Recently in Visual Effects Category

Autodesk Expands Options for Mac Users

By Editorial on September 24, 2009 12:48 PM
Autodesk and Parallels Team to Support Mac Virtualization for AutoCAD,
AutoCAD LT, Autodesk Inventor Professional, 3ds Max and Revit Software

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Sept. 24, 2009 - Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a
leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, and
Parallels, a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software,
announced that they have signed an agreement to make Parallels Desktop for
Mac Autodesk's preferred Mac virtualization software.

Autodesk will now support use of AutoCAD software, AutoCAD LT software,
Autodesk Inventor Professional software, Autodesk 3ds Max software,
Autodesk 3ds Max Design software and the Autodesk Revit software platform
for building information modeling (BIM) on Mac OS X via Parallels Desktop.
Autodesk added official support for these products on the Mac via Boot Camp
earlier this year.

"Autodesk customers are increasingly working with both Mac and Windows, and
have asked us to support Mac virtualization," said Chris Bradshaw, Autodesk
chief marketing officer. "Today we are pleased to welcome Parallels as a
partner and Parallels Desktop as our preferred Mac virtualization software.
This is the latest step in Autodesk's ongoing efforts to support our
customers on the Mac, who will now be able to use some of our most popular
2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software alongside Mac OS
X, in addition to the five native Mac applications we currently offer."

"Parallels Desktop for Mac enables over two million users to run
Windows-based applications seamlessly and simply on their Mac," said
Serguei Beloussov, chief executive officer of Parallels. "Autodesk has a
long history of creating innovative and industry-leading software for
design, engineering and entertainment, and we've heard many requests from
customers interested in using their Autodesk applications with Parallels.
We are delighted to partner with Autodesk to help make this software more
broadly available to the Mac community."

With the launch of the Autodesk Alias family of software for Mac OS X
earlier this year, Autodesk now offers five native Mac OS X applications
for the entertainment, multimedia and design industries, including Autodesk
SketchBook Pro, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Mudbox and Autodesk Stitcher
Unlimited software. For more information about Autodesk Mac support, visit
http://www.autodesk.com/mac.

About Parallels - Optimized Computing
Parallels is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software
that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses and cloud services
providers across all major hardware, operating systems and virtualization
platforms. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with 700
employees in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please
visit www.parallels.com.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design and engineering
software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and
entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982,
Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital
Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they
are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to
visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design
process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For
additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.
# # #

Goviso™ Launches Online View and Approval Service for Moving Picture Professionals

By Editorial on September 18, 2009 12:33 PM

Allows Global Users to Meet in Real Time to Collaborate On Frame-Accurate, Synchronized Video Playback

Hamburg, September 18, 2009--Optix, Hamburg, has launched Goviso™, an easy-to-use online service that allows artists, producers and customers in a production environment to share media and interact with each other.  According to Attila Levai, president of Optix, Hamburg, software installation is not required; Goviso™ runs inside any web browser with a current Flash player.

"Goviso™ lets users collaborate or work individually," said Levai. "The aim is to keep the user productive and focused on his or her project.  It's no longer necessary to send small video clips or attempt to describe revisions via email."

Goviso™ allows the user to meet with his or her client or team members in real time and be certain everyone is on the same page and reference a specific frame in a video clip without skipping a beat. The service provides frame-accurate, synchronized video playback across all participants' browsers regardless of their geographic location.

An invitation to anybody, anywhere in the world to the private Goviso™ online screening room allows participants to view full-screen, high-quality video. Notes and Whiteboard functionality allows attendees to annotate directly on top of the area within the video frame that is relevant for discussion.

Along with the video playback, Notes and Whiteboards are also shared in real-time with attendees. A single user can leave notes for others to "pick up" later.

Employing its built-in archive and asset management system, users can upload video clips to a Goviso™ project and compile different play-lists for different audiences.

"By facilitating the entire production process, Goviso™ allows users to focus on their project and forget about the time-consuming and often expensive task of distributing their moving pictures for view and approval," stated Levai.

For more information, go to http://goviso.com/

About

 

Optix Digital Pictures is a multi-disciplined, full-service post-production facility, with its head office located in Toronto, Canada and its affiliate located in Hamburg, Germany. Founded in 1996, Optix developed into a leading source for visual effects, animation and broadcast design services, expanding its portfolio to cover a wide range of project genres including, TV series, Feature Film, Documentary, Commercial, and Music Video.

 

As part of its commitment to providing integrated solutions for complex production needs, Optix continuously acquires the latest technologies in order to provide the highest level of quality and the most efficient workflow paths.

 

The boutique-style environment includes comfortable suites, cappuccino bars and lounge areas, designed to enhance the creative process while catering to the needs of production.

 

Emphasis is placed upon maintaining an impressive offering of editorial and artistic talent. The combination of creative individuals, with a solid team of service-oriented support staff, ensures that Optix clients achieve both an exceptional product and a wonderful post-production experience.

 

Mr. X Recreates Antarctica in Whiteout

By Editorial on September 17, 2009 12:05 PM
Using Visual Effects to Build Dramatic Tension in Mystery Thriller

TORONTO: September 16, 2009...  Whiteout, which opened in theatres this weekend, includes 415 shots completed at Mr. X, one of Canada's leading creative visual effects houses. Set in Antarctica, the mystery thriller was directed by Dominic Sena and stars Kate Beckinsale. Beckinsale plays a US Marshall who must solve a murder with just days to go before the start of the six-month winter, during which travel to or from their remote base will be impossible. As the lead facility on the project, Mr. X defined the look and feel of the film by creating set extensions and augmentations, which transformed shooting locations in Quebec and Manitoba into the menacingly beautiful landscape of Antarctica.

"The primary challenge was to create the illusion of being there," said Dennis Berardi, founder of Mr. X and VFX supervisor on the film. "The narrative is very much driven by the harsh conditions in Antarctica and the imminent arrival of winter. The director wanted us to make the environment, the bitter cold, and the threat posed by winter real for the audience."

Along with the Antarctic landscapes, the artists at Mr. X did set extensions for the research station, built a CG Otter aircraft, added various atmospheric effects, and killed off a villain, recreating the character entirely in CG for the shot. One of the greatest challenges, however, was the great winter storm at the heart of the story.

"It's difficult enough to create a sense of scale and dimensionality, never mind drama, when all you have to work with is white on white!" explained Berardi. "Dominic wanted the storm to feel like a creature, embodying the threat that it represents for the characters. The storm design was a challenging and fascinating task for us."

The studio used the particle system in Houdini for the storm. "As we worked on it, we made some interesting discoveries," said Berardi. "For example, the particle system had to be sized carefully relative to the background plates. If it was too big, it had the effect of 'miniaturizing' the mountains and they would look like little models as the storm sweeps in. We noticed a similar effect if the storm moved too quickly."

Continue reading Mr. X Recreates Antarctica in Whiteout.

Blackmagic Design Releases Support for Mac OS X Snow Leopard

By Editorial on September 14, 2009 4:39 PM
New software for DeckLink, Intensity and Multibridge models is available for
download now!

Milpitas, CA, USA -- August 31, 2009 -- Blackmagic Design Inc. today released
a new software installer for its Multibridge, DeckLink and Intensity products
that adds full support for the new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. This new software
release also includes support for the highly popular editing solution, Final
Cut Studio 3.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard enables Blackmagic Design customers to migrate to
the next generation of 64- bit processing for the Mac. This new software provides
a smoother and more fluid experience that editors and compositors using Blackmagic
Design products will love.

"Our close development relationship with Apple has enabled Blackmagic Design
to take full advantage of the many exiting new features in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow
Leopard from the very first day of its release," said Grant Petty, CEO. "Our
customers demand high performance workstations and Mac OS X 10.6 dramatically
improves speed and responsiveness of creative workstations, so we expect rapid
adoption by video professionals."

This new software update supports all Blackmagic Design's, Multibridge, DeckLink
and Intensity editing products when used on Intel based Mac Pro systems.

Availability
Multibridge 7.2.6, DeckLink 7.2.6 and Intensity 3.2.6 software installers are
available for download now from the Blackmagic Design web site at www.blackmagic-design.com/support/.

About Blackmagic Design Inc.
Blackmagic Design Inc. manufactures the world's highest quality video editing
products, converters and routers for the post-production and television broadcast
industries. The Multibridge, DeckLink, Intensity, Videohub and HDLink family
of products have revolutionized the post production industry and made HDTV and
film editing more affordable. Founded by the world's leading editors and engineers
from the post production industry, this knowledge is constantly fed back into
our products. Blackmagic Design has operations in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan,
Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagic-design.com.
###

Digieffects Launches Camera Mapper Plugin for After Effects

By Editorial on September 10, 2009 5:34 PM
Developed in Close Collaboration with VFX Industry Guru,
Mark Christiansen

Wilmington, NC - September 10, 2009 - Digieffects,® a developer
of popular visual effects software plugins, today announced that
Camera Mapper is available for purchase. Camera Mapper, a
plugin for Adobe After Effects, allows you to simulate a 3D
scene from 2D stills or footage. It allows you to isolate one
or several objects in your footage, project these objects on a
separate layer and pull that layer out of the background,
creating the visual illusion of the object floating in front
of the original footage.

According to Robert Sharp, President of Digieffects "camera
mapping is a key part of compositing applications such as Nuke,
and while you could do this natively in After Effects, it would
be only at the expense of some complicated workarounds that
cost time and lack important capabilities."

Camera Mapper was developed in close collaboration with Mark
Christiansen, author of The After Effects Studio Techniques
books, and industry veteran who has worked on several feature
films including Avatar, Pirates 3, All About Evil and The
Day After Tomorrow.

Continue reading Digieffects Launches Camera Mapper Plugin for After Effects.

Blackmagic Design Announces the Purchase of all Assets of DaVinci Systems LLC

By Editorial on September 9, 2009 5:27 PM
The world's greatest color correction systems and film restoration products from
DaVinci
are now part of Blackmagic Design's family of high quality post production tools!

IBC 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands - September 10, 2009 - Blackmagic Design today
announced the purchase of all assets of DaVinci Systems LLC. This purchase means
Blackmagic Design will now offer DaVinci Resolve DI color correction systems
and DaVinci Revival film restoration products for sale worldwide.

DaVinci Resolve working with stereoscopic 3D and 4K, and DaVinci Revival film
restoration will be demonstrated at IBC 2009 at the DaVinci booth 7.D08.

Since 1984 DaVinci have been, and continue to be, the standard in post production.
There are thousands of colorists worldwide who understand the performance, quality
and workflow of DaVinci color correction systems. DaVinci is the name behind
more feature films, television commercials, documentaries, episodic television
production and music videos than any other grading system.

DaVinci Resolve is unique in supporting more real time color correction than
any other system. This advantage is because DaVinci Resolve is not limited by
the computer it's running on. DaVinci Resolve is based on a cluster of computers
with high performance GPU cards, so all processing is always real time.

Continue reading Blackmagic Design Announces the Purchase of all Assets of DaVinci Systems LLC.

Visual Effects Society Partners with Silicon Valley Startup ReelSurfer to Power Online Video

By Editorial on September 3, 2009 4:57 PM
Los Angeles, September 3, 2009 -- The Visual Effects Society (VES), the world's premiere visual effects organization, announced today that it will work with ReelSurfer, an innovative video search and interaction system, to power the video components of its members site.

The Visual Effects Society website will provide access to current and archived high-quality panels and awards ceremonies' videos. The site will utilize ReelSurfer indexing and search technology to allow its members to find specific portions of video content by typing basic search terms. Users can then use custom ReelSurfer interaction features to communicate with other VES members through these educational videos.

ReelSurfer is an interactive video system that allows consumers to find specific parts of digital media through simple text search. Employing a unique combination of digital data processing and voice-to-text recognition, ReelSurfer can process large video archives or long-form content and allow it to be consumed in its most usable form: short, relevant segments. Rather than wasting time searching through hours of video or finding irrelevant results, users quickly uncover the crucial "30 seconds" that they actually need.

"The VES is very excited to bring a brand new level of interaction for our members with our digital video content," stated Eric Roth, Executive Director at VES. "The ability to search for specific segments of video will greatly increase the educational value of all of our videos. As always, the VES Society embraces technology innovation and is excited to make this happen."  

President of Production at Legendary Pictures and ReelSurfer advisor, Bill Fay described the ReelSurfer-VES partnership as "an important step forward in the evolution of digital video and technology. ReelSurfer provides much needed functionality and increases the value of the VES's online video, and the VES again takes the lead as an integrator of innovative technology."

###

Continue reading Visual Effects Society Partners with Silicon Valley Startup ReelSurfer to Power Online Video.

Vicon launches boujou 5

By Editorial on September 1, 2009 4:52 PM
1 September 2009, Oxford, UK: Vicon, developer of motion capture and image
understanding systems, for the Entertainment, Life Science and Engineering
industries, has today announced that boujou 5 is now available for
purchase. boujou is the industry leading matchmoving software, famed for
its established ease of use and automation.

Phil Elderfield, Product Manager at Vicon said: "The interest in boujou 5
at Siggraph this year was phenomenal. The feedback we've had so far has
been great - I'm confident it will be our most successful boujou release to
date."

Some exciting new features that existing boujou users have been eagerly
anticipating include:
o    New Automatic Sequential Solver. Previous versions of boujou took the
entire shot into account before delivering a  solve. Now, it can look at a
single frame at a time, which not only enables the user to intervene, it
can make the entire process much faster
o    A fully functional Graph Editor, which lets the user manually adjust the
camera data and, if necessary, resolve. boujou 5  also provides the ability
to lock valid sections of solve data or sections which are known to be
correct, which animators can then use to improve other areas of the shot
o    The Reference Frames feature allows users to import still images taken
with any camera and use them to assist in a solve

Customers can purchase boujou 5 from 31st August 2009. The software
installer will be available to download from the 7th September 2009. For
more information, please visit www.vicon.com/boujou

ENTITY FX CREATES FINAL VISUAL EFFECTS SEQUENCE FOR "THE FINAL DESTINATION" IN STEREOSCOPIC 3D

By Editorial on September 1, 2009 4:51 PM
Santa Monica, CA (September 1, 2009) - Film, television and commercial visual effects company Entity FX announced today that it has completed visual effects for the final sequence of the motion picture "The Final Destination."  Directed by David R. Ellis and distributed in the U.S. by New Line Cinema, the film is the fourth movie in the popular horror-thriller franchise, which deals with the chance of cheating death.

"The Final Destination" raises the stakes by being the first in the series to be released in stereoscopic 3D.  Entity FX was hired to complete the climactic end sequence of the movie, creating a number of completely synthetic shots with fully CG characters linked up in stereo space (left eye and right eye) with real actors seen earlier in the sequence.

Entity FX used a variety of tools to complete the project, including Autodesk Maya for 3D modeling and animation and The Foundry NUKE for compositing and image effects.  

Individuals contributing to Entity FX's work included Mat Beck, Senior VFX Supervisor; Brian Harding, VFX Supervisor; Daniel Rucinski, VFX Executive Producer; Ellyn Lewis, General Manager, Entity FX; Trent Smith, Creative VFX Producer; Jack Liburn, Associate VFX Producer/Coordinator; Rob Reinhart, Lead Compositor; Dave Franks; Stereoscopic Imaging Compositor; Rik Panero, Stereoscopic CG Lead; Junji Hirano, Mike (Pharoah) Barrett, Andreas "AJ" Hester, John Sparks, Leslie Conover, Andrea Shear, Manny Wong, 3D Artists; Viet Nguyen, Systems Engineering; and Nate Smalley and Aaron Leichter, Data I/O.

Continue reading ENTITY FX CREATES FINAL VISUAL EFFECTS SEQUENCE FOR "THE FINAL DESTINATION" IN STEREOSCOPIC 3D.

THE FOUNDRY RELEASES NUKE 5.2

By Editorial on August 28, 2009 4:30 PM
London, UK. August 28th 2009 -- Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry, has announced the latest release of its powerful compositing application Nuke.
 
Nuke 5.2, now shipping, features new pre-comp tools that facilitate structured and collaborative workflow through referencing of external scripts; Python improvements for the creation of custom user interface panels and script driven actions; metadata support direct in the node graph; and the ability to register multiple 'Viewer Process' Gizmos for user-defined viewer processing, including new GPU support for 3D LUTs and GLSL shaders.
 
In addition Nuke 5.2 enables video monitor preview through Blackmagic Decklink, AJA Kona and Xena cards and introduces a RED R3D Redcode format reader that brings the full range of picture information into a full 32bit float-processing environment.
 
Viewer playback performance has been significantly improved, with flexible disk caching introduced at script nodes, and numerous bugs fixed.
 
Richard Shackleton, Nuke product manager at The Foundry commented: "We are continually working with, and listening to, our customers to ensure we understand their needs, wants and priorities. Nuke 5.2 and our future development programme will deliver productivity and workflow gains, as well as expand the production and creative tasks that can be tackled within the platform.
 
"I am very excited about delivering a wide range of new features in this release to support our customers ever-increasing breadth of challenges and complex deliverables. Nuke 5.2 and our future development roadmap will continue to deliver productivity and workflow gains as well as expanding the production and creative tasks that the Nuke platform can achieve."
 
This philosophy of continual innovation focused on solving VFX and production requirements continues at The Foundry with Nuke 6.0 and NukeX 6.0 due for release in Q4 this year.   For a pre-release peek, visit us on stand 7.F28 at IBC, where you can also see in depth customer demonstrations and talk directly with our team.
 
For more information on Nuke see www.thefoundry.co.uk.
 
-ENDS-
 
Continue reading THE FOUNDRY RELEASES NUKE 5.2.

Acid Trips and History on the Big Screen in Taking Woodstock Mr. X Delivers Visual Effects for Ang Lee's Latest Film

By Editorial on August 26, 2009 4:18 PM
TORONTO: August 26, 2009...  Mr. X, one of Canada's leading post houses, created visual effects for director Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, which opens in theatres Aug. 28. Based on Elliot Tiber's autobiographical book, the film is a coming-of-age story set in the social upheaval of 1969. The narrative follows the progress of a young man returning home to help out at his parents' motel in upstate New York. There he becomes involved in organizing the seminal Woodstock concert. Mr. X completed visual effects for the film, including faithful recreations of the concert venue as it takes shape, and a visually stunning 10-minute acid trip sequence.

VFX supervisor Brendan Taylor led a team of 45 artists at the Mr. X facilities in Toronto and Montreal over a period of eight months, delivering 138 shots on the project. Previously, Taylor had collaborated with Ang Lee on Lust, Caution for a series of detailed shots recreating WWII-era Hong Kong and Shanghai. The work was completed at Mr. X in 2007. "I do a lot of research for sequences like these. I want to find out everything I can about the time and place. Getting the details right does a huge amount to set the mood for a film," explained Taylor.

"At Mr. X we've created a unique environment where we engage with the filmmakers," explained company founder, Dennis Berardi, "Our team leaders work with the director to interpret and understand the work. That vision permeates the culture here for the time that we're on the job and informs our work, both technically and artistically."

Continue reading Acid Trips and History on the Big Screen in Taking Woodstock Mr. X Delivers Visual Effects for Ang Lee's Latest Film.

Emergent and Mixamo Partner to Simplify Character Animation in Game Development

By Editorial on August 11, 2009 11:20 PM
Workflow Integration Between Mixamo and Gamebryo® LightSpeed™ Provides a Powerful, Time-saving 3D Character Animation Solution for Emergent Customers

SAN FRANCISCO and CALABASAS, Calif. - Aug. 11, 2009 - Raising the bar for fast, cost-effective and high-quality 3D game animation, Mixamo Inc. and Emergent Game Technologies announced today that users of Gamebryo® LightSpeed™ will now have a seamless integration of character animations when using Mixamo's online service within their game development pipelines.

LightSpeed developers who purchase Mixamo's new animation services have access to a brand new technique for directing, customizing and integrating animation. Emergent customers are now able to significantly reduce production time and cost, while developing premium-quality animations by leveraging this technology integration.

"We are delighted to have Mixamo join our partners program. Mixamo's collection of production-quality, customizable motions and entirely new approach to animation techniques gives LightSpeed users another option for adding great character animations to their games," said John Austin, Vice President of Partners, Emergent Game Technologies.

With an accessible and intuitive interface, Mixamo allows animators to browse through an extensive collection of 3D character motions developed from actual motion capture data. After selecting a desired animation, users may customize the motion using slider-based controls. Mixamo's advanced retargeting capabilities let animators apply the motion directly to their character rig in real-time. Upon completion, the finished animation is downloaded for seamless integration into the LightSpeed pipeline. By alleviating the need for expensive motion capture services and substantially reducing keyframe animation production time and cost, Mixamo significantly accelerates the game development process.

"Emergent and Mixamo share a similar goal to provide powerful time-saving solutions to game developers," says Stefano Corazza, co-founder and CTO of Mixamo. "Our collaborative efforts provide LightSpeed customers with a seamless workflow, improving their overall productivity and allowing more time for creative control."

Emergent's LightSpeed is the newest leap forward in game development technology delivering the only professional technology for start-to-finish multi-genre/multi-platform game development. Enabling rapid prototyping, rapid iteration and rapid production, LightSpeed simplifies game development through a data driven framework that opens doors to exciting game-play possibilities.

Continue reading Emergent and Mixamo Partner to Simplify Character Animation in Game Development.

Digital Film Tools Releases Composite Suite Pro v1

By Editorial on August 10, 2009 11:07 PM
Oak Park, CA August 10, 2009 -- Digital Film Tools releases Composite Suite Pro v1 for Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro and Avid Editing Systems.

For detailed product information, go to  http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/cs/

The successor to Composite Suite v3, Composite Suite Pro adds twelve new plug-ins: Blur Depth, Colorize, Colorize Gradient, DeFocus, DeFog, Distortion, F-Stop, Glow Edges, Glow Effects, Gobo, Printer Points and Temperature. In addition, there are many enhancements to the the existing plug-ins and there is now support for Apple's fxPlug format.

Composite Suite Pro features a well rounded collection of visual effects plug-ins that were previously only available in-house at a Hollywood based feature film effects facility. Tested in the rigors of everyday production, Composite Suite Pro provides all that is needed to combine multiple images by utilizing compositing tricks and techniques, color correction, blur, grain, matte manipulation, lens distortion, lighting effects and edge blending. Eradicate the most common effects problems or employ specialized compositing tools for combining imagery such as fire, smoke and explosions. Cutout or isolate objects using a proprietary matte generator or pick from a variety of color correctors and natural lighting effects to spice up your images.

Composite Suite Pro includes the following plug-ins: Blur, Blur Depth, Camera Flash, Color Correct, Colorize, Colorize Gradient, Color Paste, Composite, DeArtifact, DeFocus, DeFog, Distortion, Drop Shadow, DVE, Edge Composite, Film Masks, Frame Averager, F-Stop, Gobo, Grain, Glow Edges, Glow Effects, HDTV Masks, Holdout Composite, Light, Light Wrap, Math Composite, Matte Generator, Matte Repair, Non-Additive Mix, Optical Dissolve, Ozone, Printer Points, Selective Color Correct, Temperature and Title Blur.

Created for rigorous production demands by digital artists for digital artists, Composite Suite Pro v1 is available for download or purchase at: www.digitalfilmtools.com for $395. Upgrade pricing is available for existing customers.

Digital Film Tools brings together the unbeatable combination of superior software designers, motion picture visual effects veterans, video editors and photographers. Add three Emmy Awards and experience in creating visual effects for hundreds of feature films, commercials and television shows and you have a recipe for success.

The Foundry's RollingShutter Plug-in Tackles CMOS Skew and Wobble Effects

By Editorial on August 5, 2009 10:54 PM
London, August 5th, 2009 - Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk), has announced the release of RollingShutter, a brand new plug-in tool for After Effects and Nuke, which tackles the image-distortion problems often experienced by users of CMOS cameras.

Rolling shutter effects are commonly found with video cameras employing CMOS image sensors, which record every frame line-by-line from top to bottom of the image, rather than as a single snapshot of a point in time.

As parts of the image are recorded at different times, moving objects can become distorted and appear skewed. Problems can also arise with flashing or strobing lights. Aside from not looking great, 3D tracking during VFX post production can become a very difficult task as the tracking points themselves are unstable.

The Foundry's RollingShutter plug-in tackles skew and perceived 'wobble' problems from the VFX artist's perspective. The plug-in will often vastly improve the look of distorted footage, by either minimising or eradicating image distortions.

Continue reading The Foundry's RollingShutter Plug-in Tackles CMOS Skew and Wobble Effects.

NVIDIA CUDA TECHNOLGY USED TO RECOVER HISTORIC APOLLO 11 MAN ON THE MOON VIDEO

By Editorial on August 5, 2009 10:51 PM
Lowry Digital Relies on NVIDIA GPUs to Recover Historic Video by Upgrading 1960s Television Footage to 21st Century High-Definition

SANTA CLARA, CA-AUGUST 5, 2009- When NASA's original Apollo 11 moon landing video was accidentally destroyed, it seemed the world had lost a visual record of one of man's greatest achievements. Fortunately, unique digital video restoration technology from Lowry Digital, powered by NVIDIA®® Tesla™ GPUs (graphics processing units) with CUDA™ technology, has enhanced television coverage of the original video so that we can now watch Neil Armstrong take a giant leap for mankind in high-definition (HD).

"NVIDIA CUDA has enabled Lowry Digital to develop and use, in a practical and efficient manner, far more complex image processing algorithms than would otherwise be possible, providing great value for our customers." said John D Lowry, founder, Lowry Digital. "This has significantly increased both our image quality and our operational efficiency."

NVIDIA Tesla GPUs are high performance parallel processors and work together with CPUs in a co-processing model. Computationally intensive applications like digital video restoration use the massive computational capabilities of the GPU while the sequential part of the application's code runs on the CPU, speeding up the overall process and decreasing time to completion.

Continue reading NVIDIA CUDA TECHNOLGY USED TO RECOVER HISTORIC APOLLO 11 MAN ON THE MOON VIDEO.

Leading visual effects studio chooses Xsens' inertial motion capture technology

By Editorial on August 4, 2009 10:45 PM

- Double Negative uses Xsens MVN for upcoming titles -

 

London, (UK), Enschede (The Netherlands) -- August 5th, 2009 -- Xsens Technologies, creator of MVN, the leading camera-less motion capture solution, announces Double Negative Visual Effects as a new customer. This confirms further acceptance of MVN as a proven motion capture technology in the mainstream film industry.

 

Double Negative (known for Angels & Demons, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Boat that Rocked, Fast &Furious, Quantum of Solace, a.o.) will be using Xsens MVN (formerly Moven) during production of their upcoming film projects. The MVN system seamlessly integrates with their existing production pipelines and provides extremely short turn-around times.

 

Double Negative, currently working on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time a.o., has deployed Xsens MVN for on-set performance capture and real-time previs for their latest cutting edge film productions.

 

'Double Negative is a leader in their industry. We are very proud to have them as customer', says Casper Peeters, CEO of Xsens Technologies 'Their studio not only recognizes the flexibility, quality and ease of use that Xsens MVN brings, but also its cost efficiency, bringing positive bottom line results.'

 

Xsens Technologies will be demonstrating the MVN system and the integration of its high quality output with MotionBuilder® at SIGGRAPH 2009, Booth 2819, New Orleans, August 4-6.

Continue reading Leading visual effects studio chooses Xsens' inertial motion capture technology.

SMITH MICRO SOFTWARE RELEASES POSER 8 -- THE INDUSTRY'S TOP 3D CHARACTER SOLUTION FOR HOBBYISTS, ARTISTS AND GRAPHIC PROFESSIONALS

By Editorial on August 4, 2009 10:36 PM
Over a Dozen New Major Features Make 3D Figure Art and Animation Creation Easier Than Ever with Eight New Characters

NEW ORLEANS, SIGGRAPH 2009 - August 4, 2009 - Smith Micro Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMSI) Productivity and Graphics Group, today announced the availability of Poser 8, the next generation of the popular 3D figure design and animation solution. Poser 8 enables hobbyists, artists, and graphic professionals to create and digitally shape humans, animals and entire scenes in 3D. Visit booth #2407 for a quick demo of the new software in action.

Poser 8 allows artists to work with avatars and all types of 3D characters, such as giant ogres and talking chipmunks that proliferate in advertising, video games, television and full-length feature films. Poser 8 acts as a virtual stage, offering eight new, ready-to-pose, fully-textured humans of different ethnicities and body types to give artists a starting point in designing their characters. The new Poser content library provides more than 2.5 gigabytes of human and animal figures accompanied by a wide range of accessories including hair, clothing, sets and real-world props and elements such as lights and cameras to produce complete scenes.

For many years, creating 3D characters was beyond the budget and ability of novice users. Many amateur 3D artists inspired by the stunning images shown in computer-generated films could not afford the expensive and complex software needed to create animations. With Poser 8, new users and hobbyists can create entire, professional-quality scenes in minutes that utilize automatically- generated walking, running or dancing sequences and lifelike speaking capabilities. Once created, users can post their animations to YouTube or any of their favorite social networking sites.

Continue reading SMITH MICRO SOFTWARE RELEASES POSER 8 -- THE INDUSTRY'S TOP 3D CHARACTER SOLUTION FOR HOBBYISTS, ARTISTS AND GRAPHIC PROFESSIONALS.

StudioGPU Reveals Next-Generation MachStudio Pro Real-Time 3D Workflow and Rendering Features

By Editorial on August 4, 2009 10:34 PM
Previews New Features and Performance Improvements of MachStudio Pro 1.2 and Announces Bundle of New AMD ATI FirePro V8750 3D Workstation Graphics Accelerator

SIGGRAPH 2009 (Booth #2417) — New Orleans, LA — August 4, 2009 — StudioGPU is showcasing at SIGGRAPH 2009 the powerful next-generation features and performance benefits of MachStudio™ Pro on the all new, industry-leading AMD ATI FirePro™ V8750 3D workstation graphics accelerator. MachStudio Pro provides a seamless way to create and interact with cinematic 3D objects and environments in a non-linear workspace, leveraging the horsepower of off-the-shelf professional graphics processing units (GPUs) to deliver real-time and near real-time workflow performance on a desktop workstation.

The MachStudio Pro workflow is akin to a virtual 3D real-time studio environment, allowing artists, designers, engineers, directors, and technical directors (TDs) to work with lighting, camera views and multi-point perspectives for a real-time view of frames as they will appear in the final rendered format. Users can easily manage and interact with complex lighting, caustics, cameras, shaders, materials, ambient occlusion, and color grading for real-time shot finaling and compositing.

Visit StudioGPU in the AMD booth (#2417), at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans, August 4-6 to see the next-generation MachStudio Pro features, including:

- Displacement Mapping Using Hardware Tessellation, exclusively on qualified ATI graphics workstation accelerators: Offers real-time hardware-based geometry tessellation in conjunction with displacement maps, allowing for unbelievable surface detail in 3D models while also reducing render times. By utilizing the tessellation library included with ATI 3D workstation graphics accelerators, MachStudio Pro can even create sub-pixel geometry tessellation, allowing for greater efficiency and better control over surface geometry. Leveraging the immense power of the ATI graphics accelerators, MachStudio Pro can actually increase the polygon count exponentially, in some cases to more than one billion polygons, without any material drop in the render speed.

Continue reading StudioGPU Reveals Next-Generation MachStudio Pro Real-Time 3D Workflow and Rendering Features.

NVIDIA LAUNCHES THE WORLD'S FIRST INTERACTIVE RAY TRACING ENGINE

By Editorial on August 4, 2009 10:28 PM
NVIDIA OptiX Engine Joins Groundbreaking Suite of Application Acceleration Engines


SIGGRAPH 2009, NEW ORLEANS-Aug. 4, 2009- NVIDIA, the leader in GPU computing, today introduced the NVIDIA®® OptiX™ ray tracing engine, part of a suite of application acceleration engines for software developers. NVIDIA acceleration engines make it easy to incorporate valuable, high-performance capabilities into applications, while simultaneously reducing development time.

NVIDIA application acceleration engines unveiled at Siggraph 2009 include:

NVIDIA®® OptiX™ engine for real-time ray tracing
NVIDIA®® SceniX™ engine for managing 3D data and scenes
NVIDIA®® CompleX™ engine for scaling performance across multiple GPUs
NVIDIA®® PhysX®® 64-bit engine for real-time, hyper-realistic physical and environmental effects
As the world's first interactive ray tracing engine to leverage the GPU, the NVIDIA OptiX engine is a programmable ray tracing pipeline enabling software developers to easily bring new levels of realism to their applications using traditional C programming. By tapping into the massively parallel computing power of NVIDIA®® Quadro®® processors, the OptiX engine greatly accelerates the ray tracing used across a spectrum of disciplines, including: photorealistic rendering, automotive styling, acoustical design, optics simulation, volume calculations and radiation research. Application developers are utilizing the OptiX engine to redefine what's possible for designers, engineers and researchers.

"In one year, NVIDIA has gone from proving interactive GPU ray tracing is possible, to making it available to all," said Jon Peddie, founder and president of Jon Peddie Research. "Intricate design tasks, such as examining the play of reflection and refraction across surfaces and within glass, can now be examined in real-time by utilizing the OptiX acceleration engine running on Quadro processors. This is a phenomenal milestone for developers and designers alike."

Continue reading NVIDIA LAUNCHES THE WORLD'S FIRST INTERACTIVE RAY TRACING ENGINE.

LuMaxArt Gold Guys Stock Images Arrive at The3dStudio.com

By Editorial on August 4, 2009 1:55 PM | No TrackBacks
Mesa, AZ--August 3, 2009: The LuMaxArt Stock Image Collection of over 40,000+ images will soon be available as part of The3dStudio.com (http://www.the3dstudio.com) resource collection. Over 10,000 LuMaxArt images have already been added and more coming every day.

LuMaxArt's "Gold Guys and Friends" stock images are suitable for many projects including promotional and business literature, advertising, education, video games, etc. Themes are numerous and varied and include financial, technical, industrial, and lifestyle concepts. The Gold Guys images join the traditional stock photos in the Stock Photography and Image Category at The3dStudio.com.

The3dStudio.com currently offers over 322,000 resources in 2D and 3D, making it a one-stop-shop for all types of free and priced royalty-free resources, including 3D models, textures, tutorials, plug-ins, blueprints and software, as well as stock photos and images. Expert custom work and free file conversion are available.

Mesa, AZ--August 3, 2009: The LuMaxArt Stock Image Collection of over 40,000+ images will soon be available as part of The3dStudio.com (http://www.the3dstudio.com) resource collection. Over 10,000 LuMaxArt images have already been added and more coming every day.

LuMaxArt's "Gold Guys and Friends" stock images are suitable for many projects including promotional and business literature, advertising, education, video games, etc. Themes are numerous and varied and include financial, technical, industrial, and lifestyle concepts. The Gold Guys images join the traditional stock photos in the Stock Photography and Image Category at The3dStudio.com.

The3dStudio.com currently offers over 322,000 resources in 2D and 3D, making it a one-stop-shop for all types of free and priced royalty-free resources, including 3D models, textures, tutorials, plug-ins, blueprints and software, as well as stock photos and images. Expert custom work and free file conversion are available.


Autodesk Announces Connection Extension for 3ds Max 2010 Software New Release Improves Interoperability with Popular Design Software and Simplifies Work with Complex Scenes

By Editorial on August 3, 2009 1:47 PM | No TrackBacks
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 3, 2009 - At SIGGRAPH 2009, Autodesk, Inc., has announced
the Connection Extension for Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 and Autodesk 3ds Max
Design 2010 modeling, animation and rendering software. The release makes
it easier and more cost-effective to turn designs into more accurate,
creative advertisements or realistic visualizations. This is achieved by
delivering new levels of interoperability - based on intelligent data
workflows - between 3ds Max and design packages from Autodesk and other
third parties.

Connectivity and Intelligent Workflows
Improved interoperability with several popular applications helps artists
to create compelling content more efficiently. The addition of new,
high-fidelity data translators for SKP and SAT file formats, along with a
rewritten OpenEXR translator delivers:
o    Importing and exporting of SAT files for moving solids-based design data
between 3ds Max and Autodesk Inventor Professional, the Alias family of
products or certain third-party design products.
o    More efficient, accurate importing of files from Google SketchUp
sketching software - a common tool in the architecture and design
communities - and support for reading the thousands of 3D objects in
Google's 3D Warehouse.
o    Importing and exporting of multilayer OpenEXR files with advanced options
for transferring extra elements (camera information, scripted data) to
support high dynamic range (HDR) workflows with advanced compositing
applications. This helps to reduce the number of iterations required to
achieve the final result.

Continue reading Autodesk Announces Connection Extension for 3ds Max 2010 Software New Release Improves Interoperability with Popular Design Software and Simplifies Work with Complex Scenes.

Autodesk Launches Mudbox 2010 Digital Sculpting and Painting Software

By Editorial on August 3, 2009 1:37 PM | No TrackBacks
New Version Offers Increased Model Quality, New Presentation Capabilities
and Easier Integration with Digital Entertainment Workflows

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 3, 2009 - At SIGGRAPH 2009, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK)
has launched Autodesk Mudbox 2010 software, the latest version of its
digital sculpting and painting application. The 2010 release makes it
easier for artists to use Mudbox alongside Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Maya,
Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Softimage software. Mudbox 2010 now also
features a host of new creative tools and workflows, as well as a software
development kit (SDK) that enables production teams to customize and
integrate Mudbox into pipelines.

Mudbox 2010 will ship as a part of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation
Suites, making it more affordable to incorporate the technology into film,
games and television workflows.

"Autodesk Mudbox gives artists the freedom to create 3D digital artwork as
easily as working with clay and paint," said Stig Gruman, vice president,
Autodesk Digital Entertainment Group. "The software empowers artists to add
a level of detail to their 3D characters, objects and environments that can
be difficult to achieve in traditional 3D modeling applications."

Christoph Schädl, character artist at RABCAT Computer Graphics GmbH, was a
beta tester for Mudbox 2010. "I love to work with Mudbox because the
intuitive user interface lets me focus entirely on my creative vision,"
said Schädl. "My favorite feature in the 2010 release is the ability to
paint across multiple texture maps, in different paint channels without any
seams. That means you can paint really huge textures - up to 50K and more."

Continue reading Autodesk Launches Mudbox 2010 Digital Sculpting and Painting Software.

Autodesk Integrates Face Robot into Softimage 2010: Brings Rapid Facial Animation to More 3D Users

By Editorial on August 3, 2009 1:35 PM | No TrackBacks
Also Features Optimized Core Architecture and Enhanced ICE System

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 3, 2009 - At SIGGRAPH 2009, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK)
has launched Autodesk Softimage 2010 3D modeling, animation rendering and
compositing software for games, film and television visual effects.
Softimage 2010 features an optimized core architecture, integration of the
Softimage Face Robot facial rigging and animation toolset, and an expanded
and customizable Interactive Creative Environment (ICE) system.

"Over the past year, we've made Softimage faster, easier to use and more
powerful," said Stig Gruman, vice president, Autodesk Digital Entertainment
Group. "This version provides integrated solutions for digital
entertainment creation with the inclusion of Face Robot, scene complexity
management tools and improved interoperability with Autodesk Maya, Autodesk
3ds Max and Autodesk MotionBuilder software."

Artists have used Softimage to help create stunning movies, commercials and
video games, including commercials for BMW, Coca Cola, Kellogg's and
Monster.com. Janimation, an award-winning animation and motion graphics
studio, relied on Softimage to help create Activision's latest James
Bondbased hit video game, "Quantum of Solace." Greg Punchatz, senior
creative director at Janimation, remarked, "If you only looked at the huge
performance increases and workflow enhancements, Softimage 2010 would be a
very solid release, but add Face Robot to the mix and you have a home run."

Continue reading Autodesk Integrates Face Robot into Softimage 2010: Brings Rapid Facial Animation to More 3D Users.

SIGGRAPH 2009: Autodesk Focuses on Providing Value to Customers New Product Suites and Versions of Autodesk Maya, Softimage, Mudbox and MotionBuilder 2010 Offer More Creative Capabilities, Efficiency and Value

By Editorial on August 3, 2009 1:29 PM | No TrackBacks
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 3, 2009 - At SIGGRAPH 2009, the world's largest annual
computer graphics convention, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) has unveiled
several initiatives to provide entertainment customers with greater
creative capability, value and efficiency in their pipelines. Autodesk is
also hosting an extensive Virtual SIGGRAPH event on the AREA, its online
community for digital entertainment and visualization - enabling customers
around the world with limited time and travel budgets to participate.  

New Suites for Digital Entertainment Creation: Offering More than 35
Percent* in Savings
o    Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites: Ideal for handling tough
production challenges, these suites include a choice of either Autodesk
Maya 2010 software or Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 software, in addition to
Autodesk Mudbox 2010 and Autodesk MotionBuilder 2010 software.
o    Autodesk Real-Time Animation Suites: Designed for animation-intensive
productions, these suites include a choice of either Maya 2010 or 3ds Max
2010, in addition to MotionBuilder 2010.
o    Autodesk Education Suite for Entertainment Creation: Helps educators
prepare students for professional careers in the increasingly competitive
3D job market. The suite includes access to flexible learning resources,
Maya 2010, 3ds Max 2010, MotionBuilder 2010, Mudbox 2010, Autodesk
Softimage 2010 and Autodesk SketchBook Pro 2010 software. Available for
both institution and student purchase.
o    Autodesk Animation Academy 2010 Suite: The suite offers software and
curriculum that helps secondary school students learn 3D technology while
exploring new ways to visualize ideas. It includes 3ds Max 2010, Maya 2010,
MotionBuilder 2010, Mudbox 2010 and SketchBook Pro 2010 software, as well
as a Curriculum Resources DVD and access to online community resources.
*International savings may vary.

Continue reading SIGGRAPH 2009: Autodesk Focuses on Providing Value to Customers New Product Suites and Versions of Autodesk Maya, Softimage, Mudbox and MotionBuilder 2010 Offer More Creative Capabilities, Efficiency and Value.

ArtVPS launches Shaderlight version 0.2

By Editorial on August 3, 2009 1:28 PM | No TrackBacks
Latest version of ArtVPS's interactive rendering plug-in for 3ds Max includes improved MELT-change super-sampling and support for 3ds Max 2010

Rendering solutions expert ArtVPS has launched version 0.2 of Shaderlight, its ground-breaking interactive rendering plug-in for 3ds Max. Building on the success of Shaderlight 0.1, which has received over 1,000 unique downloads since its launch in June, the latest release includes support for 3ds Max 2010 and a number of significant performance and quality improvements.

At the heart of Shaderlight is the ability to make interactive changes to key image attributes that would conventionally require the rendering process to be started again from scratch. Changes to materials, environments, lights and textures (MELT changes) can be made at any stage in the rendering process, even on high-resolution production images. As well as introducing support for 3ds Max 2010, Shaderlight 0.2 includes improvements to MELT change functionality and improved performance for the core progressive ray-tracer.

"Since entering the software market earlier this year we have been delighted by the reception Shaderlight has had," says Kate Marshall, Marketing Director at ArtVPS. "It is clear that in freeing the 3D artist from the restrictions of having to re-render every time they make a change to a scene, we have homed in on a source of frustration and inefficiency in the industry. This latest release encompasses some key technical changes we wanted to make to the underlying rendering technology as well as some more general usability improvements that have been largely driven by our enthusiastic early adopters. As we move towards the first full release in December, new features and improvements will continue to be added in response to customer feedback."

News features in Shaderlight 0.2 include:

Support for 3ds Max 2010: Shaderlight 0.2 supports 3ds Max 2010, the latest version of the leading 3D modelling tool from Autodesk.
Improved sampling: Significant improvements have been made to image sampling quality and performance.
Improved MELT change super-sampling: MELT changes that introduce more detail into the image now have improved image quality.
Improved progressive rendering performance for glossy materials: The progressive ray-tracing of scenes containing glossy materials has been improved, providing faster image updates while making non-MELT changes.
Always on top: Based on customer feedback, Shaderlight can now be kept on top of the 3ds Max window.
Shaderlight 0.2 is available for download from www.artvps.com. With the launch of Shaderlight 0.2 ArtVPS has introduced a nominal introductory pricing scheme. New customers will pay $75 for version 0.2 but will be able to upgrade to interim versions for free, as well as receiving a significant discount on the purchase of Shaderlight 1.0 to be released at the end of the year.

To help new users get to grips with Shaderlight, a number of scenes that demonstrate its capabilities are available from: http://www.artvps.com/content/resources#sample-scenes

Continue reading ArtVPS launches Shaderlight version 0.2.

Xsens and Time Domain Partner to Advance Entertainment Industry 3D Tracking Technology

By Editorial on August 3, 2009 1:24 PM | No TrackBacks
ENSCHEDE, Netherlands, and HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--August 3, 2009-- Xsens Technologies B.V., the leader in 3D tracking systems, and Time Domain Corporation, the leader in ultra wideband (UWB) real-time location systems (RTLS), today announced a partnership that will advance the entertainment industry's 3D tracking and motion capture systems. Xsens will unveil the new tracking system's capabilities at this week's SIGGRAPH conference (August 3 - 7) in New Orleans at booth 2819.

The partnership is based on Time Domain's Precision Location Ultra Wideband System (PLUS) technology combined with Xsens' inertial sensor technology and builds on the success of Xsens' MVN full-body cameraless motion capture system.  Xsens MVN, which is already in use among top developers at Electronic Arts, Industrial Light and Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, THQ and others, will enable gaming and visual effects developers to track extremely large spaces in demanding environmental circumstances in real time. It will also eliminate the line-of-sight restrictions associated with existing camera-based systems.

"The combination of MVN with UWB technology meets industry demands for scalable multi-person motion capture systems that can be used on location and provide robust data in real time for on-set previsualization," said Per Slycke, founder and CTO of Xsens. "This is a huge step forward in providing the entertainment sector with the best, ground breaking and non-intrusive technologies available. It is great working with a company that understands the level of integration needed to make UWB work with inertial sensors and truly excels in its area of expertise."

Time Domain's PLUS is a highly accurate Real-Time Location System (RTLS) that enables enterprises to have precise location information of their people and assets. Using UWB technology, a PLUS network can provide indoor location information at accuracy levels previously unavailable from Wi-Fi or other RTLS technologies.

"Time Domain's UWB-based tracking technology is a perfect fit for Xsens' leading-edge MVN system, essentially adding the equivalent of an indoor GPS system," said Greg Clawson, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Time Domain. "This partnership expands Time Domain's presence to the movie and gaming industries and reflects the continued growth of our partnership program."

Continue reading Xsens and Time Domain Partner to Advance Entertainment Industry 3D Tracking Technology.

WETA Digital Integrates Tweak Software's RV

By Editorial on July 23, 2009 12:41 PM | No TrackBacks
Open Architecture, Customizability and Stereo Playback Encourages
Facility-Wide Adoption of RV Playback Software

San Francisco, CA (July 23, 2009)-Tweak Software, developers of RV, the
image and sequence viewer for animation and visual effects, adds WETA
Digital, the New Zealand-based Academy Award-winning visual effects house,
to its long list of leading VFX industry clientele. WETA has been
championing Tweak's RV software since its pre-beta release, and recently
began to integrate it throughout the entire facility.

"WETA has really exploited the flexibility and openness of RV to weave
playback capability seamlessly into the artist workflow. They've managed to
make playback permeate the environment so that artists hardly have to think
about finding and viewing the right images or edits. It's remarkable what
they have done with RV to refine their pipeline." Said Seth Rosenthal,
Tweak Co-Founder.

Johan Aberg, Senior Compositor at WETA was initially drawn to RV for its
customizability. "That's definitely one of the things that sets RV apart,
the ability for the end user to customize. It's apparent that Tweak is
listening to its customers' needs because with each new release the company
keeps adding in new hooks that make it even more fun to work with."

Continue reading WETA Digital Integrates Tweak Software's RV.

Luxology and Pixologic Collaborate on Innovative New Workflow for modo and ZBrush Users

By Editorial on July 22, 2009 12:31 PM | No TrackBacks
New GoZ Feature Enables a Powerful Yet Simple Workflow Between modo® and ZBrush®

SAN MATEO, Calif. - July 22, 2009 - 3D artists everywhere are applauding the just-announced GoZ for modo® feature from Pixologic, which improves the workflow between ZBrush, Pixologic's premiere organic sculpting and texture tool, and modo, the 3D modeling, painting and rendering software from Luxology®. Luxology and Pixologic worked closely together to optimize the mesh geometry transfer between these two computer graphics applications to give users a more seamless and combined workflow.

"GoZ for modo opens new opportunities and maximizes workflows for artists and designers from all backgrounds," said Brad Peebler, president and co-founder of Luxology. "By bringing these two modern 3D applications together through GoZ, modo and ZBrush users will experience a significant increase in time savings and efficiency."

GoZ is a feature within ZBrush that automatically transfers mesh geometry and normal, displacement, and texture maps into modo and back again. This ability to easily move between two complementary applications offers tremendous freedom to artists, who use each product at different phases of the creative process. With GoZ, modo can be used to create a base model, such as a human head, to provide the basic anatomy. This model can then be instantly transferred to ZBrush via GoZ for brush-based addition of scars, warts and wrinkles. The enhanced model can then be passed back to modo to create the final rendered output files.

Continue reading Luxology and Pixologic Collaborate on Innovative New Workflow for modo and ZBrush Users.

EDEN FX TEAM EARNS 2009 EMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS FOR VFX WORK ON "GHOST WHISPERER" EPISOD

By Editorial on July 21, 2009 12:28 PM | No TrackBacks
Hollywood, CA, July 21 , 2009 - Seven members of Eden FX, a Hollywood-based creator of visual effects for feature films, television programs and commercials, have earned 2009 Emmy Award nominations for their work on the hit CBS drama series "Ghost Whisperer."
 
Nominated in the category of "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series," specifically for the "Ghost in the Machine" episode of "Ghost Whisperer," the Eden FX nominees are:

Matt Scharf, Visual Effects Producer
David Morton, Lead CG Matte Artist
Stefan Bredereck, CGI Supervisor
Rick Ramirez, CGI Artist
Ben Campanero, Visual Effects Compositor
Eric Haas, CGI Artist
Ed Ruiz, CGI Artist
 
          For the "Ghost in the Machine" episode, Eden FX created an entire CGI virtual world, comprised of a major urban exterior environment, which included street scenes, and a live arcade. This work was composited with live action which had been shot against an enormous green screen (30 feet high by 150 feet long, which can shoot up to 260-degrees) on Stage 20 at Universal Studios.
 
          In the episode, series star Jennifer Love Hewitt became a digital "avatar" character, who enters into an entirely virtual "social networking" type environment inside a computer. Hewitt's character must hunt down a predator who is targeting young girls on the web.
 
ABOUT "GHOST WHISPERER:"
 
            "Ghost Whisperer" is produced by Sander/Moses Productions in association with ABC Studios and CBS Paramount Network Television and airs on Fridays at 8:00 PM, ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

ABOUT EDEN FX:
 
Formed in 2000 by visual effects and post-production notables John Gross and Mark Miller, Eden FX specializes in 3D animation, compositing, 3D matte painting, character animation and on-set supervision. Eden FX, a Point.360 company, is located at 1438 N. Gower St., Building # 50, Hollywood, CA 90028. The telephone is 323/993-7050. Please visit www.edenfx.com for more information.
 

ArtVPS to reward early adopters of Shaderlight

By Editorial on July 16, 2009 1:41 PM | No TrackBacks
Those who download interim version 0.1 of Shaderlight, the interactive rendering plug-in for 3ds Max, will receive 50 percent off price of final shipping release

ArtVPS, the specialist developer of photorealistic rendering solutions, has announced a generous discount programme designed to reward early adopters of Shaderlight, its physically based raytrace renderer plug-in for 3ds Max. Anyone who downloads the free pre-release version, Shaderlight 0.1, available now from www.artvps.com, will be entitled to free upgrades to interim versions, and will qualify for 50 percent off the cost of Shaderlight 1.0. Shaderlight 1.0 will cost $895, but those who download version 0.1 (available for free until 3 August 2009) will only pay $445 for the first full release.

Shaderlight enables CG professionals and visualisation specialists to make interactive changes to materials, environments, lights and textures (the MELT elements) on full quality 3D images, without having to re-render, improving efficiency and project turnaround. MELT changes can be made even while the image progressively refines, giving users the flexibility to edit their scene without having to wait for a render to finsh.  An innovative new approach to global illumination (GI) enables light, colour and intensity to be updated on screen also without the need to re-render.

A pre-release version of the software was launched in June 2009 and achieved over 800 unique downloads in the first two weeks of release. Early adopters of the technology are helping shape the development of the software by providing feedback and sharing experiences in the Shaderlight forum (www.artvps.com/content/discuss) and on Twitter (http://twitter.com/shaderlight).

"These early adopters are crucial to the success of Shaderlight," says Kate Marshall, Marketing Director at ArtVPS. "Feedback from real-world users is being fed right back to our development team, enabling us to develop a solution based on what users need to do their job more effectively. We want to thank and reward them for their innovative spirit and ongoing support. The free version of Shaderlight is still available we would encourage as many people as possible to download it and get involved."

Shaderlight 0.1 will be available as a free download until 3 August 2009, when ArtVPS will introduce a nominal introductory pricing scheme. New customers will pay $75 for version 0.2 but will be able to upgrade to interim versions for free as well as receiving a significant discount on the purchase of Shaderlight 1.0 to be released at the end of the year.

Shaderlight 0.1 is still available as a free download from www.artvps.com. To help new users get to grips with this early release of Shaderlight, a number of scenes that demo its capabilities are now available from: http://www.artvps.com/content/resources#sample-scenes

Continue reading ArtVPS to reward early adopters of Shaderlight.

Royale Turns Two, Celebrates Studio Defining Culture

By Editorial on July 15, 2009 1:29 PM | No TrackBacks
Los Angeles, CA - (July 15, 2009) -- July 2009 marks the 2nd anniversary of LA-based motion design and production studio Royale. Drawing on 20+ years collective experience, Partners Jayson Whitmore, Brien Holman and Jennifer Lucero launched Royale with the mission of pioneering a studio whose culture would be its defining thread, from nurturing innovative creative and its intrinsic process, to delivering clients tailored solutions in a welcoming, collaborative atmosphere.

Reflecting on the company's prolific start: "The culture we set out to create has been the key to our successful and amazing first two years. It's based on a collective philosophy here at Royale: creativity comes in unexpected ways, inspired by real-life experiences. If workflow, technology and communication are efficient in the workplace, it allows us to enjoy and experience life outside the workplace. It all comes full circle, really, as we can harness those collective experiences and apply them to our creative process."

Royale adds, "it's a challenge to 'have a life' and do what you love, so the chemistry of what we've created is something special. The Royale culture is a unique asset to not only our artists and staff, but also our clients - everyone is a part of our team, hence the tagline: We Are Royale."

Having recently celebrated the fruition of Royale's inaugural year, with Gold and Silver Promax|BDA awards for Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" & "Indecision 2008," year two has been met with even greater success. Royale has produced striking work for brands including Comedy Central, McDonald's UK, Discovery Channel, Madonna, MTV Asia, Diesel, and JetBlue, to name a few, while collaborating with notable agencies like Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, The Martin Agency, JWT NY, and Leo Burnett UK.

"In just two years, we've already had the pleasure of working with some of the best in the industry and are deeply humbled for the opportunity to collaborate with wonderful clients on global brands we love and believe in."

Behind the philosophy that the power of moving image is the most effective means of communication in the advertising and branding landscape, Royale's first two years are a testament to its design and animation prowess. For Royale, creating for brands and networks is just the tip of the iceberg. Ever expanding and evolving, Royale's prolific entity is yielding more live-action, with the hybrid production company excited about what's on the horizon: multi-media, environmental and experiential design.

Moving fervently into year three, Royale recently completed a string of new work and is eager to unveil its latest, cutting-edge material, which are slated to break summer '09. A hot-off-the-press reel will follow this Fall. http://www.weareroyale.com">www.weareroyale.com

RISING SUN PICTURES BACK FOR MORE POTTER

By Editorial on July 10, 2009 12:45 PM | No TrackBacks
10th July 2009, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Rising Sun Pictures, Australia's leading visual effects company, is
excited to announce the continuation of its long standing relationship
with the makers of Harry Potter.

Whilst the team at Rising Sun eagerly await the theatrical release of
their work on Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, they are busy
preparing for another two years at Hogwarts, with the confirmation of
contracts on Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2.

Rising Sun Executive Producer James Whitlam cites the award as strong
show of trust in the company's ability to deliver large-scale work.
"We're thrilled to be back on the team for the fourth (and fifth!) time.
Whilst the nature of our package remains tightly under wraps, I can
assure you it is a great win for this region and will cement Australia's
reputation for delivering high quality, large volume visual effects
packages to international clients".

Once again Rising Sun has attracted a large body of footloose work to
Australia, both through its creative and technical reputation and by way
of the 15% Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) offset program
provided by the Australian Federal Government.

Continue reading RISING SUN PICTURES BACK FOR MORE POTTER.

"Transformers," "Star Trek," "Terminator" and "Harry Potter": ILM Delivers Visual Effects Magic with Autodesk Software

By Editorial on July 9, 2009 12:39 PM | No TrackBacks
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., July 9, 2009 - Academy Award-winning visual effects
house Industrial, Light & Magic (ILM) relied on Autodesk, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:
ADSK) digital entertainment software to create thousands of visual effects
shots for this summer's hottest movies, including "Transformers: Revenge of
the Fallen," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Terminator
Salvation" and "Star Trek." ILM created stunning visual effects using
Autodesk visual effects software, including Autodesk Maya and the Autodesk
Inferno software that is part of ILM's proprietary SABRE high-speed
compositing system.

"Every year the quantity and quality of visual effectsdriven movies rises.
ILM continues to push the technological and creative envelope by creating
stunning visual effects that thrill audiences worldwide," said Stig Gruman,
VP of digital entertainment, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "Autodesk is
proud to be associated with ILM and its hundreds of visual effects pioneers
who contributed some of the most memorable and stunning effects of this
summer."

Continue reading "Transformers," "Star Trek," "Terminator" and "Harry Potter": ILM Delivers Visual Effects Magic with Autodesk Software.

DistributorX announce distribution of FFEI product range including RealVue3D Desktop and RealVue3D Server

By Editorial on July 8, 2009 12:26 PM | No TrackBacks
DistributorX, the worldwide technology channel source are pleased to
announce the availability of the FFEI product line, which includes the
powerful new RealVue3D Desktop and RealVue3D Server versions. FFEI's
RealVue3D combines a high level of simulation with unique 3D technology to
enable printers and creative professionals to convert any multi-page PDF
into a stunning and interactive three dimensional visualisation. RealVue3D
dramatically improves the communication, time and sales effectiveness of job
pitching and print expectation.

"DistributorX are constantly on the look out for solutions that will be
valuable to customers in the design, print and publishing industries,"
states Rachel Keenan, DistributorX Channel Manager. "We are excited to add
RealVue3D to our range of solutions because we feel this product is a
tremendous asset for anyone involved in any type of publishing production."

RealVue3D's advanced interactive technology means users and their client(s)
can turn pages, test folds, rotate viewing angles and zoom in and out of
detail to feel and sense how products will look when printed. The print
simulations can then be emailed directly to the client or uploaded straight
to the web for viewing and interaction online, without the need for
specialist software or skills. Whether viewed from a Macintosh or a PC,
RealVue3D print simulations will add the competitive edge to design concept
presentations.

Continue reading DistributorX announce distribution of FFEI product range including RealVue3D Desktop and RealVue3D Server.

Tweak Software Launches Major Upgrade for RV Playback Software

By Editorial on July 8, 2009 12:23 PM | No TrackBacks
RV 3.6 features 2K Uncompressed Playback from Disk, Remote Sync, HDR LUTs,
Stereo 3D and More

San Francisco, CA (July 8, 2009)-Tweak Software, developers of RV, the
image and sequence viewer for animation and visual effects, announced today
the release of a significant new version. New features introduced with RV
3.6 include: 2K uncompressed playback from disk, remote sync, HDR LUTs, and
a Package System for RV scripts and other extensions.

Tweak Software released RV one year ago, and it has already been adopted by
leading VFX and CG animation studios such as Industrial Light & Magic, Weta
Digital, Tippett Studio, and LAIKA. The key to its success is that RV is a
professional, high-performance product built on an open, extensible
architecture allowing users to adapt the software to their own pipelines
and styles of working.

Continue reading Tweak Software Launches Major Upgrade for RV Playback Software.

LEAD BALLOON RISES WITH ORIGINAL CONTENT PRODUCTION

By Editorial on July 7, 2009 12:09 PM | No TrackBacks
PsychicBunny LeadBalloon.jpgPsychic Bunny Launches Sister Studio With Web Series & Indie Feature

Los Angeles, CA - (July 7, 2009) - Next Gen content produced by those who consume it: hybrid production studio Psychic Bunny is excited to unveil its original content banner Lead Balloon (www.madeoflead.com). Launched to produce feature films, web series, games, mobile and interactive projects, Lead Balloon is currently wrapping two projects, an exclusive web series "Coma, Period" with a distribution deal soon to be announced and an independent feature film "The Echo Game."

Sister studio Psychic Bunny will continue to produce motion graphics, animation, production services, and interactive design for commercial, feature film and gaming clients. Psychic Bunny is known for its contributions to such innovative projects as the theatrical gaming experiences The Real Deal and CineBingo, as well as the US Army-commissioned "BiLAT", a bilateral negotiation game title currently being used in military training.

Original content development is a natural evolution for Psychic Bunny's founders who grew up with entertainment on multiple screens and have diverse backgrounds in writing, film production, design and programming. With a flair for the ironic, the team branded and launched Lead Balloon to serve a growing demand for content in all entertainment streams.

Lead Balloon Producer/Director Doug Spice elaborates, "The name Lead Balloon suggests something grand and improbable, something that defies the odds, something that's both mysterious and fascinating. We hope to evoke that same spirit in our projects."


Digital Domain Collaborates with Michael Bay on 'Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen' Movie Tie-Ins

By Editorial on July 1, 2009 11:50 AM | No TrackBacks
--Digital Production Company Lends Character Creation Talents to Bay's
Movie and Promotional Spots for LG and Burger King --

Venice, CA-July 1, 2009-Digital Domain is bringing a supporting cast of
robot characters from the hugely anticipated summer action flick
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" to life, but that's not all they're
helping to realize for filmmaker Michael Bay. The digital production studio
is also contributing visual effects and character animation work on a
series of movie tie-in promotions for LG Mobile Phones and Burger King,
directed by Bay and Rob Cohen respectively through Bay's commercial
production company, The Institute for the Development of Enhanced
Perceptual Awareness. The spots are airing in cinemas and on television
while "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," from DreamWorks Pictures and
Paramount Pictures, hit theaters June 24, 2009.

The Transformers marketing tie-in campaigns capture the same action-packed
cinematic quality as the movie franchise, due in large part to the sharing
of production talent, and, in the case of LG, digital assets across the
feature film and commercial production pipelines.

Said Ed Ulbrich, President, Commercials and Executive VP of Production,
Digital Domain, "Our relationship with Michael Bay extends beyond the
'Transformers' films, and these spots build on a collaboration that dates
back more than a decade. Even before Michael became co-chairman of Digital
Domain, we worked on a number of feature and commercial projects he
directed and Michael has always pushed us to achieve the impossible."  

Continue reading Digital Domain Collaborates with Michael Bay on 'Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen' Movie Tie-Ins.

LightWork Design releases LightWorks 8.1

By Editorial on July 1, 2009 11:47 AM | No TrackBacks
SHEFFIELD, UK (1 July 2009) - LightWork Design, the world's leading
supplier of rendering solutions for developers of advanced 3D computer
graphics software, today announced the release of LightWorks 8.1 which
provides LightWorks customers with yet more enhanced rendering
functionalities.

The main focus of this release is the development of the LightWorks Real-
time rendering product, alongside some improvements to EPix output.  These
include:

* Soft shadows and Shadow catching are now both supported by Real-time
rendering, using programmable shading;
* Programmable shading is now supported for several more LightWorks
material shaders, for example multilayer paints and leathers, and this
gives real-time support which is closer to the software implementation;
* EPix output can now be anti-aliased giving users more defined and
accurate rendering.

Continue reading LightWork Design releases LightWorks 8.1.

Keyframe Digital Creates VFX Inventory for Sci Fi Channel's "Warehouse 13"

By Editorial on June 29, 2009 11:16 AM | No TrackBacks
Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON, June 29-- Digital animation and visual effects studio Keyframe Digital Productions has been tapped by Universal Media Studios to create visual effects for the new Sci Fi Channel supernatural drama "Warehouse 13," according to Keyframe co-founders Clint Green and Darren Cranford. The show's first season will be comprised of 11 hours produced by Universal Cable Productions and shot in Toronto.
    The series is set to debut July 7.
    Keyframe will perform all visual effects work, including on-set supervision with Green serving as visual effects supervisor and Cranford as director of visual effects. Executive producers are Jack Kenny and David Simpkins. Mark Winemaker is producing.  Mark Stern is the executive VP of original programming for the Sci Fi Channel.

Continue reading Keyframe Digital Creates VFX Inventory for Sci Fi Channel's "Warehouse 13".

NEW NVIDIA GPU-ACCELERATED PLUG-INS DRAMATICALLY BOOST PERFORMANCE FOR ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 4 USERS

By Editorial on June 29, 2009 11:14 AM | No TrackBacks
Wide Range of Plug-ins Offered at Discounted Pricing for NVIDIA Quadro Customers

SANTA CLARA, CA-June 29, 2009- Professional videographers face continuous pressure to deliver high quality work under tight deadlines. To ease that burden and enable greater levels of creativity, NVIDIA today announced the availability of GPU-accelerated plug-in solutions for Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) users, optimized to run on a wide range of NVIDIA®® Quadro®® graphics solutions. NVIDIA is offering exclusive discounts of up to 50 percent on plug-ins from Elemental Technologies, Boris FX, Red Giant Software and proDAD when purchased at NVIDIA.com.

Among the plug-ins being offered is the NVIDIA CUDA™ architecture-based Elemental Accelerator 2.0 for Windows from Elemental Technologies (MSRP $499 discounted to $249). By leveraging the CUDA parallel computing architecture, this new plug-in offloads H.264 video encoding to the Quadro GPU, enabling Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 users to experience a performance increase of up to 11X when compared to CPU-only video encoders. Now available on a range of Quadro GPUs, Elemental Accelerator 2.0 supports the creation of Blu-ray DVDs and web content using Flash. In addition, NVIDIA and Elemental Technologies are bringing accelerated H.264 video encoding capabilities to Mac Pro users for the first time with the new Elemental Accelerator 1.2 for Mac OS X running on the Quadro FX 4800 for Mac.

Continue reading NEW NVIDIA GPU-ACCELERATED PLUG-INS DRAMATICALLY BOOST PERFORMANCE FOR ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 4 USERS.

Galaxy Heads for Success with DVS Technology

By Editorial on June 29, 2009 11:10 AM | No TrackBacks
CLIPSTER_2009_300dpi_30.jpgThanks to a trend-setting 4K workflow, the renowned Belgian Audio Studio Galaxy has successfully established itself in the field of post production. Various DVS systems enable Galaxy to efficiently and easily realize film projects.
Hanover/Brussels. By integrating CLIPSTER®, DVS-SAN and SpycerBox into its infrastructure, Galaxy has gained maximum flexibility. CLIPSTER®, DVS's multi-faceted DI workstation, plays a significant role in the new workflow. Galaxy not only uses CLIPSTER® for ingest and play-out of film data but also for mastering, conforming and quality control. All steps in the DCI mastering process can easily be performed with CLIPSTER®. Galaxy has said goodbye to time-consuming transfer processes. Viewing the finished DCP directly in CLIPSTER® allows Galaxy's editors to control its quality quickly and simply.
DVS-SAN, utilized as a central storage system, enables Galaxy to reliably store and efficiently manage content in one location. Several workstations can access large amounts of content simultaneously. Integrated with RAID-6 technology, DVS-SAN provides dependable protection for Galaxy's sensitive data.
DVS's SpycerBox functions as near-line storage allowing various workstations direct access to content. Even large projects can be stored at the same time, equipping Galaxy with utmost storage flexibility. In addition, Galaxy also uses SpycerBox as a backup solution for its film projects before being saved on magnetic tape. SpycerBox was simply integrated into the existing infrastructure as a result of its numerous connectivity options.
The innovative content management software Spycer® has proved the ideal solution for Galaxy to effortlessly manage the material for various projects. Spycer® enables high-speed copying processes as well as searching and editing of image data and its metadata.


Continue reading Galaxy Heads for Success with DVS Technology.

Autodesk Software Breathes Life into "Little Krishna" Animated Series First Indian Production Acquired by Nickelodeon

By Editorial on June 26, 2009 3:50 PM | No TrackBacks
San Rafael, Calif., June 22, 2009-Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today
announced that one of India's leading animation studios - BIG Animation, a
Reliance ADAG Company - used Autodesk Maya software to animate the magical
worlds of the new "Little Krishna" animated series.  The company relied on
the Autodesk Smoke and Autodesk Flame systems for finishing and final
output of the 13-episode program.  "Little Krishna" is a joint production
between The India Heritage Foundation and BIG Animation, and marks the
first time that Nick International (Nickelodeon) has acquired a series
produced in India.

"The best animation talent in India has grown up using Autodesk Maya,"
explained Ashish SK, CEO of BIG Animation. "Since Maya is our 3D platform
we're able to recruit the industry's top artists. Maya is our lifeline for
production. As well, product interoperability and the excellent support we
receive from Autodesk are some of the main reasons we continue to rely on
Maya, Smoke and Flame."

Continue reading Autodesk Software Breathes Life into "Little Krishna" Animated Series First Indian Production Acquired by Nickelodeon.

Magnificent Seven - CINEMA 4D Rides Off With Seventh Macworld/MacUser Best 3D App Award

By Editorial on June 26, 2009 3:48 PM | No TrackBacks
CINEMA 4D Remains UK's Most Awarded App On The Mac

LONDON -- June 22, 2009 -- It was a trophy bonanza for CINEMA 4D at the Macworld awards held in London on June 18, 2009. MAXON's flagship 3D software - regarded as the easiest to use all-purpose professional 3D tool - won 'Macworld Best Animation and 3D Product 2009.'

The win makes CINEMA 4D by far the most awarded 3D app on the Mac in the UK. CINEMA 4D has now rounded up no less than seven of the UK's biggest Mac awards: Macworld Best 3D App in 2003, 2006 and now 2009; and MacUser Best 3D App in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2007.

The nominees for the award of Best 3D App were: CINEMA 4D, Autodesk Maya 2009, Autodesk ImageModeler 2009, Boris Continuum Complete 6, and Carrara 7 Pro.

In handing CINEMA 4D a third Macworld award, the magazine drew attention to CINEMA 4D's leading support for the Macintosh platform, full range of features, and arguably the app's greatest weapon: its superior ease of use.

Continue reading Magnificent Seven - CINEMA 4D Rides Off With Seventh Macworld/MacUser Best 3D App Award.

Announcing the "Vue 3D Environment Competition 2009"!

By Editorial on June 26, 2009 2:40 PM | No TrackBacks
WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT SIGGRAPH 2009!

June 15, 2009. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading solutions for natural 3D environments, in association with Maxon, Pixologic, 3D Total, 3Dconnexion, Cornucopia3D and 3D World Magazine, today announced the fourth edition of the "Vue 3D Environment Competition", designed to showcase the capabilities of 3D technology for CG environments.
Any version of Vue - including the Pioneer and the Personal Learning Edition (PLE) which are available at no charge- can be used to enter the competition (standalone or in combination with any other 3D application).
Judging will be based solely on the quality, realism and artistic merit of the entries, not on the version of Vue used to create them.
With 8 prestigious judges representing the different fields of the 3D Industry, this competition is a unique chance for anybody to see their work exposed to the eyes of industry experts, as well as winning a complete 3D toolkit (over $11,000 worth of prizes).

Continue reading Announcing the "Vue 3D Environment Competition 2009"!.

ELECTRIC RAIN RELEASES SWIFT 3D v6.0 FOR WINDOWS AND MACINTOSH

By Editorial on June 26, 2009 1:53 PM | No TrackBacks
Flagship 3D animation software for Adobe Flash adds powerful modeling and texturing tools, improved lighting and scene development capabilities and huge performance increases

Boulder, CO - June 8, 2009 - Today Electric Rain presented Adobe® Flash® designers with a new version of its popular Swift 3D® software. Swift 3D version 6.0 adds exciting capabilities to enhance its already robust feature set, enabling 3D designers of all levels to introduce 3D to their projects with minimal effort and no limitations. With the addition of Boolean operations, advanced texturing and bump mapping, PaperVision3D v2.0 export, 5x increases in rendering speed, and support for cloning and arrays, there is something for everyone in this release.

Electric Rain's intuitive and easy-to-use Swift 3D is already the de-facto application for designers exporting vector and raster-based 3D animations to Adobe Flash, as well as to video and common vector-based formats, such as Adobe Illustrator® and EPS. Initially a pioneer in the 3D-to-vector world, Swift 3D is now accepted as a highly-capable and versatile 3D authoring application, while maintaining its reputation as the marquee tool for producing vector-based 3D content for Flash.

"The feature set we're releasing with V6 brings Swift 3D into line with much more expensive 3D tools on the market," said Mike Soucie, CEO of Electric Rain. "And it does so without sacrificing the approachability designers have grown to appreciate with our applications. V6 builds upon the legacy of the Swift 3D product line and we have gone to great lengths to continue to add powerful modeling, texturing and export capabilities that rivals the power found in high-end 3D applications while maintaining a designer-friendly workflow. Besides that, Swift 3D is rendering really fast now!"

Continue reading ELECTRIC RAIN RELEASES SWIFT 3D v6.0 FOR WINDOWS AND MACINTOSH.

Brickyard Filmworks completes FX work on "The Proposal", adds veteran executive and creative talent

By Editorial on June 23, 2009 11:28 AM | No TrackBacks
Marc Sadeghi, Former Orphanage EVP, Joins Brian Drewes, Geoff McAuliffe and
Dave Waller as Partner in Brickyard Filmworks

Santa Monica, CA and Boston, MA (June 23, 2009)- Brickyard Filmworks has
completed 320 VFX shots on Disney's hit comedy "The Proposal," starring
Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, which opened worldwide on June 19. The
year-old company, founded by Brian Drewes, Geoff McAuliffe and Dave Waller,
(of commercial shop Brickyard VFX) has added a new partner - film industry
veteran Marc Sadeghi (formerly Executive Vice President at The Orphanage).

Sadeghi explains: "Brickyard VFX possesses a wealth of creative and
technical horsepower, a stellar reputation in the commercial effects realm,
and a history of client confidence.  With global shifts in feature
production as well as the economic challenges faced by facilities today,
Brickyard aims to leverage its geographic advantage to net some of the work
that seems to float offshore.  With offices in both Boston and LA,
Brickyard is in the unique position to offer generous Massachusetts State
film tax incentives while maintaining a close level of interaction with our
clients"

Continue reading Brickyard Filmworks completes FX work on "The Proposal", adds veteran executive and creative talent.

ArtVPS enjoys great success with first software release

By Editorial on June 23, 2009 11:25 AM | No TrackBacks
Pre-release debut of Shaderlight rendering plug-in for 3ds Max hits over 800 downloads in its first two weeks

Since entering the software market on 1 June 2009 ArtVPS has notched up over 800 downloads of Shaderlight 0.1, the pre-release version of its interactive Shaderlight rendering plug-in for 3ds Max, the leading 3D modelling tool from Autodesk.

Shaderlight 0.1 delivers significant productivity and creativity improvements over traditional ray-trace rendering engines. Until now a typical workflow for 3D artists and designers would involve spending time creating preview renders before sending the image off to render. Any last minute changes would mean starting the entire process again, an iterative and time-consuming approach which eats into project timelines and inhibits creativity.

Shaderlight is much more that a real-time preview tool, it enables visualisation specialists to change key elements of a full resolution image at any stage of the rendering process without having to re-render, improving efficiency and project turnaround. Users are not only able see the progressive refinement of a scene when objects or camera angles are altered but can also make interactive changes to materials, environments, lights and textures (the MELT elements) on full quality 3D images. Additionally, a new approach to global illumination (GI) enables light, colour and intensity to be updated on screen without the need to re-render.

Continue reading ArtVPS enjoys great success with first software release.

Luxology Launches modo 401 with New Rendering and Animation Features

By Editorial on June 19, 2009 3:27 PM | No TrackBacks
Leverage Deep Functionality Improvements in the Fourth Major Release of modo

SAN MATEO, Calif. - June 19, 2009 - The rapid evolution of modo took another leap today as Luxology® LLC announced the immediate availability of its latest 3D content creation software, modo® 401. With a focus on rendering and animation enhancements, modo 401 delivers a wealth of new features and innovative workflows, which enable users to easily model on top of existing geometry, see changes in their scene immediately from the radically improved Preview renderer and efficiently re-use assets throughout the content creation process. These new features benefit customers in a broad array of disciplines such as architectural visualization, product design, game development and advertising image production.

"modo 401 continues our emphasis on making the 3D creative process as fluid as possible for designers and artists," said Brad Peebler, president of Luxology. "This new version is packed with improvements and is clearly our biggest upgrade of modo to date."

Rendering
Rendering enhancements include caustics, dispersion, blurry refraction, volumetric lighting and Pixar-patented deep shadows. The new Instance Replicators allow dense amounts of surface detail like welds, rivets, trees and barnacles to be rendered with trillion polygon detail. Light linking and support for multiple environments provides precise control over how each part of a scene is individually lit. modo 401 also supports stereoscopic rendering and will render on up to 32 cores across a network of 50 workstations.

Animation
Animation improvements in modo 401 include inverse kinematics, dynamic parenting, channel constraints and modifiers. modo's new animation capabilities facilitate the creation of sophisticated rigs in modo 401 that can be driven with a few simple inputs. For example, a tank model can be rigged to track and turn accurately across undulating terrain while maintaining realistic tread and wheel movement. Pre-built animation assemblies provided with modo 401 allow users to apply animation to their models automatically.

Workflows
Optimized artist workflows are another essential element of modo 401. Artist feedback during modeling and other operations is enriched with a deeply threaded Preview renderer that boasts extremely rapid updates and progressive rendering capability. modo 401 boosts artist productivity by facilitating the re-use of assets throughout the content creation process. modo 401 ships with over 1,500 pre-built assets including profile curves, realistic surface finishes, fur presets, 3D props, vegetation, animated rigs and professionally designed lighting environments that light a scene in two mouse clicks.

"These pre-built assets in modo offer us a way to get to final quality more quickly," said Gary Fitzgerald of DesignworksUSA. "modo also allows us to capture and re-use our own design assets for greater efficiency."

Continue reading Luxology Launches modo 401 with New Rendering and Animation Features.

Emmy-Award Nominated Artist J. John Corbett Joins Brainstorm Digital Visual Effects Studio July 6

By Editorial on June 19, 2009 3:24 PM | No TrackBacks
(New York) June 19, 2009--Emmy-award nominated title designer and
visual effects artist J. John Corbett will join Brainstorm Digital's
New York studio July 6th where he will continue his innovative and
industry-leading work in title design, graphic design and visual
effects.

Corbett comes to Brainstorm Digital from Big Film Design, where he was
a Designer/Director creating title designs and visual effects for
feature films as well as for broadcast, cable and all forms of digital
media. In 2004 he was part of the team nominated for a Primetime Emmy
in the category of Outstanding Main Title Design for: "Angels in
America" (2003). His many credits include 30 Rock (title design), Burn
After Reading (VFX and titles), and Revolutionary Road (VFX).  His
advertising work includes Canon Digital Rebel "Impossible" (visual
effects) and Kmart television campaign graphics (2004).  He has worked
with directors such as Joel and Ethan Coen, Mike Nichols, Spike Lee,
Jim Jarmusch, and Robert Altman.

"We are very excited to have an artist of John's caliber join our
team," said Glenn Allen who heads Brainstorm Digital with co-founder
Richard Friedlander.  "His fresh and innovative style is an excellent
match and will allow us to expand the range of services we currently
offer to our clients to include visual effects for commercials and
outstanding title design."

Continue reading Emmy-Award Nominated Artist J. John Corbett Joins Brainstorm Digital Visual Effects Studio July 6.

eyeon Software Launches Fusion 6.0

By Editorial on June 17, 2009 2:56 PM | No TrackBacks
Open Release Candidate of Award-Winning Compositing Application Now Available

Toronto: June 17, 2009 ... eyeon Software Inc. announced that the highly- anticipated Fusion™ 6.0 node-based compositing application is now available as an Open Release Candidate. The award-winning compositing application has been a mainstay of the visual effects industry for over 20 years. Optimized for the latest processing and graphics card technologies, Fusion 6 offers significantly improved performance, along with a host of new features and capabilities, including full support for stereoscopic content, Region Of Interest/Domain of Definition (RoI/DoD), interface refinements, expanded 2D and 3D toolsets, and more.

Significant portions of the code for Fusion 6 have been re-written for the new generation of multi-core processors. A new GPU core for accelerated performance and GPU-based production quality floating-point rendering has been added.

"The new GPU renderer in Fusion 6 is all about power," said Eric Westphal, Product Manager Europe for eyeon Software. "Processing-intensive tasks such as depth-of-field and motion blurring are a breeze on the new graphic cards. This breaks rendering times down tremendously, giving artists a new level of creative freedom."

The application also features a new colour matrix tool, expanded spline-smoothing tools, and enhanced spline controls. Building on underlying GPU-optimization, Fusion 6 offers support for concatenated 3D LUTs and an all-new material system, which allows users to build their own custom shaders.

"Not only do we get new tools like ColorMatrix and CG shaders, we get dramatic changes to the underlying workflow that will save us thousands of clicks and hundreds of hours of rendering," said Chad Capeland, Director of R&D at Anatomical Travelogue. "The unification of 2D and 3D views with a common UI and ViewShaders is impressive.　It's really exciting to see so much changing in　the application.　It even launches faster!"

Continue reading eyeon Software Launches Fusion 6.0.

Frantic Films VFX Battles John Woo's 'Red Cliff'

By Editorial on June 11, 2009 2:32 PM | No TrackBacks
Epic Chinese-Language Film Features Massive Naval Battle Sequence
Comprising 2,500 Boats Populated with an Army of 70,000

Hollywood, CA (June 11, 2009)-Award-winning VFX studio Frantic Films VFX, a
division of Prime Focus Group, has contributed a number of visual effects
shots -- including one of the film's key naval battle scenes-for the John
Woo-directed epic, "Red Cliff." The most expensive Chinese-language picture
ever made, "Red Cliff" is a co-production of China Film Group, South
Korea's Showbox Entertainment, Taiwan's CMC Entertainment group and Japan's
Avex Entertainment, and hits Asian and European theaters in Jan. 2009.

"Red Cliff" is based on the historic Battle of Red Cliffs and other events
during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of
the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. The film stars such Asian heavyweight
talents as Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi and many others. In
Asia, the film premieres in theaters in two parts clocking in at four and a
half hours. The first part was released in July 2008 to huge critical
acclaim and box office success, while the second half -- on which Frantic
Films VFX worked -- releases in Asian theaters in January 2009. In Europe
and the US, the two parts of the movie will be condensed into one two and a
half hour film. Release date for the US has not yet been set.

Continue reading Frantic Films VFX Battles John Woo's 'Red Cliff'.

IMAGE METRICS' FACIAL ANIMATION PUTS THE "BOOM, BOOM, POW" IN NEW BLACK EYED PEAS MUSIC VIDEO

By Editorial on June 9, 2009 2:18 PM | No TrackBacks
Face Rigging and Animation Fuses Life with Technology for Lead Singers
will.i.am and Fergie in Video Produced by Anna Joseph

LOS ANGELES  - June 10, 2009 - Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation services and technology to the entertainment industry, has animated futuristic faces of the Black Eyed Peas in the recently released video of lead single, "Boom Boom Pow," from the upcoming album, The E.N.D. Motion Theory, producers of the video, turned to Image Metrics to animate the stars' faces into fluid and metallic alter-egos that add an elegant digital edge to the look of the video.

"The 'Boom Boom Pow' music video evolved significantly as we refined our ideas and developed new techniques, so it was crucial to have a supportive partner like Image Metrics to help us deliver the project on time and on budget," said Mark Kudsi, co-director of the video. "Since Image Metrics doesn't require markers or makeup to produce facial animation, we were able to use footage directly captured from our original shoot, eliminating any lost time from shooting separate effects shots. With the facial animation Image Metrics produced, we were able to achieve the balance of realism and digitalism we wanted for the video."

Continue reading IMAGE METRICS' FACIAL ANIMATION PUTS THE "BOOM, BOOM, POW" IN NEW BLACK EYED PEAS MUSIC VIDEO.

Autodesk Flare: New Visual Effects Software Adopted Around the Globe

By Editorial on June 9, 2009 2:11 PM | No TrackBacks
San Rafael, June 9, 2009 - Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) has announced that
its new Autodesk Flare visual effects software - launched just one month
ago - has been licensed by five post-production companies across three
continents. Flare is a creative companion to Autodesk Flame and Autodesk
Inferno visual effects and compositing software.

Autodesk's visual effects systems have been used to create groundbreaking
entertainment, including Emmy-award-winning television programs and
miniseries such as "John Adams," "Mad Men," "Dexter" and "Entourage."
Autodesk solutions were also used to create Academy Award winner for Best
Visual Effects "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; animated movies such
as "Monsters vs Aliens," "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" and "Waltz With
Bashir" and many of the most popular 2009 Super Bowl commercials such as
Budweiser "Fetch," Pedigree "Crazy Pets" and General Electric "Scarecrow."

"Autodesk Flare is designed to help our Flame and Inferno customers expand
their businesses and handle more projects," said Autodesk Media &
Entertainment digital entertainment vice president, Stig Gruman. "As a
software-only offering, Flare provides a cost-effective avenue to develop
the next generation of creative talent and is a key building block for more
productive post-production pipelines."

Continue reading Autodesk Flare: New Visual Effects Software Adopted Around the Globe.

E-on Software Releases Vue 7.5 and Ozone 4.0 Personal Learning Editions!

By Editorial on June 9, 2009 2:06 PM | No TrackBacks
LEARN THE LEADING SOLUTIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL 3D ENVIRONMENTS AT YOUR OWN PACE
June 09, 2009. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading solutions for natural 3D
environments, today announced the immediate availability of the Personal Learning Editions (PLE) of
its solutions for professionals, Vue 7.5 xStream, Vue 7.5 Infinite and Ozone 4.0.

Vue 7.5 Personal Learning Edition
Vue 7.5 xStream and Infinite are the industry-leading solutions for the creation, animation,
rendering and integration of natural 3D environments for film, broadcast and architectural
visualization.
While Vue Infinite is a standalone application, Vue xStream operates seamlessly inside of 3ds Max,
Maya, LightWave, Cinema4D and Softimage|XSI.
The Vue 7.5 PLE is a fully functional version of Vue 7.5 xStream/Infinite. With the PLE, users can:
- Create complete projects,
- Save their work and export to other applications,
- Render stills and animations without size/length limit,
- Experience Vue's power directly inside Max/Maya/XSI/LightWave/Cinema4D,
- Learn at their own pace (the PLE never expires)!

Continue reading E-on Software Releases Vue 7.5 and Ozone 4.0 Personal Learning Editions!.

Sam Raimi's Latest Horror Film Taps I.E. Effects

By Editorial on June 3, 2009 1:38 PM | No TrackBacks
Post Facility Delivers Key VFX Shots for Drag Me to Hell
Culver City, CA: June 3, 2009... Director Sam Raimi and visual effects supervisor Bruce Jones recently turned to Culver City-based I.E. Effects to deliver key visual effects sequences for Drag Me to Hell. The horror film, which opened May 29, tells the story of a woman who is subject to a supernatural curse and features stunning visual effects sequences.

David Kenneth, visual effects producer and founder of I.E. Effects, explained that the facility handled some 35 shots in total. "The project called for a lot of character design and animation. We were honored with creating the CG monster for the film - the Lamia," said Kenneth. "Shots like these typically go to much larger facilities, but our previz was so well received that they awarded us the finishing work."

Aaron Kaminar, I.E. Effects' visual effects supervisor and lead artist on Drag me to Hell, explained that "the most challenging shots were the monster scenes, and the sequence in Christine's bedroom. This is a horror movie, so the pacing of the story moves from long, slow sequences, which build suspense, to very fast, impactful moments. While you only see the monster for in brief flashes, those few frames are some of the film's more memorable moments."

Continue reading Sam Raimi's Latest Horror Film Taps I.E. Effects.

GUERILLA FX CREATES ANIMATIONS AND ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS FOR ABC NEWS' "EARTH2100"

By Editorial on June 3, 2009 1:35 PM | No TrackBacks
30 PLUS MINUTES OF ANIMATION ENHANCE TELEVISION EVENT
 
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - June 03, 2009 - Is our species on an inexorable, suicidal path to extinction?  Are we rapidly approaching the end of civilization as we know it?  Are we past the point of no return? Experts warn that unless we change course the "perfect storm" of population growth, resource depletion and climate change could wreak havoc on planet Earth.  In order to plan for the worst we must anticipate it, and "earth2100," ABC News' unprecedented two-hour television event, which aired in primetime on June 2, 2009 and was hosted by ABC journalist Bob Woodruff, explored possible consequences of human inaction on current and impending issues that threaten our planet.
 
With 30 plus minutes of animation created by Guerilla FX, projections by leading scientists, historians and economists, a simulated global summit on climate change, audience generated web submissions and some stock footage, the special educated viewers on the state of dystopian Earth in 2015, 2050 and 2100.
 
Guerilla FX (GFX), the New York-based visual effects, production, post finishing, design and interactive house, designed and executed over 30 minutes of animation from thousands of original illustrations. Sometimes the illustrations stand alone, but often they are animated in combination with footage and still photographs, creating a stunning animated future.
 
Continue reading GUERILLA FX CREATES ANIMATIONS AND ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS FOR ABC NEWS' "EARTH2100".

ArtVPS launches Shaderlight heralding new age in interactive rendering

By Editorial on June 2, 2009 8:41 AM | No TrackBacks
New Shaderlight rendering plug-in for 3ds Max enables fundamental changes to be made to key image attributes at any stage in the rendering process

ArtVPS has made Shaderlight, its revolutionary new interactive rendering technology, available for free download. Shaderlight promises to deliver massive productivity and creativity improvements over traditional ray-trace rendering engines. Shaderlight 0.1 is a plug-in for 3ds Max, the leading 3D modelling tool from Autodesk, and is free to download at www.artvps.com. Early adopters of the technology will be encouraged to help shape the software by becoming part of the Shaderlight online community (www.artvps.com/content/discuss) and providing valuable feedback during the key final phase of product development.

Shaderlight is a physically based ray-trace renderer that for the first time enables 3D artists and visualisation specialists to make changes to key image attributes at any stage of the rendering process - even on production quality images - without having to restart the render. Providing a greater level of creative freedom than traditional rendering techniques, Shaderlight enables users to not only see the progressive refinement of a scene when objects or camera angles are altered but also allows them to make interactive changes to materials, environments, lights and textures (the MELT elements) on full quality 3D images. Shaderlight also includes a new approach to global illumination (GI), which enables light, colour and intensity to be updated on screen without the need to re-render.

"As a CG artist I often have to work with clients who have no real idea of how long even the slightest change to an image can take to re-render," says Olaf Finkbeiner, CGI operator at Mainworks GmbH Germany and a member of the Shaderlight Product Steering Committee. "The ability to make changes to materials or environments on a final image would save us days of re-rendering and in this industry time is money."

Michael Lawson, CTO at ArtVPS adds: "This is an exciting time for everyone at ArtVPS. After 18 months of hard work we are delighted to launch Shaderlight 0.1. Shaderlight stands to fundamentally change the way 3D artists and visualisation specialists go about generating images. At the heart of the development has been the user's experience and we believe that the time and cost savings that Shaderlight will bring are invaluable in terms of improving efficiency and project turnaround. CG professionals need never compromise on the quality of their final output again."

Shaderlight 0.1 is available now as a free download from www.artvps.com, where users can also share feedback, both with each other and with the ArtVPS development team.

Ends.

eyeon Fusion used extensively on Dragonball: Evolution

By Editorial on June 2, 2009 8:31 AM | No TrackBacks
Toronto: May 28, 2009... Fusion, the award-winning compositing application from eyeon Software, played a key role in creating the visual effects for Twentieth Century Fox's Dragonball: Evolution, directed by James Wong.

Winnipeg-based Frantic Films VFX contributed 334 visual effects shots to the film, with VFX supervisors Chad Wiebe and Mike Shand overseeing the work from the company's Vancouver and Winnipeg facilities, respectively.

According to Wiebe, "Frantic has had a working relationship with eyeon Software for nearly 10 years. I've been here nearly that long and have used Fusion almost exclusively. Fusion works really well from a production standpoint. It enables artists to share tools and ideas among multiple offices. Tools from within a Fusion comp can be copied out in an XML format, and sent through email to quickly share ideas."

Dragonball: Evolution is based on the　popular Japanese comic book series created by Akira Toriyama, whose work spawned best-selling graphic novels, video games, and a phenomenally successful television series.　 The　live-action adventure centers on a team of warriors, each of who possesses special abilities. Together, they protect Earth from a force bent on　dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name.

Continue reading eyeon Fusion used extensively on Dragonball: Evolution.

E-on Software Ships Vue 7.5

By Editorial on June 2, 2009 8:27 AM | No TrackBacks

ADDS V-RAY COMPATIBILITY, PLANETARY RENDERING, CAMERA MAPPING, CLOUD ALPHA

May 27, 2009. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of Vue, the leading solutions for natural 3D environments, today announced the immediate availability of Vue 7.5 xStream and Vue 7.5 Infinite, the company's latest release of its professional solutions for the creation, animation and rendering of natural 3D environments.

E-on software also released a Vue 7.4 update for all Vue 7 products (including Esprit, Pro Studio and Complete, its products for artists). This update adds new functionality to Vue 7 and is available at no cost for all Vue 7 users (the complete list of improvements and new features is available at
www.e-onsoftware.com/update).


New features of Vue 7.5

Vue xStream and Vue Infinite are the company's professional solutions for the creation, animation and rendering of natural 3D environments. While Vue Infinite is a standalone application, Vue xStream operates seamlessly inside of 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave, Cinema4D and Softimage|XSI. Specifically designed for graphics professionals, these products combine a multitude of cutting edge features that easily integrate into existing production pipelines.

Continue reading E-on Software Ships Vue 7.5.

KONTENTREAL TAPS SUPERFAD FOR CLINTON CLIMATE INITIATIVE FILM

By Editorial on June 2, 2009 8:05 AM | No TrackBacks
New York, NY - (May 26, 2009) -- Superfad is excited to have contributed design graphics and titles for a new film by kontentreal for the Clinton Foundation. With the world's population on the rise and more people moving to cities, President Clinton describes a bold new project that will set the global standard for communities striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below zero in "Climate Positive."

The film can be viewed here: http://superfad.wiredrive.com/l/p/?presentation=d869ed03d3098ba89765ac333c604f7b

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation, recently announced a global program developed in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), called the Climate Positive Development Program. The program will support the development of large-scale urban projects that demonstrate cities can grow in ways that are "climate positive." Climate Positive real estate developments will strive to reduce the amount of on-site CO2 emissions to below zero.

Continue reading KONTENTREAL TAPS SUPERFAD FOR CLINTON CLIMATE INITIATIVE FILM.

Brickyard VFX Completes a Slam-Dunk for the NBA Finals

By Editorial on June 2, 2009 7:58 AM | No TrackBacks
Campaign for Goodby Silverstein Marries CG and Archival Live Action Footage
to Create Stunning Portrayals of Historical Basketball Moments

Santa Monica, CA (May 21, 2009)--Artist owned-and-operated bi-coastal
effects boutique Brickyard VFX completed work on the ad campaign for the
2009 NBA Final Championship Series beginning May 19 via agency Goodby
Silverstein & Partners. Entitled "Elevated Moments," the four-spot campaign
was directed by longtime Brickyard collaborators Jonathan Dayton and
Valerie Faris of Bob Industries, and features NBA superstars Larry Bird,
Kobe Bryant, Dr. J, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal. The campaign first
broke on May 10, and will continue to air throughout the 2009 championship
season.

Continue reading Brickyard VFX Completes a Slam-Dunk for the NBA Finals.

House of Moves Captures Dancers for Black Eyed Peas' 'Boom Boom Pow'

By Editorial on June 1, 2009 1:19 PM | No TrackBacks
Production Studio Motion Theory Taps House of Moves for Music Video Mocap

Los Angeles, CA (June 1, 2009)--VICON House of Moves recently provided
motion capture services for the Black Eyed Peas' high impact "Boom Boom
Pow" music video. Directed by Motion Theory's Mathew Cullen and Mark Kudsi,
the promo features a troupe of perfectly synchronized CG dancers that were
animated based on performances captured on the newly constructed VICON
House of Moves (HOM) soundstage.

"Working at HOM was a fairly intuitive and a very streamlined process. We
had instant feedback after every take, which made it very easy to direct
and make adjustments," said Kudsi. "HOM also provided us with footage from
the capture session that proved to be extremely helpful throughout the
editorial process. We were able to incorporate placeholders of our session
the very next day into our edit."

The video embodies the supersonic energy of the track with rapid-fire cuts
of dancers and of the hip hop group as they transform into their digital
doppelgangers.  Several sequences feature transformer-like shapes that
pulsate to the beat as they multiply, divide and morph into groups of CG
dancers.

"Since the dancers acted as catalysts for change, it was important for us
to have total control of how they looked and transformed in the video.
They needed to have a human feel so it was important to capture the details
of their movement in a realistic manner," explained Kudsi.  "The use of
mo-cap for this project was necessary in accomplishing our creative vision.
Mo-cap also gave us the flexibility to quickly try several different
iterations of choreography that we wouldn't have had the time for, had we
done everything by hand."

Motion Theory spent one day shooting two dancers on the newest of House of
Moves' two custom designed motion capture stages. The new stage features
soundproof walls and a scalable truss system that can allow for facial,
body and finger or full-performance capture.  The stage is also equipped to
record professional-quality audio during capture into a single time code
synced performance.

Continue reading House of Moves Captures Dancers for Black Eyed Peas' 'Boom Boom Pow'.
« TV | Main Index | Archives

Search

About this Archive

This page is an archive of recent entries in the Visual Effects category.

TV is the previous category.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Categories

Monthly Archives

Pages

Powered by Movable Type 4.23-en