Perhaps there was no bigger, crunchier statement on this current era of computer graphics and animation than the one made by Sony Pictures ImageWorks at its booth at siggraph this year.

The show, held in Orlando, Florida, July 19-24, has long been an international meeting place for digital artists and a mecca for those representing the pinnacle of technological achievement in image-making.

But at the exhibit of Sony ImageWorks, one of the industry’s leading centers of digital derring-do, there was nary a computer in sight; instead there were pencils and live models and sessions offered in life drawing.

The display, say attendees, captured the overall state of the graphics nation as isolated on the show floor – the paramountcy of the artist’s talent in the face of higher-performance, lower-cost technology.

‘We were staging a life-drawing class on the floor at siggraph because life drawing is a regular part of our workweek at ImageWorks,’ says Sony ImageWorks’ Don Levy. ‘In the digital world we are vested with the responsibility of interpreting real life into the digital world. Life drawing encourages – almost forces – the digital artist to study movement and study real life.

‘So as much as we are concentrating on pixels in the course of our work,’ says Levy, ‘it is essential we actually pull back and observe the real human form or the form of objects and be able to work with that.’

Those Canadian attendees who work in the digital domain appreciated the thinking behind the booth.

‘You have to know the basics – like how light falls on a person, like shadow detail and line quality – it was great,’ says Dennis Berardi, visual effects manager at Toronto’s Command Post/Toy Box.

Says John Gajdecki of Gajdecki Visual Effects, Toronto and Vancouver: ‘What they were trying to say and what we’ve always known is that you need artists on the machines; people who have that mindset are in demand.’

Among the new and notable at the show, Berardi points to technology that has emerged over the past few years from interesting demo to viable solution – like motion-capture systems, which were generously sprinkled across this year’s show floor.

‘If you go to the show consistently, you see things like motion-capture, which was in its infancy four years ago and is now an effective and affordable solution,’ says Berardi.

Systems from Polhemus and dna figured prominently at the show, and Canadian company Puppet Works launched its Puppet Works Motion Tracker integrated motion-capture suit, which the company says provides dynamic and accurate body-capture data to a number of animation software packages, like Alias|Wavefront, Side Effects’ Houdini and Softimage, at a lower cost than magnetic or optical systems.

In addition to the suit, Puppet Works introduced its Live Camera and Match Maker camera tracking solutions.

Berardi also cites a proliferation of new digitizing devices which allow objects to be scanned with 3D scanners, providing the next performance-enhancing solution.

Fun and games

For entertainment and edification there was the Electronic Theatre, where throngs assembled to see the world’s best work, and, while they waited, to collectively play an enormous interactive video game on screen (note to cinemas: sure beats those pre-movie trivia questions).

There was also the Interactive Dance Club, a location-based entertainment installation where up to 400 visitors could shake a leg to an assortment of different styles of music, interacting with floor pads, beams and objects while sound, video images and lighting were influenced by each dancer’s movement.

Animators from various international shops contributed the graphics for the idc, with all graphic elements created using Houdini animation software from Toronto’s Side Effects Software.

Side Effects was at the show demonstrating Houdini 2.5 and the software package’s chops feature, which was key in its use for a location-based application like the icd.

But in terms of show-floor dynamics, the most recurring point among attendees was the proliferation of lower-cost nt solutions and the impact of a new gear deal on the industry.

‘The age of specialization in equipment is over. It’s turned into a commodities market and nt is the commodity,’ says Chris Wallace, head of Toronto’s TOPIX/Mad Dog. ‘It’s a good thing in some ways because it democratizes the industry. Now everyone can own a pencil and everyone can compete on the basis of talent and how well they do their job.’

Discreet Logic again garnered attention at the show for its reoriented group of products and, in particular, its integration with Kinetix.

Discreet’s Emma Shield points to the growing trend toward interoperability and the company’s recent affiliation with the Advanced Authoring Format Consortium, joining companies like Microsoft and other major software makers.

Emerging trends

Berardi also points to the emergence of lower cost systems, including those from companies which traditionally serve the consumer market, like Dell and Compaq.

‘You now have computer graphics hitting the mainstream,’ says Berardi. ‘It means you now have powerful systems for under $5,000.’

Berardi also points to reductions in the costs of systems like Alias|Wavefront Maya, now us$7,500 for the base package.

‘Overall, I’m in favor of technology moving forward and coming into the hands of the artist at a more competitive price,’ says Berardi. ‘In the past, the entry cost was prohibitive; now it’s becoming more about the talent of the artist, about what you’re creating rather than the box you’re running it on.’

Gajdecki points to previsualization as another emerging technology. While there were no formal, comprehensive previz solutions presented at the show, it is bubbling up and set to change the order in the future.

‘It’s a big change going on, where you might have an animation package with editing functions built in where you can previz, for instance, fights or buildings blowing up – anything that is expensive or time-consuming should be a target for previsualization in the next few years.’

Gajdecki also points to a possible scenario that would have the formation of new companies which do previsualization for productions.

‘What’s significant about that is that the place where creative gets done will change,’ says Gajdecki. ‘That’s something to look for, although it’s still in its infancy.’

The HD dilemma

Gajdecki also points to the ubiquitous hdtv specter as an issue for effects experts. For them, he says, it’s one of the few areas where it won’t pay to be ‘first.’ Gajdecki points to the Sony demo of its hd vtr at the show. ‘It looks really nice but it’s unsuitable for effects work. The 7:1 compression is too much – you get a lot of artifacting that you wouldn’t see in a normal image.

Gajdecki says his projection is that when hd production commences, one of the highly compressed decks will be used for the majority of the work, but the effects work may have to be done at 2K, ‘thus formally turning every television digital effects house into a feature film effects house.’

Gajdecki cites another potential growth area, digital effects management programs, like the Dave product demonstrated at the show.

Gajdecki Visual Effects, in addition to Command Post and t/md, Calibre and Spin Productions attended the siggraph show together with the Ontario Film Development Corporation.

Educational institutions Sheridan College and Seneca College were also represented along with the SMART Toronto New Media Trainers Alliance, a consortium of several new media training providers.

smart’s Aisha Wickham says the alliance plans to create a greater presence at the show for Toronto students and institutions in coming years, with greater involvement in siggraph events like the Electronic Theatre, the show’s papers and panels, and space (Student Poster and Animation Competition and Exhibition) and spice (Student Projects for Interactive Concepts in Education).

Berardi says he noted that while siggraph is typically the location for a recruiting frenzy among the major production companies, that activity was somewhat less aggressive this year, with recruiters looking for more experience rather than fresh-from-school, warm bodies.

‘They’re still looking for good people, but now you might have to have a few years of experience and your reel might have to stand up to some scrutiny,’ says Berardi. ‘Again, while technology is evolving at a crazy pace, it now seems to be more about talent than ever.’