Interview with 3DAliens
3Daliens develops the Glu3D fluid simulator software for 3dsmax and Maya. PWrapper plugin is a particle envelope that helps in representing a particle collection.
SANTIAGO REDONDO
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi, my name is Santiago Redondo and I am 38 year old, Telecommunication Engineer. I started the 3dAleins Ltd in 2003. I am the programmer of the plugin Glu3d which is used for fluids simulation in 3ds Max and Maya.
Can you tell us from where you got the idea for Glu3d?
Yes. The idea of making fluids with particles by applying the SPH formalism was initially coded and applied in a Spanish company called REM Infografica in 1997, the Company that developed well known plugins for 3dsmax like metaReyes, clothReyes, NPR, etc. First test and source code were made there, in REM Infográfica under the management of Javier Reyes Moreno. The team leader, I and other people from REM Infografica leaved the company in 1998 to found a new company called NEXT LIMIT S.L. This company continued the fluid project and named it RealFlow. However every founder of the company did not have the copyright of the program: although I contributed in RealFlow program with a 33% , I had no rights on it, because it was registered by the other two co-founders. After three years of continuous development, I was fired from there. I lost all my rights on the Company and the program and after a period of mobbing actions, I had to sell my Company stocks for nothing.
After a year, I decided to start a new fluid project from scratch. I called it Glu3D. It was in the early 2002. Every single line of source code added to Glu3D was new. Nothing was taken from the old project RealFlow. A new concept of fluid simulator integrated in 3dsmax and Maya was in mind; based on the SPH formalism as RealFlow, but with a new user interface, completely integrated in the 3D platform.
As soon as they came to know that I founded a new company, Next Limit decided to sue me, arguing that I used the same realflow sources. After three years in the Court, and after comparing every source line of both programs, the conclusion of the Court was that Glu3D is a completely new program with no comparison with RealFlow.
Can you give us an overview of the core technology being used in Glu3d?
Glu3D uses a CFD method called SPH - Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, to calculate inter-particle interactions. Lots of references about this model can be found by searching in ‘Google’. SPH is a method that uses particles to sample 3D space with some fluid properties, as density, pressure and more. Fluid properties in any 3D point can be interpolated from those particle sample values. Once animation is calculated, a surface polymesh can be added to visualization purposes. The original algorithm purposed by SPH authors, has been simplified and adapted to the 3D problem. These improvements continue in each Glu3D version.
What has been the biggest challenge in the Glu3d so far?
The aim of Glu3D developers is to bring a high level algorithm to the 3D community by simplifying the complex physical model to adapt it to the 3D animation requirements. Other commercial approaches run outside the main 3D package (3dsmax, Maya) and make it difficult to adapt current scene to a proprietary environment. People prefer to cook at home: Users love to run simulations inside its 3D package. We try to make it easier to the users.
What’s coming next in glu3d, you are also planning a plug-in for Softimage and Houdini?
We have plans to provide with ports to other packages. XSI is in our list. Some useful functions will be available outside glu3D; for example PWrapper: a particle envelope plug-in.
Can you tell us about the team working on the Glu3d? How many people are working on it and from what backgrounds does everyone comes?
For Now, only two people are working on this project: Jesus Pedrosa and me. Other people collaborated in this project. We are already in the 3D business for a long time. In future we will add more people to the team.
How do you rate your plug-in on the scale of 10?
hmmm, 9
Would you like to say anything to CGArena readers?
Hello to all CGArena readers. I hope glu3D will help you in your work.
JESUS PEDROSA
Could you tell us a bit about yourself & family?
Tough one, I usually don’t like to talk about myself :)
I am a 30 year (sigh) guy from Galicia, a region in NW Spain. My fist contact with computer graphics was at a very early age with a Spectrum +2 in the 8 bit era. I started doing videotext adventures with graphics, later I moved to the pc, where I was blown away with 3d studio and Animator Pro. Then came windows, 3dsmax and many others.
Explain the role of a Plug-in Designer - what do you do?
As I was the main beta tester of Realflow since version 1 I’ve spent many years working with fluids on a daily basis. I was perfectly aware of what is a good idea and what it is not regarding a fluids tool, so I started to feed Santi with all the ideas I had in mind for years.
In which movies Glu3d used, till today?
Although 3Daliens is a modest company, the quality of Glu3D convinced some great studios like Blur, Troublemaker, CafeFx, Sony, etc
We already know that Glu3D has been used in Sin City by Troublemaker Studios and CafeFx (both tried RealFlow and turned it down after trying Glu3D), “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” by CafeFx and works from Blur Studios (they turned down RealFlow too).
There is more movies where Glu3D has been used but we are not aware of the titles, as some big studios doesn’t like to promote little companies and they just tell “we used Maya” in the interviews (but for real production they buy all kind of software tools). Glu3D is being used by Weta Digital, Digital Dimension, Encore Hollywood, Frantic Films and many other Film and TV companies from many countries around the world.
As you know, Online Piracy poses a major threat for all companies, what you are doing to save Glu3d from this?
We belive that if the software is good enough and it have a good price the people that use it to make profit will buy it. We know that piracy is unstopable, it doesn’t matter if you put the latest Starforce, FlexLm, C-Dilla, ... hackers will always crack it sooner than later, and you will be wasting your time and annoying your legal customers with complex licensing stuff.
We think that there is a much more important thing that can’t be cracked or downloaded from Emule or BitTorrent: GOOD SUPPORT.
Freelancers and Companies working seriously want a good support, so we are always there to answer questions, fix bugs to meet the deadline, etc …day or night. I think that’s one of our most valuable work, and letters from our customers prove it...
“I have no plans at all to use (or continue to use) Real Flow for any fluid simulations. From what I have seen, I believe that Glu3D is better suited to our needs than Real Flow. It seems to be every bit as capable as Real Flow, but has the advantage of running inside of Max (something we have asked Next Limit to do for YEARS!). Also, the level of customer service that we receive from you simply cannot be topped. It is very clear to us that you have a genuine desire to make Glu3D a great product, and you are always willing to hear suggestions of how to make it better. It is really great to use a product that has such enthusiasm behind it.
I’m sure we would probably have used at least PWrapper on about 9 out of the last 10 projects that we have done (it’s really great for blood splatters and stuff like that). PWrapper is absolutely AWESOME and extremely fast compared to any other type of metaballs that we have.
I really hope things work out for your company. It’s very frustrating to know that you have a better product than your competitor, but not have the resources or the opportunity to prove it. It would really be a shame to not have Glu3D continue in development.”
Kirby Miller
Blur Studios
What are your hobbies?
I like films a lot. I really mean it, my BenQ hi-res projector is possible the best buy I did in many many years. I spent a lot of time watching good films from all times (undubbed versions, of course ;) , getting HD versions and freaky stuff like that. A quick brief list of my favorite movies will be: Blade Runner, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Alien, Donnie Darko, Oldboy, The Fellowship of The Ring (extended), Usual Suspects, The Incredibles, Yojimbo, Annie Hall, Apocalypse Now and Fight Club.
I also studied Film and TV production, as I was much more interested in the whole process than just the fx part. Right now I’m in the process of making a short film with some friends, although I reckon that everybody does that these days. I am a computer freak too, I go to demoscene parties and I am always checking the new and latest software versions, playing games, etc. I like to read a lot too, mainly fictional books but classical too (greek, chinese, etc).
Where you see yourself after 5 years?
I would love to keep on working in software design and fx production, but frankly I am becoming less and less interested in the fx part of movies. I would like to be involved in film production, but in a more creative way.
How anyone can contact you and ask for support or help?
Anybody can reach me at the Glu3D user forums (http://www.3daliens.com/glu3D/forum2), my personal contact details are there (email, msn, icq and yahoo)
How do you rate your plug-in on the scale of 10?
Being honest, I will rate it with 8. Glu3D is easy to use and cheap. It could be more powerful, and we are always working on improvements, optimizations and new features, but remember that we are just a 2 guys company that lack financial help for everything. What I can assure is that when we will have more resources from a bigger company Glu3D will be much better, and we will make more CG tools based on the same “powerful and easy” philosophy.
Would you like to give any message to CGArena readers?
Start working with Glu3D! we don’t care if you don’t have money to buy it, the demo version is FULLY FUNCIONAL, and we will always give free licenses to people that shows good results using our tool, as simple as that. If you can make an fx movie test or illustration using Glu3D that can call the community attention you’ll have a Glu3D free license granted so… hands on mates!
