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 Softimage announces Softimage|Behavior Posted by: amigo
Source: Press Release
Date: Mon Nov 04 2002
Ever wanted to create intelligent characters and choreograph realistic 3D animated crowds. Enter Softimage with their new product Softimage|Behavior which will let you do this and more...
Montreal, Quebec � November 4th 2002 � Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), today announced its new SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system, ushering in the era of behavioral animation for the film and broadcast industries. This revolutionary system provides users with the ability to quickly and efficiently create �intelligent� characters and choreograph realistic 3-D animated crowds with a multitude of people, animals or objects, which are capable of responding intuitively to objects, other characters or changes in their environment. The SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system, which is available now, has already seen production use in several projects, including James Wong�s feature film �The One� and the six-hour, four-part television series �Napoleon�.
Richard Cormier, managing director of R!OT Pictures in Los Angeles, California comments on the use of the SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR software on �The One�; �We bid on a scene involving a large crowd of CG characters, and won the shot based on producing 200 characters. Using SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR, we were able to deliver 1300 characters for the same budget and on time.�
Providing an integrated suite of unique high-level behavioral tools for technical directors, the SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR software enables users to individually control each character in the simulation through a combination of graphical editing, scripting and debugging tools in addition to a library of pre-defined behaviors. With the SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system, individual characters can be created, each with unique �brains� designed to respond and interact in multiple ways to their environment and with other characters. The system�s integrated character engine features real-time IK, animation blending and warping, dynamic path planning, and automatic obstacle avoidance, which enables believable, smooth and unique event-responses for characters in the simulation. Moreover, any virtual �character� � from human beings to blood cells, birds and insects, or any imaginable 3-D object � can be implemented in a crowd event and then blended seamlessly into any live action shot.
The SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system also increases the productivity of traditional motion capture and animation-based methodologies by enabling small sets of generic animations to be used as building-blocks in creating character-specific behaviors across massive crowd scenes. For example, a pair of generic walk and stand animations can easily be applied to 10,000 characters to produce 10,000 unique, non-intersecting animations for characters in uneven terrain with moving obstacles. A larger set of source animations and more sophisticated character logic can likewise be used to produce scenes on a massive scale, such as expansive battle sequences, which would otherwise be cost- or time-prohibitive using traditional methods.
The SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system also features a direct pipeline to the SOFTIMAGE|XSI� program, the industry�s leading 3-D nonlinear production environment. When used together, a highly efficient pipeline can be produced in which animated characters created in the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software can be exported directly into the SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR crowd simulation engine using Softimage�s widely supported dotXSI� file format. Final simulations can then be rendered using all the features of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI program and mental ray� technology.
�Traditionally, high-quality, realistic scenes involving hundreds or even thousands of characters, whether humans or other animated objects, were limited to film and TV productions with very large budgets due to high on-set and post-production costs,� comments Michael Stojda, managing director of Softimage. �As early users have already experienced, working in combination with SOFTIMAGE|XSI, our new SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system enables effects and animation companies to deliver shots with thousands of sophisticated and realistic digital extras far more efficiently than ever before. As a result, we are seeing increased demand for such large-scale scenes in the creation of commercials as well as film and television programs.�
The SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system was also used on the upcoming, history-based mini-series �Napoleon� for the A&E Channel in the US. Using a beta version, Hybride created major crowd scenes, such as the battle at Waterloo. Marc Bourbonnais, technical director on the project comments, �I couldn�t imagine doing the Waterloo retreat shot by hand. Instead of spending hours hand-animating 1500 soldiers, which would have taken weeks, I let the SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system randomize the characters� motion and timing; it took me half a day to do ten simulations, and I did it alone.�
Availability and Pricing
The SOFTIMAGE|BEHAVIOR system is available for purchase at $14,995 USMSRP. Contact Softimage or your local Softimage reseller. For more details, please visit www.softimage.com.
Related Links: Avid Softimage website
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