Events

Overview of the SE3D Animation Showcase at Brief Encounters
Friday 19 November 16.15pm

Over 94% of animation is now made using 3D software, a massive industry shift. How is new technology shaping its development? At Brief Encounters 2004, Maya Master Andrew Daffy joined Radio 4 presented Quentin Cooper to explore issues surrounding technology and creativity, in an event programmed to launch the SE3D animation showcase.

Daffy, who started animating on an Amiga bought for him by his parents, was attracted to 3D animation from an early age. Now an award-winning animator whose work ranges from adverts, including the Levis Odyssey and Xbox Mosquito to feature films, including CG supervision on Harry Potter, Daffy believes art is no longer limited by technology, but rather by the limits of human imagination. Does this mean then that anything is possible in the world of CG? "Humans in 3D are near impossible to create. We look at human faces every day, we know their every twitch. There are more muscles in the human head than anywhere else in the body... I am just not going to go there."

Instead Daffy would like to concentrate his talents on finding a different theme for 3D animation "There is lots of fantasy and family films, but I want to see something more mainstream. I am looking for something with a bit of an edge, Chicago or Kill Bill which could easily translate into 3D, it should not just be thought of as just a kids' thing".

One of the most striking changes in the 3D industry is the level of skill being achieved by young animators at home. "It is great to visit universities and work with students who, on a practical level, can find their way around Maya much better than me. Skills surrounding lighting, colour and timing can't be learnt at home but their technique is better than anyone, because they have learnt on the latest editions and read all of the manuals."

Daffy has recently had first hand experience of the sort of issues facing animators in small studios. "At places like Framestore you can create and animate a character on one computer because they are so fast. But effects like lighting, shadow and motion blur really effect a scene and rendering takes a long time. At Framestore, where there was maybe 500 CPUs, you just had to press a button and five minutes later your completed scene came back".

Working from home without the benefit of Framestore's computing racks, Daffy is now finding the rendering process much more of a struggle and can see why schemes like SE3D are important "it helps generally that new films are getting made, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to have access to significant rendering power. SE3D and the Rendering Utility are an amazing tool for animators and anyone working in 3D.

Looking towards the future, Daffy is waiting for a time when CG is just another part of the film making process, like lighting or sound. "3D animation is in nearly every commercial now and whilst you still get blockbuster films being made solely for effects, there is much more of an emphasis on the story. CG has made such rapid progression in terms of the development of hair, fur, cloth and effects like sub-surface scattering, we are now getting to a point where this isn't many more challenges left. CG will lose the hype and become one of the tools in the film makers palette".

For further information, please contact
Clare Reddington SE3D co-ordinator T 0774 8616411