fmx/08 yesterday: “Beowulf” and 3D cinema

While yesterday (May 7th) was full of events at fmx/08 in Stuttgart, to me, the absolute highlight was the screening of “Beowulf” (2007) by Robert Zemeckis in the evening. (We saw the original English version without subtitles.) Afterwards, on my way to the S-Bahn (the local train), I was completely overwhelmed by what I had just seen, and it became very apparent to me that “Beowulf” represents a watershed, not only for animated film, but for film in general. This may sound a bit far-fetched, but I have a number of arguments to prove my point.
First, the 3D effect, which is something really new (ok, this was my first 3D movie, but anyway). During the beginning of the movie, I experimented and took my glasses off shortly, but 3D is really so much different that I guess in the future, 2D cinema as we know it now will probably become something comparable to what silent movies are nowadays. What slightly irritated me at first (but I got used to it as the story moved along) was the lack of depth-of-field, which made the characters a bit unreal: they appeared somewhat too sharp, almost cut out, against the background. But this was merely at the beginning, while I tried to adapt to this new experience.
One thing that really blew me away was the realistic rendering of the characters, and even if it was still visible that they were CGI, the texturing of the skin was amazingly realistic. Another thing was the richness of the textures in general: the fabrics of the clothes, the furnishing of the interiors, the landscape, etc.. Especially there, I see possibilities that are completely out of reach for “conventional” film (even with visual fx); the control one has over virtually any visual detail is simply amazing.
What also added to my admiring this movie was the story itself, with its theme of ancient kings, Beowulf himself as the hero, swordfights, dragons, etc.—and again: due to the fact that the movie was all-CGI, virtually anything was possible. One really has to go and see this movie to fully grasp what this actually means.
I could go on and on, but I realize that it is simply impossible to put my experience into words, so all I can say, is: If you have the oportunity, go and see for yourselves.

Related: “The prospects of 3D cinema”

May 08th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: News

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fmx/08: A first glance

Since I am currently at fmx/08 in Stuttgart, Germany, here are some impressions from the first day.
After having received my press card yesterday, I went to the recreation area I wrote about in an earlier post, and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to see several booths of software vendors, where last year there were just red cubes one could sit on, and small tables. This gave the area a certain “something” which I personally found very sympathetic. Another thing I didn’t appreciate much was the music being played here. Now the almost peaceful atmosphere this particular area emanated at last year’s fmx was unfortunately gone, and I’m really hoping that the people at fmx will find another solution next year. My personal explanation is, that there simply wasn’t enough space for all the vendors at the second floor, where the large companies such as Autodesk have their booths, so that some of the smaller firms had to be relocated to the first floor.
Due to the fact that I was very tired on this first day, I didn’t stay for the whole talk on “Realistic Acquisition of Facial Geometry, Reflectance, and Motion” given at the König-Karl-Halle by Paul Debevec from the University of Southern California. I had really been looking forward to this talk with much anticipation, especially since I have been following Paul Debevec’s research now for some ten years, and I really regret it that I wasn’t able to stay for the entire talk. (After having left the hall, I caught a brief glimpse of what looked like a woman’s head modeled in 3D, with a specular map attached to it. I found this head really fascinating, and although the woman depicted was apparently Asian, the dark greyscale rendering made her look almost African.) For anyone interested, I can refer to an online article on the subject, available on the web site of ICT Labs.
When looking at the remarkable research of Paul Debevec and his staff, I can’t help but thinking about the possibilities those techniques present for movies which are completely computer-generated. Especially since I caught a brief glimpse at the “Virtual Humans” forum at last year’s fmx (and again this year) and the remarkable progress that has been made in this field, the prospect of all-CGI movies somewhere in the near future becomes more and more likely to me. (And I’m not talking about movies such as “Toy Story” or “Shrek”, but movies which are virtually indistinguishable from reality.)
In the afternoon of this first day, I went to talk to the people of Rising Sun Pictures and Double Negative. I have to admit that I regretted the fact that Dayne Cowan, to whom I had talked briefly last year, wasn’t present. So, comparably unprepared, I guess I sort of cut a poor figure, and about the only thing I managed to asked the man responsible there was the state of post-production of “The Dark Knight”, this year’s follow-up to Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” (2005). Understandably, there wasn’t any footage from “The Dark Knight” on display on the two MacBooks at Double Negative’s booth; instead, I watched a few shots from “Atonement” (2007) by Joe Wright, which I also find really impressive. One of the reasons why Double Negative is one of my favorite fx houses is, that the effects they are responsible for are so unobtrusive, and it is not accidental that Dayne Cowan’s talk last year was entitled “Invisible FX in ‘Children of Men’”.
This brings me to another topic aspiring bloggers like me are confronted with: copyright. After Dayne Cowan’s impressive and sympathetic talk last year, I emailed an enquiry to Aisling O’Brien at Double Negative’s press department. As it turned out, though, it wasn’t possible to get permission from Universial, who owns the rights to “Children of Men” (2006), to post a few stills. (I was especially eager to post some of the before/after shots from Dayne’s talk.) I would have had to pay a certain fee for each still I wanted to publish on my blog—something I can’t afford yet. Since posting film stills (legally) is very important to me, I’m determined to find a solution for this, and maybe I am lucky to find another person as friendly as the one at Gaumont, the renowned French production company, who gave me permission to post stills from movies produced by Gaumont (on a non-commercial basis only, but nonetheless).
So, I guess, that’s my first glimpse at this year’s fmx. During the next days, I’m hoping to post some more interesting stuff.
May 06th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: News

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Wings3D & Yafray

Since it doesn’t seem to be too easy to find: Here’s a tutorial on how to set the parameters for Yafray in Wings3D.
May 05th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: Software

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Another rendering

This is yet another rendering I did just for fun. Modeling & rendering: Wings3D; editing: Gimp 2.2.8. I really enjoy exploring the possibilities of Wings3D with its amazingly intuitive workflow. Just like I said: All I need now is a good renderer (most likely 3Delight or Aqsis) & a program for uv mapping (applying textures).
May 03rd 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: Personal

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Display of this blog

Apologies again for the somewhat “unconventional” rendering of this site. After trying to fix it myself without much success, I emailed the designer of the template (fSubtle 1.0), and I’m confident that everything will be displayed properly by the beginning of next week.
Claus
P.S.: In the meantime, I was able to fix most of it myself.
May 03rd 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: Internal

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Wings3D

This is a composite of a wireframe & rendering done in the free subdivision surface modeler Wings3D. After having installed Wings3D on Ubuntu Linux, I find it surprisingly intuitive to use. All I need now is a good renderer, and since I ran into problems when trying to configure 3Delight (I posted on that to the 3Delight RenderMan® forum in the meantime), I’ll see if I can get Aqsis, another RenderMan® compliant renderer, to work with Wings3D. I’m pretty enthusiastic about Wings3D right now, and even if the rendering above was done using the built-in OpenGL renderer only, I find the result surprisingly good.
April 30th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: Software

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fmx/08: Locations

Here’s the promised map (PDF; 889k) of the area around fmx/08 (the PNG above is only a detail).
Map © Copyright 2008 by Claus Cyrny. This map is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
April 28th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: Miscellaneous

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Thinking in code


Excerpt from the ‘index.php’ template of this site

Apologies again for the sometimes weird and unpredictable behaviour of this site (basically mysterious line breaks where they should not appear, or missing line breaks; the first are somehow connected to following links, but I haven’t found out yet, how).
As long as I was using only text, everything was ok, but as soon as I started including images in my posts, the trouble began. Now I’m trying to figure out what has which effect, and I’m really tempted to writing an essay entitled “Illogical Behaviour of Computer Code”.
April 28th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: Personal

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fmx/08: Scheduling tips

The tight schedule at fmx/08 makes careful planning very important. At times, there are up to ten events taking place simultaneously. Getting from one place to the other only takes several minutes, but I would strongly recommend downloading the schedule in advance and taking a look at the events one would like to attend. Also important: Especially with renowned speakers, I want to to recommend getting to the respective location at least during the break right after the last talk.


If one wants to take a break from the schedule, make notes on one’s laptop, or read & write an email, I can recommend the recreation area at the first floor with its open, relaxed atmosphere. This is also a good place for a short chat with other people. Many people also sit outside, if the weather allows it.


Snacks and coffee are most likely again available at the 2nd floor right next to the hallway. In addition, there’s also a restaurant at the bottom floor, where one can sit, have a cappuccino or whatever (ordering something is AFAIK mandatory here).

For the lunch break, there are many opportunities to go out and eat something in one of the venues in the neighborhood (approx. a five to ten minutes’ walk from the fmx). Especially around the Schloßplatz, there’s really a multitude of opportunities, from pizzerias to “Starbucks” to good restaurants such as the “Alte Kanzlei” (in the meantime, I have made the promised map with the most recommended venues in the area).

In the evening, after fmx closes, there will be most likely at least one party somewhere in the city’s center, and probably also an opportunity to attend a sneak preview (last year, fmx attendees had the chance to see “Spider-Man 3″ for free; that was prior to the official release in Europe).

All in all, chances are that this will be an exciting week with many opportunities.

– Photographs © Copyright 2007 by Reiner Pfisterer. Courtesy of fmx. –

April 27th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: News

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Upcoming: fmx/08

From May 5th until May 8th, the media conference fmx/08 will take place in Stuttgart, Germany. Since I was lucky to have been accredited as a journalist last year, and since I live in Stuttgart myself, I’m hoping to be there this year as well.

Besides the fascinating topic, to me, fmx stands out because of a) the sympathetic venue, b) the relaxed atmosphere, and—of course—the amount of interesting talks from people such as Christophe Héry from ILM, or—definitely one of this years’s highlights—Paul Debevec from California, who will be speaking about “Realistic Acquisition of Facial Geometry, Reflectance, and Motion”.


Additionally, there will be (as was last year) the Recruiting Panel, where aspiring fx artists can talk to people from leading fx houses. (I was lucky to speak briefly with Dayne Cowan last year, who was there at Double Negative’s booth, a vfx house situated in London’s Soho. Dayne Cowan was involved with the post-production of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” (2005) as an in-house supervisor (3D). Right now, Double Negative is working on the follow-up, “The Dark Knight”, which is scheduled to be released this summer).

On the web site of VFXWorld, Peter Plantec has written an extensive article on fmx/08, and this article covers the highlights of fxm very well. The article is especially interesting for people from the States and elsewhere who are contemplating attending fmx this year.

– Image Copyright by Paul Debevec et. al.. Reprinted with permission. –

April 24th 2008 :: Posted by Claus :: Category: News

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