The Works (film) - Losing Interest

Losing Interest

Another major problem was in the computers themselves. They were among the best and most powerful of their kind but, compared to the computers of today, were too slow and underpowered to generate the number of images required for a theatrical film. Attempting to pick up the pace, Dr. Shure recommitted himself to the project and the NYIT Computer Graphics Lab had more than 60 employees at its peak. Some were dedicated to "The Works" while others made animations for advertisers as a way to soften the financial toll the prolonged project exacted. Now not only did the computer team have to continue do ground-breaking animation and tool development, but as the quality of their output improved, they attracted outside clients wanting to commission title animations, commercials, and scenes for music videos, jobs which further sapped energy from the production. Scientist Ned Greene looked at the situation, analyzed all the elements needed to the film and crunched the numbers with devastating results: with the technology available, even if all the models and animations were calculated, it would take 7 years to output the rendered frames needed to complete the film. The fact was, that in spite of all the resources brought to bear, CGL did not have the human or technical capacity to create film quality sequences on the hardware of the time.

Once it had been shown that the film could not be realized The Works was officially abandoned. A less ambitious project, "3DV" was attempted. In a bid to circumvent the film-making bottleneck, "3DV" was intended to be a TV special with a script that would include footage originally intended for "The Works" repurposed as programming for an imaginary all-computer generated cable TV service. "3DV" incorporated some of its own innovations like 3D lip-synching and compositing a CG character into a live-action scene but, other than a promotional edit which was shown at SIGGRAPH, this too went nowhere. Many of those who had been working at CGL were hired by others and took their ideas, techniques and experience to new places. The vision of Dr. Shure and the effort invested in "The Works" were at the forefront of technology which continued to evolve into both an artform and an industry.

Though the film was never completed in spite of the millions of dollars invested in it, it was clear that "The Works" was not a waste of time and money. People involved in the project were and are among the top computer graphics researchers and developers in the world and their early creations are now in common use in 3D modeling and animation programs and in editors like After Effects, Photoshop, and Flash. When the first computer animated feature was finally released in the form of Toy Story, Ed Catmull, one of the founding fathers of the NYIT (New York Institute of Technology) Computer Graphics Lab and other Lab alumni had become members of PIXAR's staff.