Tag Archives: Digital Studio

Friday Flashback #477

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Part III
From a 2001 “industry backgrounder” published on softimage.com:

MORE TOOLS TO MORE PEOPLE: THE MICROSOFT YEARS

Windows NT: Expanding 3-D Production

With the arrival of the Pentium, workstation-class power became available to the PC. Softimage led the way in being the first to port a high-end product to the PC, moving the software out of the expensive workstation arena. This initiative overcame another big hurdle in the high-end 3-D animation world – the cost/availability factor – and brought more tools to a larger number of creative people. In order to accomplish this, the platform aspect of the tools had to be opened.

This meant moving to a more accessible platform, namely Windows NT, which occurred in-line with the Microsoft Corporation’s acquisition of Softimage in 1994. With the financial support and the ability to explore new software development, Softimage successfully became the first to bring 3-D to Windows NT, almost quadrupling its user base in a very short time and changing the face of the 3-D animation again by making its tools available to a wider range of creative people.

The move to Windows NT made the software and hardware to create 3D content much more accessible,and the number of people using Softimage’s technology expanded dramatically. Another important factor with Windows NT was that it became much more financially viable to set up a render farm, so rendering capacity also increased exponentially. Through Softimage, Windows NT became a truly accessible professional production platform and the 3-D market opened up significantly.

Digital Studio: The Architecture for a New Generation of Tools

At the same time as the initiative to make the tools accessible to more people, there was also a move to develop the next-generation tools for Softimage. In the same way SOFTIMAGE|3D software used to consist of a series of separate functions (modelling, animation, rendering), so 3-D production was also fragmented into animation, film, video, compositing and paint, editing. This meant that the same integration Softimage had brought to the 3-D market now needed to be brought to the entire production pipeline, integrating 3-D into a unified production environment.

To do this, a platform had to be developed to integrate these functions and toolsets. The idea was to ensure that the production pipeline would allow artists to work in a true nonlinear fashion between all the production steps. This led to the development of Digital Studio, a media framework (not a system), where all the tools could be plugged into, and users could work in a unified fashion on the content of any production. So, rather than moving the production from one tool to another, all material was available in one environment, with the tools working on top of it, readily available to the user. With the establishment of the Digital Studio framework, Softimage’s next-generation of tools could be supported.

As computers became powerful and fast enough to handle real-time video and 3-D, the Digital Studio architecture could successfully be supported and so Softimage began working on SOFTIMAGE®|DS, one of the first products to integrate the 2D/3D production pipeline offering audio, 2-D, video and 3-D in the same box. A true breakthrough, SOFTIMAGE|DS offered the first complete integration of production and post-production tools, uniting editing, compositing, audio – all the components of a traditional post-production process – which had previously been separated out onto different platforms and machines.

The first product based on the Digital Studio architecture, SOFTIMAGE|DS sold a record 600 systems in its first year of release. With SOFTIMAGE|DS, Softimage had returned to its roots, once again bringing the tools closer to those involved in the creative process. SOFTIMAGE|DS created more than just a system; it was an entire process, a completely new artistic medium.

Up next…Sumatra and the Avid years

Friday Flashback #285

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SOFTIMAGE: “15 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION”


INDUSTRY HISTORY

The birth and growth of 3-D animation industry thus far has been short and aggressive. In less than 12 years, the technology has transcended its “scientific” origins, overcoming numerous barriers of feasibility, affordability, cost-effectiveness, complexity of use, and productivity to become pervasive in all aspects of narrative and interactive media. The resulting computer-generated images have progressed so significantly, that they are not easily distinguished from reality. Softimage has been at the forefront in the development of this industry – taming the technology to provide tools suited for a growing fraternity of digital artists and animators.

COMPANY HISTORY

Softimage was founded in 1986 by National Film Board of Canada filmmaker Daniel Langlois on the principle of creating 3-D animation systems designed for and by artists. The concept marked a fundamental shift in how the industry viewed visual effects creation and generated a new breed of visual effects artists and animators. Langlois wanted to create animated films but was dissatisfied with the existing technology, which was insufficient for his needs and designed to be used by computer scientists and technologists. Thus, he set out to create a tool that would suit the needs of filmmakers and artists.

From its beginning, Softimage has had a singular focus on its customers – the digital content creators – a vision that remains at the core of Softimage’s corporate culture and business objectives. A vision that drives the production of tools that enable more digital artists to realise their creative dreams; to express their talent; to free them of technological constraints, and to provide them full control over the three dimensions of our world.

This vision has successfully driven Softimage to yield milestones that have shaped and influenced an entire industry: the first integrated animation and effects system for the entertainment industries – a de-facto standard for over ten years; on-going development of ground-breaking tools that have become the cornerstone of modern computer animation; the first company to port animation tools to PC (NT) – dramatically increasing affordability and accessibility of the tools; a broadening of integration vision to include post-production – with the release of SOFTIMAGE|DS (now Avid|DS); and SOFTIMAGE|XSI (formerly codenamed Sumatra) – next generation animation technology that dramatically improves quality and productivity – and again expands tool accessibility to the mass-markets in games and web content industries.

While these milestones are complimentary, the true drive of Softimage has come from a partnership with its customers who have helped to shape the personality of the product and the company – a unique culture, brand equity and sought after leadership position at the high-end of the market.

Softimage customers, numbering over 12,000 worldwide, are the most inspired and creative artists in the world – large customers such as Industrial Light and Magic, Digital Domain, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony. Plus, small customers, such as the one seat boutique or even the student just starting to learn – all of who use the product to its fullest and drive its future direction.

The results of this partnership is an impressive portfolio of hundreds of major feature films (Jurassic Park, Titanic, The Matrix, Men in Black, Star Wars – the Phantom Menace, Gladiator), games (Super Mario 64, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Wave Race, NBA Live) and countless thousands of commercial, corporate and student projects. This high-profile content has certainly affected the film and games industries and stands to expand dramatically beyond its current realm.

The current Managing Director of this pioneering company is Michael Stojda, who after working for the past seven years at Softimage and Avid and managing a wide range of effects, editing, and finishing products at both companies, was promoted in April 2001. Reporting to David Krall, President and CEO of Avid Technology, Michael provides strategic business and operational leadership for Softimage, Avid’s animation and special effects division.

MARKETS SERVED

Softimage currently serves users in the film, games and television industries with products focused on 2-D and 3-D content creation.

PRODUCT FAMILY

  • SOFTIMAGE|XSI
  • SOFTIMAGE|3D
  • SOFTIMAGE| Eddie
  • SOFTIMAGE SDK
  • XSI Viewer
  • SOFTIMAGE|Toonz
  • SOFTIMAGE|Toonz LineTest
  • Toonz plug-in for Avid|DS
  • Elastic Reality
  • Matador
  • Media Illusion

 

1986

Softimage founded on the principle of creating 3-D animation systems designed for and by artists, with or without computer experience. The concept marks a fundamental shift in how the industry views visual effects creation and generates what will soon be a new breed of visual effects artists and animators. Founder Daniel Langlois establishes the fundamental principle and design layouts of the Softimage Creative Environment system. Creative workflow and process integration become synonymous with Softimage’s philosophy.


1987

Softimage President Daniel Langlois and engineers Richard Mercille and Laurent Lauzon begin development of the company’s 3-D application software. Intuitive and productive workflow, and a truly interactive CG environment are about to become a reality.


1988

Launch of Creative Environment 1.0 at SIGGRAPH. For the first time, all 3-D processes (modeling, animation, and rendering) are integrated, providing those familiar with computer graphics with a new way of working and those unfamiliar with the technology with an opening into new possibilities. Featuring advanced tools and the first production-speed ray tracer, the system changes the approach to creating 3-D animation for years to come and sets a new standard for an entire generation of artists. Creative Environment (eventually to be known as SOFTIMAGE®|3D), will become the standard animation solution in the industry with credits in hundreds of major films, games and commercial productions.


1989

Creative Environment 1.65 with texture mapping released, adding realism and vitality to 3-D imagery.


1990

Creative Environment 2.1 released.


1991

Creative Environment 2.5 released, featuring the Actor Module with Inverse Kinematics, Enveloping, Constraints. Enables animators to combine conventional techniques (such as editing and keyframing) with advanced CG tools such as IK, flexible envelopes, and dynamics. The system heralds a revolution in creating realistic CG character motion, and would later win an award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.


1992

• Creative Environment 2.52 released.

• Softimage goes public on NASDAQ.

• Softimage acquires the EDDIE® software and Painterly Effects, providing a complete effects generation toolkit with advanced image processing tools for color correction, filtering, rotoscoping, morphing and painting.

• Softimage opens software to third-party developers.

• Channels performance capture technology offer a new dimension to CG character animation. The technology is used to create a memorable spot featuring 3-D dancing cars and gas pumps for Shell Oil.


1993

• Second public offering of Softimage stock.

• Softimage and mental images announce rendering technology agreement.

• Softimage Creative Environment 2.6 and 2.65 released, featuring: File Management, metaclay, clusters, flock animation, weighted envelopes, channels, open system policy.

• Creative Toonz debuts. The 2-D animation package automates the more tedious tasks involved in 2-D cel animation, such as inking-&-painting, while still maintaining the look of hand-drawn images and characters.

• With computers now able to handle video, Softimage begins development of Digital Studio, as a step towards integrating the 2D/3D production pipeline. The power of a post-production environment in a software-based solution is about to become a reality.

• mental ray® and particles introduced. mental ray, an advanced stand-alone rendering system and Particles, an interactive particle animation system used to create natural phenomena such as clouds, snow, fire, etc. offer new flexibility in visual effects creation.


1994

• Softimage merges with Microsoft Corporation, offering a unique opportunity to explore and develop new solutions for the industry. Development of Digital Studio further supported.

• Creative Environment 2.65 released, featuring: Expressions, dopesheet, ghost mode, shape interpolation.

• IDEAS: Interactive Developer’s Entertainment Authoring Software with ProPlay and ProPlay Plus solutions, includes: Softimage Creative Environment, NURBS support, polygon and color reduction tools, dynamic simulations and inverse kinematics. Features: Eddie compositing, video-effects software, distributed ray tracer and 3-D particles kit. The system further supports Softimage’s commitment to games developers.


1995

• Exploiting the power of the Pentium processor, Softimage leads the way developing the first high-end product on a platform of choice (Irix/Windows NT).

• SOFTIMAGE|3D version 3.0 released, featuring: NURBS modelling, relational modelling, trimming, Instantiation, polygon reduction, tangent-to-path, Constraint, Q-stretch, Expressions, Motion control, Actor, Particle, mental ray rendering, Metaclay.

• User-interface enhancements provide hot-key remapping.

• SOFTIMAGE|3D “extreme” version launched featuring: Osmose, Virtual Theatre, mental ray.

• SOFTIMAGE|Toonz version 3.5 and SOFTIMAGE|Eddie version 3.2 released.

• Softimage introduces its Virtual Theatre, featuring performance capture and real-time compositing.


1996

• SOFTIMAGE|3Dv 3.5, 3.51 released on the Windows NT platform, delivering high-end animation tools to a wide-range of CG artists.

• SOFTIMAGE|SDK Trance CD released.

• “Sumatra”(code name) and RenderFarm unveiled.

• SOFTIMAGE|DS prototype on Windows NT platform unveiled.


1997

•SOFTIMAGE|DS, one of the world’s most comprehensive nonlinear production systems (NLP™) for creating, editing and finishing videos, is launched. Over 10,000 people attended launch events in over 20 cities. Based on an advanced new software architecture, SOFTIMAGE|DS enables users to redefine the way they create content and improves the creative process by seamlessly integrating picture and audio editing, compositing, paint, image treatment, special effects, character generation and project management into one environment. Digital audio editing and non-compressed images meet painting, compositing, titling, image treatment and special effects as never before.

• SOFTIMAGE|3D Version 3.7 Service Pack 1 is designed to meet the creative needs of artists in the film, broadcast and games industries. 80% of the improvements are the direct result of contact with customers in production environments improving the trajectory between creative idea and realization.

• Softimage is the first to offer high-end comprehensive noncompressesd post-production system on the Windows NT platform (SOFTIMAGE|3D and SOFTIMAGE|DS).


1998

• Avid Technology, Inc. acquires Softimage. The two companies join forces to develop the next generation tools for digital artists.

• SOFTIMAGE|3D v. 3.8 and SOFTIMAGE|DS v. 2.1 shipped.

• Animation Sequencer introduced.

 


1999

• Animation Redefined™: “Sumatra” (code name), the world’s first nonlinear animation editing system introduced. Dubbed “the next generation animation production solution”. Based on the same architecture as SOFTIMAGE|DS, “Sumatra” merges all 3-D animation, editing, and composting tasks, taking digital technology to the next level.


2000

•SOFTIMAGE|XSI begins shipping.

•The Motion Factory, Inc., is acquired. The Fremont, CA-based company specialises in applications for the creation, delivery and playback of interactive rich 3-D media for character-driven games and the Web.


2001

•Softimage enters in to Xbox tools and middleware agreement with Microsoft.

•Softimage announce support for Linux.

•SOFTIMAGE|XSI v1.5 begins shipping.

•Softimage and Electric Rain collaborate to bring Flash, EPS, AI and SVG exports to SOFTIMAGE|XSI customers.

•SOFTIMAGE|XSI v2.0 unveiled at Siggraph 2001 with release scheduled for October 2001.

•SOFTIMAGE|3D v4.0 unveiled at Siggraph 2001 with release scheduled for Autumn 2001.

 

MOTION PICTURES CREATED USING SOFTIMAGE PRODUCTS (REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE)


101 Dalmatians / Industrial light & Magic (1996)		  

Saving Private Ryan / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

12 Monkeys / Peerless Camera (1996)		 Shadows / Mitch Levine, Director (2000)

A Simple Wish / Blue Sky (1997)		 Small Soldiers / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

Air Force One / Cinesite (1997)		 Snake Eyes / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

Alien Resurrection / Blue Sky | VIFX (1997)		 Space Jam / Industrial Light & Magic (1996)

An American Werewolf in Paris / Santa Barbara Studios (1997)		 Spawn / Industrial Light & Magic (1997)

Anastasia / Fox Animation Studio (1997)		 Species II / Digital Magic & Transfer (1998)

Antz / Pacific Data Images & Dreamworks Pictures (1998)		 Speed2 / Industrial Light & Magic (1997)

Babe: Pig in the City / Animal Logic (1998)		 Sphere / Cinesite (1998)

Balto / Amblimation (1995)		 Starship Troopers / Tippett (1997)

Batman and Robin / BUF Compagnie (1997)		 Star Trek: First Contact / Industrial Light & Magic (1996)

Casper / Industrial Light & Magic (1995)		 Stuart Little (1999) / Centropolis FX

Contact / Sony Pictures Imageworks / Weta Ltd. (1997)		 Star trek: Generations / Industrial Light & Magic (1994)

Death Becomes Hers / Industrial Light & Magic (1993)		 Star Wars Trilogy / Industrial Light & Magic (1997)

Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (2000)

Deep Impact / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

Surviving Picasso / Peerless Camera (1996)

Deep Rising / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

T2-3D / Digital Domain (1996)

Dragonheart / Industrial Light & Magic (1996)

The Adventures of Pinocchio / MediaLab (1996)

Eraser / Mass Illusion (1996)

The Borrowers / Framestore (1998)

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas / Peerless Camera (1998)

The Edge / Peerless Camera (1997)

Fight Club / Pixel Liberation Front / BUF (1999)

The Fifth Element / Digital Domain (1997)

Flubber / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

The Flintstones / Industrial Light & Magic (1994)

Forces of Nature / Dreamworks Pictures (1999)

The Frighteners / Weta Ltd. (1996)

Galaxy Quest / ILM (1999)

Gladiator (2001)

The Island of Dr. Moreau / Digital Domain (1996)

Godzilla / Centropolis (1998)

The Lost World / Industrial Light & Magic (1997)

Jack Frost / ILM / Warner Bros (1998)

The Mask / Industrial Light & Magic (1994)

The Matrix

The Mummy and The Mummy Returns

Joe’s Apartment / Blue Sky (1996)

The Relic / VIFX (1997)

Judge Dredd / (1995)

The Shadow / R/Greenberg & Associates (1994)

Jumanji / Industrial Light & Magic (1995)

The Thin Red Line / Animal Logic (1998)

Jurassic Park / Industrial Light & Magic (1993)

Jurassic Park 2 / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

Jurassic Park 3 / Industrial Light & Magic (2001)

Moulin Rouge (2001)

La Cite des Enfants Perdus / BUF Compagnie (1995)

Mission Impossible / Industrial Light & Magic (1996)

Lost in Space / Framestore (1998)

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation / The Digital Magic

Mars Attack! / Industrial light & Magic (1996)

My Favorite Martian / Tippett Studio (1998)

Matrix / Animal Logic (1998)		 Prince of Egypt / Dreamworks Pictures

(1998)

Men in Black / Industrial Light & Magic (1997)

Meet Joe Black / Industrial Light & Magic (1998)

GAMES CREATED USING SOFTIMAGE PRODUCTS (REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE)

20,000 leagues – The Adventure Continues / Southpeak Entertainment (2000) NHL Hockey / Electronic Arts ( 1996)

3D Movie Maker / Microsoft (1996)		 NHL Hockey 2000 / Electronic Arts ( 2000)

9 – The Last Resort / Tribeca Interactive (1996)		 Nanostorm / Dream Mechanics (Fall 2000)
Aero Dancing F / CRI (CSK) (1999) The Need for Speed / Electronic Arts

( 1996)

Apocrypha / Dream Mechanics (coming in 2000)		 Nights / SEGA

Assault Rigs / Psygnosis (1996)		 Obsidian / Rocket Science Games (1997)

Battlezone / Activision (1998)		 Panzer Dragoon / SEGA (1998)

Battlezone II / Activision (1999)		 Power Stone 2 / Capcom (1999)

Beowulf: Attack of Grendel / Terraglyph (1996)		 ReBoot / Electronic Arts (1998)

BioHazard Code: Veronica / Capcom (1999)		 Resident Evil / Capcom (1997)

BioHazard 3 Last Escape / Capcom (1999)		 Riven / Cyan (1997)

Chaos Break / Taito Corporation (1999)		 Rumplestiltskin / Terraglyph Interactive

City of Lost Children / Psygnosis (1997)		 Rune / Human Head Studios (2000)

Colony Wars / Psygnosis (1998)		 Shenmue / CRI SEGA (1999)

Dance Dance Revolution 3rd MIX / KONAMI (1999)		 Ski Champ / SEGA (1997)

Dark Earth / Kalisto Entertainment (1996)		 Solar Crusade / Infogrames

Daytona USA / SEGA (1996)		 Soldier of Fortune / Raven Software (2000)

Dead or Alive 2 / Tecmo (2000)		 Sonic Fighters / SEGA

Destruction Derby / Psygnosis (1996)		 Soldier of Fortune / Raven Software (2000)

Drowned God / Inscape (1996)		 Soul Blade / Namco

Dungeon Keeper 2 / Bullfrog (1999)		 Soul Caliber / Namco (1999)

F1 World Grand Prix / Video System (1999)		 Space Channel 5 / SEGA (2000)

FIFA Soccer 97 / Electronic Arts (1997)		 Spoon / Capcom (1999)

FIFA 98 / Electronic Arts (1998)		 S.P.Q.R. / Cybersite (1996)

FIFA 2000 / Electronic Arts (2000)		 Starship Titanic / The Digital Village (1997)

Fighting Vipers / SEGA (1996)		 Storm Sled / Electronic Arts (1999)

Final Fantasy VII / Square (1998)		 Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force / Raven Software

Formula 1 / Psygnosis (1997)		 Super GT / SEGA

Gadget / Synergy (1994/1997)		 Super Mario64 / Nintendo (1996)

Gearheads / R/GA Interactive (1996)		 NHRA Drag Racing / Tantrum Entertainment (1998)

Get Bass / SEGA (1997)		 Ted Shredd / Digital Domain

Grim Fandango / LucasArts (1998)		 Tenka / Psygnosis

GURADIUS IV / KONAMI (1999)		 Tekken1-2-3 / Namco (1996-1998)

Hansel & Gretel: The Enchanted Castle / Terraglyph Interactive (1996)		 The 5th Element / Kalisto Entertainment (1998)

Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders / SEGA (1997)		 The Lost World: Jurassic Park / SEGA (1997)

Hexen II /Raven Software (1997)		 Time Commando / Adeline Software

Heretic II / Raven Software (1998)		 Tobal No. 1 / Square

Killer Loop / VCC Entertainment (1999)		 Toy Commander / No Cliché (1999)

Kowloon’s Gate / Sony Music Entertainment (1996)		 Triple Play / Electronic Arts (1997)

Kessen / KOEI (1999)		 Triple Play 2000 / Electronic Arts (2000)

Kidsongs / Terraglyph Interactive (1996)		 Virtua Fighter series / SEGA (1996 – 1997)

Krazy Ivan / Psygnosis (1997)		 Virtua Striker2 / SEGA (1994/1997)

Last Bronx / SEGA (1997)		 Wave race64 / Nintendo

Live J-League 1999 Perfect Striker / KONAMI (1999)		 Wild Wild West – The Steel Assassin / Southpeak Entertainment (1999)

Mission Pack / Raven Software (1998)		 Wipe Out / Psygnosis (1996)

Monster Truck Madness / Microsoft (1996)		 Wipe Out XL / 2097 / Psygnosis (1997)

MUCK / KONAMI (1999)		 Wipeout 3 / Psygnosis (1999)

NBA Live / Electronic Arts (1996)		 Zelda64 / Nintendo (1998)

NBA Live 2000 / Electronic Arts (2000)

NBA Full Court Press / Microsoft

© 2001 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Softimage, Eddie and Avid are registered trademarks and Animation Redefined and NLP are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. mental ray and mental images are registered trademarks of mental images GmbH & Co. KG in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award and Oscar are trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. Nintendo 64 is a trademark of Nintendo. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

Friday Flashback #240

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Creation of Liquid Images
Reprinted by courtesy of “Graphis Magazine”

If Daniel Langlois was one of his own animated creations, he would be trailing speed lines in a blur of gravity-defying motion. Over the past seven years, this entrepreneur has dreamed up and created Softimage Inc., the leading developer of animation software for entertainment, which he sold to Microsoftfor 130 million dollars of stock in 1994. According to Langlois he’s just getting started.

by Steven Katz

While he is best known as one of Canada’s leading executives, Langlois is a filmmaker and animator by training. Softimage is his way of creating the ideal digital workspace – one that he would like to be using when he returns to filmmaking in the future. According to Langlois, “My background in design is at the center of everything I do”.

His background includes watching the animation of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery while he was growing up, but like most Canadians he was also exposed to the National Film Board of Canada, long considered an influential center for independent animation. Shortly after graduating college, Langlois worked at the NFB as a special effects animator/computer programmer/director for six years (1979-1986) at a time when the power of digital processing was just being recognized. One of his earliest projects was to make NFB’s primitive 2D computer system easier to use.

Langlois discovered that he was more interested in 3D animation and shifted his design emphasis to extending the 3D system at the NFB. His experience in 3D led to his participation in Tony de Peltrie, an independent film project that began production in 1983. Even today, this entirely computer-generated short subject stands out for more recent high-octane offerings which dominated animation festivals because it concentrates on character and mood rather than eye-popping illusions. Langlois served as character designer and co-director on de Peltrie for over three years to create just six-and-a half minutes of animation. This was at a time when the concept of a user interface was just being introduced to the computer world and every character gesture had to be written in code. With no commercial animation software applications on the market, Langlois realized that if he were to continue as a digital artist he would require better tools. In 1986 he founded Softimage and within a year introduced the Creative Environment running on SGI hardware.

“Whenever you edit a 3D project and it’s not finished you should be able to go in
and change it.” says founder and visionary Daniel Langlois of the need to integrate software, “You need the best tool on any frame at any time.”
Whale, Gribouille

The Creative Environment was the first animation software designed specifically for character animation. With virtually no competition in this special area. Softimage soon became the standard commercial software in Hollywood and in production houses worldwide. The new company also benefited from arriving on the scene at the beginning of what will probably be viewed as the early stage of an animation Renaissance. Langlois’ software has been used in some of the most successful commercial movies of all time including Jurassic Park and Back to the Future and is being adopted by many of the major players in the video game industry. Langlois’ success as a toolmaker has postponed his work as a filmmaker, but he is still working on achieving the perfect tool set. He is quite aware that even with Softimage’s flagship product, the Creative Environment, 3D animation is tremendously complex and is not the fluid, intuitive experience he strives for.

Whether Langlois needed Microsoftto achieve his goals in an interesting question, but having the backing of the largest software company in the world allows Langlois to make bolder moves in the face of increased competition. Every major animation application available today in concentrating on the entertainment industry and Softimage has serious rivals. You can measure the advances made over the last few years by the “must have” features that the big three, Alias, Prisms, and the recently merged TDI and Wavefront, add with each new software upgrade. There is a considerable similarity between these products and a tendency to concentrate on effects-based capabilities such as particle systems and inverse kinematics while the basic operating systems and interfaces remain the same. Taking the longer view, and now with the security of a massive parent company, Langlois is introducing the next generation of digital tools this year.

For Langlois, the key concept in any new software is accessibility-accessibility in price and ease of use. Digital Studio is the first software to place the entire digital filmmaking process in a single integrated environment. The final suite of Digital Studio tools will include: digital ink and Paint, 2D image editing, compositing, 3D animation, audio, and online editing in a truly resolution-independent system. Nearly all of the above capabilities exist in current Softimage products, but Langlois is creating entirely new tools so that the individual parts of Digital Studio will work together intimately and seamlessly at the system level without compromise.

Even at major post-production facilities (the first market for DS), digital production is a fragmented process tying Macintosh, SGI, and traditional analog devices together. For any given project, artists frequently move through 3 or 4 software packages to create, paint, and edit animations. This is usually a cumbersome and unnecessarily awkward process that constantly interrupts the creative flow.

If you were now to test drive Digital Studio, you would find yourself behind the wheel of a hyphenated tool set (compositing, image editing, sound and picture editing, 3D animation, 2D animation) all wrapped in one interface. At the core of the DS environment is the timeline, the standard graphic representation of sequential images in most production software. Before DS, animators learned a different timeline interface for each step of a project separating the production process into component parts. But this separation is a severe creative limitation. Since all aspects of an animation interact, an artist should be able to adjust any aspect of the sound or picture in a continuing process of refinement. In the computer products now available, this kind of immediate feedback and interaction is cumbersome at best.

Water Women, SVC

Digital Studio solves the problem by providing a single timeline whether you’re working in 3D, 2D, compositing, editing, or recording an audio track. Any tool for any part of the process is immediately available to the artist. All files and changes are recorded in the same format so the artist can play back synched audio, with levels of compositing and 3D sources at any moment in the process. Editing will no longer merely be the process in which finished elements are brought together, when the content of footage cannot be modified. In DS, an animation can be accessed during editing and the necessary animation or modeling tools will be available to make changes. Conversely, at the visualization stage of a project, an animator can easily check his shots in a sequence because the editing tools and any other source material are available without switching interfaces. In short, Langlois has conceived Digital Studio as an extension of the imagination: non-linear, multi-faceted, unrestricted by arbitrary standards and formats.

Embodied in this approach to digital art is Langlois’ wistful ideal that an artist have the tools to express a personal vision.

While this is in keeping with the independent tradition encouraged by the NFB, it also points to the paradox in Langlois’ vision. Digital Studio is designed to empower the individual, but few independent artists can afford Softimage products or the SGI hardware they run on. The irony of this is not wasted on Langlois. His answer is the plan to port Digital Studio to Windows NT; with a tentative release date of early 1996. Strategically, then, Langlois’ Microsoftdeal seems and inspired middle game strategy to give Softimage access to the largest installed base of computer users while maintaining a product line for high-end production facilities.

As it turns out, this is merely a return to the plan Langlois had originally charted in 1985 when he began developing the Creative Environment for the Macintosh. After only six months, Langlois abandoned the Mac and moved to Unix on the SGI, but nearly ten years later both the Mac and PCC offer a viable and more cost-effective alternative for many artists and small facilities. Langlois’ belief is that “The difference between a professional tool and a consumer tool will slowly disappear. As important as Digital Studio will be for production in the 1990s, it is hard to imagine that Microsoftpaid 130 million to enter a niche market. If Langlois is the artist who became an entrepreneur, he may be passing Bill Gates going the opposite way as Gates positions himself to be the first software mogul turned studio head. The Softimage purchase is not really about selling tools. It’s about creating content for home delivery systems that Microsoftis hoping to shape and control. For every tool sold, be it Word, Excel, or Digital Studio, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books and home videos that are created with those tools. Microsoftis already a leading CD-ROM publisher and Gates’ expectation is that some type of set top box may allow Gates to do an end run around the major record, movie, and book publishing companies.

Langlois’ role in this is through the AAT group (Advance Authoring Technology) at Microsoft. Softimage is part of this group with the mission of providing the tools and production expertise Microsoft will need in the next five years as the media infrastructure undergoes radical change. Projects in this area include set top box and distribution technology for the home and office.

Since interactive media offers users the ability to shape the direction of the material they consume, they will also require new interfaces and the underlying tools required to make true interactivity compelling. It is not hard to imagine a time when the content of a work of fiction or game is judged as much by the innovation and the accessibility of the interface as the traditional elements of character and plot. If this happens, toolmakers will share intimately in the content creation process. So in a sense, the evolution of the new media may ultimately allow Langlois to become one of the first toolmaker/artists.

Digital Studio was conceived with this future in mind thought Langlois thinks it is too early to know what shape the aesthetic of interactivity will take. In charting a path for this uncertain future. Langlois has developed Digital Studio with an underlying operating system that will give him maximum flexibility in shaping the product for the special needs of interactive entertainment.

In its first release, however, Digital Studio must succeed as an innovative tool in a traditional, post-production setting. The grand synthesis of art and technology/creator and consumer is still in the earliest stages of evolution and Digital Studio will primarily be of immediate interest to the makers of commercials, network I.D.s and flying logos. Even Digital Studio on the PC will be a strategy to make a more cost-effective product for production facilities rather than non-professionals. It appears that the more interesting, consumer use of this technology is yet to come.

Friday Flashback #132

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Digital Studio, the vision: Opening new doors of creativity for the digital media industry

Earlier this week, Avid announced the EOL of Avid DS. A long 15 or so years ago, Softimage published this vision piece for Digital Studio:

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Digital Studio Redefines Digital Media Production

Digital Studio redefines the world of digital production by synthesizing into a single creative environment, a complete media creation platform for both video and audio. With tools seamlessly integrated, Digital Studio impacts the entire creative process by offering new levels of creative freedom and enhanced productivity. Taking advantage of the Windows NT open architecture, Digital Studio is easily extensible for customers and developers through broad support for plug-ins. Whether it’s for Non-Linear Editing, Compositing, Audio, Paint,Titling, FX or integration with 3D animation, Digital Studio is the ultimate software solution to help you extend the limits of digital media creation.

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DIGITAL STUDIO the vision
– Opening new doors of creativity for the
digital media industry –
Never before has there been a more promising time to be an artist working in digital media production. Since the mid 80’s digital artistic expression has increasingly gained momentum, and today we are on the threshold of witnessing digital media become a natural extension of the imagination. At the center of this digital media renaissance is Softimage with its mission to make high quality digital media creation tools available to the largest possible number of creative people. Now, Softimage has brought the industry to the brink of its golden age with Digital Studio. For the past three years Digital Studio has been one of the focal points of the Softimage team’s creative energy. Digital Studio delivers the power of a complete high-end production and post-production environment into the hands of unprecedented numbers of digital content producers. Digital Studio is the natural extension of the vision on which Softimage is founded.

What if there was a system that could keep up with your imagination?

Softimage has always worked toward the integration of art and technology in order to refine the act of digital artistic expression: the reason being that while president and founder Daniel Langlois may be one of the industry’s leading executives, he has never deserted his roots as a filmmaker and animator. This background explains the persistent focus and vision of Softimage to develop tools that will bring new levels of creativity and productivity to the digital media creation world .

From the start Langlois was driven to find solutions for the creatively-minded by his own experience with digital film making. Before Softimage, there was no truly creatively -oriented animation software available on the market. The Softimage Creative Environment, introduced in 1986, was the first step on the journey toward the ultimate creation tool. Softimage 3D revolutionized the digital media industry as will its descendant, Digital Studio.

What if the tools for all digital media creation existed on a common platform?

Regarding creativity and productivity, Langlois recognized early on that a single integrated software environment was the only answer to the awkward interruptions inherent to traditional production and post-production work. One integrated solution would mean artists would no longer have to constantly shift from one application to another, interrupting their creative flow. Thus, since 1993 Langlois’ unwavering vision has been to create this integrated software environment: an environment in which a group or an individual can work on all aspects of a digital media production from beginning to the end. This all-encompassing production environment -a fusion of tools, media and ideas is a revolutionary step for the industry.

“One of the main goals of Digital Studio is to make the tools and the media types inconsequential to the creative mind of the content producer,” explains Langlois, “it’s like being in one big room, where you can reach up on a shelf and grab whatever digital media tool you need – paint brush, special effects filter, animation tool – and apply it to images, audio, 3D scenes, whatever you want, without thinking about what software you are using or what type of media you are handling.”

What if production and post-production people could really “share” the same project elements?

Picture this – A director, a video editor, and an audio engineer sit at a computer console reviewing an elaborate video production. From any PC on their distributed network, they can view, edit, or add any type of image or audio effect – 3D animation, wipes, fades, live feed composites, 2D or 3D paint – all in real time, uncompressed D1 video, and all using the same software application. Though they have different areas of expertise, they’ve all been working in a single integrated environment which adapts to the media-specific talent of each artist. Having everyone involved on a production working in a common environment, will achieve a higher degree of creative synergy and leave more room for experimentation.

What if there was a software platform that really supported collaboration?
Every aspect of Digital Studio is new, exciting, and refreshing. Langlois explains, “DS is not an amalgamation of older technology simply patched together but a new generation architecture created from scratch to handle all the different types of digital media.”

Softimage sees Digital Studio as the cornerstone of an evolving Softimage solution. “Digital Studio is a creative platform, not just an application,” Langlois emphasizes. “Additional software components for- 3D modeling and animation, interactive title creation, 2D cell animation, asset management – will be available both from Softimage and third parties. Our objective is to make Digital Studio the best possible digital production environment today – and to make sure it will evolve with the future demands of digital media creators and with technological advances we haven’t even begun to imagine.”

In every regard Digital Studio represents a paradigm shift in the Digital Media industry. This shift empowers the inspired to new levels of creativity, and clears the way for Digital Studio to be the creative catalyst to all production people.