Getting to work with Massive

We are going to use Massive software for several scientific visualization projects here at USC. Massive software was first developed and used in the Lord of The Rings movie and since then it has been used in a number of movies and commercials. While it was used to simulate a large number of crowds of people in the scenes like what we can see in the battles of Lord of the Rings movie, it can also simulate the behavior of mass number of anything from human to animal to plants! Now they have added robotic controllers to massive as well so that it won’t be used only on screen. "Massive is the premier 3D animation system for generating crowd-related visual effects for film and television. Using Massive, an animator or TD designs characters with a set of reactions to what is going on around them. The reactions of the characters determine what they do and how they do it. Their reactions can even simulate emotive qualities such as bravery, weariness, or joy. The agent reactions can control key-framed or motion captured animation clips called actions. Characters that perform on their own in this way are referred to as agents. Massive is a system for designing and running such agents. When scaled up into the hundreds - or hundreds of thousands - the interaction within the crowd that emerges from these individuals is highly realistic. By building variation into an agent, the Massive artist can populate a scene with individuals who are unique in everything from physical appearance to how they respond." More information: http://www.massivesoftware.com/