CompuServe Messages

>Wavefront, at least, is an SGI package that is very expensive. However, >what you can do with far exceeds LW capability in certain areas. We have demoed Wavefront and were not impressed…the current TDI/Wavefront hybrid is not useful in the high end film and broadcast animation market (except maybe for logos). We like SoftImage as an animator and Alias as a Modeler, though… > For example, there are optional "data capture" features tied to the >invers kinematics system, so that you can simulate a physical system in a >3D model environment, change some load and spring constants, for example, >the view an animation of the result while generating data from various >watch points on a structure. (At least the president of WaveFront told me >this was possible). Not in the versions we have seen…but it will be possible in the future. Also, these features (and more) are available for LightWave, but you'll have to pay Nutopia for the rights to their in-house proprietary software (if they are selling :}). >Another demo I saw, the had a segment of race footage – an S turn in an >indy car track. They were able to acutaully build a "ray gun blast" that >caused one of the cars in the filmed footage to, in effect, disappear >right out of the footage in near realtime by some very easy to use moving >matte/compsositing techniques. Then, in near realtime rendering speed >they composited a cartoon car into the same footage. >That's horsepower for you! Everyday the price goes down and the >performance gets faster..don't you love it. >If you need accurate physical action, or very high end FX on short >notice, LW cannot stand up to these packages. This is not a cut to LW. Yes it is. >LW is adequate for 95% of the everyday andimation you'll ever need, and >that percentage grows with each release. Yeah, I guess Steven Spielberg only demands everyday animation jobs from us. And Robocop, Babylon V, Star Trek, Viper, Hercules, etc. etc. > But, LW is also a 1-2 man effort whereas these other programs have whole >departments that work on one feature set or sub-package (like the >renderer, the animator, the modeller, the material editor, the kinematic >simulator, etc). Amazing how a 1-2 man effort is still able to be not only catching up with but surpassing those whole departments. Maybe Allen and Stuart need another raise. >So, near-realtime rendering, especially in "draft modes", high end >physical simulations, easy WYSIWYG compositing, gases, particle fields, >etc. are what you pay for. Most of these features are not necessary for 99.9% of all high end effects shots, as production prefers shortcuts to accuracy. But they would be nice. > And like everything in life, if you have the time and talent, a little >extra work and Lightwave can save you money and still give you 95% of >what the 'big guy' have (except the speed). Raptors give us the speed we need. And like everything else in life, it's not the hardware it's the people using it. Remember that Alias and SGI did not have the render quality or options to do SeaQuest (even the latest version still cannot duplicate even our simplest effects, simply because its fog algorithm is useless). I would love to see LightWave running on an Indy, but I would rather save a few tens of thousands of dollars and see it running on a realistically priced MIPS machine like the Raptor or a multi-060 processor based Amiga (running faster and cheaper). If you hadn't guessed I am trying to start a spirited debate not a flame :} There are 2 Replies. Grant Boucher – Amblin Imaging "It's hard to believe grown-ups do this for a living."