Metrolight Studios (1991) CGI Demo Reel

[@3dhotshot]

This is amazing to think how long ago this was the talent had to be there

[@maxer167]

congratulations . great jobs indeed. i like the feeling that is split between cgi and reality . it feels more magical and retro than todays complete real looking scenes.

[@renkodes7589]

I absolutely LOVE how 80s-90s it is, great job, it looks funny and well-aged in a charming way, just can stop watching it

[@derekdexheimer3070]

What an incredible time to get a job doing this. I was in college at the same time, but didn't get access to this kind of animation until 1995. I did get to watch someone operate one of the more advanced Quantel Paintboxes for an afternoon, though. It's incredible to think that anybody could accomplish anything with the tools as primitive as they were. Lots of typing commands in the Hercules mono text monitor still.

[@SeanCC]

Oh yeah. One of the modeling programs I learned here was from Abel days. Took text commands from a terminal and minimal mouse input. Was mostly designed for processing models derived from 3Space digitizing of physical models. Neat stuff. I can't believe I was able to learn it though. But those days of really old school programs that often had little or no interface, lots of scripting, it meant I was never afraid to move into packages like Prisms and then Houdini. It just made sense because they were how real production software worked.

[@shaneharrisnj3484]

6:27 I did not know that the Glen Jones/21st Century Film Corp "Dragon" logo was a Metrolight creation!

[@PeechaLaCosh]

6:05 I recently watched 'Total Recall' documentary and there was a tiny fragment where they showed an interface with a 3d model of a skull on the computer screen. I believe that was Wavefront's TAV version 2. Would be nice to find more about it.

[@SeanCC]

Not sure about the version, but Wavefront TAV was the main DCC at Metrolight in this period. Wavefront tools were the foundation all the internal software was based on as well, because TAV started as a fork of the software from Robert Abel & Assoc. It wasn't until around the last six months I was there they were evaluating new DCCs, including Softimage, Alias, TDI and Prisms. They were super interested in Dynamation and Kinemation, from Wavefront, but those got buried after being acquired by Wavefront and they eventually pushed their customers to Maya, which was not Dynamation + Kinemation by any stretch, especially not back then.

[@jimscottsoldchannel7103]

2:26 There was only 1 McDonalds in the world of that commercial and it was ultimately crowded and it caused the Earth spinning off into space bumping at the other planets in the solar system and would embark wildly out of control making a mess of the universe to change life as we know it. How did they make it?

[@SeanCC]

Digital painting and a variety of 2D and 3D animation techniques.

[@jimscottsoldchannel7103]

What software and equipment?

[@SeanCC]

SGI Personal Iris workstations and mostly custom in-house tools developed at Metrolight Studios, not for sale, along with Wavefront's Advanced Visualizer. I forget what paint program might have been used. Matador perhaps.

[@jimscottsoldchannel7103]

What time did it take to make this commercial?

[@SeanCC]

Commercials took about as long back then to make as they do today.

[@RKWTMediaLLC]

8:02 KCBS-TV Station ID

[@yahirpuga3513]

9:54-10:22 AMC Theaters Feature Presentation Bumper (1991-1994)

[@whatdidoursurveysay]

16:19 I can't believe I'm actually hearing R.E.M.'s "Underneath the Bunker" in something besides my own CD player.

[@jnadle1]

4:12 Let's not forget Yello's "Tied Up."

[@prfo5554]

17:42 I think PIXAR ripped of these credits in Finding Nemo's credits.

[@DigiFootageFX]

The actual credit sequences are nothing alike, other than the song. The song, however, was a very popular song from back in the 1940's by Bobby Darin. That's really the only similarity.

[@SeanCC]

@@DigiFootageFX also, it just occurred to me that within months of this it also appeared in my favorite X-Files episode, or one of them, "Beyond the Sea," named after the song that appears in the episode. It was definitely in the zeitgeist of the era, whatever kicked off that resurgence.

[@nbcviper]

Do you have anything from the VIPER tv series?

[@SeanCC]

Nope, this was a bunch of the work up to and including some of the work while I was there. There was an update to the reel that they were working on about the time I left to go to Digital Domain when it was first starting and I think I have a rough cut of that on a 3/4" tape in storage somewhere. But they were just getting into Viper when I left. That likely wouldn't have ended up on even a '93 edition of the reel. But that was a really important project, not only because it was fairly high profile and done really well, but it ushered in some new tools for the company. We were demo'ing all of the next generation software from Softimage, Alias, Wavefront, TDI and SESI and though everyone was was so ga-ga over Softimage in the wake of Jurassic Park, a couple of us really put it to the decision makers that the only software out there that worked like production software should, that would be immediately useful, was Prisms from SESI, and that was what Dr. John ended up using on Viper. We carried that sentiment with us to DD where, unfortunately, a deal had been made to buy tons of Softimage and Alias licenses and we made it clear we were not going to finish True Lies with either and we needed Prisms.

[@nbcviper]

@@SeanCC Wow, Thanks for the info. I knew VIPER was groundbreaking for the time but didn't know it was that important to Metrolight. It would be cool to get some photos and interviews from Metrolight regarding VIPER.

[@SeanCC]

@@nbcviper it set a new bar for visual effects for episodic television. The most effects heavy shows at the time were pretty much all space ship shows. Nothing was photoreal. Very little involved live action plate photography, tracking, matching real lighting. The Viper transformation was as hard as any visual effect for a feature film.

[@nbcviper]

@@SeanCC I have a link on my channel of the Episode Ghosts which has to be the most expensive transformation besides the transformation from the Pilot.

[@Gamezitoo]

Did you guys created the Mortal Kombat movie main title sequence?

[@SeanCC]

That would have been a few years after I'd left the company. I'm actually not sure, sorry. I was at Digital Domain in 1995 and wasn't really keeping up with them. It looks like they worked on the film in some capacity, but I'm not sure in what capacity. There's a small number of design firms that don't do effects or animation for shot production that tend to do most logo and title work.

[@jimscottsoldchannel7103]

5:24 Is that a commercial or a VFX movie?

[@SeanCC]

That's Total Recall (1990). Metrolight shares the Oscar for best VFX with DreamQuest Images for that film.

[@gochem3013]

Speaking of 1990, there's this one at 7:11.

[@johnwick6815]

8:50 ???? Name music

[@SeanCC]

Dunno the actual recording, but that's "You are my lucky star," just like that section of the song says. Originally it was Debbie Reynolds with Gene Kelly.