Animation Artist

Welcome to Animation Artist Magazine's SIGGRAPH Live updates. We will be updating this section live from the SIGGRAPH show floor from July 25 - July 27. The updates are taking place from the Digital Media Net SIGGRAPH booth (# 2545). The most current updates will always appear first.

In the right hand column we have placed links to the latest news and multimedia files relating to SIGGRAPH 2000. Enjoy the updates and be sure to hit the refresh button on your browser for the latest updates!

Pulse 3D Shows Off Pulse Producer
(updated at 5:40PM)
Pulse 3D is showing off its Pulse Producer technology that is used by Jim Henson's Creature Shop for its muppet Website at www.muppetworld.com. The technology, which is a plug-in for 3D Studio Max, allows productions like the muppets to become interactive experiences online. Click here for pictures .

Meta Motion Tackles Motion Capture
(updated at 4:45PM)
Meta Motion, a provider of affordable motion capture solutions for face, body and hands, along with FAMOUS Technologies is demonstrating a full-body motion capture solution, at SIGGRAPH 2000, using the company's newly introduced Gypsy 3 motion capture solution.

Meta Motion is showcasing skeletal and character motion capture with its Gypsy 3 mocap systems in conjunction with Kaydara's FiLMBOX and DreamTeam's Typhoon. Animazoo, also at Meta Motion's booth, is demonstrating facial mocap with the Animazoo Face Tracker and FAMOUS Technologies' FAMOUSfaces facial motion capture and animation software. 5DT is using its DataGlove to capture hand movements and present full body motion capture, which can be used to effectively streamline everything from character animation to real-time performance for broadcast. Meta Motion is also demonstrating Virtual Technologies' CyberGlove which provides accurate hand articulation.

Disney Animation Announces Job Openings
(updated at 4:10PM)
Disney Feature Animation is announcing job openings from its booth at SIGGRAPH. Find out what jobs are open at Disney Feature Animation by clicking here.

DPS and Chicken Run
(updated at 4:00PM)
DPS is bringing in some crowds at SIGGRAPH thanks to Merlin Cossingham, a Key Animator for Chicken Run. DPS has a small blue screen set where Crossingham is demonstrating stop motion techniques and the use of DPS Reality in the movie Chicken Run. On the set are stop motion puppets of Rocky, Mrs. Tweedy, and Nick (the rat). DPS Reality was used to assist the production by allowing quick stop motion video of scenes (and the ability to go back and forth between shots). It is almost like the onion skin effect in animation. Crossingham says that using DPS Reality greatly lessened the production time of Chicken Run, which took 20 months to create.

Click here to see more images from the DPS booth.

NewTek Introduces LightWave 6.1
(updated at 11:40AM)
NewTek is showing off LightWave 6.1 from its booth at SIGGRAPH 2000. The booth is also featuring various special effects companies giving demonstrations of the work they've created with LightWave.

LightWave 6.1 is a free upgrade for LightWave 6.0 users. Some of the new features include:

Integrated real time particle engine with special FX wind generators, gravity wells, collision detection and direct links to HyperVoxels.
Motion Designer 2000. MD2000 is now fully integrated into the system. So adding cloth and soft body animation is super fast and easy.
The new Schematic view allows a node based look at your scene file for faster scene management.
HyperVoxels now has killer new image based sprites mode and can change shape based on the velocity of a particle.
StealthNET. NewTek's new TCP/IP render controller allows you to control renderfarms across the country. It also will allow you to check your content and plug ins to make sure the network is all properly configured. Anyone with some spare computers can run their own render farm.

LightWave 6.1 will be available in September.

Animation Companies Well Represented
(updated at 11:30AM)
There are dozens of animation companies represented at SIGGRAPH 2000 in New Orleans. A quick scan of the show floor has revealed large companies like Pixar, Sony Pictures, Industrial Light and Magic, Disney, Square Pictures, etc. Many are even looking for animators (we'll post information regarding this in our next newsletter coming out this weekend).

Also represented are the companies that make the top selling animation packages, like LightWave, 3D Studio Max, Maya, Softimage, and Animation Master.

We'll be visiting many of these companies and reporting on their presence. Our first stop this morning was to Square Pictures where they are playing their new Final Fantasy Trailer on HDTV sets. It is attracting quite the crowds. You can download the new Final Fantasy trailer from the Final Fantasy Website at www.finalfantasy.com .

Playstation 2 Licenses Maya Game Engine
(updated at 11:30AM)
Alias/Wavefront, an SGI company, today announced that Sony Computer Entertainment America has licensed the Maya Real Time Software Developer's Kit for sports game development for its PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system.

The Maya Real Time SDK eliminates productivity barriers surrounding the creation of compelling real time content by providing an integrated solution that extends from "Art to Engine." Alias/Wavefront puts all contributors to the game development process into one optimized production architecture, allowing game artists and game programmers to collaborate more effectively. Using the Maya Real Time SDK software in conjunction with Maya, game developers can deliver film quality characters and scenes in their titles for next generation game platforms in far less time.

Alias/Wavefront to Bring Users Together
(updated at 11:30AM)
Alias/Wavefront, an SGI company, announced its 3December initiative to attendees of Siggraph in New Orleans today.

This new annual event is designed to build a community amongst 3D professionals and those with a strong interest in 3D computer graphics all over the world.

Artists and designers from the fields of industrial design, film and video, computer games, and interactive and visualization sectors will be encouraged to attend one of fifty regional 3December events to be held around the world on a single day.

"3December will appeal to all types of 3D professionals, whether they are working on films, commercial broadcast, games, motion capture, the Internet, or in automotive or industrial design," said Peter Gambirasio, 3December Team Leader at Alias/Wavefront. "Alias/Wavefront's customers and partners are invited to come together on a single day, December 3, 2000, in fifty cities around the world to experience some of the best 3D work being produced in their local markets, and to hear about our company's vision for the future of 3D."

This year's 3December events are expecting a total of 100,000 attendees to include current customers of Alias/Wavefront's Maya and Studio/Tools software products as well as aspirational and new users.

In addition, a daylong webcast is being planned which will kick off with 3December events in the Pan-Pacific region, move through Asia to Europe and finish 24 hours later on the West Coast of America. 3December will mirror the dawning of the new millennium, as it travels around the globe with daylight, revealing what is possible in a 3D world.

To attend a 3December event in any one of the 50 cities or to receive further details about the program, participants can register at www.3december.com.

SIGGRAPH NEWS
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