Barbara Robertson
BarbaraRR@comcast.net
|
Contributing Editor
Barbara has been writing about computer graphics, computer animation, and visual effects for more than 15 years. She has moderated panels on visual effects and animation for Imagina, SIGGRAPH and others, and has served on the jury for Prix Ars Electronic and other competitions. A former senior editor at Computer Graphics World, she is the recipient of numerous awards including the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award and the Society of Technical Communications’ Award of Excellence in international competition.
|
Authored Articles
 |
Myth Labs 
Published: 18-Feb-2010
A number of visual effects companies, with Digital Domain and MPC at the lead, conjure up digital magic, including mythical creatures such as a multi-headed fire-breathing Hydra, a winged Fury, a towering Minotaur, vicious hellhounds, and the evil Hades, in addition to extraordinary locales, from the heights of Mount Olympus to the depths of Hades’ underworld. |
 |
Taking Flight
Published: 19-Jan-2010
On April 25, 2004, at 3:42 pm central daylight time, in the Bayou de View area of Arkansas’ Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, while riding in a
canoe, researcher David Luneau videotaped a bird many believed to be extinct: an ivory-billed woodpecker. Or, did he? |
 |
The Tradition Lives On
Published: 19-Jan-2010
When Walt Disney Animation Studios quit making 2D animated features in favor of films made with 3D computer graphics, it signaled, for many people, the death of that traditional medium. Ironically, directors Ron Clements and John Musker—who were the first directors at Disney to use 3D computer graphics in a film (for the clockworks climax in The Great Mouse Detective), and the first to use CAPS, a computer-aided production system developed by Pixar and Disney for 2D films (for the next to last shot in The Little Mermaid)—have become the first directors to bring traditional animation back to Disney.
|
 |
One Step at a Time
Published: 19-Jan-2010
Of the five animated features nominated for Golden Globe awards this season, two—Coraline and The Fantastic Mr. Fox—used stop motion, one of the oldest animation techniques. Even so, for Mr. Fox, as with most animated films these days, computer graphics played a role. CG artists working on the film, though, found few similarities to hand-drawn or CG films.
|
 |
CG In Another World
Published: 18-Dec-2009
Weta Digital helps James Cameron achieve his long-awaited vision, Avatar, pushing digital filmmaking into new worlds. |
 |
Crowding In
Published: 11-Nov-2009
It took a village on a global scale to create the work found in the animated short film “Live Music,” a groundbreaking piece in that it was crowd-sourced and managed via a Facebook application. |
 |
Sphere of Destruction
Published: 10-Nov-2009
In 2012, the world falls apart, literally, thanks to a host of studios that created massive amounts of destruction that takes place throughout the film, in which visual effects assume the role of a major character.
|
 |
Cloud Computing
Published: 8-Oct-2009
Pixar delivers a touching animated short that required artists to create CG clouds and effects that are main characters in the movie
|
 |
Stereo Twice Over
Published: 8-Oct-2009
Buzz, Woody, and the gang come to life as never before, as Disney/Pixar remakes two of Pixar’s classic films—Toy Story and Toy Story 2—in stereoscopic 3D
|
 |
Beauty Supply
Published: 8-Oct-2009
Some of the characters in the feature Surrogates project beauty that is only skin deep, thanks to intriguing CG makeovers. The movie also sports other types of visual effects, including a robot factory, battle scenes, a car crash, and more.
|
 |
Alien Achievement
Published: 25-Sep-2009
CG aliens play a major role in the live-action District 9. Visual effects house Image Engine created the alien cast, while The Embassy crafted a mechanical exo-suit for the final battle scene and Weta Digital built the spaceships. |
 |
Food for Laughs
Published: 25-Sep-2009
In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a mad scientist turns water into food, but at Sony Pictures Imageworks, it was the 3D artists who were responsible for the transformation—and everything else—in this CG feature film. |
 |
Trickery and Tweaks
Published: 27-Aug-2009
It’s a dangerous world now for magicians and Muggles, as readers of JK Rowling’s enormously popular Harry Potter series of books know, and as movie audiences will discover. |
 |
Pushing The Bounds
Published: 27-Aug-2009
G-Force, Walt Disney Picture’s live-action summer kid flick, packs talking animals, superheroes, robots, and spies into a rollicking action-comedy in which every one of the 1861 shots is a visual effects shot.
|
 |
Weighty Matters
Published: 21-Aug-2009
Director Michael bay's sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, stars nearly 60 CG robots thanks to ILM, which built two thirds of the mechanical beast, and Digital Domain, which built the rest. | 23 results found. Viewing page 1 of 2.Go to page |