Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) launchs AICP Digital
The AICP has been a force over the years on the production side in helping with the business of the business. After the jump is a press release announcing the formation of a new chapter to work with companies that create digital content. Ed Ulbrich, President, Commercial Division, of Digital Domain will head up this […]
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eyeon Software Announces New Software Financing Option
eyeon Software has launched a new financing option aimed at helping artists and facilities get back to business. This limited time offer allows users to purchase licenses for a low cost upfront ($995) and design flexible payment plans. Full press release after the jump
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Tweak Software Launches Major Upgrade for RV Playback Software
In a facility pipeline perhaps no piece of software wants to be reliable, invisible and do exactly what you want than playback software. Tweak Software’s RV was created in a real world production environment by very senior artists and engineers who needed a refined tool for working with film resolution, high dynamic range images and […]
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GenArts announces Sapphire Rental Program
GenArts is making the Sapphire suite of plug-ins available for monthly rentals for $169 per month. The versions for After Effects and Final Cut Pro will be available and up to two months of the rental can be applied to purchase. full press release after the jump
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Weta Digital Purchases Site License Of Nuke
London, July 6th, 2009 – Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk), today announced that Weta Digital, New Zealand’s premier multi-award winning VFX studio, has purchased a site licence of Nuke to enhance its in-house pipeline. Weta Digital was formed in 1993 by a group of young New Zealand filmmakers including Peter Jackson to […]
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Faking the Moon – Gerty and beyond
Duncan Jones’ Moon is the story of Sam Bell, the lone occupant of a lunar mining base who discovers not all is what it seems away from Earth. Cinesite contributed more than 270 visual effects shots to the film, incorporating miniatures into a lunar landscape, creating a CG service robot called Gerty and producing several split-screen composites for shots of Sam interacting with a clone of himself. Cinesite Visual Effects Supervisor Simon Stanley-C
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Earth 2100
For Earth 2100, an ABC News special which aired on June 2 in the U.S., Guerilla FX contributed over 30 minutes of graphic novel style animation to depict various future catastrophic scenarios brought about by climate change, overpopulation and the misuse of energy resources. Ian Failes gets the details from Director of Animation John Bair.
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Feng Zhu + Iron Man with Dav Rauch: fxguidetv
In this week’s fxguidetv we have a designer focused special episode. We lead with world renowned Concept Designer Feng Zhu from his new Studio in Singapore and then look at the HUD (Heads Up Display) design of the Iron Man with Dav Rauch. Both men are exceptional designers. Angie and the team get in depth […]
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Digital Domain loses termination suit
David S. Cohen in Variety is reporting that the jury was unanimous on most findings and awarded Brad Call approximately $2 million in damages in his wrongful termination suit against Digital Domain. From the article: The size of the award raises questions about whether Digital Domain can survive, though in a statement, DD’s VP and […]
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Academy Invites 134 to Membership
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced it will invite 134 people to join as members. Included in the Visual Effects category are: Christopher Bond, Matthew Butler, Chris Corbould, Rob Engle, Scott Gordon, Hal Hickel, Van Ling, Shane Mahan, Steve Preeg, Tim Webber, Edson Williams Full press release after the read more
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Land of the Lost : Rhythm & Hues
In Land of the Lost, a Brad Silberling film starring Will Ferrell as an alternate world explorer, Rhythm & Hues created hundreds of visual effects shots to depict a universe populated by dinosaurs and other creatures. Ian Failes talks to visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer about the project.
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Imaginative effects in Imagine That
For Imagine That, director Karey Kirkpatrick called on Hammerhead Productions to provide 140 invisible effects shots to help tell the story of a troubled financial executive (Eddie Murphy) who turns to his daughter’s imaginary world for some much needed guidance.
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In the Land of Six Foot Pheasants
For “Pheasant Rodeo,” a commercial for Britvic’s Drench Spring Water, agency CHI tasked The Mill with saddling up a cowboy on a giant bird. Ian Failes gets the feathery details from Lead 3D artist Rob van den Bragt and Flame Op Jonathan Westley.
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First Look: Fusion 6
eyeon made the release candidate of long-awaited Fusion 6 available to their subscription customers this week. In this special guest column, fxphd prof Matt Leonard walks us through the major new features in the software which include some serious enhancements to its 3D capabilities. Leonard is a long time Fusion user and spent time on the software’s beta program.
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Pepsi Penguins
Framestore NY combined live action, 3D characters and real soft drink for ‘Penguin,’ a Pepsi TVC for BBDO New York. Ian Failes talks with Andy Walker (VFX supervisor/CG lead), Murray Butler (VFX supervisor/Flame lead) and Seth Gollub (lead animator) about the spot.
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Fusion 6 Now Shipping…
…in release candidate form. The just issued eyeon newsletter serves up the fact that the long awaited Fusion 6 is now available for download to “all artists and studios with a current subscription license.” The idea behind the RC release is to get the software in the hands of artists to do final bug and […]
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Mike Lecturing This Week in Singapore
fxguide is in Singapore this week for CG Overdrive and Broadcast Asia. Mike Seymour is giving two workshops (each running over 2 days) on the Benefits and Challenges of Digital Acquisition. These are being held on the 16th/17th and then repeated on the 18th/19th at Broadcast Asia – held at the Expo centre as part […]
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Drag Me To Hell
For the Hell sequences in Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell, Tippett Studio augmented miniature photography with various digital elements. Visual effects supervisor Matt Jacobs gives Ian Failes a run-down of Tippett’s work for the film. This story contains Spoilers.
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iPhone Color Correction App from The Mill
Yes, you read that correctly, The Mill has released a free iPhone application that allows the user to apply looks or emulate primary color grading tools found in a grading suite. The app has preset looks like “golden” and “bleached” as well as controls for lift, gain, gamma and saturation that can be applied across […]
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VES Announces Health Care for Members
When we interviewed Jeffrey Okun from the Visual Effects Society at the end of May for a podcast he broke the news that the VES was working on getting health care options for VES members. He mentioned that this has been a top request from members. Today members were emailed with information about that plan […]
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Siggraph 2009 Technical Papers Preview Video
This August the fxguide crew will be in full force to cover Siggraph 2009 in New Orleans. Siggraph is always a great place to network, see what is coming in future technology or update your skills. The last time the show was in New Orleans it was an amazing combination of work and play. If […]
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ILM Purchases Nuke Site Licence
Hot on the heels of its management buyout, The Foundry has completed a major deal with Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Ltd’s multiple Academy Award-winning visual effects studio. ILM has purchased a site licence for Nuke. ILM’s visionary work has earned thirty-seven Academy Award® nominations for Best Visual Effects. Lucasfilm’s chief technical officer, Richard Kerris, […]
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Another Dark Day for the Industry
We are hearing that one of the oldest companies in our business Pacific Title & Art Studio, formed in 1919, is heading to receivership. We share what we know so far and ask “what is the future of our industry?”.
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GenArts Signs Deal with Lucasfilm
Today GenArts signed an agreement with Lucasfilm covering Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation, and Lucasfilm Animation Singapore to have GenArts software as standard across all their compositing packages and to work together moving forward.
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fxpodcast: Terminator Salvation -ILM & Kerner Optical
In this week’s fxpodcast we have an amazing show – we speak in depth to both Ben Snow of ILM and Brain Gernand of Kerner Optical about Terminator Salvation. Ben discusses things such as a whole new lighting “energy conserving” renderman system at ILM and Brian discusses both miniatures and pryo – and the complex […]
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New red centre Podcast
Our Digital cinematography & production podcast red centre episode #41 is live and ready for download. This week’s podcast we talk his week, the guys talk about RED Rocket, films on RED, Scarlet, and more as Mike prepares for a SMPTE panel by interviewing Jason about his opinions on Scarlet, 5D Mk II and full […]
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The Foundry Announces Management Buyout
Since NAB, we’ve heard rumors from around the world that The Foundry was no longer going to exist as a company due to financial problems at Digital Domain. However, to steal a quote from Mark Twain, the reports of The Foundry’s death are greatly exaggerated. Thankfully for artists and those who wish for a diverse software market, The Foundry has announced that they are independent once again….
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Illusion Arts Sadly Closes
After 26 years Illusion Arts is closing, another victim of the global financial crisis and the severe pressure on effects houses. The loss of Illusion Arts is particularly upsetting given the history of the company; it is one of the oldest and most respected specialist facilities in the industry. Variety is reporting that co-founder Syd […]
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1984 – Pool Balls 25 Years Later
With the release of the critically acclaimed film UP by Pixar, we acknowledge that 2009 marks 25 years since the famous Pool Ball shot 1984. In this week’s fxpodcast we talk to Rob Cook of Pixar about the some of the history surrounding that landmark shot, his own career and the industry today. We took a bash at redoing the shot to see just how much easier things are today.
Updated Jun 05, now with three user submissions
Friday Fun: Viral Industry Funnies
Two online videos with appeal to our industry made waves in the social networking worlds like Twitter and Facebook this week. The first one, by editor Joy Moeller, is a list of 21 things that a client should and shouldn’t do in an edit session to keep peace with your editor. The second one places […]
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