Issue: Volume: 23 Issue: 11 (November 2000)

The Ugly Truth



I'm frustrated by the current lack of attention to detail in the computer graphics segment of the entertainment industry. After all, "photorealism" implies reality, but most attempts at CG realism are just not the reality we live in. Most of this ultra-smooth imagery shows us things we can only imagine-is that "photoreal?" With today's technology, we can go further. We can make a still or an animation look distressed, lived in, worn, tattered, used, aged, repainted, repaired.

Get the picture? Just take a look at our world-any world-and you'll see entropy. You'll see reality.

Gary E. Erb
Whittier, CA





In the article on facial animation on pg. 51 of the August 2000 issue, I was surprised to find no mention of LipService, my facial animation product for NewTek's LightWave and Discreet's 3D Studio Max. Interestingly, your article was even titled "Lip Service."

LipService is a unique and popular fa cial animation plug-in that comes bundled with Shave and a Haircut (my hair modeling/rendering solution). I used the LipService product to cre ate my three-and-a-half min ute short film "Jersey," which won a Pixel award at Imagina earlier this year, and showed at the Electronic Theater at Siggraph this past summer.

Joe Alter
Joe Alter, Inc.
Los Angeles




You're right that we didn't know about the plug-in LipService when we put together our lip-synching piece last summer. We're glad you've called our attention to it. As for "Jersey," the editors at Computer Graphics World saw the film at Siggraph this past summer and enjoyed it a great deal. For more about "Jersey," see "Reel People" on pg. 44 of the October 2000 issue.




I was thumbing through the August 2000 issue of Computer Graphics World when your Editor's Note ("Net Change," pg. 6) about engineers and communication caught my eye. Your comment that the Internet is causing engineers to no longer be able to operate as "islands unto themselves" really struck a chord with me. I see so many products and ideas that are aimed at improving processes, and thus saving money.

A fundamental factor of many of these applications involves the communication of wants, needs, and realities across many levels of a company. Engineers are the foundation that holds up so many of these applications, and if engineers are unable or unwilling to communicate, the process improvements and cost savings that drive the applications will never materialize.

Madge E. Miller
Phase Two Strategies
San Francisco





On pg. 62 of the August 2000 issue, credit for the Prix Ars Electronica 2000 Hon orary Mention in Computer Animation, "LowRider Crab," as shown above, should have been given to Charlotte Manning of Mental Images as director.




We welcome any insights you have to offer that would further our readers' understanding of topics discussed in this issue, or that concern the computer graphics industry in general. We may edit your comments to conform to our style and space requirements.

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Computer Graphics World welcomes our new Web editor Catherine Varmazis, who is now in charge of www.cgw.com. She will be developing a new focus for our online content over the next several months.

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And look for the changes to come!