Autodesk 2012 releases: change is good
For the first time ever, Autodesk announced new versions of their creative applications on a single global launch day. There are new 2012 versions of Flame, Smoke, Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage, MotionBuilder, and Mudbox. We have information about the new releases as well as details about some key structural changes that have the teams working together more than ever before.
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Flame 2012 New Feature Videos
fxguidetv covers the new 2012 Flame Premium release from Autodesk. But there’s way more in the new releases than we had time to show.. We have over two hours of additional and unedited overview videos with Product Designer Philippe Soeiro from Autodesk.
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Reach for the Sky: MPC goes full circle
Scenes of Monument Valley, NYC, the English countryside, a distant space station & a vast icescape were brought to life as a continuous shot by MPC in a recent stereo spot for Sky Movies. We chat to MPC’s 3D supervisor Duncan McWilliam about shooting the 360 degree pan in stereo, creating worlds and then stitching it altogether.
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STORM 1.0 Now Shipping
After a winter of beta testing, The Foundry have released the first version of STORM, their digital workflow app for RED files. It’s now available for purchase on The Foundry’s web site for 375USD/250GBP/300EUR. Click through for the full press release.
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Highlights from the Oscars
Congratulations to all the Oscar winners from the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. Here are some of the highlights from the awards ceremony.
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Today was EPIC
Today the rollout for the new RED EPIC-M continued and fxphd was there to get one of the very few cameras now out in the wild. Jeff Heusser and Mike Seymour spent the day at RED, not only running through the new 5K EPIC and it’s advanced new features, but also looking at a few new features still in development.
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Life with the EliteBook: DreamColor Calibration
The previous “life with” article was an overview of the DreamColor display and why it’s especially suited for our field. In this installment, we examine the HP-branded software and hardware used to calibrate the monitor and ensure the colors you’re viewing are accurate.
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Capturing the Guardians
Vicon House of Moves recently helped bring to life 30 animated superheroes for an NHL and Stan Lee venture known as The Guardian Project. We find out how they used mo-cap and the Epic Games Unreal Engine to make it possible.
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Luma shows True Grit with the Coen Brothers
With over 350 visual effects shots, True Grit represents the fourth collaboration between Luma Pictures and directors Joel and Ethan Coen. We take a look at some of Luma’s key invisible effects for the film.
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Lumen-escent: the VFX of I Am Number Four
Visual effects supervisor Greg McMurry oversaw 800 shots for I Am Number Four, the story of an alien fugitive on the run from other-worldly pursuers. We take a look at some of the key effects scenes from the film.
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Union’s 350 shots for 127 Hours
Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours tells the story of mountain climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) who becomes trapped beneath a boulder in Utah. We talk to VFX supe Adam Gascoyne from Union Visual Effects about how his studio helped tell this real-life tale of survival.
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Framestore goes under seige
A stand-out commercial airing during this year’s Super Bowl was Coca-Cola’s ‘Seige’, featuring a group of evil fire-warriors invading the village of a band of furry, friendly creatures. The Wieden + Kennedy spot was directed by Nexus’ Fx&Mat, with CGI and animation work by Framestore. We talk to Framestore’s visual effects supervisor Diarmid Harrison-Murray.
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The future of Furnace on Flame
Recently on Flame-news it was reported that the Foundry would no longer fix bugs or develop for Furnace on Flame.
We spoke exclusively to the Foundry to find out if Furnace was “end of life” on Flame
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Skulley Effects freezes fire for Stone Sour
Skulley Effects was behind the frozen moment work in ‘Hesitate’, a music video for Stone Sour that caught our eye. We talk to senior visual effects artist and Skulley owner Culley Bunker.
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Life with the EliteBook: DreamColor Overview
One of the attractive aspects of the EliteBook is its DreamColor display, which provides outstanding color response and calibration capabilities which are suited towards film and video pros. In the second of our multi-part series, we take a look at DreamColor and review some of the tech details behind it.
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Stargate crashes The Event
In the second episode of NBC series The Event, a plane once headed to kill the President mysteriously emerges from a wormhole only to crash-land in the desert, care of VFX from Stargate Studios. Lead compositor Diego Galtieri discusses the crash seen in the episode, which received a VES Award nom in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series category.
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IATSE Informational Meetings this Sunday in Los Angeles and Vancouver
IATSE will host their first public informational meetings in Santa Monica and Vancouver on Sunday, February 13th. IATSE 891 VFX in Vancouver describes the events as an opportunity to “chat with your fellow artists, compare working conditions, and ask the questions you want answered of the union about the organizing drive, the benefits of a […]
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Glassworks goes big for MINI
‘MINI vs Monster’, a stereoscopic spot directed by Robert Jitzmark, features digital crowds and other VFX by Glassworks. Lead 2D and 3D artists Morten Vinther and Markus Lauterbach from the studio’s Amsterdam office break down the work. Included is a making of VFX clip.
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Super vfx for the Super Bowl – part 2
In part two of our Super Bowl spot coverage, we put the VFX spotlight on some of the other outstanding commercials that aired during the game.
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Super vfx for the Super Bowl – part 1
In part one of our Super Bowl XLV commercials coverage, we look at Method Studios’ ‘Carma’ spot for Bridgestone Tires and The Mill’s Cars.com ‘Reviews Are In’ ad. And check out episode #101 of fxguidetv for an in-depth look at Animal Logic’s ‘One Epic Ride’ spot.
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Building a Boardwalk Empire
We talk to Brainstorm Digital visual effects producer Richard Friedlander about his studio’s work for HBO series Boardwalk Empire. This week Richard received, along with Robert Stromberg, Dave Taritero and Paul Graff, a VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program for the show.
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2010 VES Award Winners
The 9th Annual VES Awards were held last night at The Beverly Hilton recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories. The event was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Nominees were selected January 8th by VES members in an all day screening process held in Burbank, San Francisco, London, Sydney and Vancouver. The winners were then […]
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Nexus, always unpredictable
London studio Nexus recently created ‘This Unpredictable Life’, an rousing animated piece for Honda Jazz that shows life as an unknowable journey. Watch ‘This Unpredictable Life’ The spot was directed by Smith & Foulkes for agency Wieden and Kennedy London. It begins with a giant shoal of babies, and then follows just one person through […]
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ShapeShifting with Charlex
A dark car speeding through the night bursts suddenly into a thousand pieces, forming brilliant metallic creatures on the surface of an alien planet. Such is the action in ShapeShifter, a short film entirely conceived and created by New York studio Charlex. We take a look at how the film, directed by Charlex founder Alex Weil and narrated by Gabriel Byrne, came to be.
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Podcast recommendation: A Conversation with Dave Rand
Visual Effects Artist David Rand spoke recently at an event in Vancouver sponsored by IATSE 891 VFX. This talk has just been made available as an audio podcast and we highly recommend it for anyone working in Visual Effects.
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Psyop’s toy story cleans up
A roomful of anxious toys face the dangers of domestic dust in ‘Something’s Lurking’, a Psyop spot for LG’s Kompressor Elite vacuum cleaner. We spoke to lead 2D artist Nick Tanner to get an in-depth look at how the spot came together.
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The VFX 2011 Oscar nominees reactions
fxguide would like to congratulate all of the VFX artists who worked on the 2010 Oscar-nominated films, and especially the nominees themselves. We spoke to a few of the nominees today to get their first reactions, but we will also be continuing our series of Tech behind the major facilities, so keep an eye out […]
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2010 Visual Effects Oscar Nominees announced
This morning The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards®. Getting the nod were Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Hereafter, Inception and Iron Man 2. In a bit of a surprise, Tron: Legacy was not nominated.
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HP EliteBook Mobile Workstation Giveaway
To celebrate the new site we are giving away an HP EliteBook 8740w worth about US$6,000 thanks to our friends at HP and NVIDIA. This is not a laptop or a tablet PC. This is a serious mobile workhorse.
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Ben Snow: the evolution of ILM’s lighting tools
In this written version of the fxpodcast: we continue our series of stories on the technical tools behind the big effects companies, we talk to Ben Snow of ILM about his career & the development of the energy conservation lighting, as recently used on Iron Man 2.
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