Nominations for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 22) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar® winner Kathy Bates.

For Achievement in Visual Effects the nominated films are:
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Transformers

To reach these nominations seven films were first selected by the 48 member steering committee, from around 360 eligible films. The three nominated films were then selected by voting members in the visual effects branch after participating in an event called the bakeoff, where excerpts from the films are shown along with a brief question and answer session.

Details and see the names associated with the nominations after the read more.

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This episode features an interview with members of the ILM vfx crew from “Transformers”.

The fxphd.com tip shows taking an aerial shot that was filmed from a light plane and turning the footage into the kind of smooth move you would expect from a helicopter with an expensive camera mount. This tip is done by fxphd professor and author Mark Christiansen in After Effects.

Visit the fxguidetv page for downloads and iTunes subscription links to both high resolution and iPhone/iPod formatted versions of the netcast.

fxphd.com worked on two short films that are in competition in the Sundance Film Festival. Each day for 10 days Sundance makes available one film for free and on the first day (Jan. 18th, 2008) it was “I Love Sarah Jane”. The other film, “Spider” is scheduled to be the closing film of the ten day online selections.

fxphd was involved with these films to produce footage for students to use and have an opportunity to participate in the project, giving them experience and film credit on a real project. Over 8000 films were entered into Sundance so we are very proud to have two projects make it into the film festival.

The short film festival can be found here: http://www.sundance.org/festival/shorts

Boris Continuum Complete’s Snow filter is an auto-animated snow generator which can composite snow over a sky color or an image layer. The filter offers extensive options for customizing the effect and allows you to create drifts or make flakes pile up along the edges of an alpha channel.

Download the Free Snow Filter

Boris Continuum Complete Version 3 Sparks Now Available

Boris Continuum Complete Sparks version 3 (BCC 3 Sparks) is now available. Version 3 moves the sophisticated BCC Sparks filter set to the latest version of Linux and supports the current lineup of compositing and finishing systems from Autodesk: Flint, Flame, Inferno, and Smoke, with added support for Burn network rendering. Known for organic and fantastical filters, BCC 3 Sparks also combines volumes I and II to give Autodesk users access to 130+ filters including Lens Flare, Film Process, Film Damage, Particle Systems, Volumetric Lighting Rays, Wipe effects, and the popular Glint, Glitter, and Glare series.

January08 term classes start next week over at our online vfx training sister site fxphd.com. We’ve got over 10 new courses with over 30 offerings in total.

We’ve got some great new design based courses with Tim Clapham from hypa.tv in the UK, an Apple Motion course taught by Damien Allen, and even a Typography 101 course. In addition, we’ve got a new compositing course which focuses on the craft and production workflow. While it will start in Shake, professor Tahl Niran will be also using Nuke, Maya, Boujou, Mocha and more. And of course, we have a new advanced flame course led by the fxguide crew.

To find out more about the new term over at fxphd, download the QuickTime movie overview about our offerings.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 6th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects in over a dozen categories of film, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 5, 2008 by numerous panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank.

“We received hundreds of submissions from around the world and we are proud to present nominees that push the boundaries of how visual effects can enhance the storytelling process,” says Jeff Okun, VES Chair. “Looking at the level of complexity and creativity of this year’s nominees, it is clear that the VES is the single most important pool of talent, experience and knowledge in the visual effects world.”

The nominees for the 6th Annual VES Awards are:
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced 10 winners of Scientific and Technical Academy Awards, which will be presented at The Beverly Wilshire on Saturday, February 9, 2008.

Unlike other Academy Awards, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2007. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.

In addition, three Scientific and Technical Special Award recipients will be recognized at the black-tie awards dinner: David A. Grafton, who will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award; David S. Inglish, the John A. Bonner Award; and Jonathan Erland, the Award of Commendation.

List of the awards in the read more….
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in contention for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 80th Academy Awards®

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“Evan Almighty”
“The Golden Compass”
“I Am Legend”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
“300”
“Transformers”

On Wednesday, January 16, members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.
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Listen to the latest fxpodcast (see panel right) to hear our AVPR interview with the Directors, and also hear a preview of the new fxphd term.