With this first (and destined not to be the last) tech highlights overview, VirtualInnovations asked some technically savvy types from various areas of the industry to make their calls on the significant production technology moments from last year and to forecast the major issues of 1999 and beyond.

We sought opinion from an assortment of post/effects professionals on which facets of the vast technical arena made an impact: which products stood out (for better or worse), how the processes changed, what projects mattered and why.

Participants were also asked to provide their thoughts on what the near future of production technology holds – how the products, platforms and processes will continue to change and what it will mean to their own businesses and the industry.

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1998 was unique in that very few know-it-alls were prophesying the imminent end of shooting film as an acquisition format. This can mean only one of two things: 1) everyone is finally happy with the status quo – the digit heads are happy that they’ve totally taken over every other aspect of production and are just waiting for everyone over 30 to die, or 2) someone is really on to something good and is keeping it under their hat until it is more than vaporware. Suddenly the mouthy know-it-alls have become kgb-trained covert know-it-alls – the most dangerous kind.

My kid can do this

This year fewer producers have said to me, vfx quote in hand, that their kids can do this cheaper on the Mac at home. Either the producer/vfx company relationship has solidified this year into a more respectful professional business partnership, or the ugly truth behind raising children is finally clear to all: I was someone’s kid once and I never did my dad’s homework on my Mac either.

SGI & NT

The slow and very painful replacement of unix by ms nt accelerated in 1998, and anyone who works for a living in vfx laments the loss. Everyone acknowledges that sgi machines running under unix are a superior, trouble-free platform that works, works and works. nt seems to crash more frequently and requires more system administrator resources, but is cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.

sgi has seriously disappointed its very loyal market by not keeping up with Intel’s ability to introduce newer and faster processors. Part of the software and facility migration to nt was probably accelerated by the pace of Intel’s advances and the corresponding slowness of sgi’s.

Microsoft NT in ’99

sgi, Microsoft and Intel are all cooperating on the design of our futures. 1999 will continue to see ms nt replace unix as the operating system of choice, but sgi was helping make the system more graphics and multiprocessor friendly.

Intel is going to rule the graphics industry with the introduction of its 64-bit Merced chip in 2000 (any delays ???) until the next big thing happens, whatever that is. Hopefully, it will be as sweeping as the swing dancing craze, and a little easier to get the hang of.

Best thing in ’99

My New Year’s party will probably be the best thing in 1999. Not only will we include the usual great food, impersonators and dance instructors, but we are going after a pyro licence so that we can ring in the New Year with a sophisticated, slightly understated, earth-shattering ka-boom.

Favorite project of 1998

My favorite project of the year was Stargate SG-1. This was not due to the budget, which was very good, or the quality of the stories, the acting, or the design. All of those things were great and have contributed to the amazing international success of the show. The best part was the people: my vfx team deserves the utmost thanks, the producers and everyone above the line were a part of the solution, the facilities where we did the vfx work were always putting in the hours and creatively contributing to the success of the show. And the gang at GVFX Vancouver and GVFX Toronto never let me down, even when I deserved it.

I’ve never worked on a project where so many people were actually pulling and pushing in the same direction.

Gajdecki VFX opens in Vancouver

Bruce Turner and I had been working in Vancouver for four years, from the pilot of The Outer Limits back in ’96, and felt the timing was perfect to sell off our Fed Ex stock, set up a permanent office on the coast, and start paying our local taxes.

We were very fortunate that several people more talented than ourselves, with whom we had built positive relationships over the previous years, were interested in what we were up to and joined the West Coast FX Club.

No one believed we have a secret handshake…

1999 and beyond

Patterns will repeat themselves. That’s why we call them patterns.

As always, the human element is key – good efficient service, friendly people and a limitless supply of good ideas will always be in demand.

John Gajdecki is president of Gajdecki Visual Effects, Toronto and Vancouver.