|
Archived News-August 2005
Week 3
Friday August 19,
2005 |
On Vacation
|
There will not be any updates
(unless someone else from the staff posts an article) until Monday August 29th.
I will be on vacation with my family and will not be near a computer. I hope you
will join me on the 29th for more great news and special features here at
Galactic Voyage. Take care! |
|
Friday August 19,
2005 |
Matthew Wood
Online Chat |
Star Wars online chats continue as
Hyperspace welcomes Matthew Wood, the Supervising Sound Editor for the Star Wars
prequels and the voice of the unforgettable General Grievous.
Wood joined
Skywalker Sound in 1991 as a specialist incorporating emerging technology into
the traditional editorial model. He worked as a Supervising Sound Assistant on
the The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles series, and also worked on such films
asRadioland Murders, Con Air, Mission: Impossible and Titan AE. He was
Supervising Sound Editor on The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge
of the Sith, and supervised the re-mastering the sound Star Wars trilogy for its
2004 DVD release.
In addition to his sound work, Wood is an actor, having
studied at the American Conservatory Theater. In Star Wars, he has played the
roles of Bib Fortuna and Ody Mandrell in Episode I, Seboca and Magaloof in
Episode II, and most notably General Grievous in Episode III.
Matthew
Wood is scheduled to be online on Wednesday, August 24 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time
(5:30 p.m. Eastern time). Please note that last-minute scheduling changes may
happen, and because hundreds of questions are often submitted, not all can be
answered.
Wood is one of several notable Star Wars VIPs who have joined
the blogs.starwars.com community. His blog, Whaaaaaat's the
situuuuationnn...Captainnnnnn?, can be read here.
These online chats
happen in the Celebrity Chat and Schedule forum, which is accessible only to
Hyperspace members. |
|
Friday August 19,
2005 |
Homing Beacon
#143 |
The latest Homing Beacon has
arrived and today we get to talk about Industrial Light & Magic. Episode III
is big; so big that big numbers are frequently thrown around describing specific
aspects of its production. Industrial Light & Magic probably has the most
impressive numbers to show encompassing the sheer scale of their accomplishment
in bringing Revenge of the Sith to spectacular life: 2,151 visual effects
shots for a total of 375,040 frames of work.
"We began working on this movie in October of 2003," recalls Rob Coleman,
Animation Director of Revenge of the Sith. "In terms of animation, we had
1,269 shots that we animated. To put that into perspective, for Episode I we did
60 minutes of animation. For Episode II, we did 70 minutes. In this one we did
90 minutes."
To handle such a large job, the animators needed tools that allowed them to
achieve their shots with specific finesse, and that could be customized to
handle the volume of animation required. They turned to Maya, the standard in
high-end animation software from Alias. "Because of George [Lucas] pushing us,
we had to create new tools and new ways to work, and Maya was a large part of
how we solved very challenging creative problems."
Thousands of starships tangle in the atmosphere high above Coruscant, each
producing scores of laser beams, explosions and flak hits. The elements quickly
began to multiply. "George wanted this [space battle] to be bigger and better
than the one in Jedi. That's the high water mark right now," says
Coleman. "He wanted the flying to be much more realistic. He saw what ILM had
done with Pearl Harbor, and he asked me specifically if I could get those
guys and have them do the opening space battle. That was Scott Benza, Glenn
Mcintosh and Paul Kavanagh and others. They created a flight rig that handled
all the realism -- all the buffeting, bouncing and moving."
Also animated in large numbers were the soldiers of the Clone Wars: the clone
troopers, Wookiee warriors and battle droids that would populate the sprawling
battlefields. Equipping and animating these soldiers was facilitated by
customizing tools to meet these needs. Technical Animator Supervisor James
Tooley and his team led the development and scripting of tools to create
efficient ways to arm an army.
"The tools were animator-friendly," says Coleman. "It made it very easy to
place clones into ships, or guns onto clones, or different weapons onto
Wookiees, because we'd have one master Wookiee and 15 different props. They
created buttons for our animators so they could just click on it, and it would
connect directly to the creature that they wanted and it would wrap the fingers
around the weapons and constrain them to it. That really was an advantage to
us."
This customization kept animators animating, and not fretting about the
technology. "I remember when I started [years ago], I had fingerprints all over
my monitor because I really wanted to reach in and grab it and move it just a
little bit," says Coleman. Now, the process has become much more
animator-friendly thanks to custom tools developed by ILM.
"It was very creative software with huge-time savings which really helped us
do what we do." Given the scale of Episode III, every second saved was rendering
time earned. One final big number: the shots of Episode III resulted in a total
rendering time of 6,598,928 hours, spread across the rendering farms of multiple
processors. To do it on a single system running continuously, it would take over
750 years to produce.
Don't try that at home. |
|
Friday August 19,
2005 |
Gamics - Episode
5 |
Today we have Episode 5 of Star
Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force which have
been created by Nathan Ciprick. You will be able to access these stories through
the Comics section.Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent-Episode
5
Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force-Episode
5
Be sure to check back Monday August 29th for the sixth episodes of
Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force. Then
join us every week as we continue these adventures from the Star Wars Galaxies
videogame in the form of Gamics! |
|
Thursday August 18,
2005 |
Movies Section
Update |
Today I have updated the Movies Section with another new section. The latest
section will feature TV Commercials for everything Star Wars. The first addition
to this new section is the commercial for C-3P0's Cereal. In the
future, look for Star Wars figures commercials and more! Enjoy!
|
|
Thursday August 18,
2005 |
Cantina
Restoration Petition |
The building used as a set for the
Mos Eisley Cantina was in danger of being torn down, but some French fans have
saved it! Yes, this building really exists in Tunisia. Unfortunatly the building
is in bad shape and needs lots of repairs. He has e-mailed me asking for
everyone's help by signing a petition to the Tunisian autorities, showing them
the interest of a great number of people all over the world for this project.
They also intend on placing a commemorative plaque on the building as well. Help
them out! Sign the
petion! |
|
Wednesday August 17,
2005 |
The Holiday
Special Boba Fett Cartoon |
The Star Wars Holiday Special aired on CBS
during the Christmas Holiday season in 1978 and was the only time it was ever
shown. One of the most significant events was the introduction of Boba Fett in a
cartoon that Chewie's son is watching. Many fans have e-mailed me after I posted
the Holiday Special asking for just the Boba Fett cartoon.
I have provided it for you in a much larger size than the Holiday Special. It is
about 9 minutes long and 31 Megs, so be patient on the download. The window will
look done, but it is not. Enjoy!
|
|
Monday August 15,
2005 |
Jose Sanchez's An
Empire Begins |
One of our Featured Artists Jose Sanchez sent in a great
new piece entitled "An Empire Begins". I have added it to the Jose's collection
under the Featured Artists section. Thanks
to Jose for making this great contribution. I hope we will get to see more soon.
To check out more of his work and other great artists, go to the Featured Artists section! If you have some
cool fan art, send it in!
|
|
Monday August 15,
2005 |
Gamics - Episode
4 |
Today we are going to start
doubling the Gamics you receive each week! We will be bringing you two episodes
a week of Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the
Force which have been created by Nathan Ciprick. You will be able to access
these stories through the Comics section.Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent-Episode
4
Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force-Episode
4
Be sure to check back later this week for the fifth episodes of
Star Wars Galaxies-Jedi Advent, and Star Wars Galaxies-Path to the Force. Then
join us every week as we continue these adventures from the Star Wars Galaxies
videogame in the form of Gamics! |
|
|
|