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 […]
Pixel Farm to Unveil Radical New Tracking Solution at Siggraph
We were already looking forward to Siggraph and here we are in the week before getting releases that make us even more excited to be covering the show. Pixel Farm is using words in the press release that follows that get our full attention “brand new architecture”, “node-based flowgraph architecture” plus they include a quote […]
The Foundry and Disney launch Groundbreaking Agreement
Advance news from Siggraph is already starting to roll in and here is some big news from The Foundry. The press release and some images are after the jump, but in a nutshell The Foundry is incorporating elements of Disney’s internally developed Paint 3D technology into Mari and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ technology group will […]
fxpodcast: we nominate Scott Ross
When we talked with Scott Ross about six months ago you let us know by the number of downloads, emails and personal comments that it was one of our most popular podcasts. We check back in with Scott with an unusual proposal, for the duration of the podcast we put him in charge of the […]
Red Centre 66 with Stu Maschwitz
This week Jason and Mike are joined by Stu Maschwitz, filmmaker and accidental technologist. The guys discuss a recent ProLost post on the issues around SLR digital cinematography as well as the week’s news and an amazing video documentary project Jason is involved with. Please send us your comments red (at) fxguide.com Visit the red […]
fxguidetv: ILM and Transformers 2
Episode #86 features Industrial Light & Magic’s Jason Billington, going over work done on Transformers 2. The segment, recorded earlier this year at NAB, shows how they used Nuke’s 3D environment to layer footage of explosions and dust over cgi renders. Visit the fxguidetv page for direct fxguidetv downloads and RSS feed links. To be […]
fxpodcast: Pixar’s Michael Johnson
Dr Michael Johnson discusses the Moving Pictures Group at Pixar and how technology has worked with the Artists over time. Michael has personally worked on every single Pixar film since joining the company in 1995. Before Pixar, Michael was with the Computer Graphics and Animation Group at the MIT, he also worked at Thinking Machines […]
Academy to Celebrate Petro Vlahos
If you are in Los Angeles on Thursday July 29th, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is holding a tribute to Petro Vlahos. Many of you may know the name from his pioneering work with Ultimatte but he holds many other patents and has been a great innovator in our business. There will […]
Walt Disney Animation Adopts Nuke + Mari Preview
Another facility officially joins the Nuke family with Walt Disney Animation Studios licensing Nuke for their feature productions workflow. This continues the list of major studios adding Nuke this year, including Framestore, Cinesite, MPC, and Soho VFX. Also, the Foundry have posted a YouTube sneak peek at their new Mari offering. For more information about […]
Oscar VFX category officially expanded to 5 nominees
The Academy has approved new rules expanding the Visual Effects category from three nominees to five as is the the case is most other categories. Press release with details after the Read More…
2010 Emmy Nominations announced
Early this morning Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) and Joel McHale (Community) along with Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Chairman-CEO John Shaffner announced the nominees for the 2010 Emmy Awards. After the jump you will find the visual effects, commercial and title design nominees and a link to the complete list.
Foundry GeekFest at SIGGRAPH Announced
Times have changed when attending a geek fest is cool. Or maybe that’s just me. But you won’t want to miss The Foundry GeekFest taking place on Monday the 26th of July at SIGGRAPH this year. With their acquisitions of Mari and Katana, a 6.1 version of Nuke in sight on their roadmap, a 3D […]
Academy invites new Members
Each year The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites a group of individuals to join their roster as voting members. This year eight animators and twelve visual effects artists are in the group including Eric Barba and Paul Debevec. Congratulations to all those selected, the complete list can be found after the read […]
New fxpodcast: Science of Storytelling
Most of us live in a world where the most important aspect of our work is that it looks good, tells the story and provides entertainment,… most but not all. There is a small but highly competitive group of artists who’s work needs to be engaging, tell a story but most importantly be completely accurate. […]
Birth of a Spartan
‘Birth of a Spartan’, an Xbox 360 Halo: Reach trailer directed by Noam Murro for agencytwofifteen, features visual effects by Animal Logic. The trailer follows Carter-259, the future leader of Noble Team, as he undergoes the medical augmentation procedures to become a Spartan III super soldier. Ian Failes takes a look at the work with […]
Time Magazine article “Hollywood’s VFX Sweatshops”
Rebecca Keegan, author “The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron” has written an article on Visual Effects labor issues for Time Magazine. This is the second time a more mainstream media outlet has focused on trouble in our industry, the first being the “Open Letter to James Cameron” which appeared in the Huffington […]
Visual Effects Oscar category to expand to 5 nominees?
David S. Cohen from Variety is reporting that the Visual Effects branch of the Motion Picture Academy has voted to expand the number of Visual Effects Oscar nominees from three to five. This change must now be voted on by the rules committee and the Board of Governors. The Visual Effects Society and several larger […]
Iron Man 2 Podcasts
We have two Iron Man 2 podcasts from 3 countries! Our new fxpodcast has an indepth (audio) podcast with Ben Snow of ILM discussing their work and in particular a detailed discussion – as only fxguide does- on the algorithms used in the lighting models by ILM. Visit the fxpodcast page for direct downloads and […]
cineSync & Shotgun Announce Integration
cineSync is a remote review and approval tool that enables synchronized viewing and annotation of content across the web, Shotgun is a web-based project management and collaboration system. Both products have been mainstays in pipelines at leading facilities for years, but they have operated independently. With remote collaboration a staple of modern production it makes […]
RSP: Mao’s Last Dancer
Bruce Beresford’s Mao’s Last Dancer, the story of a poor Chinese boy’s journey to a top American ballet troupe, features just over 70 visual effects shots from Rising Sun Pictures, including traditional greenscreen composites, a matte painted stage backdrop and crowd replication. We talk about the seamless work with visual effects supervisor Tim Crosbie. fxg: […]
Previsualization Society announces Previs 2010 Event
Los Angeles, CA (April 28, 2010) — The Previsualization Society today announced “Previs 2010,” the organization’s inaugural event in Los Angeles scheduled for May 8. The one-day gathering will bring together a wide spectrum of professionals who use and interact with previs for an exploration of current previs approaches, workflows and new work. The event […]
fxguidetv: NAB #3 – RED Day, AE & Premiere CS5, Avid
In our third episode covering NAB 2010 (#81) we talk with Ted Shilowitz and get exclusive access to the Epic demo room at RED Day, we talk with Michael Coleman and Karl Lee Soule from Adobe to get some insight into the CS5 releases of After Effects and Premiere, and Angus MacKay brings us up […]
fxpodcast: NAB Roundtable
Of all the coverage we bring you from NAB our annual wrap up roundtable is one of the most popular. This year Jason Wingrove (Red Centre), Dave Edgar and Mat Graham (fxphd) join John, Mike and Jeff to share what they saw and heard on the show floor. Topics include Black Magic dropping DaVinci Resolve’s […]
fxguidetv: NAB show #2, Cineform, Mocha, Alexa
In our second episode covering NAB 2010 (#80) we look at Cineform, the latest release of Mocha and we get details on Arri’s latest offering for digital cinematography, Alexa. This new camera can record raw files and at the same time generate ProRes files for immediate use in post production so we asked to shoot […]