Computer software: grm, frm.
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Revision as of 12:56, June 26, 2014
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The first solid 3D CGI models were featured in the movies ''{{w|Tron (film)|Tron}}'' and ''{{w|The Last Starfighter}}''. Though, in the first case, critically acclaimed, the movies were considered commercial failures and convinced directors and producers at the time that CGI could only be used in instances where those effects were supposed to look like computer images, most notably (animated) computer-generated display graphics, what the "Genesis Demo" in essence was. Examples of these, applied in early ''Star Trek'', were the targeting graphic display aboard the {{USS|Reliant}} in ''The Wrath of Khan'', the [[World War I]] computer game in the [[San Francisco bar]] and Genesis surface scan in ''The Search for Spock'', as well as [[Spock]]'s instruction computer displays in {{film|4}} The latter were provided by the company [[Video Image]], who specialized in computer-generated computer console display imagery, becoming a market leader in this field during the 1980s through halfway the 1990s, having provided computer display imagery for dozens of major film productions. Under the current understanding of CGI, this company could be considered as a proto-CGI vendor, producing and selling visuals that were positioned at an intermediate stage between traditional animation and modern computer generated imagery.
The first solid 3D CGI models were featured in the movies ''{{w|Tron (film)|Tron}}'' and ''{{w|The Last Starfighter}}''. Though, in the first case, critically acclaimed, the movies were considered commercial failures and convinced directors and producers at the time that CGI could only be used in instances where those effects were supposed to look like computer images, most notably (animated) computer-generated display graphics, what the "Genesis Demo" in essence was. Examples of these, applied in early ''Star Trek'', were the targeting graphic display aboard the {{USS|Reliant}} in ''The Wrath of Khan'', the [[World War I]] computer game in the [[San Francisco bar]] and Genesis surface scan in ''The Search for Spock'', as well as [[Spock]]'s instruction computer displays in {{film|4}} The latter were provided by the company [[Video Image]], who specialized in computer-generated computer console display imagery, becoming a market leader in this field during the 1980s through halfway the 1990s, having provided computer display imagery for dozens of major film productions. Under the current understanding of CGI, this company could be considered as a proto-CGI vendor, producing and selling visuals that were positioned at an intermediate stage between traditional animation and modern computer generated imagery.
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Things changed dramatically in {{y|1993}}, when the movie ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' was released and the TV series ''[[Babylon 5]]'' premiered. Modelers at ILM and Foundation Imaging used the commercially-released first {{y|1990}} version of the, by {{w|NewTek}} owned and marketed, {{w|LightWave 3D}} software package (then called "Video Toaster Suite", a hardware/software combination; the software was, from 1994 onward, available as a stand-alone application) to create life-like convincing 3D CG imagery. The success of both productions meant the definitive breakthrough of CGI in the motion picture business and LightWave and its successive versions have become the premiere software packages for its creation in the next decade-and-a-half. The list of productions having used LightWave since 1993 is impressive {{brokenlink|http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/lightwave-project-list-menu.html}} and within a decade, traditional methods of producing VFX were relegated to the fringes.
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Things changed dramatically in {{y|1993}}, when the movie ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' was released and the TV series ''[[Babylon 5]]'' premiered. Modelers at both ILM and Foundation Imaging respectively, used the commercially-released first {{y|1990}} version of the, by {{w|NewTek}} owned and marketed, {{w|LightWave 3D}} software package (then called "Video Toaster Suite", a hardware/software combination; the software was, from 1994 onward, available as a stand-alone application) to create life-like convincing 3D CG imagery. The success of both productions meant the definitive breakthrough of CGI in the motion picture business and LightWave and its successive versions have become the premiere software packages for its creation in the next decade-and-a-half. The list of productions having used LightWave since 1993 is impressive {{brokenlink|http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/lightwave-project-list-menu.html}} and within a decade, traditional methods of producing VFX were relegated to the fringes.
The LightWave 3D software was firstly tentatively introduced into the ''Star Trek'' franchise by Digital Magic's [[Joe Conti]] and [[Tim McHugh]] in creating the [[Anaphasic lifeform]] in {{TNG|Sub Rosa}}. All companies who provided CGI for later seasons of ''DS9'', ''VOY'', and the entirety of ''ENT'' used a version of LightWave. This greatly improved production efficiency, since computer files were easily interchangeable between the companies' platforms, the co-operation between Foundation Imaging and Digital Muse for the production of "Sacrifice of Angels" being a prime example of this. Foundation Imaging's CEO [[Ron Thornton]] has noted in this respect, "''It was really nice, because were able to communicate back and forth, and we use the same software, so we were exchanging models and texture maps. It worked out really well.''" (''[[The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine]]'', issue 16, p. 38)
The LightWave 3D software was firstly tentatively introduced into the ''Star Trek'' franchise by Digital Magic's [[Joe Conti]] and [[Tim McHugh]] in creating the [[Anaphasic lifeform]] in {{TNG|Sub Rosa}}. All companies who provided CGI for later seasons of ''DS9'', ''VOY'', and the entirety of ''ENT'' used a version of LightWave. This greatly improved production efficiency, since computer files were easily interchangeable between the companies' platforms, the co-operation between Foundation Imaging and Digital Muse for the production of "Sacrifice of Angels" being a prime example of this. Foundation Imaging's CEO [[Ron Thornton]] has noted in this respect, "''It was really nice, because were able to communicate back and forth, and we use the same software, so we were exchanging models and texture maps. It worked out really well.''" (''[[The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine]]'', issue 16, p. 38)
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[[File:Amblin model with missing textures.jpg|thumb|The Amblin Imaging CGI model in the title sequence showing its missing texture]]
[[File:Amblin model with missing textures.jpg|thumb|The Amblin Imaging CGI model in the title sequence showing its missing texture]]
Even interchangeability of CGI files generated on the same software platforms was sometimes not without its problems, as [[John Gross]] remembered, in respect to transferring the CGI version of the {{USS|Voyager}} from one version of LightWave to another:
Even interchangeability of CGI files generated on the same software platforms was sometimes not without its problems, as [[John Gross]] remembered, in respect to transferring the CGI version of the {{USS|Voyager}} from one version of LightWave to another:
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<blockquote>"There are six shots in the opening title sequence, three of them had the CG ship that we built; the other three have the practical model. The three that had the CG ship were the one where it goes by the sun, the one where it goes through the smoky, particle stuff, and the last one, where it jumps to warp. (...) We always use beta software [remark: meaning a new version of LightWave which, at the time, was available on two different computer systems, Amiga being the hardware component of the 1990 "Video Toaster Suite" package], which means there tend to be some bugs. As we were modeling ''Voyager'', some of it was being done in the Amiga version; some was being done on the SGI version. If you transferred the model between the different systems, the textures – effectively the paint on the ship – would get lost. That happens in the final shot where the belly tips up toward us and ''Voyager'' goes to warp. It's something you don't really pick out unless you know it's there, but if you look at the bottom of the ship there are these three darker patches that aren't supposed to be there – it's where there are some ports and hull plating. That made it into the title sequence. Nobody said anything, and we never mentioned it!" ({{STTM|3|3}}, p. 112)</blockquote>
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<blockquote>"There are six shots in the opening title sequence, three of them had the CG ship that we built; the other three have the practical model. The three that had the CG ship were the one where it goes by the sun, the one where it goes through the smoky, particle stuff, and the last one, where it jumps to warp. (...) We always use beta software [remark: meaning a new version of LightWave which, at the time, was available on two different computer systems, Amiga being the hardware component of the 1990 "Video Toaster Suite" package], which means there tend to be some bugs. As we were modeling ''Voyager'', some of it was being done in the Amiga version; some was being done on the SGI version. If you transferred the model between the different systems, the textures – effectively the paint on the ship – would get lost. That happens in the final shot where the belly tips up toward us and ''Voyager'' goes to warp. It's something you don't really pick out unless you know it's there, but if you look at the bottom of the ship there are these three darker patches that aren't supposed to be there – it's where there are some ports and hull plating. That made it into the title sequence. Nobody said anything, and we never mentioned it!" ({{STTM|3|3|112}})</blockquote>
Adam Lebowitz, no doubt speaking from experience, estimated that it would take six to twelve months of study in one's spare time to master the LightWave software. ({{STTM|1|6}}, p. 51) As a consequence, designers and modelers like [[Doug Drexler]], [[John Knoll]], and [[Larry Tan]] made the transition from the traditional way of producing VFX to CGI.
Adam Lebowitz, no doubt speaking from experience, estimated that it would take six to twelve months of study in one's spare time to master the LightWave software. ({{STTM|1|6}}, p. 51) As a consequence, designers and modelers like [[Doug Drexler]], [[John Knoll]], and [[Larry Tan]] made the transition from the traditional way of producing VFX to CGI.