Avatar was great!
 

I just got back from watching Avatar.

I envy you guys that are 20 years old and interested in CG. In a few years there will be no need for actual actors at all!

If I was 20 instead of nearly 50 I would devote the rest of my life to be able to do the kind of 3D work they did in that movie! Hell I would honored just to be able to bring the guys that did the 3D modeling work coffee!

Many Kudos to Weta studios. I am sure you will receive many awards for the work you did on this movie. You diserve every bit as much credit as any of the actors. In fact more!

The movie was 3 hours long, and I sat through it two times!

I sat through the credits at the end but did not see the credit for the 3D software used? Gonna check the Weta site to find out.

I know Weta uses/used Maya for at least some of their work. It would be interesting to know what the rest of the pipeline looks like.

I still think it looks a lot like a video game. I also still don't understand why it was all done in 3d. It seems to me that they could have done the main characters (the blue guys) with prosthetics.

In todays hard economic times, it quite simply falls back to the bottom line.
Its cheaper to do a film in 3d then to pay Big name actors anymore.

Look at the box office numbers, it isn't just the movie anymore that makes or breaks the gross earnings now days. Its the amount of the paycheck for the week it was released.

Voice actors are inherently cheaper then live action actors.
Even those who do both, don't make as much for voice acting as they do actual screen acting.

Also, Motion capture...pay some no name actor to act the part out on a blue screen, plug the motion capture into the modeling software for animation, render, bam.

Its all just broils down to the bottom line.
G-man

I have the honor to watch it in IMAX 3D .... It's just amazing .. The quality the 3Dnes... super ! :beer:
I wish i was working on that film too :D

I just watched the regular version. Even though I am an aerobatic pilot with over 4000 hours of flight time the 3D affects give me vertigo.

However, I do plan on seeing the iMAX 3D version this weekend.

When I was talking about "3D" above I was referring the the 3D modeling, texturing, aspect of the moving. It was just breathtaking.

I searched to find what modeling tools they used and all I could see mentioned was Cinema 4D (but I think that was for texture painting) and I saw a Youtube clip that clearly showed the "Scorpion" attack helicopter being modeled in Modo.

No mention of Maya. I sure hope Autodesk gets off their ass and really starts to put some of the more powerful modeling tools of Modo into Maya. I really do like Maya's workflow and hate the idea of learning a totally different modeling package just to get the latest tools. But the stuff I am seeing done in Modo is starting to make me believe there are some serious advantages to switching to Modo as a modeler.

Avatar was awesome indeed!

next design, prosthetics take a long time to put on
you've seen xmen? for mystique and nightcrawler they would spend a good 8 hours a day just sticking that stuff on.
after 8 hours of staying still the actor isn't really going to be at their best unless they put the prosthetics on while they sleep?
and that's 8 hours a day that could be better spent planning/filming/dubbing
not only that but you need physical resources like the body paint they use that has to be sprayed on each time, and then also sprayed on again when it starts to come off during shooting
it's kind of a waste of physicall reasources imo

Dunno if this helps, but their studio does use maya. I checked their website and they're looking for scripters of maya plugins and maya experts. That should mean that they do use it right?
source: http://www.wetafx.co.nz/jobs

I could apply for that first research job! Its like my current research for my PhD!

Weta most times only hires from within new zeland, they do hire outside if your really really good.

Yeah, Chirone, how close are you to the Weta studio? Can you get a tour??:D

Yeah, I agree, and I'll be bugging him to sleep on his couch, once I've saved the cost of the flight over there I'll most likely be pretty broke....lol

Unrelated to the "Do they use Maya?" side of things, Zbrush central has a post by one of the guys that did some of the Z stuff, pretty damn cool!

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=079195

nasty work !

Quote:

I still think it looks a lot like a video game. I also still don't understand why it was all done in 3d. It seems to me that they could have done the main characters (the blue guys) with prosthetics.

Well I dunno on the prosthetics, it would look too fake then. theres alot of limitation with that sort of thing, motors and gizmos and where to hide it all. Plus theres also the problem of them being 10ft tall. What theyve achieved is awsome. IMO the facial expressions alone are worth their weight in Gold, they are the best Ive seen on a CG character since Gollum, in fact they are better than Gollum, Weta have really upped the ante since those days, and well the technology has advanced 10 fold - its evolved really well and it clearly shows. Software wise, yeah its Maya. I recieved word a month ago from a guy at Framestore in London that it looked awsome even during the comping stage, yes it was done there too.

I think its also going to be in 3d world this month so keep an eye out....

Jay

thx for the info jay :)