Amazing job Matt! Congratulations for you and all the ones involved! I wish you big success with the game and more to come!
Cheers! ------------------------------------------------------- Emilio Hernández VFX & 3D animation. 2014-06-04 11:40 GMT-05:00 Anthor <ant...@mesmer.com>: > Congrats, Matt! > Now I have a new game to play this summer! > ATR > > On Wed, 4 Jun 2014 02:00:34 +0000, Matt Lind wrote: > > I don’t get to say this often, but I’ve finished a project using > > Softimage which all can see. Well, it’s not actually ‘finished’ > > as it’s an online game which is continuously maintained, updated, > > and ongoing, but it’s now live and I can talk about it beyond > > generalizations. Yay! My last completed project was my previous > > production –Barnyard the animated feature back in 2006. It’s been > > a long time coming, a relief, and refreshing to be able to refer to > > something I did in the current decade. > > > > Wildstar officially launched last Friday night at midnight for early > > access, but opened up the flood gates today for everybody else. The > > game is now running smoothly in North America and Europe for all to > > see and experience. If you were part of the beta, let it be known > > significant improvements have been made since on all fronts. If you > > haven’t tried the game yet, point your browser to > > www.wildstar-online.com and click on the shiny buttons. The first 30 > > days are free with initial purchase. > > > > Production started in 2005 using Softimage XSI v3.5 and launched with > > Softimage 2013 SP1 – all of it in 32 bit land. Majority of the > > content created in Softimage 7.5 which we used for roughly 5 years. > > Softimage was used for a heavy majority of the 3D artwork including > > characters, props, environments (other than the ground), buildings, > > dungeons, and everything inside of them. We didn’t use ICE at all > > (but not for lack of trying, and we tested heavily), so this is a > > good example of what the fundamental toolset can do. Heavy use of > > custom properties, vertex colors, user normals, clusters, envelopes, > > UV spaces, and hardware (real time) shaders to customize and iterate > > on our content. What made these simple components really nice is > > they were general and could be re-targeted for many uses outside of > > their original intended purpose. Our particles were created and > > applied in Softimage, but simulated only in engine. The SDK was used > > to write 500+ tools to assist artists to create their content include > > tools like ‘mimick’ which is a command similar to GATOR which can > > transfer attributes, but do so on select subcomponents instead of the > > entire object, along with other bells and whistles. Often overlooked > > and understated, but Softimage scaling was incredibly powerful for > > controlling the squash and stretch scaling of deformers used in our > > envelopes to animate characters with cartoon whimsy and without ugly > > shearing often associated with other software. It is used on every > > asset that moves. Relational views were used to create tools such as > > a face editor to view and animate faces for our player characters, > > and adjust face customizations to see how they’d appear in the game > > as each of our characters have multiple faces and other components > > which can plug in like a Mr. Potato head doll. It was important to > > see the various components in context side-by-side for comparison > > while creating the content so consistency could be maintained. This > > was achieved using many ‘object view’ embedded into the relational > > view. Under the hood the face editor drove the animation mixer to > > perform face pose blending so artists could see the animation in real > > time on their characters. Also, NURBS, that’s right, NURBS surfaces > > were used to transfer face poses and clothing between characters. > > The details must remain a trade secret, but I just had to mention we > > used NURBS in all their unfinished glory to get meaningful work done > > with significant contributions to the end product. Render passes > > were used to re-dress environments to allow artists to create > > geometry once, then swap textures, shader settings, and other details > > many times for each variant of the environment. Not only does it > > simplify the artist workflow by centralizing all their interaction to > > a few clicks, but it also allows assets to be packed into compact > > files for use in our engine. Render passes are used in housing and > > dungeons. If we had to do this in Maya, we’d probably have to break > > up each variant into its own scene and have to figure out a way to > > merge all the scenes together that shared the same geometry. These > > polished touches matter. Softimage for the win. > > > > So that said, while many 3D software could create the assets in their > > own time and space vacuum, Softimage (in my opinion) was the only > > software that could’ve tackled this project given our specific time, > > resources, and budget as there were many close calls along the way. > > I say Softimage because many of the aforementioned features came out > > of the box with us ready to roll and not have to spend oodles of time > > reinventing the wheel. Not having to write an animation mixer to do > > face pose blending, or render pass systems to do texture/shader swaps > > were incredible time savers and something we could lean on. > > Spreadsheet queries and custom selection filters allowed us to > > quickly and easily find our custom data in any scene with just a > > click, view the data in a clean environment, and change it in bulk, > > if necessary without worry of missing a spot – highly important for > > finding and fixing bugs. The elegant user experience was paramount > > to getting work done on tight schedules at high quality with minimal > > development resources available. Everybody says that, but in our > > case it couldn’t be more true. That user experience extends to the > > SDK as well. Not having to relearn or rewrite code over many > > versions and upgrades over the span of nearly a decade was quite > > important in maintaining continuity and stability. The scripting > > object model was more than a blessing to get under the hood and > > target only what we needed rather than having to rely on combinations > > of commands which do more work than necessary or don’t do exactly > > what we need as is available in most other 3D software. Backward > > compatibility with the API for C++ development was very important > > too. While today’s OpenGL/DirectX viewport may seem antiquated, at > > the time this project started it was ahead of and more capable than > > any other in the industry, and fully compatible with all the other > > tools such as render passes. That cannot be overlooked. > > > > Finally, I should thank all the hard work and contributions from the > > Softimage developers and support, past and present, who put such an > > application together to make it possible. Not just the foresight to > > see and understand the artist’s point of view, but also in the > > continued listening and support when we needed help along the way > > whether it be to fix bugs, augment existing features, or implement > > new features to accommodate our needs. Building such an application > > is more than just writing and compiling code – it’s about > > understanding people. You cannot understand people without forming > > relationships and maintaining those relationships over the long > > haul. Softimage made the effort to establish and maintain those > > relationships contributing help and advice along the way, and that is > > why so many successful projects have resulted. As much as I’ve > > ragged on many points, the bigger picture is not lost on the fact > > Softimage is a very capable and strong swiss army knife of 3D > > software to tackle many projects fearlessly. It’s just a shame that > > in all my years of working with Softimage|XSI, this is only the 2nd > > long form project I’ve been able to call complete (due to project > > durations) and will be a shame that there will likely not be a 3rd. > > One point of satisfaction is of having worked on one of the first XSI > > projects in ‘Panic Room’, and now finishing one of the last in ‘ > > Wildstar’. Both poetically apropos as Panic Room was a project > > fighting with a then beta-quality release rushed to market full of > > many bugs while Wildstar is a game about exploring and settling the > > planet Nexus much like the old west of America’s pioneer days of the > > 1800’s with wagons, staking claims to territory, gold rushes, and > > shootouts. Only fitting as I must now look forward to a new destiny > > in uncharted territory as Softimage has literally been part of half > > my life in the 21 years I’ve used both Softimage|3D and Softimage|XSI > > ….(and Eddie too!). > > > > Thank you, Softimage. > > > > > > Matt > Anthony Rossano > ant...@mesmer.com > >
