Technology

Headline News

Alias|Wavefront ships Maya 2

Alias|Wavefront, an SGI company, is shipping Maya 2 for Microsoft Windows NT and Silicon Graphics IRIX workstations. Maya 2 includes a number of feature enhancements, timesaving workflow improvements, and across-the-board performance optimizations for 3D animation and visual effects. New features include Wavefront IPR (Interactive Photorealistic Renderer), a rendering technology that allows users to edit lights, shaders, textures and visual effects in a final rendered image.

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Headline News

Adobe announces Photoshop 5.5 and LE

Adobe has announced Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition (LE) software. Photoshop LE offers tools for correcting and enhancing photos, compositing multiple images, creating original artwork with a variety of special effects, and outputting to desktop printers and common Web file formats. For graphics professionals, Adobe Photoshop 5.5 software provides additional precision and control, broader color mode support, and dynamic Web capabilities.

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Digital Headline News

Star Wars gets even more digital

Two films are about to make history as the first widely released featurefilms available to moviegoers via digital projection. One is STAR WARSEPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE; the other is the English romantic comedy, ANIDEAL HUSBAND. Beginning June 18, and continuing for four weeks, a digitalversion of Oliver Parker's AN IDEAL HUSBAND will play in New York City andLos Angeles. Check your papers for locations and times. For STAR WARSEPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, CineComm Digital Cinema and Texas

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Headline News

Realviz S.A. announces Matchmover

REALVIZ S.A. has announced the availability of its MatchMover softwaresolution for animation and special effects professionals on Microsoft,Windows, NT and GI IRIX platforms. Using MatchMover, computer-generated 3Dimages can be easily integrated with video or film to create SimulatedReality. Using computed 3D coordinates and geometric constraints,MatchMover transforms original live-action footage into an accurate 3Dspace. The transformed 3D live-action space can be precisely matched to 3D

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ANIMATIONWorld

Macromedia's Latest: Making the Web Easy...

Jeff Williams reviews Macromedia's Dreamweaver/Fireworks Studio and tells us about the latest in web designing tools with the release of Dreamweaver 2 and Fireworks 2.

In Reviews, Technology | ANIMATIONWorld

Headline News

Nendo & LiveArt release SE Workshop

Nichimen Graphics, Inc. (Nichimen), a manufacturer of technology for the 3Dcontent creation market, and Viewpoint(R) Digital, Inc. (Viewpoint),creator and publisher of a 3D digital content library, have releasedNendo(TM) & LiveArt(TM) SE Workshop, a combined graphics software packagethat provides 3D modeling and rendering tools for $99 (suggested retailprice).

The Workshop consists of Nendo v. 1.1, Nichimen's award-winning 3D modelingand 3D paint software, and Viewpoint's LiveArt SE software, with the

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Software Headline News

SGI to map the galaxy

SGI's Silicon Graphics(R) Onyx2(TM) visual workstation will be used toproduce and project the world's first scientifically accurate 3D atlas ofthe Milky Way Galaxy at the new Hayden Planetarium as part of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space in New YorkCity, which opens in 2000. As the centerpiece of the Hayden's 68-foot"virtual dome" Space Theater, Silicon Graphics Onyx2 will manipulatemassive scientific datasets containing billions of stars -- 100,000 times

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The scoop on Pentium III Xeon

Intel recently introduced the latest addition to their Pentium III range of processors, the Pentium III Xeon. Running at a speed of 500 megahertz (a 550 megahertz version will be released next month), Intel expects Xeon to make a prominent presence in high-end workstation solutions. But more interestingly, Intel is pitching Xeon as "the new chip [that] is intended to bolster its presence in e-commerce." Xeon contains a security feature that makes buying goods over the Internet much safer.

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Software Headline News

Alias|Wavefront and Eyeon Software have partnered to create Maya Fusion

Alias|Wavefront, the producers of Maya, and Eyeon Software, the producers of Digital Fusion, have partnered to create a new video compositing solution for NT...Maya Fusion. The two companies are pitching Maya Fusion as a program that will bridge the gap between 2D and 3D by introducing a new production technique for blending 3D character animation with live action environments.

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Headline News

Hassle-free 3D digitizing

When capturing 3D models, 3D digitizers such as the Microscribe 3D (from Immersion Corporation) and ModelMaker 3D (from 3D Scanner Ltd.) have always been better at digitizing clay models than actual human beings (although ModelMaker can be used to digitize humans, its a painfully slow process in which someone has to sit VERY still), which is why when one wanted an accurate 3D model of a human being they had to go to a specialist...well, not any more!

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Effects Headline News

Adobe releases powerful new After Effects 4.0

Adobe Systems has began shipping Adobe After Effects 4.0, the latest version of the software tool for motion graphics designers and visual effects artists. Highlighting this release is tighter integration with other Adobe applications (e.g. Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator).

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ANIMATIONWorld

From the Latent Image to the Digital Image

Digital production technology is moving so quickly that it is hard for even 15-year computer animation veteran, John C. Donkin to predict. But here he hazards a guess at areas soon to be revolutionized.

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Animation ANIMATIONWorld

Animation Goes Daily At KliK

The first animation series to be entirely produced and aired in the same day is here, Le JourNul de Franis Pusse,care of motion capture, key framing and KliK Animation. Heather Kenyontakes a look at their grueling schedule.

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Film ANIMATIONWorld

Coming of Age: Large Screen Formats

Judith Rubin explains how the growing network of large-format3D theaters and an expanding range of digital production tools is openingthe door for computer animation in the large-format film industry.

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Animation ANIMATIONWorld

Animation Tips & Tricks for Windows and Mac

Don Seidel gives a thumbs up to Animation Tips &Tricks for Windows and Mac, saying that it relates useful 3D modelingand animation shortcuts.

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Software ANIMATIONWorld

Along the Banks of the St. Lawrence...

Emru Townsend profiles the digital animation houses that straddle Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence itself. Taarna Studios, Softimage, Discreet Logic and Alias|Wavefront are all included.

In AWN Profiles, Technology | ANIMATIONWorld

Animation ANIMATIONWorld

Digital Technology in Asian Studios

From Korea to India and from digital ink and paint to motioncapture, Milt Vallas discusses the introduction of digital technology intothe animation production process of Asian studios.

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Cartoons ANIMATIONWorld

Digital Noise Reduction: Where'd That Cartoon Go?

Technology. Man's best friend! A cartoon fan's worst enemy? Amid Amidi explains the hidden effects of digital noise reduction and why you may be seeing less of your favorite cartoons.

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Animation Headline News

Animation Master 99 arrives

Hash Inc. has released Animation Master 99 (AM99), an updated version of their popular computer animation program, which runs on Windows 95, Windows NT and the Mac OS. Many of the new features in this update revolve around a particular theme: Film, Workflow and Video Games. Among the numerous additions to AM99 are Smart Skin, Action Blending, Real-Time Blended Joints, Film Grain, Skeletal Poses, Real-Time Model and Map Export and Field Rendering. The software package still sells for $199 (U.S.). For further information, visit www.hash.com.

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Animation ANIMATIONWorld

Creating 3-D Animation: The Aardman Book of Filmmaking

Jerry Beck reviews Creating 3-D Animation, a complete stop motion how-to guide from the hugely successful Aardman Studios. A must have for filmmakers, enthusiasts and Wallace & Gromit lovers.

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World ANIMATIONWorld

Inside SoftImage 3D

Mark Christiansen reviews Inside SoftImage 3D, a long overdue text of tips, tricks and tutorials on the popular 3D animation package.

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Character Animation In Depth

Mark Christiansen reviews Character Animation In Depthwhich relates how to advice for 3D animation setup across most major platformsand software packages.

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Animation ANIMATIONWorld

Puppetology: Science or Cult?

Brad DeGraf and Emre Yilmaz demystify performance animation and explain why the `Devil's rotoscope' might not be so bad after all....

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Motion ANIMATIONWorld

ILM's Seth Rosenthal on Motion Capture

Seth Rosenthal, the motion capture department supervisorat Industrial Light & Magic, took time out of his "menacing"schedule to discuss a gamut of topics relating to motion capture with HeatherKenyon.

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Motion ANIMATIONWorld

Nick Strives to Define Motion Capture

Deborah Reber profiles three applications of motion capturetechnology that are currently in production. In "Nick Strives to DefineMotion Capture," she interviews Jeffrey Beers, Executive Producer ofthe Digital Animation Group at Nickelodeon.

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