Digit 2005-04 - Clevernotions.com

news
FX studios
are game
Twenty-three per
cent of US effects
and animation
studios are working
on interactive
games, according
to research firm
Trendwatch. It
shows the games
market is growing
strongly, as
evidenced by the
number of vendors
allocating more
resources for game
development.
BeArtist.com
site debuts
Cardsup Greetings,
a multimedia
company from
Vancouver, has
detailed the launch
of BeArtist.com, a
major online portal
for illustrators and
artists. Its aim is to
become the single
reference site artists
will ever need if they
want to know how
to build a successful
career by selling
and publishing.
Digital flicks
are coming
The world’s first
digital cinema
network has been
given the greenlight
in the UK by the
Film Council, which
has awarded the
Arts Alliance Digital
Cinema group the
contract to build
250 digital cinema
screens. The award,
worth £11.5 million,
will use HD screens
to show movies.
artsalliance.com
16 d
Framestore CFC’s
animation falls flat
London-based Framestore CFC has
completed work for car-maker Renault
that features a 2D character called
Hector, and follows his adventures
in a 3D world. Taking six weeks to
produce using Alias Maya, Hector’s
Life is a 60-second spot needed the
creation of two rigs: a 2D one, and a
3D rig for when an element of depth
was needed.
The shoot, which took place in
Italy, was supervised for Framestore by
Ben Cronin and Jake Mengers. Global
illumination references were gathered
by Mengers for the London team, and
cut-out paper figures were shot on
location in order to place the 3D
Hector plausibly in situ.
Further CG work was required
for the creation of the dung beetle
Oscar success for both
Spider-man 2, Incredibles
The 77th annual Academy Awards was held in the US in February, with
the coveted Oscar statuette going to movies such as The Aviator (five
gongs) and Clint Eastward’s Million Dollar Baby (Best Motion Picture).
Yet, for all the red-carpet celebrity draw that the Oscar’s inspire, the
creative industry was more interested in the winners of best visual
effects and animated movies.
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year went to Disney’s The
Incredibles from Pixar, directed by Brad Bird, which beat Shark Tale and
Shrek 2 to first place. In accepting his Oscar, Bird attributed “life” as
the reason behind successful animation. The animated CG movie also
scooped an Oscar for Best Achievement in Sound Editing, winning over
both Spider-man 2 and The Polar Express.
Best Achievement in Visual Effects was won by Spider-man 2
(effects led by John Dykstra), which beat off challenges from Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I, Robot. Best Short Film,
Animated, went to Chris Landreth’s Ryan.
The Academy Awards, www.oscar.com
(main image, above). The life-like
bug was built, textured, rigged, and
animated in two weeks in Maya by
Dean Robinson, using a preserved
beetle as a model.
The spot was shot on film for later
use in cinemas, and a further level of
grain was added to enhance the look
of the spot.
Framestore CFC, www.framestore-cfc.com
The adventures of
Hector follow a 2D
paper character on his
adventures to find the
ultimate in luxury –
space.
technology
Is this the end for CRTs?
The end is nigh for Barco’s
place at the pinnacle of the
creative monitor market. The
company has called time on
its long-standing CRT monitors
for designers – the Personal
Calibrator V and Reference
Calibrator V – and even
withdrawn the LCD display
created to replace them, the
Coloris Calibrator. A company
spokesperson told Digit that
the company was now only
focussing on what it calls
“professional markets”,
such as medical imaging.
Barco’s CRT displays are
the last of the major brands
for designers to enter what is
called ‘end-of-life’ – where
no more units are being
manufactured but a limited
number are still available
through resellers. Recently,
the demise of NEC-Mitsubishi’s
22-inch NF (Naturally Flat) tube
has ended production on wellknown
monitors such as the
Diamond Pro 2070SB and
LaCie’s Electron22blue. Last
year, Sony ended both its
21-inch CRT range and the
Trinitron tubes within them.
There is still a demand for
high-quality CRTs though, as
the news has caused a run
on the remaining stocks of
Electron22blues, according
to LaCie UK general manager,
George Leptos. There is some
confusion over what to replace
them with. Some designers
are happy with equivalently
priced models, such as Apple’s
20-inch Cinema Display or
LaCie’s Photon20vision II.
The first high-end LCD
display, Barco’s Coloris
Calibrator was withdrawn due
to the company being unable to
secure TFT panels of consistent
quality, according to Geoffrey
Clements, managing director
of Barco’s reseller into the
creative market,
TypeMaker.