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- <h1 align=center>About the change in B5's effects</h1>
-
- <p>
- Foundation Imaging is no longer doing the special effects for Babylon 5,
- as of season 4. According to executive producer J. Michael Straczynski
- and others, Foundation was asking for more money than B5's budget would
- allow, and was going to assign junior animators to B5's effects. Warner
- Bros. and Babylonian Productions decided to instead do the work in-house,
- so have contracted with Netter Digital Entertainment, Inc. (parent
- company of Babylonion Productions) to produce the effects for season 4.
-
- <p>
- Following are JMS's messages on the subject. More details will be added
- to this page as they become available.
-
- <p>
- <ul>
- <li>
- There's a lot I can't say on this publicly at this point, though I hope to
- be able to do so soon. Business stuff that has to get ironed out first.
-
- <p>
- What I will say about the CGI for season 4 is just this...that the
- equipment being used is equal to, or better than the equipment at
- Foundation; the animators are largely those who have worked on B5 in the
- past, who were let go some time ago when Foundation downsized, with a few
- outside additions, just as Foundation would add to its ranks from outside;
- and there should be *zero* difference onscreen to what has been the case
- on B5, except that it will continue to improve over what we've done in the
- past.
-
- <p>
- As usual every season, we start out with lighter CGI episodes, and build
- to big stuff as we go. That will be the same this season as last. Our
- first really big CGI episode last season was "Messages," which was around
- episode #8, then "Severed," episode #10. This season we'll hit with big
- stuff around episode #6, which will likely be as big as "Severed." Rather
- than push stuff back, we've been able to move CGI stuff forward and expand
- on scenes.
-
- <p>
- Basically, the bottom line is that whatever we've done on the show has
- been with one and only one goal: we thought we could make it better by
- doing X. Invariably, when people hear what's up, the inititial reaction
- is to panic...until they actually SEE what we're doing...and then it
- becomes clear. This is no different.
-
- <p>
- <li>
- "Who exactly owns the 3D models, the textures, all the stuff that
- Foundation made for the EFX in the episodes? I assume you or Warner Bro.
- does."
-
- <p>
- WB owns it all. WB owns the copyright on B5 (as does every studio
- producing a series, as Paramount owns ST), and anything produced in the
- process of making that show.
-
- <p>
- "Part of the reason I ask is, I swear I saw some models or parts of models
- in Hypernauts.""
-
- <p>
- Very likely. I think the rule is that if you change it more than 50%, you
- can use it for secondary purposes.
-
- <p>
- "Are the new guys (NDE) still using Lightwave 3D/Video Toasters etc.? It
- would be a major pain to try and convert all the 3D models over into a new
- format. Also, I'm a Lightwave fan . . ."
-
- <p>
- I'm reasonably sure it's all been ported over to a PC platform, but it's
- still Lightwave. These are the latest machines off the line, and they're
- extremely fast and powerful.
-
- <p>
- <li>
- "With the change in CGI houses, can we expect a "new approach" or
- substantial change in the *design* of new ships, cities, creatures, etc?"
-
- <p>
- Nope. The CGI is created by using set geometries, textures and other
- elements that are stored as data. We have virtually all that data at
- hand; as a result, it is made of the same identical elements, and will be
- indistinguishable from anything done before. So no, what's been
- established won't be changed at all. What we will do is increase the
- level of detail and texturing in some of the models, so that we can bring
- them closer to camera, something I've been wanting to do for a while now.
- (The closer we get to camera, the bigger and more massive the object
- appears.)
-
- <p>
- I saw some of the first renderings today, and as this was the first stuff
- off the line, I was in hyper-critical mode, looking for something to
- quibble with. I couldn't see any difference between this and what we've
- had in the past. (One was a nifty little sunrise shot, the lights going
- off as a group of starfuries fly past.)
-
- <p>
- There are also about six or seven new major ships we'll be seeing in the
- first batch of year 4 episodes that are being built now, and the first
- renderings on them looked very cool.
-
- <p>
- "Or - are the show's principle designers still on board?"
-
- <p>
- Yes and no. Steve Burg was a principal designer of the Agamemnon, the
- Starfury design, the Minbari cruisers, B5 itself, and other ships. He's
- hip-deep right now working on "Contact," and not available for a while
- yet. We've always had to sandwich in Steve's stuff between his major film
- gigs. (He did major design work on The Abyss, Waterworld, T2, others.)
- As soon as he's free, we'll send some stuff his way. Eric Chauvin, who
- has done our digital matte paintings (Centauri Prime exteriors, palace,
- others) and other stuff, like the ship-lift used by the Lumati, is still
- with B5, doing the same stuff.
-
- <p>
- <li>
- <em>At a recent convention appearance, you said that Babylon 5
- now had access to technology that could render creatures as well Jurassic
- Park. Is that no longer true?</em>
-
- <p>
- Actually, no, the equipment now in hand is equal to or better than the
- previous stuff, so that's still a very viable option. I just gotta find the
- story to go with it.
-
- </ul>
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