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.
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)
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.
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 […]
fxguidetv: Cinema 4D R12 and Nuke 6.2 Tech Preview
fxguidetv epsiode #93 is now available and contains a look at two software packages. At IBC we caught up with Jon Wadleton, Nuke Product Manager for The Foundry, who gave us an overview of what they have planned for Nuke version 6.2. This includes a new image modeler, projection solver, external 3D rendering, dope sheet, […]
NVIDIA GPU Conference: 3ds Max Adds iRay Rendering Support
The 2010 NVIDIA GTC conference kicked off yesterday in San Jose and in its second year is more than double in size from last year. What’s the conference all about and why do we care? Consider it something of a SIGGRAPH-style gathering, but focusing on GPU technology. The speed curve in GPU technology is quickly […]
Mercenary Effects: The Expendables
In The Expendables, director Sylvester Stallone harks back to the gritty and explosion-filled action films of days gone by to follow a team of mercenaries helping to overthrow a South American dictator. We talk to visual effects supervisor Wes Caefer about the practical and digital effects work in the film.
fxguidetv from IBC: Storm
Our second fxguidetv from IBC 2010 in Amsterdam is a look at Storm, the Foundry’s upcoming R3D editing and workflow tool. The product was first shown publicly at NAB earlier this year and has undergone a vast amount of improvement since then. The episode of fxguidetv includes interviews with The Foundry’s Richard Shackleton and RED’s […]
fxguidetv from IBC: Flame Premium + Full Length 2011×1 Feature Videos
Our first IBC episode is up with news from the show regarding Autodesk. The company today introduced Flame Premium, which is effectively a bundle of Flame, Smoke Advanced (with an Action that includes all Flame creative tools), and Lustre. The software package is list priced at $129,000 in the states. Upgrades to the premium version […]
New CINEMA 4D Release 12 Now Available
MAXON has released a new version of their 3D software CINEMA 4D and is available immediately for purchase or upgrade. The release a slate of new features in addition to a revamped and simpler product lineup. One of the big changes is built-in support for linear workflow and color profiles throughout the application, which really […]
Red Centre: Takers Director John Luessenhop
This week’s Red Centre podcast we have in the Red Room the Director of the new hit film TAKERS : John Luessenhop. We discuss shooting with Genesis as well as a general, open and frank discussion about the directorial decisions he made making this film and rehearsing and working with the actors.We also discuss Red […]
Scott Pilgrim and VFX against the world
In Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the title character woos his new girlfriend by battling her seven evil exes in Japanese Anime-style fights punctuated with video game-like on-screen graphics. Visual effects supervisor Frazer Churchill oversaw more than 1200 shots for film. We take a look at the work by Double Negative and Mr. X.
A Few Weeks with Colorista II
The original Magic Bullet Colorista brought the 3-way color corrector to After Effects and improved upon the one built into Final Cut Pro. With the recent release of Colorista II and the addition of secondary color correction, more flexible masking, and UI refinements the plugin has solidified its place as our go-to favorite for grading within those desktop applications.
Peppering Salt with visual effects
Phillip Noyce’s SALT takes audiences on a thrill ride with title character and CIA agent Angelina Jolie, who may or may not be a Russian spy out to assassinate the U.S. President. Visual effects supervisor Robert Grasmere oversaw the work of several vendors to provide hundreds of invisible shots for the film. We take a look at the effects by Framestore and CIS Vancouver.
Prince of Persia
In Mike Newell’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (out soon on Blu-Ray &DVD), rogue Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) safeguards a magical and sought-after dagger that can reverse time. We look at a few of the major effects sequences by Cinesite, MPC, Framestore and Double Negative, & the previs work by Nvizage. VFX supervisor : Tom Wood.
Creative Arts Emmy Winners
This afternoon in Los Angeles the Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. We’ve got the winners in the visual effects related categories after the read more. Congratulations to all those nominated and to those taking home statues tonight.
15 in Competition for 2010 Scientific and Technical Awards
The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the list of those under consideration for Sci-tech awards. Names like ILM, Rhythm & Hues, Digital Domain, Dreamworks, PipelineFX, Pixar, SPI, Disney, Rising Sun Research are included… full press release follows.
In Memoriam: Sande Scoredos
The Visual Effects Society reports that Sande Scoredos, who served as Executive Director of Training and Artist Development At Sony Pictures Imageworks for the past 12-plus years passed away Saturday morning after a prolonged illness. More information as well as details about services can be found after the jump…
Variety reports Montreal’s Fake Studio leaves workers unpaid
David S. Cohen reports in an article today in Variety that Montreal’s Fake Studio (part of Camera e-Motion Group) has left a handful of VFX artists unpaid since April for work done on the film Piranha 3D. The article discusses the familiar nature to the Meteor story, mentions the Visual Effects business as a Ponzi […]
CVMP 2010 London: November 17-18th
This year’s This year’s Conference on Visual Media and Production is taking place in London on November 17th and 18th. The event provides an outlet for production and post personnel to discuss the latest technology and research impacting the field. If you like geeking out about the tech side of things with research impacting the […]
Resolve on Mac gets closer
Blackmagic Design has announced their support for RED Rocket in both Mac and Linux configurations. Stereo .R3D playback will be supported with dual Rockets. In both MAC and Lunix installation is aimed to be plug and play. If you do not have Rockets installed, r3d clips are decoded and debayered as per user configurable settings […]
Knight & Day
For James Mangold’s Knight & Day, vfx supervisor Eric Durst oversaw more than 700 effects shots to help tell the story of a secret agent and his unwilling partner pursued around the world. We delve into the digital Running of the Bulls work by Rhythm & Hues and the European train effects by Weta Digital.
Going Green
This week Jason and Mike are joined in the Red Room by Doug Purver to discuss is cool Running Spot. Also the guys geek out on SLR sensors and the way Canon builds .CR2 RAW files for the Canon 5D and 7D. Visit the red centre page for direct downloads and RSS feed links. To […]
New AE Camera Tracker and Kronos from The Foundry
The Foundry have announced two new plugins for Adobe After Effects CS5, a 3D camera tracker based upon the tracking technology from Nuke, and an extremely fast version of their Kronos plugin. It’s a good sign to see some of the Foundry’s research and technology make it’s way to the affordable desktop platform. The Kronos […]
Wet Disney
For a spot promoting Disney’s ‘World of Color’ show, Motion Theory orchestrated fountains of colored water and light and mixed them with renditions of well-known Disney characters. We talk to MT’s vfx supe John Fragomeni and RealFlow lead Andy Cochrane about the techniques used for the commercial.
fxguidetv : Pixar Director Teddy Newton
Before Toy Story 3 was the incredibly successful short film Day and Night. The film is not only creatively entertaining but one of the best uses of stereoscopic animation ever done. This week we speak to Director Teddy Newton. Also from SIGGRAPH, we have a brief look at the SIGGRAPH Job Fair, one of the […]
Mari Release Event in London
For our readers in London, The Foundry is holding a release event on August 12th for their recently released Mari software. To be held at the VUE in Leicester, the event will be showcase the product from an artist and technical perspective as well as laying out the product roadmap. Click here to register and […]
SIGGRAPH fxguidetv: PFMatchit and ‘The VES Handbook’
fxguidetv episode #88 takes a look at PFMatchit, the new node-based camera tracking software from The Pixel Farm. The company has completely re-architectured tracking workflow in their new product to build for the future (see the press released posted here last week). Mike Seymour also speaks with Scott Squires, one of the co-editors on The […]
SIGGRAPH final day
Here is our third and final report from Siggraph, but watch for fxguidetv eps and podcasts rolling out this week and next.
Today we look at Day&Night, Airbender and a summary of cool things around the show, including the mysterious Spheron HDRV camera.
SIGGRAPH fxguidetv: NVIDIA + Mental Ray
Episode #87: In our first episode from Siggraph 2010 in Los Angeles we catch up with and Mental Images. Check back later for more Siggraph coverage including Pixar’s Teddy Newton: Director of Day and Night, VFX supervisor Scott Squires and more… Visit the fxguidetv page for direct fxguidetv downloads and RSS feed links. To be […]