3D Meets Reality!
Compositing 3D elements into live-action footage is a very important facet of post-production. Bill Fleming instructs us on how to get it just right.
Category: Technology
Dreamweaver is Pretty Darn Dreamy
Macromedia's Dreamweaver impressed Dan Sarto. Read on for why this web authoring tool is hard to beat.
PDI adds Alias software to mix
PACIFIC DATA IMAGES (PDI) has licensed Alias|Wavefront's compositing software, Composer, for use in its computer animation production. This represents a significant outside purchase for the studio, which mainly uses in-house proprietary software. PDI's director of research and development, Ken Pearce explained, "It's often difficult to incorporate off-the-shelf solutions into our proprietary graphics pipeline, but the openness of Composer makes it easy to integrate."
Biomechanics reveals its Nuance
BIOMECHANICS has released a software program called Nuance, which is specifically designed to edit captured motion. It allows animators to "tweak" motion-capture data to perfect the animation or "resize" motion by determining a number of frames over which an action will occur. Nuance can be used with 3D animation software such as Maya and 3D Studio MAX. The cost is U.S. $7, 495. for a single-seat license.
Small Studio/Home Studio: An Overview of Low-End Computer Aided Animation Choices
Osmosis Jones blends hokey live-action and slick animation into a cop spoof that is both gross and clever. J. Paul Peszko reveals the process behind these two separate worlds.
Animation on the Internet: The Tools
Robert Gonzales shares his insight on the various tools currently available for creating animation on the Internet.
Fireworks: Does it Have a Special Spark?
Webmaster Ged Bauer gives Macromedia's Fireworks a try to determine whether it is the "all-in-one-be-all-end-all" web graphics application that it claims to be.
What's In Your LunchBox?
Kellie-Bea Rainey tests out Animation Toolworks' Video LunchBox, an innovative frame-grabbing tool for animators, students, seven year-olds and potato farmers alike!
How to be Furrific!
3-D animator Bill Fleming details the development of technologies for animating fur and hair in computer animation.
Rotoscoping in the Modern Age
Visual effects artist Marian Rudnyk describes the rotoscoping process used for the creation of atmospheric effects in the Oscar-winning feature film, Titanic
Animation in the CAVE
Josephine Anstey and Dave Pape describe the CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment, a virtual reality display device which uses 3-D animation. In other words, it is an entertainment prototype that can best be described as a Star Trek HoloDeck precursor.
SGI: Simulating A Lot More Than Dinosaurs
Silicon Graphics, Inc. is the leader in simulation animation. Thor J. Mednick discovers just how broad the applications are, from military to medical.
MILIA 1998: The Key Points
Anne-Marie Meissonnier describes The International Content Market for Interactive Media's (MILIA) main topics in "MILIA 1998: The Key Points," available in French and English.
MILIA 1998
Un article sur l'ition 1998 du MILIA, par Anne-Marie Meissonnier.
MicroSites: Easy to Make, Hard to See
Want to make professional-looking banners for the web that are complete with animations? Ged Bauer puts this new banner-creating software, MicroSites, to the test.
Animating the Web: RealFlash
RealFlash technology can seem daunting. However, the following two articles, "RealFlash: The First Step" and "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love RealFlash," will hopefully, make it less intimidating.
Boldly Throwing Down the Gauntlet
Barry J.C. Purves shared his sentiments on the coming of the computer. Now Barry's back to share his thoughts on the last two years that have been both exhilarating and disappointing for him.
The New Maya Sets Sail
On February 1, Alias|Wavefront is beginning to ship their latest animation software, Maya and Maya Artisan. Max Sims is here to tell us how it compares and what we can expect from this new tool.
Web Animation Explosion: Headache Relief
Ged Bauer reviews "the ultimate library of animated web graphics."
Computer Animation 101: A Guide for the Computer Illiterate Hand-Animator
Jo Jugens answers everything you ever wanted to know about basic computer animation but where afraid to ask. Think you don't know enough to be hired? Think again.
Going Digital And Loving It
Traditional animator Guionne Leroy describes her first digital experience. Currently working on a new clay short, she is shooting it with a digital camera and having a blast with the new opportunities.
Anything But A Hash Up
Animation:Master Version 5 is reviewed by Tim Elston with great results.
Java Software Reviews
John Parazette-Tillar braves the world of Java, testing out two new programs, WebBurst and Jamba.
Software Review: Web Painter
One of Totally Hip's "Hip Clips"In the last issue, I looked at Macromedia's Flash, a program that allows you to do animation for the Web. This month, I tested out Totally Hip Software's WebPainter, a program with the same general purpose as Flash, but aimed at a different market. While Flash works with vector-based images and allows a considerable amount of interactivity for a rather high price; WebPainter allows you to easily create GIF animations, and is inexpensive, but lacks the interactivity and more professional look that Flash is capable of.
If you already have a program like...
Animating Web Sites: Macromedia Flash
Guillaume Calop gives Macromedia's Flash a spin.
