Autodesk, but it does put some dollars in
Avid’s pocket. To keep things in perspec-
tive, Autodesk acquired Alias, in another
deal that surprised the industry in 2006,
for $197 million.
Past to Present
Things weren’t always this way for the com-
pany. Softimage has long been considered
the boutique tool for 3D content creation.
Daniel Langlois founded the company in
Montreal in 1986, and Montreal is where
it has stayed through several upheavals. In
the early days, it seemed like all glamour
as the sophisticated Canadians sold their
high-priced tools to the peo-
ple who really needed them
and appreciated what they
could do. Softimage brought
new animation capabilities
to 3D modeling; it was one
of the first to introduce in-
verse kinematics, the ability
Softimage’s XSI 3D
content creation software
has loyal followers in the
entertainment markets.
to animate characters by connecting rigid
segments and joints—that is, connecting
the thigh bone to the leg bone.
But then the first wave of democratiza-
tion started to happen, and the boutique
was under siege. The largest upheaval was
the acquisition of Softimage by Microsoft
for $130 million in 1994. At that time,
Microsoft was battling SGI on the worksta-
tion front and hoping to entice profession-
als off RISC-based workstations with Unix
operating systems and on to Windows NT.
Softimage, which was sold with SGI work-
stations, was bait. And, it was one of the
first high-end content creation tools to be
ported to Windows NT.
There, it went head-to-head with 3D
Studio, which was ported to Windows
NT in 1995 (from MS DOS, no less) and
renamed 3D Studio MAX at the time.
Microsoft was working on a grand vision
to have end-to-end products in content de-
velopment—especially television produc-
tion, as visions of digital television began
to dance in industry heads. The company
was promoting Softimage tools for content
creation in TV, combining 3D content,
video, audio, and HTML.
But in the end, Microsoft really didn’t
know what to do with a 3D modeling and
animation company. However, it did do a
good job of selling the idea of intertwined
tools for audio, video, 3D content, HTML,
and whatever else might come along, and
Avid bought Softimage in 1998. At the
time, the deal was reported to be worth $285
million, and Microsoft took a stake in Avid.
That was then. In recent years, Softimage
has done a lot with very little, thanks to a
hardworking team in Montreal who hap-
pen to love the city—and Softimage. Soft-
image has been willing to make big bets to
keep its code up to date with the competi-
tion, and Avid has supported the group.
Softimage’s engineering talent runs deep.
As with all big bets, the Softimage division
has taken some hits, but its engineers believe
they have built a solid development plat-
 News Analysis n n n n

form for future upgrades that can better take the process of analyzing the company. Acquis
advantage of hardware advances, including Stevens and Softimage product man-
multiple CPUs and advanced GPUs. ager Bill Roberts realized that the op-
Just this past summer at SIGGRAPH portunities for 3D modeling and the
2008, Softimage introduced ICE (Inter- animation market were well defined
active Creative Environment). ICE is de- but limited. However, the opportu-
signed to meet the demands of production nities within the entire development
managers and artists who need to develop pipeline, especially the game develop-
and manage their own tools. Maya has led ment pipeline, were quite large. Just this past summer, Softimage added ICE, a
in this market, but it, too, is getting a little “We needed an investment to buy transformative open platform, to XSI Version 7.
long in the tooth, and developers complain middleware and game-engine tech- could not pass up that talent.”
about the difficulty of programming in nology,” says Roberts. Avid, at the same Stevens is going to take Softimage into
Maya. Softimage hoped to win over not time, decided it needed to focus on its Autodesk, and he’ll join Autodesk’s execu-
just users, but entire teams with its node- core video and broadcast products, and tive team. Autodesk says it will maintain
based development platform.   the wheels were set in motion to find Soft­ the Softimage XSI product line, along with
Meanwhile, Autodesk acquired French image a home where it could grow. Autodesk’s current stable of 3D content cre-
AI company Kynogon, which the company The rumor mills have been pumping ation tools, including 3ds Max and Maya.
wanted to use to expand its role in the game out theories about where Softimage might Max is increasingly becoming an engine
development pipeline. By around SIG- go. Obviously, given today’s economic cli- for visualization, and Autodesk is strength-
GRAPH 2008, says Marc Stevens, general mate and tight money, a leveraged buyout ening the links to Revit, its architectural
manager of Softimage, he and Petit realized was unlikely. According to Stevens, several product, via the common, open FBX format
they were both heading in the same direc- companies were interested. And within (originally from Kaydara, which was bought
tion. “We had the same vision, and we were the industry, rumors have been flying for by Alias in 2004). In fact, says Petit, the real
opportunity is in interactive 3D storytelling
on all fronts, “including moviemaking, In-
ternet interactive applications, virtual worlds,
and even engineering.”
Making the 3D assets is just a tiny part of
the job. Stevens and Petit want to improve
development tools, expand their middle-
ware products, create game-like interfaces,
and expand the entire 3D market.
Maybe the acquisition of Softimage by
Autodesk isn’t what anyone expected, and
certainly there will be people who do not
want this. But, the ideas and talents that
these two companies can bring together
could blossom into a broad range of new
products and capabilities. For many Soft­
Stereoscopy is a hot area right now in terms of entertainment, and Autodesk is addressing this
image employees, there is probably a sense
area in its Maya 2009 product.
of relief now that the waiting is over and
going at it from two different directions,” months, though most of the speculation the big question has been answered. n
says Stevens during the joint phone inter- has been around Apple; Autodesk was
view with Petit. not mentioned much.  “This isn’t what we Kathleen Maher is a contributing editor to CGW, a
About nine months ago or so, the Soft­ thought would happen,” admits Roberts senior analyst at Jon Peddie Research, a Tiburon, CA-
image executive team took stock. They were when asked about the deal. based consultancy specializing in graphics and multime-
doing so as their parent company, Avid, un- Autodesk’s Petit points out that once dia, and editor in chief of JPR’s “TechWatch.” She can be
der new management, was going through he became aware of the opportunity, “we reached at Kathleen@jonpeddie.com.

November 2008 
■ ■ ■ ■ Stereoscopy

Could we be about to witness a revolution

in filmmaking as profound as the intro-
duction of sound and color? Proponents of
stereoscopic 3D films think so, and it looks
like they might be right.
In 2005 when Disney created a stereo
3D version of its first CG feature Chicken
Little, the stereo 3D version played in only
84 theaters equipped with the new, digital
projector-based RealD systems, which use
disposable, polarized glasses. The following
year, stereo 3D versions of Sony’s Monster
House and Disney’s The Nightmare Before
Christmas landed in 200 RealD theaters. By

DreamWorks Animation SKG plans to author all its movies in stereo 3D,
starting with Monsters vs. Aliens, scheduled for release in March 2009.

10 November 2008
 Stereoscopy ■ ■ ■ ■

Director Henry Selick is using varying depths to

dramatize story points for Focus Features’ Coraline,
a stop-motion animation created at Laika and
scheduled for release in February 2009.

November 2007, when Paramount Pictures
released Beowulf in stereo 3D, the number
of RealD theaters had grown to 900. Now,
the chickens and the eggs—that is, the the-
aters and the content—are quickly moving
into place for a major revolution.
Digital projection is the key to stereo 3D’s
theatrical success. The stereo 3D systems,
such as those from RealD, that sit in front
of the digital projectors control the dual
images (left eye, right eye) with split-sec-
ond accuracy. This has helped eliminate the
headache-producing misalignments of left-
eye/right-eye frames that can result when
two sprocket-based projectors put images
on screen (see “Supersized,” January 2007).
However, the slow adoption of digital
projectors by movie theaters has slowed
the adoption of stereo 3D. That’s about
to change. On October 1, a consortium
of Hollywood Studios—including Disney,
Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures,
Twentieth Century Fox, and Lions Gate—
announced their pledge of $1 billion-plus
to upgrade 20,000 North American movie
theaters to digital projector systems.
“Digital conversion is the major cost,”
says Joe Daley of MarketSaw.blogspot.com,
a Web site focused on 3D movies. “Once
that’s done, it’s a relatively minor cost for a
theater to move to 3D.”
The digital projection installation project
will unspool during the next three years,
but already 1300 theaters show 3D films,
with RealD, the leader in this field, boast-
ing of deals in place for future installations
that would bring its total to 5000 theaters.
Further increasing the potential number of
theaters is Dolby, which entered the picture
in 2007. Dolby’s stereo 3D systems, which
don’t require special screens but need re-
usable polarized glasses, have now landed
in 150 US theaters and an additional 350
around the world. And, just last month,
Sony announced a 3D adapter for its 4-
resolution movie-theater projectors that it
plans to ship in March 2009.
The 5000-theater number would be

November 2008 11
n n n n Stereoscopy
a milestone: When a film studio releases
a so-called tent-pole film—a movie, for
example, like Iron Man, Wall-e, Indiana
Jones, or The Dark Knight—it lands in ap-
proximately 4000 theaters on opening day
in the US. So, having 5000 potential 3D-
capable theaters has sparked excitement in
the major studios.
“We anticipate there will be between
2500 and 3000 screens in North Ameri-
ca by the first quarter next year,” stated
John Batter, co-president of production at
DreamWorks Animation SKG, speaking at
“The Conversation,” a forum co-hosted by
Scott Kirsner in early October. As for con-
tent, such prominent tent-pole filmmakers
as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Tim
Burton, Robert Zemeckis, and Peter Jack-
son have 3D films in the works.
In fact, Daley lists on his Web site 21 3D
films scheduled for release in 2009—CG
features, stop-motion animation, and live
action films—including Zemeckis’s 3D
animation A Christmas Carol, Pixar’s Up,
Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Cloudy With a
Chance of Meatballs, Fox’s Ice Age: Dawn
of the Dinosaurs, and Focus Features’ Cora-
line (wide release). Cameron’s 3D live-ac-
tion science-fiction thriller Avatar opens
in December 2009. Spielberg’s 3D anima-
tion Tintin, produced by Peter Jackson,
is scheduled for 2010. Moreover, Disney
plans to author and release all
its CG films in 3D.
Disney’s Meet the Robinsons was the
second CG animation that the studio
converted into stereo 3D.
12 November 2008
Belgian director Ben Stassen floated the characters in his stereo 3D film Fly Me to the Moon in
front of the screen, over the heads of the audience. Stassen created the film exclusively in 3D.
So does DreamWorks Animation.
“We’re looking at the point where there’s
going to be 3D content coming out every
couple of weeks now,” says Phil “Captain
3D” McNally, stereoscopic supervisor at
DreamWorks Animation. McNally super-
vised the conversion of Disney’s Chicken
Little into 3D at Industrial Light & Magic
and was stereoscopic supervisor at Disney
for Meet the Robinsons.
Fundamental Changes
The studios’ drive to release 3D films is
causing a fundamental change in filmmak-
ing that is ripping through the production
process. “Every movie we release starting in
March 2009 will be authored in 3D,” says
Batter, alluding to the March re-
lease of Monsters vs. Aliens. “We’ll
conceive in 3D and shoot in 3D.
It’s the next great frontier.”
That’s the tipping point: Film-
makers are now considering ste-
reoscopy from the beginning.
“Chicken Little and Meet the
Robinsons were post conversions,”
says Robert Neuman, stereoscopic
supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Stu-
dio. “Bolt is the first film in which 3D is
part of production. As we’re laying out the
films and setting out the cameras for 2D,
we’re building the 3D version.”
Similarly, at the visual effects studio Sony
Pictures Imageworks—where artists created
the animated films The Polar Express, Monster
House, and Beowulf, all shown in 3D—ste-
reo is moving further upstream, according to
Rob Engle, senior stereographer and digital
effects supervisor. “With Polar and Monster
House, it was sort of an afterthought,” he
says. “We are much more embedded into
production from the outset now.”
Engle finds that this is also true for live-
action directors. “Filmmakers are asking us
how they can adjust their films for the ste-
reoscopic medium,” he says. “They’re talk-
ing to us about which camera angles and
compositions work better. These conversa-
tions didn’t happen two years ago.”
And, that’s why the practitioners of stereo­
scopy compare stereo 3D today to the intro-
duction of color and sound in years past.
“If you look at the advances in the histo-
ry of cinema, they all had technical hurdles
to overcome,” says Neuman. “Color had to
have an emulsion developed that conveyed
the spectrum properly. And, in the earliest
color movies, filmmakers were using color
more for spectacle than for storytelling.
Color was so saturated reviewers said it
hurt.” Much like color, Neuman explains,
3D had false starts because of the technol-
ogy and the spectacle of 3D that seduced
early filmmakers: “The studios would go
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n n n n Stereoscopy
for the gimmicks, the ‘throw everything at
the audience’ approach.”
Now, filmmakers working with ani-
mated and live-action features are using
3D more creatively. To learn what they
are discovering, we talked with several 3D
pioneers creating animated CG films, stop-
motion features, and live-action films.
Sculptural Movies
“I talk about stereo 3D now as spatial
movie­making,” says McNally. “The differ-
ence is like comparing painting to sculp-
ture. We have the potential to conceive
the whole storytelling art form as a spatial
art form, especially when we combine CG
with stereoscopic moviemaking.”
Close-up shots provide one example
of how 3D might differ from traditional
moviemaking. In the latter, when a director
shoots a star for his or her “close-up,” the
character in the film appears closer because
it looks bigger. “It’s part of the illusion you
create when you’re working in a medium
that doesn’t support distance,” McNally
says. “But, in a 3D movie, it’s possible that
the close-up could be shot with the framing
quite wide, and with the character moving
closer to us. Is that more powerful, or is it
distracting? These are questions we’re try-
ing to understand.”
When stereographers structure a 3D
experience, they work within certain lim-
its. “We have something we call the stereo
budget, or the parallax budget,” Engle says.
“That’s the technical limitation for how far
away or close something can be before it
becomes uncomfortable [to look at]. So,
the creative aspect is in using that space to
give the audience the best experience.”
Within that limitation, a director can
bring objects out into the audience or use
stereo 3D as a window into which the audi-
ence looks deeply. “I’ve often heard James
Cameron says he’s keeping the subject of
interest on the screen,” McNally notes.
“He’s shooting live action, and you can un-
derstand why you would want to edit with-
14 November 2008
Director Eric Brevig filmed the live-action Journey to the Center of the Earth in stereo 3D. The
July 2008 release into multiplex theater chains earned $100 million at the box office.
out worrying about the subjects jumping
around. The other extreme is Fly Me to the
Moon. The space of the movie is detached
from wherever the screen is, almost nothing
plays at the screen, and almost every char-
acter is within arm’s reach. We’re using both
techniques and working between [them].”
Don Hahn, who was the producer at
Disney for a number of feature anima-
tions, including Beauty and the Beast, The
Lion King, The Nightmare Before Christmas,
and The Emperor’s New Groove, is currently
the executive producer for Tim Burton’s
3D Frankenweenie, scheduled for Decem-
ber 2009. “Directors are entering a whole
new space with new rules,” he says. “For
example, you might have a deep set, like a
big ballroom, but you want the audience
to focus downstage or way upstage. So, you
converge the eyes to different points on the
screen. Also, you can play with distance to
create a child-like wide-angle perspective or
a more normal adult sense of a room. But,
I suppose pacing is the biggest difference.
When you convert flat animation to 3D,
there are times when you wish you could
linger and let the eye adjust to a scene. The
[stereo 3D] directors have extra time to fol-
low objects to the z plane and back again.”
The possibility of such leisurely pacing is
something that Adam Holmes, vice presi-
dent of Wide Band Entertainment, finds
enticing. Holmes is currently executive
producer for a stereo 3D feature anima-
tion, an independent production made
feasible by the promise of 5000 theaters.
“If we can design stereo 3D films in which
we hold on to the scenes, we might be able
to bring some artistry back into our ADD
world,” he says. “We may be able to extract
emotion from films, not just fast cuts and
fast pacing.”
Emotional Depth
In designing the overall look through the
arc of a film, the stereoscopic teams fre-
quently compare the conceptual use of 3D
to that of a sound track. “We constantly
play with the depth like a symphony,” Mc-
Nally says. “We might start quiet, build
to a crescendo, and then fall back so that
depth is something that flows.” The stereo-
scopic artists consider depth within indi-
vidual scenes as well.
“When filmmakers went for the gim-
mick of hurtling stuff at the audience, they
pulled the audience out of the film, instead
of creating an immersive experience,” Neu-
man says. “We’re taking a more mature
approach.” For example, in the film Bolt
(see “Back to the Future,” pg. 20). Disney
stretches the environment fully for action
scenes, but when the dog Bolt talks with
the cat Mittens, and it’s a lighthearted mo-
ment, the crew tones down the depth.
The instruments that stereographers
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n n n n Stereoscopy

use to move objects toward the audience
or push them far away are the distance
between the two cameras (one for each
eye) and the convergent point for the two
images. The choice of camera lens affects
depth as well.
“Let’s say you want to use a long lens,
maybe a 100mm lens,” Neuman says.
“That gives you an unsatisfactory result in
3D: There is a large separation in depth
between the characters from foreground
to background, but each character looks
like cardboard. To compensate, you can
increase the interocular or interaxial dis-
tance [between the cameras], which in-
creases the internal volume in the charac-
ters, but the gaps between the characters
are also magnified.” And that could quick-
ly use up the stereo budget. To solve this
problem, Disney and other studios use
multiple sets of cameras—perhaps one for
the foreground, one for midground, and
one for the background—and dial in the
depth to create the internal volume and
roundness for the character. Then, they
composite the layers together.
With that kind of control available, di-
rectors can choose where to place charac-
ters in scenes and how much depth to give
characters based on the story they’re tell-
ing. “One metaphor we build on is equat-
ing the emotional depth of a scene to the
depth of the character,” Neuman says. “We
might increase the depth until we get a
nice, round, full character for an emotional
beat. A second literal metaphor we use is
equating emotional separation to depth.”
For example, when directors want the
audience to connect with a character,
they might place that character on the
audience’s side of the frame; that is, bring
the character out into the audience a little.
When they want the audience to feel de-
tached from the character, they might push
the character back.
To do this without changing other char-
acteristics in the scene, Neuman sometimes
uses another stereoscopic technique called
the floating window: The stereoscopy crew
puts a black mask on the edges of the im-
ages and then varies the thickness of that
mask between the two eyes to change the
perceived location of the theater screen.
“We create a virtual screen (a window)

t
w
s
t
New tools from several software companies now help artists OpenEXR community to make it broadly useful. “Over the last
working in 3D. For example, Autodesk’s Lustre speeds the six months, we’ve seen companies starting to adopt, or at least fl
work of colorists who are grading 3D films. The Foundry’s Ocu- support, this format,” Welford says. “Now, within Nuke, for ex- t
lar plug-in for Nuke helps compositors who paint one eye to ample, there’s a left-eye and a right-eye button in a single file.” w
create the second eye in the correct depth. Quantel’s Pablo t
system aids artists matching the colors on the left and right. u
And, Tweak’s RV software gives artists the ability to see images “We have a whole suite of tools that take care of the nuts and
in stereo 3D on standard monitors within RV viewing software. bolts of stereo for the artists,” says Phil McNally, stereoscopic u
The animation and visual effects studios are also creating supervisor at DreamWorks. “If an animator has a scene with a v
3D-specific tools, and those tools provide a glimpse into the character running up a road straight to camera, we would want n
state of the art for stereoscopy. the character to feel distant at the beginning and literally get p
closer to us at the end. We give the artists controls so they can t
dial the stereo as they watch the performance.” Artists can have a
“We’ve had to come up with a whole new workflow,” says Matt a different stereo setting on every keyframe without worrying t
Welford, head of compositing at Weta Digital, where work is about distortions, and without knowing the nuts and bolts.
under way on James Cameron’s Avatar and Steven Spielberg’s “We also have something called the multi-rig,” McNally adds.
Tintin. “We use [Apple’s] Shake and Nuke for compositing, “In CG, it’s easy to have three, four, five stereo rigs all pointing “
which are both node-based. Initially, we made a left tree for the to the same scene in much the way we have multiple lights put- t
left eye and a right tree for the right eye, so we had two trees ting rim lights on one character, for example, but not another. E
per shot rather than one, as in traditional films. To reduce the Unless you’re doing a 3D science project, why not have every- p
number of files and make file management neater for artists, we thing up for manipulation and artistic interpretation?” s
worked on a way to represent stereo images in a single image
file. To do that, we formalized the names of the left and right eye t
within the EXR file format.” “We developed a camera rig that uses a results-driven paradigm. “
Weta called the new format SXR, and worked with the I can define how far out from the screen I want the closest part of d

16 November 2008
 Stereoscopy n n n n

But, he also has begun point for the stop-motion animation. “Our
using the floating win- main character, Coraline, is a little girl who
dow more creatively, to lives in a bland, overcast place,” says Brian
temper the balance be- Van’t Hul, VFX supervisor who won an
tween emotional and Oscar for visual effects in King Kong while
stereo depth. he was at Weta Digital. “In that real world,
“Sometimes if we we keep the stereo flat. But when she goes
can just pull out one to the magical land, we increase the depth
corner, we can re- to enhance the move. We’re using stereo
Imageworks turned the CG film Beowulf into a stereo 3D version
using techniques honed on The Polar Express and Monster House. tain the proximity we 3D in an intentionally dramatic fashion.”
want,” Neuman says. Because stop-motion animators shoot
that we can float into the theater, push back “And, we’re experimenting with tilting the their films one frame at a time, in order
into the screen space, or change the orien- window during action sequences to create to create the stereo 3D version, they sim-
tation of the image,” Neuman says. This tension. We’re sculpting a 3D environment ply shoot two stills. “We shoot the left
helps them fix problems—perhaps a frame artistically based on where the eyes are drawn eye with the digital still camera and then
edge that crosses in front of an object ap- and where the action is taking place.” move it over and shoot the right eye,” ex-
pearing in front of the screen. Moving the At Laika, Coraline director Henry Selick plains Van’t Hul. Compositors layer the
frame puts the depth cues back in sync. is using stereo 3D to enhance a main story stereo images into backgrounds moments

the scene to be, how deep into the farthest part of the scene, and
where I want the convergent point to be,” says Robert Neuman,
stereoscopic supervisor at Disney. “Based on those three things,
the system sets up the camera positions for us.”
Neuman continues: “We also have a tool to visualize the
floating window within a 3D scene. We can see exactly where
the floating window lies. So, if I have an over-the-shoulder shot
with a character breaking the frame on frame right, I can grab
that floating window within the camera space and pull it out
until it’s in front of the character.”
To avoid the cardboarding that can happen when the crew
uses a telephoto lens, they have tools that tell them the internal
volume of characters. “If a character has a factor of 1.0, it’s a
nice, round character the audience relates to. If it’s .1, or only 10
percent round, that’s a problem, and we might need to use mul-
tiple camera rigs,” Neuman explains. “We also have tools that
allow us to view what it would look like with multiple rigs. All the
tools we developed in-house work within [Autodesk’s] Maya.”
“We have a huge suite of tools, from image viewing to dialing
the depth within Maya, that we’re constantly refining,” says Rob
Engle, senior stereographer at Imageworks. “But one area we’re
particularly interested in moving forward is the 2D-to-3D conver-
sion. The most relevant example is our work on G-Force.”
In this film, which is scheduled for July 2009, a specially
trained squad of guinea pigs becomes a force for doing good.
“We’re taking 2D plates, isolating elements that would be at
different depths within the plate, and producing the other eye’s
point of view. We slide the elements over to create depth and
then fill in the holes that the other eye would see. We’re de-
veloping a wide variety of tools that allow us to do that. And
then, we have the added challenge of putting elements from
the virtual world into the plates. And, we’re still investigating
the techniques we’ll need for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonder-
land—imagine Beowulf but with live people in a 3D virtual world
that’s Tim Burton’s vision of Alice in Wonderland.”
Frantic created 200 shots for Journey to the Center of the Earth
using Autodesk’s 3ds Max and Mudbox, Pixologic’s ZBrush,
Nvidia’s Gelato, and several proprietary tools, including the stu-
dio’s water-simulation software. For compositing, particularly to
work with stereo, the studio created a series of scripts and plug-
ins for Eyeon’s Digital Fusion 10 that they’ve named Awake. The
studio sells the tools it developed to work on Journey and other
films on its FranticFilms.com Web site.
“We wrote a completely new pipeline for Journey,” says Chris
Harvey, co-visual effects supervisor at Frantic with Mike Shand.
“The entire movie was shot in stereo, so we had double plates
for everything. We could have decided to work on one eye and
then ask artists to create the second eye, or we could have had
scripts generate the second eye. But, we came up with a third
approach. Our artists worked in stereo all the way from track-
ing to finishing the shots. We literally worked on the shots with
both eyes at the same time stacked side by side or vertically.
We called it ‘stereo stacking.’ It was a huge timesavings.”
–Barbara Robertson

November 2008 17
■ ■ ■ ■ Stereoscopy
after an animator shoots the frame.
Before beginning the project, Selick con-
sulted with Lenny Lipton, CTO at RealD
and a renowned stereo 3D pioneer. The
studio brought in other stereo experts, as
well. “They taught us all the rules, and it’s
good to know the rules,” Van’t Hul says.
“But many of us are from creative back-
grounds. We’re trying to break as many
rules as we can.”
Depth of field is one point of conten-
tion. “The experts say everything should be
as sharp as possible to make stereo work,”
Selick says. “That way there’s no eye strain
and you can see everything. I say, ‘Yeah, but
the whole point is that we don’t want the
audience to look everywhere.’ The easiest
thing when you have so much in frame is
to go a bit wider and throw the background
out of focus so the foreground pops.”
Thus, Van’t Hul and his crew have de-
cided to flaunt conventional wisdom when
they can. “We don’t launch an animator
on a shot lightly,” he says. “We don’t have
time to go back. But sometimes given the
energy of a shot, we can be bold if the shots
aren’t on the screen long enough to cause
eye strain.”
Live Action
One of the biggest 3D success stories for
2008 has been the feature film Journey to
the Center of the Earth, directed by Eric
Brevig, who received two Oscar nomina-
tions for best visual effects while at ILM
(Pearl Harbor, Hook) and a special Achieve-
ment Award from the Academy for Total
Recall. This Walden Media/Warner Bros.
film, which Brevig shot in 3D, has grossed
$178 million worldwide.
Frantic Films, one of several studios that
worked on the feature, created approxi-
mately 200 VFX shots, including those
in which they integrated footage of actor
Brendon Fraser and others in a raft that
floated on CG water. “We had to track two
cameras for every shot,” says Chris Har-
vey, co-VFX supervisor with Mike Shand.
18 November 2008
Stereo 3D at Home
Although movie theaters are excited that stereoscopic 3D promises to pull peo-
ple away from their screens at home, consumer products are in the works for
viewing 3D at home and even on the road. Samsung and Phillips have demon-
strated no-glasses 3D TVs. Hundai sells a 46-inch 3D TV that requires glasses.
At the Ceatec show in Japan recently, Panasonic showed a 3D high-definition
home theater, which requires 3D glasses, NEC demo’d a nine-inch glasses-less
3D LCD, and KDDI showed a 3.1-inch glasses-less 3D LCD display. And Fuji
has announced a pocket-sized camera that shoots 3D movies.
In addition, Nvidia is introducing new glasses and a transmitter that works
with existing CRT displays, high-definition DLPs, and the new 120Hz LCD
monitors. Software in the system converts a standard 3D video game into a
stereoscopic 3D game. “Since all the data is coming down the pipe in real
time, we don’t have to pre-author,” says Andrew Fear, product manager. “We
have a predefined depth amount, but if the end user wants to adjust the depth,
he or she can.”
Although the target for the glasses is gamers, Nvidia expects that when a Blu-
ray or other standard emerges for high-definition 3D movies, the DVD crowd will
want to view stereo 3D movies at home, too. “I think we’re probably six months
to a year away from having a rigid format,” Fear predicts. “In the meantime, we’re
building our architecture to play back whatever they adopt.”
Also aimed at gamers is iZ3D’s $599 22-inch LCD monitor that displays stereo
3D with the help of a pair of glasses. The display, which gamers can also use as a
standard monitor on PC systems equipped with a dual-output video card, displays
1680x1050-resolution images and stereo with a 170-degree viewing angle.
Meanwhile, such display manufacturers as Alioscopy are readying glasses-
free 3D systems. Adam Holmes, producer of an announced stereo 3D feature
animation, has been using these monitors for pre-production and looks forward
to the day when glasses-free displays will find a home in living rooms. For now,
though, “I’m most excited about the possibility of monitors like these being used
as digital billboards,” Holmes says. “That could really help advertise our indepen-
dent movie.” –Barbara Robertson
“And for every frame, we had to create two tools to generate the second eye view.
separate images.” Even so, the artists needed to tweak the
Typically, the crew would track one eye result. “The physical cameras caused dis-
view and then use the studio’s software crepancies,” says Harvey, “and the two

tracks had to match perfectly.”
Similarly, rotoscoped images needed to
match perfectly, even though the original
images might not. For example: “The cam-
era views of Brendon Fraser’s hair might be
slightly different,” says Shand. “You might
see a curl of hair in the left-eye image but
not in the right-eye image. That confuses
the viewer’s brain and causes what I call
buzzing. So, the artists had to tweak the
images by hand.”
Specular highlights captured by the
camera were often different for the left and
right eyes, as were lens distortions and col-
ors. “The biggest things that would make
this process easier would be if the camera
systems produced footage that was more
identical in color,” Shand says, “and, if we
could improve the interocular tracking.”
As do filmmakers working with 3D
animation, Frantic’s visual effects crew
used the distance between the cameras as
a storytelling device for their largely digital
shots. “If you increase the distance, things
effectively look small, as if you were a gi-
ant,” Harvey says. “If you do the reverse,
everything feels bigger and more impos-
ing. So, we constantly shifted interocular
distance and convergence to tell the story.
We did a lot of adjusting—literally sliding
the images left or right.”
In doing so, the crew quickly discovered
that making those adjustments on a com-
puter screen wasn’t sufficient. “You have to
look at these images big,” Harvey says. “To
get things to sit properly in stereo, we were
moving things at a sub-pixel level.”
For example, differences in the live-action
images sometimes caused ghosting. “Ghost-
ing happens when high-contrast areas close
to each other are at different depths,” Har-
vey says. “It causes buzzing in your eyes,
and it’s hard to resolve. If you’re working
only in CG, you can move the images onto
a zero plane with no convergence—the left
and right images are the same. In live ac-
tion, what was shot is what was shot.”
At Weta Digital, where work on Camer-
Stereoscopy n n n n
on’s Avatar is ongoing, Matt Welford, com- eron. It remains to be seen at what stage ev-
positing head, is running into some of the eryone jumps onboard, and that may never
same challenges. “Often, we find that pull- happen. And three, making the decision a
ing a key for the left eye will not work for no-brainer. We’re not there yet. We have a
the right because of differences in lighting,” lot of work to do with tools, but what we’re
he says. “We have to make sure the quality really missing right now is experience. The
is perfect for both eyes, but the cameras are visual language is still evolving.”
looking in slightly different areas.” What might we see in the future as
That makes the job of painting the im- stereographers such as Engle, McNally,
ages much more difficult. “Hand painting Neuman, and various directors and visual
on a single view is already difficult,” Wel- effects supervisors continue exploring the
ford says. “But now, if we have to remove possibilities? Engle offers a few thoughts:
something from a scene and hand-paint the “So far, everyone is using 3D as a repre-
image, we’re painting a very specific depth. sentational experience,” he says. “They’re
If we put something in a slightly different mimicking reality. Why do we need to do
depth for one eye, we throw the stereo off. that? I think there is a filmmaker out there
We had to toss a lot of the tips and tricks we who will make a revolutionary movie—
used to use out the win-
dow. However, it’s good to
be doing something new
and different.”
Moving Deeper
Welford is certain that
although the studio will
solve some of the com-
plex problems in the next
few years, creating hybrid
Disney’s 2005 animation Chicken Little was the first stereo 3D
live-action/CG films, such
film shown in 84 theaters newly equipped with RealD projectors.
as those he’s working on, Experts estimate that in the first-quarter 2009, approximately
won’t become a push-but- 3000 North American theaters will be stereo 3D-ready.
ton process anytime soon.
“I think maybe for people working in someone who will really push the technol-
fully CG movies, it will be easier to make ogy. Someone who will break the rules.”
3D a process, but it will take a long time McNally is looking in that direction, too.
for people working with live-action stereo “You don’t expect a painting to be a photo-
films to develop automated processes that graph,” he says. “You expect to see the me-
will be at a standard that’s acceptable for dium. What does it mean when we’re in a
final production.” full three-dimensional spatial delivery of a
Even so, Imageworks’ Engle believes that story?” That’s what is so exciting. We have
the choice to make a 3D film will eventual- an undiscovered medium.”
ly become as insignificant as the choice be- But with 5000 3D theaters in the offing
tween filming in color or black and white. and directors readying new content, it’s a
“We have three hurdles to overcome,” En- medium that’s ready for its close-up. n
gle says. “One, audience acceptance among
adults as much as kids. Two, filmmaker ac- Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a
ceptance—not every filmmaker is as excited contributing editor for Computer Graphics World. She
as Burton, Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Cam- can be reached at BarbaraRR@comcast.net.
November 2008 19
■ ■ ■ ■ CG Animation

20 November 2008
 CG Animation ■ ■ ■ ■

as the little American white shepherd dog

with the black lightning bolt on his side discovers in Bolt, Disney’s latest animated film. Bolt, the dog,
stars in an action-packed TV show, and the CG feature opens with an amazing chase scene. Bolt leaps
through the air, stops the bad guys in their tracks with his superbark, and, most important, rescues
his co-star, Penny, from the green-eyed villain. Then, it’s over. The director yells, “Cut,” the crew takes
Bolt back to his trailer, and Penny goes home.
The production crew, we learn, wants little Bolt to believe he really does have superpowers; they
won’t let him live a dog’s life with Penny. And, he does believe. So, when a series of mishaps put him
outside the trailer where he spots the green-eyed man, he believes the villain has kidnapped Penny
again. He races to her rescue, only to land in the back of a truck heading for New York City. And that’s
when Bolt’s real adventure begins.
Directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, Bolt stars the voice talents of John Travolta as Bolt
and Miley Cyrus as Penny. It’s the first film shepherded through Disney Animation Studios by John
Lasseter, who arrived as chief creative officer at Disney in 2006 following the Pixar acquisition.
“Every artist in this building is operating at a level they’ve never operated at before because of John
Lasseter,” says Clark Spencer, Bolt producer. “Four years ago, this was a completely different film, with
a different title and different directors. This movie would not be what it is without John Lasseter’s
involvement in it.”
Four hundred artists worked on the feature for 88 weeks, producing approximately four seconds
of the film per week. Lasseter chose the directors: Williams directed Dis-
ney’s first 3D short film “Glago’s Guest,” wrote the story for Mulan and
The Emperor’s New Groove, and received an Annie nomination for the latter;
Howard was a supervising animator on Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear, an in-
between artist on Pocahontas, an animator on Mulan,
and received an Annie nomination for his character
animation in Brother Bear. For Bolt, Howard tend-
ed to concentrate on the animation side side, while
Williams focused on the story.
“John [Lasseter] loved the essence of the story
we had, that a dog lives on a TV show and only
knows the TV show, and is thrown into the real
world and discovers [his previous life] is a lie,”
Clark says. “And then he returns to the little
girl to find out if she was acting.”
In the film, once Bolt is in the real world,
he tangles with a street cat named Mittens.
Later, a hamster named Rhino, who lives in-
side a glass ball, rolls into the adventure. Here’s
Images ©2008 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

the dynamic among the three: Bolt believes

Mittens will lead him to the green-eyed villain Bolt, the dog star
and, thus, to Penny, so he leashes the cat to his of the film Bolt, owes
the look of the painterly
collar. Mittens quickly realizes who Bolt is and CG background behind
ridicules his supposed superpowers. Rhino, him (at left) to new technol-
on the other hand, a nerdy fanboy who has ogy invented at Disney Animation
memorized every “Bolt” TV show, totally Studios for this project.

November 2008 21
n n n n CG Animation
believes in his hero and encourages Bolt to
display his superskills. When Bolt warns
Rhino that their journey could be danger­
ous, the little hamster replies from inside
his glass bowl, “I eat danger for breakfast.”
“Rhino is like the kid who would throw
a towel around his neck like Superman and
jump off a roof,” says Nathan Greno, super­
vising storyboard director, who joined the
crew as Lasseter and Ed Catmull took the
reins at Disney Animation. Although Bolt
was always a dog and Mittens always a cat,
originally Rhino was a rat. “Everything was
up for grabs,” Greno says. Rhino turned
into a hamster during a retreat.
“We were with about 35 or 40 directors
from Pixar and Disney, and someone said,
‘I always wanted to do a hamster in a ball,’    ”
Clark says. “We all knew, at that moment,
we’d have a hamster in a ball.”
Animal Truth
Disney casts animators based on their skills,
and organizes the supervisors by character.
Sixty-two animators worked on Bolt, led
by six supervisors. Clay Kaytis led the team
of animators working on Rhino.
“Of all the characters, Rhino has the
most controls,” Kaytis says. “He’s the most
complicated because he is fat and round,
and volumes want to crash.” The anima­
tors worked in Autodesk’s Maya using rigs
that allow for squash and stretch. Deform­
ers rode on the topology to simulate what
a muscle system would do, but calculated
the blendshapes only on surface changes.
Kaytis moved Rhino’s belly with a control
button; the hamster’s whiskers, though,
moved automatically.
All the animals talk, except when hu­
mans are on screen, and the animators
started working on shots by listening to the
dialog. “I started with the character in a set,
in a layout pose,” says Kaytis. “Then I lis­
tened to the audio over and over, to under­
stand what the throat is doing and when to
take a breath. I did five frames of poses to
show the director. And then I shut the door
22 November 2008
Rhino, the hamster in the ball, tells his hero Bolt that he’d be a big help. Mittens, the cat leashed to
Bolt, isn’t convinced. About 400 artists, including 62 animators, worked for 88 weeks on the film.
and worked for a couple days.”
Rhino is the most anthropomorphic of
all the animals because he stands up inside
his bubble; otherwise, all the four-legged
animals stay on all fours. “John [Lasseter]
has certain rules,” Kaytis says. “Well, maybe
not rules, but consistencies. His mantra is
truth in materials; something has to move
the way it looks. So, if an animal looks like
a dog, it should move like a dog.”
Although Bolt looks cartoony in his TV
show, when he’s outside, he’s in the real
world, which meant he needed to move
realistically. To help the animators under­
stand real-world animal behavior for the
dog, cat, hamster, and other critters in the
film, Disney had trainers bring various
animals into the studio and had Dr. Stuart
Sumida, a biology and anatomy professor
at California State University in San Ber­
nardino, teach classes. In addition, Rhino
animators could observe a real hamster
named Doink, which joined the crew and
had his own glass ball.
Sometimes, though, the filmmakers
needed to fudge accuracy. For example:
“We reached a point when we thought we
had nailed the dog,” Kaytis says. “We had
animated a couple sequences. But he wasn’t
appealing. So, we looked at the dogs in Lady
and the Tramp, at the shape of their brows,
how their muzzles worked, their ears, and
their eyes-to-face relationship. And then
we remodeled Bolt’s face.” They gave him a
larger brow ridge, made his eyes bigger and
rounder, and changed the fur color on parts
of his face.
Dogged Artists
Art director Paul Felix—who came to Bolt
with credits as a production designer for
Lilo & Stitch and The Emperor’s New Groove,
visual development artist for Brother Bear
and Mulan, location designer for Tarzan,
and character designer for Mulan—also
considered Lady and the Tramp when he
began working on the film.
The journey that Bolt, Mittens, and Rhi­
no take from New York City to Hollywood
sends them trotting (and rolling) across the
US, which meant the crew needed to design
and build what Adolph Lusinsky, the film’s
look and lighting director, calls “200 envi­
ronments on a 30-environment budget.”
To design the environments, Felix refer­
enced early Disney films and the Ashcan
School of art. “I liked the sense of place in
Disney films like Mickey and the Beanstalk,
Peter Pan, and Pinocchio, and the dirty
quality and looseness in American painter
Edward Hopper’s architectural settings,”
Felix says. Hopper’s watercolors and paint­
ings often include Impressionist back­
ground buildings and simplified geometry,
which, while accurate in detail, is none­
theless abstract. “I like the idea of simple

characters as a good foil against painterly
backgrounds,” Felix says.
Achieving painterly backgrounds with
computer graphics, however, isn’t always
easy, and the job of translating Felix’s vision
fell to Lusinsky. “We worked with R&D
for a year to develop tools and processes to
achieve the loose brush style in the early
Disney films,” Spencer says. The result:
new technology; so new that Disney has
filed for patents on it.
Lusinsky groups the new technology into
four areas: ray painting, normal mapping,
texture painting, and painterly shadows.
Loose Edges
In 1999, Disney animators sent Tarzan, a
2D character, swinging through painterly
3D jungles with the help of new technol-
ogy called Deep Canvas (See “Deep Back-
ground,” July 1999). Background artists
Bolt, who believes he really is a superdog, thinks he’s helping Penny escape from the villains, but
it’s only television fakery. The Bolt look and lighting team based color curves and contrast ranges
for the movie on two film stocks, one for scenes in the TV show and another for the “real world.”
painted on 2D plots of 3D scenes. Deep
Canvas then applied information about
each brushstroke to positions in 3D space.
But, Deep Canvas relied on a proprietary
renderer, and for Bolt, the crew wanted to
use Pixar’s RenderMan.
“We came up with new ideas and tech-
niques that involved raytracing, to put
the brush strokes in 3D space so we can
use the brushstrokes on silhouettes in CG
models,” Lusinsky explains. “We call it
‘ray painting.’    ”
The process starts with painters working
in Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter to
create and store libraries of brushstrokes.
For Bolt, to create the Edward Hopper-like
backgrounds, they used a dry brush.
“We’re only interested in the quality
of the edges,” Lusinsky points out. “We
want the edges to feel like brushstrokes. If
we had painted on the geometry, the sides
would recede in space. In contrast, our
brushstrokes never recede in space; they stay
on the edges because they can track with
the camera and stay flat to the image.”
To make this possible, the studio’s expres-
sion-based XGen software grows virtual
cards—2D planes—on the geometry in the
scene. For each card, XGen associates partic-
ular brushstrokes from the reference library.
“That gives us a way to get the brush-
strokes onto a piece of geometry in 3D
space,” Lusinsky says. “We never render
the brushstrokes. We render the final
model and then send a raytrace. When the
ray hits a brushstroke, it sends information
back to the geometry. It says, this is what
brushstroke I am, and this is how I’m go-
ing to look.”
CG Animation n n n n
Brushing Light
In addition to XGen, Disney’s look de-
velopment tool kit includes a 3D paint
program and shader expressions, all rolled
into a powerful system that allows artists to
create procedural expressions without hav-
ing to write procedural shaders (see “Fast
Forward,” April 2007, and “The Sky’s the
Limit,” November 2005).
“Our Paint3D program for painting
textures is powerful,” Lusinsky says. “You
don’t just paint in it; it has an expression
library.” Therefore, artists using the pro-
gram can easily and quickly move back
and forth between procedural and hand-
painted textures.
For example: “You can bring different
properties of the geometry into Paint3D,”
Lusinsky says. “If you pull the normals in
as images and paint on those images, they’ll
remap to the geometry, so the geometry
thinks it has a new normal.”
The new “normal mapping” technology
allowed artists working on Bolt to give the
surfaces of the painted geometry a brush-
stroke quality by working with surface
normals—the imaginary lines tangent to
the surface of geometry that renderers use
to calculate specular reflections. “We re-
mapped the normals to brushstrokes so the
surface appears to be made of many brush-
strokes,” Lusinsky explains. “As the specular
light falls across the surface, it gets broken
up and takes on a brushstroke quality.”
Impressionist Painting
To further help the artists create painterly
backgrounds in Edward Hopper’s style,
the technical crew devised technology they
call “Look A, Look B” for texture painting.
Lusinsky uses a brick wall to explain how
the new tools worked in practice. First, the
artists painted and saved an Impressionistic
layer in which, for example, one brushstroke
might represent 20 bricks at a time. Then,
they painted individual grout lines between
the bricks to create and save a more detailed
layer. The painters created these two types
November 2008 23
n n n n CG Animation
Animators gave Bolt cartoony superpowers when the dog starred in his TV show. When Bolt
travels through the real world, though, the animators followed John Lasseter’s maxim of “truth to
materials,” and made sure the little dog behaved as a real dog would.
of layers for each material in Bolt.
“When we rendered the materials, we
could decide whether we wanted a looser,
abstract interpretation, or more detailed
look,” Lusinsky says. Sometimes, the artists
made the decisions arbitrarily; other times,
they set up the system to make procedural
decisions based on depth cues for example,
to render less detail when a material is some
distance away from the camera, or, similar-
ly, to render looser details in shadows.
Lastly, to create painterly shadows, the
technical team developed new technology
that works within RenderMan to fringe the
shadow edges. “We developed tools and
techniques that give the edges a different
color than the interior,” Lusinsky notes. To
do that, the shaders referenced libraries of
painted brushstrokes.
For the deep shadows in the characters’
hair, though, the crew leveraged the capa-
bilities of technology already within XGen.
“XGen keeps track of where each groom
(guide) hair grows, how many hairs are as-
sociated with it, how far away it is from the
camera, how big, and so forth,” Lusinsky
says. “Because it is open-ended and anyone
can write expressions or plug any kind of
code into it, we used XGen to shade the
hair in a more art-directable way. Rather
than being dependent on volumetric shad-
24 November 2008
ers, we derived volumes of hair using in-
formation from XGen, which helped speed
up hair renders quite a bit.”
Believable Light
For cinematography, Felix turned away
from animated films and toward live-ac-
tion movies of the early ’70s. In particular,
he liked Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematog-
raphy in Heaven’s Gate and the “soft sen-
sibility of light” in Ridley Scott’s McCabe
& Mrs. Miller. Scott’s photography in the
“traveling picture” Thelma & Louise also
inspired him.
On the technical side, Lusinsky’s team
studied film stocks, particularly older ones.
“We developed film curves that all the ren-
ders used on our show,” he says. “That gave
us a painterly textural world that seems pho-
tographic because the light is photographic.”
One film stock provided the color curves
and contrast range for the sequences in
which Bolt stars in the TV show; the other
provided correct exposures for the rest of
the movie, when Bolt rumbles through the
real world. To accurately light Bolt’s jour-
ney across the country, Lusinsky and others
traveled his route themselves.
“We wanted to have a naturalistic feel
for the lighting, so we spent a lot of time
studying light across the country,” Lusin-
sky says. “We wanted to capture the qual-
ity of the light in each area and pull color
palettes from each area.”
To light shots in the garment district of
New York City, for example, they developed
a desaturated color palette that mimicked
humid afternoons when the sun is soft and
muted. In Ohio, they discovered that the
humidity in the air tended to cast the sky a
turquoise color. For Los Angeles, they ren-
dered the sun hot and hard.
“We really tried to capture the subtleties
that make each place different,” Lusinsky
says. “The light, the architecture, the foli-
age. We wanted to be true to the locations
so you felt like Bolt was in the real world.
We thought if we made it too stylized, peo-
ple wouldn’t believe he’s in a real world; it
would feel like fantasy. We wanted it to be
believable. And, John Lasseter is really big
on details in the environments.”
When Lasseter and Catmull arrived at
Disney Animation, they tore down walls,
literally and figuratively. Formerly walled-
off offices became an open conversation
pit with a jukebox, magazines, and a cereal
bar. Layers of management peeled away,
too, which invigorated the studio with
new, creative energy.
“Before John [Lasseter] and Ed [Cat-
mull] arrived, I kept saying how great
it would be if we had a boss like John,”
Howard says. “He’s like a big kid who
loves animation, and that enthusiasm fil-
ters through the crew.”
Williams adds, “John brought so much
energy and excitement. He raised the qual-
ity bar. He gave us a real creative surge.”
Bolt was the first lightning rod for that
renewed energy, and it could hardly be
more fitting. In the film, the star learns that
he doesn’t have superpowers. In making
the film, the animation studio remembers
it does. n
Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a
contributing editor for Computer Graphics World. She
can be reached at BarbaraRR@comcast.net.
n n n n Hardware

Workstations
on the

Today’s latest mobile

devices are truly worthy
of the ‘workstation’ label
By Jon Peddie

Dell recently unveiled a new line

of Precision mobile workstations.
For users who value fashion as well as
function, the M6400 Covet features a classy
Vibrant Orange chassis.

26 November 2008

This year, 2008, marks the year Moore’s
law gave us the most mobile workstations
ever. They are laptop computers with 17-
inch or greater screens, powerful dual- and
quad-core processors with gigabytes of fast
DDR2 DRAM, powerful GPUs with lots
of graphics memory, high-speed and large-
capacity disks with RAID, optical drives
with Blu-ray, every kind of I/O you can
imagine, and more features than you can
find on many desk-bound machines. Those
are the facts. But what does it all mean?
Aside from the sheer pleasure of being
able to take your work with you all the
time, what would be the motivation for
having a portable workstation, and how
portable are we talking? What about the
workstation side? Are there compromises?
It seems like there are some incontrovert-
ible conflicts in the premise.
What Is A Workstation?
A workstation is distinguished from an or-
dinary PC by a few critical items. There’s
a fairly regular debate about what a work-
station is and what it isn’t. And too many
vendors try to market high-end PCs as a
workstation in order to get a higher price
for them.
Workstations cost more than a typical
PC, and there are good reasons for that. For
one thing, a workstation is often used in a
mission-critical situation and, therefore,
has to work 24/7, 365 days a year with no
hiccups or glitches. Workstations are used
with high-performance and often expen-
sive software, and have to be qualified by
the software vendor. That is done to give
assurance to the buyer that the machine is
going to work, and work well.
Generally speaking, a workstation has a
high-resolution display and high-perfor-
mance graphics, a large capacity of high-
speed (high-bandwidth) memory, top-of-
the-line CPUs, and fast high-capacity disk
drives. Furthermore, a workstation will have
application-certified drivers that guarantee
Workstation Segment—Worldwide Market Share
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
’04 ’04 ’05 ’05 ’05 ’05 ’06 ’06 ’06 ’06 ’07 ’07 ’07 ’07 ’08 ’08
reliable operation with an application. Also,
the certified drivers are tuned to the specific
applications—a qualification that is not just
a label but really means something.
One of the distinguishing hardware fea-
tures of a workstation is its error-correction
memory (ECM). However, in the case of
mobile workstations, there is no ECM. Ad-
ditionally, a workstation is equipped with a
power supply that contains extra capacity.
Therefore, cooling and noise design is criti-
cal, and more care is put into baffles and
routing than is found in an ordinary PC.
These are some of the most challenging
aspects in building a mobile workstation
that, ultimately, limit the system’s abilities.
Categories
Jon Peddie Research (JPR) categorizes the
workstation market into five classes, or seg-
ments: entry, midrange, high-end, ultra
high-end, and mobile. The entry level has
no 3D capability, whereas the ultra high-
end is, as you can imagine, the most pow-
erful machine that can be built with dual
graphics boards, dual processors, and zil-
lions of megabytes of memory.
Somewhere in between is the mobile
workstation, which, like the mobile PC, is
Hardware ■ ■ ■ ■
mobile
entry
midrange
high-end
ultra high-end
Courtesy Jon Peddie Research
the fastest-growing segment.
The workstation market in terms of unit
shipments is about the same size as the en-
thusiast gamer market, which is an inter-
esting correlation with regard to the user’s
demand for high performance and a will-
ingness to pay for that performance.
Can I Take It with Me?
So, considering all the above information,
why would a person want a workstation to
be mobile? Collaboration is a big buzzword
in the industry, and among distributed
workforces and partners, being able to share
a design or a problem is critical. But what if
you’re on a campus or in an aircraft manu-
facturing facility? In those situations, being
able to grab the workstation and scoot off to
a meeting, or jump on a jitney and go to the
other end of the production line, would be
an enormous advantage. However, working
on a design while traveling in an airplane,
although often mentioned, isn’t a realistic
application. For one reason, these portable
workstations are big, and for another, the
design work is so sensitive you’d never want
to risk exposing it in public. That tends to
mitigate the argument about battery life.
And for those workstation users who fly in
November 2008 27
n n n n Hardware
The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 has some
unique features, including a built-in Wacom
tablet below the keyboard.
business class or better, there is usually avail-
able power on the plane.
Let’s get back to the initial question,
though: Can a workstation actually be por-
table? Display size, resolution, and graphics
performance are usually critical to a work-
station user, and those features are major
power drains. So, if a portable workstation
can survive on battery operation for more
than two hours, that’s considered pretty
good. And when you pack that much power
into a mobile machine, it ends up weighing
as much as eight pounds (3.6 kg) or more.
Workstation Displays
The new crop of portable workstations has a
17-inch WUXGA (1920x1200) screen with
400-nit brightness. (More about nits later.)
This year, LCD display technology has
improved to the point where users can get
an almost-perfect color representation. In
the film industry, judge the color correct-
ness by comparing it to Adobe’s RGB color
space, developed in 1998 to encompass
most of the colors achievable on CMYK
color printers.
Today, some of the new mobile worksta-
tions are expressing their display capability
in terms of a percentage of Adobe color
space. This is an awkward description be-
28 November 2008
cause of the seven-dimensional
nature of the color space, and it
begs the question: Which part of
that color space is compromised?
That undoubtedly will be a mar-
keting debate among the suppliers.
No matter, Lenovo maintains that
it supports 72 percent of the Adobe
color space, and HP maintains it sup-
ports 100 percent, albeit with an exter-
nal DreamColor monitor. The idea is to
be able to pick a color on the screen and
expect that color to show up on the printed
page. Remember WYSIWYG? Well, we’re
getting pretty close to it now.
The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 worksta-
tion has a unique built-in color calibrator.
A small sensor is located in the base, just
below the space bar. When you close the
lid, the display runs through a series of test
colors and patterns; this process is moni-
tored by the sensor, and the system then
calibrates the screen so it is as color-accu-
rate as possible.
HP, on the other hand, is promoting the
DreamColor aspect of its EliteBook 8730w
mobile workstation. DreamColor is a per-
fectly color-corrected monitor that HP intro-
duced recently, starting with the LP2480zx
monitor for the film and photo market.
The LP2480zx external stand-alone
monitor has a set of RGB LEDs to extend
the color range. The LED panels fit as part
of HP’s DreamColor technology initiative,
which encompasses higher-precision (true
30-bit, 3x10-bit per channel) and color-
calibration technology.
In the context of HP’s mobile worksta-
tions, the DreamColor external monitor
provides calibration technology, but on a
foundation of more conventional 24-bit
(3x8-bit) color precision. Nevertheless,
they are equipped with a WUXGA RGB
LED backlight panel, and while HP is still
tweaking the color spaces, the company is
targeting 132 percent of the Adobe space
(and 151 percent of RGB). The Dream-
Color panel option on the mobile worksta-
tions just recently began shipping.
In addition to color balance, the screen’s
brightness and contrast are important
as well, especially during DCC applica-
tions. Brightness—or more correctly, lu-
minance—is expressed in nits; one nit is
equal to one candela (a unit of measure of
the light’s intensity) per square meter (1cd/
m2). And bigger is better, so you want the
most nits, or candelas, you can get for the
dollar when selecting displays, whether as a
stand-alone or on a laptop.
Contrast, meanwhile, is a ratio and
is based on black as the reference point.
However, LCDs don’t project a very good
black; typically, the best they can offer is a
very dark gray. So polarizing and wave fil-
ters are placed in front of them to achieve
a “blacker” black. This requires a brighter
backlight, which in turn drives up power
consumption. Contrast ratios for a good
home theater TV will be between 5000-
and 10,000-to-1. A midrange laptop will
have a ratio of between 500- and 1000-to-
one, and it is important to note that the
contrast ratio impacts the display’s ability
to reproduce the color spectrum.
The HP 8730w delivers 300 nits and an
800-to-1 contrast ratio, while the Lenovo
W700 offers 400 nits with a 500-to-1 con-
trast ratio.
Powering the Displays
The new mobile workstations are equipped
with powerful GPUs, but have limited
memory compared to their desktop coun-
terpart. Typically a desktop will have a
graphics add-in board with 1gb of video
RAM, whereas a mobile workstation will
typically have a maximum of 512mb.
In the evolving mobile workstation mar-
ket, Nvidia has jumped to an early lead,
with vendors such as Dell, Fujitsu, HP, and
Lenovo usually positioning the Quadro
FX3700M and FX2700M in the standard
configuration, with the AMD ATI FireGL
V5725 offered as an option. GPUs from
both companies support OpenGL 2.1, but
CGW :908_p 8/22/08 2:22 PM Page 1

More Cores. More threads.

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in the palm of your hand.

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Merten Stroetzel
Director Services,
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n n n n Hardware

HP has added a DreamColor option to its
8730w mobile workstation, which is already
nicely equipped with a Montevina-class
Intel Core 2 Duo processor and more.
additionally, ATI delivers DirectX 10.1 sup-
port (Nvidia is at DirectX 10.0). The Nvid-
ia FX3700 is capable of supporting 1gb of
video memory, and both HP’s EliteBook
8730w and Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700 use
CGW_1 FOURTH:CGW_1 FOURTH 10/23/08
that GPU; thus, the workstations can be
equipped with 1gb of video memory. Workstations, mobile or fixed, are ex-
Even though Nvidia currently has the
“standard” position in these mobile work-
stations, that situation could change. Giv-
en recent evidence both from SIGGRAPH
and from vendor comments, we can expect
to see a surge on the part of AMD mobile
workstation graphics in the coming year.
The company has clearly renewed its ef-
forts with respect to workstation graphics,
and vendors have taken note.
Other issues to consider are the user in-
terface and input devices. The mouse and
trackball still reign supreme (see “Invaluable
Input,” October 2008), but there is also a
large segment in the DCC world who work
with a tablet, using a pen for input. With
that in mind, one supplier, Lenovo, has
cleverly built in a Wacom tablet just below
the keyboard of the ThinkPad.
5:18 PM Page 1
Processors and Memory
pected to have the most
an Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core CPU
and up to 8gb of high-speed DDR3 mem-
ory. Lenovo also offers optional dual hard
drives with RAID configurations, and an
optional Blu-ray DVD burner/player,
while HP can provide up to 640gb when
a second drive is added (displacing an opti-
cal drive).
They for Real?
So, are these new monster machines real
battery-powered workstations? The answer
is a slightly qualified “yes.” Qualified be-
cause they don’t offer ECM, and they don’t
have the most powerful GPUs. But, those
are the trade-offs for size, power consump-
tion, and cooling, and they are only slight
compromises at that. When you think back
to just a few years ago, the idea of having
a portable workstation—a real worksta-
tion-class machine, not just some high-end
branded PC—was on the verge of absurdity.
It would be like putting a Ferrari inside a

Create 3D Faces Today! powerful CPUs and the

fastest and most RAM.
Smart car—not only physically impossible,
but ridiculous in concept. And look at us

1.
However, in a mobile today. We have it, with gigantic screens and
FaceShop workstation, or any super-high resolution, super-fast multicore
mobile device for that processors, powerful GPUs with a gigabyte
Take any photo and
turn it into a 3D head. matter, power and ther- of fast memory, and special features like Blu-
Use it as a morph with mal management is cru- ray disk drives.
any application that reads
OBJ, like Maya, 3DS Max, cial—super-fast CPUs Having been a workstation builder and
Poser, Lightwave, DAZ and GPUs get super hot, now a workstation user over the past few
Studio, etc.
Available in WIN/MAC and there’s scant space decades, I find it amazing to think about,
$89.99 to put in fans. Also, the let alone imagine it possible a decade ago.
limited space restricts And, that’s not all. Dell unveiled a new

2. FaceShot 3D Camera system

the amount of memory
that can be packed in,
line of Precision mobile workstations,
and got the ball rolling with the 17-inch
3D Mesh on a budget. and it has to be cooled M6400, which supports up to 16gb of
FaceShot comes with 2
Canon EOS XT cameras,
as well. RAM, a 1gb graphics card, an Intel Core
mounts, hardware and HP is equipping its 2 Duo Quad-Core QX9300 Extreme Edi-
FaceShot 1.0 software.
Creates full 360° 3D
EliteBook 8730w mo- tion processor, four memory slots, and
heads with 30,000 bile workstation with RAID capability. So there are even more
polygons in minutes. a Montevina-class In- choices for professional users on the go. n
Starts at $1,799
(Compare to similar tel Core 2 Duo (up to
systems costing 10x, 20x
as much)
3.06ghz) and up to Jon Peddie is president of Jon Peddie Research, a
8gb of 800mhz DDR2 Tiburon, CA-based consultancy specializing in graphics
www.abalonellc.com memory. Lenovo con- and multimedia that also publishes JPR’s “TechWatch.”
figures its W700 with He can be reached at jon@jonpeddie.com.

30 November 2008
CGW :808_p 7/16/08 11:45 AM Page 1
■ ■ ■ ■ CG I

T
l
W
c

32 November 2008

hey can be found in every soci-
ety, con men who take advan-
tage of others while capitalizing on
their victims’ weaknesses and fears.
In real life, their deceitful deeds are
no laughing matter. But in the
world of make-believe, their actions and
consequences can be hilarious, and the
characters themselves endearing. Such is
the case with Gwizdo, a medieval swindler
who stars in Dragon Hunters, a European
CG feature film.
Dragon Hunters follows the adventures
of Gwizdo and his partner, Lian-Chu, both
hunters for hire in a futuristic/medieval
world of floating land masses terrorized by
various monsters, also known as dragons. In
this timeless universe, dragon hunting is not
a fairy tale, but a real job involving contracts,
money, and problems with clients who don’t
want to pay. Knights work for free but are
not always available when needed, thus pro-
viding opportunity for commercial hunters.
Small in size, cowardly, and less-than-
honorable, Gwizdo is the brains of the
operation, negotiating contracts with the
helpless villagers, while the hulking but
kindhearted warrior Lian-Chu provides
the brawn (it is his task to slay the beasts).
The two con men-turned heroes face their biggest fear,
literally, in the film as they chase down the fierce
World Eater, whose immense size (450 feet tall)
challenged the hunters as well as the artists.
However, that seldom happens. Both pre-
tend to be brave and collect advance pay-
ments for dragon kills that never occur.
While opposites in stature and personality,
the two have been longtime friends, hav-
ing been raised together in an orphanage.
Often, they are accompanied by their pet
dragon, Hector, which is more like a pet
dog than the large, menacing dragons they
hunt. Then, one day, they meet little Zoe,
a believer in fairy tales and the niece of a
wealthy nobleman frightened by the re-
turn of the fiercest dragon of them all, the
World Eater. Soon, the fly-by-night dragon
hunters find themselves on an exciting ad-
venture: their first actual hunt.
The underlying story is universal in
nature, a description that also holds true
for the multinational group of nearly 450
people behind this film. Mac Guff Ligne
in France, Trixter Film in Germany, and
LuxAnimation in Luxemburg were re-
sponsible for the movie’s creation. French
graphic novelist Arthur Qwak developed
the original story and served as co-direc-
tor alongside Guillaume Ivernel, with the
French company Futurikon producing.
The movie found eager audiences through-
out Europe but is still waiting for possible
CG I ■ ■ ■ ■
North American distribution.
Nevertheless, some folks in the US may
recognize the story line and the characters.
That’s because the property began in 2004
as a television series on Cartoon Network.
“From the beginning, Dragon Hunters was
conceived as a concept that could be a se-
ries, a video game, a feature film, and so
forth,” says Caroline Blin, marketing direc-
tor at Futurikon. To that end, Futurikon
recently completed a second season (52
half-hour episodes) of the series and rolled
out a video game for the Nintendo DS to
coincide with the film debut.
Even though the concept was imagined
as both a feature and a TV series from the
start, one of the biggest hurdles was getting
the producers to pony up the necessary
funds for a 3D film infused with a tre-
mendous amount of effects. “We were like
Gwizdo and Lian-Chu: two lonely rogues
who needed credibility!” jokes Qwak.
Film Production
Blin is quick to point out that the movie—a
prequel to the series, a “how it all began”—is
more than a mere extension of the TV shows
in story, tone, scope, and character develop-
ment. The biggest difference, though, is the
animation itself: The series has a traditional
2D cel look, while the film is 3D CGI.
Therefore, no assets from the series could
be reused for the film. Yet, the 3D style is
atypical of the CG films produced in
the US, with their rounded edges,
glossy imagery, and tighter frames.
November 2008 33
n n n n CG I
Most unusual are the film’s environments, which are in constant motion and float in midair, as
do elements and debris, created with a particle-based system and turbulence field.
VFX producer Jean-Jacques Benhamou
from Mac Guff describes the fairy-tale style
of Dragon Hunters as “a Miyazaki mood
mixed with German romantics influences.”
In contrast, the worlds of Dragon Hunt-
ers contain realistic surfaces (grass, water,
stones, fire) but with unique physics in
which everything is moving all the time.
“The worlds had to feel real in order for the
adventure to be credible,” says Qwak. “So
we approached it similar to a live-action
film. That meant realistic rendering, matte
paintings, and a tremendous amount of
work on compositing. The characters, while
cartoon-shaped, have realistic textures.”
According to executive producer Michael
Coldewey from Trixter, the shape of the
characters and the entire production design
is one of immense contrasts. “If we have to
show something big, it is big in this movie.
If there is a happy moment, we show little,
fluffy, white bunnies flying through the
sky,” he adds. Coldewey also believes the
film gives audiences time to enjoy the art-
work: “We have some fast-edited sequences
and action, but we also provide emotional
pauses to relax and enjoy the art.”
Character Building
In all, the film took more than two and a
half years to complete—one year of devel-
opment (storyboards, designs, references,
34 November 2008
and a 2D animatic) and another year and
a half of CGI production. The majority
of the film’s CG work was done by Mac
Guff, which created the characters, rigs,
textures, and some animation. The facil-
ity also did all the background renderings
and composites of the final images. Trixter,
meanwhile, was responsible for the charac-
ter animation and the musical score. Lux-
Animation modeled the props, sets, and
backgrounds.
In addition to a sometimes language
barrier among the three studios, the fa-
cilities had to ensure that their production
pipelines were connected and compatible
for asset sharing. Also, the studios had to
work as a single production unit.
Using sketches, paintings, and clay mod-
els as references, the crew at Mac Guff used
Autodesk’s Maya, along with a good amount
of in-house software and special scripts, to
bring the Dragon Hunters characters to 3D
life. Character layouts soon followed to val-
idate the 2D-to-3D transfer in terms of the
look, proportions, and so forth.
One of the biggest challenges, says mod-
eling and lighting supervisor Nicolas Brach,
was creating some very stylized characters
that would be integrated in very realistic
environments—a look they dubbed “illus-
trated realism.” This required the modelers
to focus on adding fine details to the mod-
els while retaining their “uncluttered style.”
Often, this meant adding more modeling
detail to the character’s props and suits
rather than to the cartoonish heads and
faces. For example, Knight Lens Flair and
his horse have very realistic, detailed ar-
mor on more stylized and cartoonish body
structures and proportions.
While all the characters had their unique
qualities, the most difficult to model, says
Brach, was Hector the blue dog-dragon—
not because of his shape, but his topology.
“From the beginning, we knew we had
to consider all the motion possibilities he
should have,” he says. “We had to be able
to squash and stretch all parts of his body,
including his eyes and teeth, without crash-
ing the skinning and blendshape process.”
Another was the World Eater because of its
size (450 feet tall); also, it was to appear in
both wide shots and close-ups.
For the hair and fur—from Zoe’s braids
and Lian-Chu’s ponytail, to the fur trim on
the clothes—the artists at Mac Guff used
the studio’s proprietary tool called Symbor.
With the tool, they generated guide splines
on each vertex of the fur, then “brushed”
them into the modeling layout with special
tools, akin to using combs. Afterward, they
created a large number of hairs to fill the
surface using those guides. For every char-
acter, the team had at least three hair sys-
tems for different densities and thicknesses,
and then chose the most appropriate sys-
tem based on the location of the charac-
ter on the screen and its proximity to the
camera. “We didn’t want to unnecessarily
overload the memory,” Brach adds.
The hair and fur—as well as the
clothes—moved with the help of dynam-
ics, as well as with Syflex’s cloth-simulation
tool and the plug-in from Mac Guff.
For the most part, the group hand-paint-
ed the textures in Adobe’s Photoshop and
used Pixologic’s ZBrush as well to create
displacement maps and deep UVs to deal
with the film’s complex texture projections.
To ensure that the stylized characters fit well

aesthetically into the backdrops, the artists
used realistic textures, acquiring basic ma-
terials from photographs and then mixing
the textures in Photoshop. They used this
process to create the clothes, leather goods,
metal objects, skin, and other materials.
With Symbor, the artists then built
complex shaders driven by mathematical
parameters such as facing ratio and dis-
tance to the camera. They used these Blinn
shaders for basic surfaces such as leather
and metals, some velvet shaders for clothes
and horse hair, and subsurface scattering
for the skin.
“We had a lot of subtle shading details
on things like Zoe’s clothes or her Uncle
Arnold’s clothes: Both wear garments em-
broidered with gold and have different vel-
vet shaders to give them a sense of fineness
and richness,” Brach says. Nevertheless, the
artists used what Brach describes as a “fat
S” shader for the hairs instead of a tradi-
tional hair shader, for a soft look achieved
with a short render time.
The characters, including the hulking Lian-Chu and little Zoe, are clearly stylized, yet to fit them
into the realistic environments, artists added fine details to the characters’ clothing and props.
Lighting and rendering was done with
Mac Guff’s Symbor as well, combined
with MGLR, the studio’s rendering en-
gine. The light rig was based on ambient
occlusion, which allowed the group to
control the mood of the sequence; some-
times image-based lighting was used,
along with some raytraced light sources.
Mac Guff’s R&D department created a
multilayer system based on various outputs
that enabled the group to generate basic
layers (occlusion pass, diffuse pass, normal
camera pass, and so forth), as well as the
possible mask and shader output needed
by the compositing department—all in a
single process. “We even rendered a layer
for each light source, with all the possible
information (diffuse, spec, shadow) so we
could refine the lighting color in real time
within 2D,” Brach says.
Animated Characters
After the modelers were finished, the files
were handed off to the rigging department.
Each biped character rig—set up in Maya
and managed with InK, the studio’s in-
house tool—contained approximately 75
joints, with 100 or so controllers. “Because
this is cartoonish animation, everything had
to be squashable, stretchable, bendable,”
says Mathieu Trintzius, character rigger,
“but I wouldn’t say that the animation falls
into the cartoonish style; it is more realistic
animation, with the exception of Hector.”
Even some of the dragons were rigged
with the base system, including the World
Eater, although the group devised special
rigs for creatures that had unique designs.
CG I n n n n
This also held true for the props.
All the characters were then hand-ani-
mated in Maya, reflecting a style that ani-
mation supervisor Kyle Balda describes
as “somewhere between full and a hybrid
‘limited’ animation in 3D”—hardly sur-
prising given Qwak’s traditional anima-
tion background. “There is a lot of sappy
pose-to-pose animation, but for the most
part, the style of the animation is driven
more from the personality of the charac-
ters,” explains Balda. “For example, Lian-
Chu hardly moves except for when he is in
an action sequence, so his acting is subtle
compared to Gwizdo, who moves a lot as
he talks, but more or less freezes up when
it’s time for action.”
According to Laurent de la Chapelle,
animation director, the team was tasked
with creating a full feature’s worth of ani-
mation in about nine months, and with
26 animators divided between the Mac
Guff and Trixter facilities—about half the
time and resources as a Hollywood ani-
mated feature.
The groups commonly employed video
reference, which enabled the directors to
communicate the acting/action intentions
for a sequence that was being animated
long distance by Trixter in Munich. “This
was simply a way to communicate the
character’s motivation for a sequence, as
opposed to using a detailed guideline of the
exact poses we wanted,” notes Balda.
The facial setups were based on muscu-
lar movements in the face, rather than the
creation of shapes that reference particular
phonemes or emotional expressions. In this
way, the animators were not limited to the
same “F-shape” or the same surprised eye-
brow pose. “It was up to them to sculpt the
poses themselves based on a combination
of the anatomy of the character and their
own graphic sensibilities,” Balda says.
Each character model contained several
facial controllers on the eyes and mouth,
giving the animators a good deal of free-
dom in creating facial expressions. This sys-
November 2008 35
n n n n CG I
tem negated any need to use facial poses.
No motion capture was used, though some
characters were influenced by real-life ac-
tors—Gwizdo (Joe Pesci) and Zoe (Kate
Hudson from Almost Famous, and Miran-
da Cosgrove from School of Rock).
Another challenge was that, due to the
production schedule, the teams began
animating before the final dialog was re-
corded, limiting them to only animat-
ing portions of sequences that were not
dialog-driven for the first few months.
“Fortunately, there were plenty of action
sequences in Dragon Hunters, but not all
the animators are necessarily differentiated
toward action-based animation; some are
natural actors who may struggle a bit with
the concrete and technical nature of physi-
cality,” explains Balda.
In addition, casting was still going on
in the early months of the film, but that
limitation proved beneficial when the crew
moved to the acting sequences: “By that
time, the animators had become familiar
with every joint and anatomical movement
of the characters,” Balda points out.
Lip synch proved especially challenging,
as the dialog was created in English to at-
tract a widespread international audience,
while the animators were predominantly
French. To make this process go more
smoothly, Balda accompanied the direc-
tors to the voice-recording sessions in Los
Angeles, to offer a native perspective. “For
an animation supervisor, this is an unusual
practice, but now I am convinced that it
should be part of the process,” Balda says.
“Within eight days we recorded all the
character voices, focusing on one charac-
ter at a time, from start to finish, from the
perspective of that specific character. Later,
this proved invaluable when I was work-
ing one-on-one with the animators to help
them understand where their character was
in his or her respective arc.”
Balda also gave the animators a video
reference of him lip-synching the final re-
corded dialog, so the French animators had
36 November 2008
a reference of the mouth poses that were
not obvious to a non-English speaker—
this was particularly helpful for Gwizdo
and Zoe, who talk very fast and use a lot
of slang.
Environmental Issues
One unique aspect of the film is the float-
ing islands. “We had to take into account
the fact that all the animations were made
before the modeling of the high-defini-
tion sets even began, and that the anima-
tors worked on low-definition scenes made
solely for them,” explains Franck Clarenc,
modeling supervisor working on the film’s
sets and environments. “As a consequence,
all the assets in our pipeline were created
according to that low-definition layout,
which was divided into arbitrary parts that
were much too heavy when turned into
high definition.”
In the case of the floating village, the
artists created it as a single scene, which,
according to Clarenc, turned into a huge li-
ability when they reached the critical poly-
Artists surrounded each set with a sphere mapped with a high-resolution matte-painted sky.
Most of the reflections are actual blurred reflections; sometimes they are environmental maps.
gon mass that made working in real time
within Maya “a distant memory.” So, the
group cut the huge data into smaller bits,
and with help from the development team,
automated the gathering of those sub-
scenes into a single, massive one, thereby
enabling the artists to work on the various
individual parts in a more convenient way.
“Basically, we visualized in our asset
manager the sub-scenes and the global
scene in the form of a nodal tree, where we
could connect, disconnect, and replace at
will any part we wanted,” explains Clarenc.
“This was a major achievement in flexibil-
ity, work division, and efficiency for us.”
Throughout the film, there is a lot of
debris flying around, some of which are
just rocks, but others are part of destroyed
buildings. To achieve the “floating” effect,
the group devised a particle-based system to
generate a turbulence field; that, along with
a direction-based rotation script, moved the
“flying” rocks, vegetation, and more.
There are also a number of buildings in
various states of disarray during different
“chapters” of the story. Because of the tight
production schedule, the group had to find
a way to optimize the creation of those
heavy models; in the end, they designed
most of the structures using modules that
could be reused and, with some modifica-
tions, would allow the group to craft as
many different buildings as needed.
“We originally thought about using the
same nodal techniques as we used for the
flying village in our asset manager, but
that turned out to be impractical: It was

too complex a structure for a single build-
ing,” explains Clarenc. “Instead, we created
a library of parts, like rooftops, walls, and
blocks, and assembled them by hand.”
The actual building destruction was done
with a rigid-body dynamics system. “If you
want to break a building into two pieces,
you must also model the interior and break
everything into small pieces,” explains
Emilien Dessons, special effects supervisor.
“We tried to use an algorithm-based shat-
tering technique, but the shattering was
equal and ugly, so we looked for a chaotic
shatter with a graphically appealing shape.
We manually modeled everything, shatter-
ing each piece with a reference drawing.
We also added classically instanced particle
systems to the destruction scenes to bring
life to them, with a large amount of com-
positing and different smoke techniques
added in as well.”
Furthermore, the crew used two model-
ing LODs, one with as few faces as pos-
sible, and another with beveled angles so
the team could automatically subdivide the
objects depending on the needs during ren-
dering. “You could probably say we had a
third level, where the objects were detailed
according to the textures for extreme close-
ups,” Clarenc says.
Devil in the Details
While atypical, the environments never-
theless had to look realistic, in contrast to
the character models, in keeping with the
style of the movie. “Guillaume Ivernel’s ref-
erences were very detailed, and we had to
translate that level of detail in every texture
we created,” says Fabien Polack, texturing
supervisor.
The environmental textures were fairly
traditional, a combination of texture maps
with simple shaders. “The challenge for us
was more artistic than technical; we had to
match Ivernel’s vision and enhance it when-
ever possible,” says Polack. Due to time lim-
itations, the artists created ground shaders
that worked for almost every shot—from
Hector the blue dragon proved difficult to model. He had to squash and stretch all parts of his
body, including his eyes and teeth, without adversely affecting the skinning and blendshapes.
expansive shots to close-ups. They also
painted detailed textures but were careful to
not fall into a common trap by “over-tex-
turing” objects. “Like painters, we removed
some material at the end of a texture to
make it look more natural,” he adds.
Every set, Polack explains, was sur-
rounded by a sphere mapped with a high-
resolution matte-painted sky, provided by
the matte department or Ivernel himself.
Most of the time the reflections were real
blurred reflections, and less often, environ-
mental maps.
Every map was created, at minimum, at
4k resolution, sometimes 8k, and on oc-
casion, 16k. The group provided the tra-
ditional set of textures—color, specular,
bump, reflectivity, and, depending on the
context, roughness, displacement (usually
at 16 bits), and normal. Then, each high-
definition shader was converted to mid-
(2k) and low-def (1k) depending on the
shots. The bump factors were also driven
by a “distance-to-camera” node.
Despite using what Clarenc calls “a clas-
sic modeling setup,” the group still ran into
some issues. “For instance, our renderer
doesn’t have an angle-threshold limit to cal-
culate the phong smoothing, which means
that all our low-def models were totally out
of shape and all the details were completely
lost. So we developed a tool to convert the
CG I n n n n
Maya hard edges—which are nothing but
an edge-bound angle limit for the phong
smoothing—to ‘real’ hard edges that were
vertex-based with doubled adjacent edges
to stop the phong from averaging values
across them. And, voila, we had our low-
def Maya objects in their crisp, detailed
glory. While it doesn’t sound like a big deal,
it soon became vital for the completion of
the huge sets at the end of the movie.”
To render the images, Mac Guff had a
650-processor renderfarm available—small
in comparison to Hollywood standards—
though on average only 200 to 300 pro-
cessors were used per shot. To keep the
rendering times manageable, the crew was
encouraged to keep each shot to a render-
ing time of less than two hours per frame,
no matter the number of layers. Neverthe-
less, working in layers gave the artists more
control over the final result.
Despite the nodal structure for the large
scenes, an ever-growing library of modules
and buildings in the asset manager, and
a way to maintain the sharp angles of its
low-def models during rendering, these so-
lutions were not enough when it came to
addressing the biggest problem of all: the
world cemetery, where 200 shots occurred.
Like the floating village, the world cem-
etery at the end of the movie was a single,
huge set but contained dozens of detailed
November 2008 37
■ ■ ■ ■ CG I
The team used Mac Guff’s Symbor to generate the characters’ hair and the fur on their cos-
tumes. For each actor, they had at least three hair systems of varying densities and thicknesses.
buildings, and the camera continuously
moved through them.
“The animation was done, and there was
no way we could change the layout, but the
number of buildings was so large that none
of our machines could render the scene,”
explains Clarenc.
The team had to drastically reduce the
polygon count; they did so by baking the
high-definition models onto lower-defini-
tion models—sometimes as much as 10
times lighter. This involved both normal
and color maps so that no one would be
able to tell the difference if the objects were
far enough from the camera.
However, that was the easy part. After-
ward, the developers had to find a way to
switch from the low-def models to the
high-def versions, and vice versa, both
in Maya and in the studio’s proprietary
MGLR rendering software. This enabled
the artists to arrange the layout for each
shot and add details where necessary
while keeping the “non-important” zones
as light as possible.
“If our developers had not succeeded
in doing so, the last sequence would have
looked simple and empty,” says Clarenc.
VFX and More
According to Dessons, the crew used a sig-
nificant amount of simulation throughout
the movie. For instance, the team animated
38 November 2008
groups of bats and rabbits using a behavior-
based system. In the few occasions where
there was water, the artists used simple
transparent and refractive shaders.
Mac Guff also developed new tech-
niques to calculate clouds, reducing the
overall time. This proved invaluable for a
“cloud sea” sequence—in which the flying
village is riding the cloud sea and dragons
are crossing back and forth—containing
a number of camera moves and set inter-
actions. Here, the crew redeveloped the
old-school ray-marching technique from
the raytracer to get a real volumetric effect,
although it resulted in huge
rendering times (about 20
hours a frame).
This technique was also
used for the dragon trails,
enhanced with a 2D mo-
tion-blur process.
The raymarching technique
also provided the opaque
smoke throughout the
film. “We also
needed a smoke
that reacted pre-
cisely with the
environment.
The ray-marching is a
sphere-based technique whereby
you build your smoke with
spheres, so we couldn’t get that
interaction,” says Dessons. So, the group
used a voxel-based technique for a volu-
metric effect. Building on that technique,
they generated a particle system that emit-
ted voxels for a waterfall scene; this enabled
the artists to control the water animation.
A Small World
The exciting and universal story line, the
large personalities of the characters, and
the stunning visuals make Dragon Hunt-
ers a movie for everyone. “This film is an
example of why I am working in the ani-
mation business,” says Coldewey. “And it
is a great example of how Europe works
together. Think about it: The French and
the Germans produce something in Eng-
lish for the international market. How
cool is that?” Technically, the film utilizes
the best techniques available, borrow-
ing from US animation schools, French
artwork, and Japanese image layouts and
atmosphere. Will that be enough to sat-
isfy US audiences? “That’s difficult to say,”
says Coldewey. “To get a family feature to
US theaters, you need to invest more than
we had to make this movie. Yet, I think
there is a big audience in the US asking
for this type of story.”
Perhaps so. As Qwak points out, the
movie is full of contrasts. The tone
of the characters is cartoony, even
though they’re textured like real
ones. “We like the contrast
between the adventure/sus-
pense, and the sad/funny
scenes,” he says. Em-
phasizing this con-
trast, Qwak describes
Dragon Hunters as
Tom and Jerry go to
Sauron’s place (in The
Lord of the Rings
Rings).
“Everything is blended, just as
it is in real life,” Qwak adds. ■
Karen Moltenbrey is chief editor of Computer
Graphics World.
CGW :908_p 9/19/08 10:05 AM Page 1

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Autodesk Animation Academy teaches students about 3D, within the
context of other subjects and topics, including environmental awareness
A
utodesk Animation Academy is a program designed to teach
secondary school students about the company’s Maya, 3ds
Max, Mudbox, and MotionBuilder software products in the
classroom. But this doesn’t mean that the curriculum has to focus
solely on rote tasks. Instead, the Animation Academy expands edu-
cation horizons, introducing students to 3D animation and visual
effects technology while immersing them in core academic subjects
such as science, math, language, and art.
To further pique the interest of this demographic, Autodesk
Animation Academy has included a Pollution module as part of
the program, whereby students can create their own mini-games
focused on environmental concerns.
But the program is not just fun and games. The Animation
Academy curriculum adheres to numerous academic standards,
including those of the International Technology Education Asso-
ciation and the US STEM standards for science, technology, math,
and engineering. The program is the Autodesk Media & Entertain-
ment division’s primary offering for K–12 students. With a focus on
the high school level, it introduces students to 3D technology via
core course subjects.
Curriculum modules that will be released with the 2009 ver-
sion of Autodesk Animation Academy include reconstructing the
Parthenon, learning the digestive system, studying weather systems
with a focus on tornadoes, and experiencing astronomy and phases
40 November 2008
of the moon. Also new is the Pollution module, a supplement in-
tended as an introduction to the program.
Previous versions of Animation Academy were available for pur-
chase as separate programs with 10 seats of either Maya or 3ds Max
software. However, for the first time with the 2009 release, the six
animation curriculum modules included with Animation Academy
will come with 10 seats each of 3ds Max, Maya, MotionBuilder,
and Mudbox. The curriculum is directly tied to the Autodesk prod-
ucts, and is designed so that instructors who aren’t necessarily well
versed in 3D can still easily get their students up and running via
the step-by-step instructions.
“Animation Academy is exciting because it gives students a
chance to further engage with science and technology subjects
Autodesk has integrated its Pollution module as part of the company’s
Animation Academy curriculum. The goal is to teach students the
fundamentals of 3D content creation as they craft mini-games that
have an environmental focus.
while also exposing them to 3D technology at a young age. They’re
learning about topics like pollution and the digestive system by
building their own 3D models—exposing them to these subjects
in a way that would be impossible in the traditional classroom set-
ting,” says Alice Palmer, Autodesk’s Education marketing manager.
“Furthermore, fields where 3D technology is being applied are ex-
ploding, so whether these students go on to work in entertainment,
design and
digital arts
A little professional training
helps a lot of imagination go a long way.
From the fundamental principles of design, to the fundamental changes of the digital age, success in the creative industries
starts with the programs in Design and Digital Arts at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS). Every one of
our programs, from graphic design, to animation, to product design—as well as our Master’s in Digital Imaging and Design—
provides you with the expert instruction of our award-winning faculty in the dynamic environment of our advanced digital labs.
Best of all, you’ll have access to an unparalleled network of industry professionals who will help fuel your creativity and bring
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New York University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. ©2008 New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies

Seiter&Miller PNY-8118 Pub. Computer Graphics World Size 8 x 10.75 Issue November
 CGW_THIRD_vert:CGW_THIRD_vert 10/24/08
8 : C I : G  ; D G  9 > < > I 6 A
> B 6 < > C <  6 G I H
6I7DHIDCJC>K:GH>I N
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The Pollution module, included in the 2009 Animation Academy curriculum, also can be
downloaded free of charge so educators can see what the program offers.
architecture, manufacturing, or design,
we’re exposing them to skill sets that could
benefit their career choice.”
EGD<G6BH
(96C>B6I>DC
>CI:G68I>K: Going Green in 3D
B:9>6 With the introduction of its Animation
<6B:6GI Academy Pollution module, Autodesk
8 =6G68I:G
6C>B6I>DC is taking part in raising environmental
awareness in schools while introducing
students to 3D animation using 3ds Max.
Although it was just recently released,
Pollution has been successful, with nearly
1000 downloads to date, and is a fitting
complement to the Animation Academy
program.
Utilizing Autodesk’s 3ds Max model-
ing and animation software, students
are taught about the effects of pollution
as they build games that are focused on
cleaning up a city environment, doling
out points for picking up garbage, clean-
ing oil spills, and changing cars to hybrids
within an allotted amount of time.
The game promotes environmental stew-
ardship while reinforcing essential science
and math concepts. The instructor lecture
notes included with the module provide
teachers with a guide to the principles of
creating a simple game level using 3ds Max
L L L # 8 9 > 6 7 J # 8 D B
software. Following those guidelines, stu-
L6AI=6B!B6™L6H=>C<IDC !98
dents are able to build and design their own
42 November 2008
levels, and understand the building blocks
of creating digital art and environments in
3D. The student workbook and datasets
deliver a framework that explores sustain-
able design concepts through the creation
of a game level emphasizing the environ-
ment. A completed dataset is also included,
enabling students to check their work once
they have finished the exercise.
Existing Autodesk Animation Academy
customers can use the Pollution module
with 3ds Max software Versions 2008
and above. Teachers who are considering
incorporating Animation Academy into
their academic programs can purchase the
solution or try out this module through a
free trial download at www.applied-ideas.
com/pollution_downloads.html.
“While Animation Academy isn’t in-
tended to be as comprehensive or rigorous
as 3D programs offered at the university or
professional level, it provides an engaging
and valuable introduction to 3D technol-
ogy through subjects that are already being
taught at the high school level,” concludes
Palmer. “Our hope is that Animation
Academy will continue to spark students’
interest in traditional science, math, and
language arts subjects while simultaneously
developing their 3D skills for application in
a wide variety of professional fields.” n
CGW :1108_p 10/29/08 11:24 AM Page 1
 For additional product news
and information, visit CGW.com

animators, illustrators, architects, matte

Served up at SIGGRAPH painters, and CG professionals. It boasts
This month’s Products section is dedicated to product introductions and upgrades a number of new features, including
unveiled and demonstrated during SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles. For more news third-generation patented EcoSystem
from the show, visit www.cgw.com. technology, the Spectral 2 atmospheric
engine, SolidGrowth 4 HD, and a new
indoor Radiosity engine.
SOFTWARE E-on Software; www.e-onsoftware.com WIN MAC

Compositing
Simulation Fusion 6
Vue 7 Previews SIGGRAPH attendees were the first to
E-on Software previewed its Vue 7 witness Fusion 6, an upgrade to Eyeon
xStream and Vue 7 Infinite professional Software’s flagship compositing appli-
software solutions for natural 3D envi- and workflow than previous versions. cation. Version 6 offers various new and
ronments. Vue 7 xStream is the latest All Vue tools are now integrated in the enhanced features, including a stereo-
version of E-on’s tool set for creating host application, providing users direct scopic and multi-layer imaging system,
natural environments and rendering access to 3D environment-creation tech­ stereoscopic views, 3D in stereo view,
them in Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, nologies, such as EcoSystem Painting. and multi-layer imaging. Fusion 6 is
Softimage XSI, Maxon Cinema 4D, Vue 7 Infinite, a solution for creating, designed to deliver seamless image
and NewTek LightWave. Version
CGW_Half_HOR:CGW_Half_HOR 10/23/087 is 5:17
animating,
PM Page and1 rendering natural 3D quality across multiple platforms, includ-
designed to deliver greater integration environments, is targeted at studios, ing Linux, Windows x64, Windows 32-

44 November 2008
CGW :908_p 10/28/08 5:32 PM Page 1
SA08 20.95x27.94cm Computer Graphics World Ad.ai 10/21/08 2:54:16 PM
NUX bit desktop PCs, and Intel-based Macs.
Fusion 6 is available to anyone with a
valid subscription license at no addi-
tional charge. Others can upgrade to
Fusion 6 for $695, which also includes
12 months of subscription upgrades.
Eyeon Software;
www.eyeonline.com WIN MAC LINUX
Middleware
GeForce Experience Pack
Nvidia debuted its first online GeForce
Experience Pack, which takes advan-
tage of Nvidia PhysX technology, at
SIGGRAPH. The pack includes: the full
Warmonger action game, Unreal Tourna-
ment 3 PhysX Mod Pack boasting three
maps with impressive effects, and sneak
peeks at the upcoming game Metal
Knight Zero and Nurien social-network-
ing service based on Unreal Engine 3.
Also offered are demonstrations of
Nvidia’s “The Great Kulu,” which show-
cases the use of PhysX soft bodies in a
real game-play environment, and “Fluid,”
which simulates realistic fluid effects with
a variety of liquids. Nvidia also released
new WHQL-certified drivers that enable
PhysX acceleration for all GeForce 8, 9,
and GTX 200 Series GPUs. After install-
ing these new drivers, users are said to
gain higher levels of interactivity, special
effects, and realism on their PC, as well
as the ability to run PhysX-accelerated
applications faster on their GeForce
GPU. The entire pack can be download-
ed for free from Nvidia’s Web site.
Nvidia; www.nvidia.com WIN
Allegorithmic ProFX
Allegorithmic, developer of procedural
texturing tools for real-time 3D content,
released ProFX. ProFX middleware
enables game developers to profes-
sionally render high-quality proce-
dural textures. It is designed to quickly
produce small texture files while keep-
ing high visual quality intact. ProFX 2.6
procedural texture files are small enough
for use in massively multiplayer online
games (MMOs), virtual communities,
and casual and downloadable games.
Allegorithmic; www.allegorithmic.com WIN
Motion tracking
Imagineer Systems in LA
During SIGGRAPH, Imagineer Systems
demonstrated Mocha for After Effects,
the newest addition to its product port-
folio. A planar tracking tool, Mocha-AE
was developed specifically for Adobe
After Effects artists and modeled after
Imagineer’s Mocha stand-alone tracking
solution. Imagineer also demonstrated
the latest versions of its other VFX
desktop tools, including: Motor roto-
scoping tools, Mocha stand-alone track-
ing station with 2.5D planar tracking
technology, Monet 2.5D tracking and
element replacement tool, and Mokey
for tracking, wire and rig removal, keying,
image stabilization, noise reduction, and
film-grain management.
Imagineer Systems;
www.imagineersystems.com WIN MAC LINUX
HARDWARE
Motion tracking
Intersense VCam
InterSense introduced a new virtual
production system, the IS-900 VCam
Virtual Camera Tracking System. Being
referred to as the “InterSense Camera,”
early versions have been used to stream-
line pre- and postproduction in animated
features and game cinematics. The new
system, combining motion-tracking
tech­nology with virtual production soft-
ware, is designed to help producers of
animated and 3D feature films, games,
and videos to increase productivity and
streamline workflow. The IS-900 VCam
integrates InterSense’s MicroTrax 6-
DOF motion-tracking sensors into a
production camera body with Autodesk
MotionBuilder functions mapped to the
camera’s interface controls.   A three-
axis analog joystick added to the VCam
enables translation, rotation, and scal-
ing of the virtual environment in Motion-
Builder, helping set up or scout a virtual
shot. Camera buttons deliver zoom,
play, record, and jog transfer production
control to the camera operator.  
InterSense; www.isense.com

November 2008, Volume 31, Number 11: COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD (USPS 665-250) (ISSN-0271-4159) is published monthly (12 issues) by COP Communica-
tions, Inc. Corporate offices: 620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, CA 91204, Tel: 818-291-1100; FAX: 818-291-1190; Web Address: info@copprints.com. Periodicals
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46 November 2008
 Jean-Philippe Agati is
general manager of Sparx
Animation, a production
studio founded in 1995 and
Interview with Chief Editor specializing in keyframe
Karen Moltenbrey animation. with facilities in
France and Vietnam.

In the recently released CG feature Igor, a hunchbacked lab assistant from Malaria has big team of six animators and two cameramen.
dreams of becoming a mad scientist and winning the first-place prize at the annual Evil Science The 3D animatic was done in Paris in four
Fair. He finally gets his chance when his cruel master kicks the bucket a week before the big event. months, with all box modeling made in
Igor, with the help of his two experimental creations—Brain, a not-so-bright organ confined to Vietnam. We spent two and a half months
a jar, and Scamper, a cynical rabbit that was once roadkill—embarks on building the most evil revising the animatic prior to layout and
invention of all time: a huge, ferocious monster. Rather than evil, the monster turns out to be Eva, animation. In Vietnam, 50 animators had
a gentle giant who aspires to be an actress. Soon these misfits uncover a truly evil plot that threatens six months to create the animation. We
their world, and they spring into action to save it. went for a three-step process: blocking,
Similarly, with the feature Igor, Sparx Animation got a chance to prove itself in the CG world inter, and final (being mostly facial anima-
with its “huge” animated creation. Unlike with Igor, in this instance mostly everything went tion). At the end of animation, the movie
according to plan, and it was Sparx that succeeded in world dominance. Well, nearly so, if you was brought back to Paris for the lighting
consider how difficult it is for a European-created CG feature to break into US theaters! and final compositing.
Here, Sparx general manager Jean-Philippe Agati provides details about this engaging film.
What challenges surfaced as
How long was Igor in Visual development was carried out a result?
production? in Paris for the first six months. At We have extensive experience shar-
Igor was in production for 22 the same time, we started to enhance our ing work between Vietnam and
months, starting in November Maya pipeline and create all the tools that Paris. Nevertheless, given the ambition
2006, with CG being done in less than 18
months. Postproduction finished mid-
August 2008.

Is this Sparx’s first feature

animation?
Yes, this is our first one. Igor, which
is 86 minutes in length, is Sparx’s
first feature. Prior to this, Sparx did some
TV series and direct-to-videos, such as
Rolie Polie Olie and Mickey’s Twice Upon a
Christmas.

Why did you undertake such

an ambitious project?
Sparx has been doing animation for
10 years, and we felt that it was the
right time and a natural evolution after our
work on Twice Upon a Christmas.
How was the work divvied
up among the groups?
Work on Sparx’s CG feature Igor was split between the studio’s Paris and Vietnam facilities.
would be necessary for our Vietnam studio of the movie, communication and data
to do the animation. Character modeling synchronization were the keys to make
and rigging were done in Paris, while set things happen in such a short period. That
and prop modeling was done in Vietnam. said, we would have loved to have had the
We went straight to a 3D animatic with a director in both locations at the same time.

8 November 2008 47
 Compared to US-made CG
features, what makes Igor
different?
Everything, and nothing, I guess.
Igor has its own look and story, but like any
other animated movie, it aims to give the
audience a good time. Technically, I don’t
think it differs. The tools and the software
are the same. However, the size of the
budget and the schedule were those of an
independent movie.
What were your biggest
challenges?
Animation is and will always be the
biggest challenge. How do you make
CG puppets lovable? How will they bring
emotion to the audience? In this regard, I
am proud of our work. We did a lot of train-
ing, looking at Pixar’s and DreamWorks’ best
animation moments. We had the director
repeatedly act out the 1450 scenes that are
in the movie, and we have some talented
people that just love acting.
Did you encounter any
modeling issues?
The movie has 120 characters,
65 locations, and 250 props. In
Malaria, everything is asymmetrical, which
created quite a modeling challenge. Anima-
tion was the main focus of our attention.
Everything we did from the beginning was
done with the final animation in mind. At
the end, we averaged 0.6 second of anima-
tion per animator per day, which is not a lot,
but it’s what it takes to get to feature quality.
What tools did you use?
We used Maya for modeling,
rigging, texturing, and animation,
and Digital Fusion for compositing.
We used some other software for specific
needs, including our own tools for rigging
and data management. For hardware, we
have a partnership with HP, so everything
at Sparx is HP, from workstations to the
renderfarm, and I never heard an artist
48 November 2008
As its main content-creation tool, Sparx used Autodesk’s Maya running on HP workstations.
complaining about [the hardware]. First
time in my life….
Did you have any particu-
lar character-modeling
concerns?
The high complexity of the models
and the unique look in 2D were the
biggest challenges. It turned out that the
3D models came out nicely with unique
personalities, and all in record time.
How did you bring out the
emotions?
This all comes from having the
right acting on great voice record-
ings. We got lucky because Exodus (the
production company) picked a great cast.
Who would not want to animate on Steve
Buscemi, Molly Shannon, or Eddie Izzard’s
voices? And then, it is all about the skills of
the animators. As for the facial expressions,
Sparx has a long history of developing its
own tools for body and facial animation.
We had to go the extra mile on Igor and
bring these tools to the next level. They’re
top secret but allow you to do great things
in a highly customizable way.
Which characters were
the most difficult to
model/animate?
Probably Igor. It seems that the hero
of a movie is always the most difficult to
animate. Maybe because he is at the center
of all the attention.
Were there rendering
issues?
For rendering, we used Mental Ray
for Maya. It was an obvious choice
for both technical and financial reasons.
In the first half of the production, we got
support from the Maya team at Autodesk
in using all the Mental Ray efficiencies and
improving the render time. This was profit-
able for both companies, as we each learned
a lot of what was needed to optimize
rendering. I am proud to say we provided
some informative data to Autodesk as well.
What about the
environments?
Director Tony Leondis went asym-
metrical on everything, and with
irregular shapes on top of that. That is what
Malaria is all about.
There was a big battle
scene?
Yes, and both the crowd and the
choreography of the fight itself
were tricky. How do you make a big fight
and a big crowd without spending half
your budget? It’s all in the magic. I love the
phrase: ‘Magic is not perfection.’ Magic we
can afford, perfection is out of reach.
So, what’s next?
When do we do the sequel? The
team had such a good time working
on this movie that this pretty much
sums up our feelings right now. ■
CGW_ :1207_p 12/5/07 10:36 AM Page 1

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