Congrats Matt, killer job! Not shameless we all need a pat on the back after an exhausting marathon. I love all the clothing transfer stuff the that opened my eyes. Jentzen On Jun 4, 2014 9:45 AM, "Emilio Hernandez" <emi...@e-roja.com> wrote:
> 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 >> >> >
