Computer Graphics Artwork

[tugrik]

So, Avatar crossed that 'uncanny valley' barrier just enough to make full CG characters believable and easy to watch. This just reinforces my thought that computer graphics don't have so much of a "long way to go" as they do "a long way they can go". As more people experiment with new ways of rendering it's only going to get better.

Case in point: this is one film I need to share. I won't embed it because it's best watched directly on Vimeo's site in full-screen HD.

The Third & The Seventh

It's a simple piece about beauty-of-place and architecture from a photographic point of view. The first few minutes are a little over-heavy on the rack-focusing effect, but stick with it; it gets even better.

If you have trouble believing that it's all CG, just watch some of the composite breakdowns. :)

It just breaks my head that this thing is 100% CG. And it breaks my heart that I don't have the ability to do this level of work myself. The worlds I want to show you...

Comments

[m-tiger.livejournal.com]

Holy crap that's awesomely beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

[vanst.livejournal.com]

In the immortal word of Keanu Reeves? Woah.

[loranskunky.livejournal.com]

Nice, thanks for sharing that.

[skorzy.livejournal.com]

Breath taking!

I think we're in an age where photography/movie authenticators are going to be needed.

[higginsdragon.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, major pretty! And nice use of the Gattaca soundtrack towards the end.

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

This was a beautiful demonstration as to exactly why I need to get a new computer. This poor, 2002 Toshiba M25 Sattelite is choking on that video.

[midwestcougar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. This is truly amazing! I can hardly grasp 3D packaging at work... this just blows my mind to bits. Awesome.

[jecook]

Wow.

At first, I thought there were some artifacts which betrayed the nature of it; then I turned the scaling off.

Damn. The only time that it gets slightly tell-tale is, in fact, the person and one other trivial slip-up near the end with the books that is likely missed unless one's really paying attention.

But still. Damn.

[dustwing.livejournal.com]

those last three sentences you wrote there..that sums up my entire artistic life.

[inaki.livejournal.com]

Absolutely seconded.

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

Astonishing. Borgesian. Ballardian. Ambiguity is so rare in these kind of projects. I would have been pissed if it turned out he was taking pictures to remember the woman he loved or some shit. But it ended gorgeously, without explaining the hell out of everything. It kept it open and dreamlike. Astonishing. Wonderful film, aside from the flawless technical achievements (even if radiosity lighting and rack focusing can make almost anything look good :3)

[footpad.livejournal.com]

More: I feel a step closer to the age where our created worlds will seduce us away from the real, where the return to base reality will feel ever more dull and alien and grey. It's been predicted since forever, of course, but the advent of really convincing CGI is a distinct step on an indefinite road.

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

Wow.. its like.. wow..

[ataramos.livejournal.com]

That was beautiful, but the building at 9:20ish? That opened like a sail? That building exists. It's the Milwaukee Art Museum (http://www.mam.org/info/history.php), I've been in it, and I've watched those sails open. It's an awe inspiring building worthy of it's own notation as a work of art...it wasn't in his 'random composite breakdowns', and I wonder if he had permission to use the images?

It's a little misleading when he uses a known building, and there's no obvious credit. I had actually been wondering if he would use the building in this video, until I realized that it's being claimed as full CG. I suppose you can take video of a building, throw a cloud texture behind it (because those sails won't open if the weather isn't good for it) and call it CG, but for me at least, it takes away a large amount from the video...

[ataramos.livejournal.com]

To be specific, it's the Quadracci Pavillion (http://www.mam.org/info/details/quadracci.php)

[diadexxus.livejournal.com]

THAT was neat to watch!!!

-J

[wruf.livejournal.com]

It's astonishing! There's a part of me that doesn't want CGI to be this good because I want things to be real and a part of me that wants to see what can be done with this.

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

Something that's long bothered me about a lot of CG renders of people, it seems from screenshots and such that they've avoided with at least the Na'vi (I believe?) from Avatar: I can't stand the eyes on most CG characters. They creep me out. Something about the opaque white and the "deeper" transparency of the iris that just gives me the heebies.

As long as the people who work with the stuff don't forget that it's about wonder, I'm good. And that's something I understand they've not forgotten with Avatar. I should see that movie some time.


-Alexandra

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Very impressive (and you gotta love the fact that Vimeo actually allows you to download high-quality versions of movies so that you're not stuck with Youtube-esque quality for pieces such as this).

Hmm. Well, actually seems like there's limits on the number of daily downloads, though, and the compositing breakdown video's reached its. I suppose I'll have to try again tomorrow and make do with the "regular" version for now.

That said, again, it's very impressive indeed. It's really quite amazing how far CG has come, although I imagine this particular movie clip avoids certain things that I think would still be a challenge, such as realistic human (or animal) movement and the like (even if we did get a few glimpses of the humans and some doves).

It sure makes me wonder just what technological progress will look like, though, and what movies will look like in – say – twenty years.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh, that actually exists? Neat. :) And you gotta love this tidbit from their webpage:

While the Burke Brise Soleil has a wingspan comparable to that of a Boeing 747-400, its two ultrasonic wind sensors automatically close the wings if the wind speed reaches 23 mph or greater. Unlike the airplane, the Museum prefers to remain on the ground.

That said, I'm only guessing, but maybe the building was actually recreated digitally for this movie? Attribution/acknowledgement nonwithstanding, that'd at least mean that the "100% CG" claim could still be upheld.

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

All of the buildings in that video are based off of famous architecture. The artist downloads the publicly-available base models (mostly just base geometry and shading) and then rebuilds them as accurately as he can.

Check the 'making of' videos on his account and you'll see one that shows his process, from the freely-available model of a famous library to the scene he made from it.

The point of his movie, at least in my eyes, is to show us Place and Form through his skills as a rendering artist, using recognizable/famous established architecture. It's about how they're presented and the cinematography, expressed through CG re-creation instead of on-site camera work. How *he* sees the buildings and wants to share them, along with the moods they present in their environments.

Dang. I sound like a pointless arts snob. Sorrysorry! :)

[darkwolven.livejournal.com]

This moved me emotionally. Completely beautiful.

Reminds me of the Qatsi movies by Godfrey Reggio somehow. :)

[darkwolven.livejournal.com]

Gattaca Soundtrack? He only credits his work which was inspired by Michael Laurence Edward Nyman's "The Departure" and Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns' "Le Carnaval des animaux". Did they use Le Carnaval in Gattaca? Now I have to go watch it again... ;P

[darkwolven.livejournal.com]

Oh, Nymen did Gattaca. I get it now. :)

[darkwolven.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad. Perhaps yours choked badly, but I think you won't get fluid FPS unless you have a multicore that has HD capabilities and a fat line, especially if you full screened it. The video is almost 200MB (I downloaded it) and it autoplays in HD. I was able to watch it almost fluidly, but not quite and I have a 10mb line with an AMD single core 3+ Ghz PC and 2gb sys memory. Again, don't feel so bad. :P

[ataramos.livejournal.com]

No no, no pointless art snobbery detected! I am -very- happy that you let me know about that, as it makes me feel a lot better about that piece of work again. Im glad to know that he has something like that for that building, and it makes the fact that I was convinced that it was real all the more 'oomph'ful behind the video.

I should have clicked about a bit more to try to find him giving credit, but my time was limited. Thank you for clearing that up for me

[ataramos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tugrik cleared it up for me!

And it is a damn neat building, if I had to have a 'favorite buildings' list, it would most assuredly be on it.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*looks and reads* Ah, cool! Getting more background on videos such as this is always nice. :)

And yeah, it sure seems to be a neat one. If I ever visit Milwaukee, I'll be sure to check it out.