Join us for episode 36 of CGCast as Olivier Archer, Dennis Please, and Simon Roth dive into the latest updates in digital art and technology. From Adobe's upcoming Creative Suite 3, including Photoshop 3 and After Effects enhancements, to discussions
on new rendering tools like Brazil and ZBrush 3, they explore how these advancements might reshape creative workflows. The guys also tackle controversial topics like Microsoft's HD Photo format and its DRM implications, share insights on Steven Spielberg's
upcoming Tintin project, and reminisce about classic films like Jurassic Park. With a mix of technical insights and casual banter, this episode promises to be a must-listen for anyone passionate about graphic design, animation, and gaming trends.
This episode blends technical analysis with lively discussion, offering listeners a comprehensive look at the evolving landscape of digital art and gaming technology. Don't miss out on the latest insights and spirited debates
Welcome everybody to the 35th episode of CGCast.
Oh my god, I'm saturating my sound.
Welcome everybody to the 35th episode of CGCast.
Today with me I have Dennis Please and Simon Roth.
How are you?
Just say Dennis.
Okay, Dennis Please.
Call me Simon.
And my name is Olivier Archer.
I keep forgetting to say my name each time.
That makes me very anti-narcissistic.
Anyways, so what's up guys?
Not much, just chilling on a Sunday evening.
And you, Simon?
Simon, could you please speak louder, Simon?
I am speaking louder.
Like you have life in you.
What in me?
Life.
Oh, yeah.
So, anyways, there's a bit of news this time.
There's Adobe, which soon release its Creative Suite 3.
Photoshop 3 as well.
What?
Yeah.
3.
Yeah, the Creative Suite includes everything.
Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator.
Man, that's awesome.
And that's some cool tools, though.
Yes, we've spoken to some people that, yeah, they did.
I'm not sure what the list was, but I spoke to some co-
workers,
and they were testing the CS3 beta, and it's supposed to be
very good.
What exactly is new?
Because they also have the Creative Suite 3 Extended,
which is supposed to be more for 3D renderings and video.
Well, the interface has changed a little bit.
And the way that you can organize things
and dock your items and stuff is different.
And, well, yeah, there are a few new methods
and maybe some filters, I don't know.
I haven't tested it myself, so...
But we'll see soon enough.
Hope that I can get a free copy from my school.
I'll get a demo before I get it.
But the extended edition thing kind of interests me.
I wonder if it's like an After Effects kind of thing or
what.
Because it's supposed to be videos and 3D.
Was it some excuse to make you spend more money?
I don't know.
Because I'm not into those programs really,
so I can't say anything about it.
Why not?
Because I never tested it.
Simon, what is your comment?
On After Effects of the new Photoshop.
Both.
I've seen someone using New Photoshop.
Please speak louder, Simon.
So I've seen people in the studio using the new After
Effects to show up,
but it didn't seem that much different.
The new After Effects, well...
After Effects 7.
Is that the new one?
I think so.
I used that one editing together my work.
Yeah, the new After Effects is a big improvement.
The whole new interface, it's much cleaner.
It's a lot faster as well in real time.
Yes, exactly.
I've been using the new After Effects also,
and compared to 6.5, the 7 is just a godsend.
But it's still always a bit slow, no matter what.
So there's a new Brazil that's out.
I remember when Brazil came out for the first time a long,
long, long time ago,
it was the Hot Stuff.
And then V-Ray came along and stole its thunder.
And I remember there was Final Render also that was Hot
Stuff at the time.
but V-Ray also came and
stole its thunder. Rangas Brazil
is coming back. Anybody interested
in Resolve? Sorry.
Dennis? Well I
would but I literally don't have
time to play around with new renders and stuff.
It's supposed to be faster.
The thing about renders
is the faster the better.
As long as they're good, well for me anyways.
That's why I like V-Ray because it's fast and
it's good. Even if it's not about
speed is it? It's about speed
of results.
getting the quality that you want
quickly and not having to
and ease of use
well more really
I mean
you have a production tool don't have to be easy to use
because you know you've spent
five years training on the model
but I've tried to have something powerful
with more options that I can
go into
wouldn't you like something that's powerful
lots of options and easy to use
and customizable
I can write my own tools
well quite nice shaders yeah i'm pretty sure you can always
share this for real oh yeah you can
yeah like like the new mental ray that well that came in
max 9 it's so much nicer compared to the
old they made it much easier to use and to get like uh
global illumination is much less worked
well to get it to look good is much less work now and i
think that's awesome yeah so moving on
this is the time for you to rant Simon
Microsoft announces
HD photo
a new imaging file format
with advanced features for today's
digital photographers
yeah well all it is is
like it's a loss
I think it's lossy
it's lossy and lossless
oh well okay well yeah
so we've got enough image formats
the JPEG format if it's going to get updated
or has been query
speak louder Simon
they've released it so they can put
DRM on it
basically, just like they did with everything
they released now
but I would love to DRM my renders to prevent
the MySpacers from using
my images as their background
as with all DRM
it's
only put in place for large companies
to make a lot of money, it won't work for
but that's only for companies selling
stock photos
think about like
is making videos and releasing them online.
So yeah, we don't have a team of lawyers
to back up legal claims and stuff.
So in VR and screen,
people hack it pretty much anywhere.
People just get hacked.
I'm not getting your rant.
You're being anti-DRM,
but for photo formats, I don't see.
For iOS anyway,
it's just like yourself trying to get their name on
something.
And what if they can do a better job?
Why not?
They won't.
They should maybe focus on making an operating system
that is a piece of shit.
Oh, that's harsh.
I don't think Windows Vista is that bad.
Well, I've only tested it a few times.
Windows X3 is not bad.
Yeah, but there's something...
I wish they'd release...
They released all these different copies of Vista,
but all of them have the...
It's all the, like...
Yeah, it's not annoying.
But they shouldn't have.
They should have a copy,
which is like a professional copy,
and where you can just go and, you know,
edit system files and stuff without...
That's ultimate position.
What?
You can disable all of that shit, all that stuff.
But why should it be there on the phone's voice?
Because people are stupid and they'll get viruses on their
computers in five minutes.
Actually, that's why they should release a professional
edition,
which doesn't have any of that shit,
which doesn't have a built-in firewall that's absolute crap
.
It doesn't have limited network connectivity and stuff.
It has limited network connectivity?
Well, things like, um, well, yeah,
but it's just, I don't want to get into details.
But someone's stuck here, absolutely.
I don't know yet.
Once I get Vista, I'll format my laptop and I'll put it on
and I'll do a video episode on it,
see what programs work and what won't.
But I'm afraid to install it on my laptop
because I know NVIDIA was lazy
and they didn't get any drivers for NVIDIA cards.
Yeah.
Well, it's a long story, not to say.
Yes.
Yes.
So, what else can we talk about?
ZBrush 3?
Yes, ZBrush 3.
I bet you don't know much about it.
No, they gave a video, a teaser video,
and you have a lot more control of the mesh.
It was like a bone system, kind of.
Everything they had before, I don't remember.
They did tie it.
They built in some stuff, as people asked for,
but nothing that seemed like the solution to the...
just, yeah, additions.
Yeah, but now it's...
I wonder if it's going to get Modbox a run for its money
to come back and be king.
Are we talking about the guys?
Oh, you weren't here?
What the hell?
Oh, I left a message in the chat, but...
Oh, we didn't see it.
Talking...
We spoke about...
Me and Simon had an amazing discussion
about Microsoft HD photo format.
Okay, cool.
Do you have any opinions on it?
No, I'm not familiar with it.
What about ZBrush 3?
Yeah, I've seen some videos, man. That's amazing.
Do you think it's going to give Modbox a run for its money?
I don't know. I think they're both great programs.
But I think ZBrush is still for the more advanced users.
And, well, you can get some pretty awesome results from it.
Also from Modbox, but I still think that ZBrush is number
one.
Yeah, I think ZBrush has an edge because you can do text
uring in ZBrush.
Yeah, seriously.
So it kind of unwraps the model for you.
Really, the ZBrush unwrapping is strange
because it tries to rely on the fact that everything you
have in ZBrush
is incredibly high poly, so everything's made out of little
...
Yeah, it's really hard to edit it.
Yeah, it gives you something that's completely unusable
if you need to hear back and fix something.
Hello?
After the brush.
What?
Simon?
What?
Yo.
Sorry, man.
I lost you.
It's all on silence.
What happened?
These are epic moments in CGCast history.
Simon?
Simon?
I'm talking to you.
Ah.
Hello?
Dennis, can you hear me?
Snap.
People.
It's F4 Children's.
Epic moments in CGCast history.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to edit any of this.
it goes as it's recorded
CG cast on Sunsurf
no worries man
no worries
Simon has lost
we have lost Simon
he can hear us but he can't
but we can't hear him
fix your mic boy
the show must go on
yes we can hear you
yeah he's back
back
okay moving on
Photoshop
Oh wait, Adobe is going to try and tackle photo forgeries.
Now whenever we see a photo and think it's Photoshop,
Adobe will be there to tell us if it's really Photoshopped
or not.
Does this interest anybody?
No comment.
It's a fantasy which camera the photo was taken with
and to analyze if it's been touched.
I don't know.
I'm not an Adobe engineer.
I'm guessing by checking the metadata.
Or maybe...
Can't you just do that pretty easily?
But normally when you save it in Photoshop, you lose the
metadata.
Yeah.
Oh, so you're saying it's going to be...
My day is going to be included in Photoshop.
Fuckers.
Let me check.
I want to check an edited image.
See if it still has the metadata.
Let's see.
This image, does it have the metadata?
Summary.
I guess it still does have the metadata.
It tells which camera I was taken with.
focal lens flash well it tells you everything awesome um i
don't know how they found them
because the image was edited but sometimes it does as a
metadata for you yeah that's step eight
either oh yes exactly how this image does not have the
metadata anyways moving on there is
steven spielberg who wants to do tintin you got no tintin
yes um oh wait yeah that's the
Yeah, I know that comic.
Not really annoying cartooning.
There used to be a game of it on Super Nintendo.
I don't think I've ever played it.
No, I did.
Kind of funny, but...
I wonder if it's going to be a lot more animated.
I don't know.
I think he will probably work with the same people that
worked on Jurassic Park.
The stop motion guys.
I thought Jurassic Park was mechanical and 3D.
Yeah, but they started out doing stop-motion shit.
Yeah, they actually were going to make some go-motion or
stop-motion.
That would have been horrible.
No, no, it looked really, really good.
You could kind of tell it was stop-motion,
but it was probably the best stop-motion that would have
been made.
Simon's feet helped sweep up.
Yeah, what he said is true.
But still, you can see the difference between that and the
mechanics.
Yeah, you could see the difference.
And the funny thing is that the mechanics did some weird j
ittery movement when it got wet or cold.
It's from the deers.
Yeah.
The mechanics weren't very smooth.
No.
No, but it gave some cool effects on the T-Rex, for example
, when he was shaking his neck.
They actually left it in.
It's weird.
Do you know there's a scene in that film where there's
actually a hand holding up on the Velociraptors?
You know, when they hike into the kitchen.
There's a hand.
It's like, how did that get...
Oh, I see.
I've never seen that
I want to look for
what do you mean
the hand came off
something on the ceiling
when she bumped
into something
what
or were you talking
about something else
when the raptors
walk into the door
one of the raptors
is like just about
to fall over
so um
you just see a hand
coming and kind of
grab the tail
and hold it
like straight
what I need to check
for that
which scene
is that
you know the kitchen scene
where the door
where the kids eat
Just after he fell down the gate from the power thingy.
I'm looking for...
No, no, it's after that.
It's when they're hiding in the kitchen.
They run into the kitchen because the boss raptors are up.
Yeah, then you see a raptor at the door,
breathing through the glass and stuff.
Yeah, when the door opens up,
there's a hand holding onto the raptor's tail.
No.
Yeah, no, look at...
Is that in the actual film or was it edited out?
No, no, no, it's in the film.
Dude I'm gonna check that right now
I'm checking
I can't seem to find it
You know when
They're running along in the ceiling
And the ceiling tiles
Kind of fall away
And it falls down
And the Velociraptor's below her
Because they could get the girl to do that
And they've used a stunt person
They actually photoshopped the girl's face
Onto the stunt person
And I think that's the first time it's ever been done in a
film
was ever done in a film.
I don't know.
I can't seem to find an image
on Google image search.
I'm looking Jurassic Park mistake.
No raptors.
Nothing.
Mom, I loaded fast
so you stupid shit.
Please look,
there are children
and Christians
want you to see this show.
Praise Jesus,
Christians don't swear.
They never heard you.
Ever.
Good Christians, I swear.
Because it's blasphemous.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Of course, it's blasphemous.
Speaking of how ironic, looking for Jurassic Park listings,
images in Google,
the third page has a photo of nuns.
Yeah, that's some scary dinosaur stuff, man.
Oh, weird.
Menu, menu, menu.
Gone.
And is this Happy Guy Sealer U the new Far Cry video?
No.
No, I haven't been able to download it since it didn't show
up.
But I did see some awesome stuff from LittleBigPlanet for
PlayStation 3 from GDC.
Yeah, I saw the video too. It was pretty cool.
Dude, that's so awesome, man.
That's gonna reach for a whole wide age selection, you know
.
Little kids will play it. We will play it.
It's ironic how...
It's so great.
It's ironic how all the Nintendo haters were always saying
that Nintendo consoles are for kids.
Ah, that's so not true, man.
So now the PlayStation 3 has kid game,
and that's the game that's going to save the PlayStation 3,
is high-end metal game.
Yeah.
Well, if I'm going to get a PlayStation 3, I will get that
game.
If you're going to get a PlayStation 3, you're rich.
Share the wealth, dude.
I'm not going to pay for your PlayStation 3.
It's going to be a month's work.
Half a month's work for me.
Stop showing off guns.
It's not nice.
Okay, hold on.
I'm looking at that scene right now.
I'm going to take a photo and maybe they'll send it.
Take a print screen and send it.
I can, man.
It's on my HTTP.
Oh, my God.
Share the wealth, dude.
No.
Take a photo.
Get a job.
I have to go to school from 8 o'clock.
Okay, Simon, when is it coming?
When?
Do I have to get out my DVD and tell you the exact time
code?
Can't you guys like put the DVD in your computer and take a
screenshot?
Okay.
Okay, the aim is...
I'm not gonna do it.
I'm not gonna do it.
This is...
Okay, look to the shot.
It's a slightly high-angled shot.
Right?
Yeah!
I see something.
Much?
Yeah.
It looks like a hand grabbing the tail just when he opens
the door.
Come on, it could be a wish shading thingy though.
Wait, how do I...
Sonny, take a goddamn screenshot.
And put it in the show notes.
Seriously.
Come on, Lonnie, you want to see it again?
You want to see it again?
Simon, take a screenshot.
I don't have it open.
Man, it is almost not noticeable.
It is that you say it.
But Demis is watching it on his TV, and that's not cool.
It is cool.
No, I mean, it's not cool that you're not sharing it.
And?
You just put the DVD in your computer and take a screenshot
.
I can't.
Why not?
Because Media Player doesn't like me.
Well, you use VLC.
I don't have that program and I'm not gonna download.
Oh, I know.
It's a good program.
It's the bestest.
That's why Ultimisource is good.
Man, it is a hand.
And look.
What a revelation.
Never knew.
After how many years?
When was it released?
1990s?
On the 90th.
No, no way.
1994, I think.
No, 93.
So after 15 years.
Dude, can you believe that?
What is it?
So many years ago, and it's still a good film.
What an exciting show.
Yeah, this is the best show ever.
Oh, man.
I'll try not to make it too long.
What about 300?
Has anybody seen 300?
No, but it doesn't look that appealing to me.
I don't know why, but...
For Sparta.
Yeah, when I see that stuff,
I think about the movie Troy,
mixed with the chaotic fighting scenes
from Lord of the Rings.
Oh, I've seen that and I've been there,
so I don't really want to see that again.
No, but it's nothing because 300 is like...
Most of the environments are completely CG
and it has a very stylized look.
Yeah, there may be, but I don't know.
We'll see what they do with that.
It's going to be so original.
It's going to be a speak louder segment.
It's going to be a lot different
from what you usually see at the cinema.
And if it breaks...
It's going to be very violent.
Well, maybe it'll be a good thing because, you know, if it
...
Like Sin City's.
Hmm?
Like Sin City.
I still think Sin City was a very good film.
I quite enjoyed it.
I love Sin City.
You like it?
Sin City rocked.
Can't wait for Sin City.
I love Sin City.
It sucked.
You suck.
How can you say that?
We're no longer asking your opinion on movies, Dennis.
Ever.
It's fine.
Good.
I really hated Sin City, man.
Why?
Because it's such a periodic film, man.
It doesn't make sense and it's...
Yeah, it does make sense.
And yellow stinky people and hookers with guns.
And that guy at the beginning, he's getting shot like a
million times and he's still alive.
I mean, it's called fiction, right?
It's called fiction.
I hate that shit.
You have gone down.
What?
You have lost respect in my eyes, Dennis.
I don't care.
I can live without it.
No, you can't, Dennis. You shall suffer.
Yes, I can.
Suffer.
Fine. Whatever.
Moving on.
I'm gonna have to. Moving on.
So, anybody ever... What the hell is a mental mill?
Not really sure what it is. I think it's something at
mental ray.
Oh my god.
Doesn't sound familiar.
No, no.
There is a crisis. Nobody's seen it with you except for me.
I noticed that the shadows are a bit hard.
I don't know. I haven't seen this.
Someone in the world of aviator games that's not...
Simon, speak louder.
Equalizing this is going to be hard.
Simon, speak louder, bro.
Like a man.
Am I loud enough yet?
Yes.
Share your wisdom.
Share your wisdom on sharp shadows.
Well, um...
I haven't seen the sharp shadows in...
Is it Crisis you're talking about?
Oh, goddammit.
Anyways, I really...
Shy? Flash me.
Buddy.
There was some parts they have they have certain soft
shadows by it's like me one of the outside scenes the
shadows were pretty hard
But other than that looks really cool and they're bringing
back it's trouble
environments like the
First game to do that was red fraction
Faction and level of generation was awesome red extra
faction fraction
Yeah, no affection great fight actually rich I didn't like
grid faction too, but red faction one was awesome
just spend hours
I can't even remember
if I have
the first
or the second one
I think I have the first one
rather than yes
I didn't like the second one
hey did you guys
did you guys see
the trailer
for the new
Battlefield game
it's really awesome
new Battlefield game
well
I don't know
yeah it's called
Bad Company
Battlefield Bad Company
oh yeah
I've seen that one
true
they had destructible
they had destructible
environments now
and everything
yeah they said it was
in-game material, but I don't
think so. No, no, the trailer
I saw was definitely cinematic because
it was like filmed kind of
documentary style, where you know
they announce all the boys.
It was a cruise island in the middle of the war.
No, it was pretty...
It wasn't laugh out loud funny, but it was...
I mean, it was so cliche.
Like, yeah, you said we could shoot
anything.
It was funny. The ending wasn't so...
No, but the execution
was more or less good.
No, it was okay.
I kind of liked
how they did the trailer
for Metal Gear Solid 4
for the PlayStation 3.
Oh, yes.
I was also in the same style.
You see someone running
with a camera
and all of a sudden
you see people walking by
and it was very cool.
Yes, but you have to understand
Metal Gear has
amazing production values.
True.
Really amazing
production values.
Yeah, I'm...
I really see how it turns out,
you know?
Like the in-game material.
Yeah.
And I wonder how long it will take them to finally release
the game for PlayStation 3.
Because for that game alone, I would get a PlayStation 3.
That game alone, I would borrow somebody's PlayStation 3.
Yeah, no one will borrow your PlayStation 3.
You know, I had a PlayStation 2 for like six of my bars
from a friend.
And all I did was collect dust.
Yeah, that's what's happening with my Xbox right now.
You can mail it to me if you want.
Yeah, for 300 euros, it's yours.
How about I give it back to you when you want it back?
How about no?
What happens if it breaks?
I mean, I need to be able to send it to Microsoft if
something happens,
like my games get scratches or my hard drive fails
or the whole Xbox blows up like happened in many households
.
Well, it's not going to happen because none of my consoles
have ever fucked up.
Yeah, but you need to understand that the first productions
of the Xbox were dramatic.
I think that 70% of all the Xboxes that have been sold were
sent back to the company to be fixed or whatever.
That's a bit dramatic.
Yeah, but it's true.
But I'm very lucky.
I mean, so far, I'm the only one of the people I know that
have the Xbox 360 that hasn't broke down yet.
Wow, you sound very anti-Microsoft right now, anti-Xbox.
No, why would I be? I mean, I have one standing in my room.
I mean, that should say the opposite.
Well, it's saying like, oh, my friend, he has consoles.
You know, I'm neutral. I like PlayStation, I like Microsoft
, I like Nintendo, I like them all.
I wish these things weren't so expensive in Europe. It's
not cool, it's not fair.
Yeah, Europe is being shushed, especially less games on it
as well. Did you hear about that?
Watch?
What?
Oh, yeah, with the PlayStation 3.
Less backwards compatibility.
Hang your ball.
Thank God I'm a buying one.
But I don't really mind, though,
because when I had a PlayStation 2
and I wanted to play PlayStation 1 games,
Final Fantasy, for example,
you couldn't save because it didn't want to save
on the newer generation memory cards.
Oh, snap.
Yeah.
That's what made me decide to sell my PlayStation 2.
Let's get an emulator in safe state.
nah I don't like emulators
well they can buy control
and it's all good
hmm
I'll be right back guys
alright
Simon
it's me and you
would you like to wrap up the show
I'd like to wrap it up
yes
do a wrap
at the end
no
no
not at all
so
this has been a
really short episode
it was pulled together
at the last
moment
hope you guys enjoyed it
tonight is Sunday
I'll probably
put it up tomorrow
on Monday and
enjoy.
And if you're wondering why my voice sounds so weird,
it's because I'm realistic.
Okay, so Simon, say bye-bye.
Bye-bye, everyone.
Like a man.
Bye, everyone.
Bye, everyone.
And I'm pretty sure Dennis says bye.
Au revoir.
Ciao.
Auf Wiedersehen.
