Ice Age 2 impressions

[dlparisi]

That article arctually refers to the first movie, probably still revelevant though although they may have switched to PC's bynow. Anyways, it actually states that BS used their propietary renderer..."Blue Sky's proprietary rendering software, CGI StudioTM, was also used extensively on Ice Age".

[ShaunDon]

Given Morbid's critiques -- that some elements like the water effects were hyper real while other parts were lacking -- would be explained by them using a mix of high-end proprietary software. But they definitely used much cheaper software to great effect.

My point was that this movie proved a CG animated film, though visually sub-par, was every bit as commercially viable as Dreamworks' or Pixar's productions. There's a 3D animation firm across the street from us here in Portsmouth (if you've ever been here, you'd think that was remarkable!) that was able to drum up a lot more interest in their (relatively) low-budget productions with XSI after Ice Age hit.

Shaun

[Da_elf]

just got home from watchung it. i enjoyed the film and even though i read what you guys said about the shaders i guess the story made me overlook the differences in uality etc.

[DaForce]

yeah I too went to "enjoy" the movie.. not pick the crap out of it or let its little problems sway my enjoyment of the film
Basically i just turned off my 3d instincts (if that can actually be done) and enjoyed the movie.

[flino2004]

more info:
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=p...rticle_no=2838

[DaForce]

good info!!

it appears they used Realflow... mm i knew it looked familiar. A job like that must have been murderous thru realflow.

Wonder why flowline made it look like it was used in ice age 2? meh

[Morbid Angel]

its those stretchy wispy types of water that made it look like flowline, since it has this effect in their demoreel.

[Da_elf]

actually realflow can do that if you look at some of the tutorials on their website. but usually people dont play with those functions and get the singular blob water droplets better known of realflows work.

[flipside]

I seriously doubt that some shaders look worse than others because of cheap software. Imo this is done intentionally. Like in finding nemo, the people were much less real than the fish. After all, it was about the fish and not about the people, and creating a contrast in the reality of the shaders helps a great deal to view the movie from the fish point of view instead of a human point of view. The same is true for secondary characters imo, and you see this in ice age too.

Compared to shrek and sharktale, I find the quality and beauty of colors waaaay better in ice age. Madagascar was a bit better regarding color usage, but it also didn't impress me 3D technically.

For me, not other film compares to ice age when it comes to great animation, the movements of the characters are really stunning. The incredibles was also very good, and I liked the overall style of the movie a lot too.

[jujubee]

From Computer Graphics World:

-Maya
-Characters no longer modeled by NURBs
-1000 2.4ghz processors on 64bit
-40tb storage capacity
-average frame render time 13 hours
-RealFlow and Wavesynth Proprietary software for choppy waters - to be demonstrated at SIGGRAPH
-Proprietary Follow Through Tool in Maya for fur
- footprints and puddles created from zdepths in ortho to produce displacement maps in Shake

[studioDIM]

Imo this is done intentionally. Like in finding nemo, the people were much less real than the fish. After all, it was about the fish and not about the people, and creating a contrast in the reality of the shaders helps a great deal to view the movie from the fish point of view instead of a human point of view.

Spot on, Flipside.
Check what the director says about it...

“We embraced the fact that the movie could look simpler and the characters and story could stand out, “ Saldanha suggests. “In a way, I wanted to embrace that on this one because it’s still about the characters."

I guess is the difference between a poor story with impressive shots (sw episodes 1-3 anyone? Any matrix sequel? the list could be long...) and the opposite.
And i'd rather have a good (much needed these days) storytelling than a zillion whacky effects.

In ice age 1 they threw everything they had at animation and expressivity.
The company i used to work for had an autographed poster (by the animator) of the scrat lying in the editing room back in london, and i can't count the amount of times i turned and looked at it.
Impressive pose (midwalk, head turned sharply to stare at the viewer. hilarious.).
Never tired of staring at the thing, and i now actually miss it so much i'll go fetch some poster to attach to a wall here.

I haven't seen anything else than trailers for iceage 2, and frankly didn't expect any somersault, technically, nor wanted any
I just wanted MORE of the fun of ice age 1.
Loads more.
And from the posts it sounds like it is definitely there.

Anything beating the "Oh look, dinner AND a show!" line?

Lele

[DaForce]

Anything beating the "Oh look, dinner AND a show!" line?

Lele

Oh yes...

[studioDIM]

aaaaagh!
one of the main reasons i hate being back in italy is that i ain't going to watch movies in english, hell and damnation...

Can't bear having all that lypsinc telling me one thing, and the sound telling me another....

I guess i'll have to get a ticket for london, or wait for the dvd...

Lele

[DaForce]

hmmmm you seem to be stuck in a corner with that one. Time or Money... what will it be