More about the Film Bunny

The Hardware/Software for "Bunny":

The film was animated and partially modeled using SoftImage. The set and objects in Bunny's house were created using CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry). Adobe Photoshop and Amazon were used for texture painting. The rendering was done on a Compaq Computer Corporation AlphaServer RenderPlex system on 40 machines that had a total of 164 processors.

More About the Technology:

In addition to radiosity, the research and development division, headed by VP/Director of R&D Carl Ludwig, also worked on applications to create flared lights, fur and volumetric shadows, which allowed the characters to cast long shadows through shafts of light. The fur was created using invisible cones that were texture mapped with hundreds of short and occasional longish hairs. The count was long hair cones: 5,640; short hair cones: 8,524; shaggy hair cones: 269 and total hair cones 14,433. "This film is really tremendous," Ludwig stated. "We are setting new standards at every turn. Not only do we make extensive use of radiosity, but the entire film is done with raytracing, which is the cornerstone of our proprietary software."

About CGI Studio (tm):

CGI Studio is based on the concept of raytracing and simulates the way light behaves on real objects and surfaces in a natural environment. CGI Studio incorporates an object-oriented graphics programming language rather than a closed menu-driven package. It also builds images through the use of the most advanced, geometric models available, giving it a significant advantage over rendering systems built around polygons. Because of CGI Studio's capabilities, much of the company's recent work combines live-action and computer-generated animation composited during the final rendering stage into seamless first generation images.

About Blue Sky Studios:

Blue Sky Studios was founded in 1987 to develop software to create high-resolution, computer-generated character animation for advertising commercials, feature films and theme park effects. Over the past 12 years, Blue Sky has produced several hundred television commercials for the world's major advertising agencies. On the feature side, Blue Sky produced all of the computer animation for Geffen Films/Warner Bros. Feature film release Joe's Apartment (1986), the computer-generated character effects for the Bubble Factory/Universal Pictures feature film release A Simple Wish (1997), the computer-generated aliens in Twentieth Century Fox feature film release Alien Resurrection (1997) and the computer-generated characters in Paramount Pictures about to be released feature film Star Trek Insurrection. In August, 1997 20th Century Fox merged Blue Sky Studios with Very Imaginative Pictures (VIFX) to become Blue Sky | VIFX.