fxinsider bonus podcast: Pixar’s Loren Carpenter
In this special bonus audio podcast for fxinsider members, we talk to Pixar’s Loren Carpenter about his career, including his groundbreaking fractal animation + a very cool SIGGRAPH Audience Participation Pong video!
VFX adventures: The Lone Ranger
fxguide goes behind the scenes of the train crashes, train chases, scorpions and bridge explosions in Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger.
VFX in TVCs: how to make a crowd
We take a look at two spots with VFX by a52 and Framestore that caught our eye for their innovative crowd replication work.
Pixar’s RenderMan turns 25 (Exclusive)
Pixar’s RenderMan is 25 years old. We talk to key players in its history, including Ed Catmull and Loren Carpenter, and get a sneak peek at RPS19.
Open Letter to the DGA
David Rand has written an Open Letter to the Directors Guild of America on behalf of visual effects and better filmmaking.
NVIDIA’s new Quadro K6000
A first look at NVIDIA’s new Quadro K6000 graphics card being announced at SIGGRAPH 2013, and why NVIDIA says it’s fully invested the media and entertainment market.
From Sim to Render: exclusive 60+ page iBook by fxguide
Find out more about Next Limit’s RealFlow and Maxwell Render fluid sim and rendering tools in this free interactive iBook by fxguide.
SIGGRAPH: Business Issues
We highlight two upcoming SIGGRAPH 2013 sessions (Tuesday & Thursday) that are focused on business issues facing Visual Effects.
SIGGRAPH 2013: Day 0 – DigiPro
A run down of the amazing research at Pixar and other studios at the DigiPro conference: SIGGRAPH 2013 at Disneyand.
Every back issue of Cinefex on your iPad. It’s now possible.
Find out about the Kickstarter campaign aimed at getting all back issues of Cinefex onto the iPad.
Monster mayhem: Pacific Rim
Robots and monsters battle it out in Pacific Rim: how ILM and the VFX teams made it possible.
2013 Emmy Nominations
The 65th Primetime Emmy® Award nominations were announced this morning at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood. The nominees for visual effects related categories are…
Open source panel at SIGGRAPH: how free adds value
The Open Source panel session at SIGGRAPH 2013 on Sunday, July 21st at 2pm features Pixar, SPI, Blender, DreamWorks Animation and fxguide.
The state of rendering – part 2
In this second and final part of our special State of Rendering series we look at RenderMan, Arnold, V-Ray, Maxwell, Mantra, Modo, Lightwave, Mental Ray, 3Delight, finalRender, Octane, Clarisse, Lagoa and Arion2. We also look and question the next stage of rendering.
VES: The State of the Global VFX Industry 2013
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has released a whitepaper titled “The State of the Global VFX Industry 2013”.
The state of rendering – part 1
In our follow-up to the popular Art of Rendering feature on fxguide, we now look at the current State of Rendering. Part 1 delves into the issues of the day: physically based lighting and rendering, ray tracing and more, while Part 2 highlights each major renderer in the VFX industry.
Nickelodeon CG artists ratify new IATSE contract
IATSE has won an election and contract to represent 70 CG artists working at Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Tippett Studio VFX – on your phone?
How Tippett Studio is branching out into movie-like visual effects on mobile devices with Efexio.
Use Houdini assets…outside of Houdini
Side Effects Software has announced the Houdini Engine, a new product using elements of the company’s popular effects tool to act as a procedural engine and allow Houdini assets to be used in other 3D apps.
Out of this world: the VFX of After Earth
Find out how visual effects artists from around the globe contributed to After Earth, in this fxinsider behind the scenes article.
In a flash: previewing the SIGGRAPH 2013 Dailies
With SIGGRAPH 2013 just around the corner, we preview the fast-paced Dailies program where presenters have one minute – just one – to break down a shot or their research.
Rendering on-demand: a ZYNC Update
On-demand render solution ZYNC has finally launched – here’s a look at how it’s being used by companies such as Atomic Fiction and Bad Robot.
24 VFX professionals invited into the Academy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extends invitations to artists for Academy Membership each year. Here are the 2013 invitees for Visual Effects.
Action beats: 6 scenes from White House Down
A breakdown of the 6 biggest scenes from Roland Emmerich’s White House Down and the visual effects behind them.
Exclusive: FLIX – the newest tool in The Foundry’s arsenal
We check out the new FLIX product from The Foundry, a visual story development tool, ex-Sony Animation. Includes an exclusive video overview.
The making of Europa Report
How the spooky space and planet scenes in indie flick Europa Report were created by Phosphene VFX.
Zombie warfare: World War Z
fxguide talks to Cinesite, MPC, 2h3D, 4DMax and Prime Focus about scaring up the zombie effects for World War Z, scanning sets and actors and the film’s stereo conversion.
Emmys 2013: the VFX contenders
We take a look at some of the possible contenders for this year’s Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in the visual effects categories, with some exclusive VFX breakdown reels.
Monsters University: rendering physically based monsters
How new developments in RenderMan helped Pixar deliver Monsters University.
Man of Steel vfx milestones
Breaking down the biggest scenes in Man of Steel – Krypton’s comms, the Smallville confrontation and the destruction of Metropolis.