Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Computer Search Issue Next Page T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R D I G I TA L C O N T E N T C R E AT I O N A N D P R O D U C T I O N WORLD ® February 2006 www.cgw.com Music for the Eyes Animated shorts hit a high note with viewers At Your Service Service providers bring 3D scanning to studios The Race Is On Project Gotham Racing revs up gaming Hanging A Shingle The ‘hidden costs’ of opening your own shop Forward COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD to a friend! ® $4.95 USA Contents Zoom In Zoom Out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue $6.50 Canada Next Page CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Maya® 7, the latest release of the award-winning 3D software, is packed with innovative new features allowing you to realize your creative vision faster and more easily than ever before Capitalizing on Alias MotionBuilder® technology, Maya makes character animation easier and more accurate Other improvements such as advanced render layering and new modeling, texturing and effects tools help you achieve more with Maya To find out how the new and innovative features of Maya are changing the face of 3D, visit www.alias.com/maya7 Image created by Meats Meier (www.3dartspace.com) © Copyright 2005 Alias Systems Corp All rights reserved Alias, the swirl logo, Maya and MotionBuilder are registered trademarks and the Maya logo is a trademark of Alias Systems Corp in the United States and/or other countries CW _ A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Computer February 2006 • Volume 29 • Number T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R D I G I TA L C O N T E N T C R E AT I O N A N D P R O D U C T I O N Also see www.cgw.com for computer graphics news, special surveys and reports, and the online gallery WORLD 10 30 20 D e p a r t m e nt s 26 Editor’s Note Fe at ur e s French Inspiration Cover story France has always been known for art, and today, the country has carried over that tradition to the CG realm, teaching and inspiring digital artists to pursue their passions and dreams Short and Sweet 10 ANIMATION | Artists and filmmakers test new styles, equipment, and ideas with animated short films, some of which may end up on this year’s Oscar short list Spotlight By Barbara Robertson Products Point Person Silhouette FX’s Silhouette Paint NEW @ c g w.c o m 20 SCANNING | 3D scanning technology is proving itself as an important studio modeling tool, and service providers are helping the facilities get this job done Autodesk’s Discreet Combustion for the Mac Dosch Design’s Viz-Image series Video Viewpoint The Fast Track Portfolio 34 By Karen Moltenbrey 26 GAMING | Bizarre Creations revs up its Project Gotham Racing franchise, injecting the title with film-like effects running on the new Xbox 360 engine Integration is Key Jiri Adamec Starting a Small Studio Digital Training 36 30 BUSINESS TRENDS | Ready to hang A wide range of virtual tutoring and training options allow artists to master software at their own pace your own shingle? Don’t forget the importance of location Some other things to consider: planning for expenses, finding clients, and pricing your work Reviews 38 Bauhaus’s Mirage 1.5 By William “Proton” Vaughan The French Student Revolution E-Magiciens in Valenciennes, France, showcases animation from some of the most creative students in the country See the winning entries from this annual event By Debra Kaufman Adobe’s Suite Production As video turns digital, a host of new applications are becoming available With its Production Suite, Adobe is ready to help users migrate to these new markets Web story exclusives: At Autodesk University in Orlando, Florida, the crowds were big, but the emphasis on “keeping it digital throughout the production pipeline” was even bigger Iomega’s REV Drive Backs It Up Check out this firsthand look at the Iomega REV 35GB /90GB drive, a low-cost, portable backup device that redefines the way data is archived and shared See www.cgw.com for a more On the cover: in-depth version of this article Pixar’s “music men” told the story of the Band” with music, not words See pg 10 © 2006 Pixar studio’s animated short film “One Man w w w c gw c om CW FEBRUARY 2006 Computer Graphics World | A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F editor’snote CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Kelly Dove Editor-in-Chief French Inspiration KELLY DOVE : Editor-in-Chief kdove@pennwell.com KAREN MOLTENBREY: Executive Editor karenm@pennwell.com Lively, captivating, and often dark, French animation continues to inspire artists worldwide And, in Valenciennes, France, art is more than pretty pictures; it is a way of life—even for the local government On a recent trip to Lille and Valenciennes, two cosmopolitan towns near Paris, I was introduced to a new way of teaching and inspiring artists to pur- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Jenny Donelan, Audrey Doyle, Evan Marc Hirsch, George Maestri, Martin McEachern, Stephen Porter, Barbara Robertson SUZANNE HEISER: Art Director suzanneh@pennwell.com sue their passions while helping them to “achieve the dream.” It all starts in the schools, where artists are put through rigorous testing to prove their talents long before they are accepted into an art program One such school, Supinfocom, DAN RODD: Senior Illustrator danro@pennwell.com BARBARA ANN BURGESS: Production Manager which I visited in Valenciennes, requires students to work on a project, such as a brand barbarab@pennwell.com identifier for a mock company, creating a unique artistic treatment based on a strict list CHRISTINE WARD: Ad Traffic Manager of criteria This type of project is a pre-qualifier for admittance, and only a handful of ChristineW@Pennwell.com students will make the cut—space is limited, and only the crème de la crème students SUSAN HUGHES: Marketing Communications Manager will be fortunate enough to add the school to their resume While it would certainly be easy for the school to expand and admit students who have more promise (and money) shughes@pennwell.com MICHELLE BLAKE: Circulation Manager michelleb@pennwell than talent, it’s pretty obvious the school’s leaders value a solid reputation more than a hefty bank account Also at Supinfocom is SupinfoGames, which offers similarly structured admittance requirements, but with a focus on game creation and development During the first and second year, students at Supinfocom focus on design and animation using programs such as After Effects Teamwork becomes vital in the third year as groups of three and four students are challenged to use the latest 3D modeling and MARK FINKELSTEIN: Vice President, Computers & Electronics Group mark@pennwell.com COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD Executive and Editorial Offices: 98 Spit Brook Rd Nashua, NH 03062-5737 (603)891-0123; FAX:(603)891-0539 animation software to create animated projects Team-based learning is certainly not a new concept The challenge for the small team of students is to work together to create CGW ONLINE: www.cgw.com For customer service and subscription inquiries only: an animated short—from start to finish—and compete against other classmates and stu- cgw@omeda.com TEL: (847) 559-7500 FAX: (847) 291-4816 dents from other schools at E-Magiciens, a small trade show and conference similar to Graphics World, P.O Box 3296, Northbrook, IL 60065 SIGGRAPH in the early days, only with an enormous animation festival/competition While there are certainly many training facilities in the US that offer team-based learning, most are focused on instructor-driven projects and ideas that utilize large groups of students to produce an animated project At Supinfocom, the average team size is three students, and everyone is involved in each phase of the production Pretty pictures help launch POSTMASTER: Send change of address form to Computer We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that may be important for your work If you not want to receive those offers and/or information, please let us know by contacting us at List Services, Computer Graphics World, 98 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH 03062 pipeline—from modeling and animation to compositing and editing of the final project Clearly, as the teams establish a rhythm, the individual strengths of the team members are identified, and the small business team divides and conquers to meet their deadline The ultimate in France goal for the students is to be on the winning team at E-Magiciens; winners are quickly recruited to join top studios ROBERT F BIOLCHINI President and Chief Executive Officer ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DIVISION GLORIA S ADAMS Vice President Audience Development Perhaps the most inspirational part of my trip was realized while visiting with The Valenciennes Chamber of Commerce, and seeing firsthand its commitment to the DCC ATD PUBLISHING DEPARTMENTS MEG FUSCHETTI ATD Art Director community The Chamber funds a business incubator with self-contained offices, where content creators can move right in and get right to business, utilizing their talent without worrying about overhead, business equipment, etc The incubator has everything you need—a boardroom, a small television studio, and even a cafeteria—to get business off the ground But the gravy train doesn’t last forever There is a three-year time limit to MARI RODRIGUEZ ATD Production Director PRINTED IN THE USA GST No 126813153 Publications Mail Agreement No 40052420 get established, and once companies are successful, they must move on to allow for new businesses to incubate It’s a commitment to the DCC community that cities in the States should consider adopting to help more small studio owners “achieve the dream.” | Computer Graphics World CW FEBRUARY 2006 w w w c gw c om A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F _ CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F spotlight Your resource for products, user applications, news, and market research PRODUCTS EFFECTS TOOLS Silhouette FX Introduces Nondestructive Painting Silhouette Paint from Silhouette FX erase, blemish, mosaic, and grain matically matchmoved Blemishes, for example, can be automatically erased offers a nondestructive motion-sta- brushes to 8-bit, 16-bit, and floating- bilized paint tool for image resto- point clips To match a foreground ele- over time Silhouette Paint is priced at ration, dust busting, and wire and ment, paint sources can be transformed $495 and Silhouette Roto sells for $595 rig removal that the company says on the fly by rotation, corner pinning, can handle the demands of motion- and scaling in addition to being offset picture and television visual effects in time or XY space Four independent The product is available as an add-on clone sources are maintained simulta- to Silhouette’s Roto application, a stand- neously for added flexibility Silhouette Paint can be integrated alone tool, or a plug-in for Adobe’s Final with Silhouette Roto’s Shape tool for Cut Pro and After Effects In addition to multi-layered match- motion tracking, variable-edge soft- moving capabilities, Silhouette Paint ness, and realistic motion blur Brushes can nondestructively apply color, tint, can be applied to shape layers and auto- IMAGE LIBRARIES Ready for Combustion on the Mac? Autodesk Media and Entertainment’s Discreet Combus- PRODUCTS PRODUCTS VISUAL EFFECTS tion visual effects software is now available for the See the Forest, the Trees, and the Signs Dosch Design has introduced five new collections in its Dosch Viz-Images series, offering everything from Mac OS The latest release offers vector paint, particles, road signs and streetlamps to plants and trees Three effects animation, and 3D compositing for use in the cre- new Road Sign libraries each have 500 images that ation of motion include hazard, right-of-way, speed limit, construc- pictures, episodic tion and tour- television shows, ism signs and and commercials symbols New features in JPEG format Combustion in- The Forest collec- in clude a diamond Trees keyer, time warp, tion features B-spline vector 100 trees, and the Urban Features collection includes shapes and group benches, hydrants, streetlamps, mailboxes, and more pointing, custom The images in these two collections are supplied in capsules, an optimized Gaussian Blur, merge operator, uncompressed TIFF, PSD, and JPEG formats All col- and enhanced paint tools Combustion for the Mac is lections support CAD, 3D design, and image-process- priced at $995 ing programs, and are priced at $79 each | Computer Graphics World CW FEBRUARY 2006 w w w c gw c om A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Inspire You are the creator You look for inspiration everywhere You want your work to inspire others You constantly desire something that will take your designs to the next level, keep you competitive Productive You want to lead, not follow Something great is here now Introducing The Powerful, Approachable, Complete 3D Solution CW experience it at eovia.com A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F B F Video viewpoint CW A Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS Adobe’s Suite Production By Kathleen Maher Someday video might replace newspapers, e-mail, and even magazines Not that this would necessarily be a good thing, but video is becoming a significant form of mass communication And, as video goes digital, it becomes a more fluid medium, moving from the TV, to the PC, to handheld devices And it will have to shape-shift accordingly Adobe’s latest lineup of video tools and utilities is designed to keep up with new applications for video and to simplify the lives of Adobe’s customers, which is not a simple task by any stretch of the imagination Kathleen Maher is a senior analyst at Jon Peddie Research, a Tiburon, CA-based consultancy specializing in graphics and multimedia, and editor in chief of JPR’s “TechWatch.” She can be reached at kathleen@jonpeddie.com Adobe revamps its video products and There are plenty of contenders for the attention of video professionals, including Avid’s Production Studio’s Bridge component is a centralized file browser with media management capabilities, allowing users to find and work with all files related to projects within any of the Production Suite modules Adobe has a long history in digital video with its Premiere and After Effects software and, in piling it all into one box, the company is trying to give its customers what Pinnacle line of products, they want—true compatibility between the different modules of the Production Studio, Sony’s Vegas+ DVD suite better tools for collaboration, new presets for After Effects, more and better templates, and a swarm of upstarts enhanced ease of use for DVD creation, and fundamental improvements in Audition led by Sonic and Ulead, Adobe appears to be aim- The Pieces of the Production ing directly at Apple Adobe’s newest release of Production Studio is available in two versions: Standard, Yet, Adobe is exploiting which includes After Effects 7.0, Premiere Pro 2.0, and Photoshop CS2 ($1199) and several advantages—its Premium, which adds Audition 2.0, Encore DVD 2.0, and Illustrator CS2 ($1,699) ownership of creative One of the guiding principles for Adobe’s development is that the use of Photoshop tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator is almost universal among creative professionals, making back-and- and Illustrator (which are forth compatibility a built-in advantage for Production Studio users right from the ubiquitous in the indus- start Expanding on this, Adobe has created consistently similar environments for try), its possession of PDF Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition (the de facto standard for document exchange), Taking intercommunication between the software programs even further, Adobe has added Dynamic Link, which enables users to work smoothly within modules with- takes aim and its acquisition of out having to perform intermediate rendering I talked to people who were already Macromedia’s Flash, a using the Production Suite as beta testers for Adobe and they universally tipped their leading format for small hat to the power of Dynamic Link at Apple form animation used For example, Michael Kolowich of Diginovations in Concord, Massachusetts, works widely in phones and with Adobe’s video products to create corporate videos for the area’s universities on the Web and museums He notes that the freedom of working interchangeably with Premiere | Computer Graphics World CW FEBRUARY 2006 w w w c gw c om A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Chris Randall of Edit Media specializes in wedding videos and corporate videos In fact, he finds that one business often feeds the other Most of the time, Randall and his team will shoot the video while Randall’s wife takes over the editing tasks Randall favors the new multicam features in Premiere Pro to simultaneously view and work with multiple sources, since the workloads at small production houses can be staggering In fact, he recently was editing 15 video projects simultaneously Randall notes anything that helps make his job easier and reduce editing time goes straight to his bottom line Videographers are also coming to grips with the transition to HD Interestingly, video producers are fi nding that Encore DVD’s flowchart simplifies organization when creating interactive menus, multiple audio tracks, subtitle tracks, and more even their wedding clients are becoming interested in HD video because they’re buying high-def large screen TVs and looking ahead Corporate clients are likewise moving Pro and After Effects is “incalculable.” to HD, and, of course, the broadcast industry is racing to get to HD But the other Interoperability, notes Kolowich, actually reality of video is that it’s big and demanding Luckily, hardware manufacturers makes the programs more powerful than are coming to the rescue To keep up with the trend, Adobe has added support for they would be on their own For example, the Aja Xena HS and also native support for HDV In addition, Adobe’s support for he says that one of the aspects of video OpenGL gives hardware graphics boards the ability to accelerate processes One that separates professionals from amateurs of the most obvious advantages will be support for high dynamic range imagery, is the skillful use of animated titles He thanks to OpenGL, and also support for effects and plug-ins has been able to take advantage of Adobe’s Adobe was among the first to spawn a plug-in community with its SDK for Photoshop inclusion of text animation and presets in After Effects since the last introduction of Adobe’s Production Suite, but now feels like it is an embedded utility “It’s like the Adobe Titler on steroids,” he says Other work flow improvements in the Production Suite include Bridge, Adobe’s name for its centralized file browser with media management that helps users find and work with all the files related to projects within any of the Production Suite modules Also, Adobe has added DVD creation to its Premiere Pro program, recognizing that users may need to quickly output a DVD with good-looking menus rather than go to Encore to create a professional-level DVD designed for distribution Adobe’s attention to work flow issues speaks to some of the challenges its customers face A large part of the video professional market is made up of small studios—owners are very often the creative director, the videographer, and the IT person For the small house, work flow and communication can be particularly challenging because it involves the shooting and editing of sound and video, delivery, client input, and so on w w w c gw c om CW FEBRUARY 2006 Computer Graphics World | A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F B6G8='%"') H6C?DH:!86A>;DGC>6 m m m$ ] Z Y e d \$ Y e c I]ZcZmi\ZcZgVi^dcl^aaWZYZỊcZYWni]Z\VbZhndjXgZViZ# 6i;DH;=?IJ;H?D=$ CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F ÊvÀÊViVÌ}ÊÌÊÌ iÊ>ÌiÃÌÊ L}ÊÃVÀiiÊÌiiÛÃÃÊ>`ÊÛ`iÊ«ÀiVÌÀÃ°Ê ÕÌLÀ`}iÊ ÝÌÀii Ê -fĨ]xx i>ÀÊÀiÊÌ`>ÞÊ>ÌÊÜÜÜ°L>V>}V`iÃ}°V / iÊÛ>ÌÀÊ>}iÃÊ>ÀiÊVÕÀÌiÃÞÊvÊ À>>Ý]Ê7>ÀiÀÊ ÀðÊ>`ÊÌ i >ÃiiÌ° CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Animation Imago Created by Cédric Babouche of Sacrebleu The fi lmmaker started with a hand- Productions in Paris, “Imago” tells the drawn storyboard, which he scanned story of Antoine, who lost his father in a into Photoshop to work on the lighting plane crash “He loved his father so much,” “It’s really important for me to show what says Babouche, “that he created his own the light will look like as soon as I can,” world to share secret moments with him he says reality comes from fairy tales So, he transforms the special moments he spent with his father into metaphorical dreams Because they spent a lot of time near a tree at the seaside, the tree became a symbol, and when it disappears in a storm, he understands that he has to grow up.” The inspiration for this film came from Babouche also created nearly 100 Image courtesy Cédric Babouche Because he is a child, his perception of backgrounds by hand He started with a 2B pencil on paper, colored the drawings with watercolors and ink, and then scanned them into Photoshop He composited the sequences in Combustion using For “Imago,” French animator Cédric Babouche placed hand-drawn animated characters on 3D and painted backgrounds Hayao Miyazaki’s film Porco Rosso, in that software program’s Particle Illusions for effects “Compositing was the most important step because of the mix of 2D and 3D,” says Babouche “I didn’t want to which a plane crashes into a tree “When I saw that beautiful pic- use any 3D lighting, which is colder than 2D lights, so I drew all ture of the plane crash, I said I would like to use the spirit of that the shadows and lights with masks in After Effects.” image for a project,” Babouche says “Also, my father is a very Babouche began working on the script in October 2003, and special person who I don’t see a lot and don’t really know So this began production in July 2004 He finished the following April film talks about the feeling of missing somebody and the way we He now plans to use the same process to create a feature film for can create our own world to fill loneliness.” which he’s nearly completed a script The characters in “Imago” are 2D; the backgrounds, 3D “I don’t want to use only 3D because I like the freedom water- Babouche used Crater Software’s CTP software for the 2D ani- color offers,” Babouche says “I want my future projects to look mation line tests, Adobe’s Photoshop for painting the scanned like illustrations.” drawings, Cambridge Animation Systems’ Animo for timing, Autodesk Media and Entertainment’s 3ds Max and the com- Barbara Robertson is an award-winning journalist and a contrib- pany’s Maya for 3D, and Adobe’s After Effects and Autodesk’s uting editor for Computer Graphics World She can be reached at Discreet Combustion for compositing BarbaraRR@comcast.net The junkyard world inhabited by the lit- “9” numerous awards—including Best in Workshop He started out with a bit of a tle burlap-covered characters of Shane Show at SIGGRAPH’s 2005 Electronic handicap, however: His background was Acker’s short film, “9,” is a large and scary Theater—making it eligible as an Oscar in drawing and 2D animation, and “9” one Though it offers the characters plenty contender in the short-film category The marked his first exposure to 3D Thus, it of opportunities for scavenging—which nine-minute CG film has attracted so was a case of baptism by fire seems to be their principal occupation— much attention, in fact, that it is going “I bit off more than I could chew with it’s also home to a malevolent predator to be developed into a feature film, with ‘9,’” Acker admits In fact, the film proved that hunts them relentlessly How the main Acker directing and Tim Burton and oth- so difficult and time-consuming that character, 9, responds to this challenge is a ers aboard as producers Acker ended up taking periodic breaks triumph of reason over instinct, or brain over brawn Or, just possibly, good over evil A thoughtful plot, with edge-of-your- Success of this magnitude seemed from it (including a stint working on The worlds away during the four and a half Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for years that Acker spent working on “9.” Weta Digital) in order to earn a living seat action and richly detailed and origi- He began the film as his thesis project One thing that kept Acker going over nal modeling and animation have earned while a student at UCLA’s Animation the years was the strength of his original 16 | Computer Graphics World CW FEBRUARY 2006 w w w c gw c om A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F where companies dream in hypercolor Business is busting at the seams for Orlando’s digital media sector Home to top-notch studios like Electronic Arts, specialized higher-ed training programs, and the world’s largest concentration of simulation developers, it’s no wonder companies around here are so animated C A L L 8 T O P C I T Y O R V I S I T O R L A N D O E D C C O M CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F CW A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F Animation concept “I had the idea of these little rag anchor for the film: Since he had to work was somewhat painterly In fact, there are doll creatures that would pick through on it between paying gigs, it was good for quite a few large matte paintings used in their environment,” he explains That him to be able to have the animatic as a the film To composite the imagery, the environment would be more or less post- guide so he wouldn’t lose focus filmmaker used Adobe’s After Effects apocalyptic, and the rag dolls would rep- Acker employed keyframing for all the Since “9” has no dialog, the characters’ resent the beginning of a new civilization animation in the film The cat-beast and its actions must tell the story And though In a rough parallel to the way life might movements are among the achievements the main plot is simple enough in scope, have been for our primitive hunter-gath- in the film of which Acker is proudest The the film is full of many small and telling erer ancestors, the rag doll characters look character is made of cat bones, including a details—actions that seem random at the fairly helpless, but they get by using their cat skull, that are interlaced with a metal time but turn out to have great significance wits “They’re diminutive in scale,” says armature The cat-beast moves with a cat’s later on Moreover, there are some little Acker, “and they’re living in an oppressive sense of purpose, but there is something a jokes throughout the film The cat-beast, world, yet they’re sort of good-natured.” Another source of inspiration for Acker was stop-motion animation, especially the surreal and sometimes downright creepy works of artists such as the Brothers Quay, Jan Svankmajer, and the Lauenstein brothers Acker admired their style, but viewed it as a jumping-off point Acker began work on “9” with the story itself—an 18-panel storyboard that started Image courtesy Shane Acker with the main action scene, in which is pursued by the film’s villain, a mechanical cat-beast At that point, Acker decided that a lot more setup was required in order to invest viewers in the action, so he added another character—a mentor, called 5— and also a flashback scene that would help explain the challenges and motivations of the film’s hero, Then, Acker created an animatic that Like the characters he created for “9,” filmmaker Shane Acker himself became a scavenger of sorts, collecting various textures for the bleak setting of his animated short bit reptilian about it as well Like the rag for example, hunts for nine characters, or doll creatures, the beast is a scavenger, but nine lives And there is the almost requisite also collects living things, and has a grue- Pixar-type lamp, albeit a rusty version was so highly detailed, “it was almost a some way of using them literally to add All in all, though, says Acker, he is true 2D film—or something in between a onto itself Whatever the creature’s moti- happy with the decayed, down-and-out traditional animatic and a 2D film.” vations, it clearly wants something that the look and feel of the film “It’s hyper- rag dolls have “It recognizes their souls detailed, but it’s also stylized and paint- modeling and animation tools—albeit while in them, and is attempting to become like erly,” he says Certainly his attention to he was creating the film Acker maintains them,” explains Acker the grit and grime of urban decay has paid The next step was learning to use 3D that “drawing is at the heart” of his film, In order to create the variety of tex- though he very much wanted to make use tures that are an important part of of CG animation to suggest the stop-motion Acker’s artistic achievement, he became In the end, the hero’s brains, and his look he admired The filmmaker estimates a scavenger himself He collected items use of tools, win the day The character that he spent about two and a half years with interesting textures that he could rescues the souls of his predecessors, and in the preproduction phase of the movie, photograph, scan, and then manipu- in the final scene, seems to be leaving his doing modeling, rigging, matte paintings, late in Adobe’s Photoshop He also pho- bleak world, traveling alone It’s a hope- and so forth, all the while learning to use tographed broken-down parts of Los ful scene, and it also sets him up for fur- Autodesk Media and Entertainment’s Maya Angeles that would add interest to his CG ther adventures that just could happen in environment of urban decay the forthcoming feature film When it was finally time for anima- off in that despite its bleakness, there’s a lot to see in this junkyard world tion, that original animatic proved invalu- Acker employed Maya for lighting and able Acker used it as a kind of road map, rendering “I didn’t use a lot of raytrac- replacing the 2D animation with 3D In ing,” he says, explaining that he was aim- for Computer Graphics World She can be fact, he notes, the animatic was a kind of ing at a less-than-real environment that reached at jdonelan@adelphia.net 18 | Computer Graphics World CW FEBRUARY 2006 Jenny Donelan is a contributing editor w w w c gw c om A B Previous Page Contents Zoom In Zoom Out Front Cover Search Issue Next Page EMaGS F ... aim- for Computer Graphics World She can be fact, he notes, the animatic was a kind of ing at a less-than-real environment that reached at jdonelan@adelphia.net 18 | Computer Graphics World CW... for why this Goldberg Allan Poe and Jules Verne world is like it is.” machines—steam-powered computers and iron airships 12 | Computer Graphics World CW Although Lucas typically works with FEBRUARY... Effects and Autodesk’s uting editor for Computer Graphics World She can be reached at Discreet Combustion for compositing BarbaraRR@comcast.net The junkyard world inhabited by the lit- “9” numerous