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Cebas Visual Technology was founded almost three decades ago and has been developing plugins for 3D Studio and 3DS Max for over twenty years. Their software has been used to create VFX for a great number of TV series, game cinematics and films, such as Lost in Space, 2012, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Harry Potter, etc. Cebas’ list of released plugins includes ThinkingParticles, FinalRender and MoskitoRender, as well as other ones such as PyroCluster, Bunch of Volumes, Real Lens Flare, ProOpticSuite, GhostPainter and more.
Edwin Braun, CEO and co-founder of the company, has been a witness to many changes in the CG industry and we had the chance to interview him on the occasion of Cebas' 27th anniversary to discuss these subjects, his views on the evolution of the CG field and his decades of experience of managing the company.
You founded Cebas back in 1988 in Heidelberg (Germany), together with Achim Smailus. Please tell us how the company came to be.
I started my own company after high school graduation way back in 1986. I wanted to study computer science and electronics. When I checked out the Universities, I wanted to apply to, to my surprise I found that they did not even have current technology and personal computers. All they had were big gray, oversized and power hungry metal boxes that had to be programmed in Cobol or Fortran.
That was not what I envisioned, I wanted to do laser explosions, spaceships and monsters. So, I kept on building my own business and studied, all on my own, newer programming languages as well as direct assembler coding.
This was also the time when I met Achim, my business partner. Achim at that point was looking into new career and business opportunities as well. He was running already a business but he was also attracted to the modern computer age that was just about to be happening.
It was just a perfect match of Achim's business skills and my fascination and knowledge of software and hardware.‘cebas Computer Heidelberg’ was born and made its debut in Heidelberg, Germany, year 1988.
Our goal was, right from the start, to offer fast and capable hardware and software solutions for a graphics industry that didn’t even exist yet - or was just about to begin.
In those years, the only mass produced and affordable graphics technology belonged to Commodore Amiga, Atari and the very first Apple Computers, like the hippies of technology. I found that mainstream PC’s were hardly attuned to a robust graphical system at all. Although, Commodore Amiga and Atari offered the best possible affordable graphics on the market, the processing power was not really up to par. Say, a Motorola 6502 CPU could only touch 64 Kilobytes of RAM in an Apple System or on a C64 or Atari. Graphics and processing power soon got a bit better with the use of Motorola 68000, 16 Bit Processors and 512 Kilobytes of RAM (but this was still only half a Megabyte!).
The existing mainstream hardware just did not cut it. Even though it was extremely successful and the Commodore Amiga along with the Atari sold several millions of systems. Imagine what you would be able to do today with 512 Kilobyte of RAM and a processor with a maximum clock rate of 8Mhz!
Achim and I did not give up on our idea of offering the fastest, best hardware and software graphics solutions to create animations and impressive immersive virtual reality solutions. Our constant desire for more processing power lead us into concentrating our efforts into a new technology called RISC.
RISC technology sounded like the absolute holy grail ! - RISC was like the answer to our prayers for more processing power. Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC), that’s what it was called, is a microprocessor that leaves out all complex heavyweight instructions in favor of simple short commands that can be lightning fast - a so-called back to the basics concept. Sun Microsystems with their SPARC microprocessors and Silicon Graphics MIPS processors all understood that the old processor technology could not deliver what was needed for advanced computer graphics.
Then, a British company, Acorn Computers, invented the ARM (Advanced Risc Machines) processor. Based on the ARM chip, a personal computer system for the masses was created for an incredibly affordable price tag! Now, everyone could afford the processing power of a million dollar supercomputer! We had to ride the wave and decided to import and support the Acorn Archimedes computer systems in Germany. The system was very successful and we became an official authorized International Acorn Distributor.
With RISC OS, I started to develop software applications that would help us in managing our business and everyday tasks. We soon added people to our development team and we started offering our very first RISC OS based software application, the ‘cebas Modemaker’. Cebas Modemaker was a powerful application that allowed the user to freely program the graphics chip in any Acorn Archimedes model. The graphics resolution and color depth we could achieve on that hardware was unmatched at that time. In addition to our software development we started to develop our own hardware, offering a scanner module and software for the Archimedes computer systems.
For several years, PCs had not the slightest chance to enter the graphics market segment as they were too slow and had no graphics, no colors and no memory. This has all changed now. In the company history of cebas, we have always had the best, upgraded technologies but our hunger for processing speed never ends - this is the spirit of our company. In our company history, we saw companies come and go; we saw them rise and fall; we offered Silicon Graphics workstations and Sun Microsystems workstations along with the very first versions of Softimage and Alias Wavefront as well as early versions of 3D STUDIO R1 and 2 on a PC. The market has changed a lot over time, so now the PC is dominating the hardware and Autodesk has replaced - or bought into - all major players in the 3D Graphics field.
Cebas' 27th anniversary showreel
What first attracted you to writing graphics software?
Good question. I was always dreaming about making 3D special effects and animation. Back in the good old days, there was just no way to afford the processing power and software for such effects. This is when it all started. We wanted to achieve affordable self-made solutions, so we started offering custom made hardware and software solutions. POV ray compiled on a Sun Microsystems workstations could create impressive and powerful 3D Images. The time was becoming ripe as the PC was able to catch up in speed and then, Autodesk started to open up their programming interfaces so we jumped right in !
You have been running the company for 27 years. What have been some of the challenges you faced? What have been some of your greatest satisfactions?
We have had a lot of challenges as you can imagine. One of the biggest challenges was being in Germany while our market was nearly 90% in North America at that time. There was the language and cultural differences and then, all the logistics involved. When we started selling our very first software applications for 3D STUDIO R4, which was Scalpel, we did not know how we could sell it in a country that was so far away from where cebas was based and so detached. Keep in mind, back then - there was no Internet. We had Compuserve and an Acoustic Coupler (and for the younger folks; that was a modem) and a thingy called BBS (Bulletin Board System) and that’s it for communications. The Internet was not ready for main stage but we had to find effective marketing solutions for our software.
Our first break into Hollywood special effects, which was to become our success story was Lost In Space (release 1998), a sci-fi action movie directed by Stephen Hopkins. Cebas software tools and technology such as ‘Real Lens Flare’ were used for special effects (FX).
To get to that point, we had to really push the special effects edge back then and show what our software could do. So, for the first time - a major blockbuster movie production was using a PC based 3D software application called 3D STUDIO MAX and cebas’ Real Lens Flare.
What lessons have you learned from running Cebas and managing the company in the past decades?
My motto is to never assume the market or technology will go in one way, mainstream or not. If you have that mental set, it is most likely to go the other way and put one in great risk. Over the years, we had experienced so many companies coming and going - so many technologies hyped, only to see them disappear as fast as they showed up. We met a lot of weird and strange characters along our way to where we are now. Some of those people we met and hired stole money from us! Some promised to be the next big effects studio and they never honored any contracts that were signed. You can say that I have seen it all, and it is hard to surprise me anymore.
You developed a version of ThinkingParticles for Cinema 4D, which was released in 2002 (with C4D R8). Why didn't that progress further, and why haven't you ported the plugin to other software yet (other than the Max version), as other developers have done?
Well, back then, the very first release of our thinkingParticles 1.0 technology was sold to Maxon GmbH in Germany, the producer of CINEMA 4D. Since then, Maxon had no further plans in offering an upgrade for their users and thinkingParticles is now already at Release 6.2. That’s a lot of work now.
We do have a plan to eventually develop thinkingParticles for Maya, however, the project is a major investment in human resources and time. While we have a lot of inquiries from the Maya end, we did not find a stronger or larger partner to help with funding the first phase of the development.
Have there ever been interesting requested features that you had to turn down for one reason or another?
To date, my impression is that all the requests that we get from our users and our beta testers are very practical, constructive, and make good VFX sense. We have very direct company-customer relationship with users, like a broad-based community, since we have users from all over the world and we prefer a long-term engagement where we are continually developing for our users and resolving real technical needs.
Having said this, there are some restrictions that cannot be overcome from the perspective of development. 3ds Max, for example, is very bad when it comes to Multi-Threading, there is not much we can do about it except nudge Autodesk as well. Hopefully, Autodesk will improve over time but they are massive and will take time to do so. Whatever it is, cebas Visual Technology takes pride in developing more and more robust, faster and more amazing VFX that works for our targeted population.
Your software has been used in numerous films. Have you used it to do production work yourself, or have you ever been tempted to make a film?
I think one of the most incredible and satisfying VFX collaboration we have had with thinkingParticles was the production of Roland Emmerich’s ‘2012’. I was directly involved for some time in a consultant status and that was very exciting. I supervised some of the thinkingParticles and finalRender related production issues. Cebas had also, in consultation, developed several features exclusively to resolve some of the FX issues in 2012. That movie actually motivated our development team to overcome the Render Element restrictions inherent in 3ds Max – this was a breakthrough of sorts! With that breakthrough in our finalRender, the 2012 FX production was able to render an unlimited amount of render elements in one fell swoop (overcoming the 3ds Max restriction of a 32 maximum).
Ultimately, cebas Visual Technology is a software developing company. Our credo is to offer the best possible tools for the 3D artist and open up new vistas for VFX. So, frankly, we are not geared to entering the actual business of movie special effects production.
What are the most salient changes you've seen taking place in the CG field since you founded Cebas?
ThinkingParticles also allows you to make ‘muffins’, just like Eloi Andaluz' project.
I think one remarkable change happening right now in the industry is the adoption of GPU technology. Our latest and most advanced rendering system moskitoRender, for example, is a pure GPU based renderer that offers exactly the same power you would expect from a full power, advanced CPU renderer. moskitoRender was developed to overcome many of the restrictions you would usually see in GPU renderers. For example, we offer, right out of the box, more than 1,300 ready to render materials library - a thing you would not usually see in GPU renderers.
Fluid simulation is another area that is improving in huge steps every year. Accordingly, our latest thinkingParticles 6.2 released in August this year is now offering intricate and powerful compressible fluid dynamics used to simulate smoke and fire effects.
As you can see, besides the film and commercial world of FX, cebas also develops VFX software for the architectural, design and commercial world.
What is your view of the current state of the CG field? What interesting developments do you see coming up in the future for CG in general?
One major thing I am personally seeing in the market is that diversity has been eliminated due to the overpowering existence of one major player. This has the effect of slowing down innovation and integration of new technologies in the VFX market.
Whatever it is, the future of the industry lies in finally managing to break the speed barrier. It was never possible to offer a tool to our customers, that was fast enough or advanced enough to really simulate and sculpt reality as is, like real time.
Whenever we managed to get an effect 10 times faster than a previous version, the natural inclination of an artist-user is to want 100 times more details! – So, the artists’ desire to render and simulate faster and faster is what is keeping cebas development working harder and harder. It has been an unbreakable cycle for 27 years and I fear it will be for the next 27 years.
You moved the company to the city of Victoria (Canada) in 2009. What motivated you to do that?
Our customers are mainly in North America (Hollywood LA, Vancouver) - it was a natural choice to get closer to our user base and to be in the same time zone as our customers. It just enhances support and flow of information. Canada is a great place to develop our business, and Victoria is a beautiful city, warmer than most so I like it here.
What are Cebas' future goals?
Cebas will keep on developing advanced special effects tools and try to surmount any existing barriers that the 3D artists experience every day in their workflow. The market for enhanced special effects tools is getting bigger and more complex with the introduction of 4K and 8K film production. Virtual Reality is becoming once again hyped and might finally hit the threshold of making it stay for good in the market.
Any particular images or films created with Cebas software that you enjoy especially?
While I enjoy all special effects produced with our tools and software, I do not enjoy all movie plots. I favor Sci-Fi themed movies especially when they show some decent physically accurate background. A bad movie plot, an example for my taste, was ‘Gravity’. It had the worst unrealistic physics concepts and the most unsexy underpants in a spacesuit!
Northmen: A Viking Saga, ThinkingParticles VFX by Anselm von Seherr-Thoss
Any interesting or funny anecdotes that you recall from your experience of running Cebas?
As I’m of German heritage, I can say Germans have no humor. It is in their nature to be accurate and disciplined, so no funny anecdotes from me. Unless, ….. you would consider it funny that once upon a time, the Director of Product Management, Softimage proudly presented to me a technology called ICE that ‘they’ had developed in 2007 and 2008. Users of thinkingParticles will know that we were the ones that came out with such a technology a decade before Softimage! And that is all history now.
Cebas recently changed licensing policies from permanent to rental-only. In effect, artists can no longer own new versions of the software. Renting is the only option, and the day they can't pay, the day they can no longer use it. They are losing control of the tools they use to work. A good number of artists have complained strongly and asked to keep the option to purchase, or explicitly requested a rent-to-own system to be implemented, as Allegorithmic has done very successfully. Will Cebas listen and consider providing more options in the future?
Let me first let the readers know that I do understand all those comments on cebas going on to Subscription. We ourselves, as a company, are software users as well. We too have to pay for all of our software we use for development. Paying for those tools is an enormous cost factor for us. Nearly all the tools that we use ourselves have moved on to the subscription-only-models. So, similarly, I feel the loss of my perceived control over my software life.
However, it is only a perception that we all, as users have or had, about software ownership. This old concept of ‘owning’ is a thing of the past. Software has also always been more of an applicative technology and not something you tangibly purchase from a store and hold on to. As a professional artist, you need your tools to earn money, and our role at cebas is to do our best to position our new pricing as affordable as possible to as many artists – and so we have educational licensing as well, and completely free trials.
In fact, today compared to when thinkingParticles first started, you can say it has never been cheaper to start and use our thinkingParticles effects system. So this is a good thing. In all practicality, our subscription pricing model enables more users to use our tools.
So-called software ownership barely made sense in the past and it no longer does nowadays. Yes, you could own a Windows 3.1 and yes, you could own a 3D STUDIO DOS. But what does it help you now? My point is, you owned really nothing of value as the next version was always the better one and the old version eventually did no longer work on your new version of Windows or hardware. Owning software is an outdated concept; it is not promoting progress and technological advances. It makes no sense to any software company to support ownership of outmoded technology and old software. It’s like when a user is still on their old version of Windows 95 and 3D Studio Max R2. There is no progress in that, there are no paying employees in owning dead software, in fact, this is killing off jobs and hinders progress.
Our subscription model makes sure because users are always at the leading side of technology, that they get the latest release right away. They are up to date with the latest technology. It also allows cebas to plan and work in a commercially reasonable and predictable environment. Everyone wins with such a licensing model and in the end the user gets more value instead of owning an outdated version of a software that does no longer work. And best of all, even a small simple FX job pays easily for a 3-years license and keeps the artist afloat for months at the same time. Our pricing model helps artists to compete in the ever-changing market of special effects.
It is an interesting argument and there are many concepts worth debating (owning intangibles is the same concept that allows Cebas to produce an income as it is the basis for intellectual property, artists’ perceived vs. real loss of control over being able to use software they paid for and access to previous projects, no one uses Windows 3.1 and rental was not needed for the updates, the next version being always better than the old one, etc.). The bottom line however is that Cebas seemingly does not intend to provide commercial licensing options other than rental.
Let's move forward. You come from a football-focused culture, how did you end up coaching a baseball team?
By football you mean soccer I guess? Yes it is true; it is kind of crazy for any German to be attracted to the game of Baseball. A game, played with wooden sticks, where a grown up man throws a ball at another man standing there with a stick. Then suddenly he runs around like crazy and everyone gets excited. On top of all this sheer craziness the man throwing a little ball earns more in a year than many of us in a lifetime. I guess manual work actually pays off!
When I moved to North America, I had to adapt to the local culture and lifestyle, which includes going to the baseball field with your son. So what is not to enjoy with doing just that? This is how I ended up as a Little League Baseball coach, which of course I enjoyed a lot.
Anything you’d like to mention to readers that we haven’t asked you about?
Yes sure, Achim and I founded this company and over the years it has grown to something really amazing and important in the industry for VFX.
We met many people along the way, and we even had a ‘Spargel Bauer’ (translation; Asparagus Farmer) who wanted to teach us about computers! We met unfriendly people who scammed us with false or stolen computer hardware and we met great people as well that inspired us. The biggest asset I can say that cebas Visual Technology has right now is our team of cebas talents. Our core team has been with us for 20 years now and we would not be in the place and position that we are in right now without their amazing hard work. Our team has changed over time and we had some people come in and out in the years but without our chief programmers Markus, Michael and Daniel, we would not be what we are now.
One other big driving force for our success is the great relationships we have developed with those of you who are our user-community, beta testers and long time friends of cebas. They are like a family to us and it is what motivates us daily, to go the extra mile to bring our users the tools they require to visualize their creative dreams.
Thank you for answering our questions.
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