Messiah is an award-winning 3D animation and rendering application developed by pmG Worldwide. It runs on the Win32 and Win64 platforms. Messiah is in its fourth version, as messiah:studio (as of April 2009) and version 5.5b as messiah:animate (as of November 2006).

Early history and releases

Messiah was developed as a commercial plugin for Lightwave

LightWave

LightWave 3D is a high end computer graphics program developed by NewTek. The latest release of LightWave runs on Windows and Mac OS X.- Overview:...

 5.5 to 7.5, by principal programmers Fori Owurowa, Dan Milling and Lyle Milton. It was marketed as offering a superior toolset for creating animations

Computer animation

Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....

 than was provided natively by Lightwave. In 2000, pmG released messiah:animate; a stand-alone application that provided animators with an advanced rigging

Skeletal animation

Skeletal animation is a technique in computer animation in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character and a hierarchical set of interconnected bones used to animate the mesh...

 and animation toolset geared towards the animation of complex organic characters and shapes. This new package offered an Animation Host Connection which allowed users to transfer animation data into a variety of packages including Cinema4D, Lightwave

LightWave

LightWave 3D is a high end computer graphics program developed by NewTek. The latest release of LightWave runs on Windows and Mac OS X.- Overview:...

, 3D Studio Max

3D Studio Max

Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio MAX, is for making 3D animations. It was developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and can be used on the Microsoft Windows platform. It's frequently used by video game developers, TV...

 and Maya

Maya (software)

Autodesk Maya , commonly shortened to Maya, is 3D computer graphics software that runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, originally developed by Alias Systems Corporation and currently owned and developed by Autodesk, Inc. It is used to create interactive 3D applications, including video...

.

In 2001, pmG announced messiah:studio, a stand-alone package comprising messiah:animate and messiah:render, boasting numerous animation enhancements coupled with an all new render engine. Previously, messiah:studio stored license information on a HASP

HASP

HASP can refer to:*Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan*Hardware Against Software Piracy, a type of dongle*Houston Automatic Spooling Priority a system program for IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 mainframe computer systems*Aladdin HASP Dongles...

 hardware dongle

Dongle

A software protection dongle is a small piece of hardware that plugs into an electrical connector on a computer and serves as an electronic "key" for a piece of software; the program will only run when the dongle is plugged in...

, but now stores license information on a USB stick.

Interface

• Speed - Messiah has openGL playback and real-time previewing of fully subdivided
  Subdivision surface
  A subdivision surface, in the field of 3D computer graphics, is a method of representing a smooth surface via the specification of a coarser piecewise linear polygon mesh...
  
   models, particle systems and dynamics objects.
• Flexibility - Messiah offers modular interoperability with many major packages, allowing users to make animation modifications in either messiah:studio or a host program and see instant feedback and updates in the other package.

Animation

Messiah:studio offers a realtime full motion and deformation-based character animation toolset.
Features include:

Setup

Messiah's setup mode allows for non-destructive animated character modifications. This means a character's rigging setup can be edited even after it has been fully animated.

Skeleton and deformation

Creating bones is a "point and click" operation and the bones can be modified interactively. Weighting eliminating the need for direct weighting. Muscle Bones are possible in Messiah with a single click, providing squash and stretch on arms, legs, bodies, tails and tentacles.

Hierarchical expressions

Messiah offers a mathematical expression system. Messiah's expressions system allow automation of existing animation, control over morphs, dynamic parenting and more.

Armatures

Messiah's Armature system provides a visual method for creating character and program control. Armatures can be used for anything from stick figure animation and facial animation controls, to character selection sheets and command interfaces.

Animate immediate

Messiah's Animate Immediate mode allows feedback and manipulation during object selection and transformation by combining individual mouse clicks for selection and then movement into one fluid motion.

Rendering

Messiah:studio includes messiah:render, a hybrid scanline

Scanline rendering

Scanline rendering is an algorithm for visible surface determination, in 3D computer graphics,that works on a row-by-row basis rather than a polygon-by-polygon or pixel-by-pixel basis...

/raytracing render engine. Messiah also allows for the output of .rib files for use with RenderMan and offers network rendering via the ButterflyNetRender(BNR).
Features of messiah render include:

• Nodal-based shader editor system for applying shaders and texture maps to models. Animation control of parameters is available through messiah's expression system.
• Multithreaded 64 bit rendering, supporting multiple core processors.
• Subpoly displacement, allowing for high detail displacement mapping
  Displacement mapping
  Displacement mapping is an alternative computer graphics technique in contrast to bump mapping, normal mapping, and parallax mapping, using a texture- or height map to cause an effect where the actual geometric position of points over the textured surface are displaced, often along the local...
  
   of models using data from programs such as Zbrush
  ZBrush
  ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing and painting. It uses a proprietary "pixol" technology which stores lighting, color, material, and depth information for all objects on the screen...
  
  . With field weighting tools, displacement effects can be animated.
• Particle rendering
• Subsurface scattering
  Subsurface scattering
  Subsurface scattering is a mechanism of light transport in which light penetrates the surface of a translucent object, is scattered by interacting with the material, and exits the surface at a different point...
  
  , for skin and fluid effects.
• Global illumination
  Global illumination
  Global illumination is a general name for a group of algorithms used in 3D computer graphics that are meant to add more realistic lighting to 3D scenes...
  
  , using Monte Carlo, Photon and hybrid systems.
• HDRI lighting
• Translucency
• Per-surface light exclusion
• Light materials, making it possible for models to be used for diffusion and emission of light
• Soft shadows, with full control of samples.
• Area lights
• Volumetric lighting
  Volumetric lighting
  Volumetric lighting is a technique used in 3D computer graphics to add lighting effects to a rendered scene. It allows the viewer to see beams of light shining through the environment; seeing sunbeams streaming through an open window is an example of volumetric lighting, also known as crepuscular...
  
  
• Shadow mapping
• Caustics
  Caustic (optics)
  In optics, a caustic or caustic network is the envelope of light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface or object, or the projection of that envelope of rays on another surface. The caustic is a curve or surface to which each of the light rays is tangent, defining a boundary of an...
  
  

Import and export

Whilst messiah:studio offers no native modelling tools it is capable of exporting and importing many common 3d filetypes, such as .3ds, .lwo, and .obj. Messiah can import and export motion capture

Motion capture

Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...

, via .bvh files, and can transfer datasets using the host API suite. It also provides native support for .mdd files, for use with the Point Oven program.

On 17 April 2008, pmG released the source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 and SDK for the Host Connections plugins, so that users could update and adapt the connections software and plugin files for external programs.

Awards

• Seal of Excellence - Animation Magazine
• Innovation Award - Computer Graphics World
• Golden Pixie Award - Animation Magazine
• Front Line Award (Finalist) - Game Developer Magazine
• Technology Top 15 - Animation Magazine
• Best of Siggraph - Animation Magazine
• Wired for 3D Editor's Choice

Awards for others using Messiah software

• The Jury Honors Award at Siggraph - Fallen Art
  Fallen Art
  Fallen Art is the name of a 6-minute, animated short film written and directed by Tomasz Bagiński. It features Romanian band Fanfare Ciocarlia's song "Asfalt Tango." The film was produced and created by Platige Image, a VFX company...
  
  
• Best Short Film at International Festival - Fallen Art
• Academy Award Nomination - The Triplets of Belleville
• Academy Award Nomination - Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
• Best Animation Gold - Axis Animation and Disney (Toy Story promo package)
• The Jury Honors Award at Siggraph - F8 (Jason Wren short film)

Films

Messiah has been used for character animation and the creation of VFX shots in feature films and shorts, including the following:

• Ghost Rider
  Ghost Rider (film)
  Ghost Rider is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the character of the same name which appeared in Marvel Comics, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to the Devil and transforms into thevigilante Ghost...
  
  
• Harry Potter
  Harry Potter
  Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
  
  
• Hellboy
  Hellboy (film)
  Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural superhero film, starring Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
  
  
• Into the Deep
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
• Syriana
  Syriana
  Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
  
  
• The Triplets of Belleville
• X-Men
  X-Men (film)
  X-Men is a 2000 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics characters of the same name. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Famke Janssen, Bruce Davison, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Ray Park and Tyler Mane...
  
  
• Zambezia

Television

Messiah has been used in television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 productions, including The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, often shortened to just Jimmy Neutron, is an American animated television series, and spin-off of the Academy Award-nominated computer-animated movie, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The series first officially aired on July 20, 2002, on Nickelodeon...

, Robbie the Reindeer

Robbie the Reindeer

Robbie the Reindeer is a series of three animated comedy television specials shown on BBC One at Christmas, filmed in aid of Comic Relief. Written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, the programmes are based on the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with Robbie as Rudolph's son and the tenth of...

, Andy's Airplanes and the upcoming Plankton Invasion, as well as commercials.

External links

• Official pmG Messiah website
• Setuptab Official messiah:studio forums
• CG Society messiah:studio forum
• Zoogono Messiah news resource
• Useful Slug, plug-ins, tutorials and free downloads.