Path: utzoo!censor!geac!jtsv16!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!celia!charlie
From: charlie@celia.UUCP (Charlie Gibson)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: state of the business
Message-ID: <541@celia.UUCP>
Date: 31 Aug 89 09:30:10 GMT
References: <4947@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: celia!charlie@tis.llnl.gov (Charlie Gibson)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Rhythm & Hues, Inc., Hollywood
Lines: 35

In article <4947@portia.Stanford.EDU> rick@hanauma (Richard Ottolini) writes:
>
>When I posted the initial question I was wondering why, when the quality
>of realism was increasing, fewer were being used in movies.

>to the space scenes in The Last Starfighter, although they required
>megabucks of Cray time, they appeared artificial.

Just having a Cray doesn't cut it.  Having the right software makes things
look good.  Back during Starfighter, DP was using a renderer that was
fairly close to off-the-shelf MOVIE.BYU -- with texture mapping added,
but no reflection mapping, motion blur, or any of the cool stuff that
is showing up these days in high-end computer animation.

Reflections (and refraction if appropriate) add a lot of "realism"
to computer generated imagery.  

And, computer animation IS starting to be used more and more in features.  
Several CGI animation houses (R/Greenberg, ILM, MetroLight to name a few)
are producing (or have already finished) effects sequences for many
big-budget mainstream features that have already been released, or will be 
released in the next year or two.  It is definitely catching on.  In fact,
I'm sure that you have already seen effects in films that you didn't know 
were computer generated.  The fact that they didn't stick out and look
phoney proves that the medium is a viable filmmaking tool.

Why is it, thought, that people are hung up on the "realism" aspect
of computer animation?  We have a tool available that can create 
imagery that is totally SURreal -- there just aren't any scripts
being written out there that consider the potential of the medium. (yet).
-- 
Charlie Gibson -- Rhythm & Hues, Inc.
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