SIGGRAPH GPU Power Panel
At SIGGRAPH 2011, on Monday 8 August at 1:45pm to 3:00pm, fxguide’s own Mike Seymour is moderating a panel hosted by NVIDIA with leading CTOs and R&D experts from some of the world’s greatest facilities. We speak to Dominick Spina, Sr. Product Manager of NVIDIA, about the great panel from WETA, DNeg, Blue Sky, ILM and SPI.
film RIP one step closer
Variety is reporting that in the USA lab giants Technicolor and Deluxe have reached subcontracting agreements that move them toward an end to their century-old competition in 35mm release printing. ” Deluxe will take over 35mm release printing for the major studios in the U.S. and Canada beginning this week. Technicolor will exit the 35mm […]
Making Green Lantern – bonus material
fxinsider members can watch two making of clips of Sony Pictures Imageworks’ effects from Green Lantern.
Foundry releases NUKE 6.3
The Foundry have released an update to their flagship NUKE and NUKE X products today, which are available free of charge for customers under subscription. The big features of the release include a brand new 3D particle system as well as new planar tracker, but there have been an number of other improvements.
Rhythm & Hues breaks down Popper’s Penguins
Rhythm & Hues details its vfx for Mr Popper’s Penguins in this making of video.
Peter Wolf – leading the way for deaf filmmakers
Mike meets deaf filmmaker Peter Wolf at the Cine Gear Expo in LA.
VFX supe Dan Glass on The Tree of Life
We catch up with Tree of Life visual effects supervisor Dan Glass to dissect the different realms of the film’s ‘history of the universe’ montage piece.
63rd Primetime Emmy Award Nominees
Nominations were announced this morning for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Digital Domain shapes Dark of the Moon
We talk to Digital Domain visual effects supervisor Matthew Butler about his team’s 350 shots for Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Cars 2 animation progression
Disney/Pixar have released a neat breakdown of the opening drilling platform chase sequence from Cars 2.
The sound fx of Cars 2
Here’s a video we worked on with The Daily on the sound design and effects by Skywalker Sound for Pixar/Disney’s Cars 2.
Free Scratch + RED Webinar July 14th
fxguide’s own Mike Seymour will be leading a webinar on July 14th covering SCRATCH and RED workflow. If you own a RED camera — or if you don’t own one and need to manage productions and post that are using RED, this short webinar will be useful for you. Register here or click through for more details.
Some recent TVC highlights
Here’s just five TVCs from the last few months that have caught our eye for their inventive use of visual effects.
Green Lantern: Sony suits up
We talk to several members of the Sony Pictures Imageworks team responsible for bringing many of Green Lantern’s visual effects to the screen.
The Foundry releases NUKE/MARI workflow
The Foundry have announced a new set of tools which makes getting data back and forth between MARI and NUKE much simpler. It’s exactly the type of workflow that compositors using camera projections to do set extensions and fixes will surely find incredibly useful as the lines further blur between comp and CG. Click through for the full press release from The Foundry.
Fringe takes an animated trip
VFX supe Jay Worth and Zoic Studios creative director Andrew Orloff explain the mind-bending animation techniques required for a recent episode of Fringe.
Populating Mr. Popper’s Penguins
We talk to visual effects supervisor Richard Hollander about Rhythm & Hues’ CG creations for Mr Popper’s Penguins.
How previs shaped X-Men: First Class
We recently partnered with The Daily to produce a story on The Third Floor’s previs work for X-Men: First Class.
Cannes Film Craft Lions
The shortlist for the 2011 Film Craft Cannes Lions has been released, with the winners to be announced on 25 June. We’ve covered a number of these projects at fxguide. UPDATED to include the winners.
Super 8: ILM’s production value on screen
We talk to senior ILM visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and animation supervisor Paul Kavanagh about realizing the visual effects in J.J. Abrams’ Super 8.
VES Career Fair & Workshops
On June 25th, the Visual Effects Society is holding a Career Fair with representatives from many visual effects companies who are looking to meet new talent. Companies hosting booths include Walt Disney Animation Studios, MPC, Sony Imageworks, Digital Domain, Deluxe, Technicolor and many more.
Academy invites 178 to Membership
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the list of people invited to join as Academy Members for 2011. The list includes thirteen animators, two art directors, nine cinematographers, nine editors and twelve people in the visual effects category.
Retro spotlight: A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Tony Hudson, who worked at ILM as the CG Model and Creature Supervisor on A.I. Artificial Intelligence, outlines some of his favorite memories from the experience.
X-Men: First Class – Q&A with John Dykstra
Visual effects designer John Dysktra oversaw 1100 shots for X-Men: First Class. We ask his thoughts on designing effects for the film and how he approached grounding those in a mutant reality.
Making mutants for X-Men: First Class
In this in-depth article, we take a look at effects for the major characters in X-Men: First Class and the film’s final showdown.
MPC’s pirates & their ships sail on Stranger Tides
We talk to MPC’s visual effects supervisor Gary Brozenich about some of his studio’s shots for On Stranger Tides, and working for the first time in native stereo.
Paws, claws and jaws in Attack the Block
We take a look at Fido’s CG fur, paws, claws and jaws for the film Attack the Block, with before and after pics, concept art and screenshots. Warning: spoilers.
London calling for Pirates 4 at Cinesite
We talk to Cinesite about their visual effects contribution to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, with the work spanning a carriage chase sequence through London, CG toads and the creation of Barbossa’s peg leg.
Priest: not your average vampire movie
We take a look at just some of the 750 effects shots in Priest by Tippett Studio, Spin VFX, Svengali FX, Spy Post and The Senate.
Psyop tested to perfection
For ‘Tested To Perfection’, a Castrol TVC for the company’s newly reformulated EDGE motor oil, Psyop was called upon to help create an elaborate test track complete with giant engine parts and a hero made of oil going through its paces. We talk to Jamie Scott (2D lead and co-vfx supervisor) and Tony Barberi (technical […]