welcome to cg and concept art thread.
this thread is about world of cg.
all the news and info are welcome to share.


i m at cg field industry about 6 years.
cg and concept art is mostly relate to games or movie.
or even dcc medium industry.
and i found out there are lot of people out there start
discover them into this field. so i start to create one.
it is different from graphic design or normal art line.

soon we will share the world of cg.
welcome cg people.
thank you.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 2:00 am

This early opening of the CGSociety SIGGRAPH Diary wll give you a look at the conference from as many different angles as possible. Throughout these posts, updated every few days, CGSociety will be announcing special features, we'll be interviewing the Chairs, and lighting your way towards SIGGRAPH with our descriptions of the many sessions and attractions. CGSociety will be there!

Over five days in mid-August, the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Nokia Theater will be awash with SIGGRAPH sessions and attractions. Los Angeles is the home of SIGGRAPH and every two or three years, the stage is returned. SIGGRAPH is the place where university labs, studios for film and games, film and animation schools and the CG artists spill their new techniques into the creative community.

The New Tech Demos at SIGGRAPH, which used to be named 'Emerging Technologies,' present creative, innovative technologies and applications in many fields including displays, robotics, input devices, and interaction techniques.

"Many of these cutting-edge technologies exemplify how our past informs our future and how it affects the upcoming opportunities and challenges of computer graphics and interactive techniques," stated Mk Haley, SIGGRAPH 2008 Conference Director of Encounters with Disney-ABC Digital Media. "The technologies and installations in New Tech Demos encourage people to engage with the future, as well as celebrate our past, as we invigorate, explore, and define our potential."

During SIGGRAPH, CGSociety will be at the show in LA, posting a SIGGRAPH diary, updated daily, keeping everyone worldwide up to date with the attractions for the week.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 2:02 amSIGGRAPH 2008's newly expanded Computer Animation Festival is spread over the five days with screenings, talks, studio events, with two days of 3D stereoscopic panels and screenings.

As well as the juried screening, the festival offers inspiring studio content, Flash films, DemoScene animation, international school retrospectives, selections from the Japan Media Arts Festival and the latest in real-time game graphics. To be admitted to the Computer Animation Festival, you will need either a Full Conference Pass or a Computer Animation Festival Pass.

The 2008 Computer Animation Festival presents artists and experts in talks on all aspects of production, from animation to visual effects, from shorts to full-length features, from television to movies, from art to science, from learning the history of animation to learning the craft.

Participate in selecting the Audience Prize and see the results at the Festival's first annual award show: a raucous hour of animation, animation directors, prizes, and surprises. And don't miss exciting nightly events hosted by Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Industrial Light & Magic. There will be a full slate of talks and several production sessions, including a mind-bending look into 'Speed Racer,' a journey behind the scenes of 'Cloverfield' and 'Iron Man,' as well as a review of ideas that didn't quite make it through production.

In the studio reel of the Computer Animation Festival, a trailer be premiered from a yet-to-be-released animated feature from animation director Rob Coleman and the crew at Lightstream Pictures. This is accompanied by a talk from the principal members of Lightstream Animation who will talk about building an animation studio while creating their animated feature. More details on this will be discussed in a later entry.

There is a retrospective animation school reel to be shown and an accompanying talk by five top international schools for the study of film, animation and effects. An amazing exhibition of work is on display from AnimationMentor, Austalian Film TV and Radio School, Bournemouth University, Brigham Young University, Carnegie Mellon, Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Otis College of Art & Design, the Pratt Institute, Ringling College of Art & Design, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Texas A&M University, University of Southern California, Vancouver Film School and many others. Hael Kobayashi and Sande Scoredos worked tirelessly to stage and curate this presentation.

PIXAR's Presto and Glago's Guest are both playing in the Nokia Theater, (Petree Hall C, Wednesday 3:45pm) and there is a joint PIXAR/Disney talk with Richard Hollander and Andy Harkness following the screening.

Nominated for best of show is 'Carbon Footprint,' from Jellyfish Pictures. This is part of a Future History session with Look Effects, at the same time in Hall D on Wednesday. The two companies discuss three projects (Look Effects talks about 'Life After People,' and 'Blown Away: Greensberg Kansas'), all three projects use visual effects to tell alternate stories of the future.

There is plenty more in store as part of the Computer Animation Festival. Stay tuned!

This post has been edited by cymon: Jul 14 2008, 04:32 AM

Concept art is a subset of illustration.

What is illustration? Dictionary.com says this of the word “illustrate”:

1. to furnish (a book, magazine, etc.) with drawings, pictures, or other artwork intended for explanation, elucidation, or adornment
2. to make clear or intelligible, as by examples or analogies; exemplify
3. 3. Archaic. to enlighten
4. to clarify one's words, writings, etc., with examples: To prevent misunderstandings, let me illustrate.

So, an “illustration” is art that communicates something.

There is much of fine art that falls into the category of illustration. Any imagine that tells a story or represents an object is illustrative, whether it is communicating something as complex as a scene from the Lord of the Rings, or as simple a thing as “a horse” or “a man”.

What makes concept art different from illustration is that the audience isn’t the person who reads a book, plays a game, or watches a movie. The primary audience of concept art is other artists, and other people involved in the making of the final product. Concept art is the blueprint that is used to make more art. It is also used to communicate with the holder of the intellectual property rights involved in a project, and it can also be the leverage that is used to get funding for a project.

If you want a formal education that will prepare you for being a concept artist, then study illustration.



since local art scene has not been exposed to cg or digital arts as much as foreign countries do
we've thinking around trying to give out as much information as we can,hoping that this field can expand more in our local scene

here's an example of concept arts


of course,it's not as nice as others
but the main point of concept arts is about selling ideas

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Added on July 14, 2008, 2:13 amSIGGRAPH Asia
by westman — last modified 24 December 2007 08:04 AM

Background

Asia is rising. While Japan has been dominant economically for decades, China and India are growing at a phenomenal rate, and the four Asian tigers, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are still strongly on the prowl. Asian governments are pumping billions of dollars into digital media technology research and development, and Asian contributions in this field have increased tremendously. SIGGRAPH conference figures show that while the number of papers from Asia has more than doubled in the new millennium, Asian attendance at the conference has fallen by about a third, due partly to cost and visa problems.

These form the background to a meeting between Scott Owen and Alyn Rockwood, the President and Vice President of ACM SIGGRAPH, and a group of Asian delegates during SIGGRAPH 2006 in Boston. The meeting explored the possibility of having some form of the SIGGRAPH conference in Asia, which would also include Australia and New Zealand. It was a meeting of minds, and the idea was put on the ACM SIGGRAPH agenda.

Scott subsequently appointed a steering committee, chaired by Alyn. The members were Scott himself and 11 representatives from Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. The committee, together with their Malaysian host, met in Kuala Lumpur in early December 2006 to study the feasibility of such a conference.

The meeting strongly supported the idea of a SIGGRAPH conference in Asia, and Tokyo and Singapore were invited to bid for the hosting of the inaugural conference, to be held in December 2008 or 2009, depending on the readiness of the host. Each bid had to be coupled with a nomination for a Conference Chair who is familiar with the venue both geographically and in terms of its bureaucracy. December was chosen to keep a distance from the annual SIGGRAPH conference in August and to avoid the major Asian Lunar New Year holiday period in January and February.

YT Lee, the Vice Chair of the Singapore Chapter, and Masa Inakage, a founding member of the Tokyo Chapter, presented their bids at the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee meeting in Seattle in February 2007. The EC awarded the hosting of the first event to Singapore, based on the strength of its bid. YT Lee was also confirmed as the Conference Chair. John Finnegan, the Chair of SIGGRAPH 2006, was appointed as the Associate Chair to lend his experience and expertise in running large events.

At the end of June, a team of five ACM SIGGRAPH representatives visited Singapore to inspect the conference venue and investigate Singapore’s readiness to hold the event in 2008. Their recommendation to the Executive Committee that Singapore was indeed ready to host the first event in December 2008 was accepted. It was also decided that the event would be called SIGGRAPH Asia.

Since then, the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee has also confirmed that SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 will be held in the Japanese city of Yokohama and that the Conference Chair will be Masa Inakage.



This post has been edited by yukikaze: Jul 14 2008, 04:25 PM

Concept Art = Advertising?

Let's start.

concept art is not a form of advertising
but more to a form of illustration of an idea
concept art is not for end user but rather the producer
mostly in the industry or game,film and animation industry

here is some sample of my concept work for my clients.
it is public approved visual.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 2:30 amit can be 2d or 3d.
the main core is the ideas(concept)
normally can find through big production game, movie or even mv.
it just a team of concept artist/designer to provide them the concepts
for their project.


This post has been edited by cymon: Jul 14 2008, 02:30 AM

Mattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image (such as actors on a set, or a spaceship) with a background image (a scenic vista, a field of stars and planets). In this case, the matte is the background painting. In film and stage, mattes can be physically huge sections of painted canvas, portraying large scenic expanses of landscapes.

In film, the principle of a matte requires masking certain areas of the film emulsion to selectively control which areas are exposed. However, many complex special-effects scenes have included dozens of discrete image elements, requiring very complex use of mattes, and layering mattes on top of one another.

For an example of a simple matte, we may wish to depict a group of actors in front of a store, with a massive city and sky visible above the store's roof. We would have two images—the actors on the set, and the image of the city—to combine onto a third. This would require two masks/mattes. One would mask everything above the store's roof, and the other would mask everything below it. By using these masks/mattes when copying these images onto the third, we can combine the images without creating ghostly double-exposures. In film, this is an example of a static matte, where the shape of the mask does not change from frame to frame.

Other shots may require mattes that change, to mask the shapes of moving objects, such as human beings or spaceships. These are known as travelling mattes. Travelling mattes enable greater freedom of composition and movement, but they are also more difficult to accomplish. Bluescreen techniques, originally invented by Petro Vlahos, are probably the best-known techniques for creating travelling mattes, although rotoscoping and multiple motion control passes have also been used in the past.

It's a very old technique, going back to the Lumière brothers. A good early American example is seen in The Great Train Robbery (1903) where it is used to place a train outside a window in a ticket office, and later a moving background outside a baggage car on a train 'set'.

sauce:wikipedia

here's also another category of CG
matte painting

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Added on July 14, 2008, 2:46 amMattes and widescreen filming

Another use of mattes in filmmaking is to create a widescreen effect. In this process, the top and bottom of a standard frame are matted out, or masked, with black bars, i.e. the film print has a thick frame line. Then the frame within the full frame is enlarged to fill a screen when projected in a theater.

Thus, in "masked widescreen" an image with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is created by using a standard, 1.37:1 frame and matting out the top and bottom. If the image is matted during the filming process it is called a "hard matte." In contrast, if the full frame is filled during filming and the projectionist is relied upon to matte out the top and bottom in the theater, it is referred to as a "soft matte."

In video, a similar effect is often used to present widescreen films on a conventional, 1.33:1 television screen. In this case, the process is called letterboxing. However, in letterboxing, the top and bottom of the actual image are not matted out. The picture is "pushed" farther back on screen and thus made "smaller", so to speak, so that, in a widescreen film, the viewer can see, on the left and right of the picture, what would normally be omitted if the film were shown fullscreen on television, achieving a sort of "widescreen" effect on a square TV screen. In letterboxing, the top of the image is slightly lower than usual, the bottom is higher, and the unused portion of the screen is covered by black bars. For video transfers, transferring a "soft matte" film to a home video format with the full frame exposed, thus removing the mattes at the top and bottom, is referred to as an "open matte transfer." In contrast, transferring a "soft matte" film to a home video format with the theatrical mattes intact is referred to as a "closed matte transfer."

This post has been edited by yukikaze: Jul 14 2008, 02:46 AM

Out of topic, is this the place in 'get smart' movie where 'kaali' placed the bomb?

yes, it is world famous disney hall. design by world pioneer frank gehry.
it is sort of trademark of this building.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 4:24 am


Creator of video game brands moves in on renowned special effects studio.

Ubisoft has announced the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising.

Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 80 team members. The studio’s many projects include such innovative films as 300, Frank Miller’s Sin City and the Spy Kids series.

Ubisoft will work closely with Hybride to share technology and to develop tools in order to optimize the creation of both video games and visual effects and to offer gamers visual experiences that rival those of the cinema. At the same time, Hybride will continue to work with its film partners while also bringing its expertise to leverage Ubisoft’s intellectual properties for the movie industry.

"The future of our industry depends on our ability to create brands that captivate audiences and to extend those brands to other forms of entertainment," said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “The acquisition of Hybride falls directly into the strategy that has already led us to open a digital creation studio in Montreal and to acquire the Tom Clancy brand for video games and ancillary products. The exceptional quality of the team at Hybride and the expertise of our Ubisoft teams will allow us to create one of the best 3D animation studios in the entertainment industry.”

"This alliance is a true first for the industry,” continued Yannis Mallat, chief executive officer of Ubisoft Montreal. “Ubisoft and Hybride share the same vision of entertainment convergence and a common passion for innovation and creativity.”

“It is the quality and innovation of our artists that made Hybride into one of the most successful studios in cinema and the most important visual effects producer on the North American East Coast,” stated Pierre Raymond, founder and chief executive officer at Hybride Technologies. “The sharing of technological and creative expertise between Ubisoft and Hybride will position the two companies at the head of the pack in an entertainment industry in rapid evolution.”

In addition to bringing its technological knowledge and its collaboration to Ubisoft’s brands, Hybride will continue to work with its external partners. The forecast for this visual effects creation activity for cinema, television and advertising will initially generate sales of approximately 6 to 7 M€ and a current operating income of about 10 % of sales.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 4:30 am


ELEMENTAL 3 is available for pre-order!



ELEMENTAL 3 is the finest art book showcasing the work of CG artists in architectural visualization and product design, and is the first Ballistic title to dedicate half of its pages to architectural subjects. A set of four bonus prints are yours free when you purchase ELEMENTAL 3 Limited Edition. The bonus prints also come with the first 200 Hardcover editions bought during pre-sale.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 4:39 am
Autodesk acquires ECOTECT


report that Autodesk, Inc. has recently completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets related to the Ecotect software tools for conceptual building performance analysis from both Square One Research Ltd and Dr Andrew J Marsh.



Autodesk currently plans to continue support of the existing Ecotect and its related tools and is working to transition the sales process to the Autodesk e-Store. In the interim a free trial version of the latest commercial software is available for download until August 15 2008, after accepting the end-user license agreement (EULA) that accompanies the product.


- Ecotect is a comprehensive environmental design tool that covers a wide range of simulation and analysis functions required to truly understand how a building design will operate and perform. Environmental design principles, such as solar, thermal, shading, lighting, and airflow, are most effectively addressed in the early phases of the design process. With Ecotect tools, architects and engineers can measure how fundamental criteria will affect building performance in the conceptual and detailed phases of design. Architects and designers work easily in 3D and apply a rich palate of tools that are important for our customers to drive and support an energy efficient and sustainable future.

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Added on


July 14, 2008, 4:40 amAward-winning VFX studio Frantic Films VFX, a division of Prime Focus Group, recently served as a lead visual effects provider for the forthcoming stereoscopic feature film, "Journey to the Center of the Earth,"
produced by Walden Media and New Line Cinema.

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Added on July 14, 2008, 4:45 am



'Planet 51' heads into Sony orbit


Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has picked up U.S. distribution rights for the CG-animated kidpic "Planet 51."
TriStar Pictures will release the film, which features the voices of Dwayne Johnson and Jessica Biel, on Nov. 20, 2009.

Alien adventure comedy centers on an astronaut who lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first to set foot on it. To his surprise, he discovers it's inhabited by little green people who live in a white picket-fenced world reminiscent of 1950s America. Film is produced by Ilion Animation Studios.

Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Gary Oldman and John Cleese round out the voice cast.

New Line previously bought domestic distribution rights for the $50 million plus-budgeted film and had touted it as it as its first-ever CG-animated feature. After New Line was folded into Warner Bros. in February, "Planet 51" became the domain of Warners and was set to be released by the studio in summer 2009.

This post has been edited by cymon: Jul 14 2008, 04:45 AM

Prof. Don Greenberg announced as First Featured Speaker for Singapore SIGGRAPH conference in December.
Friday, 11 July 2008


Advertisement
SIGGRAPH Asia is pleased to announce its first featured speaker, Prof. Don Greenberg.

Prof. Greenberg has been researching and teaching in the field of computer graphics since 1966. During the past 30 years, he has primarily focused on advancing the state of the art in CG and applying these in a variety of disciplines. He has taught courses in CG in computer science, computer-aided design in architecture, computer animation in art, and technology strategy for business.

His current computer science research projects involve realistic image generation, parallel-processing algorithms for rendering, new GUIs, and computer animation. His current application projects include ornithology and the search for the ivory-billed woodpecker, medical imaging and virtual surgery, architectural design for a green environment, and new types of computer displays, from electronic paper to touch-sensitive table displays.

Speaking on the topic of "The Expanding Boundaries of Computer Graphics", Prof. Greenberg will challenge the new generation of CG artists - those who will take great professional risks to solve big problems - to dream impossible dreams and extend the influence of computer graphics to many other disciplines.

Prof. Greenberg has also been accorded several awards in the course of his work; some of which include: the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics in 1987 and the NCGA Academic Award (the highest educational award given by the National Computer Graphics Association) in 1989.

Prof. Greenberg is currently the Director for the Programme of Computer Graphics at Cornell University. Many of his graduate students have gone on to become leaders in the fields of computer graphics, computer animation, and computer-aided design for architecture.
Six former students have won Hollywood's Technical "Oscars", and five have won the prestigious SIGGRAPH Achievement Award.

EXOTIQUE 4
Entry Deadline: Noon, Monday August 4, 2008 GMT

Call for Entries - Ballistic Publishing invites you to submit your work to EXOTIQUE 4: THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL CG CHARACTERS. The fourth book in the series will showcase the best digital character creations produced for film, television, games and personal endeavor.

EXOTIQUE 4 will showcase the world's most stunning CG characters. We are looking for all types of character work from humans to fantastic creatures.

If your work is selected for publication in EXOTIQUE 4 you will receive a complimentary copy of the book and will also get international exposure by having your work included in the premier collection of digital character art.

There is no cost or limit to the number of entries you can enter for EXOTIQUE 4.

The official Into The Pixel web site give us our first conceptual look at Half-Life 2: Episode Three with this moody painting of, we assume, protagonist Gordon Freeman facing down the Advisor seen in previous episodes. Obviously, fans of the game know that Gordon has a serious beef with the Advisor following the events of Episode Two, but this hardly seems like a fair fight. Don't bring a crowbar to a telekinesis fight, Gordo.

While unconfirmed — the art is listed under "Half Life EP3" — it may lead to more speculation that the final episode in the Half-Life 2 trilogy will make an appearance at E3 2008. That's been denied by Valve spokesfolk, but you know how they love to twist words.

Potentially good news for consoles owners of the Sony persuasion is that the official Into The Pixel listing tags the game as seeing release on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. Bigger look after the jump.

Emm... This thread seems like a hanging place for the two of you only. I like concept arts but all the thing i can do is hand drawn and photo editing, is there a way for me to learn more bout this?

Concept artists nowadays have an understanding of different art styles (It's optional, but the more talent you have, the higher the chances of getting hired) & must be fast & quick to create said concept art. The only method of learning that I know of is to practice consistently & try new things.

1st thing 1st,how much do you know understand about concept arts?
no mean to offense you
but there's always majority of people misunderstood illustration with concept arts
and yes no doubt,it's all about practice
to begin,1st have to get a strong foundation such as figure sketching
still life drawing.

pls dun it wrong,
the purpose i open this thread is to share wat is happening or exchange ideas/concept art forum.
u may seen there is no one post for mean time.
concept art is still very fresh in malaysia market.

only the few who already venture it professionally.
most will think it is an illustration / graphic design.
no, it is not

concept art is about ideas that translate into medium (2d or 3d).
here not only we exchange concept art but also we talk about cg.
software, hardware, info or news..



This post has been edited by cymon: Jul 14 2008, 11:34 PM

WOW. Finally something that I like is now in lowyat.net. LOL> i support you guys!

Currently studying, going to illus major mainly to grad and get a job as a game/mov concept artist.

here's a great forum for concept art besides the famed cgtalk.

www.conceptart.org

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Added on July 14, 2008, 11:59 pmMaybe I could help out with the explanation about concept art.

When my parents/relatives/friends ask what the heck is concept artist, I told them its something like a visual reference. Client/colleagues gives pretty vague specifications or requirements (ie. I want a graveyard with a oriental style/I want an organic spaceship), the artist finds relevant references and tries to interpret the requirements.

Its an important job in a pre-production phase of most ventures like games or animation/movies. Before 3D modeling/ 2D animation etc. In short, concept artist have more or less the say-so in the creative aspect.

Most of the time the concept artist would also need to have knowledge to visualize the work that is tangible to create in 3D itself. Hence the illustrate/draw very well is a must. And not just only restricted to 1 style, but able to adapt to many styles whether from anime-ish (groan) to realistic, depending on the nature of the project.

In a way concept art is considered as commercial illustration. But different in the sense that the art mostly will be used by work peers and not to the intended audiences of the project (unless they want to use it as marketing for work in progress).

This post has been edited by slumberus: Jul 15 2008, 12:03 AM

well said
the purpose of this thread is not to have fun but rather to educate and share info amongst others about the industry

welcome to the world of cg and concept art.
conceptart / cgtalk is one of my regular daily site i surf.
i m the member too..

really nice to hear tat u are venture into tis field.
i know it is hard for old generation to understand this, most of them will tell u :

same only with graphic design just matter of terms... both also draw draw mah..

the main core is still the ideas that sell..
do u hav anything to share wit ??

This post has been edited by cymon: Jul 15 2008, 12:09 AM

wicked topic you 2. this should at least make people understand what CG is all about. at present i've heard every single layman talking about CG but not knowing what CG is all about. sometimes when they talked to me, i just had to agree because i don't even know if i explained to them, they would understand haha. good topic mates, keep it up. salute!

Eccentrical, they are merely doing a good community service to everyone who's reading this topic. not a hanging out place for them 2 if you asked me hehe.

This post has been edited by subsonique: Jul 15 2008, 09:17 AM

Crashing, breaking, shooting, bleeding and smashing – these are just a few of the many visual effects created by Rhythm & Hues for The Incredible Hulk. To manage all this destruction, Houdini’s particles and dynamics played a key role in achieving quick turnarounds for both the look development and execution of over 183 VFX shots.

For most of the movie, the effects needed to blend with the live action footage to keep the focus on the Hulk and his nemesis Abomination. For the rain grotto sequence, Houdini provided water runoff on the Hulk, rain, and atmospheric mist. For battle sequences, Houdini was used to create the cracking of concrete and asphalt, dynamic simulations of flying car parts and car crushing effects. Other effects needed for the battles included streams of blood, dust and debris, along with gun flashes, grenade explosions and bullets ricocheting off the Hulk.

The Sonic Cannon

While most of the effects stayed in the background, the Sonic cannon sequence was featured center stage. The VFX artists put together an impressive combination of effects including skin peeling, flying glass and debris. The time allocation was extremely tight for this shot with 2 weeks for look development and 5-6 weeks to completion. This timeline demanded a series of 2-3 day deadlines without the typical R&D time available to prototype different solutions.

“With Houdini, one person can fulfill the needs of several departments, making sure there is no feedback lag as information changes hands,” says Nathan Ortiz, FX Supervisor with Rhythm & Hues. “Taking rendered and comped images to our supervisor and, in turn, the director was fast and effortless. Ultimately this helps us control costs and meet deadlines faster.”

Houdini Digital Assets were used to let VFX artists quickly drop down effects to get shots up and running. Rhythm & Hues also developed a custom “RHDA system” which made it easier to package up the solutions within their larger production pipeline. This plug-and-play approach allowed artists to take a creative approach despite the tight timelines.

“Houdini is flexible and its productivity is from the lack of limitations.” says David Horsley, FX Supervisor, Rhythm & Hues. “Artists could set up character animation just as easily as a shader and then plug these into practically everything else that Houdini has to offer. Even new users were able to get up to speed quickly without extensive training.”


Lighting the Hulk

Lighting was accomplished using both the in-house Wren renderer and Houdini’s Mantra renderer. For many shots, Rhythm & Hues exported geometry to the Lighting department to render with the proprietary Wren renderer. Geometry generated by the effects sequences could be modeling and simulated in Houdini then lit with the same lights and environment as the characters.

Mantra was used to render out test shots of geometry that would eventually be rendered in Wren. In some cases these Mantra test images were approved and used in the final composite. Several shots were rendered completely in Mantra. In the Harlem brawl church sequence where the marble floor cracks open, the shots were pre-visualized using Mantra, with shaders designed in VOPs, and then the final render was generated with Mantra. For these shots almost everything was completely created within Houdini.



Unlimited Destruction

For the University Courtyard Raid, a whirlwind of effects was brought together in Houdini. These effects included; glass cracking and simulation of glass flying in the air, grass rendering and grass dynamics for ground interaction, muzzle flashes on guns, grenade explosions, bullet impact and hits on Hulk's body, Humvee Destruction dynamics of metal crushing (cloth), gas steam simulations from the damaged Humvee, gas simulation of tear gas in the glass walkway, and drool and spit from the Hulk.

The tear gas simulations, stream, and grenade explosions were simulated using R&H’s internal fluid dynamic software run through the Houdini interface. In some cases, Houdini’s particle operators were integrated with the proprietary fluid dynamics system.

The ability to prototype then execute hundreds of effects under tight deadlines is crucial for working in production. Houdini has become an important tool for tackling feature-film quality effects and these workflow efficiencies help studios like Rhythm & Hues remain competitive. And in the end, the ability to do all this while supporting the director’s vision makes it all worthwhile.

ABOUT RHYTHM & HUES STUDIOS

One of the world’s leading producers of quality character animation and visual effects for entertainment and advertising, Rhythm & Hues Studios has continually pushed the boundaries of the digital frontier since its founding in 1987. The studio has been recognized with numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards® for Achievement in Visual Effects, (Babe, 1995 & The Golden Compass, 2008), and three Scientific & Technical Academy Awards. The studio’s work is seen in more than one hundred and fifteen feature films, hundreds of commercials, and will be featured in the upcoming releases of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, They Came From Upstairs, Land of the Lost, Night at the Museum 2, Cirque du Freak and Fast & Furious 4.