Stereo: Three sorry cases studies

You probably have seen movies such as Avatar or other cg movies from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks etc ... which are made in stereoscopic 3d.  The principle is to render two images from two different cameras placed at standard inter-ocular distance from each other. By projecting the two images and using special 3d glasses to filter out each side, you then get a sense of depth as in a real world.
In cg movies, working in stereo poses a lot of challenges so that it works well, doesn't look too gimmicky and doesn't give any headaches to the viewer.

Cyclops don't bother 

The syndicated crowd

Last time I talked about the crowd department used in the cg industry and all the miracles it can do.
One challenge faced by the department is when the crowd starts to become conscious of its rights and comes up with a strings of demands. Resolving the issue and calming down the atmosphere requires exceptional negotiation skills.

Crowds have rights

Pixel Lives: pixels and subpixels

Without entering into nauseating details and to keep it simple, the use of subpixels allow to get an image of better quality. That's all.

Interpixel discrimination is very common

Pixel Lives: endless wait

Another peek into pixel lives. Rendering times can be long, very long ...

Endless wait.
And for what result ?

Pixel Lives: render debriefing

If you look close enough at your computer screen or TV, you'll notice that the image is constituted by thousands of tiny little dots, which seen from a distance look like a continuum.
In computer graphics, they are called picture elements or 'pixels', which sounds smarter.
In cg, these little pixels are produced by some black magic processes called 'rendering' and 'compositing'.
Al lot of things happen during these mysterious processes including a lot of inter-pixel fights, intrigue, love,  hate, betrayals, politics, resizing, filtering, cropping, color correcting, opacity changing etc ... before reaching your screen as a peaceful image.

For the first time since the invention of the wheel, Imprimatuur gives you an insight into their turbulent lives.

Aliasing ? what's that ?

A promotional message from the crowds department

So you said you have to direct a  movie in which two hundred and fifty martians have to suddenly wake up and dance the Harlem Shake right ?
And you're wondering if you'll be able not only to find and hire that many extra terrestrials, but also if they'll be inclined to learn that ridiculous dance move instead of, let's say, annihilating the planet ?
Fortunately the crowds department is here to help you !
Using some computer graphics magic tricks, "they'" (the crowds department) will happily create hundred of martians of many different shapes (slim, fat, tall, short, with three eyes and pointy ears etc ...),  colors (green, dark green, light green, semi light green and ... ok you got it) and will make them dance the Harlem Shake or other dance moves !
The crowds department is here to help you.

The crowds department is here to help you !

A promotional message from the Animation Department

In computer graphics movies, animators are those artists who instill life into the lifeless virtual models. With their artistry, inanimate models start to magically budge, walk, stretch, run, speak, laugh or cry.
Good animators are always very much sought after by animation studios, so if you're interested, send your resume and your demo reel !

Send you resume and your demo reel

After rounds thoughts

During a cg (computer graphics) movie production, each artist working on a shot goes through 'rounds' where her or his work is evaluated and given notes to work on.
The degree of precision and meaningfulness of the note depends on many factors such as temperature, mood of the supervisor, color calibration of the monitor, moon cycle, imminence of the final movie deadline, last legislative election results, last supervisor's meal etc... It takes a lot of artistry to correctly interpret and address these surrealistic notes but at the end of the day the kafkaesque finally triumphs, without anyone really understanding what really happened.
As long as everyone is happy that's all that counts no ?

Emancipated yes, but not too much ok ?

Dracula tries his luck in the CG industry

A solid cv and you're in !

It's a known fact, lighters dread direct sunlight.

A soporific property of cubic NURBS surfaces

 

Cubic NURBS surface are ideal for a good nap

In my last post where I casually mentioned NURBS surfaces (causing a great deal of boredom), I completely forgot to say a word on one of the most useful and probably least advertised properties of these surfaces (specifically the cubic ones): they are absolutely ideal for a good nap !
I won't bother to show you the proof, just look at the equations, which speak for themselves.
I'll go take a nap now.
See you later

Modeling for Mr. NuRBS

People with modeling experience can apply

Without entering into nauseating details, in computed graphics, NURBS designate a mathematical model to generate and represent curves and surf... ok I can feel that you're already bored aren't you ?
Ok, in case you want to learn more about Non Uniform Rational B-Spline (which is what NURBS stands for, in case you're vaguely interested, which I doubt, given the expression of boredom illuminating your face), you can read more here.
Lame jokes apart, it must be said that the cg industry (which is how is confidentially called the industry making all these funny 3d animated movies) needs good artists for their modeling departments (no, not the catwalk stuff, I mean modeling/sculpting). So if you feel like joining an animation studio, send them your cv along with some sculptures of yours for evaluation. Good luck !