3th session of the conference cycle. June 1, 2010 at 6:30 pm at the Fundación Telefónica Auditorium in Madrid (Gran Vía 28, 2nd Floor).
General Manager of Next Limit. Creators of Real Flow, awarded a technical Oscar for simulating fluids in films.
Though he is a Naval Engineer, his passion is computers, videogames and programming. He began work in a computer company, where he met his partner, Ignacio Vargas, with whom he founded Next Limit Technologies in 1998, aiming, among other objectives, to develop software to simulate fluids, having seen that in the world of special effects nothing similar existed. Of the projects developed by Next Limit, we would particularly highlight the following: Maxwell Render (a light simulator), XFlow (a simulator of fluids for engineers and scientists) and RealFlow (a 3D physics simulator for the audiovisual industry). These programs, especially Realflow, have been used in the special effects of major Hollywood movies such as: 2012, Matrix, Minority Report, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 300, Poseidon, The Incredibles, Ice Age 2 and 3, and Robots, as well as in television series such as Lost. The success of its programs is such that world famous film companies such as Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and Industrial Light and Magic have used its software. In 2008, Next Limit obtained the Technical Achievement Award (the special effects Oscar).
Further information:
Partner of Nikodemo (animation content company), creator of Cálico Eléctronico
Albert García Pujadas is one of the pioneers in relational marketing and the internet in Spain: marketing director of the Group at Intercom, marketing director at eresMas, founding partner and general manager of Ogilvy Interactive in Spain, etc. He then began to work as an advisor to Nikodemo Animation, later becoming a shareholder, entrepreneur and CEO of that organisation. That company is best known by the public as the creator of Cálico Electrónico, as well as Nikodemo.tv and for organising the 1st Web Series Festival. At present, in addition to his responsibilities at Nikodemo, he works at OneMojito, is advisor and partner of Cuponeo.com, academic coordinator and lecturer of the Idec-UPF Master’s in Direct and Digital Marketing, and is also an amateur blogger at qtorb.com.
3D animation is the technique used to create moving images using computers. To this end, the animator uses design, modelling and rendering software to give physical verisimilitude to computer-generated beings and objects.
The 3D computer animation developer must have not just the same talent and creativity as a traditional animator, but also considerable knowledge of computer animation programs (Maya, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave 3D, etc.) and great ability to innovate and adapt in order to assimilate and exploit the possibilities offered by the new technologies and applications developed in this field. Giving life to a cartoon is a complex task which is generally developed by companies which are specialists in this field. The latest technologies have revolutionised the world of animation as we know it and the possibilities are currently endless.
Box office hits like Avatar, the expansion of computer graphics and enhanced reality as well as the attempts to develop 3D on the internet, such as in Second Life, offer a glimpse into the future of audiovisual media, in which fiction and reality are intertwined until they are considered one and the same thing. Factors such as the increase in the capacity for storage and processing in home computers and the appearance of multiple software applications which can be adapted to the knowledge and skill levels of users have allowed a boom in 3D content production. Currently the technology is already on the market to be able to enjoy 3D content in any home and, for now, the bottleneck is in the availability of enough attractive content to convince users to make the technological leap.
This trend will reverse itself shortly if we consider that the necessary elements are already available to the Spanish professional audiovisual market to launch themselves into 3D production and photographic cameras and laptops available to users which also feature this technology. It should be pointed out that Spanish professionals working in animation content are considered among the best in the world and successes such as Pocoyo, Planet 51 and the work carried out by our compatriots at Industrial Light and Magic along with the recent Oscar nomination for the animated short film “La dama y la muerte” speak volumes about the state of health of this industry in Spain.
