Chapter 424: Technological Catch-up

Chapter 424: Technological Catch-up

Chapter 424: Technological Catch-up

"In terms of technology, there is still a big gap between China's current 3D animation film production and large companies like Hollywood Disney.

Times have changed. The future is the era of the Internet and information technology, especially in terms of TV series, movies, 3D animation and games.

Especially for the science fiction films that our Galaxy Group focuses on, CG special effects are what we rely on the most.

When it comes to special effects and CG animations, the most important thing is the tools. The production capacity brought by a good tool determines the lower limit of the quality of the work.

And these tools are divided into hardware and software. We will not discuss the hardware in detail here today, let’s talk about the software.

Many of you here must be students majoring in computer-related subjects, and most of you should have come into contact with it in your daily study and practice.

Nowadays, the special effects production software that we Chinese often use, such as Maya, AE, 3D max, Houdini, etc. All the software you can access, as well as some small tools, are generally made abroad.

These usually define all the tools for relevant practitioners in our country, and they limit the scope of creators' abilities to the framework constituted by their own functions.

But it’s different from big companies like Disney DreamWorks. Last year, our Galaxy Group arranged for relevant employees to visit and study in Hollywood, and I was also a member of the inspection team at that time.

As far as we can see, in the field of digital graphics alone, Disney has six research institutes: the graphics research department of MIT, Pixar Research Institute, the graphics research department of Zurich Institute of Technology, Industrial Light & Magic, and Disney headquarters.

These six research institutes can create tools tailored for Disney's 3D animation and movie special effects.

Yes, you heard it right, it means tailor-made graphics processing tools.

While we were still trying to find free software tools to make low-cost, low-R&D, repetitive, labor-intensive film and television productions, our Hollywood counterparts were already clapping their hands and saying, 'Let's solve a problem from the ground up.'

Because of a skinning problem, they were able to develop a simulation animation production system based on finite element analysis, the same finite element analysis used to build rockets. They developed their own system for animation!

Science and technology are the primary productive forces, students!

The development of the skinning system is just a very simple example. In February, a 2D animation will be released in China, called "Frozen".

I suggest that after watching our "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", you can go and watch "Frozen" to intuitively feel the technical gap between the two.

This is not me trying to boost others' morale and destroy my own prestige.

Disney specially developed the MPM algorithm for the fluid simulation of ice and snow in "Frozen".

In addition, not to mention their innovative algorithms in many fields such as modeling, rendering, animation, etc.

These related papers were all published at the SIGGRAPH conference and included in the ACM Transaction on Graphics journal.

As for how many papers Disney and Pixar have published in this area, you can count them yourself and see how long it takes to get to the bottom of their paper lists. This will give you a rough idea of ​​the technological gap between us and Hollywood in this area.”

The issue of the gap between China and Hollywood in 3D animation and special effects technology was just a small incident that happened during the campus screening of "The Return of the Great Sage".

In this regard, there is indeed a huge gap between China and Hollywood, and this gap is widening year by year. In this regard, the domestic production, education, research and market systems are not well established.

China is not without experts and talents in algorithms, but those people have little to do with the film and television industry.

This is mainly because there are very few science fiction films, 3D animations and 3A games in my country's film and television industry that need to use this technology. The market demand is small and the prospects are unclear. Therefore, there is naturally not much hard-core algorithm research in the field of applied mathematical sciences.

Without market demand, how can those scholars deliberately carry out research and development in this area? Do they have to rely on some students to write graduation theses and then do some research at the same time?

That is to say, with the emergence of such a special existence as Wang Hao in the Chinese film and television industry, the Galaxy Cinematic Universe and the Galaxy Group appeared. In the field of special effects in recent years, their company has established in-depth cooperation with many universities in Beijing, and paid relevant experts and professors to carry out application development in this area.

Wang Hao's film "Gravity" last year accumulated a lot of technology in special effects, produced several small results, and published several corresponding papers.

Of course, even so, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that Wang Hao and his team have caught up with their Hollywood counterparts in terms of technology in the field of graphic special effects.

As far as the current situation is concerned, in the field of graphics algorithms worldwide, in terms of technology, Disney is undoubtedly in the first echelon.

Then there is New Zealand's Weta Digital, which can also be counted in the first tier. In certain technical aspects, it can compete head-on with Disney.

Next are some large corporate peers and scientific research institutions in Europe and the United States, which can be ranked in the second tier.

As for Wang Hao's Galaxy Group, after five or six years of catching up, it has only just entered the third echelon. It can make up for its shortcomings with hard work and rely on China's human support advantage to catch up with foreign countries in terms of picture effects.

At least in the eyes of ordinary audiences, there is no difference between the special effects movies produced by Galaxy Group and Hollywood special effects blockbusters.

Of course, compared with its domestic counterparts, Wang Hao's Galaxy Group is much stronger.

Not to mention film and television entertainment companies such as Huayi, Orange Sky, Warner, and Eagle King, even large state-owned enterprises such as Huaying Group and Magic Film Group are not as good as Wang Hao's Galaxy Group in the reserves and application development of special effects technology.

Especially since the year before last, Galaxy Group has gradually expanded from a traditional film and television entertainment company to multiple fields such as the Internet, animation, and games. It has established close ties with a large number of science and engineering colleges in Beijing and used scholarships to cultivate its own talents.

Not only that, they also exchanged information with high-tech companies such as DJI, OPPO, and BYD to establish their own graphics processing research institute.

After investing a lot of profits into research fields such as mathematics, applied mathematics, physics, and computer science, the gap between traditional domestic film and television companies and Galaxy Group in this regard has widened year by year.

It can be said that there are few large-scale entertainment companies in China that are as forward-looking as Galaxy Group and know how to attach importance to technology research and development. Not to mention the huge real estate companies, what core technologies can they have?

Only Internet companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu, as well as technology companies such as Juhua Factory and Xiaomi, will invest a large amount of profits into technological research and development like Galaxy Group.

If we look at it from this perspective, Galaxy Group is no longer on the same level as Huayi and other film and television companies.

Galaxy Group has its own moat and has laid a solid foundation for further development in the future.

Of course, this is just the beginning of a legendary career. Not to mention that Galaxy Group still needs to continue its efforts to upgrade its own technological reserves to a world-class level that can compete with Disney.

Wang Hao, who has the memory of the future, knows that in the future, technologies such as short video recommendation algorithms, metaverse, VR, and AI large models will be enough to bring about major changes in the film and television industry.

If Galaxy Group wants to continue to stand at the forefront of the times in the next ten or even twenty years, it still has a long way to go and much to do.

Therefore, regarding the promotion of "The Return of the Great Sage", Wang Hao only participated a few times, promoted this 3D animated film invested by the Galaxy Group, and then devoted most of his energy to the development of the group.

It's already the end of the year and there are only a few days left until the Spring Festival.

Due to its large size and also to promote economy, Galaxy Group did not hold a large-scale annual meeting this year as in previous years. Instead, each branch or department group celebrated the New Year according to the circumstances, and the expenses of the event were reimbursed by the company.

In addition, the bonuses and dividends of each department at the end of the year, the New Year benefits for employees, and the work arrangements and duty during the New Year period all require the participation and decision-making of the group's logistics department and Wang Hao.

As a warm-hearted enterprise and a company with humanistic care, Galaxy Group will naturally not treat its subordinates unfairly.

Especially since there is no annual meeting this year, Wang Hao will certainly not put the saved money into his own pocket. Instead, he will convert it all into benefits to distribute to every employee.

Wang Hao was busy like this until New Year's Eve, when he finally had some free time.

Fortunately, Jing Tian and her family are also spending the New Year in Beijing this year. Wang Hao is busy with company affairs, so as his official girlfriend, she naturally took on part of the responsibilities and helped Wang Hao take care of his family affairs.

Wang Hao had no time to worry about preparing gifts for visiting relatives during the Chinese New Year, and his grandparents and great-grandparents had to visit from time to time. Jing Tian was responsible for all the arrangements as the hostess.

She managed everything in great order and handled it properly, which made Wang Hao's relatives and elders praise her highly. Even his grandparents began to urge Wang Hao, asking him when he planned to marry Jing Tian.

Wang Hao has also thought about this issue. After all, he is over 30 years old now. Although this age is still considered young in the entertainment industry, time passes quickly.

The key is that his grandparents are old. Although they are still in good health, if Wang Hao can get married and have children early, it can also fulfill their wish and let them enjoy family happiness earlier.

As for Jing Tian, ​​she just smiled shyly but did not refuse.

Although she is a post-85s flower who has become famous in China, Jing Tian has never paid much attention to her acting career. She naturally doesn't care about the industry's tips that female stars should try not to get married and have children during the rising period of their careers.

With such an excellent boyfriend like Wang Hao, she would be very happy even if she were asked to retire from the entertainment industry and go home to take care of her husband and children.

Of course, regarding the matter of marriage, Wang Hao only has the intention for the time being. If he really wants to make it happen and choose an auspicious day, it will probably take another one or two years.

After all, Galaxy Group is still in a period of rapid development, and the second phase of filming for "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" is also very tight, so he may not be able to spare a lot of free time to get married.

As for getting things done simply? Wang Hao didn't want Jing Tian to have any regrets about her only wedding in her life.

However, there is no rush about getting married. It is still very necessary for the Wang family and the Jing family to get together and have a New Year's dinner during the Chinese New Year.

Wang Hao's uncle Lu Guotao helped to arrange this matter. He booked a large table in a high-end restaurant with excellent privacy in Shangjing. The two families got together and the elders of both sides also met.

Afterwards, the New Year’s bell rang as usual, and the land of China and Wang Hao’s career entered a new chapter together.

From the first to the third day of the Lunar New Year, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and "The Man from Macau" were released, and then "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" launched a surprise attack. The three companies were engaged in a fierce battle during the Spring Festival period.

For "Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" and "The Man from Macau", the fight was indeed brutal.

The first to be eliminated was "The Man from Macau". Although this movie is a comedy and has big-name actors like Chow Yun-fat, gambling films and Wong Jing have long been eliminated in today's rapidly changing mainland entertainment industry.

Especially with the works of the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" as a precedent, the audience's threshold has been raised a lot, so this kind of shitty and fart movie is naturally even more unbearable to watch.

On the first day of its release, the box office of "The Man from Macau" was only a pitiful 1900 million, which made director Wong Jing and Chow Yun-fat feel very disappointed.

Chow Yun-fat has not had a good time in recent years. Although he has had movies to film in recent years, the box office performance of the movies he participated in was not very ideal. In the past five or six years, the best he performed was "Let the Bullets Fly".

If this "The King of Macao" fails again, I am afraid that unless he lowers his own price in the future, few movies will ask him to be the leading actor.

The movie ranked ahead of "The Man from Macau" was Galaxy Group's "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", which had a box office of more than 4800 million on the first day, but only ranked third.

Ranked second above it is the eye-popping "Where Are We Going, Dad?", which grossed 7100 million on its first day.

You have to know that this is just a variety show movie. Although the variety show "Where Are We Going, Dad?" was very popular last year, it is really unexpected that a variety show movie edited from this program can be released in theaters and even surpass "The Man from Macau" and "The Return of the Great Sage".

In comparison, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" seemed mediocre, with its superb cast and large-scale publicity, and a box office revenue of 1.08 million yuan.

(End of this chapter)