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Archived News
September 2003
Week 3
Saturday September
20, 2003
Craig Burt's Anakin
Skywalker |
Craig Burt has provided another outstanding new painting to the Featured
Artist section! This time we have an Episode III Anakin
Skywalker, so if you missed the latest real picture before I had
to take it down, this will do nicely. Thanks Craig! Also, be sure
to see his outstanding gallery of work with Craig
Burt's Paintings and also Craig
Burt's Cartoons! You can find other great work at the Featured
Artists section. Enjoy!
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Saturday September
20, 2003
New Galactic Fanatic |
Our new featured fan is Melanie Killingsworth. Congratulations!
Here is a small sample of one of the questions asked.
Which
Star Wars movie is your favorite and why?
Oh brother! There's only
five, you'd think I could choose. Nostalgia compels me to choose
ROTJ, but I really can't pick. It would not, however, be episode
one. I'll say episode three. 8-) who knows, It might be!
To find out more about our newest Galactic
Fanatic, go to the Featured
Fanatics page!
Do you love Star Wars? Why? Do you collect? Tell
us your story! We are looking for fans like you to feature! We
would like to let other fans know some of the reasons behind your
love of Star Wars, how you got started, and your most treasured
items. Fill out the Registration
Form to become Galactic Voyage's Featured Fanatic!
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Friday September 19,
2003
Are animators assigned
characters... |
This report comes from the Official
Star Wars Site!
Answered by: Rob Coleman
Are
animators assigned characters, or are they assigned sequences, and
how is that decided?
Lead animators are assigned to one character or a
few characters, the leads then supervise a team of animators
working with them on a sequence. Animators are "cast"
depending on their strengths. Some animators are better at quiet
acting moments while others are best suited to huge action
sequences. An animator may work on a variety of characters with a
number of lead animators over the production of the film.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Friday September 19,
2003
Homing Beacon #94 |
The latest Homing Beacon has arrived, and today we get to talk
about the next steps for ILM in the production of Episode III.
With the first phase of principal photography now complete on
Episode III, the movie moves further into the digital world of
postproduction. The artists at Industrial Light & Magic are
sparing no time in tackling the thousands of effects shots
required to complete this final chapter of the Star Wars
saga. While a trio of ILM crew observed the shooting in Sydney,
Australia, a growing team back in Northern California has already
been busy working on creating digital assets required for their
work.
Visual Effects Supervisors John Knoll and Pablo Helman, and
Matchmove Supervisor Jason Snell depart Australia this week for
ILM's facilities. Both Knoll and Helman are scheduled to work the
day after they arrive. "We'll be supervising model
development and Viewpaint right away," says Knoll.
"That's already been going on, so there's some catching up
for us to do. George [Lucas] said he'd get us the first Yoda
sequences to begin working on in a month or so."
Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman, who spent time on the set
earlier in production, is beginning to assemble a team of
animators to create the wide range of major digital characters in
Episode III. "Rob will start animating in October," says
Helman. "He's got a list of who his team is going to be, but
he's not going to be putting that together until next month."
Jason Snell will be delivering his accurate digital wireframe
models of the sets that he's made during production based on
photographs and measurements taken in person. The matchmovers at
ILM will begin to create virtual additions and enhancements to the
tangible sets.
"The first thing I'll do is take all the models that I've
built and clean them up and color-code them, and submit them to
the Sets/Creatures assets area," he says. "When the
plates start coming in, the matchmovers will check out the set
environments that I created to be able to work with them. That
first week, I'll organize all my sets and put them into a
database. The following week, I'll be working with model makers,
specifically the hard surface modelmakers who are building the set
extensions to make sure they are the proper scale and will work
with the models that I work with, and I'll do that until we start
getting plates."
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Friday September 19,
2003
Episode III Character
Revealed |
TF.N has
provided some information of an upcoming character in Episode III.
Spoilers -
Hightlight to read:
Here is a side-by-side picture comparison of
Tarkin, comparing Episode III to Episode IV.
Click
here for spoiler comparison.
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Posted:
by Rebel
Racer
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Thursday September
18, 2003
Hyperspace Chat
Tonight |
The Official
Star Wars Site has announced an online chat for tonight with
Ben Burtt. Continuing the series of online chats for Hyperspace
members is a man who has been instrumental in the success of all
six Star Wars films.
It was Ben Burtt's sound design work -- creating the voice of
R2-D2, the hum and crash of lightsabers in battle, and the zooming
rush of the speeder bike chase -- that gave the original Star
Wars its convincing feel of audio reality.
For the prequel trilogy, Burtt has had his hand in shaping both
the picture and sound. He is presently hard at work editing
Episode III animatics sequences with live action footage,
preparing for George Lucas' return to the U.S.
Join Ben Burtt from his editing suite at Skywalker Ranch on
Thursday, September 18, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time (7:00 p.m. Eastern
time).
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Thursday September
18, 2003
New Featured
Artist-Dennis Budd |
I am very proud to announce that Dennis Budd is our newest Featured
Artist! Dennis has been kind enough to allow Galactic
Voyage to become one of the new homes for his excellent gallery of
work. Here you will find quite a collection of his full color and
penciled art and we are very honored to be able to provide it for
you! Thanks Dennis! Also, you can find other great works by
several very talented artists at the Featured
Artists section. Enjoy!
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Thursday September
18, 2003
More Episode III
Spoilers |
TF.N has
provided some more spoilers from Episode III. Spoilers
- Highlight to read:
From what I've seen of the movie so far, there
was a very Darth-looking character who looks like a cross between
a Clone War trooper and the original Darth. Not sure if it was
really him or some type of precursor, but very cool.
And has anyone told you about the Peter Cushing prosthetics?
Marvelled at the work that went into this guy, yes he pops up in
the new film as you've reported and looks stunningly like a
younger version of the character from Episode IV. They've nailed
the look for sure. I saw a still shot with his hand stroking his
chin that you could have sworn was Peter Cushing from the early
70s!
Rohan Nichol will play the "young" Captain Tarkin in
Episode III
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Posted:
by Rebel
Racer
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Wednesday September
17, 2003
Jedi Academy Released |
The highly anticipated game by Lucas Arts, Jedi
Knight: Jedi Academy, has been released today. The game allows
players to immerse themselves in the classic Star Wars universe as
they take on the role of a student eager to learn the ways of the
Force from classic characters such as Master Luke Skywalker.
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Posted:
by Rebel
Racer
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Wednesday September
17, 2003
Episode III Wraps Up |
Production on the third Star Wars prequel has gone swiftly and all
according or ahead of schedule. In fact, the main shooting wraped
up today around lunch time, with most of the cast and crew
planning to head home.
The Episode III Webcam announced that "SHOOTING HAS
WRAPPED... STAY TUNED FOR THE POSTPRODUCTION WEBCAM." The
pick-ups for Episode III fiming are currently scheduled for March
of 2004. It is hard to believe that it is truly over.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Wednesday September
17, 2003
Episode III Pictures |
Today I have loaded the first Episode III stills to the Episode
III pictures section! I am sure with principal photography
coming to a close, there are going to be many more stills showing
up in the near future. For now, enjoy our first look into what
will be the magic of Episode III.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Tuesday September
16, 2003
What software has been
used... |
This report comes from the Official
Star Wars Site!
Answered by: Dan Gregoire
What
software has been used for animatics in Episode II?
Our primary tools are Alias Wavefront's Maya,
Adobe After Effects and Adobe's Photoshop. We use a few more here
and there like Virtual Vertex's Muster for rendering but these are
our main tools.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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Monday September 15,
2003
December 2003 Comics |
The
Official
Star Wars Site has provided a look at what Dark
Horse Comics has in store for Star Wars fans in December. Savage
aliens, alternate Return of the Jedi plots and a special
tribute the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett. Here's a look at
what Star Wars fans can expect from Dark Horse Comics this
December.
He may have washed-out as a pilot at the Imperial Academy, but
Lt. Janek Sunber has found a new home in the infantry. Hoping for
a post on a world where he could see some action against the
Rebels, he instead finds himself on the jungle world of Maridun as
part of a regiment overseeing the construction of a new base. But
just when he's resigned himself to a long, uneventful tour of
duty, things heat up. The alien natives are restless, and on the
hunt for human skulls! Sunber is about to learn one of the truths
about the infantry: all service is sacrifice, and in the infantry
that sacrifice is usually in blood.
Star Wars: Empire #16 reveals a different side of the
Imperial army with this story by Welles Hartley, Davide Fabbri and
Christian Dalla Vecchia, and features cover art by David Michael
Beck. Star Wars: Empire #16 is scheduled for release in
December.
Star Wars: Infinities is an unique series that asks the
question, "What would happen if you changed one little thing
from the story in the film?" In this version, as Leia, Lando,
and Chewbacca pursue Boba Fett in an effort to retrieve the frozen
form of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker discovers that he has arrived too
late for his rendezvous with Yoda. Worse, he has run into the
waiting clutches of Darth Vader. Unaware that Luke has been
captured by the Empire, Leia and the others have their own
encounter with Imperials - as well as a fateful showdown with
Fett!
All of the characters and situations you loved from the film,
but twisted and altered by fate as can only happen in Infinities!
Star Wars: Infinities - Return of the Jedi #2, the
second in a series of four, written by Adam Gallardo, Ryan
Benjamin and Saleem Crawford, and features cover art by Rodolfo
Migliari, is scheduled for release on Dec. 10.
Throughout the galaxy there is one name that can send a chill
through the core of any wanted man. That word is Fett. Join us for
a full-issue tribute to the most feared and respected bounty
hunter of all time -- Boba Fett. From stories of Boba's exciting
childhood with his father Jango to tales of Boba bringing in
wanted men Star Wars Tales #18 is a thrill a minute,
action-packed issue that will excite both new and old fans alike.
Star Wars Tales #18 features writers Andy Diggle, Henry
Gilroy, Haden Blackman, Jason Hall, Todd Demong, Henry Flint,
Peter Alilunas and more, plus a special cover from artist Cam
Kennedy. It is scheduled for release on Dec. 24.
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Posted:
by Jedi
Power
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