Crowd Simulation

Our last assignment for our advanced animation paper was crowd simulation. We were to create a crowd simulation using the piece of software called Massive. Unfortunately, Massive has not been working on our computers at course this semester, so we have been unable to actually use the software. However, I have managed to research three different pieces of crowd simulation software.

GOLAEM

Screenshot of Nike advertisement: Dare to be Brasilian - crowd simulation done using Golaem.

Golaem is a piece of software that can be fully integrated into Autodesk Maya. This piece of software allows the user to be able to automatically place couples and groups of virtual people. It also allows users to paint crowds on with the density of the crowd being controlled by the paint colour. If the user wishes to create a certain formation for an army or other similar crowd, then geometry shapes or creating a unique shape can be created to get the correct formation required. The parameters of the crowd can be edited at any time while still keeping any customization and connections previously completed. Golaem uses a node based editor and also allows the user to simulate explosions, attraction and repulsion forces on physicalized characters. Golaem avoids filling up hard drives and networks with duplicated data. It uses a reference character and a small simulation cache to recreate every variation which is a highly efficient method to render huge crowd simulations. Golaem offers a 30 day trial of its software. The trial includes full functional software, a 30 day free node-locked license, unlimited rendering, sample scenes, character pack reviews and e-mail support. A three month rental license for Golaem is $1980.00 USD and a permanent rental license costs $6599.00 USD. It costs $1115.00 USD for support and yearly upgrades. To get an educational license a user needs to contact the company who own Golaem.

MASSIVE

Screenshot from the film Hugo - crowd simulation done in Massive.

Massive is a simulation and visualisation software system for generating realistic crowds. It was originally developed for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. Agents can be created and can have lots of variation built into them. Massive's system is designed for running these agents and with the interaction of these agents in a crowd situation, it creates an interaction/simulation that is highly realistic. Some of the studios that use Massive are Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, ImageMovers Digital, Rhythm & Hues, Digital Domain, Framestore CFC and The Mill. these studios have adopted Massive to fulfill the creative needs of their feature length films. Some of the films that Massive have been used on are World War Z, John Carter, The Lord of the Rings and Hugo. Massive offers four different products for the software. The first one is called Massive Prime and is the premium package for Massive. It costs $16000.00 USD and comes complete with the first year's upgrade and support. The second is called Massive Jet and costs $6000.00 USD including the first year's upgrade and support. The next package is called Massive for Maya and as the title may suggest, it is for integrating with Maya. This particular package costs $3500.00 USD and also includes the first year's upgrade and support. The final package that is offered is called Massive Ready to Run Agents and costs between $1500.00 USD to $2500.00 USD. This package has pre-built characters who are already rigged and have cloth simulation, textures and other animation pre-loaded so that the characters are literally just ready to run.

MIARMY

Screenshot from Miarmy website.

Miarmy is a piece of software that is a plug-in for Maya. Miarmy has a fully functional animation engine which offers easy placement of characters for crowd simulation. Many different studios use Miarmy to simulate crowds, some of these are Real Digital, IM Animation, Fantastic Motion and Axis. There over 35 feature length films that have used or are using Miarmy and a majority of them appear to be Japanese films. Miarmy offers a three month rental priced at $1950.00 USD which includes support for the rental period. A permanent license costs $2650.00 USD and also includes one year of support and upgrades. There is also an option to get a company key for Miarmy which provides one unlimited license to be able to put it on many computers. The price also includes one year of support and upgrades.

Scene created using Miarmy from Miarmy website.