#Electronic Theater LA95
26 messages in this thread
To all those that do not get a chance to see the Electronic Theater at Seegraph
95 in LA, here is a quick take of what you missed, and sorry to say that you
missed a lot.
The show started out with a totally cool opening animation the sony Imageworks
made just for LA95. Very fast, flashy and high-tech. Throughout the show fast
paced, high action animations were shown from such movies as Batman Forever,
Johnny Mnemonics, Judge Dredd and the likes.
But the show played a variety of different types of animations as well. Very
artistic animations such as a time laps type of thing of Bonsai trees growing,
and one animation which I can remember the name, but it had pieces of fabric
blowing in the wind with such grace and a sense of delicateness about them.
Another animations that needs to be mentioned was _The End_. Now I know this
was done by Alias and Wavefront, but we must always look at what to strive for.
The representation of flowing hair and tendrils with great yet organic control
was very very impressive.
But out of all the animations, either high-tech, or serious or fun my favorite
one was called Pinheads. It was done by Pixar for Docker pants
and was a very simple animation of pants walking on single file with pins
making up the upper body and the looped head of the pins making the head of the
body. All the Pinheads are walking in formation linking there heads on a real
which went right through the loop of the pins. Well one Pinhead did not like
this idea a tried to resist but was pushed onto the real by the rest of the
Pinheads comming up the rear. In his resistance however he spun himself of the
threads of the pin and freed himself (just pants now) at last. I imagine that
this description did the animation any justice, but believe me it was very
funny, with simple, smooth and very clean animation.
To all that missed it, I hope this gives you a little insight as to what was
there.
Thank you very much for the overview about the ET in LA. I wanted to be there
but I have too much work (:-()…
Is there an animation which shows basketball playing and whiskey drinking
bugs? This (about 5 minutes) animation was done by the best german computer
animator Peter Spans (specialist for special effects, believe me or not he`s on
the same level than ILM).
Michael
Michael;
No Basketball playing, whiskey drinking bugs to the best of my recollection.
To bad too, sound like a fun piece and I am always interested in seeing the
best.
Zac (AZ-TECH)
Berkeley
-Zac Rymland (AZ-TECH)
Michael;
There was a basketball bug. He was dribbling a basketball with four of his 6
legs over, under and around his body. Another large bug came and was going to
eat him, but ate his basketball instead. It was very realistic looking (for a
bug). Much more in the animation, but you needed to see it.
Take care,
Dennis
My favorite by far was the Cosmic Pinball, with the trailer to Toy Story not
far behind…
The 3DS animations shown were extremely impressive and well deserved to be up
on the big screen.
Andrew Sinagra
Digital Art & Motion, Inc.
Andrew;
>> My favorite by far was the Cosmic Pinball, with the trailer to Toy
>> Story not far behind…
I guess I'm a kid at heart. I loved the "Toy Story". But you are right, the
"Cosmic Pinball" was great.
Dennis
Dennis,
All the animations that I saw on the LA'95 reel were great. BUT, the most
impressive animation I saw at the show was the boxing match entitled "The
Knockout" (I think). This was playing on a big screen at one of the booths,
not sure which one. The texture mapping was unbelievable, or should I say
extremely believable. If anyone knows if I can get a copy of this animation,
please let me know.
Andrew Sinagra
Digital Art & Motion
>> impressive animation I saw at the show was the boxing match entitled "The
>> Knockout" (I think). This was playing on a big screen at one of the booths,
Was that the one with the great flesh/skin on the 3D models? The BIG guy
with the cigar, excellent beard stubble, and a sweater/vest that looked so
non-CGI?
Did you get a look at the way the shirt moved on the little boxer?
EXCELLENT but short demo… wish I could have seen more.
Ralph
>>Was that the one with the great flesh/skin on the 3D models? The BIG guy
with the cigar, excellent beard stubble, and a sweater/vest that looked so
non-CGI?
That was the one!
In addition to the shirt moving, I loved the way the little guys hair moved
around as he jumped up and down. This really is probably some of the most
impressive stuff I had ever seen. I noticed something that said they used 1000
motion capture actors for the crowd. Pretty impressive!!!!
Andrew Sinagra
Digital Art & Motion
Andrew
The Boxer was highlighted and the D'n A (pretty sure that was the name) booth
over by Digimation, was that the one you saw? Skrawny little guy getting
punched around<g>.
That was neat stuff!
-Ted Boardman
Ted,
>>Skrawny little guy getting punched around
That would be the one!!
Were you talking about Jerry Springer on Sunday when we saw you on the way to
the convention? You've gotta love those little blackouts….<g>
Andrew Sinagra
Digital Art & Motion
>> Were you talking about Jerry Springer on Sunday <<
Andrew,
No, I was talking about Andy King, do you know him?
I'm getting to the age where remembering names is a new challenge. I walked
out to Koreatown after I saw you, probably lucky I could find my way back<BG>
-Ted Boardman
!^NavFont01F000DMGJHGrMGtHGDA880C
Ted-
>>Andy King, do you know him?
No, I don't. That is Larry King's son if were thinking of the same person. I
do know someone who knows him though. Kind of that friend's sister's
boyfriend's roommate chain.
>> I walked out to Koreatown after I saw you, probably lucky I could find my
way back<BG>
I would say so. We drove through there late one night. It was not really
where we wanted to be…<g>
Andrew Sinagra
Digital Art & Motion
>> "The Knockout" (I think). This was playing on a big screen at one of the
booths, not sure which one. The texture mapping was unbelievable, or should I
say extremely believable. If anyone knows if I can get a copy of this
animation, please let me know.<<
Andrew, it was good to see you at the show. It's great to be able to place a
face with a CIS #. (I was the very large, blonde, flat-topped guy hanging out
with David Gould most of the time.) You have sent me to my desk, digging for
the info on this tape! At SIGGRAPH, I picked up an order form for the video at
their booth.
Here's the skinny:
"The Boxer" will be available on VHS, Laser Disk, and 3/4". It will include the
trailer we all saw, the 10 minute film itsself, the behind the scenes "Making
of..", and the award winning short from the same company called "Tony de
Peltrie" (a washed-up lounge singer). The VHS tape is $45, laser disk $85, 3/4"
$150. They also sell all kinds of merchandise for your purchasing pleasure — a
book ($95), t-shirts ($35), and posters ($40). I would suggest writing to them
directly before ordering, just to make sure they can live up to their order
form! There is a statement on the form saying that all products will be
available mid to late 1996. (?) Here's their address:
TAAARNA
305, de la Commune Ouest
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y-2E1
(no phone # was given)
I hope this helps! Sean Platter
Sean,
It was good to meet you also. Putting names with faces really does help.
Thanks for the info on "The Boxer". It really was impressive. Hopefully I'll
be able to get a copy of the tape sooner than next year…
Talk to ya soon,
Andrew Sinagra
Digital Art & Motion
Hey, what about "Volcano Mine Ride"? I've got to wedge that between "Toy
Story" and "Cosmic Pinball".
The Sony Pictures Imageworks ET openening wasn't too shabby either! Does
anybody know if 3DS was used in that opening. I thought I saw somewhere that
it was, but I can't recall for sure.
— James — Choreo Motion —
Hi James,
<< The Sony Pictures Imageworks ET openening wasn't too shabby either! Does
anybody know if 3DS was used in that opening. >>
I thought I heard that the opening and closing were done with 3DS!
The ET opening and close were ABSOLUTELY done with 3DS… by Brumbear, in Frank
Fosters group at Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was rendered at 2Kx2K and then
blown up (via their proprietary Gaussian interpolator at Sony) and outputted at
30fps (instead of the usual 24fps) directly to 70mm film (at 12 bits of color
per component), and then played back on a Showscan projector. IPAS routines
were heavily used in both (didn't you recognize Disintegrate in the opening and
Fireworks and Spurt in the close?). Considering it was projected on the big
screen (85' wide by 50' high), it definitely wins the award as the most
impressive 3DS animation EVER. I can't wait to see what Brumbear submits for
the ET next year… I think he's going to push it to full 60fps Showscan frame
rates for '96.
– G
Kind of interesting how, all of the sudden, 3DS is not only _in_ the ET, but is
used to open and close it. A rather prophetic milestone.
"Opening" certainly had a visionary quality about it. Any idea if this work is
ever going to be available comercailly? Surprisingly, its not on the Video
Review (according to the spec sheet), unless its under a different name.
— James — Choreo Motion —
The '95 ET Open will definitely be available commercially (not from Adesk, but
from another source). When it is, I'll make sure to post a note about it.
Unfortunately, it won't have nearly the impact on the TV screen as it did 85
FEET WIDE.
– G
James;
>> Hey, what about "Volcano Mine Ride"?
That was extremely realistic. It was so long, I was getting motion sickness
toward the end and had to close my eyes.
Dennis
>>
>> Hey, what about "Volcano Mine Ride"? That was extremely realistic. It was
so long, I was getting motion sickness toward the end and had to close my eyes.
<<
Volcano Mine Ride and Cosmic Pinball… what fun!!! but the winner for me was
the Disney preview of the toys. wonderful content!
-dave
Dave,
my favourites were "Toy Story" (phenomenal in every way), and "Fluffy" (simple,
but great style and character work). "Cosmic Pinball" was my fave of the motion
ride genre.
>> my favourites were "Toy Story" (phenomenal in every way), and "Fluffy" <<
fluffy.. proof that what the story says is a memorable and impressionable as
the technology and special effects used. 😉
>> "Cosmic Pinball" was my fave of the motion ride genre. <<
very effective motion paths… i really felt like a silverball by the end of
that one! <ggg>
-dave
Dave,
>> fluffy.. proof that what the story says is a memorable and impressionable as
the technology and special effects used. 😉 <<
agreed 🙂
Yes, that might by the bugs I saw last summer in Hamburg.
Did you see whiskey and a pizza in the animation?
Michael