Computer Graphics World

August 2009 1 O N TH E C OVE R S E E IT I N While the secret operatives starring on screen in G-Force may prefer to work covertly, their human creators at Sony Pictures Imageworks happily shared their mission and its successes with CGW. See pg. 18 for the story. • Editing Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. • The directors of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. • The colorist/DP relationship. Features Trickery and Tweaks 10 Fire and water, as well as a host of amazing VFX, help set the stage (thanks to the efforts of studios such as Industrial Light & Magic, The Moving Picture Company, and Cinesite, plus others) for the action-packed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By Barbara Robertson Pushing the Bounds 18 Sony Pictures Imageworks creates CG guinea pigs that assume a major acting role alongside humans in the stereoscopic spy movie G-Force. By Barbara Robertson The Rendering Race 24 Rendering is hardly new, but with a number of recent technology advances, it is hardly the same process that it once was. What's new? Who's new? And, is it a hardware or software game? By Kathleen Maher Wet 'n Wild 30 In a commercial for the Whole brand of bottled drinking water, Fusion CI Studios devised a unique fl uid simulation that enabled the realistic-looking liquid to form various shapes, one after the other. By Karen Moltenbrey Building the Perfect Pipeline One Student at a Time 36 An underground, open-source project at Pratt Institute enables students to experience a working production pipeline before they enter the job market. More immediately, the OpenPipeline project aided students in producing their thesis fi lms and senior works. By Rob O'Neill COVER STORY August 2009 • Volume 32 • Number 8 I n n o v a t i o n s i n v i s u a l c o m p u t i n g f o r t h e g l o b a l D C C c o m m u n i t y Departments Editor's Note Kings of their Craft 2 At SIGGRAPH 2009, a number of notables in the fi eld of computer graphics were recognized for their amazing accomplishments and contributions to the industry. Because of their work, the milestones of today and tomorrow are possible. Spotlight 4 Products StudioGPU's MachStudio Pro. HP's xw9400. Christie's Mirage WU Series projectors. News Despite the recession, the 3D modeling and animation market is strong, as people continue to play games and go to the movies, and new markets open up. Viewpoint 6 Sony Pictures Imageworks' Rob Engle details the unique work that went into creating the stereoscopic effects for G-Force. Portfolio 34 SIGGRAPH 2009 Computer Animation Theater. Back Products 39 Recent hardware and software releases. 10 30 24 36 18

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