3D Animation

SIGGRAPH 2009 RECAP

August 13, 2009 August 13, 2009 This year’s Siggraph conference in New Orleans gave interesting insights into the advancements and future goals of Computer Generated Imaging and Animation. From the moment I sat on the plane next to a student who was going to be giving a presentation on, “How to Build Your Own 3D Printer”, 
to the very last taxi ride back to the airport, where I shared a cab and conversation with a PhD who was working on methods to lessen the amount of distortion on abstract surfaces from projection lenses, I was saturated into the Siggraph experience. A lot of great 3D technology such as 3D printers, scanners and stereoscopic monitors were among the most abundant features at this year’s conference. It was enlightening to see that all the presentations I attended were using Autodesk Maya in some capacity.  In the lecture, “Building Benjamin Button: A Blending of  Technique-ologies,” given by Digital Domain, they explained why it was necessary to create a completely CG head of Brad Pitt, for over 50 minutes of the film, and the complexities they encountered modeling, rigging and lighting using IBL in Maya. DreamWorks revealed how they used Maya, and 15,000 lines of custom code, to create the rig for Bob from “Monsters vs. Aliens” in their lecture “B.O.B: Breaking Ordinary Boundaries of Animation.” On the educational front, Texas A&M University and DreamWorks showed how they worked together to create a curriculum for developing a short animation using Maya. Autodesk Maya dynamics were used to simulate thousands of balloons for Disney Pixar's film, “Up.” EA showed off the new game, “Fight Night 4”, in which they used Maya extensively for muscle simulation, modeling and animation. “The Digital Emily Project”, presented by Image Metrics and USC, used Maya and other technologies to create a photo-real face that was animated and composited into live-action footage. Finally, the creators of the film “Coraline” modeled and animated thousands of CG characters and props that were later printed with a 3D printer and used to create the stop-motion animation for the film. For all you tech savvy people, think of having a real physical library of blendshapes; Coraline's library had over 12,000 printed parts for the characters alone. Although Maya was the main software used for most productions, it wasn't the only tool used. Zbrush, Pixar's RenderMan, Motion Builder, Realflow and Houdini were among the others. If you're interested in building tools for animation, most TD's built them with C++ and Python. Addressing other aspects of the CG world were lectures given by Will Wright, the creator of Spore and the Sims, and Peter Sohn, director of Pixar's short film, “Partly Cloudy”. Will Wright exposed Human Perception and took a look at creating a new job title, Entertainment Designer. He also showed us how high or low his cat's cuteness ranked on ratemykitten.com, based on how he photographed the cat. Peter Sohn discussed his experience writing and pitching his short, through storyboards, to the heads of Disney Pixar. In his fun and down-to-earth presentation, he talked about Trusting the Process, digging deep for solutions, and letting go of ideas. He also revealed that he was the inspiration for the design of the little boy, Russ, for the film “Up”. The exhibition was smaller this year than in the past, although a lot of new technologies were displayed in the exhibition hall. Technologies such as motion capture systems, realtime renderers, and graphics cards. The job fair was equally as small, but exposed insights into what companies are looking for, mainly Technical Directors, Modelers, and Animators. There was a big divide in the types of work companies looked for in a prospective employee’s portfolio. For example, Digital Domain only wants candidates that can display realism, and Sony Imageworks wants stylized models and solid animation. However, everyone is looking for performance based animation and believability. In the lecture “How to Get Hired in Computer Animation”, the term Multi-Specialist (someone who specializes in certain areas that correspond to one another) was uttered. For example, a Modeler that can also texture. Still, large studios need specialists, and smaller studios are seeking generalists. Although in this economy, the more you know, the more your worth. There was a great CDIA presence. I counted nine total attendants that had links to CDIA in some way: Seven alumni, two of whom were working at the conference, and two instructors. New Orleans was a great place to host the event as far as the venue, although some of the courses could have been presented in larger rooms and auditoriums based on popularity. The city felt the same as it did when I first visited before Hurricane Katrina, and was very humid. Next year’s Siggraph looks to be much bigger, since it will be on the west coast in LA.