What to Watch for on the Show Floor

Here’s an idea of what to expect from the products debuting atSiggraph:

For 2d3 (in Vicon’s booth), Boujou forms the core offour new products for high-end film as well as entry-level TVproduction. Boujou VE is pegged as an entry-level package for studioswith less intensive tracking needs, such as for TV production. 2d3 hasalso developed Linux versions of Boujou 2 and Boujou VE in response todemand from 2d3’s customers in high-end film and televisionpostproduction.

2d3 also debuts Pixeldust, a new application that automates theremoval of objects from film or video footage and rebuilds thebackground. Individual objects can be singled out for removal with arough matte, leaving the rest of the scene unchanged. The trackingtechnology builds a detailed understanding of the scene for highlyaccurate differentiation of foreground elements and backgroundreconstruction in both panning and free camera moves. Pixeldust shipsin Q4 in Windows and Linux versions.

For years, 3Dlabs has ranked among the leaders in fastgraphics accelerator cards. Now, with its recent acquisition bySingapore-based Creative Technology, creators of the hugely popularSound Blaster audio cards, 3Dlabs will gain the financial resources andmarketing might to continue in an increasingly competitive hardwaremarketplace.

At the show, 3Dlabs introduces its next-generation Wildcat VP familyof graphics accelerators. The VP’s Visual Processing Architectureintegrates over 200 32-bit SIMD-type processors into a single VisualProcessing Unit (VPU). The resulting performance numbers arehuge—170 gigaflops and more than 1.1 TeraOp of programmablepower—which has the company claiming it’s on the waytowards the Holy Grail of interactive rendering. That’s right,realtime rendering, no waiting required. But they’re not quiteyet there.

At the Alias|Wavefront booth, check out recently announced4.5 version of Maya. Integrated fluids technology sets Maya 4.5 apartfrom the competition, says the company. Fluid Effects includes toolsfor creating atmospheric effects, viscous liquids, pyrotechnics, andspace effects. One cool new capability: the Ocean Shader enables thecreation of a whole range of open water effects. Also on tap are thelatest versions of StudioTools, Maya 4.5 for OS X, Maya RTA, and MentalRay.

Discreet's big news at the show is 3ds Max 5, thecompany’s highly popular animation, modeling, and rendering app.New features include new floating licensing options, Spline IK, a DopeSheet Editor, and a new character-based animation management system.Max 5 includes considerable improvement in rendering solutions,including radiosity, Toon Shading, Area Light Shadows, and a method forsimulating high-resolution scenes on low-resolution geometry.

There’s also a new release of Character Studio, an extensionto 3ds Max software. Character Studio 4 provides improved creativecontrol for building and refining characters, including new quaternionfunction curves, and a flexible nonlinear animation mixer.

Discreet will also debut Plasma, its 3D web-design software. Plasma,based around 3ds Max, employs a web designer-style UI and an extendedtoolset that integrates with Macromedia Shockwave and Flash.

It’s also the 10th anniversary of Flame, a software/hardwaresystem that’s brought great changes to motion design. Discreetwill showcase the recently announced releases of Inferno 5, Flame, andFlint 8 systems. New functionality features include mixed-resolutionsupport, new timeline editing, a unified animation channel, and supportfor Kaydara's FBX file format. Don’t forget to check the mostrecent version of Combustion, now in version 2.

Eyeon Software releases the ninth major update of DigitalFusion, version 4.0. The DF4 feature list includes a realtime cachingsystem with instant playback for effects and sequences; an improvedtracking module with unlimited tracking points and motion prediction; anew grid-warping tool; integrated scripting, allowing for custom toolcontrol and interfacing to other programs; and auto-roto, an automaticrotoscoping tool that will fit splines around subjects and images totrack them throughout a sequence.

Continuing its push into the DCC space, HP presents a widerange of integrated hardware and software packages for post. To win thehearts and minds of motion-graphics artists, the company now positionsitself as a “buck stops here” vendor, one that takesresponsibility to ensure that any combo package it sells works, whetherPC- or Linux-based. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company’sWorkstation x4000, for example, will be shown demonstrating a varietyof supported 3D animation and compositing apps including Maya, 3ds Maxand Combustion, Softimage|XSI 2.0, Kaydara's Filmbox, and Houdini.

The company has crafted what look like good deals; check out its 2Dcartooning solution built around an entry-level Workstation x1100running Toon Boom. Another lower-cost offering includes a capture,edit, and DVD-burning production bundle.

Also on display: DreamWorks staff will demo some of its proprietaryLinux apps. HP’s graphics labs engineers worked closely withDreamWorks to port these applications to Linux, optimizing them toimprove performance. Look for the 64-bit Itanium workstation with anIntel CPU running alpha copies of various DCC software apps. The box isa first for HP, running the new, speedier second generation ofItaniums. HP has also created its first “glue” chipset thatis said to utilize more fully the considerable chops of thisnext-generation CPU.

IBM scored a win a few months ago with the announcement thatit signed a deal to help move Weta Digital, the New Zealand-basedfacility that handles all the Lord of the Rings graphics andeffects, to Linux. Weta plans to move a significant portion of itsproduction work on the movie serial to IBM’s Digital ContentCreation platform, which features IBM IntelliStations runningLinux.

The company launches two new IntelliStations featuring the latestPentium 4 processors--which now run up to 2.4GHz--as well as advanced2D and 3D graphics in a highly scalable tower design. Stop by for newpromotional 3D animation bundles and one-stop, integrated, turnkeyLinux-based solutions. Big Blue is emphasizing the basics, which thecompany describes as “application-focused performance,cost-saving tools, outstanding price/performance ratios, and highlyreliable standards-based technologies.”

Kaydara unveils MotionBuilder 4.0, the next generation of itsaward winning realtime 3D character-animation software, previouslynamed Filmbox. A completely redesigned drag-and-drop user interface nowfronts this 3D app. The company claims MotionBuilder 4.0 is the onlyrealtime 3D character animation software package on the market today,one which integrates with all the major 3D packages, providing a hubfor game, film, or broadcast production pipelines.

Nvidia takes the wraps off its Cg Compiler, a new computergraphics programming language. This is big. In short, it allows shaderprogrammers and other essential visual creators to program in standardhigh-level languages such as C+, rather than the highly arcane assemblyor machine language level. While it might not seem that the artistswill be directly affected, they will be, as their graphics toolboxesexpand with new creative options.

Cg’s high-level graphics programming language provides contentdevelopers with a complete programming environment “to ease andspeed the creation of special effects and realtime cinematic qualityexperiences,” says the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.“We are entering a brave new world of graphics softwaredevelopment,” said Peter Glaskowsky, editor-in-chief ofIn-Stat/MDR’s Microprocessor Report. “The announcement ofCg signals a revolution in computer graphics—and for the firsttime in years, we can say this without exaggerating.”

NewTek shows LightWave 7.5, its popular modeling, rendering,and animation package. New for this version, users can build a customslider to control anything that LightWave can animate, includingcharacters and lighting rigs. The Expression Builder speeds thebuilding of expressions without having you memorize a long series ofcommands. Enhanced OpenGL feedback boosts interactivity. And newmultiple-bounce radiosity adds realism to LightWave’swell-regarded global illumination rendering capability. A newduo-dongle allows users to have a single license for both Windows andMac machines. An upgrade is free for all current 7.0 users.

At the show, SGI celebrates 20 years of innovative graphicsleadership. But who has time for parties? The Mountain View,Calif.-based company will announce InfiniteReality4, itsnext-generation high-end graphics system that delivers on-air HD and SDgraphics, virtual sets with higher realism, and higher performance forediting and compositing, says the company.

SGI will also introduce a new standard-definition video option,DMediaPro DM6, bringing realtime graphics and video manipulation to theSilicon Graphics Fuel visual workstation. DM6 will also be offered as astandard-definition option for Silicon Graphics Octane2 visualworkstations. SGI joins the move to high-speed, networked collaborationwith its Visual Area Networking concept that employs the SGIVizServer.

Side Effects Software’s Houdini family of 3D apps willbe in several of its partners’ booths at the show. Look forHoudini 5.5 and Houdini Select, joined by two new products to beannounced, a standalone compositor and a character-animationproduct.

Houdini 5.5 boosts productivity and streamlines workflow, thecompany says, by extensive use of VOPs, an interactive node-basedshader and effects builder. Houdini 5.5 also features an expandedShader Gallery, a new compositor, a drag-and-drop interface, simplifiedinstallation and keying, and enhanced character and animationtools.

There’s a price break on Houdini Select, now available at$1,299 for a node-locked version and $1,599 for a floating license. Thesoftware features modeling, animation, texturing, shading, and Mantrarendering tools identical to those of the full version of Houdini.

Check out Softimage’s flagship Softimage XSI version2.0, with its huge number of new components; the company counts over2,500 added since last year’s 1.5. Features include an integratedcompositor to speed workflow; integrated interactive Mental Ray 3.0renderer; a unique interface enhancement—Synoptic View—thatoffers a way to create custom interfaces using HTML; crowd simulation;and realtime, interactive shaders.

But change is in air. In June Softimage, perhaps responding tocompetitive pricing pressures from the recent Maya reduction, halvedthe price (to $1,495) of Softimage|3D, its original 3D characteranimation and effects software. Currently in version 4.0, the softwarewas used extensively by ILM on the latest Star Wars epic.

Although only Side Effects’ Houdini and Electric Imagecontinue as the main graphics and animation apps on SunMicrosystems’ workstations, the company continues itsintroduction of fast dual-processor workstations and graphicsaccelerators. The Sun Blade 2000 Personal Visualization Systems includetwo 1050MHz UltraSPARC III Cu processors with 8MB of“Ecache,” 8GB of main memory, 146GB internal disk drives,and one Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator. One neat point: the systemsupports resolutions of up to 1920x1200 with 30-bit color, whichresults in what the company says “is likely the best colorfidelity in the workstation industry.”