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