There’s No Business Like Show Business

The computer multimedia industry isn't just games and interactiveencyclopedias: It's television, it's film--it's Hollywood! Multimedia includesauthoring, 3D animation, linear digital video editing, 2D-image manipulation,and more. If you can put it on a television or computer screen, it's multimedia.And now, the multimedia development industry is coming down from Mount Olympusand manifesting itself in common desktop systems. Animators have discovered thata $5000 Pentium box or a $10,000 Alpha workstation can do the same things theyused to do with a $200,000 UNIX imaging system.

When I saw all the new multimedia tools available in the Windows NT marketat Comdex in November 1995, I decided to take a closer look at them and at theoverall direction of the multimedia industry. I investigated some of thepioneers in 3D animation and digital video editing to see why they made the moveto NT and how it worked out for them. The results are pretty interesting.

If this report seems Alpha-centric, that's because, according to the folksI interviewed, Digital Equipment's Alpha CPUs--the 21064, in particular--offerthe best price/performance numbers of any of the currently available processorchips. Pentiums, PowerPCs, and MIPS processors all have their places in theproduction process--even Apple Macs do!--but you can't beat the Alpha processorfor compute-intensive tasks, such as 3D rendering and animation.

The Questions
I asked the owners and directors of some of the top Hollywood graphicsproduction houses nine sets of questions:

Joe Conti Design
Joe Conti, whose computer graphics work can be seen on hit television showssuch as Hercules, started Joe Conti Design with several rooms full ofCommodore Amigas (a total of about 40 machines) running LightWave 3D softwarefrom NewTek (see the sidebar "Move over, SGI; NT is here!" on page56). He also had one of the few NewTek Screamer systems in existence. (AScreamer was a specialized quad-processor MIPS R4400 system running NT thatrequired a graphical front-end, such as the Amiga.) Conti's systems wereconnected to an Ethernet LAN, and the Screamer was the high-speed renderingengine. Using distributive rendering, all the machines could be running at thesame time, grinding at different portions of the same 3D scene.

Then came NT on the Alpha--an unbeatable combination once NewTek portedLightWave 3D to the platform. Conti was able to replace rooms full of Amigaswith one 275-MHz computer from Aspen Systems equipped with 64MB of RAM and PCIvideo. Since then, he has expanded to three Alpha boxes.

Why make the switch, especially after he made such a huge investment inanother platform? Conti based his decision on NT's ability to support LightWaveand other industry programs on multiple-hardware platforms. This ability makesporting files from one platform to another easy. Besides, now that LightWave issomething of a standard in the industry, Conti felt that a $12,000 Alpha-basedsystem was an excellent alternative to a $100,000 Silicon Graphics (SGI)workstation.

Conti uses the Aspen computers for about 90% of his 3D rendering andanimation work, but he has regular PCs and Macs on his network, too. "Youhave to choose the processors that best suit the needs of the applications youare running," he explained. For example, although Adobe AfterEffects is oneof the leading 2D desktop compositing tools available, it currently runs only onMacintosh systems. Therefore, Conti has to do his 2D compositing work on a Macinstead of an NT system. Another example is texturing work: Adobe Photoshop isthe standard tool, and at the moment it runs only on Macs and Intel PCs (see "Photoshop3.0.5 for Windows NT" on page 81 for information on the new 32-bitversion).

Conti uses NT for more than 3D rendering. He also uses his Windows NTWorkstations to compile and preview animation in conjunction with a PerceptionVideo Recorder (PVR) from Digital Processing Systems, or DPS (see "Non-LinearDigital Video Editing on NT" on page 31). Conti dumps the finishedanimation onto Exabyte tape for shipment to the production studio. For 2Dmorphing, Conti uses Elastic Reality, which runs on all NT platforms: Intel,Alpha, PowerPC, and MIPS (see "Elastic Reality" on page 72).

Two other reasons that Conti made the jump to NT were reliability andtechnical support, although these weren't assured until after he took thegamble. So far, Conti's systems have run 24 hours a day, seven days a week formore than a year, and he has experienced only one hard-drive failure. AspenSystems shipped a replacement less than 12 hours after Conti reported thefailure. You can imagine how important this kind of support is when you can lose$10,000 a day if your system goes down.

Conti also discovered that NT on an Alpha system--particularly the Alphasystems he got from Aspen--offered a performance gain over his old systems.Aspen designed its boards and high-speed bus from the ground up rather than fromoff-the-shelf components. This strategy gives Aspen's Alpha systemstop-of-the-line performance. And, because most of Conti's work is 3D rendering,the Alpha/NT combination brought him a huge increase in productivity over hisold Amigas.

Foundation Imaging
Paul Bryant's arsenal of graphics workstations at Foundation Imagingincludes Dell Dimension Pentium systems (100 MHz and 133 MHz), Macintoshes, andAlpha boxes from both Aspen Systems and Flight Technologies. "Weuse a wide collection of systems, but the common denominator is NT," Bryantsaid.

Foundation Imaging provides the startling computer-rendered space scenes inFox Television's Babylon 5, as well as special-effects sequences for theupcoming ABC show Hypernauts. I was amazed to find out that not a singleSGI workstation is involved in producing those images. You know what a testamentto NT technology this is if you've ever seen the show.

Like many others in his industry, Bryant used Amigas running LightWave 3Dfor more than five years. However, he foresaw the demise of Commodore anddecided that his company was going to have to shift to a technology with afuture. Bryant turned over his Amigas in favor of Windows NT on Alphaworkstations and Intel Pentium systems about nine months ago.

Because Foundation Imaging is a beta-test site for NewTek, the company wasable to pressure NewTek into porting LightWave 3D to NT and was intimatelyinvolved in porting LightWave 3D to the Alpha chip. When Foundation Imaging tookthe first step and moved to 100-MHz Pentium systems, the company saw animmediate increase in performance. Then, armed with the software itwanted, Foundation Imaging could move wholeheartedly into NT.

In Bryant's opinion, the 275-MHz Alpha 21064 is the best "bang perbuck" available today and offers price/performance far beyond the reach ofPentium systems. He notes that although he could get better performance from a300-MHz 21164, the chip and the systems based on it are too expensive to offer acost-effective solution. MIPS and PowerPC systems also have no cost benefit overeven Intel-based computers for his work.

"Our 3D graphics are done exclusively on LightWave running on Alpha/NT systems, but we also use Photoshop [on the Pentium systems] for 2D editingand matte painting," Bryant said. "Compositing and live-action work isdone on a Macintosh running Adobe AfterEffects, but it is far from ideal becausethe machine is too slow. All the machines are on a Novell Ethernet network,which allows seamless transfers of images from system to system." Bryantalso uses a Personal Animation Recorder from DPS for animation previews.However, this is not a robust solution because it frequently crashes NT, andBryant looks forward to the new PVR board on NT.

Bryant calls NT extremely robust and impressive overall because it offers alevel of reliability he's never had before. "It's very rare to see NT godown--and when it does, it's usually because of a bad driver," he said. "Wecan add a workstation and have it working [on images] in less than 20 minutes[providing it already has NT installed]. Reliability is the number oneparameter. Our machines run all the time as animation and rendering engines."NT was the best possible way for Foundation Imaging to go.

There are alternatives to the Alpha/NT combination, but Bryant hasfound strikes against them. For instance, the Mac is not as stable, robust, orpowerful as NT, and it suffers from what he calls the "Macintosh suckersurcharge," which is paying a premium for hardware because it says "Apple"on it. And although an SGI system is powerful, it is nowhere near ascost-effective as an Alpha workstation. A 275-MHz Alpha with an OpenGL graphicscard and LightWave 3D is faster than an SGI Indigo Extreme for only a third ofthe cost.

For the time being, there are still things you can't do on NT. AdobeAfterEffects owns the compositing market and runs only on a Mac. One of the onlyalternatives to Adobe AfterEffects is Flint, which runs on an Indigo at $120,000for the hardware and software. (See "Non-Linear Digital Video Editing on NT"on page 31 for information on in:sync's Speed Razor, which offers a new NTalternative to compositing, and "Avid's Real Impact" on page 66 for afirst look at Avid Technology's Real Impact video-editing system for NT.)

Free Range DigitalImaging
Brad Carvey, who has designed graphics for such notable shows as Space:Above and Beyond and the Michael Jackson History video, is anotherrefugee from the Amiga world. He was also one of the few people to have a coupleof NewTek Screamers (a four-way MIPS R4400 configuration and a two-way MIPSR4600 configuration, both running NT and using networked Amigas as graphicalfront-ends). Unfortunately, these machines were unreliable, and he has sincetorn them apart and rebuilt them into several NT Workstations and a file server.He also used a couple of Macs--a PowerPC and a Quadra--for Photoshop andcompositing work.

So, other than his bad experience with couple of quirky machines, why didhe and Free Range Digital Imaging switch to NT? Just as Bryant did, Carveyanticipated the demise of Commodore, and he had a strong loyalty to hisLightWave software. He needed a powerful 32-bit operating system that wascapable of dealing with beta software and misbehaving programs. A beta versionof LightWave 3D running on an Alpha/NT system gave him everything he needed.

Carvey said that the best 2D and 3D rendering workstations for the money,respectively, are Pentium boxes running NT and Windows 95, and Alpha systemsrunning NT. "With one of each, you can work with Photoshop on the Pentiumwhile something is rendering on the Alpha," he said. "NT reliabilityis not a problem. Alphas are by far the fastest, and even beta software (such asearly releases of LightWave 3D) isn't a big problem."

With the help of a special 3D scene designed for testing hardwareperformance, Carvey has discovered that a 275-MHz Alpha offers four times theperformance of a 100-MHz Pentium. But he warns that graphics applications needat least 64MB of memory. "Alpha is spreading by word of mouth in the small3D marketplace," he said.

Cost vs. performance is important in a relatively small production house.To get his four-fold speed improvement, Carvey spent about $10,000 each on hisAlpha 275s configured with 64MB of RAM. He spent about half that for eachPentium system equally configured. He can dump the final product onto theindustry-standard Exabyte 8mm tape with some help from DPS's PVR cards foranimation previews and an Amiga with a Video Toaster and Flyer for finalediting.

Free Range Digital Imaging primarily uses LightWave 3D for itsrendering/animation work and a plug-in for LightWave called Impact that providesrealistic physics modeling, such as explosions and bouncing objects. "LightWaveis the greatest, easiest-to-use product of the ones I've seen," Carveyexplained. "It's the best for doing TV and movie work. A couple of gamecompanies called wanting to know if I used SGI and were happy that I don't. Theyprefer working with 3D development done on a PC platform [for filecompatibility, among other things]."

Carvey also offered some advice for would-be 3D artists: "Get yourselfLightWave and a Pentium 100 and spend about two months learning your way around.That's enough for you to get into it. Then go show someone what you can do andmake a career--and have fun at the same time."

All for One?
These interviews lead to the conclusion that everything has a place in themultimedia industry. Although 3D rendering has been shifting from Amigas and SGIto Alpha/NT, NT solutions have not yet fully penetrated the video-editing marketbecause many animation houses continue to use Macs for their final compositingand post-production work.

Eric Myers of Nu*Topia said NT's reliability made entering the PC worldpalatable for him, and the Alpha made it even better. But he wishes that Adobewould port AfterEffects and Premier to the Alpha/NT platform so he could have atruly powerful, centralized tool. Until then, though, he said he trusts his Mac.

It's up to companies such as in:sync and Avid to change the minds of EricMyers, Brad Carvey, Paul Bryant, and other artists and provide them with avideo-editing solution for NT as powerful as--or perhaps even better than--whatthey have on the Mac.

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