Ed Oscuro
01-27-2006, 12:06 AM
In Laboratory B3 of the GameCube remake of Resident Evil you'll find a working monitor with the Umbrella logo on it. Use this terminal. Before the onscreen keyboard shows up, you'll notice a few text boxes in the background. Here's the text:
A showcase of the best customer work using Softimage tools, our compilation reels are featured during tradeshows, events and product demonstrations. To secure your spot, reels and finished projects may be submitted to Softimage in either Beta SP or Digital Beta format at the following address, and don't forget to include your consent form. Deadline for GDC 2002 submissions is March 10, 2002.
Send your materials to:
Brett Lush
RE: Demo Reels
Softimage Co.
3510, boulevard St-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec
H2X 2V2
CANADA
That's copied from this page (http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Xsinews/03012002_vol2_iss2/nl_2.htm#gal) at Softimage's XSI Newsletter pages.
What's Umbrella using Softimage for, and why are they preparing for GDC 2002 (it was known as the CGDC until 1999)? What secrets does Softimage have regarding the incident in the Arklay Mountains? Resolved to find out, I snuck onto Softimage's site to see where their offices are located (http://www.softimage.com/Corporate/Contacts/) in order to conduct closer surveilance. Turns out all my preparation was for naught, as it turns out Softimage's relationship with the fictional company is managed via Capcom.
There are a number of articles about Capcom's use of Softimage modeling programs, including for Resident Evil 4. First things first, though:
"ESSENCE OF EVIL:[/quote] Capcom Creates A Whole New Level of Fear with Biohazard for GameCube." Cool read with some nice renders from all across the game, even a shot from the modeling program of Jill walking across a grid in the digital void. That's not all, however; there's a few words from "Capcom Animator" Shinji Utsunomiya.
Note that the writer, Michael Abraham, is not Michael Abrams whom you may have heard of from the PC games world. I don't know who this guy is, actually, but his revelation that he didn't know of Biohazard seems less unusual given his recommendation to [url=http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Mag/Cs/SIGGRAPH_Issue/plf.htm]"load up your joystick" (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/volume_2/issue_5/capcom.htm) for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, a game that has shooting sequences and ground vehicles only...but I'm getting off track...
Resident Evil 0 (http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Mag/Cs/VOLUME_3/Issue_GDC/1.htm). Features more commentary from Mr. Utsunomiya, and probably more renders of Billy Cohen and Rebecca than you can handle. Well, there's fifteen - but they all feature Billy, Rebecca, or both of them.
Now here's the highlight of the bunch. A Resident Evil 4 article! If you've never seen Leon and Ashley with purple hair, here's your chance. It's just the wireframe version, however. Very cool for showing both finished "art renders," ingame scenes, and screencaps taken right from the artist's console of various famous scenes from the game, as they look when being edited. This time we talk with one Yoshiaki Hirabayashi. Of note:
In the past, Capcom used both SOFTIMAGE|XSI and SOFTIMAGE|3D for the development of the Resident Evil franchise, including on Resident Evil for Game Cube. For Resident Evil 4, however, the development environment was migrated to SOFTIMAGE|XSI exclusively for everything from character modeling to animation as well as to the outputting of scene data to actual equipment.
I also found an article (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/volume_2/issue_3/lamaison.htm) about a striking Game Boy Advance commercial I'd never seen before (see the commercial here) (http://www.alamaison.fr/english/E_rubriques/E_gallery/commercials/2002/E_nintendo/E_nintendo.htm), "Mappy Park," (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/VOLUME_2/Issue_7/namco.htm) related to the classic Namco title, and a page of modern games and other random things (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/default_v3.asp) which includes articles on Sega's Shinobi, Square's FFXI, and Valve's Half-Life 2.
Now, if you ask me...that was one hell of an easter egg!
A showcase of the best customer work using Softimage tools, our compilation reels are featured during tradeshows, events and product demonstrations. To secure your spot, reels and finished projects may be submitted to Softimage in either Beta SP or Digital Beta format at the following address, and don't forget to include your consent form. Deadline for GDC 2002 submissions is March 10, 2002.
Send your materials to:
Brett Lush
RE: Demo Reels
Softimage Co.
3510, boulevard St-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec
H2X 2V2
CANADA
That's copied from this page (http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Xsinews/03012002_vol2_iss2/nl_2.htm#gal) at Softimage's XSI Newsletter pages.
What's Umbrella using Softimage for, and why are they preparing for GDC 2002 (it was known as the CGDC until 1999)? What secrets does Softimage have regarding the incident in the Arklay Mountains? Resolved to find out, I snuck onto Softimage's site to see where their offices are located (http://www.softimage.com/Corporate/Contacts/) in order to conduct closer surveilance. Turns out all my preparation was for naught, as it turns out Softimage's relationship with the fictional company is managed via Capcom.
There are a number of articles about Capcom's use of Softimage modeling programs, including for Resident Evil 4. First things first, though:
"ESSENCE OF EVIL:[/quote] Capcom Creates A Whole New Level of Fear with Biohazard for GameCube." Cool read with some nice renders from all across the game, even a shot from the modeling program of Jill walking across a grid in the digital void. That's not all, however; there's a few words from "Capcom Animator" Shinji Utsunomiya.
Note that the writer, Michael Abraham, is not Michael Abrams whom you may have heard of from the PC games world. I don't know who this guy is, actually, but his revelation that he didn't know of Biohazard seems less unusual given his recommendation to [url=http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Mag/Cs/SIGGRAPH_Issue/plf.htm]"load up your joystick" (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/volume_2/issue_5/capcom.htm) for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, a game that has shooting sequences and ground vehicles only...but I'm getting off track...
Resident Evil 0 (http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Mag/Cs/VOLUME_3/Issue_GDC/1.htm). Features more commentary from Mr. Utsunomiya, and probably more renders of Billy Cohen and Rebecca than you can handle. Well, there's fifteen - but they all feature Billy, Rebecca, or both of them.
Now here's the highlight of the bunch. A Resident Evil 4 article! If you've never seen Leon and Ashley with purple hair, here's your chance. It's just the wireframe version, however. Very cool for showing both finished "art renders," ingame scenes, and screencaps taken right from the artist's console of various famous scenes from the game, as they look when being edited. This time we talk with one Yoshiaki Hirabayashi. Of note:
In the past, Capcom used both SOFTIMAGE|XSI and SOFTIMAGE|3D for the development of the Resident Evil franchise, including on Resident Evil for Game Cube. For Resident Evil 4, however, the development environment was migrated to SOFTIMAGE|XSI exclusively for everything from character modeling to animation as well as to the outputting of scene data to actual equipment.
I also found an article (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/volume_2/issue_3/lamaison.htm) about a striking Game Boy Advance commercial I'd never seen before (see the commercial here) (http://www.alamaison.fr/english/E_rubriques/E_gallery/commercials/2002/E_nintendo/E_nintendo.htm), "Mappy Park," (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/VOLUME_2/Issue_7/namco.htm) related to the classic Namco title, and a page of modern games and other random things (http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi/mag/cs/default_v3.asp) which includes articles on Sega's Shinobi, Square's FFXI, and Valve's Half-Life 2.
Now, if you ask me...that was one hell of an easter egg!