Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 10, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Krakatoa is a highly optimised particle renderer that was developed for
working with PFlow. In the first release, the particle masses are
output with shadows, motion blur and depth of field,
for the future impressive functions such as
subsurface scattering and global illumination are planned, which were
demonstrated in test sequences. At the stand on site it was learned
that two film projects with over 300 million particles per shot
are in progress.
Flood:Surf for ocean simulations and Flood:Spray
for spray generation were also shown as beta versions. Dramatic,
expansive water surfaces can be simulated, but real fluid dynamics
are reserved for Flood. So far, the very powerful and
impressive tool is used only internally. At Frantic Films they want to
wait and see whether the community accepts the plugins and, if successful,
release this and further tools from production.
Flood:Surf
Introductory pirce around 900 US dollars, support around 300 US dollars.
Krakatoa
Standard with 1 licence and 2 render nodes around 500 US dollars, support for around 125 US dollars.
Professional Bundle with two licences and ten render nodes for around 1500 US dollars, support around 375 US dollars.
The support contract must be purchased for the first year and can then be extended optionally.
Hairtrix was completed just two day before the trade fair, and so Turbosquid is finally presenting the long-awaited plugin now at Siggraph. It combines the technologies known from Ornatrix (EPHERE) and HairFX (Dimension dESIGN Animation Group) in a powerful tool. Depending on requirements, interactive and procedural modelling for fur and complex hairstyles can thus be combined. Subsequent rendering can take place both via the two plugin-owned Render Effects and Mental Ray.
At the stand, Snowball VFX demonstrated how a photorealistic rooster and a porcupine for a Sci-Fi Channel bumper were implemented within three weeks. Both clips can be seen with shot breakdowns at http://www.snowball.co.il.
The plugin will cost around 700 US dollars.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION will publish detaled tests in one of the next print isues.
Further Links:
- Frantic Films
Turbosquid
