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 Alias Maya Provides Core 3D Animation Software for LOTR:ROTK Posted by: amigo
Source: Press Release
Date: Tue Dec 23 2003
Toronto, Canada � December 23, 2003 � Alias Systems, a Silicon Graphics Inc. (NYSE: SGI) company, announced today that its Maya� software, and other custom software technology developed by the company, played a central role in the creation of numerous key scenes in the film Lord of the Rings�: The Return of the King� -- released December 17, 2003. Alias� technology played a pivotal role in the development of Gollum, Shelob, the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the Witch King�s death.
Maya has been the core 3D animation software used in all three of the Lord of the Rings films created by Weta Digital and distributed by New Line Cinema�. The Oscar� award-winning software has allowed the visual effects and animation team at Weta Digital to produce 1,500 CG effects in the last installment of the trilogy as well as develop the incredibly life-like animation performances of Gollum and the other digital characters.
�The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, is an astounding achievement in many regards: not the least of which is the unsurpassed realism of the film�s CG characters and visual effects,� says Bob Bennett, general manager of product management, Alias. �The incredibly talented staff at Weta Digital have logged many hours on our Maya software in order to make Gollum�s performance, and that of the other digital characters, so completely engaging. Our Custom Development Center team was also able to lend their support, developing custom software tools that enabled the Weta team to spend more time thinking about their art, and less time worrying about the technology behind it.�
�The challenges we faced with The Return of the King were immense,� states Weta Digital chief technology officer, Scott Houston. �We were looking to do things that had never been done in the history of the motion picture industry: hundreds of thousands of soldiers for the Battle of Pelennor Fields scene and the incredibly life-like animations of Shelob and Gollum. Plus, there was the pure volume of effects shots we had to deliver: 1,500 as opposed to 500 for the first film.� Houston continues, �To meet these challenges we needed business partners like Alias who really understood our requirements and were able to deliver solutions. I view Alias as much more than simply a software vendor. Not only has the company provided us with Maya - the core 3D animation technology for the trilogy - they have also delivered custom software that has enabled us to bring Peter Jackson�s vision to life, while meeting our deadlines.� He finishes, �I don�t think The Return of the King would have had the same level of digital effects without Alias technology.�
Maya�s Role in the Weta Animation Pipeline
Randall William Cook, two-time Oscar award-winner for his work on the first two movies of the series and animation designer and supervisor at Weta Digital was involved in the decision to commit to Maya software from the beginning. �Maya entered the picture very early on,� remembers Cook. �I was shown several selections of software and had the chance to test drive them. Based upon my experience in animation, I found Maya to be the most comfortable interface and the technical team could get into the software to customize the code - we chose Maya and never looked back.�
With a software package that could handle any task at hand, Cook built the considerable team that would achieve the vision placed in front of them. �Between The Two Towers and The Return of the King we added 50% more digital artists,� comments Cook. �And while many of our artists had experience working with Maya software, some were traditional 2D cel animators with no knowledge of 3D animation.� Cook continues, �In order to facilitate workflow for the animators, we built an enormous scene management system through Maya, using the software�s MEL� (Maya Embedded Language) scripting abilities.� He adds, �Using this system the animators had merely to click on a tab in the Maya interface to bring up crucial scene information from other departments: including camera information, motion capture data, live action plate files and sound files.�
When it came to animating characters the team took this Maya-based animation pipeline a step further. Jason Schleifer, senior animator and creature technical director at Weta Digital and his team set up a procedural puppet system in Maya whereby characters could be animated via a set of simple controls and sliders. For the complex, highly emotive Gollum a set of 135 controls was put in place for his face alone. �This allowed us to really push Gollum as a character,� explains Schleifer. �You really see this come through in the movie during the scene where Gollum is lying on the ground sleeping. Although he�s asleep and hardly moving, you can see an internal struggle taking place as you look at his face. It�s one of the hardest things in the world to animate a character that is not moving.� Schleifer finishes, �Yet in this scene you get a sense of the intensity of Gollum�s anguish.�
The Witch King�s Demise
Anticipated to be one of the most exciting scenes of all the trilogies, the demise of the Witch King puts MEL to the test. Schleifer animated the Witch King character using Maya�s animation curve tools and MEL. �Peter [Jackson] wanted the character to look something like a submarine imploding,� says Schleifer. �One challenge was animating the character�s hand, so that it was moving upwards, but with a very �jittery� feel. Using MEL, I built a tool that allowed me to combine two animation curves, one with lots of high frequency data [for the jittery-ness] and one with primary animation information.� Next Schleifer put a user interface around his new Maya tool and handed it off to his other team members. �Our whole Maya-based animation pipeline is built on the premise that animators should not have to think about the technical side of things. We want them to think about their craft and the performance of the character.�
The Alias Custom Development Center
One of Alias� key support options for large film and game facilities is its Custom Development Center, based in Toronto, ON and Santa Barbara, CA. The center is comprised of senior Maya software developers, who combined, have more than 40 years of experience with the company, and consult on large projects: developing custom software to extend Maya�s usual functionality to meet the unique demands of a particular project. For Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King that meant producing custom animation code, custom cloth simulation code and giving general R&D support. �We needed to work with organizations that were emotionally attached to this project and that wanted to be part of the whole Lord of the Rings experience � especially when we had to make quick changes at anytime of the day or night,� enthuses Houston. �Thankfully the team at Alias delivered on that need.�
Beyond the Rings
Weta Digital began using Alias� Maya software in 1999, as they were starting work on the numerous effects shots required for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring�. Just four years later Weta has completed three immensely successful Lord of the Rings films, two of which have won Academy Awards� for �Best Visual Effects.�
Life beyond the rings looks just as exciting for the team in New Zealand with new projects already underway. �We pushed Maya to its limits and beyond to deliver Peter Jackson�s vision and with the help of Alias and the custom development team it�s not going to stop there,� says Houston. �Our next project is bigger in scale still: and suitably enough, it�s King Kong. More than ever we�re going to have to rely on Alias.�
About Alias
As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias develops award-winning software, custom development and training solutions for the film and video, games, web, interactive media, industrial design, education and visualization markets. In 2003, the company was awarded an Oscar for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its development of Maya software, the professional 3D animation and effects package. Alias also offers a powerful range of services for new to advanced users in the most demanding environments. Learning Tools and Training, Support, and Professional Services help meet rigorous production deadlines. Entertainment customers include: Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., CNN, Core Design Limited, Digital Domain, Disney, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, Factor 5 LLC, Midway Games, Nintendo, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sega, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Square Co., Ltd., Warner Feature Animation and Weta Ltd.
Alias is a wholly owned, independent software company of SGI� with headquarters in Toronto and Custom Development Center in Santa Barbara. Please visit the Alias website at http://www.alias.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America. International contact numbers include: Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, +44 (0) 1494 441273; Germany, East & Southeast Europe, 0049 89 31 70 20; France, Spain and Portugal, +33 1 44 92 81 60; Italy, 39 039 6340011; Japan and other parts of Asia Pacific, 81 3 5797 3500 and Latin America; 770 393 1881.
About Weta Digital
Weta Digital was formed in 1993 by a group of young New Zealand filmmakers including Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk, Jim Booth, George Port, Tania Rodger and Richard Taylor. The single original computer, located in the backroom of an old Wellington house, was leased to accomplish the visual effects shots for Peter Jackson�s film, Heavenly Creatures.
Since these humble beginnings, the company has quickly increased in size and skill to now provide some of the highest quality visual effects in the film and television industry. Weta�s digital artists use the latest hardware and software, as well as a suite of proprietary tools. Working closely with the other division of Weta Ltd, Weta Workshop, they offer multidisciplinary expertise in conceptualization, creation and technical know-how as well as compositing, blue screen and background plates, miniature stop motion footage, motion capture sequencing, 35mm film scanning, recording and screenings, full design, maquette and 3D scanning services.
Related Links: Alias website
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