Posted on 11/25/2010 6:05:24 PM PST by FTJM
Are the best computer animators only as good as the technology they use, or does natural talent distinguish their work from the rest? The question has been debated online this week after a new super-realistic computer-generated video appeared on YouTube.
At first glance, the minute-long commercial for kitchen worktops looks like slick, well-timed slow-motion footage of fruit falling in a shiny kitchen. It's only when the peppers and pears smash like glass on the counter that it becomes clear these are not real fruit.
Alex Roman, the graphic designer who created the ad, dismisses suspicions that the shots aren't pure computer-generated imagery: "Yep, it's all CG. I tried to put some live-footage shots but I ran out of time so CGI did the trick."
Although computer imagery is now common in blockbuster films – it was used, for example, to create the fantasy world of Pandora that was the setting of Avatar – it is usually created by large teams using special, often bespoke equipment. Roman, however, used off-the-shelf software and worked with just one assistant to produce the advert – and did it in a mere 10 weeks. Last year he also gained internet acclaim for his realistic, entirely computer-generated film Third and Seventh.
"This kind of talent is very exciting because you see there's so much more to be done," says Angus Kneale, creative director at the New York offices of The Mill, a visual effects studio. "People always say everything in CGI has been done before. This shows that's not true."
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Very, very impressive.
Much more so than that stupid “Avatar”.
Amazing
Nah, this one is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUdpFN4O4B0
Even with CGI this impressive, I was disappointed that the filmmakers didn’t tackle the one subject that would be the real proof of the pudding...the human face.
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