The Best Things in Life Are Free One thing that was impressive was the ability to get powerful 2D and 3D software completely free. Other products, like Microscribe 3D from Immersion Corporation (San Jose, CA), let you effectively “trace” a real-world object to turn it into a 3D model.Īfter seeing all the ways you could create a 3D model automatically, traditional polygonal and nurbs-based modelers didn’t seem nearly as impressive. If you don’t want to use a laser system, you can purchase models from a number of companies, including industry-leader Viewpoint Digital (Orem, Utah), who was recently purchased by Computer Associates. The camera used in the Cyra Technologies (Oakland, CA) system isn’t small or light, but it can capture the data for an entire building just by sitting it across the street. Polhemus (Colchester, VT) has a hand-held model that allows you to freely move around an object to capture it completely. Minolta (Ramsey, NJ) offers a portable system that not only captures the 3D data, but also includes the colour information so that a texture map is automatically built with the model. From small hand-held products to cameras that can be pointed at large buildings, the process of generating realistic 3D models has never been easier, all thanks to lasers. Every 3D animation system incorporates a modeling function (even, finally, Play’s ElectricImage), but most people don’t need to worry about how to model objects any more. This staging is not required with wired and wireless systems provided by companies like Ascension Technology (Burlington, VT), Puppet Works (Ontario, Canada), and X-IST Realtime Technologies GmbH (Huerth, Germany).Īll of these products interface with the most popular animation programs so that captured data can easily be applied to 3D models.īuilding Models is a Blast If motion capture systems make is easier to move objects around, laser scanning offers a similar leap forward when it comes to building those models. ![]() ![]() On the other hand, specialized staging is required to ensure that the cameras have an unobstructed view of the actors being captured. This means the motion of the subjects is not restricted and they are free to move about however they want. The advantage of these systems is that the actor being captured only has to wear very light sensors that are picked up by infrared cameras. The two big vendors of optical systems were Santa Rosa, CA-based Motion Analysis and Tustin, CA-based Vicon Motion Systems. In every aisle, at least one of these technologies was on display and in some cases, more than one. There are a number of different technologies to capture motion including wired sensors, optical sensors and metal appliances. ![]() At SIGGRAPH, that feeling could be related to motion capture products. Motion Capture Creates a Commotion At the NAB show earlier this year, it seemed that everywhere you turned, you ran into a company offering virtual sets or video servers. Over the next few months, we’ll fill you in on more of the news from the show. Rather than trying to cover all the companies and products that were presented, we’ll focus here on some of the more pronounced trends from the show. In many cases, they appeared on the periphery of the exhibition area or on aisles that didn’t connect from the front to the back of the hall due to the monster booths around them. With fewer exhibits to see, the show seemed more manageable than in past years, but it was also more difficult for smaller companies to get noticed. In fact, it is quite possible that the largest 15 exhibits occupied more total space than the entire SIGGRAPH show of 10 years ago. Just a few years ago, the largest exhibit at SIGGRAPH was probably only 15 meters square, but the largest booth at this year’s show was occupied by Intel and measured over 20 meters (70 feet) in each direction. Another factor in this trend is clearly the size increase of individual booths. ![]() Mergers played some part in this trend, as Discreet Logic and Kinetix shared a booth, Transoft was part of the Hewlett-Packard exhibit, Play was combined with Electric Image, and many other companies appeared under new names. On the other hand, the number of exhibitors was clearly lower, while the actual space occupied by those companies may have actually been higher than last year’s exhibition. Although final attendance figures were not available at press time, the show seemed to have a higher attendance and the people who attended appeared more eager to learn and to buy. Magazine: Content Creation Europe September 1999 by Sheldon Liebmanįor anyone who has ever been to a SIGGRAPH show, this year’s affaire, held from August 10-12 in Los Angeles, CA, recaptured some of the energy that seemed to be missing in recent years.
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