Friday Flashback #20


While I was cleaning out my basement, I found Computer Graphics World, Feb 1998, sitting on top of my pile of decades-old Sports Illustrateds.

On the cover, Geri from Pixar was created using a new surface modeling technology called “subdivision surfaces”.

In the Spotlight, “Maya…appears to have positioned itself as a true competitor with the likes of major players such as Softimage…”


Click to view full page from CGW

Formerly code-named Digital Studio, Softimage/DS is “a complete turnkey system [that] costs approximately $100,000”


Click to view full page from CGW

Feature article: Unraveling Riven
To achieve the “next level of graphic reality…Cyan switched from Mac-based Vision3D from Strata, which was used to develop Myst, to the SGI version of Softimage 3D.”

This huge set, which consists of more than 2 million faces and 20,000-plus models, required two hours just to load in Softimage.