Macworld | iWorld — the annual Mac group discussion — has taken on more than a Modern name this twelvemonth , as it shifts its stress to the culture that Apple ’s Cartesian product have help foster . Perhaps it ’s meet , then , that some of the originative team behindSouth Parkheadlined the talks at Moscone Center West on Thursday .
If you ’re wondering what the connexion to Apple is , consider this : every episode of the long - melt animize serial is created almost entirely on Macs .
Maya maniacs
South Parkstarted out as a serial publication of comedic construction - newspaper publisher - stop - motion - vivification projects by Trey Parker and Matt Stone . Eric Stough , animation manager and producer at South Park Studios , excuse that the original archetype for the show took three months to do . Stough has been part of South Park Studios since the commencement , having grown up with Trey Parker ; when Parker was 13 and Stough was 11 , Parker dubbed him “ Butters”—a name Stough ploughshare with a series regular .
Despite the show ’s iconic paper - cutout appearance , South Park ’s animator have been using computer aliveness techniques for age . “ We apply modern mould [ software ] to make it look 2 - vitamin D , ” explained David Lenna , South Park ’s principal technology officer . The biggest tool in the animation team ’s box?Autodesk Maya . Ryan Quincy , animation director and manufacturer of South Park Studios , admitted that “ We we ’re using [ Apple ’s ] Motion for a while . But we attempt to keep it in Maya . ” Now , every episode is bring about primarily using Maya , 50 Mac workstation , and 40 Xserves . “ Even Windows - based software is done through VM software on a Mac , ” Lenna said .
Stough credited Maya ’s tractableness as one cause the show has been able-bodied to do some of its bigger , more memorable episodes : “ We can do flame and electric discharge and cars . We can do different styles of vivification . ” ThoughSouth Parkis most know for a specific type of animation , show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone collaborate with the life team to venture into new territory to accomplish the takeoff and sarcasm demanded by the show .
While South Park Studios representatives talked about the role of the Mac in creating their animated TV series, Macworld | iWorld attendees could also visit the Art of South Park exhibit in Moscone West.
To illustrate that point , Slough introduced a series of clips for the assembled audience that play up the many different style the South Park staff was able to make using Maya . The satiricalWorld of Warcraft episodeis perhaps the most famous exemplar of South Park Studios ’ push its brand name into novel artistic territorial dominion . Like other episodes , it was produced primarily through Maya . World of Warcraft developer Blizzard exploit with South Park Studios to produce the machinima shot using in - game footage , and the characters were re - make in Maya .
Stough and Lenna also walk the audience through some of the more animation - intensive segments of the“Heavy Metal ” tribute installment , explaining that the imagery in Kenny ’s hallucination was all done in Maya . The episode also incorporated live - action actors to use as theoretical account , combining with the 2 - D case in Maya to create a seamless whole .
Six-day cycle
Unlike other animated television shows , South Parkhas an exceptionally ready production cycle . Stough said that when Parker first want to a show with a two - week cycle , mass thought it could n’t be done . South Parknow operates on a six - day cycle . “ We re - make up how you do an animated show . ”
After the writer ’s meeting , energiser storyboard the scenes while Stone and Parker edit them . Then there ’s voice recording , constant script revision , and the literal invigoration procedure .
Speed is crucial to the South Park Studios faculty , as they only have six days to make 22 instant of animation — a feat unthinkable only a few years ago . concord to Lenna , they ’re constantly experimenting with way to trim the cognitive process but even if something “ does something really cool , if it take 20 seconds longer to do [ it ’s ] too long . ”
Due to the savage schedule and small faculty , it ’s not unusual to see the liveliness stave forge from 11 a.m. on Tuesday to 11 a.m. on Wednesday to make that evening ’s 10 p.m. atmosphere day of the month . Animators will often sleep under their desks in sleeping bags . Stough related an incident five age ago where the faculty did a “ pajama day ” on a brutal Tuesday : “ Trey ’s pacing about and we ’re wearing pajamas … yeah , we stopped doing pajama days after that . ”
Despite the tight deadline , Lenna take that the stave always animates 24 to 25 minutes of content , roughly two or three minutes that never make it on the melody . “ We cut stuff all the prison term , [ such as the ] George Lucas raping Indiana Jones [ sequence in the China Problem episode ] . We did four or five other scenes ” that never made it onto the air .
What’s next
The South Park Studios representatives were cagey on detail about what ’s next for the show , but they did say that both a new video recording game and a new season were in the oeuvre .
During the Q&A sitting , audience members asked about the company ’s family relationship with Apple and what the energizer would like to see next from the hardware and software maker . “ We ’re all hop new workstation spec comes out soon , ” David Lenna said with a laugh . “ Oh , and I want to get rid of the Radeons [ graphic cards ] . ”
Lenna , along with the rest of the South Park Studios staff , professed to a love for Xserve parentage and wants to see them return to Apple ’s lineup . ( Apple discontinued the server in 2010 . ) But when ask by Ihnatko if they thought Apple consider South Park Studios a major Apple installation , everyone on stage laughingly admitted , “ no . ”
