NVIDIA and Jim Henson's Creature Shop Team Up to Bring Cinematic Computing to Life

movielad

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From the NVIDIA press release web site:

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW--LAS VEGAS, NV--JANUARY 8, 2004--NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today announced that it has teamed up with Academy Award®-winning Jim Henson's Creature Shop^(TM), one of the pre-eminent character-building visual effects facilities serving the international film, television, and advertising industries. By way of this collaboration, The Creature Shop is using NVIDIA Quadro® graphics technology to assist in the creation of digital versions of its characters, which are some of the most complex 3D characters in the film and television industry today.

For CES, NVIDIA and The Creature Shop will introduce "Dawn". Introduced in conjunction with the NVIDIA GeForceä FX graphics processing unit (GPU), "Dawn", the world's most detailed realtime, 3D human character, was developed to showcase what is possible with cinematic computing. With the Henson Digital Performance Studioä, "Dawn" will be controlled using puppetry to interact with show attendees.

"For more than 20 years, The Creature Shop has produced amazing characters for film, TV, and advertising," said Dan Vivoli, executive vice president of marketing at NVIDIA. "By using the unique skills of Jim Henson's Creature Shop^(TM) we were able to add a new dimension to our demos, allowing us the ability to "perform" expressions of computer generated characters in real-time. By having the ability to control characters down to eyelid blinks and facial animations, we're able to bring a whole new meaning to 'cinematic computing'."

The Henson Digital Performance Studio^(TM) (HDPS) is the patented performance animation technology based on Henson's award-winning control systems. Through this technology, a digital character can converse live and give dynamic interactive performances that can be used for both entertainment and educational purposes. Character performances can be broadcast live or recorded, generating a very high yield of animation per minute--while using digital "puppets" to communicate.

"NVIDIA's vision is much like ours, to deliver something fantastic, something that makes people smile," stated Jeff Forbes, Computer/Electronics Supervisor, Jim Henson's Creature Shop^(TM). "With the power of NVIDIA graphics technology, we now have access to state-of-the-art computer graphics to combine with our animatronics, puppeteering technology to delivering stunning realtime computer generated characters for everything from live events and promotions, television, online, and game development."

About Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Academy Award-winning Jim Henson's Creature Shop is home to a menagerie of creations from the fantastical and mythical to the ultra-realistic. Located in London andLos Angeles, The Creature Shop is one of the pre-eminent character-building visual effects facilities servicing the international film, television and advertising industries. A leader in digital as well as physical visual effects, The Creature Shop is unique in its ability to provide a total service from concept design through film production to post production. The Creature Shop's commitment to research and development ensures its distinct position at the forefront of technology.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technology dedicated to creating products that enhance the interactive experience on consumer and professional computing platforms. Its graphics and communications processors have broad market reach and are incorporated into a wide variety of computing platforms, including consumer digital-media PCs, enterprise PCs, professional workstations, digital content creation systems, notebook PCs, military navigation systems and video game consoles. NVIDIA is headquartered inSanta Clara,California and employs more than 1,800 people worldwide. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.nvidia.com .

Certain statements in this press release, including any statements relating to the Company's performance expectations for NVIDIA's family of products and expectations of continued revenue growth, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and dependence of the Company on third-party manufacturers, general industry trends including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of the Company's new products, and the Company's dependence on third-party developers and publishers. Investors are advised to read the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Certain Business Risks," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.
 

Phillip

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NVIDIA is a solid company. This is a very nice partnership for Henson. Hopefully we will continue to see digital characters used in effective ways.
 

Jennifer12

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They have to stay competetive in the marketplace, and after Yoda turned into a CGI and LOTR was so successful with Gollum, it seems obvious that this is the next great thing in movie magic. I wish them the best of luck!

Jennifer
 

brianwindsor

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Henson at Siggraph

The Henson Demo at the Nvidia booth at Siggraph was amazing.

Two puppeteers driving a real time virtual character. It was done extremely well. The work that must have gone into that system has to be amazing. The link below is to the character that they were driving. The hair was not quite as impressive in real time as the demos on Nvidia's site, but it was still pretty amazing.

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_nalu_downloads.html

Also, the Puppetry and Computer Graphics special session at Siggraph was pretty amazing. It's probably the one and only time I'll ever get to see Gonzo(David Goelz, I think). Very amazing.

http://www.siggraph.org/s2004/conference/special/puppetry.php?pageID=conference

-Brian
 

funkydoo

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wow nvidia and creature shop now that's a good combo can't wait too see what comes out of it i so exicted i nearly fell out of my truck :excited:
 

movielad

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The way I see it is that it's a natural relationship. Graphics card manufacturers and the film and television VFX world need to be in tune with each other to look at continuously pushing the bounderies of what's currently possible with 3D and 2D effects.

Regards,

Martyn (who can't wait to try out the physics engine in Half Life 2!)
 
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