We hope you’ve been enjoying the Masters of the Craft series as much as we had doing it. Getting to sit down and talk visual effects with people at this level has been a treat and this week was a true pleasure as we got to talk with Pablo Helman from ILM. The fxphd.com tip of the week is from Gerard Mosley showing some great Matte Painting tricks.

Visit the fxguidetv page for direct downloads and RSS feed links. To be notified automatically and have the episodes downloaded in iTunes, subscribe via this link.

This week in we have a special Red Centre episode that discusses the plans for Scarlet and Epic - but from the point of view of DSLR, mounts and just what is likely to be possible. Joining Jason and Mike is special guest Stu Maschwitz of the Orphanage and the blog site ProLost.com. Listen before RED changes it all! Our Thanksgiving Cinematography special. 

Visit our red centre page to listen or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. The in depth discussion special is Ep #22.

We welcome your questions and comments please - email us at Red at fxguide.com or follow us via, twitter.com/mikeseymour or twitter.com/wingrove or twitter.com/5tu

On November 26th, there will be an fxphd live master class in Seoul covering Flame and Smoke. fxphd co-founder John Montgomery and flame/smoke artist CE Raum have joined up to teach these classes. Two years ago, they did a multi-city tour in Asia which was incredibly well received by the artists taking the classes.

For more information, contact Cherryblossoms at info@cherryblossoms.co.kr (tel +82 2 2051 5963).

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Nov. 18, 2008 - Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today
announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the
assets of Softimage - a developer of 3D technology for the film, television
and games markets - for approximately $35 million. On October 23, 2008,
Autodesk announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire
Softimage from Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID).

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With the new EPIC and Scarlet camera launched, we have a special new Red Centre episode that takes you behind the scenes of the launch as we interview Ted Schilowitz to explore some of the detail of the plans. He explains both more about the intended market, the new REDCODE, audio and the concept of what it will take to move RED to their new goal of serving a hybrid stills and moving image photographer.

Visit our red centre page to listen or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. The Ted special is Ep #21.

We welcome your questions and comments please - email us at Red at fxguide.com

The Adobe support for .r3d files: 

Next week Adobe will ship a full native workflow for RED in Premiere Pro CS4, After Effects CS4 and even Encore CS4.

Adobe claims the .r3d implementation has come along way since the IBC demos  ”more performance, more stability, more options, and tuning it to CS4 which is architected for 64 bit systems so that you can stuff it full of memory and get that smooth as butter experience”.

“Import your R3D files, change resolution on the fly, pop into full resolution for some detail work, drop all the way down to 1/16th for fast cuts on a laptop — it’s all there”.

Adobe also said on reduser that they are “working the RED gang on exposing more control on the realtime de-bayering… and of course with Assimilate on making it a full, clean, raw end to end workflow ”

Expect the importer to be posted with RED and linked from Adobe before Thanksgiving. Nov 20th (subject to change).

Red announced today their new approach to both stills and moving digital capture. The new Red system will is based on a massively configurable system of modules, extending from a 2/3″ sensor to a newly announced 28K (yes 28K) 617.  Earliest new cameras are scheduled to be the 5K Scarlet S35 in Spring/Summer 09. Then the 3K Scarlet 2/3″ and 5K Epic S35 in Summer/Fall 09. A self-contained, fixed-lens 3K Scarlet 2/3″ is also slated for Fall. 6K Scarlet and Epic FF35 in Winter 2009, listed with the new Monstro Sensor. And finally the 9K Epic 645 and 28K Epic 617 in Spring 2010.

fxguide will have in-depth coverage on the launch day, including interviews with senior members of the RED team and behind the scenes analysis posted here later in the day. Also watch for a special Red Centre Podcast covering all the action posted overnight. 

Beverly Hills, CA — Fourteen features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 81st Academy Awards®.

See the list after the jump…
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On December 2nd and 3rd, there will be four fxphdlive master classes in Tokyo covering Flame, Smoke, and even a bit of Lustre. Each session will be covering the same material, but we wanted to have a variety of times to allow artists a chance to actually escape their suites.

fxphd co-founder John Montgomery and flame/smoke artist CE Raum have joined up to teach these classes. Two years ago, they did a multi-city tour in Asia which was very well received by the artists taking the classes.

For more information about dates costs and how to sign up, visit the Japanese training site.

As the polls close, at fxguide we have been reviewing the tech of the coverage. As we write this, it is still early in the nightly coverage, but one of the more unusual technologies is the CCN’s Holographic correspondents. By having guests in remote studios standing in front of greenscreen and in front of 35 HD cameras, the guest is composited into the master shot based a 3D track of the master studio cameras.

While some may argue that this is little more than a very complex visual trick, the use of realtime interpolation between the cameras allowing the correct virtual angle on the presenter is a remarkable transition from very complex custom code for the matrix bullet time to interactive realtime live application. The technology is provided to CNN by virtual-set technology graphics firm Vizrt and Israel-based sports enhancement specialist SportVu.
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