Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/18322
October 2010 • Vol. 33 • Number 10 I n n o v a t i o n s i n v i s u a l c omp u t i n g f o r D C C p r o f e s s i o n a l s Features 12 17 28 Departments Editor’s Note Which Flavor Are You? 2Are you a Mac fan, or do you prefer a PC? And, what do your computing and mobile choices say about you? Spotlight 3 Products Maxon’s Cinema 4D 12. The Foundry’s Nuke 6.1. VCS. Flame Premium 2011. Viewpoint 8 Bridging something new with CG. x Review 45 Nvidia Quadro 5000. x Back Products 47 Recent software releases. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x Enhanced Content Get more from CGW. We have enhanced our magazine content with related stories and videos online at www.cgw.com. Just click on the cover of the issue (found on the left side of the Web page), and you will fi nd links to these online extras. ON THE COVER Animal Logic places another feather in its cap as the studio produces numerous species of CG owls, including 10 primary owl characters, for the animated feature Legend of the Guard- ians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. See pg. 12. October 2010 1 The Pixel Farm’s PFMatchit. Imageworks’ OpenColorIO. NewTek’s LightWave 10. AMD’s ATI FirePro V9800. Nvidia’s Quadro cards. OptiTrack’s Insight Autodesk’s 22 34 COVER STORY In Fine Feather 12 Animal Logic creates a nest of owl species for the CG animated feature Legend of the Guardians. By Barbara Robertson Shaped by Numbers unexpected results. By Kenneth Wong 17 Computational design provides a recipe for producing some unique and The Comic Connection 22 Comic-book characters are more popular than ever, especially when it By John Gaudiosi Inside Track Fur Less Cave at Cornell’s medical college. By Barbara Robertson comes to fi lm and games, but transforming these heroes and villains from 2D to 3D can be diffi cult. 28 Researchers and surgeons are seeing data like never before inside a VR 34 Tippett artists develop new techniques to create the hairless cat Kitty Galore for the CG animated movie Cats & Dogs 2. By Karen Moltenbrey Living the Animation Dream special Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space. By Barbara Robertson 42 A young animator wins an Annie Award for his work on the animated TV SEE IT IN • Roundtable: Compositing for 3D stereo. • More TV series embrace data-centric workfl ows. • Evolution of surround for commercials. • Director Randall Wallace: Secretariat.