HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: good@pixar.com (Professional driver on closed course)
Subject: Re: Pixar goes to the Movies
Organization: Pixar -- Point Richmond, California
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 07:03:25 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.151007.14086@gserv1.dl.ac.uk> G.Coulter@Daresbury.ac.uk writes:
:Can anyone out there particularly Craig from pixar.com tell me
:just a little bit of info regarding the new techniques used on
:the Abyss and T2 productions.
:
:And also who does what .......
:
:Are computer graphics FX shots done by ILM (Graphics Division)
:Or are they done by PIXAR.

This would seem like a good moment to clear up the difference between
ILM and Pixar (note: it's not an acronym, so it's not PIXAR as is so
commonly thought).

ILM, Industrial Light an Magic, is the special effects division of LucasArts,
which is now a separate entity from Lucasfilm, Ltd. even though George still
owns it.  Pixar was once a part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm.  Back
then we did research and development only.  Eventually our group got big
enough and had enough momentum that we needed more money an "space" to go
on with our work that George couldn't afford us (he's rich, but not as rich
as you think).  At the same time, George wanted to pare his company down to
just a film production company.  So it was natural that we should spin off.

In February of 1986 Pixar became a company with the help of Steve Jobs (of
Apple and NeXT fame) and, more particularly, Steve's money.  Since then Pixar
has divested itself of the hardware business it used to have, and is now an
interesting mix of software and animation production.  We write and sell
several software packages, and we also produce television commercials.  The
animation group, as you already know, is also starting work on a feature.

ILM's computer graphics group, in the mean while, has also gone on to
do not only special effects for feature films, but some jim-dandy
television commercials of their own.  They do their rendering with
RenderMan, and still may get some use out of some of the technology we
left behind, but that's the only official connection between us.
Unofficially, many of us at Pixar are friends of many of the people at
ILM, and each company has employees that used to work at the other.

ILM did the CG for "The Abyss" and for "Terminator 2".  I can't speak for
them, but I want to make sure that they get the credit.  Pixar didn't work
on either of those films.  And neither did Alias.

I have it on good authority that ILM is about to upgrade their roomfull of
Amigas.  I think they want to do real-time morphing with a roomfull of Toasters.

		--Craig
-- 
	good@pixar.com
-
Vote for a change this fall! 
Vote all those Liberal Tax-N-Spendocrats out of Congress!
From: aron@taos.ced.berkeley.edu (aron bonar)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
Subject: Re: Books on Autodesk 3D studio
Date: 2 Oct 1992 07:24:05 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: taos.ced.berkeley.edu
Keywords: autodesk, 3d studio

In article <1992Sep23.201033.2735@nic.csu.net>, hliao@calstatela.edu (Henry Liao) writes:
|> Does anyone know of any good book on Autodesk 3D Studio?
|> 

	You mean other than the manual?  I've looked and looked...and there are
	no specific books on 3d studio like there are for AutoCad.  The only book
	that I've found that even talks about 3d studio is called 

	3D Design and Presentation....its published by the same people who put out
	Inside Autocad.  Basically, there's a chapter devoted to 3DS which basically
 	talks about tips and techniques for rendering.  There isn't really anything
	on the modeling sections of the program and maybe a little on animation. BTW,
	this book was written before Release 2 of 3DS.

	But maybe there's hope... Release two seams to be really popular so maybe there
	will be a book in it. Only problem is, the program is so nice (compared to AutoCad)
	that books for all the major stuff really aren't necessary.  Oh well...
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: flip@cgrg.ohio-state.edu (Flip Phillips)
Subject: Re: Pixar stuf
Organization: OSU Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:39:50 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.105359.1@tesla.njit.edu> kpm8447@tesla.njit.edu writes:
>I hope that "room full of amigas" thing was a joke.


Ohhh, you young kids out there in tv land... Actually, I've herd rumor that it
will be rendered on a global network of Apple Powerbooks, see, Apple and Pixar
are in bed together and Apple built cellular modems into all the powerbooks
sold (why do you think they were so expensive...) and Pixar has this
transmitter see... and they'll usurp your cycles while your not looking see... 

I was so disgusted with the idea that I left Pixar... yeah, thats it... 

Anyone seen Leo?

-- flip





-- 
Flip Phillips					flip@cgrg.ohio-state.edu
The Ohio State University
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: spiff@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Jason Leigh)
Subject: Re: Computer of choice?
Organization: University of Illinois, Chicago
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 22:29:02 GMT

In article <1anmanINNd34@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> philb@cats.ucsc.edu (Philip Brown) writes:
>
>yeah, well this whole thing was asked because most folks DON'T HAVE the
>SIGGRAPH reviews, etc. so most people don't know which way you mean. but
>if you mean to say that more people use mac's or pc's, well, so what?
>just cause there's more stupid people out there, don't mean everyone else
>has to follow suit. Just look at how many poeple there are out there
>running DOS.What a boneheaded, backward, braindead "operating system"
>that is.
>

Chill dude (some people still haven't gotten over their "my computer is
better than your computer" insecurities), it so happens that there
are MORE SGI's listed in the video reviews than anything else.

But as you pointed out, just because there are a lot of people using
SGI's "don't mean everyone has to follow suit".


Jason Leigh

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------  ___
| The opinions expressed above are necessarily those of | \\     \\  | \\
| the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, NAAAT!       |  \\---  \\ |  \\
| Send Replies to: spiff@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Jason Leigh)|   \\____ \\|   \\____
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
Subject: testing please ignore
From: system@fallout.lonestar.org
Date: 29 Sep 92 23:46:50 CST
Organization: DECUS DFWLUG BBS *Dallas*TX*

Testing please ignore

Organization: Freshman, H&SS general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 21:33:21 -0400 
From: "Robert W. Jordan" <rj25+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!

   I am a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University and I need some help. 
At CMU, students don't declare their major until after their sophomore
year.  Right now, I've kind of decided on majoring in Creative Writing. 
However, what I think would be way cool to do is develop my own major
called, "Computer-based Multimedia Development."
    The major part of developing my own major is formulating a proposal
to be submitted to the Academic Head-Cheeses so they can decide to give
me the go-ahead.  But as a part of this proposal, I have to pick several
existing classes that would be useful in pursuing my desired major.  In
my idea for Computer-based Multimedia Development, I'd think it would be
necessary to include classes that teach understanding of sound
recording, music, graphics, animation, and even use of multimedia
programs.  Of the classes I have put in my plan, some are in the Design
Dept., some are in the Art Dept., some are in the Music Dept., and some
are even in the English Dept.  Still, all of them teach some integral
theme to understanding and developing multimedia.
    The classes I have included are listed below, with a short reason
why I chose them:

Physics of Musical Sound                       These are all classes that
Keyboard Studies I/II, III/IV, and V/VI       are concerned with developing
Sound Recording I/II                           sound and musical skills.
Electronic and Computer Music I/II

Electronic Media Studio I/II                   These classes deal with using
Computer Drawing & Painting I/II               computers for animation and
2-D Computer Animation                         multimedia production.
3-D Computer Animation
Interactive Multimedia
Electronic Print and New Media Production

Documenting the Visual                         These classes teach fundamental
Integrating Visual and Verbal Text             uses of color, graphic
represent-
Color                                          ation, and typography. 
They also
Typography 1, 2, and 3                         deal with how people perceive
Non-Verbal Communication                       and communicate with images.
Information Design
Visual Language
Kinetic Typography
Visual Interface Design


    But I need more.  If anyone out there can help me, this is what I ask:
What are some things that somebody majoring in Computer-based Multimedia
Development should be learning how to do?  What benefits could I get
with a degree in this?  I am aware of the uses of multimedia for
animation, presentations, information kiosks, demonstrations, etc.  But
what reasons can I give the faculty at CMU to persuade them to let me
pursue this?  Any comments and feedback is much appreciated, and I will
try to get back to anybody who responds to this.  Thanks.

                   Rob Jordan
  
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: spiff@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Jason Leigh)
Subject: Re: Computer of choice?
Organization: University of Illinois, Chicago
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 02:36:22 GMT


This might be a biased opinion, but pick up any of the recent SIGGRAPH
evening show video reviews and count how many SGI's are listed as the
machine used and how many Macs or PC's.

You get the idea...

Jason

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------  ___
| The opinions expressed above are necessarily those of | \\     \\  | \\
| the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, NAAAT!       |  \\---  \\ |  \\
| Send Replies to: spiff@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Jason Leigh)|   \\____ \\|   \\____
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: empath@ais.org (Tim Triemstra)
Subject: Re: 3D Studio..
Organization: UMCC
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 18:08:19 GMT

I've been looking to get my hands on a good book as well (and, it is
possible to want the book and not be pirate - I have a 3DS class at night
over at University of Detroit coming up and access to the program at school
but the book is impossible to get through school - so HOW could I learn it?

Tim - empath@ais.org

Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: bordenet@cs.washington.edu (Matthew James Bordenet)
Subject: Macintosh toolbox source needed
Keywords: Macintosh, bitMap
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Distribution: uw
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 92 02:57:42 GMT

I am looking for sample source code so that I can perform a MacPaint-like
lasso copy of an offscreen bitMap and paste it onto a bitMap background.
The two functions I would like examples of are:

	CalcMask()
	CopyMask()

If someone could point me the right direction...
From: stanton@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Mark Illingworth)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
Subject: Help need on Animation
Date: 2 Oct 1992 01:23:40 GMT
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: tartarus.uwa.edu.au
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Hi there!
	I have just got a 386DX at home and have viewed a few of the
animation flicks around the sites. Some have inspired me to give it a
go. The problem is were to start. So if there is anyone out there that
can give me some pointers on software to use and tricks/tips I would
much appreciate it. 
	I would like to look at the work of other animation guru's if
they are willing to swap/trade or whatever once I have gained some
proficiency at it.
	Anyone wishing to make any comments please mail me at my
address.

Thanks in Advance.

Mark Illingworth.  (stanton@tartarus.uwa.edu.au)

Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: guardian@netcom.com (Andrew Denton)
Subject: Chimera Anim
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 02:05:50 GMT

      A 3d computer animation that i have been working on for 3 months now
  is reaching completion... some early Single frames from the anim are available  on several sites, including nic.funet.fi in 
        /pub/pics/jpeg/comp/graphics/Guardian/
      Anyway, if anyone is interested, i do this only for the sake of art and
  Expresion, and the videotapes will only cost the price of the tape and 
  shipping... PAL and NTSC versions are planned in VHS and possibly SVHS
 
                             Check out Chimera.jpg and Chimera2.jpg
   and even if you dont want the video soon, tell me if you like the single
   frames... Take care!!!!
                                        Andrew Denton

-- 
Blah blah blah... Teleblah...
From: neil@celia.UUCP (Neil Richmond)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
Subject: Re: Computer of choice?
Date: 5 Oct 92 20:03:11 GMT
Reply-To: celia!neil@usc.edu (Neil Richmond)
Organization: Rhythm & Hues, Inc., Hollywood

In article <1anmanINNd34@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> philb@cats.ucsc.edu (Philip Brown) writes:
>
>spiff@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Jason Leigh) writes:
>
>
>>This might be a biased opinion, but pick up any of the recent SIGGRAPH
>>evening show video reviews and count how many SGI's are listed as the
>>machine used and how many Macs or PC's.
>
>yeah, well this whole thing was asked because most folks DON'T HAVE the
>SIGGRAPH reviews, etc. so most people don't know which way you mean. but
>if you mean to say that more people use mac's or pc's, well, so what?
>just cause there's more stupid people out there, don't mean everyone else
>has to follow suit. Just look at how many poeple there are out there
>running DOS.What a boneheaded, backward, braindead "operating system"
>that is.

Have  you ever priced an SGI? The most reasonable system, one with a decent
sized disk and memory, 24 bits graphics and a geometry engine to drive
the graphics speed up to a responsive level is about $18,000 and you would
have to add another drive and a backup system that SGI will gladly sell you
for another 7-10,000 dollars. Add to this, some type a animation system like
Wavefront, TDI, SoftImage etc for about $50,000 and I think we have passed
most budgets. So, the natural thing is to look for more reasonably priced
systems for lower budgets like Macs, PCs, or Amigas.

There are some great packages on these platforms. Not up to the level of the
aforementioned packages, but good enough to do a lot of work. I work pro-
fessionally on SGI machines, but I have an Amiga of my own. I prefer the Amiga
because there was and currently better facilities for testing my animation
in semi-realtime than the other platforms. This may be changing, in that there
are some faster boards available to the Mac than what was available when I
bought my first Amiga. I have stuck with my platform, because I am satisfied
with the progress of the machine. There are many devices for the Amiga that
will allow it to generate high quality images such as the Toaster, DCTV, 
Opalvision, DMI Vivid24 (which claims incredible speeds for rendering), Harle-
quin, etc. There is also good animation and rendering software like Imagine,
Real3D, Playmation, Caligari and Aladdin-4D to mention a few. Also there is
good paint/image-processing software like Opalvision, DCPaint, Art Department
Pro, Imagemaster, etc.

I hope that for all platforms, that the software gets more professional. Right
now, it is still not at the level that the SGI software is at. I was once told 
by a represenative of a 3D software company, that if I wanted more, I should
buy an SGI. I hope his attitude does not represent the company's attitude or 
any other company's attitude.

neil
-- 
Only 2644 shopping days left till the next millenium! 
Neil F. Richmond         INTERNET: celia!neil@usc.edu
Rhythm & Hues Inc.       UUCP: ...{ames,hplabs}!lll-tis!celia!neil)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: jlong@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (John Long)
Subject: Re: IFF
Organization: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 01:17:31 GMT

In article <1992Sep25.114457.11022@waikato.ac.nz> ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University) writes:
>In article <1992Sep24.071304.5099@csu.edu.au>, geoff@golum.riv.csu.edu.au (Geoffrey Fellows) writes:
>>
>> In article <1992Sep18.174315.10861@waikato.ac.nz>, ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University) writes:
>> |>In article <68345@hydra.gatech.EDU>, gt1619a@prism.gatech.EDU (James is just this guy, you know...) writes:
>> |>
>> |>> IFF is probably that closest you'll find today as far as "multimedia" file
>> 	[stuff about IFF holding different types of data in one file deleted]
>>
>> |>Yeah, we have that on the Mac, only we call it a "folder".
>>
>> But the only program that can deal with a 'folder' entity is the Finder.
>
>Nope. Most other Mac file utilities will deal with them in their entirety,
>too. Also folders just turn into directories on other systems, so there's
>no problem with cross-platform interchange. The fact that other systems can't
>handle directories as single objects so conveniently is their problem. :-)
>
>> IFF is the only multi-media data interchange format that works across platforms.
>
>I wouldn't call IFF much of a multi-media format. Interchange format, maybe,
>multi-media format, no. One of the problems with multi-media is the large
>amounts of data you have. You need the ability to edit this data without
>having to copy large amounts of it from one place to another. IFF doesn't
>address this issue, as far as I'm aware.
>
Sheesh! IFF has *nothing* to do with folders and directories. IFF stands
for Interchange File Format, and was an early *extendable* convention
for storing picture files, created by Electronic Arts primarily for 
their program 'Deluxe Paint' for the Amiga (then). 

An IFF file can be a picture, sound, or whatever, *depending on the
IFF type* which is part of the header information in the file.

IFF is actually a *set* of standards. As new ones are needed, new ones
are added. 

The convention works great on the Amiga, and makes for a very high degree
of data compatability between programs on that machine. 

But there is no *one* IFF file type. For example, an animation program 
can create an 'IFF' file, and a sound program can, too. But that 
doesn't mean that the sound program can display the animation. Also,
the DOS-style '.IFF' filename extension is usually not appended to
the filename in the Amiga world. DOS filenames... Ugh.

More confused than ever? Write to Electronic Arts for info.

-longjohn
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: Bruce@Pixar.com (Bruce Perens)
Subject: Re: Pixar goes to the Movies
Organization: Pixar -- Point Richmond, California
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 21:20:54 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.190251.29772@linus.mitre.org>  
gpivar@maestro.mitre.org (Greg Pivarnik) writes:
> In article <1992Oct1.151007.14086@gserv1.dl.ac.uk>,  
G.Coulter@Daresbury.ac.uk (Out on a limb) writes:
>  I thought the special effects in the Abyss and T2 were generated and  
rendered
> on SGI's. That would put Pixar out of the picture, so maybe it was ILM.
> 

As Craig said, ILM did the work, not Pixar (and not Alias).
ILM uses Photorealistic Renderman, a Pixar software product, as their
renderer. In this case, they ran it on SGI systems, upon which it runs
quite well. This is the same renderer as MacRenderman, ported to a  
different CPU.

I wouldn't say we're "out of the picture". ILM is our customer, and a
happy customer at that.
				Bruce Perens
				
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
From: jk87377@cc.tut.fi (Juhana Kouhia)
Subject: Re: Pixar goes to the Movies
Organization: Tampere University of Technology
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 08:18:55 GMT


In article <1992Sep27.082700.25015@pixar.com> good@pixar.com
("Forgiveness is easier to get than permission.") writes:
>Me wrote:
>:Also, was there
>:  Luxo Jr. -- Light and Heavy?
>
>Perhaps I can help...

Thanks.

Maybe you can verify following things; I'm sorry I don't have exact
references (partially because the disk with references is not
usable currently) and I will not put this thing to the 'have to
do'-queue (actually it looks like a stack, oh well) only to get
exact references.


Genesis demo in Star Trek

Used A-buffer algorithm, also early micropolygon algorithm.
both A-buffer and micropolygon rendering system).
How this micropolygon rendering system relates with the system
presented in siggraph '87 proceedings? They same and '87 article
presented actually the dicing idea as a new idea?

Also, there was algorithms to compine separately rendered scenes
to one image.


>The Adventures of Andre & Wally B. (1984)

Demo for non-illuminating particle systems like trees and grass.
Also, motion blur with z-buffer (type?) algorithm.
Reference: siggraph '85 proceedings + ACM transactions of graphics for
jitter article.


>Luxo Jr. (1986)

Micropolygon (dicing) system added with shadow algorithm as presented
in siggraph '87.


>Red's Dream (1987)

Maybe there's improvments in animation; I don't know for
sure. Maybe something other too I don't recall immediately?


>Tin Toy (1988)

Improvments in physical animation?
What is your Motion Doctor anyway? Was it called by such name?
I recall it were.


>Knickknack (1989)

Hmm.. humm.. 3D :-)


Anyway, there's lots of papers by Pixar (or Lucas film a while ago)
in siggraph proceedings (I left some topics away here).
Of course, they might be useless for non graphics programmer people.

There's an article on animation by Lasseter in siggraph '87;
good reading for animation folks.


Juhana Kouhia
From: pustule@cats.ucsc.edu (Thaddeus H. Wood)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.animation
Subject: Re: 3D Studio..
Date: 29 Sep 1992 20:28:34 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: as215-ws-2.ucsc.edu


In article <1992Sep29.091851.1@tesla.njit.edu> kpm8447@tesla.njit.edu writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.033616.4125@ucc.su.OZ.AU>, studer@physics.su.OZ.AU (Andrew Studer) writes:
>> 
>> Don't want to be a spoilsport here, but what's wrong with the documentation
>> that comes with the package? I have no trouble following the tutorials,
>> it's reasonably complete, it's possibly the easiest to follow documentation
>> AutoDesk's produced. Wherein lies the problem?
>> 
>> Andrew Studer... studer@physics.su.oz.au
>> "John Hewson is a vacuum that other vacuums abhor"- Andrew Denton
>
>I think we all know what Andrew is implying...I agree. ;-)

Well, regardless of what is implied, I personally disagree.  I have
access to a legitimate copy, with manuals and all, yet find them
lacking in certain respects.  Besides, you might say the same thing
for the Autocad manuals, and we certainly find that there are dozens
and dozens of books for that.  So, does anybody know the answer to 
the question?  Instead of judging people for wanting a book on how
to use 3DS.  And yeah, maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed
this morning.  Where's my coca cola? :)

--
Thad