3DSMax’s radiosity technology produces highly accurate photometric simulations of lighting in a scene. Effects like indirect light, soft shadows and colour bleeding though surfaces. generate images that look natural and real that a standard scan-line rendering is not capable of.
Light intensity is specified by using photometric units such as, lumens and candelas for example.

The differences between local and global illuminations algorithims is that local only shows individual reflection on a surface or transmit light. Whereas global shows how light transfers from more than one surface. 3DSMax has two global illumination algorithms as an important part of the rendering system which are ray-tracing and radiosity.

An algorithm is generally a set of functions that the computer has to go through to make something happen.

Poser – Poser is a 3D software package that specialises in human form. Using Poser you can design human figures, scale and manipulate individual body parts, design facial expressions and pose your figures. You are able to use the pre made figures or create fully poseable figures from any 3D object. ”Poser 7 combines 10 years of development with new, high-resolution content and posing enhancements, more powerful rendering, breakthroughs in realism and animation, significant workflow improvements, plus a lot more.” 

http://www.e-frontier.com/go/poser

Afterburn - Afterburn is a plug in for 3D software packages like 3DS Max. It is used in cinematic productions such as Matrix Reloaded, Armageddon, Dracula 2000, K-19: The Widowmaker, HBO trailer, Mechwarrior3 cine trailer, various IMAX movies and games such as Warcraft3, Starcraft and many others. It renders “ultra realistic” effects, like clouds, pyroclastic smoke, dust, explosions effects, liquid metals, water and various procedurally defined “hard” objects.  

Maya - In Maya you can create “breathtaking” 3D with Autodesk Maya software. It delivers faster efficient tools and workflows for creating stunning, high-resolution characters, environments, and character performances. It includes features for producing high-resolution models and a new, nondestructive editing workflow for character rigging and skinning. Maya also lets game developers more effectively create and display sophisticated looks for content destined for the next-generation game consoles. 

 http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7478647&linkID=7679643

 Cinema 4D

3DS Max
- Discreet
- Autodesk

Auto CAD – Autovis

Unreal Editor

Lightwave

Rhino

Havok

Serif Plus – 3D Plus

Mojo World

The history of computer generated images (CGI) can be split up into four eras, Pioneers, Innovators, Adapters and Followers. These four eras have kept pushing CGI forward into a well know form of art.

The first people to first begin working with CGI were grouped in the Pioneers era. One man in 1963 called Sutherland is believed to have officially started the work of computer graphics. He wrote a thesis which outlines how a computer can produce interactive designs of line drawings using cathode-ray tube display and some auxiliary input controls. Sutherland was not the only person to see that computer graphics could become something big. Artists such as Chuck Csuri and John Whitney saw the possibilities as well. The work that these people did inspired more people to push computer graphics forward.

There were a few problems in these early years for example the cost of computing was very high so this meant that computer graphic advancement would be slow to pick up momentum. Another problem that was stopping quick advancement was that the computers could not handle the demands such as processing and memory. The only way the price it took to meet the demands was warranted was for research at some universities and some large industrial research labs.

When the research was being done at universities and research labs this is when the Innovators era came about. The research being done was figuring out how to make “pictures” of data on a computer. The problem was that the software that was being used to create the images was very complex. The research then came to the idea that someone had to come up with a data structure much like the one used for two dimensional pictures.

Once computer graphics had been figured out with a data structure more people got interested in it and this became the Adapters era. People that got interested were CGI production facilities, researchers, and research labs, artists, and industries with an interest in making much of this early work into a marketable tool. Then in the late 70’’s and early 80s more adapters that were mainly special effect companies started using CGI.

The thing that helped CGI move forward was the price of computers that dropped more and more and the advancement in computer capabilities improved. A lot of progress was made in the development of algorithms for creating pictures.

In the first years of computer graphic development attention was mainly given to computer hardware. This is very different nowadays because of the advanced capabilities of computer hardware. Now the attention is on algorithms for creating different styles of pictures for example, colour pictures, gray scale shaded pictures and perspective projection of three dimensional objects etc. Also the attention is on software to make the pictures easier to create.  

• Target audience
• Initial ideas
• Script
• Storyboard (6 months)
• Voice over’s
• Concept art
• Designing 3D models
• Layout (4 weeks)
• Animate to camera angle
• Sound
• Painters and Programmers
• Motion (4 weeks)
• Choreographer
• Lighting (8 weeks)
• Textures
• Physics
• Special FX

http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/inside/how_we_make_movies/intro/story.html

 Films begin with concepts. Some of the ideas are completely original, while some are inspired by a wide variety of sources, including children’s books and comic strips.  
Once they’ve settled on an idea, the first step is to write a script.  Once a script page is ready, they give it to there storyboard artists. Imagining how the words will translate into actions and pictures, they make a series of sketches — a kind of comic book — to tell the story and bring it to life. Once the directors and producer approve, the drawings are digitally photographed and strung together to create what they call a story reel. They then combine that with temporary music, sound effects and dialogue, and work with the movie in this form for about 18 months.     Here you can see the stages of how the character is modelled.First modellers will construct a digital 3-D model that they will use for planning and animation. The modellers start with this wire frame sculpture that is called an armature, which breaks down the design into workable geometry and allows them to “rig” the figure, which will give the animator the ability to move the 3-D figure in whatever way is necessary to get the articulation they want. Once we’ve set up the armature, they can begin to add basic surfaces. It is this simplified puppet in a box or digital marionette that they use in there next step.

Once the sequence is working well in layout, the animators start bringing the characters to life in the computer. They articulate the thousands of controls that were created during the character-rigging phase to bring each character to life and to synchronize them to the voice performances. After the camera moves have been set and the characters have been animated, the next steps are effects and lighting.
In a live-action film, it’s easy to photograph things like leaves blowing in the wind, waves at the beach or even footprints in the sand. In computer animation, these simple things are all designed and animated by the effects artists.
To make water they start by building and animating the translucent surface of the wave. Next we visualize how the surrounding environment is reflected in the wave like a mirror.
They add foam to the surface, and bubbles under the surface. Then the effects animators add the finishing touches — spray and splash. When all those elements are combined, or “composited,” the composite is sent to the lighting department where they add final textures and lighting to get a complete frame from the movie.After four years finally, they are ready to add sound effects, add the final score into the film, mix there soundtracks, correct the colour, make the film or digital prints and release to cinemas.   

Bill Reeves created a “Particle Systems – A Technique for Modeling a Class of Fuzzy Objects”, for example smoke and clouds. 
http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/particle.htm

 Bill Reeves produced these 4 animated films;

1. Hermie & Friends: A Fruitcake Christmas (2005)
2. Hermie & Friends: Buzby, the Misbehaving Bee (2005) 
3. Hermie & Friends: Webster the Scaredy Spider (2004) 
4. Hermie & Friends: Flo the Lyin’ Fly (2004) 

 http://hermieandfriends.com/