SOFTIMAGE Virtual Theater

V I R T U A L T H E A T E R

SOFTIMAGE Special Projects creates the Virtual Theater

SOFTIMAGE Virtual Theater

The ability to have real-live human beings interact with animated characters is nothing revolutionary, provided you have months of production and months of post-production to bring the whole thing to life. But imagine being able to capture the experience in real-time. That is the magic behind Virtual Theatre, a new technology developed by Softimage, and debuted at this year 92s NAB tradeshow.

(168k GIF)

"We felt the best way to illustrate the concept was to re-create a live program on the show floor, where we could not only have interaction between the animators, the cameramen and the director, but also the audience as well," said David Morin, Director of Special Projects at Softimage, "In this way, we created animation with the energy of live production."
Virtual Set The "energy" was apparent to anyone who witnessed the performance. Especially when it was recreated and improved for the SIGGRAPH 95 tradeshow, just months later, where it stole the show. It was then that people were introduced to the character Maurice the Alien.

(176k GIF)

"The challenge for Maurice was to build a character that was mobile enough to respond to a greater range of emotions and expressions." The formula of an Actor and Puppeteer to control movement of the computer-generated character was improved upon, and something magical started to happen. As character animator Olivier Ozoux puts it, "It managed to acquire a personality very rapidly."

"The Virtual Theater
is really
an extension
of the
Softimage 3D
technology
into
the world of
real-time animation."
Looking Down, Softimage
Looking Down Picture
Microsoft Movie 2.2Mb
SGI Movie 1.1Mb
QuickTime 1.1Mb

Strange talks, Softimage
Strange talks Picture
Microsoft Movie 2.0Mb
SGI Movie 1.2Mb
QuickTime 1.1Mb

Another improvement at the second showing was in the hardware being used. The addition of a second Onyx for live mixing and editing, and a change in the network protocol supported even more real-time channels allowing them to modify content on the fly.

This natural extension of existing Softimage 3D animation software, gave the director, the cameraman, and the actors direct feedback between all of the team. The application was developed by the Softimage Special Projects department.

Making it happen

APPLICATION STORIES