Digital Dimension Canada, a division of Los Angeles-based Digital Dimension, has selected SOFTIMAGE|XSI software as the main 3D production for the upcoming 3D-animated feature, THE LEGEND OF SECRET PASS.
Produced by JC2 Ent., THE LEGEND OF SECRET PASS is set in the American southwest and features a large cast of computer-generated animals and humans. Digital Dimension selected SOFTIMAGE|XSI as the main 3D production tool due to the advanced non-linear character workflow, customizable rendering tools and the extended memory capabilities of 64-bit SOFTIMAGE|XSI version 5.0 for faster rendering times.
Softimage is the newest and most flexible 3D architecture available today, and the non-destructive character environment enabled our programmers and artists to start work as soon as we began building our CGI animation pipeline, allowing us make changes and updates to the character models anytime we need to, said Luc St-Onge, 3D supervisor at Digital Dimension Canada. The powerful character rigging and animation tools, the integration of SyFlex cloth and mental ray rendering technology, plus the customizable render passes, made it an easy decision to choose SOFTIMAGE|XSI.
Gareth Morgan, senior product manager at Softimage added, Digital Dimensions production pipeline is a remarkable environment that, by taking advantage of the extreme flexibility of XSI, allows programmers and artists to collaborate and deliver cutting-edge character animation. Being able to use a variety of standard scripting languages lets the team take full advantage of the software development kit (SDK) to customize shaders and tools, and the new integrated tools development environment in version 5.0 gives TDs precise control over deployment and workgroups all in one place.
Scheduled for release in late 2007, The Legend of Secret Pass is an international production with teams collaborating in several countries with Digital Dimensions studios in Montreal, the director and design/storyboarding team in Sydney, Australia and post-production operations in Los Angeles. For more information on the project, please visit www.legendofsecretpass.com.
Softimage Co. (www.softimage.com), a subsidiary of Avid Technology Inc, delivers innovative, artist-friendly character creation and effects tools to animators and digital artists in the film, broadcast, post-production and games industries.
Avid Technology Inc. (www.avid.com) is a world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively, and creatively.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
