The word ‘digital,’ whether linked with video acquisition or computer animation, has always been associated as much with ‘expensive’ as it has with ‘quality.’

But digital technology is finally paying the long promised dividends of flexibility, creativity and cost savings as recently unveiled hardware and software reaches the editing and animation suites.

No place was the trend clearer than at last month’s Los Angeles computer graphics and interactive conference, siggraph, where the focus was as much on reducing production time, and, subsequently, costs of computer-generated animation, as it was on new capabilities.

‘See that,’ said Evan Ricks, Viewpoint Database’s vice-president of production, in an attempt to be heard over the roar of voices, movie soundtracks and music engulfing the siggraph exhibition floor.

‘That’s from our catalogue,’ Ricks said, pointing to a monitor above the booth where a clip from the film Outbreak shows three helicopters flying across the screen.

The helicopters come from Viewpoint’s library of 3,000 render-ready 3D models available to animators in several file formats, as well as through the Web.

There is also a variety of motion set packages, and, in some cases, a choice of three levels of resolutions, depending on the useage, and, as Ricks put it, ‘the polygon budget.’

The alternative is retrieving a 3D image from a laser scanner.

This is done by placing a model – or, in the case of the Cyberware Whole Body Scanner, anything as tall as a basketball player – in the centre of a laser system that records all dimensions of the figure and then transforms it into a render-ready wireframe.

At a fraction of the cost is a method of creating wireframes offered by Microscribe, a desktop digitizing tool made by Immersion Corp.

While this method is more labor-intensive and potentially less accurate than a laser scanner, the advantage is that the artist can increase the polygon count of specific areas – say the face – without breaking the so-called polygon budget on other less important parts of the model.

The other movement that promises more time for creativity in computer-generated animation is the use of armatures.

While several companies at siggraph were offering puppet-like electronic devices for recording human and animal movement, it was the Los Angeles visual effects house Boss Film Studios that has carried armatures to a new level.

On a small stage, four puppeteers gripped various appendages of a one-meter-high wire and steel puppet used for the film Species.

While a motion control device manipulated the lateral movement from a crane above, the puppeteers breathed life into the 42 access points on the electronic figure.

By watching a monitor with a composite of the background, an actor firing a gun, and a low-resolution image of the model, the puppeteers were able to generate as many as 125 real-time takes per day.

Obtaining realistic movement for animation has also been the target of a new wave of motion capture devices such as HiRES from Motion Analysis.

Using golf ball-sized markers coated with thousands of retroreflectors attached to key points on an actor’s body, such as shoulders, feet and elbows, motion is transferred to a computer via numerous high-resolution cameras encircling the actor.

While the actions are conveyed in simple stickman-like form on the computer screen, the fluid movement has a realism even the most skilled animators would have difficulty emulating.

The motion can then be exported to various file formats where the markers are linked to corresponding anatomical points on a computer-generated figure.

An alternative to the optical system approach is real-time electronic motion capture systems such as the Ultratrack from Polhemus.

It grabs motion data from an unlimited number of sensors on an actor’s body. But while the system can capture motion within 700 square feet via a transmitter, the sensitivity of the electronics limits its applications.

Real-time benefit

Nevertheless, the real-time capabilities have proved an attractive selling point for broadcasters such as The Cartoon Network.

‘They wanted a cartoon (character) to mc the show, but they didn’t want to wait six weeks to do the animation,’ said Edward Costello, the company’s vice-president of marketing.

‘So, they created a cartoon character that comes on in real-time and says `Our next cartoon is so-and-so, and, by the way, did you see today’s headline in the newspaper.’ ‘

Also on the siggraph exhibition floor were a variety of virtual sets.

In its infancy just one year ago, this visual effect system, which relies on the Silicon Graphics (sgi) Onyx, memory heads and a composite of 3D imagery and an actor on bluescreen, has already left its mark on the newsroom and talkshow circuits.

Yet, until now, camera movement on the virtual set has been restricted: while the camera can pan, zoom and tilt, it must remain stationary on the studio floor.

An option being considered is to use a varied bluescreen pattern combined with a pattern recognition box. This technique would allow lateral camera movement and eliminate the bulk and cost of a memory head.

Strengthen

foundations

But while sgi continues to dominate siggraph, Avid Technology, which has demonstrated ballistic growth in the broadcast market, is also beginning to strengthen its foundations in the animation market.

In fact, the distinctive triangular trademark held a relatively large booth at this year’s siggraph.

But its presence as the owner of the Elastic Reality and Parallax software, was low-profile compared with the attention it drew during the 1995 National Association of Broadcasters (nab) trade show, where it introduced the hard-drive camera with co-sponsor Ikegami.

For those networks already using the Ikegami HL series, the Avid Camcutter is a 4-kg. dockable module that replaces the tape cassette unit at the back of the camera.

In addition, Ikegami will begin delivery of one-piece units under the DNS11 and DNS101 model numbers over the next few months.

Recording on the 1-kg., 10-minute capacity disks known as FieldPaks offers some interesting possibilities.

Using the viewfinder, the camera operator is able to mark-in and mark-out cuts, then rearrange them in order for immediate broadcast. This allows crews to assemble a complete report by the time they return to the newsroom.

There is also an input for feeding video sources into the camera’s hard drive, and an Ikegami spokesman said transferring data from the hard disk to a newsroom Avid hard disk via phone lines is in the works.

But this technology is not cheap.

The Camcutter will cost about US$19,000, while the one-piece DNS101 will run for about US$35,000. The high-end DNS11 will carry a price tag of about US$50,000.

Panasonic and bts, meanwhile, are banking on the belief that the hard disk camera’s price and weight will drive broadcasters towards their dvcpro video format.

Cheaper option

At about US$20,000, Panasonic’s dvcpro eng camera is considerably cheaper than a hard disk system. It also has weight and performance benefits: the 1/2-inch FIT 3DDC camera weighs in at 5 kg., and the audiocassette-sized 1/4-inch component digital tape provides one hour of recording.

And Portability goes beyond the dvcpro eng line.

In September, Panasonic will begin delivery of its laptop-sized Field Edit Package with dual vtrs and dual audio-video display monitors.

However, it is the Compact Camera/Recorder that will emphasize just how compact dvcpro can go.

‘Lens on a stick’

Referred to by one Panasonic spokesman as a ‘lens on a stick,’ this stringer-targeted camera weighs 2 kg., houses a recorder, mic and battery, and provides 1/3-inch FIT 3CCD-quality visuals.

But weight and size cannot overcome the format’s linear limitations.

Unlike the Avid/Ikegami system, which requires that the editor simply plug the FieldPak into a MediaDock docking station for immediate non-linear access, dvcpro users face the time-consuming task of feeding tape into a non-linear editor in real-time.

A company spokesman said Panasonic is now working on a way of reducing feed time with equipment slated for production in 1996 or 1997. That upgrade will allow the dumping of material into the non-linear editor at four times real-time.

However, the fate of the hard disk system and dvcpro depends on the quality of the pictures. And the real test of this will only come when the two systems are in the hands of broadcasters.

Brant Drewery is a freelance writer based in Vancouver. He was formerly editor of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting, a regional magazine covering the broadcast, post-production and pro audio industries.