fxguide.com

Digital Domain loses termination suit

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:38:59 -0500

David S. Cohen in Variety is reporting that the jury was unanimous on most findings and awarded Brad Call approximately $2 million in damages in his wrongful termination suit against Digital Domain. From the article: The size of the award raises questions about whether Digital Domain can survive...

Ed Catmull to Receive VES “2010 Georges Méliès Award”

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:32:54 -0500

Dr. Ed Catmull, President, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, has been selected by the VES Board of Directors as the recipient of the “2010 Georges Méliès Award.” The award will be presented at the 8th Annual VES Awards, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in ...

Academy Invites 134 to Membership

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:38:28 -0500

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced it will invite 134 people to join as members. Included in the Visual Effects category are: Christopher Bond, Matthew Butler, Chris Corbould, Rob Engle, Scott Gordon, Hal Hickel, Van Ling, Shane Mahan, Steve Preeg, Tim Webber, Edson...

Land of the Lost : Rhythm & Hues

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:10:33 -0500

In Land of the Lost, a Brad Silberling film starring Will Ferrell as an alternate world explorer, Rhythm & Hues created hundreds of visual effects shots to depict a universe populated by dinosaurs and other creatures. Ian Failes talks to visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer about the project.

Imaginative effects in Imagine That

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:23:39 -0500

For Imagine That, director Karey Kirkpatrick called on Hammerhead Productions to provide 140 invisible effects shots to help tell the story of a troubled financial executive (Eddie Murphy) who turns to his daughter's imaginary world for some much needed guidance.

In the Land of Six Foot Pheasants

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:34:21 -0500

For "Pheasant Rodeo," a commercial for Britvic's Drench Spring Water, agency CHI tasked The Mill with saddling up a cowboy on a giant bird. Ian Failes gets the feathery details from Lead 3D artist Rob van den Bragt and Flame Op Jonathan Westley.

First Look: Fusion 6

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:18:10 -0500

eyeon made the release candidate of long-awaited Fusion 6 available to their subscription customers this week. In this special guest column, fxphd prof Matt Leonard walks us through the major new features in the software which include some serious enhancements to its 3D capabilities. Leonard is a long time Fusion user and spent time on the software's beta program.

Pepsi Penguins

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:45:10 -0500

Framestore NY combined live action, 3D characters and real soft drink for 'Penguin,' a Pepsi TVC for BBDO New York. Ian Failes talks with Andy Walker (VFX supervisor/CG lead), Murray Butler (VFX supervisor/Flame lead) and Seth Gollub (lead animator) about the spot.

Fusion 6 Now Shipping...

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:20:44 -0500

...in release candidate form. The just issued eyeon newsletter serves up the fact that the long awaited Fusion 6 is now available for download to "all artists and studios with a current subscription license." The idea behind the RC release is to get the software in the hands of artists to do final ...

Mike Lecturing This Week in Singapore

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:22:14 -0500

fxguide is in Singapore this week for CG Overdrive and Broadcast Asia. Mike Seymour is giving two workshops (each running over 2 days) on the Benefits and Challenges of Digital Acquisition. These are being held on the 16th/17th and then repeated on the 18th/19th at Broadcast Asia - held at the Expo ...

Drag Me To Hell

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:04:27 -0500

For the Hell sequences in Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell, Tippett Studio augmented miniature photography with various digital elements. Visual effects supervisor Matt Jacobs gives Ian Failes a run-down of Tippett's work for the film. This story contains Spoilers.

iPhone Color Correction App from The Mill

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:21:54 -0500

Yes, you read that correctly, The Mill has released a free iPhone application that allows the user to apply looks or emulate primary color grading tools found in a grading suite. The app has preset looks like “golden” and “bleached” as well as controls for lift, gain, gamma and saturation th...

VES Announces Health Care for Members

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:58:09 -0500

When we interviewed Jeffrey Okun from the Visual Effects Society at the end of May for a podcast he broke the news that the VES was working on getting health care options for VES members. He mentioned that this has been a top request from members. Today members were emailed with information about th...

The Academy Dives into “The Abyss”

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:32:19 -0500

We get a lot of press releases about screenings, many from the Academy. Talk about one that jumped out at us! A screening of a "newly struck 35mm print" of the "The Abyss", with a panel discussion "with the film’s Oscar®-winning visual effects team, John Bruno, Dennis Skotak and Hoyt Yeatman, and...

Siggraph 2009 Technical Papers Preview Video

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:26:25 -0500

This August the fxguide crew will be in full force to cover Siggraph 2009 in New Orleans. Siggraph is always a great place to network, see what is coming in future technology or update your skills. The last time the show was in New Orleans it was an amazing combination of work and play. If you have...

ILM Purchases Nuke Site Licence

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:45:41 -0500

Hot on the heels of its management buyout, The Foundry has completed a major deal with Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Ltd’s multiple Academy Award-winning visual effects studio. ILM has purchased a site licence for Nuke. ILM’s visionary work has earned thirty-seven Academy Award® nominati...

Another Dark Day for the Industry

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:07:14 -0500

We are hearing that one of the oldest companies in our business Pacific Title & Art Studio, formed in 1919, is heading to receivership. We share what we know so far and ask "what is the future of our industry?".

GenArts Signs Deal with Lucasfilm

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:44:35 -0500

Today GenArts signed an agreement with Lucasfilm covering Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation, and Lucasfilm Animation Singapore to have GenArts software as standard across all their compositing packages and to work together moving forward.

fxpodcast: fxg-090604-terminator-salvation

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:23:19 -0500

This week we look at digital and practical effects on Terminator Salvation with ILM and Kerner Optical

The Foundry Announces Management Buyout

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:01:47 -0500

Since NAB, we've heard rumors from around the world that The Foundry was no longer going to exist as a company due to financial problems at Digital Domain. However, to steal a quote from Mark Twain, the reports of The Foundry's death are greatly exaggerated. Thankfully for artists and those who wish for a diverse software market, The Foundry has announced that they are independent once again....

1984 - Pool Balls 25 Years Later

Fri, 29 May 2009 20:44:52 -0500

With the release of the critically acclaimed film UP by Pixar, we acknowledge that 2009 marks 25 years since the famous Pool Ball shot 1984. In this week's fxpodcast we talk to Rob Cook of Pixar about the some of the history surrounding that landmark shot, his own career and the industry today. We took a bash at redoing the shot to see just how much easier things are today.
Updated Jun 05, now with three user submissions

fxpodcast: fxg-090529-cook

Fri, 29 May 2009 20:42:09 -0500

An interview with Rob Cook, co-architect and primary author of Pixar's RenderMan

fxpodcast: fxg-090521-okun

Thu, 21 May 2009 17:45:55 -0500

Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society, sits with us to discuss the mission and latest news from the VES.

fxpodcast: fxg-090511-trek

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:48:14 -0500

A conversation with ILM vfx supervisor Roger Guyett about the film Star Trek.

fxpodcast: fxg-090506-tmobile

Wed, 06 May 2009 01:25:51 -0500

Director Michael Gracey tells us about filming large crowds for two viral campaigns for T-Mobile.

fxpodcast: fxg-090420-nab2009

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:46:58 -0500

We talk with friends as well as fxphd post grads and professors about what they saw on the first day of the show. Recorded live at a party sponsored by The Foundry, Sohonet and da vinci.

fxpodcast: fxg-090308-kodak

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:32:22 -0500

A conversation with Gary Einhaus, CTO and General Manager of Kodak Digital Cinema, about new technology and research at Kodak.

fxpodcast: fxg-090119-valkyrie

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:15:16 -0600

Rich Hoover, visual effects supervisor on Valkyrie about the complexity of doing such a powerful historical film.

fxpodcast: fxg-090112-australia

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:41:41 -0600

Visual Effects in the movie Australia with artist Peter Webb from Iloura Pictures.

fxpodcast: fxg-090104-furnace

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:10:03 -0600

An interview with Simon Robinson, co-founder of The Foundry, to get the reasons behind their decision to reduce prices on Furnace, Tinder, and Keylight sparks for Autodesk.

fxpodcast: fxg-081231-the-spirit

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:23:21 -0600

Conversation with Stu Maschwitz who supervised over 1900 shots for the latest movie from a Frank Miller graphic novel.

fxpodcast: fxg-081226-findesign

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 07:39:31 -0600

We speak to Richard Lambert principle at Fin Design about the award winning commercial for Herringbone

fxpodcast: fxg-081203-sid

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:38:26 -0600

The Jim Henson Company Creature Shop is behind the PBS series Sid the Science Kid. We speak with Steffen M. Wild, Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Supervisor at Jim Henson Co. for this week's fxpodcast.

fxpodcast: fxg-081029-xsi

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:18:07 -0500

A conversation with Bill Roberts from Softimage about version 7 of XSI, which was released earlier this year.

fxpodcast: fxg-081015-heroes

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:18:09 -0500

Mike Seymour chats with VFX Supervisor Eric Grenaudier from Stargate Digital about their work on the U.S. television series 'Heroes'.

fxpodcast: fxg-081011-brinkmann

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:28:40 -0500

Mike Seymour chats with Ron Brinkmann, author of The Art and Science of Digital Compositing.

fxpodcast: fxg-080914-johnadams

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:32:02 -0500

We talk to Jeff Goldman, a vfx supervisor at CafeFX about their emmy nominated work on John Adams

fxpodcast: fxg-080903-tropicthunder

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:16:39 -0500

We speak to Mark Breakspear of CIS Vancouver about the visual effects in Tropic Thunder and why effects for comedy can be a different challenge.

fxpodcast: fxg-080824-guild

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:58:14 -0500

We talk with Steve Hulett, Business Representative for the The Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE about the guild, the business and what every artist should know.

fxpodcast: fxg-080814-siggraph

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:47:25 -0500

Recorded on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles at our traditional tradeshow Barcamp. We are joined by fxphd members to discuss what they have seen so far at Siggraph.

fxpodcast: fxg-080805-journey

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:50:33 -0500

We speak with stereo colorist Jeff Olm about grading and post considerations for Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D.

fxpodcast: fxg-080728-unpaid-artists-rr

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:36:53 -0500

Dave Rand joins us to talk about a group of 100 artists owed a million dollars in wages from work done on Journey to the Center to the Earth.

fxpodcast: fxg-080721-dark-knight

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:09:27 -0500

We chat with Double Negative vfx supervisor Paul Franklin about their work on the latest Batman flick, including special considerations for the IMAX release.

fxpodcast: fxg-080711-motiontheory

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:17:42 -0500

We speak with Nick Losq and Matt Winkel of Venice, California based studio Motion Theory.

fxpodcast: fxg-080702-newdeal

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:31:15 -0500

We speak with co-founder of New Deal Studios Matthew Gratzner about their work and the business.

fxpodcast: fxg-080622-thirdfloor

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:50:21 -0500

We speak with Chris Edwards, CEO of Los Angeles-based Third Floor, about the pre-visualization work they do for films, commercials, and games.

fxpodcast: fxg-080613-lumapictures

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:29:38 -0500

We speak with Chris Sage of Luma Pictures about their work, their facility pipeline, and their tools.

fxpodcast: fxg-080605-Droidmaker

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:58:29 -0500

We talk to Michael Rubin about his book: DroidMAKER: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution.

fxpodcast: fxg-080519-ironman-suit

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:46:20 -0500

A conversation with ILM visual effects supervisor Ben Snow about the work behind creating Ironman's suit.

fxpodcast: fxg-080508-ironman

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:47:58 -0500

We speak with Dav Rauch from The Orphanage. Rauch is a director, designer and visual effects supervisor who led the team that conceptualized and designed Ironman's Heads Up Display.

fxpodcast: fxg-080417-nab3

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:51:10 -0500

Our last podcast from Las Vegas, covering finds from the show floor.

fxpodcast: fxg-080415-nab2

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:51:11 -0500

Our annual roundtable from fxphd barcamp. We cover the announcements from RED, Eyeon, and more.

fxpodcast: fxg-080414-nab1

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:38:35 -0500

Coverage of the Autodesk Usergroup Meeting. Recorded Sunday evening before the start of NAB.

fxpodcast: fxg-080408-nab2008

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:23:06 -0500

We talk with organizers Chris Brown, Rochelle Winters, and Ben Kozuch about the off-the-showfloor highlights of the 2008 NAB Conference in Las Vegas.

fxpodcast: fxg-080331-localheropost

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:49:44 -0500

Owner Leandro Marini discusses the approach Local Hero has taken in providing a DI solution for the indie filmmaker, offering high quality at prices in line with their budgets.

fxpodcast: fxg-080328-mogul

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:16:22 -0500

We speak with Imagineer founder and CEO Allan Jaenicke about their new mogul vfx product line, to be introduced at NAB and rolled out over the next 18 months.

fxpodcast: fxg-080324-stereoscopic

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:03:31 -0500

Mike Seymour chats with Tim Baier, a vfx supervisor and 3D researcher who now specializes in 3D stereo productions, about the history, technology and trends in the field.

fxpodcast: fxg-080213-madame

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:55:53 -0600

Mike Seymour talks with artist Jason Walker, who created the effects in the animated film Madame Tutlie Putli.

fxpodcast: fxg-080204-attila

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:27:06 -0600

A conversation with Gareth Edwards, director of Attila the Hun, about how he completed over 250 visual effects shots for the film using a combination of After Effects, Premiere, MochaAE, 3dsMax, and more.

fxpodcast: fxg-080108-waterhorse

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:22:08 -0600

Richard Frances-Moore on Weta Digital's work on creating and animating the hero CGI character of "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep".

fxpodcast: fxg-071229-AVPR

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:37:22 -0600

Greg and Colin Strause (The Brothers Strause) discuss their feature film directorial debut, Aliens vs. Predator Requiem. Also a preview of the new fxphd term.

fxpodcast: fxg-071210-strikeadeal

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:48:03 -0600

Mike Seymour and Jeff Heusser discuss the writer's strike and a rally in Hollywood encouraging both sides to come to a deal.

fxpodcast: fxg-071130-tinman

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:13:19 -0600

Tin Man, the modern twist on Wizard of Oz, required 1500 shots for 3 x 2hour miniseries. We talk to Anthem FX founder Lee Wilson the issues involved. It is also our 100th fxpodcast.

fxpodcast: fxg-071112-WGAstrike

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:08:55 -0600

In this week's podcast we talk with David S. Cohen of Variety to get a post production perspective on the effect of the Writers Guild strike.

fxpodcast: fxg-071021-wireremoval

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:02:24 -0500

We speak with The Orphanage's Aaron Rhodes about approaches to wire removal, including complex 2D and 3D solutions.

fxpodcast: fxg-071007-kerner

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:08:22 -0500

This week, we speak with longtime Kerner Optical DOP Marty Rosenberg about the company's past history and plans for the future.

fxpodcast: fxg-070906-REDshoot

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:33:45 -0500

The first fxguide test shoot with the newly released RED Camera is the topic of this podcast with Jeff Heusser and Mike Seymour.

fxpodcast: fxg-070731-potter

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:38:55 -0500

This week, our guest is Paul Franklin from Double Negative, who discusses the facility's work on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

fxpodcast: fxg-070716-siggraphREV

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:18:03 -0500

Get the inside scoop from Conference Chair Joe Marks on how to get the most out of the Siggraph 2007 conference in San Diego.

fxpodcast: fxg-070707-FF2

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:52:37 -0500

Mike Seymour interviews Jake Morrison, Visual Effects Supervisor for Hydraulx about Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.