#Space: Above & Beyond
19 messages in this thread
Just curious, I just saw the new series on FOX called Space: Above & Beyond. I
was looking at the special effects and animations and I didn't think they were
Lightwave. Does anyone know if they were done by 3DS. I saw a Digimation clip
on one of their demo cds that looked like one of the ships on the show.
Thanks.
JB
James,
From what I hace by listening to various user groups most of it was done in
Lightwave and some done by Alias. I think the company that did the animations
is Area 51.
Peter Watje
Spectral Imaging
Alias/Wavefront. The particle effects are SGI all the way. I also believe
Lightwave was used, as it's output is superior.
But as far as I'm concerned, that is some of the _best_ 3D on TV.
Notice the little things, man. Somebody has got a great team of animators, and
an even better art director. Also, the technology suites the edits to 3D very
well.
Cudo's to whomever is producing this work.
If you've ever used Wavefront, and can figure out how to do mapping, it'll
spoil your butt. Nothing like it. Alias has what I think are the best lighting
alogrythms <-(not sure on the spelling on that) on the market.
Chris,
It's algorithm. Sorry, I guess I've spent too much time in Computer Science
classes.
– Neil
>Just curious, I just saw the new series on FOX called Space: Above & Beyond.
I was looking at the special effects and animations and I didn't think they
were Lightwave. Does anyone know if they were done by 3DS. I saw a Digimation
clip on one of their demo cds that looked like one of the ships on the show.<
Check out the November 1995 issue of Video Toaster User. The cover story is
about Space and Area 51 who does the effects. Good article on the background.
So it's pure lightwave? _WOW_! Fooled me!
>So it's pure lightwave? _WOW_! Fooled me!<
Using a budget a little over $1 Million they used 9 DEC Alphas running beta
Lightwave 4.0. They also used had Alpha versions of Elastic Reality and Impact.
Elastic Reality beta (morphing), Impact (collision detection). Photoshop,
Fractal Painter, Picture Publisher, WinImages on four Pentiums were used for
texture mapping. They also have two PowerMacs running After Effects for
bluescreen mattes. The explosions are stock footage composited with the 3D
animation.
I think Softimage was used for the major parts. I saw a Softimage 3D demo tape
and I too thought I saw some of thier ships. It's not uncommon for them to use
more than one software package.
Tommy.
I agree. But no matter what packages they are using, it's still some of the
best "space" 3d I've seen in a while. Good stable of artists.
>I think Softimage was used for the major parts. I saw a Softimage 3D demo
tape and I too thought I saw some of thier ships. It's not uncommon for them
to use more than one software package.<
The article never mentioned SoftImage. Area 51 has no SGI machines so if
SoftImage was used someone else was involved.
I beleive it was all Lightwave 3D.
It is all Lightwave, I've been over there and seen it. Beautiful stuff. I
really think that if I didn't already work on 3ds, and was picking a package
based on the work done on it i.e demo reels and stuff, I'd pick Lightwave.
(But of course I know better)
Tim Miller
BLUR
FWIW, my 2 cents worth, the only REAL competition for MAX is gonna be
MicroSoftImage. (Unless/until other SGI packages start coming out with NT
ports.)
By the time you add enough plug-ins to MAX that they come out close to equal,
feature for feature, I'll bet the prices are gonna be real close, too.
IMHO,
SCL
I agree, but I think that the open architecture of MAX will prove to be the
deciding factor for the short term anyway. Those Microserf guys probably still
won't be hip to the fact that allowing EVERYBODY to write code for your system
is better than writing EVERYTHING yourself.
Tim Miller
BLUR
I disagree, MicroSoft will provide API support and CDK's like they do for
everything else. Not only that, MicroSoft will make SoftImage OLE2 compliant
for sure.
The _entire_ concept behind MicroSoft products is to provide engines that
people can use to create "4th" party apps. Why would MicroSoft change just for
SoftImage? If MS does what they have always done with every other MS
application, SoftImage meshes will be windows "objects" that you can grab the
handle of and manipulate with WINGL API Calls. In fact, writting a "plug-in"
for SoftImage will be probably be easier than for MAX because you will be able
to do it in a RAD tool like Visual Basic.
Hi Chris,
<< In fact, writting a "plug-in" for SoftImage will be probably be easier than
for MAX because you will be able to do it in a RAD tool like Visual Basic. >>
Let's pick this thread up in a few months. Until then it's all conjecture. 😉
jonas[adesk]
ditto
Tim
BLUR
True.
Man-o-man, is this gonna be cool or what!
BTW, people, you can write a 32 bit DLL in Visual Basic 4….
hint, hint, wink, wink!
It's also not uncommon for models to be moved to and from various
platforms/systems and ending up in demo tapes.