F3 vs 5D MkII
As part of our Red Centre Podcast coverage we want to share this clip with you that compares the Canon 5D Mk II and the new Sony F3. In this test, both cameras were attached to the same tripod locked together – and then panned over the same technical background. The results show the F3 […]
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Deluxe buys Ascent Media
After the markets had closed on the eve of the USA Thanksgiving weekend, the LA Times reports that “Deluxe Entertainment Services Group said Wednesday it has reached an agreement to acquire the bulk of Ascent Media Group, the Santa Monica-based postproduction company, for $68 million” We understand that the purchase price has been allocated as […]
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Mari Launch Event in LA
The Foundry will be having a Mari launch event in Los Angeles on December 1. Presenters include Brandon Fayette & Jake Raymor from Bad Robot Production, Scott Metzger from Method Studios, and Brad deCaussin from Digital Domain. Click through for more details, including a registration link.
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Red Centre: F3 on location
In this week’s fxguide Red Centre podcast we examine the new Sony F3 camera. Jason Wingrove shot with one of only three F3 cameras in the world this week, testing this new Super35 Sensor Sony camera that will be released in Feb 2011. In the Red Room, Maarten Treurniet of Marvin goes head to head […]
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State Film Subsidies report
Yesterday the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a study examining film and TV tax subsidies in the US. Titled “State Film Subsidies: Not Much Bang For Too Many Bucks” the report is very critical of subsides concluding “State film subsidies are a wasteful, ineffective, and unfair instrument of economic development.” In an LA […]
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Asylum Visual Effects closing
After 11 years it appears that Asylum Visual Effects in Santa Monica is closing. Nathan McGuinness built a shop that had a strong reputation providing high end visual effects for films like Master & Commander, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Terminator Salvation (IMDB) as well as commercials like the recently released Call […]
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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, […]
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