Available immediately for Mac and Windows computers, tablets, interactive white boards, and touch screens, ArtRage Studio and Studio Pro 3.5 provides a most realistic tactile experience. Major improvements in version 3.5 including improvements to the interface to smooth out workflow, tweaks to tools to give quick access to important functionality, and other changes that have been requested since the release of 3.0. Other features include the ability to record and playback actual paint strokes, faster speed, scripting, content sharing, and improved color blending tools.

New ArtRage 3.5 Features

Multithreading

Users of multiprocessor or multicore machines will see substantial speed increases when using version 3.5. Multithreading support has been added to the tools and many of the processor intensive functions in the application.

Package Files

Package Files make the process of sharing custom content like stickers, presets and stencils easy. The Package system lets you gather together as many custom resources as you like and compress them in to an easy to use data file that can be shared with other users and installed with a double click.

 
• Double click and ArtRage extracts and installs the contents of the Package automatically to the user content folders without you having to lift a finger.
• Installed Packages save a receipt which allows easy uninstallation or repair at a later date.
• (Studio Pro) Create your own Package Files, and add author notes and a preview image to personalize it before distribution.
• (Studio Pro) Save out partially completed Package Files to a Template so that you can work on them over multiple sessions.

 

Scripting

ArtRage Script Files allow users to record the process of painting as it happens in to a data file that can be played back later, reproducing the strokes that made up the painting dynamically for the viewer. Record your art for posterity, create tutorials with annotations explaining techniques, and share the process of painting as well as the finished result.

 
• Download and play back scripts at original or accelerated speed to see the painting constructed live on your canvas. The end result is a PTG file complete with all its texture and paint data.
• Play back scripts at different resolutions, recreating your artwork at larger or smaller sizes without losing quality as you would if you resized the original.
• (Studio Pro) Record paintings in a Script File that can be shared with other users.
• (Studio Pro) Annotate scripts as you record with Note Bubbles and Spotlights that draw the viewer’s attention to areas of the canvas during playback. Great for creating tutorials or sharing your knowledge by explaining why you’re using a certain technique or tool.
• (Studio Pro) Scripts are saved with the painting as you work, allowing you to come back to a session and continue recording later.

 

The ArtRage Scripting System is built on a Scripting Language that can be used by advanced script authors to create manually written scripts in a simple text file.

 
• Scripts recorded in ArtRage can be edited manually. Want to change the color of a single stroke you made in the painting, or change the tool that was used? You can adjust and rewrite every element of the painting script however you require.
• Control almost every aspect of ArtRage via written commands, including paint strokes, transformations, settings, built in filtering and more. This deep level of control allows you to automate complex processes in a single file.
• Work with C++ style functions and variable manipulation. The script language supports a wide range of variable types and operators, allowing you to write scripts for procedural painting.
• The script language includes user input options, so you can create scripts with branching functionality or allow the user to select values for numeric or string variables in the script while it plays.

 

Artistic Enhancements

3.5 contains a number of enhancements to the natural painting simulation, including enhancements to tools and color systems.

 
• The Real Color Blending system in ArtRage Studio Pro has been rewritten from the ground up to produce better blending results at faster speeds.
• You can load your Palette Knife with paint and create smooth strokes of pigment across the canvas, blending as you go. Studio Pro allows control over the precise angle of the knife edge if you want to create uniform strokes without worrying about how you hold the stylus.
• The Airbrush has new controls for the sharpness of its falloff so that you can create hard edged strokes, and adds control over drips in the nozzle to allow spattered paint effects.
• Hard tipped media tools such as Pencils, Crayons, and Chalks have been tweaked to allow more expressive variation based on stylus pressure when they interact with the canvas.

 

Comparison Chart

http://www2.ambientdesign.com/files/artrage_3.5_product_comparison.pdf

What’s New?

RenderMan for Maya 4.0

RenderMan® for Maya® 4.0 is the latest version of Pixar’s advanced rendering plug-in for Maya, featuring Pixar’s award-winning RenderMan renderer. Highlights in version 4.0 include a series of significant performance enhancements, which should be immediately apparent on many scenes.

NEW FEATURES

1. Maya Fluids – Maya Fluid are now supported with full support for motion blur and the ability to produce depth maps, for Deep Shadows, etc.
2. RenderMan Controls - A new, consolidated user interface provides intuitive, one-window access to the RfM’s basic settings and operations.
3. Co-Shader Support - RFM now supports tightly bound light/co-shader combiniations.

ENHANCEMENTS

1. Upgrade to 15.2 - RFM includes a significant upgrade to the core rendering technology, providing substantial out-of-box performance enhancements.
2. Unlimited Threading – Renderings now can take advantage of unlimited threads per seat.
3. Enhanced Threading - Significant gains when using multiple processors
4. Accelerated Ray Tracing – Substantial performance optimizations
5. Render Layers - The pass mechanisms for both implicit and explicit passes has been improved for Maya Render Layer’s.

JOB DISTRIBUTION

• 1. Pixar’s Tractor – RFM provides no-hassle job distribution with Tractor, Pixar’s new and improved work dispatching system … Tractor is available as a separate purchase for RFM.

NEW COMPATIBILITY

• 1. 64 bit Vista Support on OSX
  2. Maya 2011 Support

What’s New?

RenderMan Studio

RenderMan Studio 3.0 is the latest version of Pixar’s advanced suite of tools for shading and lighting TDs. Highlights in version 3.0 include a series of significant performance enhancements, which should be immediately apparent on many scenes.

NEW FEATURES

1. Relighting - GUI for interactive, final render-quality relighting of your Maya scene. (RFM Pro Only, RenderMan Pro Server Required.)
2. Maya Fluids – Maya Fluid are now supported with full support for motion blur and the ability to produce depth maps, for Deep Shadows, etc.
3. RenderMan Controls - A new, consolidated user interface provides intuitive, one-window access to the RfM’s basic settings and operations.
4. Co-Shader Support - RFM now supports tightly bound light/co-shader combiniations.
5. Slim Scripting – MTOR-style Slim scripting is now supported from RFM, via slimcmd and slimmsg.
6. TCL - RFM now supports Slim-side Tcl expressions (e.g. mattr, etc.)

ENHANCEMENTS

1. Render Layers - The pass mechanisms for both implicit and explicit passes has been improved for Maya Render Layer’s.
2. The RIB Inspector – A new RIB inspector provides quick access to your render data.
3. Better Intergration with Slim – RFM’s integration with Slim has been improved:
   1. Slim sessions now “travel” with Maya scene files.
   2. Bind Slim shaders to Maya nodes without the use of Maya ShadingGroup Nodes.
   3. Hierarchical binding via the Maya DAG is now supported. A new binding strength attribute allows you to override lower-level bindings at higher DAG levels.
   4. Slim can now initiate preview renders in Maya.
   5. Slim networks can now generally imply extra rendering passes.
   6. Full support for Slim-side Ensemble Adaptors.

SLIM 9.0

1. Factory Templates – Complete upgrades to out-of-box templates, providing production-ready shading while leveraging the new capabilities of RSL 2.0.
   1. Improved physical accuracy
   2. Optimized performance
   3. New Slim nodes of all types, including Broadcast co-shaders, PTex utilities, volume nodes, and more.
2. Materials Library – A library of complex appearances is provided.
3. Tight Slim/RFM Integration – Offering new levels of interactivity with Maya. Tight integration means:
   1. Direct attachments from Slim
   2. A new Smart Palette based on Maya selections
      Slim networks can now imply extra rendering passes..
   3. Full support for Slim-side conditional Adaptors
4. PSets - PSets are a new UI tool for simplifying the process of introducing many minor variations in shaders.
5. Co-Shaders – Complex shading tasks can be much more controllable and efficient with co-shaders.

RENDERER ENHANCEMENTS

1. Upgrade to 15.2 - RFM includes a significant upgrade to the core rendering technology, providing substantial out-of-box performance enhancements.
2. Unlimited Threading – Renderings now can take advantage of unlimited threads per seat.
3. Disney’s PTex - RFM now supports PTex files, including both reading, writing, and baking, facilitating new workflows for painting and texturing models, with higher quality results.
4. Enhanced Threading - Significant gains when using multiple processors
5. Accelerated Ray Tracing – Substantial performance optimizations

JOB DISTRIBUTION

• 1. Pixar’s Tractor – RFM provides no-hassle job distribution with Tractor, Pixar’s new and improved work dispatching system … one Tractor license is included with every seat of RenderMan Studio.

Press Releases

EMERYVILLE, CA – (July 27th, 2010) Pixar Animation Studios today disclosed full details of the upcoming versions of its RenderMan Studio and RenderMan for Maya products at SIGGRAPH 2010.

Targeted for release in the fall of 2010, RenderMan for Maya 4.0 is Pixar’s RenderMan® plug-in for Autodesk’s Maya®, optimized to provide fast and easy access to the photorealistic rendering technology used to create the stunning visual effects in the majority of today’s feature films. This latest version provides accelerated performance via the addition of unlimited threading and significant acceleration and memory efficiencies from core optimizations to the internal renderer. Additionally RenderMan for Maya 4.0 brings support for Maya Fluids, Maya 2011 compatibility, and the addition of a new unified interface for RenderMan Controls.

Also targeted for release in the fall of 2010, RenderMan Studio 3.0 includes all of the above new features and adds enhanced Slim integration, a new production-quality shader library, a relighting GUI built on PRMan’s re-rendering API, enhanced co-shader support, PSets, Ptex compatibility, and more. In addition, RenderMan Studio now includes Tractor 1.0, Pixar’s recently released distributed render management solution built on an innovative new architecture designed to manage both small and large multi-core render farms.

Pixar’s SIGGRAPH 2010 booth (#628) features demonstrations of both the new RenderMan Studio 3.0 and RenderMan for Maya 4.0, together with customer case studies and workflow demonstrations from complimentary products that closely integrate with RenderMan in today’s production pipelines. The annual RenderMan Users Group is being held at 6.30 pm at the JW Marriott, Los Angeles at L. A. Live, 900 West Olympic Boulevard, CA 90015. More information is available for those both using and considering RenderMan at the Pixar booth.

SIGGRAPH 2010 highlights the latest versions of RenderMan Studio, RenderMan for Maya, together with RenderMan Pro Server, as the core technologies used in today’s cinematic rendering pipelines, all built on a shared technology base providing entry points and upgrade paths suitable for every level of user.

Availability
RenderMan for Maya 4.0 is compatible with Mac OS 10.5 and 10.6, Windows 7, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit, and Windows Vista 64-bit HPC Server. In addition to the above, RenderMan Studio 3.0 is compatible with Linux 32-bit and 64-bit. New purchasers of the current versions of both products are entitled to a free upgrade when these versions release.

Tractor 1.0 is included in RenderMan Studio and is also available as a standalone product. Each additional Tractor license is able to execute one task on a remote client for only $99. Until December 31, 2012, existing Alfred, Alfserver, RenderMan Pro Server, and RenderMan Studio customers on active maintenance are entitled to freely replace their Alfred and Alfserver licenses with an equivalent number of Tractor licenses on a one to one basis at any time. Tractor 1.0 is compatible with Mac OS X and Linux 32-bit and 64-bit, but can deploy tasks to Windows 7, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit, and Windows Vista 64-bit HPC Server also.

Pixar’s annual maintenance program benefits customers with access to ongoing support and free upgrades. For more information please visit www.pixar.com or contact rendermansales@pixar.com.

About Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Up and most recently, Toy Story 3. The Northern California studio has won 24 Academy Awards® and its eleven films have grossed more than $5.5 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The next film release from Disney•Pixar is Cars 2 (June 24, 2011).

source: pixar.com

“We thought the renders looked pretty real, but when you put on the glasses, you believe it even more because now you can see both sides of the face at the same time because your eyes are far enough apart to take in that information.” – Guy Williams, VFX Supervisor

James Cameron may be the King of this world but he is the God of Pandora, a paradise planet of suburb transcendental beauty. And the artists of Weta Digital are Cameron’s angels. Of the 162 minutes of film, 117 minutes equaling 1,832 shots was created by Weta’s angels, over 2,000 if you count the omits.

Weta worked on every scene with a Na’vi. The Sci-Fi film is set in the future on the distant planet where humans attempt to mine a mineral whose largest deposit lies under the home of the Na’vi, an indigenous blue humanoid character who is directly linked to the life force of Pandora, and will fight to the death to protect it.

Humans, in an attempt to infiltrate and relocate the Na’vi, develop a DNA hybrid of them and selected humans, and grow Na’vi-like creatures that can be mentally linked and remotely controlled through the DNA-related human mind.

“Once you go into the world of the Avatar,” explained Wayne Stables, one of several VFX Supervisors needed to meet the requirements of this incredible film, “once (main character) Jake Sully and the other humans make this link, pretty much everything in the film becomes computer generated.

A realistic jungle with trees and leaves, with grass with the wind blowing through, with exotic plants that still have to look real, that becomes a huge task. Then add in characters that had to look real, had to be completely believable- you had to read the emotion in their face.

But they are blue. And just in case that hasn’t made your life difficult enough, you decide to do it in stereo. When you consider this is a large planet, rivers and waterfalls or various other complex phenomena, you can start to gauge the scope of digital FX that was required.” And then there is the jungle.

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Humans, in an attempt to infiltrate and relocate the Na’vi, develop a DNA hybrid of them and selected humans, and grow Na’vi-like creatures that can be mentally linked and remotely controlled through the DNA-related human mind. “Once you go into the world of the Avatar,” explained Wayne Stables, one of several VFX Supervisors needed to meet the requirements of this incredible film, “once (main character) Jake Sully and the other humans make this link, pretty much everything in the film becomes computer generated.

A realistic jungle with trees and leaves, with grass with the wind blowing through, with exotic plants that still have to look real, that becomes a huge task. Then add in characters that had to look real, had to be completely believable- you had to read the emotion in their face.

But they are blue. And just in case that hasn’t made your life difficult enough, you decide to do it in stereo. When you consider this is a large planet, rivers and waterfalls or various other complex phenomena, you can start to gauge the scope of digital FX that was required.” And then there is the jungle.

The long-awaited Avatar finally opens today from Twentieth Century Fox and, as you’ve read by now, actually lives up to all the hype about transporting us in a much more visceral and immersive way. I spoke to James Cameron by phone last week from the London junket, and he really enjoyed geeking out for us.

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ZBrush 3.5 aims to bring you creative freedom and an end to technical constraints. With new features like ZSpheres II, ZSketch, Quick Sketch, Surface Noise, Planar brushes and many other new enhancements, your art will reach a whole new level.

With this new version, we have refined and added to ZBrush’s already exceptional toolset, improving the natural traditional media feel that ZBrush is famous for. We’ve made it easier than ever for you to create organic characters, mechanical objects, environments or product designs. If you are an illustrator, VFX or video game artist, product designer or just a hobbyist passionate about 3D, ZBrush is for you!

We invite you to discover the main new additions to ZBrush 3.5 – enhancements that are the foundation for the upcoming ZBrush 4! In addition, both versions are free upgrades for all registered ZBrush users!

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Joseph Drust
Senior Character Artist
Vicious Cycle Software.

The new features in ZBrush 3.5 allow myself as an artist to explore my creative freedoms even further then before. The Pixologic team has really outdone themselves, ZBrush 3.5 is sculpting with real clay (but with undoes, symmetry, and about a thousand other additions.)

Backtrack
The introduction of the new Backtrack settings allow for pinpoint drawing of line strokes when creating hard surface objects. Noise is outstanding allowing the artist to quickly create surface variation across an entire model instantly.

The ability to export out HD normal and HD displacement maps removes the restraint of ever reaching too much detail.

The new gradient system allows for an entirely new level of polypainting; with new masking abilities and Ambient Occlusion being built in I find myself no longer needing to branch out to external texturing program Pixologic has not only raised the bar for Digital Sculpting yet again, but also in tutorials and learning. The Pixologic ZClassroom is an excellent learning system, with hundreds of free, easy to follow video tutorials. New and old users to ZBrush can easily gain information on controlling all the new 3.5 features (as well as the existing ones from 3.1.)

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With the release of version 15.0 of its RenderMan Pro Server, Pixar Animation Studios introduces many powerful innovations. This includes unlimited threading per machine, volume primitives, important additions to the RSL, support for Disney’s forthcoming open-source Ptex per-face painted textures, imager shaders, an API for subdivision surfaces, and more. RenderMan Pro Server 15.0 also delivers major performance increases for production scene rendering in the areas of ray tracing, ambient occlusion, improved thread scalability, and optimized memory management.

The introduction of unlimited threading enables studios and artists to maximize the full power of their rendering hardware, allowing each license of RenderMan to utilize any number of threads on the latest multi-core platforms. RenderMan Pro Server 15.0 is the first product to introduce unlimited threading, and will be followed by the next versions of RenderMan Studio and RenderMan for Maya.

“RenderMan Pro Server 15.0 packs an impressive number of great new features that we were able to deploy extremely quickly in our pipeline,” said Philippe Leprince, CG Pipeline Supervisor at Double Negative, London. “Refinements to the RenderMan Shading Language, texture mapping and threading, allowed us to make our shading pipeline more efficient while increasing overall quality. Ptex by itself is a revolution and we are reeling from the consequences as we integrate it into our upcoming shows.”

“With RenderMan Pro Server 15.0′s impressive new features and handsome performance improvements, Pixar shows once again that it is not content to rest on its laurels. The perpetual cycle of improvements makes the tools a joy to use and a sound investment too,” said Chris Bone, Head of Research and Development at Animal Logic in Sydney.
RenderMan Pro Server 15.0 is compatible with Mac OS X, Linux 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit, and Windows Vista 64-bit HPC Server. Separate upgrade pricing from RenderMan Pro Server 14.0 to 15.0 is also available. Evaluation copies of RenderMan Pro Server 15.0 are available upon request. In addition, Pixar’s maintenance program benefits customers with access to ongoing support and upgrades for an annual price.

Related links:
Pixar
source : http://features.cgsociety.org

Researchers develop specialized hardware to render holographic projections at near real-time speeds. The framerate leaves a bit to be desired, however, so don’t throw your 3D glasses away just yet.

If the resurgence of 3D glasses at local cinemas are any indication, we all want a bit more, ahem, depth to our cinematic experience. Unfortunately, the stylish glasses don’t exactly lend themselves to an immersive experience. What would be really cool would be animated holograms. While holograms aren’t the easiest things in the world to make, it is possible to take a 3D computer model and compute the data necessary to generate a hologram that can be used to project a 3D image from a screen. Given that animation is largely computer generated now anyway, where are my holographic animated movies?

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Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites 2010 — Coming Soon

Product Information Autodesk 3ds Max A comprehensive 3D modeling, animation, and rendering solution right out of the box A set of flexible creative tools and extensive polygon modeling capabilities Efficient character animation software with an integrated Biped toolset Extensive range of tightly integrated  rendering capabilities Autodesk 3ds Max (pdf – 1594Kb) Autodesk Maya An end-to-end computer graphics (CG) pipeline in the box Extensive 3D animation tools, innovative simulation technologies, and advanced compositing capabilities Academy Award®-winning creative tools Powerful, flexible, open framework for better implementation of conceptual ideas Support for Microsoft® Windows®, Mac OS® X, and Linux® operating systems Autodesk Maya (pdf – 525Kb) Autodesk MotionBuilder Real-time character animation software, renowned for its retargeting, motion capture data editing capabilities Software that enables animators to take on demanding, high-volume projects Ideal solution for virtual cinematography, pre-visualization, performance animation, and real-time character simulations Interoperability with Maya and 3ds Max Autodesk Mudbox A premier digital sculpting and 3D painting software A solution that supports the creation of highly detailed 3D characters and environments Highly intuitive organic modeling and painting tools Easy integration into existing production pipelines

New 2010 Product Releases

Autodesk Maya 2010—New Release A powerful, integrated 3D modeling, animation, visual effects, and rendering solution. Autodesk® Maya® 2010 software is the first release to unify the Autodesk® Maya® Complete 2009 and Autodesk® Maya® Unlimited 2009 software feature sets, advanced matchmoving capabilities, and a high dynamic range compositing system into a single, affordable offering. Autodesk Mudbox 2010—New Release Designed by artists who understand how you work, Autodesk® Mudbox™ 2010 software is a highly intuitive 3D digital sculpting and texture painting solution for artists in the game, film, television, and design industries.

Autodesk Softimage 2010—New Release Autodesk® Softimage® 2010 software is a 3D modeling, animation, visual effects, rendering, and compositing solution optimized for artist efficiency. This release boasts accelerated performance and greater data handling, includes the Softimage® Face Robot® facial rigging and animation toolset, and has been expanded to allow the creation of custom Interactive Creative Environment (ICE) systems. ICE effects and Face Robot meshes can be exported to Autodesk Maya for ease of integration into Maya pipelines when creating complex simulations and believable characters. Autodesk MotionBuilder 2010—New Release A leading real-time 3D character animation software and an ideal tool for high-volume game animation pipelines, director-driven virtual cinematography, and real-time character simulations, Autodesk® MotionBuilder® software is the perfect complement to 3ds Max, Maya, and Softimage.

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source : http://usa.autodesk.com

We don’t pretend to understand the Japanese, we usually just nod graciously and smile when they dazzle us with their consumer electronics and robots. But Sony’s MotionPortrait is different, SolidAlliance different. The technology creates 3D graphics from 2D stills of human faces. The 3D faces can then be animated semi-realistically using standard computer graphics. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised to find this tech in a CyberShot point-and-shoot in a few years out. Innocent enough until you see how it’s demonstrated. Click through to see the results and feel free to laugh or scream at the end — we did both in unison much to our surprise.

Blue Sky Studios completes ice-breaking VFX
for final frolic with Sid and Scrat.

Snow prints, rivers of lava, lava falls, exhaust, debris, bubbles, high viscous fluids, geysers, stink bombs, dust and steam. These are just a fraction of the effects needed for ‘Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs’. Blue Skys’ Effects Supervisor Kirk Garfield faced an imposing list of FX and volumetrics for the third installment of Ice Age. But did he flinch? “I like being busy and being under the gun and when I’m not, I’m bored. I’m a masochist that way. I’m used to my schedule looking like triple booked meetings after every hour for the entire day.”

Blue Sky was happy to oblige, upping the ante by adding several new tricks to their latest film. Snow gathering on fur, for example. “Before, they would leave the characters bare of snow. This time, they leveraged off the fur technology, placing particles along the roots of the fur anywhere from the roots to the tips to make it look like they were covered in snow.” But when asked what sequence demanded the most, Garfield chose the Mist Monster.

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]]> http://www.alias3dmedia.com/news/blue-sky-studios-completes-ice-breaking-vfx.html/feed 0 http://www.alias3dmedia.com/news/cg-news/the-era-of-classical-cg.html http://www.alias3dmedia.com/news/cg-news/the-era-of-classical-cg.html#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 11:26:49 +0000 admin http://www.alias3dmedia.com/?p=2264

An interview with David Hockney caught my eye this week in The Guardian. The world-renowned artist had turned his hand to a spot of CG art and seemed to be quite impressed. For me the interview was a mixture of encouraging signs of a ‘traditional artist’ starting to grasp the titanic opportunities of computer graphics, mixed with a few wrinkled brow moments as the same traditionalist misconceptions crept back in.

Read the article yourself and I’d be interested to know what you think, but for me it started me thinking…

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Mark Breakspear

Digging the Invisible.
Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Breakspear’s career path bends him toward virtual environments.

When Mark Breakspear, visual effects supervisor at Rainmaker UK finished work on the film “Da Vinci Code,” he took a bold step. Because “Da Vinci Code” director Ron Howard couldn’t film inside San Sulpice church in Paris, Rainmaker had created a three-dimensional, photorealistic digital version of that church and of other locations difficult or impossible to access.

Breakspear calculated that the filmmakers would undergo the same or worse restrictions if they were to film author Dan Brown’s prequel “Angels and Demons.” So, he read the book, determined where he thought the main locations would be, went to Rome, and photographed the interiors even though the studio hadn’t landed the job.

He did this because he was afraid that after ‘Da Vinci Code’ released, the church would realize the production could use still photographs to fake locations the church had put off limits for filming.

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Chris Stoski has worked in many places including Matte World Digital, ILM and just recently started working with Doug Chiang at Image Movers Digital (IMD). He was at ILM for five years and for the past two he’s been Supervising Matte Paintings over there. He has also supervised ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End’, ‘Lions for Lambs’, ‘Iron Man’ and recently ‘Star Trek’ which is now in release worldwide and enjoying box office success.

“‘Star Trek’ was probably one of the greatest challenges I’ve had on the job,” begins Stoski, “At it’s peak I had 17 matte painters on my crew and we created every type of shot and set extension you can imagine. It was great fun working with Roger Guyett and Russel Earl the VFX supes, they really trusted the Matte Department and gave us huge responsibilities.”

Back in 1998, Chris graduated from Washington State University with two degrees in Architecture. He’d already been planning on moving to California to work in the film industry. “I wanted to finish my Architecture program at WSU despite my new love for visual effects because I was always taught that when you start something important, you always carry it through to the completion,” Stoski says.

Upon arriving in California, Stoski had a hard time getting into the effects industry, like anyone else. He wanted to do everything like most students today. It wasn’t until Chris focused on one thing and became moderately good at it that he got the job interviews with Pixar and Matte World Digital. “I was working with Michael Sechman Architectural Illustration (MSA) at the time where we would do 2D and 3D architectural renderings for buildings still in the design phase,” he says. “My wife Tonia supported me in every way when I would come home and work into the evenings on my matte paintings and demo reel. I knew that only some of my architectural renderings would help me get a job in film, but I had to supplement them with shots that were distinctly matte painting related. When they saw my reel it had to be obvious that I could do the work that they were doing every day.”

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With the release of Silverlight 1.0 and its subsequent versions, a debate started among designers and developers regarding choosing between Flash and Silverlight. Silverlight faces difficulties in capturing the market because of the maturity of Flash. However, Silverlight has managed to keep up by including certain features that designers and developers have always wanted to see in Flash, such as search engine optimization. In this article, we will discuss some of the technical differences between Flash and Silverlight to help you choose the technology that best suits your needs.

Animation

Flash uses the frame-based animation model. In frame-by-frame animation, we create an object for each frame to produce an animation sequence. For example, if you want to move something across the screen in 3 seconds, calculate how many frames 3 seconds will take, then calculate the matrices required for each frame along the way. Keep in mind that the player won’t actually maintain a frame rate unless you embed a blank audio track; otherwise, 3 seconds might turn out to be 2 or 6 or 5.

Silverlight is based on the WPF animation model, which is time-based instead of frame-based, so you define the start and end conditions, and it figures out how to do it. No need to deal with matrices like with Flash. Also, no need to calculate the positions of objects in various frames.

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