VES Announces Nominees

January 19, 2009

The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects in over a dozen categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games.  Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 17, 2009, by numerous panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in […]

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A list ups and downs

January 16, 2009

Autodesk: cuts 750 jobs We spoke to Autodesk overnight. They confirmed that 10% of jobs across the board had gone. Some friends from M&E division have gone, from offices around the world not just in Montreal. All of the final people have not even been decided, in some cases areas they have been told there […]

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fxguidetv 50th episode + 10 years of fxguide.com!

January 15, 2009

The new year brings a new episode of fxguidetv and it’s a milestone for us: our 50th episode. We decided to have some fun at take a look back at some of our favorite moments from the past year and a half. What an 18 months it was! We also take a look ahead at […]

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British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) nominees

January 15, 2009

The British Academy Film Awards nominations were announced today. Nominees for the category Special Visual Effects are: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, Edson Williams The Dark Knight– Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull– Pablo Helman Iron […]

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Passing of a Friend: Richard Spöhrer

January 14, 2009

We learned with great sadness that The Pixel Farm’s Richard Spöhrer suddenly passed away on the last day of 2008. We reflect on what he added to our industry and how he touched many of us not only with the many products he was involved with, but with his kindness and generosity as a person.

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Australia fxpodcast

January 12, 2009

With the Bake off for the Oscar Nominations this Thursday in LA, we speak to Iloura’s Peter Webb about the film Australia. One of seven films in the running for the Oscar’s three nominations for best visual effects. Peter was part of the team at iloura that handled much of the end of the film, including much of the bombing of Darwin.

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64-bit OS X Version of SynthEyes now Available

January 12, 2009

The powerful but affordable SynthEyes camera tracking application is now available in a 64-bit version for OS X Leopard. The new version provides a bit of a speed increase, but the main benefit with a 64-bit app is the ability to use more than 4 GB of RAM. This is useful for maintaining longer and […]

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Autodesk Shows a bit of OS X Love

January 6, 2009

As foreshadowed in the rumor mill yesterday, Autodesk today announced 3 new OS X versions of their products: Toxik, Mudbox, and ImageModeler. The most interesting development is probably the release of Toxik, which brings a new high end compositing package to the Apple platform. The rumor of on OS X Toxik version has existed for […]

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Bakeoff list for 2009 Oscars

January 6, 2009

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 81st Academy Awards®. The films are listed below in alphabetical order: “Australia” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” “The Dark Knight” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” “Iron Man” “Journey to the […]

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Macworld Rumor: OSX Versions of Toxik & Mudbox

January 5, 2009

No — it’s not a new iPhone Nano. Or a Mac Mini with media software. Or a 17″ MacBook Pro with a non-removable battery (who thought that would be a great idea?). But rumors have come our way via the prep for MacWorld in San Francisco that Autodesk will be showing off new OSX versions […]

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The Foundry Slashes Prices on Sparks

January 4, 2009

The Foundry today announced that it was slashing the prices of its Sparks by approximately 90% in response to no longer being a part of the Autodesk Spark program. While it may still find a full solution, this is a complex issue that we have been tracking for a month. To get the full implication of what is happening, fxguide spoke directly to the Foundry’s co-founder Simon Robinson.

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fxguidetv: Harrision Ellenshaw & Green Screen with RED

January 4, 2009

This week we start by interviewing Industry legend Harrison Ellenshaw. Harrision is a Oscar Nominated matte painter who went on to run Buena Vista Visual Effects (BVVE). He has worked on films from Star Wars to Tron. BBVE credits include Dave, Honey I Blew Up the Kid, The Santa Clause, James and the Giant Peach, The Phantom,  Escape […]

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The Curious Case of Aging Visual Effects

January 1, 2009

Audiences are reeling in amazement at the artistry & technical polish of David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

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The Spirit fxpodcast

December 30, 2008

This week’s fxpodcast we speak to Stu Maschwitz, director, author, accidental technologist and vfx supervisor of the Spirit. Stu supervised over 1900 shots, many done at the Orphanage in San Fran. The film follows in a similar, but not identical vein to the blockbusters 300 and Sin City. It is first feature directed solo by Frank Miller. We speak […]

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Yet Another List of Cool Things from 2008

December 29, 2008

It is that time of year when all media organizations like to produce lists. Lists of top 10, lists of best of the year, a look back with a Year in Review, or 2008: The Year That Just Was. So not to be out done – and just for fun – we jumped on the bandwagon and compiled our own special ‘fxguide Completely Unscientific List of Cool Things from 2008’.

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fxguidetv ep #48: George Miller

December 27, 2008

It is our great pleasure for the holiday season to bring you an incredible fxguidetv episode. We are joined by film maker and Oscar winner George Miller. Coupled with this exclusive interview is a walk through of work done by Digital Domain artist Justin Van Der Lek for Mummy 3 : Tomb of the Dragon […]

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Fin Has a Hand in Making Award Winning Spots

December 26, 2008

This week in our fxpodcast, we speak to Richard Lambert principle at Fin Design. Fin recently won a host of Awards for their amazing Herringbone TVC. We speak about this spot and some of their other work. Ironically while the TV ad was winning awards, fashion label Herringbone itself has fallen victim to the global slowdown by going into voluntary administration.

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Adobe .r3d support first review

December 23, 2008

This week in Red Centre we discuss the Adobe implementation of .r3d support in both AE and Premier with our own John Montgomery. We also look at the work of Artbeats who have been shooting now with the RED and offer not only clips but the source .r3d files for stock use purchase. Happy Holidays […]

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GenArts’ Katherine Hays – the First 100 Days

December 23, 2008

GenArts is a pivotal player in the image processing plug-in market, but are they happy to stay on the sidelines as a plug-in supplier? With the Foundry’s move into full products such as NUKE, could GenArts be looking at some major expansion? It certainly seems so. fxguide spoke to the new company CEO Katherine Hays about her first 100 days at the helm of one of the most successful plug-in and spark companies in the world.

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Day Three and Four : Siggraph Asia

December 16, 2008

After seeing the papers and Electronic Theatre – we turn our attention to the serious courses and classes. Plus, we’ve got to catch up with senior members of the gaming and film industry, including Rob Cook from Pixar.

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Riot and Method Studios to Combine Operations

December 16, 2008

Ascent Media announced that Santa Monica based Riot and Method are officially combining operations beginning January 1st. Method will be moving its operations into the current Riot location — and the facility will do business under the Method name. A trip by the facility this week shows that the Riot sign has already been removed […]

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Day One & Two : Siggraph Asia

December 13, 2008

This week in Singapore marks the first Asian Siggraph. More than 3,200 artists, researchers, developers, gaming experts, filmmakers, as well as academics gathered over four days to discover new techniques, technology and approaches in the graphics. In all, a total of 49 countries were represented in an array of amazing animation and breakthrough ideas presented at the show.

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Bring Back the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater

December 12, 2008

Mike is currently having a blast in Singapore at the inaugural SIGGRAPH Asia 2008, which started today. The original SIGGRAPH show has got to be our favorite of the year, with its mix of creative and intellectual stimulation. But one thing that was missing in action this past year was the Electronic Theater — always […]

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The new new RED Deal

December 5, 2008

This week in Red Centre we discusses the Dec 3rd news from RED for Scarlet and Epic. We break down the deal for current RED ONE owners and also discuss our final section on Tripods in the RED ROOM. Visit our red centre page to listen or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. This week’s Episode […]

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Sid the Science Kid

December 3, 2008

Kids show with very adult tech. Sid the Science Kid from Jim Henson Studios is a remarkable project for the complexity and simultaneous simplicity of its motion capture. fxguide spoke to Steffen M. Wild, Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Supervisor at Jim Henson Co. for this week’s fxpodcast.

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fxguidetv: Pablo Helman and Matte Painting Tip

November 29, 2008

We hope you’ve been enjoying the Masters of the Craft series as much as we had doing it. Getting to sit down and talk visual effects with people at this level has been a treat and this week was a true pleasure as we got to talk with Pablo Helman from ILM. The fxphd.com tip […]

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Animfx NZ

November 29, 2008

The Anim-FX conference was recently held in Wellington. New Zealand has transformed its industry over the last 10 years and in conjunction with the VES, this conference provided a great platform for the local post and vfx industry.

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Red Centre Special ep.- Stu, Jason & Mike

November 28, 2008

This week in we have a special Red Centre episode that discusses the plans for Scarlet and Epic – but from the point of view of DSLR, mounts and just what is likely to be possible. Joining Jason and Mike is special guest Stu Maschwitz of the Orphanage and the blog site ProLost.com. Listen before RED […]

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fxphd live Inferno/Smoke Master Class in Seoul

November 21, 2008

On November 26th, there will be an fxphd live master class in Seoul covering Flame and Smoke. fxphd co-founder John Montgomery and flame/smoke artist CE Raum have joined up to teach these classes. Two years ago, they did a multi-city tour in Asia which was incredibly well received by the artists taking the classes. For […]

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Autodesk Completes Acquisition of Softimage

November 19, 2008

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Nov. 18, 2008 – Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Softimage – a developer of 3D technology for the film, television and games markets – for approximately $35 million. On October 23, 2008, Autodesk announced it had signed a […]

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