CyberEdge Archive

The bottom line remains the same in software development, or any engineering project. Garbage in, garbage out. Simulation has no immunity. The only way to make good VizSim is to stay on top of the three foils - optimism, ignorance, and laziness.

It was impossible for me to maintain the journalistic detachment that is a mark of professional reporting as I write this article. For I was one of thousands of New Yorkers crowded on rooftops, staring with disbelief, afraid to keep watching, and unable to look away.

Perhaps you saw those dancing cars and credit cards in the Shell ad on TV. That was done with MoCap. Or you may have admired those folks strolling on the sun deck in Titanic. That was MoCap, too. In the past few years, as the technology has become less expensive and at the same time more accurate, MoCap helps lessen the rigors of traditional cell animation—especially in highly cost-conscious projects like TV commercials.

Some people will say VR has gone the way of AI: over-hyped, and then forgotten. I don't think so. At SIGGRAPH, VR was everywhere, being used, valued, and generally celebrated.