How Digic made the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag trailer
Pirates, sailors and Assassin’s Creed – behind the scenes of Digic Pictures’ Black Flag trailer with CG turntables and making ofs.
Inside Oblivion
We talk to DOP Claudio Miranda, ASC and the visual effects supes from Digital Domain and Pixomondo about Oblivion.
RC special – what’s in Jason Wingrove’s Epic kit?
After several emails and comments in fxphd’s forums, we offer this update of the typical state of the art gear in an independent Epic film package. We asked the RC’s Jason’s Wingrove to open his camera bags and show us his typical kit.
World-building: making the TV series Defiance
Behind the scenes of the VFX in Syfy’s new TV series Defiance, with befores and afters imagery and a bonus gallery.
OpenEXR 2.0 goes deep
Now out of public beta, an update of the open source high dynamic range file format OpenEXR to include several new features, including deep data support, has been released with version 2.0.
NAB 2013: Blackmagic and Moore’s Law
The buzz especially in the South Hall and Central Halls of the NAB 2013 which cater to production and post-production was the power of Moore’s Law as represented by a tiny ‘point and film’ camera that perhaps was the biggest news.
HDRs for an animated film? Behind the scenes of The Croods
How DreamWorks Animation employed Point-Based Global-Illumination on The Croods, relied on HDRs to inform lighting and developed a new cross-over between effects and animation.
Broadcast and ident design highlights
Here’s a couple of broadcast design and idents projects that have caught our eye recently – from NASCAR to MTV and the BBC – featuring work by The Mill, Polynoid and Engine Room.
Welcome (back) to Jurassic Park
How ILM’s VFX art director literally put his body on the line to help make Jurassic Park, and what the hardest thing in the film was to convert for its 3D release – you’ll be surprised.
Adobe’s new pro video tools: NAB sneak peek
Adobe has revealed its next versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, SpeedGrade, Audition, Prelude, Media Encoder and Story.
The Iron Man science project
Behind the scenes of an Iron Man-themed Verizon TV spot, with visual effects by The Embassy.
fxguide’s guide to FMX 2013
The definitive guide to the effects, animation, games and transmedia presentations planned for FMX 2013 in Stuttgart, Germany from 23 to 26 April.
The best tech demos from GDC2013
Some of the best game engine and tech demos from this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Creature features: VFX in TVCs
Dinosaurs to dragons, Easter bunnies and…avalanches. We look at characters and creatures in recent TVCs.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation – kick-ass action
Find out how the biggest effects shots in G.I. Joe: Retaliation were created by ILM, Digital Domain and Method Studios. Featuring exclusive Digital Domain making of VFX clips.
Rhythm & Hues auction won by Prana Studios (UPDATED x2)
Rhythm and Hues has been sold at auction following bankruptcy to Prana Studios. Final hearing scheduled for Friday at 10:00 am.
What’s new from Autodesk
See the new announcements from Autodesk for Maya, 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage and Sketchbook Designer.
More notes from the NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference
In the second of our reports from GTC, we cover HFR with Douglas Trumbull, ZOIC’s ZEUS pipeline, Rhythm & Hues Crom VFX platform, as well as a few more details about Octane’s cloud solution and the GRID VCA.
How VFX saved Washington: Olympus Has Fallen
We break down the visual effects behind Olympus Has Fallen with before and after imagery and making of videos.
How Star Trek went into darkness for Earth Hour
With J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness only a few months away from opening, the film’s distributors staged a Trek-themed quadrocopter light display as part of WWF’s Earth Hour over the weekend in London. Stunt? Sure, but a fun one – see the video here.
NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference report
The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) advances GPU computing in computer graphics, games, mobile, and the cloud. For the vfx and production, this tech is has become an incredibly important part of the process and today we cover new announcements from the NVIDIA keynote.
Heads will roll: VFX on TV
How practical and digital effects, previs and complete greenscreen environments help bring the shows The Walking Dead, Mr. Selfridge and Spartacus to your TV screen. UPDATED with Stargate’s Walking Dead breakdown reel.
How to make a giant molten lava monster…called James
How do you create a Lava Monster, crush streets and still have fresh breath? Behind the scenes of MPC’s VFX for a new spot pitting The Ice Man ‘superhero’ against a molten lava monster named… James.
Behind the scenes of Black Mirror
A look at the slightly futuristic and surreal VFX in the UK TV series Black Mirror by Painting Practice.
VFX Town Hall photos and notes
Our live notes from the VFX Town Hall which took place on March 14th – Pi Day – in LA, the Bay Area, Austin, Wellington, Vancouver – and around the world via a live simulcast.
Different ads – different techniques
A look at the innovative use of effects in some recent spots by Digital Domain, Important Looking Pirates, Poetica, Framestore, Alt.vfx and Realise Studio. Includes an EXCLUSIVE breakdown from DD for their Dead Space 3 game promo.
SideFX releases Houdini 12.5
Houdini 12.5 is now available, the impressive new tools include an Ocean FX Wave tool, and a Cloud FX generator – part of a DreamWorks Animation & Side Effects Software collaboration!
Mari 2.0 launched in the UK
The Foundry has launched Mari 2.0, with advanced layering functions. Here’s our rundown of the new features of the 3D paint program.
Happy accidents in DiRT: Showdown
A look at the rendering and game engine tech behind the VES Award-nominated Codemasters game DiRT: Showdown.
International VFX Town Hall meetings (updated)
Here’s how to RSVP to VFX Town Hall meetings happening in LA, the Bay Area, Austin and Vancouver on March 14th, plus details of the planned live broadcast.