another year of my life...

[cpnichols]

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/ghostrider/

[nvanherpt]

that's a bit different for mr cage. what area's were you involved in?

[cpnichols]

Lighting / Comping as usual

[siliconbauhaus]

Lighting / Comping as usual

*sigh* tough life mate :P

[jujubee]

The effects look good. Any chance to plug in Vray?

[cpnichols]

Nope... that was all Sony proprietary software.

[jujubee]

Pardon my digression, but you've got my curiousity - and perhaps you're not at liberty to say (I wouldn't want to get you into trouble/put you on the spot), but do you find any major advantages/disadvantages to using Sony proprietary software over a system such as Vray? standalone, memory consumption, cost reduction, simplicity in use...

I could only imagine having a seemingly unlimited budget does wonders for work. Do you also get to test cutting edge render methods that the rest of us won't see for a number of years? Anything you see promising?

[cpnichols]

Pardon my digression, but you've got my curiousity - and perhaps you're not at liberty to say (I wouldn't want to get you into trouble/put you on the spot), but do you find any major advantages/disadvantages to using Sony proprietary software over a system such as Vray? standalone, memory consumption, cost reduction, simplicity in use...

I could only imagine having a seemingly unlimited budget does wonders for work. Do you also get to test cutting edge render methods that the rest of us won't see for a number of years? Anything you see promising?

That is a massive question and one that is always hotly debated when setting up a company. But the major advantage is that if you want the software to do something very specific for a show, you can rewrite it to do so. But also, if your facility is very big like at Sony where they have around 1000 people, you have an advantage to write your own. The problem is you are also commited to using that software as you have so much money invested into it. Generally speaking there is nothing cutting edge about proprietary software anymore. It is very much a legacy issue these days.... but that may only be my opinion.

[DaForce]

Great stuff Chris.

Do we see your name in the credits

[animagic]

Just saw that trailer before X3, nice....

[lukx]

congratz! Can't wait to see this movie.

[studioDIM]

The problem is you are also commited to using that software as you have so much money invested into it. Generally speaking there is nothing cutting edge about proprietary software anymore. It is very much a legacy issue these days.... but that may only be my opinion.

Mine too.
I never worked on features, myself, but very nearly did so (worked on a movie with a movie budget, timeline and crew, but at TV res, unfortunately).
I was fairly surprised hearing what went on during the making of Troy (half the crew worked on it before that job), and even more surprised working with the Flame guys.
It sounded old school stuff trough and thorough to me.

Then again, i think that SCALE is an issue.
Individual ShadowMaps rendered over the network, split across machines?
Sounds SO very crazy to me, but it does make perfect sense for something like Rman, where the sheer size of the project is overkill, and one has to be clever and efficient, rather than relying on pure brute force...

But hey, i'd rather hear more on this from Chris

Lele

[cpnichols]

But hey, i'd rather hear more on this from Chris

Lele

I would say to be fair that it goes both ways. It is nice to send requests to software to fix stuff that effect’s you directly. Or to have tools developed just for that one thing you are doing. We have been spoiled on the Vray side that we have such direct communication with the developers, but that is not always the case. I don't see any of us sending tons of emails to Adobe about how we need photoshop to have better comping for 32bit float, yet it is a huge problem for us. But at the same time, software like Vray is really cutting edge in terms some technology, and if ever it gets old, we can switch to other stuff. Plus Vray has competition. They need to make a product that is competitive with others. There is motivation to make it state of the art, and user friendly. You are at the mercy of proprietary software... as well as monopoly software like Photoshop or the Flame. Hence proprietary software tends to be very difficult to use and annoying for no reason.