Stargate Studios: Walking (the) Dead
Stargate Studios is handling the visual effects for The Walking Dead, AMC’s new TV series based on Robert Kirkman’s zombie apocalypse comic and directed by Frank Darabont. We take a look at some of Stargate’s zombie enhancement and virtual set work for the pilot episode.
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RenderMan drops in price
Pixar announced today that it is dramatically lowering the cost of RenderMan. As the most highly regarded feature film renderer, – this is significant news. It will allow more independent owner/animators to use RenderMan on smaller projects and its volume pricing reductions reflect the massive growth in render farms. Fxguide spoke to the RenderMan team about the new pricing.
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fxguidetv: MPC Nuke Breakdown Syfy
We have looked at Nuke in a feature film environment here at fxguidetv, so we have shifted gears and look at Nuke in a Promo environment. This week we speak to MPC’s Nuke artist Alex Harding, who takes us through a breakdown of one of the promo films for the the US cable network Syfy, […]
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New fxpodcast: Skyline on RedMX
This week Skyline opened in the USA. The film looks like a Hollywood Blockbuster but cost only $10million. While it opened modestly – it still grossed $4.7M on Friday alone. Whatever you think of the film – the significance of this should not be overlooked. This is a VFX house not waiting for the next […]
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AnimfxNZ Avatar
Weta Digital recently gave an incredible full day ‘Making of Avatar presentation on James Cameron’s film as part of this year’s AnimfxNZ conference in Wellington. Here is a rundown of some of the major points brought up by Weta supes and artists from the day. Weta’s accomplishments The Making of Avatar‚ was actually one of […]
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IATSE Formally Announces Visual Effects organizing Drive
For over a year IATSE has been working with members of the Visual Effects community to establish an organizing campaign for artists. To that end they are formally and publicly announcing that effort. In addition they have hired Jim Goodman as a full time representative whose sole responsibility will be to organize VFX artists into […]
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V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max open for Beta
Chaos Group has announced that the the new V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max is now entering its final BETA stage. V-Ray 2.0 combines the power of the V-Ray rendering engine with the flexibility and speed of the interactive rendering system – V-Ray RT, now running on GPUs. V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max BETA program is […]
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Sony Launches F3
Sony Announced today the details of the PMW – F3 Camera. A PL mount, Super 35mm sensor, 24P video camera. While not cheap at an estimated under $19,000, it is also not expensive for a S35 sensor. The camera signals a huge shift and a creative opportunity for film makers and documentarians.
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fxpodcast: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Our current fxpodcast takes a break from looking at visual effects projects and examines one of the major awards organizations, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Academy honors U.S. primetime television via its Emmy Awards, the most prestigious honor given in the states. For the podcast, Mike Seymour chats with Geoff Mark, former […]
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Vue 9 Now Shipping
e-on software announced today that they are now shipping their new versions of software: Vue 9 xStream and Vue 9 Infinite. One of the big rendering enhancements is a new anti-flickering algorithm which they developed for the rendering of the kind of detailed natural environments one creates in the software. Vue 9 xStream retails for […]
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Hereafter & Scanline: go ahead, make my wave
Well-known for its CG water creations in films such as 300 and 2012, Scanline VFX faced new challenges in creating a near-death tsunami experience for Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter. We take a look at the studio’s digital water live-action destruction effects, digital make-up work and and afterlife visions.
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The Foundry Release Mari on Windows
The Foundry’s texture painting tool Mari is now shipping on Windows. The software is supported on Windows 7 64-bit or on Linux 64-bit (Fedora 12 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4). Our sister site fxphd.com is currently running an Introduction to Mari course this term. It’s taught by artist Gareth Jensen, who has been working […]
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Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions
Animator Tom Sito’s book Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson came out in 2006, but only recently came to our attention. If you think about the history of traditional animation, that industry has already faced issues including labor law abuses, outsourcing and tax incentives. This book […]
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VES Production Summit 2010
The Visual Effects Society held their second annual Production Summit this past Saturday in Marina Del Rey. This is a unique event designed to break out of the day to day routine and think about the future as well as hear from an amazing group of speakers and panelists.
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A Brand Manager’s view of production and post
Everyone thinks that all a Brand Manager does is make TV commercials. The reality could not be more different: throughout a brand manager’s ‘life’ he or she will be lucky to even work on one brand that requires a TVC to be shot. Thanks to Liz Foster, we look at the world of Production and Post from a Brand Managers POV.
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RED CIS goes Badass
Director Robert Schwentke’s Red tells the story of ex-CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) recruiting his former team to help him defeat a hi-tech assassin. CIS Vancouver contributed 220 shots to the film ranging from detailed composites, CG bullets, an exploding RPG and plentiful destruction. We talk to CIS vfx supe Randy Goux.
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Light Stage brings The Robot to life in India
India’s costliest film “Endhiran The Robot” has used the Light Stage technology from USC ICT which was used in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Spiderman “Endhiran The Robot” India’s costliest film “Endhiran The Robot” has used the ICT Light Stage for photorealism. Sun Pictures’s “Endhiran The Robot” starring superstar Rajnikanth (Asia’s 2nd highest […]
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November 7th – IBEW Informational Meeting
Last week IBEW Local 40 held an informational meeting in Burbank for Visual Effects Artists. We are working on a story/podcast with them but in the meantime they have announced details about another meeting on Sunday November 7th at 1pm at The American Legion Hall located at 5309 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City, CA 90230. […]
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VES Production Summit 2010
The Visual Effects Society held their second annual Production Summit this past Saturday in Marina Del Rey. This is a unique event designed to break out of the day to day routine and think about the future as well as hear from an amazing group of speakers and panelists.
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fxpodcast: Gareth Edwards & “Monsters”
Our latest fxpodcast episode is a discussion with filmmaker Gareth Edwards, director of the indie film Monsters, about the making of the movie. We last featured him several years ago in an article here at fxguide about his vfx work on the BBC’s Atilla the Hun. Like Atilla, Edwards did all of the vfx and […]
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Method Studios delivers Halo Hope
For ‘Deliver Hope’, an epic Xbox Halo: Reach spot, Method Studios delivered visual effects for a major battle sequence involving the game’s newest characters. We talk to Method senior creative director and visual effects supervisor Dan Glass about the commercial.
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IBEW Local 40 Informational Meeting for Visual Effects Industry
This Saturday evening, October 16th, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 40 is holding an informational meeting pertaining to the visual effects industry. Everyone is invited. Details on location and contact info is after the jump.
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CVMP Early Discount ends October 17th
We’re in the last few days of an early-bird discount of £100 off the registration fee to this year’s Conference on Visual Media and Production. The event, taking place in London on November 17th and 18th, provides an outlet for production and post personnel to discuss the latest technology and research impacting the field. If […]
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Mini Milan
For ‘Flow’, a spot promoting the 2011 MINI Countryman, SWAY Studio created hundreds of vehicles magically splitting, reforming and driving with precision through the streets of Milan. We talk to visual effects supervisor Aaron Powell about the use of SWAY’s Drive-a-Tron driving simulation tool for the commercial.
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VES: The 1099 Dilemma
The Visual Effects Society (VES) recently held an event in Los Angeles titled “The 1099 Dilemma” to examine labor issues facing companies and artists. Who decides if you are an Independent Contractor or an Employee? Can a proper Independent Contractor relationship be established? What are the Insurance issues? Is there such a thing as a “Day Rate”?
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MPC’s Head Turner : Drench
Ulf Johansson has directed Drench ‘Cubehead’ The spot features a puzzled man trying to solve his own Rubik’s style puzzle head. The commercial was produced by Kate Bailey at CHI&Partners and Philippa Smith at Smith & Jones. MPC created the puzzle head combining live action elements. In this week’s fxpodcast we speak to MPC vfx […]
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Hiring around the world
There has been a growth in vfx houses broadening to encompass new offices around the world. Rhythm & Hues, SPI, Digital Domain, have all expanded to having multiple offices around the world. Right now ILM is also expanding and staffing up its Singapore offices. The vfx workplace is now global. As part of our fxphd.com training we have been speaking to recruiters from around the world.
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Mopping up after the Apprentice
For The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,visual effects supervisor John Nelson oversaw more than 1200 shots featuring plasma ball fights, a Chinese dragon, car chases, magical creatures and the re-creation of the famous Disney Fantasia sequence. We take a look at some of the key work by the two lead facilities, Asylum and Double Negative. (Sorcerer’s Apprentice on DVD Nov 30th)
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Even more Predators…
For the 2010 film Predators, director Nimrod Antal and producer Robert Rodriguez set out to maintain the appeal of the 1987 original film by employing similar designs and relying on both practical and digital effects. We take a look at the visual effects work by Troublemaker Digital and Hybride.
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Not the Best Day: Server Problems at fxguide
Thanks for your patience for the last 29 hours…and thanks to those of you who let us know the site was down and you missed it. Jeff, Mike and I really appreciate it. Over the years, we’ve been fortunate at fxguide to avoid major server problems. In fact, until Wednesday, we didn’t have more than […]
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