SIGGRAPH 2012, first courses

I'm here attending SIGGRAPH 2012 with a full conference pass and as usual, there is more to do and see than I can possible fit in each day. I need to make a few clones of myself. I'm a bit behind on a daily report of sights and events but here goes.
The conference kicked off on Sunday for those who were attending courses. I attended a course "Matte Painting Through the Ages." The presenter was Craig Barron, the author of  The Invisible Art. The Invisible Art is a large, beautiful book about matte painting originally published in 2002. (I'd recommend it to everyone but for its shocking sticker price of $500. Yes I didn't misplace a 0, that's $500 for a new one, though you can find a used one for around $150). The course covered quite alot but here are some of the highlights which stuck out to me.
One of the largest thoughts I took away was how much matte painting has been changing over the years, until it has transformed into very little painting in the traditional sense at all. "Painted" today doesn't mean what "painted" used to to the matte painter of yester-year. Clearly artists today use the computer, but they do not use paint programs but rather edit and manipulate photographs - combining them, color correcting them, doing some paint over maybe but not illustrating from scratch. An illustration from scratch just doesn't have the level of realism required by today's audiences. Go Photoshop.
Even more, however, while in the early years, matte painting was literally large paintings placed behind the actors to extend the set or make them look like they were in another environment, today most set extension is done with digital sets. As the speaker traversed the years, as he came to modern times he spoke of digital set extension, of modeling (in 3D) environments and rendering them with global illumination or "baking in" the look of global illumination. ("Baking in" means painting those lighting effects directly into the textures themselves.) The speaker felt that the future of matte painting was to create 3D environments with computer graphics. At the present time, he added, the budget isn't there so sometimes they are 3D environments, other times painted. When I think about this, however, I have to think about how the artists who make full CG 3D set extensions and backgrounds are modelers, texture painters, shading artists, and lighters. So to the extend that the background is a fully realized 3D set and not a flat image, the matte painter is out of a job really. But those working in the industry know this, which is why fewer traditional matte painters (if any) are needed on most shows.
What is around and what will no doubt stay around is a hybrid approach in which a "painted" image (an image crafted primarily from photo-manipulation) is projected onto simplified geometry in a 3D scene. The advantage of this is that the camera can move and the various background elements will have parallax. You'd be surprised just how far you can take this too, before things start to fall apart and the illusion is revealed. This approach isn't new - ILM was doing this back in The Phantom Menace (1999).

A surprising discovery for me however was just how related matte painting is to lighting. Of course, when pointed out it seems rather obvious but not being a matte painter myself, I always thought their concerns rather different from mine, but it turns out there is much in common. The speaker often pointed out how the matte painter was concerned with how light moved in the image - the time of day, the angle of the light. Other concerns were related to lighting - the mood created, and most importantly, how the image helped to tell the story (it is all about the story isn't it). Similar to the digital lighter, the matte painter has to understand how things look in the real world, such as how atmospheric haze affects the appearance of things. Also the recommendations Craig Barron made to aspiring matte painters are exactly the same ones I would make to aspiring digital lighters:
Study traditional paintings, such as painters from the Renaissance and the Impressionist movement. Study nature; we are behind monitors too much - get outside more. Develop traditional art skills like painting and drawing (even if you don't have to paint or draw that much). Make sure you understand color, color theory, and composition.

My two favorite quotes from the lecture:
"Our job is to help the director tell the story. We are not there to attract attention to the visual effect."
"It is imperative to get on location and to get away from the computer."

Thoughts on Industry Trends in Digital Lighting

While writing Illuminated Pixels, I interviewed friends/associates  who worked on many different kinds of projects to find out what techniques the studios are currently employing, and with what frequency. It was interesting to me to find that today's digital lighters have more options in technique than ever before.

I had originally thought that many of the old tricks weren't really used much anymore, if even at all. For example, at Sony Imageworks, where I previously worked, they have completely left behind many methods which used to be standard, and entirely embraced newer methods. More specifically, they are now render with a dedicated ray-tracer which does ray-traced global illumination, and do not use things like scanline rendering, depth-mapped shadows, or cheated reflections at all. With a dedicated ray-tracer, that would be silly - they use ray-traced shadows and ray-traced reflections. I wondered if this was common for most of the studios.

As a general trend, the move has been towards greater realism in lighting and shading. However, I was surprised to find that some cheats which I thought perhaps were obsolete were alive and well, such as using reflection cameras to cheat a planar reflection (refer to the book if this technique isn't familiar). It really just depended on the studio. It depends on the level of realism they want, the amount of creative control they want, the amount of time they are able to dedicate towards rendering, and the abilities of the artists they hire, etc.

So today, depending on the project and the studio, digital lighters may employ both newer techniques and older techniques. To me, this is both fun and exciting. It also is why it is good to know a variety of techniques, and furthermore to know the pros and cons of them, so you can best decide which one to use on a particular project (if you are doing the deciding) or at the least be experienced and competent in a variety of approaches, which will employers will appreciate.

"Houston... the Eagle has landed!"
~ Neil Armstrong, Astronaut

It's official - the book is complete and has been sent to the printers. It should take approximately a month to print and distribute, which means that it *should* be available in time for this year's Siggraph.
Here is the cover (front, back, and spine):

I am currently putting together a companion website:

www.illuminated-pixels.com
My plan for this website is to have it continuously evolve. To start with it will have sample scene files, a forum, links to other interesting and related sites as well as links to contributor websites, and a link to this blog. I am not a tweeter so don't expect one of those, ever. ;-)
I hope people feel free to contribute thoughts/suggestions about the book as well as add their own digital lighting tips and tricks, and examples of their work.

At the present time I am also planning a book launch / book signing. I'd like something fun and celebratory rather than too self congratulatory. This particular project has been a long time coming and its "birth" deserves a party!
~ Virginia

Looks like the process of editing takes much longer than I realized. The past 6 months we have been in the editing process. One big delay was that the book was on hold for almost 4 months as the editor was busy. Additionally gaining rights to some of the film images was a longer-than-expected process. Then once a new editor was on board, we discovered the book was 150 pages longer than it was profitable to print. After a quick re-write of some sections, removal of others, and another round of editing, I am happy report to we are moving forward again and progressing with layout. All the images have been cleared for publishing, including a large handful from Disney/Pixar and Sony Imageworks, who graciously granted the rights to reproduce them in the book.

Currently the book will release around Siggraph. I am very much hoping for a pre-Siggraph release but we may not make it, in which case it should be out shortly after, barring some (more) unforseen delays.
For those who have been kind enough to pre-order, they have received repeated emails about the delay. Now there's the behind-the-scenes story.

Removed sections of the book will be available on the companion website:
www.illuminated-pixels.com
along with sample scene files from imagery in the book, links to contributor websites, and anything else lighting related which looks interesting or useful.

Last Chapter Written (more or less)

A big milestone today - I completed the last full writing on the chapters in the book. The only thing left is to structure the interviews, and thanks to the help of Alex Kozeki, who is transcribing them, that should be short work (fingers crossed). I'm feeling like I may be coming up for air from this project soon. Hooray!!
Here's another image, this one demonstrating reflections and refractions, and using high dynamic range, image based lighting.

Almost there

This past month has been extremely busy, but the book is making progress. It can be rather difficult to fit it in around my many other life obligations, being full-time work and family. Along this line, is my thought of the day.

Thought of the day:
If you begin a large endeavor, you had better love it or you will not have the stamina to finish it. When the road starts getting long and you really wish you were already done, it is your initial fire and  belief in your project which will keep you going. For animators and CG artists, I have heard this in terms of creating your own short - that also can be a ton more work than you expected. Absolutely LOVE your idea or your project may very well die on the table, so to speak, half or 3/4 done because no team member had the stamina to finish. Someone out there is relating, I'm sure.

Other Thought of the Day:
Here's my other thought on a very long project - just keep putting one foot in front of the other. This particular book has been such a beast to write - at about 700 pages and about 2 images per page - that I truly have while in the middle of writing not known if or how I could possibly finish the darn thing. However, while climbing a mountain is not so easy, taking the next step is. Just a step... and another step... and another.... and eventually, there is the finish line in front of you after all. I believe that is an old adage:  "How do you cross the desert? (Answer) One step at a time". I like the other version myself "How do you eat an elephant? (Answer) One bite at a time".

Image of the Day:
Here's a render demonstrating the advantage of high dynamic range environment maps. Since high dynamic range images contain a larger range of data, they contain what are known as "superwhites", which are values above pure white. You will not see these values until the image is dimmed down. In the case of a digital reflection, what this means is that when the reflection is dimmed, you will still detail which shows up in the brightest areas of the reflection if you are using a HDR reflection or environment map. If you are using a regular, low dynamic range (LDR) map, these area will grey out and look unrealistically flat. The following image demonstrates this:

The center vase is at full reflectivity. The vases to the left and right are both at .3 reflectivity - they are identical but for the reflection map. The vase on the right uses a HDR reflection map, while the vase on the left uses a LDR map. Notice the realistic detail in the highlight on the right vase.

Another few Chapters in progress

I'm currently writing three chapters simultaneously on technique. The three chapters are being developed together because they were initially only one chapter. After writing the rough draft I realized the chapter would be much too long and split into three chapters. Amazingly, about another 100 pages. This is not a trivial book.
I am having alot of fun writing these chapters. These chapters are on technique and represent the "nuts and bolts" of digital lighting. They cover intermediate to advanced technique. I enjoy writing about the advanced technique the most, because sharing them is one of my motivators for writing the book. Some of the techniques in the book I have not found in any book, in any tutorial, ANYWHERE - yet they are part of the staple diet for those who are experienced lighters working in high end lighting. People learn these techniques on the job, from others working in the field. Trade secrets in a way, only I would very much like the secret out for those who love this subject as much as I do and are looking to get in to the field. I remember all the people who shared their knowledge with me and "giving forward" is the primary reason I like teaching. I know that for some, the advanced techniques are going to be to confusing. But for others, who have the basics solidly under the belt and a hunger to know more, they are going to love to learn about them, and this is who I am gearing this section for.
I haven't much in the way of images yet as I write the text then make the pictures, but I will leave this post with a tip for the day.

TIP for the Day:
When developing your lighting, be sure to add complexity only as needed. Complexity, when it comes to digital lighting, includes linking lights, rendering in passes, and the like. "Needed" means that it gives you a specific visual advantage or control that you wouldn't be able to get otherwise and which is necessary for the quality of your project. Never add complexity "just because", such as because someone has told you that is how the pros do it.