Great new look guys, fantastic!
Congratulations on another landmark for the site/fxguide brand guys! Here's to syndication!!!
J
Extremely well done guys... I am very excited by this development. It's a 21st century radio show with pictures! Can't wait to upload fxguidetv programes to my Sony Bravia via appleTV.
Congrats for the netcast, landmark indeed!
Yep, that Codex is going to be nice. I checked it out at CineGear and had a little report and photos at www.hdforindies.com
Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
Hi!
I am a VFX supervisor and work in RedChillies...
I have seen this movie in theater....these shots are flawless..
I think its a great job what you all have done....India has started doing a great work in VFX...
Cheers
Thats a good start for India ! I like the way things are moving up with the quality !
Congrats !
I wouldnt say "Flawless" this technique has been used right from "Doctor Dolittle's talking animals to the recent digital facelifts for X-Men-3.It has been around for 10 years now and was done in fusion/inferno back in the day and had more of CGI integrated in it.
This may be an ideal cost effect way too !
Thanks Harry.
USA theater information,for those want to see in BIG screen
SIVAJI (TAMIL)
City Venue
Bay Area Park Theatre
New Jersey CinePlaza @ Columbia Park 12
Ashburn(Brambleton) Fox Cinemas @ Brambleton
Atlanta Galaxy Cinema Theater
Austin AMC Theaters @ Barton Creek Mall(Barton Creek 14
Bay Area Camera 3 Cinema
Bloomington The Princess Theater
Boston Entertainment cinemas (Fresh Pond)
Boston West Newton Cinema
Boston (Belmont) Belmont Studio Cinema
Cary / Raleigh Galaxy Cinema
Cedar Rapids Galaxy 16 theaters
Chicago Bloomingdale Court Theaters
Cleveland Parma Theater
Columbus Screens at the Continent
Coral Springs (Miami) Coral Square 8 Movie Theatre
Delware Cine Center 3
Denver Harkins 18 Theaters
Des Moines Varsity Theater
Detroit Detroit Desi Cinema
Indianapolis The Artcraft Theatre
Indianapolis IMAX Theater
Irvine Woodbridge Movies 5
Little Rock Riverdale 10 movies
Los Angeles Laemmle7
Los Angeles Plaza 3 Cinemas
Madison West Gate Theater
Memphis Forest Hill Cinema 8
Milwaukee Oak Creek Value Cinema
Minneapolis Brookdale 8 Theater
New Haven Cine 1-2-3-4
New York Kew Garden Cinemas @ Queens
New York Silver Screen Theatre
New York Bombay [email protected] Queens
Orlando Colonial Promenade
Phoenixville (PA) Colonial Theater
Pittsburgh Screen works 14 (Star City Cinemas )
Portland Cornelius 9 Cinema
Rhodes Island Patriot Cinemas - East Providence
Sacramento Guild Theater
San Antonio Northwest 14 Theatre
Seattle Totem Lake Cinema
Seattle AMC Renton Village 8
Silver Spring (VA)(MD)P and G Wheaton Plaza 11
Spring Hills(Tampa) Touch star Cinemas,SpringHill8
St.Louis Wherenbergh St. Charles 18 cine
Tampa Muvico Centro Ybor 20
SIVAJI (TELUGU)
New Jersey CinePlaza @ Columbia Park 12
Alabama Rave Theaters
Cleveland Parma Theater
Denver Regency Tamarac Square (Formerly Madstone)
Detroit Detroit Desi Cinema
Hartford Parkade Cinemas
New Haven Cine 1-2-3-4
Phoenixville (PA) Colonial Theater
Pittsburgh Star toplist City Cinemas
Portland Valley Theatre
Seattle Totem Lake Cinema
thats cool and innovative..
deserves loads of appreciation
I'm an NRI (non-resident-indian) and never heard of that guy(rajini), but anyway, looks like nice fx work, but it's complicated to judge on little, mudgy youtube videos.
BTW, a common lack of the indian fx/animation or whatever is, that they never seem to have proper reels on their sites (same with indianartists). I mean stills as representations for movies? Hello?
anyone wants see in BIG screen, the film "Sivaji" is running in 28 theaters in USA.
chk this link for theaters list
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/home/ticketmain.asp
The processes of DIGITAL SKIN GRAFTING
* We choose the female reference because of soft skin, fleshy cheeks and absence of shave line.
* We shot the reference girl for all the shots with same action and lighting condition, since we have to graft the same skin.
* Each and every frame of the hero's skin portions was separated with the Rotoscoping process.
* The speed of the action of the hero and the reference girl was matched. This was a difficult task because no two persons act similarly.
* We used Grid Wrapping technique to match both the expressions. Again this was difficult as well as time consuming task.
* We have used nearly 80% of the reference girl skin on to the hero's skin without loosing his expressions.
HeLLo!
kameralı ve görüntülü chat sohbet hizmeti veren türkiyenin ilk canlı omegla web cam sohbet sitesi.
I saw it on the film... pretty cool stuff... although I didn't understand how your method worked... neat work... appreciate it 🙂
that was really neat work in the movie. Hats off to you guys and wish indian movies reach more and more in terms of technology
very cool effect! but my question is: if the girl is only used as a source for face informations, why do she wear only a bikini on set?
Apart from the reference, the girl was used as a background group dancer. That is a costume for BG dancers.
Coming to the technical issue, we worked on 4k resolution. For the roto work we used Combustion from Discreet along with Fusion. Since we worked on 4k DPX LOG files, for Film Look we used CINESPACE from Rising Sun Research. Thanks for the nice tool.
Vfx supervisor
Dear Srini & Jaya Kr.,
Amazing work! You guys have done a commendable work...your contribution in Film tasting overwhelming success is a a necessary ingredient.
Three cheers for Indian Artist Team at Chennai!
rgds.
Navin Saran
project coordinator
Firefly Creattive Studio
Hyderabad
Awesome guys ! the Videocast is looking great and I hope to see more soon !
You've got here a unique website with unique content, watched by crazy cool "artists" and we all hope you're going to show us load of stuff from behind the scenes !
three cheers !
satishbhavankar
toon skool
Being a fusion/shake compositor myself and having worked on a CG and live-action features, I appreciate the complexity of the work you have done and the results you have achieved. The issue is not how it was done, but how seamless and impressive the shots look on screen,... and on that front, you guys did well. Good work...well done guys!
Pl chk this image for closer details.
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2426/song13comparebhs4.jpg
Amazing. Good work. We are touching the boundaries of CG!!! Good work!
never have i read/seen so much bullshit on fxguide, ... what a hoax!
Actually I tried to get that look with the jpgs provided on those sites.... perhaps I misunderstood something, but ... besides the enormous roto-work, it looks like a 10 minute ColorCorrection-job to me. Although "white skin reflects more light and has less shadow when compared to dark skin and is translucent in some areas. Therefore a simple color correction of the hero's skin would not achieve the desired effect" ... a good setup would have perhaps saved some bucks ;o). Anyway ..great job!
Great work guys. Just like to know the investment in something like this. You had 25 dedicated CG technicians who took almost a year to complete 6 ½ min part of a three hour movie right (correct me if I am wrong)? So, how much did it cost?
I ´ve ben working on a lot of TV sets. sometimes an extra shot is missed, carrying this over anyplace on anyweather will make it a must-get-it! Someone has been paying attenion toplist to high-end editting workflow and still manage a good size hardware.
Wow, thanks for the writeup on this fantastic commercial! It's interesting to see just how many people are involved.
waiting to see Gondry brothers doing something together.
where is the link for episode 3? thanks Jen
the latest fxguidetv is in on the home page under fxpodcast + fxguidetv, or you can use this link:
http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv.html to view all episodes.
Also if you use iTunes search for fxguide in the iTunes store.
is this viewable on the ipod? or not because of resolution reasons???
Currently we deliver one version at a higher resolution and quality. We are exploring options but in the meantime figure people would prefer better quality that they can translate to device of their choice. I have been using Visual Hub on the Mac with great results and ease (and price). I have tested on PSP, iPod and iPhone and been happy.
http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/ is the link to that, I assume there are PC options for this task as well.
nice try... i have seen previous episodes... amazing...
we need more vfx supervisor's interviews .. how they done that work....
on set videos production... lives
thanks...
Sounds like the end of Combustion to me.
Why just Windows and Linux? Where is the version for Mac?
shouldn't the headline read "SAY GOODBYE TO COMBUSTION"?
Say kaboom to Combustion, so clunky.
why loosing the database is good news? sure having the app without it as an option is great, for most users now. But is a great not having to save... 😉 what does combustion has to do with anything?.. merge the good things of C into Toxik, nothing to lose ..
No, it's no big deal except that this company has zero skills at Customer Relationship Management. I bought Combustion in March '04 over After Effects thinking that Discreet/Autodesk was committed to this application. It turns out that Adobe was more committed than that former. Yes, Toxik sounds nice but I bought Combustion for a 1k and was expecting that upgrades to take me into the future with this application. Now, I'm beginning to feel the sting of what some of the Discreet Edit people have said of this company with regard to how they end products with no warning.
The only thing I can say is that I hope that if Combustion is dead that they offer a decent upgrade pricing opportunity to us Combustion user. And, I really mean decent. Otherwise, they can get on down the road. I'm using Final Cut Studio more and more anyway. Maybe the new Shake (whenever it surfaces will solve my problems).
i followed the development of toxik since beta 1.0 and i think it is the right step to gain more users. i think it is one of the main isues to push in a market. and the db won ´t be gone. in a real production enviroment with more then 3-5 useres it definitely makes sense. i manly work i feature film pipelines and was allways trying to get shake connected to dbs (it works, no doubt), but that is exactly why i followed toxik. and it is so intuitiv!
cause everybody is talking about combustion: i ´m a cmb user for a long time and i kinda love it. but its time has come and to all of you cmbs out there: if you see toxik you will definitely find alot you allready know plus some cool more stuff.
as coming from combustion and iff but now focused on shakei would say it is a cool union of all three.not in every point but in general.
i think nuke and hopefully toxik will be the future in at least feature film compositing.
my 2 cents
nanuk
I'm not at all concerned about the future of Combustion. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear an announcement about Combustion2008 before the end of the year.
You should also note that the announcement says "bicubic warping", NOT "extended bicubics". i.e. The bicbics are not extended.
From the specs, it appears eyon Fusion has more tools, like a built in particle system.
Maybe I missed something?
But Toxic 2008 is a lot less expensive, surprising for an Autodesk app, hehehe.
Where are these episodes and how can we view them?
Are these special SIGGRAPH episodes available in 960x540 quicktime files (like the regular fxguidetv episodes)?
[...] Montgomery from FxGuide.com caught up with us after the course and recorded a video interview which makes for a nice summary of [...]
nice.
Love the videos! Where is the ILM/Transformers interviews? I can't find that particular video.
I guess for F64 the After Effects plugins (32bit) will not work?!
Even more crashes now! The most unstable composition software will become more unstable.
And the very first 64bit package is Side Effect's Halo. But it crashes as much as Fusion.
Instead of developing more and more unusable tools they should polish existing onces.
cheers,
sy.
Saying that Fusion doesn't do anything else than crashing is just hilarious misinformation!
It's probably one of the most stable compositing software out there.
F64 is welcome!
"It's probably one of the most stable compositing software out there."
As if. 😛
It crashes yes, but considering the data you can through at it until that happens it is, in my book at least, an example of better written software. And we all know there's no such thing as bugfree software.
"Saying that Fusion doesn't do anything else than crashing is just hilarious misinformation!"
I haven't said that.
"It's probably one of the most stable compositing software out there."
!? How many other packages have you used then? Never mind! You are lucky! I've seem number of pipelines with constant indigestion just because of Fusion refusing to do what it's suppose to do.
If this has changed over time, I'm glad. I wish I had a choice of decent Win box compositor. My experience until now were pretty bad though.
cheers,
sy.
The most crashes i had in Fusion were due to AE plugins not working properly. Other than that it rarely crashes to me.
Besides Fusion i have used AE and combustion that crashed much more in much simpler composites.
FINALLY! 😀
What is the release date? This year maybe?
Alex
Touch timeline and it will crash. Add few dozen nodes and it slows down, a lot. Do something half-complex with 3d or particles and you're bound to find something nobody else has any idea of.
Fusion is ridden with quirks.
i loveee youu Angieeee
FYI - i have used many pro comp softwares (Shake, AE, Combustion, Commotion, Fusion, Motion etc.) for over 10 years in a pro feature film/TV contexts. As far as stability goes i have found early fusion releases to be buggier than most. (although not as buggy as some other apps i.e. Combustion on MAC). But the Fusion support and community is very very strong and it dosen't take them too long to patch it up, and end up with one one the most stable comp apps around.(AE being the most stable i have used). They have repeated this strategy over several releases. Anyway any person who uses a app. less than 6m after a release in a deadline situation is a just ignorant.
I cleaned up the comments as the home page changed.
The only place to see the Siggraph special reports is by viewing them as streaming videos at http://media.awn.com/ . We had to do this for bandwidth requirements for the kind of demand we expected for these shows. They are not in our normal iTunes feed or in 960x540 QT format.
This was a really cool episode, I enjoyed the in-depth interview with Doug a lot, it felt like you took a lot more time with him than with the guests in the previous episodes. toplist Definitely the way to go, was a good watch!
[...] FX Guide - RED Podcast Discussion [...]
I saw the main titles for _Dexter_ on the Digital Kitchen website, and they were so compelling that I immediately purchased the first season on iTunes. These credits did their job. Bravo!
[...] Chiang is interviewd in the latest episode of fxguidetv episode 013: Doug Chiang. Doug did art directed films such as '˜Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace’, '˜Forest [...]
thats great!
The 4K talkin head shots are super, though the shallow DOF spoils the beautiful scenic backdrop.
Am I crazy or is the audio-sync off when Angie is talking?
either the audio is slow by a frame or two or the video is at 15fps.... something like that I think.
why does the red footage look less punchy as the 2nd camera on angie? not as much contrast or saturation.
great! now autodesk only needs to lower the price of flame to a 5th and "myfirstflame" could actually make sense as a title...
Wouldn't this have been a job for the makeup department? Even if they were to get it almost perfect then do digital touch-ups it wouldn't have been as costly or as labor intensive. There are so many TV and film references where dark skin has been turned light that the technique hardly seems groundbreaking. Congratulations on taking a simple task and making it a huge deal.
The shot of Angie, was captured in 4K?
em.....my first flame was......1997....^^;
It'll be great!
well - this is all alright - but i tried to add myself about a month ago. im still not on there and have had no reply from anyone. and there are no contact details. seems like a closed club to me. jon hollis. scratch productions.
Red shoots at default with very little contrast baked in. They probably just didn't crank it in post as everyone is still working out their r3d workflows and they wanted to show something now.
Good work guys
Which feed are you having problems with? They both seem fine in the originals.
What about Zodiac? Some of the best sleight of hand of any film this year. How many people did it fool?
wow thats cool! I used the color warper on flame a few times and its really powerful.. each release of combustion seems to take tools from flame.. a few more versions of combustion and you could have a desktop flame (minus the realtime hardware of course)...
I would agree with the list.
Your joking aren't you?? US$200 for the color warper which already exists as the daimond keyer, this is no upgrade it's a furfy.
AutoDesk should be studied in universites on how not to run a CRM division, they have had a press release and still have not upgraded their website.
What a disaster Toxic and Combustion have become...... What will become of AutoDesk?
With this speed of upgrades, Autodesk will put flame's desktop in Combustion v2058
I'm surprised you think Flame/Combustion will be around past 2012.
mmmhh....how about extended bicubic and bicubic ? are they inside too ?.....but it'd be good with colour warper. Cool progress from autodesk - thought is dead !
well you say that Enog.. but many studios have intergrated combustionin their compositing pipeline. Yes you are right it probably wont live past another year or 2 since most people are sticking with AE (as thats getting powerful by the day) and film studios are using Nuke (and shake still).
I remember last year people were saying flame will die out etc but look at todays post houses.. flame is still heavily used and has had a new version too!
Personally I think they should drop Toxic and concentrate on Combustion, Toxic as a product will have to go along way to get the market penetration needed to compete with Nuke and Shake where Combustion already has that presence.
As for Flame it's still the best compositing package around (Just), but in three years I'd expect that you buy modules instead of FFIandSmoke (Batch, Timeline, Adutio, Tape I/O.....).
Sorry one more thing.... All eyes on Apple at NAB as I believe Motion is coming along very well...........
not a big improvement to combustion. they could/should have updated it with colour warper when combustion 4 came out. i'd like to see the new schematic view. oh and flame will never die. it just kicks too much ass. like chuck norris.
Good news! I think it will be the last release of Combustion now as AE have taken a very very good hold. But one can always hope for the best.
Mainly this means preformence boost for the growing Multi-threading crowd and one can also always hope for a overall revmap of the general interface structure, not that it should be changed but it havent really changed since V1.0 when comparing to other toolsets out there (contra lifetime).
I personally left Combustion a little year ago, and i have no intentions on comming back while i still enjoy having it around on my Workstation from time to time.
Overall since they mention 1 new feature + pricing i guess this is just "another" release..
color warper is a good tool. nothing worth having a new release of combustion for though. i agree with someone up in the discussion who said it's already there in the daimond keyer. and the discreet color corrector kicks ass anyways. so there isn't any problem really ever color correctiong in combustion (teamed with the daimond keyer of selections). in fact, i think after effects CC sucks. too many tools, all mixed up, or maybe i'm just not used to it. whereas for flame, i think combution is way cooler than flame, and definately more capable. flame is out-dated.
Just, thank you guys for making this wonderful place.
YES!! I thought development on combustion was dead. Good to see that Autodesk still remembers us poor college students. 🙂
I am glad to see a release for Combustion as well. I guess we will see some of these new features demonstrated soon. Ken LaRue (Application Engineer for Combustion/Toxik/Flame) has promised some free tutorials that will be posted on his training website http://www.thestreetproductions.com/ :
He said that the focus of these tutorials will be on showing the new workflow improvements including:
the schematic view
file import
locking viewports for playback
plus an in-depth look at the Colour Warper.
It appears that that what was made known via the press release is it as for the update of Combustion 2008.
I'm happy to see that it is not abandoned but they better have a clear plan to move this app along or they're just spinning their wheels and wasting money and resources. I'd rather they just fold the tent than play expensive games. The playing field is a much more competitive environment with the likes of Apple's Final Cut Studio (ie. Motion 3) and Adobe's creative suite coming along powerfully. Not to mention, I think that a serious Bomb will be dropped soon with the new iteration of Shake that will no doubt emerge either in a future release of Motion or a new Shake-like release.
I guess that I expect more from a billion dollar outfit than what I've seen from the Media and Entertainment part of Autodesk. They could use some help in Customer Relationship Management. Apple and Adobe definitely has that piece mastered.
In the end, I will look at the tutorials and see if I want to throw $200 to keep Combustion relative in my toolkit.
hi,
It great to see Combustion 2008..But waiste of money in ... US$995* to pay.
Great for Indian Industry.All de best.
Actually after seeing what the "improvements" are on C* 2008 I would have preferred that they drop it and kick in Toxic, improved with some of the features that c* has right now.
This is somehow halfhearted... having 2 "incomplete" Apps running on Windows. Strategy is not really Autodesks strength :o(
Totally agree, although I think they should rename combustion to toxik, and take the good things out of toxik and put them into combustion as it already has market presence.
It's going to be really hard to get people away from Fusion/Shake/Nuke/AE/Motion/Flame/Smoke/Flint/JahSaka...... and onto a brand new product thats taking years to develop.
autodesk should dump everything execpt inferno and kick out a somewhat software-online-version of it. this no-features releases of combustion, toxik, smoke, maya and max start to make people more and more sick, especially me - that`s why I never bought anything from them.
I see the Combustion update as a confirmation from AME that they are still committed to developing it and that they do not intend to make the same mistakes as with Edit again. From what I read on the internet so far, most of the Combustion developers worked on Toxik, so they had only limited time and resources for this release of Combustion. It probably did not take too much effort to integrate the Color Warper since it is a separate module (meaning they didn't have to re-test the entire application). Plus, it is a great feature that already existed in FFI and therefore did not have to be coded and tested from the ground up. My bet is that the next release will be more advanced with more changes to the actual application and we won't have to wait for it as long as for this one. And $200 is pretty affordable for a feature like the color warper if you ask me.
Since some people have suggested dropping Toxik in favor of Combustion: From a technical perspective, Toxik is vastly superior to Combustion. The entire software architecture is much more modern and flexible than anything else on the market, including FFI. Taking the stuff from Toxik and porting it to the Combustion architecture would be a huge step backwards in my opinion. There is a reason why Toxik took so long to develop. It's just a matter of time until they catch up with the rest of the solutions feature-wise.
And remember, Toxik is by no means just a compositing software, it is a platform. They could easily add a high-end editing module, or even integrate Maya directly into the application with a status equal to the compositing module. That's close to impossible with any other compositing package. If you ask me, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg with Toxik, and I hope that the market will accept it so that AME can take advantage of the great technical potential of the application.
I think that AME deserves praise for the fact that they had the guts to design a new application from the ground up and make it as good as possible, whereas other companies just fix their existing products as long as they can. It's like building a house: You can add stuff to an existing building that has a weak foundation without it breaking down, but at a certain point it is better and more elegant to design a new one with a firm foundation. The earlier you make that decision, the better.
Oh, and I don't think anyone on this planet is using Jahshaka for anything, and suggesting that it is in *any* way close (or even superior) to Toxik is just ridiculous, no offense.
Many thanks one of my favorite places on the web. Fantastic entertaining content.
Hey Peter, My Jahshaka comment was a joke.
And what I'm suggesting is put all the good things in combustion into the toxik, drop toxik as a name, dropping combustion as a product and renaming toxik to combustion as you already have market peno. Then sell an 'Upgrade' to Combustion2008 to the new product as you have a huge user base already.
Toxik is a marketing disaster, I really enjoy using it but I think locking it into a database was a very bad decision even though thats changed now take up is going to be really slow, try getting a few toxik freelancers, it's not as easy as you might think, where as nuke, shake, AE and combustion are alot easier. People don't want to learn 6 peices of software, they want to learn two or three really well.
I think, just by looking at AutoDesks website that there main focus is the 3D world (and rightfully so) and there compositing side is secondary.
[...] LINK: 100th podcast - Tin Man [...]
I have taught with Combustion (University) , but am now purchasing 68 seats of Toxik 2008. I agree with Peter: Toxik does indeed seem vastly superior to Combustion. I applaud Autodesk for its willingness to make Toxic accessable to educational institutions like mine. Hopefully the userbase will expand as students take their Toxik smarts into the workplace. I should also mention that it runs better on even a simple gaming pc than Combustion ever did. Now, if only Autodesk could update their tutorials to 2008, from 2007...
Which University James?
This is what I mean about toxik, no mention:
http://www.fxguide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5852
Just watch you don't end up with 68 people who know a piece of software that hardly any post house uses.
Personally, I was waiting for something more spectacular with this new combustion... I think Discreet is loosing a lot of positions in the low-cost postproduction aplication's race... There were a lot of things on combustion that needed to be revised first... of course it's just my opinion... and I'm just a user.
Sad to say the new version of C* has me more than a bit flustered and puzzeled. After being a long time supporter I have to I am sad to say make the switch back to After Effects as Toxic is fast but frankly incomplete compared to C* and for some strange reason not as friendly with Max as Maya (my studio runs both but I am a Max guy and the main compositor). After Effects has a suiet and frankly the little bit of bang that does add is enough to make me switch. I dunno what they where thinking they may own the 3d side of the industry in a foot hold but with stumbles like the roll out of C* here if anyone builds a even 15% better mousetrap they won't even be a company any more will they? How in the heck did Adobe the slowest company on earth start to get so far ahead? My guess fear of Appelborg assimliation. Who are the barbarians for Aurodesk to fear?
Autodesk should take solace in the statement - I have seen the enemy and it is me.
The deal with Combustion that this is a tool for unfair fight with business competitors not a serious proposition for a market. Most of Combustion's copies come as a addition to others softwares. TO put it simply Autodesk must have a contr-product for AFX or Fusion since from a strategic point of view they can not abandon this segment of the market. Thus you can have Combustion for $300 in addition to Max or Cleaner, you get it and you are with them not Adobe.
The point is that sometimes to have a strategy mean to keep half-dead project like Combustion.
It's really good for them.
I wouldn't agree that Autodesk sucks in strategies. They are actually very good at it!
No one seriously involved in compositing consider C* as a main tool for its facility. One buy flame, or Nuke, or Toxic. I agree that Toxic is a very promising investment for future and I wouldn't be worry about its present on market. The only tool ready to handle incoming realtime compositing (aside with Apple's new child) is Toxic... that's a deal.
cheers,
SYmek.
This is big for the future of gaming, this is all about getting mental ray onto nex- gen consoles. Thats right real time rendering with raytracing, ambient occlusion and final gathering! Its what RealityServer is all about and NVIDIA buying mental images means we are going to see something in the next few years that will blow your mind.
Ok, that is good for the gaming industry, but then the film industry has to blow the viewers mind, with something better. What is that gona be? (I mean here something CGI)
to be honest, I don't care at all what blows the minds of gaming-idiots. when does mental images start to innovate again and get more affordable, that are my biggest concerns.
expensive video cards in every render farm machine in a few years ?
fast previewing of heavy raytracing effects for nvidia equiped workstation ?
this is a good move for nvidia, wonder what the benefits will be for us.
Hello,
this is great. I really enjoyed the episodes. I hope you will continue. But is it possible to get a newsletter if a new tv-episode is "on air"?
Regards,
Optix
Ouch, Laci. Gaming idiots? Harsh words against a sector of the entertainment industry that brings in more money than films:)
they are coming out with another upgrade for combustion. im a student so i got combustion and maya 8 for 300$
Optix: You can use the RSS feed ( http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv.rss ) and either something like Vienna, Google Reader, Lifera, or any other RSS reader to be notified of any new episodes (think of it like an email client for website updates).
Or, you can use the iTunes link, or the above RSS feed to automatically download new episodes. "Juice", iTunes or any other Podcast Catcher can do this.
...or, if you don't want to use an RSS reader, try http://rssfwd.com - enter the above RSS feed link, and then put your email address in - It'll email you when a new episode is ready.
http://commandline.org.uk/more/formats/rss-for-everyone-2007-12-03-02-16.html?showcomments=yes is a good article for the basics of RSS.
I think that Toxik will gain a lot of popularity once the Mac version gets released (a technology demo is planned for Mac World San Francisco some time in January as far as I know).
But if you ask me, they should offer a free downloadable trial version of Toxik like the one they offer for Combustion, or even a Personal Learning Edition (eyeon Fusion has one, too, I believe). Once people can see for themselves how great the thing really is, I think they will be more willing to accept it as an alternative to more established compositing packages. Plus it would allow artists to learn the software at no cost, so it would be easier to find freelancers.
But while we're discussing name changes: If I had the choice, I'd rather have them call themselves Discreet Logic again than rename Toxik to Combustion, but neither of that is going to happen.
Nice Podcast. But did you watch the movie? I did. And since I don't say anything if I can't say something positive about it, I'll refer to this site: http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/avp2/
As mentioned in the podcast I did see the movie at the cast and crew screening and enjoyed it. Sorry if you didn't. Sequels are always easy targets for reviewers. You can find positive reviews as well, like this one from the New York Times: http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/movies/26alie.html
I think this is a good thing for everybody. We're gonna get much shorder mental ray rendering times with some consistant gpu acceleration.
for me.....300
Congratulations to Duncan Brinsmead. well deserved!
Congraturlations Duncan!! for your research and help to the Visual Effects Community.
Hari
I agree to the comments of "7even", this job could have been done by color correction..! itself, and i still dotn understand how they did it by skin grafting, cant get the logic.! anyways good work..!
I Am Legend had fantastic compositing and digital matte work at the start of the movie, but I was a bit put off by their oddly cartoonish "infected people".
Really saw nothing special in Evan Almighty or Golden Compass (yeah, the polar bear was kinda cool but nothing worthy of a win, IMO)... haven't seen Borne Ultimatum yet so can't comment on that!
300, POTC 3 & Transformers were the highlights for me, each earning a nod in different areas. Would be happy to see any of them take the Oscar home!
~Scarlett
Good Podcast, but I have to agree with Marcus; not much of a AVP sequel. While it was entertaining and fun to watch, the plot wasn't very good, and it seemed to drift away from the AVP concept. Many inconstancies in it as well. But excellent VFX! 🙂
Having seen them all, and having been in this industry for longer then I care to remember, hats off to Pirates.
Whatever other shows did, Pirates did better, more complex, at incredible scale... just plain madness. You have to know the entire process of VFX production to be able to appreciate what had to be done to achieve those FX in Pirates. First of all their water is the best so far, period. Then, having digital makeup and face applications is mind boggling. Just try to imagine match-moving and motion matching actors' faces. Or the amount of soft body and rigid body dynamics executed perfectly on those ships. Then the gimbals for ships (largest ever), the amount of data, the amount of R&D, character animation, mocap, digital stunts, explosions, you name it.
And to top it all off, it all looks perfect. John Knoll and John Frazier and their crews outdid themselves.
I am not associated with that production in any way, but I have to say that Pirates 3 deserve an oscar this year, no doubt. One can only hope that members of the academy know what it takes to produce those FX in Pirates.
[...] LINK: Oscar Visual Effects Nominations [...]
[...] llevaría Transformers, aunque poca importancia tiene esta opinión. La ganadora, el 24 de febrero. Via Posts relacionados: Digital DomainThe millOnesizeWeta DigitalAutodesk Combustion 2008 [...]
[...] LINK: 6th Annual VES Award winners Posted under: Awards, Movies, The Blog, The Daily Link, Visual Effects [...]
yep, the next one to go is autodesk viz, its been replaced by the new version of max 2009. no more viz folks, sorry, its been announced - just very quitely in an autodesk back forum somewhere, lol.
Congratulations to the team of artists for "The Golden Compass" Oscar. But it was only me or everybody feels that the winner should have been "Transformers"?
[]'s,
Maurício
Well, I think tranformers should have been the winner too. The golden compass is great talking about VFX, but i think it isn´t nothing we have ever seen before.
Yeh,I also thought Transformers was a clear winner, ah well, perhaps the voters have a Vendetta against Bay (Director)?
tranformers should have been the winner.The golden compass was not the real winner.it was a real deal.
thanks to transformers vfx team for their great job.
come on transformers animating a few cubes big deal polar bears making them look real is much harder!!!!!!! congrats golden compass
Few cubes???? ok rosie, let me know your concept of few cubes please. I invite you to see a scene of the transformation of any robot in this picture frame by frame. Few cubes, i don´t think so.
Nice show 🙂 .. but.. you guys shareholders in Red or something? 😉
No, we are not shareholders in Red... I get that you are kidding and that we have done relentless coverage of this product.
Red has to date shipped over 800 cameras and have orders for more than that number - this means that more and more people who do what we do are going to have to deal with workflow issues from this camera. Our mission here at fxguide and our training site fxphd.com is to learn everything we can about technology that affects visual effects and share that knowledge. We have done several full on courses on Red at fxphd and thought that these special episodes of fxguidetv would help get people up to speed with the concepts and dispel some myths.
We'll get back to regular format in the next shows and do some NAB coverage as well. Of course at NAB Red is introducing Scarlett.... 🙂
Jeff
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the red camera. Nevertheless, I will recommend a short written list of the products, companies and websites(URL links) mentioned in the podcast.
Thank you again for great work,
Diesel
Hi im satheesh from chennai. I'm proud to be one of the member in that team..... we work hard more then one year.. we get nice result!!!!!!!!
Great podcast Mike and Jason, thanks so much for keeping your fingers on the pulse so I dont have to in this area.
Matt
Interesting
[...] 7 April 2008, 1:19 pm by Dan Carew There’s a new podcast by fxguide which rounds up Red camera info by two Australian industry pros, Jason Wingrove and Mike Seymour. [...]
Thats a nice work... but it is ain't new concept there is old advertisement similar kind for a car ad...
the same effect was used last year by The Syndicate in the Nascar campaign: http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/projects/f/tvprogramming/8081.html
hello,
About fantastic sequence HP spot, what is the name's Designer of the pink dress wearing by Petra Nemcova ?
Thank you
Problems sending you an email
redcentre @ fxguide.com
took the space out same thing.
water over white will never looks gray... it's a good idea, but not a good render
Too bad the credits don't include the artists who actually created the effects. With the exception of the flame artists of course
Hey sorry if we did not include your credit - I am fairly sure these are all the credits we got.
I have personally HUGE respect for the 3D team at Animal and you will find no bigger fan of JD (CGI lead) than me!
Anyway email me if you would like to discuss it more
Mike
Nice stuff!
Funny thing is that the default lens flare in Photoshop was also made by John Knoll.
Wish I was there...
thanks guys - there is a second ep coming soon 🙂
Mike
I really enjoyed this podcast. The interview with Graeme is tops.
Where is the link??
Miltos go to the 'Knowledge' tab above for all the podcasts or here: http://www.fxguide.com/redcentre
Aahh! So there they are! Thanks Jason!
WTS 1 slightly used Quantel NEO color correction system. Like brand spanken NEW!
Does not ship with Pablo system and V4 code.
Please only serious bidders.
Must have at least 5 postive feed backs.
Don't look in ebay that is a waste of time.
Search in vfx forums. I bet someone will get caught asking how he should proceed to put that to work with After Effects.
Now seriously this is a bit odd and I wouldn't be surprised if someone who already has a Pablo system and is entitled to upgrades "ordered" one of those free of charge.
Best thing is to start warning customers since they will be the only ones who would have reasons to buy that.
But this is the type of thing that sounds fishy to me since that thing isn't exactly pocket size. Who would have all the effort to break in and get out with something of the size of a refrigerator without knowing exaclty what is? Computers, monitors, printers and even furniture would be a sure shot for any burgler that has no relation with VFX.
It's like stealing a McLaren F1 and then hoping to use it daily to drive to work.
Anyway...good luck I hope that thise thing show up.
Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity. Its like staling the control unit of a spaceship by only owning a bicycle! haha.
It sounds more like a marketing ploy to me. A nice opportunity to get some free press. Does anyone else think it bears a striking resemblance to the Baselight panel?!
Thieves- possibly the lowest form of life.
This reminds me of the time Shoreline video was looted, and had a D2 machine stolen.
Im sure the guy who stole it thought he got screwed because his VHS tape wouldn't play in it.
Autodesk just seem to be yet another Microsoft. Lets hope some good comes out of this acquisition. Perhaps Matchmover could be built in to Maya to replace the age old maya live plugin.
anyhow, time will tell.
[...] redcentre @ fxguide.fxguide already has a list of why it is a daily stop for me and alot of others but now you have another reason to click the link above and check out a new podcast series geared toward all things Red . redcentre is lead by Mike Seymour and Jason Wingrove who explore all options for working with Red cameras and all the people, equipment,accessories and workflows involved while working(playing) with Red . One of the recent episodes #4 is very interesting besides the great talking points between Jason and Mike they had on a good friend and uber tech Graeme Nattress mainly known for his great plug-ins for FCP,Motion and Color @Nattress.com.I have a little write up planned for Graeme’s plug-ins coming but more on that later.Here are the show notes for ep#4 EP 4 Show notes [...]
Soon we will have only 4 companies doing VFX software. Avid, Apple, Autodesk and Adobe, and they all start with an A... which is pretty odd!
Probably we all will be members of the triple AAA by then just for using their software, tech supports and having to deal with what they like to call "development".
Even tho they are a endangered species, thank god small and innovative companies still exist.
Awesome show guys! I am a DP with a Red (and 9 other cameras) I have noticed my Red camera is no where near it's supposed 320ASA. When the camera is set at the standard 320 asa it is sensitive like a 200 asa imager. I have used incident metering, spot metering and comparison to multiple DSLRs (comparing histograms). I have also tested indoor and outdoor shoots. Everything indicates my Red camera is 200asa sensitive at it's 320asa setting. What is up with this? Is anyone else worried about this?
Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Rich
Thanks Rich, I totally agree with you. Anecdotally I'd say yes its a camera better rated at 200, no idea why its rated one way or the other, but hey I know a lot of DP's who rate film stock different to what Kodak or Fuji say so I guess its all a personal preference.
Thanks for the program
Show notes viewfactor home page link I believe is .net not .com
fixed viewfactor link, thanks. Jeff
Where is the quicktime interview? The only quicktime movie is a sample of animations. And also, did they really use Keynote 2, or was it a more recent version?
Actually we have an entire class on rating cameras in fxphd.com - we rate a Sony and the RED and our methodology came out at around 320 ISO. If you allow for the 'hidden' 1/3 - 1/2 stop in the highlights
Mike
Would like a link to see the whole presentation. I see that some of the graphic were from Motion 3. Cool. Can Keynote replace Flash for some content on the web? It does have some interactivity such as links. Plus it will play on iPhone where as Flash does not.
Ed
We cant post the whole presentation as it has not been released and it was 2 hours long.
I dont think keynote can replace flash but it has come a LONG way from powerpoint hell - style graphics
Mike
Hey guys:
To do the opening part of the presentation, we used Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. For the full presentation we used Keynote '08. Motion was not used on this project.
Alex.
This is really insightful for me. I want to be on top of the whole "web 2.0" move thats
happening now, but I wasn't really sure how to even utilize the RSS or Podcast areas
for promoting videographers in Las Vegas. I guess I kind of got a framework here but
content-wise, I'm still trying to land on something that will keep potential customers
'coming back for more'. I'm in the middle of a web re-design, so I better pull this
together quickly. Thanks FXguide for the post, you guys kick ace.
Hamilton International Productions
http://www.hiproductions.com
I must be blind or stupid or both... I'm clicking away on every link I can find on this page, but I cannot seem to find any way to make the audio play... What am I doing wrong?
In keeping with the theme - I think there are one too few double-yoos in the Monster Cine link, too ...
So fixed the monstercine link... thanks
Re podcasts audio... as with ALL fxguide podcasts you can use itunes or go to
http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcast.html
to listen from our site.
🙂 enjoy
Mike
Thanks guys love everything your doing. This is sure to be of interest to the vast majority of FXPHD members and FX Guide readers.
I use keynote on a daily basis and find inserting video elements can cause sputtery playback and even flash frames, how did you get on in regards to inserting the video? any chance you could let us know what codec you used for playback?
Keynote is a great advancement over powerpoint and should be developed further, even a "designer" edition with more complex design/motion features for us that would like to push the bound's....
Nice work. Even though Motion was not used on this project I think it is cool that you can't tell the difference between the two apps. You use to be able to tell the difference, maybe it's just me. Anyway Keynote rocks and I would like to see it expanded also. As far as advance motion graphics for Keynote, there are plugins available. Such as particles and effects.
Ed
We use Keynote and lots of video sequences and have been able to create many memorable presentations that go beyond the normal Powerpoint-type stuff.
The key to playing video that does not stutter (in our experience) is to use a codec that has a constant data rate and you need a computer that can handle it. For example, to play back HD video you would need a heavy duty mac pro and fast disks.
We regularly use it with lighter loads and it runs great on a MacBook Pro.
Another thing is that the presenter's display does add quite a bit of headroom, so don't use it unless you really need it.
Great job mike, As i was saying over on phd, there may not be the most money to be made by putting these on, like tv shows or movie exclusives for the net. That being said there is still some (not enough for every one, but enough for some to do well) for people to work on the content, freelancers and shooters. My good friends wife got a contract today for a large amount of money to shoot something. The cost of production at the moment is about 1/4 of what she was offered. She was given a number w/o asking for budget or anything. Not that I encourage taking advantage of people in any way. But there are people almost literally throwing money around out there to get some of this stuff done.
Ah, that explains it even though it was really confusing to read the article and find no link to the audio on site... I knew I had listened to some before, but couldn't for the life of me find where. Surely I'm not the only one with this confusion or am I wrong?
oh well... since I find no other simple way of remembering where they are I'll just bookmark it. (being an avid resistant against almost anything apple, I won't use iTunes)
Why isn't there a link to the podcasts on these quick-takes? or again. is it me that's blind?
Heres the Link guys. Ian helped me to find the link LOL.
http://www.fxguide.com/redcentre
I concur with this entire article.
We sell Keynote along with Panasonic Pro Plasma as an amazing tool for digital signage. We just had a church get six plasmas--including three 65" displays--and everything runs off a Mac Mini and Keynote.
There is a TON of things that could be done to make Keynote an even more amazing tool. The lack of a timeline is a real challenge in making sophisticated slides.
Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
Outfitter to the World's Foremost Apple Professionals
2600 East Bidwell Street, Suite 280
Folsom, CA 95630
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
[email protected]
http://www.Silverado.cc
Check out the Silverado 4k Market at http://www.silverado.cc
simply fantastic
Great podcast. Just a note, the Open Cut Contest is already closed to new entries due to high demand (according to their site).
Yep looks like it, obviously not what they had planned as it was only a week ago I spoke to them and they we're going to be accepting entries for another few weeks, but register now for the next one! Opencut 2.0! jason
G8!!! news for indian vfx industry....
The links R reversed.
Fixed links, thanks!
Timely post. We're upgrading our old Octane2 shortly so it'll be interesting to compare the difference using your setups 🙂
Cheers for that!
Hah! Love it, all they need was the grape-stomping woman who fell- way to give those internet 1-hits another few minutes of fame!
What about Final Layout Artist?
Great podcast and the pdf was a nice addition! Thank you Thank you Thank You.
The only negative was that it took so long since the last one. Keep 'em coming!
We aim to do them every 2 weeks- I think we are holding to that fairly well ????
🙂
Mike
I was wondering if we can use AJA XENA for Smoke / Flame instead of AJA OEM 2k. Will there be any driver support for linux for XENA?
2 weeks feels loooong! 🙂
Hi, we used Keynote '08 for the presentation with the new Intel Quad-core. we tried running the presentation on a macbook but the videos we had would not play smoothly.
1) Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
2) 4GB (4 x 1GB) RAM
3) 320GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
4) NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB
Christian Fortier
Autodesk Trade Show Department.
I'm definitely missing the "Set Data Wrangler" 🙂
Note the current build of Red Alert has a note that
REDAlert! SUMMARY:
New Features: Build 16 file format support, 4k 16:9 support, REDspace support, QT wrappers now generate audio track, Full (_F) QT wrapper generation
Known Bugs: On Tiger, the colorspace and gammaspace menus aren
A fantastic podcast, thank you. Great to hear Apple based production facilities.
[...] Fxguiide.com >
Thanks Mike ..Great Postcast ..Apple Pipeline..very cool
Thanks guys, another brilliant summary and update. Look forward to #9.
looks like the second half of the show has some problems, might have to fix this guys. unless its just me :S
Hmm thanks john for flagging that, definately something up there!
jason
interested in record lessons course
thanks for the fix 🙂 another great podcast!
Wow - surprised people think the O2 ad is good! Every time I see it, it gives shudders along and plays very poorly on the screen - others with me have noticed it too - not a very smooth motion at all!!
That is an encoding issue, - the master as made, does not shudder. (I know we played it in Vegas)
Mike
I would sign up for a union tomorrow. I think we need it and no better time then the present. All the working tiers are in place, we just need to get a proper union in place to help set up proper working guidelines, wages, maybe even benefits and health care.....its already working fr other areas in film....why not us. Then and only then will this work be taken seriously. Digital Artist Guild (DAG)
wish to know more about the course
in first i thanx god to found you
i hope to learn motion graphics and visual effects
i teach after effects and digital fusion and director
and i hope to learn me the next level
and i thanx u to the end day
Hi,
I know this is a bit late, but I have a question to the Redspace/Redflex output LUT/Gamma.
Should I use Redflex/Redspace when I know I do just a Tv out? I use FCP for editing and Apple Color for grading... When I grade it in Color do I need a LUT?
I love your show and wanted to thank you!!!
best regards
lee
good graphics
I love your format. I would love to see you go more geeky on the process that can only be shown visually especially the visual problem solving that the software/hardware you discuss.
When you talk about flaring, details in compositing, multi pass verses in the render approaches.
When you talk about something visual show it more if possible.
To lighten your production load could you set up a network of contributors, that match your quality, that can give you things that you can use through out the year?
thanks for the post. I think we should move fxguidetv even more professional myself -we are discussing this at the moment.
Of course we get very 'geeky' and technical inside fxphd.com our training site.
As for other contributors we are always looking for people to help and we'd welcome talking to anyone who'd like to submit tips etc...
thanks
Good, it's finally back! I needed my fxguidetv fix badly. At least regular fxguide held me over... and redcentre. Can't ever get enough news about Red.
Speaking of good podcasts: The VFX Show that Mike has been regularly hosting (since Alex Lindsay has pretty much abandoned it) needs to review The Dark Knight, I'm sure that one is coming soon, right guys?
Thanks we have actually already done a dark knight , out soon
Not much to say other than welcome back!
fxguidetv is by far the best resource for industry news, featured spots and workflow tips.
I agree with David Miller's comment about the geek factor possibly being ramped up a notch as your podcasts do such a nice job of "telling" us, fxguidetv has the strength to really "show" us.
You guys rock, especially Angie.
We all (Jeff, Mike, and I) agree about keeping it high end. I actually wouldn't really be interested in the show if we targeted the broader audience, so I'm glad I can keep working on it. 🙂
Hey thanks ...for the new release ...I was wondering if you guys want to do it all the months or more regularly...
I would more stuff about .. workflow in big houses or companies ..discussions about the tools the aproches, the pipeline...why and why not use different workflows
Like the postcast about Motion Theory and Luma Pictures
Thanks for episode 011 Mike, but there seems to be some audio dropout from just after half way through and towards the end of the cast.
It is playing fine here - can you be more specific please?
thanks
mike
How could I miss this fantastic offset timecode feature? Maybe I should start reading release notes 😉 I'll send an email to autodesk immediately, luckily 2009 isn't worth switching over to it yet and they should be able to put it back in during on of the many SP releases to come.
Maybe we can get them to re-introduce the old timeline, slipping a clip has become really annoying.
Thanks for the tipps John, I really hope Autodesk will put up all 2008 Master Classes on their website soon.
Sure thing Andreas -- it's definitely a cool feature. Thanks for watching fxguidetv. We'll definitely be more regular....hopefully back to our every two week release shortly.
Andreas if you mean the 2008 Master Classes from NAB, they were not videotaped. I understand there were both cost and clearance issues.
Jeff
Sorry Mike,
Scratch my earlier comment...all plays fine now, probably my gremlin needs feeding.
Great podcast, really enjoyed hearing about Jason's baby TVC spot...boy that is one heck of a shooting ratio!!
That's what I meant Jeff. Sad to hear, I enjoyed watching the 2007 ones.
Thanks for your good work.
Andreas
To help with the language confusion, what the Austrian guy meant with 'Bildstand' around 68' is image steadiness in english. Had to look it up myself 😉
How that is a problem with 35mm and green screen escapes me though
great podcast, with the legend himself, pls can we have more fxguidetv's like this
thanks for the great work!
Very Nice podcast...really love tech stuff in fxguide tv
yeah, tech stuff rocks!!
great work!
Glad you like it guys, thanks for posting - we have more coming all next week.
Some stuff is just amazing - we cant wait to show you - it is truly exceptional
mike
"and is available for a single license fee on Linux, Windows x64, Windows 32bit desktop PCs, and Intel-based Macs."
When they say "Intel-based Macs" does that mean OS X or boot camp? If its OS X this is a great day!
wow, seems a 3d program instead a compo app
Oh my god! I hope they will release this during 2008.
Massive 3.5 anunciado en siggraph 2008...
Massive, el famoso software de multitudes, anuncia una nueva versi
Can someone explain why Autodesk do not come out with Maya 2009 64-bit for Mac OS X?
Let me start by saying I'm a huge mac fan boy, that said:
Mac when they were coming out with leopard said that they would be porting 1 version of their code to 64 bits...then about 3 maybe 4 months before the release of leopard...they changed their mind to a different version of code that is a huge PITA. Most devolopers don't know it well, or don't want to be bothered with coding in it. Snow leopard is bringing back what they had originally said and more devs will beable to to code 64bit mac programs.
So while leopard is a "64 bit os" no one wants to go 64 with their code.
"So while leopard is a
This is an amazing spot! There is so much detail that this small video is hard to take. I did find a higher resolution version that you can step through and see what Shy the Sun really did!
http://motionographer.com/media/bdm/united_seaOrchestra.mov
Thanks!
jdn
Very Very nice podcast again..Love the tech detail conversation Mike
Thanks
The clip from image metrics was too short. Is there a longer clip that shows more of what they did? The camera didn't move at all in the clip shown.
I was expecting to be blown away, but ... the clip was just too short to really see what they had done.
On the booth they showed about 90 seconds of animation in an interview style Q&A with Emily. The entire video I am sure can be gotten from Image Metrics, I am surprised to not see it on their website but I'm sure they are still in Siggraph wrap up mode.
Download it from: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/597062893/ff259d714d1f7ea391d5d53818760382
Thanks for the podcast ..really interesting story
Thank you..really good, great detail and good detail information.
so glad you guess liked it - and we love it when you guys post comments here !
Mike
nice
So, just to be clear, the only CG part is the face. The hair, clothing, arms, environment, etc were taken from the original video and the CG face was composited over the original face, right?
Sorry to be dense, just making sure I understand what was done here.
Hey thanks for the podcast ...Really cool see the logo in the beer
Hey thanks ...fxguide is great resource
According to my readings it was actually Apple who changed from allowing two different code bases (carbon, cocoa) to only using cocoa at the last minute. They had been working on carbon64 which WAS supported by the likes of Adobe and probably others and then at the last minute Apple decided to only support cocoa, leaving the companies to change much of the code in their apps. So while you may love your beloved Apple, as I do as well, this was squarely on Apple's shoulders not the Adobe, Autodesk manufacturers. It's not an issue of laziness. And while I would like 64 bit apps I'd rather them take the time they need to do it right.
[...] The discussions were lively and insightful. About halfway through, they started recording on a podcast and I was the first ‘volunteer’ to talk about the conference. Several folks took [...]
That was a nice episode but what was realy missing was some footage (or even screenshots) of Fusion 6. That was a little dissapoinitng there...
yousendit link is broken - download limit exceeded
please reupload video to megaupload for example
facinating stuff guys!
Thanks FxguideTv rocks!!
Thanks guys! We appreciate hearing from you.
Great to see a Houdini article here. I would like to see more as Houdini
is so widely used for film effects work.
Hi Fxguide crew ..Please keep it .. the episodes like now are amazing ..Really like the tech combination
Great job !
Lyn is right: Houdini is a great piece of software and it is present in (almost) every production and its community is growing ! There's need of more space for it.
You asked and we shall endeavor to listen - watch for more Houdini coverage in coming weeks.
We agree it deserves more attention - as does ICE and XSI
Mike
Yes! Yes! ICE would be a great thing as well
I have been on the beta for this and it is
certain to be a game changer. With the advent
of "ICE" and a more procedural approach to the
craft as a whole we may in fact see a lot of
other apps heading in this direction.
I hate to be "that guy," but isn't the point of OFX that you write plugins once and then they run on any compatible host? I mean...I guess if you can afford a Baselight you can afford $4K for some plugins, but is there a legitimate reason that the prices are different on each platform? Vendor differences in how the OFX standard is implemented from app to app? Or does OFX not work that way?
Wow...great episode guys.
Glad to see the spot with New Deal, they are by far the best guys for miniatures.
I would love to see more of what digital work they do.
Thanks !! Batman is great movie ..Really ..And it is wonderful see the miniature work by New Deal Studios ..
Pftrack 5.0 woow a lot changes in the industry with stereoscopic work, Keep going with the great podcast .
thanks
Great to get your feedback
Mike
Informative episode but the most exciting thing about it was the mention that Fusion 6 will be shown in the next one.
Can't wait for fxguidetv #37 !!!
I really appriciate all the effort that goes into the making of these fxguidetv episodes..it is so good to see in-depth detail and breaking inovations from the world of production and post.
Keep on truckin guys!
So, does any idea what happens to the GV side of the biz? Moving to Germany? Hmmm
So I'm guessing a new redcentre podcast coming out soon? With two big RED stories like this plus all the buzz created by Jim on reduser.com about the DSMC I can't wait to hear you guys talking about all this on redcentre!
Woop!!! I can't begin to say how much this will make data collection
for a VFX Super sooo much easier!
You wrongly imply that the whole Grass Valley equipment business is being sold. If fact, it is only the Spirit telecine and related film transfer part. See http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/news/press/
for the correct version. Mistrust posts made between midnight and 5AM!
Wow, i am really excited to see this. I think Red is taking over
Hello!! John and Jeff ..Great Job in IBC...
Eyeon Fusion looks really cool ..I am Nuke user ., But i am admit that Fusion have a lot a great features..
Thanks a lot guys!!
Awesome job
Great episode! Fusion looks jaw dropping and we didn't see even 25% of what Eyeon announced it will include. Thanks for Isaac's interview guys!
Fusion looks very inresting...
Im also a Nuke user, but with the new version i think Fusion sounds very tempting..
Unless you gents have privileged information on the new Scarlet design, shouldn't that first sentence read 'the Scarlet $3,000 3K camera'?
typo, thanks... updated
Thought it must be - sorry to be such a nerd ...
I really hope they keep the 3k for 3k motto for us prosumers.. and realize that they have the Red One and Epic for the higher end. I just hope they dont try and bring it into a price range that I can no longer afford 🙁
But, better IS better. So lets see what they have to say.
[...] been coverage all over the web today about the announcement from RED guru Jim Jannard that RED has scrapped the [...]
[...] Link [...]
Jim says "Forget the old design, and forget the old price". hopefully both those changes are for the better Brandon?
jason
This is a great move for both parties. I've been hoping for this since seeing the first .r3d footage. The future is RED.
Not a reaction to Canon's 5D MKII launch?
Come on! Who he is trying to fool?
I really doubt that, specially since he took those images off the Red site just after he probably saw Vincent Laforet short done with a MKII. Not to mention that he seemed pretty sure that Canon with all their knowhow wouldn't be able to pull something like that out. He must have forgotten that Canon does video for a pretty good time now while Nikon hasn't.
For those whoe haven't seen it yet here is the link:
http://www.vincentlaforet.com/
I wouldn't be a single bit surprised if he came with the same Scarlet 3K re-engineered to fit Canon's 5D price range with added features like EF or PL mount lenses just to mess with Canon... if that's the case, lucky us! 😉
The Vincent Laforet video had some beautiful shots but also some videoish ones. I don't know if it's the 30fps or something else but i am sure RED doesn't consider the 5D to be serious competition.
The Nikon D90 has a better video feature than the MKII. The MKIIs downfall is the 30fps, it really shows in that La Foret piece. Canon are trying to protect their high-end video stuff, whereas Nikon have nothing to protect. I expect Nikon to be the groundbreaker in this medium and expect them to develop it further as they seek to increase their market share with better video functions.
[...] Read the FXGuide story about the show [...]
Cool podcast ...Really only waiting for "Series of Masters"
Thanks will be great!!
the short shot with the 5d looks great until you look at the gradients in the darks. the footage comes out of the 5dmkii as h264 and you can really see the compression!
[...] Read the FXGuide story about the show [...]
[...] Read the FXGuide wrap-up on the show! [...]
I couldn't be there but have looked at all the photos and wish wish wish I could have. What is remarkable about artists is that they 'must' create and when not doing so in one arena, they will usually fill that void with another type of create. I know that one feeds the other. Well done to Patrick and to Evan for putting this together!
For those of you that missed the show, you're invited to check out the show pictures on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/visualamalgam/pool/
GO AUTODESK !
Doesn't Autodesk have anything better to do that sue Assimilate for an OK/ESC button? Or is it that Lustre isn't selling as well as Scratch? Well, if you can't win the software battle you can always try the courts i guess.
RED Cine uses the same 'Ok or Cancel' functionality for some options, I wonder if they will get dragged into this one too.
Avid|DS and Quantel both use the 'invisible dial' idea. Have done for years. I'd be surprised if that came from 5D.
Sue them !!!
The complaint is a very interesting read. Have always thought Scratch looked a lot like Cyborg and the way Assimilate keeps changing it's tune, It sure looks like they are hiding something.
Although i don't really care about Scratch, my RED workflow is going to be hit hard if there will be an issue with Redcine too.
Wow, is Lustre really doing that bad, that they're suing a much smaller company?
No they dont have anything better to do - Autodesk is trying to protect their massive price premium by stomping on a smaller competitor with a product that is more affordable and in many ways better than their own.
well, maybe the reason scratch is so affordable is because they didnt write the code themselves in the first place.
In the worst case, I would guess that the assimilate developers just re-implemented the UI elements from Cyborg. I doubt they actually copied code. This means they "did not use any of their intellectual property from Cyborg in their development of Scratch," they just remembered how they did it and did it again. If the lightning bolt cursors are pixel-for-pixel the same, then maybe there'd be a case for cut-and-pasting.
But let's assume that Assimilate stole these ideas and perhaps even copied code. So what? Does Autodesk really think that their products are superior because of their ok/cancel UI concept? It'd be one thing if Assimilate stole a tracker or keyer, but small UI touches? That's super lame.
We can argue all day long about the specifics but you must admit Scratch and RedCine are strikingly similar to the Autodesk Systems UI
Well...how long do you want to go back in time ?
The whole Cyborg UI was based on the old Quantel Henry a lot more than on a Flame or Smoke.
Autodesk was scared to death when the "Flame-killer" was hot shit and they bought it to do away with it and protect their business.
Seems Lustre is really doing bad or they wouldn't care.
Red Cine is Scratch ultra lite...thats why its so simliar.
And yes...I am happy Scratch looks and feels a lot like an Editbox and not like Speedgrade or something.
Autodesk "scared" of Cyborg? Cyborg made very little inroads before 5D went bust, marketed very poorly, it was a niche product from a small company.
Autodesk bought it after 5D went bust, it is standard pratice for a company to fire sale its assest after liquidation. Autodesk didn't buy it because they wanted to "protect" their business but because they put in the highest bid! It could have easily been Quantel, Apple or Adobe, but we don't know who also bid on the Cyborg assests.
Would people's opinions of the situation be different if it were a different company? Probably.
RedCine isso similar because it's same code. It was part of assimilate / red deal. red will give them codec (or exclusive right to use it) assimilate gave red ui for redcine.
And, IMHO, scratch is a toy, maybe even worse than color, while lustre is real app.
Is it worth it's price that's different question, but to compare those two is like comparing combustion and smoke. Yes both will do the job, result might even look same, but amount of effort put into work is wastly different.
Hi Tom... we have several customers who have chosen SCRATCH over Lustre after thorough evaluation of both products. If you'd like to talk about how much of a "toy" it is with any of these facilities, please feel free to contact me and I'll connect you. : )
Lustre has also won out several times! It's a competitive marketplace...
Regarding Comment 14.
Excuse me, but I don't think it's that simple. The Cyborg was definetily not as established as flame or henry at that time, but it was evolvingand gaining a loyal userbase. How else can one explain that there are still cyborgs in good use around the planet.
Also there are very different stories told about how Autodesk actually got that extremely low (IMHO) bid on the cyborg. According to the lawsuit they just paid something like 310.000 Pounds for the assets.
"well, maybe the reason scratch is so affordable is because they didnt write the code themselves in the first place."
Hum?
No my dear friend they not only wrote Scratch, they wrote Scratch, Cyborg, and a good part of Lustre and Toxik (indirectly) by themselves. Autodesk is the one using their code.
Besides Autodesk bought Cyborg assets not it's developers, so they should just shut up, scratch their asses to escape from wonderland to come up with better prodcuts with prices based in the reality that make sense and actually worth the prodcut it self.
My two cents,
cheers.
"We can argue all day long about the specifics but you must admit Scratch and RedCine are strikingly similar to the Autodesk Systems UI"
That's because the GUI designer contracted by both companies is the same (and that since Cyborg times). This sort of law suites are a huge stupidity. Is just like when Adobe went all over Macromedia for using Tabs in their products, how plain stupid that was?
In the end Macromedia managed to come up with a even better concept that is now seen in the CS line of products.
In Autodesk versus Assimilate is even worse since Autodesk is going all over Assimilate for using something that wasn't Autodesk's creation in the first place.
"Autodesk
Hi Lucas,
Please note 'IMHO' in my comment. I've been on several demos of Scratch, some public, some private, and I must say that I simply don't like it.
For example: why, in the name of God, You had to change names for all usual stuff???? Why layer is called 'scaffold', why instead of delete (or del) You have Bin, when bin have completely different meaning in post production world.
I'm used to work with curves a lot and there is just 'RGB curves', no hue curves, no sat curves, no suppresion curves ...
And I, also, dont like workflow in general.
Maybe I'm too used to Discreet tools and workflow, but that's why i put 'IMHO' on posts like this.
And, as I said before, both tools will have job done, but I would prefer to do it on Lustre than on Scratch.
As for market volume, Lustre IS a bit too expensive. That is where I agree with You. Maybe that is why it's market share isn't bigger.
"And, IMHO, scratch is a toy, maybe even worse than color, while lustre is real app."
What a toy by way!
I much rather be a kid that lives in a world where you can work in full res in real time all the time then live in Autodesk fantasy realm where every pseudo real time feature comes bundled with a process or proxy button.
And don't forget that 5D has a pretty good share of it's work in Lustre, so your argument is pretty much empty.
MORE link?? Where?
On the front page of fxguide.com there is a READ MORE button.
You will then see about 16 images.
Mike
Hey Tom... let's take this offlist. I do like spirited discussion. : )
lucas (at) assimilateinc (dot) com.
Yeah you are right. It's just that i was already reading the article when i read about the MORE link... 🙂 I thought there was more content hidden somewhere... 🙂
Did you guys even read the complaint? It really does not matter how much they paid for the code the fact is they own it and the IP. The owners are obviously hiding something and if it looks similar on the outside you gotta believe it similar on the inside.
What do you think will be the ramifications of Autodesk wining the case? There has to be an important reason (other than the UI copyrights) for them to do such a move so maybe interesting things will happen even if they loose. Either outcome will leave a mark i think...
Your "Masters of the Craft" segment is a great idea, very interesting stuff. Looking forward to seeing more!
thanks John. We have some more great interviews to bring you
Mike
John Knoll is a personal hero of mine. My interest in filmmaking really started as an 11/12-year-old because of the Special Edition of Star Wars. Photoshop was an amazing tool I started using around that time as well.
The first time I really knew about John Knoll was watching the features on the Star Wars prequel DVDs. I guess what separates me from other Star Wars nerd fans is that I have always been more interested in how the movies were made more than anything else, vfx being the biggest component of those movies. John Knoll has always done a fantastic job on all the projects he's been involved with!
I was really glad to hear what he had to say about Mission to Mars, I remember watching that movie as a 15-year-old and being let down because of the fantasy direction they took.
These "Masters of the Craft" segments make fantastic series on fxguidetv, great idea and I look forward to more!
Hi, Am into visual effects for past 10 yrs & had worked in more than 150 Indian movies including Sivaji & Dasavataram (12th Century seq & Mukunda song). Right now am working for the hollywood VFX gaint ILM. I would like to throw some light on this crappy article, which's misleading not only the public but also some of the visual effects pro's.
I bet, this indeed was done by roto & color correction. Noway anybody can do the way they say they did it. The girl & rajni are are matching even in a single frame (expession-wise, movement-wise, proportion-wise..). Leave off his face... They never showed how they matched the hands & palms when both of them are acting in two extremely different ways.
The making video & the explanations are just hoax to gain cheap popularity. The making video is done with just a single frame of the white girl & a single frame of rajni... just a warp of the girl to match the shape of rajni's face & then a dissolve to color corrected rajni... so cheap & so obvious. Even a multimedia student can do sucha making video. If this is done by the so called "skin grafting" (sounds more like a medical term) bull-shit, they should've shown a more elaborate making.
If u happen to watch the song on TV, watch out carefully to see amount of light-bouncing sources used to lit up rajni in the reflections of his coolers. More-over, if u look at the jpeg images, they've color corrected rajni to look darker so as to exaggerate their actual work. Rajni never looks so dark in any of the scenes in the whole movie (any movie for that matter).
This video & the images are nothing more than a hoax. People who knows abt visual effects could easily make it out...
However I really appreciate the amount of roto work involved in the color correction process. Very tiring process indeed. Hats off guys!!
Thank you mo___,
I didnt noticed that they darkened rajinis face. It was cool anyway.
I am also intrested in CGI. alright are you sure that there is no easy way like a modded object tracking or something ?.
I cant believe they ,,, you all rotoscoped for about 5 min video on 24 fps
7200 frames individually liquified..........in 4K ?
Its beyond something.
slightly off topic, but has the makes a circular motion for playback feature been integrated into any of Autodesks other systems -IE Smoke/Flame...?
Awesome...Dykstra is somewhat of a hero of mine, great interview guys!
[...] public links >> customization Massive 3.5 Released at SIGGRAPH Saved by harrycrazy on Tue 21-10-2008 Customize your iPhone with DecalGirl Saved by sufang2544 on [...]
Thanks so much for this interview. John's insights regarding his side projects like Photoshop can't be found anywhere else.
[...] we first learned of Autodesk filing a lawsuit against Assimilate in early October, we asked both companies to comment on the litigation. ASSIMILATE CEO Jeff Edson [...]
Thanks for your timely response guys. Now I better get back to my color grading in Scratch 🙂
Yohance Brown
Scratch Colorist
NYC
Hey Yohance you better work, Emery's coming up behind you!
Now you guys only need to come up with a OpenGL accelerated multi-channel node based compositor to kick Autodesk in the balls 😉
And let crystal clear to them that innovation is not something you buy, it's something you create.
They say it's not a node-based compositor, in their defense that it's not a copy. But I sure hope they'll make it into a node based compositor as I think has been the plan for some time now.
Quote:go go go Assimilate!
" Now you guys only need to come up with a OpenGL accelerated multi-channel node based compositor to kick Autodesk in the balls 😉
And let crystal clear to them that innovation is not something you buy, it
As you may have read, the bully just got bigger too!
http://www.cgenie.net/cgenie-content/articles/autodesk-friend-or-foe.html
Seems like Autodesk are determined to become the most hated company in the history of creative software. When they can't buy out the competition, they try to do the next best thing and sue it.
Re: #13
You could go even furthur back than that. I'm pretty sure I remember Discreet getting sued by Quantel (circa 1990 or so) because Flame looked so much like a Henry and believe it or not was much less expensive!
As far as calling Scratch a "toy"? I'd take that to mean like some people might call a Ferrari a toy, or a 4WD off-roader a toy. Scratch can haul a lot of freight mighty fast. I guess it depends on who's doing the drivin'...
Assimilate imo is a company that spends far too much time dissing competitors products and grossly overpriced for what they offer. It would not surprise me in the least if any or all of the allegations are proven true. It bothers me greatly when they continuously make the patently false statement that they have privileged access to redcode. At ibc they pushed a whole bunch of hogwash about being the "only" company to have a "special" relationship with red. Perhaps till now it has been the case but the sdk renders that not true anymore. Lustre is a very very fine program and will open r3d files natively in the near future. As far as redcine goes it is horrendously crippled by assimilate and only a stop-gap solution till other solutions catch up to the always envelope-pushing guys at red.
What's funny is that 4 years ago nobody believed in the RED revolution...but Assimilate did. And this creates a nice relationship beetween 2 small companies.
Now that the RED is up and running, everybody wants to be part of it without having taken any risk and believe that buying a SDK is enough 😉
So let's talk about today and stop bitching Assimilate. These guys are a f...g small company and did an amazing job. Scratch is not perfect but has been improving quiet fast and actually plays r3d files directly, which is not the case with the SDK. Ask Quantel or Autodesk or Digital Vision to show you the native raw image (I did): They can't.
There was a comment posted here today that was a personal attack, these will not be tolerated and has been deleted.
Jeff
The digital revolution will quietly go the way of the 16mm revolution that happened after WW2. Too many players growing too fast in a market that really hasn't grown in over 50 years. It's a horrible thing to say but in 10 years time only the big camera manufacturers will be left in the market.
I certainly feel the technology interesting from a geek and professional perspective. If I saw this at SIGGRAPH as a tech demo -- yeah that would be totally cool. Heck...I twittered quite a bit about it. But my respect about the use of it ends there, so I'll be the "some may argue" viewpoint.
This adds absolutely nothing to news coverage from a substantive standpoint. I'd much rather the networks spend their time and money on doing real reporting as opposed to pandering to gimmicks. It is effects for the sake of effects -- the worst kind of visual effects.
What do you gain from this early implementation? A jerky person moving at half frame rate with a blue edge around them? Yeah..that is waaay better than a split screen. In the end, the actual information gets lost and instead we concentrate on the effect and become distracted by it. This is most definitely not significantly more informative than a split screen -- it is quite the opposite.
C'mon -- let's create real time tech that is really useful...like the first down marker in American Football. Now that technology *is* something that does add value to a broadcast. 🙂
I thought it was pretty cool - It didn't help that the news correspondent in the CNN studios kept bringing up the fact that it was fake. All it would take is a little text above the virtual woman to say where she was being beamed from. I really REALLY hope that the blue outline and tracking lines on her body will go away with a little tweaking of the code. I hope those weren't an effect.
I agree with John, is really distracting that the person that is giving the news moves in a low frame rate and shows a blue outline. People concentrate more on the weird effect and don't put attention on the important thing, the news. I don't think this important day were a good choice to try this new technology in this early stage.
I have always encouraged new technology in broadcast when is well implemented, not like this.
BTW anyone knows how exactly the chromakey is done with this technology?
Oh, stop being such wet blankets. It's only distracting because it's new. Please keep in mind that EVERY new invention and technique on earth started out as a gimmick. There are practical uses for this technology and more uses are sure to be found as time passes. At the birth of every technology, from the automobile to the personal computer, there have been annoying detractors crying "It's a gimmick, and it's unpractical. I hope they keep things the way they were, because I'm a luddite and afraid of change!"
While really cool for what it is, the actual image quality in the end result is absolutely horrible. Did anyone else notice the jerky, web-cam like quality to it?
If they're going to spend thousands on this tech, they should at least buy the ultra high speed Internet connection to support transferring a better quality picture derived from the 35 HD cameras.
It really looked like it was being transferred over the Internet. Come to think of it, why the hell can't they just send all that from the computer that compiles it over standard methods of transferring correspondent video?
Also, it would have been much cooler if they'd demonstrated the 3 dimensions of it!
Other than the image quality/minor jerkiness, I really like it. Imagine if this were in our houses! Conversations with people would be like they are right in the room with you in ways that a vid phone could NEVER accomplish!
Not to mention the possibilities for X-rated material.... such as custom filmed videos with women standing an inch away from you. Porn doesn't excite me much, but this idea is rather interesting.
[...] a link with more info, and Gizmodo has basically hte same info [...]
If they couldn't actually see the "hologram" in the studio, it wasn't a hologram and I'm not impressed. Glorified green screen. Big deal.
I was a beta tester for Commotion (1.5 and forward) and I loved the app. It was clean, fast and fast. Tracking was great, splines even better and it's these tools that I still miss today. Though I have to use 4.1 when I use it nowdays - I actually still use it from time to time. I would prefer to ditch the compositing aspect of it and keep it clean, fast and fast.
Greater color depth would be awesome but just to load a bunch of frames into RAM to play and paint on is just what you need sometimes. Oh - especially the AWESOME USEFUL tool of loading a cropped area to work on!
Since Avid is ditching alot of stuff now, would they sell Commotion back to Scott as well?
Thanks for a great show.
Tobias Lind
Sweden
Seems to me that CNN could have done this better, but chose not to so it could make a big deal out of the technology.
The CNN presenter announced the technology before it was showcased, saying something to the effect of "this new technology will blow your mind".
I have a feeling they deliberately sent low frame rate, low bitrate, low resolution video from the second studio, then did the chroma keying at the main studio.
Something tells me that CNN could have gotten better video quality by chroma keying the presenter in the second studio and then sending that image along with an alpha channel in a higher bitrate, resolution and frame rate to its main studio before compositing. CNN just chose not to so they made sure we'd be talking about it.
Next time it uses the technology CNN will be remembered as pioneers of the technique, and they will be able to talk about they have refined the process.
-DAVE.
I don't get what all the fuss was about, surely this is just motion tracking (of the camera) really? Could have had exactly the same effect with one camera tracking in a fancy 360 rig instead of 35? Has nothing to do with holography as defined by wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography)
It also looked awful and they kep on panning all over the place to try to make it look more '3d'.
Obviously worked though, Digg is full of commentors that seem to believe it was a real hologram, starwars style.
I agree with Dave. It seems to me that CNN deliberatly used a low bit-rate and frame rate as well as a bad key. I think this had more to do with the fact that CNN wanted to make absolutely sure that the audience understood what was going on. Being a news company they want to be extra careful about presenting something as real when it is actually a fake computer effect.
I think they actually might have gone out of their way to add a slight flicker effect ala star wars to envoke a hologram. Did anyone else notice this?
You're right Will, they did appear to have some fun with it....even the "beaming in" Star Trek start effect at the start. I certainly found it interesting from a technology standpoint and it was even humorous. But to say this was a more effective or useful way to informing people than a split screen? I don't know how you could begin to argue that. Sorry, that's not being a wet blanket as one poster said --that's just fact.
It had to be expensive too, compared to a split screen so I doubt we'll see it on a regular basis anytime soon. Perhaps we will see it used in an application where two hosts are in different locations. Bottom line is it was a gimmick that has spawned a lot of talk, so it worked for what they probably wanted it to do.
By the way if anyone has not seen it there is a story on Engadget with some stills and a clip:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/cnns-holographic-freakout-begins-seems-totally-bizarre-and-unn/
This effect is actually an interesting solution to a problem, these presenters were placed in a blue tent away from a crowd which would make it impossible to hear the presenter when they are talking.
However, "beaming" them into the CNN Studio is a roundabout way of presenting that information. Although the effect wasn't quite adequate, it certainly would have looked better than a presenter standing behind a blue background in a tent.
Personally, the last place I'd like to be beamed is up Scotty.
Well this wasn't a real hologram they couldn
In an article in a norwegian newspaper, a spokesperson from Vizrt said that the "bad composite" blue fringe was added on request from CNN since they didn't want it to look too real.... They didn't want to "fool" anyone...
[...] after computers merge the video feeds together do you get a coherent hologram + person scenario Here's another page talking about the technology: [...]
Sorry to be blunt but... the "solution" to the problem about the crowds drowning out the reporter is not valid... They might have tried to pull that on people that don't know any better but we've had that solution forever. Toss someone in a closet with a green screen, a few kinos, and grab some video from the event and you get the same effect except it's not "3D" or "Holographic" or whatever... It added no perceivable quality to their coverage and honestly, what's the point in having someone "on the scene" if you're putting them in a studio surrounded by cameras just to make them look like they're in the main broadcast studio?
I am however very excited about what this means for VFX, can you imagine a difference matte working off 35 HD cameras in realtime while you're on set? Or the fact that you'd be able to orient your subjects however you want based off those cameras in post? That's pretty awesome.
So basically, Engineers - Kudos
Media - Don't substitute quality for flashy visuals. Take it from people who make careers from creating those flashy visuals.
Now that that rant's out of the way...
FXGuide and PHD - Thank you for focusing on VFX and not politics at all even in the last few months! You all do an amazing job, and never stop amazing me!
My only problem with this hologram is that is wasn't transparent.
How can you create a hologram which isn't transparent, it freaks me out!!
Can anyone tell me how they did it? You must be able to see trough...
THIS IS NOT A HOLOGRAM! CNN basically just composited a second video of Jessica on the main feed of Wolf's broadcast. Jessica's video feed was dynamic based on the angle of Wolf's camera perspective, and is essentially just a fancy new way of overlaying 2 video feeds much like how weather reports are done... In the weather reports, the reporter just stands in front of a blue screen, and interacts with a video monitor on what is being projected on the screen as if he is physically in the weather map. In this case, instead of a weather map, Wolf Blitzer and his newsroom is the first video, and Jessica (with her fancy 3d camera setup) is on the second video. Overlay these two videos and you have a fancy interactive shot... which I wouldn't even categorize as Holography!
Actually, you can buy the right cameras for doing this kind of tricks at ptgrey.com
I work there. I think Anderson Cooper showed one of ptgrey's cameras during the show. It is called chameleon.
The Daily show had a bit of fun talking about all the "new toys" on election night:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=209405&title=decision-2008-obama-victory
And even experts weigh in...
"This is not a hologram," said Tung Jeong, a 76-year-old retired Lake Forest College physics instructor who now devotes his time to teaching holography. "Most of what media call a hologram usually is not. Something they don't understand, they call it a hologram. It's frustrating."
from this article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-election-question-holograms-nov06,0,5253659.column
CNN has to be happy because people are talking about it.
[...] geht langsam los : Die ersten holografischen Projektionen von Korrespondenten tauchen in CCN Nachrichten-Sendungen auf. Dabei wird die jeweilige Person in [...]
[...] can grab the podcast off their website or subscribe via [...]
Let's just say I continue to talk to Avid. You never know.
in 2009, can't we do a better key ? if not, forget that thing
Dalsa completely dropped the ball with digital Cine.
To much time was wasted and and thier thinking is long passed
Dalsa looks built on Nasa and US Gov Money, and they are history soon
just like many others.
Machine Vision is a dime a dozen now,kids have the same software interface at home with a web cam.
The nasty beast that crawled up the leg of the music and audio recording industry
is now crawling up the leg of the film and vision industy, its called Disposibility,
Its now a free for all and nothing matters any more, its all, lies, lies, lies.
I think that the gimmick was so boring that they HAD to explain some techno-details to make some sense out of it.
Beautiful depiction of 2 famous ideas from Marshall Mcluhan...
The global village is commenting on something that tells me that the medium IS the message.
New systems look amazing, I think scarlet is going to cost a bit more to get a working camera than originally thought. (and the bad exchange rate to AUD doesn't help...). Epic looks just that EPIC! cinemas and displays are going to need to catch up! Can't wait to read/hear the interview/podcast you guys have organised, thanks for that!
How do you edit 28K footage ?!?
Looks like some sort of giant spaceship. cool
[...] und die Lobhudellei auf www.reduser.com habe ich grad keine Lust, deshalb warte ich erst mal ab was www.fxguide.com dazu [...]
Just because you CAN create a 28k camera doesn't mean you SHOULD create a 28k camera. This is getting ridiculous much like the DSLR manufacturers boasting about megapixels.
So at least something for those tech-geek-maniacs out there who WILL find a reason to shoot on 28k ... "because, ya' know: the better the source..."
The rest of us can go on living our lifes and enjoy the glory of maybe a Super35 sized chip and a resolution between 3-6k for extensive post-production or maybe a remake of The Dark Knight.
28K?!? Am I reading this correctly? As in, the Red One can shoot up to 4K and the 617 will shoot 28K? That does seem a bit much. Geez, I'm happy just moving up to 720P.
D
Alright, I just went to red.com and I must I am impressed and excited. This looks awesome. I just hope they can deliver what they plan on. Is it possible that I may even be able to afford a 3K Scarlet? Cool!!!
D
28K: Looking forward to Mike explaining this one!
28K interesting, 261 Megapixel - 1 frame ???
ok you can do it, but where you gona fit this ?
10 min. of matterial ~ 300 GB ?? is it true ?
and what, now you can shoot new video from space about ant live ? (+ 300 mm lens):)
i would like to see color grading of 28000 x 9334.
it`s comming time to REDmac or iRED.
I was hoping for a camera body that would do 2K or more at at least 90 fps with a still camera lens mount and shallow depth-of-field-look, and at least same stills resolution that my Canon 30D has. I guess I'll have to wait another couple of years...
The 28K 617 will be mostly used for stills... however people really need use their imagination once in a while. 28K means motion picture digital backlots or, 100+ HD displays cropped from one source or.............
So from somewhere around $3,000US or less on up you have the ability to do everything from web shows to IMAX(+) stuff. The camera or budget is no longer the limiting factor. I have been trying to think of something that RED can't do at a higher resolution and MUCH lower price than what's available.
Clearly 28k is going to be for those hugely cinematic features and documentaries. No you probably won't edit it on laptop but the prospect of this wasn't around yesterday.
This is rich stuff. They even have autofocus available on the Full Frame "brains".
I've been waiting on a digital camera that would make the Imax camera obsolete. Looking forward to getting my hands on some 8K plus Redcode for color grading.
Scratch Baby!!
Didn't Jim Jannard say this would be out at the end of August? I love that the headline has "November 20th" in it and they are still disclaiming it with "subject to change." They should really just be quiet until they're ready to actually release something, or at least say "soon" instead of a hard date they'll probably miss again.
I'll be pleasantly surprised when I can actually download it.
Nice...kind of answers a couple of bugging questions in my mind about Adobe's stance for a full native .r3d workflow.
I reckon working at Red must be like putting all your factory staff on display in your shop window, allowing anyone to point and stare...it must be crazy sometimes to syncronize everything but I too will be pleasantly surprised when I can actually download it.
Thanks Mike for keeping us up to speed.
@ yohance
"I
28k to do a good a lense focus point can be more hard!!
Maybe 28k on baselight are already support? only 7 x 4k image 😉 is not as much.
I think most everyone here is missing the point of using this technology in a broadcast. This was not done simply because of the use of "holography" (which we can all agree here, this is not) would improve the reporting capabilities of the network, nor because the technology was required to report the story. This was simply for the pr buzz and proof that a production technique could could be used to help differentiate one news outlet reporting the same story from another. To prove my point, we are talking about a news network on an fx website. You can also do a google search on "hologram" and CNN and get a staggering number of hits. So in this regard, this visual effect did its job and from CNN's standpoint, was a huge success.
Also, be aware that the final output of the image, including the "blue aura" and bad key, was purposely degraded to "enhance" the "holographic" effect for the viewer.
Thanks for XSI tip.
Looking forward to getting my hands on that RED CS4 🙂
Hey Ted. We still want 3k for 3k. Just so you know.
fxguide why are you a commercial mouthpiece for Red?
Who cares about an announcement for something that is most likely take the better part of a year (or even years) from existing???? Let alone working. Hello, how many people still have a Red One that turns itself off unexpectedly 7 or 8 times a shooting day? Rolling shutter ugliness? Dropping frames while shooting handheld. The Red One is a crap camera.
I don't know why anyone thinks that just because there are impressive specs that these cameras will be any different. A $500 Canon HDV camera has better dynamic range.
Hey Joe - you were right. Spring 2013 and not many of these camera exist.
Just wanted to say 5 years ago ...you were right. Hate you to think we dont admit our mistakes.
I love our EPIC 5K but most of these are ideas that never were mentioned again!
- Mike
This is the current state of play with Quantel
http://www.quantel.com/repository/files/whitepapers_red_qworkflownovember_14thfinal.pdf
Probably time to edit this headline...
I recalled reading an interview with Richard Edlund and he also stated that not only was the Digital a revolution in how fast it got embraced but it was very cost prohibitve as well. I think that the compositing side of digital provided more options for smaller houses but for character animation the learning curve and cost curve were way high. Both hardware and software were expensive and you need a lot of both to be able to get the jobs and deliver. Boss Studios had great talent but they needed deep pockets to compete and stay ahead.
And as we see today, only a few "big" survived. Mainly because they could and did write a lot of their code themselves? And I guess they struggled as well. PDI, ILM, Pixar, Blue Sky and Sony...
Now, both hardware and software are relative very cheap along and can provide opportunities for small production houses. And don't forget what the interweb has done!
@tobiaslind
where is the link for this Blue camera?
Sorry here it is
http://tinyurl.com/5bms9g
the Blue - translated
mike
actually at first it was those companies who did NOT write their own software that survived in VFX. Companies like PDI - which became PDI - Dreamworks - all went well as they used off the shelf h/w and s/w and then added mel scripts and other things to it.
Pixar is a bit different as it is a studio owning he content and not a gun for hire like say ILM or DD.
I wrote a piece on valuing post houses a while ago
http://www.fxguide.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=459
you might find it interesting
Mike
Sorry Mike, PDI did indeed write their own software. They were well known for that fact at the time. They even got some technical awards if I remember correctly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Data_Images
I think that PDI has dropped from peoples mind since they got brought into Dreamworks and started to produce their own content.
Also, it would be nice if you guys could discuss commercials as well as movies. There are a lot of vfx and techniques developed for commercials that is later used in features...
@tobiaslind
Really nice interview with Pablo...thanks guys!
p.s - The tip of the week video from Gerard seems to be repeated twice.
We are working to fix this now, thanks!
I also mentioned the URL IN the podcast 🙂
jason
The proper response to all product announcements is ... wait for it ... ignore them! Oh by all means, follow it ... just don't be seduced by it. Anything with a lead time over six months is hardly on my radar.
Just my take.
Rob:-]
Repeat edit has been fixed, you will see fixed version as 045r in iTunes.
after looking at the Dec 3rd announcement I don't feel the Nov 13th announcement was "insignificant" in any way. The 13th was about the new all modular design and I for one figured the specs on the brains and their price points would shift around. So I really don't know what Mr. Jim Jannard meant by "insignificant"...
Looks like this Redcode RGB with 1080p and Quad-HD formats will be a solution for those not wanting to deal with RAW files and complicated workflows as mentioned in the podcast.
Also Jim Jannard pointed out another major flaw in the 5D Mark II video feature: row-skipping instead of sampling from all the data: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23082 just something i thought about while listening to the podcast when that camera was brought up.
Yes Rob I agree the Dec 3rd did not make the Nov 13th "insignificant". It was a poor choice of words. But hey - it is a small point. I am actually happy that they are not changing direction yet again, and I really like the RED ONE upgrade path
Mike
Hey Yohance You have it now ! (dec 3rd )
Mike
very nice job
yup, every time RED announces new stuff I'm quite pleased. I don't know who these people on Reduser are that complain... The RED One upgrade path is more than fair. The Scarlet looks like it will have an extremely affordable price, when I stop and think about what they say it will do it blows my mind. And the current RED One continues to be more amazing after every build!
Speaking of the upgrade path, I haven't heard an answer for is what RED is going to do with traded-in RED Ones. No one seems to care much, but those are great cameras and I don't see why RED wouldn't sell discounted used RED Ones...
Brad 🙂
nice interview?? are you kidding me...the guy wanted to talk about something he is getting interrupted brutally. then ...whole interview goes like this..did you work with it..you work with him?...oh yes...pointless interview with a really nice romantic guy who has lots of to tell...and angie's crazy fake-romantic introduction..
what happened to you guys? you got bored already?
its probably obvious to you guys but i think that lately the tvpodcasts do not really benefit from being visual...if this episode had been of the audio podcast variety we would not have lost anything. It would be cool if you could actually show breakdowns of the shots/sequences being talked about in context with the interview...and then the best bit was when he spoke of "solving the puzzle"...yes please tell us how the puzzle was solved, thats surely the point of fxguide...then you have a worthy tv production! i guess there are a million legalities to jump through to do this though. shame.
What pgill said.
Thanks for your comments.
Clark: Sorry you did not like the interview, thanks for the comments. Not sure what you meant about bored? Actually it is a lot of work - but I get that you did not like the episode and we'll try and serve up more hands on stuff - with less interruptions from me !
Pgill: Yes we getting footage for some of these guys is really hard but point taken we will try and get more breakdowns and visual pieces especially in the New Year. I guess my take out is you'd like more hands on stuff - and specifics. We'll work on that.
Mitos: What I said to Pgill.
Is that everyone's opinion? I guess I can see your point and we will try and be more hands on with problem solving. I will also do audio only more for those eps that dont need to be video. So thanks for the comments. We read them all and we appreciate you taking time to post.
Mike
hey mike..sorry for the tone..i do appreciate your time, finding, grabbing these guys for an interview. At least i saw the guy who created my "the fx shot" (war of worlds - car scene)..I really wanted to hear more about that shot..really so bad 🙂 Anyways Waiting for new year new faces new breakdowns. About interruptions..you can interrupt him or even threaten him if he doesnt give away some secrets. You are doing fine...i m just having a bad day and i ll watch again war of worlds once again for Pablo! 🙂
Thanks Clark. To a certain extent it is my intention in the new year to do more 'professional/high end' stories on fxguide next year. I personally want to see more hard core compositing stuff and I want to make sure we service you guys correctly.
I think some of the tech stuff we have done recently has been intelligent and worthy. But maybe some of it could merit a more in depth angle. We do try and stay at the sharp end of vfx and we never want to dumb it down for the lowest common denominator. Next year represents ten years of the three of us sharing our tips, insights and stories. We'd like to think that over that time we have gotten better. I can say that this industry does nothing but excite me. I am here, at work on a Sunday, working on some test for a film /HDR thing we want to do - and while I'd like to be out walking my dog with the family- I do love this, and I have been having a ball researching HDR Color warping and stuff today. I know that all three of us remain committed to the site as the day we started it. So I never mind if you guys post that we screwed up or could improve. We take note of it all. If you guys never showed up and never downloaded - then we'd stop. As it is, we have now millions of page views a MONTH. And we serve terrabytes of data each month. Still we really do think we can improve - we really do think we can do a whole lot better, and I swear we are not bored !! 🙂 Again thanks for the second post.
Mike
Mike, what you are doing is great and i love the fact that you know what you are talking about when you ask a question. It's just that the last interviews could really benefit from some BTS footage or even just footage from the shots/movies they were talking about.
Since you are doing this huge effort to get in contact and film those guys i felt as if it would worth it to go the extra mile and manage to 'dress' the interview with their art so we associate their thinking with the final visuals.
You should in no way feel unappreciated. Those interviews have the potential to be pure gold and become a reference for all in the industry. It would just be sad to miss this opportunity that you have created.
Thanks for everything you have produced until now.
The segment of Gerard Mosley matte painting looked very interesting, where can we see more of that ?
Angus...i reckon the matte painting tip is from fxphd...in case you don't know it is the same team as fxguide. I have to say I was a member for over a year and the classes are absolutely top class. I highly recommend them.
Mike keep up the good work (as has been asked on many occasion, where do you get the time/energy?)...and thanks for listening to us punks with our opinions!
paul
Well they have done it at last...cool bananas!!
http://www.red.com/support
I've heard a lot of people say that they missed the electronic theater in LA, but 2008 was my first SIGGRAPH so I never got a chance to see it. What were the main differences between the electronic theater and the animation festival?
The difference?
The difference between going to a red carpet movie premiere, and randomly turning on your TV. Sure, Casino Royale may be showing in each instance, but it's just *different*. One is a one time excusive anticipated event, and the other is just stuff showing randomly.
The Animation theatre has just been random stuff showing. Which is fine. But if you went to the animation theatre, you couldn't talk to others afterwards "did you *see* that wierd french movie with the burning hamster in the cage" (Sidenote; why are the wierd ones always french? what do they put in the bread over there, really?) because you don't know if some other patron saw *that*.
The ET was the best of the best of the best, carefully selected and edited, and anyone who went to an ET showing got the same. Including the burning hamster.
/Z
Electronic Theater has been one of the highlights of Siggraph for me and I really missed it last year.
If the quality of the first three posters who commented on this are any indication : everyone wants ET back. I spoke to so many senior senior researches and Studio people here at Siggraph Asia and everyone without exception wants it back. We love ET - Love Siggraph - Bring it Back 🙂 Please
SAVE ET
Mike
BTW, the URL right above the banners seems to be a different site than the iPetition everyone has signed so far.
Fixed thanks Lucas - dont know how we had two sites !!
Mike
WOW. This is a tough list this time!
I'm tied between:
The Day the Earth Stood Still, Hellboy, Indy, Iron Man, The Mummy
[...] Fxguiide.com > Flame 2009 Benchmarks on the new HP xw8600 System?(??) [...]
I'm all for The Dark Knight winning. I've never seen anything more convincing than Harvey Dent's burned face, even though I know that that eye of his couldn't be there in real life, but hey, it's a movie, it looks incredible along with many other shots.
I haven't seen "The Day the Earth Stood Still" yet but from trailers that looks like a contender. Out of the movies I have seen I would like to see these movies be the final nominees:
-The Dark Knight of course,
-Cloverfield (I don't really like this movie, but looking at the motion tracking with the monster and the mayhem, amazing work),
-Iron Man (not my fav movie in the world, I found it entertaining, but it looked convincing and is visually incredible),
-and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (really love the visuals of the A-bomb stuff and the flood at the end. There were a few story ideas and sequences that disappointed me)
SAVE ET
Does anyone know why this category and makeup only have three nominees?
>>Brad
I had a brief moment meeting John Knoll at a small table in Indianapolis a few years back. It was interesting to hear him field questions from every direction as people shoved things in front of him to sign. He was dog tired, too, but put up with us geeks. 🙂
SAVE ET!
Definitely one of the highlights of Siggraph for me. Getting something into the Electronic Theater is the career goal of many a CG nut (myself included). Don't rob me of my dreams and aspirations - it's un-American dammit!
Maybe now that Method/Riot has laid off 30+ people they can get back to the business of making money. Or making half decent commercials - whichever comes first.
Electronic theatre was certainly one of the highlights of Siggraph. A big show with some great stuff, and recently some really cool interactive crowd games for warm up.
So, yes, please bring it back!
i thought these 2 companies hated each other.
Yep, lots of layoffs, some of which made absolutely no sense. The Managing Director was canned as well.
730 Arizona has had an interesting history: It was the home of Pacific Ocean Post. POP as it was called in its last years got sold to 4MC in 1998. 4MC became eventually Ascent. A couple of people left 525 Post in August 1998 and started doing visual effects on the 4th floor of the 730 building. After months and months and an endless stream of meetings this visual effects department finally got a name: "method studios". In July 1999 it moved into the former POP Animation (before that Buzz Effects) building on 1546 7th Street. 730 was entirely remodeled and became R!ot Pictures.
The ET is nice to fill any moments between sessions and a busy floor... Nice to relax and in the main time get that artists WOW-shot ,-) I've loved it since my first siggraph and missed it this year ,-)
rgds,
nisus
Andreas, I thought precision was your strength 😉 "A couple" was really four and you were
one of those four. It's just quite said to see such a great company ... well not being what
it used to be.
i think it was Neysa, Chris, Andreas and Jerry. is that right?
Hi Guys. Love the show. Where are the show notes? I've looked everywhere I can find on this web site but can't find them. How do you spell Film-U-Loyd?
Hey Rob the show notes are always available at http://www.fxguide.com/redcentre and filmuloid is here: http://www.dvshop.ca/filmuloid.html cheers jason
[...] The Roger Rabbit That Never Was Columns General.MousePad - http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/|||the vfx show
Hi,
It was a great pleasure to work with Georges Miller on Happy Feet in Australia.....
I would love to come back for Happy Feet 2 if I could have another opportunity, let's me know !
Florent (French guy with Brown Hat too in the studio Fox)
Happy Feet 2 is in pre-prod, at Dr D, at KM not AL
Mike
[...] You can also catch Stu with Mike Seymour over at Fxguide in a very nice interview Stu Fxguide interview [...]
George Miller had a very interesting perspective about the VFX Industry's past and where it needs to go in the future. VFX artists deserve more respect, it's just that the other departments can't wrap their heads around what VFX people do exactly.
I really enjoyed the tip of the week btw, really interesting to see what daylight balance does for the key on RED, wouldn't have guessed that.
The finalists will be:
Cloverfield should at least be nominated this year. That work was absolutely amazing especially when you see the plates they worked with. That entire movie was one long beautiful VSFX shot(it was also one of my favorite movies this year.
Dark Knight and Benjamin Button should be the other two nominated with Benjamin Button being the winner. It is the next step in VSFX achievements after Gollum.
[...] FXGuide??????????????????????????????????????????Siggraph??????????????????????? [...]
[...] FXGuide??????????????????????????????????????????Siggraph??????????????????????? [...]
??Siggraph?????????????????,????????????????????
?????Siggraph?????????????????????????
oops, I posted a comment about THIS episode on the George Miller one... oh well, anyway, good green screen tip with RED and interesting comments on the VFX Industry, past and future... 😉
yeah, about my last comment, it applies to Episode #49 with Harrison Ellenshaw, not THIS episode, ep #48, with George Miller... sorry about the confusion. They were released a few days from each other after all... anyway, both good episodes, I love these interviews, keep them up!
Thanks Brad. We appreciate you taking the time.
Mike
k, I've seen some more movies since my previous post, Day the Earth Stood Still, not a contender. Button on the other hand, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see the VFX Oscar go to that one.
I'm really hoping these are both 64bit - fingers crossed.
at siggraph Asia discreet mentioned that toxik fer os X will be releasing soon..they were actually gonna demo it at siggraph asia in Singapore but it supposedly wasn't 100% ready.
About a year ago, I have heard rumors that Toxik for OS X has been demonstrated under NDA, or there were at least plans to do so, but I don't remember the specifics.
Running Toxik on an 8-core Mac Pro would be fantastic (though not quite as exciting as flame on a Mac Pro
Great news! Now all we need is a 64-bit version of Maya.
Nice one AD! Thank you so much.
Any word on an OSX version of XSI? Please... pretty please? (With sugar on top!)
🙂
Mr.ellenshaw shoots from the hip.
And for the shot wise budgeting...Luucaassss !!! grrr.
Something i've been pondering though.The film industry has got so intoxicated on cgi and vfx what if the plug gets pulled on them...
a.They go back to pure story telling.
or
b.All of a sudden the equation changes.
just sayin.
b
XSI or Max would be great 🙂
This IS great news. Yes, XSI or Max would be nice as well. But hey, we're one step closer.
I had heard that something like this was in the works, but it appears that the E.T. is back for this year (in the form of the Evening Theater):
Expected to be one of the highlights of the Computer Animation Festival, the Evening Theater (ET), will run Monday through Thursday, showcasing a cross section of the "best of" juried and invited films. In order to allow attendees flexibility in their schedule, the times when the juried and the invited best of screenings will alternate each night. The films will be chosen based on the voting of a jury of industry experts. "We are excited to add a new twist to the competition screenings based on feedback from the past year that combines the flexibility of the programming with the need of the attendees to have a designated screening that showcases the best of the best," Archibeque added.
Found it on this press release:
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2110973/
Cool!
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/635/autod…x-love#more-635 [...]
Ohhh , Great News!! But now there is a last thing to do, 3dsMax for OSX!!! we need it! 🙂
Quick note. Mudbox never ran on osx. You must be confusing it with zbrush which had the mac version on par till 3.0 which shipped a year and a half after it shipped on windows.
Glad to see Autodesk moving in the direction of OSX
As already mentioned, the following statement is not accureate, Mudbox never run on osx:
"Mudbox has been on OS X in the past, but has run behind in the development cycle of the Windows version."
Who wants Apple software ? oh man, please collect your money for important windows development and don
The best softwares on the best platform. . . Who would not want it !
There is only few missing .... Good job Autodesk !
This is such an amazing news, but there is one thing missing, and I think everyone is wondering "why they hasn't brought it yet?".....I mean, 3dsmax for OSX, I want it plzzz, great job Autodesk!!! keep moving on to OSX!!!
If is possible to convert 3ds max to mac is a great great news
please 3dmax for mac!!!
You can run 3ds max on your Macs now. Install Bootcamp. Are you guys honestly 3ds max customers already that are only keeping a pc around to run Max?
[...] renderman Pixar
Great news! I hope Mudbox 2009 runs as well as (better) than ZBrush 3.12 on the mac. XSI for OS X please!! 😀
i watch these for angie .. wow, she is what i would want to wake up to in the morning for the rest of my life .
Who wants Apple software ? small web companys, but no serious VFX house. Man, put the money in better software and drop the mac and linux version ressources !!
@10: 10 percent last I heard of general computer sales, I'd be curious to see the percentage purely within post. Gotta be higher than 10, otherwise it wouldn't make business sense for AD to throw development time and dollars at it.
Deke -- thanks for the heads up. You're exactly right about my confusing ZBrush and Mudbox in my tiny little head...
Mudbox on Mac!!!!!greatttttttttt
Many thanks for the great work that all you guy's do for the VFX community.
Happy 50th episode and 10th year....rock on!
Thanks .. fxguide is great resource for professionals and students in vfx world
You guys are most welcome
thanks for the post
Mike
[...] CG Society Article FX Guide Article [...]
Finally, great to see Autodesk realizes that most creatives work on the mac.... Not to say that running Maya on Vista has been a nightmare, I am running it on the mac now and it works perfectly. Can't wait to see the Flame on the mac... Maybe 2010...
Ha-ha! I knew it!
Oh NO, please use your energie for great wndows versions and drop this Apple stuff !
please 64-bit version of Maya on MacOSX !!!
Great hint - thanks guys!
WHERE IS THE GATE UI ALREADY!!!!!!!!
forget the Gate UI until we have a great paint tool!
additionally most if not all the features mentioned above
count for far more than the Gate UI, don't get me wrong
I love the Gate UI but I would rather have these more
functional things first.
but that's just my take on it.
cheers
An average compositor needs "features", an advanced compositor needs speed and usability!
[...] The Foundry
well if you want a gate ui why not using toxik? 😉
Raster paint by any chance?
really - seems nuke already has the speed advantage but as far as usability the paint node -for instance- is hardly that at present. Video out to a see your work on a correct monitor is a huge thing, also very "usable"
speed advantage compared to what?
Now what I have been asking for ad I still cant believe it is not in Nuke yet is SHADOWS for 3D LIGHTS.
Using shadows in nuke would make camera projections so much more powerful. I have to render out a shadow pass from Maya and bring that in to the projection setup in Nuke.....its absurd and I hear the function is just turned off at the moment.
Now what I have been asking for ad I still cant believe it is not in Nuke yet is SHADOWS for 3D LIGHTS. Using shadows in nuke would make camera projections so much more powerful. Instead of rendering out the pass separately in another package.
Secondly I hope Quicktime support is in Nuke finally, I haven't checked the new version but I know in Avid DS which is 64bit you can still import Quicktimes (something about the underlying 32 bit process Im not sure the technical side of it.)
I for one am really excited about their roadmap. It's adressing all the features and fixes I would like to see in nuke. And even more with the ability to do 3d tracking within nuke. This sounds just awesome.
cheers,
Daniel
[...] For more information : http://www.fxguide.com/qt/694/the-fo…9-nuke-roadmap [...]
3D particles and 3D tracking would be a dream inside of Nuke!! Their roadmap is very exciting!
[...] fxguide quick takes
[...] they’ve announced a development roadmap. Awesome - we know where the package is headed. Contrast this to the “we’ll let you [...]
fantastic 3d tracking in Nuke woow!!!
Does anyone know where they are going to post the files from this lecture? thanks.
[...] fxguide quick takes
3D particle and 3D track - are possible in current versions via external tools and scripts.
But lens distortion based on internal 3D track look great.
How about "Defocus(Convolve)/Moblur in one" node? Very old problem of all compositing soft.
no words on the mogul product line. is mogul dead already?
"How about
IMO Mogul was a bad idea to begin with. Hope this is Imagineer realizing that.
i liked the concept of a modular app, but the idea to rent the modules wasn't the best option (IMO)
Whaaaat?! Didn't the Orphanage work on feature films like Iron Man, Sin City, The Spirit, Pirates of the Caribbean as well as commercials? How did this happen? Is it by choice? I mean they seemed to be doing pretty well on their business.
...Sad day, they did really amazing work.
I don't understand why they are shutting down either. I know the economy isn't doing very well right now but I didn't think a studio like The Orphanage would be hit this hard that they would shut down completely. I had really hoped to work for them one day. So much that could of been learned and achieved there. I'm fairly hopeful that Stu Maschwitz and his staff will be fine in the long run but I wish them all the best of luck.
Size was maybe a factor, 160 employees, thats quite a sizeable staff, overheads must have been huge. The difference between say a small (20-30) staff and 80-90+ staff is significant. Many houses in the mid 90s crashed and burned in similar circumstances. Mid-sized companies always suffer when the market place gets overly competitive, sounds like Boss Film all over again. Watch this space, there may be more casualties.
After i got laid-off back in November (still am), it's hard not to notice things like this happening, and the regular media reporting job losses in the thousands here in the US, one can confuse it with the world crumbling to the ground, but it's GOT to get better soon.
Like majik said, back in the late 90's this happened as well, and we bounced back, so here's hoping the Orphans, and the rest of us seeking jobs get picked-up soon.
Either-way, great job Stu and the Orphans, you entertained us for a long time.
I can't wait to see what Stu and his team does next.
I really like what the Foundry is doing with Nuke, they are laying it out there and saying to everyone that they are going to stick around. Unlike what has happened to Shake and it supposed successor Phenomenon.
I am a Shake user but I have already downloaded the PLE for Nuke and I think that Nuke 5.2 is going to be the compositing I would like to switch to.
Well it might have to be Nuke 6 because of budget and the fact that I do this for free for the Church.
You go Nuke - show them the way.
Phill
oh man that sux,
I hope that this does not become a trend in the industry otherwise it could hinder the progress of the craft.
or not if people choose to ignore it and continue to push the limits (which is a bit hard to do when you're not getting paid)
hmmm
well, I vote turn around
Phill
😮
Shit!
Sad, Sad, very Sad....
[...] Nuke is moving forward with releases, and plan version 6 for next year [...]
Su:
May the Spirit be with you!
I am new to the industry and I am taking classes to become a pro, but I must say this is a blow for me. I love the work that the Orphanage put out. I hope that they all get some kick-tail jobs even during this economic crisis. I also want to reference recent articles on fxguide about the industry's extreme deadlines mixed with grand request and less pay. If anything good comes about from this (it is fuzzy and hard to see) is that when the turn around comes back there may be an opportunity to correct the way the industry runs. Again I am a newbie don't hit me.
I wish all the best for the Orphans.
Hi Mike,
just wondered,
do you ever do VFX work or just talk about it?
Dave
They started fxguide as and continue, today, as industry pros. Though I wonder if fxguide and phd have forced their careers into hobbies.
michje1, no one here will "hit you"; you "hit the nail on the head." As a 20 year veteran of the industry, it is absolutely true that we are all expected to work more, produce more and do it for fixed bids than ever before. And to make matters worse, there doesn't appear to be a change coming anytime soon in this methodology. More and more shops are hiring salaried artists, and paying less without overtime. It has become a slave worker's cult. At first, it feels good to know you are working on shots that will be in a motion picture that millions will see. Then come the continual requests to work for days without sleep, and even worse compensation. It works very, very well for the studios. The industry posted record profits. It would be great to "correct" this ugly trend in our industry. But as long as the countless VFX shops small and large outbid each other for pennies on the dollar, it will get worse before it gets better.
The masterclass assets are available for download here
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/pkg_training.aspx?ui=CBC2593A-2C9F-4EF9-84BE-C198B0171453
What about interface speed? Nuke4.8 is much faster with a lot of nodes created. In 5.x mask shapes become very slow in large projects.
ps: sorry for my english 🙂
...and my wishlist:
1) 3d shadows
2) 3d particles
3) zblur-convolve-vectorblur(oflow mblur) in one node
4) normal relighting (and possibility to connect 3d lights and cameras)
man, this is just sad. this is a proof for all of us that the bigger you become, the bigger the risks become too. So yeah, there will be no securities ever... we better get detached quickly from whatever we've built
congratulations to Edson and everyone else at Lola VFX for all thier hard work on Benjamin Button!!!!
Downloaded it early this morning and I've been testing it thoroughly. Been opening up all my projects trying to find which has the biggest node tree!
Really love the interface, very easy to use. Would love to see a couple file formats added like Maya, Shake and Logic Studio.
I agree with you regarding the file formats, but I'm confident this will come over time. Gridiron has been provided with files from numerous applications, but it has been a matter of getting the major apps working first with more to come.
tried it out, but image sequences end up in a big mess (rendering out 100 frames in Shake ends up as 100 individual nodes in FLOW, which makes it almost unusuable). Is there any way to display image sequences as a single sequence node instead of every frame as an individual file node?
[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe 7th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards were held tonight at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. In addition to the award categories a VES Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and the George M
[...] can see the complete list of winners in our other article and click read more for our recap of the night and a link to slideshow photo [...]
Man, I sure would love to go to that next year. What type of bribe is it gonna take, Jeff?
Anyone can attend, the year it was $300 for non VES members and $150 for members.
missed it this year 🙁 was in Mammoth 🙂
Not only does the award light up, it spontaneously falls apart after 4 years too! Mine did anyway, I guess it's time to do something useful!
watts
I thought the venue and the show production was great. The VES Awards Committee did a outstanding job pulling it all together.
-david
Hi Jeff,
Interesting to see that Autodesk are dropping the 'XSI' from the product name. I guess most people have always referred to the package as 'Softimage' but I wonder what's behind it. I believe .xsi is the file type it saves it's projects as, maybe Autodesk are looking to change that or many be they just thought it was to wordy.
Anyway thanks for keeping us up to date on what's happening and thanks for all your Oscar coverage.
Your friend,
Matt
Looks like a solid point release to me. Although I think this version brings it's Autodesk ownership to bear. I heard that they chose to keep the name Softimage over XSI since it had better brand recognition. At least they didn't think up some incredibly terrible new name to call it.
Hey Chris
The issue you are referring to is unfortunately based on the fact that we do not yet have full shake support. Sequences are at the end of the day, just a lot of files. It is hard for us to say what a file sequence is and what is a sequence of files. There is a big difference between the two. A sequence of files could be you, creating numbered versions of your comp script from shake. For us to automatically deal with this could potentially create problems else where.
What we have done is look at what application is in use and watch what type of file it is generating. We can take a good guess from that and we would then automatically group those sequences when you open the map (you can group manually right now if you wished). Our lack of full shake support at the moment means we are missing that.
That support will come in the near future.
Meanwhile if you have any concerns, get on the Flow forums at our site and someone will address them directly. Thanks for checking it out anyway.
Mark
congratulations to Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron AND the entire team . and this team definitely consists of all the people involved
from the start to the end , from the conception to the execution . Well the statue is the part of the system which cant accommodate everyone due to its own inherent structure and thats okay. its the symbol and the message goes down to each and everybody who s involved in the process .
aLL THE BEST !
I hope they don't adopt the Autodesk 20XX strategy for softimage and release undercooked version updates.
I'm still hoping that they have enough time to implement the Viewcube for this release, that baby is the best.
Awesome article! Thanks Fxguide
Thanks for covering this.Interesting interjections.
b
Good article! thanks!
Great article! I just love the time were're in right now. All the new technology and new cameras and new everything is just exciting!
You said in our article that the thing was videotaped. Do you think it will be available for the public any time soon?
[...] a mat
Great information on "emotion capture." Thanks!
Hi, who is owner of the oscar award photo, can I use it?
That is the official Oscar
thank you
hahaha! no the steering wheels is the best!
ahhhhhh. if they put the steering wheel in XSI I'm switching to blender on principal.
Hey check this out. If you go to the Autodesk website, Products, Autodesk Softimage, Softimage demoreel, it still points to http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/gallery/
Not a big deal but i found it interesting.
I hate this name, I used to tell people [I`m using XSI], but because I hated this name so bad, I`ll now say [I`m using former XSI]
[...] said they reviewed dailies on film and he never saw anything on video (compare this to the comments at the VES/ASC event). He is worried that this is coming to an end but Christopher Nolan likes to work this way and [...]
Great job on this Jeff. Very accurate. Thanks!
Wally
[...] You can check out the full list of winners HERE. [...]
[...] Even the experts themselves are unsure with one of the leading cinematographers, Wally Pfister, questioning the application of stereoscopic 3D to all film asking “does it enhance the storytelling or is it a [...]
Thanks Jeff, it was a great and useful conversation!
You should have asked about the time frame of releasing
the slower VISION3 stocks. Also I'd like you to discuss
the shadow noise improvements in VISION3 500 stock
a bit deeper. How does the new 500 compare to the "old" 200.
Specifically the quality of the chroma key etc.
[...] noticed a lost for the VES awards and it looks like the pilot
Jeff H. and fxguide'ers
Great article. Sorry I missed the event. Great recap! Thanks for the time and effort!
best, Jeff O.
This is awesome! Now I can have my whole pipe on one machine. Syntheyes, Lightwave, After Effects, Final Cut Pro.
[...] the type of file you give them. Only Assimilate Scratch and Quantel systems such as Pablo (and now, da Vinci Resolve) can accept R3D files natively; for Lustre you are likely to have to provide DPX [...]
Thanks a lot for this article, Jeff! The purpose of this page is really good. Hopefully more data and options will be added to it soon, then it would be a truly useful tool for those like me who want to get into this industry at some point.
Daniel
Nice idea, but there is a BIG flaw in this... I can easily register, pretend to be from one of the company's in the list and create false salary information related to a job title; if say three people then do this (just so they can access the data as u r required to add a wage before you can view anything) then a median will be created that is completely false. I considered building a public site for rating fx studios, but the same problem would happen there, how can you anonymously prove the artist works or has worked at the studio in question?
Yes Dom I thought exactly the same thing, as soon as I saw you had to contribute a salary before viewing the statistics.
If this site is set up by someone who is or has access to people at the top of the food chain, perhaps gathering information for a separate set of statistics from a select few trusted sources might give more accurate information.
I agree with Dom, without any verification check anyone can input data and there is no way to tell if the data collected is at all accurate and reflects any relevant wage information. There should be a strict set of rules how to submit and collect the data otherwise it's a waste of time. One way to gather this data would be by requiring that a pay stub (with name crossed out ofcourse) be submitted to VFXWages and I doubt anyone is willing to send this information out. I'm a little surprised fxguide woud even post this article.
We posted because it is a topic that we thought would interest our readers. The people behind vfxwages are fellow working artists trying to help people. It is a challenge for sure and the questions you raise are good ones. I will ping them and see if they can answer some questions.
Hi all.. I'm the president of Industry Wages Inc. and founder of VFXWages. I was directed here by Jeff. I want to address a couple of your concerns, and put some of your fears to rest.
I am a digital compositor. I've been doing feature films and television for 10 years and I've worked in Canada, Australia, and the US, both as a staff artist and as a freelancer. I know how unsure you may be about asking for more money, or if you're getting lowballed or not, or if your freelance rate is too low or too high (yes, that can be a problem in todays cost-cutting world).
The purpose of the site is to give artists, like you and me, a way to view wage data and gather enough information to ask for an appropriate amount during salary negotiations. VFXWages was an idea that I had a long time ago (actually, when I started in VFX), but only recently had enough technical support to pull it off. We started private beta in October, and after a mildly successful private beta period we opened it up to the public for more data.
Like other user-inputted social sites out there, there is no verifiable way to confirm that a salary or rate is accurate. That's just one of the perils of user-generated content. I CAN tell you however that the more data we have, the more the outliers, or false points will become apparent. Over the past week we have double in user size, and our data points have quadrupled. We do have analyses done to make sure that users don't spam the site (yes, you can put in 0.00, as I've seen some wages entered. It only hurts everyone. We are removing those points anyway). The big plus is that there are more employees and former employees of the companies on the list than there are managers and head-honcho guys. Sure, every head honcho could spam a bunch of wages onto the list, but we'd know about it, remove the wages, and remove the account. The law of statistical averages will work out in the artists' favor, simply because there are more of us! If you are registered, please take a look at the compositors, film & television graph that we have available on the wages page. This is one of the graphs that we have a plethora of datapoints for, and a slowly increasing hourly median rate is visible. At the link below, I've provided a graph for the Overall Hourly Wages in USD for the US West Coast (you can break it down by other regions and countries as well). This is an aggregate of over 800 wages, just for the west coast!
http://www.digitalgypsy.com/vfxlog/archives/uploadedfiles/overallwage.jpg
Highs and lows are just that, the highest and lowest wage we received, which might be accurate, or not. That first year high listed above is probably not, but it doesn't affect the median (which is the most meaningful), because we have a lot more accurate entries.
So.. Why trust us with your data? We don't know what you, personally, are earning. As a veteran in this field, I feel confident that the wages we have provided so far are accurate (when we have enough data!), and will grow in accuracy as more and more artists find their way to the site.
There is another site out there which is doing the same thing, and while I hesitate to mention them, you'll probably find your way over there. Glassdoor.com is a salary and wage site for ALL industries. As such, they lack the dedication and attentiveness to the VFX/3D industries, unlike us. In order to access their wage data, you have to enter a wage as well!
Feel free to contact me at aruna at VFXWages.com if you have any questions, comments or concerns. The site was built for artists in mind, and giving you the information you need when you want a raise, move companies, go to another city for work, and finding out what to charge as a freelancer.
I applaud the efforts of VFXWages.com. It is long overdue that the mysterious subject of who gets paid what in the VFX business is addressed.
Granted, the accuracy of the database will be questioned, but I feel with the right checks and balances in place, it will be better that what is out there right now. At least this can be called a good start!
Great to see a new episode. Found the conversation with Andrew Jackson quite interesting and it was amazing to see the sets in their full scale. A lot of effort seems to have gone into that. Also loved the london matte painting shot, that's the type of stuff that really fascinates me and that hopefully one day I can contribute to.
Very cool to see behind the scenes coverage of the ambitious shots from the Knowing.
After watching The Red Dwarf Episodes here in the Uk..I was also 'stoked' to see a certain Mike seymour having a cameo role in episode 2 - I loved the fact that he was obviously untouched by wardrobe! (cap - check...fleece - check,)..(meant with love mike, very impressed with what you and the PHD crew acheived on that show)- Great to see mike on the special also, talking about camera tracking with the greenscreen setups.
thanks guys
Andrew is a really great guy - I have known Andrew for years - he is brilliant and very practical. Re Dwarf thanks also we are just so glad it found such a huge audience.
Mike
Before anyone gets too excited, as usual with Autodesk this "new" Product Flare won`t be a more affordable software. Basically it`s just a software-only Flame that only existing Flame owners can buy for around 40.000 $ - so, no AMAZING new stuff from Autodesk, just the old way this "company" operates...
This product marks the death of Autodesks desktop compositing software.
You would not buy Flare for USD$10k, you should even get a couple of licenses with every Flame.
Toxik is dead, they need to merge Smoke/Flame, Toxik/Combustion and price Flare at USD$2500 with no stupid licensing deal, just node lock it, simple. Maybe they may even sell some products.
As outlined by Philippe Soeiro, Flare is a companion product to Flame. Since a new Flame turnkey is always in the range of 175K$ to 200K$, it is no surprise to see a software price point at a 1/5 of the Flame seat.
Maybe, there is also another point to think about, probably the Flame needs to be current on subscription.
For someone, who would have an overdue subs contract, then you might need to add this renewal on top of buying a Flare seat.
You might also need to wait to see, if there is a suggested hardware configuration for Flare to run on; maybe another 10K$ to 15K$ to add to the mix, simply in order to make sure that it does feel like a hog, next to the main Flame seat.
Maybe it could even be possible to run it over a Mac with VMware virtualization for Linux... let's wait and see.
To summarize, 40K$ (sw) + 15K$ (hdw) + 10K$ (subs) + 3K$ (support) = 68K$ to 70K$ is probably the investment you need to think about.
All this to say that, Flare looks like a step in the right direction, but it is clear that its introductionnary target price is simply not aimed at the masses; as many would hope it to be.
Only time and facility owners interests, will dictate if this new product is here to stay.
...more interesting is the fact that flame 2010s batch now is all float (is it really?) Plus the interface of the 3d blur node is just the way it should be!
-k
Autodesk has come up with a model to introduce this version, surely they did so after conducting some customer research. Is it the right model? The measure will be customer feedback and of course, sales. Give feedback here, in other online forums and especially to your salespeople. Also check out the podcast we will post after the fxphd barcamp, (probably Tuesday morning) we'll try and get some user feedback there.
(Tech note: When fxguidetv #54 was posted the iTunes version was not working, this has been fixed.)
All things aside, I think they did a good job on the new logo. Identity always goes a long way.
Jeff said:
"surely they did so after conducting some customer research."
Autodesk needs to do research with NON-customers... They should take a page out of The Foundry's book and visit shops that do NOT own Autodesk gear.
The problem with visiting only their own customers, is that they are caught in a reality distorted by the psychology of past investment... Nobody will admit that they made a bad quarter million dollar investment. Simple human psychology.
I think we need to look beyond the let down of flare, Krawken you forgot to add the massive cost of plugins, and take a look at Flame2010 it looks fantastic.
For me the development of Flame under Philippe Soeiro has been excellent, bugs a side.
Looking forward to Flame2010!!
It's great that fxguidetv is covering NAB! I can't wait for some Fusion6 and RED news!! Thanks guys!
As far as Autodesk goes... I stop watching this after i heard about the $40K pricetag for Flare.
It does look impressive indeed. And don't get me wrong, they are doing a great job. It is simply that Flare will still be unaccessible for many. However, if fxphd finds a way to offer a class around it, lets's say with a vpn version of flare, the odds for its proliferation could substantially increase significantly. And you are so right, I did forgot the cost of the sparks... hum still need to keep on feeding my piggy bank 😉 Thanks for keeping me straight.
@Krawken, Miltos etc:
Flare is not available to the "normal" potential customers (even at 40K for a software only flame it`s no bargain) - YOU HAVE TO HAVE A FLAME! If not, Autodesk is only showing us potential Flare customers their middle finger (And I bet even for that they would charge 10K).
xavier is right. can't help but wonder if autodesk has ever heard what shake and nuke users say about flame. thank you for the full use of float in batch - but really, was this asking so much? (and its still only 16bit float?) seperate keyer nodes is cool. and i'll take that 3d blur node...
It's difficult to understand were they going with that ? Is Flare cross-platform ?
I don't think Autodesk really care if anyone buys it or not, they will probably give FxPHD vpn access and train up the masses there so more facilities will buy flames. The aim is to sell flames, although you'd think the $40k is all profit to Autodesk as they've just lifted the code straight out of flame.
Just to clarify. Keylight will only be in NukeX... Not in vanilla Nuke.
@ Enog
Must be a nice planet you`re living on...
Flame, together with Quantel IQ & EQ must
be the most expensive creative suites on
this planet and as long as that stays like
that there won`t be no "trained masses".
so the million dollar question is...
You get called in to do some work on a flare.
Do you charge your normal rate?
What happened to native RED files support? Is it dropped?
great to see that they update the software pretty quickly now! any info on when the 1.1 update will be shipped?
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/1039 [...]
Anything on cost yet?
1. Yes Keylight is only in NukeX but you can still buy the individual plugin if you need it.
2. red support is in 5.2, they showed it at the booth.
4. No cost was announced as far as I know.
you got to love trapcode and particular, but...
"you couldn't do this in any other particle system on any other compositor out there..."
(minute 12:59, talking about particles lit by spotlights with falloff)
Did he ever try Fusion?
it's all in there since ages.
@hammerstroem
LOL! My thoughts exactly!
Have you ever been to a demo? 🙂
Lest we all not forget that there needs to be a well paid operator sitting in the chair. While Flare does go a long way towards getting so-called jr. artists up to speed on the Flame, these people are usually experienced and skilled individuals.
Flame and Inferno are prestige products sold to the best facilities and operated by some of the finest talent in the world. It this capacity they make money for the facilities that leverage these assets correctly. There will always be a niche for this type of work just as there will always be Lamborghinis.
Admittedly, this overinflated market is slowly dying, but not dead by any means. Flare is a first step towards a more fiscally responsible future
[...] both the problem and some work that the folks over at The Foundry are doing to address it at the fxguide news site), I’d probably be looking at JVC’s new GY-HM100U PRO HD cam in the same price [...]
good
including 3d camera solves is wonderful,
good to know nuke took notices on roto and paint tools, seams great on paper
looking forward to try it out 🙂
That was one terrific interview with Anthony Dod Mantle, was great to hear some of his thoughts and how he approached shooting. Didn't quite mind the length of the episode at all.
Thanks, guys!
Yes, I'd love to hear you review Brazil. I'd also love for you to go way back and review "Forbidden Planet", "This Island Earth", "Dark Star" and "The Last Starfighter". Okay, you got me ... I'm a SF fan.
"Dark Star" is a student project directed by John Carpenter. Co-written by John and Dan O'Bannon, who went on to write "Alien".
I think "The Last Starfighter" would be good to review because it it was such an early us of computer generated images. Also it was Robert Preston's last film appearance.
"This Island Earth", released in 1955, was a year before "Forbidden Planet". I think everyone would agree that "Forbidden Planet" was the better of the two, but as a kid I was really hooked on deep space adventures in books. It took me totally by surprise to see such movies depicting hard core science fiction.
I was really fascinated by the images in the last part of the movie as they approached the planet Metaluna which was under attack from space. Looking back now I realize that the vfx shots were all miniatures which, in those days, was likely the only way it could be done.
Okay, enough of this. I could go on to others but I'm thinking you might not want a list of all SF movies since 1955 (well, most of them weren't very good anyway).
Peace,
Rob:-]
Hey guys thanks for posting this info but can't seem to track it down either... At least not on the east coast.....
I did find this: http://www.starz.com/titles/7thAnnualVESAwards2009 but it mentions May 30th on Starz Cinema.
guys what happened to ep 57. i saw it listed and was keen to watch, when i got round to have a watch it was gone, thought i was going mad but googles cached page still has the anouncement (but no the actual video)
We had to temporarily take it down -- it'll be back up shortly. Nothing bad or sinister...just needed to keep it back for a bit.
Hey this is'nt about special fx... what's happening?
You thought that we didnt cover VFX in this podcast? I am surprised Lars, we discussed working with actors with effects, previz, doing effects in camera and film making issues such as anamorphic - never once did we discuss ship designs, beaming, ears or conventions. I thought the interview was an interesting piece but dont worry this week we have a one hour in depth fxpodcast with ILM about the VFX effects !!
thanks for the post
Mike
Wow awesome!!
I love fxguide TV. Cant thank you enough for bringing this to us!
Very nice podcast ..
I like to see different perspective about the film , the director and his vision
It's just awesome to have fxguide tv covering other non-too-technical bits of the industry. I would really love too see more interviews with actors and directors exposing their perspective and approach to the whole production. Especially their take on vfx.
The people that are complaining about it not being a "tech episode" are simply not looking at a broader picture and are simply stuck to push buttons and follow orders without even trying to develop the capacity to talk to and argue with an director.
Most talk to supervisors, but supervisors on the other hand do have to talk to directors! So having their pov on things to understand them is crucial to any good professional on this business.
With that in mind I would say that this was probably the first fxguide tv episode geared towards vfx sups.
And for that I'm thankful 😉
Congrats!
ps: Please keep it up.
You guys really shouldn't be afraid of calling and putting people from different areas of this business on fxguide tv.
Colorists, film developers, writes, hairdressers, makeup artists, sound engineers, practical effects people, producers, dp, whatever. They all have far more to add to us than interviewing people that do the exact same thing that we do.
Because in the end of the day it's not the work of famous vfx sup or internationally acclaimed digital artist that have a real production impact on our work, but the work of every single professional involved in a project since it's birth and funny enough are not directly related to what we do at a first glance.
I found the episode really neat actually. I am not exactly a star trek fan, but the trailers of the new movie have definitely looked promising, hope to see it soon. And yeah, the whole thing about the interaction with and of the actors I found quite interesting.
But I'm certainly also looking forward to that talk with ILM, Mike, that sure sounds great.
I really want see your class. I,m flame and smoke artist.
Just got around to watching this. I didn't expect an interview with the actor, I would prefer not having this in FxGuideTV.
On other subject, isn't the Angie intro overly bright? I'm watching it in iTunes on Windows.
Excellent breakdown. I wasn't expecting beginning to end explanation of what they had to do to out a mask on Rorschach. Very good piece. Much better then anything I'll get out of the collector's edition DVD.
Wow..that was amazing to see all the workings of such an effective comp.
Thanks FXguide!
Does Angie say intelligent creatures from the states ???? As in NAB? or as in thats where I.C. is located? Cause its defiantly Toronto!!!
The interview was recorded at NAB
Thanks for another fantastic fxguidetv.
This has instantly become one of my favorites.
Thanks for continuing to pump out awesome interviews and indepth breakdowns.
Awesome episode! 🙂
glad you guys liked it
Mike
Hey Everyone,
We are glad you liked the interview. We wanted to give all of you guys and gals a chance to see how we created, what we think, is the coolest, seamless visual effect of the year!
Thanks to John and Jeff for taking the time out of their schedule at NAB to film Greg and allow a look at the inner workings of IC artistry.
Look for us at Siggers, and check out our brand new website, intelligentcreatures.com for videos, news, and a whole lot more!
Regards,
Donovan
When talking about the 'old school' method of shooting the actors on the mirror for the falling sequence, you briefly mentioned another old trick from MI3 that he did. What exactly were you talking about there?
Fantastic Podcast !!
Thanks Guys
This was amazing!! Just watched it. I love seeing this kind of behind the scenes interviews. Although I very much enjoyed the nuke side of things, I wished someone would have gone a little bit more into the Houdini aspect. 🙂
Great episode!
Daniel
Thi is one of my favorite FXGuide podcasts. Jeffrey Okun does a fine job of explaining what the VES does and where they are going. It was very informative and gave me even more resolve to become a VES member someday.
Jeffrey Okun talks briefly about putting together a salary survey and the cost involved. But I have to ask why? VFXWages.com provides salary information and it's updated as members update their profiles. It is currently a free service and available to anyone who works in the visual effects industry. One of my strongest arguments for the VES using this available resource is FOR vfx artists and that at least one of its creators is a VES MEMBER. VFX Wages has even been previously featured on the site...I wonder why it wasn't mentioned in the interview? http://www.fxguide.com/qt/1012
I understand the differences between a survey and the information provided by VFXWages but I would find it really upsetting if I was a member and found out that this resource wasn't used, especially since Aruna is a VES member.
The VES should look to it's members for assistance in matters such as Salary information and industry understanding. Wasn't that one of the stronger points that Jeffrey Okun made?
Regardless of this small problem. I really look forward to being a VES member someday.
From the outside looking in,
Matt
Sorry. I was editing my comment and meant to say
One of my strongest arguments for the VES using this available resource, is that it is FOR vfx artists and that at least one of its creators is a VES MEMBER.
When he mentioned the salary survey I made a mental note to ask him if he knew of vfxwages.com but unfortunately I did not get back to that.
From an fxguide perspective I guess we have had similar thoughts over the years... why don't they come to us as we do so much to try and help the VFX community? What I learned from doing this interview is that the VES is a very small operation with many ideas and not a lot of time or funds, there is no one sitting around scouring the internet for every visual effects related site. We as members must be very proactive and involved if we want the society to thrive. I would contact them about what you are doing.
Jeff
I loved the depth of this episode, and the narrow focus using a single shot as indicative of the entire mask workflow. Thanks to everyone involved!!
Like everyone else I really enjoyed this episode a lot. It was very profound and detailed. Was amazing to see all the effort that goes into such a shot...Greg did a great job on explaining what the team did.
Wow amazing! Thanks for this episode guys!
Good for you guys, 45% is a joke. You are deserving of your full pay and people who do this deserve to be penalized with interest and everything to the full extent of the law. This is not a joke, ask them to do work and wait months or years before getting paid only 45%. No way they would do that, they would be appalled just as much as we are at the matter.
I am a Canadian artist who has worked on both end of the Country. I have seen at least 1 studio like this in each province and now know better to steer clear of them. I have just left a place because myself and several others refused to work free overtime. They were lying saying we were part of a Hi-Tech industry and we had to legally work free overtime. This has got to stop, and Im will to do what it takes to help others in this industry. David Rand thank you for standing up for the artist out there that feel so alone. If we could get a union set up I would be first in line to sign up. If help is needed to get this done and get people organized I would be 100% willing to help all i can.
All the best in your pursuit for everyone's pay which is rightfully theirs. We are all wishing the best for you guys.
Rob
This is brilliant! It's so hard to find decent behind the scenes interviews these days that actually delve into the guts of a shots composition. Was this filmed at the Foundry's NAB booth? I wish I had been able to go. Thanks for the podcast! 🙂
Thanks for letting us know about the update, Jeff. Been wondering for a while what has happened with the artists from Meteor studios and if they finally got paid. Just went to the cgsociety thread and read the whole post.
Good luck to them! Hope they will get their full payment.
this episode was amazing
I loved the interviews - both with J.J. and Roger. If this film doesn't get nominated for VFX the system is definitely broken. Simply gorgeous work all around. kudos to Roger and J.J. they really nailed it.
As a fellow Canadian who works in post you've got my full support. Don't back down. Imagine you'd only given them 45% of the work and took all the money. They'd sue you till the end of time. People like this need to be sent a message that you don't treat other people like this. Read this inspiring piece on the writer's strike to get you in a resisting mood.
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/telebuddy/archives/2007/11/guest_blogger_r.shtml
History shows us that the proverbial "pendulum" swings both directions. The studios are building a policy of not paying overtime. It's take it or leave it buddy. We all give and take on our shows. But to have an up-front policy of not paying overtime is abusive. Studios (and post houses) are getting away with it due to the current economy. This growing "policy" is a slap in the face to the artists that literally slave themselves to meet nearly impossible moving-target deadlines. At the end of the day, studios are posting record profits. Try telling Tom Cruise to accept 45% of his "points" or up-front money. The other point to bring up, is that in many of the current crop of features, the cg artists are CREATING the stars of the show! Without them and the other artists, there is no animated feature.
That is just nuts for them to even think offering 45% is acceptable. The Canadian government should be doing more for these artists. I am glad the artists have stood together to continue the fight.
Bang-on!
muahahahahha.
joy's a sport 😉
b
Actually, the Quebec Normes du Travail are doing a pretty good job at handling our case.
The government didn't drop the ball on this one.
-- X
Interesting comments on the topic on The Animation Guild Blog
http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/where-is-hulett.html
Jeff
Unfortunately , is the some behavior around the world.
Today is a sad day for matte painters and fans of matte painting. Thanks for the news, albeit bad. Mike, I know how much you appreciate Illusion Arts and their wonderful body of work. So thanks again.
I blogged about it as well.
http://mattejourney.blogspot.com/2009/06/illusion-arts-closes-its-doors.html
The thing that kills me is that you show these to clients and they laugh. I reaaly want to say "NO THAT'S YOU IDIOT!!!'
More reporting on the story today - Motionographer:
http://motionographer.com/2009/06/04/meteor-studios-unpaid-artists-update/
I know this makes me a jerk to point out but:
1. the before picture is way better looking than the two after pictures above.
2. The "Bleached" look is clearly emulating a Bleach Bypass process which, as its name suggests, is the look you get when the negative is not bleached.
The point of posting the images was not to show my mastery of this app or a creative use of it. I posted to show those without iPhone or iPod Touch quickly what the app looked like.
But I did take the original photo so I'll take your praise for that away from your comment. 🙂
Jeff
this comment has nothing to do with the app...which looks very fun whilst on the subway
but nonetheless I agree completely with Dixon...often poor composites will be treated with some whack color treatment, and it really doesn't help...i always think the original looks much better..maybe slightly crushing the blacks helps...
but way off topic..thought I would throw my 2 cents in there anyway 🙂
[...] Color Correction App
[...] iTunes Store: Mill colour Via:
I just want to know why this is not compatible with first gen ipod touches??????? Im not spending $300+ because people want to phase out the 1st gen hardware.....is there an actual difference or is it just a fake requirement?
anyone understand the whole "elastic band" concept? does this mean touch and drag on the image or touch and hold down while spinning the horizontal wheel at the bottom? also, too bad there is no quick way to reference the original image quickly against your new CC without resetting. that would be a nice addition. also it would be great if we could have individual ranges like Hilites, mids and darks. besides that - it's pretty cool!!! hat's off to the genius at the Mill who created this!
When I first read the description I also imagined some sort of interface where you interacted with the "elastic band" but I think they were just trying to explain how an adjustment affects a histogram.
I would LOVE to hear you guys talk about The Matrix.
By the way. Great episode. Great podcast. Keep em coming =)
I think http://www.lightcrafttech.com/ is missing from the shownotes (mentionned by David Stripinis).. and I would prefer if these were in html so I don't have to download them.
Ha.What timing.
Co-incidentally i just started my journey into iphone dev today 😛
Nifty.Thanks Jeff.
b
Very nice! Definetly more useful and handy than any other so called color correction app on the iPhone AND it's for FREE!
It looks amazing...
Wow, I'm thrilled to hear that you guys are talking to Feng Zhu. This guy is such an early inspiration and influence to me, and I am curious to find out more about his school. I'm very much looking forward to these episodes.
looks like the site was down...
It appears they let dns expire, they mentioned on flame news a few days ago that they are working on it
Mike,
I posted this comment on Matt Scheuerman's blog, but wanted to share it here.
I worked for Syd and Bill for eleven years. They made my career. Syd has always been the most talented of mentors and teachers. Just look at the success of artists that have been discovered by and worked for Syd and Bill. Robert Stromberg, Mike Wassel, Rocco Gioffre, Robert Schifo, Justin Brandstater, Kenneth Nakada, Andrew Tucker, Fumi Mashimo, Alp Altiner, Dylan Cole, and myself. Google any one of those names and you will see the wealth of contributions that Illusion Arts graduates have made to the industry. I appreciate the acknowledgement that you have given to a very important company that will be sorely missed by the industry. Zoic is very lucky to have Syd coming their way. He is a true master of the arts.
Cheers,
Kelvin McIlwain
Hi Mike!
It was great to meet you in Singapore last week at CGO and well done for a fantastic session.
I do hope to stay in touch!
Graham
Excellent show! As the FX Producer at Imageworks on Contact, it brought back some great memories. (I was Julia Rivas at the time.) I just want to add two things:
The opening shot was 4710 frames and we called it "From Earth to Ellie."
And when Ron says it was a long show, he simply means the number of hours he and the whole crew worked on it were long. It was an incredibly short schedule! We started R&D and prepro in August of 1996, the shoot started in September and ended in Feb of 1997 and we delivered at the end of June 97 and the movie came out July 11. Not even a year! Whew.
Great show! Thanks for the fond memories.
Nice work!! Now every marketing manager can color correct pictures of his wife and then send it to you as reference. Oh, oh, wait, better idea - let it output LUTs, send them to GradeOMatic and we don't need overpaid grading artists anymore.
Thanks everybody, I will pass the comments to the rest of the team.
Rob, i will pass your comment it is not compatible with the first generation of ipod touch (we tested on iphone 1st generation but can't guarantee on the ipod) in order to fix it.
thanks again and hope yous can send us feedback to keep improving the tool.
Since when does someone deserve that much money for being fired, if he is in the right give him a years salary at most....2 million. Thats the kind of thing that puts a company in jeopardy and costs good, non-greedy employees their jobs.
Fantastic ep. Really great Nuke demo. I'd love to get my hands on that script. Keep up the good work.
The ex-employee was right. This company should have paid more. The company probably tried to out spend him. It is a sad day when that is the way companies do business.
Thanks so much Guys!!
Awesome the Nuke Review for the HUD ( and remember the great podcast with Orphanage at the time the movie was release) and great insight tips from Feng Zhu..
Keep doing it Guys .. Great Work !!
Another brilliant Nuke demo!! Always great to see the ways in which artists solve interesting challenges, and actually show you the inner workings of the software and scripts they created, instead of some flashy showreel breakdown.
Awesome work guys.. keep em coming! 🙂
Glad you guys liked it
Mike
[...] Creatures project. rest of the press release after the jump Since receiving critical acclaim click for more var _wh = ((document.location.protocol=='https:') ? "https://sec1.woopra.com" : [...]
Not being much of an art guy i went in skeptical of getting much mileage out of this ep.How wrong i was.This guy's amazing.
Treating light like water...nice 😉
Nuke enabled artist's are insane.
The app's wearing the pants around here(Film Comp) for sure.
Excellent ep mike.Hope we can discuss this on the PHD
b
Another facility nuked.
would bart say: nukiller fusion 😛
b
[...] LINK: Weta Digital Purchases Site License Of Nuke Since receiving critical acclaim for its VFX work on this project, the company has gone from strength-to-strength producing astonishing effects for Jackson
Does this mean they can edit Nuke & upgrade when necessary?
[...] been the buzz around the Internet today that GenArts announced a new program where users of Final Cut Pro and After [...]
Protect Honest Employees is exactly correct. The former employee was right. They tried to crush him financially through this lawsuit after firing him for no reason when he had a contract. He should've been awarded a lot more.
[...] is the original post: fxguide quick takes
I spoke with Dave Rand this morning after I posted this and he gave me this quote that he gave to the Gazette:
"...it's as if we were robbed and now the police are "negotiating" with the crooks to get some of our stuff back... The Discovery Channel and Evergreen are trying to hide behind bankruptcy laws and the weak Canadian labor laws ...but deep down it's the same thing. To me it's not even a white collar crime, it's families being robbed in broad daylight at Christmas by a family network. Just because Discovery Holdings Co is worth Billions and they advertise in most of the US entertainment publicatons they have managed to keep it out of the US press. However, Thanks to news vehicles llke FX guide, our story gets told."
He also asked me to pass along that people consider the money it would have cost Discovery and Evergreen if the workers had walked off the job... either the work would have gone to other houses at higher rates or the release date would have been missed.
Of course you won't hear about it in LA Times, Variety or the Hollywood Reporter. You have to go outside of corporate owned media like Democracy Now to hear about REAL news especially news that involves the corporate media and its corrupt system. Send these stories to [email protected] ASAP. Stop being afraid of the powers that be, take a stand, UNITE!!
VFX people need to get together and become unionized, however, we know what will happen if that is actually even mentioned. I mean with all of the run away production now and the global competition! it's a wonder why Hollywood is still considered to be the capital of movie making? just my two cents!!
BTW don't think that this sort of thing won't happen again.
hey guys
its not only happening in US its every where around the world.as fatima told one has to come out this corporate owned media & look out !!
hats off to jack fresco"zeitgeist movement"
[...] fxguide quick takes
Hey Gang,
I think the real problem is the way in which the entertainment industry relies on a vast network of "corporations" hiring other "corporations" in order to shield themselves from liability. It Is stupid. but how can you get around it
And this release finally adds Tangent Wave support. A decent Panel for around $1500!!!
The first way workers can UNITE is by not accepting to work for free from day one. The corporations have their responsibilities of not being honest with their employees. I am sure the management at Meteor Studios knew a long time before that they would "screw" their employees. That being said as Joe Rizo ; "BTW don
Interesting post on The Animation Guild Blog regarding Sony Imageworks - a little history about organizing efforts in the past and an appeal to try again
http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/sony-imageworks-dialogue.html
Looks nice and good value too. I am going to check out the demo.
This video is currently available at http://www.vimeo.com/5494280 at least I think its the one that was here.
Thanks I have updated the link and removed the embedded video.
-Kristin
Kristin Martin
Producer, The VFX Show
[...] coverage at fxguide, CGSociety, and the official press release here. The news also hit reddit’s home page today [...]
As Shake quietly slips under the waves 😉
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=MA434Z%2FA
Here is the link to the full press release for Siggraph https://renderman.pixar.com/products/news/rps15.0.html
With links to the FAQ's on each announcement (Tractor, Unlimited Threads and RPS15)
For those attending Siggraph, Up Posters will be given away at 9:30am every day, and the legendary RenderMan Teapots will be given away at 2:00pm
Can't make it to siggraph? Never fear, pick up your virtual teapot here
https://renderman.pixar.com/products/tools/renderman-teapots.html
Cheers
Moxy
(Peter Moxom, Pixar's RenderMan Team)
Hopefully you guys can get an interview with the Shake team lead and find out what's going on like you did after the Shake 4.1 release. All the rumors have been that Apple has killed it. but there's been nothing officially said. Obviously a whole lot of people, including myself, are hoping that that speculation is misinformed. The only ray of hope that I have at this point is that the discontinuation of Shake sales conspicuously happens a couple of days before the open of Siggraph and before the official launch of Snow Leopard which has a lot of performance features that would probably benefit Shake greatly.
It wasn't too long ago that Apple had an ad out looking for someone well-versed in Smoke and FCP to join their Pro Ap development team. That tells you where they are going!
Toxik has many strengths and weaknesses, but its inclusion and integration with Maya is a definitely not a weakness.
I can see that for smaller primarily Maya based facilities that need to cut costs and seats due to the economy this is a non-issue.
But its a shame they never ported it to 3D Studio max it would be nice to have a combustion 2008 replacement in my shop or am i now supposed to convert to Maya and or buy a Flame?
just fyi: even thought the press release say 'Maya Composite', when you install the software it launches the setup for Toxik 2010, and the program is called 'Toxik'. It's not something new 'based on Toxik'.
Toxik as a standalone application is dead. I currently work for an Autodesk reseller and there has been no subscription update mentioned from Autodesk for people with standalone seats of Toxik 2009 to 2010.
Yes we know, it's the title of the article: You're not be able to purchase Toxik without getting also Maya and Matchmover. But Toxik development continues, and when you install Maya 2010, you can choose to only install Toxik, or only Match Mover.
I have a shelf full of EOL products because of all of Autodesk's acquisitions and product plan shifts: MotionBuilder 7 Standard, XSI 6.5, ImageModeler 3.5, MatchMover Pro 4.0, Stitcher 5.6. etc. Unless you have excess cash lying around to immediately buy into an Autodesk subscription program when change direction or acquire another company, you are just cut off from being able to participate in an important tool's future development.
i think Autodesk confirm the loose of developpements of midrange compositing package,if autodesk think makes profit with high end products ,h`mmmmm not for long time when u see the fast developpement of eyeone and the foundry.
so uhh what's actually new in maya, you know the 3d app
From an Unlimited user perspective, I couldn't find a single new feature "inside" Maya so far. Maybe there will be a more complete feature list available later on their website. But for now it seems to me they bundling two software applications with Maya, without any new Maya-features.
I cannot say I'm disappointed. But I'm confused in terms of "what did the Maya Dev-Team do the past year?".
you should upgrade immediately so you can get dumped with the comp app that nobody uses. I guess if they can't sell it to compositors it's worth trying to force it on 3d
I have been tired of Maya
since required by Autudesk ,there is nothing new just buying plugins and other softwares to add in this package,
I want to ask AD,What are you doing with Maya?
Ive been tired of maya for years, maya 7 was the last great leap for me, Nparticles and ncloth are ok but not groundbreaking. Ive been interested in Houdini for a long time and finally made the switch this year. At the facility im working at now they are bringing maya modelers over to help with the Houdini layout team and all of them immediately loved the change.
sadly i loved the jump from max to maya but now with this latest lack of features release im just convinced it will remain a buggy and lacking package....I mean 2009 finally had muscles and a renderpass system????????
This is sad. I can't help but think that a few economic factors converged to close the doors of such a great place.
Unions prevent the type of workplace abuse that seems to be running rampant in the post environment. Post professionals are willingly working without the protections that Production crews enjoy.
Union protections and compensations cut both ways. They prevent radical undercutting if all professional shops stand together. The downside is the industry will continue to seek lower priced options such as non-Union shops as well as foreign shops that enjoy either government incentives or positive exchange rates. What was the shop in India that just bought like 100 seats of Fusion? Sony Imageworks opened shop in right to work state New Mexico and in India as well.
Large staffs in an expensive local such as LA or San Francisco are going to be a great disadvantage as places like India and China gain more sophisticated facilities and will work for a fraction of a working wage needed here in the US.
Sad state of affairs.
Autodesk is developing software version to be Smoke's companion, the current code name is "Dust"
I hear what everyone is saying. Can't argue to much with most of the comments, but I am excited about the idea of having access to many tools. if you use MAX or Maya getting motion builder and Mudbox for a single price seem very positive. However, as a non Maya user, I can't comment on what is new or not new, but TOXIK being part of the suite is a positive I am sure. As one of those rare TOXIK users, I can say that, my opinion only, it adds a lot of productive workflow ideas that many people can take advantage of.
cheers
The title of this article in an unfortunate spin that might further demotivate talented artists from reaping Toxik's benefits. I think the bundle strategy is an ingenious response to Nuke's recently successful marketing tactics, however no great software distribution scheme will succeed in absence of just as smart a PR effort and training program. These are especially important factors amidst the fact Discreet burned early adopters with overpriced and lackluster, prior incarnations of the app.
No doubt Nuke is great. Adding solid 2D cleanup and live-action comp tools, faster performance and robust Maya integration is Toxik; er, I meant - Maya Composite.
We have thoroughly evaluated Nuke and Toxik in production. I can assure you the latest version of Toxik is not only a formidable, but possibly better compositor. Nuke users - go ahead and rip up this board with disagreement so we can take this bull by the horns and get the real grit on the table. This fight needs to be had because I'm sick of hearing such glowing reports of Nuke's crappy features outside of cg compositing.
And Autodesk - your marketing for Toxik has been a joke prior to this bundle idea. I couldn't believe that, amidst all your MBA pricing and distribution experts and marketing resources - you pissed away the most incredible opportunity to convert flame users into a practical monopoly on compositing. Your marketing first suffered from the greed of squeezing every last drop of systems revenue and more recently the mistake is slashing human resources in absence of sophisticated screening between good apples and bad.
Digital Domain artists used to dread Nuke as the system they had to use because management wanted to save money. Operational procrastination is the only key reason the market's giving you a run for your money today.
Nevertheless, this bundle is a real shard of hope. It's a great shot at exposure. Please, please, please promise us the financing, training and PR efforts will be just as brilliant. The opportunity is yours to lose.
[...] most of it, then exported
that was a solid post Ryan. i had a demo of Toxic awhile back and was pleasently surprised - the UI is gorgeous and the hooks into Maya are really ingenious, as a flame artist, i was jealous of several of the features.(can we PLEASE have Toxic Gmask in Flame!?!?!?) Unfortunately, Autodesk's schizophrenic marketing department has made me wary of embracing much else than their flag ship product (flame). It's really a shame, when i got into this business, Discreet absolutely destroyed Quantel with the superior tools in Flame and the agressive desire to refine and make it even better. now it seems to be a bit of repeating the sins of the Father as the strategic positioning of their products seems to be increasingly out of touch with the market.
next few years should be interesting to say the least...
-tim
The development of faster gpu accelerated desktop solutions such as Scratch, Speedgrade, Toxik, Nuke and Fusion and the continued advances that hardware vendors Bluefish444, AJA, Nvidia and Blackmagic are making to provide professional tools and platforms at an acceptable price range leads me to believe that in a few years Autodesk and Quantel will be priced out of the game for their proprietary approach.
The release of Flare also raises questions for me in the decision to remove Toxik as a standalone app although the $40,000 or so price tag is well, crazy?
At this rate maybe we will see a move to develop Flare in to a standalone application down the road when not enough facilities buy it as an assistant station?
@ Tim - if you're in L.A., stop by and see how we're using Toxik sometime. We migrated from the flame and may be able to answer questions in your language.
@ ToxikD - hmmm, we're still having a hard time understanding how Flare is a good bet, even for less than $40K. I think this is the option for larger shops knee deep into flame that need to expand their support workflow for less than the price of more flames. As for pricing, it'll be hard to undercut a full featured Maya and Toxik license for a sliver under the price of Nuke. Success or failure will come down to whether marketing really takes this bundle seriously, or let's it go the way of other cg apps former comp systems; Eddy, Wavefront, whatever's in Softimage these days, etc. The difference this time is Toxik really is a solid platform, rather than something that was designed to add value or was developed too early to take advantage of enabling technologies.
But hey... adding a flame-worthy, DPX compatible IO & conform module to Toxik as a $5,000 option (plus whatever hardware spec is required)... now that's enough to shiver some boots.
Did everyone know Toxic cannot import audio. I KID YOU NOT. No audio functionality in Toxic. That makes it a complete waste of time for anything most people do.
... in After Effects, or?
Ryan, some good thoughts there.
Look, Toxik was started as Flame for linux, when Discreet had no idea
if they could put real Flame on linux. When they did it, Toxik was put to sleep
for a while, brought back as a hirez film compositor, then brought back again
as a Maya companion.
It's really hard to blame them... They won't give up their Flame business easily...
That's why it's gonna be a while before a cheap version of Flare shows up.
But now Toxik looks like a finished product and the closest to Flame
I can run on my MacBook Pro. Much more a creative environment than
Nuke - a scripting based, channel passing boring tool. Nothing creative
or artistic about it. Runs well on a large scale render farm and can be easily
scripted for a large scale project.
Ryan, would you mind to show a fellow Venice artist your Toxik setup?
You're welcome to stop by, just holler.
Amidst my frustrated tone, I'm not entirely blaming Autodesk; yet. My rant is more a reminder not to screw a good marketing ploy up, because I think amidst Nuke's smart marketing to date - Autodesk has one shot left at success.
There is nothing wrong with maximizing profit, but a careful mix of short and long term considerations are required to successfully make it over the long run. Squeezing your profits from incumbent platforms is your best option while developing a next-gen app, especially if the core of that incumbent app requires more work to make competitive with future workflows than the next-gen candidate.
Sitting on the best or second best next-generation compositor (jury is out) to squeeze more profits at this point comes down to giving up ground to the competition. That choice today is simply, "I'd rather make a dollar today than have any successful compositing application tomorrow." I know the stakes are high for any CFO from the standpoint Autodesk is taking a hit on Wall Street, so it's not like the right choice would be so obvious. Frankly, investors are probably even commending all their rapid cuts which just re-enforces and end-game marketing and sales loss.
As if Wall Street wasn't enough of a burden, I'm sure it doesn't require much research to come to the conclusion systems units inside Autodesk will play whatever internal politics possible to ensure their job security, in the short term. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they understand the value of Toxik far better than anyone else inside Autodesk, sans development.
You have to know your enemy to take a real shot at them, right? If I were in systems today, I'd probably be pulling talented developers off Toxik to patch the hull on a Titanic. I'd be saying we can't penetrate the market the way we want to because we're behind on key developments, therefore we need more development to create that sales opportunity. Forget the matter that I'd probably know that at the end of the day, all I'd be doing is trying to make an app that costs at least 25 times what Toxik or Nuke does... to do what Toxik or Nuke does. Maybe when the time finally came, I'd orchestrate a venture capital buyout of the app and put a Quantel sign on the door of my new office. Upon finally exhausting international sales over a couple of years, I'd then retire young. Ahhhhh, what a life.
Agency clientele care less today about finishing on a flame than ever. Undoubtedly it's still the finest tool for a supervised online and mastering session, but the price is entirely prohibitive for this purpose alone. Therefore, we see shops handling these sessions on legacy flames acquired on the used market or uncompressed Final Cut Pro systems. I used to be asked all the time, even by music video clients... "you have a flame, right?" I don't think I've heard that question in over 4 years. As for a features standpoint, I think it's to the point where even some studio supervisors would be concerned if the majority of compositing was occurring in flame. The exceptions would be work such as digital cosmetics, for which the platform is incredibly well suited for; but today's era of multichannel float EXR comp work and network rendering (even a standard in commercials now) again makes the viability of this platform fractional in comparison to it's price... even at the flare price.
I'm out and about all the time. 3 years ago, people looked at me like I was mad when telling them we've practically abandoned our flame and are all about Toxik. I also know folks who, at the same time were getting the same looks while they talked about Nuke. Lately I've been the one who's surprised as I'm hearing everyone else talking about abandoning their flames... but it's Nuke they're diving into... because they don't even understand what the hell Toxik is. This trend doesn't indicate a development problem, but a marketing, sales and PR problem.
Look, I know I'm slinging mud here - even at a company who's product I'm 110% behind, but again - the stakes are high and there's one shot left to get it right. The bundle is an incredible marketing tactic. Right now all these future Maya purchases and subscription updates are about to place a ton of Toxik into great shops. But nobody is going to use it if they don't know what to do with it. We need to see solid tutorial DVDs, training programs and press. Then we need to see a $5,000 IO & conform module option a la flame, and we need to see that good 'ol fashioned Discreet Logic sales activity pulling veteran flamers in for reprogramming. After all, it's them who will be at the end of the pipe complaining about not being able to mod those damn Nuke splines and keys on the fly 😉
Thanks Ryan, I'll drop you a line if you don't mind...
Look, I'm with you. I don't think our Autodesk friends realize those
fancy expensive sessions with clients having sushi for lunch every day are over...
It's about posting quicktimes and delivering files instead of tapes now.
But they've been putting Flame on sale recently, I heard some crazy
pricing going on.
I remember Quantel very well, and we all know what happened.
Autodesk guys remember it too. But if they cut their Flame profit abruptly,
they will suffer. Not sure how it will all shape up...
I think they are right about one thing though. The future is more about 3D package
with 2D features rather than Nuke rendering 3D. 3D environment, relighting,
normal mapping and projections is all good, but real time rendering is coming
and it needs all the 3D info to have a job done. Unless Nuke becomes
another Maya, it won't happen there.
Can't wait to try Toxik. I'm kind of excited and in the gloomy environment,
it's a rare sight 😉
Cant wait to get my hands on the new Roto Paint.... only these basic things had me going back to different packages...
Any chances of foundry organizing such seminars in India ?? Will really help us out with great practical applications of Nuke ...
As for maya - everything screams "we do a complete core rewrite". The API questionary was the final hint. You don
It seems to me that Maya's hit a bit of a rut. Sure it's been bundled with extra bits and pieces this time around - but the core app' just hasn't received the same level of TLC as other Autodesk 2010 products.
I just hope that development picks up again, I'd hate to see it slowly die away. Everyone's got their preference, but mine's with Maya.
The same thing happened at Pacific Title and Art Studio when they went bankrupt in June. Employees are still owed back vacation pay, severance, and penalties but will likely never see a dime as the main Creditor is owed so much money. This may be common these days but it certainly doesn't make it right. When companies start bouncing checks, its already too late as the U.S. (California) Labor Law as it stands now leans in favor of banking entities (secured creditors) first and employees second or even third in line for the scraps. If artists are serious about unionizing, the time to set it up is now, even though we won't see the protection benefits till the next major recession.
As someone who is getting a new studio off the ground and relying on Maya this worries me. Having that Toxik addition is great- (if we used Toxik but we don't, and don't need it) but not when the software doesn't get any additions. That's the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. Did they really think that this wouldn't piss anyone off (or worry them)? I wanna know who it was at AD that didn't speak up as they were planning 2010 and say "Wait... so we're gonna try to sell an upgrade to something that isn't upgraded..at all? Really? Don't you think this is a bad idea?"
I would've been MORE than ok if AD came out and said "There won't be an upgrade this year, because we're overhauling it and rewriting it. It will be 64bit and have these new features etc etc". If they did nothing but give me a roadmap of what they're planning, then I could plan accordingly. If they're just gonna give up on Maya, I'm not going to start my studio with a dying software. I'm gonna go towards something that is constantly listening to its users! Heck, I'd even pay for a roadmap. Take some notes from SideFX or The Foundry.
If I end up getting screwed down the road because of this, I'm done with AD.
In the near future the only application that can profit AD is Softimage, this because it is the only AD 3D package that was rewritten and now they add face robot into the mix make AD Softimage 2010 even more attractive than Maya. If AD develop ICE, certainly i would take my eyes off Houdini.If I were AD I would invest in one 3D package and that would be Softimage.
Woooooowwwww
Really great! Victor, Gonzalo.
Felicitaciones, muy interesante cap
Genial siempre hablabamos de subtitular los episodios de fxguidetv esto supera nuestras expectativas !! Gracias !!!
Me sumo al apoyo desde Argentina de Fabian 😉
GREAT!!! wonderful! fantastico! Now I miss the fxphd classes in spanish too ;D
Great! Also Maria is hot!
Hey guys! Congratulations. I believe this is going to be a great TV show and you count on me for anything you need!
Los felicito! Creo que es un gran paso y necesario para la comunidad de habla hispana que no ha tenido acceso nunca al programa por falta de hablar ingles!
Los felicito y cuentan con mi apoyo!
Saludos
Great great idea. All the spanish speakers and visitors of fxguide are celebrating this step and surelly will give our support.
Thanks to fxguide and we hope soon to have the opportunitie of get fxphd courses in spanish too!
Congratulations to Mar
Congratulations to Mar
Enhorabuena a todo el equipo, habeis hecho un gran trabajo.
Gran contenido y realmente interesante!.
Estupenda contribucion para la comunidad hispano-parlante.
Me quedo a la espera del proximo capitulo.
Un 10 para la presentadora.
Animo y a por todas!
Saludos desde Sidney.
Interesant
Enhorabuena por el programa. Me ha gustado mucho. Estaremos pendientes para ver todos los episodios.
Felicidadessssssss!!!!
Mi enhorabuena a todo el equipo!!
!Que nivelazo!
Realmente es una puerta abierta para que los hispanos parlantes puedan ser m
Enhorabuena, Muy buen programa.
El contenido es muy interesante y de agradecer muchisimo que ya por fin sea en espa
Congratulations! Enhorabuena! Un excelente programa, una excelente presentadora!
Algo muy necesario para todos. A seguir as
Hey Guys!! This is Great!!
Hola a todos . Muy buena la propuesta en espanol.
El primer programa con muy buenos aportes .
Espero lo mejor en este proyecto que inicia, Felicidades !!
Saludos desde Costa Rica
Jose Herrera
Por fin!!ya era hora!!!me ha encantado, ya nos podemos informar de las
Extraordinario,fantastico!
grandes contenidos,interesantisimos,y en ESPA
Enhorabuena por la idea y el programa, realmente me ha gustado mucho y quiero animaros a seguir con el proyecto. Seguiremos pendientes de los nuevos cap
thanks for your comments - I will leave Maria to reply more fully, but
quisi
IMPRESIONANTE
"thanks for your comments - I will leave Maria to reply more fully, but
quisi
About your Podcast in Spanish:
Excelente!!
He seguido su sitio y sus podcasts y son muy buenos. Ahora con esta version en espa
Much
Awesome!!
Fantastica iniciativa. Poder tener una fuente de informacion como FXGuide en castellano es todo un lujo.
Seguire los capitulos con regularidad.
Mucha suerte con el proyecto y enhorabuena.
Saludos
Great idea! Genial!
Es una idea awsome!
Sigue asi! ^___^
Saludos
Cinzia
Ah, y queremos clases de fxphd en espanol!!!!!
La comunidad hispano-hablante es una de las mas amplias en esta industria y ya era hora de que alguien se preocupara de hacernos llegar esta informacion en nuestra lengua materna :). Enhorabuena por el proyecto, espero que siga adelante!
PD: seria genial si a medio plazo tambien empiezan a impartir cursos en espanol de FXPHD, si no es mucho pedir 😛
Esther
Por fin! ERA HORA!!! La comunidad hispano en VFX es enorme y estos videos se necesita! Sigi adelante! Espero ver mas de estos videos en el futuro! Muy buena comentario Maria!
Suerte!
Heidy:)
Congrats!!!
I'm so happy about fxguide in Spanish!! Please classes in Spanish would be a great thing to come next. That's something I really miss from other webs
I'll check everyday for new updates!! Una gran iniciativa y espero que sea para largo.
Thanks 🙂
Even if I never studied spanish I can understand it quite well (probably just because I'm italian and our languages are so similar) and I must say that this one was a great episode!
Saludos,
Alessandro
It’s Coming . . ....
Simon Cowell says, “What’s your dream, John?
Thanks very much!
People who speaks spanish is a big target and this is a great iniciative.
I hope it continue!
Estupendo! Enhorabuena por esta iniviativa.
Es fenomenal poder empezar a contar con este material tambi
Thank you very much for this new idea,a good purpose for the spanish speakers.Espero que siga adelante...un saludo.Sandra
[...] estupenda noticia para los hispanohablantes dedicados al mundo de los VFX.El popular portal FXGuide ha tenido la iniciativa de emitir tambi
Una iniciativa sorprendente que seguro tendr
Estupenda noticia..... Y un gran aporte para la cumunidad de habla hispana que trabajamos en el medio.
Thank you very much. Juanve 😉
Mar
El programa es un acierto. MUCHAS GRACIAS
Esto es sin duda una muy buena noticia para los espa
Hola. Enhorabuena a FXGuide y todo su eguipo por esta magn
Genial!! desde Chile los agradecimientos por la iniciativa.
Excelente, siempre es muy de agradecer encontrar todo tipo de informaci
Me encanta!!!!!! Muchisimas felicidades y a seguir as
GRAAAAAACIAS
ya hacia falta algo asi en espa
Ha, muchisimas gracias, es como un sue
Grandisimo, es una buena noticia para todos, espero que sigais haciendo este gran trabajo por mucho tiempo, la comunidad necesitaba este empujocito
saludos
Just so you know we just recorded the next episode with Maria on a review of Siggraph 2009.
hemos filmado el episodio 2 del fxguidetv en espa
I would watch this with subtitles, for the extra help
Excelente!!! Muy buen emprendimiento y espero que haya mas!
desde Argentina, Pato
Buena
Nada que decir a los mejores, solo que mi ingles no sirve de mucho y estaba aburrido de tratar de entender algo ahora ya no hay m
Desde nuestro foro os damos todo nuestro apoyo y espero que muchos seguidores. Bravo por la iniciativa tan necesitada.
http://theflow.es/foro/index.php?topic=1481.0
Enhorabuena Maria,Bea a
Lo maximo felicidades por haberlo hecho deberia haber una version de fxphd tambien en espa
wooww excelente.!! muchisimas gracias.!
saludos desde Costa Rica
XSI lover.
Por fin!
Saludos
[...] que hagamos eco de esta noticia y que dejemos nuestro comentarios y sugerencias en este link ya que si no encuentran suficiente inter
Muchas gracias por esta agradable noticia. Larga vida a la iniciativa!!!!!
Por fin se empieza a hacer un hueco el espa
Estupenda iniciativa!!
Ojal
Genial, Buen
Excelente !, excelente aporte a la comunidad hispano hablante. Esperemos mas contenidos de calidad en nuestro idioma.
saludos,
Maria
go go go!
amos amos amos!
Maravilloso, bien pensado.
Hey,
can some one pick up a renderman tea pot and Up poster for me? or will I have to get it off ebay for a ridiculous price?
thanks.
Gran noticia amigo.
Iniciativas como esta son un soplo de aire fresco, necesarias e ilusionantes.
Gonzalo, enhorabuena chaval, y a los demas tambien mis felicitaciones.
Saludos.
excelente,espero que sigan con estos podscats,estan muy buenos.saludos
Exelente noticia!!! Muchas gracias!! Realmente es una exelente noticia para la gente de habla hispana.
Saludos desde Argentina!!
Genial! Felicidades por el podcast y gracias por atender a la comunidad hispano hablante. Seguiremos atentos a pr
Sweet, R3D support is awesome now I cant wait to see the 3d tracking in version 6!
Congratulations & thanks a lot!
great stuff on this release
don't forget ffmpeg support, you can now read/write everything ffmpeg supports
that's awesome
Es algo que muchos hemos esperado durante bastante tiempo. Gracias por confiar en la audiencia en espa
I see they've changed the expected release of Nuke 6.0 from Q3 to Q4.
ROB - No this wont work with the iPod touch 1st gen. When programs do say -not compatible with 1st gen, they mean it. Sorry :\
I just got a 2nd gen with a laptop purchase (had a first gen since release) and it's a lot faster than the 1st gen. The reason it wont work is because the parts inside are slightly dated and need a faster processor to run current apps. So it's really not a software issue as a hardware issue.
I love Red Centre but this particular episode was 5% RED and 95% everything else. Still enjoyable but...
EEEEEhhh, esto es lo que estabamos esperando todos no?,
FELICITACIONES FX GUIDE. mucho exito. desde Alemania
FELICIDAD!! en castellano
Love your show, keep making it 🙂
Me parece muy buena iniciativa, Gracias.
Just wanted to say how great the latest batch of podcasts have been as well as the tv ones which I feel have got much more interesting and indepth. Keep it up please!
Great podcast! I hope we'll see some more podcasts on the subject of color grading!
We are hoping to have more color grading fxpodcasts coming up.
thanks for listening
Vote Grant for PM
[...] Fxguide.com story on Blackmagic buying Davinci [...]
On a side note to this. Chrome-Imaging, another grading system maker has gone under.
[...] fxguide quick takes
[...] Communication Technologies as of September 8, 2009 Author: PHILDARV - Categories: Qualifications Tech & Sci Oscar short list – fxguide.com 09/08/2009 The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee of the Academy of [...]
[...] la soci
My question is- will this mean greatly reduced prices on Davinci software in the future? Or is this just good news for the high end post houses that can already afford them?
In reply to #6,
daVinci systems have been largely based on powerful hardware as well as software. They have been designed to rely on each other. The system is/has always been targeted at high-end post-production where timeliness is important, (thus dedicated hardware). There has never been a "software only" davinci and this won't likely change, unless they change the nature of what it does. Don't look for any reduction of price to suit the casual user.
>My question is- will this mean greatly reduced prices on Davinci software in the future? Or is this just good news for the high end post houses that can already afford them?<
Looks to me like daVinci was going down SGI's path: costly specialized hardware; small customer base; while the commodity hardware vendors kept moving up and eating the market out from under them.
If Grant is a strategic thinker he'll know this. With Snow Leopard's GCD and OpenCL, daVinci could take advantage of much lower cost parallel processing hardware to broaden its market. With lower cost hardware, new features and judicious software price cuts, BMD can test the broader market demand for daVinci-class products in mid-market post.
can't wait to hear the real deal... if BlackMagic was traded in wall street this letter is the last thing stock holders would like to hear. I hope they have a future plan how to make better products and money out of this. over all blackmagic has some good products but AJA is still controlling the highend market of video cards, maybe this buy will change it all.
I think the strategy will likely be along the lines of what Robin is saying. Shore up the current business on the strongest/most promising product lines, and over time I could see Blackmagic bringing their hardware design expertise and economies of scale to this product line. I wouldn't expect this to be an overnight transition though. I think those of us who currently don't have the business models to support a DaVinci system should look a lot further down the track to see what fruit this acquisition could bear for the lower cost end of the market.
Lovely to hear Peter discuss the common "lift, gamma, gain" paradigm, which is absolutely the standard mode for most color correction platforms, as "1d-lut jockeying." Nice to also hear FilmLight get a little cred for the work they've also put in on the projects over the passed few years.
All I can say is that we will publish more at IBC - but from your comments here - some of you may be surprised at what they show at IBC. 🙂 fun time
Mike
@Robin Harris: Actually, DaVinci's platform was more based on the Nvidia CUDA platform, essentially using GPU's in tandem to process an image. It was more or less their answer to FilmLight's parallel GPU processing. The IB interlinks are really only network interfaces for transporting data at highrates... again not really a blackbox tech. The only remaining custom hardware DaVinci was using in Resolve was the image scaler, I believe... someone correct me if I'm wrong, which was doing the obvious of p/s as well as for "proxy" generation and whatnot. Obviously the cp's were custom.
The older 2k's, 2k+'s, 888's and whatnot are all blackbox hardware and those are the systems that are being retired and no longer sold. Revival is all Linux and software at this stage as well. So nothing to be retired there.
Adding Apple's tech to the fold most likely won't add so much to DaVinci's fold... given that it's all Linux at this stage anyway. One might argue that on a product like Revival, adding platform support for Apple might be advantageous to complete with the PFClean market, but then there would have to be a rather large change in price made as well. They are night and day for a toolset that share's more than they are at odds.
Could there be a drastic price decrease in the Resolve line. Sure. Why not? The core processing could be split over 2 GPU's running on the same desktop/rack PC with a fast disc connection in a data only config combined with some clever hardware from BMD for monitoring (wait, don't they already make that) and continue to decentralize the color correcting workflow. Many machine's performing different tasks in tandem. Not everyone needs to lay to tape. Not everyone needs telecine control.
In my opinion the main issues with DaVinci as of late have been more with understanding pipelining, workflow and connectivity. If you are perceived as being long in the tooth against FilmLight and DV by the up and coming generation of colourists, post-supervisors, Flame artists and whatnot then it doesn't matter how impressive the tech is. Didn't hear Resolve mentioned by Peter Doyle, despite their "awesome processing power" as someone close to this site once mentioned. If it doesn't work and play well with others then it won't go so far. Maybe BMD will fix that.
It's also going to be interesting to see is how BMD will make money off of DaVinci. Most of their revenue was generated as of late selling refurb 2k's and the like along side service contracts. With that market gone, it very much becomes Resolve vs BaseLight vs Filmmaster. I know who I would put my money on.
@Mike... Bring it on man. Surprise me.
I very Like it ?
I very like it!
Looking forward to trying out the substance nodes, also really like the new 'kissing' options in batch.
Paul
Genial!!!!! thanks a lot!!
Great show once again, guys! In thinking about Jurassic Park I remember it being one of the first movies to have its audio running off a CD rather than the optical track on the film itself. I recall going to the theater and having the choice between "standard" and "CD sound." Does anyone else remember this?
JP was the first film with DTS sound
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS_(sound_system)
Thanks for this new project in Spanish.
I already was a faithful follower of fxguide tv: interesting and updated contents, incredible and expert staff -and beautiful, sweet, funny in addition to proffesional, hostess, Angie-, great tutorials,... everything with extrordinary quality.
And now, in Spanish! Though fortunately I am able to cope with English language, with these new translated episodes, it is even more attactive to me, as I was born and live in Spain. It is a real gift.
Thank you very much to the Australian Staff, and, now, to the new Spanish members for the hard work.
Sincerely,
Fran J. List
gracias, excelente idea
It would also be nice to get a clear cut way to get a standard EDL from FCP in to NUKE for shot to shot vfx / finishing. Multi layered parsing and node switching for overlaps. YEAH!
Thanks for taking the time to post these John!
Thanks for the post - but fxguide is based in Chicago, LA and Australia... so it is very much a team effort !
Mike
THANKS for AAAALL the INTERNATIONAL staff. Didn't mean to limit my congrats at all. Great hard work.
Enhorabuena por el segundo episodio de fxguide en espa
Felicidades por consolidar fxguidetv en Espa
Que bueno que hayan tenido esta iniciativa. Gracias
Enhorabuena por el programa. Es mun util y ademas en espa
muchas gracias por el capitulo en espa
Gracias por el esfuerzo... Espero no sea en vano... Somos miles que estabamos esperando esta noticia... Un gran saludo de Argentina
Por fin!!!!!!!!
Gracias por la iniciativa, realmente es de agradecer!! Espero ansioso nuevas entregas
[...] artists who worked on the film Journey to the Center of the Earth for Meteor Studios (see here and here). These artists were not paid for their months of work when Meteor Studios folded. Over the last [...]
Good on you Dave Rand and the people that have worked hard to get this story out there. It is terrible that such an occurrence took place. It used to happen in the 90's at smaller facilities (boutique VFX places) but never large organizations such as Meteor. The only issue I have here is that it is not clear what the action was that prompted the closure and subsequent non payment to artists? Was it Discovery that didn't pay or was it a mis management issue from Meteor's side? I will do some research....
Hopefully this will strengthen artists worldwide. It also reminds me of the mistake that VFX artists did when they had the option of joining the camera department union in the early 80's. If they had, this would not have occurred.
Sincerest luck, DC.
THANKS VERY MUCH!!!
Es genial se ha acordado de nosotros y adem
I took a look at Max Edit at NAB this year and was thoroughly impressed. Based on some business relationships, I have spent some time with the application over the summer. The prospect of distance being irrelevant between an editor and their source material anywhere in the world is kind of mind boggling. It opens up all kinds of collaborative workflows. Very interesting that Avid has picked this up.
Muchas FelicidadeS!!
Me alegra mucho ver que continuais con la web en espa
Enhorabuena por el programa. Esperamos muchos m
Muy bueno ..GRACIAS!!
I've had a lot of luck with another web based solution called Invisually.
http://www.invisually.com/
i understand ther will be a monsters inc 2 coming in the near future. when will it be announced that its coming. my grandson is exstided about toy story 3. my favorite is still monsters inc.
Definately the best FX world reference, and now in spanish..!
Much
[...] been advocating this for years and it’s slowly gained traction in the industry, and this week fxguide interviewed “Master Zap” of Mental Images and discusses “linear workflow” [...]
Stu Maschwitz is mentioned in the podcast and has posted about the podcast on his ProLost blog
http://prolost.com/blog/2009/9/30/passing-the-linear-torch.html
That was AWESOME!
The industry is so Very, Very, Slow..................
[...] Previs; Chris Edwards, CEO, The Third Floor; Ron Frankel, President as well as Founder, Proof; Blog Source ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNAL: WAVE OF ISSUES GREET OCEAN TASK FORCE (THE PROVIDENCE [...]
Tragic. Why do Flame ops get so well paid...?
Excellent to see this talented group of visionaries organizing to provide common vision in this rapidly expanding production practice. Look forward to supporting this group going forward.
Thats the most rocking music video i have ever seen 🙂
Even though I am a Flame artist I laughed at the comment by 'whatever'. There are better, less "tragic" demo reels of the Flame's abilities I can assure you. There's a reason why this person is a Flame op and not an art director. Animated pastel hearts? Really? But hey, at least it was fun and a bit creative. There seems to be a lot of strange stuff popping up this year because operators are so slow and get bored. Bizarre. We're all hoping it picks up soon.
[...] Robert DeNiro Meet the Fockers Bob Hoskins Who Framed Roger Rabbit — also listen to episode vfxs063 Sidney Scheinberg James Joyce’s “Ulysses” The Sex Pistols “God Save the [...]
Any comments about how "slow" the industry is or about pay rates are entirely missing the point of this little goof. I used to work with Jamie and trust me, he's quite busy. I think the point is, if anything, to have some fun every once in awhile. C'mon, didn't you guys used to roller skate? That song? It's HILARIOUS!
Thanks for the very informative discussion. I been researching a lot about this issue ever since I saw Stu's post sometime back last year. Though I haven't been able to put this into practice at where I work because of the common scenarios mentioned in this discussion.
Anyway here are few couple of links which I found very interesting and helped me to get my head around this issue.
Very simple and easy to understand workflow
http://www.djx.com.au/blog/2008/09/13/linear-workflow-and-gamma/
Conversion between "linear floating point" and the more common "sRGB bytes" workflow by Bill Spitzak developed for Digital Domain
http://mysite.verizon.net/spitzak/conversion/calibrate.html
Both parts were very interesting.
There's some talented folks out there in OZ.
Thanks for bringing them out of the woodwork's Mike.
b
thanks but half of this was USA and only half was Australia.
fxguide is a global operation based in Chicago, and Sydney, but Angie's show fxguidetv is recorded out of the Sydney tech penthouse.
🙂
Mike
Sure.
I was referring to the Australian part of the show.
Sorry.I Should have been more explicit 😉
b
That was great. As a former Discreet Flame demo guy. And someone on the box since 1995. It sums it up why the box still holds up. Fast and responsive UI.
So many night shifts with tunes keeping you going.I still hate it when they move buttons better versions. Nicely done!
That was awsome idea to have little fun if any of You knows FLAME, work all night all day on the system...We need wait for Toxic, Maya, and other editions...haa haa haa haaa haaaaaa... 🙂
Can we call this linear workspace "gamma 1"? I think it sounds cool and futuristic and it avoids the confusion of linear vs non-linear editing and people calling gamma 2.2 linear. Since non-linear editing has become common place I think the word linear has gotten a negative connotation.
Fantastic stuff Jim. Sounds like a real game changer. Love the price! That is amazing.
Makes me love scratch all the more.
Sorry Jeff, I meant to thank you. I'm sure Jim had something to do with this also lol.
With the REDRocket card included this is a hell of a bundle. def want to see this guy in action.
It's SCRATCH CINE v5.0 just an conform/workflow application or alsow includes grading? It is the full Scratch application?
Scratch Cine is Scratch without secondary layers and curves. you still have your traditional Light Gamma Gain controls that are common among color grading apps.
So now you can get accurate 10bit monitoring with your sdi out. Real time 4k grading and transcoding. and proper high end color grading tools (primary only) for $11,000.
Remember the previous version of Scratch Cine was sold for $17,000. It has in essence dropped in price by $13,000. That is a big discount if I've ever seen one.
@yohance brown TNX for info!
Do you think someday Apple Color, or even FCP will support red rocket?
[...] ouwen on Oct.16, 2009, under Uncategorized [From fxguide quick takes
@ Fetesti
I think they will at some point however i think apple will be slow to implement RR but they probably will do an ok job with it.
I am studying grapic design. Today in my lesson my teacher showed us this advertisement and told us how ugly and bad it was. I was the only one in the class who liked the idea of this advertisement and everybody laughed at me when I said that this advertisement was the most conspiciable clip of the 50 spots we saw and that I thought the idea was good. So what, I still don't understand how people can be so intolerant against cool new ideas. I wrote in my blog (german) about this spot today, too 😀
[...] Not till first half of next year but this is great news!! From Canon in Australia via FXGUIDE. [...]
[...] FXGuide
[...] Canon has announced a 24p/25p update to the Canon 5d Mark II; this is crucial and I will now be keeping the camera I [...]
[...] On a related note, the 5D mk ii will get a firmware upgrade in the next few months according to Canon to allow 24 and 25 fps. See the press release. [...]
5DMarkII???24P?25P???...
5D2???24P?25P????????????????24P???????60P?
“?????5D Mark II??????????????????????????????24P?25P????”??????????2010??????????????????????
????????Canon in Australia via FXGUIDE
Canon has given advance notice of an upgrade to the movie-rela...
[...] [...]
Awesome news! I wish it were a little sooner though 🙂
[...] FXGUIDE:
[...] news for 5DMKII owners via PhilipBloom and fxguide - the firmware upgrade rumor / announcement enabling the camera to shoot 25P and [...]
[...] Read more here. [...]
[...] FX Guide ← Older Posts [...]
[...] other news,
Does is fix the 30P? 29.97 FPS to fix the currently 30 FPS which doesn't match up to any camera for synching?
Muchas gracias por este peazo de fxguide en espa
"World
The EOS 7D seems like a cool update to APS-C sensor sized camera's as well
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09090105canoneos7d.asp
[...] difficult, and the camera is limited to 30 frames per second only. However, that will change with a firmware release expected early next year which will offer 24p and 25p, and the third-party firmware Magic Lantern [...]
[...] difficult, and the camera is limited to 30 frames per second only. However, that will change with a firmware release expected early next year which will offer 24p and 25p, and the third-party firmware Magic Lantern [...]
Thomas Koch - we answer that question on this weeks Red Centre podcast with Stu M. who has shot with the 1D (and 5D MkII) - the answer boils down to the use of the word Professional... the 5D and 7D are not considered Pro cameras by Canon - a point we discuss !
fxguide's Red Centre podcast is under podcasting on the main page
Mike
[...] ASSIMILATE announces ROCKET FUEL [...]
friend to Red Centre Tyler Ginter has deployed 20 5D'2s into battle with the US military for months on months now, through fire fights, rain and dust NOT ONE has even had a glitch, fail or need to be replaced or sent back to the factory.. and theyre soon to expand the inventory to 100 units. Sorry canon but despite your own marketing spin you HAVE made a pro camera
jason
Great job 🙂
[...] REDCentre-Extensive Interview: Red and the Epic-X Tattoo [...]
[...] Just came across a ‘quick take’ article about our Bridgestone Gecko work on fxguide: Bridgestone by RedCartel. [...]
Great deal .
just keep up the good thinking and work and creativity..............
Many people underrate the power of open source and free software.
good interview
We know Blender can be a powerful bit of software from some of the work some great artist have produced. I just hope they final do get that god awful UI sorted version 2.5
I've really got my fingers crossed for 2.5
gran idea estamos, lo estabamos deseando!
I don't understand why they reproject on 3D. Instead they can place de cameras in the right angle and place.
thanks for a great podcast very informative, is there any similar society like this for digital artists in the UK?
because of the free movement of the in-car camera.
the advantage with reprojecting it on 3d is that you can use the in-car camera as the main camera.
if you projekt the background on 2 cards and the in-car camera would for example rotate 90
Great! I guess time has come.
Anyone know about specs and price?
I hope Flame and Flare are following to Smoke on OSX.
Well now, this has been cooking at Autodesk R&D for quite some time now... good to know you were part of the invite list to evaluate it. I expect a comprehensive review, warts and shiny bits and all!
The question is, what will it be missing? Unlike flare which is a companion to Flame (and a flame is required), I hope they don't cripple it with either 1) requiring a Smoke 2K license, 2) stripping necessities like batch and I/O. There is a reason it is $100K cheaper, and it's not the hardware.
i think thats awesome and a good new for many people, i hope know more about this surprise from autodesk.
I still don't see the point. If you chuck out the money for a smoke does it matter what OS it runs on? It did not bother me when it was IRIX, now its Linux. It could be OS/2 and I would not care as long as it hooks up to the network and interoperates with everything else.
I used to spend less than 1% of my time in the OS when working on IFF... Maybe I am missing something. The koolaid?
-k
Great news ! The point is : Hopefully they will offer it as a software only option and reduce drastically the price. They would make a total takeover of the desktop editing/finishing. Same for Flare eventually and grab the high-end desktop compositing as well.
I also don't see the point... So it can run on MAC now? So what? Does it make it a better product?
I don't even know anybody using this line of products anymore! Everybody seems to have moved to Nuke and Fusion by now.
[...] FXguide breaks news solidifying the rumours of Autodesk Smoke which will
Does this mean I could work from home?
Miltos, how well does Nuke and Fusion hold up in client supervised sessions?
Have you done it using Nuke? Is Nuke/Fusion good at versioning? I don't know,
just curious.
en özel kameralı web cam sohbet sitesi olan omegla web cam sohbet sitesi
chat sohbet odaların en güzel sohbet odası chatraw sitesi
Hopefully Autodesk will continue to expand there m&e products to Mac... Lustre!!!???
My guess... 10K with limited tool set.
Autodesk still has to sell the gear for those of us in big school.
Probably just like the first linux version
which was SD only. So my guess is Smoke HD for OSX with limited feature
Maybe they are testing Lustre, too. Definitely good news for Mac users.
My guess on the price is ~$30K maybe a bit less.
Lustre was running on osx from the beginning, Autodesk did market it at some point like a feature for DP on set. I saw it at NAB few years ago. But they give it up, I guess, as they find out that DP are not interested in the colorist job "on the go" . Before it became a Discreet/Autodesk Product it was running on OS X.
They should make sure Smoke has all the feature set and sell it 5000$ They could potentially sell 1 million copy . . . . Like FCS . instead of what 800 copy -Max- at 120 K ?
They have to face it , whatever you use Final cut, Avid, Premiere most of editing are done on OS X on Mac Pro or Macbook Pro .
Good news for Autodesk and the mac platform
We will address a bunch of these questions very soon... we are under NDA/embargo for the moment but rest assured John will do a full run down soon and I think you guys will be really pleased with his coverage.
Mike
I'm not too excited yet as it's autodesk so they are bound to mess things up as usual, wonder if it comes with all the bugs as well, the software would probably fit on a floppy if it was not for all the bugs.
My guess is +100K and you can only buy 40 seats at a time on a blue moon while whistling the stars spangled banner when it's snowing in the Sahara (which is not that uncommon) between 19.00 and 1901 UTC on a Wednesday night.
And it'll probably only run on a G3.
Just my thoughts, cheers.
Good luck using your unix mentality to describe how to use Smoke to a Mac user. I would think Smoke would be far too complicated a shift. It's kind of strange to bring a overly complex, vertical market app to a consumer/social platform. Smoke will be a tinker toy at best - also, No Mac user will pay that kind of money for software.
I don't know, I think Autodesk's starting to come to grips with the fact that they own a whole lot of software with similar features... and these programs are already written with the development costs covered. I mean, think about it, they've become the one company in the industry that can offer end-to-end solutions.
So you're a compositor and interested in Toxik. Well, you get Maya for free! Or you're into 3D, look you get Toxik and Matchmover. Expanding on these ideas seems like a great way to increase market share. Something like, "For $15k you get a copy of Smoke, and we'll throw in Toxik and Maya for free!"
At this point (and yes I realize their systems customer service is very high, hence the price) the only people they have to upset by lowering Smoke and Flame prices are the people who own Smoke and Flame... bring it to the masses and I'm sure customers will line up for it, and keep the higher cost customer service for those who need it.
which means that apple is gonna kill FCP just like they killed shake .. ?
[...] FX Guide , que cita fuentes de la compa
Why release the news now?
Well, I just hope they include "Pro" somewhere in the title, so there's no confusion about the quality of the product. 🙂
That's great and all, but...when is 3d max for OS X coming up?
Thanks Guys!! Really Awesome this ep.
I love this kind of episode, where you show some incredible vfx breakdowns and tips, It always inspire me.
Downloading...
I have been waiting a long time for this and I'm very happy. When I worked for discreet I remember saying we needed a scaled down version of smoke (less expensive) which would to get more people trained on smoke and help capture a growing market. Bring the technology within everyones reach. 🙂
Easily one of the best episodes of fxguidetv! What an incredible workflow for doing something Nuke wasn't even designed to do. Having a fully animated character moving through 3D space really changes everything. Is a position pass something one can generate from any RenderMan compliant renderer or is that also something they developed in-house? I have been working on my own project recently using basic 3D character rigs to help create more interesting lighting reference and elaborate camera movement for 2d hand-drawn animation. Even a tool that gave basic reference to the 3d character's position in worldspace would be incredibly useful.
Thanks for the fantastic video and info you guys are all amazing!
Fantastic write up. I completely agree about the value of original content these days. To be honest I have never even listened to one of the podcasts in the sense of subscribing in iTunes
and listening there. I much prefer using an RSS reader (Google Reader in my case) to keep track of and essentially archive the interesting content I find as well as keeping up go date with my favorite content providers. I also know that when I first found fxguide I was almost upset that I hadn't been to the site before as it was the first site I had discovered with people that actually seemed to get it. I guess my point is about the importance of having many outlets for people to choose from when it comes to gettng new content. Either way I really appreciate the amount of original content you all bring to the table.
Thorsten I don't think anyone underestimates the power of Free or open source software. Many studios use a huge amount of open sources tools and scripts. Don't mistake people's assessments of Blender as a general commentary on the quality of open source--it's largely a judgement on the quality of blender.
the price will be $17k for the software
SINGLE stream of video - no RT FX
no word on if it talks to AJA or anyone else's video I/O, but that would be a safe bet
"resolution limited" - whatever that means. HD ? 2K ? we'll see
no word on the :"service contract" or anything else yet, guess we'll just have to wait
its not a bad idea, but it sounds pretty crippled too. its not like a 8core mac doesn't have the hp to fly along. not sure if this is a 1.0 limitation, or if ts a marketing driven one to get you to buy into a "real" system. also expect that they will try to sell it with VERY overpriced storage that will easily double the price, and expect you'll need a new loaded mac + q4800 card, and easy $5k machine. so I think it will total out towards $50k, which is still overpriced. OTH avid DS is up there, so we'll see how this works out. certainly they have felt the economic pinch over the last two years and have to do something to open up new markets as a bunch of upper end post houses have gone away 🙁
Great episode. The idea of warping 2d footage over a point cloud is really very clever. I want to know the same thing as Andrew, do most renderers output a position pass?
It would be great to see something like this tool in a future release of Nuke.
In reference to the comment #5 about OS versions. In comparison, Linux is the professional operating system, and is more powerful than OSX. I think of it as a stick shift sport car, compared to an automatic car. Snow Leopard may be able to finally take advantage of 64 bit, but as someone who has worked in software development, my observation is that programs that run on Linux are still faster, and more protected from viruses than anything else out there.
Performance comparisons between systems, everything included (storage, OSX, and software) will be very interesting.
Truly inspiring!
I think many are missing the possibilities this opens up for smoke development.
I'm thinking that autodesk can now leverage a full and proper QuickTime API for smoke. So, supporting new codecs (such as prores) won't require reinventing the wheel. There isn't support for this from apple under Linux. And what about that little RED thing people keep talking about... I'm guessing it might be an easier foundation to develop with on the mac since RED seems to favor the Mac for software dev.
Also, this allows a smoke op. access to the ultimate set of "plug-ins" all o. The same box: the Adobe applications. No need to purchase/maintain a separate workstation just to have access to Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, etc. Ditto for the Final Cut apps.
Networking, SAN setup, working with external disks - all of this is easier on a mac. I'd rather be building a nice batch comp than referencing notes on how to mount/unmount disks from the command line. OS X makes that stuff simple so that I can get to the task at hand, which would be making that impossible deadline with all of the last minute revisions typical of most client-driven edit sessions.
I don't understand why people are assuming this will be some sort of cripple-ware compared to a present-day smoke system. The hardware (hp vs. apple) is already the same, as are the I/O components (AJA Kona3, nvidia gpu). There is no longer anything exotic about a smoke except for the smoke software itself. All of the hardware is essentialy commodity pc parts that van be found in anything, really. Stones aren't special, either - it's just a fast and expensive RAID unit. No magic to be had there. The stone FS is proprietary but is clearly on its way out as newer hp workstations running redhat enterprise 5 don't support stone FS. Standard FS configs seems to be the way autodesk is going these days (and I'm thankful for it!).
I'll be watching this development from autodesk with great interest as I think it opens up a lot of good things for smoke.
-Matt
Hello Matt, I don't think anyone here is missing the possibilities, it's just Autodesk keeps missing opportunities, and know doubt they will miss this one.
cheers.
I've waited many years for this. Finally, desktop users can get their hands on the best conform tool ever made. If this pushes Apple to kill FCP like they did Shake, the world will be a much better place.
Matt and Andrew-
I think Apple is in the same boat as Autodesk with 'Missing Opportunities'. Or is at least close.
A huge plus to apple if they can use it to keep and generate more MGFX/Film Clients by broadening there hardware support (NVidia SDI Cards anyone...).
Don't know who raised the "Smoke to Nuke/Fusion" switch point, but doing editorial work in both Nuke or Fusion is for crazy people.
Smoke it's a great system but aside the advantage of not needing a assist station to fire up a After Effects, PS or something like that I see no point of having Smoke running on OSX unless a drastic price drop becomes a reality.
In turnkey systems like these the OS in which they are running are the least important bit of the equation in my opinion. As long they are able to talk with the rest of your pipeline it shouldn't matter too much if it's Irix, Linux, Windows, OSX or Chrome OS 😛
I also bet that Smoke will become more unstable since it will now start to run in a system where people usually have way more apps installed and being run simultaneously.
Anyway... let's see how that rolls.
seen the movie ur job is superb,fentastic,marvelous,mindblowing, ihave never seen this kind of tough work in my experience
[...] smoke on mac: yes, it
its pretty easy to output a point position pass from most 3d software. In rib complient renderers most will have an AOV option by default. In mental ray you can use this technique:
http://www.zanity.co.uk/clientsites/spherevfx/html/nukeTech.html#question5
It sounds like it's finaly possible to build a nice smooth VFX workflow without #%&@! quicktime files on a mac..
smoke -> Nuke -> smoke -> HDSR
cheers
wiretap on a mac too? better quicktime workflow.
Comment from Matt:
"I
comment from Alan:
"Because this is Autodesk we
@Joejoe: Re: smoke -> nuke -> smoke -> HDSR...
Dude, Nuke runs on Linux already. That potential workflow isn't new.
I will go on record as saying I wet my pants a little bit when I watched this vids. One of my mates was a compositor on D9 and he said they stuff they got to work with was amazing.
Well done to everyone who worked on the movie, especially the Image Engine team.
Well I too wished
I wouldn't say on Combustion's price range, but 10-30k range would be ok I think.
It's a shame tho that no one had the guts to develop a standard container format along the lines of what OpenEXR became to replace QuickTime. Being a hostage of Apple isn't cool at all. Everybody complains about Microsoft but Apple is just as bad.
Now... over the Flare topic I would say it's a pretty cripple down software only solution for it's price and conditions. Not to mention that the dumbest time one can spend in a Flame is doing I/O and yet Flare doesn't solves that. You leave your full fledge seat of Flame doing the I/O while comping on a laptop in the cripple down mini-flame version... doesn't make much sense.
Also 40k for a single license of a app that ends up becoming a assist seat that you can only buy after you already paid for a full Flame is kind of a outrageous. 12k would be way more than enough.
Bottom line is Flame, Inferno and Smoke only make sense if you deal with really tiny deadlines and commercial work that demand quick turnarounds. Anything that has a gestation period superior to a month, involves loads of passes and 32bit float processing can be accomplished using other tools that are far cheaper and deliver the same results (or better).
absolute genius on the pointclouds, very happy to have seen this [email protected] and to re-watch!
Well Joe,
I said that Flare is working on laptop not because you should use it only that way. You can take a new HP Z800 or Z600 with a quadro fx 1800 and you will have an extra seat fast as your main Flame for a fraction of cost. And you can double the speed of work if you have two artist working in same time on same project. So that's why they put Flare on market. It don't compete with any software, it is just extra power for who need it.
About I/O, there is a lot of ways to free your Flame of it if you have to. There is a Backdraft Conform ( a Smoke without effects) with full library and project sharing, so it can ingest and playout while Flame and Flare do their magic. A new Smoke on Mac will be another way of freeing your Flame of I/O if you really need it. Or you could use tether or stonegate to access your Flame storage for import and I/O from low cost Macs or PCs.
And you are right, If you have a lot of time you can work on something cheaper, but a week or two of fcp + ae + c4d + shake could cost more than a day or two in smoke or flame suite, and it wouldn't be always better when done cheaper.
I'd like to see what will happen when all that talented artist who had to juggle between fcp, ae, c4d, shake and motion put their hands on smoke on Mac. And when tutorials websites start to help us learning it.
Joe, I'm assuming you've not used a Flare, right?
We are in the middle of a huge delivery of shots for a major film, and I have to say that for this kind of work, (film work) Flare rocks!
My colleague, who is using it, loves it and I have to say, barring editing work,(which we don't do), I really wouldn't miss the desktop,(apart from the warper!), image import/export is there, (good for us), I haven't used video IO in over a year, so that's not an issue, the only downside is the lack of archiving, but with good working practices, you can work around that, however I would LOVE bgd archiving.
People have made opensource replacements for qucktime but the trouble is none of the editing packages(avid, apple, adobe) or the camera manufacturers are going to jump on that bandwagon except for the very highend of both which makes up a very small percentage of the market.
Nuke + VFXDesktop, nothing else needs to be said.
A.S.
Hey Paul, hey Waske!
I do understand that Flare is great and all, but it's price tag is a bit to salty for my taste, not for what it does, but for where it fits. It's a great app that justifies it's price if you work with commercials with really short deadlines that at some stage get centralized in one person/station during comp stages. For feature films or films with longer deadlines where things tend to run in parallel and rely on more people I really don't see a point in using Flare. For it's price (software alone) you can deploy two workstations running Nuke and do more with a much lower maintenance cost.
In those type of scenarios the integration with a Flame means little (to not say nothing), specially if you're dealing with things that Flame doesn't cope that well like loads of passes in OpenEXR (half/float) coming from 3D, etc.
In the end it's all a matter of how you work and how the market is evolving. Things are getting cheaper and cheaper, clients want to pay less and less while works keep getting more complex in higher definitions demanding more people. So Autodesk is just responding to that in their own way. Not perfect but at least they are stepping out from the pedestal that they like to see them selves.
Price wise I still think they need to do a reality check. If they want to keep that old price they need to deliver more and start to implement stuff that most have been requesting for the past decade.
@alanS:
VFXDesktop looks great but from what I heard it's really, really far from being comparable to Flame's desktop, Scratch's Construct or the likes in terms of stability and being ready for prime time. If it's development keeps at the current pace it will reach it's maturity in two/three years. Not to mention that for it to be largely adopted it will have to be ported over to Linux and OSX as well.
But the guy behind VFXDesktop did indeed tackle into a long standing hole for lower price software only solutions, and I'm really looking forward to see how that goes.
@Deke:
That's a real shame, because we shouldn't have to rely on QuickTime or Apple's will to get things done. Apple is worst than Microsoft when it comes to certain things, and their lack of respect for other platforms and people that have to deal with mixed environments is pretty mind boggling.
i really dont think this as a good news....
smoke linux ships with hardware support
is smoke on mac going to b shipped with mac system or just the software ?
if we would only have to install the software on mac like fcp then there will b cracked versions out in market n those will spread everywhere ...
evey tom dikk n harry will work on cracked smoke on his laptop n that would just ruin a smoke artist career ..
WHAT WILL AUTODESK DO TO PREVENT A CRACK SOFTWARE ?????
IF IT WILL B CRACKED THEN WE WILL C IT WORKING ON EVERY SYSTEM N LAPTOP N SMOKE WOULD LOOSE ITS GLORY N EQ WOULD EMERGE AGAIN....
PLZ DONT MAKE IT FREE ACCESSIBLE.....
Smoke on OSX for $14995!!
Smoke+Nuke Win, im so happy !!
by autodesk twitter (@autodesk)
http://twitter.com/autodesk
if people crack the smoke it will just be a bunch of people with illegal copies of software that they dont know how to use, if anything making the smoke available for osx is going to ensure its future
[...] fxguide quick takes
@SMOKER
Those using cracked version aren't really clients of autodesk from start, I don't think they would get more copies sold if it couldn't be cracked. Those who affords it buys it, those who doesn't afford it don't buy it, they might crack it, and yes that could mean that there would be more smoke artists in the world(which is a good thing, isn't it?), but what does autodesk really loose on it? Sounds like you concider smoke artists being presidents, or are you just jelous if more people use it?
Word. I don't know how to use Smoke... Yet. But I know a lot of software and techniques. This will just be a new, more powerfull set of buttons to press. Hell yes I will use a crack, to learn it, to get more gigs. People writing that "they won't know how to use it" guff are deluded. It's like all the Avid editors who talk about how FCP isn't professional. Yes it is and I cut on both and make more money. Software = buttons; that's it. You have to know how you want the project to look, know techniques to achieve the desired look, and then how to get your software to do it: in that order. Don't be scared Smoke artists.
First of all, thanks for this episode, really interesting to see where Autodesk might be going with their system prodcuts.
I hate to say though, it felt a bit like an Autodesk promotional video and not so much like an independent review. Lack of Sparks support is a big deal in my opinion. So is lack of realtime deliverables. Also, no mention of how Network and Library are supported. Will it have read/write access to framestores? What about realtime preview on an external broadcast monitor? On Linux it only works in SD resolution with the Aja card. Furthermore, and this is a big one, what about RED support? Is wiretapgateway available on OSX? How about support for RED Rocket? fxguide and fxphd deal with RED material all the time so I'm really surprised this wasn't even touched on in this episode.
I realize you're under NDA, but if you know Flame or Smoke just a little bit, there isn't much information you will get from watching this.
Hoping for a more in depth coverage soon ... and a release date would be nice, too.
Just one quick precision.... A single 30-inch monitor is going to be supported so it is not limited to 1920x1200, which is the minimum requirement.
Give me Smoke and Flare for 30K and I'm sold.
Lack of real time deliverables it unfortunate. FCP has been able to do downconverts on the fly for years. I'm pretty sure I heard wiretap was going to be included as well as RED.
Kevin, were wiretapgateway and RED mentioned in the video? Did I miss that part? Or did you here it somewhere else?
Let's see what Scratch will do then...
I appreciate your comment about the video...thanks for taking the time. But in fairness it wasn't intended to be a hard core review of the app -- we generally don't do that type of thing on fxguidetv. It was actually to provide facts and information about how the new product fits in the Autodesk product line and dispel some of the misinformation out there. Also, the product hasn't been released so we couldn't really do a full review even if we wanted to.
I did additionally try to explain some of the "smoke" concepts but that was because we had a lot of people asking what smoke was. That was actually a tough ask. I didn't want to spend the entire ep going over all features which are in smoke....I had to cut stuff out of the segment. So instead of listing every single feature of smoke that is in the product, it was easier to say this is the base level of smoke *without*...". And Marc Hamaker also listed the main things that were missing such as Realtime Deliverables, Batch, etc.
So to answer your questions....
"Also, no mention of how Network and Library are supported. Will it have read/write access to framestores?"
It's smoke, so you have network, library, and collaboration between machines.
"What about realtime preview on an external broadcast monitor? On Linux it only works in SD resolution with the Aja card."
Yes. But you're incorrect that on linux it only works in SD resolution. Linux smoke supports HD resolution and so does smoke on mac.
"Is wiretapgateway available on OSX?"
Yep...along with wiretap central which enables R3D support and all the other features of wiretape central.
"How about support for RED Rocket?"
That's not available on any of the linux products. I think I'm ok to say that also means it's not available on OSX.
"Release Date?"
Not allowed to discuss due to NDA.
Again -- it was tough to go through the checklist of things...so I decided to summarize and say this is smoke without RTD, batch, etc. Speaking of RTD, we have real-time deliverables in house and actually don't use the functionality (as do several others I know). I didn't think it was a big deal that it wasn't in the software, so I didn't think it needed more mention.
As far as being positive about the development, yeah I am. I don't really have a lot bad to say about it. They just dropped the price of a very powerful app to about 35% of the original price. As an owner of smoke already, I can clearly say a business can make their money back on this investment. It's not for everyone, but a serious business owner knows the financial hit is such a small one for the benefit you get.
It's a very good first step in dealing with the reality of the business climate....and we'll see this evolve. Well, actually, Flare was the first step, but this is a better step.
[...] do Marcelo Juli
You say it can do SDI preview - Can it also do SDI to and from tape with the AJA board?
If it cant do that, a lot of facilities will have a hard time justifying it.
Talking about price. It would seem that meeting the system requirements of Smoke on OSX, you'd be getting pretty close (but still less) to the cost of an entry level Smoke turnkey. (I'm assuming that the specs listed come in around $30k and up depending on storage -and if I'm correct, a base model Smoke is around $40k?): So the question is, is the big benefit of Smoke on OSX more about platform and workflow, or price? thoughts?
-mike
You say it can do SDI preview
As you said, John: platform and workflow and price... Nice.
And I'm going to call this new product sMak, drawing inspiration from you!
This elicits the vibe I have when I think about this news... slap palm to forehead (sMak!) and say "what took Autodesk so long???"
The interview criticism.... meh. You have a wide audience to hit with this info, and had to strike a balance. I learned stuff about QTKit being partly 32bit, struggling with limited nVidia drivers, and about tackling paint, so hats off to you for revealing the challenges faced by a developer. Efforts by companies such as Autodesk push Apple to improve their platform, and the post community enjoys the rewards.
Well done!
Congratulations on this excellent report !
Great move from Autodesk M&E !
This is a game changer. I am buying, no doubt. Now bring Flame and Flare to the masse.
Good Job FXGuide.
Ok so you can't see in RT what you are doing on a 2nd external monitor in realtime/playback in HD then ?
You will get RT playback of the sMak (Smoke on Mac) library/deskarea on the confidence monitor hooked up to the Kona3's output.
However, you will not get RT playback if there is a dependency on the realtime deliverables (RDT) functionality from the library/deskarea, such as 3/2 pulldown insertion or other timing variable handling.
Will sMak leverage the Kona3 for downconvert/crossconvert on output of the lib/desk instead of depending on RTDs? John, you've had the beta...
My opinion... if you need downstream RTDs, and you really really want sMak, put a Harris X75 on the Kona3 outputs and that should get you 98% of RTDs.
John... is the limitation of no RTDs in sMak due to the price positioning of this product, or a result of porting the X11 code to Mac?
David.., RTD on linux is done by GPU. Linux use quadro with SDI output, and unfortunately there is no support for that cards on Mac, blame it on Apple, not on Autodesk.
It could change in future 🙂
I would like to know if it can open clips created on unix flames and smokes and render them.
oh, I forgot, thank you John!! great job!!!
Anyone have any info on running the Quaddro 4800 or the 5600 on a mac? I've heard there are issues.
In response to John and David, live preview on a broadcast monitor via the Aja card only works up to SD resolution on current linux systems. There's also a slight delay involved because this goes via readback preview device. That's why, I assume, your Smoke HD Linux system has an Nvidia SDI daughter board. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think I am.
So the question is, do we get live preview up to HD resolution in Smoke OSX, and don't you consider this a critical feature? I think everyone would agree it is.
As for RED Rocket, I know it's not supported on Linux, but it's supported by FCP and a bunch of other applications on OSX. And Smoke will have to compete with these, at least as far as editing functionality goes. RED import via Wiretapcentral is fine, but it's far away from realtime.
I'm a Flame artist myself and I love the workflow, the toolset and the whole philosophy behind the system products. I appreciate every move Autodesk makes to keep these systems alive and improve them. The move to OSX is a step in the right direction, and even the price point is almost alright.
But I would have preferred to hear more from your experience with the new software John, and less from Autodesk. I don't expect them to point out shortcomings in the software and it's functionality. It's simply a question of credibility.
Nice video, John!
Ares, you're wrong about the current state of things. The live preview on my HP 8400 (almost 3 years old now I think) does HD just fine. There's a slight delay, but you just set your audio offset in the preferences and everything syncs up fine for in-suite playback. Maybe the now-EOL'ed IBM workstations only do SD, but the HP's do HD just fine. I have no clue about the OS X version, though.
I totally agree about sparks being needed, though. I'm sure they'll come in time!
It's my first time watching fxguideTV and the show looks great.
I'd be curious to know what the inherent advantages are over existing tools on the Mac (AVID, FCP). I'm familiar with Flame, Maya and other Autodesk products, but I think it would be useful to explore some of the advantages Smoke has. It's an exciting time, and I hope Autodesk continues to bring great products to the platform.
One of the best parts of the show was the discussion w/ the developer. It's rare you see such a low-level conversation about software porting. I'm involved in a couple of projects on the mac regarding QuickTime and could relate to the frustrations with 64-bit QTKit and limited support for functionality only available in 32bit.
one pet peeve, however -- it's "OS 10", not "OS EX" 😉
Keep up the great work! You've definitely got a new fan of the podcast.
Brian, are you sure you're not using a Miranda DVI Ramp for live preview?
[...] finishing” system Smoke over to the Macintosh platform. The rumors are true and the ever informative fxguide broke the story a few days ago. Yesterday they posted a new episode of fxguide tv, episode 72: An exclusive, in-depth look at the [...]
I appreciate the overview of what Smoke really is but I still just don't get it. I understand the realtime functionality, I understand the software is quite powerful and has features other systems do not. But I just don't think something like this is really necessary for many people at all.
There is a reason people have been moving into less expensive hardware and software. . . it is about the creativity! Half the fun is making the tools you have suit what you want to accomplish, and doing it creatively. Realtime and especially client attended workflow is just completely backwards I think, it is often the lack of realtime feedback that drives unique and innovative methods of working. This is just the absolute Brute Force method of doing things. Throwing all this functionality into one package just doesn't make sense to me.
The days of buying hardware to attract clients is just silly, if I ever had someone tell me they wanted to work with be because of my awesome gear I would probably punch them in the face. ^_^
Now I am as big a geek as the best of them, but that is my own personal business, not a clients. Someone should hire you to do work because of what you can offer them creatively, not technically, unless you are an engineer, then by all means.
I enjoyed the episode, I really did, and would love to get feedback on what I am saying to maybe get a clearer picture, as I don't claim to be an expert on the post industry, but I think it is 100% systems like this that drive the ridiculous deadlines that are seen now a days and I just don't understand their place anymore.
Do people really need something like this to make interesting work in this field? I would not want a client telling me directly what to do ever, that is totally missing the point of hiring someone else to create things for you. Even if the intention is the ability to immediately collaborate, screw that, clients hire people to utilize their own expertise, and don't really have any business telling a creative team they hire how to edit, composite, animate, etc.
Sorry for being such a whiner, please put me in my place if necessary. Thanks for the information!
I totally agree with Andrew. This product reminds me of how the post production business was done 7 or 10 years ago. I thought that the days the client was sitting next to the compositor in order to tell them what to do were over but from the discussion here i see that it is still happening!
The client still wants fast results and that is understandable but nowadays it's not so easy to impress with visual FX like it used to be. Shots are much more complex and need much more work and time. Certainly having a realtime machine helps but that's only part of the equation. A very small part.
FX work has become so complex that client input during the procedure had become minimal or even useless. That's why i see them less and less during the post production time. Actually, the last couple of years i only see them at the end when they have to evaluate the results.
So, what's the excitement about the release for something like Smoke? Do post production houses really need and willing to pay so much money for something like that?
It's really all about time. There are some things that can take a long time in the likes of AE (and I'm a confirmed fan of that app') that can be turned around in a fraction of that time on Smoke. It's also about having your toolset integrated, there's everything you need to finish a project right there in one application (apart from 3d tracking), again this saves a ton of time.
My reality is that time is now the all important factor in turning round quality work in the schedules that currently exist. That may not be the case for others.
I think this is a killer product, and a great move by Autodesk.
Angus
But will it run on my laptop? 😉
if yes.. floating license would be cool..
maybe I should've watched the ep first.. 😉
I honestly haven't looked at Smoke for some time, and I find the whole concept of SMac intriguing... Is there any limitation on supported resolutions? ie is the OSX software capped at HD and will not support 2K editorial? I heard from an Autodesk reseller that you need to go to Smoke Advanced to support 2K, but I can't find anything on the Autodesk website that supports this claim.
[...] has more detailed coverage on the autodesk smoke release for the macintosh on
Agree John, it is indeed a much better step than Flare when it comes to getting in touch with the current reality.
Let's see if how that pans out in the next months 😉
Daryl - there's no resolution restriction. You can mix 8K with SD in your timeline if you want. The linux products used to be called Smoke HD and Smoke 2K but now their just Smoke and Smoke Advanced with the difference being Smoke Advanced has Batch, a node based effects pipeline. Smoke for OS X is similar to Smoke (no Batch). The differences are basically due to things we couldn't port easily. For instance the Linux Nvidia graphics cards support SDI output but the same cards on Mac don't. We use the SDI out to support RTD and broadcast preview on Linux. On the Mac we were able to get broadcast preview working via the AJA Kona card but we couldn't get RTD (Real time deliverables) working for version one. So no RTD on the Mac (for now!).
Thanks very much for the clarification Sheila.
Sheila, does broadcast preview work for SD and HD resolutions?
Sheila,
It was very informative hearing you speak of using OpenGL FBO to emulate the Hardware Overlay Planes and the possibility of future Autodesk applications being able to use cheaper GPUs. I have a few questions regarding this. The Quadro FX 4800 is listed as supporting Hardware Overlay Planes... so why was there a need to emulate this function? Was this emulation the reason for having realtime playback capability out to Kona 3 SDI also?
Hey Sheila,
is it possible to output on Smoke OSX 2k or 4k files ?
Is there a restriction on output ?
Thanks
Philip,
Yes it is possible, there is no resolution restriction on output.
Hey Ares -- I was moving the office the last couple days, so wasn't able to respond. Let me respond to some of your comments and clear up some misinformation for you which might be helpful. Also, I suggest you contact your local Autodesk sales person or reseller -- they might be able to give you more current information.
It
Perfecto, adelante!, y muchos episodios.
I think the discussion from Andrew and Miltos is an interesting one and indeed, it's a question I ask myself constantly - "What is it really about Smoke that makes it so special that we can warrant the higher hourly rate to our clients?"
Most of what you can do on Smoke is achievable by mixing other systems - AE, Photoshop, FCP (with Colour etc.)and Avid. My editor and design colleagues constantly ask me "what's so special about this piece of kit?"
I think Smoke is sold on it's "client attended" functionality and it's true, it is fast and has brilliant "online" tools but to me, fundamentally, it's that it's speed, tactillity and above all, it's responsiveness simply makes it an unbelievably creative tool - that's the hard thing to explain to clients and colleagues - strangely. It's the fact that you can try things out, throw ideas around and explore and investigate so quickly and easily. It doesn't matter if you go down the wrong road with an idea visually or technically because you can realise your mistake early on, change your technique or rip up your idea and start again. You won't have wasted much time and the client (if they're with you - imparting their priceless helpful hints) won't start to twitch too much. So many other systems have a "stickiness" to their UI which I feel places a barrier between me and what I want to achieve. In my experience even high end systems like Quantel eQ aren't quite as responsive during the creative process (although they are more powerful in other ways). And as mentioned by others, having all your tools in one package is a wonderful freedom. I suppose the relevance to this dicussion would be the question of how well Smoke performs on Mac in its interactive responsiveness? I realise that it depends on your system but, if it performs in a sticky way, it will have lost a lot of its magic and appeal for me. John Mont - what's your impression?
What is it about smoke? Your post, Nial, really fits in with the way I think about it. And the question is certainly a valid one to ask.
It is hard to quantify, but so much of it comes down to having integrated tools within a single application. From a creative standpoint, each tool standing on it's own probably has some other tool in another application that is comparable or better. But it is so easy to quickly try things out...different versions...experiment, etc. While artists often speak of client interaction, I mostly work unsupervised so what it does is give me the opportunity to wander down several path and experiment. Sometimes those paths cause be to leave the app and do work in After Effects or track in SynthEyes/PFTrack, etc. But to have very solid vfx and compositing tools such as masking, tracking, grading, etc within the app is incredibly freeing. I find when working in Final Cut that the tools in the app just don't measure up to the standards I expect. Simply compare the masking tools and you see what I mean.
I would actually say that more recently I spend more of my time on a mac workstation with AE, FCP, Nuke, or other apps instead of being on flame or smoke. This just happens to be a financial consideration and how often the smoke room is use by the Hootenanny folks who I'm housed with. So i'm pretty versed in being able to compare moving between desktop apps and working within Smoke/Flame.
One thing I hope about our possible class at fxphd is that over a course of 10 lessons, artists can be exposed to the app who otherwise haven't had the opportunity to be at a facility and see what smoke is all about. I hope it's eye-opening. It's not perfect....there are bugs just like any other app....but it is pretty outstanding at what it does. And as I said in fxguidetv, I'm happy that Autodesk is making this move....I think it's a strong one...but as they say, time will tell.
Ares - as John pointed out, preview is in SD and HD. That was a big chunk of the porting work, getting enough performance for 2 streams HD (disolves) on the preview.
Philip - like Andrae pointed out, there's no restriction on file based output. Of course output to tape is limited to video resolutions.
Andrae, good question about the hardware overlays. You're right, all the Nvidia Quardro FX cards (5600, 4800, etc) support hardware overlay. The Linux and Windows drivers let you access this but the Mac drivers don't. Hardware manufacturers like ATI and Nvidia write their low level graphics drivers and Apple puts their OpenGL, Core Graphics and Core Video layers on top of that. Apple is very stringent with their graphics interface - see their Human Interface Guidelines for details: http://tinyurl.com/ybnp85b. High end features like overlays and SDI output are not supported by Apple because they want to give a consistent user experience regardless of your hardware.
Sheila thanks for your answer to my questions, your responses greatly help to clarify things. Would I be correct in believing that without the emulation of hardware overlay planes... realtime preview out to KONA SDI would not be possible? A more direct question would be... how did your team cross the hurdle of getting enough performance for 2 streams HD (dissolves) on the preview? I would like to know if the hardware overlay emulation correlated to a significant improvement in speed for the SDI out. What are some of the benefits of this emulation method?
Congratulations! Your team did a great job of overcoming obstacles on the Mac platform. Other high end post workflow companies have consistently used these excuses for explaining why they cannot bring their software to the Mac.
Andrae - Having worked in Sheila's team since the beginning the Mac project let me try to clarify a few points.
As Sheila said, the emulation of hardware overlay was done to overcome the fact that the Mac OpenGL driver doesn't support them. It wasn't done for a performance reason and doesn't really gives us any performance gain.
Realtime preview out the the KONA SDI is possible for two main reasons. First, both the Quadro FX 5600 and 4600 are PCI-E second generation cards which give an improved transfer performance. Second, we spent a lot of time improving our code to make sure that we read and write from both the Quadro and KONA cards as efficiently as possible.
I hope it clarify things.
Etienne
Etienne,
Thanks for the further clarification. Both you and Sheila have stated that a big chunk of the porting work was getting SD and HD performance on the preview. Before your team accomplished this successfully, I thought it was an hardware issue and the only solution was Apple supporting the higher end Quadro cards. I'm glad to hear you guys have surmounted this with efficient coding.
Serously, I'm already sold. Can we get an ETA on delivery? Or are we getting all hyped up so we can bring Autodesk stock up and we wait 6onths to get a working copy of SMOKE for MAC?
Please say SMOKE for MAC is ready for delivery soon!!
Hardware overlay plans is a feature that allows you to draw simple "decorations" on top of your main graphics buffer without affecting that buffer. So for instance you can use it to draw a schematic camera icon on top of the scene, and then move that camera icon around without having to redraw the main scene. All high end graphics accelerators supported this feature, which was very useful for CAD applications where redrawing the entire scene would have been too slow for interactive performance. So a lot of software developed for platforms where this feature was available (i.e. SGI) made use of it, and it remains one of the differentiating factors between consumer-level GeForce and pro-level Quadro cards.
The reality is that these days, redrawing the entire scene for each frame is no longer much of a big deal, and even if it is, you can probably stash a copy of the scene in another piece of framebuffer memory, draw your "overlay plane" decordations on top of the scene, and then copy the saved copy of the scene back before drawing updated decorations. So the need for hardware overlays is mainly due to "legacy" code that makes use of them (I believe that Maya still wants overlay planes, although I could be wrong) and doesn't really correspond to something you would want to do if you were writing an application from scratch to take advantage of a modern piece of graphics hardware.
So hardware overlays doesn't really interact with real-time SDI preview. One thing I'll be interested in seeing is how well the preview works in the Paint module: the peculiarities of this module means that on past platforms that didn't have a hardware path from graphics to video out, the broadcast monitor would only get refreshed at the end of a paint stroke, which could be distracting. But there might be enough performance these days to do real-time readbacks from graphics without interfering with paintbrush performance.
None of this takes away from the accomplishments of the team porting Smoke to the Mac: that's a huge amount of code to traverse, deal with all the dependencies on third party code/libraries, adapt to the peculiarities of the platform...
JF
This could be great, thanks for creating this episode and giving us some information on Smoke on Mac.
It's a shame that sparks aren't supported but at least the guys said in the video that they arent supported "yet" so hopefully thats coming. Is there any potential for supporting after effects plug ins as well as the sparks we are familiar with on current Flames / Smokes?
Also I'm curious to know what Autodesk will be doing to try and prevent piracy with this product, will there be a dongle or something that you will need to run Smoke on mac?
"I totally agree with Andrew. This product reminds me of how the post production business was done 7 or 10 years ago. I thought that the days the client was sitting next to the compositor in order to tell them what to do were over but from the discussion here i see that it is still happening!"
In response to Miltos comment, of course that is still happening, sometimes it doesnt make sense for a client to NOT be sitting next to you, if things need to be comped approved and put on air in an hour then it makes more sense for the clients who need to approve the work to be there with you. Not all work in post is beautiful, complicated effects shots that need hours and hours of painstaking work putting into each shot, there is alot of versioning and retail work that needs to be turned around quickly and this is where smoke works very very well. But also it has all the tools to do very complicated work as well if this is whats needed.
JFP - Just wanted to let you know that the paint module on the Mac interacts with the broadcast monitor the same way as on Linux. Meaning that it refreshes on-the-fly and *not* at the end of a paint stroke.
Etienne
Autodesk can not prevent cracked software anymore than Bush can read a newspaper. Cracked versions of Flame have existed since the early days of SGI hardware. It is a fact of life, and like a leaked version of Wolverine, they don't have much impact on the bottom line. Any company doing real business will not get away with using cracked software for long (this town really is quite small). If Autodesk is smart, they will have a EDU version with limited I/O capabilty and plenty of tutorials online.
As far as more Smoke artists, I've heard this often from other Smoke artists. They all think that that if one more person learns Smoke, they will be out of work. While the laws of supply and demand are correct, it is the demand that will increase with the introduction of more Smoke seats. The Smoke artists who are talented will usually rise to the top. They may even make good money. The rest will make less.
Wishing away the realities of the new economy won't make it go away. Change is innevitable, and no, life is not fair. If you are a Smoke artist because you think you can make a lot of money, then you are in it for the wrong reasons. Your reality check is in the mail.
@SMOKER - Stop yelling and buy some vowels.
Regardless of the price, talent is everything, shake is $495, so is combustion, everybody still uses After effects which is $795. The talented users are still making all the big money simple as that. At the end of the day creativity remains king. Smoke will change compositors perceptions initially but when they realize Nuke, shake and AE are easier to use they will realize how important the original smoke users are and why they shelled out $120,000 to buy the system. Using the current version of smoke is like piloting a fighter plane. Smoke on a mac would be like flying a twin engine.
fxguide now making free commercials for Autodesk - sorely disappointed - canceled rss subscription.
Especially with Autodesk more then bad track record of releasing horrendous buggy code on the mac for the last years - toxic? a total joke on the mac - unusable - maya? riddled with so many platform specific bugs - some of them are so obvious (drawing bugs in the interface that have been there for four years!) - even charging a single penny is a rippoff and you promote a completely untested app that costs $15 grand without any kind of fact checking or back asking stingy questions (no dual monitor support? are you freaking kidding me? and they are even talking about a "mac look and feel") or even having your own hands on the unit and just reiterate autodesks press releases and act as a multiplier for for their PR department - journalism this is not - rather pure fanboyism or some black suitcases changed hand - either way - not very ethical way to make a journalistic medium.
que hermosa mujer,!, que presente tambi
like all software, autodesk's is def not perfect. let alone without bugs. and sad to say the majority (if not all software) have bugs.
but one thing is 1000% sure. autodesk has given the cgi industry some of the most powerful tools. decision to use it is free choice.
giving artist freedom to choose from a wider tool set will not only benefit the artist, but the industry as a whole. smoke on mac will definitely benefit "people" as when/if premier/fcp/avid was ported to linux eg.
at the end of the day. if you dont need the software, dont get it. but it doesnt mean that you alone dont need it.
1/2cent
I thought the video was great and provided a glimpse of what smoke on OS X (TEN!) will be. It was not a *review* fALK, just an attempt at getting some info out there to people who were really hungry for it. I trust an actual review will be critical. I will say that Autodesk hasn't necessarily *given* us the best graphics tools in the industry...but they've certainly *acquired* some of the best tools in the industry (they acquired discreet, Maya, XSI, Mudbox, Motion Builder....they even acquired MAX way back when...). Most of this has happened fairly recently and what they do with this wealth of tools remains to be seen.
smoke on OS X was a good move..being able to use an existing system, storage and kona card was an even better move. Still not quite sure why an Quadro is needed given that overlay planes aren't needed (Maya used to have this rather obsolete requirement, it should be dropped unless it's a VRAM thing). smoke plus flare on OS X would be an even better move.
I commend them taking on and developing for Snow Leopard, and it sounds like it is a 64-bit app (if it required 12 megs it is at least...). Now, what I want to know is it fully multi-threaded? If I render out a seq. with a lot of motion blur or time warping are all 8 cores being used? Or are 7 or 8 cores sitting there doing nothing? Because if it's not fully multi-threaded then I will be very disappointed. Every 3D app out there has managed multi-threaded rendering, even AE does (to a degree). smoke really should be able to max out the processing power.
-Greg
The smoke artists whining about their job being in jeopardy really crack me up. Have some confidence people, if you think the only reason you're working is that more competent and talented people simply haven't been able to get their hands on your systems then you need to get better at what you do. Welcome to the real world, welcome to what every Maya, MAX and After FX user has to deal with. Long story short, if you're good you will be working. I still have a hard time finding available *talented* After FX people for projects at my company. While talented people have to deal with layoffs and downturns...at the end of the day talent always wins out. If you're talented you will find work - a lot of it. If there's more smoke systems out there (and people are investing tens of thousands in them) then you can bet they would *love* to have a talented smoke artist available and working on their projects. It takes a couple of years to truly master these systems, think of the head start you have. This is a good thing for everybody.
-Greg
The linux version is fairly multithreaded. It also uses the GPU for a good chunk of its rendering, though, which may be why they're requiring a Quadro. If there are cores sitting idle, it's usually because you're disk or GPU-bound. It's generally quite fast.
very good
Having a finishing system is like having a printing press. it does not make you a good writer. Its a specialty industry.
Smoke needs to be able to use mac ofx and photoshop plugins, now that would be a game changer.
If I see another one of these foldout flipping environment commercials I think I'll poke my eyes out.
That second example he presented (that with the car on the road) looked way more interesting than that car crash - I really wished to see that process. Sorry, but regarding the whole effort they put into the crash shot it didn`t look necessary / impressive at all to me.
i can tell you, it was necessary.
the second example was quite similarly to the first example.
briefly said: everything in this shot was projected on simple geometry in nuke.
Thanks, very informative and to the point.
Wow. Florian Gellinger is GORGEOUS.
The effects aren't bad either.
Get fusion 6.0 much better light weight and is very scalable. It is node based compositing along with Flusion Scripting (a hybrid of python.) Making it much more attractive than Flame or Inferno...
Get a 8Quad custom WorkStation with Linux for around 5K and 16GB ram Min and Use Fusion 6. End of Story,...
Don't listen to what they will say Ohhh Flame Rules etc... Bottom line is get cost effective and beat those large Post Houses in their bids. Remember your talent is what that Counts Not the tools!!!
Large post houses are giving up Flame and Inferno Dinosaurs for more efficient systems like Fusion 6 which can run on 64 bit OS (including Linux.) And is a helluva lot CHEAPER!!!
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/1448 [...]
Thanks Jeff, amazing podcast! I feel like I only understood half of what you three were talking about but it just makes me want to listen to it again and do some reading! It's such a complex matter and I never thought about it that way. Just when I thought I had figured it all out I realize how little I know.
Also makes me wonder if RED will improve their work flow in respect to color management. Post-LUTS (like a film out LUT) for SDI and HDMI outputs would be a great feature, as well as being able to change looks live and from a remote station.
[...] fxguide quick takes
More info about the ASC CDL, which is discussed in the podcast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASC_CDL
Hello FX Guide.
I would like to mention that I am a fan of your podcast (both audio and video) and I would like to thank you for making these available. I find the information provided on your podcast to be very enlightening and a great point of reference for the industry.
This particular podcast with Scott Ross I found most insightful. A lot of the views Scott Ross has about the state of the industry mirror my own; such as artist often not being compensated properly for the work they produce and how they need to stand up for themselves. Scott's insights on the major studios also refreshing.
I wish all the best for FX Guide and Scott Ross in the future. I look forward to the next podcast.
Paul
Why are Coraline and Christmas Carol on this list?
Your kidding right?
Well Avatar is going to win no doubt.
District 9 !
Roll out the 'blue' carpet, the Cameron is coming home!
The sky isn't falling - but China/India are definitely going to get more contracts.
Kind of like manufacturing, or IT, or many businesses already over there. Sadly, VFX isn't immune, and special as some would like to believe.
Haven't seen Avatar yet, but District 9 was a visual masterpiece. The creatures were so real and you felt for them. And then there's Star Trek - very nice.
I think VFX of all these films are great. Many months of hard work with the highest level professionals working on every single shot. They all have won our respect. Thank all the people involve on VFX of these films.
Well, I can't resist to bet ^_^ I love James Cameron's films and I'm sure that Avatar will be a never-seen before VFXs! Stereoscopy matters!
[...] at fxguide quick takes
Of course! Nuke is the future.
Hello!
I am filmmaker from Argentina, living in New York city. Big fun of the RED, hoping to get one in the next couple of months... working in pre production of two projects; one fiction another wildlife documentary.
Will post soon my website, (now being build...)
Hope to hear from you soon! (eager to be updated with news!)
Thank you!
Gabriel Blanco
Excellent interview.
thanks alot for this VERY great podcast ... It was interesting hearing Scotts story - and specially his view on the industry as it's today. Would love to see more of this industry and business side stories from you guys at FXguide.
cheers
jonas
... woow ... it's going to br big fight this year!!! toughest in last ten years :))
IMHO only Coraline and angels and demons are outsiders (haven;t seen xmass carol, Sherlock and wild things thou, so can't comment on them)
Brilliant conversation. Scott Ross is really really on top of the core issues in this industry. People need to listen to what he says about Pixar vs ILM. Genius.
Only AVATAR!!! It's a Great MOVIE!!!
Greetings - This is a great place
Just registered and wanted to say hello.
Hey Frnds.... I challenge.... No one can beat TRANSFORMERS.... Lets c.......
That was truly GREAT podcast! Great business insight, good entertainment.
Good luck with future projects Scott(thumbs up)
[...] on the Mac platform? We’ll be publishing some specific benchmarks in the future, as we’ve done tests in the past on various flame hardware systems. However, these were batch setups and without batch the tests [...]
Thorough and to the point. Nothing else to add.
The price point is simply a blessing for those intended to make money with it.
After all, it is the 10th generation of this software, which used to cost close to 150K$, 2 & half years ago.
It has been proven in production many times over and can only benefit existing or growing businesses.
John, thank you for the detailed configuration, this simplifies tremendously our research.
Great article.
All the best.
Krawken.
I'll just add that I have just done a few HD (1080, 59.94i) comps using several layers on Smoke (trial) running on my 17" MacBookPro (8GRam, 3.06 clock dual core 2, 2x1T external disks in USB Raid).
I started working with Smoke in 98 as an application specialist at Discreet and it's just amazing ( to say the least ) to have such a fabulous toolset at home...
Great article John and thanks to all of you on Duke Street!
Cheers!
[...] fxguide quick takes
Updated the post to a later draft to correct some spelling and wacky sentences. We had some problems with our blog software cutting of sentences and losing changes. Thanks for the heads up, folks.
John, your rich discussion of Smoke Mac 2010 shows thoughtful consideration of the responses from your November announcement. I could come up with one or two different thoughts to add, but I would be hard-pressed to come up with anything close to your work in this article. Your product knowledge and comfort level navigating between deep technical and practical ownership considerations shows not only your knowledge of Smoke, but how far the post/fx market has come in the past decade. The reality is that there are many great visual motion editor apps out there, and Smoke on Mac provides another option that will expand the Autodesk userbase. It's a product not meant for everyone, but for those that do their homework and find a fit... this is a game-changer.
I look forward to your future articles and continued success. Keep up the discussion!
John, thank you for the overview of Smoke OSX.
I think 2010 will be the new era of Industry.
I am also looking forward to seeing more deep user review for Smoke OSX at fxguide.
Yun
Actually, trial version works with 32 bit kernel as well e.g. SN on MBP (late 2007 model which doesn't run 64 bit kernel). Smoke issue warning on startup, but then gives an ption to continue.
Mac
I think that every compositor in the world, very soon, will be using Nuke, and only Nuke. Thank you The Foundry!
John,
I'm attending the Smoke for Mac technology demo in NYC tomorrow and I highly doubt that I'll be getting any information there that's more concise and comprehensive than what you've written here. Outstanding article, thank you for your hard work. I'm eagerly awaiting the next article(s) in the series.
It's not happy about starting the S+W database server on my MacBookPro3,1 (2.4Ghz Core2Duo)
I'm pretty proficient in troubleshooting Irix and Linux Smoke/Flame systems, but this one is stumping me pretty good.
Can't wait to try it out on a laptop though!
Excellent interview. I think Scott Ross is the only person that could lead a VFX Guild.
1) He can be neutral between the big 5 facilities.
2) He is a known individual amongst the studio brass.
3) He knows the issues we face first hand.
If the big 5 could stop eating themselves alive and unite, I am pretty sure the smaller studios (like mine) would fall in step and we could save whatever is left of our industry. Right now it's a race to the bottom.
I would like to see a VFX Guild that could have a seat at the table with the DGA and start establishing some policies. That's something that I would be willing to pay money for as an facility owner.
Thanks David....
If I could get the unwavering support of the big 5 (or now 8, counting the big facilities in the UK)... I would relish the opportunity to become the "Jack Valenti" of the VFX industry.
Cheers,
Scott
Thanks for putting in the time and effort to write such a well thought out overview. I completely agree with most of your points, especially your bottom line. All I can say is Ditto.
Well it is a (very) hard one ...
2012, District 9 and Avatar are the top ... thou I can't comment on Christmas Carol and Sherlock which I haven't seen yet.
I have a couple of questions though, how is Smoke on OSX working with RED (r3d) files?
Does it worth as a conform station for film work based on 10bit log DPX files and r3d files?
Does the soft-import provide realtime playback for such formats?
And if r3d files are indeed supported will it support Red Rocket in the future?
Hi Joe,
In order to import RED media into Smoke, you use a companion tool called WiretapCentral, which debayers R3D files into 10-bit DPX files. You can find out about the workflow here :
http://download.autodesk.com/us/smoke_training/Smoke2010_New_Features/index_RED.html
In the current version there is no way to Soft Import R3D files, and I can't speak about Red Rocket support.
Also, you can use Smoke to conform DPX files, even Soft Import.
[...] app is right in their area of expertise and they’ve started a series on Smoke for Mac with Smoke on Mac Part 1: Overview. What’s really cool is that Autodesk is providing a free 30 day trial version of the software [...]
I tried to install in my 15" MacBook Pro and it works well. Only issue is it shuts down 32-bit kernel means Bootcamp and other 32-bit apps wont work. Is there any workaround. it even shuts down my Reliance datacard from working cuts my internet.
How do you get around the resolution issue on the 15" MBP? App min is 1920x1200, 15" max screen res 1440 x 900.
Wow really appreciate the excellent write-up. I have a much clearer understanding of the software and how it fits in with the rest of the vfx world.
Truly appreciate the work put into this, look forward to reading the future articles.
it's amazing .
tanx too fxguidtv and bravo too shervin !
Hi John
So owner who has everything on the above requirements except FX 4800 wont be able to run it ? If it can, it will be great, since i want to try it out before buying it. We are running on Geforce 8800 GT
And is there any difference if we buy 3rd party FX 4800 graphics card and the one directly from apple ?
Well..the question, is there any difference FX 4800 for Mac and FX 4800 (without any label "for Mac") like PNY and some other manufacturer ?
Thanks
Yes, there is different firmware ...
@Rivai: The Quadro FX 4800 for Mac and Quadro FX 4800 for PC are almost the same. The main difference is the firmware on the card which deals with Mac or PC bios. The PC version will not work in Mac and vice-versa.
@Balaji: Just wanted to point out that both the 32-bit and 64-bit kernels are perfectly capable of running both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. The difference is that the 32-bit kernel requires 32-bit drivers and the 64-bit kernel requires 64-bit drivers. The reason Smoke currently requires the 64-bit kernel is not because it's a 64-bit application but because a thirdparty driver on which we depend on was only available as a 64-bit driver until very late in the development process.
The reason why your Reliance datacard stops working with the 64-bit kernel is most likely because you don't have a 64-bit driver for it.
I hope this clarify things.
Etienne
@etienne..thanks for the clarification. Can you tell me if 8800 GT will work ?
There is no technical reason why it shouldn't run. It's just untested and unsupported.
So does Smoke currently requires a bootup in 64 bit kernel? Can you run Smoke on a 32 bit kernel?
Hi Andrae,
Smoke only runs in 64 bit. When you install it, it requests a restart to boot the Mac with the 64 bit kernel. There is a utility that comes with Smoke that has a 32/64 bit toggle switch, if you need to quickly reboot in 32 to do some other work.
HTH
Outstanding review !!! Thanks for all the knowledge,
I felt so familiar with all you said , I started working with Discreet Flame 4.4 with Fire 1.0 running on Onyx systems and it was a huge change on that time in the way we made Post, now we are witness of another revolution on the workflows, mainly because in one moment we had to moved to desktop workstations to can afford the falling of budgets , and now this is a response to that, this is the moment in time when we can get those amazing finishing tools back, I've had to learn all that battery of FCp, shake, AE to be competitive on the market, so now we can rely on integrate all the tools we have and use the best of both worlds together on a single workstation. !!!
Looking forward to hear the next part ......
[...] FXguide in depth overview of autodesk’s Smoke for macintosh. Part one of the overview looks at a little bit of the history of smoke, some of the hardware recommendations to run smoke on a mac, as well as a look at storage. Fxguide’s
The 'soft import' vs 'normal import' is very similar to what Avid has introduced with Avid Media Access, though Smoke will currently soft import a lot more formats. There are tremendous advantages to this type of file importing concept and part of what will make systems that use this type of concept more robust, stable and professional as we move further into the hi-def future. I wish other apps ***cough FCP*** would adopt such a method. It's the best of both worlds in terms of media managent as it gives the editor a choice.
Hi Rivai.
If you just wanna play with the trial version, your 8880 GT should be fine. My imac has a geforce 8800 GS and i've been able to run Smoke with no problems. If you're planning to buy Smoke though, i'd suggest to go with the recommended Quadro FX.
cheers,
bob.
Hi bob..yeah i agree. I will get FX 4800 if i'm confidence with Smack. Good to know that it will work, i have all what it's needed except the graphics card.
Hi, is it possible to outrun the resolution somehow?
I requested the license for the trial on my macbook pro accidently, and it seems like I wont get a new one. Would be cool to it out!
Is it just me, or is smoke/flame plain overhyped?Im currently studying at one of the (oooh!) few schools in the world that supposedly teach it, and it doesn't seem like so much of a big deal to me. Sure, good keyer and tracker, fast and reliable to keep impatient and computer illiterate customers happy, but that aside it feels to me like going to the past and using some awkward and stiff outdated crap without nuke or even after effects for heavens sake flexibility and excitement.
Ive just been at it for a month, maybe it does get better but every day at school it becomes easier and easier to fall asleep on that autodesk keyboard
Takosuke:
Where smoke and flame really shine is in client supervised sessions with very demanding clients. The ability to have all the tools integrated, to very quickly get a great-looking result, and to solve problems and issues while the client is watching - this is what sets Flame and Smoke apart. If you are falling asleep at the keyboard you need to have a client driving you to do the impossible.
Avatar (stereo will trump all else)
[...] Fxguide.com Smoke on Mac Overview 1 [...]
"LaCie 12big Rack Fibre Drives (4
I fixed LaCie link, thanks.
thanks for the info guys
i have 3 questions
1) seems without AJA, there's no audio output from the application - is there a work around to use core audio?
2) anyone got this working properly on 15inch MBP with screen resolution of 1440x900
3) does the trial support XDCAM EX codec?
thanks
grant
Hi Grant,
1) Unfortunately we were short on engineering time and couldn't get core audio in this first release. We've already put some work into it though and it'll be in an upcoming release soon.
2) The layout of the UI buttons and views is dependent on a 1920 x 1200 resolution.
3) Yes XCAM EX is in the trial version. DNxHD isn't in the trial version but it is in the release version. We had to take it out of the trial due to royalty issues.
Sheila
I wonder if Smoke supports running under Snow Leopard? I tried installing it on a 3G MacPro and it keeps crashing.
Ok thanks
I hope you guys can add spark support and other third party plugins in near future, this is so essential in having such system.
thanks for the very quick answers - your responses are very much appreciated
it will be great to be able to work with core audio as many like me have very high quality audio devices that would be great to work with
the screen resolution seems to be the only limiting feature on a MBP 15inch other than the "recommended" specs though if it was possible for the GUI to adapt to at a 15inch monitor, this could be an amazing mobile rig - not you intended customer base i know but with the world moving towards Mobile & Wireless, you never know!
This is an awesome entry. Thank you very much for the supreme post provided! I was looking for this entry for a long time, but I wasn
AVATAR=Huge Success
That must convince Mr.Taylor for sure.
go RSP 🙂
b
one more thing to add with regards to XDCAM EX
Final Cut Pro cannot import the RAW XDCAM mp4 files directly from the SD Card so you have to use the log and transfer window which imports the files, renames .mov and seems to add header information
Smoke can import the RAW XDCAM mp4 files direct from the card but cannot import the files that have been logged and transferred!
oddly, the files information in Smoke is reported as different
for RAW .mp4 file: VIDEO / BGR / 1.777778 / 8 bits / xd5b
for log and transferred version: VIDEO / blank / 1.777778 / unknown / xdvc
this is a bit odd - i prefer that smoke can import directly from card but FCP doesn't support that which means that to work with EX, you have to store both versions to be able to work in both apps or just work in either one
do you have any ideas about this?
thanks
grant
Log and Transfer does weird stuff to P2 as well.
Can you transcode the whole lot to ProRes? That would work great in both apps.
Can you describe "weird" ? and what is your system specifications ?
Thats one of the best software industry articles I have read in avery long time. From a very crucial standpoint with Autodesk Mac products Toxik, Maya and now Smoke its really smart to only support a few I/O cards but still leave the system open to other cards for the geeks out there to tweak and tinker the software to great strengths. Obviously for about 30,000 immediate Red owners and users it will be really smart to fully make smoke the one stop shop for redusers, Supporting Redrocket for realtime editing, correction, effects, conforming and output. Please keep the system closed to only sparks based Api plugins. I must say I love toxik but have not tested the smoke/mac how interoperable are they? can you send composites directly to smoke from Maya/toxik? lastly word is Lustre is next, it better be able to accept edl's from Adobe.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a sure win! the film is well-polished hence, the visual effects were naturally in place and blends with the tone of the story. It has Style and Substance compared to other competitors. Pure Magic at its best!
WOW!! Black+white difference with Michael Taylor and Scott Ross, someone who knows the industry and someone who UNDERSTANDS the industry.
Good luck RSP.
SpG.
Just one more wee comment if I may, Michael Taylor should set RSP into some good winds over the next while to come.
SpG.
Hell yes Scott Ross! These ridiculously huge vfx epics must end. They leave the creators (vfx people) empty and wandering. I would love to see an 11th hour complete walkout on a blockbuster $300million film. It would not hurt anyone if they ALL walked out - it would instead send the message - "We are done" - FINAL
Correction: It would absolutely hurt all parties involved... but at least we'd get it over with... right now... vfx is withering away in a lose/lose proposition. A few of the big studios probably should fall, scattering their talented cores through the vfx universe like a supernova... a natural rebirth of the "stuff" that makes content. I also agree that a VFX Guild was needed 10-15 years ago.
50-100 people in the Sydney office?! Shouldn't this be a one digit number now...?
Really becuase everyone is referring to the sydney office as CLOSED
_ __ __ _ _____ _ ____
/ \ \ \ / / / \ |_ _| / \ | _ \
/ _ \ \ \ / / / _ \ | | / _ \ | |_) |
/ ___ \ \ V / / ___ \ | | / ___ \ | _ <
/_/ \_\ \_/ /_/ \_\ |_| /_/ \_\ |_| \_\
AVATAR only AVATAR i ll
got it
[...] FX Guide overview about Smoke on Mac here [...]
Hi Guys
Are there any going to be any differences by putting FX 4800 and FX 5600 on smoke ? Considering FX 4800 has newer GPU, please advice on what is the best for smoke between these two.
Thanks
Sheila Santos, I wonder if you how ProRes (YCrCb) to RGB translation is done, I know that SMOKE will render full RGB internally, are there any gama shifts or is the math all correct? When you online as ProRes 444 is the internal render still RGB DPX?
Also since Autodesk is taking over on the NVIDIA QUADRO FX 4800 drivers, will you be making apps like Apple COLOR faster?
I'm having trouble getting the Smoke to relink to media after an XML import. Smoke finds all of the media and says relinkable, I select all the clips and hit relink and it says nothing done 40 files not found even though they are all listed there and imported. Any suggestions?
The trick is to make sure that the xml is reformatted to the media type the smoke "sees". If you check out blogs on the Area, there is a complete tutorial on how to do this.
Cheers!
Barry
I appreciate all the comments and wanted to communicate to you directly the latest news from Rising Sun Pictures. The podcast was recorded several weeks before it was published on FX Guide and indeed the decision was taken during that time to close the Sydney office and consolidate all production to Adelaide. It has been a challenge of late to keep a constant pipeline of work at the Sydney location and our prospects of changing this in the short to medium term timeframe were not good. The strength of the Australian dollar and the more competitive rebate and tax incentive programs offered by other countries to film makers has led to the recent cancellation of some major Hollywood productions that were due to shoot and post in Australia. The decision to leave Sydney was not taken lightly and we offered all our staff members the opportunity to relocate to Adelaide. We are pleased that the majority have taken us up on the offer and they are now in the process of moving ready for the New Year. To accommodate them and our additional hiring needs we have taken on more leasehold space at our Adelaide office and are in the process of building that out including a new screening room with Digital Intermediate capabilities. I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2010.
Drool. . . Can't wait to get a look at these presentations. So excited to see they are working with Image Engine and continuing to develop some of their in house tools.
Great article. Do you or anyone have a clear vision of how the Smoke on the Mac platform could be used for high end VFX feature films?
Any dates yet?
Hi guys.
This might not be the right place to ask this question, but does anyone know why the Kona 3 card is the only option available to Smoke users (which I think should be called Smokers)? I have an LHi on one machine and was wondering what the real difference is and whether I'll be able to use that in the future?
Thanks,
Bjarki
Is there a way to use the trial version past 30 days just for the purpose of learning from additional tutorials on Area? It would be great if you did something similar to Ableton Live where you can launch the app in demo mode beyond 30 days, but you cannot export or save anything. Thus, every time you launch Live you start with a blank slate.
FXPHD has already announced that they will have a VPN license for their smoke class to use for the length of the term.
Barry
It was a great experience meeting each and everyone of the speakers personally. They were really helpful and gave excellent suggestions to each and every query I put forward. I too cant wait for the presentations... (I want to re-live the experience :P). Thanx Jon, Roy, Shervin, Simon and Lucy!!
AVATAR is the best visualeffects movie of the year 2009
in the last Master Class, fxphd was filmed Master Class and shared them, but i want to know, did pxphd film the new Master Class ?
excuse me for my bad english
Thanks
Keep it doing Guys!!
Awesome
Hello All.
Thanks for your comments. We did film the master class and will be posting most of the sessions and assets on our website in the near future.
I'd say end of January to be safe. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again for your interest in Nuke and The Foundry.
Lucy
Avatar!!
A V A T A R !!!
😉
Final 3 nominees:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Winner:
HAS to be Avatar!
2012 can kiss my ass. . . That is all I have to say. I couldn't even find that interesting from a vfx standpoint.
Why bother, really. It's done and dusted for Avatar - by far the best Mocap and virtual camera ever produced. Though 2012 was much better than I expected it to be. Just don't watch it without at least a drink or two beforehand. Star Trek gets the Million Lens Flares Award, District 9 gets Finally An Original Story.
I have to correct you there, TECHNICALLY District 9 isn't an 'Original Story' as it is a remake of a short film called "Alive in JoBurg"...
....just saying 😉
the list should just be:
AVATAR
AVATAR
AVATAR
AVATAR
...
Avatar ..has to be
I'll let you guys finish but Avatar was one of the greatest movies of all time!
haha! made me laugh.
Couldn't agree more though, Avatar blew me away.
[...] Oscar VFX Short list Announced | Fxguide Oscar VFX Short list Announced [...]
should be District 9: proved that you can do an absolute amazing VFX film from a low budget. Avatar proved nothing just that lot of money = lot of good visuals thanks to a lot of professionals.
No, Avatar had a lot of breakthroughs. Stereoscopic 3D, CG characters who are utterly realistic and well-captured, terribly huge CG environments, and more. It's true that 'District 9' looks awesome for a $30m film but you must give the props to Blomkamp who's a former VFX artist.
[...] fxguide quick takes
[...] fxguide quick takes
It'll be AVATAR 3D stereo will take it home.
I enjoyed Avatar but District 9 felt more real. Avatar wasn't as groundbreaking as I expected it to be and it looked like a cartoon. The characters in District 9 had to be integrated into cinema verit
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by Fabio: Oscar VFX Short list Announced http://bit.ly/7j4RMn...
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by RobertHedlund: 21 do and don't do in an edit session http://bit.ly/4QlPjc...
Too much fully CG work could also count against Avatar too. It veers very close to being classified as an 'animated' film rather than a live action piece.
Final three to be:
2012
Avatar
District 9
Unless ILM work some whoodoo.....
How does nuke compare to after effects? are they two separate beasts?
Don't fall in comparing those softwares. After is the past and nuke is present and future in terms of vfx (no motion graphics of course). best!
John, currently the plan is to have 2 SMAC systems and 1 Smoke Advanced systems at the event. We will also be bringing a Facilis Terrablock as shared storage along with a Xyratex FC array (Stone w/12x 300GB 15K SAS drives) and an Apple branded Promise FC array (16x 1TB 7200 Sata drives) as local storage.
Weav
I think people tend to forget, that the category does not count for best story AND VFX, but just for the VFX.
Finals:
Avatar: Extremely disappointing as a movie, but if there was a category for best visual effects of the century, then Avatar would surely win.
2012: The level of detail in many of those shots is a amazing. Like Avatar the VFX are all about horse power and how many particles and polygons you can have in a scene!
Transformers 2: It is insane, what ILM can manage in a year, but this has got to be the largest project they have ever handled! Besides, the Academy needs to compensate for the terrible crime of rewarding Golden Compass the Oscar in 2007!
This is incorrect. Panavision did stop renting Canon equipment at every office for a period of several months. This has changed to a more relaxed policy since January 1.
This is great news. Been waiting for this. Thanks, Sony!
[...] Panavision Sues Canon and Others from: fxguide.com on 12 Jan 2010 [...]
[...] viafxguide quick takes
I'm a Smoke operator who was made redundant18months ago. I'm now freelancing and making a living. I think smoke on MAC will just increase the amount of companies I am able to work for, which is a good thing. Like everyone keeps saying, "if you're good at your job then you will only get more work from more machines being available" alanmaiden"hotmail.com
For me, the best nominees are :
2012
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The nominees for ves awards is horribles!
Final three:
AVATAR (best single effect: Neytiri drinking from the plant)
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (best single effect: Devastator sucking sand)
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (best single effect: Dumbledore's firestorm)
That's what I think. But you can also consider:
2012 (best single effect: escape from L.A.)
STAR TREK (best single effect: the opening war scene)
Congratulations on a great show again. Enjoyed it very much.
I found it interesting listening to your opinion about the movie, not the Fx, from the perspective of three people that have not read the books. After watching it, I was wondering how it would be received by an audience such as you.
As a young teenager, I read all the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes books. Ever since, I've watched many films and TV shows about the character, and even read some books written by other authors. Today I watch the TV show House.
Because of my past experience, I found the movie disappointing as a Sherlock Holmes movie. If it had been billed as an action film without the character, I would have liked it much more.
My problem was that the character is supposed to be near perfect. He has observational abilities that rival no one elses', and he constantly is matching those observations with his encyclopedic knowledge of the world around him. Downey's Holmes shows hints of this here and there, but through most of the movie I had to keep reminding myself that I was meant to be watching Holmes, not some action guy.
I'm all for taking a character in a new direction, but not at the expense of removing what made the character himself in the first place. Visually, I loved the film and I loved the art direction, the environments, costumes, etc. But character wise, I felt sadly disappointed.
Juan Carlos
PS: If you are wondering why I mentioned the TV show House, it is because Gregory House is an anti-social genius with a keen ability to observe minute details and use those to solve mysteries with his complete knowledge of everything that there is to know about medicine. He is also a drug addict who lives in apartment 221-B.
The only thing I miss is that Mac version is still 32bit.
Thank you for the quick update, Jeff.
The 64bit OSX Flavor is still too fresh, give them a few months and I bet you'll see a version for Snow Leopard.
Now Apple really needs to fix those bugs in their OS that have been affecting (limiting) some functions in Nuke for years now.
And hopefully give us a QTX Pro with a "inner core" that isn't 32bit 😉
Finally much awaited NukeX package is in the industry.....
Hopefully the revolutionary change in Compositing & VFX .....
Thanks n all the best >
Even though cross-platform availability is a great feature, most professional feature film users won't care much about Windows or OSX, almost all big studios are on Linux anyway - and I hope TheFoundry rather invests their time in improving core functionality things, a particle system or bringing the 3D-space up to par with Fusion.
Quicktime is definitely a thing I would not want to have to deal with. Great for web video, way too problematic in film - with things like baked-in fps, gamma-flags, legal range truncation, different codecs etc. Yes, even if RED uses Quicktime as container format - as soon as it comes to comp, it is more than wise to go for an image sequence-based exr or dpx workflow.
you know I am personally very anti-mac cause as a platform it takes away your freedom and forces you to do it the way one single company wants... but... or better therefor I would hate if the foundry gave up their multiplattform approach cause that gives you exactly what I value, choice.
I agree though on the quicktime thing. This should not be a priority. Quicktime is bad as it is. And it really has minor importance in Nuke's core market better concentrate on other things.
-k
[...] Nuke is moving forward with releases, and plan version 6 for next year [...]
[...] The Foundry releases nuke 6.0 and nukeX 6.0.
What about Katana ??? if they wont put it in Nuke then what??
They just got it.. give it some time.
It is just me or is this a very thin update for a X.0 (5->6) update? There are some great features in the non X version and looking forward to play with the 3d camera tracker. It sounds more like a 5.5 update than 6.0... While everyone else is combining there software versions (Like autodesk) The foundry split Nuke up in a confusing way!! Nuke X 6.0 - or is it Nuke 10.6.0 and the other version is stuck at Nuke 6.0 🙂
And 64bit for OS X would be nice - that would be a 6.0 update!
this is a huge release. I dont think you understand how much has been changed and updated in this new version. 5 major new tools and a host of smaller ones plus many many additions via furnace core. If that is not a big release what is?
[...] ASSIMILATE announces ROCKET FUEL [...]
[...] smoke on mac: yes, it
@CEA: NukeX is not Nuke 10. It's Nuke 6 with the X tools (Camera Tracker, Furnace Core). Don't know what is so confusing about it.
@vfxdude: Do you mean that "professional feature films comopsitor" only run Linux?
Stop that. Linux is a neglected OS, huge facilities only use it because it's cheap. I've been working in feature films exclusively for the past 10 years and I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've used Linux throughout these years.
ore functionalities
And The Foundry is indeed investing their time on core functionalities. Believe it or not a Particle systems is not that essential or that useful for most professional compositors. Roto, Paint, scripting language support, those are core features that any professional compositor wouldn't survive without and they have been improved.
The 3D tracker is a huge bonus it's something that I will find my self using more, more often in tricky, problematic shots.
As for Fusions 3D env I admit that it has some nice features and all, but when it comes set extensions I would certainly rather be in Nuke.
Huh? I can count on one hand the times I have NOT been working on Linux. Companies only use it cause its cheap? Nonsense. For companies that still had inhouse tools on IRIX it was easy to port them over, it is easy to administrate on a large scale, it is stable and flexible and customizable to an extend that no other mainstream OS is.
-k
You're kidding.. right!? Have you read about what has gone into Nuke 6.0 and NukeX 6.0? 🙂 . These are not small changes.. but massive new features requiring a lot of work. Nuke 6.0 and NukeX 6.0 are essentially the same (they contain the same stuff under the hood), the only difference is that the NukeX license key will let you use the NukeX features to their full extent (i.e. you can twiddle the knobs, and not leave them at default setting). So its not really two versions 🙂 .
I like all what you did in Nuke , Florian Gellinger good idea and well done .
Yea I dont know where CEA got that this is a small update. Ive been waiting for this forever. Finally it has Flame and Avid DS customers thinking about what they are paying for. Also the roto and paint tools update is hug not to mention all the other features and free plugs they have in there. It seams there is a node for everything now.
Agreed!
Best Nuke update so far, and I'm pretty sure the ones from now on will be even better.
I just wish Furnace, Keylight and most of the core things that are OFX based were turned into standard Nuke plugins instead. I still have my issues with OFX based plugins.
[...] The Foundry
Just an update that the NukeX license keys have now been emailed to all those entitled to an upgrade.
If you haven't received your key and think you should have, please contact [email protected]
i would give my left leg to work at trouble maker studios with Robert and there team , i wish the interview was longer . either way thanks fxguide
[...] Nominations announced | fxguide quick takes Oscar Nominations announced Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards
Thanks for posting this link.
It would be interesting to see how the readers of fxguide would vote if you created a poll and asked them "What is the main reason you went to see Avatar?"
1. Groundbreaking Visual Effects.
2. Actors who starred in the film.
3. Story.
4. 3D.
5. It's a James Cameron film, hype!
I have to say I agree completely. Like Scott Ross said in his excellent fxguide podcast a few weeks ago, while something like Titanic will draw in many viewers because of the interest in the story and actors, the fact is simply that you cannot have a film like that without a sinking ship! In modern visual effects driven films, the overall visual effects experience and the level of quality that we have come to expect and demand places the vfx and the collective artistry of those who create it right up there in the ranks with an A list actor and it should be respected as such. I can't help but feel that a lot of this stems from the fact that there is such a great demand and desire to work in the visual effects industry, that the studios feel that the artists may freely be shat upon because if you don't like it, there are a million other people clamoring for your job...which in my opinion, is really low. Talented artists should be respected and treated as such.
I think before thinking about artists they should do something to rescue VFX studios from producers or production houses. Once the studios are given enough respect and remuneration for what they do then it's their duty to treat artist and everyone involved in their team the same way. I believe it is not a bottom end problem but the whole VFX industry tree is facing the same issue one way or another.
From Scott Ross's podcast I think VFX studios are more doomed compare to artists who at least still will be able to survive in some way.
it ludicrous suggesting that visual effects artists be given points in the film. The main thing of value in that letter is highlighting the need for a regulated set of working conditions and a review of the way in which artists are forced to work in extreme conditions. The industry is still so immature and exploitative. With the exception of medical interns I have never heard of anyone doing the sort of hours and extreme un-compensated overtime that I have seen in this industry.
Groups like VES have contributed nothing to their members in terms of support or a platform from which to voice these issues. They are basically just a social club for some old school vfx folks living in LA.
one thing that is NEVER mentioned is that there are such things as Labour Laws, you CANNOT sign away your rights, no contract can be made that breaks the law.
if you don't know what your rights are - find out.
Unions are not the answer here - artists need to know their rights under the law and speak up for themselves, and we also need to stop saying 'yes' to every damn thing (illegal # of hours in a work week, unpaid overtime - this is illegal in Canada and I'm sure in the US, etc).
as for getting points on a film - insanity...do drivers get points? caterers? builders?
In hierarchical order:
1. VFX
2. Story
3. 3D
4. VFX & Story
5. VFX & Story
Cant help it i'm a VFX Junkie 😀
(Just a point about something that was said in the letter)
I do believe that, since the western world have spear headed this industry they ought to help 3rd world countries like India, China & Malaysia inculcate proper work standards. I hope VFX company owners who setup shop in these countries don't just come in and exploit the artist for cheaper cost because this will only hit them back in the long run.
And you know us Asians once we start under cutting it can go very low. So I hope they dont or it may snow ball into bigger problems. (I hate getting paid peanuts even more so when I am expected to do a gorillas job)
I enjoyed the podcast with Scott Ross and couldn't agree with him more. And in time I would assume VFX companies will get more and more saturated with companies opening around the world.
Sigh... doesn't look to good.
Sadly, I think this is a battle that is being rapidly lost. Studios and producers are the equivalent of huge corporations, always looking for lower cost in the short term at the expense of the greater good of the industry.
In short, they ARE looking to exploit. They don't have a problem with their shoes being made in sweatshops, they won't have a problem with their roto jobs being done in them either.
Ha, this all nice and dandy but Cameron is also a business man and probably also has his interests in cheaper visual effects 🙂
Besides recognition translates into power which ends into money. So basically more recognition to visual effects artists means more power which consequently will lead to pricier vfx. And pricier vfx means less money for other bits of a film or higher budgets that end up increasing the risks involved. Directors don't like risky projects that much because if things go south studios will put them in the fridge, and studios like them even less.
But VFX professionals have a additional problem in all that. Most are not directly attached to the film production it self in terms of money, but attached to a company that is charging the production of the film. So, pricier vfx do not automatically translate into more smiles on the pockets of vfx artists. In the end I doubt the equation would change that much in favor of artists.
I think it's way too late for this, ten or more years late in fact. With the current economic situation it's the wrong time to start to demand more.
There is a whole bunch of things that are wrong when it comes to the vfx business and the way it's artist deal with things.
But I do agree that the credits order are way out of place when it comes to vfx artists. In films that are completely vfx oriented like 2012 the names of vfx artists should be right on the top. Specially since in those cases all that is left from the film is post work (vfx, grading, editing, etc).
Anyway... I doubt Cameron will get involved into this.
Anybody can install Inferno / Flame / Smoke / Flare under CentOS 5.3 x64, even on notebook like hp 8710w /8730w with Quadro from FX 1600M to FX 3700M. With this mobile workstation you can playback, compositing, coloring and fx creating in HD/FullHD video format without special hardware like SCSI disk array or external DVI switcher. You can use usual external usb 2.5" SATA/SATA II hdd or better ext. firewire SATA hdd. Also if you think to build mobile disk array, you can use cheap SATA II 1Tb HDD for 80 ~ 100 USD, and make 5-6Tb disk array at home without any problems.
Cheers!
Thanks Discreet for making most professional and fastest software on the moment
I think it is good to be a bit more specific. Work conditions vary greatly from company to company.
On Avatar we worked long hours but got paid quite well and did get time and a half above a certain number of hours (at weta at least).
I think other parts of the industry could be improved as per the open letter, but I was quite happy with my experience on Avatar. Also I think we artists are our own worst enemies some times - wanting to do great work regardless of the pay or conditions. But in the case of weta, at least you look at the bank balance at the end of the hard work and smile.
No hours were worked without pay at weta and I felt that I could have worked less hours if I had wanted to. However that is not the case at some other companies.
I would actually like it if James Cameron did champion this topic however I don't think he has much to gain in getting involved.
[...] Cameron last week that has received a lot of attention, prompting an article in Variety and an FXGuide podcast on the issue: Why is there no union or collective bargaining for the majority of Visual Effects [...]
Since I started in the film business as a kid doing craft service 24 years ago, and now I study VFX, I think I can add my 2 cents to this open letter.
In the US, the main crew base are often members of I.A.T.S.E. or International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees. I'm a member of local 484 in Texas. But I didn't start out that way.
The complaint about mistreatment to Mr. Cameron is no different than any other craft working in the film industry back in the 80's or even today. Location film making by the studios became prominent in the 80's and most states didn't have any sort of union representation. Crew members would work a 24 hour day and get no over time, or double time.
In one case, we didn't even get straight pay. The crew had to accept a crisp $100 bill for 4 weeks of overtime, which amounted to less than a $1.00 per overtime hour.
We still have assistant directors in Texas who are not represented by a union working 18 hours days without lunch. I was just asked the other day to forgo per diem and housing as a distant hire, which equals about half of the low budget daily wage.
VFX is threatened with India, and US crew members are threatened with Canada and Prague. In our case, Canada has been winning productions for the past several years. Canada makes this all cyclical, because Canada is winning productions because of their VFX advancements
Nice.
Thanks for doing this FXguide.
Really appreciate you guys supporting this cause.
b
Christian Bale was right after all...
For the record I have no issues what so ever with my Aperture upgrade running in 64bit no problem, although I do have a relatively small library (less than 30-40GB). I would imagine the time it takes to re-process an entire library are the issues people are really running into. Not only does it take some time to process every photo for faces, the default Aperture setup is going to generate basic jpg previews for every image as well.
Shane was brutal on the Red... the Red can't do skin tones... ouch
Love the podcast, great to hear some intelligent conversation about some vfx films. Thanks to all the contributors to each podcast for providing so much interesting content!
[...] 2.5 recogiendo la informaci
[...] Light and Magic and founder of Digital Domain. I was interviewed on this topic by Jeff over at FX Guide , and Motionographer also did a really excellent piece on it. It was even discussed on [...]
Anyone knows why Massive Software "refuses" to make a mac version?
I don't think it's about refusing...its about resources. Massive Software isn't a huge company and they need to make sure the Linux and Windows versions are robust.
Adding another OS platform isn't easy...and honestly most places that need Massive probably have Windows and Linux systems already.
[...] fxguide] tags: 3D, effetti, Massive, post-produzione, RenderMan, software, [...]
"Also, editors and VFX Supervisors often make more money than the directors and cinematographers."
For what films?
Just wanted to slide my foot in the door here, there IS some very good discussion about this going on in other places than CGtalk.
VFXtalk has a great thread going about this article with proper intelligent discussion:
http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/open-letter-james-cameron-fairness-visual-effects-t23743.html
Thanks again.
Thanks for the link, following now
Just wanted to slide my foot in the door here, there IS some very good discussion about this going on in other places than CGtalk.
VFXtalk has a great thread going about this article with proper intelligent discussion:
http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/open-letter-james-cameron-fairness-visual-effects-t23743.html
Thanks again.
Thanks for the link, following now - also the comments at The Animation Guild blog in a post about a New York Times article about the mis-classification of workers as "independent contractors" instead of "employees" has exploded with comments: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/sub-contracting-scam.html. The NY Times article mentioned at the top of the article is key to read before the comments.
[...] new terrain nodes, enhanced brain nodes and agent fields, and many more features and improvements. Find out more at FXguide, and read the press release at [...]
I just saw this movie as a horrible horrible live action version of Ghost in the Shell (all iterations) headed in all the wrong directions.
So many issues. . .
Great Discussion though!
No doubt, technology nowadays reveals astonishing effects and all entries show, compared to movies a few years ago, a clear development. Unfortunately they battle against a milestone in development: AVATAR.
Hi
Somebody mentioned running a RedRocket with Smoke on the Mac. That would indeed be very cool. Unfortunately the Mac Pro does not have the space to hold a RedRocket, Quadro FX, RAID card and a Kona 3 as both the Quadro and RedRocket are double width cards.
Also to the Autodesk folks, well done on a tremendous mindset change that has developed Smoke for all us caught between the limitations of FCP and the unreachable high end boxes. However, a lot of us are using BMD Decklink cards out there, Yes the Kona 3 is better, but not 3 times better, any chance of building support in for the Decklink HD Extreme cards please.
Cheers
Toby
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by vfxblog: Asylum's vfx work for Halo 3: ODST 'The Life' spot, at fxguide http://bit.ly/a10FW9...
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by vfxblog: fxguide's round up of the VES Award Winners http://bit.ly/deIY9p...
Jeff, thanks for covering this event so well.
So I'll ask the question to get things stirred up I guess. Does anyone else think that in the future, the Animated Character Category needs to be in a separate category from motion capture performance? Not to take anything away from the brilliant artistry and talent we all saw last night. And I realize there is always a heck of a lot of work that goes into massaging a motion capture performance which deserves recognition. Or we call it Digital Character and however it's created doesn't matter which might be ok too.
Thoughts?
-david
Maybe I don't understand the problem ... or maybe I do.
As an engineer for the past 30 years, I've worked as an salaried employee, an hourly contractor, a fixed price project consultant and ran my own small business. In my early years as a salaried worker the companies expected long work hours when there was a crisis. Eventually I realized that some of those companies made sure there was always a crisis.
I began to feel abused so what did I do? Did I join a union? Did I organize the other engineers and demand better working hours? No. I just found another job ... or created one ... and it usually paid better.
Nobody can abuse me without my cooperation. So that's the part I just don't understand. If you're being abused, quit. Want to help your fellow abused workers, quit. If the company doesn't change it's ways then it will be unable to hire good people.
In fact that happen in a company I had to leave. It got such a bad reputation they couldn't hire anyone local. They had to bring people in from other states, who often left after the minimum time to avoid paying back the moving allowance.
The problem I have with organizing and unions is they want to tell you what's right and what's wrong. I think I should be able to decide that for myself. I do agree that a guild might be useful. The guild could keep a list of the companies that are okay to work for and those that fall short.
As far as the work going out of the USA, I'm in favor of free markets. Some years ago I worked for Motorola. They outsourced my job to a company in India. It took me eight months to train my replacements.
Some in the company said it was unpatriotic for Motorola to send the work out of the country. I ask if it was unpatriotic for an Indian citizen to buy Motorola products?
I think Us movies bring in a lot of revenue from foreign markets. Why shouldn't they be eligible to work on those same movies? (Not that anyone here said that they shouldn't. I'm just anticipating based on what I've heard in other venues.)
You could always start your own studio and show the world how to treat those workers. Lead by example. Many of the costs have come down. There are new ways to distribute media. (Light a candle instead of cursing the dark.)
Yes, I realize this would be very hard ... and I admit it's unlikely that I have what it takes to do it. But if you do, give me a call. If you treat me right I'd work for you 🙂
Peace,
Rob:-]
"Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi
For those that asked : The update will be able to be downloaded from Canon's site mid-march and it is not going to include 60P 720P as has recently been speculated.
Thanks for the article, btw cool pic and nice flares 😀
All's fine and well but can someone explain how in the world District 9 won Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture???
Simply because there was a ton of fantastic compositing work done for District 9. Check out fxguidetv #71 for just a few samples. Sometimes the best compositing is the least obvious..that's why it's good compositing...so good you didn't even notice it. 😉
Did James Cameron address the letter re:VFX artists?
No he did not.
[...] Cameron last week that has received a lot of attention, prompting an article in Variety and an FXGuide podcast on the issue: Why is there no union or collective bargaining for the majority of Visual Effects [...]
Thanks for the links Jeff, much appreciated.
Well I like to browse around when i'm not so busy at work. So are you currently using any Discreet products? If so what do you use?
I am currently testing smoke on a 2.93GHz macBookPro It seems to be working fine, but when I upgraded my finalcutstudio to version 3, conflicts seem to arise. I have an eSATA ProAvio 4x diskdrive running with an addonics XpressCard/34, and I can get 24fps HD playback if cropped at 2:35. FullRez HD drops frames after a few seconds. Will upgrade to sonnet xpresscard soon. They claim I can get 200Mbs out of the expresscard slot so I will give this a try since 24fps8bitHD requires between 180/190 Mbs.
I can access a remote stone on a ip network so that when working in my linux suite, i can actually use my laptop as a remote working station side-by-side, or on any table with an ethernet connection nearby. Sort of like a killer backdraft/burn/precomp station. I actually completed a whole national commercial spot with comp/tracking/paint using media on a remote stone running another live session with clients while I was upstairs in another room. When those clients left, my clients walked right in and i did my presentation as if I had been in my suite all day.
You can actually use any GUID partitioned disk as a stone. Archiving material to USB disk is easy, and I actually finished my HD session on the train with a 350G usb drive. I did everything in 720x405 proxy rez since no HD RTplayback and refresh was slow, but still managed to get an hours' work done without power supply. Almost missed my stop. Tweaked everything after my kids went to bed and presented to clients the next morning in studio.
Seemed to render soft FX just fine, but again, updating FinalCutStudio2 to FinalCutStudio3 may create some conflicts. 10bit HD multilayered SoftFX renders crash after a few minutes. (Remote stone via Ethernet) Probably has to do with the NVIDIA 9600G memory allocation limits. Local stone renders through eSATA seem fine. SmokeMac Crashes when i load an action with several different resolutions in the source clips, but had no problem with my old FinalCutStudio2 setup. Console now gives me an adobelivetype conflict message.
After testing extensively with actual HD production footage in a real studio environment, I would'nt recommend using smoke/mac on a laptop as a main production tool, unless you have FinalCutStudio for IO and audio playback and presentation using the publish/DPXtoQT workflow. But for precomps, rotos, keys, paint, dusting, stabilising, archiving, RED XML conforming and parallel session work, it is a fabulous idea, and has saved me from doing any overtime (!). Can't wait for CORE Audio support.
Great summary! But I guess this is one of those events that you just can't use words to tell how great it was. Man, I wish I had been there! Looking forward for the fxguidetv eps covering this! Thanks for covering it John! =)))
I was there and it was awesome,come on Foundry lets have more of these plus better T Shirts.Well done FXGuide too
heheeh! Which t-shirts was it? The gray ones with the X? Love mine but the print started to fell off just after a few washes. =/ Hope to snag a new one at NAB *wink wink*
Demos y preview de The Foundry Nuke 6.1...
En FXGuide publican un art
[...] fxguide quick takes » Ok Syyn Labs Go…Adam Sadowsky - http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2259/ok-syyn-labs-go-adam-sadowsky - http://www.GetShawty.com [...]
Great overview! Can't wait to see the fxguideTV episode! I hope The Foundry continues to host these, it seems like such a fantastic way to showcase new features and get feedback from the industry. So many companies could learn so many things from The Foundry.
Learn already damn it! 🙂
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by TheFoundryVFX: Read about the Nuke Stereo Master Class in London Friday http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2294/nuke-stereo-master-class-plus-6-1-preview#more-2294...
Hey great Review !! Thanks guys again ///
that's sad...
a sad day...
I've worked at C.O.R.E. for the past 6 1/2 years and I'm pretty wrecked about the current situation...
to clarify some news from today -
we were NOT escorted out the door or anthing like that...
a meeting was held with all staff present and the financial situaltion was described to us..it's a reality of the industry, small margins etc...
we were asked to collect our personal belongings etc and leave, but we took our time and said our goodbyes...then went to our local to get drunk.
there have been some big pay days for VFX/game companies in Ontario over the past year (Starz, Ubisoft etc) but apparently the govet wasn't willing to help out C.O.R.E. - who were not looking for any money, rather they were looking for guarantees on loans etc...given the amount of work coming to the studio at present and in the coming months this seems reasonable...but I guess the govt and RBC didn't think so...
I can only speak from personal experience but my time at C.O.R.E. has been fantastic and I will miss the people a great deal...and I think that the same would be said by most who have had the pleasure of working there.
tomorrow I join 150 of my former colleagues in looking for work in an ever concentrated industry and hope that I will find a position at a studio as welcoming, supportive and enduring as the one I had at C.O.R.E.
With all that 'intensive' work needed to properly 3D a 2D movie, how bad will be the automated on-the-fly 2D to 3D conversions for the new 3D televisions, eh?
sky tv already announced that they will ban 2D to 3D conversions for 90% (weeding out the cheap/fast solutions and only allowing the stuff that's done right) for their new 3D channel.
I was there and it was a real great day, with many previews and a good understanding of the new 6.1 features. I think that on some parts (i.e. Ocula) they could have explained a little better and deeper the subject/plugin. Next time I would like to spend more time inside in front of a big screen listening to those great guys, than outside with a (free) cup of coffee.
Anyway, thanks The Foundry! See you at MC3!
I agree with Valerio. Great stuff, very interesting but Ocula demonstration was too short. It's a gorgeous plug-in, I think it deserves more time and a case study example to show how powerful it is.
In any case I enjoyed this MC2. Thanks The Foundry and thanks Fxguide!
I think of all the issues the largest is the studios willingness to send work to ever cheaper countries, forcing us to chase the jobs. The problem with that is they are forcing us into places not many want to move too... I can't understand the studios willingness to send jobs out of the contry too less experienced teams, while siting costs... when they could easily open studios in affordable areas of their own countries where the artists would work, while keeping a satelite studio in LA to work with directors. Sony has taken the first step in this direction. If studios are so keen on saving money then do it, instead they say we need to have teams here while sending the work there... And they still are a remote group. So they sell out us working professionals for cheap students and cheap unexperienced overseas teams while contradicting the very things they site as problems with working remotely... all to maximize their buck.
This is in no way a level playing field, anyone wafting tax breaks in the air draws the work and destabilizes the industry. The practice should not be allowed... And should be controlled through nation trade agreements. I truly level playing field would mean a job goes to company based on the quality of work or capability of the studio... not who plays limbo better....
Lets set it right 🙂 I'll be there
[...] TVC I worked on last year, “Emerald Cities” for the company Kaiser Permanente has been nominated for a VES award in the category of best “Matte paintings in a broadcast program or [...]
[...] maybe there’s a Mac in my future. The guys at fxguide broke down the cost of Smoke on a Mac; bottom line is $42,500 for a well equipped system. That’s hard to believe since it cost [...]
Has there been any word if the meeting will be captured in some way for viewing later on? I can't attend the live meeting but would love to see what's discussed.
I know Lee is looking into recording and archiving to make available, if I hear anything on that I'll post it. Jeff
Shannon Gans has started the hash tag #vfxtownhall for getting the discussion going on twitter and following along during the event. Here is the search link: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23vfxtownhall
I wonder if the planned article will elaborate on the human cost of doing stereoscopic visual effects: permanently damaged vision.
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2294/nuke-stereo-master-class-plus-6-1-preview [...]
Great to see the vfx show on fxguide where it belongs! Good stuff this time around!
i know this link is being passed around all over twitter, but just wanted to post a direct link to the townhall recording here. these are exciting times we live in, the open dialogue has begun! thanks to all who've made this happen! http://bit.ly/info/a9uTT6
What's so frustrating about "2012" is that it could have been a great action movie. If the special effects team can do their jobs, certainly better writers could have been hired. But no. Just try finding a surprise.
Great post Jeff. Really happy to see a critical mass coming together finally
Last month in Japan, 40 or so CG leads and supervisors had a meeting to discuss the dismal state of the VFX industry here as well so its clear that vfx artists worldwide are feeling its past time to organize
Recommendations for VFX Houses to form a Trade Association to talk or apply pressure on pricing issues is not a very good idea. I served on the Board of Directors for a small Trade Association, legally we were advised to never talk about pricing. This included buying and selling price. The Sherman Antitrust Act covers price fixing and includes civil and criminal penalties.
I'm not saying a trade association is not a good idea, lots of other beneficial information can be shared.
Jeff I appreciate your coverage of this issue over the last several months and it is easy to tell all sides are passionate about the subject. Hopefully everyone can be cautious because passion creates strong emotions and sometimes the true purpose can be lost in that emotion. Hopefully people can see through those emotions and understand that the passion is supported by the facts. The main fact being that it's good business for everyone to find a solution to these problems. In the end the entire industry can be stronger.
Excellent recap Jeff. Well put.
Seems with recent effects houses closing, lots of talks about how dismal the state of pay/working conditions are, ironically along with record box office sales of visual effects block busters means that VFX artists can't hope this matter fixes itself.
Everyone needs to get involved and committed or things will continue along the current path.
Studios are profits driven. Its not their job to fix the pay scale issue. They will secretly hope this guild never forms because it insures the current trajectory remains and their ROI on films stays high. They are not the enemy, but they are not wanting to overpay for the same level of work that is being produced now. A catch 22 for them.
I am a bystander, but I care for those that are suffering. I took a hard look at moving into VFX in the early 2000s, but was very concerned about what would happen if studios started sending post work overseas so I opted to enter into a field that could NOT be outsourced. I think that factor is still the greatest and most difficult situation to tackle for the VFX/post houses and any guild that emerges.
It seems the only way you can really pull off a coup with this is if you get massive commitment. It will take MOST of the BEST talent into a guild that will force studios to then be forced to accept new pricing for VFX work. Its gotta be a grass roots movement that gets everyone moving in one direction in the boat to get it to a tipping point.
I just hope all the young guys and gals out there realize that doing nothing and sticking with the status quo means it will only get worse year after year.
I applaud Lee for his "Letter to ....." to start the conversation. Now it has to be taken to the next level. Each meeting now needs to be planned so that it leads to another action step (formation of guild), then grass roots campaign to get folks on board. If these things are left sitting too long without action then momentum is lost. It just so happens that recent events have forced everyone to pay attention. That alone is momentum and Lee lit the match on the fuse. Time for someone to pile up some dynamite and plan the next bon fire.
🙂
Michael James
I'm a bit of an outsider on this. I'm fairly new to the field -- I have done some freelance quickie jobs, but have yet to land the facility position. Still, there seems to be one obvious business choice happening that at least the larger studios are missing out on. Name recognition.
We've endlessly discussed how the majority of the modern big profit films are heavy on vfx. In fact, most of the public is seeing a film based on the vfx. So why isn't this marketed and highlighted?
Vfx studios and crews tend to get buried in the credits. Yet a large portion of the audience is coming because of that studio's work. If you do a little marketing and a little advertising, general audiences will learn they can expect amazing, cutting edge work from "Studio X". The studio then becomes a draw. Audiences will want to see the latest and greatest fx from the facility. Film studios will have to fight/bid for your skills because now you are essential. Audiences want the top fx, not the cheap knock off. You're part of the star system. You're Brad Pitt headlining.
For smaller studios - specialize. When I think beauty work, I think Lola. I honestly don't know if they do anything else, but I know they do that one thing damn well! Market your essential skills.
Make it so the film studios need you, you're not dependent on them. When you become the box-office draw, this under-cutting will fade away.
Scott I would say that perhaps because once in a not so distant past in this very same galaxy vfx artists were so excited about proving what they were capable of doing that they sold their art/craft so low and so tech based that the contractors (studios, etc) started to conveniently see them as drones.
Cheap, easily replaceable, disorganized and doing something that was seen as a non-essential part of movie making that with time could be automated or performed by anyone.
Time passed, it became a essential part of movie making and yet the perception didn't changed.
VFX prices only changed in proportion to the structures and volume required, so most vfx companies have their business based on business model created over a dream where money was the least important part. So they are obviously unreal and can't work in a real business world where things change financially wise.
Why? Because people (the ones that could or should) took way too long to react. And are only reacting now because things are falling apart.
That's what usually happens when people feel comfortable with little.
Not diminishing the work of the guys that clean the bathrooms of the stars, but they never should be credit before a vfx artist.
And honestly in vfx collages like 2012 the director should be the last one credited.
This subject is worst than quantum mechanics.
I love this spot, it's so inventive and pushes this style further than anything before. However I do wish you would get the references right. All of this work stems from the fischli and weiss work from the 80's called 'how things go'.
The OK GO work is possibly the closest in spirit to this, but adds performers
the mix, with fantastic results.
"Companies that don
Why not "Studios, facilities and artists Unite!"
i think issues that face a facility are different than issues that are directly facing the artists. In any case its always best to have a group with a narrow focus so each concern can be addressed properly. Which makes me think that while overall guidelines can be established and set, things are going to have to be organized on smaller, local levels i.e. principles set forth by an "international guild" will have to be interpreted and implemented locally, leaving room for everyone to be involved
I think we we lack is highlighting our importance ,the effort which goes in making a fx shot leave alone the movie.for the lay man or even your well known producers and directors,its still a push a button job ("we ll fix up that in post"),and this attitude is what needs to be challenged...
when the movie does well the first one to be forgotten are us artist...and ther's no one address that....
plus the whole setup of the industry need to be looked upon internationally ,a few guideline need to come up..hopefully this initiative can spark off things..
HA!
First ones to be forgotten are not the artists my friend. It's me. THe guy who writes all the tools you use as an artist.
That guy who made the rig controlls the animator uses.
The database dude who's schema allowed your tasking and pipeline to flow.
Us and IT are the first to be forgotten when its all good, and the first to be flamed when it's all bad.
Cheers.
Quite disappointing. Very few questions asked and very few questions
answered. It cracked me up when Chris from Warner Bros. said:
"I don't want them to work in Canada". I guess he forgot to mention
Warner Bros. just opened a post house in Montreal...
On the other side nobody mentioned those super highly paid managers
of the vfx houses who simply are terrible. They are all artists or technical
people promoted to make business decisions they have absolutely no idea
about. All they care is a status quo. They like their salaries...
They salaries is the last thing they will touch. In the same time they won't
upgrade some of their prehistoric hardware or networking to "save money"
and they will have their artists work long hours without paying overtime...
Let's blame the artists for not defending themselves!
Without asking those real questions, nothing will be done.
No villains, yeah right, we are all super cool, we love each other, let's continue...
I have to say that Chris was right in his own way. He might not want to have them working in Canada but if that's the only way for them to make their business viable that's exactly what they will have to do.
Studios depend on investors and bankers. Investors and banks want their money back and if possible at least some margin of profit, otherwise there is no reason for them to take this risk and studios would cease to exist.
Film making isn't cheap and is as risky as the stock market, and with the current crises I'm pretty certain that finding bankers/investors to throw money into films isn't that easy. With that in mind they must do it in way that they are still able to cope with all the flops they produce annually to keep a positive balance. Otherwise they pretty much close.
And if they close there isn't a single reason to have facilities and even less one to have well paid artists.
Hi I have been on the periphery of visual effects for the last five years. I think that a VFX guild which is worldwide would be a good idea. The fact that outsourcing and transparency with costs, wages and employer welfare is invisible is a sign of the VFX goldrush. Companies starting, and closing, the amount of transient workers from one company to another is diluting the business.
We need a organisation that can provide guidance and security for those of us at the bottom rung of the business. I also think colleges and universities need to have a long hard look at themselves. Business practice is not a dirty word, also using your students as cheap labour to get a industry affiliation is disgusting.
I have chosen to not go through the university route and have learnt my art (matte painting) vocationally. I will find it harder to find work than a graduate. Problem is most graduates work all looks the same cliche shots or pastiches of other peopless work. Some students are willing to accept the first low paid job to come along, thereby diluting the expections of design houses.
Also it is so easy to get black listed in this business it sometimes is not worth the effort.
Also pipeline studios that expect you to be multi platform also fuel the software companies to sell ever more and unaccessible software for people to learn on as it is always two generations behind, Kudos to Houdini and C4d for working through the problem.
It is not an easy industry to work in, however there is always room to work laterally outside the general media, architecture, and medical illustration come to mind.
We need a guild that is worldwide and we need it fast and to have teeth, think of the power the Screenwriters guild last year.
#1 seems like a tricky effort since any discussion between companies to agree to raise rates could get into "price fixing" territory. I imagine this effort will be a bottom to top process where they all agree on how to treat their employees and naturally let the prices rise to meet those new business demands.
You're exactly right; no trade group could do this and that isn't anything I've ever heard discussed.
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by LucasMartell: A collection of the #VFX links floating around: http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2403/vfx-town-hall-links #vfxtownhall...
No villains doesn't mean there isn't a problem. There is OBVIOUSLY a problem but not every problem is caused by bad guys. That's a simplistic view only leads whining, anger and a lack of real solutions.
"Very few (pointed) questions asked and very few (pointed) questions
answered."
Agreed. Unfortunately our business is too incestuous to allow for frank and realistic opinion to be expressed. Particularly if one is an industry "luminary." The abuse of VFX talent has become historic. The reasons for it are many, but this is a problem that seems to defy law.
Wohoooo, a guild and a strong leader! It's the middle ages, great progress 🙂 Seriously - a lot of you people live in America - you can sue people! Try that in Bulgaria, where I'm from 🙂 Just sign good contracts, and if these are violated, sue the party that violates. Don't create a bureaucratic marxsist nightmare in VFX please 🙂
I loved this product through V2 although customer support was always extremely weak. I took a pass on V3, based on both bland reviews as well as the great alternatives that weren't as available before. I may have to upgrade to V4 although I am guessing that the owners of this company probably still treat customers as a necessary annoyance.
I'm going to have to disagree with you about the customer support. We've had lots of e-mail contact with the Silhouette guys and they always reply promtly and many of the changes listed in v4 have been becasue of our feedback.
RipTorn: completely agreed. When Mocha came out, we switched and never really looked back.
I don't know what kind of shots you typically work on, but I've never been able to get a 100% perfect track in Mocha, and when I have to hand edit there just isn't a comparison between the two. In fact, after playing with the updated tracker in v4, I haven't found much of a need to switch to Mocha at all.
[...] FxGuide has a commentary on the VFX town hall meeting held this week. “Last night the first in a series of online town hall meetings was held
Big user of both, and (only my opinion) I think they both have their place in my toolbox, but definitely completely different uses. I almost feel like it's unfair to compare them side by side.
Mocha has come a long way since the old Monet/Mokey v1 and 2 days. I swore off using it the planar tracker back then because it was slow, the interface was clunky and it all took too much effort to get a good track. Those days are gone - I've taught someone the finer points of the latest Mocha release in 5 minutes (and the "guide" docs fill in the rest) and many times it latches onto objects without much tinkering and gives good first pass results. Quick planar tracks is about where my relationship with mocha ends - I don't find it's roto tools very useful except for extremely mundane things.
That's when I fire up Silhouette. It's a roto powerhouse, nothing even close. The roto tools in pretty much every other app (compositing apps included) are almost laughable compared to silhouette.
seems like if you are wanting to compare the two, the only reason you'd do so is for tracking. If you're a power user on both, you know they're actually pretty close as far as features and real world performance. I can't speak for everyone, just myself, but I've been lucky enough to usually have access to both on most jobs. So my usual tracking workflow and "priority" is -
1) is there a camera from a dedicated camera department, or can I get a good quick track in Boujou or 3dEqualizer. if so - I always go this route because it's WAY better than anything silhouette or mocha could ever attempt to do.
2) if I don't have access to that, then if I just need a quick thing and am in silhouette anyway (for roto or paint), silhouette's point tracker is fine. it's better than nuke and after effects, maybe on par with shake, maybe not as good as Flame. But good enough for government work, to quote Brian Van't Hul.
3) if I have multiple objects that are somewhat planar or if I think mocha could get them, I pop open mocha. It's just a few clicks and off to the races, and usually it does a pretty good job of latching on to clear objects in a scene.
4) if mocha fails, then I go to silhouette's planar tracker. You have to know what you're doing - it's a lot more manual and has better manual controls than mocha. You actually have to spend a few minutes to read the documentation. But once you unlock the keys to it all, you find out it's actually really good at handling occlusion and some of the other gotchas that will usually kill a mocha track.
some tips on planar tracking in silhouette -
1) don't draw a rotoshape around the object like you'd roto it... draw one like you'd TRACK it. they are two very different things.
2) track it once through and then track it a 2nd time. the 1st track just generates "good" points, 2nd track uses them as guides and will firm up your track quite a bit.
3) set your prefs carefully. If you don't have many tracking points detected within your guide shape, set your prefs to a lower minimum. etc.
things like that.
the good news is silhouette and mocha both export to most of the comp apps. I like the way silhouette's planar tracker exports better than mocha's - silhouette exports a perspective cornerpin, not a literal cornerpin (does that answer your question, brian?). As in your tracking data will still be 0,0 on your reference frame and it will just move your layer from there as opposed to actually applying a cornerpin on your layer like mocha will. I find I usually have to mess with mocha tracks quite a bit on the comp side to hammer them into place.
you can also import mocha data into Silhouette.
In my exp, silhouette's support has always been great. They were extremely helpful when we were doing one of the early stereo features.
again, they are different tools, but if i were stranded on an island and could pick only one - Silhouette.
could you please tell me more about how to get track data from boujou into Silhouette - I am coming at this from years of matchmove experience and trying to save our roto team loads of grief - thanks!!
Wow, that was a really great post, J. Thanks very much! We're up-to-date on Mocha, but never upgraded our Silhouette seats past v2, which is why I was curious about the new bells and whistles. When I first saw Mocha, I thought "Planar tracking and roto, eh? Who cares?" I forced myself to use it on a few lighter jobs, and quickly became excited about how easy it was to roto someone's hand when they were pouring some cereal box or bottle of beer around. I could bang out a great roto of a complicated shape doing a complicated move (rotating, slight perspective changing hand/fingers) by either rough-planar tracking the hand or by hooking it to the planar track of the box. 3 keyframes on top of my tracking data and I'm golden, unlike anything I'd ever gotten out of point tracking. Mocha has literally shaved weeks of work off my last year.
I remember Silhouette's mask manipulation tools being a little better than Mocha's are now, and being a bunch more stable overall. You hit the nail on the head with your guess that I was interested in the new tracker. Sounds like it's time to try the demo!
Glad I got this party started. Now I am interested in V4. I dunno what to say about the customer support feedback. Maybe our different experiences have to do with studio size, jobs we are working or or even the degree of interest in the questions we ask. Or maybe I am operating on 4 year old knowledge that isn't true anymore.
Did Brian's Power Matte question get answered. I sure want to know about real world experience with Power Matte.
[...] Fxguide vfx town hall how did it go ? [...]
[...] more info [...]
Power Matte is just another voodoo keyer, in the same vein as photoshop's "extract" tool or the inner/outer keyer in AE.
I've tried it on a couple things since v4 came out and yep, it does something alright! it takes some finessing to get something halfway usable - on a couple shots it got me absolutely nowhere quick and on a couple others it got us maybe 50-60% on our way to a good key. It generally gives you pretty tasty edges, but it's very touchy. Don't quote me just yet - I still feel like I'm learning it. Every time I try it I do something and I'm like "oh, that made it way better" so in many ways the jury is still out.
The bad news is it's not a magic bullet. It seems prone to flicker and become unstable if your footage changes a lot, and it's a slow render at full rez. (work with it at 1:2 or 1:3 before you let the render rip at full).
The good news is if you can get something halfway usable out of it, you definitely get there quick (it works with really loose roto so you know in a couple of minutes) and if it gets you a decent matte, you can refine it further in a comp app, or heck, you're in silhouette already, just pop open the roto node and clean it up.
It's just another arrow in the quiver, another tool in the toolbox, whatever. If I need to pull a key that just downright shouldn't be something keyable, i'd go down the usual avenues of weird voodoo channel key concoctions, maybe give primatte a try (or the 3d keyer in Flame if that's on hand), and sure, I'd give power matte a whack. why not. I hate to roto!
silhouette's demo is a 2 week free license. if you're wondering, why not dig up a "weird" key shot from a couple projects ago and run it through?
[...] “fairness” for VFX workers.
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for the recap. It's really good to see some organized attention being paid to these issues. I thought the participants in the first Town Hall made a number of good points. The follow-on conversation that Lee Stranahan hosted about pricing and business models was useful as well, and well worth checking out at http://vfxfairness.com.
The conversations covered a lot of territory. As a guy with a finance MBA and some acquaintance with the post and VFX industries, I thought a couple of points from the first Town Hall were particularly interesting.
First, on the idea of "commoditization":
It's a loaded word that tends to evoke strong reactions. I don't think that Chris deFaria was saying that VFX production as a whole is a commodity--it obviously isn't. But it's equally obvious that the expertise and technical resources involved in VFX production are much more widely available now than they were at one time, and that this trend has greatly increased competition on the basis of price.
Not every activity within VFX production is equally subject to price competition. I think that certain types of work or certain parts of the VFX pipeline are probably more "commodity-like" than others, and therefore more subject to offshoring and extreme pressure on pricing.
There is a sort of Darwinian evolution in the economics of the VFX industry--it creates significant hardships for facilities and artists, who are forced to adapt or perish. But if the rules of the game change, you have to find new ways to compete.
By the way, I think it's also clear that the lack of collective bargaining for VFX workers (in the U.S., at least) has caused the economic burden of increased competition to fall disproportionately on individual artists and craftspeople, especially contract workers.
On "leverage":
I would agree with you, too, that VFX artists *collectively* enjoy considerable leverage in the market for their services, but I interpreted Chris's point about "finding the leverage" maybe a little more narrowly than you did.
I viewed his comment as being more specifically about the business models (I prefer the term "value propositions") of VFX facilities than about the leverage that the VFX industry may enjoy as a whole.
The economic value of VFX production is not evenly distributed among all the various activities and stages of the production process, and that distribution changes over time. If you're a facility owner, you have to keep working to figure out what your clients value most (e.g., key artistic talent; efficient coordination with remote vendors; execution of specialized types of shots, etc.) and provide more of those things, while reducing your exposure to areas in which you can't compete effectively. Basically, you have to keep working to "de-commoditize" yourself.
I think that's what Chris meant when he referred to finding leverage points. Of course, the same idea applies to individual artists as well as companies.
Anyhow, there's lots of different stuff to figure out here. I look forward to future Town Halls and more discussions.
Best regards,
Ben
Thanks Ben! Re-reading I fear I did make quite a leap from Chris mentioning leverage in the context you mention to a broader view.
Being a new graduate with a Bachelors Degree in Game Art/Design who has spent the past 2 years learning VFX/CG as more of an interest, this podcast is invaluable. I'm soon to move to the Bay Area in June, and any bit of information on getting a foot in the door at an entry level position that may lead into the actual industry is what I am all about. Was very informative listening to veterans explain and give insight on what's going on currently in the industry. This idea is very appreciated and I can't wait for the next version.
The thing that was a little frustrating in just listening to the Town Hall Meeting is that some people seemed to want to stick to the "PC" response of "There are no villains" or just avoiding the issue or shifting the blame to the facilities.
You can't get to the point where you're forced to have this kind of public conversation without there being a villain and it's ridiculous to attack the facilities that are getting shutdown one after another like stack of dominoes, they are clearly not the ones in the position of power right now. Sure there are issues with facilities and their arrangements with artists, but that's small potatoes. The larger problem is that VFX artists are are just too undervalued in an industry that's thriving by riding on their backs.
Ultimately an VFX/AFX Artist Union is a necessary thing, but a broader vision for that is necessary:
-An ideal VFX/AFX Artist Union is one that basically would create a league of sorts having major league teams and minor league teams/farm systems. They could compete in the same markets, but the Union would set the ceiling and the floor for both levels. Every team would vote for it's leadership both "locally" and "nationally" within the Union as well as on issues like working conditions, health benefits, acceptable hours etc.
-The Studios to Facilities bidding process doesn't work for artists for a variety of reasons. That procedure needs to be eliminated in favor of a system where the studios deal directly with the artists, via the Artist Union, and then the combination of the Artist collective and the Studio split the cost of the facility rental/lease/use 50%/50% (Very much like the Music industry relationship between Artists/Labels/Producers)
"Membership"
-Requirements for membership should be either people already actively working in the field, people that have earned a four year degree in some VFX or AFX major, or people having earned a post-grad. degree in some related field. The whole "Grandfathering in" type process that many unions have leave people out on the street that have invested years of their life and and quite bit of money most times to proactively pursue gainful employment in this industry specifically. The whole "Grandfathering in" process also simultaneously tends to foster racist and sexist hiring practices.
"Ownership"
-This is probably the most critical component of my idea. The relationship of VFX Artists and Studios has changed based on the content of what's being produced and the "Employer/Employee" moniker is just no longer appropriate. "Partner Relationship" is accurate for what's actually being produced and how. There are a couple of things that need to be addressed with regard to this new classification. Percentage on Gross Points (not net) are something that should be non-negotiable as well as a hammered out deal for pre-designated access to the studio promotion/distribution network for Union created original content where studios would receive Percentage on Gross Points.
These are things I just thought of and I'm sure I could fine tune and rethink some of these things so they are better worded/structured but it's better to articulate some solution versus articulating none and just continue complaining.
Social comments and analytics for this post...
This post was mentioned on Twitter by brangrow: New fxguide podcast: http://bit.ly/cK3g7J fxpodcast with Tom Walsh, President of the Art Directors Guild...
I hadn't known that Mike wasn't American. It thought his accent was from the south.
I wasn't again disagree that the major problem with "young" artist isn't that they don't care about pensions and health care, they do, they also see what has happen to their parents in this economy, no 401K left, health care gone. What unifies them for the most part is that they are "afraid" to organize because they could lose thier job. As Jeff said Artist need to stick together, to unify,to unionize in order to get decent wages and working conditions. I see this happen all the time, young (20's) workers who walk out on a production after a majority vote, almost always get the benifits they are entitles to, after an hhour or two. It's the oldest story in the book, power comes from workers uniting, refusing to work unless they are decently paid an treated as human beings.
My personal thoughts,
Peter Koczera
Many countries (aka New Zealand, Australia, England) are traditional Union (Labor) countries.
Why not look at Global Unions? The IATSE covers the US and Canada, why not a labor organization that is international.
(Again my persoanl opinion)
That was an amazing episode, I really love how in-depth you went in the conversation, very informative. Thank you, guys!
WOW! I am totally blown away.
Same feeling I got from the first Flame demo I ever saw.
The levels of realism and speed at which results can be produced at those resolutions is incredible. Thanks for that!!!
Can you guys get this #overlay CSS style height fixed?
It's currently set to 500px and any decent browser that knows how to really read a CSS file puts a black 500px header that always cover the text of article which is annoying. This forces me to always go to the inspect element and switch that height property of for the #overlay style.
The path for the file is this one:
http://www.fxguide.com/qt/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-2-wordpress-plugin/lightbox/css/lightbox.css
And the style is named "#overlay", changing the height property value from 500px to 115px seems to fix the problem.
thanks!
In Vancouver some of the VFX houses and production houses have brought VFX into the union through IATSE.
An interesting thread on the subject from another forum
http://www.vfxcommunity.com/index.php/topic,14.0.html
we want compositing system on the mac (at least flare, perhaps if interfaced with smoke). If this happens I am going to buy smoke + flare on mac
You should know that you need to own a Flame license to purchase Flare. In other words, Flare requires a $250K dongle.
autodesk has come out with a great one this time .. there is no finishing system like te smoke ...
but the pricing for the upgrade on linux is very heavy .... i m stuck on smoke 2008 on linux as it takes us$ 14000 approx to upgrade to the latest version .... the question is when i can get new smoke on mac for us$15000 why should i upgrade smoke on linux 2008 by paying 14000 ?
does it mean the death of smoke on linux ????
if there are subscription schemes then i would definitely pay from my pocket !!!!
plz do let me knw !!!!
adolf: smoke under osx is only the basic version, not Advanced like linux has. Also there currently isn't Quadro SDI out under osx and audio out only works through an aja card. So even for the basic version of Smoke under osx has a little bit of time before it catches up with all the features of the linux one.
[...] Smoke2011?Mac?????? http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2445/fxguidetv-flamesmoke-2011-releases [...]
As for Flame, the ship has left the pier and Autodesk are still fumbling for their purse.
Storm/Nuke, why bother spending $$$$$$$$$$$ on a flame.
Bryon.
Flame = the land of the high cost
Nuke = the land of the hidden cost
pick your poison.
[...] Autodesk Flame/Smoke 2011 release! [...]
Power Matte - DFT.
hmmmm......
there's one clip missing here:
"Action: Multiple Outputs"
fixed now, thanks
hi deke ..
that brings some relief n hope ....
but the buzz for new smoke on mac is so much that people r planning to sell off their smoke on linux n get smoke on mac ....
they fail to understand that these advanced features are available only in linux ...
but i m sure i will get an easy installment option where i can upgrade to 2011 ...
i m sure the new smoke will b now used for offline as well as online ...
as it is all in one finishing system ...
Why was the Alexa footage shot at 30fps? It was sad for me to see footage from this camera for the first time playback all jittery in the podcast 🙁 Did the Arri guys set it and didn't let you touch it?
Still pretty sweet you got to shoot an interview on it! Thanks for the awesome podcasts!
The camera prototype was only capable of doing 30fps to the SxS card, obviously this will be changing.
The 2011 release is substantial in a lot of ways. Regarding the Nuke vs. flame discussion, for a turnkey finishing and effect solution which is largely client attend or fast turn around there is zero question that Flame is the way to go. Nuke's fundamental lack of io, conforming and versioning tools not to mention the lack o f a proper timeline virtually insure that it will have no place in the high end finishing market. For that matter Smoke on OS X is better suited than Nuke. As far as Storm is concerned it still remains to be seen where the product will go. Right now it's being positioned in early viewings as an alternative to Red Cine and as more of a workflow tool. Does it have the potential to develop in to a Smoke killer.... Potentially... Time will definitely tell. But no one gets it right in version one point naught. Generation has been around for a good bit of time and it's desperately far from being the tool at can kill Flame, much less Smoke.
That's not to say that I don't think that it cant happen or that I don't think it would be good for Autodesk to have a little competition in the online/finishing/vex markets. I for one am extremely pro Nuke. If I wre starting a shop from scratch today, there would definitely be a handful of Nuke seats there doing the bulk of heavy lifting in the compositing department, rather than say one seat of Flare. Nuke is an mazing piece of compositing kit. Light years beyond Flame in a ton of ways. The 2011 release goes a fair way to update Flame's comp workflow and increase it's 3d capabiities in a large extent passed Nuke... But Nuke can be extended far beyond where Flame is with custom code and integrated so amazing into a production pipeline, where Flame in some extents still can feel a bit like an island.
Would I pick up a Flame?
Potentially depending on the work that needed to be done. Flame has been my weapon of choice for a long long long time in the commercials market for client attend. There's not so much that I cant do in a session on Flame with clients sitting in the room... So potentially.
Would I put together a Smoke on Mac OS X? Definitely. I just installed the demo of OS X Smoke on our FCP machine and am completely blown away and the performance and feature set for the price. Add to that a 30k resolve with control panels running on OS X and you've got a very competitive solutions for completing not openly finishing but also vex and color.
Does Storm factor into all of this? Going to have to wait and see what the thing actually does but I have a tremendous amount of faith in the Foundry.
... And excuse my typing... Still not 100 on the iPad keyboard.
is "New Import/Library Workflow" missing
as well or is it just a headline?
I listened with interest to your discussion of this movie ad I completely agree with Mark. This was a very bad movie, with huge plot holes and a depressingly predictable ending. And the color grading was just awful.
However, what I really want to mention is an issue I had with the dagger/sands of time effect. Both Mike and Mark liked the sequence, but I did not. I was taken out of the movie by the CG men as they were pulled out of their bodies. The characters looked very fake, almost like wax figures.
Did anyone else notice this?
On the plus side, I was glad the movie didn't stick too closely to the video game. I only played the original one on an Apple IIc computer years ago, with a side scrolling little man that jumped. I was very glad I didn't have to see a green Jake Gyllenhall run from left to right for two hours.
I am very pleasedto see that you are putting so much of effort for encouraging the visitors with valueable seo posts , Ohhh what do you all think about 3d tv?
This is one of the best Pixar films in a long time, and I loves this pod cast and totally agreed with the guys and their review. Also, I too really loved Night and Day and am hoping it come with the DVD or BlueRay.
Thanks to Mike and the Matts', I really enjoyed this one.
cheers
Rich
....mmmhhh. Where are the movies? Will they be uploaded?
Where are the movies?
waiting already 4 months for it!!
[...] of a Spartan http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2584/birth-of-a-spartan#more-2584 A trailer for Xbox 360 Halo. Visual effects done by Animal Logic. QT movie at the end of page. Two [...]
[...] his LiveJournal, man-sized cartoonist Dean Haspiel just announced he’s been nominated for an Emmy for his illustration work for the Bored To Death title sequence.
Here's a link to the FXGuide coverage of the Emmy Award nominated VFX for Ben 10: Alien Swarm
http://www.fxguide.com/article582.html
I would love to attend your GeekFest.
Arent 3 of these TV shows basically the same that get nominated every year? Seriously, 3 shows in space (and in some ways, a 4th). There were plenty of other shows out there who had VFX far stronger than Stargate/Caprica. I wonder how many people nominated are also on the VFX Emmy board? What is the voting process, anyway? Very interesting....
[...] Haspiel
I bought Realviz Stitcher 5 (upgraded free to 5.1) on January 31 2006 for $ 580. (Order Reference 142135) The problem with this product is that if you buy new hardware or a new version of Windows or even format your machine with the same Windows disc, the "hardware ID" changes. Now Autodesk has bought Realviz. I do not need to buy the new "Autodesk Stitcher Unlimited" because this 5.1 does all I need and I stitch rectilinear images only and I am very comfortable with my work flow. Please could someone tell me how / where to get the activation key for Stitcher 5.1, I really need to 'format' my computer! (with the same OS disk Win XP 32)
Thanks MUCH
Apu
[...] nuke transformers 2 workflow By lesterbanks | Published: July 15, 2010 A great episode of FXguideTV featuring Jason Billington from Industrial Light and Magic
so cool! Niu Bi!!!
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/2651/pixars-michael-johnson [...]
[...] Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special Ben 10: Alien Swarm
Thank you Scott and Jeff for this great podcast. Fantastic insight but a little scary to students like me who are wanting to enter the industry...
Thank you for fighting for current and future generation of VFX artists.
How strange! I was just listening to an old fxguide podcast this week which featured these guys and I wondered what they were up to!
I'm in heaven! looking forward to it!
very promising. looking forward to it!
Looking forward too..!!
Where's the survey again? Couldn't get the link mentioned in the podcast to work. (Maybe it's just me)
We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore, Scott!
We support you.
Thank you for your candid comments and insight.
The interview could have gone on for hours.
Thanks for the Interview, Jeff!
Pam
http://www.fxguide.com/survey thanks!
Oh and while I'm adding links:
VFX Soldier: http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com
Scott Squires blog: http://effectscorner.blogspot.com
The Animation Guild Blog: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com
Some other links:
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/04/06/film_tax_credits_are_an_unaffordable_luxury_98407.html
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3111
http://www.loadedgunboston.com/2009/03/analysis-questions-states-film-tax.html
http://pressdemocrat.com/article/20100714/BUSINESS/7141062/1036?p=2&tc=pg
Yeah, I am particularly interested in global issues Scott mentioned, and more specifically toward China.
More and more people are coming to China or show interests in its business. But it is still a myth place to a lot of outsiders I think.
Within years it could become worlds largest vfx OEM market, just like all the other businesses. You definitely need to reckon with that when talking about so-called world wide trade organization of VFX. Hope there will be a podcast talking about the ongoing industry in China and its own issues/hopes/influences.
Jack, I've spent a bit of time in China... I was there about 6 weeks ago... Xi'an, Shanghai, Beijing, Macau, HK. I've been invited back in the end of August. I've some insight into that market and if FX Guide asks me back, I'd be happy to do another podcast about China, it's VFX industry and film industry.
Wow amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
looking Forward tooooooooooooooo
Cool!!
I'll have my eyes and ears open, regarding this.
"...will be a must-have" will still be based on price ($4,400 is just too much for small shops), but the statement "in the form a new low-cost matchmoving application" sounds promising. 🙂
[...] direction of the software.
Well unless they come up with some way to do easy face tracking its just fancy words i mean camera tracking its really easy these days.
Nodes..fine another way to do the same ,not too much impressive
PFTrack already offers impressive face tracking. It has done for years!
Its just me or Mary its slow really slow with big objects?
I'd love to give Mari a try it would be great if they released a educational or trial version! Maybe a new phd masterclass! 🙂
[...] If you have a moment please take the time to listen to the podcast. While I found myself agreeing with alot of points, I almost crashed my car when I heard Jeff and Scott completely contradict themselves on a labor organization to represent the artists. According to Jeff Heusser: [...]
I would really like for Scott Ross to explain why the companies and not the artists should organize and to explain his contradiction.
The TAG Blog and VFX Soldier have already discussed why its a contradiction what he's said.
About time since their engine is so slow and solving so cumbersome that we already switched to Syntheyes.
Great!!! I hope it delivers and that fxphd creates a course on this new software/technology!
[...] around a new form of tracking software they have developed. Straight from a recently released press release, it will be based on a new node-based flowgraph architecture and an industry-first in camera [...]
By the way we have done two prior podcasts with Steve Hulett from The Animation Guild and one with Tom Walsh from The Art Directors Guild ( all can be found in this list: http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcast.html or in iTunes) both do a good job of explaining their positions.
[...] Labor Organizer Posted on July 23, 2010 by skaplan839 In a recent podcast interview with FX Guide, interviewer Jeff Heusser gives Scott the reigns of the visual effects industry over the entire [...]
Slams Unions?
I love the choice of words. A little over the top? I am not against unions.... I am for solutions.
At present, I don't see how a Union solves the VFX industry dilemma. I'd be open to learning more about how unions might be a solution for the industry, in fact, I'd like to invite the IATSE and/or the Animation Guild to sit down with me and have an open public forum to discuss what the paths of correction might be to save our industry. If the appropriate path is a Union or a Guild.... I'd throw my support behind either effort. Let's stop making disparaging remarks and start solving problems!
sounds like great marketing.
This is a particularly good episode, such awesome points about what we should be using this gear for!
As the co-owner of a smaller VFX facility, I am ready to open my wallet and support Scott because he is probably the only person who is in the right position at the right time with the right rolodex. There are very few if any other candidates who understand how hard it is to run a vfx facility. I would rather play nice with other facilities than tear each each other apart in a race to the bottom.
-david burton
with a twist studio
Very curious to get more details on this... Motion tracking become one of the most common task in a VFX shot and the solutions are still bit technical and not so artist friendly. I am mre keen on seeing how they are dealing with object tracking along with camera track.
Cautiously optimistic. The only thing that ever kills me with 3d tracks is the lack of trackable features or parallax. I don't know that node-basing it will do much, but again: cautiously optimistic.
I hope that they offer a demo - I'm very keen to play with this - what ever it is.
but I am sure that they will try to make sure the tracking is really a game-changer.
Unless it is just some extra 3D tracking that is riding on the back of all the 3D releases out there.
Starting to feel a little trolled here without further information after the first day of SIGGRAPH. Does this new tracker have a name? A price? A feature list? A ship date?
Just got the press release this morning, I have updated the story above complete with images. We are interviewing Pixel Farm at the show and will have more later.
Thanks, Jeff!
What's it missing compared to the big brother PFTrack?
I think object tracking, z-depth extraction and some other things.
[...] If you have a moment please take the time to listen to the podcast. While I found myself agreeing with alot of points, I almost crashed my car when I heard Jeff and Scott completely contradict themselves on a labor organization to represent the artists. According to Jeff Heusser: Everybody I talk to, what they are interested in is not what you would normally think of for a union. What they are interested in is portable benefits, help with enforcement of labor laws because there are a lot of people who are not following the labor laws, and retirement plans. Those seem to be the three things that I hear most from the artists. Seems like an odd time for a union to be discussed. [...]
[...] If you have a moment please take the time to listen to the podcast. While I found myself agreeing with alot of points, I almost crashed my car when I heard Jeff and Scott completely contradict themselves on a labor organization to represent the artists. According to Jeff Heusser: Everybody I talk to, what they are interested in is not what you would normally think of for a union. What they are interested in is portable benefits, help with enforcement of labor laws because there are a lot of people who are not following the labor laws, and retirement plans. Those seem to be the three things that I hear most from the artists. Seems like an odd time for a union to be discussed. [...]
Really enjoyed this ep!
Great interview with Zap and your talk about mental mill seemed like you were thinking it would make a great fxphd course 😉
Got lots of questions about iray. Will post in the forums for Zap.
Still lots of development yet with GPU and whether studios will be looking at GPU render farms to take over from CPUs. I look forward to hearing more of your posts/reports about this as you are very interested in the subject and have been talking about it for a while now.
Cheers.
Best,
Rich
Ptex is going to be awesome once its been piped into major 3D software. Cant wait for the day we dont have to UV map 😀
[...] fxguidetv siggraph 2010, pfmatchit & ves handbook By lesterbanks | Published: August 4, 2010 FxguideTV with episode two from the Siggraph 2010 show. This episode features a look at Pixel Farm’s new low cost tracking applicaiton PFMatchit. Also, an interview with Scott Squires on the The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures ,
Hey guys,
Love the show. But...I can't believe that nobody noticed or brought up the fact that you can quite easily see the "tow line" that was attached to the van that was pulling the bus as it exploded in front of the "Binocular Building" on Main Street. Looks like wire removal was not part of the budget, or maybe nobody cared. Check it out next time you watch that scene, and you will see the cable connected from the van to the bus.
Also, some of the "undercranking" was a little too Keystone Kops for my taste. Otherwise, great flick.
Keep up the great podcasts.
Michael
Well until other renderers support Ptex this isn't super useful. Not everyone has renderman pro server 15.
Really enjoyed this!
Great article! As a Smoke Advanced on Linux owner, the prospect of a cheaper version of Smoke was a scary thing at first but now I am actually considering expanding my facility to include a "SMac". I had the pleasure of doing several sessions on the Mac version at other facilities as a freelancer and guess what... the darn thing works(!) and integrates nicely with the bigger boxes.
Really good stuff guys, very fun episode. Personally I'd love to hear a podcast on optical compositing, you hear it referenced for a lot of older films but I've never heard anything about how the process actually worked.
Brilliant. Instead of fixing all the problems with the current version. They've just changed the look so it's node based! This is typical PF.
I remember when PF track came out they had a really great tracking product but with an interface that made it unusable. If you wanted to change the focal length you had to start again from scratch!!! They always asked for feedback but refused to change their product.
I bet you still can't change the size of the transform handle!
Great show as always. I loved this movie too and thought the effects work was spot on. Keep the great shows coming.
As always I really injoyed hearing what you guys have to say on the show but I have to agree with Juan. I thought the cg characters in the time effects were unrealistic and fake looking. My wife pointed it out while watching in the theater as well.
Matchmove inside AE !! That will be great! Is there a release date?
Even if the tracker is built into AE what's the point of using a second rate tracker? This Foundry tracker offers little more than PFHoe at a much greater price and has a god awful workflow.
Watch Class 7 of their training material to see what a pigs ear it makes of feature tracking. This shot can not be in any way considered a "tricky" shot.
Spend a little more money on SynthEyes and get a far superior product.
Although i use both MAC and PC I hope they will release RESOLVE for Windows too since all the editing we do with RED footage is happening on Windows.
A software that developed on linux can be ported to MACOS much more easier than windows. Since MACOS itself is sort of a linux.
I am curious about the mac version of the software, and Resolve on a laptop capabilies.
thank u
It's the same as Smoke for Mac I'd imagine (i.e Linux to OSX port) and the fact the Mac as a huge potential market with all the Final Cut Pro installations out there.
I don't understand why if an artist doesn't get paid when they are supposed to on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, why they stick around and finish the job. A new model needs to happen, like a the little guy with a small motion design business who will watermark shots or the complete commercial until full payment is received.
One problem artists have is when you are freelance, being classified (probably incorrectly) as an independent contractor you lose the normalcy of payroll. In California if you are on payroll you must be paid on a regular schedule but many VFX companies vary payments for "contractors" wildly. If an artist is experiencing swings of being paid every week to 90-100 days they have no way to gauge when to panic.
Scott Squires has some solid advice for artists in his blog post "VFX artists don't need to be taken advantage of"
http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/2010/08/vfx-artists-dont-need-to-be-taken.html
9. Respect yourself. Respect your job.
-amen to that.
That's what happens when you work for a fake studio 🙂
I guess people should just stop working for companies with names that represent either a false something or a falling object.
Ha, I saw Piranha last night. We thought it was more of a spoof on Jaws because of Richard Dreyfuss and Christopher Lloyd's roles. Nope. It's absolutely the most realistic goriest of films I've ever seen. That being said, the VFX teams did a wonderful job - especially with the eaten flesh... Yuck.
I'm in I.A.T.S.E. There are times I scream out in anger at the politics and corruption, but I always get paid 🙂
The other alternative for VFX pros is a guild. Essentially, VFX pros need to be a member of a group that has a list of standard practices that an employer must follow. The group - just like a union - should have a contact with the labor department in whatever State or Country they are working in. Respective governments/departments can act quickly to get a person paid. Each VFX pro should sign a "deal memo" with the employer outlining the job, and then each person needs to document their work hours. Once an agreement is met on a pay schedule, and then you don't get paid, go to the government labor person for help.
In Texas, the employer commits a crime if they do not pay the employee either on the seventh day or thirtieth day after work. If you don't get paid, call the local police for advice.
Condolences to the Scoredos family. Sande was an integral part of the animation, motion graphics, and vfx community in ABQ when Sony Pictures Imageworks first established an office here. She was a strong supporter of our work with motion (http://motion.motion.tv), and an advocate for the local community. She was a strong advocate/implementor of the IPAX program at UNM.
She will be missed.
Mike, I'm curious if you and Jason could discuss resolve on a 17"MBP. I would love to hear about performance especially with 4k r3d.
Hi all,
I am writing a story on unpaid artists in Montreal. Did that happen to you? Do you know anyone who would like to talk about it? Let me know.
thanks very much for the info... do continue your work so noobs like me will find it very useful before investing in products.
[...] source Written by: Pradeep Mamgainis a VFX Educator at Frameboxx Animation and Visual Effects, Gurgaon Haryana, India. He writes Visual Effects, Post and Dynamics tutorials using various CG Packages. He is founder of the websites CGSutra.com and Aniquito.com. [...]
I dont see any improvement in C4D Particle system again! the same old pyroclaster again....why? i think MAXON must pay more attention to cinematic tools more than motion graphic tools.(we just hear only Body Paint every where)
im sure Visual Effects are more important than Motion graphics in "CINEMA" industry!...and i hope they read my comment in MAXON,because i love C4D.
Im agree with you,Maxon must pay more attention to improvement in future versions."XSI,LightWave3D,MAX,Maya,Houdini" are main programs in visual effects industry,because of their powerful cinematic tools,but i think dark side of Cinema 4D is internal render engine,weak particle system and hard to learn Xpresso!
C4Ds Bread and butter is its integration with After effects and Motion Graphics
they have seen some momentum in film, but the tools are already flooded in that market, I dont think they'll focus to much on pushing the development of their cinema tools any time soon, not to mention Adobe is even less interested in pushing inovation that is competitive or comparative in the VFX world either.
[...] | studio daily | fxguide | young director award [...]
Brian,
Nice one 😉
Autodesk will be back on the track with this package.
This is a fantastic move by Autodesk. In essence they will be selling Lustre/Smoke combo for $10K if you already have a flame. That is awesome. NYC commercial scene is in for some good changes. 🙂
Agreed. We're super-excited over Flame Premium here in Chicago!
We'll your intro to the movie was a great argument. I was laughing working working out. As for the low box office, can we attribute that to the fact that the demo it's marketed at is probably downloading a pirated version off the internet? The movies IMDB rating is 8.1, so obviously a large group likes this movie.
I actually went to a bookstore and thumbed through a copy of "Book 1" and it actually looked interesting, even though I consider myself out of the demographic for the movie. As I suspected, the preview looked exciting, but there was no way I was going to go to a theater for an onslaught of visuals. I'll wait for the Blu-ray.
Thanks for the show.
How come my post was censored?? Looks like no one can't criticize websites sponsors.
ENOG.
No conspiracy theory. Was cleaning out posts about the YouTube videos not having audio (because I fixed that) and deleted yours by accident.
Would have been fine to just ask instead of jumping to ridiculous conclusions....thanks.
YAY!! YUV Blur, I cannot tell you how many clients ask for the 'Henry' blur.....
OK John, Sorry.
It's the best news since 10 years, "will be selling Lustre/Smoke combo"
All of us here in Europe are waiting for them on the same machine !
But not on Linux ):
Is there a light to see that best team of the world, one day on OSX ?
Slowly it (the Flame) is getting nearer and nearer to our facility...and since we`ve been evaluating Smoke it`s an even more interesting package...adding Lustre to the whole deal makes it nearly irresistible
Oh Please just focus on real improvement , phillip
This new package is awesome (2011 , flame premium , Lustre .... )
but you really need to improve some feature , FBX , Light ,Shadows , Stereo , Disparity ... Stereo
because is actually very so so
The gradient , blur , X1 come on ... ok
anyway good job
Mais vous pouvez faire encore mieux ...
G
Without a doubt, it's nice to have access to all the premium software packages. But in reality, how many people out there are well-versed enough to be a "one man/woman band?" Merging the abilities that Flame has into Smoke would be obvious. Adding Lustre is nice, but I find the business model a bit puzzling. Anyone remember Quantel's "Maya on Quantel" software offering?
I just played with the demo for a few hours, and it seems to work pretty well. I don't have a ton of experience with Syntheyes, but I really like the node based workflow of PF MatchIT. Anyone used both, and can tell me where to spend my $700?
IBC 2010
By any chance, someone knows why the AREA TV - On Demand dooesn't work ?
thanks in advc
I think when looking at Flame premium you need to take into account around $1k a year in subscription fees, plus the addition costs for Burn, plus the $10,000 for SapphireSparks, Plus Hardware, Plus.................................
And given it's all on the one box it's not like you can run three jobs at once (one Flame, One Smoke, One Lustre) to cover the additional costs.
I'm finding really hard to see any real benefits.....
I think it's an easy financial decision actually, since having 3 flame suites that can now act as editorial, or grading, or comp (assuming you have the systems installed) for a fraction of the cost prior to Premium.. granted, the license doesn't work across 3 separate machines, but there will be times that 3 rooms need to work on VFX, or maybe 2 rooms are grading while one is conforming.. if you don't have endless space to install suites, it becomes easy to do the math.
But why not just grade in Flame?? Why not edit in FCP where you have a much stonger freelance pool?? I can see the advantages from Autodesks side as a lot of people will jump on it thinking they have an advantage giving Autodesk a large cash hit.
AND ANOTHER THING!! (I say Jokingly....) If they had of brought out a version of Smoke with a Full batch and a Lustre Module/Node so you don't have to jump between apps, now that would be cutting edge and worth buying.
...................................................
I think you might be missing something. If this upgrade cost the same as buying all 3 products separately, it would be a terrible, terrible deal. It's not an extra $180,000 (guesstimate of $90K for Smoke Advanced and $90K for Lustre), though...it's $10K. Yes, there may be hardware upgrade costs involved, but you'd need those eventually anyway.
As a Flame artist who also knows Smoke pretty well, I'm really excited about Flame Premium. I love reels for compositing, but vastly prefer Smoke's Editdesk and timeline for "lighter" work like finishing and mild color correction. If the new "Smoke Premium" had Flame's caching in it, I would probably switch to it for 100% of my work. I totally agree with your "Lustre Node" idea!
If you think Flame is a grading powerhouse, you've never worked with clients that are used to grading on a DaVinci or Baselight. You can create any look imaginable, but it's pretty easy to bog the system down with rendering.
Sapphire shouldn't cost any more, as the price in the past for a sapphire flame license has been the same as a flame/smoke. I haven't talked to their sales dept about it yet, though.
Totally agree with your comment about Smokes desk top, I use both systems as well and much prefer Smokes superior desktop.
So if your saying its better to grade in lustre than Flame, which I'm sure it is, do you need to also shell out for a grading panel for the lustre or is it included in the price??
I'm just vastly disappointed they did not bring out one product that did everything instead.
Come on Autodesk you need to LEAD by example, and not be LEAD.
I tend to agree with Gabriel, Mais vous pouvez faire encore mieux, and fix stuff like Paint, BFX, cache, 3DBlur............
I've worked with some very respected film colorists who've worked on big hollywood films and won't touch a grading panel.. They just use a mouse and keyboard. So I wouldn't worry about buying a grading panel for lustre, it's a matter of preference.
[...] fxguide quick takes
I downloaded the free trial of camera tracker ( http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/cameratracker/ ) - works fine for me at least.
phew !!!
i was having withdrawal symptoms 😛
Thanks for writing out your experience john.It's something of a learning experience and might come in handy some day.
look forward to a great new term @ fxphd.
b
i was wondering if you had some how p'd off 4chan and were being LOIC'd
glad your back
on the last fxdod you wondered why someone would listen but not join fxphd
btw the reason I listen to fxdod but don't join fxphd is that I am severely disabled and cant rely on having enough spoons http://is.gd/fEudS- in any week/month to do the course
Best movie of all time!
Great to have you back, guys. Kudos for sharing the story, too!
If you love this episode, you should search for an old documentary from BBC - Horizon: How To Film The Impossible - in google. This documentary is all about ILM, showing a lot of the effects needs for Temple of Doom, special the rollercoaster scene.
I thought the world was coming to an end.
my deepest condolence, behalf of vfx freelance my personal firm, we miss you.
Its very usefull for Future Compositors................. Thank You
Reminds me a bit of Total Recall!
Ah, so Artem was used for creating the physical mask then (the clue being the Gremlin in the background!). Very cool work by both MPC and Artem 🙂 Good to see both physical and digital coming together beautifully.
Reminds me of Playstation 2 poster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5047435647/in/set-72157624961995025/
Will be there!!!
[...] Union Invites VFX Artists Jeff Heusser of fxguide caught this interesting piece of info: This Saturday evening, October 16th, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 40 [...]
I saw Monsters and was very impressed. Gareth did an amazing job and I hope to see many more films from him. Truly a great story and just well done. Thanks for the great podcast.
--
This should be interesting.. I hope something good can come to resolve this matter.. There needs to be some more standards in place that help the VFX and hard working CG artists that are being effected by the current state of things.
I saw Monsters the other day as well and I loved it. Gareth is an inspiration. Aside from the marvel of doing all the VFX solo, I thought his directing skills were phenomenal. Giving the actors parameters to follow and not a word-for-word script worked out tremendously well. Very realistic. I have a script that is along the same vein in terms of guerrilla shooting, etc and I think Monsters will be a great inspiration and guide on how to do this style well. Amazing as always Gareth!
D
We are working on a podcast with IBEW to have them outline their ideas directly about how they feel they could help both VFX artists and VFX Companies.
This meeting ended with planning of a followup meeting in a few weeks, possibly on the West Side of Los Angeles. We will post details on fxguide as soon as we get them.
Really Inspiring!!
Great one! Love hearing your explanation of the Winkelvoss technique Mike!
While this "hockey mask" projection technique is quite different. I have been testing out a variation of this technique for applying a practical hand-drawn look to 3D geometry. I am sure it is perfectly possible to achieve a very hand-drawn look in rendering but I thought one of the best ways to achieve the look would be to:
1. simply use the CG animation as reference and re-draw each frame by hand (which obviously works very well).
2. use the CG as reference, re-draw for each frame, and project it back onto the geometry, adjusting it to match the hand-drawn. The great thing about this technique is DEPTH OF FIELD, it isn't easy to "draw" focus, but it is extremely simple to render it in 3D.
It is a bit convoluted, but it is well worth it to keep what started as a 2D concept, taken into 3D (which lets you easily move the camera and work with lighting), back to 2D, and back to 3D for easy compositing and lighting adjustment.
Very inspiring talk, thanks guys!
I saw the film at a THX certified theater in Washington DC and didn't see any grain or issues with the blacks.
Couldn't even tell that it was shot digitally.
[...] Light Stage brings The Robot to life in India [...]
[...] Article on FXGuide [...]
Nuke is my favourite compositing software..it will gonna rock.
great stuff thanks!
I'm an animator in the motion graphics industry. 5 years ago, in 2005, I wanted to explore joining the Animation Union. Though motion graphics in its current form is still a nascent industry, it's been around in one form or another since the dawn of television.
I'm sorry, but what does the IBEW (the international brotherhood of electrical workers) have anything to do with VFX, 2D & 3D animation, compositing, et al.?
I'm an animator in the motion graphics industry. 5 years ago, in 2005, I wanted to explore joining the Animation Union. Though motion graphics in its current form is still a nascent industry, it's been around in one form or another since the dawn of television.
Double post - this was also posted in another article.
Do you have an understanding of how unions work? Did they represent the company you worked for? Accepting your dues with no contract in place would have been much worse in my opinion.
I tried to contact you when you posted at first a few days ago but deleted your post because it was from a made up email and domain so I could not contact you for clarification. I worry about "five years ago I... " posts not adding much to this very serious conversation. They are interested now and it might be wise to listen to what they have to say.
Do you have an understanding of how unions work? Did they represent the company you worked for? Accepting your dues with no contract in place would have been much worse in my opinion.
I tried to contact you when you posted at first a few days ago but deleted your post because it was from a made up email and domain so I could not contact you for clarification. I worry about "five years ago I... " posts not adding much to this very serious conversation. They are interested now and it might be wise to listen to what they have to say.
this guy is ROCK !!! i really wanna watch his movie--and i cant wait for his next best one. good job, Gareth
There's no reason to discount a comment simply for choosing to remain anonymous. There's an enthusiastic vibrancy to the web's ecosystem of comments and a lot of it is due to comments being able to, at times, be posted anonymously.
Most fundamentally, it allows for people to be wrong. (see 4chan article in Wired magazine)
That said, there's really no reason to question my individual competency or knowledge of "how unions work". At their core, Unions are meant to represent their members mutual economic and social interests. Check out the Freelancers's Union here: http://www.freelancersunion.org/
When you say "they are interested now" what do you mean exactly? Who is interested, and what are they saying? There is nothing in your comment that indicates what you mean.
Concerning your desire to further discount my comment by claiming it's somehow obsolete because the experience it describes is five years old. That just doesn't make any sense. Regardless of when the experience happened, its factuality remains. The reason I mentioned the timeframe was to acknowledge that time has passed, and maybe things are different now; that, and to show that this has been an issue for all animators for a long time. If my personal experience has anything to do with it, I can add that two cents to the pot.
To oblige your need for currentness. I just contacted the Animation Guild. Literally. Today. Five minutes ago. They are very nice. However, once again, I had to explain to the first person I spoke to what Motion Graphics Animation was. It was like having a word for word conversation repeated back to me five years later. It felt as if nothing had changed.
Fortunately, this time, I was able to be connected with Steve Kaplan.
Steve spoke with me at length about the state of the industry, and said that I was unable to join the animation guild/union voluntarily as an individual. They have a facility focused infrastructure, not an artist focused infrastructure. Basically, the way their individual union is setup, you'd have to already be employed at a facility that has an agreement with them, and you'd be obligated to join, It's just not in their current system's dna to do it the other way around.
Where does that leave the entire freefloating freelancing vfx, design, animation and motion graphics industry? That's not a rhetorical question. I want to know. Should we join the industry non-specific freelancers union?
The first sentence of this comment is unique to this thread. I posted the comment here because it is equally valid, and for some readers, who click on this thread and not the other, the comment would be viewed, and hopefully, an intelligent discussion would follow. I am not aware of an internet comment rule-book that says you can post similar comments in similar threads that speak earnestly toward a topic. Even your reply to my comment doesn't readily identify the article to which my double comment applies. Isn't it easier just to reprint my words here than make people chase links to read something that deals with the same subject matter? Not all readers read every quick take at fxguide.
That said... (reprint alert!)
There's no reason to discount a comment simply for choosing to remain anonymous. There's an enthusiastic vibrancy to the web's ecosystem of comments and a lot of it is due to comments being able to, at times, be posted anonymously.
Most fundamentally, it allows for people to be wrong. (see 4chan article in Wired magazine)
That said, there's really no reason to question my individual competency or knowledge of "how unions work". At their core, Unions are meant to represent their members mutual economic and social interests. Check out the Freelancers's Union here.
When you say "they are interested now" what do you mean exactly? Who is interested, and what are they saying? There is nothing in your comment that indicates what you mean.
Concerning your desire to further discount my comment by claiming it's somehow obsolete because the experience it describes is five years old. That just doesn't make any sense. Regardless of when the experience happened, its factuality remains. The reason I mentioned the timeframe was to acknowledge that time has passed, and maybe things are different now; that, and to show that this has been an issue for all animators for a long time. If my personal experience has anything to do with it, I can add that two cents to the pot.
To oblige your need for currentness. I just contacted the Animation Guild. Literally. Today. Five minutes ago. They are very nice. However, once again, I had to explain to the first person I spoke to what Motion Graphics Animation was. It was like having a word for word conversation repeated back to me five years later. It felt as if nothing had changed.
Fortunately, this time, I was able to be connected with Steve Kaplan.
Steve spoke with me at length about the state of the industry, and said that I was unable to join the animation guild/union voluntarily as an individual. They have a facility focused infrastructure, not an artist focused infrastructure. Basically, the way their individual union is setup, you'd have to already be employed at a facility that has an agreement with them, and you'd be obligated to join, It's just not in their current system's dna to do it the other way around.
Where does that leave the entire freefloating freelancing vfx, design, animation and motion graphics industry? That's not a rhetorical question. I want to know. Join the industry non-specific freelancers union?
see related conversation continuing in the comments here: www.fxguide.com/qt/3072/recommended-reading-drawing-the-line-the-untold-story-of-the-animation-unions-from-bosko-to-bart-simpson#comments
That's what I meant when I asked if you knew how unions worked, no disrespect intended... they do not represent individual artists without contracts with facilities as their health and pension plans depend in part on contributions from the employers for hours worked.
What I meant about them being interested now is that unlike 5 years ago the IBEW and 839 have recently announced the desire to organize VFX... that is a new development. What that means, when and how is what we are waiting to hear. I have standing offers to IBEW and others to sit with us for a podcast and article to explain all this. IBEW is holding a second informational meeting this weekend.
You raise good questions about the design of any traditional union - does it fit? I think we need to hear what they are thinking to decide that. I worry that anything less will have no respect. Visual effects is frequently the largest department on a film and one of the only ones with no representation. I am aware of the freelancers union but need to learn more. The area of motion graphics is a whole other area that needs to be discussed.
Hello,
I think the frustration is quite common in the industry. Artists want to join a union but aren't entirely sure how to do it.
What we need to understand is that you can't just "join" The Animation Guild, you either have to work for a company already unionized or anonymously sign a rep card:
http://www.animationguild.org/repcard
If enough of your co-workers do so, it goes up for vote at the company and becomes a guild signatory if the vote is in there favor. I know it's tough but it's the law of how a facility gets organized.
Another union is also interested in representing vfx artists and I encourage you to come to their meeting this Sunday. Voice your concerns. Speak up.
If you want to know what they can do for you, read my article that gives you an overview of what they offer:
http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/what-a-union-does-for-you/
Hello caller and Jeff .. good to speak to both of you again!
Caller - it was a great pleasure speaking with you. I apologize for not having your name at the ready, but I was hoping to get an email from you as your phone battery was dying and we had discussed you sending me a message to further our conversation.
To be clear, you spoke first to our Office Manager whose job requires her attention on the operational and financial matters of the organization. While her knowledge of visual effects and specifically motion graphics may be less than ours, I will say that without her tireless and stalwart efforts, our membership of over three thousand would be left "twisting in the wind". I do not mean to be insulting to you, but disparaging her is not something I would stand without at least clarifying with whom you were speaking and why she may have been lacking with information for you. It is also why she passed the call to me.
Jeff is correct when he states that the current major requirement for membership into most Labor Organizations is employment at facilities that are signatory to their contract. The contract negotiations the IATSE and Local 839 undergo with producers and facilities carry financial requirements that the signatory entities are responsible for. These payments are what help fund the health and pension benefits that we are able to extend to our membership. Also, since 839 does not carry an employment roster, as its proven to be a burden to our industry, membership in the Guild would offer tertiary benfits through organizations like Union Plus and not the major items that most artists are seeking.
However, as we discussed, with disciplines like yours and artists who work in the Games field are in need of health and pension contributions as well as contractual protections that a labor organization is formed to provide. These matters are extremely pertinent and present and are at the forefront of discussions that are taking place within the IATSE as well as being posed to the IBEW in meetings they are holding with artists.
Please feel free to contact us again at your convenience in this matter. I would love further discussion with you as I am attempting to gather as much information and approach the IATSE from within their organization about visual effects artist representation. Your needs and the points we discussed are important to me and I'd like to be able to count on your opinion when I have more facts to present.
Steve Kaplan
Labor Organizer
The Animation Guild
Local 839, IATSE
[email protected]
Many, many many artists who work in VFX and Motion Graphics work for studios and companies as freelancers. They work for companies on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis. TAG and IATSE should be looking for a way to represent them as artists in this profession with portable benefits and labor-law enforcement. Otherwise, they'll be the ones who are hired without contracts at all. My 2
Sorry, wrong link in my previous post: http://www.freelancersunion.org/
This is great.
The dvd for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World comes out on November 9th, I am going to be picking it up - Saw some of the behind the scenes/make of footage and I would love to see more of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ni2S70hHKg
[...] Nuke 6.2 is due for release later in the year. More info is on FX Guide TV. [...]
very nice
This is a great article and the beginning of something that really needs to be discussed more. I am glad to see that a lot of people are commenting and putting some serious thought in to the state of the industry. I work for a VFX boutique style studio in Montreal Canada. I know there have been some comments about outsourcing to Canada but we are going through a similar situation here. We have had a lot of studios close down in the last year.
At Boogie Studio, we try to put most of our focus on advertising/commercials. We create some pretty high end stuff and we don
Does any one else see this not on the Mac Platform as a bad strategic move?
I'm sure The Foundry have thought of that.
I believe Nuke came out on Linux and Windows first and Mac followed later.
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3129/iatse-formally-announces-visual-effects-organizing-drive [...]
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3129/iatse-formally-announces-visual-effects-organizing-drive [...]
I just hope IATSE doesn't botch this like they did when Sony Imageworks was looking to join the union 6-7 years ago. The head IATSE brass come in like teamsters and scare everyone away.
839 knows how to handle artists and how to not look like the evil union. IATSE should leave it to 839 to organize.
I've only been in the industry for 2 yrs, Maybe you or someone should mention to IATSE to leave it to 839 to organize?
It is in Apple's court. Mari needs opengl 3.0 which came out 2+ years ago and Apple is stuck at version 2.2.
[...] can read the letter in full at FXguide.com, which puts the news in context by citing recent overtures from the IATSE’s Animation Guild [...]
[...] can read the letter in full at FXguide.com, which puts the news in context by citing recent overtures from the IATSE’s Animation Guild [...]
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3129/iatse-formally-announces-visual-effects-organizing-drive [...]
VFX artists have been protecting themselves for many years by deciding where they will work. A good artist can leave a crappy employer and go somewhere better. This usually teaches the crappy employer that they can't expect to treat people poorly and continue to generate high-quality work.
The only people who need union protection are the ones who, honestly, just aren't very good at their job.
In the future, potential clients will always be able to tell which VFX studios have the best artists by merit of the fact that they aren't a union house (ie, people want to work there). So I say, bring it IATSE. Help us separate the wheat from the chaff.
...And to all you young, budding artists out there, don't forget that a union will limit your ability to earn and move up. It's all seniority and pay scales. So it doesn't matter if you're ten times better than the guy sitting next to you. If he's been there 5 years longer, he's getting paid better and gets the best gigs.
Until we hear what they are proposing I caution against forming opinions based on speculation, emotions, previous experience in different unions, etc. This is sure to be a highly debated issue but I think they deserve a fair chance to make their case.
We have been in contact with IATSE (and IBEW) to ask them to sit with us for a podcast. If you have questions you'd like to see us ask please post them here or use the contact us link at top of page.
Jeff
Jeff, you make a good point. People should form opinions based on real experience, knowledge and history, not on hysterical rhetoric. By studying unions as an historical trend one will most likely draw the most reasonable conclusion.
Yes the unions should be heard out. And people should also be aware that it is not a "union or the wolves" choice. There are plenty alternatives to unions that will see an artist successful and fulfilled. Maybe working conditions are so broadly horrific that unions are the only solution. But I haven't seen that in this city. I have heard of one instance, and that was the event that started this whole process a couple of years ago.
Pro-union people will paint a picture of equality, safety and security without mentioning any of the down-sides. Anti-union people will tell you about scale and seniority, as I have. The positive side to unions is that people who can not protect themselves individually are protected by the group, which shuts down the offending business if needed. The concept that unionization gets you free medical and retirement savings is just wrong. You pay for that with your dues. Why not just save in RRSPs of your own choice (which will probably generate more money BTW) and buy your medical for your family, like most folks?
Imagine for yourself a VFX company in the middle of a project, and then the union striking. Any reasonable person can think through the fallout of such an action. It would not just affect the one company, it will sweep through the city. We'll be an unpredictable place to do business.
My position is that unionization will serve to detract business, leaving us with fewer jobs. We all know how mobile the industry is. And unions can not provide any benefits that are not otherwise available.
Now think of it this way. The people who really need union protection are those less-skilled. When there are fewer jobs because the work has gone to New Delhi or Prague, who will be the last people hired?
You don't pay for medical and retirement with your dues. Employer contributions and residual payments pay for them. Dues pay to run the union, organizing efforts, field reps, etc.
Its a tricky situation for sure. I agree with Jeff "...caution against forming opinions based on speculation, emotions, previous experience in different unions, etc. This is sure to be a highly debated issue but I think they deserve a fair chance to make their case."
DreamWorks and ILM (was) IATSE. Having worked for both and being in both union chapters, I can say there is a fairly large range/scope that a union's role can be. I'm cautiously interested in seeing what they have to say & offer.
Another anti-business power grab in the name of "the people"? Haven't we seen what this has done to the automobile manufacturing industry and countless other industries that aren't location specific? Have we not sent enough VFX jobs overseas? Do we need to make it even easier for studio executives to make that call to Singapore or Korea or India?
Look, I did many years in the industry, and a couple of those were without insurance because I couldn't afford COBRA. But hey, them's the breaks. You make a choice. X costs you Y. If you're not will to pay that price, choose a different industry. We're all well qualified for either the housekeeping or food service industries.
I know the effort is well-meant, but these things come at a price. Benefits don't appear out of thin air. They're real money that comes off of someone's bottom line. What's the studio going to get for the extra cost of hiring union labor? Guaranteed extra expense from paying benefits? How does that compete against India?
So the artists get access to health insurance. Don't they also get the possibility of being out of work because of a strike? Or facilities losing entire jobs because of the extra expense? Or just shutting down because their razor-thin margins couldn't stand another hit?
There's no such thing as a free lunch, so why doesn't someone lay out what the other side of this coin is?
Blastdoor,
Again, I've heard this argument before and it, again, is from a very vocal but very very small minority, usually one that has little or no experience with the IATSE's flavor of "union".
I'm pro business.. in fact, i want vfx companies to organize their own trade organization so that they have a unified front when dealing with the studios... the same studios that pridefully bragged a few years back that if they haven't run a vfx shop to the ground, they haven't done their job.
As an example of how the current state of affairs hurts the vfx industry, I worked at a company that has a mix of staffers and a majority of "contract" employees, myself being one of them. They operate within the CA labor laws, in fact, they hand you a sheet on your first day stipulating the 8 hour day, OT, weekend work very clearly. They have been in business for well over a decade and work on state of the art, industry leading work.
By contrast, a company next door to them, operated quite differently while bidding on the same work/clientele. They had almost all "contract" employees, blatantly defied labor laws, having artist work at a flat rate and around the clock in many cases. In fact they initiated the whole MBO debacle, where they purposely and illegally misclassified employees to offset their own responsibilities to paying their own payroll taxes. They required all workers to join the MBO organization to do their payroll and accounting, where the artist were charged 5% of their check. So in total, the artist had 5% deducted from their paycheck, an additional ~15% deducted from their check to pay for the payroll taxes that the company was supposed to pay, not the artist. Thats on top of your usual 29-34% that you are taxed! Plus you had to wait 30 days to get paid.
Artist were pretty much getting half their paycheck after all of the "taxes".
A canadian in canada pays 44% tax I think and get free healthcare while paying into the subsidies that helped guarantee that they have a job.
What this studio did was illegally classify the employees as "freelance" when they were contract employees. When you work on a company premises, using their equipment, under their supervision, you are their employee, even if its just for a day. You are supposed to be paid every two weeks, with the company paying the payroll tax, no 5% fee for getting paid basically, and proper taxes deducted. its the Law in CA. Technically speaking, a 'freelancer" would be working for the vfx vendor's client on their own equipment... effectively they ARE the vfx vendor, not an employee of the vendor.
By illegally misclassifying these employees, this vfx company had an unfair and illegal competitive edge: they effectively had employees who cost them 15-20% less (because the employees were made to pay the employers payroll tax), who worked for free after 8 hours since it was a flat rate... and since some worked 16 hour days, their labor cost was at a fraction of the cost that my legitimate employer was required by law to pay.
This is bad for business, this isn't business friendly.
This devalues the work we do by allowing the company who operated illegally to underbid by potentially significant margins.
A guild/union would help prevent this by having collective bargaining contracts and by offering a way to educate the labor force on what laws are out there to protect them.
In fact, during this debacle, the 839 helped keep artist informed who asked for information and help.
Regarding bottom lines, I know of a small number, not many, vfx companies that repeatedly not pay or late pay their artist while the company "reinvests" their profits in $250K supercars and in opening other businesses like restaurants, putting such efforts ahead of paying their artist on time.
Reality is, there is a cost to doing business, and considering how inexpensive a seat is in vfx is compared to the workstation price 10 years ago, I've seen that profit potential squandered in poor production economy within a company, large wrap parties (prestige magnets), poor client wrangling and, yes, supercars and restaurant ventures, in some cases placed ahead of paying the labor force that has delivered in some cases pretty lofty promises working excessive hours.
And the truth is, there are some companies that shouldn't be in business at all.. they have no operating capital, no pipeline, and they underbid legitimate companies that have the proper infanstructure to deliver the high tech product. Many of these ill prepared companies fold before even starting on a project, but the damage is done by distorting the bid process to the client, hence the devaluing the true cost of the job.
lately, the free lunches I've seen are the abuse of labor laws and the blatant non payment of artist. Some even to blockbuster features that have profited.
Lor -
As Jeff's and your points are both valid, you've obviously had some bad experience with unions and I think they should be heard.
Your main concerns of scale and seniority have been addressed in the 839 contract, as has been stated earlier. The Wages that are listed in our contract are minimums and in place to protect artists, not limit them. There is no seniority in our contract either.
Union dues and fees do *not* go to pay for the health and pension benefits. That is a common misconception. Union dues go to pay for the liabilities of each local. The bills and salaires incurred by the daily operation of the local. Health and Pension benefits for the IATSE are funded through contractual residuals negotiated at each contract ratification and employer contributions. At no time does a member pay for their own health or pension benefits. Finally, those dues and fees are completely tax deductible and returned to the artist each April in the form of a tax rebate.
Strikes .. another common misconception. All IATSE locals carry a No-Strike clause in their contracts. This clause states that while a contract is in place, all differences and grievances need to be handled through a defined process that includes arbitration by a third neutral party. Therefore, the IATSE is contractually obligated NOT to strike.
As Jeff pointed out, we all are anxiously awaiting more public announcements from the IATSE regarding their plans. Many questions are going to be levied and getting those questions to Jeff is extremely important. In the meantime, addressing some of the anti-union misconceptions that you and others have would be my pleasure.
Steve Kaplan
Labor Organizer
The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE
[email protected]
Steve, thanks for the clarification.
So union dues do not come back to the artist in the form of benefits. They go to pay for the union bureaucracy. That's much better. The union forces the employer to pay the benefits who must then raise prices to pay for them. Better still. (sorry for the sarcasm, I just can't help shaking my head)
No strikes? Fair enough, that makes sense and necessarily addresses, somewhat, the mobility of the industry. Good on you for that. So where's the union benefit? Getting a third party to arbitrate? That sounds pretty good.
Just a minute, isn't there already an employment standards branch for that?
Dues are tax deductible and returned to the artist each April? Actually the artist gets some, not all, of his tax money back based on dues paid. The union does not return it, the government just doesn't tax you on it. The union still keeps all the money. Interesting spin there, Steve.
So summing up, I get to pay dues for which I receive no benefit, except services (arbitration, medical, RRSP) which are also available elsewhere if I don't pay dues. Plus, VFX will be more expensive here, causing more business to go elsewhere. Or the studios will keep everyone at the minimum to pay for the benefits. The money's gotta come from somewhere.
I'll weigh that carefully, thanks for sorting me out.
Out of curiosity, under IATSE, what's a normal work day before overtime rates kick in? And what are the OT rates?
One more small point that I missed initially.
"Strikes .. another common misconception. All IATSE locals carry a No-Strike clause in their contracts. This clause states that while a contract is in place, all differences and grievances need to be handled through a defined process that includes arbitration by a third neutral party. Therefore, the IATSE is contractually obligated NOT to strike."
So if the contract expires, which they often do, the union is in a position to strike. So regardless of the No Strike clause, strikes are still a potential. Please feel free to correct this, if misinterpreted.
I am looking forward to hear a healthy discussion in the upcoming podcast and I am glad that multiple organizations came to realize that our industry with all its quirks has become mature enough to merit a more unified representation.
@lor:
Hey lor, although your arguments are valid and need to be explored even more, allow me to hopefully offer some other angles to your fears.
The fear that any US VFX work would be outsourced even more if artists here would organize would very likely be true. However if they would not organise,
then outsourcing would still happen anyway at an ever growing pace.
We have heard time and time again from the studio perspective that a majority of current VFX work is considered a collection of commodities, so therefore sound business strategy dictates that such work is best handled in a low wage, factory, bottom line pricing way.
Do not forget that most current studios are not even owned by traditional creative entities anymore, but are part of large global companies where the actual studio is merely a chapter that has to abide by the same, take no prisoners, ever growing profit margin goals.
Although there is nothing wrong with this and is in fact part of the fabric of our economy, this is a huge shift in how entertainment studios get handed the tools to make sure US vfx workers get treated properly.
I would go even so far as saying that there might be many executives or vfx company decision makers that want to keep the work here, but are not allowed to.
So in short, whether you like it or not, the work will be going away if we do not act in one voice.
I think it is clear that a lot of workers have paused on this for a while now and feel that our industry is not merely a collection of commodities, but a high skilled every changing and complex entity that is not getting its fair share of the profits it tends to generate.
I have a slight suspicion that IATSE, 839 and similar organizations have made the same conclusion and have a genuine passion to get our workforce the stability it so desperately needs.
To your point of representation being a vehicle to protect less skilled artists or to make it harder for negotiating your own salary is simply not true.
Whether a job is union or non union, you tend to find equal amount of politics vs realities and equal amounts of elbowing vs head bowing.
This is the part where the VES goals can come in, by defining and legitimizing titles, positions, credits. So a non skilled worker or an 'all talk no action' type of worker would not be able to attain the certification set forth by the VES but would on the flip side make sure that true skilled workers get recognized. Think of it as a diploma or label of authenticity.
Let me conclude by saying that of course no system is fail safe and even the best intentions to some can actually hurt others, but doing nothing and let it the US vfx industry go down in flames is not a course I want to see happen without at least having attempted to stabilize in however small amounts I can.
Thanks for reading,
DannyB, I appreciate your open and heartfelt remarks. However your facts do not add up to your own conclusions. Let me explain.
Big business wants cheaper VFX so they outsource to foreign interests. This will continue at an ever growing pace. The statement "So in short, whether you like it or not, the work will be going away if we do not act in one voice." should more aptly read "The work will be going away whether or not we act in one voice" based on this statement of facts. Do we really believe that unionizing (in short making VFX more expensive here) will force a studio producer to keep work here? And if he doesn't, what are we gonna do about it. Strike? I can already hear producers laughing.
Also, not joining a union does not mean we are doing nothing. And yes, doing nothing is better than doing something that is worse. We need to move strategically and each make an informed decision, not react emotionally and just do "something" hoping it will improve matters.
The only way to make unionization really viable is to unionize all VFX in the world. By then my grandchildren will be dead.
The internet is the global equalizer.
lol. I'll have a look out for that document. Please link it if available.
Lor -
I tried earlier, but that comment is lost in moderation. Go to our website (please excuse the 1990s style .. we're redesigning it and will release the new one shortly), get through the first page by clicking Enter, click the Contracts tab and the link will be there.
Steve Kaplan
Labor Organizer
The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE
[email protected]
I'll remain open-minded about the union, but my gut tells me to be very cautious about it. I recognize that the VFX industry is broken in terms of compensation and work hours, but the problem seems to be clearly with what the studios pay and how lop-sided their leverage is, not with bad facility owners. By and large, facility owners seem to want to treat their artists as generously as possible and know they need to compete for the best artists, but the studios make it VERY hard to even cover the basics. This is why unionizing is maybe the right move but at the wrong time. We need a trade association to protect the vfx vendors first, so that there actually is some money and room for accommodations to be had. If the facilities can be paid fairly and consistently, then those benefits will trickle down to the artists. If not, THEN a union starts having more obvious value to me.
If IATSE wants to really make things better for artists, then I suggest they go after the studios. I don't know much about the union politics, but I can only imagine some sort of play where they use the leverage of the existing unionized labor (the crew and actors) to make the studios agree to concessions on the VFX/post side that trickle through the facilities and down to the artists. But I don't believe that those groups - who historically under respect "the post people" as inferiors to production people - are going to take any risk to try to help us.
And that is what this really comes down to, is a cultural problem in our industry. Post-production is looked at with little respect, while production is glamorized. You're more likely to hear a thank you in an Oscar speech for the hairstylist than the VFX Supervisor, even though who do you think was more valuable to the film? VFX are the bankable stars of todays movies and yet they don't get their own trailer, pay days, points or residuals. This mindset goes all the way to the top where the studio suits view us as a commodity to be exploited. The problem with unionizing if done the classic way is it assumes that the facility owners are "them" and not "us", and I think they are "us". They are getting sh*t on by the studio producers along with the rest of us.
We need to figure out away to band together with facility owners to exact our worth from the content owners. That's the bottom line.
Sorry for rambling.
Tyler I completely agree with you. The VFX houses suffer and the artists suffer with them.
I wish I can watch this talk in a video! Is there any chance that I can see all of this?
[...] since posting this I have run across a more detailed and technical (though somewhat dryer) writeup of Weta’s presentation covering this same subject by the excellent fellows over at Fxguide. As they (correctly) report, I [...]
I remember a lot of this discussion from a long time ago, when digital technology was first ramping up in the film industry.
A lot of young artists who wee entering the industry were very opposed to becoming organized. They argued that (A), free market forces would take care of problems like health and retirement benefits, and (B), if effects artists were seen as union members (like animators and optical camerapersons), we wouldn't get the respect we deserved as creative members of the production team. These seemed like attractive arguments at the time, so the organization drive fizzled out.
Twenty years later, we're still waiting.
I've seen the numbers and the costs associated to small businesses in order to become a union signatory. If unions succeed you will see a number of smaller boutique shops close. You'll see people who don't understand the technical diversity of the vfx field try to classify jobs into supposedly "organized" job descriptions. This will in turn handicap those who see themselves as generalist freelancers and restrict your ability to manage your own career path. You'll see union rosters form and studios will cherry pick artists off the rosters to work on specific shows. This will in turn destroy cohesive smaller independent companies because there will be no desire from the larger entities to negotiate with them. Why would they want to? They'll just go to the union roster and pick who they want. This will be good for some and bad for others. Any concept of a perpetual cohesive team will vanish. As a result you'll see a divide form between those who get the jobs and those who won't. Small companies will be caught in the crossfire, and ultimately have to raise their rates to pay the union in order to work on union jobs and pay union employees. Everything will cost more and who gets the money? The unions.
Artists... are you ready to give up your rights to choose your own fate? Control your own business? Are you ready to pay huge dues every year? Do you want to be dictated to as to what you can and can't work on? Are you prepared to be classified into a job description by someone who really doesn't get what you do?
I'm independent contractor and I have great health care. I have my own benefits. I'm doing just fine. I set my own rates. I can be competitive and I don't need the unions.
Introducing unions into the VFX industry will generate a massive intrusion into a system that's is working. If anything, more needs to be done to show artists that they don't need "mommy" and "daddy" union people telling them how to run their business. I pay my artists fairly. I take care of them and if I ever want to expand my business to provide them with health care I'll do that because I know that my privatized choice of health care will be as good as the unions and cost less.
Unionization is not the answer. More education and self sufficiency is.
Oh.. and as for paying overtime...I make sure anyone who works for me, whether W2 or 1099 gets their overtime.
Creating a union to make sure artists aren't "abused" is just another way to create a vfx nanny state. Businesses who do comply and work hard to make sure their looking after their employees and sub-contractors are the ones who will feel the effects of unionization first. They'll be the first to close down if they can't carry the union burden.
VFX definitely needs a watchdog to help control conditions and costs for everyone. If a union can bring some security to the VFX workforce (in terms of medical coverage and retirement plans) - currently i have no safety net, then I'm all for it.
If IATSE or a governing body can enforce minimum wages per disciplines along with hours and hand out penalties to companies that continue to violate the rules it will help identify the good shops vs. the bad ones. This information can then be publicized and people can make there own educated decisions based on the data (the numbers won't lie - if companies continue to get penalized - they clearly don't know how to manage the internal resources or can't control the client from making changes, or failed to bid a job correctly based on the staff/pipeline they have).
I'm a vancouver artist and vancouver has experienced rapid growth in the past 2 years with big studios moving north, ie: DD, Sony Imageworks, MPC, Pixar. It seems they all come up here for the credits, not the talent. - which tells me that its about the bottom line.
OK so Jeff asked for questions to be asked, and many have been implied already in the debate above. I'm writing some down here just to gather them, and maybe others can add ones I haven't caught. Regardless of your feelings on unionization, everyone should not miss the opportunity to ask these questions:
1 - How are you going to help VFX facilities to increase profitability in their contracts with studios so that they can afford to give more benefits and compensation to the artists?
2 - How will you make improvements while preventing an increase in job flight to cheaper markets (i.e. India)?
3 - Will the union have any interference at all in what artists get the opportunity to do a particular job, based on seniority or any other criteria? Will both artists and facilities be able to pick the right person for the right job based purely on artistic/skill merit, as they do now, rather than any arbitrary union rules?
4 - How much will it cost to be a member as an artist?
5 - How much will it cost facilities, and what other potentially hidden costs are there?
6 - Will artists and facilities be able to stay out of the union if they want to? What repercussions will there be if they do?
7 - Can facilities mix union and non-union artists?
8 - What concrete benefits will be offered to employers for signing with the union?
9 - Where does all the money go? How is it accounted for? How transparent and auditable is this by members?
10 - What exactly are the health plans available and how much will they cost?
11 - How will the union be lead, what involvement do both artists and facilities have with making sure the leadership is educated, with the times, and taking things in sensible directions?
12 - How else will facilities be involved with the union to make this a cooperative effort and not a antagonistic one between artists and facilities? How will good facilities that are already doing solid by their artists be rewarded?
13 - What about facilities that already have health benefits which may be better than the unions? Will they be given lower fees to recognize these costs, or will the union usurp their benefits and force the unions in their place?
I go over many of the costs and benefits associated with unionization for vfx artists on my site. I use IA Local 839 as my example.
This is awesome stuff. My good friend Juancarlos Quintana was one of the VFX artists for this film.
Finally! Long over-due!
John ' Lance ' Harrison
Licensed Pyrotechnician I.A.T.S.E. Local ONE (NYC Bway show division)
Excellent post by Scott Squires on his blog: http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/2010/11/vfx-union-what-next.html
Props to the Strause brothers for developing, producing, and making their own feature film.
However, it should be noted that Hydraulx engages in dubious, if not outright illegal, business practices - specifically: misclassification of employees as independent contractors, violation of state overtime time pay laws, and tax fraud stemming from the deliberate avoidance of paying employer mandated taxes.
While we should all commend them on their fine production work, we should also hold them accountable for their unsavory business and management practices which contribute to the undermining of VFX as a viable career. I would hope that fxguide would at least request an official, on the record, statement from the Strause brothers and the management of Hydraulx regarding these issues.
You have left an anonymous allegation against a company.
fxguide, while never wanting to see workers poorly treated, is in no way responding to anonymous allegations. We would no more seek an official denial from Hydraulx as we would from DD, ILM, DNeg or any other company.
It sounds like you feel you have been wronged. We are sorry you feel this way but fxguide is not the solution. We sincerely hope you get compensated correctly, and this matter is resolved but it does not involve fxguide. We neither are or pretend to be the vfx 'police'. We report news and in any case like this we would always seek fact checking. Something we cant do in this situation.
We do stand behind our stories and we take pride in our ethical and reporting standards.
Mike
fxguide clearly has shown a keen interest in reporting on the labor conditions in the VFX industry, as evidenced by recent articles such as http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3129/iatse-formally-announces-visual-effects-organizing-drive and http://www.fxguide.com/article648.html
I understand your editorial position and recognize that fxguide is not, nor should be, the VFX "police". However, given that you "take pride in your ethical and reporting standards", does that not require you to ask of yourselves the degree to which you are helping to promote companies that engage in unethical and/or illegal business activities?
I also understand your reluctance to respond to unsubstantiated allegations in an anonymous post, but why should you NOT ask Hydraulx, DD, ILM, DNeg, et al. if they comply with applicable State and Federal labor and tax laws? Why NOT post another article regarding this topic and just interview these companies to get their response on these issues? Would that not be worthy news to report? (As an aside to this thought, perhaps you could ask the VES if they have any ethical standards and requirements for their members regarding this issue. Wouldn't that be worthy news too?)
The founders of fxguide are all VFX industry veterans. Most likely you all personally know (and trust) VFX artists who work or have worked for companies that engage in unethical and/or illegal business activities. In other words, you know which companies have reputations for playing it straight and those that do not. I find it disingenuous for fxguide to state that they have no knowledge of the business practices of the companies they report on and that somehow it would be inappropriate to inquire. If this is the editorial stance of fxguide regarding this issue, then certainly "fxguide is not the solution," it is - sadly - part of the problem.
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3144/animfxnz-avatar [...]
Another gripping analysis of the complex and at times deceptive world of visual fx. Well done Ian Failes. You covered it from all angles.
this are the things that I want to see more in the future fxguidetv videos. thanks, this is great.
Scott Squire's blog post is an interesting read, but not exactly balanced. It talks about benefits of the Union and the mythology of non-believers, but doesn't mention one single disadvantage to unionizing. I guess there aren't any, then.
That's not how I read it. I saw many benefits described. And it is actually very balanced. (He does make some digs at the state of health care in this country... but he is right on the money. If you've ever had to actually deal with it, you would know.)
People should read just read Scott's post themselves. It's very comprehensive.
So glad you liked it - John Montgomery from our side is behind these, he has worked really hard to get clearances and permissions. Thanks also to the Foundry who are really helpful.
Mike
Clearly it would be better if every VFX company was completely ethical and never mistreated workers, but there is always a fresh crop of newbs who get talked into rotoscoping all night long with little organization, on deferred rate. Doing these kinds of jobs is all part of paying your dues and learning the ropes as an eager young artist. It's a free market and if a worker stays working for a VFX house under dubious conditions, it is possible to rack up enough feature credits to get an agent or work at a big house and continue to climb up the ladder. If you are a Senior artist and not able to invoice and collect etc, perhaps you are too new to the game to really be a Sr.
The awful things that you claim Hydraulix did are pretty par for the course when working at boutique shops. Artist owned and run shops are always like a mom and pop shop, they pay when they can. There are all kinds of films, all kinds of jobs and nobody is going to tell you to leave a crap situation. You have to figure out for yourself. Artists should talk extensively in private about the shortcomings of various houses, but it's confidential because nobody likes a informer or a whiner. If you want to work as an artist, you've got to be a friend to the business.
Christian Moreton says:
...The awful things that you claim Hydraulix did are pretty par for the course when working at boutique shops. Artist owned and run shops are always like a mom and pop shop, they pay when they can...
...but it
I'll just pop in to say two things...
1) Thanks again to FXGuide and Jeff for covering this issue and giving people a place to discuss...
2) The politics of this are very tricky all the way around, and I mean the interpersonal politics. My personal experiences was that when my HuffPost story and the VFX Town Hall happened I was kind of shocked by the hornet's nest I'd stepped into and strong reaction I saw. The positive stuff was fairly public and obviously appreciated but boy, the negative stuff mostly knives out from people behind the scenes.It was kind of not fun, really. So knowing that terrain the little bit that I do, I think it'll be interesting to see what happens. (Ancient Chinse curse -- "May you live in interesting times.")
[...] many people who have worked at Hydraulx have had serious problems as alluded to in this post on fxguide: However, it should be noted that Hydraulx engages in dubious, if not outright illegal, business [...]
Always reassuring to see that my methods match up with others!
Great video as usual.
Business practices aside, a great podcast. Really nice to hear a bit more about production processes. Kind of an fxguide/redcentre crossover.
Skyline is both an important achievement and a cautionary tale. How many of us over the years, stuck in one small part of the production process, haven't said while staring at our screens "Boy I could write/direct/act better than that"? Well...maybe.
This film is almost unwatchable although it looks great. If this is any indication the MX RED sensor has the ability to make people look sexy. Many thought the original RED couldn't particularly when it came to skin tones. The fx end also looks great. Problem is, you don't give a rat's ass. If only they had spent a few hundred dollars on a better (or any) script consultant. And acting coach. And all the other important and relatively inexpensive pieces of the puzzle that come up short.
But it's making money. And that's cool. And (if the allegations are true) now they have some dollars to pay the people that got them there in the first place.
Because of the bad reviews, I'll wait for Netflix just to study the VFX and camera work.
If what I hear is correct, they forgot the fundamental rule of movie making.
Story is King. Great performances next in line.
This all sounds similar to what happened with "Wing Commander".
On the other hand, lets hope they learn from their mistakes and try again. Just be willing to spend more on a great writer.
hi Mike & Jeff
this was an absolutely phenomenal podcast - from a technical standpoint and from an industry standpoint - it's clear our world is in a period of transition and seems like hydraulx has seen and acted on the great opportunity all of this new technology affords us! i did have one question that i don't think you answered though: one of the most fascinating parts (at least in my opinion) was how hydraulx streamlined their colorspace pipeline - staying scene-referred linear and floating point EXR throughout acquisition and finishing. knowing what a headache it is to work in scene referred linear in flame leads me to the conclusion that most of the heavy VFX lifting was accomplished in Nuke. I know hydraulx has been traditionally a FLAME stronghold... so have they developed a way to work in linear in Flame? or have all those Flames been relegated to commercial finishing work....
thanks again for the great podcast - i'll be taking the entire company to see the film later this week!
regards,
tim
SUSPECT
Hi Tim,
I had the privilege of being the lead compositor and work with the Bros. on the 16 bit linear work flow and I can say "no Nuke was harmed in the making of this movie". That's your cue to laugh. There are always a few gotchas, and for the most part the Flame handled this work very well. It may have handled it to well and In my humble opinion, contributed to the successful completion of the project. I don't think the movie would have been completed as quick and looked as good without the the power of the Flame. I also cannot fail to mention the contribution, talent, and the professionalism of the team that was assembled for this show. Kudos to all involved. I think what was achieved under the circumstances is pretty amazing.
Scott Balkcom
I hate to say it, but if you're serious about 3d, then you should probably buy a pc for that. I used to use a Mac for 3d and it was a constant struggle to find plugins and the software versions were sometimes months behind the pc versions. Some 3d apps are also pc only. I used to be a total Mac zealot and refused to go pc. I kept hoping that companies would change their ways and spend the same effort on the mac versions that they did on the pc versions. It took years of frustration for me to finally give up and go pc, but I'm glad I did.
I just hope it doesn't come down to the kind of convoluted joining process they have with the other IATSE unions. I remember being in film school on the East Coast virtually begging member to vouch for me and he wouldn't, but he was virtually begging this other kid in the class to join. I guess he thought the kid was a wunderkund or something because he'd gone to Cali ($$$) and gotten an internship. The union worker didn't know either of us outside of one conversation that was had before and after a class that he ended up dropping after two classes.
If that's the way it works it basically means sexist and possibly racist, possibly ageist practices in expanding union membership could be extremely prevalent and that would be more harmful than helpful.
I've been a freelancer for over 10 years. I will never join a union. I will leave the business before a union gets one dime from me. Look at any industy that has unions and see how well they're doing. Union pensions are destroying the state of california and the auto industy among others. Look at the school system. Look at the government. I want no part of that.
Can we really expect vfx companies that are barely treading water to pay for all these benefits? I doubt many will be able to. They'll either end up getting rid of people, moving out of state or out of the country, or folding. Either way your new benefits aren't going to matter at all when you don't have a job anymore.
All artists need to do is stand up for themselves. You don't like your pay or the way you're being treated, move on. If you demand respect from a company going in, you'll usually get it. If you let a company walk all over you, they usually will. If you're good at what you do, you'll never have a hard time finding a job. Even in these tough times. People who are truely good at what they do will ALWAYS find work.
I would bet that every artist I've ever heard whine and cry about the hours they work and the benefits they don't get would shut up real quick if they realized for the vfx industy to get these benefits they would lose their job.
What everyone should be more concerned about is the amount of work leaving california. I have yet to hear any union or the VES talk about how they're going to fix that. That needs to come first. Then you can talk about putting extra burden on vfx companies. Its sad when the VES takes money from its LA members to support Canadian companies coming to LA to pitch their work to studios.
You people need to wake up. Once the jobs are gone your great union benfits aren't going to mean jack.
If any oranizing needs to be done, its to start waking up the politicians in Sacramento to get us some tax incentives that will make us competitive with other countries and other states.
Someone mentioned that production in california is down 70%. Have unions stepped up to do anything about that? If they have, I haven't noticed.
Steven: Do you have any great plans to help keep jobs in California? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. What do you think the extra burden you're going to be putting on vfx companies is going to do to the job market here in California?
Mike
@Mike
Your message seems a little confused. On the one hand, you are arguing for a free market "No Unions", because they drive up costs and screw everything up (or something like that?), on the other hand, you want a unions to somehow force private companies to make movies, specifically in California. Which is it? Free market or intervention?
I think you misunderstand the primary function of a Union for the employees organized under it. Their main job is making sure you get treated fairly (meaning you get paid and not screwed over) and that you have benefits that aren't tied to a particular employer. As a freelancer, you should appreciate that more than most people.
Also, trade Unions like IATSE are an entirely different thing from the Public Service Unions like the teacher, fire and police unions that are messing up California. The Public Service Unions have an incredible amount of sway in the state legislative process that entertainment unions don't have. They get their benefits through the very legislation they influence. That's unlikely to happen for an entertainment union. Though, it seems like that's actually what you want. Am I right? I mean, you WANT the union to get legislation made to force production to be done in CA, right? (Which is it? Free market or intervention? I'm still not clear on what you actually want.) The interesting thing about the entertainment unions is they split the difference really equitably. At least in Local 839, the rates we get paid tend to be well above the minimums set by the Union anyway, so the free market is clearly driving rates, not the Union. Plus we get OT, reasonable minimums and turn-arounds, etc. Employers can't get away with yanking people around. I tend to think of it more as having my own staff labor lawyer and portable benefits than anything else.
For those temped to believe the FUD aspects of Mikes post...
If it were true Unions kill the industry, why are Nick, Disney and Dreamworks Animation still in business? When Disney shut down all the satellite studios, they kept the main studio in Burbank, which is Union. (You would think "consolidation" would have been a perfect excuse for them to finally rid themselves of the Union if it was so heinous. But the ONE animation studio they kept was the Union studio in Burbank.) Dreamworks has PDI, a non-union facility in NoCal they could have easily consolidated the CGI business to years ago, yet they still keep the Union facility in Glendale open.
Outsourcing is an entirely separate issue related to the price of labor and government incentives. You realize, Canada has entertainment Unions too, right?
My point is, it's not the entertainment Unions that are driving work "out" of CA, it's the incentives in Canada that are drawing the work IN for them.
One last thing I would like to ask is: Why would you lament the loss of a studio that is screwing over its employees to stay in business? The difference between union and non-union would be nothing for the studios that treat employees right. As some have said, it might even be cheaper for them in many cases. It's only the studios that treat employees wrong in the first place that will suffer. But they are typically already breaking state labor laws or at least heavily gaming them. Making them do the right thing is just shining a light on their mis-deeds.
It's good to see that Union pundits are here defending the union. That's precisely where the union should be...defending itself.
Lor,
I'd say people aren't "defending" the union so much as straitening out all the mis-information and innuendo a few have been posting. Someone says something patently incorrect or highly misleading and someone corrects them. That's all that's been going on.
The way I read the room, it's more a "wait and see" attitude. There are only a few people interested in sniping in saying misleading things.
So yeah, you are right. It's good to see there are people here (like myself) who actually have first-hand experience as union members AND as non-union VFX artists that are willing to take the time to correct the mis-information.
TAG (Local 839) is a good place to see a working model of an IATSE union in black and white. Nowadays, their largest signatories do almost exactly the same type of work we do in VFX.
None of the information of how TAG operates is secret. No one is trying to hide anything. Heck, they even publish an annual wage survey. (A good way to see how the actual wages paid compare with the contract minimums) If you have questions, go check out the web site or ask a rep. Better yet, go to a TAG meeting (boring as heck, but totally transparent) I imagine a VFX union would be similar, but it could be very different.
It remains to be seen how IATSE intends to organize VFX compared to animation. That is the most that can really be said at this point.
I'll be totally honest, I am a fan of TAG. I also gotta say, if the proposed VFX union sucks by comparison I wont be interested. Let's see what it is before we start dissing it, OK? No need to be ratcheting up the FUD so early. Once they announce details we can start judging its value to us based on facts. FUD, innuendo and mis-information isn't useful to anyone.
We're being told that there will be great changes for us with the benefits and standards unions will enforce. Then, as soon as the competitive and economic realities are brought up, we're told not to worry because unions aren't really changing anything enough to effect these issues. Which is it?
Also, so far with every question about these macro issues of global competition and the studio's disproportionate leverage in deal-making, we either hear no response from the pro-union or else they side-step the issue by disclaiming any responsibility for addressing those issues. But these are the fundamental elephant-in-the-room issues of our industry at this time. I'm looking forward to hearing something more articulate about this in the podcasts hopefully. So far I feel like the union leaders have no clue what to say to this, and just hope we'll stop asking about it if they say "that's not our problem."
BTW, if portable benefits are the issue, it's easy for an individual artist to set themselves up as a company and join the NASE (National Association for the Self Employed) to get group health insurance. I did this for a few years and was happy with the medical for my family and I, and got much better rates with protection from huge hikes and being dropped. There are other organizations that can get you good group health too, even Costco membership features plans like this. If portable medical benefits are the "killer feature" of the union, I feel there's already existing solutions like NASE, Costco, and others for this that people just aren't aware of or taking advantage of.
On a personal note - we wanted to express our sadness at the loss of Asylum - they did great work and produced some of the finest composting work we have ever seen. Good luck to all the artists moving forward and our best wishes.
Mike
I had the pleasure of working with Asylum for over a year and a half the first time around. They were an absolutely wonderful facility. The best pipeline, by far, out of all the smaller studios I've worked at. The people and culture there was a rarity in the fact that it promoted a very fun and laid back atmosphere and was very professional at the same time, the work IS exceptional (most of it anyways) and they always tried to do the right thing in regard to caring for their very talented artists. I will truly miss Asylum and all the people I've met there. Thank you Nathan and Emma McGuinness for creating great work and such a wonderful experience.
This is pathetic. Shops should have the balls to charge an appropriate amount of money to keep in business. A profit margin shouldn't be a paycheck to paycheck scenario. Either they consistently low balled bids to their own detriment, or they were severely mismanaged.
Running list off the top of my head of shops that closed after recently doing "big budget work" on named projects.
00. Radium
01. Giant Killer Robots
02. The Orphanage
03. Asylum
04. CORE Digital
05...... add to the list as you like... everyone is eating their own belts .....
Grow some balls studios. Charge clients appropriately. Pay people and get paid. VFX and Motion Graphics is not a charity and is not for profit, and we aren't "grateful" just because we enjoy what we do.
Here, here! If shops would sack up and not cower to clients for pennys to the dollar maybe they could stay open. Shops should be willing to ruffle some feathers and consider that each time they low-ball the last guy they are dropping their value and the value of others each time. Studios are preying on that shop against shop mentality to get as low a cost as they can. When are shops gonna wake up and realize they are killing themselves and their artists. Its a poor business model, and the big shops are not immune, they are just better at outsourcing than the little guys. I am saddened and angry to see such great shops dying at the hands of Studio fat cat tactics. I wish all the artists all the best.
now.. all these great studios are folding, but.. places like Hydraulx STILL exists? not right.
Gentleman, Ladies;
Let me first congratulate Hydraulx for their work on this film, but mostly for the idea of creating such endeavour. I am extremely pleased this happened i am sure hoping for such projects to continue, inside and outside Hydraulx.
Compliments however extend to fxguide, which i follow with great pleasure;
However, after listening to the podcast i got caught into reading the comments;
"dubious", "outright illegal", "misclassification of employees", "violation of state overtime time pay laws" are very interesting words, but i would rather avoid them or place them in the right context (A specific topic discussion, maybe?) I can only respond to the anonymous user with my point of view, which is: i am interested in the work, not some VFX union issues nor hydraulx tax evasion strategy (allegedly of course);
Maybe i should leave a little piece of advice: in the VFX industry, we all encountered shady situations, but more or less the answer to it all is: deal with it 🙂
Ciao
"Balls" only works in this scenario if everyone grows them at once. Otherwise competition drives you out of the game earlier than paycheck-to-paycheck attrition. That's just how things are.
2 yrs and Vfx houses will simply be a screening room and client suites. It's our own faults.
It's our own fault. What a completely stupid thing to say. I have no idea what you mean by "our own" faults but if you mean the artists then you really have no clue do you?
You guys are seeing this so short sided. Its not the fault of the company to bid low. Its the global economy and the overseas value of currency and tax incentives that drives US based studios to charge the lower rates we are forced too.
Companies like Asylum had not created their own content, and did not diversify into offshore studios to keep competitive like many of the houses have.
Hydraulx is still around because the bros are creating content, it has nothing to do with work quality, or the personality there..
Its the sad reality and the US and state governments will not give the incentives needed to keep the rates competitive because in the end the cheaper overseas rate only fills the pocket of the production company further which in the end is a US based interest and investment.
See the big picture
short "sighted"
sorry just a pet peeve of mine
IMHO it may be more reflective of the chaos at Disney. Asylum was Art Repola's go-to shop.
Asylum was a great place to work and I always enjoyed my time there. I don't know what might have changed in the months since my last contract, but I have nothing but fond memories of the place and all the wonderful and talented people. Asylum will be missed.
"This is a fixed bid."
I never had the pleasure of working for that great great studio, but some of the most talented people I've known have touched on the keyboards there at one time or another.
I believe that the amount of truly talented artists is not increasing in our evolution as quickly as the demand for stunning digital imagery. It's becoming the communication and entertainment medium of choice, and it's happening world wide.
I'm a 16 yr veteran and I've been on the staff of 5 great shops that have closed doors over the years. My observation of what they had in common, what I witnessed first hand, raises this one question:
Why is the bidding process that construction companies employ successfully because they are provided with a fixed blue print still being used by fx shops? In comparison we are putting a price on something drawn on a bar room napkin.
When you provide a key service, and in many cases, THE key service to a project that takes in hundreds of millions of dollars, and more often, billions of dollars, you should be able to make a profit.
It's my belief that we need to take a hard look at the bidding process and learn from the production side or even what construction companies do when there is no fixed blueprint...they get paid on a cost plus basis. We need to stop doing things a certain way because "that's just how it's done" I"m so tired of hearing the insurance/completion bond excuse also..it's all bullshit.
great post Dave. on the TVC side, i couldn't agree more. i wonder if a lot of our troubles would go away if our clients were held accountable for their own poor planning and complete lack of organization. We literally wind up line producing a lot of the work ourselves, doing our client's job for them. this should be a bonanza for us via cost plus or overages, but instead it's the exact opposite.
i think how we wind up here is a complex story, but it is interesting to think about coming together and forcing a "fixed blueprint" approach, but i have reservations about it being a truly viable idea. a blueprint for a home renovation project leaves little room for subjective interpretation. Rendering a CG water splash is much different: how can you possibly account for the trajectory of each drop in a simulation that took days to compute? Can you imagine how many caveats your bidding process will entail ( the CG water will include, but not be limited to, 4 perfectly oval shaped drops of bluish, semi-clear liquid, falling in a perfect spiral over the head of the main actor, blah blah blah blah....) sooner or later you are arguing with your client over every little detail of a job. (that's not a spiral! it's more like an octagon!)
i do agree with your thoughts on insurance / completion bond and the whole procurement craze sweeping the industry. it's totally nuts, but i guess it will continue until there is a way of assigning true value to all of the tremendously valuable things that we do, and all agree to stick to it. either that, or there needs to be a much bigger, seismic-type evolution... like owning our content, or somehow owning a piece of the success that is tied to the job we did fantastic work on.
regardless, nice to see you on FXguide again, wish the circumstances were a bit different....
Seriously Dumbo? You think studios in Santa Monica are only competing with studios on that same street?
When an LA studio is charging say $100 an hour (to use a round number) and some place in Singapore is charging $30/hr ... guess what "Growing some Balls" and demanding $100 an hour gets you?
Ill give you a hint... it doesn't include a dollar sign.
Well said man, guess brains aren't in your ball's after all.
All the vfx houses need to collude and stick it in the studio system... let them outsource their marketing departments, We don't need unions, we need business owners that see past the competitive foreground and see that the real issue, is a global market that eats it's own lunch. STOP IT! All the owners need to meet in a secret place on a secret date and put a plan in place to provide for world domin... oh, the Federal Reserve already did this...
On a side note, the brothers strauss are on to something... create your own content = job security/cashflow... love them and their movies, or hate them... Good for them...
Guys - maybe tomorrow is a better time to rant about stuff overseas and bidding wars. Today, it might be better to reflect on 11 years of absolutely fantastic work and appreciate just how much the guys at Asylum pushed the limits of our industry. Nathan and Emma deserve a break, and the whole staff deserves a drink or five. Just my opinion...
Very true. I'm very sad to see our brothers and sisters at Asylum go. They were (are!!) a great house and have done amazing work for quite some time. Good luck to all of you affected by this. I've suffered through two closures like this in my career, and have had the fortune of having sincere owners who have made sure all of their people were paid for all of their time before shuttering their doors.
The gulf will widen between big shops and the midsized firms like Asylum. They will ultimately go bust as they will never be able to raise the investment required to expand and gain a seat at the top table. Instead they will just get the crumbs on offer from the likes of Sony who win the whole job then outsource bits for no money.
My heart goes out to everyone at Asylum. It's sad when good companies fall.
I know im going to get pshawed for this but facility owners need to address the subsidies overseas.
Vfx is not cheap in Canada, UK, and New Zealand. The subsidies offered by their governments are a significant advantage.
I suggest facilities get together and contact a US Trade Lawyer like Alan Dunn: http://tinyurl.com/alandunn
A case needs to be made to US Ambassador Ron Kirk to file a petition with the WTO.
VFX facilities are being injured by subsidies that are a violation of the WTO. This is analogous to illegal tariffs placed on imports.
The aircraft and paper mill industry have been able to submit petitions to the WTO. So should vfx facilities. You never know if you don't try.
Soldier,
you are actually on to something there... WTO might be a sound investment in time... owners?
As someone in an ancillary business ( tv comm'ls) who's worked on both the agency & prod. side, this issue of low- balling for work in the ultra- competitive environment of the past 15 or so years has been front & center for all. Throwing "guy language" at the problem only aggravates it.
It's not about " balls" but about having management in the hands of people who understand what it takes to make a company profitable and even more importantly, with the knowledge to negotiate. The latter is one of the great lost arts of many businesses, along with the ability to understand the true parameters of schedule and talent. Making promises to clients you know you can never keep (and still make a profit, or at least cover your overhead) is the road to disaster. Eventually, it all comes down to being willing and brave enough to say " the emperor has no clothes." You don't need " balls" to do that-- Just common sense, good people- skills and the intelligence to understand the personal and business weaknesses/ strengths of your employees and your
clients. Operating from fear never works in any situation.
It's the standard of living in places like the US in particular that require artists working in studios to make a certain amount in comparison to overseas or foreign markets. Foreign markets can have lower cost of living, which equates to much lower salaries. That equates to lower bids for the same work. To be competitive here, you need to low-ball bids to land work, but that will eventually catch up to you. The service industries will have to move to lower cost areas, and wait for the talent will grow in those areas in the next few generations. Studios are doing what they can (ferociously at that) to minimize their costs, but it's sometimes to their own detriment in the final product. But in the end, mass consumers wind up accepting it, paying off the cycle. The demand will have to grow to accommodate the supply to keep everyone busy, otherwise the industry will move to where talent doesn't require that much pay. Ultimately, when a modeler can be paid $60 a day versus $320 for _about_ the same output, it's a no-brainer for the studios. Nothing to do with balls. Capitalism plain and simple. Why do you think *everything* is made in China now?
The cost of living is actually higher in the UK and Vancouver. Again, incentives at work here, not cheap labor.
it's pretty sad. a lot of companies have closed down lately. illusion arts, cafe fx, and now asylum. the big picture that we need to look at is there are students graduating every year and experienced artists who are laid off from companies that closed down or laid off from work. this is one scary time we are experiencing. companies are not growing. they are shrinking and without enough companies to provide work for students and experienced artists things are going to uglier.
Best Wishes to everyone at Asylum, may you all find work soon. Now is not the time to be arm chair CEO's. Our fellow artist need our support, not our second guessing. There will be time to discuss what needs to be done in the industry, but there are a few more hurting people out there tonight unemployed.
I've work in most places in LA, for a very long time. I am appalled at the amount of in-competence i see at each and every place. It is amazing to me how people are employed and get paid big money for the monkey work I see them do. Maybe if companies hired based on talent and output, instead of being a "good guy" they might stay in business. I have seen people take all day to do stuff that should be an hour. I have seen lead artists not know how to use half the tools that have been in software for 10+ years. I know this doesnt relate to Asylum, but just my general ranting seeing so many places close or cut wages.
Good evening Mike,
I apologize for my tardy response. I hope you weren't left waiting for too long. A good deal of your comments and arguments have been addressed by LordTanget. I will answer the question you posed of me.
* Do I have plans on how to keep jobs in California?
No. It is not upon the unions to do that. We are in place to keep the artists and workers in the industry protected from rampant abuse at the hands of those attempting to increase and stretch their profits over the backs of the people toiling to get the job done. As a freelancer, and a strong willed and venerable one, I'm sure you understand what I mean.
Would I like to see jobs corralled in California? Absolutely. Do I think its going to happen? No. Will organizing open the flood gates on jobs leaving? Not in my opinion.
* What do I think the extra burden you
Thanks for getting back to me Steve.
From reading your message it seems to me that you're not really living in the real world that many of us are.
You believe the extra costs will be passed on??? You're damn right they will. The vfx companies with unions and the higher health and pension costs will definitely be passing that cost on to their clients. However that cost will never get farther than a bid. Because of those extra costs they won't be getting jobs. I think we can all agree that these days agency and studio producers are pinching every penny they can. They're certainly already willing to go outside of the state to do work now, when costs increase it will only incentivise them even more to go else where. But if on the other hand you know some producers that are happy to award jobs to high bids please let me know who they are. I'd love to meet them.
You say that the union is here to protect artist from abuse from companies attempting to increase their profit over the backs of their employees. I've worked at many companies where the owners work far more and harder than their employees just to keep the company alive and able to pay those employees because studios and agency are trying to increase their profits on his back.
Oraganizing will not prevent the downward racing as you say. There are only two things that will stop the downward spiral. One is for California to be giving the same incentives that other states and countries are providing. The other is our prices get so low that they match the prices of these other states/countries after their incentives. However at that point any sane person will have long left the business or have moved to one of these other states or countries.
You say the work will stay here becuase the people are here. I'm not sure I understand that. Unless you've been living on Mars you know that isn't whats been happening over the past 10 years. Everyday more work is leaving. Just ask any of the unfortunate people that lost their jobs today at Asylum.
I guess I'm not really sure what you're really providing. Insurance can be had for artists. It can be had through the VES, and like Tyler said through NASE and places like Costco.
Your offer to give artists a voice is offering nothing more than to be their mommy. Artists already have a voice, they just need to stand up and exercise it.
So it comes down to this. You have no plans or ideas to keep work here. A HUGE benefit I would say every artist would want. You offer health care, which any artist that spends more than 5 mins looking into can get if they don't already get that benefit from their cruel employeer. And finally you can make the mean vfx companies be nice to their artists. Something the artists can and should do for themselves if they can grow a pair.
I honestly can't see why any artist worth a grain of salt would need a union. In the short term its going to cost them in dues and in the long term it will cost them their jobs. Although those artists who can't hold a job for more than a month because they can't really do their job and collect unemployment half the year because they want to stay home and get high will love you.
Lets say a vfx companies refuses to hire union workers. What are you going to do then? What can you do?
I also have 0% confidence in any union to manage a pension. Just look at the mess a lot of companies and states are facing because of pensions.
Do you work in the VFX industry Steve? Have you ever run a business?
It seems to me all you want to do is pass of vfx companies as some kind of bad guys. I for one am extremly grateful to the companies I've been able to work at over the years and hope they never have to be subjected to unions. They already have enough to deal with.
Mike
Your name says it all.
Wow, there is a lot of interesting perspective here...
i came from a software company as a creative director, i can tell you that it was very well managed. profit was the top concern, not because of greed but the ability to survive and continue operations. Unfortunately this cut allot of innovation and creativity off at the knees... its a really hard thing to do, keep on top of technology and be on top of the creative hill, oh, and mind the costs... not easy.
Somehow, i think it can be done. keep costs low and take jobs that are profitable, not necessarily "cool"...
on to the artists... you guys rock, and you know it... just look at the work... now, update your reels, and find a job, if you can't do it, we are all screwed...
I wish I could update my reel. The producers at Asylum never respond to requests for taking work for my reel and I now have no evidence of three years work at Asylum. Thanks guys.
[...] to fxguide After 11 years it appears that Asylum Visual Effects in Santa Monica is [...]
Radium is not closed.
This is simple but cold market forces at work. Sad in the short term for those affected.
An endless cycle but one which makes the next generation better organised, more profitable and more able to survive.
[...] is it that a VFX house can shutter just as it’s working at the top of its game? Posters at an FXguide thread that ran overnight last night wrestle with just that question. The thread is worth a read. [...]
Discussion about international business and the workings of the vfx industry are totally relevant and interesting but I can't stop wondering why we're still paying movie stars 20 million on a picture.
Sure, you can't make your movie without actors and, I know, we just love our celebrities, but you can't even get out of the gates on something like Sorcerer's Apprentice without stellar vfx talent.
So if we're going to set out to change the way things work, maybe knocking super millionaires like Nicholas Cage down a peg could be a start. I'll bet my Wacom tablet that more people were psyched about the fx in that movie than ol' Nick's performance.
i think a lot of valid points have been raised here. the reality is tough .
i have been a VFX sup for 14 years and i bid against Asylum many many times, they were a shop that crafted very good work throughout the years , and having them close their doors is a sad thing.
what are the real reasons behind it , i don't know .
but what i do know is that once upon a time , there was a process that was respected by all , because the money was not an issue.
A time where the bid were made on shooting boards and specific shots , a time were there was many discussion with the directors and above all a plan that everybody try to stick to.
then the money went down, first were the music videos, than the movies, than the commercials. and the first casuality was the process itself.
now VFX are bid before even seeing a treatment from a director, blind numbers coming out of nowhere leaving us to guess : 'are we gonna eat our shirt on this or not ? and is it worth for us to do so .
And that is when the fear factor kicks in, dividing the world in 2 categories the one who can say thanks ,but NO thanks ... and the one who can't or chooses no to.
but in this turmoil of money , outsourcing etc... one thing did not change at all : the behavior and the demands . we went from " i have a lot of money can you put some glow on my film?, to ... i have no money you have to make this dog talk .... oh and we did not shoot a dog, so make it work!".
i have been on the production side and a director for a few years now and i really believe that what killed the process is a complete disregard of the process itself. as a director you know more often than none what you have to work with . you know you have the money for an episode of "land of the lost"
and you choose to write "Avatar" because all you care about is doing a better looking job than the other guy , with a complete disregard of what it takes to do "Avatar". and than the low balling bid war ignites between the post houses. some choose to be an active part of it , some don't.
i have a lot of respect for the one who don't . for the one who do i want to say that ultimately you will go down too , it's just a matter of time.
and to all the directors out there ... if you know you cannot afford what you are demanding (sometimes very disrespectfully) , than you are a part of the problem .
i remember having the feeling that as a VFX sup, i was walking on set with a big basket of "fix it in post" where everybody could drop their ball in. incompetence , laziness or just plain mediocrity and carelessness. but at the end of the day we got stuck with everyone mistakes or behavior consequences. but who is paying for this ? ... most of the time the only currency available at this point is just a lot of ball dodging skills.
VFX is capable today of so many wonders and is the only key of materializing what your imagination can come up with, in a way it is somewhat magical.
when Arthur was king was he treating Merlin like a piece of shit ? ... i don't think so .
when things are disrespected , mistreated and live in an arch environment they make choices to survive, sometimes it works and they find a way to thrive again, sometime it doesn't and they go extinct.
somebody told me one day " you never finish a shot, you just abandon it !" , today Asylum had to abandon the craft all together and it is very unfortunate.
Well said - as a VFX sup/compositor on mostly smaller shows and outside the US I can still relate to every single thing you said. Process is broken - very few director understand their constrains and all those years I was really hoping that the idea of "fix it in post" would actually go out the window. But with the (mostly not very good) rotoscoping in india being all the rage people on set are not even caring about lighting a greenscreen right "Oh just roto it" is something that makes me puke when I know the shot is scheduled to be done in less then a day by the comper guy. Its very common and balls will make it even worse as you then are excluded and can
[...] is it that a VFX house can shutter just as it’s working at the top of its game? Posters at an FXguide thread that ran overnight last night wrestle with just that question. The thread is worth a read. [...]
This is sad for me. I was Nathan McGuiness' first client at Asylum, transferring his last job at Planet Blue over to the penthouse suites atop the building that he later came to fully occupy in Santa Monica. The inferno tower was in the shower and the tablet, keyboard and monitors were merely setup on a dining room table with a client couch behind that. Nathan slept in the suite directly across the hall.
He is a visionary and definitely had guts to move out from under Planet Blue and push the boundaries on his own. I know we'll be seeing a lot more of him out there in the days and years to come.
Congratulations for the successes. We're sorry to see this particular chapter. Go out there and re-invent!
Ben
Cosmo Street '98-'00
"Congratulations for the successes. We're sorry to see this particular chapter. Go out there and re-invent!"
Well said, Ben. That's what it's all about.
And best of luck to all the artists, producers, and support staff as they move on to that next gig!
The VFX business model is ridiculous at best. However, there are ways to profit from jobs and the onus is on the producers and supervisors at said facilities to manage the job properly. Each and every single job is BID at a profit. You can count on that. It's the day to day management of the jobs that create losses and holes you can't dig your way out of.
One of the keys to every single step of the process is efficiency. Are you being as quick as possible on the task given. Many times, the answer is "no" simply due to an "established" way of doing things. This goes for producing as well as the art side of things. Fred, if you need work done, get in contact with me. I'll put a team together for you. Artists who got screwed: that absolutely sucks. You have my crossed fingers for more work coming your way. Producers and managers who just "don't know how this could happen": it's YOUR fault. We as supervisors/managers/producers need to step up and be accountable for our teams and our work. This includes capitulating to clients whims. There are ways to address concerns without just saying yes to everything. A director will be reasonable if they realize there are serious implications to the decisions they make. If you chat with them nicely and deal with them up front and honestly you will get positive results 8 times out of 10. They are just people and for the most part don't want to see you go out of business. They would much rather establish a relationship with you so they know where to go to get the work they need. I take pride in my work but you can be sure that there stop signs that get put up when I see the shit potentially hitting the fan.
Good luck to everyone out there! It's a difficult time for everyone but I feel we will all come out of this stronger and with some more knowledge.
Rob
Well said Rob. You're right. There is a responsibility.
And is it easy to say NO to a director or producer? It's not, but it HAS to be done. Someone has to be accountable.
There is SO much waste in VFX (more in features than commercials) because many directors want to go on "fishing trips" instead of having a solid idea and then following through.
Part of the reason they pay us well is to "know what we can get away with". Sure, anyone can throw CG at a problem, but the REAL elegance is knowing how the eye works, and how to create ILLUSION without spending a fortune. It CAN be done.
It's really no different than sub-prime mortgage. At some point SOMEONE has to pay.
All VFX'ers need to broaden their skillset... VFX is NOT the future... I feel we are near the end of the vfx industry being viable in the United States.. Content creation is the future. Good, talented content creators, especially ones who get a cut of any profits from the work, can really exploit these new opportunities.
Visual Effects for all films and most of TV are run at COST... like they are the "basement wing" of the financiers offices.
Artists never went to business school (myself included). You are supposed to start a career in a GROWTH industry. But these same artists are also fully capable of creating something where there was nothing... and that has value... Look outside traditional vfx channels... there are many many companies that need content... they just do not know they need it until you show them.
> All VFX
Just wondering what role if any the union would potentially play
in a situation like this.
The union will make it even harder for studios to compete on cost by increasing the overhead to the employer. Those increased costs have to come from somewhere, and is that going to be a paycut on the artist's side of things? I believe in compensating artists for their talent, and strive to create a good work environment, but if IATSE forces me into a situation where my payroll becomes 15% more expensive, then who gets to pay that? That will be in consideration when I negotiate rates with artists. And then the artist will feel the double ding, because after that, then the union comes to them with their hand out and says, "union dues please".
we should stop hoping that producers/companies will fight more, harder, or smarter for our jobs. these same companies have already opened branches in canada, india, singapore, and many other lower-cost regions. their big dilemma is how to serve a los angeles based film industry without having to pay los angeles prices.
we need a union. just as studio features can't hire a cheaper non-union indian grip&electric teams to come up for 2 months, nor should they be able to outsource all of the vfx work there. (and don't even get me started about the lack of taxes, tariffs, etc on overseas vfx work, which would be HUGE if these were cars or any other high-dollar item.)
it's coming.
Unions only work when there are no other options for the employer, or the options are more expensive or inconvenient. Traditional film unions can continue because, on the set, it would be very expensive to try to replace someone or find someone else. And because you need to have a cadre of people available with a particular skill in a particular area (like LA).
Digital effects demands neither a particular locale nor a particular timeframe. A VFX union is about as strong as the inability to send a shot to someone else's computer 8K miles away for them to work on it for 3 months.
But I'd like to see someone try it regardless.
[...] Asylum Visual FX still launches its website update. Despite them shutting their doors, they leave us with top notch work. Here is a report on their closing (via fxguide). [...]
from THR : "McGuinness expressed his regret that artists will be left unpaid for their final week's work."
I bet the artists I know there who are screwed out of their final paychecks probably regret that too.
To the questions of a union, perhaps a union would make sure that artists are first on the list to be payed from bankruptcy proceedings?
yes, exactly what I was trying to communicate, Thank you.
We should figure out how to move the vfx industry to the games business model. I've been on a year-long game project for the first time, and here, if the game sells well, then the company rakes it in, and the artists benefit with profit sharing.
Why can't vfx shops negotiate for a share of a film's profits?
It happens. I have been on projects where vendors defer part of the payment. It's a gamble on the success of the movie. But that is usually independent projects. Have fun trying to get an established studio like Fox or whoever to jump on that.
And yet Method is still around loosing money everywhere. Good ol' corporate backing
so true.... Method is a total loss leader for ascent... that place is a disaster too.
#1... I wanna say good luck to all the artists and people who were involved into making Asylum - Asylum. From what I have heard none of them got any warnings in advance and were fired on the spot. Which, during hard economic times, usually means a devistating blow to all these great people's financial state. I do not know Nathan but if the above is correct, why is there no mension of that on this forum!?
#2... In reguards to balls, prices and low bidding. Blame Globalization and Outsourcing - there was a project that I bid on LOW, and a company out of india was able to bid 1/4 of that. I could not breakeven at that price, so it went to india... Not much you can do to compete with that, budgets are coming down, clients want x3 more then originaly agreed to - if you dont bend over and finish the work they will go to india or another shop. After finishing the work - they still go to india 🙂 Let the industry clens a little - at some point there were way too many VFX shops. One thing for sure the ones that are able to see ahead and adopt to changes will stay standing - guaranteed 😉
An associate of mine, a professor at a local college asked me to guest lecture on the state of VFX. He wanted the talk to be held at a VFX studio. I didn't want to travel very far as I hate traffic. I live in Venice, so I thought, "Hmmmm, what VFX studio is fairly close by....." I thought again, and said " I wonder if Nathan McG would allow me to use Asylum?" I had only met Nathan a few times, but I figured I'd ring him up and ask. He called me back ASAP and in his ever so chipper accent, said "Of course, mate, it would be my pleasure".
That lecture was 2 days ago. It was the first time I had ever visited Asylum... and I was duly impressed. It was exciting to be back in a VFX studio with style and attitude. Asylum felt very comfortable, like a pair of shoes I had walked in for years.... I could feel and sense its culture.
The lecture was well received and Nathan had not let on to what must have been ripping his soul apart, that Asylum would be closing its doors, and that he would be delivering this news to his "family" only 36 hours later.
I appreciate all of the comments by everyone on this blog, but with all due respect, very few know what it is like to run a VFX company, and as the saying goes " you need to walk a mile in my shoes"... Nathan and Emma started something from an idea... a dream.... they willed Asylum into existence.... they employed hundreds of people that created timeless images... and they did it with style and panache. As I have no full understanding of what "sub-surface scattering" is all about, most of you have no idea of the multitude of issues that face a facilities owner.
What you should know is that our industry is in trouble...
and that companies like Asylum will be sorely missed.
My hats off to you Nathan and Emma....
[...] is it that a VFX house can shutter just as it’s working at the top of its game? Posters at an FXguide thread that ran overnight last night wrestle with just that question. The thread is worth a read. [...]
Thanks for your hard work guys!
Hi guys i am from AUS, and this is my five cents worth...btw the five cent coin is the lowest piece of currency in Australia.
I've heard and seen you all say your bit so now here's mine.
We are at the epitomy of the devil...
Money is the work of the devil...incidently im not going to give you the whole nine yards on bible bashing...but i think the global economy is at its knees including all creative jobs.
When will people start realising that capitalism has failed...
The harsh reality of it all is communism is like a hidden dictatorship...
and so what is left...try something else...the world is apparently going green with sustainability...very sustainable for huge corporations in terms of cash flow...im smelling it already. Education has failed ... in place of academia everything leads to money...money for universities...more money for the top 1% in this forever vicious cycle of dog eats dog. People of the earth i am saying to you as a fellow human being, it is the governments that we elect that we fear when really it should be the other way around...the government should fear the people...just like the boss should fear its workers...and so on...
It seems to me that entertainment has been dealt a huge blow...it also seems to me that there are too many creatives out there trying to look for the same jobs.
It also seems to me in Australia that there are too many executives making too much money from the slaves of the system...When will we realise that that the marketing/media juggernaut is infiltrating our minds to behave in certain ways...
How many adults these days spoil their children to oblivion and wrap them up in cotton wool way beyond the legal age?...since when has a child been raised where they show true respect, loyalty and forgiveness?
This place called earth disgusts me but I still have to live in it...
This is a message of peace and those who are suffering I do empathise with you...but until we realise as a whole nation or continent or world what is truly happening only then will we begin to understand that vfx houses like asylum and all those fallen from grace will be susceptable to more damage...
Yours faithfully,
MARS
Yet another vfx shop closure due to the race to the bottom! 🙂 We VFX artists aren't worthy of a guild/union. It's our bed so lets just sleep in it. There's nothing we can do about it other than whine about it. 🙂
"These aren't the Droids you're looking for. Move along. Move along"! 😛
While its sad that so many people just got put out of work. I can't help but wonder why Cali based film/post/vfx businesses demonstrate such an incredible sense of entitlement. It's not just vfx, but post houses and other below the line groups.
I view the Cali based film business like the NBA.
At one time, the US clearly dominated the sport. But the world is slowly but surely catching up and will eventually be at least as good as the NBA, and for a lot less money. And by the world, I'm including all the USA outside of California. Being arrogant and condescending to those outside your little universe, just motivates them to try harder.
They all want to be you, and eventually they will be. Sooner than later.
The reason tax incentives in many states are going away is because most of the money went to California based production companies, and did not benefit the local economies enough to justify keeping them.
When the Clinton Administration tried to help with incentives for movies under a certain budget. The IRS stepped in and declared it illegal (not sure what eventually happened on that one).
Why did all this happen? Because the production companies went out of their way to game the system and not use the incentives in the way they were meant to be.
Every one got tired of seeing incentive money go to pay for someones multi million dollar mansion on SoCal. (Even if that is slightly inaccurate, that is the current perception). What is a fact is the vast majority of the incentive money went elsewhere.
Everyone needs to stop thinking of California as the be all, end all of US based film production, at any level.
If you want to talk about Balls, have the balls to go somewhere more affordable to setup shop and compete. Places where 200,000.00 USD will buy you a mansion,or at least a very nice Townhome. Where office space doesn't cost you 10K per month for a small hole in the wall. Where the state government is not a fatal combination of left and right wing extremists.
Where the internet is just as fast, and the quality of life even better.
I absolutely don't believe any of that will happen, but don't act like you don't have a choice.
awesome! i always wait for those kind of videos.
well done and thanx!
It's sad when anonymous posters claims to be concerned with a companies labor practices, then expects everyone else to do the hard work.
If the poster has facts to back up their statement, write them down and send them to the state labor department. With names, dates, etc...post these "facts" at any of several anonymous blogs around the net and send links out.
If you're not willing to put the effort in, why should anyone else?
I agree zeke, it IS a sad situation when VFX companies violate state and federal labor and tax laws and VFX artists stay mum out of fear of being blacklisted. And, it IS sad that one of the only ways to cast some light on this topic is by making unsubstantiated allegations via anonymous internet post. However, one uses the tools at hand. Would you prefer silence and putting one's head in a hole in the ground?
An anonymous internet post is a legitimate form of political speech. It can be likened to a crudely spray-painted graffiti of "FREEDOM" painted on the Berlin Wall. Anonymous, yes. Unsightly, yes - but not as ugly as the Wall itself or the oppressive government that built the Wall. And the mere existence of the message is intended as a symbol of hope and protest: to let people know that they are not alone in feeling that "the way things are must change", and to give the middle finger to those who would support the status quo.
You are quite correct - SOMEONE should file a complaint with the appropriate government agencies. Today, an anonymous symbol - a call to arms - tomorrow, action.
My guess is that within the next 12 months, Hydraulx will be the target of investigations by the State of California EDD and FTB, and the U.S. DOL and IRS.
Ummmmm, has anyone noticed that the United States used to drive certain industries in the world and they are not any more? I think the party may be over but there are several million drunk people walking around who don't realize it. the 20th Century was for the Western world's rise. The 21st Century will see the Western world struggle to remain viable while other economies do what it did previously. Grow.
Almost everything formerly made with pride in the USA is now made in China. Why should animation be any different?
read about the situation in Asylum VFX CEO Nathan McGuinness own words http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=4862
The VFX industry can be compared to Detroit automakers.
Detroit went around thinking cars can only be built by people in detroit. Then here comes the asians, europeans and start making and selling cars with better quality and better value. Then detroit almost goes belly up. Now they have taken steps to have some of the work done cheaper in other states and other countries. Now they are becoming profitable again.
The VFX industry is going to have to do the same. Realize that we need to look at opening and using facilites in other states that have tax incentives and lower cost for doing business, Im talking about labor only. Look at Louisiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico. All have newly opened vfx houses and all have tax incentives and all have a lower cost of living with exception of NY.
Doing vfx in one facility small or big only in california is the past and history. In order to remain profitable, vfx houses need to have a hub here in Hollywood, outsource to cheaper states where the costs of doing business is cheaper. I dont want to see any work going to asia or europe, so I will only mention sending work and opening facilites in other states.
Because the cost to keep it here in the USA, without time delays, without language barriers, without possible theft of material, and with companies that use legal software, and with the highest grade of talent, only makes sense to keep it here in the USA and okay maybe Vancouver BC.
I have heard execs say, why open a fx facility in Penn, Florida, or some other state. Where will you get the artists. Um, do you think india had artist just setting around waiting. Do you think china had an army of artists setting around waiting. No, they were recruited and trained.
Its totally possible and totally realistic.
Anyway, Studios demand that VFX be cheaper, partly because we dont have the respect of the studio execs, actors and directors and writers. Even though we as artists and we as company owners, make there movies look good, we make the movies happen. We are part of making that entertainment happen. Studios just dont see it that way. They think we are geeks that are over paid and play videogames all day and collect toys.
But until we all get that respect that we demand and need, vfx houses are going to get disrespected and threatened with " well india can do it cheaper".
So we need to open our eyes and minds, and open facilites where in most cases, quality of life is better, doing business is cheaper, and tax incentives are offered.
But in closing of my rambling.
I think that we as artists and company owners should ban together and stick together and tell the studios that we demand respect. That we are not overcharging them. That waiting 90 days to get paid is ridiculous. Im sure they dont wait on getting paid 90 days for a DVD we just bought of a movie they just produced. That the work done in the US is better quality, better results, better work ethics, and some of the most talented people in the world reside right here.
We should banned together and pressure the govt to step in and make it difficult to for the farming and outsourcing work to other countries. Tariffs, whatever it may be.
And an education to show studios, they spend more money and time sending work to other countries.
Because a very large percentage of the work has to be fixed and come right back to the USA where they scramble to have it done correctly.
Education and Economics.
jesus did any of that makes sense.
one thing missing in all this chatter is that the era of big shops is gone. there simply is not a need for it or a justification for the overhead. I can record an entire album on my laptop, why do I need to go to a recording studio and pay their staff and electricity bill. The tools are cheap and the talent is plentiful, if not overly plentiful. Rob Legato works out of his basement and there is no denying his talent in the vfx arena. Someone else mentioned an important and relevant fact in an earlier post - the studios are over paying actors for movies that don't recoup their costs. Its the studios that have their financial priorities up their collective asses and that entire model needs to be changed. My heart goes out for the good people and the owners of Asylum. Unfortunately, there are things happening in our business that are beyond the control of even the smartest, most well run shops
We understand that people are frustrated and emotions are running high but the time has come to shut this forum down.
It took me about half-way through the article to realize that this had some political underpinnings, so I went to the 'about me' page of the link and found that it was just a sounding board and cheerleader for the expansion of government programs.
They look for ways to free up money from the state in order to fund food stamps and handouts for the poor. They basically engage in class warfare in order to sway politics in their favor so they can continue their pursuit of a Welfare State - a.k.a Nanny State - a.k.a Socialism (the only successful outcome from such an endeavor).
The articles on the website from the link above are meant to paint a picture of how horrible it is to be poor (heck, I'm poor and the last thing I want is pity), and how people should better spend their money on solving world poverty. They try and bring the issue of poverty to the awareness of those with money in order to make them feel guilty (class warfare) while they beg the government to tax the rich, and in turn raise their begging palms to the now-rich government.
Whatever. There will always be poverty, and there will always be those that leech off the rich, demanding their money in the name of 'fairness'. Ha. Look, in America we're free to be whatever we want. Even poor. Some people simply don't like to work hard: it's stressful to work hard, I understand why people don't want to do it. Likewise, having money is not just a state of being, it's a state of mind. One has to really lust for money in order to make it, but that's their choice! They choose to stress themselves out in order to make money. Follow me so far? When you give people free money it teaches them that begging is more lucrative (in the short term) than some kind of long-term commitment to bettering their own life (and the lives of the people around them) through hard work, despite (or even FOR) the type of stress that it brings induces. Giving people money only keeps them poor.
If you want to solve world hunger once and for all, the only way you're going to do it is with jobs and physical/ mental WORK. Plain and simple. The people that create jobs for the poor are the ones with money: businesses. Whey you scrape away at a business's profits, in order to turn around and give it out to the the poor, you're directly removing money that could be invested back into the company, which would create jobs and economic wealth. See how that works? In short: when you strangle the rich and their ability to make money, you strangle the ability of the country to grow and expand through job creation. Businesses literally CREATE money through the work of real people, it's the only way money and wealth is actually created -- the only thing the Government can do is take it and redistribute it; shuffle it around. When the government starts creating wealth, it's not to make the county more wealthy, it's to get votes and stay in power.
I agree with the article that state subsidizing is wasteful, but I disagree with the underlying message: that the money would be better spent given to the poor. The government is simply not a business. It should stay out of subsidies altogether. I read a wise sentence once that said: the prerogative of a business is to make money, the prerogative of our government is to get votes. When the government becomes increasingly interested in money it should throw up red flags: money gives the government the power to limit the flow of information in order to get more power (power = more votes = more money). And when they limit the flow of information we suddenly lose our ability to think for ourselves, at which time the government loses touch with the public because at that point it doesn't matter what you think - they're no longer working in our interest - as long as you produce them with more money. When the government wants more money they simply take it from the rich with higher taxes, and when you steal from the rich you strangle the nation's ability to grow.
Ever wonder why we don't have those majestic cities of the future like we see in films? That's why ^^^
If the Government was a business, most of them would have been fired long ago.
Are you saying Robin Hood... is... a baddie?
Jay,
subsidies aside, how can a government not to be interested in money. How will you fund your schools?, hospitals? fire, polic depts? the good will of the rich?
One of the fundamental aspects of operation is it's duty to the citizens that elected it and the cohesion of society. I don't think anyone would advocate a return to the dark ages. This is especially relevant in today's world where certain corporations yield a highly skewed amount of influence.
Schools, police, fire....this is ALWAYS the garbage liberals fall back on when discussing how to cut gov't spending.
Jay, I want to thank you for a very well written comment.
Foodstamps, Handouts, Socialism... this is ALWAYS the garbage conservatives fall back on when discussing how to cut gov
Beautiful shots Jas, and great discussion with Mike. Much better way to get a feel for the camera than just looking at a spec brochure from Sony.
On the pools side of things, I was surprised recently to go to Queensland and I asked around a lot, went to quite a few beaches, talked to surf life savers, and it seems Queensland does not have the sea pools like NSW does.
This was attempted in 1993, when the CG side of VFX was just gaining ground. I know this because I was part of several unions attempts to make this happen. I worked at a major VFX studio and the artists expressed no interest in unionizing because they were getting paid very well and got a great deal of perks. They turned it down then and now we've see the result, lower wages and longer hours.
If they do organize, which I hope they do, all I can see happening is that the remaining work in L.A. and the US will go overseas or up over the border. You can not blame the VFX companies. They are simply trying to make it work and are feeling more and more pressure from shorter deadlines and skimpier budgets. The fish rots at the head, i.e. the studios/networks.
Until big business stops outsourcing jobs to other countries that pay slave wages that one couldn't possibly live on in the U.S., it won't change. And this isn't just the movie industry, this practice has affected every industry in America. It will be our downfall. And sadly for many it already has.
They also purchased MikeReedPostProduction+Partners last week.
Wally.
yes they also - a few months ago - bought Post Modern in Sydney.
Makes you wonder how long Method will be around...
Chris
no mention of Beast Editorial. Are they included in the deal?
Here is a press release that includes some of the companies listed:
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Nov. 24, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement with Ascent Media Corporation (Nasdaq: ASCMA) to acquire Ascent's Creative Services and Media Services businesses, including the well-known brands of Company 3, Beast, Method, Rushes, Encore Hollywood and Level 3 Post.
The acquisition will also enhance Deluxe's services for clients that include life-cycle library management and digital asset management. Digital services include file based mastering, archiving, digital distribution, DVD and Blu-ray authoring.
Deluxe is the world's largest processor of film for the motion picture industry and the industry's largest provider of Blu-ray authoring services. Over the last few years Deluxe has significantly increased its service offerings in digital services and content delivery. The company's pipeline includes 2D and 3D post production services from film or digital capture to digital intermediates with the proprietary EFILM
We'll find out Monday.
Looks like it's "eat or get eaten"....
It seems that the need for VFX services is growing more each year, yet the way the effects artists are being treated is becoming worse. For a studio to stay alive in this economy, it needs to have something special and unique about the talent that is creating their projects. Artists need to be in demand and offer something that most studios could not get from a newbie in the industry. That being said, I know it
Weird comparisson. It would be interesting if you compared cameras in the same pricerange.
cameras in the same price range...would have the same results or thereabouts.
these tests reveal one of the many reasons WHY the F3 is more than money than a DSLR.
jas
It's worth comparing because the DSLR that can handle video have captured a lot of attention and are being used widely on high profile projects, often by people for whom cost is not the deciding factor.
When you see Shane Hurlbut attaching a $20k lens to a Canon 5D for example, he's all about the image sensor (especially it's size), not the cost of the camera.
But it shouldn't stop here, the next test to see is vs. something from Red?
Steve i ran out of time.. pity as a R1 was right next to the F3. But to honest i can tell you the red will be about the same if not slightly better in the rolling shutter, a LOT sharper and virtually no moire. But to get a similarly equipped R1 would be lots more money too. No really.
Hey guys, thanks for posting this. I think it's valuable, but I think your blurb above should at least make note of the fact that the F3 implements an optical low pass filter to the 1080p resolution spec. The helps considerably with the moire of the 5D as well.
I know you guys know this, but I just thought it should be noted here as well.
So really, it's an issue of hasty/rough downrezzing/line skipping, but also one of optical low pass filtering.
Cheers,
Carey Dissmore
hey Carey Im sure its helping but obviously the F3 is from the ground up designed to get to 1080P without line skipping and pixel binning which im sure is whats responsible for 90% of the improvement here. Regardless of specs or under the hood tech.. what counts is how the final image looks and how it compares. was just interesting to see the two side by side regardless. Yes ones a stills camera and ones a video camera but if they're both being asked to do the same job
jas
The F3 looks outstanding, the sample footage wasn't lying, its a superb full 1080p image. The only disappointment I could see was the rolling shutter, looks to be quite slow compared to what the AF100 seems to be. That would be the next camera to test "as I still don't believe the AF100 is a real demosaiced and scaled down 1080p image from a 12.1MP sensor". Of course a RED MX would look even sharper and with even less rolling shutter but this camera will find a lot of fans very soon since it delivers almost what the F35 does for a much more attractive price. Of course until Scarlet ships!
Beautiful image with a lot of character from the F3, it looks to me way more filmic than the 5D II image for some reason, might be just the detail aside from the Sony color palette.
Thanks for the test.
Thanks james. yes im sure the Red One would be better again, but the F3 is certainly an improvement in this dept. These tests were also with both cameras on 50th sec / 180 deg shutters and with near matching field of view. Both cameras were bolted together and rolled together so the movement (shown here one after another) is actually the same exactly repeated move. just fyi 🙂
I think comparing a camera designed for stills with one designed for motion picture is useless. The F3 was always going to be better because thats what it's designed for.
How about comparing the 5D stills with the F3 stills?? Even more useless.
JW.
In case you missed it. people are using DSLR's to do video. interviews, TVC's, shorts, tv series, features every day around the world. Beacuase they want to and often because theres no alternative for cheap, light, portable 35mm imagery. One of the two main issues people have with them is line skipping creating moire and rolling shutter. Since the start of the DSLR revolution people have been begging, nay screaming out for a camera that can give the imagery of say a RED or F35 but with the affordability and portability of a DSLR but without the pain that comes with them. One of these cameras is here now and as we had access to it its our duty to our listeners and viewers to show the improvements these new cameras in the market are bringing and to show that theres another alternative out there. We're not paid by sony to do or plug these tests and Sony are not a sponsor. Sorry Jell but with all respect its a completely valid test. Not at all useless.
And the F3 doesn't do stills.
Great demo. The 5/7d revolution is just about over. It was a great stopgap and the new batch of cameras coming now would never have, had it not been for the 5dII.
Well, this is the same story all over, from day on footage posted from Canon 5D. Yet as Jason said - there is a lot of footage comming from DSLR. Why? Because it has cinematic look, DOF and color. Yet when You search for those - especially shallow DOF it's easy to pass the line skipping to be so obviously blown into Your face as in this (and other - RED have done similar test long ago) studio test scenes. Yes it's ugly and it hurts bad 5D. Yet there is only two small steps for Canon in their next DSLR - interpolate the whole frame (that will give quite a sharp image) and eliminate the rolling shutter - they showed a parallel read on their test sensors this summer, so I guess it's not too far. Yet, how SONY and other would react to 5D Mark II that shoots a crystal clear HD with no rolling shutter for 3-4K? Would Canon dare to oppose all these, and even canabalize it's own market for video equipment? Who knows. But be happy to shoot with what You have and don't stop! Seen some Nokia C6 footage recently and found several really good ones 🙂 Best to all and REALLY thanks for the F3 coverage!!!
thanks stas,
whats clear is stuff is changing and fast. and theres more options every day. options are great but people need to just chill a little, get less fan boyish about gear and just embrace change as as the f3 shows change is good and theres more to come 🙂
Historical perspective:
1997 - Four Media bought Pacific Ocean Post (which became Riot!, then Method) for estimated $20 million
1997 - Todd AO acquired Hollywood Digital for $31 million
1998 - Four Media bought Encore for $68.6 million
2000 - Four Media acquired Rushes, 525 and Virgin Mexico for $40 Million
These are just a few I was able to find.
[...] a test but here is another sample, it's linked as a download only. 5D vs the F3. fxguide quick takes F3 vs 5D MkII http://www.fxguide.com/qt/wp-content...F3_H264s31.mov __________________ EX3, Q6600 Quad core [...]
It is hard to keep track of every company that got bought during that 16 year long katamari that 4MC, Liberty Livewire, Ascent pulled off.
A couple of additions to Jeff's list:
Digital Magic (probably 'company1') 1994
Anderson Film Industries for $10 million in 1997
Pacific Ocean Post in 1998 for $27 million according to:
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/oct/01/business/fi-28321/3
There must have been more: Method Studios was already 'company10'
in 1998. Later acquisitions include:
Manhattan Transfer
Filmcore
Mad River
Beast
A Red (or any other 2k or 4k camera) should not be sharper at 1080 than an F3, assuming the F3 is at Nyquist which I'm pretty sure it is. Sure at 4K Red should look sharper than a F3 at 1920x1080, But if you try to keep the 4K sharpness and resolution when you down rez to 1920x1080 you will get aliasing and moire. A decent down rez from 4K to HD should include low pass filtering to bring the resolution down to the appropriate level. Considering that for video production most display and distribution methods are based around and maximum of 1920x1080 then in many cases there is little advantage to 4k. Clearly if you are going to 4k distribution or filmout, 4k may be better. Don't forget as well that the huge pixel size of the F3 compared to a DSLR brings significant noise, low light and dynamic range advantages.
Very few people complained about the quality of the live action in Avatar, all shot using Sony HDC1500 and F900R 1920x1080 HD cameras. Resolution is only one part of the image quality equation.
The low pass filtering you use when you downsample digitally is very different from the low pass effect of an optical low pass filter. You can design such a filter so that you get a very sharp image, with negligible aliasing, unlike an optical filter where you can have a sharp image and aliasing, or a softer image and negligible aliasing. That is why there's a tremendous advantage to capturing a much higher resolution image than you need and employing a strong (some would say optimum) OLPF and then either projecting as-is or downsampling.
If you only have as many photosites as the target resolution, you have little "room" for the OLPF to work in and hence generally have to have a aliases in the image if you want an MTF at maximum detail that actually allows you to see some detail there. Consequently, the MTF at 2k from a 4k RED image is vastly superior to that of a 1080p imager at 1080p, and has less moire and aliasing, and if you were to downsample to 1080p, you'd still have better MTF and less aliasing and less moire.
Throw 525 Studios into the mix. It was purchased in 2000 by Ascent and quietly but quickly dissolved.
from the LA Times/blog:
"Ascent Media was formely part of Discovery Communications until it was spun off as a separate company in 2008. Its holding company posted a net loss of $6.2 million on revenue of $204 million for the six months ending June 30, narrowed from a net loss of $13.7 million on revenue of $230 million for the same period a year earlier.
Ascent Media Chief Executive William Fitzgerald attributed the losses in its most recent statement to "uncertainty about the timing and pace of economic recovery that has led to ongoing volatility in the media marketplace.""
Yikes.
Just to repeat a couple of points we have made before:
1. we love the 5D - we own multiple 5D's and we do great work with them, but there are some traps and an informed cinematographer is good thing.
2. We dont think the Sony is perfect, but it is in the particular area we have highlighted - Sony has some great new technical improvements when shooting certain types of video.
3. the 5D is cheaper and does stills - both excellent reasons for buying them, but there are some difficulties - such as rolling shutter and moire. These are not unknown - so we looked to see how Sony dealt with these two areas.
4. fxguide and Red Centre are constantly trying to provide technical and creative explanations so people can be better informed. It is true that we worked with Sony and got early access (although no $ changed hands) it is also true we work closely with a lot of other camera companies and post companies. We have offered to work more closely with Canon and yet at our last booked appointment/interview with them (Tim Smith Pro Prod Marketing Manager - he simply never turned up - nor answered any of our emails as to why). That being said we totally love Canon and would welcome any chance to work more closely with them. As I said we use 5D and 7D's here daily. We have no axe to grind nor do we believe there needs to be one camera to rule them all.... the world is better for competition.
Mike
Check the Creative Services numbers, particularly ETV. Not nearly as bad.
By the way for those interested the fiscal 2009 10-K filed by Ascent can be viewed online:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437106/000095012310023798/v55445e10vk.htm
I have a dream... a dream of a world Just like on my piano keyboard where black and white live together in perfect harmony.. where all cameras exist happily and equally together and no camera is the natural killer of another.
Jas
Nice podcast! Krakatoa and fume are truly the best particle&volume renderers atm.
Particle stuff reminded me of Mikes tweet like ??4?? months ago about podcast with Thiago Costa. Is the podcast still work in process and alive?
Thanks for this. : )
Love your fxguidetv!! Keep it up!
[...] a recent letter to the Visual Effects Society, IATSE President Matthew D. Loeb formally announced the IATSE’s [...]
Thank you!!! I was so disappoint in the lack of Weta material. Thanks for filling the gap. (along with previous articles 🙂 )
I'd be for unionization if all digital artists came under the SAME LOCAL. I'm freelance and if I want to work at, say Fox and NBC-Universal I have to join two different locals and pay double initiation fees and dues. This is unacceptable. Obviously it would seem unlikely that either of the locals that I would have to deal with would willingly give up their share of the membership to the other.
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3225 [...]
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3225 [...]
I think that there were a few other details in this story's lineage that might be of interest. Disclaimer - Some of the stuff below is pure speculation, and some is a product of my often faulty memory.
It all started with 4MC deciding to be a consolidator of the post industry (early mid 90's?), then Todd-AO decided to join the fray, and they too started buying up post houses and VFX companies. (starting with Digital Magic, POP, Encore). I recall that the prices paid were far in excess of those mentioned above, when the debt that was assumed by the buyers was included.
I believe that 4mc eventually bought todd ao (or was it vice versa?).
Then, in '99, AT&T bought 4mc for $252M, and owned all of these for a short while. At that point, Liberty Media was owned by AT&T. Liberty was spun off from AT&T in late 2001. Then, Liberty Media spun off these assets to a public company called "Liberty Livewire". You can see their sec filings, at sec.gov. I think that they merged it back in to liberty media for a few years in about 2003, so their numbers weren't visible to the public, only in aggregate with liberty's. They again spun it off in 2005, as Ascent media, and ascent is what exists today (or at least until last week).
There are a few other details that are missing in this tale. Although the sale price of POP and Encore are listed above, I don't think that these include the debt that these companies held, which was significant. ($100M+)... but for a while, the balance sheet of Liberty Livewire included as an "intangible asset" $448M (!!!) of "goodwill". (http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/61442/000093639202001436/v85977e10vq.htm) I think that this is how that additional debt was recognized, though again, I could be wrong, as I'm no accountant. I think that it was something like this - the price paid for these companies was greatly in excess of their tangible values (when their debt was included), and the difference was booked as "good will". In 2002 or so, the accounting rules changed significantly, regarding recognition of goodwill, and I recall that livewire (or whoever the holding company was at that point) had to take an enormous write down, in the low-mid 9 figure range, essentially all of that 400M goodwill figure.
From another perspective, when all of the consolidation started to take place, these individual companies were not well coordinated, and were bidding against each other - grossly underbidding each other, that is - and driving the market price down significantly. For example, Digital Magic would bid against encore, and POP for the same work (star trek was a prime example). They would all aggressively underbid each other, just to get the cash flow (or in the case of star trek, a high marquis value job). They (we) were all hemorrhaging money because of this behavior. During this period, prices for post production and visual effects crashed, and eventually so did wages and working conditions as a direct consequence. They've not really recovered to the levels seen before then. Of course, there are other factors at play (more suppliers of services, the capital requirements to start a facility have dramatically fallen, more trained artists available etc).
Just thought you might be interested in yet another perspective.
Wonder what the next chapter will bring. As they say, History doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes.
Maury has revealed so much tantalizing detail. I'll just add that I believe that in his second paragraph where it is indicated that Todd-AO bought POP, it was actually 4mc. We who were at Pacific Ocean Post at the time, when told the news in an intralevel concert were significantly hesitant to raise our cheers to the rafters, as the vision and spirit of A. Kozlowski for POP had been essential to our decisions to join POP.
Yes Rob, you're correct - my error... 4mc did purchase Digital Magic, POP and Encore, before the merger with Todd.
You've probably already recieved e-mails but HDRx will be enabled on Epic-Ms:
"Some features are being disabled for stability on the EPIC-Ms until the production EPIC-Xs are released. Then a firmware upgrade will turn these features back on.
1. Audio
2. Playback
3. eHDR
Thanks for tracking down that particular post and thread. Be great when the dust settles that RED do another 'white paper' that rounds up all the details, prices etc... when they know it 🙂
thanks
jason
VFX artist's need to unionize, VFX shops need to work with the unions to put pressure on the studios to cut down the actors pay. They are grossly overpaid and actors are no longer worth $10-$20 million a picture. Most of that should be provided toward production and post, It's time to start balancing the playing field, join the union!
Wait... what? The road to salvation for VFX houses and artists is for Tom Cruise to take a paycut? Are you serious???
Of course, if the 5D and it's ilk could record full-res RAW at 24fps...
Thespian,
The only thing thats going to happen when unionized vfx shops try to put pressure on studios is those studios are just going to send more work over seas. Why would they want to put up with BS from vfx shops when they don't have to. Thats simple logic. I have to question the intelligence and/or intentions of anyone who says otherwise.
I would also have to disagree with you on the value of actors. They are usually the one of the main draws of a film. Other than vfx artists turned directors, name for me one instance where a vfx artist on a crew can draw a large crowd to a film. They can't. It doesn't happen. The VFX as a whole may help draw people in for which companies do get paid millions. If adding a big name actor to a film and paying him 10 million can add a extra 40-50 million to the films take, it is well worth it to the films backers.
As was stated in that Hydralux email.. if you want to level the playing field as you say, tax incentives need to be dealt with. This whole idea of a union making things better for artists is a joke. The only thing the unions are going to do is wipe out the remaining field here in LA and send it elsewhere. One only needs to look at what the unions have done for Detriot.
The quetion these unions need to answer is how they're going to help keep your jobs here in the US and keep VFX shops from going under with all the new costs that are going to come to the VFX shops.
Artist need to be working with their employers. Not against them. The more effecient and competitive artists can help make whatever studio they at the more work they're going to help that company draw in. The more work a place draws in generally the better things get. Unions will have nothing but the opposite effect. They will raise costs for a company making them less competitive. Which in turn will cause them to get fewer jobs, which in turn will cause them to be able to pay less, which will then lead to less qualified people getting hired.
Any artist with half a brain will avoid the unions. I have a pretty good feeling the majority of artist that will be joining up will be the untalented, washed up artists. The ones that sit around and talk all day, the ones who don't really know what they're doing but think they do, the ones who take jobs but completely misrepresent their skills. These are the artists who think they're being mistreated or treated unfairly.
Artists in this business need to realize its just that. A business. Be more professional. Get good at your skills. You'll find that your employers will treat you extremely well and you'll get paid very well for it.
Now on the other hand there are bad companies to work for. There are companies that cheat their artist out of pay or try to change deals after they've been made. But as an artist you think a company is treating you poorly go somewhere else. If they're late paying you or stop paying you why continue to work there??? Go elsewhere. That makes no sense to me. You're not chained to a company. If you've got good skills you wont have a hard time finding work elsewhere.
Tax incentives are everything at this point. That is what is slowly draining jobs for California. Soon there will be very few left.
Michael
Even with all the tax incentives and cheaper labor overseas, a lot of vfx is still being done in California. It has ALWAYS been cheaper to do work overseas. There is a lot more to vfx than just price.
Digital Domain has opened a facility in Northern California and is expanding their facility in Southern California. ILM has also opened a facility in Los Angeles.
Studios choose to do the work here because the quality is good and reliable.
Hi,
Can you please tell me what lens was on the F3? Was it one of the new Sony primes or something $$$?
I happened to pause on the chart and it looked really good.
Thanks
Chuck
Agreed, there's still a lot up in the air!
Thanks for doing the show! You and Mike really "get it" when it comes to this stuff 😀
-Brad
By the way, I don't hear too many California studios doing anything to lobby for tax incentives, but I do see the IATSE doing it:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/-tag839--Help-us-to-be-the-face-of-our-industry.html?soid=1102126638294&aid=XLS3FhSj8AA
I think this is all bigger then you might be realizing. What this really boils down to, is a sociopolitical and ethical issue of in-state needs vs. standards of industry and celebrity status quo.
The lens were good PL mount lenses - not the new Sony Lens.
IATSI is trying to do the same thing in Vancouver right now. People with even half a brain know a union is not the answer. IATSI needs to back the @#$# off!
Amazing-- with this and Pirates 4 being shot on RED, I'm excited for the next wave of blockbusters!
And so glad that RED is enabling true 3D shooting instead of post-conversion. So many elements about this film that I can't wait to see!
Also, while I'm not an experienced filmmaker, from what I understand isn't 22 setups really, really high for a film as big as Spiderman? Looks like they're stretching that $80m budget as far as they possibly can 🙂
It's "I.A.T.S.E." International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
22 is high.. especially for a stereo film. I am only guessing but I would imagine they hit that number by maybe having the stereo rig on say a technocrane - or something similar - where the time to each next setup is low... 15 setups on a stereo film would be a beer for the first AD - 22 is ... well a lot
I wish people would stop saying things like "as a matter of fact there isn
But a 5k scan of 35mm film wouldn't measure 5k either... It would measure considerably less. Just as HD cameras measure less than HD resolution.
I am wondering about their workflow and pipeline for both regular cinema and for Imax?
Because I'll be very surprised if this doesn't go into Imax theaters.
I don't even know what to make of this, a Sony Pictures production is using a competitors camera??? How does that work exactly? Anyone care to clue me in? I'm baffled!!!
Money. If Sony saves $100k because they're not renting the cameras their very distant camera manufacturing department makes, then they're not renting those cameras.
It's reasonably likely Red have given out some very sweet deals to productions like Pirates 4 and Spiderman 4.
[...] fxguide quick takes
[...] Bros. y Legendary Pictures aprendan de fraudulentas experiencias anteriores. Y hablando de rodajes, desde fxguide nos llega el aviso de que Spider-Man 3D (2012) de Marc Webb será rodada con las cámaras EPIC Digital [...]
Sony is a big company and there is likely zero pressure from one division to use products from another. I would read nothing into that.
[...] without health care. I know the artist that Lee Stranahan was referring to in his interview with Jeff Heusser who contemplated suicide because of a perceived fatal medical condition.
thanks
The F3 has not yet been field tested in the real world as yet. We have to
have filmmakers of all kinds go out and push this camera to it's limits; give
it at least six months before we can really determine what this camera can
or cannot do. The specs are great, but I'll wait and see. The 5D is a great
camera, but though it can do video it is not in the same league as
the F3. But if you feel comfortable with the final results of any camera then
that is where you probably should be at.
Inception
Tron FTW!
TRON:Legacy....no other movie even stand a chance!though i have not seen the movie but the the kind of work done in the first movie in terms of story is kind of phenomenal!!and the here say of industry professionals are also rating this movie as the Favorite in terms of winning the award!! go DISNEY!!
Inception is also a winner in its own way...AND we people should appreciate all the movies that we all professionals make to hit people with the finesse awe of fantastic cinema!!
best of luck to all
[...] like to think these are all unique incidents but then I listen to the fxguide’s podcast with Lee Stranahan and found myself agreeing about the depressed feeling he had for the humanity of artists when we [...]
1st: Inception
2nd: Tron: Legacy
3rd: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
I would have gone for Tron, but Inception along with the VFX it also had a concept which has been the dream of all the psychologists and people. It was completely a fesh concept and nothing for sometime can beat it until they come up with a sequal. Fingers crossed !!! Hoorah Inception.
1st Tron: Legacy
2st Inception
3rd The Last Airbender or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
I would have Inception up for best picture!
INCEPTION!!! (And New Deal Studios...) 🙂
Monsters and Skyline needs to be on this list.
How did Alice in wonderland and the last Air Bender, prince of persia, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, The Sorcerer
My guess:
Tron, Inception, Alice, Harry, Iron Man, Shutter, Hereafter to make it to the bake-off. I think this year 5 get to become nominated. Good luck to all!
-david
Last year we had stronger visual effects in movies like Avatar and 2012.
This year we have better movies with less special effects...minus last air bender
1st: inception
2nd: Tron: legacy
3rd: Scott pilgrim
Inception has to be number one, because of the visuals with the fantastic storyline! It's still on everyones mind...
But with all the fast motion, there will be copious amounts of rolling shutter problems, which just looks 'cheap'.
[...] share. I am amazed at the F3's rolling shutter, er, lack thereof. The image is from this article. fxguide quick takes F3 vs 5D MkII Attached Thumbnails [...]
Alice, Inception, Tron, Potter, and Iron Man should be top 5.
My top 5:
Inception
Tron
Alice in Wonderland
Hereafter
Scott Pilgrim -or- Harry Potter
Nice to see 2 of the films I worked on on the list.
Inception should win it though.
Mark Szumski does [email protected] work! Keep on rockin' brotha....
Love the spot and blog post, but wish they would've removed the pulldown or field merged before posting online.
Harry Potter and Tron .
Yeah we were a tad disappointed with the pulldown - so Click3X is getting us a new version ASAP
The 5 eventual nominees will be:
Tron: Legacy
Inception
Alice in Wonderland
Iron Man 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter....Clint Eastwood!
If these are movies for VFX, judging by the Tron storyline and the posters I've been seeing, it would most likely be first.
Really not sure about Inception though, as a lot of the effects were physically done. (Unless of course, I'm taking the meaning of VFX the wrong way and that actual reality based effects also factor in)
I'm guessing it'll be top 5:
1) Tron
2) Alice in Wonderland
3) Harry Potter
4) Narnia
5) Iron Man 2
[...] la crisis económica sigue golpeando con fuerza al Hollywood más tecnológico y vía fxguide nos enteramos hoy que CafeFX, la compañía de Jeff Barnes y David Ebner, echa tristemente el cierre [...]
How many artists will be left unpaid for their final weeks work this time around. Feeling sorry for a corporation that screws artists over on a premeditated basis like Asylum did is beyond reprehensible, but rarely mentioned. Shame on all of you.
If you at Cafe FX have fully paid all your staff and freelancers, please mention that in the press release or follow up comment. As that would be a welcome change.
Anonymous, I see your point.
There is another view, which is perhaps the artists would be supportive of a last-ditch effort to try to keep a house open even if it meant risking a couple weeks without pay. A lot of these types of decisions go down to the wire and until the brink everyone is working hard to see if they can pull off a saving effort and hoping that their work home won't die. I hear a lot of people saying it's hard to find enough VFX work right now so risking some time to save a house that is your home might be worthwhile.
Of course this is something that should be discussed with the artists to make sure their on-board with the plan, since it's their time to risk and not the owners.
I have no idea if CafeFX paid everyone to completion. If they didn't, I have no idea if they had conversations with artists about this type of scenario. I can see a situation where they might have to decide who they could trust to talk to, because if you're working desperately to keep a company open, everyone knowing this can make the downfall a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Bottom-line is running a business like that is very hard to do and an incredible balancing act, especially when there are such hostile macro forces against you such as now. I don't know the guys at CafeFX and I am not in their circumstances, but as an owner at another post house I know I agonize over decisions that effect my people and I stress more about the impact it has on them than I do myself. I imagine it's much the same for a lot of owners.
You don't have to feel sorry for the owners of companies, they made the choice to risk. But there is a lot of pain that goes with seeing your dream crumble after so many years of building it, often compounded by personal bankruptsy and/or uncertainty for your own future. Weighed in that balance, losing a couple weeks wages for an artist who doesn't have to carry the massive debt load and stress and anguish is honestly small potatoes. It may be small potatoes multiplied times many more people, and I'm sure in some cases there are artists without a proper financial cushion for whom losing a couple weeks' wages is a minor disaster. I'm just saying, if I had to pick whose shoes to be in, I'll take the artist's with the lost wages over the owner who lost his business any day of the week.
Agreed.
The thing is that I really think the business model in place at most (to not say all) vfx companies simply doesn't work anymore. Specially for the mid-size not so big ones which most often don't have a really strong financial backing and yet share some (or even most) of the costs that the huge ones have.
In a few years we will probably end up with a few -- really few -- huge companies and a lot of small boutiques scattered all over the globe.
For me it's becoming more and more a question of "produce or die". Otherwise the chances are that the math for them will be (2+2)-4=0 if not worst.
Ok that I'm not on the North America or Europe, the numbers and the scales are different. But they are certainly proportional so I'm assuming the issues are basically the same in most places.
Perhaps things are different in India but I would say that the math they have in place there won't hold for much longer either.
With the above said I would like to congratulate everyone that helped build and maintain CafeFX over the years. It was a great company that did exceptional work and it's always sad to see something like that go.
Best of luck to all the staff and the owners.
Dear all artists who are unfortunately affected by economic downturn and global recession, it is sad to see that this kind of business model seems not to work any longer and that even high-profile company are having a hard time to cope with the current situation, BUT in the light of globalization it will give companies in other parts of the world the chance to grab some business from overseas and build good relationships with Western counterparts.
That wages and expenses in the West are too high and budgets for movies exceed expectations of what one would consider as 'normal' indicates where our Western socities finally have gotten themselves into. The same for the overheated real estate bubble here in China,... no wonder that market consolidation takes it's toll and the industry will have to learn to re-adjust to new rules and players who are from Asia and elsewhere.
Hollywood will crumble one day and Asians are buying out companies over there, it is just a matter of time. Some say the world get's a bit more fair and the wealth get evenly distributed, which by the way isn't a bad thing either, but of course will kill some of the smaller companies who are not able to operate globally in order to cut costs.
"Some say the world get’s a bit more fair and the wealth get evenly distributed"
-if you're searching for "fair" in a global marketplace you're never going to find it. The concept of "redistribution" is nonsense. The free market will never evenly spread things out on its own; the paradigm may shift, but merely into a new area complete with its own fortunes, failures and so on.
"Hollywood will crumble one day..."
Wishful thinking?
Not so sure that's going to happen anytime soon.
[...] John Montgomery echos in FXGuide’s Quick Take section what we’ve all been reading in the twitter and blog space today. Another venerable visual effects establishment has cashed in their chips. [...]
As a motion designer and future VFX artist, my only hope is technology continuously becoming cheaper and indie films being produced pennies on the dollar. Was it just me who jumped for joy when 'Skyline' was made for 10 million dollars by Hydraulx and more than doubled that in the box office. How about the movie 'Monsters' by Gareth Edwards (who directed, shot and did the VFX post work), also being made on a tight budget under $500,000 and pulling in over 1.5 million dollars (wikipedia).
I believe that will be the new business structure of the future. It is not necessary gorilla, but it is lean and super effective. It is also fueled, by independent and individual funding and donations and it might just be released on the web and not the big screen. Producing a spectacular TV/web mini series, short film or full feature is more than a dream it is a reality and with a great story and proper planning, the 'Skyline' is the limit. I know I am painting with broad stokes and limited supplies, but the point is that I have read more creative brainstorming on this site and others like it to know that the creatives in this industry can produce better stories than what Hollywood puts out most times.
All and all, we (you: VFX artist and me soon to follow) have to take the industry back for ourselves (you guys first, I will join you shortly). Get rid of the suits, abusive deadlines and decreasing budgets for bigger WOW which truncates creativity and most importantly, story.
Let us all grab our wacom boards, matrix action figures, banana skirts (don't lie, we all own one) and make a stand by making our own films... but you go first, I am right behind you! Hopefully, if there is a worthy industry still around.
well... if you make 1.5mil from 500,000, that means you barely made even. You need to share 1.5mil with theater and distribution company.
Also if is was not their own work, ‘Skyline’ would cost more than 10mil.
Yeah, "Technology continuously becoming cheaper", but the budget is becoming A LOT smaller.
lean and mean. Nothing beats the super-efficiency of the Gareth Edwards model: If the position of the CG building in the background will result in a prohibitive amount of roto....then move the building. Ha, I love it:)
http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f265300/265397.htm
Any follow-up on this antitrust case with officials at Pixar and Lucasfilm would be welcome and useful to the VFX community don't you think? Perhaps you could ask Catmull, Lasseter, and Lucas for official on the record comments? This is quite an important story and it would be disappointing if fxguide buried it's head in the sand on this.
We have been covering labor issues related to VFX for a long time, long before anyone else - but this is not all we are going to do. I can guarantee you no one will talk to us on the subject from the companies, you know that. If you want daily updates and comments on labor issues I would point you to vfxsoldier and vfxlaw (we have promoted both of them recently), also the animation guild blog (again we have promoted them frequently). They all are doing great work in keeping the discussion alive. We will continue to cover this area as well but not as frequently as they are, or as you may wish.
Great interview Jeff. Thanks for asking Steven his views on organization and the beneficial results of working under a union contract. The message, while one we've been delivering, carries more weight coming from such a venerable and respected source.
Steve Kaplan
Labor Organizer
The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE
[email protected]
Man I hope they don't just dump it or destroy it out of malice. Good luck.
Man I lost my iPhone during new year's eve but this put thing into perspective. 🙁 So sorry to hear that. I hope they find those barstards.
Gotta say - listening to podcast. Can't disagree more on the face replacement on TRON. I didn't buy it once. The mouth never looked right. And the excuse of "we all know what Jeff Bridges looks like" is a total cop out. The facial animation, mouth movement and eye movement didn't come close to Button or Avatar. I think DD bit off more then they could chew and the facial work didn't make it. I don't think a director like Fincher or Cameron would have said that it was good enough. And every non VFX person I have spoken to agree. It was ambitious yes - but successful, no. Matt should have stuck to his guns - it was stiff and didn't look natural. And if "he was a computer" than all the other characters should have looked the same way. Finally just because it was hard and "so close" doesn't let it off the hook to it not being natural or realistic. The volume of work, look - all of it was insane and amazing. Just wanted the face to work so bad and was so bummed when it didn't work.
CafeFX was great to work for.its sad they have to close after all.my deepest condolences go out to all people in Santa Maria.
Just found, could be download in full HD too, the making of video by Digital Domain:
http://vimeo.com/18256967
That copy has disappeared but here it is on the DD Tron site: http://digitaldomainvip.com/
"We have often wondered why this was not done before now – it seems like such a more friendly actor environment than just doing a straight to mic read?"
a) lack of trust in the animator's ability to carry the performance through keyframing and reference only.
b) deus ex machina; too much faith in the technology to solve the problems that pure artistry would achieve.
Sorry I am not sure I understand your points?
But if you are saying Pixar and now ILM - dont have trust in their animators abilities? I disagree. I should add I think the aim here is to improve the voice performance - not the animators. The ability to have the actors 'actor' with other actors helps them (the actors) nail a great performance. I also personally have found that even great animators prefer more reference than less. It seems completely reasonable.
Plus it looks like a fun shoot... you know everything isnt a "plus/minus" game - sometimes it is just a plus to do something and it takes nothing away from anyone else's role/respect/position.
yeah, you aren't getting my point. we aren't disagreeing at all. post-production houses like ILM and production houses like Pixar respect the results that they can achieve through keyframe animation.
it's directors like james cameron, and studios in general that have too much faith in technology alone to carry the performance an emotion capture. i the case of avatar, only reluctantly, did cameron agree to "allow" keyframing to become involved.
doing a shoot the way that they did at ILM for Rango makes perfect sense, it provides tons of animation reference for the animators; they can basically roto-mate and exaggerate timings as needed.
It's really interesting. I think the face replacement was fairly successful, at least in terms of the comp. But I can't help but feel that facial capture from an older person, and re-targetting it for a younger character is not ideal. The performance felt a little restricted, and whilst that may be a technical constraint, I just don't think the musculature of the two faces were quite in balance.
This is actually rather similar to Spike Jonze's approach to the audio recording sessions in Where The Wild Things Are, where the studio worked more like a stage / sandbox for the actors to fully express themselves, and done so to great effect, in my opinion.
Betwen Tron and Inception.
Inception hit for me
check out our other story with Dneg - who worked on a majority of these films (Story and podcast)
- mike
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by creativebloke. creativebloke said: I saw this : Short List announced for VFX Oscar, 7 head to Bake Off: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie... http://bit.ly/dLsHPr [...]
Its nice to see Sony working so nicely with Foundry. KATANA and Arnold will make awesome match. : )
Has to be Inception for me. The subtlety and believability of the effects for what are incredibly unsubtle and unbelievable scenes is incredible.
CafeFX was truly a great collection of talent. What I've writing here are only my thoughts. I’m far from being any kind of expert or accomplished fx shop owner, but I have sat through five heartbreaking closings of shops like CafeFX that I loved being part of over the past 15yrs. I've become a migrant worker in search of a home.
Our dynamic fx world will evolve rapidly trying to meet the expanding need for digital imagery. It’s my observation that the evolution of truly talented artists is not going to keep pace with this expansion. Right now I’m sitting at my work station surrounded by at least 12 different accents in the distance I can toss a paper clip. A revelation to me of the difficulty of finding talent. You can not teach talent and it's the foundation of this industry. Although many shops are closing the fx industry is expanding like mad.
It’s not just about content for movies any longer. It’s become the way we communicate at the deepest levels world wide.
China and India each have middle classes bigger than all of the US. Eventually they will be trying to create content for their own masses and scraping for the talent to to that as well, as will all evolving nations.
Building sky scrapers without a locked down blue print would never be considered. However, what we build is often far more expensive, and yet what the current business model resembles is a more like drawing on a bar room napkin, and some are willing to fix a price to that. The expectation to make money and be in fair play simply can not exist, it only promotes brawling between both parties. The excuse that it is simply just the way it has to be done can no longer fly as the golden rule.
The artists need to take a stand as they often take the fall. Don't be afraid to speak up and put your name on it. Without you...nothing happens.
In an industry were billions of dollars are changing hands some of that money should be available to the those with a plan and the willingness to demonstrate that we are no longer in a bidding post production environment but we ARE production.
The rest of the set figured this out decades ago and I’m confident we will to. It amazes me how up and coming directors allow themselves to be spoon fed their dailies from the black box by a creative hierarchy on a bi-weekly bases.
It's not being on the set. It’s like directing a movie from your iPod with a bad wifi connection.
Yes !! For Sure Inception
Mike did a great podcast with Paul F.
according to industry expert and people just comment that Inception will get but is any one now who jury use to see film or is they are seeing the perfect thing that used for film. it will be great if mike u can say anything in this.
+.75 about face replace. The first shot with bad lip synch blew it out of the water for me. It's no wonder they obscured almost all of those father and son shots.
Young Jeff B seemed to have waaaaay to much botox in his top lip! and the eyes lacked the finesse that Avatar had (extra animators?). Is it just me or did the skin render in CLU look the same in every shot? Did this have a full SSS render or some photo montage solution as in Facebook movie?
I sat in awe of the art direction though, that was Mega-Mead. I'm sure Syd would approve. sort of what I expected Matric to look like, while the extended scenes of Avatar Earth has shown me Blade Runner 2. Speaking of which, didn't that last scene seem just like the last shot from Blade Runner, driving in the countryside...
I'm skeptical about Katana's commercial release for three reasons.
One, aside from being a software, Katana is also a business model; it dictates how things should be done, and I think not all studios would necessary agree.
Two, I think a software like Katana that talks between software packages always needs much tech support no matter how user friendly you turn it into, particularly if you have in-house tools. Studios must choose between maintaining a large tech dept or constantly going back to Foundry.
Three, I suspected that SPI was originally seeking 2d compositing addition to Katana when they sold it to Foundry. One could guess from their using Bonsai to Katana then to Nuke recently for compositing. I remembered it was Foundry and SPI original plan to combine Nuke with Katana.
In conclusion, I think Katana is a great software and a good way of doing things and has served SPI well for years, but I don't see it as marketable as Nuke.
A solid list for sure. If I could vote, I'd nominate Tron, Inception, Alice in Wonderland, Hereafter and Harry Potter (though I could see myself voting for Iron Man 2 spur of the moment, instead). For the win, either Inception & Tron.
link broken possibly ?
Looks like a site move problem, reported bug and will get fixed as soon as we can
The work is incredible and highlights a deep understanding of photography. Love it.
Try movie now, should be fixed
Absolutely love this idea. Got to agree with Mike, this is a way to get MUCH better performances from actors, by allowing them to, act. This is a perfect example of how it should be done. I for one am excited to see an animated movie from a U.S. studio other than Pixar that actually has some interesting character design.
The only downside I can see here is now you don't have/get to do all the playing around that is required to make a scene work ;D
The first full stereo conversion of a live action film, as far as I can find out, was "Lions 3D". An IMAX release. Sassoon Film Design did the work. Sassoon was also a contributor on Alice and G-Force. They have been in the conversion game since 1998.
They may have been the first to use projection mapping for stereo conversion.
Everyone has forgotten :"Polar Express". This movie proved that 3d/stereo could make more money than 2d. Express made aprrox 80% of its profit from IMAX stereo sales. This led to In-three working on Peter Jackson's "King Kong" for one year, 2005. In-three was overly confident about the conversion process. They refused to hire VFX professionals and hoped their custom software would do everything needed. Simple things like film grain were ignored until the client complained. About an hour of the ,"king Kong" was completed. DD's purchase of In-Three will finally give them a leg up to finish future projects...
Thanks Johnathan - We'd love to talk offline and include Sassoon.
- mike
I worked on the Chicken little conversion at ILM. Disney provided a host of assets, including pre-comp render layers, and we were able to automate much of the work.
I worked on G-Force 3D at SPI. Most of the show was converted in-house, with the other vendors helping out with over flow. Great experiences and great techniques were used in the conversion process!
Absolutely terrific episode - it's amazing how much can be learned just from watching someone skilled talk about their process as they toggle layers on and off. Many thanks, and more like this please!
I worked at Sassoon film back in 06 through 07, I was part of the Lions, Sea Monsters and the U23D films...all of which were 3D, you should include Sassoon Film Design in this list.
What was just as interesting as hearing about their proprietry tools was Paul's view on the lighting and rendering pipeline and his stance on "physically accurate" against artistcally controllable.
Really good questions Mike and great of Paul to share.
Look forward to more podcasts like this.
Best,
Rich
man awesome!
Thanks for the feedback -- I'd love some specifics as to your setup. We have a special email address bugs (at) fxguide.com which you can use to report these kind of things. If you email us with your browser, version, etc and we can get more information and make sure we get this fixed.
Just a quick rebuttal to Mike's comment about the bikes not doing right angle turns and the laws set up within the original film not being adhered to. I think the reason this doesn't break with continuity is that computers, more specifically games, have advanced and the limitations of the computer game circa 1982 aren't in play anymore. You compare something like Pac-Man ( and I realize it was released a few years before the film), where the gameplay happens in perpendicular lines, to something like the Call of Duty franchise, where the lines of gameplay are practically infinite, I think you can make a parallel comparison. The computer world has been evolving, shaped by Clu, since the mid-80s. Clu's directive was to make it the perfect virtual world, and so, wouldn't it be presumable that Clu would institute accurate physics within the world? Thus, the bikes now bank, they are also able to make curved lines, and even in the hand-to-hand combat the laws of gravity are utilized. They are able to manipulate the gravity, but it's still in play.
Obviously, it's really geeky to debate the inner workings of a fictitious computer, but I think the central idea behind the whole computer world is that Clu has been shaping it to be the prefect world, and that has to mean he'd implement better physics engines and more advanced AI. I can see wanting an homage to the original film, but I think they actually did than, while at the same time acknowledging that things have advanced.
Plus, it was just cool to watch.
There were a few other contractors on "Narnia" who used and are further implementing new technology for 2D to 3D Stereo conversion and are not mentioned above: http://www.cebasstation.com/index.php?pid=news_next&nid=401
I'm pretty new to commenting and found that a number of your other readers have various avatars. How I can change mine? Is it possible to put in my own one?
Wait, it's The Phantom Menace that is going to be converted first? Not A New Hope? I suppose that makes sense, but there is no way I'm going to go to a cinema to see Phantom Menace again; 3D or no. I maybe would for 'A New Hope'.
If Lucas thinks people are going to line up to see Phantom Menace in droves, they must be crazy. Sure, 3D is a draw, but not that much of a draw.
Hi guys,
Definite improvement and very welcome update.
Few issues, Your carousel isn't working well, it disappears some times and other times I cant read the text in front of the images. Also, your comment dash below each frontpage article is shifting too far to the left.
D.
You guys have been around since 1999??? Man...wish I knew that 7 years ago. lol
Nice update.
One point I will raise is that I feel the heading and article title take up too much of the available screen space and the text content "feels" dwarfed by the giant headers. To me it does not feel natural for the eye to initially rest half way down the page when reading the first line of an article's text after the page has loaded.
Regards,
-neil
With their constant articles and video and audio podcasts, these workaholics have made fxguide.com beat out even Cinefex as my favorite VFX source. Congrats Mike, John, Jeff, and everyone else from the past ten years.
Way to go, guys! Keep the awesome work up, fingers crossed! 😉
only inception
Tron is Very best movies
I assume they are doing Phantom Menace first because it has a lot more digital elements and perhaps a little easier to perform the conversion than say A New Hope or Empire's old print.
Rob,
I am 98% sure that who ever is doing the conversion is not receiving digital elements for Menace.
Fletch, exactly what I think. Very surprised to see they will release the phantom menace first... Let's see how it goes at the box office
Love it. Fresh and clean look for new decade 🙂
BTW I double what Jeremiah said, I wish I'd knew about this site some time ago. It's very unique!
The longer I work for this industry, the more irritated I feel everyday. Unstable job positions, work outsourced to overseas, long hours in sunless rooms, potential chronic health problems, little time for family and social life...; had I known that creating cg art came with this freaking package, I would have chosen med school or farming. For those who are thinking about getting into this field, understand what you are getting into; for those who are in the field, know where you will be in the next five to ten years.
I am pretty much as new to this industry as they come. A year ago the limit of my knowledge was a vague understanding of after effects and the concept of greenscreen.
Since then i have been studying vfx and hope to begin a career in it all soon enough.
And you know what i have heard more than anything in the last year. Pretty much word for word your comment. And you know what, i can't help but just think why? Why are so many people whining about the working conditions and so few people actually doing something about it? I find it particularly ironic that your post comes directly after one by Dave Rand, who is actually putting himself out there to better the whole community.
So to put it bluntly, if you don't like it, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Start talking to other people who are disgruntled with the current situation, find people who are trying to make the working situation better, start lobbying the owners of vfx companies to change their bidding systems and business models, cause clearly that don't work at moment.
Start making a constructive noise, not just a bunch of hot air.
I do apologise if this sounds quite harsh, but i sincerely believe that the only people who actually have a right to whinge about a scenario are the ones who try to change it for the better, but even then it never actually helps anything!
Trixter provided the more complex conversion work *for* Prime Focus...
http://trixter.de/work.asp?top=2&cat=16
The trailer on apple.com rocks!
Very funny and the image is superb, especially the sunset shot with the riders and the dust.
About the animation, i like keyframe anim more but i'm curious about how far and convincing this kind of technique can reach...
Una traducción excelente a un podcast complejo y útil que hace que esta compo parezca cosa de niños.
Imprescindible.
Hi Matt, seems your right if you read the article.
Prime focus opens in india, 3000 students - first timers. Now they'll get about 300us a month. 12 hours of roto'ing a day.
Now 24 fps x 2hour movie = 172800 frames / 3000 = 58 frames per person. So in one month you get the movie converted.
And Prime Focus make a boatload of money, they aint going to sell at 300us per person.
As for Nolan = rip off artist. Really? Watch "Paprika" and tell me that he didn't rip it. Actually he's not that good either "Paprika" was better ... lol. Like wise Thomas Crown affair (original) + SAW = TDK. Wonder what he'll pirate next for TDR...lol
Hi Joey
u were right, Prime Focus takes jus 1 or 2 month to convert a whole movie 2D-3D bcoz of its huge man power
They pay really less to Artists, US $150 a MONTH for 8hrs a day, 6 days a week
but its the only Production house/Studio which offers jobs to Freshers
So either sit idle at home or work for less
We don't have any other choice 🙁
Good first ep of the new year (although I much preferred the old music). RC is one of my favorite podcasts and its going to be a great year for it!
Thanks John.
So ask yourself john.. if your sitting comfortably....IS it the new music.. or CHANGE that you resist?.
Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind...
about your mother?
🙂
RC
I guess its a touch too early to get the Sandy Bridge second gen core i7 PSU. It should be said that your PSU ramps up to 2.93GHz in turbo mode, otherwise it sound like its slow.
This is a great peace... looking forward to episode #100!!
Halfway thru the 16x19 interview. Lot's of good stuff here. But that's par for this course, and certainly below par for information in the industry at large. Keep up the excellent work/fun!
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which stands today as perhaps the best stereo conversion done thus far."
Really? G-force won an award for the conversion. I for one think the conversion on G-Force was way better that Narnia. And before you get up in arms, I worked on the conversion of both movies at SPI and Prime Focus.
Hi, I think it’s a great thing to have more recognition for the people who work hard at putting in these amazing effects that we have in the movies. I don’t think having extra categories for VFX will affect the rest of the Oscars or The Best Picture category. These days high end VFX are making a significant mark on the movie industry.
People are willing to go to the theater again, because they want to enjoy the full movie going experience. 3D and really well done effects are what a lot of people are going to the movies to see. Most films were getting downloaded or rented in the last couple of years and that was affecting the box office ticket sales of all movies.
People want to enjoy the whole movie experience in 3D on an Imax screen and that is bringing people back to the theater. Please check out my VFX/SFX blog at www.boogiestudio.com
Thanks
It costs twice a Sony Vaio with almost the same features... how come?
Because of the The DreamColor display
I'm just curious over how much the written story differs from the podcast, have not had the time to listen to it yet. Is the written story more or less a direct transcript of the podcast or does podcast and text differ so I both have to read and listen to it to get all info? =)
Thanks for a great article! =)
it is not a transcript - but we cover the same ground. It is nice to hear it in Ben's own voice IMHO.
Mike
Thanks Benjamin. Some cracker chats coming very soon!
thanks for listening
jas
I am really looking forward to your findings. I went with HP for our latest Workstations and also my Notebook and I am really happy so far.
Yeah listen to the full interview if you have the time. Amazing overview here, but great to here all the little details.
Mmmmmm! Both read it and listened to it now. Pure gold. =) for others with the same q i would say listen to it first, then read it. Then you can easily skip the parts in the text that you clearly recall hearing and you can also take a few mins and see the pictures and connect that to the text and podcast.
Great work Mike and very generous of Ben to open up and give away some of his time.
ps Oh how i love the new site! =)
Congratz on 100th! Awesome work Angie, Mike, John and the whole team. Every time a new ep comes out is like christmas^5. Dunno what I would do without you guys. =)
Thanks Neo - we appreciate it - I will pass on your remarks to Angie - who is filming at the moment.
Mike
First, thank you so much Mike and Ben for the wonderful podcast and articles. I felt like having the SIGGRAPH 2010 course that I had never attended last year.
I am really excited seeing the digital lighting for VFX is heading toward more physically-based approach with HDR textured set for indirect illumination and (HDR-textured) area lights for direct illumination, from Benjamin Button, Moon, Iron Man 2, to Harry Potter 7.
One question though stuck in my head for quite some time. Ben mentioned that they apply a ND filter for HDR acquisition for the situation where concentrated light sources, like the sun, are presented to ensure the dynamic range is better preserved. I wonder how technically they mount the filter to the Sigma 8mm. I recall Debevec did the exact thing in 2004 for "The Parthenon" project, but they mounted/configured the filter inside the DSLR.
I have a sigma 8mm and a Canon APS-C sensor DSLR, but have no clue how to add a ND filter for this configuration?
Hey Jason
In regards to applying the ND to the sigma 8mm, at work we have these small square cut filters that slot into the back of the lens by the mount.
See image: http://www.bedistinct.co.uk/post/sigma_8mm_ND.jpg
Best,
Rich
Thanks a lot for the ref image, Richard.
Now I have a clearer idea of how to approach this.
Is the filter that can be cut, as the one shown in your picture, handy available on major online photography accessory providers? I also got another link about ND filter here www.leefilters.com/lighting/products/finder/ref:C46DD306FEFF67/
Best,
Jason
Again, a really great interview Mike and great to hear you guys talk about it in the podcast. Can't seem to add a comment to the podcast so will add it here.
You go through Ben's siggraph talk really thoroughly which was great because I was unable to attend. (but read hise course notes)
However I would really have liked the opportunity to put forward some questions to Ben. Obviously you could vito them if you thought they were not in keeping with the converstaion/topic but would be really great to have that opportunity to ask some in the future.
You have done it in the past where you shouted out on twitter for any questions to put to your interviewee, would be nice to see this come back 🙂 (or maybe it never went away and I just missed the tweet)
Best,
Rich
Thanks for keeping these reports coming. Can I ask why the Low Bandwidth version has been dropped? Not every story needs the resolution and they download faster of course. Especially if you're transferring a whole lot of .exr's at the same time. 😀
Congratz on the 100th episode! Fxguide is always a pleasure to watch! Also loving the toolset podcasts!! Thanks to the whole team and keep up the great work!
Unfortunately, the AMPAS Scientific And Technical Achievement Award winner, Christophe Hery, was omitted from this write-up. One can not talk about the ILM lighting/shading/rendering pipeline without mentioning his many contributions, especially to the techniques described in this article.
What's up with the red drop shadow on the the comments? Looks much better with grey.
#comments .comment.byuser {
-moz-box-shadow: 0 6px 15px #777777;
}
What? You don't like it? 😉
Basically -- a mistake on our end. A version push to the site will fix it
Sounds Fun !
Thanks for the news Jeff.
Looks like a great list of VFX films, all well done but very surprised and disappointed with the absence of Tron: Legacy (Digital Domain, and co.)
It is disappointing that they overlooked Tron: Legacy for Achievement in Visual Effects. I wonder why they did not include it...
Now the need of the hour is Stereoscopic QC (Quality Control). Even with it being made easy to do conversions, with pre-supplied elements and mattes from vfx vendors, there were some Pseudo stereo 3D shots that made it through in Narnia.
http://realvision.ae/blog/2010/12/3d-qc-quality-control-for-stereo-3d-films/
and just for the record, G-Force may have got awards, but there were glaring errors in the conversion.
http://www.slideshare.net/clydd/2dto3dconvertedmovies
Regards.
Just to follow up : I did not leave Christophe Hery out on purpose. I will try and include his enormous contribution in a future story or podcast, it is so hard in an environment like this to name everyone.
Also huge thanks to Richard for the pic of the filter. Richard - I am talking to Ben again re his Oscar Nomination today... whats the question?
thanks to everyone for the sensible and positive comments
Mike
Hey Mike,
Not sure if I am too late and you have already spoken to Ben, but my questions would be:
Why do you think it took ILM so long to get to a system with energy conserving, more physically based shaders? I know you can say ILM have been producing amazing photoreal work for years and years before this but it sounds like lighters at ILM had a pretty painful job before this having to manage many many attributes for both lights and shaders every time a light was tweaked, added, shot changed etc etc?
Were there any "off the shelf" (so to speak) renderers that you thought about using instead of your Renderman based renderer (guess Prman)? Or was it always more cost effective to have your rnd team build on your existing pipeline and create these new shaders? (I know you use Brazil and did a few shots with mental ray (saw you talk at FMX last year)
You spoke at siggraph along with others for the course Physically Based Shading Models in Film and Game Production. Did you get to hear the other talks? If so, what did you make of Adam Martinez's talk regarding Sony Imageworks physically based shading and lighting system? Was Arnold ever an option for you guys at ILM? It seems very very powerful, interactive and physically accurate.
Is it common when lighting shots for a film that the DOP will be at the studio working with the lighters to create the look for the shots? If so are you able to interactively light shots with the DOP next to you and see results in real time (or close) with the system you have in place at ILM?
I have lots more questions I would love to ask but know you cannot ask him all, if any. Maybe if I ever end up at ILM and Ben is still there I can ask him 😉
Many many thanks,
Rich
P.S.
Are you able to set up for us to get notifications on new comments made to articles we a have commented on?
this is completely messed up. Apparently Disney decided not to send out any Tron screeners to academy members.
To date, there has not been a "perfect" 2D to 3D conversion and I would hope that this discussion does not turn into some mudslinging match as to who made the worst conversion.
Clyde, I have read your comments about G-FORCE (a film on which I supervised the 3D release) and agree with some of your assertions and disagree with others. In general, I also agree with your general assessment that conversion is best when considered a tool to be used when appropriate rather than to be used to produce whole movies.
That said, there are plenty of advantages to synthesizing the 3D experience using digital techniques and I think that G-FORCE demonstrates many of those advantages. I think a good way to characterize conversion is to think of it as taking digital stereography techniques which have been explored at length in the CG feature realm and applying them to live-action.
I take exception to the use of the term "glaring errors" with respect to G-FORCE. The anomalies which are mentioned in your text that are real (you mention some that don't exist in the film) we identified during production and determined that they were not essential to either the storytelling or 3D experience of the film. They certainly did not affect the primary subject of the shots in question and most viewers would not have noticed them.
The bottom line is that this is a growing field and (almost) every film advances the state of the art and what we are capable of achieving with our tools. This is true for native photography, CG films and conversion. For those who are interested in exploring stereoscopic film making I continue to recommend finding people with experience in the field and asking their opinions. You will get as many answers as people with whom you talk but you will learn something in the process.
Rob
Hi Rob,
You are well respected in the stereo3d community (my respect included). I was addressing the previous poster who said that the conversion itself won an award.
In that context, (conversion being a technical achievement) there were errors. Glaring, I agree now in hindsight, is too harsh a word.
However top of my head (and as I keep mentioning, I do not have the luxury of a pause button, but only view and report from whats shown during final Cinema release)... that document has many of the errors listed.
Your right it was state-of-the art at that time in 2D to 3D conversion, for that I'd say it deserved an innovation award, however it's very subjective as to what comprises "essential to either the storytelling or 3D experience of the film"...
In 2D matte paintings and set extensions there are trivialities that need to be looked into, regardless of whether the entire audience spots any of these background anomalies or not.
Just to put this into further perspective, yesterday I finally saw Tron. My review...three words. Excellent, inspirational, motivating (as far as use of stereo3D is concerned).
However, I did notice *some* stereo compositing anomalies in scenes with the girl and the main character in the white house / hideaway. There were some scenes where it looks like the composites were not depth registered properly. Again, no luxury of pause button to confirm, so on this I will only speculate. (ON G_Force I could confirm many)
Again in Narnia, scenes in the cabin of the ship during the storm, entire back panels of the fireplace looked flat, did they have to be "dimensionalized"? probably not as they did not lend to the immediate story, yet they do distract.
Another big pseudo-3D shot I'd mentioned already of the boy hitting his captor with the boat paddle.
In Narnia, close-ups of people had sunken eye sockets, very un-natural, (some shots in G-force exhibit this as well) Do these detract from the story? To me they do, and slowly as audiences begin to savor 3D (after the ticket price they pay), they will become more aware.
I agree with you completely that it is the way forward to explore techniques, what I'd like to see is attention to detail, in what's being done.
Stereoscopic QC is the need of the hour. Just as Color-Grading, Film resolution, are of the highest standards, so should stereoscopic 3D (converted or native captured).
Un-intentional film grain, noise and low dynamic range in frowned upon in a movie, I'd argue that partly converted scenes should be too.
Granted, I'm a lone (but loud) voice, far away from Hollywood to make a difference... but we have to remind ourselves as 3D artists everytime we green-light an let these anomalies slip by. It some cases,(pseudo 3d shots) it can cause harm to the audiences.
Most people, even big time cinematographers can't spot these errors as they are not stereo 3D experienced. the power and responsibility to pass the shots rests with the 3D supervisors!
Best Regards.
Clyde
The VFX in Inception were incredibly impressive. It’s interesting to read about the process behind it and all the work that went into creating those stunning images. The success of this film is owed in large part to the VFX and the talented artists behind it all.
I think a big part of this success was due to the fact that the filmmakers approached a VFX studio directly to handle the film in its entirety. This allows for better cooperation between artists and a broad scale understanding of the film’s intentions, rather than parceling off the film into pieces to be assigned to different studios, which creates a disjointed artistic experience. Please read more about the VFX industry and see some of the work that is being done Boogie Studio:
http://www.boogiestudio.com/blog/
Cheers.
listening to RC81 and wondering where I can find the show notes for RC80 never mind RC81.
can I also say liked the old music better, but I can understand why you changed the music: to emphasis the change
oops and a much belated happy birthday!
As always, great show. Now for some comments :^)
1. Congratulation on the new name for your webcast. (You didn't consult with me but I think a better name would have been Digital Cinema Acquisition - DCA. RC sound a bit like soda-pop.) Apparently the old RSS feed is no longer being maintained so I subscribed to the new one. I see that you plan to add the show notes back into the new RSS feed. That will be nice. I used your link to get them direct. Thanks.
2. I look forward to hearing how the new Sony HDMI LCD monitor stacks up against the others with similar specs. I've seen Jason's coverage of the SmallHD DP6. I'd have bought one right off but they don't have a battery solution that works for me. (I don't want any new proprietary battery solutions in my kit. I'd take Sony NP or just the simple double A.)
3. What do you guys think about what Walter Murch has to say about 3D? (In the minuscule chance you haven't heard, here's a link: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/01/post_4.html)
4. I do enjoy your discussion of the technical issues in 3D production from a purely intellectual point of view. I don't intend to be a Hollywood pro. I just want to do my own productions. At my level right now, which is no-budget shorts, I can't imagine ever trying to shoot stereo.
5. I'd love to find a web site and webcasts that cover directing side of film making. I really like http://2reelguys.com but they only do one webcast a month. Have you got any suggestions?
Peace,
Rob:-]
Thanks for the opportunity!
Tweeting @teekay421
Actually I dont think - of all the reasons one could look to - as to why Tron was not nominated... lack of Disney promoting the film would be one !
We have already had some great entries - but I would encourage you to enter ... think of it from an odds point of view - compare your odds here with Vegas.. at fxguide the house will never win !
nice ..
I'm not interested in the PC vs. Mac wars, either, so I was glad you stated that right off the bat. The HP EliteBook sounds like a solid machine. I don't have to tell you how important that is for someone who not only travels around the world but also her neighborhood.
Fantastic work! Some of the best seamless vfx I've seen this year.
Look Reel: http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/watch-stunning-visual-fx-featurette-for-aronofskys-black-swan/
Sound fun! Gonna try it! 🙂
I've tried Googling for it and come up blank - does anyone know the approximate DR for VistaVision stocks? I'm shocked that it could exceed the ~25stop DR which should come from a 7-shot bracket out of a 1Ds. TIA!
Love the the 8k_ish res!
Darn the links don't work
Fixed the links/movies, thanks for the heads up
Beautiful work. Would love to know the timeline for the project.
Great! Is there a link/s to watch the commercials or shorts that won? (the actual short/commercial I mean)
I am an MBA student at University of Chicago Booth School of Business. We are working on creating a business plan for a new company offering 2D to 3D conversion, and have some questions.
Rob Engle or Clyde, would you be able to spare a little time (may be 20-30 mins) for a conversation?
If that is hard, I'll greatly appreciate it if you can provide an email where I can send some questions.
Thanks
Madhav
This podcast isn't showing up in iTunes 🙁
07/02/11
M.Gondry = Guarantee.!
Fantastic !
This is a such a great story and so important to hear and learn the history of animation, unions, and the parallels to our life and times now. Although the book was not on itunes, It was easy to get the free kindle ap for my ipod and download the book instantly with Amazon.
WOW !! Congratz for your 100th fxguide TV guys . it's been always great times with you, congratz for you Angie, Mike,John and Jeff--you such as THE PROFESSORS to me. What you done it help me a lot. OK..have a great moments and enjoy your 100th anniversary.
-kito
you guys always fresh my eyes --thanks for this great topic--Angie,John,Jeff and Mike. Have a nice day --keep up a good work,guys.
- kito
Speaking of history - twitter user @nkdfry mentioned that fxguidetv #49 features a great interview from 2008 with Harrison Ellenshaw. In this episode he discusses how the Visual Effects industry moved to bidding by shot and a lot of other great stuff related to the business of vfx.
http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv_049/
Great webcast, as always. The new web layout is pretty too. Did you see the videos about the guys getting Epic-M #8? Made me drool a bit. It shows the Red mat box as well.
Unboxing:
http://vimeo.com/19616510
Assembling (more interesting):
http://vimeo.com/19626214
Shooting in the field:
http://vimeo.com/19651689
The V-LCD70XP-HDMIPT is listed on the Marshall site at $1199USD. I've seen Jason's review of the SmallHD DP6 so I'd like to hear a comparison of DP6 and this Marshall monitor. I still think I may buy the DP6 but their lack of battery options has held me back. I don't want yet another proprietary battery system. If they just had a double-A holder ...
Anyway, here's a start at a comparison based on the specs.
------------------ LCD70X -------- DP6 ------
Price (USD): $1200 $900
Screen Size: 7" 5.6"
Resolution: 800x480 1280x800
Power Options: many few
HDMI Loop-through: yes no (splitter)
HDSLR auto-size: yes yes
Cheers,
Rob:-]
Last i looked the DP6 has Sony, Canon or panasonic battery plates as well as DTap cable & their own system which works very well now
Thanks for the kind words and great interview Jeff. You draw a poignant parallel between the needs of the animation artists that formed the Screen Cartoonists Guild (later to become Local 839) and the visual effects artists of today. As you mentioned in your interview, the reasons for and arguments against organization and collective action haven't changed. It appears history certainly does repeat itself.
Here's to the struggle!
Steve Kaplan
Labor Organizer
The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE
[email protected]
RC 82 Great podcast
If that was the long answer for what is the base ISO for the 5D, what is the short answer?
If you are interested in getting the Union rolling at YOUR VFX company, it's really easy to get the process started. The Guild has been representing CG artists since the late 1990′s. Ask the Lighters, Compers, Modelers, Texturers, and Animators of Disney, DWA, Sony Animation, and Nick to name a few.
http://animationguild.org/organizing/
Just sign and send in one of these cards. It takes a whole 30 seconds to fill out. It’s totally anonymous and the ONLY way that the union can start to make inroads at YOUR particular VFX company.
http://animationguild.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/RepresentationCard.pdf
Mail it to this address, or stop in and say hi, we are in North Hollywood/Burbank on Hollywood Way. 10 minutes from Hollywood.
The Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE
1105 N. Hollywood Way
Burbank, CA 91505
The benefits are great, and YOU deserve to have them too!
C
there is no one iso due to the hardware - built in gain adjustment... this is upstream of the RAW encode.
Mike
I thought the head replacement was much more successful when there was an actual set involved(the bar sequence and when Clu breaks into old Flynn's 2001 house). Perhaps having real-world lighting and values to match to made a difference? Does anyone know if the technique was different in some way on those shots?
no the vistavision stocks in NO way match the DR of a 25 stop HDR from stills - but Ben's point is that you can get some mid DR and this was hoped might be a move in the right direction.
Thanks John for writing this article. I have been looking at the desktop unit and reading users thought about both of these monitors.
Lol nothing happen ? i send my email already! I'm not lucky I guess
The multiple HDR part was interesting! I was thinking about exactly the same thing last year, that is, making simple geometry of the environment, and mapping HDRs on it so I could have a light system based on IBL.
However, I did not go any further than just the thought. I did tons of research and it struck me that I didn't find any information about it. It's sad.
I do hope that instead of just letting Furnace die, they let someone else, (Genarts?) pick them up, as they are invaluable in Flame, particularly for film work.
Bummer, makes sense from a Nuke point of view thow.
I'm quite sure that Furnace will still be there as OFX, but will Autodesk ever suport OFX plugins??
does the video link is tight??
all i see is white and no sound ..
i m not sure if it only happening to me
sorry i mean "right" wrong letter ^^
Same here - Firefox (win xp64)
Hi guys,
the download link is broken 🙂
cheers
Thanks for the report. The download link is fixed now...
When the price is 5 times the previous promo it's not surprising that volume is low.
Hello,
when I try to listen it or download it I get:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /vfxshow/The_VFX_Show_110-_The_Social_Network.mp3 on this server.
But other podcasts are ok.
It works now, in case you changed something, thank you.
Anyway, thank you for fxguide, really really good site 🙂
Can't download the 4k files
Nicolas,
Thanks for letting us know about this. We did find the problem and fixed it earlier today. Sorry it took so long to let you know about the fix. Enjoy!
Todd Scholton
Producer for the vfx show
news?
I read the Drawing the Line book, and it's a great companion book to any one readng the history of visual effect/animation.
Autodesk Composite Supports OFX. I find it hard to believe that they would not support it in Flame.
should be fully fixed now, sorry
mike
Also, on a similar note, what about Keylight?
Very nice work! You can also read a cool case study about how LOOK used mocha for some difficult tracking challenges:
http://www.imagineersystems.com/case-studies-folder/look-fx-visual-effects-on-black-swan/
a far as 3rd party plugin Keyers, its all about Primatte.
Is that a matte line above the girl's hair in the 3rd picture?
cant downlaod :@ said, Log in to view
Do you mean the audio download link or the pdf? The pdf is only available to fxinsider members who have contributed to the site
[...] To see some of the of the tools in action, you checkout the following FXguidetv segment here. [...]
Any update on who the lucky winner was?
Fantastic show guys. I very much find myself agreeing with Mike on a lot of points. Like the face replacement on Tron and how surprising it is that Harry Potter hasn't won a VFX Oscar yet. This year should be the year!
Before we go into the more intricate phases of our program let's touch first upon a more simple solution ?for obtaining your maximum height ? posture correction. Many people rob themselves of extra height because they fail to realize that a good posture is essential for maximum height increase. Correct posture involves more than just standing straight and erect. You must train each part of your body to maintain its proper position. You must learn how to hold your head, your pelvis, your legs, sit correctly, walk correctly, plus numerous other do's and don'ts to assure you of achieving every possible inch of height.
The pelvis acts as a lever and directly influences our posture and stature. When the pelvis is carried too far forward, the condition is termed a “Milted Pelvis”. This condition directly robs you of extra height and is generally the result of a person with lack of stomach muscles and who usually has a large stomach. (We've designed several exercises included in chapters 5 and 6 to strengthen stomach muscles and remedy this condition). Persons with weak knee Joints often have this condition which is also remedied by exercises.
Vitamins are organic substances necessary for life and essential for growth. To receive the proper vitamin intake, a well-balanced diet is recommended. However, supplements may be taken where needed but not as a substitute for food. Supplements should be taken after each square meal, or once after the largest meal for proper absorption.
This in itself is positive proof that additional growth in the human body is possible after adulthood has been reached. There is a multitude of additional medical testimony (which space does not permit) that substantiates the promise of added height at ages well into the 50's. In fact most scientist's today agree that it is very possible to increase your height as much as 4 or 5 inches until you reach ages between 50 and 55 years. old. According to some anthropologists, men and women at 40 years of age are continuing to grow well into their 50's and sometimes until 60 years of age. Of course the amount of actual height gained depends on several factors such as bone structure, physical condition, posture, diet, environment, etc.
you who have poor eating habits and are not getting the proper amounts of vitamins and other nutrients which are essential to the development and growth of the human body.
Though most of these requirements can be met by adhering to a well-balanced diet, we have listed for you in this chapter some important information about nutrition you need to know for the purpose of obtaining extra inches.
First let's understand that there are 6 important nutrients needed for growth and good health and though all play a vital role in a well-balanced diet, let us focus most of our attention on 3 (marked with asterisk) for our main purposes of promoting growth.
1. Vitamins*
2. Carbohydrates
3. Fats
4. Minerals*
5. Proteins*
6. Water
And, just as interesting, how did his setup look 😉
lol, that picture you've used of Chris Nolan makes him look about seventy.
Sooo many congratulations for the Oscar.
Jorn
Norway
what about in Linux with Flare? Would you just use the puck and Lustre Color?
We'll see with flare. But basically you'd calibrate the monitor to spec and go from there, yeah. The monitor wouldn't change when booting into Linux I don't think.
But I'll find out....
Congratulation ..really nice work .. Keep the good work
Really nice work ...
And the One man Army was me 🙂 ... The entire army in the image :
http://www.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/08Feb/hun/aetius_army.jpg
is me walking again and again ...Thanks for Gareth Edwards who made me look like that different .. 🙂
Congratulation for Double Negative and their 3 movies nomination .. and again congratulation for their win for their work in Inception ...Well deserve ...
Hi Mike,
well that camera looks really professional, don't want to ask for prices. Congratulations
JC
Sent my entry yesterday, hope I win.. I have lusted for it since I saw it on the bckd fundamentals class on fxphd 🙂
Mike, you look taller. Maybe it is the weight difference from R1 to Epic. Congratulations! Can't wait to see the material.
I'm very excited about STORM, but I'm PC-based. Is there any information on when STORM will be for Windows as well?
*available
You should photoshop a hat on the second photo.
Congratulations!
A geekish question in this geekish post: Does it (or should i say she) have a serial nr?
Hola, intento entrar en la página de cursos que indicais en español y no me permite el acceso, me podeis mandar el link, Gracias.
I can't download the show notes threw itunes.
Tnx for yet another excellent podcast. But, just as Mason, i to have trouble downloading the shownotes threw itunes.
This release is just full of goodness. Thanks guys, for a great preview, and thanks to Philippe and the Montreal team
for giving us tools that allow us to focus easier on the aesthetics, and not get stuck in the technical weeds..
Hi John,
Nice article.
I have this dreamcolor notebook. I have found the factory srgb mode clips white levels (the www.lagom.nl website, white saturation level test is a useful check), could you please check out whether after your recalibration with the profiling solution, the srgb displays black levels and white levels properly( all the square patches of the black level and white saturation tests should be visible ideally)
If the HP profiler does a better job than the factory calibration i would be keen to buy it.
Thanks in advance
I love the intro music.
: : : . : . : : . Great!!!
Is very simple / I like this pipeline / is very important to reduce work Time.
Hi John,
did I understand correctly that with a calibrated monitor (and sRGB profile for web video work) I would deactivate color management in After Effects?
Regards,
Andreas
Any chance you'll be bringing the Epic to Siggraph? 😉
I have admired this shot for a while, and thought it was all cg, interesting to hear that practical can solve problems especially in stereo
MPC has posted a great making of video for this spot here: http://vimeo.com/20782351
my god~ -..-;;; I don't know the all menu about 2011 ...
I really want to go and see this movie! it looks fantastic!
"Lagoa Multiphysics" Key feature on Softimage 2012? Wasn t that already included in 2011.5?
Yeah it is not a kiddy film - but my pre-teen kids loved it
Mike
I would love to know where the rain scenes were shot - if those scenes with the canyon flooded were in a studio. Must have been...
awesome guys, can't wait for the next fxphd term and the next RC podcast.
Is there a way of getting the show notes without going through itunes?
here you go: http://media.fxguide.com/the_rc/the_rc-084-notes.pdf I added above as well and we will try to add them in the future (and are working to automate that process).
Seriously extensive coverage of this incredible release. Thanks guys!
Thank you so much for covering this! Loved every bit of it. I have been dreaming since I have been interested in film that someone would make a great feature that is a bit dirty and not full of fluffy animals. Love to see someone actually taking a better look at the process and doing what they think is right. I almost jumped for joy when I saw all the actors actually acting out these scenes on a makeshift set. I have been doing this for quite a few years with crappy cameras and props, and the reference you get is invaluable. As much as I am impressed by the motion-capture technical aspects, this is FAR more interesting to me for many reasons.
I would love to know some of the more technical details of the Rendering process on this sucker. RenderMan? Does ILM have their own render engine?
People complain that good films aren't being made any more... Get the, outta here.
Thanks again Mike for the great questions and the rest of the fxguide team!
Haha, just had to also commend you Mike on your Clint Eastwood question! I was thinking the exact same thing! I knew it wasn't Clint as I have watched those Sergio Leone gems over and over. Mr. Olyphant did a great job I think to play the still young version of Clint in that setting. When Rango was going back into town with the Man with No Name look I was nearly cheering at the screen 🙂
So many perfect yet subtle little references in this thing, can't wait to see it again.
I saw the film last night, I was absolutely shocked at how amazing their work was, really stunning indeed. From the animation to the lighting, fx and feel of the film I was won over instantly. The characters were great, the shots, sounds and music...I really hope the teams behind this make another one at some point!
Superb film.
Some great photos from the evening can be seen at The Foundry's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=100000831155768&aid=35252
Loved this, still a visionary. Agree totally about the vision for a more efficient cinema, a true master, a true gentleman.
Great interview, great artist! But if I do think that higher dynamic range and higher resolution will be (are?) game changers in the industry, I also do think that the imersiveness of a movie is more about the way it is shot.
Lets take a movie like Gaspar Noë's Enter the void, for example... It's shot super 16, in a way no movie was shot before (the POV of a floating soul), but at the end, it moves your guts more than most of "expo kind of film" shot in 70mm that I've seen.
Well, I do think that emotion is the main aspect that drives imersiveness, if that makes sense.
Anyway, appreciate a lot to be able to listen such an interesting person. Thanks to FXguide.
That is the coolest thing I've ever seen. I'd love to play for a day in that. Insane SSD storage!
I can't wait the day I get my hands on this camera.
bit hard to tell from the youtube video, but when you transition from one track to the other are you getting a different shutter speed? can you notice a change in the motion blur?
Very impressive, but not sure about the compression on youtube. Is it just me or do the clouds reflected in the wind shield look strangely wavy?. Could be an illusion, just my attention was drawn to it.
After a few more viewings I think it's because the car is bouncing, the camera is locked to the car so, the suspension smooths & retimes the bounce, plus the reflection is very distant so has a different timed bounce. Or am I talking bollocks & it is the compression? 😀
The clouds are just what the clouds are... they are not added or fake. The car is fixed relative to the camera and the distance reflected clouds just did what they did.
Thanks Mike,
You got in there before I replied, cool.
Wow! It just looks so natural.
Beautiful - very very exciting!
In the spirit of being a smartarsey nit-picker - are we getting slightly strange motion-estimation artefacts around the edge of frame? Features entering frame where the optical flow doesn't have enough info to construct the motion blurred features perfectly? I'm assuming that (and, yes, I have been talking to Hugh Macdonald about this) that the combination of the 2 exposures involves some kind of optical flow business to get the motion blur between the two exposures lined up?
Anyway - fantastic, and, as a vfx guy, I want to work with some of this material asap!
The current implementation of HDRx does not use motion estimation/optical flow.
Anyone know what movie poster is behind him in this interview?
Great interview......
Hi mediumvfx, it's actually the Adelaide Film Festival promo poster behind Douglas.
The C.Group are in everything from weapons to oil to banking, finance, guess they're gunning for the whole pie . .
excellent test - this cameras going to be great matched with my Cooke primes.
cool
This was a kick ass movie, I watched it at IMAX in Brisbane Southbank and have to say the visual and audio was great. You really have to watch this at a big cinema to enjoy it. The plot was OK, but when the ride is this intense you tend to forget about the plot 🙂
Really like this movie and told a lot of peeps about it. To me, it's what District 9 should have been (imo).
working the post along-side the shooting in virtual real-time! all the truck's missing is some bunk-beds! if you can get the workflow on point and pick up the tab for this bitch's rental it would cut months off post-flow . .
This is amazing work. I love the organic and natural look.
Dont that alien look a lot like...Madonna ?
b
Great interview Mike.
thanks - It was really enjoyable - I admire Rob's work so much
inspiring and very informative, thanks so much Mike.
So glad you guys liked it!
Really intense movie and awesome vfx work!
An extended version of the visual effects reel mentioned above, including both finals shots and making off footage for all shots from this article (incl the tattoo shot and then digital wings), can be found here:
http://www.filmtotaal.nl/artikel.php?id=20593
or here:
http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/blackswan-visualeffects-reel.mp4
This is so awesome Mike and the small fee for fxinsider feels a bit too low when you give us awesomeness like this. =)
One small technical side note though. If possible, it would be nice if the download link was directly to the file or that it redirected to it for easier out-of-browser download.
Cheers and thanks again!
/Henrik
We'll do that -- we're concentrating on stability but it's in the works. Basicallyl the link will force a download by default (as opposed to opening a new window).
I'm having trouble downloading this. I really enjoyed the fxguidetv ep and I'm keen to see this too!
Can you help?
(Hi Henrik!)
Jamie
Hey Jamie -- send an email to [email protected] and we'll help you out!
Great article Jeff! This is a pretty exciting foray into really integrated virtual production, and mobile no less!
Got it on my Mac at work and threw it on my Android.
Excellent, thanks
Mike, I really appreciate it every time [during an interview] when you insist someone give the "long version" answer like you did here. Great stuff. I love hearing all the technical tidbits.
One little comment though, possibly because of the grade or exposure? But definitely systemic of the compression is a horrific muddy-ness in the flesh-tone highlights on Rob's Nose and forehead. I know it's minor, only mention this because 1, it oddly grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. And 2, because, well, you're the fxguide folks who's careers it seems are to nitpick. 😀 Thanks for such great content.
awesome article. loved the movie and I'm glad you guys got the interview so I could get a little behind the scenes magic 🙂
Don't forget that Narnia's Dawn Treader is releasing April 8th on Blu Ray DVD! Help spread the word. Tweet this reminder to all of your friends with #narniavoyage to support!
yeah we could have done better on the lighting but it was a tiny crew of 2 - including me and I was no use during filming !!!.. still we will try and do better....
mike
great synopsis,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
EPIC is epic but Angie is spectacular! 🙂
Great video guys!
sexy...
thanks Ian, whut a great article
can't wait to see the movie, another great article from fxguide team. Thanks guys. you're awsome
Neat.
Excellent, looking forwards to seeing PfT 2011 here and using it in your class !
Wow! This is for sure the future. Probably not for everyone but to some extent it's probably usable for most of us in this field. Good article!
Awesome article! I wish I could see the movie with the greenscreen-suited person still in the shot haha
Great interview..
thank you very much mike
Wow, great coverage as always.You gotta love the shots of the back of red ray that require multiple shots to actually keep different ports in focus 😀
Are those stand alone mini media readers in front of the Red Stations?
Lo and Behold! Mr. Trumbull is foraging on with his plans at high FPS and stereo filming! Any plans to revisit the interview and give him the chance to update
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2001-vfx-wizard-douglas-trumbull-176813
Loved the "Top Gear" format of the show. You should do all your hardware reviews like that one. Of course the kick ass camerawork on the gyro was awesome. I am so envious. I have already watched that numerous times.
Yes theyre new smaller versions of the SSD readers, one is USB3 and one is eSata
jas
Ha pasado mucho tiempo de este gran anuncio y nada... Vamos a poder acceder a los cursos en español?
Mr. X has now posted a great making of reel of its work for Hanna on its site: http://www.mrxfx.com/reels
Great questions for Ted.. Glad to hear that Scarlet is "really close". I'll take that it means this year. Hopefully will see Ted running around with one of those at this year's IBC rather than the EPIC.
Terrific guys! Thanks.
Can't wait to try out the new AE warp stabilizer.
Great article! well explained!! PFTrack is proven as a great 3D tracker!! Where can I download this one?
Great chat guys. I would love to see ILM sit down and do EVERYTHING from scratch. They worked with a great director on this one, but there is such a huge amount of talent.
I loved this movie. I loved to spaghetti western vibe, but really looking back, would love to see something like this in a different context where it is not a gang of talking animals solving problems, but a story focusing on a great character like Rango.
I am still dreaming of an animated detective story and would love to see ILM doing something like this after watching Rango.
In regards to the animation reference thing. I absolutely would prefer the Rango style shooting with the actors as a group, this is something I have done for reference for a long time on much smaller scale. You don't have to be capturing all the audio on that "set". I find myself cutting up video reference just like Pixar cuts up and re-edits audio and sometimes completely doing things from scratch. Even if you are not directly using the reference as what is necessary for a shot, by shooting it and reviewing it you learn more and when great actors are involved the games changes entirely.
Having animators work directly with actors is absolutely the right path.
you were discussing 801.11 as vector for video on red. There are several competing technologies above 300Mbits some that are specifically designed for shipping video data. Not certain what our hosts (for those of us who couldn't be at NAB) at the post pit were using (by the way have you released the long version of the NAB broadcast on insider? A s we lost it half ways through). Back to the point there is a good discussion about the various technologies here
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/beyond-80211n-gigabit-wi-fi/177#
the other option is the use of 4G type technologies using agile software radio technology, a good place to look at the chip fab industry is here https://scsong.wordpress.com/
The Post Pit stream is available: http://livestre.am/HRmw
It was done using by our friends at Teradek using their technology: teradek.com
Congratz Chris!
Will all sent in entries be put up on the page eventually? I'm curious to see what crazy things people are up to out there. =)
Hey guys..... my friends and I have loved and discussed this movie for years. We've settled on the idea that the 2000 year jump is really just the trapped robot boys dream. Its a wishful construct that is alluded to over the entire film. The opening scene lays out the desire to create a boy that can dream, Mecha's taking over are exactly what gigolo Joe says will happen "They hate us, but when they're gone we're all that will be left" etc...
Food for thought Mike.... Great podcast.
-Following the dream train of thought... You could say the blue fairy seemed to be plastic-like because she's a creation of the boys dream from things he has experienced in his journey. She is an amalgam of the look of Dr. No and the look of the statue.
Thanks a lot guys! Going to upgrade now!
An interesting interaction with WebGL indeed, however, it's not available in IE 9 due to potential dangers to users data and security. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is advising IT administrators to disable WebGL altogether in order to mitigate potential attacks.
Based on how simplistic the RO.ME 3D representation is, it's also clear that WebGL will have hard time competing against Flash in the 3D realm, especially with Flash's powerful Molehill API.
Great interview (any time you want to talk lenses, you can take as long as you want) and the footage was, ahem, primo! I would really love to see a simple (real world) shoot out with the Ziess CP.2 and Panchro. It's all well and good to have the best, but can the audience see the difference by the time it's a DVD or web video? Would Jason prefer a set of Panchros on his round the world odyssey (& a PL 5DmkII)? Perhaps you could discuss these issues on RC.
I really enjoyed this episode - I'd been keen to hear more about Jason's shoot when he's able to talk freely. I would love to hear more about Jason's lens choices, and how much the glass effects the final output from post - can we see it on a DVD or as a webvideo? Thanks for squeezing out another episode when you are all so busy. It's appreciated.
Great point - we'll discuss lens choices as a special RC next time.
As a junior VFX artist I am grateful that the seniors in our industry are working to solve difficult issues such as this and making a better future for everyone in the industry.
Thank you
I will be keeping a keen eye on the progress.
sincerely
John
^^Android version welcome
I like the idea of this site: http://vfxwages.com
If everyone added their own info, it could be a very valuable tool.
Great podcast. Chris's motion blur tip/expression is one of those slap forehead moments, well done.
FYI both the links (listen and download) are incorrect, they both point to RC#89.
I copied the link and changed the 89 to a 90 and got the correct file 🙂
Yes that should be fixed now - sorry for the inconvenience - my bad
- Mike.
Tippett Studio's design for the creatures is a damn scary departure from the conventional! Congratulations and thanks!
Great one guys, answered a bunch of questions...the clincher for me was Jason's comment (and Mike's post on reduser) that Red will/does have an active EF mount - makes all those weather resistant / autofocus / wonderful L lenses suddenly look like a reasonable investment for the future - which is funny, because I currently shoot with a 7D and the mechanical Zeiss lenses are more use to me than my L. Thanks again for going over the topic in detail.
Great article, great show.
I love the look and feel, the perspective play, the music... really a beautiful piece.
The Art of Title website has an extensive article on it as well, with some beautiful concept drawings and wips.
You can find it here. http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/05/12/game-of-thrones/
(If cross-posting isn't allowed, feel free to remove comment.)
John
Has anyone gotten the 8740W with Dreamcolor with Nvidia to work under Linux?
As soon as the Nvidia driver loads (of of them) the display goes dark
External display works fine but there is no sign of the system seeing the Dreamcolor panel
any clues?
Thanks
Can't get this model with Dreamcolor display to work under Linux. Display panel goes dark as soon as the NVidia driver loads. External display works fine
awesome article. thanks for the detailed information. Xmen 1st class was probably the best of the entire franchise. kudos to all the hard working fx peeps!
Dont you look at this list and wonder just a bit why Tim Alexander , Rob Bredow, Tim Burke, Paul Franklin etc arent already in the academy? Dont get me wrong- Major congrats - but wow I kind of assumed a lot of these guys were already members ? They so deserve it 🙂 Congrats to all.
Great episode! One thing I disagree with however is your recommendation of always leaving HTP on. Unless I am mistaken, using HTP effectively raises the noise floor, unless you are shooting at a very high ISO(1600 or more). I would suggest instead that by default you leave it 'OFF' and reserve its use only for when you would benefit from it (well lit, high contrast scenes such as sunny exteriors with lots of important highlite detail). Most interior shots I find I am shooting at 320-640 ISO, and using HTP has no effect on already blown out highlites such as light fixtures but does have a detrimental effect on noise levels.
I would like to know if all the research and prep done for each episode --that is compiled for the reviewers --will be available publicly or to insiders?
thanks for another great podcast.
Tom
Very interesting podcast. All your conversations wth Ben Snow are really great and let us understand not only ILM's workflow but the more advanced vfx techniques as well.
A nice simple article that gets the point across. It was interesting to see a few things in there that weren't in the film, at least not in the same form. I wonder how much of that was developed further than previs before it was changed?
Also, was it just me or did the athletic lady doing the Mocap look like she was wearing a Tron outfit? 🙂
Hi there,
I couldn't really wait to hear your comments on the FCP-X disaster....thanks for your thoughts.
I heard already some nice interviews on Creative Cow and read some good articles.
For a next episode I would love to hear something about:
- Storm vs. FCP-X.
- And I was missing how FXGuide/FXPHD is reacting to FCP-X, because I think a lot of your production is based on FCP 7, doesn't it?
- I think FCP-X can be great and I also wonder why it isn't that ready yet, but what are the alternatives right now?
Although this might be on a different podcast than RC...
Thanks and greets, keep up the great work with RC.
Daniel
John and Mike touch on points two and three in the latest FXPHD podcast if you have access to that:)
bunch of elitists 😀
have you seen ron brickman of shake talking to osnews about this
http://www.osnews.com/story/24904/Former_Shake_Product_Designer_Apple_Not_Interested_in_Pro_Market
Thanks for this very interesting article.
Maybe that's personnal but I feel there is far far too much super-hero movies. The vfx are great in these movies of course but all these movies look-alike and most of the time they are very poor in terms of story-telling. Does every Marvel comic book needs to be put on the screen ? There are many many more stories to tell than the ones about a guy feeling he needs to wear a weird suit to save the world. Again I'm not questionning the vfx which are truly amazing.
Wow, this looks great. I would love to see some actual footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0gm7dHKKc
Great episode! Haven't seen it but will. Stu Maschwitz on 'making it look real' vs 'making it look good'
http://prolost.com/blog/2008/12/17/bring-the-sex-aka-preorder-adobe-after-effects-cs4-visual-ef.html
Important to keep in mind for all VFX artists.
Very disappointing show. You gave this one a too easy pass based solely on nostagia.
I know you've taken plenty of other films to task about things other than vfx. I was expecting a brilliant dissection and maybe discussing the terrible script. Sadly you focused on 3 set pieces and it became "the greatest Spielberg film he never directed". Really?
From the outset with the train wreck. A contest between a speeding train and a speeding pick up truck is no contest. here's the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRlwZRcxfpM
The air force putting the alien on a train? a train whose only cargo apparently is aliens and explosives. the airforce arriving minutes after the crash on trucks? then finding a clue of a super8film box which leads... nowhere? sheesh!
Sorry for being a hater on your podcast but, as with this film, i was just expecting more.
Your money cheerfully refunded
Would it be a idea to make .torrent files out of fxguide episodes. Almost every time I try download the new episodes I get pretty slow speeds, around 100-120 kB/sec. Then you would also relieve your webserver a little bit... just a thought
Always looking forward to new episodes of fxguidetv, you deliver top quality stuff!
Wow, that is actually really cool. Mike, you seemed to lose interest for a little bit around 2 minutes, and some miscommunication is to be expected. But really enjoyed hearing about this.
Should be nice FXGuide Episode about how to produce FXGuide Episode.
Great mike, peter was realy inspired me ..
Great one Mike. But unless I missed it you never asked Joshua about the gaps at top and bottom of the histogram at around 10.00 in the episode.
Cheers
Finally got round to watching this episode and wow. Thought this was really well put together and loved the way you guys described everything with live examples effecting the look of the episode.
We are finally getting into shooting and working with moving imagery at the studio and this was an extremely useful overview of how to shoot for vfx with the dslr cameras.
Many thanks,
Richard
I did not lose interest... I may however have been VERY jetlagged having just flown in 12 hours previous - and i may have been trying to think of my next question - but FAR from lose interest....
fantastic! its so worth being part of fxinsider with these bonus material. Thank you.
Thanks boys. Itis kinda crazy the lengths they went through comping the actors in with the digital suits. Alien characters and spacescapes look great.
Based on the post on the RedUser.net boards as reported in the RC podcast notes, I updated my unofficial RED EPIC price spreadsheet. Please check it over and make any corrections if needed. Putting a one (1) in cell B2 gives you the 2012 prices. Leaving it blank or putting in a zero (0) will give you the 2011 prices.
Here's the link:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Arg-qQAxgmb6dHo4dFhzMDhQc1VPYnRZNWpkenZEUnc&hl=en_US&authkey=CKGyotsM#gid=0
Using this spreadsheet I did a comparison of the EPIC-M package price with similar accessories but with the EPIC-X brain.
PRICE DIFFERENCE
$46,000.00 - $12,000.00 -- EPIC-X Package equivalent to EPIC-M before 1/1/2012
$54,350.00 - $3,650.00 --- EPIC-X Package equivalent to EPIC-M after 12/31/2011
$58,000.00 --------------- EPIC-M Package Price
Oh, and Mike, I agree with you on the confusion with the various Red Giant versions and packages. But I do have the same problem with Adobe and Autodesk products as well. For example, if I have Photoshop do I need Lightroom? What does Lightroom do that Photoshop doesn't?
Nice work Richard, (and Keith, etc.) it made me nostalgic for that part of my career for a few moments. Nice to see the good work continues! Congrats! -caleb
Excellent Interview! hats off to the brilliant job done on the movie....you are very talented Pierre.
Thanks robert. prices are going to go up a bit, but theres a while to go to get those orders in. This is going to do is create a huge rush for accessories for people already with M's of for those stocking up for their X before its released.
Took RED a little too long to tell those who'd ordered an X to know what would be in the kits.
love the transformers 3 coverage on fxguide! could've done with a couple mentions of ILM Singapore's work for my taste 😉
Hey guys, I was the sequence supervisor on the building collapse sequence at ILM and I just wanted to say it was great to hear your review of our work. It WAS an extremely difficult sequence to work on. We only had a small number of TD's who could work on it since it required such an enormous amount of resources to manage Some of those shots used up to 48 Gigs of memory and took 45 minutes just to load the scenes. Each shot was rendered in (for the most part) a single pass in Mental Ray with full raytracing (there's a LOT of glass in there :). We took great advantage of the multi channel EXR format to output mattes for almost everything you could imagine. It was a real team effort to get this one done and everyone at ILM went "above and beyond" to help make it happen.
Thanks for the shoutout to @Iloura_VFX Mike!
http://www.iloura.com/film.php
Video clip doesn't seem to be fully uploaded for viewing
I wonder if they also corrected their scaling factor handling. So far, scaling anything by a factor of 1.0 resulted in effectively doubling the size. Does anyone know more about this?
Great vfxshow, thanks guys. Great film too. But didn't anyone notice the aweful S3D roto around Neville in his last scene? Near his face, along a really loose roto, the crowd behind him were in the same Z-plane as his face. I thought it really stood out.
Apart from that it was a superb movie.
What a gem of an interview. I'm going to listen to this over and over again, there's so much to take in. Thanks guys!
Keep an eye out - this is also the first in a series talking to the world's greatest colorists... we have some more great podcasts like this lined up
Mike
Great idea Mike...Can't wait...Thank you !
Having seen the heavily manipulated and monochromatic look of the movie, aren't these photos pre- color grading? They look naturally colored. There's not a moment in the last 3 or 4 Harry Potter movies that has natural colors and without an overlaid type of painterly glowing softness.
Thanks for the update guys. GPU AO is very exciting indeed. Come IBC, I'd love to see more examples of that AO in operation and some final renders. I'd also like to see more on the HDRx implementation Philippe was talking about. Kudos to Autodesk for really stepping it up the past few releases...keep it coming!
2012 has game changing features for both Flame and Smac. Unfortunately Smac is full of serious bugs.
Fix the MK paint tool so you can paint a front with a matte without it crashing after frame 1- It worked prior to SP2!
Fix the desktop paint tool. I'm so tired of painting out a rig and having to throw away my work because the paint tool has burnt black shit all over the footage.
Fix the compatibility issues between Smac and Flame. Having a Smac connect to a frame store only to bring a Flame down is unacceptable. No wonder no one actually wants to pay for it.
Thanks for the update, all this looks great!
Absolutely agree, some bugs are never fixed, we get new ones,
but we also get tons of new features. Great, just make them worth using.
Highly advertised denoise is a joke comparing to some cheap algorithms
available. 3D tracking is so much worse than Syntheyes, boujou
or PFtrack, it's not even funny. The list goes on…
And please allow me to take two clips to Keyer, even when one is 8-bit 23.97
and the other is 10-bit 25fps…
How is exactly is HDRx mode integrated into autodesk products? Most curious about grading in Lustre with HDRx modes. Can you guys elaborate on the process. Basically what is the best way to grade the image. Mike is there a way to use an add mode equivelant to HDRx in Lustre? Like the one you showed on the assimilate webinar?
Thanks for another good eppy. really keen to see your Siggraph wrap ups
Thanks for this again Mike. I really enjoyed the panel discussion.
Thank you so much!
Thank you! Great Updates.....:)
It's pretty rad when your name turns into a verb/adjective, etc. We have nothing but gratitude for you Dr. Perlin.
Thanks Mike ! I expected Fxguidetv...!
John,
The new Gap FX thing is interesting, actually reminds me quite a bit of DS. The examples discussed show a serial single track edit. I'm wondering how it applies to moving timeline layers to a BFX while leaving the media soft and replaceable on the source timeline....any clues?
Alex
you're welcome - I really enjoyed doing this
hey guys,
the laser and lighting effects of the alien ships actually WERE done practically in camera, so good eye for catching that! They were achieved by mounting Lightwave lasers, Clay Paky Alpha Beams and PRG Bad Boys on a Spydercam rig flying over the set. In my opinion, this was sheer brilliance on the part of the filmmakers. What else, if not alien lasers, makes you immediate assume that you will do it cg? And yet they did it in camera, and ended up with some awesome footage as a reward for their efforts (as you noted).
dirk
Dirk,
Very cool to know. Thanks for that information. It makes sense that they were practical in that it would seem odd to make a laser light like effect instead of somehow enhancing the look in CG. Was a great idea on-set to add much more interactive lighting to whatever practical explosions they had.
Wurd,
Matt
Cool - thanks for this, Dirk. We also had the benefit of seeing ILM's Cowboys & Aliens Siggraph presentation (after recording this vfxshow) and saw some amazing practical work by New Deal Studios, Legacy Effects and Kerner Optical, along with digital fx by The Embassy, Fuel and other facilities. So much great work for this film.
Mike, Joshie says, the cinestyle profile was made to help color match the cutting of DSLR footage with existing log cameras like the Alexa. Any log camera will show a big gap in the bottom end of the waveform. when using a lut , the effect of having the contrast come back to the picture happens downstream of colour or at the output. This allows you to bring the detail in the highlights and shadows back before it reaches the lut. I know it seems like we are getting ripped off by not maximizing the 8 bits but if you fill the gap with info then there is nowhere to go in color. That is how film scans are done and that is why modern production cameras shoot log. There is a bigger discussion about the effect of motion picture printing as to why it is this way that Josh eluded to.
The fact is, if you are not already working in log the Stu settings may be enough, but if you work professionally with log cameras and output viewing luts, this profile is a life saver.
thanks
kuep
great interview, very cool and extremely nerdy to hear from a living legend! xD
Mike, you asked in the fxphdod if we wanted to see more of this and what we thought about it. Seriously, I'm blown away! So freakin' amazing podcast that anyone remotely interested in grading have to listen to it. Aaaaaaawesome! =) Can't wait for the next one in this "series".
Cheers
Epic!
Word up Christopher! Awesome coverage!
Will the interview end up as a stand alone fxguide TV ep?
If I should give some critique it's the following. I have a really hard time to keep up with all the brilliant articles and podcast you guys release. And often there's an overlap where an fxguidetv ep, podcast and article might have the same content, to some extent. What I'm saying is that it's hard to know when an article is a transcript of a podcast and when it's something new that isn't covered elsewhere. And that is also the case with the interview in this article, where some parts of what's said in the video it is written down in text too. Don't get me wrong, it's brilliant coverage but sometimes the overlap gets a bit confusing.
On a side note, I LOVE how you mixed text and video interview here.
Keep up the excellent work guys! =)
Before I make a nit picky comment, I just wanna say how much I love FXguide! Just wanted to make sure I don't come off like an a*hole pointing this out but Angie's head gets cropped by a matte at the end of the episode around 30min57sec 🙂
Yeah, thanks 🙂 We spotted during QC but decided not to hold the episode to fix it.
The images attached to this story are so you know the shots and understand the set we are talking about. That is why I have included them. I thought they would be helpful. Some people have complained about them - which surprises me... but anyway.. please download and review them if it helps understand the conversation.
I offer them simply to expand on the discussion but they are just a few stills - the conversation stands separately from them.
Mike
One reason that the DPX format became the gold standard for telecine is because it carries timecode in the metadata. Since it is crucial that we are able to track every frame from offline to finish, I wonder how timecode fits into a workflow based on OpenEXR. A few years ago, I was told by an Autodesk software engineer that OpenEXR could contain timecode, but only as a "custom attribute". This means that different apps would probably never be able to read/write timecode the same way (as opposed to the standardize format used in DPX). So, does anyone know how timecode is tracked within the ACES/OpenEXR system? Also, I've read that the OpenEXR standard is going through some revisions, so I wonder if timecode and other critical metadata will become standardized in future versions.
Watching this episode and the Flame episode too, I was struck by the fact that I've kind of seen some of this before. Extruding an .eps has been in Avid DS for years and years and the smoke Gap FX is a DS Tree Effect. And the flame perspective corner pin is kind of how really old Quantel stuff used to work 15 years ago (though not now).
I know these old functions of other machine probably can't compare to the new stuff really but it just made me smile 😉
Great to have lots of fxguidetv though - thanks again guys!
I know you guys are guilty being apple fanboys 🙂 nothing wrong of liking the products (and their exceptional quality / force to innovation).
But I am not that thankful. At least not in the pro market. I still don't get why people stick to it although there have been major drawbacks in the past which really killed a lot of investments in the past.
Shake R.I.P.
Final Cut Server R.I.P.
Xserve R.I.P.
Final Cut Pro (at least the Pro) R.I.P.
Final Touch / Color??? What happened to this one?
Not to mention that update cycles for software and hardware are very "uncertain".
I do get the strong points of apple but they have made some very doubtful decisions for us as an industry. I was disappointed that they pushed so hard into the movie segment and then step by step abandon it.
Other than that: Personally I dislike the aggressiveness in their business style, and what happened in china during the production of the iPad2 really killed that company for me. There are no enterprises which are saints but this company proved itself more than enough where their focus is.
Please let's don't start flame-waring here. I just felt that some things should be said as counter part. And I know that you guys know and might even share some concerns. So let's not spoil the moment, I will admit, I'm thankful for all the positive things this company under Mr. Jobs leadership accomplished. Would hope they could change about my concerns. Other than that may Mr. Jobs get healthy. He deserved some free time 😀
Yes Apple has made some decisions that screwed some people... and it added things like quicktime that helped others...
I did not mean to imply everything was rosy - I agree with your post - I am sure we dont need to flame-war to realize that Apple has had its ups and downs and I am sure we all agree with you that we all hope Mr Jobs recovers and gets healthy. As with all things in life it is neither all white or all black.
mike
No matter what one thinks about Apple and their products Mr. Jobs is a true legend that has affected our industry and life more then we probably want to admit.
It's also important to remember that Jobs hasn't left Apple (yet) since he's appointed Chairman of the Board. So he will probably have a thing or two to say in the future too. I truly hope that Mr Jobs recovers and will be with us for many years to come, guys like that don't grow on trees.
In order for Apple to get so far so fast, it's had to lay down its best aces. Now the world has seen and is copying Apple's best hand. Android phones have already surpassed iOS at 43% to 18% respectively. New tablet devices are streaming out like mad to copy the iPad. Windows still has an unsurpassed 92% dominance in desktops to OSX's meager 6%. Artsy small shops run on Macs; corporate business does not.
Apple's struggles will be:
1. Since we are now into recession 2.0 it's a very bad time for Apple to maintain high prices. Rich people are still Apple's number one customers.
2. Apple has abandoned the professional market in favor of the simplified, dumbed-down consumer market.
3. The upcoming Windows 8 effortlessly runs on multiple devices and will eat away even more market share from Apple.
4. Apple has put forth its best ideas, and now that Jobs has stepped aside Apple will just try to hold on IF it can.
Love Apple all you want, but the numbers clearly show that Apple is still not winning the technology war even with its best efforts. Real day-to-day work and business does not get done on an iPad.
The point of the article, is that the figurehead of one of the most important companies of the last two decades is stepping down.
But to your points - don't confuse market share with industry relevance. They are innovators, always have been. Android is a free operating system being delivered on 100's and 100's of phones, made by a dozen different companies. iOS is available on one phone, made by one company. It's like saying Bill Gates isn't rich, because the rest of the world put together has more money than he does.
Apple are, arguably, unmatched in terms of the vision they have shown in the 'personal' computing and electronics market. I'd question whether they have ever in their company's history gone after the corporate business market. There are more people outside that world than within it. They have never had more than a meagre slice of the pie, in terms of overall computer market share. That hasn't stopped them being, to use an embarrassingly overused word from their product videos, revolutionary.
With what confidence do you speak, that they have used all their best ideas? You seem to be very in the know about one of the most secretive corporations on Earth.
Or is it simply 100% baseless conjecture?
Adobe really must be coming to EOL with After Effects because BorisFX has been doing this stuff since 2000 and it is a AE plugin. Checkout Boris Red.
When Apple got serious about the pro market, the pro market needed someone to take them seriously. Avid's were tens of thousands of dollars and Apple gave us an editor that you could have up and running for two or three grand. Color gave us grading for a fraction the cost of a DaVinci. Now we've got software only Avid, we've got DaVinci on Mac. We don't need Apple the pro-software maker now.
So thank you Steve Jobs, for being there when we needed you.
The latest IlmImf library has the KeyCode class which is used for identifying a film frame.
See ImfKeyCode header file comment
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// class KeyCode
//
// A KeyCode object uniquely identifies a motion picture film frame.
// The following fields specifiy film manufacturer, film type, film
// roll and the frame's position within the roll:
//
// filmMfcCode film manufacturer code
// range: 0 - 99
//
// filmType film type code
// range: 0 - 99
//
// prefix prefix to identify film roll
// range: 0 - 999999
//
// count count, increments once every perfsPerCount
// perforations (see below)
// range: 0 - 9999
//
// perfOffset offset of frame, in perforations from
// zero-frame reference mark
// range: 0 - 119
//
// perfsPerFrame number of perforations per frame
// range: 1 - 15
//
// typical values:
//
// 1 for 16mm film
// 3, 4, or 8 for 35mm film
// 5, 8 or 15 for 65mm film
//
// perfsPerCount number of perforations per count
// range: 20 - 120
//
// typical values:
//
// 20 for 16mm film
// 64 for 35mm film
// 80 or 120 for 65mm film
//
// For more information about the interpretation of those fields see
// the following standards and recommended practice publications:
//
// SMPTE 254 Motion-Picture Film (35-mm) - Manufacturer-Printed
// Latent Image Identification Information
//
// SMPTE 268M File Format for Digital Moving-Picture Exchange (DPX)
// (section 6.1)
//
// SMPTE 270 Motion-Picture Film (65-mm) - Manufacturer- Printed
// Latent Image Identification Information
//
// SMPTE 271 Motion-Picture Film (16-mm) - Manufacturer- Printed
// Latent Image Identification Information
//
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is some of the worst greenscreen setup ever. They should FIRE the vfx set supervisor right now.. those shots are probably 90% roto. It you are shooting the show there.. build a hard cyc and light it properly.
These are good screens. I've been comping with them. They pull really well. The tracking markers show up in Syntheyes fine with hipass turned on.
I'm pretty impressed with the quality of production of this show. I think it will look great.
P.S sorry to offend vfx set supervisor... But everyone should strive to create a zero roto show!
Then they probably shouldn't put plants on the greenscreen. But on the bright side, they are easy to roto and make it look like its not a greenscreen shot because there's green in the FG.
I am sorry Matt- but if you think those are the worst green screens ever - then you havent been comping much lately !!!
Look in all seriousness I was not on set - but the stats are really impressive 300 shots in 10 days. And the work I have seen is excellent. Of course your opinion is fine to express, we welcome healthy debate, but dont be too harsh - even from these stills I would say these green screens are not close to the worse I have seen even this week ! 🙂
On the wide shot #1 .. single uniform green shade for the ground all the way to above the highest on set actoprs head.. after that.. no green whatsoever is required. On the railing shot.. no fore railing should be there... just creating a major roto hairball.. for no reason.. taht fore railing could have been CG. On the girls looking back shot.. why green stairs? And wrinkles in the green.. just forget it.. its a roto job there if there are wrinkles in the green screen
Nah ya just paint some green on them and it's sweet as.
Are those really production stills? The first ones seem so washed out- is it really possible to pull a quality key off of them? Obviously they're upping the saturation a great deal for the final comp, but it just seems incredible murky to begin with. Mike or Ian do you have any insight into this? Do you think they knew in advance that they'd be going for an over saturated look in the final or is there some technical reason to shoot with such muted tones to start with? Overall, those are some pretty impressive virtual sets- may have to catch this show based on that merit alone.
Log Colour Space. allows more colour information within the 10bit file (DPX). The images look fine after they add a Screen RGB or Rec 709 correction.
Those stats are WAY off. I know people who worked on this show and they spent a hell of a lot longer than 10 days on it. Sam Nicholson's a salesman, though, and that number *sounds* impressive.
The technology they're using is cool, though. Not having to track your stuff later saves a great deal of time. Nice to be able to shoot against a green wall and actually properly line up a shot with a proper background.
Greg,
They said they were using the Alexa camera...The footage I've seen come from that camera always has that milky look (pre-color), but it has so much latitude in it so, they may be able to pull a good key off that. Also, the (green) shot matches up perfectly with the comps. I'm impressed.
Ah thanks Michael. I wasn't familiar with LogC images before. Interesting to see what they look like pre-color.
I keep seeing these green-screen shots on fxguide and they always remind me of nightmare jobs I've done in the past. It's not my bread-and-butter work but I'd love to see a really detailed tutorial of how to approach a shot like one of these, as I'm sure I'm missing something! What keyer tools do they use?
I think the reality is you just get in there and do it one bit at a time with multiple keys, painted/rotoscoped or added together. I remember a serious of nuke tutorials with their fancy keyers, but the 'advanced keying technique' was the same old story: roto/paint, and painting back in motion blur details.
Although I do love the ibk, just a shame you can't export out a matte - you kind of need to comp with it to get the same results.
If you copy the jpegs to your computer and pull them into Nuke etc. you can see that the "before" is a log image. Just using the Cineon LUT pushes it into the same sort of colour range as the "after" (before despill obviously).
A-B-ing between the the two images shows some places where Stargate have cut corners intelligently. These are really effective comps but they haven't been pixel-f**ked to death.
Stargate may well be exaggerating just how fast and easy their system is, but the system isn't just the technology, it's the working practices that maximize the result possible for the time and money available.
A buddy of mine is working on this show at Zoic now.
Looks like Stargate got canned.
Where, oh where, did you get that image? I would love a clean version of that old Wired cover from '97.
I just got to say kuddos to the artisanship at work here. Set extensions with good color matching and clean mattes are still at the heart of my love for VFX. Stunning.
A few points: I have been to Stargate Digital - Sam is a really good guy, honest and very clever. Sure he sells his company but would you want to work for a company where the owners did NOT sell your company well... ? I mean really I have worked at places with less than stellar senior management and having them lose work because they could not build any excitement is much much worse. I am not that close to Stargate - I have no personal close links - I just respect them, seriously respect them, for the work they do. I have done this sort of work myself (- heck we got Emmy noms on that show - and this work is hard and short turn around).
The ten days comment was ten days from lock off... clearly the shots started being working on them BEFORE they were even being shot...
Also you are right about the jpeg 'before' shots. It is very common and very desirable to have them shot in say Log C so that you can have maximum grading later. If I saw before shots that were crunched and saturated I would be suspicious 🙂
All good... Oh and finally the company that does the pilot many times does not do the series - that is completely common - I dont know but I would not read much into that.
Mike
Hi Mike, When you say Log-C .. does the C stand for Cineon ?
Hey Matt,
These are clearly Log-C images...that's why it seems so washed out. Sheesh.
Also, the greenscreen set up is really impressive. It requires a tremendous amount of forethought and inter-departmental planning to properly execute greenscreen shots of this magnitude. Especially on a television shooting schedule. Did you look at the finals, too? Pretty impressive, if you ask me.
Ian/Mike - question: Are these all nodal pans and lock offs? Or do they move the camera?
Brendan,
I appreciate the comments... I watched a mini season promo of this show.. and yes.. extremely well done comps! and LOTS of them... My initial responses were aimed at what appeared to be a slight disconnect between on set production and vfx TD's capabilities... with all the money going to this show.. it would only conceivably take another $10k to work out pulling the green cloth taught.. eliminating wrinkles... and basically striving for the cleanest boundaries as possible between real set and green areas. It just looked like there are people thinking anything green gets wiped out just because there is green cloth on it... I am guessing that in the long-run, that extra time to get a smooth green field behind the set would save more $$ than having a specialist work the hell out of the shot(keying/roto) for a week.
Backing Mike Seymore on this one. I can't even remember the last time I had a shot with, what I would call a good green screen. You can't always get in the way of production to get screens perfectly lit, with tracking markers out of the way, no wrinkles, coved at the bottom and the proper distance from talent. Stargate is very good at what they do. They consistently deliver quality work on large numbers of shots for episodic and pilots even with time and budget restraints. This is a testament to the amount of work they put into their pipeline and the teamwork atmosphere you get at a smaller vfx house, where artists and production know each others strengths and weaknesses. great work guys ..
After reading this article i feel like i m there at shoot..and also great feeling that i m also worked for Hanna..it's a wonderful experience..Thank you Mr. X !!
Super bummer... It's where it all started so it is sad. I guess the 'spirit' was passed on to ILM and that is its time to shine... Hopefully they preserve the site as historic or something. I took some Qube training out at that site a couple years ago. It was pretty cool standing on the spot where they blew up they shot the death star :]
Hope no one from the show was ticked at my comments... It is a little funny how Mike counterpointed my criticism of the green screen tech by making a point of how much worse most other greenscreen work is out there. It's green background people... stretch the cloth tight.. light it flat and keep it away from the setpieces and actors to avoid spill... tracking markers should be a separate (keyable) green scatter plot.. nothing uniform...and laid out so actors avoid crossing in front of them... and only green where you replace with CG. Anyway.. they were probably a little sloppy because it sounds like they had Moco data from the rig to use for any roto mattes.. I just think it would bring piece of mind to vfx sups if the greenscreen plates were stellar quality - hell , maybe they could charge the same rate and have the thing done in a day, rather than a week.
All supervisors know how to shoot a greenscreen and what the perfect conditions are. The reality is, things don't work out as planned. Greenscreen doesn't ever drape the way you want it to and there is never enough time to stretch it out perfectly. Perhaps stretching it out perfectly would have meant getting in a lift and spending 2 hours of valuable production time to get it tight. In the end, a good supervisor can weigh the costs and benefits of fixing something in production and fixing it in post.
If the supervisor had taken 3 hours out of the production's day, the network would have most definitely fired him or her.
Very sad news 🙁 best wishes to the team.
This is a shame, I was really hoping Storm would have Hooks into Nuke and the upcoming Katina like Final cut had into Shake.
also check out - http://youtu.be/Luprwm9JOi4
OK.. May I see a 48fps shot? I speak for myself in saying that ALL... ALL.. I mean ALL of the movie experience we know is in the "flavor" of film's traditional cadence... 24 frames per second.
When you leave that movement of imagespace(24 frames per second/180 degree shutter).. that blur.. that strobe... that feeling you get when watching a movie becomes something else... and it's not the kind of film I want to watch. So.. rather than talking about how "awesome" it is... please show us the look of 48fps?... and I promise the community of artists that respect film will give you their verdict. Stop telling what we are supposed to like.
They keep coming up with new gimmicks to wow us, proudly announcing that they could, and never really asked themselves if they should?
Your point is well made - for many people 24fps is what they want, and that is importantly valid. Still others - especially in the area of stereo like the look of 48fps, stereo displayed at 4K resolution. I personally watched footage at 4K - 48fps etc and it was great - but your right it was not filmic - it was something else. I did not mean to imply this was the only option moving forward - but that RED was leading the move to go this way, but I certainly dont advocate 48/stereo/4K for everything and if the story sounded like it was saying that I am sorry.
mike
- BTW, Do you think Ted is the type of guy that would say anything negative about the choices of a filmmaker who just bought 30 of their expensive cameras? Or 50 of them? I would say anything to make them look like the most brilliant artists in cinema history if I were him.
I agree with you on using tech to display tech based entertainment.. like extreme sports, science/planetarium displays and such... but my fondest memories as a kid are of the journey to the movies and the escape and wonder that they provided.... you don't change that experience.. you should just do more of it.....
Oh I doubt any equipment manufacturer would say negative things about their cameras or clients for that matter.
I guess the interview was not to your taste - and I am fine with that - thanks for your feedback - I personally always like hearing good or bad comments when they are expressed reasonably and respectfully
all good
Mike
I am blown away that James Cameron (idolized his films) and PeterJackson would want to go there? Maybe they are not the type of artists I thought they were?
I am not being sarcastic but if you think you know better than Jim Cameron - go make that film ! 🙂
- I'd love to watch it - we need more of those sort of movies... I'd love to see an old style Jim Cameron film by Matt Moses ... really there is little stopping us all these days... Go for it Matt - Seriously make a short - make "that" film 🙂 and contact us so we can cover it at Sundance and Cannes 🙂
(No sarcasm)
Thanks again
Mike
I have to see what this actually looks like before I can cast a comment about it really.
Surely some demo clips are up somewhere ?
'If the experience at the theater is not important, the industry loses. 5K has enough information to knock your socks off, which is the desired effect.'
I think the other components in a film are more important, story, acting, cinematography, sound etc etc
Although I may not be reading that how he meant it ? (but I do agree that epic + lovely lenses look fantastic)
I would have to agree with rob, I want to see it first.
Having just worked with a Red Epic recently at 48fps, I could tell you it doesn't rip you away from the cinematic experience as much as you might think - but of course that is my opinion. I think something that a lot of people miss with shooting at a higher frame rate and also in stereo, is that it seems to make a lot of sense. Take James Cameron's "Avatar" for example. It was an incredibly immersive film. Imagine how much more realistic it could have felt without being in 24fps and having that film look; Granted that is what he was going for. Pushing those higher frame rates makes that "real life immersion" just that much closer to grasp. It sounds blasphemous, but things evolve, even filmmaking.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, look at it as another option that adds a different and new experience. It may not be loved by diehard film fans, but it really seems like a logical step in comparison to legitamit gimmics. D-Box anyone?...
From a technical standpoint, as a VFX artist, I want the most information that I can get to work with but this isn't like the development of colour or sound, it's more like Betamax vs VHS or better yet, SD vs HD.
Most consumers haven't moved onto Blu Ray yet, they've only taken HD cable/satellite because it's been pushed so hard by the suppliers, and how many people have bought 3D TV's?
Content is king. Formats are not a driving force.
Thank you for this great presentation! I have heard so many great things about the Red camera. I meet with many great producers and actors in Philly. P.E.N. AND M.P.E.G. meeting each month brought my attention to 'Big Red'. You can find the groups on Facebook. I have won a few awards with my Canon XL1s. Got to walk the red carpet in NYC! I now use a Canon XL-H1 shooting at 24fps. I have been very happy with it. I am very interested in the Red and would like to see it in action in the Philly area. Cameron, Scott, and Jackson are my favorite Producers. I take their word on Red.
See the later story about Hiero, announced today at IBC. Not a replacement for Storm but I think youll recognize that a lot of things they needed to do for Storm is in there.
I'm in my 40's, and have been making movies for 20 years. I remember when film was 24 and video was ALWAYS 60i - and it was instantly obvious whether you were watching film or video. And the immediate calculus was "film=expensive/good" and "video = cheap/bad".
We've since seen 24p video (that "movie look!", 60fps HD - even iPhones at 720p30 video. (And we add noise to simulate film grain!)
My teenage daughter (and her generation) do not see the stark differences between film & video - it's all just moving digital images to them.
I think my generation will always see film's characteristics (grain, motion blur, jitter, etc) and associate them with the "movies". Anyone seen a classic movie on an HDTV that is artificially doubling the frame rate with "Smooth Motion" or whatever they call it? It looks horrible (to me!)
But the more we see clean, digital images in "movies" and other high quality content, the less the equation of "film=good and digital/video=bad" will be true.
When I first saw Red 4K theater at NAB, it was amazing - definitely different than film - but trying to describe it... it was like perfect film - without the artifacts of grain & jitter.
This year, I saw SONY's 24p-4K projections, and again - it was incredibly pristine, no grain, no jitter/weave and the images looked almost lifelike... until there was motion in the shot! Then, all of a sudden these weird motion blur artifacts jump into my pristine image, and quite frankly - distracts me from what I'm watching!
At that moment, I understood the push for higher frame rates. It will take decades, but I think that 24 fps will eventually be remembered as a "retro look" like technicolor film and 4:3 TVs. And the kids will ask us old timers - what is it about that degraded stuttering image that you like?
But it's going to be a bumpy ride along the way. Imagine the deliverables for "The Hobbit" - 3D/2D, 48fps, 24fps, Film and DCP - I'm guess there will be at least 6 THEATRICAL formats. Good times!
I think you mentioned in this podcast that there are fewer papers in computational photography at Siggraph this year. Part of the reason there are fewer paper at Siggraph is because many papers are being published at a different conference. There is now a large enough body of work in this area that there is now a conference devoted to just this subject, International Conference on Computational Photography (ICCP). This year it will be in April in Seattle, http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/events/iccp2012/index.html
I was lucky enough to see that RED reel featured in the above video at the REDucation UK Open House. The demo was screened in stereo, projected at 4K and I _think_ Ted said it was running 48fps. I was sat in the front row and the experience was quite amazing.
What isn't shown in the above video is a great sequence where the camera helicopter is following extremely closely behind a second helicopter (Ted said about seven feet behind at some points). Ted had to preface the footage saying that what we were about to see was not a miniature, it was not CG and it was not compositing. It was an extremely engaging and hyper-real sequence given the interaxial settings on the stereo rig at the time.
I'm a fan of stereoscopy. I'm rooting for the tech that allows better rigs, better control and better 2D to 3D conversion because I genuinely enjoy that extra level of engagement and interaction that a stereo image brings. Having watched most of the stereo films released in the past two years I am quite looking forward to the 48fps stereo experience coming from Peter Jackson and James Cameron. Maybe I'm an optimist, but let's give those chaps the benefit of the doubt.
My main concern is the effect it has on post-production. Being a compositor working at 48fps seems like a big task. Ive heard the Hobbit is going 48fps but managing the extra data seems like an extra strain. When you couple this with faicilities adopting deep compositing, they must be spending some serious money on extra disk space.
I'm 100% behind this for 3d. 3d at 24fps is a joke, but if the projectors can kick out enough light and a higher framerate 3d will be awesome.
Do I want to see every movie in 3d? Hell no. Will that happen? Probably not. TV is different from film is different from video games is different from books is different from 3d. All can be fantastic ways to tell a story, but they're all different.
Halo would make a derivative sci-fi movie. The Wire would not have been enjoyable as a series of films.
Until now people have lumped 3d and film together because they've shared the same talent pools and form, but hopefully they diverge in the same way TV and film have. It's a genuinely different way to tell a story and some stories will benefit from it while others won't. I saw Avatar in 2d and felt like I missed nothing. If Avatar 2 is 48fps in 3d I'm definitely missing something if I see it at 2d/24.
I suppose it's always been this way with new art movements. Monet was scandalous back in the day.
This is exciting news, no wonder they killed Storm. Having a product like this and storm with RedCine-X Pro on the market Doesn't make any sense.
Sweet! But... hmm... but... I couldn't even find Eyeon at IBC...? Where they even there? Did someone else find them? Can't find them in the "official floor plan" either while looking now. =(
They did something unique and had a boat located by The Beach outside hall 7 instead of a booth. As Mike said we did an interview with them and it will be in the next fxguidetv episode.
they were there and we have an interview with them coming up
Crab was missing from the movie because he got busted for marijuana in London a few years ago. So they cut him out.
Excellent podcast BTW....love it. You should check mine out at http://www.giggaheim.com/giggaheim-podcast/
I saw the movie in theater 3 times and LOVED IT. I gave 3D a shot and HATED IT. It totally drew me out of the film. Basically my biggest gripe with the 3D was that they dropped the luminents of the background to the point where it hurts when you are trying to make out what the background actually is.
I totally love the movie too. Best of 2011 by far.
Making a big VFX movie at 48 fps... hmmmm.... maybe it's something that roto artists won't be happy to hear that too soon.... eh
Hey Brendan. Great comments. To give you guys (Matt) an idea of why the GS stage was not perfect - we convinced Sony about two weeks before the shoot that we had to do all the comps live on set and capture the tracking data or we would not be able to deliver the show on schedule. We flew four 30'x100' green screens to NYC with two Previson compositing systems, 75 ceiling targets and two complete camera packages. Our two TD's flew in from California before the shoot and we had four days to completely turn an empty warehouse into a real time virtual shooting stage with a minimal crew. That involves hanging 400' of green, securing 75 4'x4' targets into the ceiling, laser surveying and calibrating 450 individually ID'd images on the targets, calibrating all the production lenses (both zooms and primes), registering the virtual sets to the physical sets and setting up the workflow to record both composited and non-composite images during the shoot. We did all this for a two day shoot - then struck the set back to an empty warehouse - that is why there are some wrinkles in the green screen. But you will notice there are no tracking marks. 98% of our final shots bypassed post motion tracking. X,Y,Z, Yaw, Pitch, Roll, Focus and Zoom translated seamlessly into our 3D group allowing for final uprezed renders to start right after picture lock - for a 10 day compositing turnaround. In pre-production the virtual World Port terminal, interior and exterior took a team of eight 3D artists 6 weeks to build.
We have now given all our CG assets to Zoic for the series. I wish them luck in that the studio as cut the episodic. budget to 1/10th what we did the pilot for.
If you want to see the before and afters in better resolution, check out our website at www.stargatestudios.net.
Thanks for watching.
thanks Sam for that additional information, really fascinating.
Mike
Somewhat typical and sad that NICE SHOES left out the Martin Ahlgren as the DP of the Kanye piece. They talk in length about their color grading and such but the footage was carefully lit and shot in a way that makes all the disparate elements work in unison.
A bit late on this thread but anyway, i would like to say my point off view.
I just saw this summer my first 3D movie, till now i don't wanted to see any 3D movie because i was afraid of some things witch could destroy connection between audience and the movie world and unfortunately this movie have done exactly that. I'm a total beginner 101 lvl so to speak in stereo 3D but i have very good knowledge of traditional way. Anyway, the fact is that the stereo totally killed the immersion and the "magic" of the film. Manny times i was having the impression of watching a traditional theater stage from a far window, and in other aerial shots was like watching some miniature stage, like looking at ants. This is not only my impression but many of my friends and people who have no idea about this industry have notice this things. This is from my point off view the biggest problem today, the movie as we know and the story telling technique was developed to show a 2D projected story, and the colors and vfx are used to bring the viewer in this world.
Stereoscopic as is done today, at least as i saw on this big franchise name, is a total mess in my opinion. Yes i would go and see more and i am currently learning about stereo composting and everything because i think is the future but i think it needs other way off thinking the movie not only from the technical point off view but from the story and viewers to. This are just some off my thoughts and i do not wanted to say the movie name because i do not want to offend anyone who worked on this. I am totally aware of the amount of work needed to make a movie but i think specially directors need to rethink the story telling process a bit. Regarding the conversion from 2D to 3D i have not seen yet one, but i do not think is a good thing to convert live action to stereo, if was not shot for that.
Was it just me or were the interviews chopped up a lot? Like someone is talking then boom mike is asking another question when the guy is still talking
Hey guys, The 2nd previs clip isnn't fully loading
Great show guys! Or heck... EXCELLENT show guys. =) Loved the grain/degrain/compression rathole and that alone could be a podcast. Very interesting stuffs. Maybe an idea for a future in depth podcast Mike? It's really relevant and interesting.
...Side note. The download link seems to be broken?
The LA Times has picked up the story:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/art-directors-guild-makes-designs-on-previs-workers.html
Also VFX Soldier has a post about this and the vfx union efforts:
http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/art-directors-guild-seek-previs-artists/
Great interview. It looks he is a passionate artist. I'm glad he comes from illustration and painting because is the same as me. I apreciate his advice of not get nervous when one is in front of a challenge. To get references to work and not try to imagine everything.....Well, very good advices and of course, fantastic results that we can see on screen.
Sorry for my bad english
Saludos desde Chile
Regards from Chile
I just wanted to say, I thank you for a show and podcast well done. I've been listening since its inception so again fantastic job.....that said I think the two of you underestimate the power of Scarlet as a 2/3" variety. This could be the ultimate camera of compromise, this coming from a person who is not a RED fanboy nor at any point drunk the RED punch.
3K for under 10K (possibly). Think the HVX-250 as a camcorder is 5K and they Panasonic once again missed the boat with that one, but RED coming out with a camcorder for the run and gun crowd could be fantastic.
I mean its an HVX-250 on steroids. For those times when we don't want 1" or less of dof or to hire $1200/day, A list focus puller this camera at present specs makes so much sense as to where is may fit it with the crowd....my 2 cents!
Cheers,
David M. Wexler
Cinematographer
David thanks so much for your kind words. your 2 cents are always both valid and welcome!
cheers
jason
Im fascinated with the old school effects in Poltergeist. Specially the cloud tank but more than to make clouds, to make the puppets float in water. I heard Richard Edlund in an interview saying taht they wanted to express the fact that the ghosts were in another dimension, so they would be affected by gravity in a different way. I found that just great concept. Another interesting thing, the exposure of the effect. Edlund said that if they show to few of the effect, the audience is unsatisfied, on the other hand, if they show too much, you reveal your trick, so it needs to be treated very carefully in the way an effect is shown to the audience.
It might be a matter for a future podcast. Today with CGI there something that some people dislike. Maybe the photorealistic look is not all that the VFX artist or director need to be concerned. Maybe he needs to be concerned with the time of exposition, the credibility of the scene, well, many other factors. The animation is another thing I've heard from some audience at movies. Some people feel the CGI movies ( I mean with many CGI effect) too animated. Maybe the principles of animation need to be different when CGI is used for animation feature or a live action. I know the artist are aware of this staf but I think it needs a bit more discussion.
Puppets have something that captives audience in a special way and it should be translated to CGI....well it's jus an idea.
Thx for your work, it's very inspiring and motivational for filmakers from all around the world. We don't have many chances to travel to events or discuss these interesting matters and you are a great help for us.
Sorry for my bad english
Saludos desde Chile
Regards from Chile
I just watched that video through - great stuff. Great history lesson and back-to-basics theory of what we all do but don't always know what exactly it is we're doing or why! Much appreciated.
Hope to see it in Shanghai cinema.
I don't doubt that the camera you guys describe as the 'deal' scarlet would be amazing. But I do dispute your lack of appreciation for the 2/3rds sensor. It's not a bigger is better thing. Same with 16mm Vs 35mm. You interviewed a guy who clearly knows his stuff and was shooting on 16mm that very day. 2/3rds would have it's place, as does 16mm. I'd love to see essentially an Epic but with a 2/3rds sensor. That would do for 16mm what Epic has done for 35mm. Good times. Shooting to prores onboard would be excellent too ;).
Loving the show guys. Keep em coming.
8,5K? Wow... So what's the difference between these and the 1700 dollar AE set?
Assuming the Scarlet goes with a large sensor the difference between it and the Epic would be marginal. BUT I hope and believe the MX sensor in the Epic is only a placegetter and with the Monstro upgrade the camera will reach it's full potential. At this point the Epic will be THE camera to beat.
While I won't be buying the "lunar module" camera trolley I can really see advantages to this system. Many locations require traveling over rough terrain which means either a perilous and unstable trip on a traditional trolley which will soon be defeated by the terrain or multiple trips hand carrying the gear. This trolley would mean faster and safer access to difficult camera positions. If you only work studio it would be a waste of money but I have seen trolleys go over and with $100,000 worth of gear potentially onboard its not such a silly investment? When I win the lotto I will buy my assistant one.
Another absolutely FANTASTIC podcast, very interesting and I'm glad you did one focusing on the London post houses !
thanks Rob - glad you liked it - it was a lot of work, but we are very proud to have that group of facilities and leading vfx people on the one show.
Mike
Really enjoy the RC's, especially this one as I've been interested in the Scarlet for quite some time...however I actually wanted the 3k for £3k 🙁 due to the price, now it's way out of my price range.
So personally I'll end up sticking with my Brevis adapter, unless I can hire something at some point, although I usually prefer owning my own gear.
Guess for me, something like the FS100 ?
I'd be interested in 5dmk2 but the rolling shutter really would make life hell for the tracking I do,
Finally! A really nice intro with informative details about quite possibly the most soul crushing type of work in post production! 😉 Every visual effects artists needs to try roto for a few hours. It gives you perspective. I was intrigued at why, when I was in only my 3rd hour of roto, I had an overwhelmingly strong desire to "pass off" the work to someone else. Even more interesting, I did not think of someone highly skilled, I immediately thought of passing the workload to someone less talented/skilled... which is probably the exact opposite of what is needed. Roto work is demanding, hard, and requires some real skill to accomplish something that ultimately is never seen by the viewing audience - If the audience can tell there is roto, it's done poorly.
Hats off to everyone involved in this article - Awesome stuff! ( I will not be trying to get better at roto, however, only avoiding it, hopefully passing that torch to someone with great roto skills).
I am always very impressed with the people who can do great roto work. Roto people rarely have their egos getting in the way - after all, when they do their job extremely well, nobody ever knows they did anything.
Hi
Interesting piece on optical compositing: "The Role of the Optical Printer" by Mike Seymour. I used to work in opticals in Sydney 30 years ago, and had always been interested in bluescreen shots - something we rarely did.
In one of the great highlights of may career, thanks to the Australian Film Commission, a small group of us spent weeks watching Roger Dorney, John Dykstra and Jon Erland working at Apogee. I still can't believe that Richard Edlund (BOSS Film), Bruce Nicholson, Mark Vargo and Mary Walter (all from ILM opticals) generously gave hours of their valuable time to talk hicks from down under! They were all truly generous and wonderful people. I installed a much revised version of my original bluescreen technique at Colorfilm (the lab and optical house where I had worked), then when Oz feature film production dropped in the late eighties I ended up moving to Toronto where I put together a new optical department.
Everyone presumes film bluescreen was a clever printing trick (it certainly was) but it was far more than just that. The entire process was precisely numerically controlled beneath its creative surface. It required a near perfect, correctly exposed rear (Stewart T-Matte) or specially blue front-lit blue screen, not today's wrinkled 'Utlimatte blue' material flapping in sunlight. It required the right lenses (generally good primes closed 2+ stops down from maximum aperture with everything in focus) and film emulsions (slow to medium speed negatives with minimal blue crosstalk: Agfa XT125 or Eastman 5295 were good). Feet and shadows in shot created real problems and were best avoided unless you could shoot with a mylar mirror under a plexiglas floor or allowed for lots of articulate roto of floor reflections.
Most folks didn't appreciate that the best bluescreen compositing relied totally on precision D-96 and D-97 black and white processing just as much as it did on good printing. Versions where the bluescreen element is printed using the standard interpositive plus hi-con matte were more convenient (no D-96 lab needed) but didn't work as well, especially for rapid motion or translucence. D-96 was the chemistry of the old B+W movie negatives so by the 1980s, it was hard to find, and the few labs that had it would often run slash print through it, contaminating the bath with a streaky pink stain. In the end I had to install and run my own D-96 and D-97 processors (and associated chemical mixing gear, sensitometer and densitometric analysis - a big expense). Even with these machines in house, the fastest I could turnaround a first bluescreen comp was 5 working days (but I could do 1 or 10 in the same time).
Why so long?
Well, opticals were not interactive the way digital compositing is. We had to shoot batteries of 21 step wedge groups for each shot to
get correct separation, cover matte and intermatte densities, to custom fit mattes and to colour match the FG to the BG interpositive.
All of this required D-96 and D-97 processing to different gammas and took a great deal of prep time for each shot. We would print lots
of wedge tests, send them to processing and wait a day for the results to come back. Then you had to print and sync (cut to length with
leaders) the seps, covers, male and maybe intermattes. By the time you had a full set of rolls, the original bluescreen negative had been
run through a printer gate 9 times! We never damaged a negative, but I was always a little uncomfortable about this. We could not use a
wetgate for a damaged original because it allowed too much float, so bluescreen negatives had to be pristine.
I rarely had the luxury of Vistavision bluescreen footage so I couldn't produce generation 5 composite academy internegatives like ILM
(Vista neg -> Vista Interpos -> Vista Interneg -> Vista Seps, Covers, Mattes -> Academy comp interneg). I was lucky to get 35 full
aperture originals to make generation 3 comp internegatives or they would have been too grainy and soft to intercut with
non VFX negative.
Twenty years ago when I began digital compositing, keying operators were pretty rudimentary HSV tools, and usually I achieved far better
results by emulating the old optical process in the digital network. It was surprisingly easy to do! Compositors I've worked with include
Eddie, Ice, Chalice, Jaleo, Shake, (a little Flame), Sillouhette and Nuke (my favourite to date). Today I can pull decent mattes off of
the most tricky or atrocious green and bluescreen footage with Keylight (perhaps supported by a little math) - stuff that would have
been impossible optically.
Opticals were great in their time, because the only alternative was to composite in camera using process projection, matte shots,
hanging miniatures, Schuftan shots etc. - and that wasn't always possible or ideal. Optical shoots were also notoriously unforgiving - printing a frame in the wrong place could blow the previous 6 hours of work!
Much as I loved opticals at the time, I would never go back.... Oxberrys gave way to SGIs which yielded to cheaper Intel PCs with fancy nVidia graphics. When a better bluescreen matte can be had in minutes with a clever algorithm than one reached after days of waiting and hours of work, or when you can instantly eliminate flim float or reduce grain or insert and light textured geometry into film camera moves reconstructed with 3D tracking or interactively colour match shadows, mid-tones and highlights, there really is no choice is there?
Of course, freed from the limitations of photochemical-mechanical algorithms, today's problems have expanded to fill new digital solutions and compositing today can be just as difficult as it always was, but the tough shots faced today would often have optically out of the question 25 years ago, and it was rare they could achieve the sheer quality we routinely expect now.
If anyone is interested I could dummy up a typical film bluescreen comp in Nuke.
Cheers!
Wow what a great story. I'd love to see that Nuke Script if you have have time. As you saw we did it in AE.
thanks so much for such a well written post/comment
mike
co-founder fxguide
Okay, I've knocked up a quickie nuke script, with eyeballed images (don't want to spend time on the exact colour math!).
How do I upload it to FXPhd?
Cheers!
you can email me off line mikes ( at ) fxguide.com
thanks !
So far, Silhouette is still the number one tool for roto: http://www.silhouettefx.com
Just a note re the before and afters - if you click on them you see high resolution versions.
mike
Awesome! great updated article!
İts really a great article ... İ think the best part is HDR's ... Btw i was reading it in my ipad 2 but seems like i cant watch videos ... I wonder why ... And if there is a way around it to watch them ...
@cagri - No problems here. Videos played fine on my iPad 2.
today i saw this movie, Its Beautiful and inspiring work!
I can't believe which shot is CG,
which software to assemble all these scenes , maya , max or something else?
It is best to listen to the podcast where we discuss this - but Maya and Vray
this is very powerful Mike, It would be well suited in after effects, does it rely on the meta data from the image?
No it does not require meta data from the image
thanks
here is 3 links to ImageMagick scripts to do it with it (probably based on the first paper though) :
http://twitter.com/#!/francoisgfx/status/125503809177911297
thanks Francois
We were chatting about this last night (few of us got together in london), I wasn't initially intending to see this film but I'll have to now you've done the articles 🙂
Hoping you can get someone for a future 201/301 vray/maya class 😉
Hi John,
this was exactly the info I was looking for! Thanks!
I have a Elitebook 8760w with a Dreamcolor Panel and MDA - does the HP Profiling Solution also work on this model?
Regards,
Chris
To a technophile movie goer, this is a fascinating article and discussion. Thank you. I'm curious, however, with regard to the decisions to not convert to stereo because the conversion is "not essential to either the storytelling or 3D experience of the film", the discussion reminds me of something I heard attributed to George Lucas and ILM's work on his films - he was extremely budget conscious, so although the CGI folks would have worked endlessly to 'perfect' an effect, his MO was that no effect was to be any more sophisticated than absolutely necessary to tell the story. Isn't that a major part of the equation? Clyde may notice something that could have been done "better" or detracts from his experience, but isn't there a budget consideration also at play? Are stereo quality decisions more comparable to cost-benefit of special effects quality, or more akin to color-grading quality?
>" Are stereo quality decisions more comparable to cost-benefit of special effects quality, or more akin to color-grading quality?"
Stacy, you've kind of nailed it with this question.
It is my belief that with S3D movie making, one of the major goals is to truly "immerse" the audiences in the scene and achieve that all important :suspension of disbelief: which is the corner stone of sophisticated visual storytelling.
Well, S3D allows you to achieve that in ways that was not possible before with 2D tools and a 2D medium. It records the spatial depth of an environment.
Although still an illusion (yet a very very powerful one) and to illustrate just how powerful it is, how come S3D imagery is able to activate our primal self preservation reflexes like no 2D visual can? (even experienced stereographers duck is taken unawares by something coming off screen)
so the point being... that unlike SFX or VFX where a space ship blown up is not bump mapped/ dirt mapped/ volumetrically rendered explosion effect etc.... if there are *any* anomalies in a Stereoscopic 3D scene, the viewers eyes will instantly be directed to it.
This is the negative side effect of suspending the feeling of disbelief. In S3D because everything is so real, the small anomalies is what will detract from the scene.
It's like a tiger well camouflaged, and then having zebra stripes on his tail.
That's where my arguments stem from.
Regards
Clyde
Self plug: Stereoscopic 3D QC service: http://bit.ly/sEhgIR
Looks great! quite flawless!
I worked for years on the animation stand doing motion graphics, multiple pass stuff - often shooting for days to produce a 10 second piece of animation ... hundreds of passes sometimes. Small technical point on the (very excellent) video - and, sorry, really niggling here ... the perfs on the film slides (neg, dupe neg, IP) were print perfs, not negative perfs. I know Mike will want to correct that.
😉
- thanks for this video, really great stuff, Mike.
jake
interesting is learning Houdini my self
Great commercial! How do they replace the actor with the 3D Bear? just by placing the 3D character on top of the actor and matching the camera movement by using 3D tracking? In the picture above seems like the bear occupies a bigger area in the shoot that the actor.
this movie i defently gonna watch
i just loved that movie/ series
Very creative ads with great art direction.
Very enjoyable discusssion guys! Nice Job!
@fxguidelive thank you!!!
@fxguidelive any price announcement ??
@fxguidelive Current film with the noise is "Sword" according to @engadget
@fxguidelive c300 tech specs?
@fxguidelive good to hear that they used the cam for vfx work 🙂 ...
@fxguidelive Now they're going to play his short film
@fxguidelive Now they're going to play his short film
@fxguidelive can you post any pictures? or is this frowned upon?
@fxguidelive can you post any pictures? or is this frowned upon?
So... I'm here waiting for some live coverage, engadget is not broadcasting, Red web site is crawling along, and this page is not posting live updates. Following on Twitter and having to refresh every minute or so just to get an idea without visuals of the Scarlet.
Hey there -- the top of the story has a link to us on twitter:
Follow us at @fxguidelive for live Canon and RED event coverage.
i love the mention of houdini i am learning it my self
I just finished listening to Mike, Matt & Ty talking about The Thing on the VFX Show. I so enjoyed your discussion and had to tell you. Considering that Carpenter's Thing is my second favorite horror movie I also loved how Ty and Matt defended it against Mike's not liking it. I liked how you tried to point out the type of people the movie was aimed at, the teen fans of Famous Monsters and Fangoria, the comic book readers and monster kit builders. I gasped when Mike questioned if the monster effects competed on the level of films like Alien. I look forward to your next discussion!
For those who would like a more in depth discussion on the C300 and Scarlet - The RC #100 discusses the day. Plus Director Vincent Laforet discusses first hand his experiences with the C300.
Those are some really nicely done green screens! Looks like very solid vfx work!
I think they may have done some cleanup on the greenscreen plate and released that for whatever reason. Looks good though.
Contagion is a really great movie. The cg bat is indeed seamles. Very impressive work. With all these vfx blockbusters we sometimes forget the first goal of vfx, that is being totally invisible.
its good article which teach us different ways of stories to spend our time in good job
One of the best Episode i ve ever seen in fxguide .....
Got really useful infos....
This was a really good episode, thank you FXGuide and also Uncharted Territory for being open with both challenges and technique.
Interesting movie.
Great article Jeff!! As always fxguide is relevant and helpful.
In the beginning of my career 18 yrs ago I felt annoyed when our names came at the bottom of the credit list or angry when they did not come at all. That was nothing compared to the jolt I felt when our names came at the bottom of the creditors list. At risk of initially sounding like a broken record to some when I bring up the bidding process as the cause of most of our woes, I have to reiterate that my fortunate experience of having worked a vfx project like the rest of production works, on a cost plus basis that the bidding process is the cause of our labor problems more than any other component. If a shop is powerless over the way they do business and can not profit under current conditions enforced by the highly leveraged studios, labor being the largest expense, and having the least amount of leverage, is where the law of the jungle will enforce it's imbalance. My hopes are that either the clout acquired by the organization of artists to match that of the rest of production, or the combination of that with the trade unions among shops that Scott Ross has described, will bring about the needed change to the true culprit and greatest limiter of everyone's bottom line, including that of the studios themselves. When working on a cost plus model meaning everyone gets paid by the second instead of by the whim. This is how production works. This bring focus. This has the decision maker on "set" and saves everyone's bottom line, especially the stuios. So I often suggest this in context with unionization as a way to create the leverage needed to balance the law of the jungle. If we stop being the weakest link then maybe eyes will begin to evolve upwards to a better solution to the problem.
Lastly I'd like to wish Digital Domain as much success as possible tomorrow on the launch of their IPO. Follow (DDMG) and do your best to support it. We all know the problems they've had making money in this business environment and I applaud their survival. Their stunning imagery is the strongest propellant in the sky rocketing box office takes of so many films that go on to make hundreds of millions of dollars while they lose tens of millions a year as evident in their prospectus. However, they are clearing the way for future shops to enjoy the benefits of the best way to raise capital and create their own content and become their own studio. Bad mouthing this in any way is like pissing into the wind.
thanks guys - so glad you liked it, we really appreciate the comments
I love how spontaneous this interview was. It was one of the best interviews i've see here. Thank you!
Great Ep Mike!
Did they give any additional info in regard to deep compositing renders from 3DS Max? I ask because I thought the only current renderers capable of "deep" images were PRMan and Mantra.
Or maybe was it that they were only using deep compositing for the atmospherics created inside Fusion?
I have to say, I don't spend TONS of time at fxguide but I occasionally catch a podcast, or an informative blogpost usually for something particular I am trying to find.
With that said, I think this is one of the most informative VFX business related articles (packed full of useful resources) that any artist could read. I would in no means consider myself a veteran in this industry, but would say I keep myself very well protected from a business standpoint. After I read this entire post, I feel as if the education gained from this has left me that much more in control of my own fate as an artist.
I'm going to share this with as many artists as possible, because I believe people deserve to be informed. Granted, it's an artists own personal lack of educating themselves from a business and legal stance that allows them to be taken advantage of although it doesn't give others the right to do so.
Thanks so much for the time and effort put forth to provide something so informative and important to the community all within one simple blog post. I can't thank all the contributors and supportive members enough for what they give to the VFX community. Also, thanks to Dave Rand for the added input not only here, but on many other blogs and VFX communities you are active throughout, your experienced knowledge behind this is also very informative.
Brad, we used the "world (or point) position pass" in V-Ray.
Cool interview, would really like to see more of these!
Congratulations on 100 great shows ! I think I have listened to everyone of them.
Thanks for all the great information !
Looking forward to the next 100 shows
Thank you!
Great article guys. Thanks!
Greetings from Chile
FF
La Bête humaine by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin, not by Jean Gabin.
Your article is very interesting. Scorsese (os should I say your neighboor at Canon's show) is so knowledgable about Cinema and loves it to death. His dvd series about Italian and American cinema is really interesting.
i love this spot. very artistic... very modern. bravo. thx for the interview FXinsider!
After we recorded this I eventually found the VES Bill of Rights on their site... it was in the VES latest box in position #3. The direct link is: http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/visual-effects-industry-bill-of-rights
Grim news, We have to get this sorted out things cant continue like this
Had a very quick glance and this article (like the others) looks outstanding, the videos really help to hammer home the ideas and examples.
Can't wait to read it properly!
Thanks again for this article and the other 'Art of' series, they are fantastic.
KaBOOM! Great article, thanks FXGuide.
Absolutely fantastic article!! Great videos too! Thank you FXGuide.
Hey thanks guys, just a shout out to Ian in our office who helped a lot in pulling the article together.
Glad it is getting such a good reaction.
Any suggestions for other 'Art of ' stories you'd like to see? Someone suggested an updated Art of HDR, any others?
Mike
Maybe like an "Art of the Perfect Composite"? I know that's awfully broad, but perhaps it could be an 'Art of' that ties a lot of the other 'Art Of' concepts together.
Great Article ... and Great Videos ... tnx alot
Yeap Mike , we want Art of HDR ... 🙂
Awesome article, and I agree, Art of HDR would be great Mike.
Great Interview Mike!!
Hey Mike,
Finally got round to watching this and really enjoyed your chat with Steve Garrad on the production side of things in terms of how they manged the teams and how certain things effected the bid etc.
I would like to see/hear more talks like this even at a deeper level in fxphd talking numbers and how you work costings for a project.
Many thanks,
Richard
I'd like to see a History of Vfx Software article similar to part one of the Art of Tracking article but possibly going further back than 1990 and including 3d software. Its good to know where everything evolved from. Maybe the time is also ripe for an Art of Texturing article covering UV's vs Ptex vs procedural approaches and software like Mari.
Great article!!
The Itunes feed cuts out in the middle of the maxwell interview .. :/
Amazing CG and effects. I'd have to say that the train crash was my favorite part of Super 8. What talented people who worked on the movie
Hey guys great article, as I was reading and trying to load the video supplements, they aren't fully loading as of this moment.
Thanks
Thanks to all you guys !! Great Year!
I think you forgot this one. 😉
http://vimeo.com/25911509
This one is not so bad : http://vimeo.com/32778032 🙂
Great coverage on these films, as always! The company in Sweden that you refer to regarding compositing in Melancholia is Filmgate (www.filmgate.se).
Awesome Jacob! Thanks for that info. Sorry for not mentioning them in the show. They did some great work.
You can also hear Rob Legato's interview on the Digital Production BuZZ here: http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.com/2012/01/04/digital-production-buzz-jan-5-2012/
Beautiful design with the environment.
There was a server problem yesterday for a short while, we have solved this. Sorry about that, but everything should now be downloading fine. Please let us know if you have any further problems or comments about the show.
I've been already creating looking and feel Presets and then Applying them to an image sequence as a group, with surprisingly good results. But with .R3D Epic support and the advancement of Lightroom software tools I can really see Lightroom taking off as a Color Grading application for Digital cinema production.
Thanks for the update Mike! I was wondering the same thing about why I my Podcast feed wasn't working
Are you sad about Kodak? Many of us built our careers using Kodak film - or do we just not feel loyalty to Kodak like we do to other Industry brands - and if so why? Tell us your thoughts.
Does anybody knows what's going to happen with Kodak Cinelabs?
...as an aside, Technicolor have closed their photochemical labs in London, Rome and Madrid.
I was waiting for this one... Exciting times!
Even if Kodak would have to file for chapter 11, I don't think it would be the end of their production of motion picture film. Many key people are fortunately still backing this important medium. I, too, believe that there is still no digital equivalent to film. Sure, digital capture has come a long way, but film stocks have improved as well. Within a few seconds or less I notice when a moving image was acquired digitally. I don't think I'm special in this, I'm sure most of you can identify the very camera/lenses used. The thing is, it's the deficiencies of digital that so obviously stand out. We all know what they are and that some are intrinsic to the technology. Last year's Academy Award for Best Cinematography went to the 65mm "Inception", and not to RED's "The Social Network". Likewise "Ghost Protocol", also on 65mm, is doing great in the box office. Seems I'm not the only one who cares about image quality. As long as audiences and filmmakers continue to demand film, I think its survival will be ensured.
This is show was awesome!!!
4k (minimum for film-like experience) is unwieldy enough right now, nobody yet has a pipeline for it, and you want to DOUBLE the storage, throughput, archiving, et cetera? For what, a "more life-like" representation?
I have news for you. 24 fps was chosen BECAUSE it was cost-effective, and BECAUSE its blurred motion is unrealistic. 24fps puts the watcher immediately into a dreamlike state. He suspends disbelief, and goes into your story.
You're trying for what? Your Viewer can point out moles and wrinkles on the Heroine, that she was up too late last night? I watched plenty of Showscan movies (60fps) in the 1980s, it was across the street from where I worked, Boss Film. (We made 65mm film, and I made 65mm film equipment). Showscan was pitched as a whole new way to make movies. It was sharp and clear, like looking out a window, but it didn't really serve any story they threw at it. While 2 1/2 times normal frame rate heightened the reality of things, you could definitely see all the artifice. The stories I saw became laughable.
And what of the cost of labor with animation and visual effects? You're talking MORE money, not lower costs.
I was at a Showscan demonstration for Ray Harryhausen, who stopped it part-way through. Mr. Harryhausen had just suddenly "got it," that all the painstaking frame-by-frame work he did so brilliantly for a lifetime would now need 2 1/2 times the effort, in this new Showscan process. He was aghast, and kept repeating "Two and one half times the work." I really felt for him. If you've spent time laboring to make animation, you know what I mean.
All Engineering is a trade-off, bang vs. buck. 3D is a gadgety headachey way to tell a story, costs way too much in time and labor, and I admit I don't like the way its new technology has been dumped on us. For example, High Definition has a 16x9 Aspect Ratio, which is not any established ratio (1.33, 1.37, 1.85, 2.2, 2.4 etc). Rather, it is an entirely-new ratio, 1.77, some sort of arbitrary Frankenstein average of them all, derived by Japanese Engineers in some laboratory in Japan. Not by showmen, not to an existing standard. Cinematographers had no input to that process. Every classic movie suffers, shown in HDTV, all cut off somewhere.
Likewise, all the new frame rates, aspect ratios, formats, have no basis in established standards, they are just put up by new companies, which go out of business, leaving their users in the lurch. Which format did you make your movie in? Sorry, that company's out of business, we can't play your movie any more.
I don't like it. Not good at all. I don't want to dicker with new formats and processes any more. I want to make movies.
Sam Longoria
Producer
Camera Engineer
Visual Effects
Hollywood CA USA
ps.
This forum needs an edit function.
Sam Longoria
Producer
Camera Engineer
Visual Effects
Hollywood CA USA
http://samlongoria.blogspot.com
Soo... more $ than a nuke license? crazy!
Here's a link to a Case Study for all you effects geeks out there re some of the fluids work on GWDT opening titles. Fusion CI Studios had the privilege of working with Blur's amazing team on this and created this look at the 'making of' a few of the fluid shots. http://www.fusioncis.com/press/Fusion_GWDT_CaseStudy.pdf
I love how they did the skin rash and the use of prosthetics was soooo interesting.
Ouch! The price tag is way beyond my budget for such a tool.
I understand the set price, don't get me wrong, but I was really hoping for someting up to $500-$1000 tops. for our needs. 🙁
How does any one pull a key from that green sceen shot above? That's a serious question - I always seem to have trouble with green screens and lots of examples on this site, which were probably shot/scanned log, just look lijke a nightnmare. But clearly good results have been achieved.
http://i.imgur.com/S8SBM.png
so which one is (l left) and which one is (r right) 😉
Interesting article. Thanks for covering this topic as there is more and more demand for these types of projects.
Great show guys! I'm dying to hear about this fast way to transfer media on thunderbolt macbook pros though. You promised it would be this week!
we did and I have the stats.. I forgot to get to it ... I'll try and post something - thanks for the reminder
Awesome! Thanks Mike.
[...] تجهیزات فیلمبرداری , استودیو فیلمسازی , کروماکی مطالب مرتبط با این موضوعاخبار ویدئو کوپایلتآموزش افترافکت , آموزش پرده سبز و کروماکیآموزش افترافکت از Red Giantآموزش تنظیمات پرده سبز برای کروماکی – Green Screenآموزش ترکینگ با افترافکت , آموزش کروماکی درافترافکتآموزش جلوه های ویژه و گرافیک کامپیوتریآموزش جلوه های ویژه با افترافکت , Disintegrationآموزش تکنیک های بهبود کروماکی پرده سبز از ویدئو کوپایلتتبدیل تصویر به پارتیکل با Trapcode Formآموزش جلوه های ویژه با افترافکت – The Portal [...]
Hi Mike. Interesting article.
Funny you discussing this subject and seeing what other companies are working on.
We just made public our new technology service called D-Face. http://www.d-face.de/en/
D-Face is different in the sense that it is not just selling individuals scans to be used as maps but as a way to present material samples visually in the digital form.
See some examples at the link here. http://www.d-face.de/en/digitalisation/d-face-structure/stolit-k3.html
The viewer is able to interact with the material and get a sense for it's depth and surface quality.
But obviously it can produce maps like Surface Mimic offer.
Thanks for this.
Best,
Richard
Richard - I have not used the files but I like the UI on your homepage. Very interactive
Mike
[...] دانلود تیزر تبلیغاتی مطالب مرتبط با این موضوعطراحی و ساخت تیزر تبلیغاتی ، آگهی تجاریتیزر تبلیغاتی شامپو Clear با افترافکت و Cinema 4dپشت صحنه ساخت تیزر تبلیغاتی , VFX BreakDownsمصاحبه با کارگردان و تهیه کننده انیمیشن کوتاه La Lunaپلاگین Element 3Dجلوه های ویژه سینمائی Red Tailsمراحل ساخت یک شات CGتجهیزات فیلمبرداری , استودیو فیلمسازی , کروماکیتکسچر با کیفیتآموزش مت پینتینگ , Matte Painting [...]
Very short but great Interview ... Thanks
Amazing. I didn't want it to end.
D
Great article, extensive and accurate, just I miss you mentioning Pulldownit plugin for destruction, it is used currently by some mayor VFX Houses like Cinesite, just to let you know.
Really enjoyed this movie. The VFX felt even cooler being shot as handheld footage.
Excellent episode! That was a great interview with Mr. Trumbull. He's still as much a visionary as he's always been. I really agree with his ideas about immersive movies, and I like that he allows traditional cinema to co-exist with it. It would be great to have cinematic stories (ideally shot on film) alongside spectacular ride-like experiences acquired with the latest digital equipment. Having both would surely get more people into cinema's.
It's so cool that he shoots miniatures for sets instead of getting them out of a computer!
Cinema's? Excuse my spelling error. It's a dead giveaway I'm Dutch...
What about Lacie Thunderbolt drive with eSata ports ?! - http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/08/ces-2012-lacie-hub-connects-esata-drives-to-thunderbolt-macs/
is that on the market ? I have not seen it for sale?
Mike
don't think its available yet.. but wouldn't it be good if a TB drive had esata too?
i mean how hard can it be?
jason
yes but then again in the "wouldn't it be good" -category you could say
" wouldn't a Red thunderbolt card reader be brilliant" ?
Mike
Hi,
I have one question. I didn't get exactly what Mr. Trumbull means by 360 degree shutter, "A 360 shutter that means shutter never close". What does this mean in digital camera? 'Cause, as I know, we don't have shutter "angle" in digital.
If it is a negative camera equivalent, what is it in digital camera terminology?
By the way, it was very informative and interesting. Thank you fxguide and Douglas Trumbull.
Ali
Agree, Mr. Seymour. 🙂
Another thing to point out is that the LaCie device linked to here is simply a Thunderbolt/eSata hub (the enclosure just has a power supply and esata card).Y ou'd still need an esata drive.
This does maybe look a bit more robust than the express card adapter....
Hey Mike,
I absolutely love fxguide, and have learned a ton from you guys. I'm just an amateur dreaming of greater things at the moment though. Hope to someday have a chance to meet you!
Keep up the great work,
Andrew
a 360 degree shutter is short hand for fully open shutter - unlike film that is closed half the time. As the controls for a manual film shutter are in degrees and as the only other way to refer to this is more complex (talking in terms of exposure time is frame rate dependent) - most people use degrees to talk about digital shutters- by way on ease of use - but it is not an accurate term.
And as such on say a Red camera there is an option to control shutter time by degrees - I assume as Doug was referring to our EPIC a lot in that interview and he also uses one from time to time - that is why he said that.
Mike
hats off to you guys the work how you visualized is really awesome Marc Weigert Sir .......
Really great interview. I'm now a dedicated listener of The Business. Kim is amazingly well informed.
Mike - would you consider comedies like Bridesmaids or The Hangover middle-ground, or are they more low budget by Hollywood standards? They seem to be the big draws nowadays. Thanks.
D
it is a great question: Bridesmaids is excellent example of where I think the future is - $36m budget so at $250M+ gross it makes a great profit. Plus it was not a comic book spin off !
Mike
From the sounds of her Kristen Wiig/Annie Mumolo interview, it seems like Judd Apatow doesn't have trouble finding financing.
D
I read somewhere it will have 720P output. Is that right? Sounds odd to me.
D
Actually, this is a quote from Vincent Laforet. Perhaps I am misinterpreting what he is saying:
"BUT you’ll get 720p out during record given the new processor – which is going to be reason enough for many to upgrade to the body for production."
D
I believe that is right 720 but not 1920x1080 on the HDMI. I will check - but does anyone know?
Why on earth would you have 720 out and not full uncompressed? Simply for monitoring maybe? I say either go all or nothing. I think I'll wait for the Magic Lantern unified on my MKII.
D
What this means as with the MkII, from 1080p output on standby the camera will drop resolution on record due to the extra processing required. 720p output from the MkIII is actually a VERY welcome improvement over the MkII which currently only gives you 480P when recording which makes picking focus a right pain.
As with the 1Dx and nikons new cameras its quite possible to get 1080P out of the HDMI and they of course all record 1080 to the card but as soon as you record they drop down to now was is looking like 720p across the board.
There is no 'clean' output from the MkIII's HDMI on standby as yet meaning menus etc can't be switched off but i have heard that a canon spokesman said this is 'at the moment' and couldn't see why this couldn't be added later
Im going to add to that last statement and say that theres still some contention as to what resolution (if any) the output changes to in record mode. Watch this space
Don't you mean 4:2:0? I haven't heard any mention of 4:2:2 recorded internally/natively on any DSLR.
Yes thanks - fixed that
good day
I would like to know is there a way I could create the red queens head for myself, we have a party and I would really want to look the whole part. so it must be a DIY head. Do you have any ideas?? please
I've been playing around with this very same idea. Since modern Digital Cinema camera like the red have been able to capture more and more into the non visible infrared spectrum. Its pretty ingenious to capture it with two cameras on a stereo rig with zero offset.
Bi
Brillant*
It is great isnt it? Really clever. I love these guys - really clever and super nice guys to talk to.
A full-length version of "Who Cares?" is available on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zENSk7DHuHY
great idea. I could see this working nicely in a stop motion environment, since it's so controlled. Beats the previous idea of UV blacklights and UV paint, which seemed to be to tall of an order for the on-set folks because not all shots employ the req'd DMC controller.
I wonder if there'd be an easy way to "ka-chink!" an infrared filter into place in front of the camera during the dragon capture process so this is "just another pass..." hmmm, will have to source some oversize filters and employ a little robotics! thanks for the idea!
[...] انیماتورها در هنگام کار در جلوه های ویژه [...]
Fantastic Work! hats off...dneg!
[...] ارباب حلقه ها باشد و با یک فضای طنزآلود نیز بالانس شود دانلود تیزر تبلیغاتی جالبیه ولی مال اینوری ها همش کپی از سایت [...]
[...] می کنیم . پشت صحنه جلوه های ویژه سینمائی حجم 20 مگ دانلود انیماتورها در هنگام کار در جلوه های ویژه حجم 17 مگ [...]
The product is looking very promising, but the price is extremely dissappointing. 🙁 I was expecting something between 500 - 1200 USD, tops.
It is a good film - I cant see why there is so much against it in the press, and we have more from Cinesite coming up on fxguidetv.
Speaking personally only - I did not need to see this in 3D - I did but I look forward to seeing it in 2D a second time to compare.
I completely agree. I still can't get my head around all the negative press?
nice job..but don't you think that might have used Massive during all this?
I tend to agree. I had a look at the beta and although it did look super cool and has great potential I couldn't justify its price point for the use I'd get out of it. We're a pretty small studio. I do all the conforming and shot set up and about 75% of the comping myself. Its a mostly manual process for me with some scripts, spreadsheets and an organised methodology and it works ok.
I can see how the bigger shops would lap this up even at the price tag tho and how in a bigger pipeline it would probably pay for itself. But I can justify spending more on a cms than on our NLE or our 3D or comping tools.
I have to say I'm disappointed in FXGuide for showing nudity in there content. It's bad enough to have it, and on top of that there wasn't even a warning.
Their*
Just to jump in...
We would 100% warn if there was nudity.. but there is none we saw... in another post with a real model - we blurred things that some people might find offensive. As a father of younger children - I respect anyone's request for a warning but these were digital mannequins. They are - in our minds - the same as undressed shop front mannequins. There is no explicit nudity.
Of course at quick glance the video may seem to show that, but we have checked and we are fairly sure on this one... but please email me at mikes at this web site (fxguide.com) and I am happy to discuss it further.
Our intent is highlight the great work of these artists in a professional context. We are not seeking to exploit or offend.
Mike
man i loved this movie...
i saw it when i was seriously stoned but it rocked it was even better than transformers 3d
A serious movie. i liked it. Thumbs up!
Hi Guys,
I still love the articles here but you please STOP using videos that load automatically.
If I want to watch something I'm perfectly capable of pressing the arrow or downloading the video. In the meantime its hogging bandwidth which, in some Wifi situations, can be a real issue.
Thanks.
[...] تیزر تبلیغاتی Jeep Avalanche [...]
Gents,
Re: Digital Bolex
First, the market is right for this. Camera manufacturers promise the moon and deliver beach front property in Kansas. It's time for dreamers like Joe and Elle. Need I remind you about what is possible: Exhibit A, the Panasonic DVX-100 and the Andromeda modification. With major entrenched camera makers It's about protecting markets now and in the future.
There is no way that this will be for the light at heart (Soccer Moms).... The storage, bit rate and uncompressed nature of medium requirements to process the footage will be very intensive (at least according to the specs).
A 2K Super-16 sized sensor in my opinion is a viable option. Lets face it we've made it about the machine that goes ping (w/Super35mm)....Dogma 95 showed us that in the hands of the right person anything is possible and that was Sony VX-1000. It's not just the tool, its the hand that wields it.
I agree though that an August delivery date will be tough to meet. I'm hopeful. Personally my fingers are crossed for these two
Cheers,
DM Wexler
+1 with the above suggestion, please turn off auto pre-buffering, it makes the rest of the images on the page load slow and pretty much lags all the other videos that I want to watch.
Thx for the mention 🙂
I heard the PhDOD podcast and I was reading the article, and I couldn't for the life of me understand how they had set up two cameras to shoot at the same time form the exact same spot. It wasn't until I saw the graphic with the schematic of the rig that I got it and thought, what cleverness.
Really amazing solution.
I'm all for NSFW, but this coin toss really.
These are in effect animated virtual mannequins. NOT REAL. NOT "ANATOMICALLY CORRECT" shall we say.
I think someone who didn't know what they were looking at could have a knee-jerk reaction that this is objectionable somehow.
I wonder how they would react to virtual models breastfeeding? Would that be "natural" and "beautiful"?
Great app and an equally great walkthrough but at 1/2 the price of Resolve this is probably the first grading app to cost as much as the device you use it on.
How about implying the fxphd or fx guide members attending the conference in doing some addition coverage for fx guide tv? Over at fxphd I saw that quiet a few will be there
Not related to this podcast per se, but a fun read nontheless.
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/03/hammerforum-com
he he ... nice one ... the bullet-time on the handdriven MkII (little subtext here?) is my favorite 😉
My favourite is Angie at the end. 😀 She's badass!
...as we are on the 31st I didn`t get it for a few seconds...
LOL! you got me!
What was not explained is that you can do the same rigs with an Ipad 2 and 1 if you do not update to the last iOS version. But of course Apple try to force you to buy the new Ipad 3 by hidding this fact.
If you use the non retina screens of the iPad 1 & 2 in that shoulder rig the combined moire on moire of the 5D MkII and the iPad render the shoulder rig useless, however with the retina screen of the MkIII.. mmm one sweet setup
You get these problem because you don't combine the rig with an additional Iphone using with 3cP / Image Control Pro Iphone version. My mistake if forgot to mention it in my first post, all the details are in http://www.qbn.com/topics/655553 😉
nice one! 🙂
There's also a virtual cinematography version where you can use the accelerometer and gyroscope to mocap your camera and shoot the 3D scene at once. It is an evolution of the system used for LOTR in the Moria. probably they used some proto with the Ipad 3.5 on the hobbit ... (The Ipad 3.5 is like the Ipad 3 but you can choose the color of the case and it uses Istorm instead of Icloud).
Brilliant!
I am going to sell my gear and buy 3 iPads. I just love these bullet-time stuff!
is this a joke?
Guys...
You for got to mention that Apple now has a patent on infinite Depth of Field, or "iDOF".
🙂
Alex
Ok.. i blew it.. victim of a typo.
1480 fps DOES indeed sound too good to be true as the top speed for the FS700.. thats be cause its not.
480fps up to approx. 9sec *1920x432 skipped readout, interpolated to 1920x1080 recording
960fps up to approx. 19sec *1920x216 skipped readout, interpolated to 1920x1080 recording
Jason
Fantastic article Ian, thanks so much !
Matt
I just adore Adam Howard's work - and was rather interested in his Second Unit Directing work he did recently. What an incredible FX brain to have in the Director's chair...
battle royale was kick ass :p
I will be there on Friday 11th May screening Fubar-Redux followed by a Q&A / Presentation of how it was made completely inside Nuke (Foundry are one of the technology sponsors of the project).
In the meantime you can watch the film via www.fubar-movie.com
Hope to see you there.
HaZ
http://www.fmx.de/program/detail-2012/event/635/918/44/918/detail/Event.html
Video loads but doesn't seem to play. Anyone else seeing this?
Hey David -- I believe I fixed the issue. Try it now!
In what sort of situations would Mocha be useful to a Nuke workflow?
Call me ignorant, I can definitely see it's use in the AE world (Heck, I use Mocha with AE quite a bit), I'm just relatively new to Nuke and would just like some more information.
regards,
Philip,
You can copy & paste between mocha & Nuke just like AE.
What you get is a roto node filled with your mocha shapes.
I use it daily as nothing touches mocha for planar tracking.
Does that answer your question?
"Renderers are like religion. Rendering is a religion!" ahhah yeah i totally agree. Actually i m more curious about Arnold. Since its website doesnt give any info ( like you wrote) i read some articles from web . people who worked with Arnold in big campanies they all said its really fast. But it seems like we have to wait until when they decided to sell in small campanies.
About mentalray i think they better to rewrite some its code.. Even though i personally "love" mental ray when it comes to calculating GI it begins to test ur stress.. I think thats why lots of people and lots of campanies prefer vray in these days. Renderman's shrinkwrap tech is also interesting.
As a final word i was actually hoping to see more topics about mentalray
But i have to thank you guys again. This is really a great topic to cover.
thank you for the road test it looks interesting....
but do you also have 4k footage RAW 12bit or even 16bit to share?
Wow. Great Job Mr Seymour. Thorough. Thank you for the excellent information.
Yes we will be sharing clips but inside our fxphd site, as the RAW 4K are huge we cant just post them. But we have a more indepth look at the F65 next week in fxphd that also includes green screen test
that sound good, thank you.
Any chance of seeing the short film in 1080p H264 instead of the web-sized version that's embedded here?
Probably the best article I've ever read on the subject. It's a general enough overview to get an idea of everything that is out there and the terminology, but not so much that it is too dry to get through. This is fantastic!
This article appears to be interesting but a little incomplete.
What about the PantaRay engine (Weta Digital), or Newtek's LightWave3D render engine? They're both used in production A LOT, well more than other render engines listed in this article.
Something about Pantaray:
http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-features/45279-nvidia-unveils-pantaray-engine
Something about LightWave3D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9raYQYdh-E
Yes I am in dialogue to include LW. I expect to interview them soon... I should have included LW.
Re PantaRay - I believe Weta use this as a GPU renderer not for final shots.
We included only some GPU renderers to say this is an area to watch - but to my knowledge - large studios like Weta, ILM, Framestore etc dont use GPU ray tracering GI renderers in production on major films - and it was this angle we took for the article. I could have included many more GPU renderers but I wanted to more flag them as of great interest - but they were not the focus. But if I am wrong about Weta please let me know
Thank you Mike!
Great Article! But surprisingly, there's no mention of Arion Render by RandomControl?! http://www.facebook.com/pages/RandomControl/117928991593700
Well I think I can answer that Randi
1. the product is not out yet
2. nor is the demo version I believe 🙂
3. It is a GPU Nvida renderer (we were focused not on GPU - but included some to suggest this is an area to watch)
4. the article is about Rendering in production especially features, and we have never ever heard of it being used .. see points 1 and 2 above 🙂
That being said. It does look like interesting tech but without production exposure I did not include it.
Mike
unbelievable and enlightening listening to this.
Taken from the United States Department of Labor and California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement list of six criteria that must be met for an unpaid intern.
4. The employer that provides the training must not derive any immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded.
In light of his explanation, DD is still wrong according to the above if they are making money (an immediate advantage) on unpaid interns work that displace regular employees. This guy's sugar coating is BS trying to make a bad intention excusable by justifying it. "We're not the first" (what, thief?). I learn on the job everyday even after 17years and my BA wasn't a trade school education. I listened to an hour of a guy saying our bad isn't quite as bad as everything else.
http://www.wageandhourcounsel.com/2010/04/articles/minimum-wage/united-states-department-of-labor-and-californias-division-of-labor-standards-enforcement-clarify-rules-governing-compensation-for-interns/
I agree with you - It is certainly true that this epidemic of interns being taken advantage of across multiple if not every industry is inexcusable.
The current economic climate is escalating the effects of 'fat cats' at the top earning multibillion dollar/pound/etc salaries whilst it is increasingly hard for people to find paid work, let alone internships that abuse your skills whilst trying to join the remnants of the 'career ladder'.
Some semblance of order and control of pay needs to be put in place for the types of salaries these 'higher ups' earn. It is them that abuse the current economic situation - it leaves me very disillusioned as a recent graduate.
The situation is so dire that I believe we won't see the fallout of this until decades into the future.
Does this apply to Florida as well or just in California?
That's a federal list which the states should adhere to. It's an issue even in small shops. I've seen many motion graphics companies bring on lots of interns and they are tasked on paying jobs as anyone else. Albeit with less responsibility and more supervision under the disguise of "education". If they are just starting out, you will not hear them, the employers, or clients complaining; just everyone else who's making a living who learns they aren't paid. If free interns worked on free jobs, there wouldn't be an issue. That's just not the case I've seen or heard on this interview.
The art of roto has just meet its next evolution
Great article, incredible how far we have come.
One more 'history bit' for Arnold:
We had a few people, myself included, working at Station X, that are European and the first reason why Marcos
started Arnold was rather simple.
At the time making lights look like volumes was hard to do, most solutions where as simple as to run a fractal pattern through a cone with mutiple slices and it became a little bit of an inside joke whenever we had make them.
Because we where rather young at the time and fresh from the boat so to speak, most of our weekends, if not working we would be at rave parties since Techno/House etc was at its height in Europe.
And because such parties always featured insane amounts of light effects interacting we always wanted to be able to make this happen in vfx, with the naive idea that some day we could make extra money, free beer and vip access by having a 'previs simulation' of a light play, so any rave organiser could make the shows even more spectacular.
One of the very first 'rendered' images out of Arnold was a scene of a dancing girl with some gobo's interacting and it didnt have the 'cone overlapping' effect normally associated with additive processes. Marcos knew we had a potential hit.
Andy Lesniak's 'live' Arnold soundboard of course sealed the deal later so to speak 😛
Would you use Pretend for first pass stereo adjustments and then use something like nuke/ocula for more detailed shots and fine tuning? Would this supposed to take the place of Ocula? Either way this is very cool software.
I'm wondering what you think of black magics new camera http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/
it sounds almost what red was origonally offering their scarlet to be 2.5K for $3K 13 stops, 12 bit raw output plus ProRes, electronic canon lenses, thunderbolt, hd-sdi, records to SSD etc etc
We will cover the BlackMagic extensively Tuesday's fxguide LIVE coverage - especially the LIVE RC show. We have detailed coverage.
Great article! 'Pretend' looks super cool! So this is the original Nothing Reel guys and girls?
It would be super cool with more "causal" tweets. Just pictures and short pieces of what you see that is cool. Nto so formal but more "Hey look at this cool shit!". =)))
Keep it up guys and don't forget to drink. 😉
Thank you for allowing translation of great article.
As I mentioned on twitter yesterday, I posted it on my blog here http://maxwellsandy.blogspot.com/2012/04/art-of-rendering.html
Thanks.
As a Fullsail Grad I would encourage everyone to take this interveiw to heart. If you can burn it and pass it along to all the students that can still get their student loans refunded. Please don't graduate with 90,000+ usd in debt, its not worth it.
Studios have made so much money with these vfx feature films. For them to win even more we now have to work so much. And now since the buisness model for vfx houses is really hard to maintain (and I totally understand that) the workers have to make more efforts and students need to pay so much for free work. Well maybe studios should pay more in the first place.
This is a great article, very useful and accurate informations. Thank you.
2 NAB's ago, I ran into an old buddy from my discreet days who was working for a company called Maximum Throughput. He demo'd me a completely cloud based NLE. A little primitive, but completely impressive. He got me a beta account and I showed it to a few groups back home. About 6 months later, Avid quietly acquired Maximum Throughput.
I'd seen some infrequent press releases about Avid tech demos showing related technology with Media Composer as the front end. With the cloud maturing, I knew it would only be a matter of time. This year Adobe shows larger scale forward looking tech demo and Avid offers Media Sphere as part of ISIS.
This will change everything.
Although I didn't get to see the Adobe demo, I'm hoping its akin to "Cloud BIN".
Editor A has footage locally and starts to edit.
Frames from sources used in active sequences start to sync to the cloud at both proxy and full res versions.
Editors at other locations can pick up the project from the cloud playing back via proxy stream first with full res frames filling in intelligently via usage.
totally cool. I'm psyched....
Alex
Amazing article, thanks for sharing it with us.
Maybe it was worth mentioning the work done by Digital Domain in the Tron movie using Vray. Also, do you have any information to share about Blue Sky renders? I've see you mentioned it, but it would be nice if you have something to say about it.
hi!
I recently did a tutorial exactly on this thopic, the big head of the queen.
I was heavily inspired by this article here!!
So, thanks a lot for the creative input!
If you want to check it out pease watch it here:
https://vimeo.com/40754961
you're crazy...I like it !!
You guys just have way too much fun!
hahaha !! Love you guys!!
LOL!!! Awesome!!!
[...] Download Video [...]
Looks great guys!
I was looking forward to drinken a beer with the fxguide crew at the next fmx, but some new projects have messed up that plan, so maybe next year 🙂
An excellent example of effects break-down.
Nice additions.
Quick question can you put weights to how each spline affects in final camera solve
Best
Are all the fxguide meetups like that one? LOL
I nearly died laughing watching Jace dry hump Woody.
I agree its one of the best breakdowns. I especially love the first part with render passes.
I hope you both get some well deserved rest.
Yes this is a normal day in the life of fxphd/fxguide - standard operating procedure really!
Glad you guys enjoyed it
Great Article...! Have to say it's truly inspiring work, it's great to hear the workflow and thought process of getting the behaviour of the beast in its environment!
Does anybody have any advice for getting into character td type work.. like what to include on a junior reel if wanting to specialise in this?.. Any good training resources for things like fur, rigging, skin, muscle?! I have skills in modelling/sculpting characters but I really want to get into the technical side of character work. Cheers!
excellent work ! Congratulations Gareth !
Nice shirt for being filmed Mike 😉
Wow, thanks for publishing this! It has been a long time since I worked on this project and it's nice to see it in the light of day! I certainly would have been an amazing version of this movie, too bad the stock market crashed, it certainly would have been fun! Thanks to Berton Pierce for letting the world see the amazing work the model makers in Australia built they were one of my best crews.
Ian, it would have been nice if you contacted the Model makers who built the Titanic Models Gene Rizzardi, George Stevens (Digital Domain Model Crew Chiefs) and Don Pennington (larger scale Models)
[...] Download Video [...]
Really great looking model work. It was a shame not to see it used in the film
Great article! Thank you.....FXG
I see me.
This is a really great discussion.
I'm a 24 year old projectionist at a multiplex with 12 Barcos for a year now as a day time job while building my showreel.
And ever since I've been working here I've been trying to get the luminance up.
Especially in the biggest room we have with a 3D show it's just too low.
We have a 22 m wide screen for 430 seats with a Barco 32B projector with a 6.5 kW lamp in it. During 3D I barely hit 6 foot lambert. But every time I reconfigure the projectors and do some testing I get yelled at from the managers that I burn the lamps too fast. They just don't care for the quality we give our viewers. When they go to see a film I get remarks that it's too dark. Such a shame that they don't understand what it takes. That's why I'm really interested in this kind of tech, while I won't be in the projection end of the business hopefully by next year, it's good to know where your material goes and how it ends up on the screen.
Anyway, this interview shows again that an fxinsider subscription is worth every cent.
Thanks guys.
Rio
A thing to add is that NVIDIA launched OptiX:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/optix.html
A library which helps writing Raytracers for GPUs.
Thanks for the very good Article, Mike.
saw this last night, was so cool and director is still interviewing more people! hopefully it will make it to dvd/blu-ray
great article! really cool to see how some of the sweetest shots of the movie came together!
Please check out the new version of this story
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art-of-stereo-conversion-2d-to-3d-2012/
Mike
These "Art Of" features are absolutely incredible. Thank you.
D
This really amazing knowledge sharing. Thanks to fxguide and also Cinesite, Stereo D, Legend3D, Prime Focus, In-Three / Digital Domain.
Wonderful articles! Thank you so much!
I'd like to point out that the entire White Ape sequence was done in stereo at DNeg and a few hundred other shots in the film were also handled by DNeg. Stereo D also did a bit of work on John Carter.
This article was clearly well researched and presented. I will admit I have learned quite a bit, even though the tool-kits and methodology for doing conversion, broadly speaking, is the same.
The thing with Stereoscopic 3D the way I see it today being done in Hollywood, is I feel that for some un-known reason the companies involved seem to WANT to re-invent the wheel? Why?
I would like state first off, that Conversion is a MUCH NEEDED Vfx tool in S3D film making. But just as the ending of the 4th paragraph in this article pointed out. It should be used for the TINY amount of shots where it actually might not be feasible or possible to capture in native S3D. And for S3D shot fixing.
Here's some points to Ponder:
1) We are in 2012... are 3D rigs and acquisition systems still the same in price and cumbersome-ness as they were in 2009?
2) When looking at the Moon, do astronomers use magnifying glasses or binoculars and then "paint in finer details" from a printout? or do they use a telescope? . WHY then do Directors and Cinematographers still hung-up on using the kind of camera or lens system that they KNOW will create havoc in 3D? Why not shoot with the appropriate camera / lens system (primes for example) and use a combination of Planning, Camera blocking. DOLLYING instead of zooming (long lenses)... when *These* are the techniques that make for good S3D films
3) Has anyone done a price comparison of what it costs to do a conversion OF THE QUALITY and TIME FRAME of Titanic for today's movies that Directors want to shoot in 2D and then convert?
I assure you that if your aiming for Titanic like quality conversions for your TO-BE-SHOT film, your better off planning and using today's 3D rigs to get a more superior and cost effective result.
Now I'm not against 2D to 3D conversions completely. I would say that a compromise is in order.
What I believe would be ideal is if A film production was to evaluate what parts of a film would be better shot native, what parts rendered in native S3D (for CGI) and what parts could/should be converted (lets say action shots which are by nature, fast and may be expensive to capture from a multiple 3D rigs...car chases, stunts, explosions etc which are non CGI)
For the record EVEN TITANIC has quite a few noticeable errors in the conversion process. I will not enumerate them all, but just from watching the theatrical release (without the luxury of being able to pause the film) here are two:
1) The helicopter when it lands on the research vessel (see the sides of it)
2) The Old car arriving and being prepared to be hauled up on the Titanic.
If you have read my comment/rant this long, you may possibly be a Director or Cinematographer pondering what route/path to take on their next 3D film. Do read this article for some insights:
http://realvision.ae/blog/2012/05/avengers-of-stereoscopic-3d/
The article may also be of help to artists (who I hold in the highest regard, because I have exposure of the pain-staking work that goes into roto, modelling and VFX work).
For sake of completeness, reviews on the stereoscopic 3D aspects of one example film mentioned in the FXguide article above:
John Carter: 2D to 3Ds "uncanny valley?"
http://realvision.ae/blog/2012/03/john-carter-stereoscopic-3d-conversions-uncanny-valley/
More...
Street Dance (possibly a poster child of WHY a native S3D shot film could drive Directors to full conversions)
http://realvision.ae/blog/2012/04/it-takes-two-to-tango-in-three-d/
Ghost Rider: what is Depth Skidding in 2D to 3D conversions?
http://realvision.ae/blog/2012/02/a-new-wave-of-bastardized-3d-movies/
if a conversion house can come up with a means of seeing rough previews in real-time (does not have to be final quality) of a 2D feed coming in and being output in true 3D (and not via a jvc or similar box which could give you pseudo 3d)... Then we are on to something!
Seeing in 2D and shooting for 3D is the reason for so much bad framing, careless rack-focus, and insipid 3D.
I'll end by leaving you with this thought: "If your shooting a 3D movie, it's critical that you VIEW in 3D on-location, anything less is bastardized 3D"
Regards,
Clyde
"Think in 3D"
(Again: thanks to the author, and contributing authors of the FXguide article for sharing their knowledge)
I'm all for it. That's a fact. I gathered up all the signed cards from the guys/girls at work and brazenly sent them out through Imageworks' mail-room. We are not afraid.
We do, however, interface with SPA employees daily, who aren't all that enthused about that which is promised: While we still get our sick days, paid holidays, etc., they do not.
Portable health care is a huge draw for the down-times... Let's be honest though. The 'protection' promised by this union (and PAID FOR by it's members) isn't all that impressive. Disney and Dreamworks employees end up being dumped almost as frequently as we are these days. Do their union benefits (and dues) make it all that worth it?
When the union shows some sack on bargaining, I'll be more inclined to do the bare minimum in seeking a movement at Imageworks... our SPA neighbors aren't exactly enthused.
-Imnonymous
Hello Anon/Jim Gilhooley -
I'm glad to hear you're so supportive that you were willing to use the Sony mailroom to mail the signed representation cards. I appreciate you taking the time to voice some of your concerns.
I'm surprised to hear that SPA employees "aren't enthused". Are you saying that SPI employees get sick days and paid holidays? I haven't heard that from any SPI employee before, but that's not to say its not true. While I'd have to check on the specifics for sick days, SPA employees are contractually obligated to Vacation Days as described on page 42 of the TSL/SPA agreement.
Next, you've denigrated unionization and further attempted to invoke some fear and doubt by calling in the dues and fees union members pay by comparing this protection to the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health plans. Not a very gentlemanly tactic.
The protection that Mr. Marley spoke of comes from the enforcement of the collectively bargained contract. That contract is made using the cohesive voice of all the employees in the unit, exponentially increasing the strength and weight of that voice. Those contracts include workplace conditions and standards that absolutely protect the artists. Those contracts do not keep an employer from ending a work relationship with an artist when the project is finished. Is that something you'd like to see in a union contract? Permanent employment clauses? Do you really see that as something feasible in a work contract?
Sac on bargaining? Well, its now obvious you haven't read what the IATSE was able to achieve in their recent contract negotiations with the AMPTP. Feel free to read the press releases as well as commentary from industry outlets on the IATSE's website page posted about the 2012 contract negotiations. Be sure to pay particular attention to the Health and Pension agreements which impact each and every SPA artist.
As always, feel free to contact me directly with any questions or concerns.
Steve Kaplan
Labor Organizer
The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE
[email protected]
With all of the detail and history in this article and the naming of the important players, etc., it seems negligent that there is no mention of Michael C. Kaye, the person responsible for inventing 3D conversion according to the US Patent Office, the founder of In-Three, Inc., and its original CEO. Although In-Three, Inc. is mentioned as a “significant player in high end stereo conversion,” there is no mention of Kaye in the article. The article also fails to mention that Kaye pushed digital 3D awareness to the studios, film makers, and exhibitors at a time when there was no interest in 3D whatsoever; including organizing the first major digital 3D event at ShoWest in March of 2005. The article even makes mention of certain developments in 3D conversion back in 1997 that were done personally by Kaye even before he started In-Three; but yet again, the article makes no mention of him nor consulted him for comment. Accordingly, this article is not totally historically accurate and should be re-written to include Mr. Kaye’s significant contributions to 3D conversion. It is a shame that he was omitted.
read more...
[...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]...
well detailed.. mighty kind of you!
Nice interview Mike. Can we get one with Peter Doyle? Some interesting color choices in the film...
so none of these videos has audio.
Thinks links to the images appears to be broken. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this article. Thanks guys.
Thank you - those image links should now be fixed.
all fixed, the ILM clips have no audio btw
Hmm.. videos are not working for me. Even when I download mp4 its still most of the time black.
And I really enjoyed this article to. Great job fxguide team 🙂
Love the ILM featurette. It's nice to know that even ILM faces these incredibly daunting deadlines...I'd be interested to hear how they work with their Singapore offices and how they maintain a persistence of vision and quality of work.
damm cant wait to see that one at danish tele
Fantastic interview and article. Paul Debevec's work is mind blowing.
hola existe los cursos en español o no donde entro qusiera saber si es verdad o no gracias
muchas gracias
muy bacano megustaria que traducieran otras mas
Fantastic class !
Gotta sign up now ^_^
Hey thanks !
Mike
Is there supposed to be sound?
Hi Dillon - there's audio on the ILM featurette and 'on deck' clip, but not in Image Engine's breakdowns. Cheers, Ian.
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Double Negative, under visual effects supervisor John Moffatt, orchestrated an elaborate collection of forest animals and creatures for the Dark Forest, including twisted trees and branches, a bat creature, oozing muscles, beetles and butterflies. For a climatic sequence, Dneg also created the Dark Fairies conjured by the queen when Snow White and co attack the castle. Made up of obsidian shard-like elements, the Fairies are humanoid in shape and move quickly against their opponents. Download Video [...]
[...] “We’d also do a series of clean takes,” adds Brozenich. “I was concerned it would tie us in to too much timing – that the interaction might penetrate the Chimera or go through people in an unnatural way – but nine out of ten times we ended up going for the original special effects pass on it, because it really suited Jonathan’s style – grit, dirt, debris. For us to add all that back in was never going to be as convincing as when we shot it for real.” Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Using an ILM model of the Quinjet and a digi-double of Thor, Weta then created shots of the flying God taking Loki onto the mountaintop. “We ingested both of those things into our system, adding detail to the jet and built our cloth sims into that based on our own systems,” says Williams. “We re-groomed the hair from scratch because no two hair tools are ever going to be the same. For our digi-doubles we have a Gen Man asset that forms into the general shape, so that we can leverage all the tissue and muscle stuff we’ve done for development into every digi-double. So that means all the digi-doubles get their own A-level treatment instead of having to be developed from scratch, because at the end of the day everyone has a bicep and a tricep – so as long as you do that once you should be able to migrate it.” Download Video [...]
[...] Using an ILM model of the Quinjet and a digi-double of Thor, Weta then created shots of the flying God taking Loki onto the mountaintop. “We ingested both of those things into our system, adding detail to the jet and built our cloth sims into that based on our own systems,” says Williams. “We re-groomed the hair from scratch because no two hair tools are ever going to be the same. For our digi-doubles we have a Gen Man asset that forms into the general shape, so that we can leverage all the tissue and muscle stuff we’ve done for development into every digi-double. So that means all the digi-doubles get their own A-level treatment instead of having to be developed from scratch, because at the end of the day everyone has a bicep and a tricep – so as long as you do that once you should be able to migrate it.” Download Video [...]
[...] Although Rhythm used some mocap for the body motion, all facial work was hand-animated, with the rest of the troll’s body made up of root-like muscles and a coarse skin texture. “The skin had to feel like different callus’ had developed on it,” says Rhythm visual effects supervisor Todd Shifflett, “and that they would read more like different roots and rocks that he had developed.” Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
I hear it now... probably something going on with my boxx. Thanks!
[...] Cisco add Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
I'll be attending, business cards in hand, this weekend but I've never done a career fair before. I'm confident that I interview and present myself well to prospective employers, but this situation is unique to me. I hail primarily from a web design background and I'm trying to grow my horizons. I'm well versed in After Effects for a wide variety of tasks and I'm starting to take on Nuke. My portfolio is slim in the field of visual effects and motion graphics, but I have a few things to show.
Would you mind throwing out a few pointers on how to approach recruiters at the job fair on Saturday?
my advice
1. research he companies
2. know the position you want
3. be honest and yourself
4. your reel is key - keep it super short
Mike
Do you know if all of the companies will be in each location or is is some at each? I saw pixamondo posted that they're going to be at the Hollywood one, so I guess they won't be at the London one. It's a bit misleading.
Strange not to see Framestore on the list. Oh well still going to be a great meet and greet! Looking forward to it.
Are you saying Framestore is attending? We were not given their name - but if they are, we are very happy to add them
Hi, this may sound like a noob question.. but, I take it my showreel on Vimeo is not the way to show my work.. I mean, I will need a hard copy on dvd?.. And I'll need enough copy's to leave with all the studios I speak to? Cheers!
No - that is not true - all but one company we spoke to (D.Neg) wanted to see a reel via the net... but some like D.Neg still do like to see a dvd - so ideally take a business card with the WEB address - but have a few dvd's just in case
Mike
Thanks Mike, Forgot to mention I enjoyed the BKG class you spoke of this last week. With this being a job fair though, I wasn't sure of the setup and how it works. I assumed you would have a chat say with someone from DNeg at their own booth while they look at your reel (via dvd) which would give them a chance to ask questions etc.. or is it just the case that you have a chat and leave your details, link to my reel and they'll get back to you?! Cheers
I'm fairly new in the industry so about half my current reel is actually work done in Mark's Arbiter class at FXPHD. Are recruiters used to seeing this sort of work from people who are just starting out or do they get tired of seeing the same projects over and over? It was excellent footage to work with so it looks great on the reel. ie. I can spot an Andrew Kramer tutorial on a reel a mile away, but I feel like FXPHD is much more like classwork than a straight up tutorial. In your experience is it treated this way by recruiters?
[...] Here then in-depth coverage of a few select sequences in the film, looking at the work of thePrometheus artists who, under overall visual effects supervisor Richard Stammers, recreated the world ofAlien so vividly and magnificently. Download Video [...]
Hey, the video does not play
Hi Mike,
I just realised that I might be able to attend the London fair. I don't have a business card yet because I am just about to graduate and unfortunately I won't be able to get it in time for tomorrow. Could you suggest any other acceptable way of handing in your showreel link? Maybe together on a CV?
Kind regards,
Dawid
You guys kick ass! This is a great article and big ups to the artists that worked on this - outstanding work.
it does here... When I click watch high bandwidth... what happens at your end?
mike
Volcanic landscapes of Ireland?? How can you get the primary location wrong, when you are working on the show? ...Come On guys! The principle location was Iceland, pretty obvious if you ever seen any landscape photos of iceland.
Also Ireland has no volcanos.
Ok so I agree it is Iceland - did we say Ireland somewhere??? If so it was a mistake - and a kinda funny one...
Charley Henley mentioned Ireland instead of Iceland at 14:08. kind of an amusing small mistake
Overall really enjoyed the podcast/ the movie, thanks for all the information.
Thanks - glad you liked the story. The team here worked hard to bring you this spot light on some of the best VFX we've seen this year
Great article, loved all the details. And let me say the obvious: the VFX in the movie was great. I've seen awesome VFX before in movies, but after Prometheus landed, I took out my phone, opened Facebook and posted: "Watching Prometheus. EPIC AND BEAUTIFUL VISUALS", something which I never usually do. 😀
Just the scope of the visuals, be it the opening scenes of the camera going through the valleys and waterfalls and rivers, to Prometheus landing, or the gruesome surgery scene, everything was just big and wide and epic. Plus the 3D really helped this time, unlike other movies.
Damn, I wanna see this movie again for the VFX.. (goes and books tickets). Great work by everyone in the VFX teams.
P.S: I was thinking Industrial Light and Magic must have worked in this movie, turns out they didn't 😀
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
L’Odyssée de Cartier...addicted for that series
[...] Download Video [...]
Wonderful!
Gotta love how mike says that FXGuide would warn if there were to be nudity in their content... I didn't get any warning here on that spot with the girl with the missing half of the legs.
http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-139-copas-turn-me-on-music-vid/
"We would 100% warn if there was nudity.. but there is none we saw… in another post with a real model – we blurred things that some people might find offensive. As a father of younger children – I respect anyone’s request for a warning but these were digital mannequins. They are – in our minds – the same as undressed shop front mannequins. There is no explicit nudity."
Hi
Yes we would warn of nudity, the image you are referring to in this story has a woman - clearly wearing a bathing suit, but being carried, so even if she was nude - which is absolutely is not, - you would see nothing.
Not sure Jeff what the issue is, but I stand by my comment. In a world of provocative advertising and semi-naked models, this image is valid and I would have no issue with anyone seeing it, no matter their age.
Again if I have misunderstood let me know, but perhaps you are joking - if so I missed the joke.
Mike
No joke. If you watched the whole thing you would know I was referring to the guy. He touches his dick for crying out loud... how is that not nudity?
Apologies, Jeff. I've removed the video for the time being. It was an external video not hosted by fxguide.
Thanks Ian.
[...] Download Video [...]
Sorry just to be clear that video when we posted it - did not have nudity, it was changed and as we were just linking to the video - the version you saw did involve nudity. This is a risk of us linking to third party videos- something we don't do lightly - and I would say this is the first time we have ever had an incident like this.
So again sorry. The version we approved in editorial was not that version.
Mike
Thanks Mike, I understand.
[...] The digital match move process began with the creation of a digital 20×20 foot grid in Maya. “I then purchased a black shade awning that was also 20×20 and I used orange duct tape to make a 20×20 grid that matched the digital grid,” explains Morley. “So we had a digital and a practical element. We’d bring in the digital grid with the computer generated match move camera, line that grid up on the ground of the scanned in archival footage, export all the camera data – how high it is off the deck, tilt, roll, lens size and everything. We would export a snapshot image of that grid – the grid’s perspective through that camera – and have that on set.” Download Video [...]
[...] Armed with essentially that same design from Iloura’s test, principal photography commenced. The on-set approach involved the use of a stuffie Ted stand-in and several reference and lighting passes, but also crucially the voice of Ted - MacFarlane – was there delivering lines and, for many scenes, he would also don an Xsens MVN motion capture suit to provide the character’s gross movements. Download Video [...]
[...] Production filmed the actors performing on two box cars against greenscreen. “It had very limited interactive light,” notes Method Studios visual effects supervisor Randy Goux. “Our challenge was to create it happening at night, with moonlit shadows casting down through the trees, and with the smoke from the locomotive enveloping them as they fight. There are vampires coming in and out of the smoke, with shadows happening – embers coming out of the locomotive whipping by camera. To get that mood to what was shot on the plate – what you see on the greenscreen plates to what you see in the final movie is quite drastic.” Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Production filmed the actors performing on two box cars against greenscreen. “It had very limited interactive light,” notes Method Studios visual effects supervisor Randy Goux. “Our challenge was to create it happening at night, with moonlit shadows casting down through the trees, and with the smoke from the locomotive enveloping them as they fight. There are vampires coming in and out of the smoke, with shadows happening – embers coming out of the locomotive whipping by camera. To get that mood to what was shot on the plate – what you see on the greenscreen plates to what you see in the final movie is quite drastic.” Download Video [...]
Wow, what a great article! It was like reading a thriller!
Thank you 🙂
This is one of the first podcast I heard when I discovered FxGuide....I just can say WHAT A USEFUL POCAST!! plenty of advice for the artists. In my case I'm about to enter to the industry as a concept artist...This podcast is great. You should post it again although it's from some tinme ago.
A BIG THANKS to you FxGuide guys, Mike Seymour and Teresa
Sorry my bad english
Regards from Chile
Just want to say that you guys are doing an amazing job,a big thank you to everyone at fxguide.Keep up the good work .
This was a great podcast. I went to watch the film, after listening to the review on this podcast. I just wanted to chime in, although I agree the actors for the dwarfs were all known faces. After watching the film, I really can not say I could see why the choice was to replace the faces, their roles through out the film didn't necessitate it n my opinion. In the end it seem to me, that a great opportunity was lost to let some fresh faces shine.
I know in Game of Thrones, the character in the novel itself is a little person, and is a mastermind. It's just my opinion, but it seems HBO got the better deal by not adding the unnecessary expense to the budget.
Awesome job!
Amazing interview, thank you so much to Dr Alvy, Mike and FXguide for this candid interview. So cool for a FX geeks like me to listen and hear about the history of what we take for granted. 10/10!
Fantastic article and I loved the breakdown videos! Looking forward to the VFX show :).
What an excellent article and podcast. It really put context on what was happening in my work in the early 90s, when I was working in video and these new computer guys, with their SGI machines, arrived. Why did they call a 'key' an 'alpha'? And a 'frame store' a 'frame buffer'. Why were they messing with stuff which took ages to render one frame, when our DVE could fly two channels of video around in real time? While they didn't seem to quite get the video world, they were doing some very very cool stuff and had some great demo's on their SGI Reality Engine. And they were talking about new software called Flame...
A lot has changed since then. This interview is a gem and it's great to get a perspective on what was happening in the film, computer and business worlds in those early days.
Great stuff - Thanks guys.
[...] Download Video [...]
The best podcast i have ever listened to. feel so connected when m working now. Great job guys. you are the best.
Hey Mike,
You mention Canon's 4K cinema DSLR around the 37min point in the podcast. Have you seen Shane Hurlbut's blog post about the Canon 1DC?
The Next Gen in Digital Film Capture: Canon's 4K 1DC:
http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/04/the-next-gen-in-digital-film-capture-canons-4k-1dc/
yes its intriguing but priced at more than a scarlet. admittedly scarlet needs some accessories and is not full frame but is raw and can run a max of 30fps at 5k, 1Dc can only go to 24. oh and the Scarlet is for sale now 🙂
thx for the link tho and we definitely look fwd to seeing more of this camera!
[...] Download Video [...]
WOWOWOWOWOW! I really loved this interview! Having recently read the bio on Steve Jobs, it was interesting to hear his perspective on those events. For me, as a guy who came up through the paint ranks starting with Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, a bit of "ArtStar" at a local broadcaster, and Photoshop starting from v3....this was truly fascinating....I had often wondered about the term "Alpha." This is a part of our industry heritage I, for one, am so glad that you were able to capture for posterity. Major KUDOS!
Great Article
hi, guys , this is my first visit to the site, i want to know how can i to see the interview to Pablo Helman, and matte painting tricks ?
Best Regards.
Pablo.
http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv_045/
is there a plan for a fxphd course on katana, if yes when do we see that coming .
This term (Jan 2013) there is a Katana Course at fxphd AND there is a VPN free version of Katana you can learn with.
Mike
"It would be wrong to think Katana and the other open source initiatives at SPI.."
Katana is not open source...
Sorry I did not mean to imply Katana was Open Source, but then I can see how you could read it that way...
I will edit the article to make it clearer.
Mike
What a great interview. Thanks so much for capturing this and sharing it. It is truly inspirational and crazy to think we now live in a world where the thought of this technology not exciting is absurd.
Interesting that Dr Alvy mentions Apple computers not being serious graphics machines all those years back and how that situation hasn't changed today in 2012.
Great article. Thanks for the insights. One minor thing: "SPI has its own version of the Arnold software. In the case of SPI, this version uses Open Source Shaders (OSL)." ... I guess it should say Open Shading Language rather than Open Source Shaders.
Thanks for the interview guys. I just took a look at the show notes and that picture isn't me. That's Dave Smith, who is super cool I might add... but nowhere near as sharp looking as me. Cheers! Rob
Loved this but was hoping for more 'behind the scenes' and less talk. Perhaps part 2??
Believe me if we could have gotten more footage we would have used it - but HBO approvals was VERY complex.
But if we get more we'll bring it to you
You guys overlooked the one shot that bothered me in the film; the obvious rig removal in the shot of Batman standing on top of the bridge, which you referenced when discussing the "gothic-ness" of the city. It looked as though a camouflaged Predator was holding him up by the crotch.
was waiting for this podcast.. nice one as always.
Great interview Mike. Thanks for this Founders series, it's really important that we can understand the history of cg from those who were the first settlers of these virtual worlds. Thanks also to Jim Blinn for sharing his impressive knowledge experience. As any 3d artist in the world I see his name every day in the shaders I use. Not to mention how these teapots have suffered almost all the experiments of the world in 3dsmax.
Great Interview fxguide crew, Jim is amazing inspiration.
I don't know about those nominations. Some part of me feels like TERA NOVA should have been in there somewhere. Not that I thought it was a great show, the writing was weak, but the effects work is hard to dismiss.
No doubt . DMM is the most advance and accurate tool. I love it.
https://vimeo.com/43269044
Vik Sohal always reply any query or give nice comments on online DMM test videos.
But I don't know why they never replied in a proper way when we ask about particle or fluid integration.
Although we know script exist and used by many but for a simple artist who don't know scripting it is still tough.
You can check there forum, many non replied queries are there.
Some time I thing, they won't even bother to answer, Is it there business policy. They already have big client.
If you can share it with your friends why not with us? Check this
https://vimeo.com/24031834
Hi Issac,
The ICE integration wasn't done by us, you should ask Sylvain Nouveau for that code, he has not shared it with us. All the other particle work that has been posted has been done by our customers (mostly plugin customers). There was a very nice tutorial on particle emission from surfaces that one of our users graciously posted for everyone. You can see it here:
http://www.pixelux.com/forums/showthread.php?752-Dmm-And-Maya-Particles-(-Emitting-Maya-Particles-From-Dmm-Object-)
Other users have posted work done using that technique.
As for a particle emission script that uses direct access to the DMM node we have inside of the plugin, that is still something we have to get people working code for. Right now we are focussed on the Maya 2013 build of DMM plugin and afterwards we will address this.
Best Regards,
Vik
I am sure it is not a business policy - they are a small company!!!
DMM does not do fluid sims
Mike
Small wonder
Wonderful interview and article. Mr. Blinn seems to be a genuinely wonderful person, who wants to share his knowledge to like-minded individuals. Man, I love fxguide.
Excellent. these legends are so down to earth and most of the time when they are asked about any invention that they made..they say.. Oh that was easy.. i thought why couldn't we do it in some way and i wrote a code and checked it and it worked!!! Mr Blinn has always done what he loved to do. Would love to read his autobiography..
Thanks andrew and yes jim is a great guy.
Seemed to me John was doing his best to get the info, but it was a bit of pulling teeth there. Enjoyed it none-the-less though! Thanks guys!
-Chris
@Joshua Mahan: believe it or not that's actually the plate - it's a weird effect caused by layers of background architecture lining up and sliding against eachother. There's no rig removal in that area - the safety line is in a different place altogether, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
Beautiful and timely. SIGGRAPH 2012 begins in a few days. The ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications Magazine were forever transformed by Jim Blinn's contribution.
Theresa-Marie Rhyne
Editor of the Visualization Viewpoints Department for IEEE CG&A Magazine
The story of Lasseter and Mr Blinn is funny!
Amazing article indeed ..
Thanks Mike and Fxguide Crew for sharing this.
Having worked with Jim at JPL's Computer Graphics Lab from 1984 through 1990, I would like to put a name to that genius who paved the way for Jim's success at JPL and Caltech. Robert Holzman was the man with an eye to the future of computer graphics. He went out on a limb a number of times to create an environment for a group that pushed the envelope for what could be accomplished with our hardware, software and creativity. He, also, played pivotal roles in the careers of a number of pioneers in the field. His technical and management skills were essential to our success.
Warm regards to Jim, as well.
I have been a DVE/CGI enthusiast since watching Westworld in the sevenites I have to take my hat off to the producer of this article. It is the most comprehensive and, to my knowledge, historically accurate, account of what are the most important development stages in CGI history. Well done!
thanks so much we appreciate the post
mike
HI, it was an enormous pleasure to hear this interview with one of the greatest personalities of digital imaging history, there is only one sustained annoyance.... you keep interrupting the man's flow to ask more questions, sidetracking him so we often never get to what he was about to tell us before you spoke over him! I know it's exciting to be able to chip-in with your own knowledge and opinion but, please, hold back, wait until he's finished, and then make requests for more information after he's come to the end of what he'd begun telling us. Apart from that one development point, this is a huge scoop, well done!
This is a fantastic interview, I could have listened for far longer. Fxguide is one of the best things to happen to the film community... Well... Ever. Thanks guys. Truly.
Let me guess, NO ATI Support
Probably no Intel or Trident support either. Unbelievable.
First off -- it would be great if The Foundry was easily able to support AMD, but I do know from being in on the dev process on other applications that NVIDIA cards can be way more robust for content creation type applications. I'm not talking about CUDA or OpenCL here, but simply managing large data sets and textures...getting them not just on the card, but also off the card. And if you look at it...MARI is doing some serious work with texture maps. But what do I know?
So I did drop by The Foundry booth to follow up with Jack Greasley about it. While the ATI cards still aren't certified, recent driver improvements by AMD have started to change the landscape. Try out current recent cards with the recent drivers....and you may be pleasantly surprised. Still not officially certified, but what about certification? It's definitely on the radar. The Foundry have been working very closely with AMD recently to get things working on the hardware and driver front. This isn't idle talk -- we really can't say more -- but The Foundry are definitely serious about getting AMD cards into the mix. It's just not as simple as it seems when you're doing the type of crazy stuff they're doing with hires imagery.
Well will check about card support tomorrow - I know John was aiming to investigate this a bit while we are here at Siggraph for you guys
Wow! You guys are on fire today! =)))
I can understand why you release the book for the ipad but there are professionals out there who are not using Apple products. It would be great if you could release an android or pdf version of the book as well.
I would think the two biggest reasons for making it iPad-only is the massive marketshare (and growing) compared to other tablets, and the ease of making an interactive book through Apple's free iBooks Author application. Perhaps you should write to Google and see if they can come up with something that's on par with that, and then they can look into creating an Android version. Even so - the marketshare for Android tablets are still relatively low - especially when splintered off from the Amazon Kindle Fire store. As far as the PDF goes - It seems clear to me they wanted something interactive - not just another passive PDF file.
Great news!
Great article !
Here is a video showing some VFX Breakdown of the film : http://youtu.be/1pXC3FTyafs:)
Terrible news!
I hate it!
TDI, Wavefront, Alias, 5D Cyborg, Paint/Effect/Edit, discreet*, RealViz, Softimage...
for 19 years at VFX jobs I owned and used each product from this list.
Everytime Autodesk "aqcuire" product it was complete death for product - loosing support, loosing cool featers etc.
And now Naiad - with most aggressive aqcuiring politics ever - just "Artists: you must use our products, not others! Developers: if you have something better than our (just good) we'll kill (or buy) you!"
I have no words!
All I see here is an amicable business decision on both sides. For certain Autodesk will capitalize on their investment since SideFX/Houdini has been applying serious marketing pressure in the realm of fluid dynamics. I'm hoping they infuse Naiad technology into Softimage, as it is the go-to choice for advanced simulations over Max and Maya.
Woaw, what a nice surprise to discover our name in an article from a website that I visit almost everyday.
Very honored!
if you want to see the latest from the Deka Brothers:
http://vimeo.com/dekabrothers/chrisbenoit
(this one we directed though, and didn't do the VFX - except for a bit of compositing)
Second what Sylvie said. I was in the JPL Graphics Lab from 1977-1981, and it was a real privilege to learn from both Jim and Bob. Intense, but very rewarding. Bob ensured there was an environment where Jim and all of us could get work done without interference from the administration, and it was Bob's clout at NASA that even got the lab created in the first place. As well, Bob ensured that my career got off to a good start. Impossible to overstate how important they were in the history of computer graphics.
So they tried for 5K footage for this but had to settle for 4K?
I doubt anyone on Youtube noticed.
this was great....
But I have to admit...out of context
“David rarely had Cookie on his hand while we were blocking"
and
"David’s been doing Cookie Monster for 12 years,"
made me laugh a little bit...
thanks though...
Alex
NO no no , please , i hope they 'll keep it as a standalone product , max-xsi-maya are full-up ! too many interractions
with too many plugs ...Naiad is powerfull , cause it's simple and well-optimised .Wait and see... ....fingers crossed.
I have tried downloading the free book but it says that it is only available for purchase from the US (itunes) store. Since my credit card was not issued in the US, this means that I am unable to download the free ibook. Is it possible that you can make the download available manually or in another format?
The Fluid sims in Maya need a upgrade anyway
I hope to see another great interview like this one on FX insider page !!
Agree , but how maya could display 50 Millions of particles ? I can't wait to see that....
[...] Download Video [...]
Excellent story and breakdowns! Thank you FXGUIDE. cant wait to see the movie, KICKASS! 🙂
Nice article! Just saw it last weekend. Good old muscles, good old feeling!
P.s. The download links for the first two videos, the "making of reel" and the "b-roll footage," are out of function. It would be good if they could be fixed. Thx.
Great idea, great execution, great article.
🙂
Steve,
There are a couple things that I'd like to mention since last post:
1) My usual 4% annual bump at Imageworks has become half of that- 2% this new year, which for me began in July. I fought it tooth and nail, and in the end I was finally provided with not only a 'best we're willing to do' but more importantly a 'why' by an overly honest HR representative: If it's good enough for our SPA union employees, it's good enough for you. Hmmm. Does that really cover inflation / cost of living in Los Angeles each year? My research says 'no'. This was something the guild voted on this past year and claimed as a victory.
2) Despite my filling out a union-card questionnaire affirmatively and sending it in (along with other co-workers cards), only one of the five or so of us Imageworks employees received any further correspondence from IATSE. We were only made aware of the Culver Hotel event by word of mouth and tuning in to VFX Soldier and the IATSE website. I'm complaining because that one person who DID receive correspondence, confided that he felt individualized, rather than empowered, once he realized he was singled-out.
It should be noted that my pessimism is based on my interest in unionizing, but that I'm looking for more than just an active blog and idealism. Show me the money! (above the cost of living).
Anon/Jim - 87th %
Movie of the year so far for me 😉
Some video content is not allowed in all countries ( from original uploader )
Great article, I'm sorry that I only just found it!
One minor correction (sorry I can't help myself!) regarding Maxwell Render is that it supports the rendering of hair/fibers via Maya Hair and Paint Effects, not via Maya Fur. Essentially it hooks in through Paint Effects and one of the methods for render Maya Hair is by using Paint Effects strokes.
What an amazing opportunity! If only it wasn't happening at the other side of the world!
Hopefully you're recording everything for a later fxphd class?
[...] Download Video Top Storiesfxguidetv #155: 20 years of Sony VFX and animation August 31, 2012This week we celebrate 20 years of Sony Pictures Imageworks, and 10 years of Sony Pictures Animation. Mike Seymour talks to SPI visual effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Jay Redd, and CTO Rob Bredow, about some of their key projects over the past two decades. […] Ian Failes Contact Name: * [...]
Well not everything... but yes this will feed into a course in fxphd.
Melancholia is one of the most discussed paintings of Albrecht Durer. This film is amazing..If you want to find more about Melancholia or Albrecht Durer do check this blog where I found some interesting articles.
http://www.albrechtdurerblog.com/
Wow, they done it again 🙂
Thank you for this podcast and now for sure where can we get that single shot probe?
🙂
On the issue of the clarity of high frame rate. I think an issue is missed, our eyes do not view the world as clear and crisp as a film image, if you look into human visual system and perception its all sorts of strangeness, most of our vision is out of focus, only a small area in the center is really focused, our vision shuts off every time we move our eyes, so super smooth is not super real, and every seems to feel that the high framerate is wrong, but they seem to want to excuse it as some accident, and kind of deny their feeling. Perhaps the 24 fps was a happy accident that created a visual medium that was compatible with our vision in some strange way. Film is not like audio where audiophile improvements approach reproduction of reality. Film is an artistic take on reality, the colors grading and the rest show that its not about reproducing reality, and that even such a goal would would even be pleasing is questionable. I think it maybe a happy accident that 24fps mimics or is compatible iwth our visual system in some way that lets us immerse ourselves into the world of the story without triggering a bad or questioning response...maybe this is another uncanny valley thing.
Excellent comment. It will be interesting to see how people respond to the higher frame rate films (Hobbit) that are coming later in the year. Personally, I wasn't crazy about it for narrative story telling. For certain kinds of films I could see it being used to good effect, but not sure that its the "future of cinema".
I like how professionally critical Ralston is about Mocap. Whenever I see an ambitious film failing, I wonder whether the guys who made it, somehow inbetween or afterwards realize it won't be THAT successfull. And of course as prefssionals: They do. Still it's companies like Imageworks who are needed to take the risks and go that new way. And that is why even "Polar Express", whilst still being a bit clunky in the animation and its looks, especially from today's POV, is an important film for the industry. Imageworks never seemed to back away from risks. My favorite work of theirs is "Contact" and "Hollow Man".
I must say i'm impressed... impressed of such a long and completely not boring article 🙂
Regards from Poland and do more great articles 🙂
I dont think anyone makes them yet, in fact i think about only 2 exist
I can't seem to play the video online or the download (which is a very small file).
It should be working fine now - it's security level was set too high - admin only... now it is fine for insider members to play or download.
thanks
Mike
Thanks Mike.
Personally... I think this is a game changer.
For smaller facilities - this could be a Avid Unity/ISIS killer, and allow facilities to invest in iMac hardware - and still get all the same benefits of having a fully spec'ed out MacPro.
Because it's cross platform as well - you could build a killer Z800 unit with multiple GPUs and serve several iMac clients.
This is seriously exciting tech - hopefully we can get our hands on an early beta and play!
Yep...and for Android ? The world don't turn around Apple, you know ? 😉
Actually -- it does turn around Apple. There's really no tablet market at this point, just an iPad market. The numbers are stunningly in favor of the Apple product.
That's why we're starting out with the iPad only. When Android starts to get close to the iPad, we'll work on supporting it.
I'm not sure why they don't want people using this product for roto? It's bread and butter work that every facility has to deal with, anything that makes it faster is going to attract attention and at least some purchases.
It's not about what something is designed to do, it's about what it can do. The user decides, not the manufacturer.
Yup. I can not tell you how exciting this tech is. Brilliantly implemented.
Super psyched!
Embedded version working great, thanks, but download still only a zero k file.
Just seems to be part of the Ken Ralston interview which finishes abruptly, no Jay Redd, or Rob Bredow interviews.
This looks like a great product and I could think of a lot of other uses for it, hopefully it will not become a walled garden in what it can export.
Hello guys , hey Nick again 🙂 , You can use firefox extension name "DownThenAll " , and download/get the file from there
Textor resigned due to close of DD's Florida office... My thoughts with my fellow VFX artisans that will be out of a job.
Digital Domain was rarely profitable since it went public in 2008, so no surprise really. When are Visual Effects studios ever going to learn that a business model based on "fixed bids" doesn't work.
agree Razor. whats even worst is underbidding. worth listening to the podcast Mike did with Textor a while back.
Thought I would add to this, the DD model of students paying to work there as an intern is also been trialled by Rising Sun Pictures in Australia.
Download broken here too,
This webpage is not found
No webpage was found for the web address: http://www.fxguide.com/download/?force_file=/2012/09/Insider-Sony20th1.mp4
No luck with firefox & downthemall and still getting a zero k file with the link guys.
do upload it for indian viewers
We are sorry about the download issue.
Please email me [email protected] if the play in context is not enough and we will give you a direct ftp download link - while this is sorted.
Thanks for the offer Mike,
I'm not in any rush, so will wait.
Cheers,
Nick
This one works here =)
http://www.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/09/Insider-Sony20th1.mp4
Oh, and also. Awesome interviews!
Chapter 11? http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/us-digitaldomain-bankruptcy-idUKBRE88A0CH20120911
Digital Domain Productions will be sold to Searchlight Capital (assuming no higher bid emerges during the BK proceeding), so the vfx production operations of the company (LA and Vancouver) may be expected to survive the process. All the stuff in Port St Lucie, including the feature film unit, seems to be toast.
Hey everyone -- the link is fixed.
Typo in some php code -- apologies for the hassle.
Cheers John,
Downloading now. Thanks to all for fixing
and also for the extra content.
Nick
[...] Download Video [...]
Great to listen to this podcast again!
Great article...but you feel sorry for Ed Ulbrich? WTF ! His pay is listed as $635,000 and he's still getting it under Chapter 11. He was a board member. He attended the meetings. He signed the minutes and saw the financials. And along with the rest of the board did NOTHING to help staff, suppliers, the state of FL etc. get paid anything of what they're now owed. While we're here let's name and shame the rest of the board still pocketing the cash:
Darin K. Grant
Edwin C. Lunsford
Jody R. Madden
Jonathan F. Teaford
Edward J. Ulbrich
All of them presided over this disaster. Incompetent and impotent all of them. The ex-staff and creditors may have to go court to try and recover what they're owed but the least our industry can do is shun these scum: expel them from the VES, revoke their Academy positions etc.
Neither Ed Ulbrich, Jody Madden, nor Darin Grant is or was a member of the DDMG Board of Directors. Here's a list of DDMG Board members. All but John Textor are current. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=246637&p=irol-govboard
Thanks for an interesting summation of the issues that faced DDMG. I know it's petty, but I have to say it, because words are indeed powerful and if said enough, those words tend to be believed as the truth... even though they may be totally false.
Digital Domain was not started by James Cameron nor was it started by Stan Winston. Digital Domain was started by yours truly, Scott Ross. I came up with the idea of starting a new VFX company in 1992. At the time, I was planning on leaving LucasArts and starting a new ILM... and in fact, many of ILM's top creative, technical and business folks were part of that effort. And when I say top... I mean all of top management, the two top VFX sups, an ex ILM vfx sup/art director that had become a director and a few very key technical people.
We took many meetings with financiers and investment banks in the hope that George might sell us ILM and the rest of LucasArts. George was not a seller and once we realized that, everyone in that group bolted, leaving me holding the bag.
At that point, with business plan in hand, ( called Phoenix Effects, aptly named I thought) I was contacted by Jim Cameron who had heard on the street ( through Scott Billups) that I was starting a new company. Jim asked if he could be part of this new venture and he wanted to bring his buddy Stan Winston to the party. We all got together and then Digital Domain was born. I changed the name on the Biz Plan and personally contacted many investors. I had a previous relationship w IBM and they brought in the $$$. I ran DD from its inception until the sale to Textor in 2006. I had little to no support from Mssrs Cameron and Winston during the time they were "involved" (1993-1998). From 1998 until 2006, I never saw them and never spoke to Cameron.
I, of course, had a great deal of help during those years... I did not " do it myself". The artists, the clients, the tech folks and the other admin people had a HUGE involvement in its success. And DD was successful. A great culture, great work, and after Cameron's departure, mostly profitable. The company was sold in 2006 with a large cash position and NO debt!
What happened after 2006 was a perfect reflection of the new American form of Capitalism. It's corporate ethic was the same as Bain Capital. though without the CEO running for President ( though I would watch what happens in FLA). At the end, most everyone got completely screwed... the FLA employees, the shareholders, the state of FLA, the cities of PSL and WPB, the students at FSU, the investors.... everyone. Lets see what becomes of Mr. Textor.
As for Ed Ulbrich, my heart goes out to him as well as all the employees of DD. I hired Ed back in 1993 when he was just 29. He's spent 20 years at DD, has three great kids and married DD's ex comptroller. He's done an admirable job over the years. He helped build the old DD and had run one of the most successful commercial production VFX houses of all time. I'm not sure how privy Ed was to Textor's shenanigans. I'm not sure how much input he actually had. I know Ed as an upright guy. He too had a family and needed to support his wife and kids. I can say that when Ed worked for me those 13 odd years, though at times we disagreed...he always held the passion of DD.... the Company that I started.
I wish him luck.
I am sorry I did not mean to imply you didnt start it, I was trying to indicate that unlike Cameron, et al. - you ran the company.
Sorry Scott. I have now edited the paragraph in the story to better reflect events.
Mike
Thanks Mike for setting the record straight. Several people, including Mr. Cameron and his biographer Rebecca Keegan, have been trying ti rewrite history. It's funny that Jim now says that he and his partner Stan Winston created DD, totally leaving me out of the picture. Pretty soon, he might be saying that the Holocaust never happened!
You might have heard by now that I am trying to put together a team and the financial resources to buy back the company that I started in 1993. It sorta reminds me of when Steve Jobs returned to Apple. I love DD and have been devastated by watching what Mr. Textor and his management have done to the Company. I had seen this coming for several years... and I've been vocal about it.
It shocks me that once again, a corporate raider, financial dude, like those CEO's on Wall Street that ruined our economy, could be so cavalier with people's lives... all the while making sure that he and his cronies were getting rich. It is a great example of just how wrong America has gone. I hope that he and his type will be brought to justice and that examples be made of this grossly negligent behavior.
I for one, am doing everything in my power to return to DD and right those wrongs. I believe my track record speaks for itself. I look forward to bringing the glory of the old DD back to the Company. I look forward to allowing men and women the opportunity to create great images, get paid fairly, have reasonable work schedules, build great sw tools and have lots of fun doing it. I've done it before... twice. Whether it was ILM or DD, while I was at the helm, those companies won Academy Awards, created great SW tools, prospered and we had tons of fun doing it! I know I can do it again... and with the help of creative folks like Ed Ulbrich.. we can make that happen.
I was pretty disturbed that the judge in Delaware was strong-armed into a fast close. At present, I am working diligently to put together the financial where with all to enter a bid.... but 7 days is a very short time for a dude that doesn't even have an assistant, let alone the infrastructure of a Prime Focus World.
Let's hope it all works out.... for the DD employees because after all they're the true assets of the Company.
Thanks for making it so clear Mike .. toplist Thanks to you Scott. I wish there were more of you. You are simply Great.
Despite the negative outlook on the visual effects industry right now, I still hold out hope that the system can be rebuilt, and made better than it has ever been. I believe it's people like Scott Ross that need, and I believe will, stand up in this community and bring things more towards what they need to be!
This was simpy a really, really good letter...
Thank you Mike!
Amen to that!
Great article Mike.
I would also say that the level of realism in vfx now is so stunning and we see so many vfx that it is very unlikely someone will have the same impression than when Jurassic Park came out. So this is a kind of spoiled child reaction.
200 or 300 years ago people almost never saw an image. So when they went to church and saw drawings on the windows they were amazed. Nowadays people see so many images a day that the amazement can't be the same (especially for someone who has covered the early days of vfx).
"Visual effects is not meant to be the reason you see a film."
This can be an issue in many movies whot replaced a good story with good vfx.
Great article. Well said sir.
Cohen uses "auds" as a substitute for "audiences". After that is there any point in considering his opinion?
However, i do feel his pain. Seven years of VFX companies telling you about their of Maya and Nuke must be massively dull.
"maya and nuke pipelines" i mean. :/
I don't think you need to spend $15K to record 2.5K RAW - isn't that the BM Hyperdeck Shuttle 2? (uncompressed and DNxHD with SDI/HDMI inputs)
All I see listed for the Shuttle are HD formats, not 2.5k and not raw.
[...] Download Video [...]
Considering the state of big budget storytelling, which has been in a free fall for years as studios produce fewer and fewer movies and rely more and more on formulaic tentpole films (almost all of which are either sequels or adaptations of popular books, comics and video games) to be profitable every time out, from this view the ONLY exciting thing about most blockbuster films is the VFX. This is at least an area where new things - be they boring software toolsets, boring pipelines, or boring production equipment - are in active development. If anything, studio storytelling has evolved backwards, becoming less diverse, more homogenous, and completely predictable with very few exceptions. I'd wager that the amount of time, effort, expertise, passion and research that went into a single complex shot in Battleship is several orders of magnitude greater than the expense of those same qualities exerted by the development team into the entire screenplay. I'm sure Mr. Cohen would find the technology behind the Variety website and internal servers crushingly dull as well. I, for one, would be all for any efforts on his part to do away them entirely in favor of the very exciting distribution process of hiring rickshaws and trained hawks to deliver his hand-written articles to the masses.
Isn't it the directors or the writers vision, that he finds boring?
VFX houses do not create something, that was not in the script.
I think he confuses here something. Too sad.
I had written a semi-lengthy response that I had me terribly impressed with myself but due to a DNS failure (on my end) it is lost and I just can't be bothered to attempt to recapture the "magic". So, less eloquently, more bluntly, here is the gist of it.
The author of the piece and audiences in general are now jaded. How many people really appreciated the work that went into Capt. America body substitution? Or Green Lantern? Or the fact that TinTin took off his coat? They neither care how much work went into an effect nor how much it cost. They are oblivious to subtle effects and as such have zero appreciation for the art and finess of a well executed effect but are quick to point out the failures of a poorly executed one.
And to be fair this is true of everyone in society to a degree. In our society you develope certain expectations of certain situations. If those expectations are met do you appreciate what went into it? Do you get irked if your expectations are not met? Ask yourself this, if you spent more than five minutes in a fast food drive through, would you be wondering "It's normally much faster than this. I wonder if someone is hurt?" What if someone was hurt? What if the person working the grill found out their signifcant other had left them that morning? What if the person working the deep frier found out their grandmothe had passed away? Truth is, none of that matters to you as a customer. Your expectation is complete a transaction in a speedy manner and if your exepecation is not met anger is quick to ensue.
I don't think any of us will ever recapture the wonder and amazement of the first time we ever saw fireworks. We grow accustomed to them to a degree and audiences are the same with CGI.
Except CGI can't be compared to fireworks any more than wood can be compared to a table or a chair.
CGI is just a medium, it can be used for literally anything, just like a sculptor uses stone and a painter uses paint, a CG artist uses a computer.
Crap and boredom comes out of anywhere, as well as brilliance.
Thank you Mike for writing this response! Well thought through and great points!
Spot on!. ditto 'the level of realism in vfx now is so stunning ' . Just saw 2 films at TIFF this year in which the fx work was totally invisible(which it should be) and just supported the story. The Impossible and Kon-Tiki. We've come a long way!
The Pitch..
Aliens vs Predator vs Spiderman vs Thor vs Transformers vs The Hulk vs Batman vs Superman vs Jason Bourne vs Resident Evil vs Harry Potter vs the Hobit .....the breakfast cereal, .....THE GAME !
I love the industry echo chamber where gross generalizations get repeated until they become accepted facts.
I keep trying to find this "box office slump trend" that industry watchers claim exists and yet year-over-year box office (with the exception of a few single-year blips) has been steadily increasing since 2001 from $8+ billion to $10+ billion in domestic revenue alone. We had two vfx films gross over a billion dollars each this year!
Currently we sit at over $7 billion domestic with the holiday season yet to go. The will likely be a down year, but still over $9 billion in gross domestic revenue; temporarily down but still part of an overall upward trend.
Traditionally strong weekends are down and individual big budget films may fail but the "slump" and "jaded audiences" are a manufactured tall-tale by industry watchers that the numbers just don't back up. Hell, increases in international box office more than compensate for the slight domestic downturn this year. Foreign revenue is insane and they LOVE vfx films.
[...] Download Video [...]
Let's hope it put some pressure on the company with the purple logo to lower the price on their Interplay Sphere thingy. Competition is gooooood and this is truly exiting times. =)
[...] Download Video [...]
Great article Mike!
And lets not forget that some stories couldn't have been told (screened) without visual effects.
Cheers Mike.
This DD confusion is almost painful to read. It seems more and more this Madoff style financiers are running the show. We had a run-in with a out right Poniz scheme for a film finance at the end of 2010, guy was ripping off dozens of eager and naive producers film makers etc and only got caught because one person got suspicious and did some background checks etc and ops...
This is the end of a period of film making, we are at the burning phase i just hope there a new bird to emerge...
As VFX get better.... the scripts get worse. As Hollywood spends more and more on VFX, the box office grows... internationally as well. The box office goes up, intelligence goes down. Pretty soon, VFX movies will be so dumbed down they'll be called video games.
Is Adobe going to provide Anywhere servers that we subscribe to or will we provide our own servers to put the Adobe Anywhere software on?
With a system like this I think editing on a tablet might be practical too.
[...] Download Video [...]
I've read both articles and I think you guys are talking about different things.
Mike, you are on about technology, which is great, but problem solving or not..it's just not interesting anymore.
How do I care if the sweat beads in real-time or not? Or that textures are captured in some freaky way.
Creativity was never about the tech itself, it's what you do with it.
I did not enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean (along with many other films) because of some moving tentacles (yes, they were quite nice) but because of the great acting of Nightly, Depp and Bloom!
Benjamin Button? It was an interesting story, and it would have been even if they didn't invent half of the tech
to do it but instead cheated in a much cheaper way!
I'll have to agree with David, however it could be just a quiet period, we had many of those before.
Cheers,
Smooth Criminal
Thanks for a great video! Seeing the development of actual production assets in this way is invaluable for learning.
For more Behind the Scene content or VFX Breakdowns, let's take a look at wiki-fx ! It's a new website I created a few days ago in order to collect a maximum of ressources about the use of VFX in movies, TV series, advertisements and so on...
I've already created more than 80 pages ! Hope you like it !
Enjoy ! 🙂
[...] Download Video [...]
However, don't you think it's more interesting to watch the "making-of" documentary of films made before, say, 2000?
Before CGI became the standard solution to just about everything, effects were so much more diverse. Miniatures, cloud tanks, mirrors, stop-moton, animatronics, optical printers, etc. - every solution had an unique, clever design trying to break the rules of the real world to which it was bound. Learing "how'd they do that" was so much more exciting before the ubiquitous answer became "computers".
Of course, there are plenty of unique, clever things going on at the bleeding edge of VFX, but I'm afraid they're only interesting to us fxguide readers.
45 minutes in I almost wrecked my car.... He throws a dagger at you. What do you want to do? Fond memories of 8" floppies and my NCR computer. All we need know is a Hammurabi's Code reference.
...need now...
Brilliant, thanks so much 🙂
UPDATE
There was a blog piece doing the rounds that was suggesting that Enders Game was not staying with DDPI - We can now confirm officially from our sources - this is NOT the case. I can confirm that the Enders Game project and investment remain with Digital Domain Productions.
- Mike Seymour (fxguide)
I heart Jason's rants
Does anyone have the same problem as i do? Cant watch it on my ipad... Both using ios 5 and 6...
Astounding, I never thought that such a large company with amazing work could get so badly messed up. Thanks mike for the excellent article 🙂
A fun walk down memory lane. Thanks for the roto department props! Quite a bit of adrenaline went into pushing points on that show and fixing up those plates so they were usable - for sure!
Brilliant work from Artifex Studios. The cityscapes, motion graphic overlays, and the aging work look excellent. I have to check out this series.
Awesome video! Justin's work is a true inspiration for me. He seems to be a good educator. Actually this video convinced me to join his CGSociety course. Cant wait for the first session!
Hey Mike,
Thankyou for the wonderful insight as always. 🙂
Had a question:
What is the course of action you would take if a situation like this (were you are asked to work extra hours/days when you know you are needed back home) arises now (assuming you are working for a production house).
Thankyou
Lovely work, but I'd like to know how well the hazed up bluescreen shots actually keyed? Did they? Or did they require a lot of roto too?
[...] Download Video [...]
Hey Steven, The answer is yes and no. We did end up finishing most of the keys with roto, but still managed to get good hair and fine detail out of the bluecreen. Normally I would use greenscreen for any keying work but the blue worked better with the haze (and fire) and we were able to keep a lot of the atmos from the plate. Because all of the bluescreen "rooms" were accurately measured out we got great atmos depth reference which also helped tremendously when we comped it with the final cg.
I'm interested to understand where 'john' got his information from. As a long standing employee of RSP, I can state that this claim is utterly false.
1. There are no internships at RSP that people pay to get
2. RSP has an excellent internship scheme that helps people who show potential become employable in the industry.
3. Any person working on a production at RSP are fully paid employees. No person doing unpaid internships works on productions.
4. We are aiming to trial a scheme that partners with a local university to provide an advanced VFX course. These people would be students and WOULD NOT work on productions.
I am happy to answer any further questions on this via the contacts on our website http://www.rsp.com.au
Also, please note that we will not be discriminating against hiring people named 'John' in the future. 😉
Thanks for the reply.
thanks Ian... we appreciate you posting that
Mike
any update on the status of this project?
Would have loved to have it about a month ago... have done soo much traveling lately.
Any particular reason for blue? I would think green/red (fire) would make a better complimentary contrast.
Oops, Sorry missed your actual response Colin. 😉 My apologies for the redundant question.
[...] Download Video [...]
Nice work guys, on a roll!
“one of the things I’m proud of is that of the 733 men and women on the west coast of North America, we didn’t miss a beat. Not one single shot, not one single frame, not one single artist was affected…”
This statement is simply not accurate. Many freelance artists locally and regionally remain unpaid. There are in fact many artists deeply hurt financially as a result of these recent events. Ask Brian Begun. While I truly appreciate DD is around today and many jobs were saved and while Ed may or may not have anything to say or do about those who were hurt by this, an apology while "celebrating" would at the very least, be the stand up thing to do.
I've always preferred Lightwave's interface over other 3D animation programs I've used. I'm excited to hear of these developments, especially GoAE. You don't hear too much about Lightwave. Maybe we will in the future. Perhaps even an FXPHD class? 🙂
That's AWESOME news about GoAE. I'm the perfect user for that combo....can't wait to get my hands on it!
The Motion Theory : Buick Add was done in CInema 4D hahaha ! ! Check out the Casey Hupke NAB2012 live demo, he does a breakdown of the add. Thats definitely a "stiff competition". Burn!!
Casey Hupke used C4D for the car, Jen Hachigian used Lightwave for the Ice skater.
\ 😛
Thankyou FXGUIDE for such a wonderful interview.
Richard is such a wonderful person. I really like his statement " Its all about the people".
Thankyou Richard. You are awesome.
I too would love to see good lightwave 3d classes on FXPHD. I have used it for years and the training out there was from good to horrible. There are a few guys that do it well. Dan Ablan comes to mind. Would love to see more extensive training showing real world shots not just canned models for said classes.
CJ
Why don't you talk to some of the people who've actually been laid off? They'd tell you the truth rather than this corporate nonsense. 250 HAVE been laid off - that is based in fact. "Natural Ebb and flow" is letting contracts come to an end and not renewing based on current work load - that's, in a sense, OK, it comes with the job to know that once a contract ends you could be out. What is NOT natural ebb and flow is dismissing 250 people with a weeks notice, terminating many contracts short. If you'd spoken to people who'd actually been there that day you'd know the atmosphere was hostile, people were crying in the corridors and 200+ people were made redundant. I find fx guides position to take sides with the official statement and not explore the reality a little disappointing to be honest and expected more of this place.
Amazing amount of work. Really appreciated this article except for a couple things. What's your take on revealing critical plot spoilers (like the Slaughterboat) with a movie that's only been open for less than a week? (It opened in the USA 6 days ago)
Hi Navarro - thanks for the feedback - we've now included a spoiler warning.
Superb insight..
What about Lightwave CORE???!!! What happened with that? That concept went dead! The guys at Newtek advertised the CORE architecture some years ago and now nobody is saying anything about it! One thing that Lightwave is missing is the integration of the modeler and layout modules. Without this integration some functions are hard to achieve, like CAMERA MAPPING for example, since you cannot have a camera in the environment in which you model. Another thing that was cool from the CORE concept was the ability to have parametrical history control over the modeling process, so you could go back in the history of your model and change the modeling parameters all along the way. How are the guys at Newtek are planning to address this issues of Lightwave??
Greetings. I have earned a living in the Los Angeles VFX industry since 1999 using mostly LightWave 3D.
In early 2010 I planned to leave LightWave because of my disappointment with CORE. However, Rob Powers took over LightWave development in mid-2010, and the advances LightWave has made since Rob took over are tremendous.
I'm staying with LightWave because it keeps up with my VFX needs, and I can still earn a good living from it. However, if LightWave does not provide the tools you need for your work, I encourage you to learn another generalist package like Cinema 4D or 3ds Max.
Terminating contracts short is just not right.
Hey...thanks for this. In my current gig at my agency, I've taken over the role of digital spot distribution, so H264 has been a big part of our workflow. Found this very interesting, and subsequently bought Andy's podcast from Moviola,
For my needs High quality, small footprint encoding is one part of the equation.
The other is versioning.
I've developed a pretty good workflow around generating different versions from a master single file, I'm curious if Andy sees this as a problem and what his approach as been to resolve it.
thx again...
Alex
Is it this what you were looking for Mike: http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/11/creating-a-beauty-light-with-a-book-light/
Also great podcast.
//Martin
It is thanks... but unfortunately someone beat you via email.. only just.. but thanks so much
Mike
There's a nice interview with Deakins over at Mentorless:
http://www.mentorless.com/2012/11/15/roger-deakins-about-his-craft-and-career/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=roger-deakins-about-his-craft-and-career
Also on BSC's Vimeo site.
Kevin
Yeah, the name of the series is BattleStar Galactica Blood and Chrome, (Not, and Crime, like I think you said) here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT79x4qM4FE&feature=relmfu . Looks good.
Might be my accent - but I have watched it - so ... but thanks !
Mike
Just for .. well since you posted ...
1. I really appreciate you posting
2. we did talk to people laid off - and I guess that does not at all come off - but DNeg was getting way more attention on this issue than other companies who have had layoffs.. plus it was rapidly (IMHO) getting sort of out of control in terms of the rumors. While I hate to see any staff laid off... I would hate the rumors to cause more harm to DNeg and still more downturn for the company down the line.
So I completely respect your remarks - I should also add I approached them - they did not ask me to post.
We take your opinions really seriously - and so thanks for posting
mike
Awesome:)
Very cool! Thumbs up for the practical elements. And Angie looks smashing as always...
Has this been rolled out yet?
"So someone’s job had to be – go take our HDRI rig modified to shoot eight different directions with six exposure settings which combined into a 15K HDR skydome that we used as our backgrounds. Someone went to Florida, sat on a beach and waited for nice skies to come along and take pictures. If you can get a gig like that in the visual effects world, all the power to you!”
I did 8k HDRs for Pi in Hawaii, and it was quite the experience. I got R&H equipment for my vacation, and Rhythm got copies of the HDR skies. The tripod, auto-panohead and camera weighed the backpack down quite a bit as I hiked around the islands, and many times I was also carrying my laptop. I still intend to write about the experience, but have yet to find the time... It turned me on to 360x180 photography however, and now I have my own pano head and do it for fun. Most of my skies I donated to R&H for Pi ended up being cut from the movie though- oh well!
http://www.360cities.net/image/waikiki-waves-hawaii
http://www.360cities.net/image/waikiki-beach-at-sunset-honolulu-oahu-hawaii
http://www.360cities.net/image/pu-uhonua-o-honaunau-national-park-lava-delta
http://www.360cities.net/image/south-point-sunset-hawaii (One of my first attempts at stitching- still has wacky colorspace issues)
http://www.360cities.net/image/south-point-field-hawaii (colorspace issues again)
[...] Download Video [...]
thanks
Find more there:...
[...] What host are you the use of? Can I am getting your associate link on your host? I desire my website loaded up as fast as yours lol[...]...
Just came across this article. Like many roles in VFX, there is much depth, involvement, and dedication as an artist in this field. I am a rotoscoping/paint fix artist myself and am impressed by the author's research and thoroughness in this article. Thanks for writing this article.
"There were a lot of people anxious to ask questions and a lot of the questions frankly, while valid, were things that could be answered with a little research on the internet."
Maybe the Internet can answer this one:
Suppose we don't unionize and we don't form a trade organization. In that scenario, how will the VFX industry attract *and keep* top talent as working conditions continue to decline?
I know VFX artists who have already left the VFX industry for better compensation elsewhere. Some teach VFX at schools. Some now create casino graphics in Las Vegas for an eight-hour day plus benefits. Some now work at Local 839 studios (ex: Disney, Dreamworks, Sony Animation) for three pensions + health insurance. Some create visualizations for government institutions and corporations. Some moved on to video game companies that offer health insurance, 401(k)s and profit sharing. Some formed their own businesses writing software. They didn't like where the VFX industry was headed, so they left.
Great article Jeff. Thanks for the write up.
Maybe it's the way I'm reading the summary but, after discussing the pros and cons of unionizing, it seems like the majority of folks were in agreement that a union is a good idea. Do you think that was the general sentiment after everything was said?
If so, did anyone propose any next steps for the near term? If we're finally coming to a consensus, lets get this thing started.
Thanks again.
The overall mood of the room was very pro-union, at least that is me trying to judge from the crowd reactions during the event and talking to people before and after. I personally have attended about 10 meetings leading up to this, from bars to beaches, IATSE to IBEW.
IATSE announced their intention to organize Visual Effects publicly on 11/11/2010 (753 days ago).
http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/iatse-formally-announces-visual-effects-organizing-drive/
Leading up to that date there was about a years worth of secret meetings with key visual effects people gauging interest.
As far as the steps and getting started, it eventually comes down to individuals taking the next step, which is sending in a rep card.
Thanks so much for getting access with CBSD on this. As someone who's a gigantic fan of TNG, and works in post, it's basically the behind the scenes I've always wanted to see. I'm unbelievably jealous of the group that gets to work on it...
Glad you enjoyed it, George. Another cool aspect of it was that the flame artists actually showed some of the techniques they used as part of our fxphd "Flame Masters" course.
Firstly Carl, Thank you for taking the time to record this podcast. I enjoyed listening to this podcast. But I have to personally disagree that we must move away from linear story telling, there will always be a place in my heart for movies and good novels. For me watching movies is a way to kick back and relax for a few hours and enjoy a good story or experience good visuals. I am lazy, I don't really want to have to work for my entertainment. Playing games take way to much time, who has 60+ hours to complete a game? Film making to me is a great craft. To tell a story within such a short time is not easy but when done right its great. I think both film and games will always exist and cross overs will happen no doubt. With respect, John.
Interactive media vs. linear media is a big difference in cost. Interactive "anything" is fine for those who can invest more money to produce it.
Carl Rosendahl also thinks movie theaters are going to be around for a long time. There's no way that will be possible, because larger TVs and on-demand movies are what's closing down the big theaters. If the premiere of Star Wars 7 was initially available as on-demand (not held as a release hostage by the distribution studio) a massive percentage of people would just watch it at home and never go to the theater. No one wants to get in the car and go to Blockbuster anymore. An estimated 50% of Christmas shoppers did their shopping online this year. It's easy to see the pattern and see the future.
From the book Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte - originally published in 1995:
A book has a high-contrast display, is lightweight, easy to "thumb" through, and not very expensive. But getting it to you includes shipping and inventory. In the case of textbooks, 45 percent of the cost is inventory, shipping, and returns. Worse, a book can go out of print. Digital books never go out of print. They are always there.
Other media has even more immediate risk and opportunity. The first entertainment atoms to be displaced and become bits will be those of videocassettes in the rental business, where consumers have the added inconvenience of having to return the atoms and being fined if they are forgotten under a couch ($3 billion of the $12 billion of the U.S. video rental business is said to be late fines). Other media will become digitally driven by the combined forces of convenience, economic imperative, and deregulation. And it will happen fast.
--- end excerpt---
1995,,, loved that book. Greed figures heavily in this - protection of existing business models - Blockbuster's massive decline was due to believing those late fees would continue forever (and providing a terrible customer experience). I think theaters are heading down the same path - high ticket prices, forcing 3D for profit instead of creative, outrageous concession prices, not ensuring a premium experience... all while ignoring the reality of an improving home experience and even encouraging piracy by tightly controlling release windows.
Mike,
Agreed the Looks has all the tech. But Colorista (in After Effects) operates right in the UI and can therefore output to a broadcast monitor realtime. The Looks UI leaves you working realtime on your computer monitor until you close the custom UI.
I also find, that animating parameters, and especially power windows, is much easier in Colorista. And not to forget the keyer ; )
Hi,
the link to the video with second part of the talk is broken.
Thanks for the interesting article.
Looks like a vimeo or VES problem, it was there when I posted and now is not listed under VES vimeo account
Ok thanks for the quick answer. I hope they will put it back soon.
Great Interview!!!! Thanks!
Dream Gig! I have a relative who was Mr. Roddenberry's personal assistant for many years. I was too young to appreciate or understand it then! Oh how I have kicked myself so many times! 🙂
"And the worse thing would be if you never got around to trying and using Looks. It is a great product with a great UI. It is not a super grading desk for feature films – it is not intended to be –"
Mike, I'm curious about what type of projects you would personally use Looks or Colorista on. For example, would they be DSLR based projects such as FXTV for web delivery or other projects for say TVC's, cinema ads etc. (but not from feature films)? What broadcast mediu\format etc. do these tools hold up best in?
Regards,
Justin
Great !
I think the tools are great for grading footage you shot on say DLSR. We use DaVinci for production here - as it is set up with a console, broadcast (OLED) monitor and fast storage. I also like being able to do a grade on a still and then apply it to a clip. I always take stills of video clips I shoot... so this works for me on my laptop.
[...] Download Video（下载视频） [...]
Ok I want to be the first to say - yes I look like an idiot - but we raised over $1200 for Cancer research - so it is worth it. Thanks to everyone who donated. - John's turn next year - or maybe Jeff?
- Mike
that is a giant 'stache, but you wear it proudly sir.
Awesome ... as always
Mike, can you explain the relationship between a sponsor and an episode. RE: An fxGuideTV about houdini sponsored by...SideFX. Do you do the show and then ask the sponsor, does the sponsor come to you with an episode idea?
We always do Siggraph and Siggraph Asia shows. Side effects are a regular sponsor of fxguide. I have wanted to do more tech games coverage - and set that as an objective at Siggraph Asia to explore. We approached them to sponsor again a bunch of shows so they are doing Fxpodcasts, vfxshow podcast and fxguidetv. It was my decision to do EA & Houdini, completely not a sponsor idea. I loved the idea of using Houdini as a data processing tool,... in games production. I think it is a really interesting but unusual angle.
Another example of a similar topic is the Ubisoft Water story - also from Siggraph Asia. I felt that worked better with a detailed written story... Of course I discussed this with John (also in Singapore) and (Jeff would have been involved but he was in LA working). It may look otherwise but the two were not linked. I hope that explains it. I will say it is not uncommon for advertisers to advertise on places that cover their products. So I agree it can be a thin line - but it is a line.
Mike
So how does Weta compare to ILM now? and what will the future of ILM be like since Disney bought Lucasfilm?
I don't think it's necessary to compare the two. There are a lot of people that are afraid of the future of LucasFilm now that it belongs to Disney, but honestly I it's one of the best things to happen for ILM. Disney isn't the evil world dominating company it was once before under Eisner. Don't get me wrong, this movie stuff is still a business and the almighty dollar has to be made and that is definitely Disney's primary goal, but they respect their artists. Everybody was afraid for Pixar, but Disney has left them alone to do what they do best and there won't be anything different for ILM. It's oddly poetic. Pixar branched off from LucasFilm. Now Pixar and ILM find themselves under the same roof again. Both houses turn out amazing work and we as the audience win when we see something we've never seen before and wonder in our heads how the hell that shot was pulled off. I thought the audience was in for a special treat when they saw shots with elements from both ILM and Weta in the same frame for Avatar. There's no question of ILM's future or artistic muscle. Both houses rock and will continue to amaze us with ever evolving visuals from ever evolving tech and talent.
I think if you look at the trailers for Pacific Rim and Trek2 - ILM is looking still very very strong. Which is why Avengers with BOTH ILM and Weta was just VFX excellence - IMHO
Artistry reflects every frame, Congrats Weta team..!
This was a good session. Hope you managed to cover some more studio sessions especially The Avengers and Prometheus. Its hard to find kind of info that they presented on the web.
thanks a lot Mike ...
Great episode guys!
Also, very nice improvement on the download speeds. It makes the experience so much better.
As for the 48fps. It was extremely distracting for me, it took me completely out of the movie, almost to the point of ruining it. I really wanted to love the new tech, especially after seeing the impressive demos at Siggraph. I hope HFR grows on me, but so far I'm seriously doubting it.
Thanks again for the great coverage like always.
I loved the 48fps. The picture was crystal clear. For me it felt like I was part of the journey and the 3d had less strain on my eyes. They probably have to refine some things with this new tech but imagine Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, and Star Trek in 48fps! I wont be able to watch 24fps movies now, looks like its in slow motion, which esentially it is.
Great article Mike Joe Letteri is the Dennis muren of Weta, love his work!
Great interview, thanks for that!
I was extremely sceptical about 48fps beforehand and during the first minutes of the film I found it really awkward to watch and difficult to get into. Everything looked like it was sped up. About fifteen minutes in my eyes and brain started to adjust. Halfway through the film I really liked it and in the end I was in love with it! Now this is a new standard I'd really embrace!
The visuals of this film are simply breathtaking. From the extraordinary view of the dwarf city Erebor to Rivendell and all the amazing digital characters I have to say these are the most amazing and impressive visual effects I have ever seen.
I kept thinking to myself that it really felt like HFR helped blend CGI and live action tremendously but couldn't put my finger on why that was. Watching this interview I realized it might really have been the extra fidelity in animation. When I watched the trolls, the goblin king or Gollum I couldn't help but shake my head in admiration.
[...] Download Video下载视频 [...]
Looks great, any chance of an Android of PDF version?
Sorry ibook only - for the ipad and ipad mini.
RIP Mr. Bayer. His work was the foundation for a technology I led development on a few years ago geared at the Academy and studios, for archiving full color movies on to a single strip of B&W 35mm film, called Visionary Archive. This was designed to be a superior replacement for 3-strip YCM separations, and utilized a Bayer pattern mosaic. We worked some with Kodak on this, and they just recently released their new 'Digital Separations' archival film stock. Using the most reliable long term media storage format (35mm B&W film) and combining digital techniques and algorithms to have a novel hybrid. A whitepaper was published in the SMPTE Journal, and can be read at:
www.vast3dstudios.com/Visionary_Archive_SMPTE_Publish.pdf
Sean McKee
CEO / Founder
Visionary Arts & Scientific Technologies (VAST, LLC)
310-924-0750
thanks 🙂
No international love on this one? The ibook is only available in US store (or at least not available in Ukrainian one)
Yeah. Another vote for an international version!
please find an alternative to ibooks and itunes distribution in the future so we can all enjoy
Thanks so much, fantastic early Christmas present!
And let me take this opportunity to say thanks for an amazing year of VFX coming out of fxguide. Looking forward to 2013!
Yeap ... Great year of FXGUIDE ...
Haven't seen it on the Canada's store yet. So is this FXguide's official stance/opinion on the Oscars?
I have been told it is in the Canadian store...
And this is not an official stance on the Oscars -
We loved a bunch of films this year.. we just worked with Warners and Weta to produce this for Oscar season ..
we thought you might like it.
Before the Oscars we also have exclusive content on Dark Knight Rises and Avengers and more....
All good 🙂
Happy Christmas / Happy Holidays
Wow great stuff, really appreciate it.
Happy holidays and can't wait to see what fxguide has in store for 2013
Happy Holidays .. Great work this year !! Thanks
Looking forward to 2013
I hope that this is available in South Korea, too!
Android here too 🙁
nice job)))
[...] Download Video（下载视频） [...]
Just a huge thanks to those of you who downloaded the ibook and who have then emailed or posted comments. We really appreciate the feedback - I hope you have found all the easter eggs !
Mike
Gary Hutzel is one of those guys who is constantly pushing what can be done cost effectively on television. I am glad to see Blood and Chrome is getting the attention it deserves. I love Gary's idea of lighting greenscreens with green kinos. It seems like a "why wouldn't you do it" approach after he does it. LOL. Especially shooting it all with Reds. Love the range of that camera.
I am also glad that he is vocal about using Lightwave as his 3D modeler of choice. I have used it for years too at various places. It doesn't get the credit it deserves. Sure there is a lot of things that I would love that Maya and Max have, but for the $$$, it is pretty good.
I also agree that most people using Lightwave are indeed generalists. We have to be. The Lightwave guys have traditionally used in television work. With the insane turnaround times, you have to work smarter to meet the expectations of the client as well meet deadlines.
Good luck Gary! Keep up the great work!
How long was the actual post production process?
"Out of the frying pan - into the fire" IS in the book, title of chapter 6 even.
Really enjoy insider Video interviews!! 🙂
Not for india??? 🙁 🙁
Interesting... maybe it was just the compression from Youtube but a lot of the comps looked like they suffered from bad keys. Perhaps it was a design decision but the overuse of lens flares on many scenes felt more like they were there to cover up problem areas and bad comps. Its hard not to compare this to the BSG series but the quality level of the virtual set approach looked subpar imho
There were many great looking scenes and the CG space battles were reminiscent of the great work done in the BSG series, dont get me wrong.
Good Stanford lecture about PDI on Youtube. http://youtu.be/cQkEA62KWQQ
Broadcast graphics have come a long way!
@mographcandy
thanks - yes I must say PDI is often in the shadow of Pixar but they are both great great companies.
Hey thanks for the heads up - I should have known that - LOVE that you did !
Mike
Hey Mike,
You're welcome 🙂 . Great podcast as usual and fantastic coverage of the work on the hobbit here on fxguide. Love you guys!
PS: Really appreciate you're differentiated opinion on the HFR. I'm 21 and only minded it the in the first few shots in Bag End where seemed like Bilbo was walking strangely (sped-up / jerky). However I saw the 24 FPS projection first and thought exactly that same about those few shots (as did my brother). After that it was absolutely spectacular.
I think the majority of people just say 'It looks like TV' because they noticed something different, couldn't described it and so used the view that was spread in the press after the first screening - pity because as you said it implies 'bad' quality.
[...] Download Video [...]
Life of Pi And dark knight rises
While votiing on a movie gives credit to the outstanding vfx teams, I think it misses the chance to point out that most exceptional work occurs within a single character, effect or shot within a film, e.g., Gollem in the Hobbit just stands out as amazing work. My vote would be for an fxguide "Best of the Best, the VFX Shot Awards," as voted on by the fxguide community. For example, my votes this year would be:
Best of the Beasts (CGI Character): The troll from Snow White (though I haven't seen LIfe of Pi)
Best MoCap: Hulk/Gollum tie
Best Particles: Starmap from Prometheus
Best Plates: Avenger's NYC
etc etc.
though I realize creating the categories might be tough...
That is a cool idea Kevin, I would so totally vote on a FXGUIDE VFX Awards. Mike? John?
do we have any chance to have iPad app beta, any time soon or all the seats already taken ?
The power of practical effects!
What companies were involved?
Miniatures were supplied and by MAGICON GmbH, a modelmaking firm located Munich Germany. See also www.magicon.de . Miniature Supervision by Henrik Scheib.
Hey John,
Did this ever roll out? I've been signed up for a while but haven't seen anything yet and a podcast or 2 ago it sounded like it was ready to go (beta that is).
Thanks,
Sean
It seems that the main company involved was Fassman VFX : http://fassmanvfx.com/works/the-impossible/ 😉
[...] Download Video [...]
The main company was El Ranchito
Seem that they removed the video from the public. It seems the video is password protected. I hope they fix that asap.
Indeed. The videos have been made private. That's a shame.
The Impossible deserved a nomination. Seamless, invisible work. Too often showy visual effects get nominated over the less obvious, story serving works!
Well a strong year to be sure... I was surprised DKR did not get a nod - but that is the way it is...
🙂
mike
I'll mention upfront that unfortunately The Impossible has not been released here yet so I've been unable to watch it, but in my experience the Acedemy seems to favour rewarding films that really try and advance the field of VFX in some significant way, which I suppose is a little at odds with the type of VFX you mention.
The kind of effects you are talking about I would suggest are using techniques that have been highly polished and maybe not so 'risky' / flashy, where there was potentially significant R&D spent (not to take away from the fact that the work is still incredible, dont get me wrong!).
Again, I dont say this to take anything away from films you are talking about, and of course there more than likely were significant challenges to overcome in those films, which to their credit may have been fantastically executed. But by the very nature of refining these existing techniques rather than coming out with new ground breaking technology, maybe this is what differentiates a nominated film to one that was not, despite both of them having amazing VFX?
Again, having not seen The Impossible I'm not saying this is the case here, it's just something I have observed over the last few years. Maybe we should have two awards - greatest advancement in VFX, and most seamless VFX (sometimes they may go hand in hand, others not?) 😛
Of course I could be totally wrong here, just a thought!
Many Thanks Mr. Seymour on this toplist outstanding feature. Please do not hesitate in the future to cover more games in this manner - fascinating stuff.
Forwarded to bluesnews 😀
Regarding the changing aspect ratio you discussed in the podcast:
Watching the film in 3D I noticed that they changed the aspect ratio from 16:9 to 2.35:1 during the flying fish scene to 'allow' one of the fish to fly outside the picture area. They also changed the aspect ratio later in the movie to something close to 4:3 to create a shot that looked like the book cover.
thanks - I did not notice the book cover one ... good to know
Unfortunately, iTunes store is not available in Serbia, and it will not be for a long time.
Is there any other way that i can get my hands on some kind of a copy or download link. Being a student of camera and photography, this article (and many others from fxguide) is very useful for me and my collegues.
Thank you for years and years of great stuff! 🙂
I'm absolutely astonished about how fast is this process of turning a pointcloud and an HDR panorama into a real 3D environment with all the textures accurately projected over the geometry, but I'm a little sceptical about the conversion process from a raw pointcloud to a clean topology 3D geometry without human intervention.
Creating clean geometry goes by pretty fast if you have good measurements of the environment. Moving primitive shapes into place can go a long way. If you to try the methods without a Faro scanner you can pick up an Asus Xtion Pro Live and run it with Faro Scenect http://3d-app-center.faro.com/index.php/stand-alone-apps-faro-scenect. I haven't tried it yet but it looks helpful. Also there are some neat automatic retopologize tools in 3D Coat.
I should also mention that Chaos Group has rewritten some of the ptex caching code for reading ptex in V-Ray. It's now extremely fast to render using all CPU threads. You can trace rays from large data sets of ptex very quickly now. Also if you want to use a lower filter setting for rendering the color data of ptex, yet select a lower mipmap setting for GI and reflections you can go under MISC settings in V-Ray and change the GI Filter from 1 to 10 to force a lower quality mipmap. This will allow a crisp color render using the highest texture quality, yet downgrading the GI texture source and glossy reflections to render much faster. This is in the latest nightly build of V-Ray for Maya.
iSO iis ithis ithe ifuture? I this and I that ? iterriable..
There are huge HUGE numbers of iPads so yes we thought an ipad ibook was a great idea, but clearly some people like our videos, some our audio podcasts, some our written stories and some will like our ibook. I understand from your comment you dont like this - but I would respectfully point out it is free ! 🙂
But Jay thanks for the comment - we love getting feedback good or bad.
Mike
The pointcloud was used as the basis for a human created topology. The modeller used the pointcloud to ensure accuracy.
The projection tools used by Scott are included in Mari 1.6. No more custom build required.
Nice job and nice presentation.
Does anybody knows the exact model of the scanner Scott used and what is the price of this scanner ?
Nicolas, it's the FARO Focus3D 120... I personally helped Scott and passed along the info of all the plug-ins and the workflow. I'm happy to see what he's done with it, he's a sharp guy.
If you or anyone else want to learn more about it, I no longer work directly for FARO but am their distributor based in Orlando, FL at www.go3Dusa.com
We sell scanners, software, and offer free consulting on all this 3D imaging and post-processing tools.
Regards,
Ed Oliveras
877.496.0497
www.go3Dusa.com
Really Cool stuff Scott - we where doing something similar like this for Transformers. But it was a little pain to paint in the other HDR shots to fill in gaps and occlusions. I was surprised to see that the FARO scanner also recorded colour information. Any idea if the unit can capture HDR imagery? Almost feel like Spheron VR and FARO should talk to each other and have a full Geo/HDR capture solution. Then use Mari for cleanup work and PTEX generation. Anyhow cool stuff.
Hi Shervin.
The Faro gives a scan position in 3D space with option to export an object in the position as a DXF file. You could shoot HDR's in the same position by placing the camera at the same height. I found it a bit time consuming to do this though. I would first scan the set, then shoot the HDR's as fast as possible shooting more HDR's than Faro scans to get the most texure coverage. I talked with Faro about placing a better CCD in the Faro camera to collect more stops of usable range. Perhaps future Faro models might have something in store for the world of VFX.
Cheers!
Cooool, great to know about 32TEN, very useful. I whish there was more about them and less FXPHD courses propaganda.
But thanks anyway.
this question may sound a bitt strange, but wouldn't it be possible to use a hacked Micorosft Kinect to scan the environment?
FARO already has a utility to use the Kinect, it's called Scenect: http://3d-app-center.faro.com/
Hi Scott,
I was wondering what kind of workflow you use to process your HDR Images into Lat longs.
Do you shoot in 3 directions 120 degrees apart and process them in Nuke or some other app?
Thanks your demo is very impressive!
Hi Matt: I Shoot 4 directions with a Nikkor 10.5mm using a Nikon D800. I had to send that 10.5 lens to Germany to have them shave the hood that is fixed to the glass:
http://www.360pano.de/en/tokina-sigma-nikon.html
The lat longs are then combined in PTGUI. PTGUI does an amazing job at automating the process of stitching. PTGUI will load the Nikon Raw file directly then export an exr file. For non latlong images I combine in Photomatix then match color between latlongs and rectlinear HDRS in Nuke. You will want to adjust image exposure after creation of all HDRs in something like Nuke.
[...] Download Video [...]
more information pleaeaeaeaease~
Please give Mike a silence button in case Jason goes on another Psychobabble rat hole about the subconscious
Thanks for the great article! I'm following the Octane news for quite some time now and might purchase it as soon as the Maya plugin goes out of beta. During my research on GPU renderers I also came along a renderer called FurryBall 3.0. Tho, it's not physically based rendering you might want to have a look at it (if you haven't already).
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
Fantastic article! I'm happy to see Octane get some love. I've been using Octane render since the beta and haven't gone back to Mental Ray since. That beta price sure was sweet. I was saying it then and I'll say it now. Unless something drastic happens on the CPU render front, GPU rendering is the future of graphics processing. Just look up Nvidia Maximus.
To silence him or me?
j
(SPOILER ALERT) Did anybody else notice the strange effect just as Jarvert jumps off the bridge at the end? To me, there was a really jarring jump from the actor to the digital double. I thought the vfx for Les Mis were really strange to be honest.
Fantastic!
"Stephen Lawes puts A-113 in all of his screens he’s done – I think it’s the room where he went to school. Apparently a lot of directors and people from that class have put that in their films."
A-113...that's the Pixar number. Seem to remember it being the room number at Disney where Lasseter, Bird, etc worked. Its in justabout every Pixar movie along with John Ratzenberger
Metzger is bauss!!!! Much respect.
Awesome - ,
btw Sister Angie, what happen to you? 🙁
Wish everything go fine with you.
How many scans did you do for each room? And how long was the scan site work? Did you make it a priority to ensure very minimal amount of occlusion or did you have to wing-it a bit on the modeling?
Cheers
Dave
The amount of scans per room really depended on the size and occluded objects, if it was inside or outside. Scanning in sunlight outdoors would be 9 mins a scan including color capture of point cloud. In door scanning would be about 5 minutes per scan for color. The most scans I capture would be around 20 scans, and the least for a room would be about 4-5. I would try to scan every set as much as possible. Most of the time you end up scanning ahead of shooting, or during shooting while everyone is on a lunch break. You never at any point want to hold up production. For the larger outdoor areas It would sometimes take 4-6 hours for scanning and photography.
The Faro even scans cars as well. That takes about 1 hour to do. Scanning the environment and being able to pull the scan up in Maya with a Macbook Air to visually communicate how shots need to be shot for vfx work was a huge plus of having the scanner. It's a fantastic tool that can be used in a multitude of ways.
Huge Animated Short and great article ! I discovered it a few months ago when John Kahrs came in Paris to present his work... You can also find a breakdown video here : http://wiki-fx.net/paperman/ 🙂
Great presentation, and very timely. Our company is looking at getting a Nikon d800 and we already have the 10.5 lens. I had a few questions to clarify as we will be planning on replicating portions of your process.
Do you have the d800 or the d800E which should I get?
Is the lens shaving process only effecting the outer plastic of the lens casing or are you effecting the glass too?
We have the old faro scanner it weighs about 60 lbs and is a beast to take around. Do you know about what the scanner you use weighs?
Thanks
Aaron
I have the regular D800 and it works really well. You could always try the D800E to get a bit more of a sharper image, but you will have to pull out any moiré patterns with processing. I think that would add too many extra steps since I like to process the raw nef files directly into PTgui from the camera.
In terms of the lens shave, it only affects the plastic hood. The glass is never touched. I highly recommend Tobias Vollmer for shaving ([email protected]) .
I can hold the D800 with tripod on my right hand, and the Faro Focus 3D scanner with my left. It's extremely light with the correct tripod. To purchase the correct kit for the faro it will cost about 48k in total.
It's really a sad state of affairs for the VFX industry if the VFX house that is likely to win the Oscar for VFX this year is in this kind of shape. 🙁
This just in...
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118065654/
Wow, that is rough. Hoping they can pull through ok, they are great!
Brilliant work! Kudos to all the teams involved!
Thanks Anandh
Great article, surprised there was no mention of Vray RT under the GPU tab as it's becoming more and more capable. Arnold is also very interesting, but how does one learn the software if there's nothing about it on their website, or anywhere really for that matter. Cheers
Thanks for the comments.
Regarding Arnold, we have a course at fxphd.com this term -- and members can get access to the software as well. It's a great way to learn.
Thanks for good article. I have translated the last part "Light at PDI/DreamWorks" at my blog.
http://maxwellsandy.blogspot.kr/2013/02/pdidreamworks-light.html
[...] Download Video [...]
Hello,
I am trying to chose what renderer to invest in. (time, money, training).
I'm a freelance 3D artist, creating prototype sculptures of human characters and manufacturing them to be sold as high-end 3D assets. (A collection of models/assets and scene-files primed for rendering). I use 3ds max and Zbrush.
I need simplicity, speed and quality in rendering still shots and turntables. Special attention to displacement maps, hair and fur as well as SSS.
My budget? well, that depends on a lot, like my break-even analysis and how much training/support I need.
Any suggestions from experienced people?
Thanks for these great articles.
Steve.
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
Great work , very inspiring to see this ;O)
It would be nice to see an article at fxguide about other asset/project management system: FTrack www.ftrack.com
[...] Download Video [...]
It's impressive, but up until this point I don't care about seeing more polys on screen in real time..I would really like to see some sort of Subsurface shading advancement and attention to more advanced shaders so we can get rid of the flat look that plagues these games
Sub-surface scattering is gorgeous, but it's mostly only useful on skin and low-density objects. I didn't see much skin or low-density objects in either games.
I'm reading the older comments and noticing that the iBook still needs time to be distributed to other countries. I live in the US and it is not available for me also. Where is it actually available? Is it only available to readers in New Zealand? Any information is appreciated because I would not want to miss out on this inside look to a visual compelling movie.
Thanks!
Natalie
Sorry Natalie - We just removed the ibook.
It is no longer available, I hope everyone who wanted it downloaded it.
This was our agreement with Warners. And may I take this chance to thank Warners and Weta for a wonderful experience.
Thanks
mike
Aw alright, thank you. Maybe next time!
[...] Download Video [...]
Fantastic work! I loved every pixel of it. 🙂 Kudos.
Method did a wonderful job, and their artists are some of the best in the business. Olivier did especially outstanding work under pressure. I hope Method continues to get recognized and have success. To each artist at Method here in Los Angeles that worked on Beautiful Creatures, I would like to say very simply, thank you. We are experiencing trying times in the VFX business, and it was truly a pleasure to be able to do these shots here, at home, and with such talented folks.
I'm sure we will work together again.
Kindest Regards,
Joe Harkins
Slr magic has announced some anamorphic lenses but I assume they are MFT. I got out bid on one of the Iscorama lenses on eBay awhile back. I'm upset I didn't spend the little bit extra to get it. It was an Iscorama 36 Fmount!!!
Anyways if I find the link I'll post it. Aleagoc was showing off the flares and asking what people wanted in an anamorphic lens if they were to make it.
https://vimeo.com/53623079
sorry the link above is the SLRmagic anamorphic test
thanks for the post
Mike
looks great, well done.
The jean looks great, all the rest looks 3d, and abuse macro view can just hide this!
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/download/?force_file=/2013/01/Maa_lightstage.mp4 [...]
another useful and interesting gadget worth looking at in your fields are:
1. iStar 360 HDR cameras:
2. Matterport 3D scanner
3. Mantis Vision handheld scanner
lots more gadgets... anybody seriously considering getting or renting these should come to the SPAR conference in CO this April: https://www.sparpointgroup.com/international/
I blog for these guys in case you were interested: https://www.sparpointgroup.com/blog.aspx?blogid=14536
Great coverage! Thanks for keeping us VFX industry sympathizers who do not live in LA posted on the protest!
no problem - just posted a phone interview direct from the march,.. Jeff with VFX sup Scott Squires
It's definitely time for VFX artists to conduct a general strike. We don't need a union right now, but we need to show that we can act in unison or our treatment will continue to decline.
During that day, we need to have an open forum discussion a standardization of rates, hours, terms, overtime pay etc. because the conversations are career suicide to have inside a studio.
Clients will ALWAYS act like clients, studios will only respect the bottom line, that is their nature. They will always feign ignorance of our issues to avoid responsibility. It's up to artists to grow a pair and stand up for our rights. Studios which fire artists for participating in the general strike need to be boycotted by applicants and shut down by us.
I've heard it said by producers that "artists hold all the power" but we never exercise it. Time to quit whining and make a stand.
Call this a biased perspective, but aren't you calling for artists to ... unionize?? "We don't need a union, but we need to exercise our leverage by banding together and create workplace standards and find a way to enforce labor laws"
You're calling for what you say you don't need .. and that's a union.
Thanks for the great coverage, it is SUCH a worthwhile protest - and it's past time that we take steps to change the current paradigm. Clearly, much of the on-screen value that audiences react to is created by VFX houses.
Great article, thanks. LOVE the b-roll footage. And I am a fan of using practical elements where possible. When I watched the movie, I found the combination of some practical scale elements, CG and full scale practical was very convincing.
Great article. New podcast on previs check out here!
http://www.previspodcast.com/
Great to see people stand up! i remember podcasts on FXguide talking about problems and unions years ago, maybe steps towards change?
Thanks for this guys, i really like listening to this while working.
Pretty amazing - I had discounted the possibility that they'd mocked up the whole set and assumed there was some sophisticated matting going on.
Does that means we should see some continuity mismatch in the walk-on shot between the rear view of the audience members in the front rows and the actual attendees on broadcast night? Please don't tell me they had the seating chart and body-doubled everybody in those front rows...
[...] a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a [...]
A fantastic presentation! Can you elaborate more on what kind of artifacting you get with a sigma 8mm? and also if the process can be replicated on a smaller budget with say a Canon 5D?
many thanks.
The Sigma has a lot more chromatic aberration, and its not as sharp as the 10.5 Nikkor.
Nice!!! Thank you for the article!!
[...] Shootout_previs [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
One of things I think you guys really hit on was the fact that the directors aren't there physically. They meet a few people and then they're off again. On-site collaboration is SO important. iMatte (part of Ultimatte), in L.A., has created a brand new system called SightDeck that is e-collaboration on steroids. This system could even be used for compositing, can be recorded, etc. Something like this should be in every VFX office that has to survive on distance collaboration. Imagine how much work could be saved if the director is onsite while on location.
The 'presenters' are at different locations, but they can see each other, and the graphics behind them, life-size and in real time. Each presenter can see, touch and interact with the graphics on the screen. Each audience sees the presenter at their location side-by-side with the life-size presenter from the other location. Each presenter and audience sees first generation graphics.
SightDeck is a positive experience whether it’s one-to-one or one-to-many. (Body language is key.)
No studio. No camera operator. No green screens. No special lighting. No complex installation. Please check it out. It could be a huge benefit for the entire industry.
www.sightdeckkc.com
www.imatte.com
Wish you had actually been there Jeff. I really do. Your armchair review helps us underscore one of main points presented at the protest. You can't really participate in a production if you are not there with the artists....meaning ...directors that remove themselves from the processes involved in visual effects are not really directing or even seeing the larger picture. The cost of this lack of focus is passed on to the shops. These misperceptions cause confusion and losses.
The reason we were successful is because this group of creative individuals was asked to be just that, be creative, in contrast to being told what to do...something they have to digest every day at work.
If you had been subscribed to @vfxunited, our main Twitter feed, You would have read :
"there is no right thing to wear"
"there is no right thing to say"
"there is no right sign to carry"
"come join your friends at the most famous intersection in the world, Hollywood and Vine, to talk about our futures."
And oh yeah, "Watch for the plane".
Our message was carried in the air and by the press. BOXOFFICE + BANKRUPT = VISUAL EFFECTS. VFXUNION.COM.
That website spells it out quite perfectly.
The effort was aimed at VFX artist world wide. Not the hollywood tourists. I BeLive we succeeded beautifully at creating a sense of solidarity that has never been achieved before....and lucky for us the greatest PR imaginable was given us by the academy...., which ironically was formed in the 20's by the studio MGM to pacify the non unionized talent into thinking they had representation.
Dave,
You and Scott Squires were the ones who wanted to raise awareness of the conditions and the state of the VFX business today. Those who know your story, understand you are an artist and love doing the work you do. You also want to be able to make a living doing it. We all do.
What you, Scott Squires, Jeff Heusser, VFXSoldier and others that have spoken out on the problems with subsidies, long working hours, non-payment of work completed (like the work on Journey to the Center of the Earth), healthcare, retirement...
It seems that the VES has no intention of being involved in improving the state of the industry other than at an arms distance.
Is this something the we, as artists or VFX studio owners, should refuse to work for projects that pressure us to relocate to locations that take advantage of subsidies? I think so. Take a look at some other trades and how they bid on work and how they offer healthcare and retirement to their members.
As of right now, if the VES wants to get involved in the issues that are plaguing our industry, they may want to re-examine their charter. Right now, Mr. Okum remarks are kinda reminding me of a scene from Braveheart, when the Scottish nobles wanted to negotiate with the English. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrrBs8JBQo).
At the end of the day, it is up to the VFX owners to provide better working conditions, bid on work responsibly, and think about realistic turnaround times with work (which I know Okum mentioned in the interview with Mike). It is also up to us as artists to not be taken advantage of. Don't work for free or for less than what you are worth. Service based industries are already a race to the bottom as technology evolves and we find more efficient ways of working. undercutting irresponsibly only does more harm than good.
We need a union. We need to come together and come up with standards for how we define ourselves as professional artists, healthcare for our members, retirement (either through investements or through residuals), and to agree to what working conditions we will accept.
I've been looking forward to FXGuide's coverage, this will be my 3rd time through listening to this podcast. Thank you for this.
vfx artists have created the wave and ves is surf boarding on it.
[...] Download Video [...]
This is such a cryptic and confusing interview. I appreciate that it was late, but Mr. Okun contradicts himself time and time again. At first he states the the VES is an honorary society and that they cannot legally, based on their charter, be involved in the formation fo a union, trade association, etc. But then he goes on later to suggest that they definitely want to be involved in the conversation and that they feel this is "right in their wheelhouse". I have to respectfully disagree. The VES has been terrible at communication on the salient issues related to labor, subsides and the like. I agree with Mike that what the VES does really well is to serve as an honorary society geared towards the celebration and education of the medium. I don't understand why they don't just stick to that. It seems that every time Okun opens his mouth on these issues the message is muddied. I'm certain that he has the best of intentions, but I don't think that communication on the issues of the day are "in his wheelhouse". As a VES member I find it almost embarrassing to read these open letters and listen to the chair being interviewed. He presents a caustic and unpleasant attitude to the entire debate that, in my opinion, does more harm than good. It winds up sounding divisive rather than unifying. I will not be voting for the current board members of the VES again. I'd like future candidates to command a better set of public relation skill if part of the job entails such a high profile.
It shouldn't be the case that another board member should have to respond and clarify the chair's statement with yet another open letter on a blog as Van Ling did here: http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/2013/03/ves-board-member-thoughts.html
So much of the debate has been framed in this ham-fisted manner by the VES and I hope the "congress" can put somethings in order. I think the protest at the Oscars was a great day for VFX in bringing about a larger degree of public awareness, something that has been sorely needed for years.
I couldn't agree more with regards to the myriad of communications issues. And while I wouldn't go so far as to say there has been a lack of stewardship, I do believe the time has come for VES to develop a comprehensive image campaign that actually backs up its charter.
For instance, as an honorary society, shouldn't VES be reaching out to other guilds and societies in the film industry about what constitutes acceptable behavior when addressing our profession? When I see year after year, VFX being slammed at the Oscars, why isn't any correspondence furnished to AMPAS, and the producers it hires, in response to these misteps? Why do we see SAG actors and WGA Writers willingly participating in the degradation of key players working to advance their craft? Not even a one-paragraph press release on the events that transpired on national/global television...Really?
And what do we define as an education agenda? Why hasn't VES lobbied hard to put breakdowns in the annual bake-off? This discussion has been going on for years, but barely a whisper from the honorary society that "speaks for the profession?". Why hasn't there been any outreach to the DGA or PGA on how to budget for VFX services - which should include all those "little dustbusters" who don't make it to the credits? Does a press kit on the profession even exist?
I could go on and on... There's a very wide net out there for discussion if VES would only step outside the box and look around.
It's awesome the lengths Keith went to match perspective. This article is incredibly helpful. There's a but...
I can't get over that the final shot looks totally wrong to my eye -- why go to such lengths to achieve realistic perspective and then throw realism out the window in every other department? The restaurant looks hypersaturated and crushed compared to the foreground, and the background looks like a still because of lack of any movement other than the dust on the ground. Also, the movement of the car is sped up and then frame blended, rather than putting any kind of motion blur back on top. It just seems like all the love was put into the perspective, and only the perspective.
For a non-VFX person with yet an honest interest in the field, it's always a pleasure to listen to you guys chat about a film, especially from a non-overintelellectualizing POV. You just learn just a ton of interesting things. The only thing I'd hoped to hear you guys talk about just because you have a profound knowledge regarding this, is the unusual use of 270° shutter angle by Miranda/Lee. I was even kinda expecting this to come up since at least Mike doesn't seem to be quite fond of higher than 180° shutter angles, as he mentioned in the VFX show on "2012".
This was such a good video!! Tissue is such an interesting piece of software and can just imagine how cool it will be when it will be released for public. Especially not having to weight paint all your skin and get wrinkles etc for free will be fantastic.
BTW, Mike's question about finite element analysis and number of tets was pretty funny and James look a bit puzzled how to respond to it at all 🙂 For those of you who doesnt know, finite element analysis is a very general numerical analysis approach to integration in differential equations and doesnt mean that one tet in a destruction simulation equal of particular block, although I have to agree its a convenient way to think! 🙂 Destruction simulations that uses only a few tets / shards will likely use millions of finite elements to simulate (number based on resolution of the solver). Read more about the method here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_element_method
this is what scares me about relying on cloud computing for professional work
International subsidies should end, because ultimately it leads to poaching industry sectors from entire countries and de-stabilizing chunks of economies is what results...because this is known already it's why it's illegal internationally. As far as the VES attempting to save the California movie industry, I don't have a problem with it. I don't live in the California, never have and I don't work in California. The film business, which is now synonymous with the VFX business or at least a portion of the VFX business and all of the related industries has been and is essentially the bedrock of the California economy. Allowing California's economic foundation to slowly crumble in the name of building goodwill across nation boundaries just isn't palatable to most people in the U.S. It's just unfortunate that because the VFX industry is not crucial and is an entertainment industry it's flown under the radar of international litigation and broad public opinion.
While some want to talk about the VES attempting to arrest development from other places etc., etc. the reality is that the majority of the development in these places is based on ill-gotten goods to begin with...it's like trying to argue over ownership rights of a second hand stolen vehicle the vehicle always BELONGS to the person it was stolen from. At the end of the day you have a lot of companies that have built reputations on poached VFX work from U.S. studios. How subsidies are handled in the U.S. just isn't an issue that's germane until the international poaching problem is dealt with.
In the case of Adobe Creative cloud - the aps a re on your machine, you dont need to connect to the net every time you use them... but with SimCity it only works if you are always connected.
Do the risks and down side outweigh what you gain?
[...] http://www.fxguide.com/player/?media_url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Ffxguidetv%2Fmedia.fxguide.... [...]
too much CG kill the CG... Giants feels so much 3d! 🙁
Agreed. Time to look backwards in certain areas.
Fantastic podcast, and I've listened to them all! Questions were spot on. Not to disagree with the filmmakers interviewed, but would luv to see an objective analysis of exactly what makes a traditional film bleach bypass superior to that done digitally. What specifically is 'better'? ditto for digital vs film based grain.
[...] Download Video [...]
Nice one John! Thanks.
[...] Download Video [...]
cant wait love nvidia
And here's their whole keynote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A84v7lbdcYg&list=SPZHnYvH1qtOY0ZrWQgnQlj4dwGZ1pVgoj
Wonderful advances! Slightly marred by the oversimplification of the VFX process in the octane render video. "You're not going to understand it when they say it takes two weeks" very much depends on the changes you're asking for. If you want a simple time of day lighting change, sure, do that in realtime. Rendering's not the only bottleneck in the pipeline.
[...] Download Video [...]
I've found a VFX Breakdown from Vision Globale for Upside Down : http://wiki-fx.net/upside-down/ ... It's a shame that we have to wait May 2013 to discover this movie in France !
Great podcast guys. I know you've looked at Adobe before but do you see anything happening with them at NAB? I was especially disappointed they dropped CS Live out of Premiere in version 6. They alluded to something new to replace it last year but no word yet. Since most of our clients are remote do you see Adobe or anyone else solving the problem of on-line collaboration and review for video content?
Thanks again,
Bob Wojda
Water Street Media Works
Hey Robert
i hear something is close tho maybe not released but maybe demo'd or announced. ? Stuff is in the works though for sure
cheers
jas
As always great show chaps. Is the video discussing Jason's current shooting setup already posted? I can't find it on the site but it was mentioned a couple of times in the podcast.
Thanks!
Hey Adam, slight delay, that will be out this week.
cheers
jas
Hey guys, are you having a beer with fellow Aussies at NAB? Love to say hi. Love the podcast too, best non biased info I can find anywhere.
[...] Download Video [...]
Great work Scott!
If I may add, Z+F has developed a new laser scanner, which also acquires HDR imagery ( Z+F Imager 5010C, http://www.zf-laser.com/Z-F-IMAGER-5010C-3D.135.0.html?&L=1). This would eliminate the process of stitching the panorama and aligning it to the model. Let me know if you would like to play around with it ([email protected]).
Thanks for the stunning presentation!
-Chris
Hi Chris,
scanner looks fantastic, can you tell us a little more about the camera? resolution per exposure how many brackets it takes for HDRs, at how many stops apart and what focal length it shots with?
many thank!
[...] Download Video [...]
"We took the original 1993 35mm O-neg, did a 4K scan of the picture. We did a full restoration on the image, and a full color-correction. Steven really wanted to match the original look – the color is very similar to the original. " - BAM, right there. We can put our crazy theories and placebo to rest. Jurassic Park did get a 4K remaster, which is WHY it looks MILES better than the 2011 2D Blu-Ray, along with the warmer colour grading matching the 1993 trailer, etc.
I just came back from an IMAX 3D showing and the quality was stunning. I think it's really wrong of Universal to even re-release the 2D blu-Ray on the 3D combo pack, not including the remastered 4K version, but the same old transfer used since the DVD release, artificially sharpened to death. Many people have sent their concerns to Universal but their "replies" have been nothing but useless and automated. Everyone shared their replies and got these: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=7073921#post7073921
The first time:
"The 2D Blu-ray and DVD releases to be included is our upcoming "Jurassic Park" 3D package will use the master that was created for the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy in 2011.
We hope that you will continue to enjoy our releases.
SIncerely,
Consumer Relations
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT"
The second and onwards:
"The 2011 "Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy" Blu-ray release is based on remastered source material developed under the auspices and with the direct approval of the filmmakers. Extensive efforts went into the remastering process, and the differences between this Blu-ray release and our original DVD release are dramatic. The same remastered materials will be used for our upcoming DVD and 2D Blu-ray release.
We will forward your comments to the appropriate department.
Again, thank you.
Sincerely,
Consumer Relations UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT"
We want to take home this remastered experience not only for the 3D audience but 2D as well. To think that most of us who grew up with this movie payed for the movie tickets, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and even the atrocious Blu-Ray copy - AND the again paid for the movie tickets 20 years later, deserves this.
Ian Failes I appreciate this article deeply and enjoyed it. If you can somehow forward this to anyone at Universal or Spielberg himself even, let them know we want a 2D copy of the same remaster from the 3D version. Contacting Universal's customer service is kicking a dead horse at this point.
VFX Breakdown from Stargate Studios for Walking Dead Season 3 : https://vimeo.com/63430867
For others seasons breakdowns, let's check http://wiki-fx.net/the-walking-dead/ 🙂
Softimage... yes!
I wonder if Adobe Anywhere works with an Avid ISIS for storage?
[...] Download Video [...]
Thanks FX Guide for the great coverage of NAB. Black Magic...so cool. Want.
Loved the live stream event. Was a smashing success and was like being there without leaving home. Great work to the whole team!
Does anyone have a recommendation for shooting HDRi at the same time as scanning?
Any suggestions on a viable tripod head that would allow for quick snapping between the two or would placing a second tripod in a ball park area be adequate.
Awesome presentation.
-g
Thanks Guys!
a little nitpicking still: at the beginning of the article it says "This camera" [the bmcc] "was as unexpected as it was innovative. Having only a smaller sensor and recording to SD card, it was the first born son of a company"
The Blackmagic Cinema Camera doesn't record to SD cards, little mixup there.
Big thanks again for the whole NAB coverage. this kind of dedication is why i support this site!
Cheers!
A big thank you for a great coverage, again, from NAB! Thanks to Jeff, John, Mike and the whole team behind this.
Not being able to attend and having you guys out there is reassuring.
Being able to watch and listen to all this from our comfy, eh, desk chairs, is just amazing. Thanks!
About the Full frame and wide...I was the same way I love my zeiss 21mm 2.8 and the nikkor 14-24 so I never payed any attention but with the speed booster coming out I now have put in the preorder. It kind of changes everything but I am disappointed it has been delayed. The black magic pocket rocket with the speed booster and a sweet anamorphic....e couldnt dream of such ridiculous things before...Im so excited!
A note on Premier workflow. It does support AAF export. And in my experience, the AAF from Premiere CS6 into Resolve 9.1 worked MUCH better than the XML route (which actually failed on the project in question).
Cheers,
Jef
[...] Download Video [...]
Very insightful. Thanks for sharing!
I get what you mean guys about anamorphic. its about the life and character it brings to digital. I bought the Iscorama 1968 single coated finally and WOW. Also adding a Helios as the taking lens gets you even closer to it. HAve you guys heard of Dog Schidt Optiks? Very cool stuff. Im getting rid of all my pristine glass for older stuff it seems
Rob i totally thought you were taking the piss here Dog Schidt Optiks? please! but yep there they are. the guys seems on holidays at the moment but ill be sure and check him out. thx for the info
cheers
jas
Np Jas, when you guys were taking about the newer anamorphics losing all the feel and look that we all love I thought you would like that. Cant lose for the price, I have a Helios and a russian MIR lens that I like more then any newer lens I have. Im not shooting on Cooke's but I have some zeiss glass and nikon glass and it just doesnt have the right feel for video. Also I hear lomo square fronts were the way I should have gone but I bought the iscorama which is a beautiful anamorphic you can afford to own.
Here are a few quick tests on a d800 if you are interested sorry if i shouldnt post links but the quality is crazy for dslr
CC1
https://vimeo.com/64450588
CC3
https://vimeo.com/64469791
Also thanks so much for the coverage wish I was there this year.
Yeah I think the Dog Schidt Optiks stuff looks great ! We'd love to know more and maybe get a lens
Maybe? oh if they actually ever reopen their doors,, ill buy a few!
Ive ordered 2 from them, I wnt a funky one and a normal one to put as a taking lens on anamorphics. They also will convert them to F mount by shaving a millimeter off to allow the focus to reach infinity which is huge. I stuck with nikon and its been hard to make a kit around their lenses thats flexible.
I am always hugely impressed by Digic's work, they are brilliant artists. I did not see anywhere in the article where it talked about their schedule and deliverables, could you address that in the comments? How long did they have for this? Do they work in 1080P HD Resolution and output PRORES QuickTime or do they deliver final DPX frames to be graded by a finishing house? Did they do all the sound design/editing/finishing as well?
Coming from VFX I'd like to know more about the overall pipeline for something like this.
Thank you!
astonishing, amazing , jaw dropping
Congratulations
Jason and Mike,
Great segment as always. Something that caught my attention. I run Dionic 90's as well. When we travel we were packing them in our checked bags with the rest of the gear which is what you said you were doing. At NAB we talked with the Anton Bauer rep and the topic came up. He stated very clearly for us that we should not check these in and must carry them on board. He said that TSA will take them out of your checked bag and discard them if they find them. I've checked them in a lot without having any lost but at around $500 a piece I am not going to risk it.
See you in the airport,
Bob Wojda
[...] Download Video [...]
[...] Download Video [...]
Hi Joe - I asked Digic about your questions and they have provided the following for you:
1. How long did they have for this?
This is always a tricky question to answer exactly, because there's often a lengthy initial period during which time the script and animatic are crystallized, and during this time, only a limited number of people from a limited number of departments are working on the given project. You could call this "pre-production" but that wouldn't really be true, because actual production can (and does) begin on certain assets during this time - those assets which are 100% sure to be in the film, eg. the hero character(s). So with this in mind, AC4 Black Flag took about two months of full-steam production after the animatic was approved.
2. Do they work in 1080P HD Resolution and output PRORES QuickTime or do they deliver final DPX frames to be graded by a finishing house?
We do work in full 1080p HD resolution during production. Our final deliverables can vary slightly from project to project, but usually a ProRes QuickTime is included. Final grading is usually done by us.
3. Did they do all the sound design/editing/finishing as well?
Final sound design was handled at the client's end on this project, we worked with temp sound throughout production.
Hi Mike,
How should we understand : "The company may have been French" ? I'm sure you don't mean bad when writing that but honestly it's a bit strange to read when you're French.
Imagine something like "The studio may have been American but the movie story was interesting" 😉 How could react American people ?
Cheers,
Nicolas.
"More recently they developed the Digital Delta camera which had the first optical viewfinder for a digital camera" - this, IMHO, is incorrect, with all respect.
As far as I know, the Delta was announced at NAB 2010 and finally shown as a fully functional camera at IBC 2012 - Arri's D20 was already used in production in 2006 (or even earlier) and featured a very similar concept: Essential body parts from an Arri 435, including a mechanical shutter and an optical viewfinder, and a digital 'magazine'/ with a 35mm width CMOS sensor. The magazine, however, was not swappable and hardwired/mounted to the rest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arriflex_D-20
So far I can remember was it Joe Dunton who introduced the world a digital magazine upgrade concept for an ARRI 16SR camera at IBC 2002. It took a while before P+S Technik could deliver the world a 16Digital Mag, which is able to transform an ARRI SRIII film camera into a HD camera.
The first (conceptual) digital 35mm digital cinema camera with an optical viewfinder was the Dalsa Origin, which was showed on the NAB showfloor in 2003. A concept that evolved into the Origin II and it's 'little' brother the Evolution, which were rental items only just like the ARRIFLEX D-20. The D-21 was the first commercial to buy 35mm digital cinema camera with an optical viewfinder.
It was clever from Aaton to adopt Joe Dunton's digital magazine concept into their Penelope roadmap. The Penelope was launched in Q3 of 2008 a period that the Red One just had to be commercially launched. Reintroducing the 2-Perf 35mm format was an welcoming concept in Europe, and a big succes. The tide changed in 2010 when Red came with the Mysterium-X sensor upgrade and the ARRI Alexa was introduced. It took a while for Aaton to show the world a working prototype of their Penelope Delta, which became a permanent digital back upgrade camera. Still a camera with some clever inovations, like a multislot shutter to reduce the light going to the sensor and the sensor which is mounted on a moving assembly to deal with spatial resolution. It's very sad news that Aaton has been hit by defects in the controller for the Dalsa sensor, and then by non-uniform performances of the sensors themselves, whose quality did not match that of the prototypes.
There's an official statement about "Aaton turns to financial recievership" by Jean-Pierre Beauviala on AFC website: http://www.afcinema.com/Aaton-turns-to-financial-receivership.html
Valid points - I have corrected the story. My bad.
mike
No problem, people are a bit picky with fxguide simply because they know you aim to high standards in your articles. I am happy to be an insider each time I go to fxguide.com 🙂
Nicolas.
Thanks for the update. I've read a few write ups about NAB, but your show is my favorite way to catch up on all the new developments. Cheers!
Great Stuff!!! Lighting has come a long way. Very interesting that they now have LED Fresnel lenses. Are there any 5k or larger style of LED lights?
Thanks as always!
-JoE-
Thanks for posting this guys,
Jason what is the housing you have your Variable ND filter in?
Just occurred to me ... would this be the most expensive animation ever created in the history of man (per second)?
I cant imagine the pre-pro R&D nor the 'film gear' are cheap!!
I didnt say this in the lecture but the new Dedo LEDs are really good. In an effort to avoid favoring Dedo lights, I think I was wrong in not saying Dedo have invested a lot of effort in making Dedo LEDs good quality.
there are DIY projects to build STM's 🙂 the intresting part is that it starts at 1000$ to build one 🙂 just for learning a cheap price... but ibm had for sure some top STM's in the +1m $ area 🙂
DIY STM Projects:
http://www.stm-diy.ch/
http://www.e-basteln.de/index.htm
[...] Download Video [...]
Hey I love the breakdown of the trailer. I hope to one day work on a cinematic like this. I have a couple of questions I would like to ask just to get a better idea of what goes on in the pipeline that wasn't included in this article.
What was the poly count on the characters with clothing and accessories included? What was used for texturing Mari, Photoshop, Mudbox or Zbrush and the size of the textures? The last question is what solution was used for the hair, thanks?
Scratch my previous post my questions were answered in the article, thanks.
Just finished short film with a full ACES pipeline with our own custom created IDT for the Canon T2i and worked like a charm! Gave a lot of flexibility when you finally get your head wrapped around what's going on with the color image encoding and scene to display colorimetry rendering.
Trailer: http://lunebateaux.com/muffet
Awesome Podcast Mike Seymour and Montgomery with Erik Nash, Well detail FREE FALL SEQ and Iron Man Suit, Its V-ray oh.
THANKS Fxguide.com
Excelente información.
Es tan increíble la realización de los efectos visuales de iron man 3 como espectacular fue el resultado, realmente admirable.
[...] the attack as a photoreal CG sequence.” 00:00 00:00| 00:00 Download Video Watch part of the house attack sequence. Based on The Third Floor’s previs, Scanline created [...]
Great article 🙂
Do you have a video link for the web and CSS sneak peek ?
Nicolas.
Not yet Nicolas -- Adobe hasn't posted anything else yet.
Fantastic article! Love it. Great work Ian & the FX Guide team putting all this together.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't some type of feedback from Canon as a result of the 5D3 RAW hack, hopefully at least a more accelerated firmware upgrade policy for their EOS line.
Did they really need Rainn Wilson to be around?
Thanks fxguide awesome podcast, I'm with you Mike i also like Batman Trilogy ha ha ha.
Thanks
Thank you ! .. Now if someone could please tell Matt !!! 🙂
I agree with Matt. Batman is all darkness, and no fun/humor at all. And what's up with that stupid voice?? If Bruce Wayne really wanted to emulate a bat he would make his voice high and squeaky. 🙂
Thanks, Mike for this podcast,
Q.Is V-ray render deep images. And Looking forward for ( World War Z ) i worked on it. So waiting for coming out.
Thanks fxguide
Great interview. I really enjoyed hearing about what ILM's compositing pipeline is like today. Thanks!
Nice! Allright Geoff! Bring it. Look, the Batman films are good, but they are, in my opinion, not as good comic book movies. The Batman/Bruce Wayne character is far less complex in the Nolan version than in the Tim Burton versions. Burton dealt with the duality and Nolan's scripts give Bale little to work with as an actor. I think they are all top notch talents, don't get me wrong, but I question some of the choices made and think they avoided or missed some great opportunities to take the Dark Knight trilogy (which is a solid technical achievement) into a more powerfully grounded narrative/character/social commentary territory.
On the other hand, as I said in the show, I think Iron Man (and most notedly Robert Downey Jr.) lives up to the hype. As an audience, we can "care", and to some degree, "identify" with the character and his struggles.
When I watch Iron Man, I want to BE Tony Stark.
When I watch Batman, I hope I never have a run in with Bruce Wayne (cause he's so mental).
Love the chat guys!
Thanks Mike for this article, John Knoll is a legend of our Industry.
Thanks fxguide
Frustrated Nikon user lol
I had a D4 for a few months which shoots raw stills at 9-13fps or something crazy, and the buffer never seems to fill up cause of the faster XQD card. Now this magic lantern stuff being limited by the CF card my thoughts are if we had a magic lantern team for nikon would this camera be able to do HD raw at a high bit rate, full frame , , etc. Ive always thought companies limit the cameras intentionally and this kinda proves it for me.
Ive stuck with nikon cause I can mount their lenses on anything but man 5D raw makes me want to buy my first canon and keep my lenses. But the BMCC pocket is still my end to chasing DSLR video quality.
[...] Download Video [...]
Congrats Jason! Very cool.
Q: Kim finished up his talk discussing the cloud and how in his opinion it was going to change everything, free people to work more freely and remotely "
I think we all know where we are heading to.....
Great show guys. Mark said it very well when he said he felt they borrowed a lot from the cannon without really adding anything to it. Very insightful and I completely agree.
The VFX were great. Roger Guyett and the teams did amazing work. The only sequence that really stuck out to me was the fight on Chronos. The phaser battle and hand to hand fight all felt like it was on a set. You could make the case that this is homage to the original series, but it took me out of the movie slightly. The opening scene planet with the red foliage was much stronger as an imagined world.
[...] Download Video [...]
I agree with Matt - I never somehow was never made to care much about Batman and the people of Gotham. Iron Man was much more involving. And this despite (or maybe because) I used to know Christian and his folks when he was a kid!
Thanks Mike Seymour for information of Pixar's Render Man nice article.
Thanks fxguide.com
I was just looking at this today on the ign reviews ,they didnt have nice things to say about the gameplay , but we all agree its a great looking game,that it is. Thank you for posting this in detail view about how they did it , its really inspiring.
Just to not stay on a negative review (I am a little bias), the game is polarized (take a look at review from 40% to 90% here : http://kotaku.com/remember-me-beautiful-or-pretentious-these-six-critic-510999206). Still all reviews agree on the beautiful art direction :).
I just wish the game developers would actually focus on making rain effects look great in all of the games. For now, we have studios like Bethesda who tell us it's impossible to have rain collision in Skyrim due to engine limitations - and then some modder makes it happen?
The main problem is, "...it is still difficult to fit all the demonstrated effects into a modern PS3/XBOX360 playable game environment." If studios would stop developing for consoles first instead of an actual computer, PC gamers would be able to have such effects. The studios could focus on making a game look even better than what we are used to, and then they could port it to console and downgrade the stuff consoles can't support.
Instead, PC gamers get jipped because studios only care about the consoles. You hear it everyday, that is were they are focused. Even with the new next-gen consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, PC's will outshine both of them in a year.
Awesome article, thank you Sébastien!
That's interesting to see that really beautiful games are still using forward rendering. I thought all the games were now using deferred shading/lighting or maybe tiled forward. Did the multiple passes cause you performance problems during the development?
Thank you,
The multiple passes avoid us to have too much light, so in practice we have only one dynamic light by object and when performance allow it we go up to three. This could seems very few compare to deferred shading with hundred of light but most of these lights are use to simulate bounce of light which are baked into lightmap/sh in our case. Our game have mainly static lighting.
As for Prime Focus' work, there is also a VFX breakdown on Vimeo : https://vimeo.com/67661844 🙂
http://wiki-fx.net/pages/the-great-gatsby/
Awesome article. Exactly what the industry wanted from Autodesk.
Great article! It really shows that Autodesk still has the ability to say a lot without meaning anything.
They really need to get their act together and price Flame correctly, it's still a great tool but as it stands now it's no longer the tool of choice for high end stuff for a myriad of really good reasons. Pitch 16 bit float in plain 2013 as revolutionary, really? Please!
Their three fold challenge is just plain ridiculous.
1. Flame no longer justifies it's price and maintenance costs in pretty much all of the high end scenarios, specially if you take it's closed architecture -- which is far from being friendly of collaborative workflows -- into consideration.
2. They've relied way too much for way too long on the Flame myth of it being a magical box. Now this illusion is over. Newer artists need to feel that being good artists will lead to work, and not that just being operators of mythical systems will.
3. The golden era is yet to happen, one where tools are tangible and artists will be valued by their capacity, experience and knowledge and not the capacity of the systems they use alone. So yes, "the golden era" in the Flame sense is indeed over, one where any crappy compositor sat in front of a really expensive machine was deemed a demigod.
And wonder why if they are not bothered by Nuke, Hiero & CIA, why are they changing both Flame and Smoke to mimic them in some aspects? Tiny buttons, right clicking, tabs, etc. By trying to make them appeal more to younger audiences and "ease" a transition they are in my humble opinion ruining some of it's strongest features, which is their pen friendly, quick to use gestural interface.
I'm of the opinion that they need to drop Flame's price to ~15K and release a OSX version of it within the next two years, otherwise it will cease of being relevant altogether.
100K$ for flame, after you still have to find the artist...this era is over, where the comp was like an astronaut.
I think the pipline already exist so if they will not fit in it by making flame more friendly interface/multi platform/trial versions and let it be pirated a bit for the student who wants be better artist and practice at home, except this the whole discreet products will die in very short time.
Last thing, the effects are complex now so the pipeline also, the all in one product will no longer exist.
lower price tag, open architecture, cutting edge next-gen ux / gui design. none of that can be found in the funeral edition...but hope dies last.
can u post the special session video on this the foundry site says its on the dev site and i cant log in to dev site too much traffic
I wont say this is a terrible article, because it makes some decent points, but the majority of the story is well, just so inaccurate and somewhat fabricating an industry that all graduates end up this way. There are questions, does he have the actual talent to get paid more than minimum wage, just because he graduated with some piece of paper, does NOT make one an artist. Was he financially prepared to move to a city that cost of living are so exorbitant. Did the school lead him to believe, as they do a lot of students and graduates, that he will make 90,000k when he graduates.
I started in this field 12 to 14 years ago and my first job was $7.50 an hour at a major facility. So....
I hate that the article, and this is how I read it, tries to blame and industry for one artist that really wasnt prepared, or isnt prepared properly in all aspects. And I have seen and met, recent grads that really were fantastic artist and they are doing just fine. The ones that are lied to and told they are good and there work is good, are not working or working in a junior level getting junior pay.
Agreed.I know for myself that I had to save a certain amount before moving out here to cover cost for at least 6 months and when I did arrive, I had to hit the ground running. This story only exaggerates what really occurs in the industry to people fresh out of school. It is tough and sometimes you need to work shitty jobs to get your foot into the door. I wonder if he went to a place like Fullsail where they are spoon fed lies as tuition is being collected.
I've been waiting so long for this!
@Brad If this guy has collectively 2 billion views on youtube.. chances are he's pretty good.
It was said that the videos have 2 million views.....not necessarily his work. If it is a lady gaga music video then it isnt his work they are viewing the video for.
@James - Music videos tend to get a lot of youtube hits, that figure doesn't speak to his talent at all and we don't how many hes worked on (or what his roles were) in his time working.
This article makes very real points, but a lot of the blame for that hardship does not fall of the vfx industry in particular. Yes, our industry is in terrible shape and its very difficult to break in, and yes, I feel sorry for students who are mislead into taking on ridiculous student loans at these schools only to graduate into this environment. However, moving to a major city with no people to fall on, nobody to support you, no car, no money, and no solid job is a giant risk period. He would have been extremely lucky for that ballsy of a move to work out perfectly, and hes payed for it. I am a recent graduate now working in the industry, and I know many success stories and many very sad failures. The problems are real but this is a bad situation caused by terrible circumstances, only one of which being the state of the industry (although I sure am glad I've never worked at a music video house...eesh).
"Currently, a record 47.8 million Americans are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Enrolment in SNAP has increased 70% since 2008 and currently, an unbelievable 15 out of every 100 Americans are on food stamps." www.policymic.com/articles/46573/bls-unemployment-report-if-our-job-numbers-are-so-good-why-are-food-stamps-at-record-highs
It's not only the VFX industry that is being effected by low pay and long hours, one of the reasons Manufacturing in the US has started to grow is lower wages not just lower energy costs,
I cannot see the VFX industry going back to times past. In years to come there will still be large VFX houses all over the world with great artists, but they'll mainly be shop fronts with the majority of work done in lower cost countries like China and India, all we need to do is keep adapting.....
Good article
i remember in some website, a guy made 2 years learning renderman in a very expencive Uk school, he wrote in some forums that he is waiting to get hired by big vfx companie. its really sad what they make them imagine in schools just to make them pay more, they justify the high price by showing 1 or 2 success stories.
also, lets say the truth, VFX artists around the world are kind of big kids, they dont know their rights.
I remember when I arrived in LA, back in the day it was hard, really hard to get by. In 2009, depression on the corner, high unnemployment and I was a brazilian dude trying to make in the most competitive market in the world.
This story is really similar to mine and I relate to every single line in the article but to me it was even harder, I'm from Brazil and I had to learn the hard way that L.A is not for anyone and specially if you do not fit in the Gatsby stereotype.
I know it is kind harsh but that's how LA works. Thats how any big city works, you need to be really good at what you do and it is still not enough. To achieve success, one must play smart and understand how the market works and find a away to achieve his goals.
Great Article! As a motion graphics artist I would say the most important part of the hardware is the Graphic Card. The new After Effects comes with a Cinema4D native render inside of it and it will use a lot of OpenGL.
I'm still wondering about how it will work when using the Cineware plugin.
Best I've heard about it was, - The new MacPro; The solution to a problem that didn't exist. [Random smart guy tweeting]
And I agree. Apple is so good at removing choice, I can't really understand why people are still taking the 'abuse' of it. My best advice is building a Hackintosh. You'll get (basically) the same performance for less money but you will have the control of what you need in terms of hardware. Or if you're lazy, buy an HP z800 & live with running Win/Linux. It's the apps that count, you can learn to live without OS X...
Or bend over. I haven't for a few years now & not looking back at all - and I was on Mac since '89.. 😉
I think the thing is, Johnny, is that many artists/owners like myself don't see Apple as removing choice per se. You're correct that they don't have a wide variety of options to expand. But I buy and use their products...and they work really well for what I need to do. I'm frankly not going to lose my clients based upon having a Quadro 5000K in my MacPro compared with with a 6000 in it. Or having not overclocked my graphics card or swapped out the CPUs. Users cried about the lack of user serviceable parts in the MacBook Air and now the Retina MacBook Pro. And I'm a guy who sapped out the HD in my previous gen Mac Book for an SSD. But the Retina is simply the best overall computer I've ever owned and HP, Acer, and others are now doing blatant ripoffs of those systems.
I'm not certainly a mac-only zealot. I do have a very nice HPZ800 running Flame and other vfx software, an HP 8600, as well as a Dell Precision workstation running Windows for various software needs as well.
One thing I'm not willing to do is give up OS X for my primary OS. The tie to linux (I use linux functionality ALL the time) coupled with a mainstream, user-friendly OS really works for me. It's telling that when I want to run the Adobe suite, I always run it on my older Mac Pro tower as opposed to the faster, newer Dell.
Nice article, Jon. Sensible as always. I've read it's possible to use multiple thunderbolt connections to a expansion chassis to increase the bandwidth. It'll be interesting to see what those manufacturers come up with between now and the launch.
Thunderbolt already provides most of what you need from expansion cards, like Fibre Channel and Video IO.
Refreshing to read such an objective and concise rebuttal to the typical hysteria around radical designs from the likes of Apple. That said, however, being in a position to experience a wide variety of possible uses for a high-performance Mac OS system from a disparate range of clients, one can't help but ask why, with the level of financial backing, incredible design talent, and mountain of feedback from the field, it should be so difficult to innovate and provide the sort of no-holes-barred tech and industrial design creativity we've come to appreciate from Apple, but without such an impractical and obtuse design for the case, and without the restrictions of a fixed GPU from ATI and not offer the option of using nVidia.
We've been begging Apple to make something of the technical calibre of a high-performance Mac for the machine room rack ever since the demise of the Xserve, their responses or lack of have been difficult to dismiss as "them knowing better than us". It's a bitter pill to swallow and seems to serve no one's interests. They seem to know that we'll buy whatever they make regardless of how impractical the external design is to the person for whom rack density is an issue and it's difficult not to feel that the decision to put this new workstation into a shape so incredibly impractical as this for the likes of us as if they're doing it to spite us.
I actually think that it's cosmetically beautiful, and seems to tick all the boxes for high-performance components, and I can get over the lack of nVidia. I agree that it's going to force the hand for the Open CL development. However, just as there's a need to create a design that inspires creative professionals, there's also a need to create a design that's going to provide this sort of innovation and performance in a form factor that's professional, functional and practical. Apple's been able to do all this in the past. These do not need to be mutually exclusive design objectives and we have seen many instances where all these targets can be achieved together. Does this really need to be said again?
Frustrated, and annoyed, and disappointed, I still want one.
I had a rack of Xserves and loved the power but not the power hungry nature of the beasts. With so many cloud services opening up dedicated to rendering and other computationally expensive tasks I don't see the need for a noisy over engineered rack system. Apple have a knack for minimising the clutter in our life before we know we need them to. I remember the uproar over the lack of a floppy disc drive on the original imac.
I think the new mac pro is a great solution to a problem that does exist. As always if you don't like it. Don't buy it. I for one will buy one. Hell Ill probably buy two and use them as mini bar stools that just happen to render their pants off.
Great article John. Its nice to see Apple bringing out a new machine but the lack of dual CPU and mandatory ATI graphics is a killer for me and I'm sure others.
The high end will go for Dual CPU... why... because you can have more processing power, and isn't that the point?
Could the Netsor chassis be added as a Thunderbolt expansion option?
http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?MTEy
i'm a bit suprised that he didn't mentioned sgo mistika as the compeditor to flame. nuke is more for complex shots and not for the finishing. i would like to see more open ness that you can get the smoke or the flame version as a package for the linux system. linux is easy to use, solid and fast.
I've used Nuke for finishing for years with great success. I'm actually writing this as I'm rendering out 720 frames for a commercial I'm delivering today. It just needs a timeline to work with it. Premiere does a great job with this. Absolutely no reason to say Nuke isn't for finishing when it's used in this capacity on a regular basis.
MacPro
Very nice article John! Since we bounced a few comments around on twitter on the MacPro and the fact that I see traces of that in here I though I should write something longer than 140 characters. A lot longer (apologies but there's a lot to say). =)
First of all I think the new MacPro looks cool. It's pretty much what we expected from Apple and even though some of us have hoped for something else. I do think that my view of Pro isn't the same as Apple's view of pro, not saying that any one of us is wrong though. I admit that I might have a bit of an old school view of this and I'm coming at it from a (small) multi user facility where I'm in charge of the tech. "Pro" today isn't necessarily about huge boxes with loads of internal horsepower and giant fibre SAN's and huge cooled machine rooms. Just like everything else "pro" have been democratised and today everyone can, and is allowed, to be a pro! Which is rather awesome! =) But it also means that the word "pro" have a slight different meaning today and that it have been a bit watered out. So for the sake of this I will use MultiPro for the multi-user environment with 10+ users in a facility. And also, as John pointed out in the article there's a lot of speculation here since we don't have all the facts yet.
I share John's view on OSX about the *nix-iness of it. I LOVE the *nix foundation in OSX just as much as I hate the Finder. =) The *nix-iness is why I will have a hard time moving over to HP Z-workstations, and cygwin is NOT the total solution to that. We're a production company (film/episodical drama) and we have our own (small) internal post department. We have 9pcs of 2010 MacPro based Avid editing suites with MojoDX's and all freelance editors have their own suite in our facility. If production demands, we sometimes rent an office in another town or part of the town where we build a smaller suite with iMac's and accessories. On top of that we have a grading suite with a MacPro resolve with a cubix and also an iQ and a Clipster. We have a stornext based SAN at 90TB, expanding to 250TB this year, and an ISIS 5000 for the Avid's. All hardware is in racks in a monitored cooled machine room.
Coming from this I can see a few, potential, issues with the new MacPro. I write potential since I'm aware that like with everything Apple it's my mindset that might need an adjustment. "We are the Apple. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." But hey, don't get me wrong. I don't hate or love Apple just as I don't hate or love Microsoft. I use what I have to use to get the job done and in context they're just different tools and they all suck in their own way. 😉 If it was up to a younger me we would all use Amiga's, but I guess it ain't up to me... =/
Today the 2010 MacPro actually fill most our needs when it comes to editing. But the pain will come the day they start to break down and need to be replaced. There's a HUGE benefit of having identical systems in a setup like this so I'd prefer not to mix and match. Since it's Avid we also try to keep things on qualified hardware/software so we get the most out of support.
And running Hackintoshes in an environment like this would be nothing else than stupid. I have ran my few share of hackintoshes in the past and I have nothing against them and there's for sure a real valid place for them. But this isn't one of those places and you cannot use that in a MultiPro environment where so many pieces have to work together 24/7 and also be within support for the different components.
How do you really rackmount these puppies? They suck air from the bottom and blow it out in top. This means that the computers on the shelf above would suck in the hot air from the one below and for every shelf they would run hotter and hotter. I was joking about building a wine rack for them but maybe that would be a valid solution. Not sure how the new fan and highly engineered cooling solution they have would work in a horizontal position though. Connectors might be an issue in horizontal mode too.
Not a problem here but still worth mentioning. Not having seen the bottom nor base of it I do see a potential issue with having them on the floor like many had with the old tower. All floor computers gets dusty but old ones sucked in air at the front where you're more likely to have vacuumed. The new ones will probably take air from a 360 circle from the base which means that all dust from the back will get sucked into it. And vacuum behind that puppy with all your precious thunderbolt connectors and extra boxes might be pain. Mount it under the desk like with traditional towers would stop air from blowing out (and potentially setting your desk on fire ;)) leaving the option to have it on your desk or at a separate shelf/table. Like you don't have enough shizznitz on your desk already...? =/
I have said this before and will say it again. The design of the thunderbolt connector sucks and there's nothing pro about it. I have used TB in my Retina MacBook pro since the day they shipped and I have lost count of the times I accidentally unplugged both connectors when only meaning to remove one. The connectors or if it's the ports have been loosened up over time and it's not firm at all. I also see no benefit at all with daisy chaining gear. In my world that's a bad bad thing. If the first one in the chain breaks breaks or acts up you'll loose the rest of the chain. The troubleshooting mess it means is just horrendous, I've had it a few times with my thunderlink and metadata connection (eth adapter). Also, the TB cables have controller chips in them and have you guys felt how hot then can get? We all know what heat and computer components means and it will be interesting to see the fail ratio on TB-cables/adapters in a year or two.
If Avid shipped new mojos with TB (and a nice trade-in) for old mojo or if they open up 100% of the API for 3rd party the new MacPro could possibly be okay for our basic suits. Current mojo would need a TB breakout box for the PCI card and to have a breakout for a breakout is not okay. I could potentially live with a few systems running breakout boxes, like resolve, but I do see a disturbing vision of turning the machine room into a uncontrolled cabling hell. It also means that we'd have to replace our rather expensive Cubix. I think you must have had the responsibility of a machineroom to fully understand what mess it can turn into and all the extra points of failures you're introducing. Especially if you don't run your machine room like a nazi and allow other peeps into it.
Just to look at an example at rebuilding our LTO Archive server (PresSTORE) into a mac system, something I've intended to do since the HP server it's currently on is nearing end of life and for various reasons OSX would be a better platform for it here.
* Preferably it would have two separate fibre HBA with dual 8Gbps. Worst case 1xQuad 8Gbps. One connector for each LTO drive in the T40+. Two connectors to the SAN fibre switch.
* 1 eth connection for metadata to the SAN
* 2 eth connectors to the ISIS5k. Potentially 1x10Gbe
* 1 eth connector to our in-house network
* External RAID chassis for the Archive database.
For the ones archiving you know that it's a mission critical system and probably the most important system you have. In this config I would need two eth TB adapters, 1 external RAID storage (probably pegasus R4) and one TB PCIe breakout box, maybe even two for full speed of the fibre HBA's (?). Compare this to one single unified system where you have everything in one box. You have to be blind if you don't see the risks and fundamental issues and problems with this.
And if it was for my Hiero/Nuke workstation I'd want a CUDA gpu (up for discussion since it seems like TF have been playing with the MacPro), 1 or 2 Fusion ioFX, dual fibre SAN connection, ISIS connection, house network connection, local RAID, 2 monitors. I don't see the new macpro as a suitable solution here either. I have not done the math on the ports but it feels like I need at least two PCIe expansion boxes for it and a few GigE adapters. What will the total cost be with all these extra boxes and what mess will it create in the machine room? Also... Can I live with one CPU? Most probably not. And what happens after a year or two when I want the newest GPU? I have to replace the whole computer which seems a tad overkill, not to mention expensive. There will most likely be bigger memory sticks for it but 64GB which seems to be max now is for sure not enough for me, I need 2-4 times that.
How compatible is all current breakout boxes with TB2? Will they benefit from it or would they all have to be replaced to benefit from the extra speed? Are there TB control chips in them or is that in the cable and host computer?
The MacPro looks cool and is probably a beast and exactly what some peeps want/need. From my point of view it would have been better suited with an i7, lower price and marketed as different levels of a desktop computer sitting between iMac and MacPro. Not sure why they went Xeon since the biggest benefit with the E5's would be dual CPU setup. It will be really interesting to see benchmarks of the new single E5-2600 v2 compared to single i7. In my fictional parallel universe the MacPro would have been a beefy rack mountable tower with room for disks and PCIe cards. Something that could've been sold as an enterprise server as well. But Apple isn't stupid. They have for sure done their market research and if this is what they came up with I guess they have good grounds for it even if I don't like it. =)
We don't have an immediate need to replace our current MacPro's but the day will come. A lot will have happened from now until then and I'm eager to see how it all pans out and the creative solutions for having them in racks in machine rooms in a MultiPro environment. Maybe pimp them out like alien/prometheus eggs or Matrix towers or something.
It's an interesting and scary future.
Thanks for taking the time to respond, Henrik.
I think the lack of a workable machine room type of unit is problematic for the post community. I think Apple has simply decided it wasn't worth it to go for that market. Similar to the server market. I may be on crack, but I think there is large number of professional users who will find the new Mac Pro useful and that's who Apple is targeting.
But as a replacement for the former "big iron" systems? Not so much. Your archiving station example is a great one. Would be painful with the new Mac Pro.
I wasn't aware of the fact that Avid already have an adapter for DX boxes:
http://www.avid.com/US/Common/products/shadow-box/dx-thunderbolt
I used to eat out of dumpsters fairly often when I was getting started. I'd recommend Trader Joe's, their dumpsters really expanded my eating horizons.
I can't wait to hear Wingrove go apeshit on the RC when the price hits...
I concur.
what i have heard is that the only reason because mari wasn't on osx the missing of opengl 4.
it's suprising that they make a big buzz about mari on osx and the main reason was apple didn't updated there drivers.... opengl 4 is over 3 years old!!!
Anyone know where the Foundry Pixar Mari special video is? I've logged onto the Apple dev site and can see all the other session vids but not the 'special' lunchtime ones. Really want to check that one out. Any idea's anyone?
I've been checking as well.
It seems as though they're not posting it. I asked The Foundry and they said it was going to be recorded, but....guess no.
It's just shown up on the video's page.
[...] Download Video [...]
Looks like it's happening again in Canada,New Breed is not paying their workers.
http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/more-vfx-pros-go-unpaid-in-montreal-screwjob/#more-3508
With technology constantly evolving at record pace, it seems counter-intuitive to buy a computer that can't be internally upgraded and is essentially a chunk of hardware frozen in time. Based on the specs, you can already build an expandable PC that can outperform it. Once the price is revealed there will be a long pause of silence... and then a sharp drop in interest.The only good thing I foresee the MacPro doing is helping to highlight and increase the demand for PCIe Flash storage.
About the IMAX ...
Just saw the film at the Udvar Hazy IMAX theater in VA. The image was not as crisp as I had expected. My buddy and I started wondering.
First IMAX corp has really made it hard to know what you are really seeing these days. My question is for this film which had "sections filmed in IMAX" what was the pipeline for the final presentation I viewed at an IMAX theater? Was it a true film print or digital projection? No info available. Was the non IMAX material blown up to 70mm for the whole film? Or was a 35mm print blown up to 70mm?
I have read about a DI done with Company 3. So did they follow a 70mm path?
My gut is that this is not TRULY a full IMAX project end to end. But really more akin to using a 4k camera in a HD production (dangerous analogy there).
Do you guys have any info that could clarify this?
Cheers,
Jef
Fascinating coverage Mike!
Probably the best business case study I've read about our industry.
The irony of project names like "Ender's Game" and "Paradise Lost" only emphasis the signs that were overlooked by the management.
It is always easy to analyze in retrospect, but my general belief is that industries do not make companies fail. Managment decisions do that.
Great article, however, relying on Textor to tell the story has created some interesting spins to the story.
For example, I see no mention on the $10 million Textor purchased in the IPO. This money was loaned to him by Palm Beach Capital. Basically, this meant that 25% of the IPO was funded by their largest shareholder. In itself this might not been a problem, but Textor and PBC neglected to disclose this fact until the company imploded.
Also, Textor seems to be blaming Comvest for wanting to be taken out. The SEC documents implied the Comvest replaced Lydian, with the intent on being taken out from the proceeds from the IPO (assuming the valuation was over ~$200+million and they raised $75 million), which never happened.
Or what about the fact that the company was burning through $2.0 million of cash in the first quarter.
Are you telling me that Textor is now claiming he was so naive that Tenor Capital pulled a fast one on him? They had a cash balance requirement that they needed $5.0 million of cash in the bank on June 30, 2012, which they could not meet and needed an extension (which they got and were not in default). Does he not know enough about his cash to ensure he has enough for the first reporting period?
The palm beach post (www.pbpost.com) did an expose on this on Sunday (Part 1), and will follow up next week (Part 2).
Bottom line company lost money and did not have a sustainable business model.
This was called by many the day they went public.
Mr. Textor once said that while Scott Ross may know a great deal about the VFX industry, that he, John Textor, knew a great deal about high finance.
Given the outcome... it sure looks like John Textor didn't know much about either.
I wonder about the Tenor Capital deal... they lent DDMG $35M... I wonder how much they received from BK? I believe that DD went for $30.2M, so that leaves $4.8M plus attorneys fees that they needed to recoup just to break even.... did they recoup that and more? Maybe Tenor Capital looked at DDMG's balance sheet and felt BK was the only option to recoup any of their money?
So, it was Wall Street that tanked DDMG?
It wasn't bad management decisions? It wasn't the Paradise Lost/Enders Game deals? It wasn't opening up an animation studio in FLA and funding outrageous buildings/furniture and fixtures? It wasn't Mr. Textors and upper managements considerable salaries and perks? It wasn't getting into businesses that had no revenue streams yet had considerable costs and overhead? It wasn't bad business decisions on Mr Textor's part to enter into financial deals that were onerous? It wasn't buying out Mr. Bay and Mr. Plumer's contracts? It wasn't the decision by the courts that Mr. Call was awarded the $2M settlement for unlawful discharge by Mr. Textor? No....
It was beauty that killed the beast!
Adding to Phil's list.
Matte World Digital
Giant Killer Robots
Tweak Films
Banned from the Ranch
old school closings
Apogee
Boss
Vanderveer
I only included his list back 10 years - the rest of his list:
2002 and Prior
Apogee
Atomix
Available Light
Banned from the Ranch
Bill Cruse & Associates
Boss Films
Boy Wonder
Caliban
Cascade
Centropolis
CFA
CFC – LA
CFI Optical
Chandler Group
Cinergi Efx.
Coast Productions
Colossal Pictures
Cranston Csuri
CRC (Cinema Research)
Curri
DeGraf / Wahrman
Digital Anvil
Digital Effects
Digital Magic
Digital Muse
Digital Productions
Disney Visual Effects
Dream Quest Images
D-Rez
Eastern Opticals (NYC)
EEG (Entertainment Effects Group)
EFX Unlimited Inc. (NYC)
Encore Efx.
Hollywood Optical
Ferren & Associates
Film Effects of Hollywood
Flat Earth
Freeze Frame/Cinefx
Giant Killer Robots
Gray Matter
I-Magic
Introvision
Jack Rabin & Associates
LA Effects Group
Landmark Entertainment
Look Out Mountain
Magi Synthivision
Magicam
Mannex
Mass Illusion
Master Film Effects
Master Film Effects
Meteor Studios
Metrolight Studios
MGM Optical Dept.
Mirage
Modern Film Effects
Motion Opticals
Movie Magic
National Screen
Netter Digital
Omnibus
Optical Cinema Service
The Optical House-LA
The Optical House-NYC
Pittard Sullivan Design
Pixel Envy
POP (Pacific Ocean Post)
Post Group Film Unit
Praxis
Rainmaker-LA
Ray Mercer
Robert (Bob) Abel & Associates
RGA-LA
RGA-NY (Robert Greenberg & Associates)
Side Effects
Sidley-Wright
Skyline Digital Images
Station X
Threshold Digital
Total Optical Productions
TNT Optical
Triple I
Unitel
Universal Digital Department
Universal/Heartland
Universal Title & Optical
Universal Matte Department
Van Der Veer Photo Effects
Varitel
VI Efx. – 20th Century Fox
Vision Arts
Virtual Magic
Warner Digital
WBIT
Westheimer
Whitney-Demos
Zoptic
Very interesting article. My heart goes out to the groms out there getting started in such a challenging industry in such an economically tumultuous era. I have a couple thoughts after reading it.
First, something's off balance in what is being described. If a person isn't willing to take at least 1% responsibility for his or her own actions and their consequences, that person is going to have a tough go in life. How is one simply "victimized" by the housing crisis when he or she is staying in hostels for $19 a night? What is anyone doing moving to Los Angeles without some savings in the bank and a specific plan, with timetables, regarding work? There were some awful working conditions described, but there were also some seemingly awful personal choices.
For example, what on earth is the point of working 100 hour weeks if they aren't paying you enough to have fundamental needs like shelter and hygiene? Those are hours you could be spending working reasonable hours doing something else - bartender, coffee shop employee, Trader Joe's stock guy, etc. - and NOT being homeless, which seems like a better alternative than being homeless and having invisible work on popular YouTube videos. Saying that you can't look for other work because the 100 hour a week job you aren't being compensated for is taking up all of your time is a bewildering statement.
Which leads to my second question, why are we doing this? Why are artists putting up with this? If you're smart enough to learn editing software, 3D software, compositing software etc., you can do a lot of things besides music videos, tv, commercials and film. At some point it's worth taking a hard look at what the point is of putting oneself through this level of abuse, especially if it's having a measurably deleterious impact on one's mental and physical health. Is it the glamor of saying you've worked on a Katy Perry video? Or a Chris Nolan film? Is your life worth whatever it is you're getting out of this work? because it seems like that's the bargain. You get to clean up Lady Gaga's pimples, they get to take your life for a month. You get to work on Ironman 8, they get to take your life for a year. But nothing is really taken here. The artists give their lives away. Worth a hard look at why we make that choice over and over. I don't have the answers at all, but I don't see that question asked nearly enough.
At least part of the equation here is that no one is forcing anyone to do these jobs against their will, right? Especially when you're as young and new as "Victor." A far more difficult situation is when you're faced with 100 hour weeks, declining wages, company closures, and you have a mortgage, marriage and children. At the early stage Victor is in, the option does exist to walk away with relatively few consequences. Wedding videography and/or editing can pay well, for example, but isn't glamorous... at all. But, as Victor's case proves, glamour ain't worth much at the grocery store. There are lots of weddings in Temecula, and it's cheaper to live out there than in LA.
I'm happy to be wrong about 100% of this, but I don't believe anyone in this whole mess is completely to blame. Painting Victor, or anyone, as a helpless victim is only part of the story.
All of that said, I wish the absolute best for everyone out there going through the experiences described.
Great job! Beautifull article 🙂 Thanks
I appreciate the review of the MacPro, especially since it helps justify my position. As an individual, the system is a viable upgrade, but at my work, where we have 20 edit bays, 10 graphics bays, and a handful of audio suites, it becomes more problematic, due to the cost of external expansion. A more expensive (or similarly priced) base computer, but now I have to purchase all new external (local) storage, and a PCIe chassis, raising my base price by $1500 per computer. That's a lot when you talk about upgrading 30+ systems.
One comment about bandwidth & Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt 2 is 20Gb/s if I read that right. I don't know about the bandwidth requirements of the Red Rocket, but with the Fusion i/o and an 8GB fibre connection you've used half of one of your busses already, your displays will use another, and the third is your large external storage, and now you out of high-speed connections.
I just watch The Hobbit for the first time which was on 2D blu-ray and agree with Mikes assessment of the rolling whites in the exterior shots of the movie. In the podcast, I was disappointed that no one mentioned the jarring compositing of Radagast riding his sled of bunnies against the background of the open field. It was by far the worst composite I noticed in the movie. Lastly, I also felt that many of the instances of the digital doubles' animation seemed too rubbery.
Here are two screen grabs from the scene mentioned with Radagast
http://screencapped.net/movie/lotr/albums/hobbit1/thehobbit-007469.jpg
http://screencapped.net/movie/lotr/albums/hobbit1/thehobbit-007534.jpg
Pop the knife in & twist Ian 😉
I'm arriving that day at four in the afternoon so am going to miss it ;(
Good news about the coverage, at least I'll be able to catch up with
what I missed, yet again...
Personally, I think for the majority of post houses - these new MacPro's will be a welcome addition. They're perfect for edit suites, assistant machines, motion graphics, etc.
If you're doing really high-end compositing, I still think they'll be a great addition, once OpenCL is properly implemented on software like Nuke and After Effects - it's just a matter of time.
If you're doing really high-end 3D - then this will be a great end-user box - and you can still use your Linux/Windows boxes for actual rendering.
The only end-users that I can really think of that will hate the new MacPro are colourists who currently use existing MacPro's in their suites. If you're just grading HD material on Resolve - then I think the new MacPro will be absolutely fine. If you currently have an existing MacPro with 5 x GTX Titan cards (using external expansion), then sadly the only option is to move to Linux or Windows.
That said... my predication is that Blackmagic will eventually come out with a method of using your new MacPro as a GUI, with the ability to connect up a Windows "GPU" box for the actual processing - giving you the familiar Mac OS front end (with the benefit of native ProRes support), but can take advantage of a "GPU render farm" in the server room, for times when the new MacPro simply can't keep up. All you'd need is a Thunderbolt to 10GbE connection, and away you go (similar to Autodesk's Burn Nodes, Adobe Anywhere, etc.).
I do find it pretty funny reading online about so many people complaining about the new MacPro, and then when you ask them what they have in their current MacPro, they say a Apple RAID Card and Quadro 4000. For MOST users, I think the new MacPro is a massive step up. For the FEW users that are currently "maxing out" their existing MacPro with a Cubix Expansion Chassis and multiple GPUs - sadly this new MacPro isn't for you. But really... most really high end colourists are using Linux anyway - and the Mac-based Resolve world is firmly stuck in HD-land.
ProTools users are also going to be unhappy initially - but I think this will eventually change once Avid start releasing Thunderbolt enabled hardware.
If I think about all our local post houses - in 90% of cases you could swap out an old MacPro with a new one, add one or two Thunderbolt add-ons, and you would actually get faster results. For those Resolve users using a Quadro 4000 + GTX 690 (WITHOUT expansion) - it'll be really interesting to see how the new MacPro compares - I think the performance will be pretty similar. For those Resolve users using a Cubix and 5 x GTX Titan's - then I think you either need to make the step up to Resolve on Linux (the software of which is FREE if you already own the Resolve panel), or swap out your MacPro tower with a Z820 - keeping your Cubix and GTX cards.
For those complaining that the back of the new MacPro will just be a mess of cables... well obviously! Look at the back of most existing MacPro's and you'll see cables going everywhere! I think this is a non-issue.
For those complaining about the lack of internal storage - again, I think this is a non-issue. For most post and VFX facilities, the local machines only require a limited amount of storage for the OS, cache, etc. as all the "big data" will be stored on a NAS or SAN. For stand-alone workstations (i.e. individual users) - a Thunderbolt RAID + new MacPro is still SMALLER than an existing MacPro tower. Yes, it's one more cable - but that's not really an issue. I'm sure 3rd parties will come out with sexy black circular RAIDs that will fit nicely with the new MacPro if you're worried about looks.
I was actually predicting that the new MacPro would keep the old cheese grater design, and just make it smaller. Man, I was wrong. But I think the direction they've gone with is great and makes a lot of sense for MAJORITY of users.
You can upgrade the RAM, you can upgrade the internal storage - but you can't update the CPU or GPU. Well... that's the same as all the Apple laptops, and no body complains about that! If you're making money off your new MacPro, then upgrading the box isn't that much of an issue every three years - technology changes so quickly anyway.
Although Thunderbolt 2 doesn't have enough bandwidth for existing GPUs - it has enough bandwidth to move around large amounts of data very quickly - so I think over the next 12 months we'll start seeing 3rd parties building Thunderbolt 2 enabled CUDA/OpenCL accelerators (i.e. boxes that just do external processing and grunt work - not actual video IO). We've already seen people using CUDA GPUs over Thunderbolt on Windows machines - so it's all technically possible. Personally - I think even though currently CUDA has a better development platform, and it slightly faster than OpenCL in a testing environment for most things - the industry will start focussing much more time and energy on OpenCL now, simply because it means that it gives end users more options in terms of GPU providers.
Just like Apple basically indirectly killed Flash, I think CUDA's days are numbered, even if it's currently faster, and much more loved by developers. Time will tell...
My 2c.
Thanks Mike for this deep and technical article. Thanks fxguide team
Interesting and informative article , only slightly spoiled by section 3, where 4DMax take the credit for providing the production with set and actor/costume scans. The wording is careful but ambiguous and one would come away thinking that they were responsible for all the scan data for production, whereas actually their input was minimal. I know this because my company, 2h3D Ltd, actually provided scan data of sets (including Bus Land - we LIDaRed the entire set), locations, actors, costumes, props and vehicles. It's annoying when you spend the best part of 2 years of your life covering every shoot of a production and processing hundreds of 3D models, for someone who had practically nothing to do with it to come along and take credit for your work. Not impressed.
Hello Guy. Nice of you to comment. I'm not sure what you mean by carefully worded? Do you mean that 4DMax didn't actually work with MPC to provide Cyber scanning and on set 3D survey in Malta and that the wording makes it appear as though we did? I know that 2H3D did a marvellous job scanning the talent in the field. It's just a shame you couldn't get anyone at Cinesite or on Production to say so in the article. Keep up the good work. Duncan Lees - 4DMax
Hi Duncan - as far as I'm aware 4DMax didn't do any cyber scanning in Malta. I am aware that you did carry out Total Station work in the form of the excellent Richard Wills, although as far as I am aware, Richard runs his own company, Wilmac Geomatics, and was therefore a subcontractor? You also said that it was going to be "too costly and time-consuming" to scan people on-set - when you know very well that that is exactly what we did. Incidentally we didn't just scan the 'talent' for production (although yes, we did scan around 200 people) - we LIDaR scanned around 30 sets (including Bus Land), along with buses, helicopters, and an aircraft carrier, and also scanned countless other weapons and props. I'd like to think that you do indeed admire and appreciate the work 2h3D did in Malta and elsewhere, but seeing as you named yourself on IMDb as "Head of 3D Scanning" for WWZ after the Malta shoot (before the VFX supervisor requested that you remove it), I'm not so sure that's really the case. All the best - Guy
How he shave his hair ? ha ha good question. hey Mike i just want to know that man of steel is shoot in native stereo or 3D conversion if conversion so which company did ?
Thanks awesome fxguide Team
Congrats to both of you on your work
It's so epic that it's downright silly. Can't imagine the work that went into it. And I'm not sure if a lot of the effects in the middle looked fake because they were going for a certain style, or if they were actually bad effects. Hard to tell with the director of 300. And it really lacks charm because they don't introduce Clark-the-awkward-reporter, until two seconds before the credits roll.
And I can't tell you how much I HATE those cliched fast zooms in spaceship sequences! So sick of those. But at least there weren't any Matrix landings.
Great comments guys. LOVE to get your feedback, thoughts and comments on the film and the show. Personally I'd love to have had more Clark Kent which seems like such a big part of the Superman mythology. But they've already begun writing the sequel so we'll no doubt get more character in the second film. Its hard for me to imaging this guy and the Christian Bale Dark Knight in the same world though.
I'm not sure about the stereo, but my guess would be conversion.
Regarding the question on how a Kryptonian ship came to Earth about 10,000 years at the Canadian Arctic earlier than Kal-El's rocket landing into Smallville, that was partially explained by David S. Goyer himself on the DC's prequel comic book released by Walmart to promote MAN OF STEEL.
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/superman_movies/news/?a=79753
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2013/06/19/man-of-steel-david-goyer-easter-egg-seque/
Essentially, the Fortress of Solitude is a Kryptonian ship adrift in space piloted by Kara Zor-El (a.k.a. Supergirl, Kal-El's older cousin), of which we have seen one pod empty inside the ship (while others have been filled up by corpses).
It's very likely that particular ship went through a wormhole jumping back to 10,000 years ago on a time space continuum, which would explain why Kryptonian technology on the ship was as advanced as the time when Krypton exploded. However, that would be pure speculation to be confirmed after MAN OF STEEL comes out in the years to come.
Great podcast, by the way
However, that would be pure speculation to be confirmed after MAN OF STEEL 2 comes out in the years to come.
The film was post converted by LEGEND3D. The conversion was helped by the Deep Color pipeline of places like Weta. We hope to have more from LEGEND3D in the future.
Thanks for the amended article FXguide folk...
It is impressive how seamless FLIX appears to be at integrating lots of data and various software programs in an intuitive interface.
Hello Mike,
I think you should refer in your article to Lightcraft Technology's Prevision system. It made possible all virtual production.
regards,
Tim
The most interesting part would be to know how long it took Bad Robot to upload 26 gigabytes of data onto ZYNC’s servers!
Is it possible to rent only one machine and start the upload only and start to rent more and render the uploaded data later ?
Thanks Mike and Matt.
Thanks fxguide.com
Sorry I post the previous mail as a reply by mistake.
[...] Download Video [...]
fantasy - this might be the makings of another B movie. As a former wall street investment banking partner ( Drexel Burnham Lambert) and Senior Vice President/CIO of a $2bn NYSE company this article reminds me of one Lamar Copeland Dupont who may even be related to John,
Wall street did not have a thing to do with DD's collapse. This is a common refrain from bad and/or shifty management Underwritten by Roth Capital and Morgan Joseph is not much of a coup, Freddy Joseph and I were partners at Drexel and if he had been alive I rather doubt they would have done the deal.
Deal pricing is a bit of an art and the syndicate dept is key but no one is in the game to screw their investment clients, the firm or the company they expect to support in the aftermarket. John is just telling stories here. ..and then the 30 day buy back giving up a scarce resource - cash - to support the price is ridiculous- either your " banker" or market makers are working on this, not the issuer.
Then he thinks after all those cockamamie deals that the SEC is going to clear the next filing?.... good luck with that. A death spiral what else can John make up at this point - I hope you and your readers do not believe this dribble - run it by some Goldman bankers and see what they think of this story for fun... and then you will get a better perspective of who may be to blame....
BTW, did you also interview John's secretary? ..... and you may want to note that the "float" is one thing and flotation or issuance or underwriting of securities is quite another ... Yes, I know John but do not have any dealings with him.
Anthony thanks for your post. We welcome hearing from all sides. In answer to your question (which may well have been rhetorical... ), we interviewed John Textor directly. We also did many other interviews - several of which could not be on the record, especially from the Banking finance side of this story due to law suits. Frankly, I welcome hearing from someone from the Banking side of the discussion. If you would like to discuss this area further I welcome an email.
Mike Seymour (mikes at fxguide dotcom)
Mr. Textor is a great story teller, and every now and again can back it up with facts. And in my opinion, in his interview with fxguide, he desperately tries to convince the interviewer and the readers that he had very little to do with the rape and pillage of the taxpayers of the State of FLA, the public investors, the private investors or the hundreds of digital artists whose lives were ravaged by his negligence and breach of fiduciary responsibilities.
Mr. Textor in this interview states the following:
“Scott had a lender problem, actually he had a preferred stock investor who was entitled to recover all their money, it was due much like the way debt would be due,” explains Textor. This is in the Spring of 2006. At that time, Cox (Atlanta) was that company and was the biggest creditor. IBM was also involved, and Textor negotiated with all the parties. Cox is a company that Textor speaks extremely highly of – for the way it sold out of Digital Domain and how ethically it behaved especially in relationship to the other owners/investors such as IBM, James Cameron and Stan Winston. “It was one of the most moral and ethical things I have ever seen a corporation do” to avoid unseemly and lengthy litigation. Cox was actually entitled to all of the payout but shared it with the other involved parties."
The facts:
A few years before the sale to Wyndcrest, the DD Board wanted me to start investigating the possibility of a sale of DD to outside parties. IBM was an owner for more than a decade and had seen some ROI (return on investment) after Cox had bought in, back in '96. Cox, on the other hand, was an owner since '96 and had not seen any ROI whatsoever. While the Company was at times profitable, the management felt, and the board agreed to not pay any dividends and to pour any profit back into the Company.
By 2003 or so, the board was interested in a sale of the Company to any party that would pay a price that would be valuable enough to its shareholders. Unfortunately there was a slight problem. It seemed that the Company could not be sold unless all the preferred shareholders ( Cox, IBM and JSS ( JimStanScott)) unanimously agreed upon a sale. Given the animosity between the Company and Jim Cameron, the terrible relationship between Jim and myself and the close relationship between Jim and Stan, the Company could not be sold if Jim decided to block the sale.
At the time, there were three classes of Preferred Stock ( Preferred A - JSS; Preferred B- IBM; and Preferred C- Cox). Each class of stock was slightly different than the other classes, especially as it related to a sale. Cox's Preferred C was such that if there was a sale, they would receive all of the monies until they were paid in full, then and only after Series C was paid out in full would the other Preferred Shareholders receive any portion of the sale price.
The amount that the sale needed to be to pay Cox in full was considerably more than what DD was worth at the time. So, after appeals from DD management, Cox decided to forego their sale preference, allow all shareholders to be para passu with Cox IF Jim and Stan would agree to waive their right to block a sale. Jim and Stan did. This was well before anyone ever heard of Wyndcrest.
Additionally, in 2005, Cameron and Winston were pressing DD hard to find a buyer. Cameron and Winston had walked out of a board meeting back in 1998, quitting as directors but continuing to hold on to their DD stock. Cameron and Winston had not had any involvement with DD from that day in 1998, in fact Cameron and Winston had not had much involvement with DD at all, ever.
In 2005, Cameron had threatened litigation, saying that I was the cause of the Company not being sold as I had a personal interest in not selling. He went so far as to ask his lawyer, Bert Fields, to send threatening letters to me and the board. Stan Winston too had called me on several occasions and screamed at me that he wanted the Company sold, and that he didn't care how I did it and to whom I sold it to. It was very uncharacteristic of Stan to act that way, yelling at me that he didn't give a damn about the employees, just "Sell the damn Company, NOW"!
It was later that I found out why Stan was so desperate. It was only a short time later that he passed away.
With all of that going on, DD had yet another group of execs sitting on its board. The Cox folks that made the DD deal ten years prior were no longer at Cox. Additionally, Cox had the right, after ten years of their investment to call their shares. That meant that they had the right to ask for their money back. But because we had negotiated a new dollar amount for their sale preference, it also reflected a new dollar amount for their call.
The new Cox board members were not aware of this ability to call their shares, but as 2006 approached, I knew full well, that I needed to make them aware of their rights. Once the new Cox Execs were made aware that they could call their shares and cash out, they approached DD management and asked if the Company had the where with all to pay them out.
At the time, DD had about $18 million in the bank. I full well understood the ups and downs of the VFX business, having been at the helm of ILM and DD for about 2 decades. I knew that a VFX facility needed cash reserves to weather the storm. I also felt at the time, that DD would be able to pay out Cox and remain in business. I felt that we could carry on though it would put the Company in a more tenuous position if Cox was paid. IBM felt that if DD paid Cox, the Company would be in jeopardy. IBM and Cox went at it. Armonk vs Atlanta. Cox wanted out ( and considering the voluntary haircut that they took, felt righteous about their call). IBM wanted Cox in, as they felt that DD could be in trouble if we paid out the Cox demand. Additionally, Cameron's lawyers were stirring the pot as well.
It was then that we were approached by John Textor and his investment group Wyndcrest Holdings. They had inquired through their lawyers, who happen to be friends with our general consul Molly Hansen, if we were interested in selling the Company. Were we interested? Considering the turmoil with all of my partners and board members, yes we were willing, in fact we were ecstatic. The question was: Was the buyer qualified and will the price be right? We had been approached by other buyers in the last several months and the answer to those questions had been "NO". The other suitors were neither qualified buyers nor were they willing to offer what we thought the Company was worth.
We started to do some research on Textor. It turned out that the only delinquent receivable DD had ever had was from a John Textor! Textor was, several years prior, the CEO of a company called Jester and he wanted to have a CG logo done. Now, normally, we wouldn't have even considered this work but a high level IBM exec had made the request and had introduced us to Mr Textor. We did the work, and he never paid us.
Textor came on like a well oiled sales man. He said all of the right things. He was willing to pay our asking price, in fact, he said he didn't need to raise any money to buy DD, he had the cash on hand, and he was personally wealthy enough to do the deal himself, after all he was an heir to the DuPont fortune.
Textor set up meetings at DD, interviewed all of the Execs, did his due diligence except that he never met with me. Textor was discussing the purchase of DD with DD's board, but not its Chairman, Founder and CEO.
The deal that was supposed to happen quickly, lingered. It turned out that Textor didn't actually have the money and couldn't meet the schedule that he himself had laid out. In fact, Textor and Wyndcrest turned to a private equity firm, Falcon, to come up with the necessary cash to make the deal happen. As far as I know, John Textor did not use any of his cash to buy DD… he used Falcon and the DD cash left in treasury to buy the Company.
It also turned out that Textor was having side bar conversations with Cameron and Winston. At one point, Textor had tried to get controlling interest of DD by offering to buy Jim and Stan's shares (22% of the Company) and then buy Cox's shares ( 33%) giving Textor controlling interest of DD (55%) and not buying my shares nor IBM's. Effectively that would give Textor the ability to restructure the Company, hire new management and make IBM and me minority shareholders.
Unfortunately for Textor he chose to make his side deal with the wrong partner. Maybe he figured that he was from FLA and Cox was from GA, and that they could do a Southern Gentleman's deal… (nod, nod, wink, wink). But Textor had not considered that the folks at Cox were ACTUAL Southern Gentlemen. Cox would have no part in screwing their other partners. In fact, Cox and I had a very close relationship and they insured me that I would be treated fairly, which I was.
In the final days of the deal, though I still hadn't had any significant conversations with Textor and I didn't know whether I had a job or not if the deal was ever done, I was approached by my counsel, and asked to sign a Confidentiality Statement. Textor wanted to make sure that I would not compete with DD after the sale.
Textor called me (one of the very rare times that he did) and he was livid… he screamed at me " Sign the damn Confidentiality Agreement. You're going to blow this deal apart".
I told John that I had no intention of signing.
He bellowed " Cameron and Winston have signed it, you better sign it as well".
I explained to John that Cameron and Winston did not make their living running VFX companies and their signing it was meaningless.
John was not interested in what I had to say but he immediately fought back in the only way he could.
"Ok, what do you want to sign a non compete"?, he calmly said.
" You could hire me as a consultant to help you through what will be a difficult transition", I answered.
"How much do you want, I know you Hollywood types" he started to raise his voice again.
" I'm interested in helping my Company, you don't know anything about this business and I could truly be an asset", I said.
"OK, OK, so how much?", Textor said.
" I think $10k per month for a year seems fair", I answered.
"$10K, is that all? That's outrageous, you won't keep your word for just $10k, how about $15k?" Textor said.
I couldn't believe my ears… I thought to myself, "…he doesn't really care how he spends other people's money".
"OK, $15 grand per month, let me know when we can meet", I said.
Textor responded, " Great, I'll call you".
He never did. I tried "consulting" and called Textor a bunch during that year. He never returned my call. Fed up, I contacted a DD board member, who in turn contacted Textor. My phone rang several days later, on the other end was a boiling mad Textor.
"WTF, how dare you call my board", Textor raged.
"Hey John, I tried calling you and emailing you. You never responded", I answered.
After a few more minutes of Textor rage, I had set a meeting with John at Michael Bay's offices in Santa Monica. At the meeting John gave me his DD road presentation to investors, never let me have a word edgewise, and concluded the meeting with " So, as you can see DD is in great shape and has a bright future ahead of it".
After all the phone calls I had received from disgruntled DD employees, I wasn't quite as sure about DD's future as Textor was.
Absolutely fasinating reading..... like I said before, kids - interview John's secretary...... and determine what exactly he was doing.....or what she was doing.
Johnathan, I feel the vfx industry brings the possibility of other jobs an impossibility.
Let's say you take a job at trader joes, and a effects house contacts you for a gig. Do you think your boss at trader joes is going to be cool with you to take a month off so you can go work 10 hour days in Hollywood? Of course not you would have to quit that job get hired for a mouth and walk out with a source of income at the end of it. Most places will not hire you if they feel like your overqualified or will not stick around.A college degree in digital artistry makes you patently unemployable any where else unless you have prior experience you can leverage. The only successful artist I have meet working a job out side the industry were bar tenders and club promoters. Any job that you can work after hours on a flexible schedule.
This doesn't even cover if your graduate in a mountain of debt and you work low wage job that won't even make minimum payments. It's like choosing to sink faster or slower. Or even the fact this industry will pass you by if you do not keep up the longer you are out of it. I work will a senior flame artist who took a year off to be with family over seas and is having great a terrible time getting back into the game.
Hi there Nathaniel,
Thanks for your reply.
I'm not suggesting someone work at Trader Joe's in between gigs. I'm suggesting they consider forgoing the VFX gig entirely by finding a line of work that isn't patently abusive. If the issue is mountains of student loan debt incurred while learning Maya, then all the more reason to find gainful employment elsewhere so that debt can actually be paid off, because clearly that is unlikely to occur while sleeping at one's workstation at a soon-to-be-bankrupt VFX shop. In this regard I believe, and again I'm happy to be wrong about this, that educators need to be honest about employment prospects with their students.
Much sympathy for the flame artist you wrote about. I went through something similar when I took paternity leave after my second child was born. I had three jobs on hold and they all fell through. It took an additional month I hadn't budgeted for before I got work again. After my first child was born, the independent film I had been editing re-hired its first director who took over post production from me. His work on the movie proceeded to scare off financiers and I was never paid about $6k of money I was owed and didn't even receive a credit on the end title scroll despite working on the movie for over two months. It's a crazy line of work and one that I recommend to no one.
I think it's time to ask some really difficult questions of ourselves. Namely, what are we in this for? Is this the best use of our creative energy? Is creativity why we're here, or is it the need to work with famous people - or the desire to somehow become rich and famous ourselves - and the glamour that brings along with it? Are we creating for the love of creating or is there a glamour-based ulterior motive? If so, at what point does the cost exceed the capital? I'm not seeing any of these questions asked by artists.
I take issue with your statement regarding college degrees and employment. You can get a job that pays you pennies and works you 100 hour weeks with a degree in just about any discipline. Plenty of people change directions later in life. A college degree is not a life sentence. I have met a lot of people over the years who started out in film - as digital artists and otherwise - and have experienced success in a variety of other professions, including teaching, law, finance, real estate and even farming. Also, I've met people who started out doing something else and found their way into the film business. It's up to the individual and how they choose to navigate their circumstances. Victimhood is a fallacy.
Best of luck and much success to you.
I wonder if "Tipped studios " purchased this technology from the guys of Pixelux’s ? Do you have details about that ? As far I know Pixelux has created this technology.
The Pixelux's guys have sold the DMM finite element to different vendors . I was a bit curious about the strategy on business for this product.
Thanks
Hi Jose - as we noted in the article, Pixelux is behind the tech of Efexio. They're also looking to add more DMM-like fx in the store over the coming months.
Tippett Studio is the first 'artist' contributor to effects in the Efexio store. Other CG artists will soon be able to sell their wares inside Efexio, according to the company.
Cheers,
Ian
I'm going to be pedantic but this is one of my big pet peeves:
" In other words if a light bounces off a table the bounce light would never be more than the light coming from the light source, and if one moves the light further away, then the bounce would not only seem less strong, it would actually reduce according to the inverse square law. "
The inverse square law does not apply to every light. The inverse square law applies to omni-directional point sources. With an omni directional point source the photons expand on a sphere and therefore follow the inverse square law. If the photons though are focused in any fashion then they will not follow the inverse square law. For instance if you place a fresnel lens in front of a light or use a reflective half dome you get the traditional 'par' light. Moving a par light does not follow the inverse square law.
If an omnidirectional point light is a hand grenade going off and the fragments flying out in an even spreading inverse square pattern a focused light is like a shotgun with the density of fragments staying tightly grouped even after long distances depending on the 'focus'. Similarly photons from an omnidirectional point light will spread out evenly. Photons from a focused spot light will like a shotgun blast stay in a tight grouping and not reduce in intensity.
The ultimate extreme is a laser. The photons from a laser are extremely parallel. It's like the ultimate par light.
If lights couldn't be focused we wouldn't use them. We would just use a cookie cutter or flag on an open bulb.
A collimated or focused finite area light source will still follow the inverse square law (even if a laser does not) due to the area of the light itself following the inverse square law. As the light gets further away, it gets smaller, and therefore dimmer.
Thanks Gavin, yes it s true - that statement is a generalization that is not true for all lights, exactly. Thanks for that correction.
But as a note, lights are often focused to increase yield power to light. It is also focused to make the light controllable. And even a Dedo or real light like it must reduce with distance. Think of a patch on a dome. if the light is close the patch would be bigger - in an HDR the patch of the HDR that is the pixels that is that light is bigger... as the light moves away, that patch gets smaller, (just from perspective).. hence the light patch is smaller.
Mike
In an HDR wouldn't the dome be at infinity? Therefore there would be no concept of "closer" or "further". It would be purely directional. If you projected that HDR patch onto geometry then yes getting closer to that spot light projected onto geometry would give you the effect of getting closer to a perfectly diffuse area light. Which is, as you point out in the article, why ILM etc paint the lights out of their HDRs and recreate them in 3D so that they have proper focus, spill, flagging etc.
Oddly enough though I know of not a single rendering package that correctly models light falloff from a spot light. Every single package I can think of gives you "Linear, Inverse-Square, Custom". It would be great if they automatically calculated the spread (and therefore decay) as you adjusted the focus. It's not complex math even, everyone has just so bought into the "Law" part of the inverse square law that they mostly seem to have forgotten that it's not a law.
light radius ^ 2 / (light radius + ( distance * tan( focus_deg / 2 ) ) ) ^2
Then we would just automatically get nice effects like this photo:
http://starcannonusa.com/wp-content/uploads/promotional-searchlights-runaway-country-2011-med-300x199.jpg
combined with this approach:
http://www.agisoft.ru/tutorials/photoscan
http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/sd_download.html
everybody can do it:
http://vimeo.com/57148705
another phone app:
http://www.actionmoviefx.com/
It's important to pay attention to the disrupters of any market, but I personally feel that the commoditization of the visual effects industry is the last thing we need for 99 cents in the app store.
I'm not sure why you think that, but I would be interested in hearing your point of view. VFX work is currently a for-hire situation with artists not making any more money if a project is massively successful. The commoditization of VFX is exactly what is needed to allow them to benefit from their talents by selling their work directly to the public (which actually wants to add CGI to their videos and photos).
High-end work will continue and movies will still need customized, state-of-the-art VFX. I think having a tool like Efexio could also be useful there in rapidly building previs directly on-set.
-Vik
I've really enjoyed watching Side Effects Software's aggressive strategy with Houdini over the last few years.
Good article. Thanks! 😀
You might want to change RPS 19 to RPS toplist 18 since that's the latest release. Unless they've already started 19 beta which would a crazily fast product cycle!
Fantastic write up! It's a shame not to see Redshift in this list, which is an up-and-coming a GPU-based renderer for Autodesk's flagship DCCs. Although it's in closed alpha at the moment, a few of us are lucky to be using it on some productions already, and I fully expect it will be in this list next year.
Great articles!
Unfortunately, you missed one big history in rendering: the development of Blender Rendering engine, Blender Cycles and also the OSL implementation within Blender.
Yeah I agree with hindsight I should have included Blender - my bad
Hi!!! Nice!!
P.S.: That is not the Blender Logo 😛 ( http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/logo/ )
It is now 🙂
Damn, I'll be at the Business Symposium so going to miss. Will this session be recorded Mike?
Thanks for posting this! This needs to happen.
I know I have every issue - and I have collected more - just as a collector... I think I have 8 issue #1 now ! and the Japanese editions, Oscar reprints, book versions that were done of key issues like Blade runner etc,.. but search them is VERY manual. This offers something valuable in being able to find what you are looking for !
mike
I dont know if Siggraph will record it - I will find out
Mike
Would love to have that as a web-app or Windows app. iOS only? Too bad.
Thanks - this is a really cool article on the state of rendering! I would comment on a few points, however.
"The new Disney method is even more advanced in that it moves from a point approach to a beam approach" - this is simply not true. One key contribution of Quantized Diffusion in 2011 was that it was the first method in graphics to analytically handle the diffusion-beam (which we called 'extended-source'). This was probably the most important factor about the QD method because it was switching away from the dipole point source to the beam source that brought back some missing high-frequency detail that previous methods lacked. Quantizing the reflected energy into different temporal buckets was one way to evaluate the photon beam. The MIS/equi-angular approach of Disney's new method is simply a different approximate quadrature for the beam integral. It is disappointing that Jarosz has been permitted to put his 'photon beam' stamp on this BSSRDF, when the beam was one of QDs key contributions in 2011.
Also, I do agree with Jarosz that thinking outside the box and trying not to get stuck is an interesting goal to keep in mind when thinking about how to move rendering forward. However, as I noted at the end of my QD talk at SIGGRAPH 2011, we still have much to learn about rendering by looking into OTHER fields that use the same equations, especially neutron transport (used to design reactors). If you take the time to dig through this old literature you'll find that Section 3.2 "A whole new approach" is actually a really old approach!
In the 1960s Jerome Spanier and others discovered the significant benefits of switching from point sampling to line sampling for computing multiple scattering. This work goes further than that seen in graphics, in fact. Spanier presents two families of methods along these lines and also considers the regime between point and line samples. A beautiful interpretation of photon beams (and a nice way to prove they converge to the right answer) is to consider them as the limit of adding more and more ficitious particles inside the medium (much like Woodcock tracking for sampling heterogeneous volumes). These ficticious particles always scatter the light/neutrons forward in the same direction they were going and do not absorb energy, but the existence of these 'pseudo' sampling events allows more next-event estimations along the path until it finally samples a real scattering particle and changes direction. In the limit that the ratio of real particles to fake particles goes to zero, you arrive at the continuous beam integral. These are called 'track-length estimators' in neutron transport. This community also discovered the benefits of equi-angular sampling for evaluating these beam integrals (see Rief et al. 1984 - "Track Length Estimation applied to point detectors", Nuclear Science and Engineering). This corresponds exactly to the sampling method of Kulla and Fajardo 2012 which removes the 1/r^2 singularity with a change of variables.
So I still maintain that for at least a few more years rendering could likely benefit more from taking time to evaluate known methods in highly-related fields and (like Grosjean's 1954 modified diffusion) - look for really old methods first.
Eugene d'Eon the error is perhaps mine. The point of fxguide is to be a bridge between say a peer review "Siggraph' paper, which is precise, and more accessible popular piece. We see our job to make difficult concepts accessible.
You are correct QD in 2011 was that was the first method in graphics to analytically handle the diffusion-beam. The simplification in the story should be put at my feet not Jarosz. As I say in the story this was a short summary of his talk rather than the full article we will soon be posting.
Leaving aside the QD analytical approach, the principle of moving from thinking in terms of points to beams illustrated the primary point which was 'a different approach - rather than a refinement or evolutionary approach'... is what Jarosz was suggesting in his European talk. To be clear it was offered as an example rather than Jarosz main point.
Your comments here are clear, and both techniques are things we would like to explore more, and we'd love to explore this issue further with you.
My apologies to Jarosz if my efforts to summaries his primary point did not do either of you justice. But I am sure you would agree it is a complex topic and I take it as a great compliment that you read the story and took the time to write such a well thought out response.
Mike Seymour
fxguide
great episode, love this film
I wish I could be there to listen to these discussions, especially after the paper the VES put out recently.
Any word if these are going be available as a video or audio download?
Thanks for making sure the labor/business side of things are being covered Jeff!
Hi everyone,
I'm crazy about cinefex. I'm French, i'm working in visual effect and it's thank this Guide ! When I heard that they wanted to convert the old cinefex on digital, I was happy...but less when I knew that was on Ipad only.
I wrote to kickstarter's team :
[I]Hi Cyril, thanks so much for your comment about our project.
At this time there are no current plans to bring Cinefex for iPad to another platform, or to distribute the magazine content elsewhere. The iPad is our target platform because it offers the best combination of features and installed base among the likely readership of Cinefex. We've even heard from people that they plan to acquire an iPad just to get this collection!
Thanks again for contacting us!
Warm regards,
The Team at New Scribbler
[/I]
I'm not that everybody will buy an Ipad...So I created a survey. Maybe we'll change their idea 😉
http://fr.surveymonkey.com/s/QN3TKDD
thank you, Cyril
[...] a recent review at fxguide.com, Editor Mike Seymour wrote “Most other (web-based) products fall somewhere between [...]
Non-US readers are again missing out on this. Can you guys please put this up in the other stores as well?
I'm in Germany and was able to download the book using the link posted above.
Very nice! I will say though, the GTX Titan can still nearly match the Quadro K6000 in performance aside from a heavy file load into memory. Titan CUDA cores = 2,688, Memory Bandwidth = 288.4 GB/sec, and GPU Memory: 6 GB GDDR5. This rending benchmark from BOXX shows the Titan besting the Quadro K6000 by 1 Ms/Sec http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAjvnGMAtz8 Titan's potential negative is that it's still only outputting 8-bit color afaik, so it might not be the best card for a high-end color correction/grading workflow.
Update: You'll notice now that the YouTube video I posted previously no longer works. That's because NVIDIA complained to BOXX and made them take it down... interesting uncomfortableness huh? 🙂
Thanks Guys !! Great podcast!
Siggraph did not record or allow recording of today's session, they wanted people to feel free to join the discussion. Almost everyone on the panel has appeared on our fxpodcast in the last year or so and most of the issues discussed are not new.
Although the conversation covered a lot of topics - trade association, subsidies, countervailing duties, flat bidding business models, global politics... by far the predominant conversation was about unionizing workers. In my opinion there seems to be a lot of confusion about this topic - who is eligible, how the process works, what is a union... frankly, this confounds me as there is a wealth of information available on the web. I feel that artists really need to take time to educate themselves so meeting like these can be more solution oriented rather than re-hashing a lot of the same ground. One of the panelists, Steve Kaplan from the Animation Guild, has always made himself available to artists with questions and again made that offer today.
The issues the visual effects industry faces are complicated and complicated problems often get bogged down because not every problem can be solved. We need to take one step at a time and help everyone get as much information on every topic as we can. I hope I have been helpful in doing that.
Two things are clear. Doing things the way we are now is not working for artists or the visual effects companies. Doing nothing is not an option.
Awesome book, I had just bought Maxwell Render and started taking your realflow class ... very timely! This semester in fxphd.com is totally awesome, I am getting the detailed information I need to complete my projects!
Thanks so much Patrick!
Thanks Mike its really awesome episode and deep information.
Thanks fxguide Team
It looks really interesting and I would love to read it.
I appreciate all the work you guys do, I read a lot of your articles and I have learned a lot over time from both fxguide and fxphd.
But I don't understand why you make it available as an iBook only (and only in the US). I understand that you guys like your apple products, but making it in iTunes format only doesn't make much sense when you guys usually are all about information sharing, open source and open standards.
Your podcast, both audio and video are all downloadable and in regular standard formats that works everywhere, why cant you do that with the books as well?
There is nothing that can touch the K6000. 12 gigs of ram let's you do amazing things. It's the most important graphics card to come to market for a long time. I can't stress this enough.
Re: "There is nothing that can touch the K6000." - Really? Where are your benchmarks to back-up that emotional statement? There's no doubt more RAM will help, but in what special 3D scenes or situations does it really help? And how often are those special situations going to occur? What percentage of the time will 12 GB really be useful? And if that percentage is very small, then is all that extra RAM truly worth the very high price that it carries? Maybe a 6 GB Titan can cover 99% of most scenes for most artists..? I am interested in facts and figures, not emotional statements.
you forgot our Artistic renderer! Pollock
http://www.bigman3d.com/pollock-renderer/
🙂
Great Article Mike, great to get a view on the bigger picture, love the religion analogy (Im a RenderManian)
Tom
hello . and what about android devices ?
thank you
Had to look this up right away while reading this was Loren Carpenter's "VOL LIBRE". Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfY6jS9LB4U
So I have an IPod, an IMac and a PC workstation but with this iBook format I must have an IPad specifically to be able to read it. Now that my friends is pretty lame...
I understand you comments, but 15million ipads are sold *per quarter* so it represents a lot of tablet usage, and additionally a lot of material is freely available here, but yes some fxguide content is ipad only.
Ok, but there was sold 27.8 million android tablets last quarter, that's also a lot of tablets, but that's not my point.
My point is that the iBook/iTunes/iWhatever is a super closed system, but a .pdf can be read everywhere on mac/win/linux/android/iOS/ etc.
IDC analyses of worldwide tablet sales Q1 2013:
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24093213
Thanks Mike for updating us awesome katana.
Thanks Mike and fxguide team
Unfortunately I can't read it (one of those Android tablet users). That said, Next Limit had a great booth at SIGGRAPH again this year and their Realflow demos were very impressive. It will be interesting to see how Autodesk's implementation of Naiad and future development of Chaos Groups Phoenix FD compare & compete over the next few years. It's an exciting time for fluid sim!
Yeah, was really keen to read this, but having escaped the clutches of the Apple reality distortion field, I am Android only for tablet and phone. Think you are doing your readers a disservice here. At a minimum, the link to this could have indicated that it was not a standard e-book or pdf so people wouldn't waste their time.
:-/
"but it is very important to understand the move pioneered by ILM in removing or cutting lights from the ‘infinite’ distant dome and for interior scenes placing those HDR lights on cards in the physical space of the real world dimensions of say a 3D room"
Actually the idea of cutting out hdr lights and putting them on correct scale cards for energy conserving rendering was pioneered at Digital Domain for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' 2 years earlier. It was presented at Siggraph 2009 in New Orleans at the The Foundry's Nuke user group showing how the cards were cut out in nuke, the whole setup of the 3d environment exported to Mental Ray and how everything was checked in 2d using a novel animated hdr run through lightstage imagery.
Just listened to this. Great as always. Though I liked the movie a lot more than it seems you guys did. I just wanted to say that I noticed the same stereo issue Mike did in my screening so it wasn't just your print. No one else I was with noticed so now I feel vindicated 🙂
so much cynicism on this eppy. I really enjoyed this movie.
[...] Джо Леттери из Weta Digital рассказывает fxguide о приходе в его студию эры освещения и рендеринга на основе реальной физики. Скачать видео. [...]
yeah I know some people liked the story - I for one did not - but the production value and effects were great..
(But man I want one of those 'radios'...)
mike
Great Special, interesting throughout.
I would love to see what the initial rendered shots look like (from Arnold, Renderman etc.), before being comped and soaked in flares, explosions, rain etc. Can you provide some stills?
Thanks for interesting podcasts and articles on Fxguide!
With 6 days to go they hit the goal for this project! Congratulations to the team and all those who helped!
[...] Download Video [...]
Great and very thorough article Mike! Shame not to see KeyShot in the list as well. Best integration for 3D formats and lightning fast.
Yes i am aware of Keyshot - but it just never appears in our vfx / animation space here at fxguide - other than in product renderings and product animations - but in talking to people about projects - I cant recall anyone ever using it in production. Not to say someone hasn't but we had to draw the line somewhere and Keyshot seems like a really great product visualisation tool, but not a production renderer nor does it look like it is aiming at this market... but as I say the product is good and I could be wrong
In your article you listed the Thunderbolt 2 specification on the New MacPro as:
- "Expansion (Thunderbolt 2): Six Thunderbolt 2 connections, each with 20Gbps bandwidth"
May I ask what your source is and why you think each of the 6 connections can independently support the full 20Gb/s when there are only three controllers? I do believe this is correct but there is some debate over this point in several forums and I have not been able to locate any documentation directly specifying this is indeed the case. Many people interpret the casual jargon from both Apple and Intel, used to describe TB2 as possibly meaning that each pair within the 6 ports share the 20Gb/s bandwidth.
Which is it? Is there a *total* of 60Gb/s or 120Gb/s from the 6 ports (3 controllers) offered on the MacPro?
Is it 3 controllers with 6 20Gb/s independent connections or 3 controllers at 20Gb/s offering two connections each?
Thanks!
I think the confusion comes from the word "connector" as opposed to "controller". I find it very clear that this is about each connector.
Regarding the current thunderbolt implementation:
"A Thunderbolt connector is capable of providing two full-duplex channels. Each channel provides bi-directional 10 Gbps of band-width. " (https://thunderbolttechnology.net/tech/how-it-works)
For thunderbolt 2:
"It is achieved by combining the two previously independent 10Gbs channels into one 20Gbs bi-directional channel that supports data and/or display. Current versions of Thunderbolt, although faster than other PC I/O technologies on the market today, are limited to an individual 10Gbs channel" (http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2013/06/video-creation-bolts-ahead-%E2%80%93-intel%E2%80%99s-thunderbolt%E2%84%A2-2-doubles-bandwidth-enabling-4k-video-transfer-display-2/)
Of course, could be wrong -- but this seems really clear to me.
I'd like to direct your attention to one such discussion thread as mentioned above:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1621534 from post 130 on.
Basically the point of interest is that each *controller* MAY only have four version two PCIe lanes to utilize (according to Intel's documentation). So the two connectors per controller are switching. Then there is actually only 20Gb/s total shared between each of the two connectors on each of the three controllers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCIe - (notice the "Capacity" in box at top/right)
So for example if you had two 4-SSD RAID0 TB2 enclosures. Each connected to one of a single controllers two ports you could not get 20Gb/s sustained from both of them - at the same time. Sustained, you would only get ~10Gb/s if both were attempting to fully saturate a sustained 20Gb/s signal. Although from one at a time 20Gb/s would be possible.
How many lanes and what PCIe version per connector are at issue here. If indeed it is as above then the 2 connectors per controller are not "20Gb/s each". We shouldn't say they are or we'd be misleading a lot of folks. We could say "20Gb/s per controller - 2 connectors per controller" or something like that.
Or... we would have to show that each controller is using 8 v2 PCIe lanes. Or maybe some dance with 4 v3 PCIe lanes - if that's even possible.
Thanks for reading!
I appreciate your time!
Tess.
guys, funniest show ever! 🙂
I like the movie, the effects are stunning and can't wait for P.Rim II ! (I am 34 by the way:)
[...] a recent review at fxguide.com, Editor Mike Seymour wrote “Most other (web-based) products fall somewhere between [...]
The original DOA, for anyone who is interested...a classic Noir film...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042369/?ref_=sr_3
Google hangout is a cool idea! and also keeping it an audio podcast is a must. 🙂 thanks guys
I could understand the complaints if you guys were being asked to pay for this, but it's a free booklet. Putting stuff out on multiple devices costs more. It's amazing how high our expectations have gotten for free stuff.
I think the second shuttle got onto Elysium so easily because they had the correct flight codes or something like that....
Where can I see the short film?
Hi Jeffrey! When the short is complete it will definitely be posted up online. Thanks for your interest!
Awesome work and equally awesome breakdown on how it was all done. looking forward to seeing the final short film.
nice talk, thank you.
Great behind the scenes and great work by these wonderful artists.
But it's sad when you know that lot's of unpaid freelancers are still waiting for Pixomondo to do the right thing and pay them for their work.
I cant comment on Pixomondo - as i just don't know all the details - but I can say it is important we feel for the artists work to be shown and respectfully acknowledged. It is perhaps now, more than ever, the time when we should highlight their hard work and great results. IMHO
In a 3 year time frame a perpetual license with subscription will save you money. For example, 3 years of an ECS Premium $3,415 rental would equal $10,245. If you purchased an ECS Premium perpetual and did three years on subscription ($6,825 + $1,025 + $1,025 + $1,025) it would equal $9,900. At a 4 year mark the rental would be $13,660 vs. $10,925. At a 5 year mark the rental would be $17,075 vs. $11,950. So in a three year time frame (and beyond) it's cheaper to own it and stay updated through subscription.
Financially the rental option is obviously useful where you need to add a lot of temporary seats for a few months, which fits the volatile VFX industry perfectly. So now that facilities will be saving money on renting licenses... the studios can capitalize on that and get their VFX even cheaper now. 🙂
+1 for fxguidetv episode covering Adobe Anywhere technology whilst @ IBC
I find the looping footage in the background very distracting. Good content.
WoW, Thanks
Mike Seymour
Bravo Codex! Certainly a massive step in the right direction for us beleagered post houses, nobody enjoys tracking!!
However, we're not always able to influence our DOPs to use a particular set of lenses ("You'll have to pry my zeis primes from my cold dead fingers" etc etc)
A more universal solution would be to have a inertial 'collar' fitted to the lens (thereby making it compatible with ANY third party lens system)
Add to this several discreet RF transmitters, which you scatter around the set/location and a reciever on the collar, that calculates Time Of Flight from each coded transmitter (RF won't need line of sight, so obstructions shouldn't be an issue) you could pull fairly accurate positional/inertial data from the collar, to record to an offboard unit.
Combined with improvements in tracking algorythms, this could move us towards a truly 'automated' matchmoving system.
- "Combined with improvements in tracking algorythms, this could move us towards a truly ‘automated’ matchmoving system."
Adrian, this solution is already available in Prevision system from Lightcraft Technology which is an automated tracking position and lens data.
Tim
If we don't handle the anti-alias of color conversion, I mean, from SPH model to RGB model, how could we represent the all color of nature? I think this is the first step of phsically-based rendering.
AaAaghWERTJ$%! That was so good! The music, the art style, details like his hat swaying on the conveyor belt or the other scarecrows looking at him when the camera pulls back at the end... Loved it!
Great VFX podcast, pretty knowledgeable.
THANKS fxguide.com
Just saw the 3D version more because I wanted to see the movie in a theater again than out of 3D-affection, especially when it comes to converted 3D. But I have to say, this conversion really reduced my scepticism on 3D conversion to great extent for two reasons: On one hand, this is just a very good movie to turn into 3D with a lot of neat and effective fore-, middle- and background compositions and Dean Cundeys beautiful tracking shots all over the film. And on the other hand it was skillfully done. My favorite shots in this version for some reason were the details of the mosquitos in amber on Hammonds walking stick and in the amber mine in the beginning.
Hi @Michael,
Its not about people complaining - they're just wondering why an Apple-only format was chosen as opposed to PDF - as Johannes mentioned.
PDF (Portable Document Format) was developed with this purpose in mind - to allow documents to be viewed the same on any platform/OS/Device combination - including things like embedded fonts so that layout doesn't change etc.
And for all those using the comment that "iPads are popular" - are forgetting that there are many millions of people who dont use Apple products, and that even Apple users in different countries are bound by various rules and regulations that may or may not allow the app/book to be sold there.
Again, fxinsider, thanks a LOT for all the info, articles and insight you folks provide, but please consider creating distributable materials using a cross-platform format like PDF.
Thanks !
Hi guys,
The iBook is not available in the South African iTunes store.
Is there a reason for that ?
If not, could you please put it up there ?
Thanks!
Laven Pillay
Another great podcast! Loved Rush. Jason, you probably already know this but shooting below 400 ISO you lose dynamic range on 1DC, especially in highlites. I think this is also the cause of banding in areas of flat tonality.
Who's breathing thru the nose during the recording?! Quite annoying!!!
Otherwise, I really liked the movie! Thank you for a nice vfx show!
Really nice videos. Find more on www.techdemonstrations.com
Really awesome level of complexity so high.
Thanks fxguide.com
I only breathe through my blow hole so it can't be me. ;P
Mike and his crew are working really hard to get all the technical issues clicking full steam on the Google Hangout versions. There are bound to be a few glitches in these first few. Stick with it, I'm sure it'll all get dialed in in the coming weeks.
Thanks for your feedback! Any and all comments are always much appreciated.
Wurd,
Matt
The actress is the Jester is Delila Vallot.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0885211/
She posted a note to us here at fxguide.
Epic Work great article.
Yup! That's how you do it. Quick millisecond calculations and real time rendering. Congrats Epic! Looking forward to seeing what Studios will do with UE4.
Hello, This movie is awesome and oscar winning
Visual Effects. Tim Webber really one of the best supervisor. Hello mike whats u r think about oscar winning VFX.
Thanks Mike and fxguide team.
I think there is little doubt it will be nominated at this stage, but not all the films for 2013/2014 award season are out yet...
The guys at the end just upset me... 3 Million polys are next to nothing in computing power demands..
Loved the podcast this week as you may have expected.
Just purchased the iPad / iPhone app mentioned to have a play around with, looks awesome so far.
Here's the link for anyone interested…
https://itunes.apple.com/app/photo-fx/id300630942?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photo-fx-ultra/id374564348?mt=8
Matt
hi
Hi Julia,
was that it? Was that the whole post?
mike
Cool interview. A little marketing-wise for Luxology, but good concepts and ideas on how to follow and training concept art and 3d Artist.
Nothing against Luxology, but it gets a little boring every time to ask them about Modo. Sounds like if you don't use Modo, you can't be as cool. 🙂
Hello Mike, yes he is really digging in your history & knowledge 🙂 Mike Seymour.Great podcast, Silhouette is a awesome software with great paint system.
Thanks fxguide.com
Thanks Mike Seymour
Hello Mike, Really good and knowledgeable podcast, But I'm waiting for podcast on Arnold Renderer.
Thanks fxguide.com
great article. couple thoughts... (:
i don't think we're far away from a viable mixture of capturing (in whatever method) textured-geometry that can be relit, realistically - and i think we can and will be able to avoid the uncanny valley with excellent animators (and not just reference, but 'animated textures' from the camera that can be used). and i'm not at all saying that's the best or only way or should be done for an entire film, but it can be very helpful for certain types of shots and obviously digi-doubles are pretty common these days (with wildly varying results - again... animation)
and of course, getting a depth channel should save some roto-ing... i.e. open up a lot of possibilities for going beyond greenscreen and focusing on what works best for the performance - of everybody, like including camera and direction - it just helps when everybody is seeing something as close to the final image as possible instead of everyone having a slightly different imagining of it. storyboards and concept art just don't give you that visceral experience of capturing/reacting to a real shot (especially in collaboration) and the technology we have today has enabled us to take that artwork and integrate it while shooting in real-time. this is the kind of creative inter-disciplinary work that i'm preparing for as the future of filmmaking. can't wait (:
obviously there has been technical pre-planning for awhile... it's the artistic involvement that interests me most. is this the most involved we've seen vfx (or post) within the early and creative stages of a film?
I dont know if this is the most involved (vfx in production) but it is certainly right up there in terms of modern film making practices and pipelines. I cant speak highly enough of Framestore's work here and their approach to the project while maintaining the Director's style and vision. Plus this was not a $250m budget film... Yes it was not a long film by todays standards, but wouldnt we all prefer a shorter better film than one that goes 3 hours and is less engaging - I know I would.
Having also started out on the Amiga and been on both sides of the fence as demo artist and end user of products, I found this cast very interesting and nostalgic. Thanks guys!
Great coverage!!! Thanks! Alkesh.
with so many heads to convert to stereo! does anyone know how they approached it? will FX Guide do a featurette on that too?
IMO, the best VFX of the film was the prologue done by Blur. Such an amazing work. And great article!
Yes I agree that the Prologue was great - but there was a bunch of great shots - I loved the end titles ! (As you will hear in this week's vfxshow podcast!)
Mike
great,really enjoyed reading it....
Great article. It's always nice to see Softimage houses producing amazing quality work. You guys should go to Whiskytree or RodeoFX. Two amazingly good companies using Softimage still.
As always ... such amazing articles. Thanks FXGuide. Hope to take some FXPHD courses in the future.
Thanks - we really appreciate the post and the support.
We love both RodeoFx and Whiskytree and we have covered their great work in the past
Is it possible its not Super35 but anamorphic for the 35mm? Panavision says so.
http://www.panavision.com/every-revolution-begins-spark-hunger-games-catching-fire
It also appears they didn't compose for 2.35 at all when shooting the imax scenes.
http://www.studiodaily.com/2013/11/editor-alan-edward-bell-on-the-hunger-games-catching-fire/#sthash.kndyAFAZ.dpuf
Fantastic article. Great work and thanks for a great read.
This commercial was amazing. Thanks for the article. As always, FXGuide is better at each day!
Wonderful article... is there another article which can elaborate on the techniques mentioned in the following quotation? “and then do a lot of one point perspective and two point perspective photogrammetry techniques to re-warp those plates and give them the depth and the nodal point offsets we couldn’t get by merely taking the footage and placing it as a background. ”
Thing is. These large studios do not pay 100 percent out of pocket for production costs. They rely on credit from lenders in order to get funding to produce the films. They have no other option than to go after the tax incentives in order to get a film bonded. They could pay more out of pocket and release less films while taking in more risk. Eitherway, The VFX industry is mostly a service business. It doesn't have the best business model. You really need to have IP in order to stay afloat.
Here is a good read that goes into detail:
http://tinyurl.com/kq4rke5
I don't think there was any talk about this in the interview. It just sounded like a witch hunt blaming everything on the studios chasing after any tax incentive that would get them more money. If anything be pissed at the Banks. Blame the other people with lots of money. The lenders!!
I enjoyed the interview. He's well articulated. Thanks FXGuide.
What an amazing article!! As always ... congrats FXGuide. Perfect!
Scott is absolutely right!
Yeah! Two great articles in one day.
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/download/?force_file=/2013/12/DrWho50th_Making_Of_2013_halfres.mp4 […]
Great articles indeed. Unfortunately, I can't hear the audio in the Milk video about the Doctor Who sequences.
Thanks for the heads up, David - have made the Vimeo version of the video available.
I'm not sure about absolutely right. While it seems sound in principle, I'm not quick to shed a tear for the production companies and their financial burdens for making films.
While the production studios have been forced to find alternate means of securing their "risk" for financing films, the use of public municipal tax coffers is not only distasteful but leaves the market distorting effects we're seeing today.
I'll concede the point that the studios are now working in an environment where their risk isn't as secure as it was in days gone by. But by agreeing with the use of tax incentive, you are in effect saying that you feel the public should be shouldering the risk of the Big Six's pursuit for profit.
The film industry, like any, faces risk for doing business. I believe that risk is well mitigated from the profits of their successful endeavors. With the demise of the regular profits DVDs offered, the risks are greater, but I feel that's the cost of business, and not our responsibility to bear.
Does that mean the studios will make less films? It can, but it can also mean they'll start focusing on *better* films .. mitigating their risk by striving for a superior product to which the market will pay handsomely to see. Either way, using public money to offset their risk isn't the answer and is destructive to the lives of the workers.
Clarisse looks like a great piece of software but I don't think anyone at Whiskytree has officially endorsed the product. I also can't find where Isotropix said so...
We are certainly interested in trying the software though 🙂
I have edited accordingly - sorry. My bad.
I'm always curious about the DVD profits - the demise is always thrown out like one day everyone stopped buying DVDs but I know I watch far more content via iTunes than I ever bought DVDs. Then there are additional new revenue streams like on demand, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.
Man of Steel should be in the finalists. I thought the FX were better than Iron Man, Oblivion and The Lone Ranger. In any case, impressive list.
Does the new import nuke fonction in any python interpreter works with Nuke or is it a NukeX only feature ?
Hello, Mike Seymour, This is not a good thing last time we miss The Dark Knight Rises and this time Man of Steel.:-( ,, salute Christopher Nolan
Thanks fxguide for this article.
Great commercial and great stuff
Great interview, thanks Fxguide!
World War Z?? Come on… The hordes of zombies were impressive but all in all they looked fake in many scenes and the film relied on cg-zoombies too much.. Should swop place with Man of steel.
Yes, you are right Man of Steel is stand for VFX nomination. Hey Mike Seymour what you think about that.
Great work!
Harry Hingorani
It's been a long time since the last RC. You must be very busy. I hope you can post a new one soon.
Peace,
Rob:-]
This would be an amazing way to share camera info with all the different vendors. It would be great if somehow this information would be just recorded from the camera itself. Something like metadata getting pulled into a database.
For the take information (and even some of the slate), data being pushed into the image header is absolutely the way to go. Sadly we rarely see that data since who-ever does the debayering conventently strips that metadata out.
But more importantly, there is other information that will never make it into the file, like what other media was recorded (photos, set-survey, etc), not to mention any notes on what the rig was, or where you are (if GPS doesnt make it into the header). The hope is to keep refining this, and working to make it easy to accurately match this up to the image data (which is also a challenge).
Sam.
Nice job on the article, Mike. Will there be a nod to Guerilla Render in your next revision? It's been used in several blockbuster movies like "Snow White", "Dredd" and "Total Recall".
http://guerillarender.com/references/
Nice article. Hope the movie is good as the book.
Once again... the VES is behind the ball and re-inventing a wheel in an inferior way. Sigh. Why not put their weight behind something that already exists, and is better than this?
We use setellite, and request that all of our camera crews and script supes at least try to do the same:
http://planetx.nl/setellite/
it does everything this VES worksheet does, and more. And it runs on on an iPad so you don't need a laptop with filemaker (seriously? filemaker?).
Please tell the VES to take a look at Setellite, scrap this, and help the folks that make that app improve it even more. Let's build on things that exist and move forward together, rather than constantly having the VES try to reset us by a decade or more.
Just reposting what Sam said on the group list in reply to your comment there.
"The intention is not for the volunteers who make up the VES Technology Committee to create a tool that is superior to Setellite. Our intention is to define a standard for the interchange of on set VFX Camera Reports so the auxiliary VFX information can flow more smoothly from set to studio. In fact, we've been in contact with Frank van der Peet at Planet X since May and he was enthusiastic about supporting the interchange format with his app.
We provided the sample Filemaker database as an prototype, not a replacement for more fully featured app. For more details, and hopefully a clear explanation of our goals visit:
http://camerareports.org/
In the future, I think it might be a good idea for us to list apps (both free and commercial) that support the camera report specification so those looking for the best tool for the job will have a place to look."
thx for the hint Andrew. i will take a look... we are developing a review and approval iPad / Web app
and that satellite thing sounds the perfect fit to get the metadata from.
that's the one we are developing:
copra.de
./ivar
Thanks for present Mike Awesome Rob Legato
Thanks fxguide.com merry christmas to all
Really good interview .. Happy Holidays Fxguide Crew!
Peter Jackson gave an explanation why he split it up into three films here:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/12/13/hobbit-peter-jackson/
You can doubt as much of it as you want but I think it makes sense.
It makes sense, but it hasn't worked on a cinematic level. Could still have been a much stronger three act single movie. Three movies of nearly nine hours feels more like a bad case of hemorrhoids rather than effective cinematic communication/entertainment.
The vfx show is one of my favourite podcasts but this episode was probably my least favourite vfxshow so far.
In this episode there were so many missed opportunities for great deep discussions and analysis in areas where you guys disagreed. Instead it felt like the discussion was too quickly steered away from that and I couldn't help to feel like you're not allowed to, or are afraid to, put out something negative about the Hobbit. When listening to the show I'm more interested in hearing your personal opinions and analysis than hearing stats and fact that I can read in an online article or plugs for the other sites/shows.
I agree with Matt on many points and he shouldn't have to apologise for his opinions, they are very valid. I didn't see as many technical flaws as Matt but my eyes, and the rest of me, are far more inexperienced so I would have loved if that had gotten some more room in the show. More and deeper analysis of what you guys, personally, think worked and didn't worked and with arguments to why/why not.
Too me Hobbit 2 feels more or less like a technical masterpiece. As a movie though it's probably the most boring and silly movie I've seen since Hobbit 1. For real, I had to pinch myself so hard for the last 1.5 hours to not doze off. I never felt real engaged in it and I think the fact I don't like the look of HFR is part of it.
My biggest technical issues are the smelted gold, the flying/running Wargs and the barrel theme park joy ride.
I'm not sure what it is about that smelted gold but the simulation and the overall look of it looked really really bad to me, almost like something from a music video from the 90s. But if it looks like that in the movie I'm sure rivers of smelted gold would look close to that in real life? Because I'm sure they've done their research and compared with real life smelted metals and gold, right? But that gold for sure confuses the heck out of me and I can't stop thinking about it.
The Wargs running on the plains once again looked like they were flying, just like in H1. Maybe it's like Mike said in the show that they're covering too much ground. For sure something is way off with them.
The barrel joy ride was just painful and felt like something cut together to please the kids in the audience. And what's up with the GoPro(ish) shots in it? That whole sequence was way too long and silly and i just wanted to scream "KILL YOUR DARLINGS!". Well, at least there wasn't a fart joke in it (...they're probably saving that for the extended edition).
Even though I don't like the movie I think it's a technical masterpiece because of Smaug and the spiders. Eeeauw, those spiders! I hate spiders like A LOT and those volkswagen sized spiders gave me real goosebumps and they made me cringe in my seat. They triggered everything in my brain that triggers when I see a real spider and I thought animation, texturing, all details and everything down to the feel of real mass when they die, fall and hit the ground was awesome.
I also think that they nailed S3D and it's great to see that it's not a gag-fest anymore. Very subtle and nice. If you're into HFR they probably nailed that too. I had really hoped that you guys would talk more about and analyse HFR on the show. I'm sad that you didn't and I would have loved to hear how you thought it evolved from the first movie to this movie.
For what it is, I understand why they want to go there and if you like the look of HFR you will probably love this, much better than in H1. Personally I don't like the look of it though. Everything looks too real and too much like theatre, it feels like you're there and can reach out and touch the actors. I can understand why some people like and love that but personally I don't and it's not something I want from a cinematic experience. I sadly also think HFR contributes to that many of the excellent and awesome props look cheap. I know Weta Workshop have busted their asses here and done a great job but you see every detail and instead of looking weathered and old the props and set, sometimes, looks fabricated, plastic and cheap. Could also be, as pointed out on twitter, the "theatrical" lightning still used in film that contributes to why I feel like this. For example I felt like some of the spider web and from time to time Gandalfs' stick suffered from this, maybe I'm over analysing. =)
This is my personal opinions and my intention is not to step on anyones toes here. Just felt that I had to say how I reacted to this episode. Somewhat ironical that I apologise for my opinions when I say that Matt shouldn't... 😉
Happy Holidays. =)
Thanks for your comments. As you took the time to write a long considered post, here are some thoughts.
Just a few observations really... first it is easier to make funny comments when saying one does not like a film, - and I am always very very concerned about the show being focused on just saying something was bad - than saying exactly why. So if you are a host and you are on the show you know in advance you cant just say it is bad - you have to justify that opinion, something Matt with his exceptional background and talent is more than able to do. It is my job to put him on the spot as to exactly why he did not like it. That is the show.
Secondly, I think I did allow Matt to express his opinions, but I felt strongly that the film was good. Not just OK, not just technically successful - I really liked it. I am not alone, the film is a success at the box office and it has been getting overall positive reviews. You can tell, I believe, I clearly knew Matt's position from twitter before taping - so if I had not wanted anyone to say negative things about the film - why would I have encouraged Matt to be on the show?
I do also feel this is the vfxshow not the movie show, so I do try and not focus on issue people have on plot vs vfx. I stand by my comments that Smaug is one of the finest pieces of visual effects character work ever done. Not good - great, - world class... and the vfx worthy of Oscar Nomination. I think I have said elsewhere a Master class in character animation. Why did I discuss the technical aspects of it... to further that point, to explain WHY it was so hard to animate and hence why I thought it was so well done.
Furthermore our third host, Jason, that we would have around a third of the time discussing negative aspects - as you would expect when 2 of the 3 host liked the film.
I respect the Matt did not like the film, but we want the show to have balance and Matt did not just dislike it a bit, he hated it. By contrast I loved it. What you heard I thought was the balance that happens as people discuss just that. I dont think we were disrespectful to each other, to the film or to you the audience in shutting down any discussion.
Now of course I may not have steered the conversation the way you liked - and for that I am open to criticism. You may hate how I host the show -and disagree with my opinion. I have no problem with that, and I do thank you for taking the time to post.
Mike
Morning Mike
First, I apologise if this came of as personal criticism. That was not my intention but after a good nights sleep I realise that it might have came out just like that. So apologies for that. I don't hate how you host the show, I wouldn't have listened to 177 episodes, some multiple times (like this one), if I didn't like you and the show. =) I respect the heck out of you guys and I do know that you guys respect each other. I don't have any sports hero's, pop idols or movie idols... I have you guys! All I'm saying is that of 177 awesome episode this particular episode was my least favourite one, not the same as saying I hated it, but I did a poor attempt to explain why.
The main thing I wanted to bring forward with my word pooping in my original post is that when you guys disagree so profoundly about an effect, or look, it would be extremely interesting and educational to have that dissected in more detail. In this very episode it felt more like "okay, we disagree. Let's move on.".
You have a very good point when you write that "this is the vfxshow not the movie show" but in this particular episode I wish that it would have been even more and deeper about the vfx. It's such a big movie and there's so many awesome effects beyond Smaug. Not taking anything away from Smaug because yes, in my opinion he truly is a technical and artistic masterpiece in all ways possible and the best cg character to date.
It also wasn't intentional to post that under a faceless nickname, I thought I had a signature set in my profile. =)
/Henrik Cednert | NEO | @NEO_AMiGA
Just popped over to post a short comment, but after reading Henrik's posts & Mike's reply I can't just leave a small impression. Even though this episode runs at an hour & a half I, like Henrik, believe more discussion could have been made. Like the film itself, maybe 3 hours would have been a running time worth risking 😉
I also agree that more on the HFR aspects would have been nice. Maybe a separate podcast on the technology & how & what has changed. Personally I like HFR in rides, but still not convinced for features. Like 3D, there is a time & place for it. I'm hoping for better examples in the future.
I respect everyone involved with these podcasts & hearing your personal opinions is a huge part of why I listen. It's great that such conversion has come from this episode. There is so much to cover and I totally understand you're not going to have the time to do so in a single podcast.
Agree with the comments about Man of Steel. It literally blew my mind, the things we were seeing on screen in the film. But then we get on to the topic about having to choose 10 films - the problem lies right there. The work in all the films is at such a high standard.
Hi Mike,
I have been listening to the VFX show for about a year now ever since I found fxphd and signed up to take RFM classes to supplement my 3D education at AAU where I am studying 3D modeling and rigging. It is my hope to work in the field of facial performance as a modeler or TD.
I have to say I was looking forward to this show most of all because after seeing the movie I was blown away by the VFX achievements. That does not mean I think everything was flawless. I did however find it kind of hard to listen to some of the negative opinions because they did not offer valid reasons or solutions to do it better. An example would be the barrel sequence when Matt said it looked like shaving cream. I may have missed it but I did not hear any reasons given as to why it may have looked that way or how it could have been done better. I believe in healthy discussion and critique, and all are and should voice their opinion. I personally would just like to hear a bit more of the why it was flawed. I hope this does not come across as harsh especially when I am just a student that one day hopes to work in the film industry.
Great discussion! Love it.
With specific regards to the water sims in the barrel sequence I think I did offer some thoughts on why it didn't work for me, but I'm happy to try and articulate a more concise explanation of my take on it.
I thought the water didn't look like water. Seeing the film in HFR 3D IMAX, I thought the water looked more like shaving cream in some shots and even white thread bundled together in others. I think there were a combination of factors that gave me that impression. First of all, the level of aeration in the water was very high (which would probably make sense in rapids), but it was so high for me that all the water appeared white. I also thought the water sims themselves did little to alleviate the issue. It is possible that the sims were really good but either the lighting/render or comp kept the various elements from standing out and they blended together in a kind of mushyness. Not sure what it was on a technical level (keeping in mind that I only saw this film the one time). My gut feeling was that it could have been more successful had there been a more aggressive use of practical elements in conjunction with the fx renders. Don't get me wrong, I think doing rapid water in broad daylight is anything but easy to make work. My critique of this, and any other FX in the film are my subjective opinion based on my own background and experience. But I deeply respect my colleagues opinions as well and if they see it differently it makes me question my own experience. Not because I don't believe what I felt originally, but because I know my colleagues express their perspectives thoughtfully, professionally and with great care.
I think its great that the show sparks a discussion...even a discussion of the show and its format. I've never been asked to say or not say anything on the show. Mike, the other hosts and the whole crew at FX Guide are 110% professional at all times and produce a great product through their site and reporting. The whole VFX community is infinitely strengthened, educated and informed about the industry we all love by the great work they do. And we sometimes disagree on the show with regards to the VFX and the issues or lack of issues therein.
I stated in the show that I wasn't a particularly huge fan of the genre, but I tried to be objective about the VFX. Mke and Jas thought the VFX were mostly good/great. I thought the dragon was strong but lots of the other work felt uneven to me. But I'm always happy for a lively discussion/debate on the merits. But if we (the hosts) fundamentally disagree on the basics of the overall quality, its hard to get into a nuanced discussion about what didn't work. In the case of this episode, I was the odd man out in thinking some of the work was not up to snuff. I think that's where these discussion boards come in. Its great fun and can be highly edifying to discuss the film further here. One of the ideas behind doing a Google Hangout version of the show was to give you guys more of a participatory voice in the dialogue. But until all the tech issues get sorted this is a great place for us all to engage and discuss.
The intent of the show, from my perspective, is to both educate and entertain. Its fun to hear about how work was done and to assess the success or failure of the work within the context of the film. But some of the discussion is subjective by its very nature. I remember when Mike and I shared a similar, somewhat negative take, on Scott Pilgrim vs The World (I even walked out of the screening I attended). Not everyone agreed, but it still made for an interesting show and I hope had some larger value to the overall exploration of the art of visual effects.
Let me know if I can be more clear on the positions I took in the show and if I can clarify any of my opinions further.
Happy holidays everybody!!!
That does help thanks Matt.
And oh yeah, the other thing that might have had an impact on my take of the water is how motion blur works on vfx elems in a HFR film. One of the things that HFR alleviates is motion blur in the live action, but how is it compensated for in the CG? The water elems felt like they had a higher degree of moblur than the live action.
thanks for the posts. These Articles do take a lot to research and so it is really nice to get feedback. I am particularly interested in this area, and I have so enjoyed watching it evolve over the last decade.
Mike
PS
Happy Holidays !
Here's the thing I was thinking of with the truck floating scene. It was from the Animatrix. So do you guys think this was homage or ripoff.
http://youtu.be/vl6-NL0Cx90
This one plays. http://youtu.be/AaWOFmMiXZ4
Fantastic! I was hoping to get the Ocean tech of AC covered. Couldn't ask for anything more really!
I really enjoyed this visit! I always liked the Embassy's work, and even more their first work with that robot walking in a slum. They then reused it for District nine and now again for Elysium... Their dancing transformer Citroen was pretty cool too. But what about this Iron Kid? Shaders were great and all, but the idea reminds me of something I have done 😉 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaaQwJAww6s
And here is the brand new VFX Breakdown from Brainstorm Digital !
http://wiki-fx.net/pages/the-wolf-of-wall-street/
Enjoy!
Oh what a laugh, and what an exercise! Really was looking forward to reading more of what you had to say, but...
"This is available from iTunes as an iBook!"
*grumble grumble... ok fine* So I download iTunes (Hate the thing)... I have to then accept three separate terms and conditions, make some sort of apple ID, authorise this computer (Whatever that means), then download the thing... this took about 15 minutes in between all my renders...
Downloaded finally!!! Hunt for where in this stupid application it hides the stuff and I finally find it, double click... "Sorry, you can only view this on an iPad..."
/Ragequit... table flip.
Great fxguide.tv, All ten films are awesome, But i think GRAVITY is a VFX OSCAR winner.
Thanks fxguide team
Great interview with Alan Bell. He really knows how to make his job easier by always reviewing the footage several times with the Director, and not just reviewing the footage just once. Keep up the great interviews!!
Sterling work ...Very inspiring and the depth via the slighy colour added to the moonn displays a great deal ..." Brilliant! " ..;-)
*slightly coloured
These are so awesome! Thank you!
Loved this article and the vfx in the film. It's great to get some insights into how they were accomplished.
Wouldn't it be great to read this article where "The Foundry" was replaced by "Autodesk" and "NUKE" was replaced by "IFFS".
Really interesting to see the plates that were used for the Iron Man 3 final battle sequence! There's no way that could have been pulled off without such extensive previs.
Very tough year to pick the nominations. Though I am very surprised that Pacific Rim was not in the final nominations. Congrats to all the nominees!
"In addition to Max there is *XSI* and Maya."
*Softimage
As to running beyond Windows x64. I'm curious if he means multi-platform or just virtualization. It sounds to me that "any hardware or operating system" means that they are just going to offer a cloud hosted virtualized application like CITRIX.
Yes I agree - the impression I got and I am not telling you anything beyond the quote... is that this was not a case of "we will port to all OS" ... it felt to me like more of a "we have a plan to allow some browser or web /cloud solution to solve this for us"... but I am just reading between the lines like you
thanks Gavin
Mike
Its sad that a quadro vs a geforce Is mostly software drivers and a few k.
I think there is still a large room for improvement not only performance and bugfixing but introducing a sculpting tool like mudbox even if it is more limited than its big brother, polishing Mental Ray, a new scatter tool like Carbon Scatter or iToo Forest Pack, new techniques like Motiva Colimo or Mesh Mixer (Autodesk already bought this?)
Anyway is great to know that things are still moving.
F.
I agree with Frank.
All these tools will add even more in 3ds max, a software widely used in the design of current movies and pictures mockup that there is a great demand in recent times.
Thanks Frank, hopefully Autodesk invest heavier and better programs that we may acquire in the future.
[…] Download Video […]
I like that film and Jumped off station shot too,
awesome podcast.
Thanks fxguide.com team
Thanks for the article, I totally agree with Frank and I'm looking forward to my beloved Max to be more impressive 😀
i wish there was a whole fxguideTV about smaug
I wish that too... but getting permission has been tough. That being said Weta has been as helpful as they possibly can...
Hi Mr. Seymour. Where is the VES special voting site?
First - call me Mike !.... and
Yes there is from the VES main web site - but voting is closing very soon. You do need to be a VES member. BUT....
We have a link to the special Award season Hobbit ebook ( this year both APPLE and non-Apple ebook)
The link is above in the story, it is a special Award Season book - so it wont be online past the current award season. So if are not a VES member you can still see exclusive content - produced by fxguide for film.
Oh boy ... that's amazing. And it's so nice to see Softimage been used to create such a great movie. AD is idiot for not developing anymore.
FXPHD, would love to see a return of the Animation course of Lucas Martell with Softimage. Wasn't able to attend the first time.
Loved this FXGuide TV. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
Great coverage, guys. Thanks for this.
The cinematography has an anamorphic look to it, specifically the DOF. Did that come up in the discussion at all?
Glad you liked it... we had fun with it... as our logo 'assemble' might indicate !
This is a bit late comment, considering when I originally watched this coverage. I recently watched again... and noticed that when the discussion is around dropping the vehicle from unfinished road, reference is made about projecting background on a sphere. Just curious, is that "sphere" because the camera movement is pan/tilt? Would sphere work for any other type of camera move as well?Thanks.
It's lovely to see Softimage winning three awards. Congrats to The Mill team. Come on AD, WAKE UP! 😀
Congrats to all the winners and nominees. You all have really stepped up your game this year.
Great coverage Ian!
It's not highlighting capitalism, it's highlighting crony capitalism, collusion between governments and large companies creating corrupt monopolies where corporations get deregulated by corrupt governments and have free reign.
Well ... it appears that there are idiots in England as well.
http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/gravity-vfx-supe-us-pros-not-young-or-hungry-enough-to-compete/#more-3837
I hope he was misquoted.
Very nice article. I saw the movie today and I was happy as a kid. I love the lighting and how they somehow managed to "legolize" even the smoke, water and fire effects.
i feel with firepro i'm getting good results but even for me it was a big purchase at 700 with the 4gb W7000, its suppose to have higher computing marks as the k6000 + but those cards cost thousands more. besides the whole Nvidia specific hurdle, what benefit do I have to invest in lets say the 12gb nvidia over lets say a firepro W9000? I like AMD because for me their marketing has really pushed forward in providing for feature film effects. (I am able to run a 64core/1TBmemory workstation) but when i open my programs like maya and nuke and mari, i'm hit with NVIDIA forcing me to rethink my build. So now i have to wonder is AMD the right choice even if the benchmarks are higher, they do me no good if i cant use them in production. At the moment my W7000 isnt even being read in nuke. it says no graphics card available.
I could really use more info on this.. besides processing and memory, where should i be pushing in to get great render and work results. as a Generalist/Comp artist these are key to getting freelance work. without this it becomes a pipe-dream or you are forced to provide lower quality.
lol great PCast, i enjoyed the tone, for me I loved the movie, and for someone who is as aspiring DOP with 12 years in photography, and currently working as a compositor, Ive always wanted to explore HFR in movie production so i loved that it was used. It felt like a live action play. In my opinion i think the execution was great I think the mistake is having artist who don't have the same artistic eye. Its like asking someone to edit my photos, only those with years of editing and a background with color and attention to detail will leave me satisfied but those who simply work as editors but don't have the eye for it they just do it because they are told how to press the buttons will not leave you unsatisfied and I think the more experience those artist have in HFR level of detail workflow where they are more cautious about how it is perceived that you cant simply say, "oh it'll pass, no one will see it" then you will start getting the desired results. Just think about the paint work. everything you do on it has to be done for twice the normal time. Which means you need artist who understand or who are open minded to understanding that logic. I've talked to many artist who said they hated the movie for that one reason, even my wife was mad saying " I WANT MY 24" so I have to believe there were alot of artist on production who couldn't handle the 48 but stayed on for sake of their job. Thats very unfair for artist like me who strive for these kinds of productions but have to see new tech fall to the way side due to pride and the inability to grow artistically. I think peter Jackson and the Hobbit is the perfect platform because the more real the movie is the more their cosplayer fans can get into character and feel like the characters could live down the street from them. but just like cosplayers there are reeeally good and detailed and there are those who cant get the realism down, and i think that's where the movie hurt many people, is that the production was not 100%, part of it felt incomplete because some of the artist and those on production where not there yet, to visually sell a realistic looking movie as a team.
Another part that felt off was the running as well, one shot stood out to me and it was the scene with the Orcs running up the rock mountain and the scene looked too clean, and it seemed like the track was off. This is the reason why I am in VFX and hope to be a DP because I want to be able to not only create beautiful shots in camera but bring them together in post as well, it was a full CG shot that lacked those things that a DP would call out and make sure was in the live shot. So I feel there is a disconnect in production where they are dropping the ball visually in full CG shots because they are going on what looks pretty vs what works for a HFR film that is suppose to mimic reality.
Again great listen and I look forward to the next! 🙂
-Jamiel Boling
Great! and maybe another episode with V-Ray's Vlado? 🙂
Some amazing points in comp and how they use deep compositing. I've learned about deep but have been afraid to take it on in a project, i think i may just have to start if i hope to one day work for WETA. Very nice to know and how they render their layers. I hate rendering lights in layers so its good that they share that same sentiment.
great overall pcast!
i've heard a few of these shows talk about using HDR in nuke to assist with lighting and color matching during comp. i wonder how this workflow would look. heck i still haven't gotten my hdri to look properly in maya..
in time i guess..
great Pcast , Mike Seymour is so funny when (cant remember name) brings up his lack of love for LOTR.. I know how you feel, i love the LOTR series and have found it very difficult to get my hands on the extended edition collectors pack.
i love this podcast..lol sitting here snickering working on Chappie, i like how Mark sticks to his guns, i loved no ordinary family and heroes and this changes my perspective on shield knowing he is working on this as well.
and wow that bidding. thats my worse attribute, just simply being afraid to lose the job. gotta be honest and stick to your guns.. good deal!
I agree the Lego smoke and water fx were priceless... well - certainly worth the ticket price for sure !
Mike
amazing..
Good idea, I would like to hear Vlado too!
Great inside look. I love arnold, I look forward to seeing their progression. the memory optimization is my favorite..
Thanks for a great article.
Is there a way to get a FXPHD training on this, I've been a professional photographer for 12 years and I've been in VFX for 2 and I've been looking for a way to integrate more photography into my work and this would be amazing, I love Mari and Nuke and I can get into Modo since maya in my primary platform.. so learning this technique could lead to some amazing practices on personal projects! let me know!! i'll sign up to it! also info on the fusion io ssds including cost and how to purchase and if they are better then regular ssds and how does it benefit over standard high data rate SSDs ?
As an aspiring DP with a photography/VFX background and a heavy interest for RED, i always find these talks to be my highlight.. there just isnt enough talk about RED, its workflow and equipment uses and onset breakdown and buildup. but its highly used and i feel there is an underlining "oh but you should know" instead of a "what if there are those getting into the market with alot of skill but no working knowledge, who want to invest but dont want to make bad purchases and want to understand the tools inside and out" its interviews like this that helps you understand the background and forward looking aspects. So i look forward to hearing and seeing more and possibly more production related interviews, talks, and showcases! 🙂
Nvidia is so expensive though, and i understand the logic that you gotta have the best, but if ILM had 12 quadro cards and now they have 128 card graphic renderer, its still a better dream then the solo artist who cant even get one, and you mix that with the processors, memory, ssd,s not to mention software and the lack of engineers to help you develop your pipeline, a freelance artist will never get close to touching some of these companies that are being idoled and who have the most aggressive hiring. So for the solo artist all we have are the off the shelf programs and maybe a maxed out rig and if we are lucky a small render farm,in which we get our renders down to weeks instead of months. but getting to that point is difficult given the rapid growth of technology. seeing how firepro has not responded and since everything has migrated to nvidia/cuda powered, i'm wondering if the next gen AMD will even get facetime. if not I might as well start saving up for a quadro K6000 or whatever the have coming next and save my W7000 for when i'm viewing 4k native material. because it doesn't look like crossfire will be of use. and it doesn't look like the companies are back tracking either on their Nvidia/GPU workflows 🙁
I am so glad that someone is creating a documentary of this. It is a story that needs to be told from all sides. The industry needs to find a way to become a profitable business model that supports the artists.
I can only imagine how it looks and sounds on a big screen, because for me, the unimaginative and unoriginal story is very... vanilla. Really underwhelming.
Wow. That's what I would call an in-DEEP article!
Many studio have closed, but they just forgot to mention many have open too. Many lost their job and many found out a new one...
17 years ago we could say some companies were coming in Canada Mostly for subsidies. Like in Montreal Ubisoft came there 17 years ago and got subsidies but they were also coming here because we speak french like them. today in Montreal we are thousands of the best VFX artist and companies are not coming here just for the subsidies. Yes it as a factor, but the other factor is all the talent we got here and all the good CG schools too. I think the call to stop the subsidies is just almost 20 years too late (because yes, it is also a case of timing).
In Canada we pay a lot more taxes than you pay in the US. Those taxes can then be used to promote some industries that we like and want to keep here and attract other companies to gather here. The subsidies are paid by the people for the people here. It's just a totally legal economic tool. It's a bit like if a society we accepted to pay a bit for our jobs.
It is not just a matter of paying more subsidies here or there. All is a question of timing. Once you have tens of thousands of people gathering at one place because for many reasons they think it's the best place to be, do you think they will all suddenly move just because there is a slightly bigger carrot at the other side of the world?
If the VFX and game companies came in Canada and settled here and they like to work here with all the talent we got, they will stay here even when the subsidies will stop.
Last month Cinesite VFX opened a branch in Montreal. Framestore, MPC, BUF and Mikros also did the same recently.
In Montreal and around we already have Autodesk Media and Entertainment Division HQ. Softimage and Discreet Logic birthplace, Ubisoft (since 1997), EA, Warner Brother Games, Hybride, Eidos, rodeoFX, Digital Dimension, --me StrobFX -- and so on.
Some numbers: in 2013, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Eidos, Warner Bros. and a variety of other companies have accounted for $2.3 billion of Canada’s gross domestic product in 2012.
In 2012, full time employees in Canada’s gaming industry has risen by 5 percent to a rough total of 16,500 workers.
Coming third to just Japan and the United States in sheer size, Canada employs more video game workers per capita than any other country in the world.
In Canada’s Quebec province alone, 97 companies –– including Ubisoft Montreal, Eidos Montreal and Warner Bros. Montreal –– employ 8,750 full time employees.
They are not coming here only for the subsidies... In Montreal you will also find thousands of the best CG artists and programmers in the world and strong educational funding in the CG field .
By the way american CG artists are welcomed here, but you have to know you will be paid less, pay a lot more taxes, have a very hard time finding a doctor and everything you buy will cost you more and you have to speak French (at least some please).
I think you've got the wrong photo for the Voodoo awards.
Thanks for that - we have fixed the caption.
This is what happens when higher taxes begin to drive the film makers out of town. The changes need to be made from the point of the lawmakers. We need to rid the area of the "tax & spend" politicians in favor of those who are pro business and those who are interested in keeping jobs here in America.
[…] Variety Hollywood Reporter The Wrap Deadline: Coming soon. BBC The Guardian The Wire BuzzFeed Animation Guild FXGuide – Plenty of photos, video, and an interview with me. […]
Jobs are not leaving because of high taxes or anti business reasons. Jobs are leaving because of subsidies that are paid by the governments of other countries and states (I guess their idea of combining both tax & spend and pro-business). Vancouver offers rebates as high as 60% - would you suggest that California should offer that or higher? The point of this protest was to end subsidies and raise awareness about efforts to use existing trade laws to do exactly that.
I think the message needs to be structured before anything can be done. You have the one side, Those saying the industry needs to come back to LA and on the other hand saying they need to come back to the US and those who just dont know saying "no subsidies" with no backing.
What no one seems to understand and the ones that do wont bring it up because it will expose the real truth, is that the subsidies is just the string. Lets take away subsidies and lets act, not as artist, but for a second lets just assume we know alittle bit about life and governing policies.
For sake of example, lets use Austin and LA, Austin has no state taxes for those making less than $500k which means artist save more money, LA you pay state taxes at a very high rate.
Lower federal taxes in Texas and lower cost of living which means the artist can keep more of their money contributing to a better life and the city is not nearly as crowded which means you have a clearer frame of mind. Its so much easier to maintain. Companies aren't pressured to overpay their artist to keep up with state demands and are able to higher junior artists and give them a fighting chance to grow. Land use and land building is cheaper and you are able to do twice as much. ALL of this without even considering subsidies. Subsidies just turns that crack into a canyon. You want to talk about why the VFX industry is not coming back to LA? Look alittle closer. You wanna wear green go ahead, you cant paint a place like Austin Green? I think you can and other like it, since most, if not all VFX shots start from a screen slate no matter the location. No one is saying you cant film in LA. but simply blaming subsidies will not solve the issue. even if you gave LA 40% subsidies, you'll still have to deal with everything i listed above to make them competitive. Companies lose junior artist the market is swallowed by artist aggressively moving there. At least in Vancouver you need to have a Bach degree or higher coming from the states which is a mandatory line item from the state to even cross the border to get a work permit. In the US we dont have those rules and those that do are criticized. There is no structure. its like a mom of 100 asking for help but wont stop having babies. Now she has more babies then she can take care of. You want all these artist to come back to LA but you have not considered the living condition and aggressive high paying market you want it to come back to. Is it about the company? those who are fighting for the company to come back, are they fighting for you? are they fighting for your interests? If they come back will they still have your interest at heart? What clauses in the subsidies act show that the artist will gain anything?
Fighting without thinking will always end up in a loss.
But we cant do anything. I say think tactical, play the game and then turn the game.
Yes we shall consider subsidies because lets face it we cant escape it. I am currently working in Vancouver because of them. But i love my job so i'm not mad. but I also miss my wife more. So lets agree to subsidies first. lets make the US attractive to those who want to be back. because no, not all companies are or were ever located in LA, but they may have been somewhere in the US so lets just get the companies back.
Right now I pay high taxes, and because i have a home in the US i lose about 300 a month in transfer and conversion fees which i cant claim in taxes, im not paid enough to move my wife here , I am a military Vet at 30 years of age, so its easier for us to hold the tears back when we need to, and my travel was not covered to be located here, I live on ramen noodles and can soup and the occasional sushi to treat myself. so being back in the US I can at least save that 300 and have extra money to live with my wife and is the reason why we dont have kids after 10 years of marriage because i dont wanna be away from my wife for our first child..
So once we have the companies back in the US then we can try working on a solution to rebuild your hollywood and for other states give them the ability to survive without the need to run away again. But if you start putting locks on the companies to keep them in the US before they get a chance to come back, you the artist will lose because your interest were never in play from the get go.
Now dont get me wrong i love working in Vancouver because of the city and the people, I want to work in those other countries, but I want to be happy doing it. I just wish i was paid a hell of a lot more. i'm from houston one of the lowest cost of living cities and i could easily make more being there. but i'm working in the most expensive cost of living cities.. and getting paid less, you see the problem? these are the issues we need to fight for. fight for fairness and better pay for the ARTIST and then fight a better US solution for the COMPANIES, and then state level solution, while still preserving our international relationships, so those artist can get fair wages and nice jobs.
But if you keep fighting the way you are without looking at the underlining situation, you might as well tune it all out and get ready to pack your bags for London, new Zealand, Australia, and for me, continue say goodbye to my wife who i'll be away from for years. I often feel i should just let her go and move on to someone who can be there for her.. but she sticks around.. so i'm grateful..
I am sorry but most of what you said is simply not true. Vancouver is more expensive than Los Angeles
It wins the price war from what can amount to 60 percent labor credit to the studio. Austin may be cheaper and may attract some film work there...and thats is all fair in love and war. But America, Los Angeles, and Austin all loose work to Vancouver, BC, and other cities and provinces of Canada because they intentionaly violate trade laws, and ethical boundries, to buy the major studios work by funneling tax money from the common folk in Canada into the profit margins of major corporate studios. Subsities may help n the short term here but once again, they are unethical manipulation of game. Participating in that type of unfair system does not cure it , but makes it worse. Its like feeding a heroine addict more drugs, with the argument "well at least they won't steal to get them" Maybe the short term outcome seems positive, but in the end everyone loses. Imposing leveling tarifs IS the bottom line, and the central issue that most VFX artists agree on. Here a link to a list of some of the credits in Canada I found. And ask yourself if this is fair and would it be ethical for us to pay this in Los Angeles or anywhere else in the United States http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediadesk-vlaanderen.eu%2Ffiles%2Ffilm_tax_credits_Canada_20091.pdf&h=5AQEn4n4f&enc=AZOSynXXdwmrf8KR1HeJ7mxCiRCwsx5yLPZ98BGyIDCbS5Jw4U7BqoWiARfj0ot-gItyvldyTCAjQYR0ifu00XadlwMMXLK2tsUzzJDAZE8gPURG3mNnUk_HINYSlTynk1K4npHXXnZ1UU3kcyEAMOOj&s=1
i owe a lot of my career to the softimage community and the developers while under avid. most softimage users will continue to use the software, i know we will at whiskytree.
btw autodesk bought softimage in Oct 2008...
If only Autodesk would let XSI live in open source, like... blender.
I remember seeing "Godzilla was animated with Softimage" in the end credits of Godzilla in the 90's, I remember feeling all warm and fuzzy just knowing about it. I spent a lot of time making dinosaurs and that sort of thing in Softimage|3D to learn more.
I remember using a GMX2000 Glint graphics card the price of a decent car just to be able to run a high resolution screen (1600x1200).
I remember becoming extremely quick with Soft3D, the user interface was so amazingly different from anything else. Middle click menus, double-, triple- and even quadruple clicking keys for shortcuts on the keyboard, left, middle and right mouse buttons being used for various smart context sensitive tasks. It still blows my mind when I remind myself that X C and V letters themselves actually sort of resembles graphic representations of scaling, rotation and translation tools, respectively.
I remember baby-sitting a render all night long just because MR would crash every 5 or so frames for my first large commercial production, 750 frames of hard earned PAL frames. Went to bed at 9am.
I remember that quirky little side program, Softimage|Particle? I loved playing with it even though it really couldn't do a whole lot.
I remember the first buzz on Sumatra, and even though XSI 1.0 wasn't really ready and I started off a bit reluctant, by v1.5 I was flying.The render tree seemed intimidating, yet curiously inviting, and it turned out to change everything about how I worked.
I remember the last version of Softimage|3D, 4.0. RIP old friend.
I remember the blazingly fast SubD's in XSI 3.0 (I think?), suddenly you could modify amazingly detailed subdivided objects in real time, the mayans stood by watching in awe.
I remember spending time learning Softimage|Behaviour, did some tests, fun but ultimately it stayed experimental.
I remember going to Siggraph 2007 in San Diego, where they showcased Moondust, a.k.a ICE to standing ovations. It was simply HUGE. Still is actually, amazing piece of software engineering.
I even remember the amazingly simple licensing where you just pressed a button inside XSI to get an updated license file, it was all connected and working.
Then there was Autodesk.
Thanks for all these years Softimage, you've always been my favorite tool – nay companion.
I agree with Andrew here.... why not release XSI as open source rather than kill it....let it live on and be supported by the community.
I first started using Softimage|3D in 1998 when I was still in College. A potential employer was using it so I was hoping to get a leg up in the hiring process. I took an all day course on Softimage|3D at SIGGRAPH in Orlando.
I have many memories of my early days on Softimage, calling the support desk for help working through problems. Manny, Stephen and crew were always helpful and it was so nice being able to speak with the same folks instead of an anonymous call center. I transitioned to XSI 1.0 not long after it came out. The workflow was a bit challenging at first, but I forced myself to complete all the animation I needed for a TV show open using it. Since then I have used every release of XSI/Softimage.
One of the shining points of Softimage has always been the community. The XSI-List (email discussion list) has maintained such a high caliber of talent and helpfulness. If you couldn't find an answer anywhere else, you could(and still can) always find it there. Each year at SIGGRAPH, Matt Lind organizes a dinner for the folks on the list and it has been a great time to put faces with names and talk shop with fellow users. Traditionally, the developers have been very accessible and open via the 'list and that fact did nothing but propel the loyalty of the users.
I will continue to use Softimage for the near future, as there is no platform with the end to end flexibility and workflow elegance that this software provides. The 'End Of Life' for Softimage is a sad day indeed. The best do not always succeed in this world unfortunately.
VFX supervisor Jordi Bares from Realise Studio also just shared this Softimage story with fxguide so we thought we'd post that here:
"When Siggraph was still a place to share ideas without real commercial interest as the whole thing was not yet an industry, I still remember New Orleans and the Softiamge User Meeting groups with amazing music, the coolest t-shirts and some of my best friends now begin in the spotlight talking about how they did Gladiator. Then the stage was taken by an odd guy with leather jacket, looking cool as hell and starting his speech showing his work on The Matrix which basically blew everybody away. The crowds were truly on ecstacy by the extremely advanced work they did with Softimage|3D. At that point the sense of community and achievement was at its peak. The party went on and on and on and we all ended up on the famous quarter celebrating the glorious state of our lives and how cool we nerds were.
Now looking back I realise the best part of my career has been on the shoulders of both products, Softimage|3D and Softimage|XSI, on the way lots of friend and the best memories ever burning the night at work.
Also I remember Softimage inviting me to talk at San Antonio's Siggraph about a documentary we did in my second project at The Mill while we were kind of a bunch of hippies (long hair included) and during the presentation that involved some very detailed notes on how to put a huge crowd of people inside Softimage I noticed a japanesse guy sleeping in the very first row and my constant efforts to wake him by passing in front of him while talking, and the guy would not wake up so I kept shouting and accelerating my speech to see if he would bother…by the end of my 45 minute talk the crowd was in tears laughing at him of course. Never met him again though."
What about Scanline? I heard they did a lot of great work on this too.
This was so helpful! Creature design is one of the major aspects of films that truly inspired me to become part of the industry. I can never find any good information on the process. This website is a goldmine for young visual effects artists like myself.
Thanks for taking the time to share!
Amazing software, i started using it last week after seeing the AD on this site and wow.. i've no idea how it hasnt been in my life. thank you!
3DE is an awesome bit of kit, BUT no amount of technology is going to help when onset VFX sups don't bother putting in markers, shoot in low light with DOF and no lens info.... I await the day where camera tracking is done real time in camera by default.
Is there a reason the captured animation in games seems almost jittery in comparison to feature film work? Is it just a side effect of the limitations of real time rendering or is it a lack of polish from the animators?
There are many animation compression algorithms in real time engines, it's always compromise between quality and frame rate.
Great. Thanks
Great article!! Thanks. In the milk spot, the first idea from below angle for the basketball player was better.. too bad they could not shoot it in the right angle.
YES!!! 🙂
Such an amazing podcast, being a multifaceted artist for years, i never thought about my history in fashion to have such an influence. I knew it was there but everytime I work with cloth I always thought It was an attention to detail thing where It had to look and feel right, not just the act of creating cloth. Now I work as a compositor for feature films, A Professional Photographer in between, and transitioning to DP often times having to style my clients to get their desired look through the lens. When I work on my Personal CG/VFX projects i'm always looking for insight to justify why Certain choices are made and this was a great podcast for that.
Keep them coming!!
Again another amazingly in-depth article by FX-guide! thanks again!
Can't wait to see what more than water can Bifrost do... Will it be as powerful as ICE is RIP XSI?
It is a very good start even though foam, spalsh and viscous liquid are sadly absent for now.
And if you want to see antoehr amazing submarine sim, you check this one doen in 3ds max with the amazing PhoenixFD by Chaosgroup which does foam, splash and visquois liquid right now in 3ds max. There is also a Maya version.
Look at the PhoenixFD submarine test here:
https://vimeo.com/67538743
Nice to hear the latest news of Bifrost. I only heard words through air. I'm silently waiting for the official product. On the other hand it's great that Duncan been inspired by Animal Logic's brick based simulation. To be exact the pipeline was purely Houdini driven FX, standard FLIP simulation + SOP modification. We had great brains like Matt Ebb and Carsten Kolve who came up with idea of fitting varied sized of bricks through Houdini's volume data and so on. I think that's where Houdini gave the extra mileage, the possibilities. There's always an emphasise on how much voxel or particle data you can push, plus the speed. I'm fan of all those but offer me flexibility, I am willing to wait patiently in hope to get a nicer looking shots. The end result is not all about the speed or data size, it's about the control hitting the visual brief. Of course not too slow though =)
[…] the vfx show #180: Vikings and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/thevfxshow/the-vfx-show-180-vikings-and-marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d/ […]
eben pagan accelerate
Iron Man 2 movie image | fxguide
[…] The tech of Crytek’s Ryse: Son of RomeREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-tech-of-cryteks-ryse-son-of-rome/ […]
Without wanting to be rude... I know why Vlado just stays in basic mode! It's because his deadline are always "when it's ready1 😉 LOL
If you have thight deadline like in commercial work, you really always need expert mode!
[…] Sébastien Lagarde has written some very informative blog posts on the topic, well worth reading: Adopting a physically based shading model, Feeding a physically based shading model as well as the DONTNOD specular and glossiness chart. Also environment mapping (aka image based lighting) is crucial for realistic looking materials, especially metals, and this post explains how to prepare them with AMD Cubemapgen. A good writeup of the topics described in the blog posts can be found in this fxguide feature article on Remember Me. […]
[…] Inside the battles of 300: Rise of an EmpireREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/inside-the-battles-of-300-rise-of-an-empire/ […]
[…] Read more about Houdini for visual effects for “Pompeii 3D”: Stories from Pompeii […]
[…] Update: fxguide – Side Effects: Houdini 13 – we ask them about their FEA […]
As always, the most tech and in-depth articles of CG. Thanks again.
Thank you very much. Great article
[…] can be seen in just about every major blockbuster today. A great example of this is in the movie Life of Pi, where just about the entire movie took place on a CG ocean. Significant time and attention to […]
[…] IMÁGEN: FXGuide […]
[…] out THIS comprehensive and extremely informative article about all things rendering written by Mike Seymour […]
[…] NEED FOR SPEED Stunt Breakdown […]
[…] make sure that the film both lives up to the original and ups the ante—as any good sequel should. Fxguide’s Ian Failes details the massive amount of visual effects work that went into creating the […]
[…] a feeling of being in the action, so to speak, making the scene feel more authentic and dangerous. Blur studios used this strategy when they created the cinematic for Elder Scrolls […]
[…] Here’s an interview with FXGuide on how we change behaviour at Naked Communications. Its a video about 24 minutes long. […]
[…] NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference: Day 1 ReportREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/gpu-tech-conference-day-1-report/ […]
[…] Read more […]
[…] Download Video […]
[…] Checking in on The Foundry’s FLIXREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/checking-in-on-the-foundrys-flix/ […]
[…] the art pipeline changes provides a high level overview of the game’s lighting system. The tech of Crytek’s Ryse: Son of Rome alsohas some info on the game’s […]
[…] In Captain America, the winter soldier (2014), Chris Evans the actor has to start out as a little, wimpy guy and ends up a bulked up Captain America. This work was done by Lola VFX in Santa Monica, California, which usually only work with 3D for reference, as most of their work is with 2D compositing. More about this can be found at fxguide. […]
[…] NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference: Report 2READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/nvidia-gpu-tech-conference-report-2/ […]
[…] IMÁGEN: FXGuide […]
[…] Inside the battles of 300: Rise of an Empire por Ian Failes. FxGuide. […]
[…] fxpodcast #273: ILM’s Ben Snow on NoahREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-273-ilms-ben-snow-on-noah/ […]
[…] This is the same scene but giving a drastic change in atmosphere. You can see how many pictures he took for reference to make this scene here. […]
[…] Source: FXGuide […]
[…] Final Additional information can be found in this fxguide.com article. http://www.fxguide.com/featured/rhythm-and-crowds-moneyball/ […]
[…] was CG, stop motion, or some innovative mix of the two. To find out the answer, let’s take a behind-the-scenes look at how VFX studio Animal Logic brought these iconic childhood toys to […]
[…] NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference: Report 2 | fxguide. […]
[…] terrible to behold, but the entire movie was a visual smorgasbord. How did the visual effects team create literature’s most iconic fire-breathing dragon? Let’s find […]
[…] was absolutely critical that the animators make snow as real-to-life as possible. Disney animator Andrew Selle explained, “We looked at all the SIGGRAPH and graphics papers we could find. There was a lot on […]
[…] cinematic masterpieces to see where the VFX bar will be set in 2014. Fortunately, we have the shortlist for the upcoming visual effects Oscar running in January. It’s still too early to know for sure which movies will earn a nomination (let […]
[…] Janek Sirrs, the movie’s VFX supervisor, explained the marriage of digital and authentic jungle into a cohesive whole: […]
[…] software is about to get a little bit easier. Clara.io, a web-based 3D creation tool, is finally moving into open beta. The service will allow you to create 3D models from your browser, which means that there’s […]
[…] Down on terra firma you have a very stable light source. Out in space, however, zero gravity means that the light from the sun can come from any angle — behind, above, below, or ahead. Instead of relying on the visual effects team to tackle multi-angle lightning, the film crew put the star actors in a massive cage covered with LEDs. An operator was able to change the source of light instantaneously to replicate the effects of tumbling through space. […]
[…] Adobe video apps – what’s comingREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/adobe-video-apps-whats-coming/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/download/?force_file=/2014/03/Enemy_TheDouble_h264_hd.mp4 برچسب ها: Enemy , Visual effects , جلوه های ویژه , ویژوال افکت […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/beautiful-glitches-the-making-of-linkin-parks-new-music-vid/ […]
[…] can read the general overview of the new features in a few places (Creative Cow, fxguide, Studio Daily), various Adobe blogs give you a complete overview of the upcoming features, Scott […]
[…] SFX: making rain, 3D printing & blow-up greenscreensREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/special-effects-making-rain-3d-printing-blow-up-greenscreens/ […]
[…] Image from FXGuide […]
[…] the rc #140: Pre-NAB specialREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/therc/the-rc-140-pre-nab-special/ […]
[…] Foundry NAB live streamREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/foundry-nab-live-stream/ […]
[…] The tech of Crytek's <b>Ryse</b>: <b>Son of Rome</b> | fxguide […]
[…] Can seeing red be viewed as a positive? […]
[…] This is the innovative little camera that makes movies for the Oculus Rift. […]
[…] VFX adventures:The Lone Ranger por Ian Failes. Link. […]
[…] The Winter Soldier: ILM’s Helicarrier crash: Exclusive […]
[…] was a short film that shot on the F65 and followed an ACES workflow color pipeline (more on ACES here), so was able to adapt during finish to an EDR color and mastering […]
[…] The Winter Soldier: ILM’s Helicarrier crash: ExclusiveREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/the-winter-soldier-ilms-helicarrier-crash/ […]
Wouldn't you assume that they would consider how close the camera would get to a model before they spent a bunch of time texturing something to a level of detail that would never be seen? Or do they texture it to a high level just in case they ever need it if a shot changes or maybe in a sequel or such...?
[…] NUKE STUDIO – Exclusive interview + First Screen shotsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/nuke-studio-exclusive-interview-first-screen-shots/ […]
This is what Flame could have been/should have been. The king is dead, long live the king. But, how much $$$$?
Couldn't agree more!! So excited!
As far as price goes - pretty sure they said NukeX licences will get Nuke Studio. So if you have like production collective you will get Nuke Studio for free when it comes out.
Great stuff all around! Thank you for the great interview and coverage!
This is exactly what i've been asking for since Hiero was released. Im glad the foundry listens and rapidly shows us that.
Cheers!
[…] FX Guide estuvo presente, como no, en la presentación de The Foundry en NAB y en un artículo nos desvelan […]
[…] more information visit visit The Foundry’s website. or Visit our friends over at FXGuide.com who have a full interview with Jon Wadelton (Nuke Product Manager) and Philippa Carroll (Nuke […]
The Foundry is fast on the heels of Autodesk, when it comes to screwing their customers, I bought my Hiero licenses based on a Hiero demo showcasing this exact functionality, all be it in a more crude implementation, but the money-grabbing is overriding the importance of having a trust-based longterm relationship with the vfx community.
The only thing i can trust in the longterm now is the blender foundation, they got some ways to go but they will get there and then overtake I am sure.
I agree with the notion of what Hiero should/Could have been, but hey i love you foundry! I'll look the other way 🙂 I love this and cant wait to use it. Its def needed now!! I hope it will Please support CinemaDNG files and meta info as well..lol..for when BMCC and DSLR Raw amoung other new smaller camera workflows are in play! 🙂
[…] hoks wrote: The show ish much much better than I thought...cause I always think ca beh kan one. Dun mind I ask a noob question, the skinny ca ish a different person all together or isit same? "Videoshop". You might be surprise how prevalent it is used in the movies these days to make the actors and actresses look better. Just like in the magazines. Case Study: How to make a Captain America wimp | fxguide […]
[…] been in everyone’s mind one way or the other. For now we have little more to go on than the FXGuide article, but this could change quite a few things in the compositing world. The only real problem will be […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/special-effects-making-rain-3d-printing-blow-up-greenscreens/ […]
[…] Art directing effects for inFAMOUS: Second SonREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art-directing-effects-for-infamous-second-son/ […]
[…] fxinsider bonus videos: more on ILM’s Noah vfxREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fxinsider-bonus-videos-more-on-ilms-noah-vfx/ […]
[…] Art directing effects for inFAMOUS: Second Son | fxguide […]
[…] gave me a vibe of almost like stop motion. I only read a little behind the scenes stuff here at fxguide.. I didn’t read it all., so I am unsure what process they used and style they wanted when […]
Great Article, informative and very balanced. Thanks so much !
[…] besides being fun, what is inspired about the movie? Well, the animation is actually very innovative. They dropped frames to make it look like stop-motion animation and it looks like they used the […]
[…] fxguidetv #188: Captain America: The Winter SoldierREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-188-captain-america-the-winter-soldier/ […]
[…] Источник: www.fxguide.com […]
Thank you for the article!
Flame feels like it's chasing two moving targets moving in opposite directions.
Coming up with a response to creative tools in After Effects while trying to be a viable option within the world of Nuke.
[…] Art Directing the Effects of inFAMOUS: Second Son […]
Hi... Is this video uploaded? I don't seem to be able to play it or download it. Thanks. Alkesh.
[…] Iron Man 3: more suits to play with. Ian Failes. Link. […]
There is a problem to watch or download the video.
[…] Here is an hour long interview on the creation of the visual effects, animals and water simulations with Ben Snow ILM visual effects supervisor with Mike Seymour: http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-273-ilms-ben-snow-on-noah/. […]
[…] Nuke Studio […]
We have fixed the podcast server - so sorry for the delay. It should all be fine now
Mike
We had a short podcast server issue, it is now fully resolved - sorry for any problems you may have had.
[…] the vfx show #181: NoahREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/thevfxshow/the-vfx-show-181-noah/ […]
Max Pipeline on ILM! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great article FXGuide. We are seeing Max coming back with vengeance! 😀
Basically ... the building destruction is Max + Thinking Particles. Awesome!
[…] the notion of “Manufacture” and its necessity to civilisation and progress, all in a highly manufactured style. Aronofsky has obviously had fun, and created a highly impressive visual piece. His previous work […]
They also used vray for max and vray for katana! Max and Vray: the fastest tools ever!
We this kind of exposure, Autodesk will surely update and improve Max a lot more and that's good for us artists.
Now FXPHD will put some cool Max training for FX, destruction and Explosion. We have Allan McKay, Anselm V. Seherr-Thoss and Hristo Velev to blow stuff up! 😀
[…] mais informações sobre todo o processo, dê uma olhada neste texto do fxguide.com, que é a fonte de todas essas […]
[…] Cinema’s v7 animated growth simulation has proven especially popular among our customers, with Noah and two commercials already featuring the new capabilities. Digital Domain used v7 growth to […]
[…] Divergent’s digi-environments and creatures […]
[…] Take a peak at the innovative team at Google’s secret lab. […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/effects-you-never-knew-were-there/ […]
[…] fxguidetv #189: Flame 2015 from NABREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-189-flame-2015-from-nab/ […]
[…] (Header Image Source) […]
[…] ne saurait trop vous conseiller de faire un tour sur l’article de FXGuide : Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth. Bon par contre, faut quand même avoir quelques bases en anglais les copains. Si t’as arrêté […]
[…] Feeling hinbekommen haben. Wer noch mehr Hintergrund zu den Spezialeffekten haben will, gucke hier. The Lego story Wenn wir schon bei Lego sind, dann sollte die Origin-Story nicht […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/ […]
So...I'm wondering....a couple of things:
1) Is the support in smoke to export XML a nod to maintain a base level of moving a project from smoke to flame going forward while still allowing the splintering and blossoming of the code bases of flame and smoke going forward and allow them to develop to their market specific needs?
2) watching from afar, it's been stated that flame assist, as of right now, really is smoke on mac with a flame skin....that can't be entirely accurate....as smoke has connect fx and action tools that probably are not available in flame assist, right? otherwise, what would functionally be the difference between flame assist and flame? Flame assist is conform and timeline tools only, right? Where as flare is the batch component for shot development? Just want to make sure I'm clear on this. Thanks.
[…] visual effects in the film were almost entirely created by The Framestore in London. In this fantastically in-depth article FX Guide walks through the innovative production and post production process and how they managed to pull […]
[…] Guide also have a podcast interview with Tim that you can listen to here. The Framestore also have a pretty comprehensive list of all the VFX breakdown articles that have […]
[…] FMX 2014: day one reportREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-one-report/ […]
[…] There’s an article from FXGuide if you are still interested to know more about the process: Revisiting the roaring 20s: The Great Gatsby […]
[…] MODO 801 – just releasedREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/modo-801-just-released/ […]
[…] [5] Mike Seymour. Assassin’s Creed III: The ech behind (or beneath) the action. http://www.fxguide.com/featured/assassins-creed-iii-the-tech-behind-or-b… […]
I love that they have a pretty comprehensive implication of the Bullet solver, but it kind of feels lacking given Modo doesn't have any of the fracture functionality, as Houdini does, to break apart geometry in the first place.
it does actually its called shatter
Well, they have a 'Shatter Command' now ...
https://vimeo.com/92236178
[…] the explanation for Matterhorn. If you are interested you can read more about Matterhorn here: X Frozen is also one of the first disney films with two leading females, Anna and Elsa are sisters […]
[…] Seymour, M 2012 http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/ […]
[…] Brick-by-brick: how Animal Logic crafted The LEGO Movie […]
Another version of the Dorito approach.
http://youtu.be/uFumtHdqOvs
I did just notice the Shatter Script they Introduced, wonder why this wasn't a key highlight. There wouldn't be any Fx artist who would stand up and cheer for Dynamic simulations without the ability shatter elements.
I've grown weary of off the shelf, one click shatters though. In the real world you need to art direct how something breaks a lot more.
[…] FEATURED ON FXGUIDE […]
[…] have been depressing and incredibly scary for the whole visual effects industry – with the bankruptcy and re-emergence of Digital Domain, medium size post production facilities falling left, right and centre – and recently Rhythm […]
[…] in every sense – and I won’t go into too much more detail (check out this INCREDIBLE fxguide article if you want to get really geeky) – and although some audiences complained about 48fps […]
[…] Visual Effects has finally reached a point where even if you have a trained eye, it’s getting harder and harder to work out what’s real and what’s “fake”. Eventually, this will happen to […]
[…] The Art of Digital Color […]
[…] FMX 2014: day three/four reportREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-threefour-report/ […]
[…] and here: fxguide.com/featured/having-a-ball-stopps-world-cup-adidas-spot/ […]
[…] Arnold: used to help in the fight against child exploitationREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/arnold-used-to-help-in-the-fight-against-child-exploitation/ […]
[…] FMX 2014: Day One Report FMX 2014: Day Two Report FMX 2014: Day Three and Four Report FMX 2014: Final Report – COMING SOON […]
[…] When it became clear The Expendables 2 was an R-rated movie after all, ridiculous blood spurts were added in digitally. For the third movie, Stallone announced he would be supplementing his cast of old guys […]
[…] In our final report from FMX2014, we cover the announcement that Cinema 4D will be supporting the Houdini Engine as well as have a sneak peek at the upcoming RealFlow 2014. from http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-houdini-engine-for-cinema-4d-realflow-2014/ […]
[…] 2014: Day One Report FMX 2014: Day Two Report FMX 2014: Day Three and Four Report FMX 2014: Houdini Engine for Cinema 4D & RealFlow […]
[…] fxguide’s comprehensive run-down on the visual effects in The Winter Soldier. from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-reaching-new-heights/ […]
[…] Captain America: The Winter Soldier – reaching new heightsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-reaching-new-heights/ […]
[…] FXGuide: Captain America: The Winter Soldier – reaching new heights […]
[…] With Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel advances the story of WWII super-soldier Steve Roge… […]
[…] about the challenges STOPP faced throughout the projecthttp://www.stopp.se/adidas-brazuca/and here:http://www.fxguide.com/featured/havin…Official Website - http://www.stopp.seFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/StoppFamilyInstagram […]
[…] An early version of the Red Epic 3D rig used on The Amazing Spider-Man. Photo from FX Guide. […]
[…] Watch how Sony Pictures Imageworks turned Jamie Foxx into Electro for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. from http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/the-making-of-electro/ […]
[…] The making of ElectroREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/the-making-of-electro/ […]
[…] VFX: Brick-by-brick: how Animal Logic crafted The Lego Movie […]
[…] Mais parfois, certains utilisateurs vendent la mèche. C’est le cas de cet article http://www.fxguide.com/featured/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-reaching-new-heights/ qui mentionne spécifiquement l’utilisation de Blender pour certaines simulations de […]
[…] More Info:http://www.stopp.se/adidas-brazuca/http://www.fxguide.com/featured/havin… […]
[…] You can read even more about the visual FX performed on the film over at FX Guide. […]
[…] Ian. The dark side: behind the VFX ofThor: The Dark World. Fxguide. Link. Concept Art World. Thor: The Dark World Concept Art by Andy Park. Link. Concept Art […]
[…] Our detailed interview with SPI VFX sup. Jerome Chen about facial performance, set re-creation and lighting in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. from http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-274-the-amazing-spider-man-2/ […]
[…] Super-charged VFX: The Amazing Spider-Man 2READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/super-charged-vfx-the-amazing-spider-man-2/ […]
[…] Check out Hayley’s end result, plus some of the other incredible VFX tactics used in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, at FX Guide.[Source] […]
[…] SOURCE (read the rest here) […]
[…] excellente réputation, et les premiers retours sur ce nouveau film, qu’ils se basent sur un aspect technique ou bien tout simplement provenant de personnes éclairées sont pour le moins enthousiastes. Et […]
[…] Fonte: FX Guide, Luma Pictures […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/framestore_deathly_hallows_animation/ […]
[…] VFX – FMX 2014: day one report […]
[…] A new book presents storyboards and concept art discovered in the Lucasfilm archives from the original Star Wars trilogy. from http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/storyboarding-the-star-wars-universe/ […]
[…] Plume, el generador digital de humo y fuego propiedad de ILM fue utilizado para una serie de efectos en partes de la batalla, combinados con herramientas como FumeFX y Thinking Particles. […]
[…] Storyboarding the Star Wars universeREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/storyboarding-the-star-wars-universe/ […]
[…] me a job on George Millers’ Happy Feet 2. Since then I’ve worked at Animal Logic, Fuel VFX and Flying Bark Productions. Having had my love of games reignited, I am now looking to take those […]
[…] VFX – FMX 2014: day two report (FXGuide) […]
[…] UDIM UV mapping has enormous popularity for texturing in the face of much newer systems such as Ptex (which works very well in its own right). We investigate why & talk to the original author, Richard Addison-Wood at Weta Digital. from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/udim-uv-mapping/ […]
[…] fxguidetv #190: Flame VFX for Cosmos: A Spacetime OdysseyREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-190-flame-vfx-for-cosmos-a-spacetime-odyssey/ […]
[…] VFX – FMX 2014: day three/four report (FXGuide) […]
[…] Download Video […]
[…] Download Video […]
[…] an in-depth discussion on the visual effects of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, listen to our fxpodcast where Mike Seymour talks to visual effects supervisor Jerome […]
[…] Download Video […]
Great article, I love the depth of these features.
Very interesting point raised here, we have found that for things like fabric textures, it's useful to have the surface parameterized the way we get with UVS, as it's analogous to the way a tailor would create 3d clothing from a 2d pattern. The UV seams fit perfectly with the way a tailor would place fabric seams.
I'm not aware of a nice way to do that with the projection methods we'd have at our disposal with ptex.
Great piece. I love seeing how other people work. I am curious about his set up. How mobile is his flame? Does he park it at the facility long term? Obviously on this show he did, but what about shorter gigs? I finish TVCs with my mobile smac, but not having to move around a z820 and a fibre array makes that possible for me. I don't trust the direction of smoke, and I am just wondering how mobile a flame set up could be.
Nice work FXG.
Sorry for the late reply. My setup for something like this is pretty big. I have an Xsan array that's 32TB. There'd be no other way to get it done. I have a smaller flare rig that I use when I don't have access to a machine room.
[…] A new perspective on one of the greatest stories ever created. […]
Many good points !
Thank you!
[…] It’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun adding all the elements especially her diamond skin which is similar to what you see in the movie. […]
[…] engines such as MASSIVE that not only will do crowd simulations, but also even adds in the “odd outliers and misfits just as we have in everyday life.” Our modern-day rendering marvels are made possible by massive render farms, which despite […]
[…] via: fxguidetv #186: The LEGO Movie | fxguide. […]
[…] This week Mike and Jason talk about the fallout from NAB, selling their cameras, buying new cameras, moving cameras, comparing camera sizes, storage solutions and other new tech announcements. from http://www.fxguide.com/therc/the-rc-142-post-nab-and-the-latest-camera-tech/ […]
[…] the rc #142: Post-NAB and the latest camera techREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/therc/the-rc-142-post-nab-and-the-latest-camera-tech/ […]
[…] Immerse yourself in our ride film cases studies – from Star Tours to Transformers, Harry Potter to King Kong. from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-the-ride-film-we-visit-6-killer-rides/ […]
[…] The Art of the Ride Film (we visit 6 killer rides)READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-the-ride-film-we-visit-6-killer-rides/ […]
A solution from Benson Box http://www.bensonbox.com/ may be best to keep the weight down, particularly if you want to put it in special baggage on flights. Separate boxes for the z820 and array with a collapsible trolley to wheel it around. A "U" shaped foam lined base held together with velcro straps at the top that wraps around the z820 leaving front and rear open for ventilation. The cover has foam inside so that when it is slid down over the base it protects front and rear panels. Same design for the array. More Benson boxes for the monitors and other peripherals. Connecting it all together is not difficult once shown how.
Hope this helps....
Trevor
[…] This week we speak to Robh Ruppel, an art director at Naughty Dog, about the role of art direction and production design in computer games. from http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-275-art-direction-in-games/ […]
[…] fxpodcast #275: Art direction in gamesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-275-art-direction-in-games/ […]
[…] We talk to Dutch studio The Amabassadors about their work from start to finish on a fully CG ‘claymation’ animated television commercial. from http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/in-house-production-making-a-tvc/ […]
[…] How the visual effects supervisor on ‘Moon’ helped craft a gritty opening cinematic for Respawn’s Titanfall. from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/titanfall-making-the-opening-movie/ […]
[…] Titanfall: making the opening movie […]
[…] Titanfall: making the opening movieREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/titanfall-making-the-opening-movie/ […]
[…] Exploring the world of digital face projection. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. […]
[…] de interés: FXGuide: Foundry and Luxology Merge CGS: The Foundry and Luxology Merge FXGuideTV #158: Foundry Luxology […]
[…] Sources : - AWN : Jerome Chen - CGWires - FXGuide […]
Best book in the whole series by Rinzler. Ordered mine months ago and it came yesterday. Its a wealth of visual information of great value to any filmmaker, illustrator or aspiring vfx artist.
Did he mention "large, scrubable proxies?" 🙂
[…] to FX Guide, Tubach – a San Francisco resident himself – called the project “a big thrill” for both […]
Flame Assist has been referred to, in it's current state, as Smoke on Mac with a Flame skin.
This can't exactly be the case, as smoke has more than just timeline tools.
Based on the intended direction and how Flame assist and Flare offer the elements of Flame separately....I'd assume Flame assist doesn't have the exact same feature set of smoke 2015?
Thanks....
It's not exactly the same, but a simple and mostly true explanation is that Flame Assist is pretty much Smoke on Mac with a Flame skin. It's not exactly the same -- but for most creative purposes and toolset it is. You can find out a bit more about the differences here:
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/flame-2015-new-features-and-a-new-family/
They mainly have to do with interop between Flame and Smoke, as well as some infrastructure features. Scroll down to the "The Revamped Product Line" section later in the article
[…] FXGuide comes a preview of RealFlow 2014 [the videos are worth […]
[…] Apple boxes in the car park DDs deconstructed city fxguide source […]
[…] VFX – The Art of the Ride Film (FXGuide) […]
[…] Para más información sobre los efectos visuales de “Objetivo: La Casa Blanca” os recomendamos el artículo sobre la película de fxguide.com […]
[…] You can see here the camera frustum and a grid. The grid is projected along the frustum, hence the name projected grid. The grid is first created as a flat grid in screen space. So the x and y values range from 1 to -1 and the z values as 0. When the grid is rendered it is projected so that it now lays flat in world space and now makes up the surface of the water. So what is the point in all this? Well when it comes to rendering detailed moving surfaces like a ocean getting a mesh of high enough resolution is extremely difficult. The projected grid is always fully in the viewing area so it maximizes the use of the mesh. It also naturally creates a LOD scheme with most of the detail up close and progressively getting less detail further away. This method has even found its way into big budget games like assassins creed (have a look here). […]
[…] This week we have Godzilla director Gareth Edwards on the fxpodcast for an in-depth chat about his journey while making a new version of the famous Japanese monster film. from http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-276-director-gareth-edwards-on-godzilla/ […]
Excellent interview. Thanks FX Guide, Mike Seymour and Gareth Edwards for this one. Great stuff. I really like the point Gareth makes re: filmmaking and VFX films showing too much too soon. I saw this film with a full crowd on Saturday here in Richmond, VA and the "holding back" was a genius technique that we don't see so often anymore. When we finally see Godzilla revealed the crowd in the theater screamed and cheered with delight. They cheered again when the spine lit up and he blasted his fire/plasma from his mouth. Edwards is a very smart filmmaker in how he thinks about the audience and our expectations. I hope he gets to make many more films in the future. Love it.
[…] Learning from GodzillaREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/learning-from-godzilla/ […]
[…] VFX – Learning from Godzilla (FXGuide) […]
[…] of Godzilla. Firstly you can check out an hour and 20 minute podcast with Gareth as well as a great article on Gareth’s journey as a filmmaker during the production of only his second feature […]
[…] Ian Failes. Fast & Furious 6:just plane crazy! Fxguide. Link. […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/g-i-joe-retaliation-kick-ass-action/ […]
[…] A twist to the Willis O’Brien taleREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/a-twist-to-the-willis-obrien-tale/ […]
[…] Sources : - Allociné : secrets de tournage - Art of VFX : Jim Rygiel - FXGuide : Learning from Godzilla […]
[…] the vfx show #183: GodzillaREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/thevfxshow/the-vfx-show-183-godzilla/ […]
And the kicker: Edwards will be directing a Star Wars spin-off film ! Yeah !
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/in-house-production-making-a-tvc/ […]
I hate being this guy, but I just wanted to point out a simple mistype. Feel free to erase this message after you fix it.
The First Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers image, has the caption "Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers".
[…] a plethora of great content on the visual effects side of the making of Godzilla. Firstly you can check out an hour and 20 minute podcast with Gareth as well as a great article on Gareth’s journey as a filmmaker during the production of only […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/udim-uv-mapping/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/blurs-the-elder-scrolls-online-cinematic-8-minutes-of-action/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/watch-dolbys-short-film-silent/ […]
Also a good mention is another Stereo Conversion company called Gener8
[…] さきほどの父との会話から20年ほどの月日が流れ、その彼の言葉通り、今は”Image-Based Graphics”と呼ばれる、写真やビデオから対象の形状や反射特性を解析し、写実的なコンピュータグラフィクスの生成を専門とする研究グループに従事している。今いるGraphics Labの大きなミッションの内の1つは、Photoreal Digital Character（実写のようなデジタルキャラクタ）を創ることと提示することである。前者は、コンピュータの中に存在を信じ込んでしまうようなキャラクタそのものをデジタルに作ることである。そして後者は、コンピュータの世界と現実世界の橋渡しをし、彼ら彼女らを現実世界に連れてくることである。例えば、ホログラフィックディスプレイの開発などは後者になる。Photoreal Digital Characterとは、「可能な限り実写に近い見た目や振る舞いができ、どの画角からもどの照明下でも本物のように見えるコンピュータモデル」（ The results are computer-generated virtual models which look and behave as realistically as possible, viewable from any viewpoint and in any illumination conditions.）で、実際の人物に基づいている場合は、その人らしい見た目を備えているモデルである（少なくともここでは、そういうことになっている）。今の研究室を選んだ理由の1つには、発見した理論や開発した技術を実用レベルにまで推し進め、映画やゲーム会社などと協力して今までに出来なかったような新しい映像表現の創造に関われるからという理由も大きいと思う。正直こういった実装は結構時間が取られたり、学業とは関係がないからいくら時間を割いても卒業に近づくことはないから、学生としては考えものではある。だけれども、特にCGで「人」やキャラクタを実写のように作る技術は、今までに描きたかったけれども、技術的な制約によって描けなかった人の側面や世界観があるから生まれるのであり、研究や開発の先の表現にも面白さがあるのだと思う。見た目、動き、応答などが全て同時に同じクオリティでできるようになり、本物の人間と区別がつかなくなった将来には、CGで「人」を作るという探求は終わるのかもしれない。それでもこういった研究や技術開発、映像表現を面白いと思うのは、もっと人や自分自身について知りたいという根本的な欲求があるからで、それにはまだ知らないことが多すぎるからかもしれない。 […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-state-of-rendering-part-2/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/download/?force_file=/2014/05/Godzilla_letthemfight.mp4 […]
[…] Future threat – X-Men: Days of Future PastREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/future-threat-x-men-days-of-future-past/ […]
[…] image is taken from the article of FXGuide. Click here to get the complete […]
[…] FX Guide has an awesome article on X-Men: Days of Future Past including how the Quicksilver scene was made (above). […]
[…] Source: FX Guide […]
I have mixed feelings about the post-production quality of this show. In between some nice sequences like Quicksilver's, you get some terrible compositing work, with spills, green reflections and bad integration. Some scenes i can recall are the Cerebro room where you see so much green spill and green reflections on Professor X's wheelchair, or the magneto stealing his helmet one, where the metal spheres he ends up throwing at the guards are poorly integrated and feel fake.
[…] FX Guide takes a look into the creation of visual effects for Bryan Singer’s X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. A large amount of effects were needed to bring various aspects of the film to life, including mutant powers, the polymer-based Sentinels of the past and the shape-shifting Sentinels of the future. Led by VFX supervisor Richard Stammers and VFX producer Blondel Aidoo, the project employed a wide-range of award-winning effects studios, including Digital Domain, Moving Picture Company, Rhythem & Hues, Rising Sun Pictures, Cinesite and a plethora of others. […]
achat maison perpignan
IMG_3639s | fxguide
[…] From the set of I, Frankenstein […]
[…] resursi: 1Kurus vēl “X-Men” komiksus obligāti jāilasa?2Kā veidoja filmas specefektus?3Uztaisi savus Vilknadža […]
[…] From the set of I, FrankensteinREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/from-the-set-of-i-frankenstein/ […]
[…] RenderMan/RIS and the start of next 25 years fxguide.com/featured/rende… […]
[…] For more information read the exclusive fxguide in-depth coverage here! […]
[…] RenderMan/RIS and the start of next 25 yearsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/rendermanris-and-the-start-of-next-25-years/ […]
[…] learning about acid rain effects on plants and trees, information from related research studies date as far back as 1963. Scientists […]
[…] Visually, this is a great X-Men movie, with VFX, set designs, costumes, and cinematography being exceptional. Set piece scenes are pretty satisfying, for instance, Prison Break in the first half and Magneto’s attack towards the climax. 3D effects are used judiciously, except for the long sequence at the beginning of the movie. Quick silver’s scene during the escape is definitely one of the highlights of the movie. (FXGuide covers this in detail here.) […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/rendermanris-and-the-start-of-next-25-years […]
[…] RenderMan/RIS and the start of next 25 years […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/rendermanris-and-the-start-of-next-25-years/ […]
[…] Meet Zebedee: handheld LIDAR scanningREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/meet-zebedee-handheld-lidar-scanning/ […]
[…] Early Weta Workshop designs for GodzillaREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/early-weta-workshop-designs-for-godzilla/ […]
[…] Interview with Jayse discussing the technical aspects of The Avengers screen design at fxguide. […]
[…] RenderMan/RIS and the start of next 25 years […]
[…] Christian Pearce, uno de los diseñadores, dedica a FX Guide una amplia entrevista acompañada de… oh, sí, moar […]
[…] The many faces of Maleficent […]
[…] The many faces of MaleficentREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/maleficent/ […]
I hope this still sees the light of day now that the Australian government has slashed funding to the CSIRO.
[…] now, is the one objecting to the need for routine. She’s standing up in protest {like the VFX artists} and saying – NO! No. Way. Routine does not equal FUN! How ’bout we just play instead. […]
[…] fxguidetv #191: Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs and Child of LightREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-191-ubisofts-watch-dogs-and-child-of-light/ […]
[…] fxg: Can you talk about working with Gareth Edwards on this film? […]
[…] Ocula 4: Exclusive info about the new releaseREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/ocula-4-exclusive/ […]
I do wonder how much of Ocula's underlaying vector generator that's shared with Kronos? Let's hope that the work on Ocula will ripple through to Kronos so that we'll see some improvements there as well. =)
[…] water (probably with screen space reflection and refraction) […]
[…] has a wonderful article on how Animal Logic crafted the […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/maleficent/ […]
[…] FXGuide – Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth […]
[…] spotted a very interesting article on effects in Maleficent (here). Detailing the steps taken to produce life like facial animation in the film. It even has some […]
[…] Blur’s The Elder Scrolls Online cinematic: 8 mins of action (fxguide.com) […]
[…] Test drive the new DI4D head mounted cameraREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/test-drive-the-new-di4d-head-mounted-camera/ […]
[…] range and considerably more dialog than had previously been attempted. Video below produced by fxguide in partnership with […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/maleficent/ […]
[…] According to IMDB, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the most popular movie filmed in Maryland but…it wasn’t really filmed here. One scene in the movie features the Baltimore skyline green-screened into the background. The main parts of the scene were filmed on a soundstage in LA, according to FXGuide. […]
[…] Live. Die. Repeat the effectsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/live-die-repeat-the-effects/ […]
[…] MPC: Behind the Scenes – Design FXREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/mpc-behind-the-scenes-design-fx/ […]
[…] Here is a great article that outlines some of the technical effects work I have been going for “Edge of Tomorrow” at Sony Pictures Imageworks. It talks about the tentacle plugin I wrote for the alien Mimic’s. Check out the article […]
Sony Pictures Imagworks is not legend, their work on I Am Legend was terrible! The environments were okay, but when it came down to the Darkseekers and animals, it is ridiculous. I've seen designs and photos of the prosthetics by Aaron Sims and Patrick Tatopolus, and they were pretty cool and frightening. I don't know why, but the filmmakers thought it looked like "Attack of the Angry Mimes" and went with the digital versions. If I was Francis Lawrence, I'd would have chosen either Peter Jackson's Weta Digital or George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic to achieve truly photorealistic effects. Although, I did enjoy Dash Mihok's performance as the Alpha Male Darkseeker, Mike Patton's vocal effects, and the use of motion capture to create the Darkseekers.
Thanks for the comment - but that is a story I posted in 2007 - which is like a long time ago !!! Anyway glad you are reading some of the older stories !
[…] тенденции средств визуализации в VFX-индустрии. Вторая часть включает в себя обзор 14 самых популярных средств […]
[…] For the dangerous and frenetic tentacled mimics, Imageworks took early designs and developed a Maya … […]
So Mike ... Xbox One or PS4?
[…] Read it here: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/live-die-repeat-the-effects/ […]
[…] READ FULL ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: https://www.fxguide.com/thevfxshow/the-vfx-show-183-godzilla/ […]
[…] The many faces of Disney’s Maleficent. […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/maleficent/ […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/ […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] ne saurait trop vous conseiller de faire un tour sur l’article de FXGuide : Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth. Bon par contre, faut quand même avoir quelques bases en anglais les copains. Si t’as arrêté […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/rendering-an-engine-bot/ […]
[…] Photo courtesy of: FXguide […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could assist find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. […]
[…] How The Mill made its marionettesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/how-the-mill-made-its-marionettes/ […]
[…] Take a trip: the VFX of 22 Jump Street […]
[…] Take a trip: the VFX of 22 Jump StreetREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/take-a-trip-the-vfx-of-22-jump-street/ […]
[…] eğilimleri ve en popüler 14 rendere kısa bakışdan ibaret. Yazının orjinalini buradan ve buradan okuyabilirsiniz. […]
[…] DreamWorks’ new tools for Dragon 2 […]
Caught this Friday night as a Father's Day present. Stunning work. The textures and lighting were breathtaking. Hats off to all involved.
[…] Here’s a great story on the tech behind the Michael Jackson hologram(ish) technology. […]
Great interview. I've seen some of Robh's artwork and is amazing. I liked that "it's not about technology..it's about the choices that you make in staging and the idea behind it...." Thanks for the advice. Greetings from Chile!! 🙂
[…] Sources : - CGSociety - CGmeetup - Pixelcreation - FXGuide […]
[…] A behind scenes look at the Visual Effects used for upcoming film Noah […]
[…] The perfecting the art of digital faces. […]
[…] guide breaks down how they did it section by section for the […]
[…] Gravity be one of the most impressive visual effects films of the year? FX Guidebreaks it down (note: spoiler […]
Great comments regarding O'Brien & Cinefex. I believe most of what I read in Cinefex & FXGuide …..Thank You Guys……..but reading other current industry trade publications….the PR & incorrect "facts" so annoy me. Revisting the past would be most welcome.
[…] Download Video […]
[…] SOURCE: FX […]
[…] have seen. Think of many scenes of the movie Titanic which were recorded in a studio. Check this site here for more details about the whole FX behind […]
[…] Previs from the Third Floor.4 […]
[…] The first video training of Bifrost for Maya 2015 just come out by the hand of Diego Trazzi, perpetrator of “Neytiri drinking shot” from Avatar movie. You can read de article FXguide wrote in that moment about Naiad here. […]
[…] Click here to read the article Star Trek: Into Darkness: VFX makes it so […]
Amazing, Seamless work.
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] matéria foi baseada no texto original do site fxguide. Aqui eu resumi a matéria aos pontos chaves que podem ser mais interessantes, mas vale uma olhada […]
Honestly, I am so sorry for Shotgun.
As a shotgun user, I think it is the worst news Shotgun could have ever had since it's birth. Autodesk's dark hand means it's going to favour its spurious interests and leave it to be forgotten by the shadows of time.
In the beginning everything will be fine, bigger team, large resources, stability the promise of a future bla bla bla, blablabla. Not good.
Remember what happen when Autodesk acquired Softimage?. Everything was good news, large opportunities to become part of a bigger entity, protection, resource development and all that. Then, this year they killed it. They would not put their own money on Shotgun if they knew they wouldn't be able to kill it if it goes against its interests. Let time go by and we'll see.
I am very sorry that they bought you to disembowel you like they did with Softimage.
I do not believe a single word about what Autodesk had said.
RIP. Shotgun.
Totally. Just like they did with Maya. And Motionbuilder. And Mudbox.
All those and more are programs they bought that competed with their interests (3DS Max).
Yet somehow they all seem to have grown features, support and market share since they were purchased.
I'm sorry you lost your Softimage, man. And there's plenty of reason to keep a close eye on this situation, but it's not the same situation at all. Autodesk ended up with THREE programs that basically did the same thing, each with strengths and weaknesses.
Here they have NO competing product for Shotgun.
Before you write up an obituary, consider giving the guys a chance to deliver on their commitments.
Ben
[…] Click here to read more about it. […]
[…] DirecTV’s new ‘marionette’ spots, aimed at showcasing the company’s wire-free boxes, feature… […]
[…] Autodesk riding Shotgun By John Montgomery (fxguide) […]
[…] trabajo de maquillaje y efectos visuales. Si queréis ver más detalles, os recomiendo el siguiente enlace en donde detallan la secuencia contada por el mismísimo William […]
[…] said that, the move puts ShutGun Software with triple the development team and the company will remain as it is. What can go […]
[…] อ่านเพิ่มเติมได้ที่ Autodesk riding Shotgun […]
[…] Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth […]
[…] the vfx show #174: Gravity […]
[…] Dneg augmented the practical shoot with a digital Harrow smashing through the columns. “We had a representation of a column in Houdini and it’s comprised of different materials – a soft core within it and a harder core around that,” says Wuttke. “Then there was bronzed plating around that and each would have a different reaction as the ship crashed through them – there’d be a main crash, splintering and then fine amounts of dust and debris. The metal panels would react in a different way and spin off and catch the light in nice ways.” … MORE […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/pixars-renderman-turns-25/ […]
[…] can watch the The Foundry/Luxology video interviews here. There is also an excellent, detailed written piece regarding the merger from fxguide, with […]
[…] video interviews here. There is also an excellent, detailed written piece regarding the merger from fxguide, with additional comments from industry professionals on what they think of the […]
[…] ne saurait trop vous conseiller de faire un tour sur l’article de FXGuide : Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth. Bon par contre, faut quand même avoir quelques bases en anglais les copains. Si t’as arrêté […]
[…] FXGuide.com: Future threat – X-Men: Days of Future Past […]
[…] Age of Extinction: ILM turns up its Transformers toolset […]
[…] (it doesn’t capitalise any parts of their associated names, so those aren’t typos), which is located right here, and enjoy. Through a mix of text, photos, and video, we really get to see even further into the […]
[…] Para los más curiosos os dejamos también del cómo se creó este personaje. www.fxguide.com […]
thanks Ian ... Really awesome ... thanks
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/maleficent/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/case-study-how-to-make-a-captain-america-wimp/ […]
[…] こちらの動画はトランスフォーマーロストエイジのメイキング記事中段辺りの動画から見る事ができますよ！やっぱりこういう爆破シーンを人間に絡めるとなると、CGじゃ迫力が出ない難しい場面もあるんでしょう。IMAXで見るの楽しみだな。 […]
[…] says handled more shots than ever before on “Age of Extinction.” An estimated 500 people worked on the film’s visual effects which comprise about 90 minutes of the film’s […]
[…] says handled more shots than ever before on “Age of Extinction.” An estimated 500 people worked on the film’s visual effects which comprise about 90 minutes of the film’s […]
[…] says rubbed some-more shots than ever before on “Age of Extinction.” An estimated 500 people worked on a film’s visible effects that contain about 90 mins of a film’s […]
[…] Crytek’s Cinebox – an update […]
[…] Creature Q&A: inside the Cochise effects on Falling Skies […]
[…] produkciókat eredményez, mint ahogyan azt az fxguide videóján is láthatjuk, bár ehhez hozzájuk kell ellátogatni, mert külső beágyazást nem tettek lehetővé. A közel négyperces […]
[…] www.fxguide.com/featured/maleficent […]
[…] ILM Interview: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/age-of-extinction-ilm-turns-up-its-transformers-toolset/ Set Visit: http://www.slashfilm.com/transformers-4-set-visit/ Concept Art: […]
[…] Fuente de las imágenes: FXGuide […]
[…] estimated 500 people worked on the film’s visual effects which comprise about 90 minutes of the film’s […]
[…] estimated 500 people worked on the film’s visual effects which comprise about 90 minutes of the film’s […]
[…] Here’s a great article on the VFX of Iron Man 3 by fxguide […]
[…] estimated 500 people worked on the film’s visual effects which comprise about 90 minutes of the film’s […]
[…] estimated 500 people worked on the film’s visual effects which comprise about 90 minutes of the film’s […]
[…] Game environments – Part A: renderingRemember Me […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/brick-by-brick-how-animal-logic-crafted-the-lego-movie/ […]
Very bad news indeed :(((((
[…] fxinsider: bonus Transformers ILM podcastsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fxinsider-bonus-transformers-ilm-podcasts/ […]
[…] 08 – I am Brazuca. Match ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup | Adidas Criação: TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles Direção: Zachary Richter Produção: STOPP/FAMILY making of […]
[…] of za Lego film pronađite na FXGuide i It’s […]
[…] They’re one of a couple outfits that keep me truly engaged in the industry. Check out the full article from FXGuide. You won’t be […]
[…] VFX in TV: A to V (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to Vikings and more) […]
[…] VFX in TV: A to V (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to Vikings and more)READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/vfx-in-tv-a-to-v-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-to-vikings-and-more/ […]
[…] - Allociné - 3DVF - FXGuide - Art of VFX - […]
[…] Farrar and ILM associate visual effects supervisor Pat Tubach. You can also read our written coverage of the film with more interviews and information about the VFX. I’ve also attached a PDF […]
[…] To know more, read this blog. […]
[…] To know more, read this blog. […]
[…] To know more, read this blog. […]
[…] To know more, read this blog. […]
[…] the rc #143: Jas does SonyREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/therc/the-rc-143-jas-does-sony/ […]
[…] new techniques for your own work. If you’re interested in learning more about Edge of Tomorrow, FX Guide’s full feature on the topic goes into great detail on almost every effect in the movie, complete with more commentary from […]
[…] 66th Annual Emmy NominationsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/66th-annual-emmy-nominations/ […]
[…] COLORWAY: The Foundry’s new Design toolREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/colorway-the-foundrys-new-design-tool/ […]
[…] Academy InvitesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/academy-invites/ […]
[…] ILM Interview: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/age-of-extinction-ilm-turns-up-its-transformers-toolset/ Set Visit: http://www.slashfilm.com/transformers-4-set-visit/ Concept Art: […]
just listening to your 2k section on the podcast. Ive always know 2k to be either 2048X1556 or 2048X1165 but after buying the kineraw mini I started seeing this 2k which felt like some extra on the edges but more or less HD. Now Im happy that the new Kinemini shoots actual 4K 4096 non of this Ultra HD 3840.
Why do we have to have so many formats, just stick to standards and stop calling 3840 4K which it is not. Im not sure what everyone's thoughts on this are but it would be nice to have less standards.
[…] Speed (Wikipedia) 180 Degree Shutter – Learn It, Live It, Love It Shutter Speed vs. Shutter Angle FxGuide podcast (They start talking about shutter in […]
Would we be having the same conversation if The Foundry bought Shotgun?
Another great article
Flat painting mode looks very nice. Looking at the image that mode does appear to have some concept of seams though doesn't it? It would have to in order to replicate real clothing. If we have to define seams (or do it semi automatically) then the flat painting mode is still doing some (UV ish) type of unwrapping behind the scenes?
I would be very interested in seeing the Disney tech, and ideally seeing some of those features integrated into Mari?
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/fast-furious-6-just-plane-crazy/ […]
[…] Ape ActingREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ape-acting/ […]
[…] Rise of the Planet of the Apes focused on a scientist who adopted an ape in the science-run-amok br… […]
[…] “Wolf of Wall Street” VFX reel via Fxguide.com […]
Such an awesome movie !!
[…] Download Video […]
[…] – Rise demo that has laser-scanned warehouse. Scott Metzger has developed this process using high-resolution photography at multiple exposures, and then using […]
[…] fxguidetv #192: Dawn of the Planet of the ApesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-192-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/ […]
[…] It’s been a big year for visual effects on television – here’s a look at just some of the highlights as we explore episodic television visual effects in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hannibal, Hawaii Five-O, Sleepy Hollow, Game of Thrones, Vikings and Orphan Black.Read More […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/stories-from-pompeii/ […]
[…] hair, from Brave, was one of the trickiest parts of creating the film, and took almost three years to […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] The technology of Michael Jackson reborn | fxguide. […]
[…] Designing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes […]
[…] Designing Dawn of the Planet of the ApesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/designing-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/ […]
[…] digital head replacement (sounds painful!) to create an image of Evans that was, in some areas, up to 30 percent smaller than in real life — presumably because a real-life shrimp-to-superhero transformation would be quite the heavy […]
[…] digital head replacement (sounds painful!) to create an image of Evans that was, in some areas, up to 30 percent smaller than in real life — presumably because a real-life shrimp-to-superhero transformation would be quite the heavy […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] Inside RealFlow 2014READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/inside-realflow-2014/ […]
[…] Legend or truth: the VFX of HerculesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/legend-or-truth-the-vfx-of-hercules/ […]
Thanks nice review!
We are happy to announce that the Disney ptexutils code base has been released as open source under the Apache license!
This set of tools is intended to help user workflow in the adoption of Ptex, a per-face-texturing solution that removes the need for UV assignment (www.ptex.us).
Tools in this first release include:
ptxtransfer: Transfers texel data from one Ptex file to another using embedded geometry data, for addressing model topology changes.
ptxview: A 2D / 3D viewer for viewing the contents of a single Ptex file.
More utilities are planned to be added a later date. The open source community is encouraged to contribute additional utilities that others may find useful.
Here is the link to the github repository:
https://github.com/wdas/ptexutils
--r
Disney Animation Studios
So many of these fx should have been done practically. Like destruction / debris stuff. Sad to see that almost everything are created digitally these days...
Jason,
Really love to hear some first impressions of the Kinemini/Kineraw. If you can respond to [email protected] that would be smashing. Thanks mate!
DM Wexler
[…] READ FULL ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/legend-or-truth-the-vfx-of-hercules/ […]
[…] fxpodcast #280: SIGGRAPH 2014 – the experts on the expertsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-280-siggraph-2014-the-experts-on-the-experts/ […]
[…] Wights, the Wall and wildlings: bringing more character to Game of Thrones […]
[…] Wights, the Wall and wildlings: bringing more character to Game of ThronesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/wights-the-wall-and-wildlings-bringing-more-character-to-game-of-thr… […]
[…] Guide has a detailed blog on everything covered in the video, with some additional […]
[…] Guide has a detailed blog on everything covered in the video, with some additional […]
[…] The information in the video is expounded upon by FX Guide. […]
[…] Guide tiene un detallado blog sobre todo lo mostrado en el video, con algunos clips y entrevistas adicionales al supervisor de […]
[…] Guide tiene un detallado blog sobre todo lo mostrado en el video, con algunos clips y entrevistas adicionales al supervisor de […]
[…] 原文：http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ape-acting/ 作者：Mike Seymour 翻译：吴晓晖 […]
[…] Voodoo magicREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/voodoo-magic/ […]
[…] creators. They are the ones who are thinking outside the box ( or in the case of Gravity, building the box), which is something everyone tells us we should be doing to survive. They make it possible for the […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/wights-the-wall-and-wildlings-bringing-more-character-to-game-of-thr… […]
[…] Voodoo magic | fxguide. […]
[…] Manuka: Weta Digital’s new Renderer […]
[…] Manuka: Weta Digital’s new RendererREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/manuka-weta-digitals-new-renderer/ […]
[…] Pixel Farm’s PFDepth: exclusive first look […]
[…] VFX in TV: A to V (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to Vikings and more) […]
[…] From Sim to Render: exclusive 60+ page iBook by fxguide […]
[…] The Art of Digital Color […]
Simply amazing! I hope the other companies use this as push to update their software, often times companies will hold back new tech because its not financially beneficial to give you something thats not out, but now that they realize there is something of value out and yet it may not be in the general market, we now know whats possible. so hopefully they will deliver. Hair is one of those issues where on my own tests i'm about 85% to realistic looking hair out of Maya, its the 15% that i'm having an issue with. Single frame is about 90%, its dealing with animating for live sequence and having light and color data hold up through the same pass with body geo and dynamically shadowing to the body realistically. I would love to see this upclose and what system requirements are used and depends on.
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ftrack-debuts-v3-at-siggraph/ […]
[…] ftrack debuts V3 at SIGGRAPHREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ftrack-debuts-v3-at-siggraph/ […]
Is it just me, or do these videos not work? Other articles videos play fine.
nah it's just you
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ftrack-debuts-v3-at-siggraph/ […]
[…] Failes, I., 2010, AnimfxNZ Avatar, fx guide,retrieved from:http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/animfxnz-avatar/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/manuka-weta-digitals-new-renderer/ […]
A great show as always. Personally, I like the banter...but may be I'm biased. Under the Skin was one of the movies I was most excited for this year. I had read the book by Michael Faber. The novel was his debut work and is a really fun read. Faber's style creates a compelling story that is both a quick read, a serious exploration of alienation, desire and what it means to be human. An artful balance.
The main character in the book is named Isserly (the Scarlett Johanson role) and we are introduced to her in the book without any background knowledge. Who is Isserly, and why is she driving the roads of Scotland looking for men? Like the film, the narrative in the book slowly unfolds one layer at a time until the truth of Isserly and her "work" on Earth is revealed. In the book there are a number of other characters that work with her on a remote farm after she captures her prey. Isserly has been surgically altered by her people to look human. This creates issues for her that seem like a thinly veiled reference to female body image issues. She has a male counterpart on the farm who is also "altered" while the bulk of her people live and work underground in an industrial farming-like environment.
In the book, one night the son of the "boss" of the alien corporation that Isserly is working for arrives at the farm from his home planet. His alien beauty, his questionable actions and discussions with Isserly begin to go deeper into Isserly's psychology and feelings about what they are doing to the lonely human men she picks up. The same questions of identity, humanity and "alienation" permeate the novel. There is a good deal of subtle humor in the book as well.
Director Jonathan Glazer takes the book as a starting point for his third feature film. Glazer's previous films were "Sexy Beast" and "Birth", both very strong and fascinating films as well. In "Under the Skin" Glazer has created his most interesting and experimental work to date. I think Jason, Mike and Mark were dead on the money in saying that the opening of the film was almost Kubrickian. I agree that its an "odd" film and has an unusual narrative structure. Does this film stand alone? I think so. Glazers distinctive style and use of an almost invisible documentary style during the driving scenes is mesmerizing.
But as with many filmic adaptations, several liberties are taken in the film that depart from the novel. The man on the motorcycle who we see throughout the film and whom Mike was saying we see at the end standing on the rock (a direct reference to the Casper David Fredrich painting "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog") is really a conglomeration of the other "alien" characters in the book. I think he represents Isserly's polar opposite. While there are scenes where he appears to help her, he doesn't seem to suffer from the same moral quandary. The incident with the young child and family at the stormy beach seems to be the first point of departure for Isserly in the film and her interaction with the deformed young man and her desire to set him free is her final act of contrition.
The visual effects of both the goo, the flattened humans (in the book they are being prepared as a delicacy for alien consumption) and the final alien reveal (which doesn't happen that way in the novel) are great, subtle work that makes for a fun, albiet dark film. I really enjoyed it and Johanssen is so much fun to watch in most any role.
Just thought I'd put in my two cents on this one as it was a film I was really looking forward to this Summer. If anyone out there saw it, liked it and wants a little more, check out the novel. Its a quick read and pretty entertaining.
Matt
[…] NUKE 8 is coming: here’s what you need to know […]
[…] Into the abyss: James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge 3D […]
[…] Beam rendering extended at SIGGRAPH 2014READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/beam-rendering-extended-at-siggraph-2014/ […]
[…] 原始文章 (fxguide) Manuka: Weta Digital’s new Renderer […]
[…] 有興趣可以看看原文 (FxGuide) Voodoo magic […]
[…] 有興趣可以看看原文 (FxGuide) Voodoo magic […]
[…] Here is an article that will help you understand the concept, use and history of Rotoscoping:http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-roto-2011/ […]
[…] Big positive: Double Negative to adopt ClarisseREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/big-positive-double-negative-to-adopt-clarisse/ […]
[…] Foundry At Siggraph with V-Ray + Speed tests […]
[…] Foundry At Siggraph with V-Ray + Speed testsREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/foundry-at-siggraph-with-v-ray-speed-tests/ […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] SIGGRAPH 2014 – DigiPro and Day 1READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/siggraph-2014-digipro-and-day-1/ […]
Thanks for the amazing in-depth article, love the depth of these features.
We have an additional interview with Chris Ford over on our site if anyone is looking for a little more about RIS.
http://bigmancgi.com/renderman-ris-pixar-chris-ford-interview/
[…] SIGGRAPH 2014 – Day 2 […]
[…] SIGGRAPH 2014 – Day 2READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/siggraph-2014-day-2/ […]
[…] The VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/manuka-weta-digitals-new-renderer/ […]
[…] The VFX of Guardians of the GalaxyREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-vfx-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ […]
[…] St Peter’s Square in Angels & Demons, with CGI [Source: fxguide/IMDB] […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art-of-stereo-conversion-2d-to-3d-2012/ […]
[…] Here's some detail on how they made it... The VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy | fxguide […]
[…] Postscript: Here is a good good article on the new features and architecture of RenderMan (including the new RI…. […]
[…] FXGUIDE TV LINK […]
[…] More from SIGGRAPH 2014READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/more-from-siggraph-2014/ […]
[…] FX Guide has a super detailed article on the effects in Guardians of the Galaxy, such as Rocket and Groot above. […]
[…] A look at the visual effects (sadly no video footage or VFX comparisons): http://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] a multi-species motley crew, and naturally it took a lot of computer-based magic to come to life. FX Guide has the scoop on how a vast team of VFX artists made a mouthy racoon, a teenage tree, and the rest of the gang […]
Great article Ian. Great work on the VFX across the board by all involved. I loved this movie. Could be my favorite of the genre since the original 1977 Star Wars (yes, I said that). It had just the right amount of plot, action and camp. I love love loved it.
[…] a multi-species motley crew, and naturally it took a lot of computer-based magic to come to life. FX Guide has the scoop on how a vast team of VFX artists made a mouthy racoon, a teenage tree, and the rest of the gang […]
[…] a multi-species motley crew, and naturally it took a lot of computer-based magic to come to life. FX Guide has the scoop on how a vast team of VFX artists made a mouthy racoon, a teenage tree, and the rest of the gang […]
[…] artículo extenso publicado en FX Guide nos muestra todo lo que estuvo detrás para crear los escenarios y a los mismos personajes de […]
[…] artículo extenso publicado en FX Guide nos muestra todo lo que estuvo detrás para crear los escenarios y a los mismos personajes de […]
[…] a multi-species motley crew, and naturally it took a lot of computer-based magic to come to life. FX Guide has the scoop on how a vast team of VFX artists made a mouthy racoon, a teenage tree, and the rest of the gang […]
[…] e naturalmente foi necessário muito trabalho em efeitos visuais para criá-los. O FX Guide contou um pouco da história desses artistas que criaram um guaxinim falastrão, uma […]
[…] diferentes, e naturalmente foi necessário muito trabalho em efeitos visuais para criá-los. O FX Guide contou um pouco da história desses artistas que criaram um guaxinim falastrão, uma árvore […]
[…] diferentes, e naturalmente foi necessário muito trabalho em efeitos visuais para criá-los. O FX Guide contou um pouco da história desses artistas que criaram um guaxinim falastrão, uma árvore […]
[…] artículo extenso publicado en FX Guide nos muestra todo lo que estuvo detrás para crear los escenarios y a los mismos personajes de […]
[…] diferentes, e naturalmente foi necessário muito trabalho em efeitos visuais para criá-los. O FX Guide contou um pouco da história desses artistas que criaram um guaxinim falastrão, uma árvore […]
[…] The VFX supervisor, Stephane Ceretti, headed up a team of more than 13 companies including MPC, Sony Pictures Imageworks and other big names in VFX. Visual effects were key to Guardians success, but the approach for each character was different: […]
[…] Finally! my first BIG Blockbuster movie, I was part of the FX Team at MPC London, my main job was to R&D explosions for final battle sequence. You can read more about it here http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-vfx-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ […]
[…] artículo extenso publicado en FX Guide nos muestra todo lo que estuvo detrás para crear los escenarios y a los mismos personajes de […]
[…] 在Maya 2015之後整合了流體系統biforst，在Autodesk的計畫上，預計加入biforst的Node Editor，也就是將Fluid利用自家Node Graph加上自家的Compiler，把流體變為可程序化的結構，方便設計與Reuse，該架構據說是將Softimage的ICE framework所移植與整合，可以提供比Maya內部的Node Graph更佳的效率，之前在FxGuide也有專題Bifröst: the return of the Naiad team with a bridge to ICE介紹。 […]
[…] artículo extenso publicado en FX Guide nos muestra todo lo que estuvo detrás para crear los escenarios y a los mismos personajes de […]
[…] Sci-Tech Oscar 2015 Consideration listREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/sci-tech-oscar-2015-consideration-list/ […]
[…] Congrats to the Creative Emmy WinnersREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/congrats-to-the-creative-emmy-winners/ […]
[…] SIGGRAPH 2014 – wrap-upREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/siggraph-2014-wrap-up/ […]
[…] la gente de FXguide se encarga de detallar los efectos especiales utilizados en esos episodios en un completísimo artículo del que sale el vídeo que tenéis a continuación, creado por la revista Wired y donde se explican […]
[…] Into the Storm: a trio of tornadoesREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/into-the-storm-a-trio-of-tornadoes/ […]
[…] is baj, amíg igényes, hiteles látványt varázsolnak elénk a szakemberek. Az fxguide cikkéért tessék ide kattintani. Videó is van […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] Sources : - Allociné - CreativeBloq - FXGuide […]
[…] They mentioned some of our work on FXGuide, which was pretty cool! You can view the article here. […]
[…] Amongst the lovely concept art and art direction sketches I saw at the Digital Revolution last Wednesday, there was a small film showcasing the new Apollo animation software used for the first time by Dreamworks Animation to create some of highly complicated sequences in HTTYD2 . More on that here. […]
[…] Puedes ver el artículo original con el vídeo y más información en: fxguide […]
look at these guys
Iron Man 2 movie image | fxguide
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/legend-or-truth-the-vfx-of-hercules/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-one-report/ http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-two-report/ http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-threefour-report/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-two-report/ […]
[…] fxguidetv #193: Everything SIGGRAPHREAD ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-193-everything-siggraph/ […]
Cooke should be applauded for continuing to help the post industry obtain the sort of data required to improve complex tracks. The UK team have also explored GPS and a number of other options but few have the possibility of being viable in the short term, but they are still being explored, and in the case of GPS with a localized special sub system, but this is perhaps still a few years off.
__________________________________________________
Cooke should be applauded for continuing to help the post industry obtain the sort of data required to improve complex tracks. The UK team have also explored GPS and a number of other options but few have the possibility of being viable in the short term, but they are still being explored, and in the case of GPS with a localized special sub system, but this is perhaps still a few years off.
Daenerys’ three dragons, who were now at the ‘teenager’ stage of their lives, were brought to life by a team of incredible artists at Pixomondo. fxguide visited Pixomondo’s studio in Frankfurt and, in partnership with WIRED, produced this exclusive look behind the scenes of the dragons. i like it
_______________________________________
Trang thông tin chua benh than chuyên chữa bệnh sỏi thận, chữa bệnh viêm cầu thận rất hiệu quả,,.. và đặc biệt có bài thuốc chữa bệnh sỏi thận bằng thuốc nam chữa sỏi thận cực kỳ hiệu nghiệm.
[…] Here are a couple of additional good articles on the movie making process: The LEGO Movie, An Interview with Some of the Creators and Brick by Brick: How Animal Logic Crafted The LEGO Movie. […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] does the magnitude of digital development. A fascinating film from Tim Webber about the creation of Gravity tells of how it was more than a year in pre-production rendering before they even brought a […]
[…] More info on Jim Blinn:http://www.fxguide.com/featured/founders-series-industry-legend-jim-blinn/ […]
[…] Kaynak The Hobbit […]
[…] Nachzulesen gibt’s das Ganze dann hier: Making of “VFX Gaurdian of the Galaxy” […]
[…] Fxguide.com,. (2011). fxguidetv #125: Anonymous. Retrieved 27 June 2014, from http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguide-125-anonymous/ […]
[…] Octane Render: realtime ray tracing […]
[…] GPU Tech Conference: Day 1 Report […]
[…] Behind the scenes with the Siggraph CAF winners […]
[…] acquirers go, one Autodesk manager does not seem particularly interested in buying Avid. A FXGuide.com interview with Stig Gruman (Autodesk Media and Entertainment’s VP of sales) […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] will avoid the CA VFX subsidy because of the restrictions. FXGuide reported the reaction from Mary Ann Hughes, Vice President, Film and Television Production Planning at Disney on similar restrictions in other […]
[…] Double Negative, Hercules | VFX of Hercules […]
Nuke has made tremendous strides since being acquired by the Foundry. It's always been frustrating to get time on a flame to get the experince this kind of tool brings via software.
Thanks for the article, that's very interesting - but as a MODO user I'm confused at "OpenSubdiv is now standard for subdivision content creation in Maya, Modo, Blender, Houdini, Mari, Cinebox, and (soon) 3ds Max" because the lack of OpenSubDiv in MODO has been cause for extensive discussion in the MODO forums:
http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/discussion/topic.aspx?f=4&t=87923
You are right the MODO implementation is a branch of this technology not 100% the open source OpenSubdiv. You are quite right, but Modo was first to access the technology outside Pixar early on... and so deserved to be mentioned I thought.
I see. Cheers.
For anybody interested, Brad Peebler from The Foundry also wrote this about MODO's implementation:
"OpenSDS is great. However, our implementation solves topological changes MUCH faster than OSD. OSD is faster for deforming meshes, our DIRECT implementation is better for modeling. Are we watching OSD? You bet. We talk to Pixar all the time. I was just there last week meeting with Bill Polson. We're on board the OSD train it's just that we did it ourselves (with their assistance BTW) years before the OSD library existed. Will we add OSD library support in the future? Most likely but not as a replacement to what we have unless the topology changes are as fast with OSD as they are in our implementation."
Source: http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/discussion/topic.aspx?f=4&t=87923&page=4
[…] How they made the biggest stunts in Need for Speed | fxguide […]
[…] can find out more about NUKE STUDIO in our earlier exclusive first look, but keep an eye on fxguide for a round-up of how effects artists are already using the […]
[…] all the cool kids are into it, here’s an implementation of Delta Mush in Fabric Splice. It’s a regular splice node, not a deformer (still sorting that […]
I don't think Arnold supports OpenSubdiv either. There were discussions on the mailing list but no commitment to support this format. You should check with Solid Angle to confirm this.
Hey thanks for the post- We checked our source at PIXAR and we have added an update that explains the Arnold situation. Again thanks for the post.
accountants in north London
Iron Man 2 movie image | fxguide
[…] FX Guide provided a great behind the scenes look at how the commercial was put together by talking to the people behind it. […]
[…] Source: FX Guide […]
[…] The Art of Rendering […]
[…] Source: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/… […]
[…] Live. Die. Repeat the effects | fxguide. […]
[…] but only for five days. James Cameron’s 1997 film, technically groundbreaking though it was, emphasized the pride of enlightened humanism while ignoring the true lessons of history, and […]
This steady XP is interesting but do you think that once you stabilize footage with shaky and quick camera movement wouldn't the motion blur artifacts still be present in the final output?
[…] Oscar-winning cinematography was actually shots of flat blue walls that were replaced with completely original renders from the Rhythm & Hues […]
[…] protesting animators are blaming studios, bankers, and foreign and domestic governments. It’s not a very coherent […]
[…] shame, since visually speaking, Merida does break the Disney princess mold, and her curly hair is a technical and artistic triumph for Pixar’s color and code artists, and she’s voiced by a real Scot instead of a valley […]
If they integrated it with resolve it could be a heck of a finishing tool
great point... is that Blackmagic's game? Is Blackmagic the new Apple? Software to sell hardware.. so do they want to sell loads of software tools?
[…] Ian (April 4, 2013). “Welcome (back) to Jurassic Park”. FX Guide. Retrieved January 5, […]
Thanks for the heads up, re Edelkrone Slider Plus. Time to replace my Pocket dolly!
[…] bet money on hashtagging his next masterpiece with. If you’d like to whet your appetite, click here for a reminder of what the mere mortal orchestrated for the jaw-dropping prequel to Mockingjay Part […]
For French speakers, here is an interview of Luc Besson on Lucy:
http://www.franceinter.fr/emission-boomerang-luc-besson-lucy-peut-marquer-une-generation
[…] cool that they used ESRI’s CityEngine to create Metropolis! […]
[…] Kuvissa näkyy korjaamaton Tron: Legacy -elokuvan otos. Ruutukaappauksen lähde: Fxguidetv. […]
[…] by howyalikdemapples [link] [2 comments] Movie News and […]
insurance for veterans
aviator315-2072lajpantxf05 | fxguide
[…] el breakdown de la primera parte de la saga se muestran algunos efectos especiales y cómo se hicieron algunas […]
[…] Оригинал статьи: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/into-the-storm-a-trio-of-tornadoes/ […]
[…] Cписок всех номинантов. […]
[…] The complete list of nominees is here. […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] Das gesamte Interview in englischer Sprache findet ihr auf: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-making-of-honda-hands/ […]
[…] Image courtesy of FX Guide […]
[…] a vampire. The make-up worked for the most part, but did you notice Barnabas never blinks? All of Depp’s eye movements were excised in post-production, as was every single time he was reflected on a […]
[…] Mike Seymour, « Gravity : Vfx that’s anything but down to earth », oct. 8, […]
[…] Pixar Research’s interactive lighting demo (video)READ ORIGINAL SOURCE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/pixar-researchs-interactive-lighting-demo-video/ […]
[…] Mike Seymour, Matt Wallin, Jason Diamond, « The vfx show #174 : Gravity », fx guide, (podcast), oct. 17, […]
[…] Priest: not your average vampire movie […]
[…] Read it here on FX Guide […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-one-report/ http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-two-report/ http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/fmx-2014-day-threefour-report/ […]
[…] Matte Painting 2: “The tools” y Matte Painting 3: “The art” […]
[…] Matte Painting 2: “The tools” y Matte Painting 3: “The art” […]
[…] spot para GMC que he visto en FxGuide, una de mis nuevas webs favoritas. Puede parecer un anuncio de lo más normal y corriente pero […]
[…] Read More… […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/pixars-renderman-turns-25/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/bifrost-exclusive-first-in-depth-look/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/founders-series-industry-legend-jim-blinn/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/life-of-pi/ […]
I really like your show guys and returned time and again since i started listening to podcasts, but that session was pretty weak.
There was no real insight. It felt like a casual talk over pizza and beer.
Get yourself some specialists in this field to talk to, beforehand or in the show.
thanks for all the greast talks in the past!:-)
[…] READ FULL ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-vfx-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ […]
[…] l’articolo è in inglese e lo trovate qui […]
"Fred breathes fire – 'the fire illuminates the environment, it illuminates the smoke coming off the fire, it is really really pretty, yeah anything can be a emitter,'"
I find it kind of odd that the accompanying image doesn't reflect any of these things.
The inside of the mouth (where the fire is hottest/brightest) is still dark, and the fire doesn't appear to have any influence on illumination elsewhere either (the underside of the eyes, the inside of that near leg, etc.).
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the fire in this image was comped on later, and not rendered in-scene as an emitter, as it is described.
[…] packages.” It has been used in film vfx for on-set surveying and for helping with tracking. http://www.fxguide.com/featured/pointcloud9-a-lidar-case-study/ http://www.lidar-uk.com/ Did you draw influence from games themselves, or outside […]
[…] The scholarship of Spherical Harmonics during Weta Digital, FX Guide […]
This is really exciting to see. Hopefully they license this to commercialization. The approach reminds me a bit of Caustic's now dead Visualizer renderer which bundles incoherent ray intersections and then performs deferred shading in batches based on a form of heuristics. This though takes it to the next level by also streaming geometry in and out of memory which was one of the Achilles heels of the Caustic system.
[…] kadar rekabetçi? Art of Rendering`in (Görselleştirme sanatı) ilk çıkışı üzerinden sadece 18 ay geçti, durumsa çarpıcı […]
Hi,
thx for the great screencast...
./ivar
[…] were up to 8,000 animals in a single shot, and while CGI is traditionally fantastic for horde scenes — […]
[…] on projects such as James Cameron’s Avatar, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Eragon, Maleficent, The Adventures of Tintin, The Fantastic Flying Books of M r. Morris Lessmore (that won an Academy […]
Great vid. Great dev team. Thanks Philippe.
Ant
[…] Seymour, M. (2014). Ptex, the other side of texturing. Retrieved from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ptex_the_other_side/ […]
Another great episode! If you're primarily a stills shooter and occasionally shoot video the new Fuji X100T rangefinder offers full manual HD video + an optical viewfinder. A creative 'always carry' option for those without a Leica budget.
[…] According to the creator of the spot—Alex Roman—they didn't have the budget to film this in real life, even while it is actually possible to do most of it with real objects and film. That option would have been too expensive to produce with this level of perfection: […]
[…] According to the creator of the spot — Alex Roman — they didn’t have the budget to film this in real life, even while it is actually possible to do most of it with real objects and film. That option would have been too expensive to produce with this level of perfection: […]
[…] Laut Regiesseur Alex Roman war das Budget dermaßen begrenzt, dass es deutlich teurer und auch aufwendiger gewesen wäre, den Spot mit echten Obst und Gemüse zu filmen: […]
[…] vídeo foi produzido por Alex Roman como uma campanha de publicidade para a Silestone, uma empresa especializada na fabricação de […]
[…] fxGuide noticed the use of the filter, and summed up Dykstra’s description in this way: […]
indeed thought a fixed lens i like the Fuji's. The Hybrid finder is amazingly clever and something other manufacturers should consider licensing. i had the original 100 and found it a little slow and i think the video wasn't fully manual at that stage
[…] The hat is requested by the hard ass client: me. So far the roboboy project has made me understand a lot more about shading in physically accurate renderer such as arnold/Vray. and there is a must read post here that helped understand the background: ), a very good read: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/ […]
[…] Welcome (back) to Jurassic Park […]
[…] It is testament to ‘Rhythm & Hues’ VFX studio that the special effects also offer unforgettable characterisation that is both realistic and somehow larger-than-life, a poignant part of our story given their concurrent upset and bankruptcy (see: Life After Pi). ‘Richard Parker’ is so spine-tinglingly real it is hard to spot the differences between the very high-tech CGI and the few authentic shots. The tiger, never anthropomorphised, demonstrates fear, threat, hunger, languor and suffering, its muscles and movements painstakingly constructed with immense attention to detail. Amazingly the ocean becomes a character as well, and what a visually staggering character and set piece it is, dominating 3/5th of running time and ranging from beautifully serene calm to terrifyingly fury, always indomitable. For further astounding special effects details click here. […]
[…] Blender. For more information on green screen compositing take a look at this wikipedia page and this Art of Keying article. For review of the process we looked at in class, this video linked to in an earlier post is a […]
[…] Blender. For more information on green screen compositing take a look at this wikipedia page and this Art of Keying article. For review of the process we looked at in class, this video linked to in an earlier post is a […]
[…] [4] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art_of_keying/ […]
[…] It’s arguably the biggest, most lavish, most expensive animated film ever made about someone’s hair. Indeed, the red hair of the Merida, the main character, takes on a life of its own in Brave, Pixar’s thirteenth full-length animated motion picture. It’s a shame that the hair is the most interesting aspect of the character. […]
[…] Disney’s Frozen used a brand new program called “Tonic” for crazy realistic hair animation, plus a brand new technology for simulating snow. […]
[…] (2014). Character Ark: the visual effects of Noah. [online] Available at: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/character-ark-the-visual-effects-of-noah/ [Accessed 10 Nov. […]
[…] it focuses on detailing the absence of light in order to develop a successful shading method. Created in 2001 by artists at ILM for the film Pearl Harbour after being challenged by Michael Bay, it was a natural evolution of the reflective occlusion […]
This is so interesting! Great article Mike. First thing I thought when watching the live event and seeing what they did was "MUST KNOW MORE! Now!", and I knew you had something up your sleeve. =) I would lie if I said that I understand it all by reading it just once though. =) My brain is too small and too full atm.
This sounds intriguing:
"Adaptively Sampled Distance Fields (ADFs) are a way of representing a shape in 2D or 3D that can greatly aid in drawing, rendering, collision detection, color gamut science and sculpting."
In what way can it aid in color gamut science?
Also, that last picture just made me think POINT CLOUDS! LIDAR! =) Wonder if the tech could improve speeds and processing of those to shapes etc.
Google, here I come! =)
[…] not going to post a tutorial about authoring materials for a physically based renderer, because a lot of great tutorials exist for this already. I have, however, noticed that there is a distinct lack of decent reference for material […]
I don't own any BlackMagic hardware yet, though it will probably be my next purchase if I venture into amateur film making. The ratio between their quality and price just seems really good. And making their software much more accessible than the competition just makes the decision so much easier.
Seeker
[…] Hamsters vs. Robots: a Method double-shot | fxguideSep 21, 2011 – September 21, 2011 … Soul’ has the hip rodents engage in a dance-off with a robot army to promote the KIA Soul. … debuted during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and features LMFAO’s club song, ‘Party Rock Anthem’. www.fxguide.com/featured/hamsters-vs-robots-a-method-double-shot/ […]
[…] Hamsters vs. Robots: a Method double-shot | fxguideSep 21, 2011 – September 21, 2011 … Soul’ has the hip rodents engage in a dance-off with a robot army to promote the KIA Soul. … debuted during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and features LMFAO’s club song, ‘Party Rock Anthem’. www.fxguide.com/featured/hamsters-vs-robots-a-method-double-shot/ […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
Thats great Philip, good stuff, keep it coming. Now if you could just spend some of the engineering dollars into restoring back the original rock-solid, fluid GUI with original color coding, that would fix everything else thats currently broken 🙂
Very very powerful stuff, thanks Philippe.
Would have been great if this was all being implemented into the existing UI and library structure and not the current cheap and unstable looking and feeling interface.
Excellent! great article, and such a great film.
Alot of thought into this film which all shows through.
The projected screen from outside the space ship looks amazing realistic (because it is in camera). esp seeing the earth through the space ship which looked over exposed. Reminded me of the moon landing footage of looking at the earth through the space craft window. No doubt if that was green screened that would of been comped perfectly exposed argh!.
Really liked the tesseract opening/folding effect really stuck with me. great work guys!
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/rise-of-the-previs/ […]
[…] 在fxGuide也有一篇主題“RenderMan/RIS and the start of next 25 years"介紹了新的RIS技術，在某些情形下速度比REYES模式快2~10倍。裡面包含了一個Progressive的renderer，可以得到視覺上快速調整結果。 […]
[…] image above is from a shot I composited taken from an article by FXGuide http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ape-acting/ which describes some of the work undertaken on the film. Please go check it […]
Amazing Article, Thanks Mike
Okay, I'll say it, I think this movie was a stinker.
Were the VFX any good? Sure they were. No doubt about that.
But was the movie any good? Not in my book. Not by a long shot. I feel like the people who are talking about how much they love this movie saw a totally different film than I did.
There are so many holes in this plot and so much clunky stilted dialogue (often totally inaudible) that it sometimes felt like a technological master work but a sad and failed attempt at "Cinema" (as defined by Andre Bazin).
NASA knows that Cooper is the greatest pilot in the world, but they don't contact him.
Alfred (can't remember the Caine character's name) lies to them to save the Earth.
Cooper deliberates for about fifteen seconds and decides to leave his family.
He only misses his daughter cause his son is a disappointing farmer.
When he finally returns to his daughter, they talk for about one minute and then he leaves to go back into space.
Mankind destroyed the Earth and now they are seeking a new home to destroy. There's no thought given to doing it better on "Earth 2".
Anne Hathaway's character is a scientist who loses her marbles when she starts to talk about gravity and love, WTF?
Plan B (which were told was actually Plan A) consists of hundreds or thousands of frozen embryos that will be carried to term by who? Hathaway? So she's going to have to have as many babies as she can to populate this new world?
Damon's character goes crazy and tries to kill everyone because...why? Space madness?
People travel great distances by being put into the deep sleep version of human suvee cooking.
On the water planet...didn't they see any of those giant waves from orbit?
How can that little ship get into orbit from the surface, but a giant booster is required to get off the Earth?
So many moments in the film were both shown and then verbosely articulated via dialogue. He just can't help himself. We see the plates turned over to keep the dust off, but we also have to have the documentary footage saying it as well. Just show it, don't say it and show it. Over and over this is the pattern. Makes me crazy.
I know I'm in the minority on this one. Everyone seems to love it. I'm just saying, I don't get it. I think this is an attempt at an emotional human film from a filmmaker that has a very hard time expressing real emotion. It felt forced and flat.
And lastly, why are Christopher Nolan fans so intense?
http://screencrush.com/christopher-nolan-fans/
This article creeps me out, but does a good job of articulating this ephemeral thing that I can't quite put my finger on...
Since there were no comments, I thought I'd try and get this thread going. I think Nolan's best films are "The Prestige" and "Memento". And in just a short time, a filmmaker will be able to completely replicate the look of film, and even surpass its fidelity, with digital. The nostalgia for film is just that. If its the "warmth" the "grain" the "look" it can be duplicated in time. Just saying.
And Hans Zimmer created a score that at times sounded like bad 1980's Brit pop music. It was an assault on the ear drums.
First, sorry for my broken english as I am not a native speaker but I'll do my best.
I am a long time listener to the show and really apreciate it (insights, anecdotes, opinions,...) but there's really something I can't understand is that most of the time I think you are very "forgiving". I can't count how many disapointing movies were talked about in the show, and despite the interesting VFX at work (worth a show of course), it is difficult for me to conceive such clever people like you to "like this movie a lot" when it has so many flaws and the plot is so weak (i'm not talking about Interstellar here). I still enjoy most blockbuster movies because I am a VFX fan and I work as a director and motion designer, but this doesn't mean I am not angry at most production to use such talented artists to work so hard on those silly scripts. Prometheus was a good exemple of this, but don't get me started.
Anyway... I still love the show but sometimes I feel like Matt, Jason or Mark should express their opinions even more (feels like they restrain themselves to not sound like downers). This really is the only negative comment I would have on the vfx show, everything else is top notch. So keep up the good work! I really apreciate to listen to your conversations.
As for Interstellar... Again, I agree with you Matt. I can't say I hate the film but it was a major disapointment. And this disapointment is only stronger because the movie has ambitions. I love ambitious movies, but there's a fine line between ambitious and pretentious. That line has been crossed many times in this movie.
What is the most obvious proof of failure is, as Matt pointed out, this obsessive need of explaining everything. This is a 3 hours long movie! Don't you have enough time to "show" us instead of explaining things? Isn't that what this art is all about?? And the explanations in themselves are corny, often confusing and mostly wrong. This is such a great exemple of how to lose your audience I can't believe it. I am a science and astrophysics fan and I went with my wife who is not. So she didn't understand much of what was trying to be explained throughout the movie, and I, as someone who knows about the subject, was frawning all the time by such ridiculous shortcuts of reasoning. So 2 different spectators and we have the same uneasiness. Good job...
So what about the plot holes that jumped in my face in this movie?
-For such a chatty movie, nothing is explained about the earth's condition. Why? Why is the world like this? Since when? How does the rest of the world looks like? I mean outside the farmer's field... This was a VERY interesting matter to put in perspective. How are the wild animals surviving? The insects? Creatures in the oceans?
-Why isn't there any question about the expedition in itself? Do humanity really deserves this? To destroy a planet and then go elsewhere to do the same? Isn't that a bit silly? I know every living creature wants to survive, but as human-thinking-individuals we should have different opinions on the matter and only one of them is expressed throughout the movie. It is so weak I can't even understand such flatness. When we f** up something we just have to move on.... that's the moral of the film (?!)
-What year does this movie takes place? in the future? we don't have food nor any source of energy but we still drive old cars requiring gas? How do they produce and extract petrol anymore?
-Why can humanity develop super AI robots (looking like Lego, go figure) and everything else (spaceship, suits,...) look like '70s retro sci-fi? Couldn't they develop more sufficient suits and stuff before the earth collapse? Why are things so advanced and others even less developped than in 2014?
-The Nasa is preparing a huge expedition to save humanity. They get a new guy and make him take part as the main pilot (!) and he has 1 day to get ready... Now that's fast. It seems they don't even do it this fast for bus drivers in my city but I guess a spaceship travelling to unknown galaxy is easier.
-When the goal of this travel is of such weight and consequence, why isn't there anybody cautious of anything when they get to a new planet? Scaning the surface before landing, anyone? And this is the obvious one that even my wife came up with, I am not even talking about the list of thousands of procedures required for a safe landing. Of course it's a movie and we have to skip thought the borring things, but the balance between realism and fiction has a sweetspot. Obviously the makers didn't "spot" it.
-I love science but I am not a "know-it-all" so I may be wrong on this one, but still if it's a special characteristic of physics it should have been one of the only things "explained" in this film: Why would there be hundreds of meters tall waves in a "lake" only 20 centimeters deep? Is that even possible? And with such water force, everything should be sucked in... why does nothing move? Why the gravity is stronger than earth and they still can leave the planet with their "flying car"?
-The poor guy waiting 23 years in his ship. I don't say I wanted 30 minutes of him sharing his experience, but the thing was just completely ignored. This was also a missed occasion of showing what this could have done to him. Maybe just a bit more screen time on his eyes and reaction on different events and circumstances would have gave this character a bit more depth. Oh wait he just dies a bit later for nothing.
-Damon character. I think if someone was to be locked alone on an ice planet for ages and dreaming of being rescued and see other humans, there would be a very slim chance that he would want to kill everyone to be alone again and try to steal the "car" to go back to a dying planet. That was plain stupid. The only purpose of this "arc" was to put some kind of drama and tension at this point of the story and this was lame and futile. How could they even think that this was going to be a friendly planet to live on? Hostile is the only word that came to mind when looking at this thing, I prefer to die on earth, thank you.
-When they escape the Ice planet to go back to earth, I understand the script required his "sacrifice" but what would be logic in him to have to go to the other part of the ship in the first place??
-The old guys testimony interviews were as subtle as an elephant walking on eggs. This was also very dumb to put them right in the begining of the film. I knew the film would end "ok" after the first minutes, if there are some people left to talk about the "past" then it means they solve their problem by the end of the movie... so should i leave the theatre now? I was already facepalming
-My favorite character was the robot... and this means a lot to the depth of human character in the movie. Stereotypes, as always, pummel the appeal of the film.
Well there are a lot more but that's all for now. Nolan tried to much to make a "masterpiece" but the whole thing lacked elegance, simplicity, intelligence and simply mastery.
Reading my post again I realize I may have went overboard about plot points while we are on a VFX-based website and podcast. So I am sorry if that was misplaced.
I just feel so sorry for the guys working on postproduction and visual effects... I mean they are clearly the real artists at work. Directors, writers, producers... what is going on with you all? Especially for such big budget movies, don't tell me you can't afford to spend extra thousands to make some other people read the scripts and point out flaws and errors. That's the simplest thing to do is to critique! If it's a problem to find people spoting problems then feel free to contact me. That would be my pleasure to share my thoughts and insights to improve things.
As for the vfx for Interstellar, I must say I liked them. They were discreet while still showing a lot of work went on it. I am not fond of the various designs though, except the planets which were intriguing but could have been a lot more. The attempt felt a bit shy. All the film was centered mainly on one character, but the worlds themselves should be treated as characters of their own. So I thought it was a missed opportunity again. The explorations could have given so much more mystery feeling.
As for my comment on the vfx show, saying it is sometimes too "forgiving", I didn't want it to sound as a real complain. I have a blast listening to you guys since so many years. I really feel like we could easily work together, or have a drink together, because despite having different opinions or tastes, I feel we clearly are "coming from the same place".
So my only compain, really, is: please do more shows! 🙂
Huge year! Like always! Sad there are no turtles in the top but they cant all be here 😀
[…] fxguide article […]
I mostly enjoyed it WHILE I was watching it but, like Prometheus, thinking about later it made me hate it. I'd like to echo pretty much all of Matt's criticism, and also ad: was the wormhole orbiting with/around Saturn, or was Saturn parked? Do wormholes have mass that would enable them to orbit anything?
That's all. You can go about your business now.
Oh, and also: how the hell do they hide NASA when they're blasting rockets off from their secret location?
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] 128 3D voices with Developed 3D positional audio rendering algorithms […]
Great article Ian, loved it.
That's a really comprehensive article. I hope something comes out of this process. A lot of it sounds like good, common sense, so I'll be interested to see the wider reaction?
One thing that will be a problem though, is the streak of (I hate to say) masochism and competition among some people (at all levels) to do more for less. Longer hours, shorter schedules and lower budgets have become a bit of a badge of honor for some and even worse, normal to others.
I agree, but that's a common problem in most industries, you can't relieve stress for the over achiever that will work 60 hours a week willingly (unless you literally deny that worker from that behavior), but solutions can be made to better the average work environment and profitability in a VFX industry with the terrible need of a standardized business model.
Thanks for this detailed article Mike.
My opinion is that there are 2 basic business rules :
- your customer don't know anything about the technical details so the only way out is to be 100% transparent on what costs what. When changes are requested, be capable to show the customer the trade-offs, and explain. I faced this myself in the past and when you explain the trade-offs and the nuts and bolts to the customer, usually the discussion is calm and very productive.
If you pay a company to do something and everything is opaque, you're not going to accept overruns of any sort. You're afraid you're being ripped off so you play the bad cop and try to squeeze your contractor.
- if there are 7 customers and dozens of suppliers, there is negotiation asymmetry and suppliers need to team up.
Those 2 issues alone explain probably 50% of the industry problems, and there are only 2 solutions for that : industry trade association + proper accounting, up to other industries standards.
I don't think much more can be said on those 2 issues.
For project management practices, it's a little bit like software development : you can push codes on the go and it will cost X, or you can code and design unit tests and it will cost 2X.
Thing is, option 1 will grow exponentially, while option 2 will grow linearly, because you're taking the time to contain complexity.
What you're saying about taking more time in pre-production, and share more information between involved companies is very relevant.
Bravo Mike Seymour. This is a very thorough and thought provoking piece focused on the very essence of the issues facing the VFX industry. Thank you and the whole team at FX Guide!
Well... I've read several articles since bad time began.
I'm currently a VFX graduate student in one of the Art college in US, which said to be well-known in VFX field in the country! However... it turns me down. Teachers teach so little and students learn so little. Every professor is labeled to be veteran once in the industry, but from my point of view the qualification of many of them is questionable. They talk less than a quarter of the class hours about the course they're supposed to teach and could rarely solve problems students have encountered in a right way. And once again, it happens in one of the college which ranks highly in VFX in this country!
I totally agree all you've mentioned in this article. But what I feel confused is that how do we develop this increasingly complicating industry by such poor education?? by those poorly trained workforce?? We've blamed the government, the production company, the budget model, the world competition and and and so forth. But never take a look at ourselves. Do you know how those employees in Apple were trained in their college? How do we compare with them?
Anyway from my very naive point of view, the VFX industry started by exploring the unknown world by a group of engineers, and now it handles largely to the imaginative artists which is good. But the definition of VFX doesn't change, we're still trying to achieve unprecedented effects, trying to make things that have never be shown on the big screen. However now the team is mainly run by artists who have much less knowledge of the foundation principles. Things become tough for sure. I think we do need welcome more engineer, however the fact is that few engineering students are interested in this industry and artists don't wanna learn more than their duty, which, in my opinion, limits our industry a lot.
This is big. It really feels like a professional solution from a group that truly understands this industry. Thanks a lot guys!
Fantastic article, thanks Mike! Hope this gets people talking.
This approach makes a lot of sense, but it won't fix the industry. First off, I wanted to bring up the fact that a lot of companies that seem to have more stable business models are already doing this in one form or another. Weta is the first that comes to mind. When the production company and pipeline is tied to the VFX supplier, and has a vested interested in how efficiently the VFX are executed, the whole pipeline is more coordinated and smoother. Other companies like Mirada, Sony Imageworks, and ILM all seem to have similar models of extensive pre-production to get the R&D out early. I'll admit I have no knowledge of their financials, but I have to assume that's working for them. It's no coincidence, though, that those companies all have A-List directors or production companies behind them that have the bottom line in mind.
The apple model is an interesting comparison, but VFX is too fluid and forgiving to work in the same way. Read any article on this site and you'll see that production companies and directors are changing things until the last possible moment, regardless of whether there was extensive work done in pre-production or post-vis. When apple launches a new phone, there are zero questions marks about cost and schedule it's a physical object that has hard and fast costs involved. VFX are pieces of art, whose costs are based on what someone guesses a director will want 6-18 months from when they make their bid.
This seems like a model that strives for greater efficiency in production, but frankly ignores the realities of how dire the situation is for companies and workers. You brought up the example of an explosion at the beginning of the article that this solution doesn't address yet. An explosion probably wouldn't get extensive look dev, so a director still has the potential to pixel-f**k it endlessly. But I'm curious to know how MAGNOPUS is actually handling this pipeline. How is this all that different from pre-vis and traditional look dev? Is the in-house team basically handing over completed assets? If so, that's great, but it may not be as useful as it seems, since a lot of that work will have to tweaked to fit into the VFX companies' proprietary pipelines- which are essentially the one edge they have on each other that keeps the work balanced. Transparency here doesn't account for the fact that there will always be a moving target for the VFX company to hit. In fact, I worry that this supposed transparency make make the problem worse. With more insight into the budgets, and more of a contribution to the process, studios will be able to say "hey, we gave you all those assets and that great pipeline, so you should charge us less, even though we're going to demand the same number of iterations on a given shot."
Frankly, it strikes me that the only model that would work is to have a trade group, a union, and tariffs, all coupled together. I know that sounds like a serious overhaul of the industry, but it doesn't seem like anything else will really work.
I think that the idea of a trade organization shouldn't be ruled out so quickly, because the problem with the VFX companies is that they simply aren't making enough money to be sustainable. They need additional income to stay solvent. They need to reevaluate the industry as a whole, and set better price points for their work. Everyone is in a race to the bottom, which is too sweet of a deal for the studios. And not just the major studios, this is a problem for the whole film/tv/commercial industry. The only way they can all stay afloat is if they have some collective bargaining power. Artists should think hard about that too, because the companies pass the burdens onto the workers. The workers have to be okay with it, because if the companies fold, they're out of work. We talk about the national boundaries being an issue with a trade organization, but there frankly aren't that many VFX companies that this would be too logistically difficult. And a rising tide will lift all boats- even smaller companies not participating wouldn't be forced to operate on such thin margins then.
The globalization model that all the companies rely on now seems to be a double-edged sword. It's no secret that productions where the creative team is in-house and immediately available benefit greatly from that access. Splitting up the work to different vendors may make for shorter post schedules, but it isn't necessarily saving money in the long term. It's the same for having a 24 hour global pipeline like Pixomondo's on Hugo. Yes, having a 24 hour team working keeps things moving faster, and yes you might be saving money by outsourcing to cheaper labor markets, but you're also losing money through the network and hardware costs, and the communications costs. Whenever a chain of communication has to happen between several branches, you're playing telephone. On top of that, you're playing telephone with different language barriers, and the original intent is absolutely getting muddied in the process, and that means more iterations, and more costs. Having the lion's share of the work under one roof can be extremely helpful (again, look at Weta, ILM, Imageworks). That's true of the smaller vendors too, the more work they can do on a project, the easier the pipeline is to manage. These are all things that the whole industry should think long and hard about. If studios and directors want more control, they should think about keeping things local- having everyone in the same room is huge. Having the whole team in the same room during a spotting session, or a review session, can save endless headaches. Artists should keep it in mind too, because international issues with unions could be simplified if fewer countries are involved in the negotiations process. And I'm not trying to hurt the workers in countries like China and India, but their labor laws, wages, and union situation (or lack thereof) aren't going to change any time soon. A union solution makes sense if you pair it with tariffs. Not to mention that this industry has a real problem with jobs for newcomers. Starting at the bottom is virtually impossible in a western nation now.
When it comes to profit shaing, the studios aren't dummies- the only reason VFX companies were allowed to invest in the films listed above was because the studios knew that they would be VFX-intensive projects with slim margins on their earnings. I'm not trying to knock those movies, but none of them really had great commercial potential, and the studios knew it. I don't know the details on those deals, but my assumption would be that the companies were invited to participate when the studios realized they had a dud on their hands and it was too late to shut the project down. It can't be that they're "allowed" to invest in the film, because then they're shouldering all the risk and all the upfront costs, which is simply too sweet of a deal for the studios. Not to mention that this model really only works for film, and ignores the VFX work done on television and commercials.
Finally, I want to bring up the fact that if workers and studios really want the best deal, they should cut out the vendors all together. That's obviously not going to happen for so many reasons, but if the workers worked directly for the studio, they would have a much easier time unionizing. Virtually every job on a studio production is unionized- from craft services to the lot couriers to the security guards. I have worked on the production side and the post side for a long time, and I think many of your readers would be interested to know that a grip with no college education can make $500/day, transpo drivers make a minimum of $400/day. How many VFX artists with college educations and even masters degrees can say that? Studios would be happier because they would have complete control over their budgets and the whole process. Right now they have a great deal with the vendors that allows them to pay the absolute least they have to get a job done. But by owning the whole post pipeline, they would have complete control of the process, and therefore keep the costs to the minimums they want. Workers could unionize. And directors would be happy because the whole pipeline would be under one roof, making it easier for them to oversee everything. The smaller companies handling small films, tv, and commercials could still work in their niches, but ad studio-based VFX team would make the most sense for major films, and even for some TV shows, when the studio owns the show.
I also wanted to make it clear, I'm definitely not saying that transpo workers and grips don't deserve that money, they absolutely do. They're critical members of a production, and they work incredibly hard. I'm just saying that VFX artists work really hard too, and would benefit greatly from having some of the same protections and benefits that other film workers do.
[…] another box office hit. Be sure to check out a behind the scenes breakdown of Hercules in this FXGuide interview. You’ll hear how concept artist Rob Bliss and the Weta Workshop used ZBrush to bring a […]
Great article Mike. And Ben is certainly one of the smartest and most talented guys in the biz that I know. But I think there's one very important solution to the VFX business model that was overlooked.
I've been in the biz for over twenty years now and I've been with several companies, large and small (Cinesite, Manex, PDI South), that have come and gone without warning. The common problem with all of these companies was that they treated their client, the entertainment industry, like it was a stable business.
This isn't like making an iphone where one company is taking its time to develop and produce a piece of equipment that everyone wants.
This is a business made up of countless companies working with insane schedules and individuals with very different ideas on what everyone wants. What's more, at any point, a single actor, Brad Pitt, can trip over a curb, twist his ankle, and production grinds to a halt for two months. Or a studio replaces a director and eveything has to be rebuilt from scratch (The Hobbit). Shows get cancelled because of ratings or financial problems, writer's strikes, studio politics, location issues, floods. Just watch "Lost in La Mancha".
For a VFX company that is living month to month (like Rhythm and Hues), it's an insane balancing act.
The studios that have stood the test of time have developed one of two strategies. Either you distance yourself from being a service provider and develop your own content and IP (like Pixar & PDI) or learn from the early days of the studio system.
The early days of the studio system looked much like all the big VFX companies which are folding on a dialy basis. They would build huge sound stages, buy expensive equipment, hire employees (actors, directors, tech) and keep them on staff year round to produce movies. The problem was, when they weren't producing movies, they were wasting money.
Over the years, it made sense to just rent the equipment, studio space, and staff the people you needed on a project basis. The VFX industry has slowly started to learn this over the past ten years.
I've worked with several companies who have done this well. Hammerhead is a fairly small company at its core, but when they took on "Riddick" they simply housed the production at Universal Studios, rented the equipment, and hired up 40 or so artists for the job. After the show was done, it all went away. We used the same strategy when I was VFX Sup at New Deal Studios.
The biggest challenge with this system is resource management. Specifically, talented individuals who you can count on in a moment's notice. I've worked with Zoic for the past ten years and they do this very well. They have a huge database of names they rely on to staff any project virtually overnight.
As for R&D, look again to the studio system. They rely mostly on vendors to create new technology. New cameras, lights, editorial software is developed by other companies. The same goes for VFX companies. Extensive in-house development is being replaced by off-the-shelf software from Autodesk, Foundry, and Shotgun. The added benefit of using these programs is that artists don't have to spend an extensive amount of time learning custom tools.
As for the rest of the problems with the industry, tax incentives are not the solution. It's simply a race to the bottom. Someone will always be there to outbid you. A tariff sounds like a good solution against outsourcing, but how to enforce a tariff on digital media? I'm sure the evolution of the internet will have an answer to that one soon.
In the meantime, one of the biggest problems I see in the VFX industry right now is the assumption among artists that "they'll never be better than us", referring to overseas artists in third world countries. Its arrogant to assume that we're the only talented individuals out there when literally millions of artists are being trained up right now. I'm old enough to remember that "Made in China" used to be a joke before foreign companies nearly wiped out our auto industry.
You want to know what the future holds and the solutions? Look to history.
(Robert and I continued part of this conversation on Facebook, so some might be missing, but I thought I'd try to bring it back here, reposted below.)
These are all good points Robert, and we've given those exact ones some thought and tested them out on various jobs while experimenting with different approaches.
Software incompatibility is an issue, and what we've done so far is try to align our pipeline during visual develop with a target vendor, if one exists. For example, we've been switching between Maya and Max and various plugins, if we already know the work is going somewhere specific. We do a quick assessment of what they're using and what works best for them, and then adjust how we're doing things to suit.
If we don't yet know where it's going (as we often don't) then we try to stay "middle of the road" and make sure that we're doing work that exports to standard conventions properly. While it's preferable to have visual reference than not, we still aim to provide files that can be picked up and taken over without too much hassle. So far, it's worked out quite well. In some cases, we've been able to say "Here's the approved look, here's the tools we used to create it, here's what we learned, here's some things we optimized, here's some future opportunities for efficiency you can pursue, here's how long each shot takes in each task, and here's the things the director is most likely to want to play with on a shot by shot basis."
You did point out in your earlier post that most people are using off the shelf tools now, which makes it easier to interchange. A lot of the things that tend to be custom now, are tools for efficiency. Pipeline tools. Management tools. And we're working with Shotgun to develop workflows that can be deployed to any vendor that uses Shotgun AND ingest / export tools that can plug into facilities that don't use Shotgun, or something like it. It's come a long way in the last few years, but there's still a lot of upcoming features to make this all really work. Integrated time tracking on shot tasks, moving things between facilities and converting them, there's an endless list of opportunity that would let the industry develop financial standards, not dissimilar from what the AICP has, for example.
Regarding the "old studio system" of having equipment and facilities on site, we've run into a frosty reception there. So far, studios have had very limited interest in making any of the capital expenditures required to support even a modest "vfx type" team. We have absolutely seen exceptions to this, but not on any significant scale. Some studios have tried providing infrastructure (SPE on 2012, etc.) but it hasn't quite worked out in the long haul because people don't quite know what to do with it when the project is over, so it tends to go away, or fall apart. It's worth pointing out that ALL the studios are going through cost cutting and staff reduction. We've been told point-blank that project costs are ok, but anything thats an infrastructure investment, or goes across multiple projects, or becomes a "department" or involves scaling up any existing department at the studio, is a non-starter.
In the tests we've done on site with studios so far, we've needed to bring in rental equipment (farm, workstations, licenses, support equipment, etc.) They don't mind putting labor on payroll if it's well managed, but rental rates for that equipment is not as good a deal as ownership after between 3 to 8 months depending on the gear. That being the case, the requirements of this kind of development team, or even an in-house vfx team, exceed what's normally available to easily rent (then you need to have someone to set it up and support the artists. For this reason, we've started providing custom gear and expertise to do this on a weekly/daily rental cost that's reasonable, just to make the approach possible. In fact, it works exactly like a production services company providing grip equipment or a 1st AC charging a weekly for his own FI+Z. It's a standard formula.
You point out Cloud rendering, and correctly so. I am less optimistic about the "few more years" outlook, but agree that this will be a game changer in the future. We've met with smart people from Google, among other cloud providers, to discuss how to make this work financially. While we've tested it, and used it on jobs, it is ineffective from a cost perspective as to be not worth considering except in an emergency right now. I'll skip posting all the formulas and details to not derail this thread, but it's fairly simple math, and I encourage everyone to do it and see if it works for them. I think you'll be surprised at the results, if you look at it with a calculator in front of you, instead of a press release.
Presently, in looking at the cost changes trend, we do not see this hitting a tipping point soon, (and frankly if ever, for a baseline, rather than just spikes) BUT we're continuing to work on that side of it because it may enable other useful things, like people working remotely from a cloud-based server that deploys workstations and licenses adjacent to cloud storage and render capacity. We absolutely see an critical role for cloud computing in the future, but unfortunately at present, anyone saying they can work from home with the "power of thousands of computers at their fingertips" is independently wealthy, or hasn't actually done it.
Speaking of working from home, that has it's own set of challenges, that can make it a less than ideal solution in some cases, BUT certainly things can be going that way for some things. I do not see this as an ideal solution for an "industry-wide" approach presently. We work with a few artists working from home, and vendors around the world, and I see the value of proximity for a lot of things. The more spatially and temporally-distant everyone is, the hard it becomes to collaborate. Not impossible, but again, there's a tipping point financially where you say "is this worth it?" And that's something we're keeping a close eye on, and testing on projects regularly.
Tariffs probably requires a dedicated thread unto itself. But the notion of tariffs as a solution to a subsidy problem is "California-centric" and outside of the scope of our particular approach, which tried to be more industry-wide. It's possible that US tariffs or CVDs could reduce the tax credits and subsidies around the US and the World as they become less-effective, but that would have a net negative impact globally on artist rates and vendor health in the industry. We're not taking a position on this issue, just making the observation that though we happen to be a California company with offices in downtown LA, talent is global now, and so is "Hollywood."
Que lastima que la niña que hace la traducción al Español, ni siquiera entienda lo que dice, es decir SI lo traduce bien, pero se nota que no entiende nada, pura pantalla. NECESITO CONVICCION preferiria una postproductora hablando de esto, en vez de una periodista.
Can I just express my deep thanks for the level of the comments on this story. Agree or disagree, clearly people are raising good points but doing so in a constructive way. I really am sincere in how much we appreciate that and how much respect we have for you guys. It would be easy to jump in with witty or silly comments but given the huge number of reads on this article already and the amount of considered comments - ... well 'thanks' hardly seems enough to say. Anyway these are serious times and we really appreciate the thought that you guys have put into your comments... so thanks.
Good comments all,
However, you have written this article with the assumption that its a new and dynamic process not tried by anyone else. We all know and recognise the problems within the industry and that research is spot on, we all face the same issues from TV up. But there is nothing revolutionary about requesting a development budget to research method before quoting on the bulk of the shots. We have tried to follow this method for a long time with little success apart from on one series. Guess what, we won an RTS award and that show won the BAFTA for best drama in the UK on a smaller budget than its competitors. You are preaching what we already know, as talented as MAGNOPUS are this will not change our industry.
For instance, why have Ftrack and Shotgun never focused on a billing module for their tools? Its low on the radar as hours are rarely turned into a billable amount. Dont get me started on tools that create work for a fee and have no way of actually billing the client. We're forced to agree rates or lose the work, thats the bare bones of it. Any other sensible manufacturing industry bills the time to R&D and develop into the product, then bill for the product. So what is the real reason for our broken model?
The article neglects the fact that the majority of Apples parts are manufactured where its much cheaper on labour. Working conditions are poor but they need the contracts. Why? Because Apple own the product and the IP, the workers are little more than service providers. This world economic model is mirrored perfectly in Films worldwide and is now passing over into TV. Wealth is far outstripping income and the people on income are hardest hit. There is not a UK independent film made that doesn't benefit from tax breaks on the way in (usually via EIS special vehicles) and country wide government backed tax incentives. The latter applies to studio films too. It encourages inward investment but at a price. People are being paid less to do the work, we do more hours, yet the relief on business being here is high. How is that a sustainable model? More of the cash is finding its way back to who own IP and the product. We're not against this completely, as good product make economies tick but when all product owners, high net worth individuals and multinationals spend most of their time trying to find tax loopholes then its a wider issue than whether or not we get an R&D budget.
We work in a saturated market which make it far easier for owners to pay what they want. Apart from those who have morals (what?) in the way they conduct business you dont stand a chance by adjusting our workflow/payment process. It works but there is not enough necessity for the controllers of wealth to change. They are doing just fine with short term gain vs long term stability. They will choose short term every time. We need to think bigger than accountants do. How?
1. An organised labour movement worldwide -
As you have mentioned is impossible and unprecedented in history. Really? How long can we get paid less for longer hours over time? We can stand up for our industry and we should. If we can organise a global economy we can organise a global protest. I say this as a businessman too because once you push service providers too far it will need a catastrophic event to change anything. For instance, the last time the labour movement triumphed over wealth was after the second world war when labour was needed to re build the economy. No one wants that again
2. Own the content -
As many have proved, we need to own the IP and reward ourselves. We do have skillsets some studios dont and its easier to get films out there digitally. Work on your ideas and reward those who work with you. This is where we can all work together to produce great content and is a really inspiring model.
3. Shut up -
If you don't want to stand up for your industry or make something just accept the lower pay and get on with it. As i've stated, you wont change what is a global process by bleating on about a change in when we are allowed to bid and develop an idea or method. You may end up with option one on your hands eventually though.
[…] 1 of 2. This part deals with the rendering trends in the VFX industry today. Part 2 includes a run down of 14 of the most popular renderers for VFX. Many of the issues in this […]
[…] VFX supervisor Weta Digital) used it extensively in the original Lord of the Rings films (see this 2004 fxg interview) and it was key to the original ground breaking look of Gollum. But SSS is very expensive and hard […]
[…] Christophe Hery implemented the MIS used on MU and it worked off a Power 2 formula also from Veach’s original Ph.D. Interestingly, this is one of the few occasions in recent times where the software used by Pixar was slightly out of step with the public RenderMan. Far from this being a deliberate withholding, it seems Pixar almost over ran the RenderMan team’s schedule of implementation, but this is now getting back in sync, such was the dramatic nature of the adjustment to the new approach. (You can learn more about the physically plausible shaders in MU in our 2013 fxguide article here). […]
[…] as is the case with Weta Digital and Panata-Ray and their use of spherical harmonics (see our fxguide story on Weta’s impressive Panta Ray), it was not seen as a viable option for production rendering. This has changed, and now not only […]
[…] RenderMan from Pixar fully supports deep color and they have worked very successfully with Weta Digital who use deep color on most if not now all productions including the complex work for the battle on Krypton for Man of Steel. […]
[…] OpenSubdiv is covered by an opensource license and is free to use for commercial or non-commercial use. This is the same code that Pixar uses internally for animated film production. Actually it was the short film Geri’s Game that first used subdivision surfaces at Pixar.See fxguide story including a link to the Siggraph paper explaining it. […]
[…] Due to its multi-pass nature, a point-based method is not suitable for interactive lighting design. The latest version of this approach from Pixar is outlined in the 2012 Per H Chistensen paper. It is based on storing post-shading radiosity values from grids of micropolygon vertices. By caching the radiosity, the Pixar team captured and reused both direct and indirect illumination and reduced the number of shader evaluations. By shading a grid of points together rather than shading individual points, their approach was suitable for a REYES-style SIMD shader execution (non-ray traced in other words). The authors noted that their method was similar to Greg Ward’s irradiance cache approach, Greg Ward being a true pioneer in many areas of radiosity and HDRs (see our fxg Art of HDR story from 2005). […]
[…] our industry with a real understanding of security issues and comprehensive licensing solutions. (see our ZYNC story here). For example both ZYNC and Green Button now support V-Ray, and Chaos has a special cloud renderer […]
[…] 2.1 RenderMan – Pixar 2.2 Arnold – Solid Angle 2.3 V-Ray – Chaos Group 2.4 Maxwell Render – Next Limit 2.5 Mantra – Side Effects Software 2.6 CINEMA 4D – Cinema4D 2.7 Modo – The Foundry 2.8 Lightwave – Newtek 2.9 Mental Ray – Nvidia 2.10 3Delight – DNA Research 2.11 FinalRender – Cebas 2.12 Octane – Otoy 2.13 Clarisse iFX 2.14 Lagoa […]
[…] All of this was seen most recently when key members of the Pixar team such as Christophe Hery and others such as Jean-Claude Kalache implemented physically based lighting and shading inside RenderMan using ray tracing. (Read our article on MU). […]
[…] For some time fxguide readers you may recall that SPI flagged that they had moved to fully ray traced SSS on the last Spider-Man film. […]
[…] effects animation more than anything else today. Mantra is included with Houdini. In 2012 fxguide celebrated the 25th anniversary of the company. In that story we […]
[…] fxguide has written about the product when it was launched over a year ago, and was heavily featured at the last Nvidia GPU conference. At that conference it was announced that it would be used by Josh Trank, director of The Fantastic Four, for his in house vfx team. Trank appeared on stage during the keynote speech of Nvidia chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang at the GPU Technology conference in San José. Trank touted how his special effects team will be able to tap cloud-rendering technology from OTOY to create the movie at a much lower cost. […]
[…] it takes to render vast scenes quickly. Actually irradiance caching had been mentioned a year ago when we wrote of the launch of the product, and at that time it was thought to be in beta. As a company they do not do a normal release cycle […]
[…] A great example of the flexibility of RenderMan is in the way it is used by Weta Digital for extremely large renders, splitting the rendering problem and using a GPU pre-render using and storing spherical harmonics, with PantaRay pre final render. This robust pre render is very different from the point cloud pre-renders outlined elsewhere in this document and you can read about it here in our fxguide story. […]
[…] Much of the history of Solid Angle and the development of Arnold by its founder Marcos Fajardo was covered in our previous Art of Rendering piece. […]
[…] All of this was seen most recently when key members of the Pixar team such as Christophe Hery and others such as Jean-Claude Kalache implemented physically based lighting and shading inside RenderMan using ray tracing. (Read our article on MU). […]
[…] A great example of the flexibility of RenderMan is in the way it is used by Weta Digital for extremely large renders, splitting the rendering problem and using a GPU pre-render using and storing spherical harmonics, with PantaRay pre final render. This robust pre render is very different from the point cloud pre-renders outlined elsewhere in this document and you can read about it here in our fxguide story. […]
[…] But the energy conservation and physical lights and shaders are not just the limit of path tracing new renderers. ILM adopted this approach some time ago with Iron Man 2. (See our lengthy interview with ILM’s Ben Snow from 2011). […]
[…] Much of the history of Solid Angle and the development of Arnold by its founder Marcos Fajardo was covered in our previous Art of Rendering piece. […]
Really interesting post, thanks for sharing.
I will admit, I'm still struggling to see where this would really improve conditions in the industry and empower and improve the overall experience of the VFX artist; or how this is much more than an evolutionary step forward in what we're doing already.
I've seen many projects where a different VFX studio did the initial visual development and the facility I worked for tried to deliver that product. Granted it may not have been as extensive as outlined here, but it is none-the-less a standard practice. Likewise, when we outsource work at one of the big facilities, we're also doing something along the lines of this manufacturing approach, sharing assets and technology with third parties.
This all feels, to me, more like a way to deal with structural inefficiencies than to really begin reshaping our industry and improving the lot of the workers within it. I'd love to see a follow up article that focuses purely on how a manufacturing model will improve conditions for artists.
There are, to me, clearer issues and more revolutionary ways to shake-up this industry in ways that are beneficial to the worker. As food for thought on this article, see my post:
Reinventing the CG Wheel Part 1: The Problem of the CEO
https://animcoop.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/reinvent-the-wheel-part-1-the-problem-of-the-ceo/
Good points, Mr. or Ms. Coop! 🙂
The reality here is that nothing revolutionary is being pitched here. And that was the point.
A lot of little “evolutionary” changes, influenced by history, have a big impact.
While on the surface the operational impact might not seem to be significant, what it attempts to build towards is a change in the business model, and how visual effects are "paid for and delivered” to create a positive change for everyone, not just one group. The mechanics of one group designing and one group executing, have been happening for years, but the economics of HOW they’re doing it haven’t changed and are most frequently different than what we’re talking about here. The shift to time-and-materials in development, and the resulting evolution towards transparency that can create a cost-plus economic system are probably the biggest thing. And they’re made possible by lots of little changes in other areas.
By making a stronger connection between creative and financial responsibility in development, you reduce risk and can increase transparency in execution. The reason this is important is that it improves the financial condition of the visual effects vendors or artists working directly in this approach, while returning greater understanding and efficiency (i.e. lower total costs, shorter turnarounds, increased capability, more creative flexibility) to the production or studio, so that interests are aligned, and everyone benefits.
I keep using that word transparency because that’s how the rest of the film industry works, and VFX doesn’t. Sure, we say “well, here’s your movie and it’s gonna cost about $10M bucks and will be about 9,000 artist days, and some stuff.” But when it comes to operational awareness that producers are used to having so they can make decisions, and take responsibility for them, we don’t generally provide it as an industry practice. In our testing, when we provide it, the conflict dissipates and suddenly people are more aligned.
Strangely enough, what's written is so familiar that many studios or productions have told me "Sure, that's the way we did it on " and funny enough, it wasn't. I know because either I did that project, or I had a long post mortem with several different parties at several levels on both sides, who did. I like that's it's intuitive enough to be boring, but there are very few examples of visual effects movies that have really been done like this. Interestingly at some point, nearly every studio we talked to said "Oh you know what? This is almost exactly how we do our animation movies in our animation division. And it works really well." Of course to that I wonder "Then, given that many of your big movies have a VFX usage rate between 50% and 90% of the total film, do you suppose maybe there are some lessons to be learned from animation?"
The reason this article deferred too much concentration on the "Problem of the Artist" is that we hope to build to that conversation. The article is already long, and much on that topic was delayed to a future discussion for clarity. But our reasoning was this: If you can't fix the financial structure and efficiency of the industry as a whole system, you don’t have much ability to fix any of the problems of the artists.
And in fact, I think we all know in great detail what the problems of the artists are. Not just in the US, but in China, Canada, the UK, India, Germany. You name the crime, and it's been documented thoroughly in the comments of numerous press releases, blogs, twitter accounts, and trade articles. And these horror stories are very real, and shameful. They're bad in all of these countries in more-or-less equal measure.
I myself started in this industry with a flat weekly rate of $800 as a roto/paint artist whether I was working 50hrs/week (the least I worked) or 132 hrs/week (the most I worked) and all of that, of course, was as a 1099 employee with no health care, who got screwed again every time taxes were due. Now I find myself frequently in the position of creating and defending large visual effects budgets and it is impossible to ignore the reality that in our calculations, and in our actuals, we see that ~80% of the costs are labor. So when I'm across the conference table from the executive producers, or even in some cases, the financiers of a film, or the head of a studio, getting screamed at (not an exaggeration) "The visual effects budget is too ****ing high, it's the single largest ******** line item in the budget, and it needs to come down by at least 30 ***ing percent," it's a tough position. And a lot of times they’re right! I’ve actually been lectured about this by directors before too, but in a slightly more civilized tone. (Just don’t want you to think that producers are evil.) Unfortunately, there’s a very widespread perception that visual effects is rolling in dough.
In reality what will happen if a solution isn't forthcoming is that some poor VFX producer or supervisor might say "It costs what it costs, and we can't do less." And then someone else, possibly someone who is facing the reality of going bankrupt next month if they don't get some cashflow going, possibly someone who hasn't done a project that big before and is overconfident, possibly someone who plans on squeezing every last person who works for them by "just a little bit" is going to take that job, and do it at 30% less.
The "little people" at the bottom of that kill chain are the roto/paint artists.
Several of the things we mentioned; Unions, Trade Associations, etc, seek to address to conditions of these artists, and rightfully so. It is a wonderful thing that our industry can now develop and support a community of artists who can work in their home countries worldwide, because they bring such unique talent and perspectives. It is unfortunate that globalization makes it difficult to protect this new labor force across borders while this economic system stabilizes (or is buffeted by unnatural market forces such as subsidies and rebates.) It is also unfortunate that during this time, workers and families will be displaced as they are required to relocate to the most "economically feasible" regions.
But to implement these countermeasures of protection for the artists, if they're a reality, applies an upward pressure on the system without creating a vent at the top. Shareholders are the worst employer, and if you think that getting yelled at and fired by Scott Rudin is epic, wait until the shareholders see a movie slate underperform and cut the valuation of stocks, forcing thousands of layoffs, and the mandate that the sequel be made for "30% less." And let's not forget the audience, who are still going to expect 30% MORE slow-motion exploding dinosaurs.
That's why in all these little adjustments, at every level in the process, we're trying to ask the question "isn't there a better way of doing things that aligns the players in this system better so they’re not at conflict? Can we improve one player’s situation, without taking away from someone else?" And that goes from roto/paint right to the director. There's a lot that's been left out of this article, and will probably come up in future discussion, but there really is no "silver bullet."
Does the present system dissatisfy roto/paint artists? Certainly. Are VFX vendors hurting? I think that’s clear. But you’d also be surprised to know that directors aren’t exactly happy either. Nor are producers or studio executives. A true solution is going to require that everyone gets something a little better than what they had before, and as much as possible, without stealing it from the pocket of the other person at the table. That kind of collaboration doesn’t usually happen in a Revolution, but comes naturally in an Evolution.
[…] Link: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/vfx-roll-call-for-the-avengers/ […]
[…] up considerably, but then when HFR is added into the equation it goes up even more. For example, Eric Saindon of Weta Digital told FXGuide that, “On a film like Avatar we had about a petabyte of information – for Hobbit we’re […]
The “way forward” for the VFX industry should be framed around the very real exploitation of those who create and sustain the VFX industry: VFX workers.
VFX workers will eliminate their exploitation when they use the power of IASTE to force the Motion Picture Studios to treat VFX workers just like every other motion picture craft worker. VFX workers will not eliminate their exploitation by inserting more layers of middlemen, such as Magnumopus, into the VFX production process.
Unlike other motion picture workers, VFX workers are not protected by the IASTE wage and health and welfare and pension agreements that the Motion Picture Studios are signatories to. Without IASTE contract protections, VFX workers are vulnerable to inevitable exploitation, as has been the situation since the dawn of modern VFX, with the 1975-77 Star Wars, a non-Union VFX movie that probably attracted many of today’s VFX artists to work in the world of non-union VFX.
Are VFX workers entitled to 1.5 X wages after 40 hours of work per week, or after 8 hours per day? Are VFX workers entitled to 2X wages after 50 hours per week or 10 hours per day? Are VFX workers entitled to double time on the 6th day of work? Are VFX workers entitled to medical and dental plans paid by their employer? Are VFX workers entitled to a pension, when they’re too old to work? If VFX workers are not just like any other motion picture worker, then the answer is NO.
Until VFX workers look up from their terminals, realize they are just like any other motion picture worker, entitled to the same wage and benefit rules, nothing will change, and VFX workers will continue to be pimped as child labor.
Today, Motion Picture Studios budget their VFX movies knowing that VFX Studios provide a mechanism for the Motion Picture Studios, as signatories to the IASTE labor agreements, to employ non-union VFX workers. If VFX workers were IATSE Union workers, Motion Picture Studios would pay the VFX Studios the increased costs, but only because the profits from VFX movies justify the increased costs of VFX Union workers.
The motion picture business is a project driven business. Motion picture workers have always been migrant workers. When the project is finished, the worker moves on to the next project. The employer of the workers may or may not stay in business, a “problem” that should not concern the worker. An IATSE Union motion picture worker’s health and pension benefits are paid into a protected Pension fund that travels with the migrant worker.
The “way forward” for the VFX worker is to organize within a Union structure, not to be burdened with yet another enforcer for the motion picture studios, such as Magnumopus.
The way forward is to embrace the reality that for better or worse, the VFX workers is no different from any other motion picture worker, and should be compensated under the same terms and conditions.
If you look at the history of Hollywood unions, you’ll see it was a very difficult struggle, with many saying it never could or should happen.
When the dust settled, the Union motion picture worker was infinitely better off. The Union motion picture worker IS infinitely better off than the non-Union, exploited motion picture worker.
[…] a CBS Digital nagyon pozitív kritikákat kapott az első évadon végzett munkájáért (erről itt látható egy érdekes, technikai részletekben bővelkedő videó), a páros számú évadokat viszont ki […]
[…] The action certainly makes up for the film’s few shortcomings. According to fxguide.com Transformers: Age of Extinction was a massive production. Much larger in scale than the first three films in the franchise. Age of Extinction required a bigger crew size, the shooting locations were more dynamic, effects shots and stereo delivery. In fact, it is the largest film production in the history of visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic. ILM visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar is quoted saying that the Age of Extinction film was the “heaviest data wrangling picture I’ve ever done, the largest in ILM’s history. It was the largest crew I’ve ever had – 500 people. It was IMAX and 3D so you’re rendering twice as much at least. Our work is about 90 minutes worth of the movie.” — http://www.fxguide.com/featured/age-of-extinction-ilm-turns-up-its-transformers-toolset/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/pan-am-retro-green-screen-world/ […]
I like the vfx show. I appreciate the time everyone takes to talk about these films and share their thoughts. It does strike me as odd sometime when I listen to a show and the discussion goes deep into real world practicality and how the films does not hold to these real world "rules". But the fact that a movie may have 12 foot troll smashing a building or a man flying around in an iron suit shooting laser beams from his hands or 500 alien ships attacking earth does not phase anyone. How do we hold films to real world practicality when the stories are fictional and filled with fictional characters.
Something called "coherence" I guess. It's not about what's "real", it is about what is plausible. That's why you can have more realism and coherence in a science-fiction movie than in a drama comedy.
Thank you for the replies/input and thank you for the link. I agree with most all of what was said within that article. Use the real world as a jumping off point. Posting my comment at the bottom of the Interstellar Podcast may have been a bad choice since humans do exist, Saturn exists, and space travel in some form exists. There are a lot of real world things we can all use as a reference when watching this film.
In the end, I think my overall comment is more to the idea that a lot of us that like VFX & movies often can pick apart something like the muscle mass of a 5 story reptile that smashes through New York. Come on, you have a problem with whether the muscle mass is anatomically correct to support the mutant reptiles head but you do not question the fact that a 5 story high mutant reptile is smashing New York. That part of the film didn't throw you out of the story? The muscle mass not being able to support the characters head is what threw you out of the story.
I enjoyed Interstellar. I have enjoyed the curiosity it has sparked in me regarding physics, gravity and if it really can effect "time" the way they display in the film. Not to find out if the film is right or wrong. Just to learn.
Any article about Foundry sale?
[…] fxguide オーストラリアAlt VFX […]
Blur Studio is a well known among the people in the world. This studio is recognized well for its dynamic, intricate and engaging cinematic work. So far the studio was able to host a lot of cinematic work that has inspired a lot of people across the globe. If you need much information regarding this studio, Alternate Dispute Resolution essay writing can give you perfect picture.
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/legend-or-truth-the-vfx-of-hercules/ […]
[…] up^ “Exclusive: Foundry NAB Preview”. FX Guide. March 29, 2010. Retrieved […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/heroic_vfx_stargate_digital_and_nbcs_heroes/?ua=ipad […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] primary technique used for flying stunts are wire harnesses and then wire removal. The actors wear a harness which is connected to wires that suspend the actor in mid-air. If the […]
[…] 制作プロダクション：Motion Theory fxguide […]
[…] ( & VFX in Los Angeles – 100 hour weeks & homeless […]
[…] five have gone out of business or bankrupt:Digital Domain,Asylum FX,Cinesite: Hollywood ,Cafe FX,and now Rhythm and […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/visualeffectsprotestatoscars/ […]
[…] studio will give them work if they fight back. A must watch. And, here is a link to the VES Understanding Unions Panel Report from fx […]
[…] fxguidetv #159: 32TEN Studios – This week we go behind the scenes of our fx2012 practical and digital effects workshop at 32TEN Studios in San Rafael, and we preview the October 2012 vfx training courses available at fxphd. […]
[…] Digital Domain, what does it all mean? […]
[…] & Great behind the scenes article of Brave focusing mostly on the hair […]
[…] A nice long article about render principles and the most used renderers: part 1 part 2 […]
Another important factor is the resources, market and growth distributing not balanced in a global environment. The industry is almost saturated in North America, but it is lacking in most parts of Europe and Asia
[…] to FXGuide.com, Williams explained that using the hero suits as reference points for the various non-distinct […]
[…] dieser Gelegenheit möchte ich auf den exzellenten Post The Art of Roto von fxguide […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/making-a-musical-les-miserables/ […]
[…] Imágenes | FXGuide […]
[…] How Digic made the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag trailer […]
[…] The science of Spherical Harmonics at Weta Digital, FX Guide […]
[…] FXGuide has a fantastically detailed write up on the production and its VFX workflow. The article covers the miniatures, CGI and design work involved in creating the film’s futuristic world both on planet earth and inside the titular Elysium. A brilliant read. […]
[…] Link […]
[…] Read More […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the_art_of_wire_removal/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ […]
[…] CG robots, milk sims, digi-enviros & macro-cloth […]
[…] HERE is a fantastic longform article on the VFX of Catching […]
[…] Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth Nippon Connection Filmfestival bei startnext Vergessene Kinderstars: Überdosis Ruhm […]
That was great , thank you so much for this article:)
Impressive! Very impressive! Fantastic looking!
But... why do I still get the feeling I'm watching a game-trailer? :/
[…] remember me (2) they also approximate by considering two […]
[…] The Hobbit: Weta returns to Middle-earth … – fxguide explores the world of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with Weta Digital and the filmmakers behind Peter Jackson’s epic vision…. […]
[…] fxguide.com/featured/mutantland-from-the-mind-of-phil-tippett/ […]
[…] FX Guide Mac Pro Review – John Montegomery from FX Guide provides a really in-depth review of the new Mac Pro, if you only read one link, read this one. […]
[…] 3D Phantom Menace Interview with John Knoll […]
Great Job Guys! I especially liked the happy accident in Raiders.
[…] Art of Optical Flow | fxguide – We asked Prof. Michael Black, now at Brown University, just how optical flow works in simple terms: “Optical flow is the apparent motion of image pixels or …… […]
[…] The Art of Rendering (updated) | fxguide – The goal of realistic rendering is to compute the amount of light reflected from visible scene surfaces that arrives to the virtual camera through image …… […]
[…] The Hobbit: Weta returns to Middle-earth … – fxguide explores the world of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with Weta Digital and the filmmakers behind Peter Jackson’s epic vision…. […]
[…] Motion Capture in action by Animatrik […]
[…] One of the cool things about The Lego Movie was the directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s smart use of computer animation to create smooth highly detailed faces and features (Wyldstyle especially), but they also create expansive universes while never forgetting that their world is made of Legos. To accomplish that rigid feel of Lego movement in the otherwise high definition environments Lord and Miller used stop motion techniques in their computer simulation, backed by the specific brick dimensions of actual Legos from the LEGO Digital Designer database. […]
[…] Six months or so after ending my time with Paroxetine, I came across a film titled ‘Limitless‘. It tells the story of one Eddie Morra who takes a Nootropic drug, NZT-48, after stumbling across his ex-wife’s estranged brother who hooks Eddie on NZT-48, chemically making him dependant and addicted to the drugs effects. The funny thing that I felt that I connected to, was how the drug affected the character in the movie. It was similar, yet the complete opposite in effect, to what I had been on. I had fogginess instead of clearness. Going through and overcoming withdrawals somewhat emulated in real life, figuratively, that skewed “360” lens array (in fact, a 420-degree panoramic view). […]
Great show. If Dawn doesn't win it's a damn shame. How does Rise or Dawn not win at least one VFX Oscar between the two of them?
Super show! Surprised you didn't mention the fact that The Lego Movie was snubbed...
well this made me laugh about that - https://vimeo.com/117684241
[…] Read the full article on FXGuide […]
It looks great job , I will try it.
[…] latest episode of the FX Guide podcast features a rich discussion of film, the entire Bond franchise, title sequences and the visual effect work invol… For the hour and half of chat Mike Seymour is joined by Matt Leonard and Ed […]
[…] Guide has a brilliantly in-depth article on the visual effects work that went into the film including details on the opening planet Nibiru sequence, the attack on the […]
[…] Guide has an extensive write up, featuring several exclusive videos, on the stunning visual effects work that went into creating the oceanic world of The Life of Pi. The article is pretty long, covering […]
[…] More detail on this scene over on AWN and FXGuide TV. […]
[…] old episode from FXGuide has a lengthy discussion with a feature’s DIT at about 18 minutes in with an Australian DIT working on some of the first RED feature […]
Some interesting tech you all mentioned. Are the show notes available anywhere?
Not that I don't trust who makes this decisions on the awards or who goes to pick them up, but how a modeler supervisor is part of a team for technical awards? Did he also wrote the tools? Is not suppose to be software developer or R&D?
In any case the tool looks amazing, well deserved.
[…] are setting in those shaders. This is why there are “best practices” guides (like this one from Dontnod Entertainment). Then we can be certain our shaders will work with any lighting. But when we get crazy and want to […]
[…] FXGuide.com – Digital Storytelling – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo […]
[…] When kittens and buffalos transform: a how-to […]
Interesting article.
Autodesk will need to offer floating rental global access licenses like The Foundry or Side Effects Software already does. Even for a small studio like mine with only a few seats but with multiple users, licenses that are locked to end user accounts is cumbersome to say least. Otherwise I see no other way that to phase out Autodesk products completely.
Seems like Autodesk will offer some sort network subscription later on:
http://static-dc.autodesk.net/content/dam/autodesk/docs/pdfs/PerpetualLicensePublicFAQ.pdf
[…] Art of Destruction (or Art of Blowing Crap Up)Destruction pipelines today are key aspects of any major visual effects pipeline. Many current pipelines are based on Rigid Body Simulations (RBS) or otherwise referred to as Rigid Body Dynamics (RBD), but a new solution – Finite Element Analysis (FEA) – is beginning to emerge. […]
Great article - and Blur always creates some amazing visuals.
I found the following strange though: "warm HDRI and a little bit of a keylight - a V-Ray spherical light way off in the distance just to give us a little bit more of a key bump."
If you're looking for a far off outside key, a spherical vray light seems like an odd choice. You'd be getting off-angle shadow directions (depending on the distance) when a direct light would mimic the sun light direction much more accurately, no?
[…] all of the beautiful reflections and transparency you get with real glass and metal, and so they surrounded the set in a massive projection screen and they used high-res footage from mountaintops and just dialed in whatever sky and weather they […]
[…] this goal by collaborating with a variety of storytellers and filmmakers around the world. The company understands that digital technology is the future. Because the technology is so valuable, it is now being used for telecommunication, […]
According to the FAQ, this does impact network licenses:
1.1 What is changing?
Effective January 31, 2016 Autodesk will discontinue selling new perpetual (standalone or network) licenses of most standalone products.
http://static-dc.autodesk.net/content/dam/autodesk/docs/pdfs/PerpetualLicensePublicFAQ.pdf
"The EPICs were shooting at three-and-a-half-K on Canon EF 24mm lenses."
I believe that's a bit misleading of a statement. The Epics appear in the BTS to be shooting 5k but the overlap works out such that on average only 3.5k worth of pixels is unique .
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/framestore_deathly_hallows_animation/ […]
[…] Bibliography: Failes, I. (2010). Enter the Void made by fx. FXGUIDE. [online] 28 December 2010. Available from: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/enter_the_void_made_by_fx/ […]
[…] The Hobbit: Weta returns to Middle-earth … – fxguide explores the world of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with Weta Digital and the filmmakers behind Peter Jackson’s epic vision…. […]
[…] to FX Guide, Tubach – a San Francisco resident himself – called the project “a big thrill” for both […]
[…] I’d seen,” recalled Lola visual-effects supervisor Edson Williams in an interview with FX Guide. “But it still wasn’t quite what we were looking […]
[…] I’d seen,” recalled Lola visible-results supervisor Edson Williams in an interview with FX Guide. “But it nonetheless wasn’t fairly what we have been on the lookout […]
[…] and planning of the “Kitchen Scene” in X-Men: Days of Future Past. ( AWN Article | FxGuide Article ) Casey Schatz and Newton Thomas Sigel were tasked with executing the live-action portions of the […]
[…] which included his habit of playing with something in his hands at nearly all times. According to FX Guide, the Framestore team decided to add this little quirk to the character as a way to subtly create an […]
[…] included his behavior of enjoying with one thing in his arms at almost all occasions. According to FX Guide, the Framestore group determined so as to add this little quirk to the character as a option to […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art-of-destruction-or-art-of-blowing-crap-up/ […]
[…] to even animated stories made with Unreal technology, similar to the Source Filmmaker or the Crytek Cinebox. Also, this could very well be a great platform for making special effects for movies, in the […]
[…] to even animated stories made with Unreal technology, similar to the Source Filmmaker or the Crytek Cinebox. Also, this could very well be a great platform for making special effects for movies, in the […]
[…] fastest production cameras available,” explained VFX supervisor Tim Crosbie in an interview with FX Guide. “As an example, we were able to source a lot of still footage of bullets leaving gun barrels, […]
[…] FXGuide TV has a 36 minute episode featuring several interviews with the visual effects supervisors on the film including Richard Stammers and Charlie Hadley from MPC. There are more super-geek details than you could possibly wish for… […]
[…] Marked target – source – Young Joe in club – source – Future city – source as well as Atomic Fiction – Joes in diner – source – Sara – source – […]
[…] Marked target – source – Young Joe in club – source – Future city – source as well as Atomic Fiction – Joes in diner – source – Sara – source – […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art_of_tracking_part_1_history_of_tracking/ […]
Beautiful.
[…] 北美的特效產業在2015年仍會起伏不定，而且無藥可救。電影公司將受惠於前所未有、更便宜、更迅速的特效服務，特效師人力市場將持續供過於求，薪資價格垂直劇降，資歷將持續貶值。科技則是另一大幫兇，隨著檔案傳輸技術的進步，同一特效鏡頭的跨國工作成為可能，讓產線發揮24小時的不間斷效率已經是當今特效公司的必經之路。 […]
Our big problem with Autodesk and the reason why we love our Network license is that we fear having to go to the autodesk website, and we fear having to talk with autodesk support.
You need a manual to navigate their site. It is full of broken, deprecated and no longer existing sites/ links. And we often get server errors when trying to manage our licenses or talk with support.
We have spend more time talking with Autodesk support than any other software vendor we use, not support for the software it self, but due to license and account issues.
If Autodesk want to go full subscription like Creative Cloud, the one thing they need is one unified interface, one unified support channel. A complete overhaul of the customer experience.
[…] title sequence and the majority of VFX shots in Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. Check out this article from fxguide.com on the breakdown on how they did it, which is an awesome […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-272-digital-costume-design/ […]
Great article. One name missing from the article is Immersive Media who is the inventor of 360 video (live action VR) and has been working with many of the companies mention to create this new format.
[…] lets you create perfect keys from an image shot against a colored background. These tools include a Rig/Wire Remover, Light Wrap, Color Matcher, Alpha Cleaner, and many other tools. I’ve personally used Key […]
[…] CG robots, milk sims, digi-enviros & macro-cloth […]
Excellent overview of the State of VR! At the SouthWest VR conference in Bristol two weeks ago I saw a VR tech demo from the Brussels based VFX studio Nozon that blew my mind. What they offer is true interactive parallax within a confined spatial envelope in pre-rendered 360° movies. This would allow you to literally be inside a scene from a film such as Avatar or Guardians of the Galaxy with full visual fideltiy. Their tech is patent pending and to my knowledge it is currently compatible with Maya using the Arnold rendering engine.
http://nozon.com/PresenZ-VR-Movies
[…] FXGuide.com does an article on the visual FX of “Gravity” […]
[…] Failes, I. (2013, January 31). The inside story behind Disney’s Paperman | fxguide. Retrieved from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ […]
[…] results to modifiers above it in the stack. Traditionally, the trade-off to using this technique (Unless you are using Pixars method of open subdivision that has been included in 3DS Max 2015) is that it requires […]
[…] – The Art of Rendering 2012 […]
[…] - The State of Rendering Part 2 2013 […]
[…] Image incorporating a CG bear into a faux look behind the scenes of a film set. We covered the spot here in an interview with VFX supervisors Laurent Creusot and Guillaume Ho. Check out the new breakdown […]
[…] Halo: Reach ‘Deliver Hope’ work, this time with mocapped dancing robots and hamsters, as we covered earlier in the year. Watch the final ad […]
[…] Iron Man 3: more suits to play with FXguide May 6, 2013 Read how Autodesk animation software helped create your favorite Iron Man 3 special effects […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] Seymour, “The Art of Rendering (updated),” April 10, 2012 […]
[…] Seymour, “The Art of Rendering (updated),” April 10, 2012 […]
All VFX aside, I mostly agree with what you had to say about Kingsman's issues as a film.
However -- Jason, I've got your back when it comes to Scott Pilgrim.
they deserve the awards
Great talk, very inspirational!
Thanks.
Still a great movie, I Highly recommend it.
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] “Blinn’s law which states that no matter how much computing resource is available, the overall rendering time of a frame will always remain constant, has proved remarkably resilient to date, says Chris Ford, RenderMan Business Director, Pixar Animation Studios, in a discussion I had with him. “Though CPU capacity continues to grow rapidly, and new infrastructure such as the cloud and GPU’s may increase throughput and economy, it is equally true that ongoing developments in cinematic image rendering such as ray-traced global illumination combined with the always increasing artistic demands of the Director will continue to demand whatever resources are available.” […]
This is disgusting! Think about the effects this will have on global warming!! I'm surprised that chaos group can be so reckless with such a powerful renderer.
Following the release of that new rendering engine from Chaos, I am proud to announce that I have developped new specific Skin Subsurface Scattering shaders within Houdini, that allows for tanning simulation of skin.
Some things still have to be improved, like the pre-roll and time scale in order for artists not to wait hours before reaching the right level of tan, and the addition of a 4th dermal layer to simulate the application of sun protection cream within the spectral renderer.
Everything has been written with the new Houdini BSSL for V-Ray (the Bull Sheet Shading Language)
The link is below, enjoy 🙂
And of course, many thanks to the FXguide / FXPhD team for their insight and scoop !
Wow, I can see this renderer changing the very fabric of the universe!
And you haven't seen yet the response of Solidangle who (but that's just a rumour), would be studying how to use the String Theory to speed up rendering, by multiplying the number of threads available in CPU/GPU using "multidimensionnal computing".
But I must admit that I am lost in their explanations...
Looking forward to trying it with the new 'optical' light features.
I honestly got a little excited to hear they had a good solution for Spectral Rendering... then my excitement very quickly turned into a slow golf clap.
[…] Mike. (2011, October 10). The art of Roto, Retrieved from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-roto-2011/ […]
[…] For a good look at the immense number of computer generated effects, check out this article from FxGuide. In The Avengers there are “approximately” 2,200 effects shots in the film, with many […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/life-of-pi/ […]
[…] Under domes and falling skies: an invisible vfx round-up/ […]
With modo software, 3D is the fun part of my every day! Modo Rocks!
Been using it since 501, and it just keeps getting better. How many software packages can you say that about 5 years later ?
Very cool to see The Foundry embracing MODO's renderer for their other apps as well - I can only imagine next week's NAB will have some intriguing revelations regarding further integration between MARI, NUKE, MODO and maybe KATANA.
If MODO 901 can manage to improve performance for animation, deformation and huge scenes that will make it an amazing release. It's already by far my favourite 3D package (together with ZBrush) for its brilliantly designed workflows and usability and I'm looking forward to more info about 901 in the upcoming weeks.
[…] if you’ve got the bucks, you’ll probably get better results from LIDAR scans. Check out this awesome tutorial on reconstructing sets using LIDAR and Mari by Scott Metzger. I haven’t had any experience with LIDAR scans, and I […]
OctaneRender for Nuke is released. Wow!
Ola!
Its awesome to see Electric Image on TV shows, Next upgrade will be really cool 🙂
Frame.io is very lite in its features, and still has multiple layout and interface issues to workout. It looks pretty, but beyond the looks it has a very long way to go before it can ever compete with Shotgun on features and price-to-value.
[…] FX Guide #174 – [Audio] Three person panel of VFX professionals reacting to Man of Steel both as a story and through the lens of their expertise. […]
[…] lighting effects, with accurate shadows and directional light, is in a fact big deal. First used by ILM for Pearl Harbor, it’s now a technique that’s heavily used in the computer graphics field — it even garnered a […]
[…] FX Podcast #251 – [Audio] Talking specifically with WETA about Liquid Geo in greater detail than the WIRED feature; a video version is available… somewhere, no time to find it now, sorry! […]
[…] FX Guide: MOS VFX Milestones – [Article] Exhaustive look at Man of Steel‘s VFX, understanding the amount of work that went into the film and knowing that many, if not all, of these VFX houses will be called upon again for future DCCU films. […]
[…] Hear the full podcast […]
[…] dilakukan di kolam tersebut dengan menggunakan krane yang menggoyangkan dek kapal. Berkunjunglah ke artikel ini untuk melihat bagaimana Rhythm & Hues, yang dipimpin Bill Westenhofer, membentuk semua visual […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] Per approfondimenti vedi anche questa pagina e ancora qui […]
I wonder who's bright idea it was to actually REDUCE the depth of field on the show... It sometimes looks like the ships are 6" long??? I can't believe Richard Taylor's company would have built the HUGE Mansion for lady P. Was it an ITV decision??
My guess is they had some kid who is into the whole shallow DOF trend instead of someone who knows how to shoot models in charge.
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] El Rey León al 3d estereoscópico, no te puedes perder este interesante artículo en el que uno de sus artífices Robert Neuman, nos muestra algunos de los […]
[…] Claudia Chung was the simulation supervisor for Brave (she worked with Lena Petrovic here, and they worked together for The Incredibles too) you can read a complete interview made by Art of Vfx here, she explains that the development of the sowtare Taz took three years of work on R&D, she also states that they made sure the simulator could actually finish the film without artists having to constantly clean up and hand-tweak results. Other interesting information about physics studies made for the movie (not only for Merida’s hair) are listed here. […]
[…] FUGU & TAKO: A vfx director’s short film […]
[…] Source: www.fxguide.com […]
[…] Miller. Tim, Seymour. Mike. ( 2012,March 3) How they make video game cinematics [Video File] Retrieved from http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/a-look-at-blurs-game-cinematics/ […]
[…] The only line of dialog mentioning the benefits of Earth’s environment are when Jor-El says, “Earth’s gravity is weaker, yet its atmosphere is more nourishing.” However, he is not tying, restricting, or basing Kal’s powers in Earth’s gravity or atmosphere. Jor-El is merely explain how an alien could live in the environment of another world, which sets up the weakness when Kal-El collapses on the Black Zero. Note that Jor-El mentions these qualities of Earth together and in the same sentence, therefore any reliance on this line of dialog as an explanation for the powers should rely on both atmosphere AND gravity. Yet, we’ve seen Superman demonstrate powers both in the vacuum of space and under the World Engine’s gravity beam, so these do not appear to be constraints or sources of his power. Nor does gravity appear to be a significant factor between Krypton or Earth at all since Lois is able to freely move about the Black Zero and we can observe their relative gravities to be similar (as acknowledged by the VFX houses). […]
[…] Includes shot breakdowns from Pixomondo (including several of my shots). Content originally from fxguide.com/featured/hugo-garners-11-oscar-noms-heres-why/ […]
[…] Kaynak […]
[…] To hear the original published podcast, please visit fxguide.com […]
[…] Seymour,Brave New Hair […]
[…] Blinn-Phong, like in my first formula by Hoffman, used, or the one from Brian Karis. According to http://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/s formula it could be the one from Hoffman, but then i’m not sure. So to summarize […]
[…] five have gone out of business or bankrupt:Digital Domain,Asylum FX,Cinesite: Hollywood ,Cafe FX,and now Rhythm and […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/visualeffectsprotestatoscars/ […]
[…] fxguidetv #159: 32TEN Studios – This week we go behind the scenes of our fx2012 practical and digital effects workshop at 32TEN Studios in San Rafael, and we preview the October 2012 vfx training courses available at fxphd. […]
[…] Great behind the scenes article of Brave focusing mostly on the hair solutions. […]
[…] VFX in Los Angeles – 100 hour weeks & homeless […]
[…] studio will give them work if they fight back. A must watch. And, here is a link to the VES Understanding Unions Panel Report from fx […]
[…] Digital Domain, what does it all mean? […]
[…] “Pengen punya body kaya Chris Evans gimana caranya ya…” via www.fxguide.com […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-state-of-rendering-part-2/ […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] repost Source: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/ […]
[…] of Stereo Conversion: 2D to 3D – 2012 May 8, 2012 Source: FX Guide Written By: Mike […]
[…] Download Video […]
[…] For more on Ocula as a stereo tool for shot stereo check out thisfxguide story on Avatar. […]
Excellent work! really nice to see your solutions to all of the shots.
I think you could have spent less time and effort to make the dripping blood effect with a simple houdini rig though. Like you can shoot the blood normally and then just replace that one reverse drip with a really simple non dynamic rig.
[…] razlike izmedju ova dva render engine-a možete pročitati u dva odlična članka, pod nazivom The Art of Rendering i The State of Rendering. Preporučujem svakom artisti koji želi bolje da se upozna sa raznim […]
Loved the movie. Very curious to know the reasoning behind the use of anamorphic lenses. Is it purely just the look of the lenses and what they give you in terms of beautiful distortions, bokeh and flares and so forth? There seem to be quite a few cameras and non-anamorphic lenses that have remarkable image quality, so based on the difficulty that the ana lenses added to post, what did they bring to the table that wouldn't have been possible to add in later as a post effect? Was testing done with various lenses to determine what gave the director the look he wanted and they just figured that those lenses gave them the best look possible? Hats off to everyone involved. Looking forward to watching it again.
Thanks for your comment, Jonathan. American Cinematographer has more info on the lens choices: http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/May2015/current.php And there's also a podcast interview with the DOP Rob Hardy here: http://gocreativeshow.com/the-cinematography-of-ex-machina-with-rob-hardy-bcs-gcs061/
Ian
[…] The Art of Roto: 2011 […]
[…] The Art of Roto: 2011 […]
This seems like a bargan compared to most Silicon Valley acquisitions
[…] The Art of Roto: 2011 […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/framestore_deathly_hallows_animation/ […]
Praise the old gods and the new that it wasn't Adobe
great article, just wanted to add that Blackginger also work on some shots! 🙂
www.blackginger.tv
[…] En palabras del Supervisor de VFX de Luma Pictures, Vincent Cirelli, para FX Guide. […]
[…] put them into who the character is underneath,” Luma Pictures VFX supervisor Vincent Cirelli told FX Guide. “He began blending those elements. We’ve taken Josh’s eyes, some of his cheek, how his […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/character-ark-the-visual-effects-of-noah/ […]
[…] continues to be developed to emulate realism (such as WETA Digital’s Tissue system and Manuka rendering engine), the days of practical artistry in special effects are seeing their last […]
[…] Check it out […]
[…] fluid similation plugin Bifrost was first released along with Maya 2015, many users, and even its creator, felt that it was an incomplete release. RealFlow was the industry powerhouse, with well-known […]
I really enjoyed the interview. Thanks for interview.
So What?
Do Foundry reduce price? I think not 🙁
I think I have to keep using Fusion for a while 🙁
Hi Mike !
This is a great article, thank you very much for the detailed review ! I have a quick question about this new denoiser you mentioned in the article. Is it a tool that is/will be available with the free version of renderman or is this something that we can expect to see with the next official release of renderman ?
Thanks again !
Hi Mickael, The Disney Denoiser will be included with RenderMan 20, which is currently in beta.
It will be included with the updates for both commercial customers and Free Non-Commercial RenderMan users as well.
Regards,
Peter Moxom
Pixar's RenderMan Team
Oh this is great news ! Can't wait to try it 🙂
Thank you Peter
Best,
Yes the results are really impressive (almost too good to be true !) and it will be a great addition to the tool kit
Mike
[…] If you’re interested in finding out how sequences like this are made, then click on this link and see for yourself. […]
[…] Bifröst brings Maya’s liquid dynamics to a new level, but it still is not as good as Phoenix HD or Real Flow. It does look like Autodesk is making major strides with Bifröst and letting the original creators (Bifröst was originally Naiad). A lot of people think this might be the end of what could have been a great product because Autodesk has a tendency to acquire assets and ruin them (cough Softimage cough cough). It is great news that Autodesk wants the original creators to continue development. […]
[…] aka DAN: Korean Adoption Documentary The Fermi Paradox II — Solutions and Ideas | Kurz Gesagt FXGuideTV – Episode 174 Fr. Robert Barron on Man of Steel Man of Steel Community on Facebook | founded by Warner Brown (via […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/framestore_deathly_hallows_animation/ […]
[…] работа V-Ray RT GPU: добавлен QMC Sempler, поддержкаUDIM текстур (это когда текстуры подгружаются на […]
[…] TitanicImage retrieved from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/titanic-stories/ […]
[…] oder ganze Städte dreidimensional zu modellieren. Zum Beispiel wurden Teile des 3D-Environments von Len Wiseman’s Remake von Total Recall und Pixar’s Cars 2 mit CityEngine modelliert. Das international tätige […]
[…] “invisible” effects such as extensive set extensions. (NOTE: violent and gory imagery) http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-walking-dead-season-2-walk-harder/ […]
[…] Sourch : The art of rendering (updated) | fxguide […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] ne saurait trop vous conseiller de faire un tour sur l’article de FXGuide : Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth. Bon par contre, faut quand même avoir quelques bases en anglais les copains. Si t’as arrêté […]
Ted: the bear facts | fxguide
[...]Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis comprehend how in direction of problem a assertion. The 2 constructed a tongue-within just-cheek online video option in direction of a ridiculous lawsuit that TMZ explained Wednesday experienced[...]
[…] Seymour, M. (February 27, 2014). The Art of Deep Compositing. Accessed June 28, 2015. http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-deep-compositing/ […]
Thanks for another fantastic podcast, I believe the dinosaur you were referring to around the 43min mark (the one that seemed to move correctly), is Ankylosaurus.
Thanks guys,
Always nice to get some extra insider gossip.
Think it's a great idea to do more of these if
you have the time. Maybe include some retro
movies like Raiders too.
Cheers,
Nick
Thanks guys, this was a great idea !
Matt
[…] Real Steel Robots | Read Sources […]
[…] RoboCop 2014 Lung Scene | Read Sources […]
Thanks, a interesting bit of tech!
[…] Fxguide- “Brave New Hair” […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art-of-stereo-conversion-2d-to-3d-2012/ […]
Lovely !
JULY TERM ..... AMAZING NEW TERM ... AS ALWAYS
[…] using, what camera you’re using, the shutter speed. What is the speed? If you’re shooting on a Phantom camera – that’s what they used on Sherlock when you punch they guy in the face (click here to view). […]
[…] #VFX in Los Angeles – 100 hour weeks & homeless […]
[…] Visual Effects Society Winners of 11th Annual VES Awards […]
[…] Prometheus: rebuilding hallowed vfx space by @fxguidenews […]
[…] Battleship: tactical water and fluid sims (Updated) […]
[…] fxpodcast: Visual Effects Guild – the IATSE interview […]
[…] VFX roll call for The Avengers (updated) […]
[…] fxguidetv covers Sci-Tech Oscars 2012 […]
[…] Alive and animated: how DD created ‘Robotarm’ […]
[…] Digital storytelling: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo […]
[…] MutantLand: from the mind of Phil Tippett […]
[…] You saw the unblur clip with the audience gasping, here is the source […]
[…] Pan Am: retro green screen world […]
[…] fxguidetv #117: Cinesync, Shotgun, & Thinkbox […]
[…] 2011 Emmy Award Nominees in #VFX & Main Title Design at fxguide […]
[…] Tippett’s treasure trove of effects […]
[…] Lola Case Study: How to make a Captain America wimp […]
[…] the vfx show #125: talking w/Ben Snow #VFX Supervisor of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides […]
[…] MPC on track with Fast Five […]
[…] De-compiling the #VFX of Source Code […]
[…] Fractal zooms and other side effects in Limitless […]
[…] MPC goes full circle. […]
[…] Union’s 350 #vfx shots for 127 Hours […]
[…] wire-frame to final renders of Bridgestone Beaver. More info here & here […]
[…] Gondry-fying The Green Hornet […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23456 […]
Nice.. I was looking at this a few months ago, wondering if it would be usefull for HDR's... very cool Mr. Herman build this!
[…] a behind the scenes making of video at sidefx.com.– Read an interview with the filmmaker at fxguide.com.– See the film’s IMDb entry at […]
As much as I Love Fxguide, this feels like Native Advertising...
For Moon unit? well they were paid for their efforts & gladly participated, if you mean Nike? well im sure the idea was to legitimise the pitch with a reasonable mainstream client rather than 'Fake car brand X' PHD that would be a very niche marketing direction for a multi billion dollar sports corporation
Great, this is really cool topic that does not have that much info about online.
[…] covered Ted back in 2012 – read our article here about the motion capture, shooting and animation approach to the film. That workflow largely stayed […]
Great podcast, as usual, it is very interesting to listen to your comment, even story-wise.
I saw the movie in 4DX and there was something that caught my attention and wanted to know if you noticed the same thing: At the begining of the film, when there's this fly through to reveal the park, didn't you have the impression that it felt like miniature? I mean it is obviously 3D, but I don't know if it was because I saw it in stereo or if it is because of the depth of field, but clearly I had the impression to fly through a maquette. My wife, a stranger in the field of vfx and motion graphics, also noticed the same thing.
I just found it weird looking and wanted to know if you guys had the same impression.
[…] HP DreamColor Displays […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/man-of-steel-vfx-milestones. […]
[…] “older, younger, thinner [or] fatter.” Lola initial got into de-aging in their work for X-Men: The Last Stand, though their dermatitis impulse came on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where they rubbed a […]
[…] anyone “older, younger, thinner [or] fatter.” Lola first got into de-aging in their work for X-Men: The Last Stand, but their breakout moment came on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where they handled the […]
I really appreciate getting to see a real quality pitch and how it's created and in only four days. It leaves me wondering how much it would cost if a non-A-list director wanted to use their services? Could a novice use this service to good effect? (Maybe consider the cost like taking an expensive workshop?)
Thanks Jason & Mike ... heard about this on The RC.
robert the service is obviously dependant on how bit the project is and how much work is involved, i do know from working with MU (and of course theres plenty of others out there) that they will work with you to suit your budget, even i think offering their services gratis for charity work too in some occasions.
main thing is ping them and ask them how much (it can be $100's not $1000's) and tell them your project and budget. most are ken to help however they can
[…] velho, novo, magro ou gordo”. Lola começou a trabalhar com rejuvenescimento no filme X-Men: O Confronto Final, mas seu melhor momento foi em O Curioso Caso de Benjamin Button, quando teve que lidar com o […]
[…] então, eles têm mantido um longo relacionamento com a Marvel – Lola criou um Chris Evans magrelo para o primeiro filme do Capitão América - e a empresa foi chamada bem no […]
[…] op zoek naar een mogelijkheid om dit middels visual effects voor elkaar te krijgen. Via de site fxguide.com kwam ik een artikel tegen van Mike Seymour die met visual effects supervisor Tim Webber van […]
[…] anyone “older, younger, thinner [or] fatter.” Lola first got into de-aging in their work for X-Men: The Last Stand, but their breakout moment came on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where they handled the […]
[…] Blanchett’s characters. Since then, they’ve had a long relationship with Marvel—Lola created skinny Chris Evans for the first Captain America film—and they were brought on fairly early in the production […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ted-the-bear-facts/ […]
link seems broken
Hi Alexander, it should now be working - thanks for letting us know. - Ian
[…] (to this date, still the best 2D tracking software I have ever used). FXGuide put together a history of 3D tracking, that is well worth the read. Both J.P. and Joe Alter are covered in the […]
[…] FXGUIDE talked to visual effects supervisor Matt Jacobs and animation supervisor Will Groebe about the creature work, and features aTippett StudioBeast breakdown. […]
[…] Full story at FXGuide […]
[…] oder ganze Städte dreidimensional zu modellieren. Zum Beispiel wurden Teile des 3D-Environments von Len Wiseman’s Remake von Total Recall und Pixar’s Cars 2 mit CityEngine modelliert. Das international tätige […]
[…] Enter the Void Made by FX – Fxguide’s interview with Geoffrey Niquet, Enter the Void‘s film’s visual effects supervisor […]
Excellent coverage!! Thanks so much!
[…] can extract the motion vectors using Optical Flow. OFlow it’s not just a Nuke node: it’s an entire […]
[…] Aravantinos told TI that he had been interested in manipulating photography since he was a film school student, but became transfixed by age-reduction software after seeing it used in the 2006 movie “X-Men: The Last Stand,” which made both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen look younger. […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/framestore_deathly_hallows_animation/ […]
[…] Entra a FXGuide a leer el proceso detrás de X-Men […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/framestore_deathly_hallows_animation/ […]
[…] UPDATE: hear Chad speak to FXGuide.com’s RED CENTRE podcast about this process. http://www.fxguide.com/therc/the-rc-80-2/ […]
[…] introduction of the Delta Mush tool. If you are unfamiliar with what Delta Mush is, have a look at how the folks of Rhythm and Hues developed and used this deformer.. In essence, Delta Mush allows you to clean up bad deformations post skinning. You can also use […]
[…] Real world pictures courtesy of Andrea Weidlich from “Exploring the … | Read Sources […]
For some reason I'm only seeing the code, not the file itself:
[fx_audio src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/fxinsider-RichardEdlund.mp3" link="/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/fxinsider-RichardEdlund.mp3"]
Hi Bart, I've updated the story to include the audio again and it now appears to be working - thanks for letting us know. Best, Ian
Works great now! Thanks!
This was great and really helpful!
Thanks guys for these pod-cast's.
Matt
Great podcast thanks for that.
[…] wonder how they create the realistic zombies and effects for The Walking Dead? FXGuide.com recently sat down with the show’s visual effects supervisors to get a behind-the-scenes look at […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/method-lends-a-hand/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/ […]
[…] The price on high quality stereo conversion varies in the range of $25,000..100,000 per minute according to several estimates. In your case, Titanic’s 3D conversion is estimated to $18,000,000. You can read more about techniques here or read about the art of stereo conversion of some famous movies here. […]
[…] From the article How to make a Captain America wimp […]
The THU 2015 schedule is now up: https://trojan-unicorn.com/schedule
×àñû âàøå âðåìÿ
êðàòêàÿ âûäåðæêà
[…] then, drones have buzzed around parties in The Wolf of Wall Street, helped wow judges at the Melbourne International Film Festival and almost gotten tangled in Johnny […]
Anyone know where I can get a gray mocap suit?
Hi,
I use to enjoy your podcasts. I dont't know why they are more focused on picking the film apart, you can do that to any film and keep complaining about all the scenes! if you were Spielberg, I would listen to you! this blog is for VFX, that's what I thought. Can you please focus more on that then the plot. Its not filmphd. Most of the podcast is just complaining about all the mistakes! Movies are meant to be enjoyed not to be picked apart!! you can go back and do that to Godfather as well. Please get back to VFX! if you guys were established directors, I would listen to the commentary. I don't know how does it relates to FX. Thanks.
WW
hey thanx,,,, where we find voodoo
Hey Ian! Will you be at the VIEW Conf too? I will be there for the third years in a row, let's meet there!
[…] ICTの歴史に興味のある方は、こちらのfxguideの記事を読むといいかもしれません(けど長いｗ)。 The Art of Digital Faces at ICT – Digital Emily to Digital Ira […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/bifrost-exclusive-first-in-depth-look/ […]
[…] FXGuide.com takes a journey into Prometheus with visual effects supervisor Richard Stammers, and the VFX supes from the film’s principal vendors MPC, Fuel and Weta Digital. This episode also includes visual effects breakdowns of the spacecrafts, holograms, star map room and the Engineers. […]
[…] Presto），ILM的Plume（https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FqzK6zJvwE），R&H的Voodoo（Voodoo magic（神级工具））…… […]
[…] all of the beautiful reflections and transparency you get with real glass and metal, and so they surrounded the set in a massive projection screen and they used high-res footage from mountaintops and just dialed in whatever sky and weather they […]
"This last stage Hollander knew would always need to be fully CG."... why? As far as I can see, the human shapes creatures could just as well be practical make up fx with CG alterations. They look good, but they still look CG. I really don't get it...
Amazing environment-work btw!
Several reasons - they are coming off the walls - so part of their bodies are attached - which would mean cg anyway, their faces had growths out of their mouths - so their faces would need replacing anyway and their limbs were broken - shoulders dislocated, arms missing etc... so if you replace face, arms and then add cg growths - you may as well go the whole way... plus several had to fall and die ... so those would be digi doubles anyway.... (from what I know - I only discussed this with the team - I was of course not involved)
[…] Failes, I. 2014. Brick-by-brick: how Animal Logic crafted The LEGO Movie. http://www.fxguide.com/featured/brick-by-brick-how-animal-logic-crafted-the-lego-movie/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ […]
[…] LISTEN TO THE PODCAST […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/its-art-its-science-siggraph-2012-preview/ […]
Great article as always! I was just wondering why Ken Barthelmey never gets credit for his work. He created the crank design and he also designed the grievers for the first film.
[…] the Hospital at the end of Inception ? Well if you read the article of FXGuide at the time which is right here, you already know it’s been built as a miniature and shot twice. But it’s pretty cool […]
Hello
Was suppost to post this a while ago but personal stuffs came in between.
Yes, metadata is the biggest issue we face today. Look at something like Nuke Studio that totally lacks management of metadata. There's no easy way to inject custom metadata with for instance a soft effect metadata node.You have no way to get metadata like described in this article like LDS metadata in Arri Alexa files to come through into your exports. And even if you had some custom metadata in your DPX'es and you read them into Nuke they're stripped out.
Not to mention how much in a pipe that would be so much more easier to manage if we easily could inject and manage custom metadata.
THere's a few metadata related tickets logged at TF that I know of that's worth voting on:
7114 We don't have access to all metadata in for example DPX files
28191 Feature - Python API - writable Metadata key/value pairs on Clips/TrackItems)
48837 [Feature]: Metadata. Add ability to access metadata from another track
47134 ModifyMetaData breaks concatenation, fixed???
[…] For 3D it never includes any form for texture or lighting. This also goes the same for 3D animation (as described here at this link http://www.fxguide.com/featured/Masters_of_Previs_The_very_best_at_bad_3D/). […]
[…] adjust to the composition of each new shot, and Cinematographer John Seale talked Miller into multiple secondary cameras to capture the action. Miller didn't want yet another drab monochrome […]
[…] Viola says,“They’re all very unique personalities and character traits and have unique powers. So it’s a story about group chemistry and how they are forced to work together. They wanted to really focus on that and the real stakes was a big theme for Joss.” (Quote courtesy of fxguide.com) […]
Great show. LOVE this movie and loved the book too. I did a spit take when Zap said, "I'd have to adjust the saturation on my meat."
Great show guys. Wish I could join you in Sweden. The motherland of the "Wallin" clan.
Very impressive. More movies should use this minimalist approach to cgi. The dust storm was a bit much, and the day for night looked a bit off (just not used to that technique, maybe?), but everything else was absolutely brilliant.
[…] lighting effects, with accurate shadows and directional light, is in a fact big deal. First used by ILM for Pearl Harbor, it’s now a technique that’s heavily used in the computer graphics field — it even garnered a […]
[…] In your interview for FxGuide you mentioned that this was your first production done in stereo. This makes it even more important […]
[…] Manuka: Weta Digital’s new Renderer […]
[…] Ptex, the other side of texturing […]
[…] Autodesk riding Shotgun […]
[…] making How The Mill made its marionettes […]
[…] Meet Zebedee: handheld LIDAR scanning […]
[…] The Art of the Ride Film (we visit 6 killer rides) […]
[…] VFX in TVCs: amazing baby and amazing SUV […]
[…] SFX: making rain, 3D printing & blow-up greenscreens […]
[…] The tech of Crytek’s Ryse: Son of Rome […]
[…] CG robots, milk sims, digi-enviros & macro-cloth […]
[…] The Art of Deep Compositing […]
[…] 制作プロダクション：Blur Studio Blur’s The Elder Scrolls Online cinematic: 8 mins of action […]
[…] The future of 3D creation: on the web? […]
[…] Bifröst: the return of the Naiad team with a bridge to ICE […]
[…] The State of Rendering – Part 2 2013/07/18 […]
[…] Raymond Frederick Harryhausen R.I.P 1920-2013 […]
[…] Creature features: VFX in TVCs […]
[…] NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference Report […]
[…] VFX Town Hall photos and notes […]
[…] A new wave of brilliant invisible effects […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] Animal Logic buys Fuel VFX […]
[…] Creative Arts Emmy Winners […]
[…] Method lends a hand […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] Science of Fluid Sims: Pt 2 – RealFlow(追記) […]
[…] Pointcloud9 – a LIDAR case study […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] Breaking down the Super Bowl spots – Part 1 Breaking down the Super Bowl spots – Part 2(追記) […]
[…] Digital storytelling: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] fxguide […]
[…] NUKE コンポジット fxguidetv #122 […]
[…] The Lion King 3D : in-depth With Disney […]
[…] The move to 48 frames per sec 映画は48fpsに移行中 […]
[…] fxguidetv […]
[…] fxguide 00:00～Adobe 10:00～ALEMBIC 27:10～OpenColorIO […]
[…] hdrx-the-impossible-shot […]
[…] Rendering Remember Me […]
Softimage Render Tree in Houdini ? Nice !
[…] projected every second. You can read more about this process here and another great article on FXGuide here. With the Hobbit Jackson shot at 1/64th of a second on a 270 degree shutter to split the […]
[…] Author Seymour. M, (2014) Founder series: Industry Legends Retrieved from http://www.fxguide.com/featured/founders-series-industry-legend-jim-blinn/ […]
[…] Video นี้แล้ว ก็เห็นว่า CG Pipeline เมื่อปี 2012 […]
[…] Pixomondo was featured in a recent fxguide article by Ian Failes on the visual effects for Star Trek Into Darkness. Here are excerpts and media below from the original article. […]
[…] of Thrones Season 3 is a contender for a 2013 Emmy for visual effects. Below are excerpts from the original article by fxguide’s Ian […]
[…] fxguide partnered with WIRED to produce a behind the scenes look at how PIXOMONDO created the dragons for Game of Thrones season 3. Check out the original article by Ian Failes here! […]
[…] single drop of stage blood touch their sun-kissed skin. Literally every bit of blood seen on screen was created through CGI. Hell, even an acclaimed director like David Fincher opted to use large amounts of CGI blood in […]
Nice shirt! 🙂
[…] Source: Fxguide.com function buildSocialThingy(){return' […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/cloudatlas/ 배두나 나오는 기대작, 클라우드 아틀라스 (Cloud Atlas, 2012) 영상효과 아나, 영상첨부하고 싶은데 링크가 따로 없다는,,,,, (클릭해서보세용.대본 자막 영화 OR 미드 제목 클라우드 아틀라스 자막 (Cloud Atlas, 2012) SF, 액션 영화감독 앤디 워쇼스키, 라나 워쇼스키, 톰 티크베어 개봉년일 2013.01.09 출연배우 톰행크스, 휴그랜트, 할리베리, 배두나.클라우드 아틀라스Cloud Atlas, 2012 개봉한지 거의 2년이 넘었는데~ 이제야~ 손을 덴 클라우드 아틀라스~ 매트릭스를 매우!` 좋아하는 1인으로서. 미안한 마음에 디븨디를 구해다가 봤다!~ 다들~ 좋아하는. 720p 다시보기 클라우드 아틀라스 감독 톰 티크베어, 라나 워쇼스키, 앤디 워쇼스키 출연 톰 행크스, 배두나, 휴 그랜트, 할리 베리 개봉 2012 미국, 독일 리뷰보기 클라우드 아틀라스 Cloud Atlas, 2012 영화 한줄평: 배우들의. 클라우드 아틀라스! 난해하고 대중적이지 않다 하더라도, 새로운 구성과 새로운 시도 그리고 그것을 완성해냈다는 것에 감독과 배우, 모든 제작자들에게 박수를 보낸다! 클라우드 아틀라스 <Cloud Atlas,2012>클라우드 아틀라스 감독 톰 티크베어, 라나 워쇼스키, 앤디 워쇼스키 출연 톰 행크스, 배두나, 휴 그랜트, 할리 베리 개봉 2012 미국, 독일 평점 리뷰보기 클라우드 아틀라스 Cloud Atlas는 우리나라 배우 배두나가. 클라우드 아틀라스 – Cloud Atlas,2012 감독/위쇼스키 남매(앤디,리나),톰 티크베어 출연/톰행크스,휴그랜트,할리베리,배두나,벤 위쇼,짐 스터게스,휴고 위빙 외 다수. 개인적인 별점:★★★☆☆ 영화포스터를 보면. 클라우드 아틀라스 (Cloud Atlas, 2012) 제임스 다시, 벤 위쇼 프로비셔(벤 위쇼)가 식스미스(제임스 다시)에게 보낸 편지들의 내용들이 나레이션으로 흐르는 부분들 중 하나. 벤 위쇼 이상하게 좋다. 클라우드. 블루레이 한글자막 개봉 2012 미국, 독일 리뷰보기 엄청난 케스팅으로 영화 관람 전, 정말 기대를 했던, 아니 할수밖에 없었던, 클라우드 아틀라스. 공식 예고편이었던 짧은 예고편만 한번 봤을뿐, 클라우드 아틀라스에 대한 어떠한.리뷰보기 클라우드 아틀라스 (Cloud Atlas, 2012) 바쁠 땐 영화관에 갈 수 없으니까 볼 영화가 넘쳐나더니 요즘은 영화관에 가는 횟수가 많아지니까 볼 영화가 없다. 미국에서 흥행에 참패하고 우리나라에서도 그다지.클라우드 아틀라스 감독 톰 티크베어, 라나 워쇼스키, 앤디 워쇼스키 출연 톰 행크스, 배두나, 휴 그랜트, 할리 베리 개봉 2012 미국, 독일 리뷰보기 아직 내 머리론 이해할 수 없는. 고화질 클라우드 아틀라스 15분 쯤에 Ben Whishaw 벤 위쇼가 연주하는 곡 있잖아요. 비비엔이. com/ Track Listing: Cloud Atlas Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1. "Prelude: The Atlas March" – 0:00-0:30 2. 클라우드 아틀라스 영화에서 식스미스 조카 매건 역을 연기한 배우가 누구인가요?. Chi 2012 Cloud Atlas Megan Sixsmith / 12th Star Clone 2012 Shanghai Calling Fang Fang 2011 The Evoque Effect. 클라우드아틀라스 영화 예고편 초반에 나오는 피아노로 치는 음악 너무 좋아서그러는데 어떤건지 알수가 없네요 ㅠ 알려주세요 ㅠ Cloud Atlas – Sextet […]
[…] Enlaces de interés: FXGuide: Foundry and Luxology Merge CGS: The Foundry and Luxology Merge FXGuideTV #158: Foundry Luxology Merger […]
[…] información | Breaking down the Super Bowl spots (1) | […]
[…] Más información | Method Studios | FXGuide […]
[…] Domain confirmó el cierre de su oficina en Florida y días después, que entra en proceso de bancarrota. Una compañía que lo ha sido todo en la creación de VFX, capaz de hacer posible producciones […]
May it* rest in peace.
After having witnessed the last three years of AutoDeath, oh, I mean Autodesk, systemically destroying an inherited flagship, rock solid, extremely efficient, fast, and an incredibly stable and unique product and reducing it down to a constantly crashing, software-only mobile "app" type of garbage, knowingly or unknowingly, I have lost even the last ounce of faith in this company. I mean, this outfit will go to any extreme for the volume sales vs innovation and advancements. If history means anything to anyone here, this corp will simply buy out the completion if threatened, put it on the shelf, and let it sit and die without even taking any advantage of its technology/code (5D Cyborg?) Thank God for companies such as Black Magic Design, Adobe, and other competition who actually listen to their existing users and customers, that we divorced AutoDeath users have atleast a chance to re-direct our faiths to, request them, and help them develop tools for us that we could actually use.
I am still having trouble digesting that this crew has actually and essentially killed their flagship high-end product (a market that they had already owned) in fear of Nuke, instead of advancing the existing and designing better tools to maintain (or at least diminish) the distance between flame and the competitors, maintaining that “want” of flame translating into the customers' will to still pay top dollar for the system. But being lazy as they have been for the last ten years or so (allowing the competition to finally catch up), they just let it sit and rot, then they panic and try to go after the Nuke crowd (acquisition of Shotgun among other things). They simply went after the volume sales vs maintaining a quality product with an unstable piece of crap software code (essentially smoke on mac 2013, with add-ons, afterthoughts, patch works to present it as flame, just look at the error codes, totally now-unreliable 1 or 2 point tracker/stabilizer because of different algorithm, etc.).
Really, what a big "F you" to places with heavy investments, existing users/customers who completely relied on flame, still believed in Autodesk and the product even after the complete disaster of the Anniversary Edition (Macromedia Hobbyist UI), and are still being led to believe that Autodesk will actually restore many lost functions/efficiency, and stability problems.
There was plenty of room to maneuver for maintaining high-end market leadership: Higher rez 4k efficiency, faster renders, and real time playback alone with the added rock solid tracking and keying automation, stability, etc, etc that would still have kept flame miles ahead of the rest, resulting in that extreme overall speed in the end. I mean the UI efficiency alone would have been enough reason for the customers to spend more.
Flame had the chance to maintain the leadership. All the ingredients were there, HP and Nvidia as great partners willing to optimize and develop hardware, SSDs to leverage the 4k playback etc, but what was missing was the will and understanding of their own product. Laughable that even with the latest hardware, Nvidia' latest GPU, and SSDs ridiculously blistering fast 3500 MB/s Read/Write speeds, the playback of the current version stutters every now and then, sometimes "seconds" of delay after hitting the play button, constant refreshing of the proxies (due to live generation) on the desktop, delay and lag on pen inputs' feedback on the desktop clips and sometimes inside Batch, etc, etc. And Audodesk actually has the audacity to talk about that delivering that “Flame experience” that you’d expect...”. What a f*ing joke and just goes to show how out of touch this crew is from the reality and its paying customers' needs out there. Customers who actually helped pay the electricity bills and salaries in the Montreal office in the form of hefty yearly subscriptions.
The reason discreet logic achieved at a time what was nearly impossible to achieve was because of the desire and the necessary will to innovate and create excellent products. The risks were much higher back then with pretty much only one hardware vendor to leverage and a much, much smaller market to depend on for returns.
I guess the transition of Flame - Premium Edition to the "After Flame Cut Pro Effects - Nuke Edition" has finally been completed.
Great going Autodesk. And one more thing. We know the inside stories. This is 2015, and not 1995, aka: nothing is hidden anymore. We know about long time contributors, talented engineers, and coders/programmers being told: "If you are unhappy here, feel free to leave", etc, etc. We know more than you may think. And all that has helped great deal for the brand loyalty to go down the drain.
Lets hear it from you now, Autodesk.
[…] FX Guide: Art of Keying By Mike Seymour, November 21, 2005 […]
[…] FX Guide: Art of Keying By Mike Seymour, November 21, 2005 […]
It's pretty surprised, but very optimistic about this. From our business point of view, the ability to scale and down depending on a project is very exciting.
I'm personally very committed to the product, and this just means we can easily have more of it.
Good.
It`s good news, but the changes comes way to abrupt. Autodesk suddenly make big changes, and the users have to adapt immediately, in this case the freelancers who rely on the turnkey system. Previously Softimage users got screwed. I understand that they are a public company, but what is wrong with a roadmap? You know, like Intel … AD is 100% dedicated to professional customers who rely on them to get their job done, and the unreliable behavior is just not acceptable.
I am the de facto “software guy” at my company, and I will never choose Autodesk software for this reason, no matter how good it might be otherwise. Unfortunately we (and especially myself) are dug very deep into 3dsmax, which I am certain will prove to be a curse one day.
[…] Brave – Archery Scene – The movie is not about the three suitors for Merida’s hand, so we have to be content with tiny glimpses into their character. (The film is almost exclusively Merida’s story. We learn very little about the suitors because Merida has no interest in them – in itself an illuminating insight into Merida’s character.) In their archery attempts, we see that Young MacGuffin is almost pathetically happy to hit the target while missing the rings, perhaps because he is such a terrible archer that he is happy to get that close, perhaps because he has no more interest in being forced into a marriage than Merida herself; Young Macintosh hits the ring but misses the bulls-eye and throws a fit, perhaps because he is so vain that he demands perfection from himself, perhaps because he is the one suitor who is excited by the idea of marrying Merida; Wee Dingwall hits the bulls-eye seemingly by accident, indicating that his gawky insanity is either a very clever I, Claudius front or that he is supernaturally lucky. While they are shooting, Merida is busy cruelly heckling their attempts with her father, disappearing as soon as Wee Dingwall hits the target. When she appears with her clan’s standard it is a profoundly artificial moment – the kind that can only be constructed by a sulking teenager with a sense of the dramatic. Merida has put on a hood, just so that she can dramatically pull it off, a moment that could only happen/work in an animated film and even then getting Merida’s hair right was a massive challenge. […]
Great article!!! Its candy 🙂
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/making-a-musical-les-miserables/ […]
Already got my copy. Nice work Ian!
They Have had a Decade to integrate the Combustion Paint Module, I don't see the Engineering team rewriting paint anytime soon..Toxik had a very buggy version of it but I've given up on waiting for this feature in Flame.
[…] beginning an animated sequence of the silhouettes in motion. (Instead, a three-minute animation was made independently by Framestore in the final […]
Links of some pictures are broken, please repair
I think The Revenant is gonna take it. In my opinion Academy don't like vfx-in-your-face kind of movies like Avengers or Godzilla, they like invisible vfx. Also they love Iñárritu, which is pretty understandable, he is a great director.
A concern I think that most in the London VFX community have about unionisation is the perception that it will hasten the push towards sending even more locally sourced VFX work over to Canada, where the big 3 in Soho already have a massive presence. They seem to view Canada as where the future lies, as the Hollywood studios continue to put ever more pressure on profit margins. Free overtime is perceived (albeit wrongly IMO) by some senior people in the London facilities as the only way of making a decent profit in VFX in London. We're already seeing a mass migration of talent over to Vancouver, Montreal, etc - where they do pay overtime - as a more appealing (or in some cases, necessary) - alternative to remaining in the UK.
We are also seeing the steady rise of outsourcing to other parts of the world where labour is cheaper (and less likely to 'put up a fight') - I cite India in particular. Matchmove and Roto Prep are on the London VFX endangered species list at the moment - I wonder who's next?
I (and I'm sure others) fear that unionising would be the 'final nail in the coffin' of what seems to be a slowly declining VFX industry in London, as the big 3 (and others) would just lock up shop and move operations over to Canada & India. They're unionised in LA, the birthplace of VFX - look how that turned out. This wouldn't be an unprecedented move - our parents have seen similar things happening in their working lifetime with manufacturing: textile industry, motor industry, list goes on. Pretty sure they had unions too.
I heartily support this move to unionise, but it also makes me worry about the future of the industry in London.
Almost six months since the last podcast... is that a record ? Were you trying to beat a record ?
No vfx companies in LA are unionized. No work left LA due to unions, work left because of subsidies offered by other countries or even other US states.
Canada has a very big problem. Guest workers can only be in the country for four years without becoming citizens. A shortage of artists is already an issue and will only get worse as people time out.
Your concern is a common fear of unionizing efforts.
Jeff
You have to start your Permanent residency application within 4 year's, not citizenship. You can begin this after 1 year of working in Canada. Montreal sounds harder, with the language barrier, but Vancouver was easy. I became a permanent resident within 2 and a half years of working in Van. At least, this is how it was a year ago. Canada services change their rules every year. It is a little harder now with you now needing staff status to gain permanent residency. This might be a good thing for artists, though.
I used to work in London, and I have seen a big change in my work life balance. Working in Van, I mostly work 9-5, get paid more. As a staff member, I also receive a pension, sick and paid days off and health insurance. Not as many days as the UK but the 'normal' hours more than makes up for it. Vancouver is the place to be with it's mild weather and plenty of career options. Also one of the few places I can buy a condo as a single person and walk to work without the long commute I had in London. It is not that cheap here, but neither is London.
I personally do not wish to return to the UK and happy to stay here until my options (subsidies) run out.
[…] (which was also sold to Disney in 2012) drew most of its talent from the world of commercial advertising, and its work on the first Star […]
[…] (which was also sold to Disney in 2012) drew most of its talent from the world of commercial advertising, and its work on the first Star […]
[…] (which was also sold to Disney in 2012) drew most of its talent from the world of commercial advertising, and its work on the first Star […]
[…] and often pretty sustainable. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Lucas (and his design team John Barry and Roger Christian on A New Hope and Normal Reynolds and Michael Ford for Empire and Jedi) were […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/brave-new-hair/ […]
I'm very happy to see progress here. I'm pretty sure the more you can focus on VALUES, what values are important and CONSENSUS of values among face-to-face groups, you will continue climbing. Some fre* resources for such group process here: http://healingtoolbox.org/search-results?q=%22group%20process%22
[…] Read more here: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/case-study-how-to-make-a-captain-america-wimp/ […]
[…] when I write these little thought splurges I like to do research, so I came across this: click me – The website goes in-depth at the complexity of game lighting, the formulas, and moreover […]
[…] Nuke Studio […]
[…] out of the pits. Some of the races splice in original 8mm footage. And the CGI appears to be limited to backgrounds and effects. The end result looks real and feels pretty […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/beowulf_breaking_ground_with_mocap/ […]
Thanks for the RCs! Appreciate your in-depth coverage of the tech, and look forward to the new format!
[…] This article from FX guide is full of details on the massive amount of VFX work that went into the launch commercial for Disney’s World of Color: […]
[…] actually used visual effects (VFX) to shrink Evans down to the smaller size version of himself. The VFX case study is fascinating to read. The effects team used a variety of techniques which included projecting […]
[…] actually used visual effects (VFX) to shrink Evans down to the smaller size version of himself. The VFX case study is fascinating to read. The effects team used a variety of techniques which included projecting […]
[…] Read More […]
[…] After welcoming remarks from the festival founder/director, the movie opened to a very welcoming and receptive audience. I certainly enjoyed the movie. I knew how the story would end, but I was still kept in suspense along the way. It was interesting to see the trials and tribulations of getting the voyage underway and then to get a glimpse of how life was aboard the raft. There were some amazing scenes of ocean life—a massive whale shark, many great white sharks, bio-luminescent jellyfish, and a variety of colorful fish under and around the raft. It all seemed so realistic so it was especially interesting to read about the visual effects strategies used here. […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the_art_of_wire_removal/ […]
[…] – Rise demo that has laser-scanned warehouse. Scott Metzger has developed this process using high-resolution photography at multiple exposures, and then using […]
Some really nice mattes and 3D in there!
[…] On fxguide: The Art of Deep Compositing […]
Thank you FX Guide. This was very interesting and I'm super glad to have finally learnt how they made the lightsabers!
[…] Click here to watch the interview: Star Trek: Into Darkness at ILM […]
[…] Iako film deluje na prvi pogled elegantno, lepo i prosto, u stvari iz njega se krije veoma složena tehnologija. Za Framestore je to bio veoma izazovan projekat u smislu velikog broja problema koje je trebalo rešiti. Neki od problema su bili simulacija bestežinoskog stanja i osvetljenja u svemiru. Da bi simulirali bestežinsko stanje na zemlji korišćeni su rigovi koji su bili kačeni za glumce, zatim se kretanje riga sinhornizovalo sa kretanjem kamere i svetla. A svetlo je simulirala svetlosna kutija sastavljena od LED ekrana u čijem centru se nalazio glumac. Glavni princip rada se zasnivao na tome da su se samo svetla i kamera kretali, dok bi glumac faktički stajao u mestu, drugim rečima, umesto da se objekat okreće u okruženju, okruženje se okretalo oko objekta. Ono što je bilo posebno naglašeno na predavanju jeste predprodukcija filma. Pre samog snimanja je urađen detaljan previz filma, na osnovu koga je vršeno programiranje sinhronizovanog kretanje kamere, svetla i riga. Pošto ni jedan od animatora nikad nije boravio u svemiru, Framestoru je su u pomoć došli naučnici iz NASA kako bi animatorima objasnili kako izgleda kretanje u svemiru. Zanimljivo je da se u svim kadrovima odela kosmonauta i okruženje su CGI, tako da jedino što je na setu snimljeno jesu lica glumaca. Druga zanimljuvost jeste da uopšte nije korišćen green screen (zeleno platno), već je isključivo rađen roto. […]
I had fun working on this and the end result was amazing to see. For those interested in the concept design process: https://www.patreon.com/posts/4221793
[…] farm. As an early adopter, they had to build their own stuff to suit their demands. Here’s a very interesting read about the long way Renderman came from and which hardware they’re were using. This article […]
[…] The Rise of the Previs of Planet of the Apes […]
[…] FXGUIDE – Brick-by-brick: how Animal Logic crafted The LEGO Movie […]
[…] FXGuide: The VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy […]
[…] FXGUIDE – Ape Acting […]
[…] Failes, I. (2013, January 31). The inside story behind Disney’s Paperman. Retrieved February 07, 2016, from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/art_of_tracking_part_1_history_of_tracking/ […]
[…] Art of Destruction (or Art of Blowing Crap Up) | fxguide – Destruction pipelines today are key aspects of any major visual effects pipeline. Many current pipelines are based on Rigid Body Simulations (RBS) or otherwise … […]
[…] via […]
[…] Cinebox is Crytek’s implementation of CryENGINE, built specifically for previs, virtual produc… […]
[…] Write-up of the ocean technology behind the naval sequences in AC3. […]
[…] (2013) The inside story behind Disney’s Paperman Available at: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ (Accessed: 04 February […]
[…] Visual effects used on both actors: Source […]
[…] are other tangible benefits to Joe Public besides prettier movies. A search-and-rescue drone could help find a missing loved one in a difficult-to-search area. They […]
[…] Video Link: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-deep-compositing/ […]
[…] spoke to Hutzel most recently in 2013 about the VFX of Defiance and Blood & Chrome, two projects that took great advantage of this new virtual production […]
[…] From Speed to Spidey: 20 years of VFX and animation […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Art of Destruction (or Art of Blowing Crap Up) | fxguide – Destruction pipelines today are key aspects of any major visual effects pipeline. Many current pipelines are based on Rigid Body Simulations (RBS) or otherwise … […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane Render in action. Image from FXGuide […]
[…] Octane renderização em ação. Imagem de FXGuide […]
[…] A: For lighting exteriors, one reason reflectors are popular is because the color quality (“CRI“) of the light they cast is identical to the source of the light. In general, the higher the CRI, the better. CRI values over 90 are considered good. Here’s a tremendously informative discussion with Dedo Weigart speaking about CRI, LED, and “traditional” light sources for professional …. […]
[…] FX Guide (https://www.fxguide.com/featured/shutter_island/) […]
Thanks for all the info you guys shared over the years! This was the best way for me to stay up to date during my commute rides to work. You mention other sites and podcasts that provide plenty of related info. Could you share some links that are worth following?
[…] The sound yeti’s fur also moves and reacts in time with the music. CG supervisor Andrew Whitehurst wrote a tool, called Waveform Generator, that converted data from audio files into animation data and shapes to control the amplitude and frequency of the yeti fur as curves in Maya. The crash of the snow dragons was created as a mix between a practical explosion and CG enhancements utlitising the Duble Negataive’s Dynamite rigid body dynamics software with coin particle simulations provided by Chris Thomas and Federico Frassinelli and composited by Keith Herft in Shake.’- FXGuide.com […]
[…] -Seymour, M.S. (2012). Fxguide. Retrieved 23 March, 2016, from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/ […]
[…] oder ganze Städte dreidimensional zu modellieren. Zum Beispiel wurden Teile des 3D-Environments von Len Wiseman’s Remake von Total Recall und Pixar’s Cars 2 mit CityEngine modelliert. Das international tätige Architekturbüro […]
What a shame. This kinda breaks my heart. I've been binge-watching TNG, DS9, Firefly and BSG and it hadn't occurred to me that Hutzel worked on those shows until recently. It's like you finally learn who's responsible for some great work and before you have time to really appreciate it, that person dies and you find out you won't be able to experience anything new from them ever again. It's worse when you actually know them. From what I hear, he was a nice person to know, too. His work was influential and a piece of my life's puzzle: a reason I became a filmmaker. He'll be missed.
Correction: Hutzel didn't work on Firefly, but that show is part of my sci-fi Netflix binge watching, so that's how it snuck on there.
[…] wrote about deep compositing, touching on my work in this area for […]
I've just run startup www.symotion.co - collaborative video review platform. We've just run beta-test program, so you can sign up for free 🙂
Very inspiring work as i am in the midst of creating a rigg for character at the moment ......
All of the different touches that make up the final expression on each of these characters is a great result and something to be very proud of ...Great work ;O)
[…] FX Guide previews this year’s possible Emmy contenders for visual effects, including “Game of Thrones,” “Hannibal,” “Fringe,” and “Revolution.” […]
[…] ที่มา: The VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy […]
from Lytro's website-
https://player.vimeo.com/video/161533699
The final composite has edge and color issues which perhaps would benefit from 'traditional' image processing too?
Interesting tech for sure
[…] Alec Parking gave a lecture on Rendering, Rendering is the process of generating an image from a 2D or 3D model (or models in what […]
[…] The Art of Rendering. A render farm is a room you can rent out to render your work and you pay for the time it takes. […]
Installed it. Tried it. Loved it. Only negative: the free version's 2GB of storage is way too low for anything serious. So I looked at the pricing and it really doesn't suit what I'm willing to pay for my needs. I'm hoping they'll offer more options in the next few months.
[…] VFX, the studio that labored on results-heavy films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Wolf of Wall […]
[…] lecture is based on “The Art Of Rendering” […]
So.. 5K for something one can quite easily 3D print.. calling it VR when it's just 360 and not stereoscopic? Not sure.. maybe I'm not seeing things clear but this kind of feels like a ...
.. I'm talking about the rig of course.. 😉
[…] Physics-based renderings – A way for a computer to produce physically plausible images automatically (cheaper than using lighting artists to mimic the effects). […]
Good luck Ian! I have enjoyed your articles for fxguide. Your love of the industry is much like all of ours. I hope you have much success in your future.
Thanks Ian for all your dedication and hard work at Fxguide!
Hey Ian....Best of luck! I know you be tops wherever you are going! Thanks for everything! Alex
Ian is the BEST. Good luck old pal! You will be greatly missed.
Keep in touch!
Thank you so much Ian for all the great articles over the years. You really helped push fxguide to another level.
I wish you all the best for your next endeavors!
Best,
Richard
P.S. "Don't get dead"
Thank you Ian for all the great material you have present to us over the years, good and best of luck in your future endeavors. Eric
Impressive work.
The day for night effect reminded me of the early movies code : blue means night (like Nosferatu's nights... so graphic !), and even if it's not the intention, I think it gives another dimension to these scenes.
[…] FXGuide […]
[…] Click here to read the entire article. It’s a must read if you’re into filmmaking or visual […]
[…] So, how do you transform objects seamlessly? FXGuide has a detailed look at the process, as they talk to those who carried out the […]
[…] has a detailed writeup and Q&A with Moonbot Studios on their short ‘The Scarecrow’ […]
[…] NUKE 8 is coming: here’s what you need to know Dope Sheet – artists will be able to see and move keys around in the context of a timeline style view. They will be able to see the results and each property of a node accurately displayed in context. The Foundry says the new viewing capability will make working with any scripts that involve time manipulation a much more simple process. New Text node Color grading and correction Camera Tracker New 3D tools Deep Output to the Scanline Renderer Open source Developer tools […]
[…] Here’s the article from […]
[…] I believe these ‘advantages’ were gained over brilliant coding and excellent hardware design. Applications can be coded for speed, but it is the hardware that made the difference. Today, most newcomers can afford and invest in a super-fast computer. So, the hardware advantage is eroding. On a ‘toe-to-toe’ basis Smoke offers very few advantages over competing applications that justify its price. The drop in prices by Avid Media Composer and Smoke show where the industry is headed. To know more, read this excellent article on where Flame and Smoke is headed. […]
[…] 5. The fight scene on top of the train in Skyfall was actually filmed on top of a real moving train, and Daniel Craig did not use a stunt double. – Source […]
Ian, you were the first Kickstarter backer of Cinefex for iPad! Your passion and dedication are apparent, look forward to what's next.
[…] Assassins’s Creed III foi o primeiro game da serie a introduzir o sistema de batalhas navais. Com isso a Ubisoft teve que desenvolver um mar complexo e realista. Veja as tecnicas utilizadas para construção do mar em: Assassin’s Creed III: The tech behind the action […]
[…] FX Guide. (2015). Pixar’s OpenSubdiv V2: A detailed look. Retrieved 4th of May, 2016 from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/pixars-opensubdiv-v2-a-detailed-look/ […]
Hey guys - the stand in head was built by Leigh Took and Bob Ballan at Mattes and Miniatures in Bray Studios (http://www.mattesandminiatures.com/). Managed to catch them in a slow period - their model work for 'The Monuments Men' had just been pushed back so we slotted in nicely.
[…] finales de septiembre los chicos de fxguide organizaron un taller de efectos prácticos y digitales en 32TEN, empresa creada por extrabajadores del taller de maquetas y efectos prácticos de […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-159-32ten-studios/ […]
[…] Equipment used: https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/music-videos-effects-highlights/ […]
[…] Music videos: effects highlights […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-deep-compositing/ […]
Online Shopping Apparel & Accessories , shopping online Apparel & Accessories , china shop Apparel & Accessories
"[...]BcastMiniseriesMovieSpecl | fxguide[...]"
[…] The tech behind ParaNorman […]
[…] – FxGuide Podcast: Adobe CS 5.5 & Tool Tech (Technology Behind After Effects Warp Stabilize Feature): http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-108-adobe-cs5-5-image-tech/ […]
[…] feel to it, and the detail put into such a short piece is incredible. The effects utilised (click here for a fascinating look into the behind the scenes) blend together seamlessly, and every element […]
[…] feel to it, and the detail put into such a short piece is incredible. The effects utilised (click here for a fascinating look into the behind the scenes) blend together seamlessly, and every element […]
Note: that "Homer Live - East Coast Feed" youtube link has many dropped frames, which makes it hard to evaluate the lip sync. For higher quality, use this link:
Homer Live: East Coast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz0ShKbYOuw
Also of interest:
International version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kn-eEfjuyQ
Homer's Apology To Latin America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVFbTun49Qc
Homer's UK Apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Juc6AwPt0
[…] more extensive breakdowns see these articles: fxguide.com/featured/iron-man-3-more-suits-to-play-with/ […]
Thanks for the shout-out John! I've moved as the Organizer for Local 839 - The Animation Guild to International Representative working directly for IATSE. 🙂
[…] Ever since I played the game I wanted to figure out how there ocean worked and create it. Lucky for me I came across an article that interviews an Ubisoft employee who explains how the ocean works entirely (https://www.fxguide.com/featured/assassins-creed-iii-the-tech-behind-or-beneath-the-action/). […]
[…] It has been fun programming this ocean, and I want to optimise its use. What I want to use is a method projecting a flat plane from the camera and its frustum onto the ocean, and then use this plane to create my ocean. This would mean that in terms of the mesh i use for the ocean I will be making use of all of its vertices. A really cool method that was also mentioned in the article about the tech behind assassins creeds oceans that inspired me to start this (https://www.fxguide.com/featured/assassins-creed-iii-the-tech-behind-or-beneath-the-action/). […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/music-videos-effects-highlights/ […]
[…] The Art of Deep Compositing […]
[…] The inside story behind Disney’s Paperman […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/beautiful-glitches-the-making-of-linkin-parks-new-music-vid/ […]
[…] Art of Keying | fxguide – The Motion version of Primatte is written for the GPU just like dvmatte. The difference is that dvmatte is usable on DV, HD and HDV footage. The Motion version of … […]
[…] on Fx Guide discussing the development of the technology and techniques involved in the process. (https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-deep-compositing/) Since my read through of the article and the watching of an included video […]
[…] Lead Image: FX Guide […]
[…] Lead Image: FX Guide […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/fxpodcasts/fxpodcast-john-textor-one-on-one-interview/ […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/ […]
Depressed Quotes Pinterest
... - They then become manic at one drink a specific other ways to say feeling sad or other treatments. This will pass, as the hormone that strengthens our immune system functioning. ... river-105-Fire_001 | fxguide ...
[…] 2012, Animal Logic purchased another Australian effects company called Fuel VFX. Fuel were responsible for providing visual effects for the preceding film, Prometheus. They […]
Love it !
But if I had to nitpick: I kinda hate the "shakycam". Don't get me wrong: it would be appropriate for a spot like this, but it's at the same time "too jerky" with too much "smoothness".
I don't know what they got wrong, but to me, it lacks a bit of motion blur: seems like the "curves" between the position of the lens are way too smooth. Looks too much like an animator, not a virtual cameraman.
Really weird !
[…] completely wrapped in surgical gauze. It all started with a damaged hand. (Image credit to this awesome article on Looper’s […]
[…] Case Study: How to make a Captain America wimp […]
I like the show and the VFX is decent for the most part. But I must say the CG doubles used in the fights in the season 2 finale were atrocious. Remember how Neo looked like he was made of rubber in the battle against the horde of Agent Smiths in Matrix Reloaded? That's exactly what Flash and Zoom looked like - and this is 13 years after Reloaded!
Even the train derailment in the image above looks so bad. The poor particle effects and lighting make it look like a screenshot from a video game!
Not sure how Mr. Armen Kevorkian OK'd this stuff!?
[…] then, drones have buzzed around parties in The Wolf of Wall Street, helped wow judges at the Melbourne International Film Festival and almost gotten tangled in Johnny […]
[…] del huérfano de la estación es la obra visualmente más ambiciosa de Scorsese. Con ella, el director experimenta con el uso de tecnología 3D en la narrativa. Un ejemplo es la secuencia de apertura: Hugo de punta a punta de la estación. En ella se mezclan […]
[…] del huérfano de la estación es la obra visualmente más ambiciosa de Scorsese. Con ella, el director experimenta con el uso de tecnología 3D en la narrativa. Un ejemplo es la secuencia de apertura: Hugo de punta a punta de la estación. En ella se mezclan […]
Looks like a great tool for VR !
more videos here:
http://www.dv-asia.com/blog/?p=2559
[…] the posts by Mike Seymore and Stu Maschwitz for more […]
bouncy slide hire
Interesting article...
in the years 2013-2014 we produced the vfx for three features in a series, all and all roughly 3500 shots.
The first was done in the traditional way and was eating up the whole budget - so the decision was taken to move the whole project to an independent subunit with 17 people total 3d and 2d, to finish the remaining 2 features.
Agile wth Scrums were used as the working model - and the two pictures were completed in nine months on budget, on time and without any overtime hours.
This model was instrumental and absolutely essential to be able to complete this project - which was on a extremely tight budget - at all.
There is some footage to be seen here:
https://youtu.be/m6uEUPzdA40
The first scrum (10days) finished a first VERY rough version of an entire full length film (1100 shots) - it was fantastic to see the whole thing in context. Extremely valuable for planning where extra cg resources were needed etc....
Cheers,
fredd
[…] Art of Destruction (or Art of Blowing Crap Up) | fxguide – Destruction pipelines today are key aspects of any major visual effects pipeline. Many current pipelines are based on Rigid Body Simulations (RBS) or otherwise … […]
What? Hollywood budgeting with Excel spreadsheets? Oh man... and here I thought those big dogs were all high-tech.
When are we going to see Machine Learning to build models to Pull keys?
Or when are we just going to stop using this old idea of putting up a key-able color and use Depth to make mattes
[…] Initially, the rotoscope was invented to make animations more fluid and real. This invention allowed movies to be projected on glass, where animators places paper and drew. So they drew on top of movies that were projected, following lines of movement. This allowed the animation of characters to become much more realistic and not so sloppy. You can learn more about the history of rotoscoping here. […]
no wonder I was confused by the above comment, this is the wrong article lol
Haha! I just thought you were really passionate about keying and depth mattes. Preaching across the internet! You preach brother!! Amen!!
[…] Elysium: a practical, miniature and digital fx odyssey … – "Ever since District 9," says Peter Muyzers, "we were talking with Neill about this concept of Elysium and what it meant. Neill is very open with his key members of … […]
[…] In print: ILM’s artistry and the design of Star Wars | fxguide […]
[…] John Hable’s更绝妙的博客：任何都有菲涅尔 Sebastien Lagarde的总结：渲染勿忘 现在想来Sebastien Lagarde所有的博客都很好 SIGGRAPH 2010的PBR课程 […]
[…] The Art of Rendering (updated) | fxguide – Before the expense of ray traced radiosity became feasible for large productions, Pixar’s RenderMan tackled GI in two distinct ways, one using ray tracing to just add … […]
[…] fxguide recently spoke to the clever folks at Industrial Light & Magic on how they produced the Helicarrier crash scene. It’s fascinating to see the attention to detail ILM puts into each shot. […]
[…] The Art of Digital Faces at ICT – Digital Emily to Digital … – As part of fxguide’s famous ‘Art of’ series – we turn our focus to realistic digital faces and especially the work of USC’s ICT – in this exclusive in-depth article. […]
Congratulations on yet another great show. I truly enjoyed it.
SPOLIER: There was one thing in the plot that bothered me and you didn't mention. Each swarm ship needed two aliens to pilot it. There were millions of ships. Where did all these pilots come from, if the bad guys came from a Federation ship that at most carries hundreds of people?
Juan Carlos
It was a drone workforce, they were effectively robots. Krall says it at some point.
[…] Example of effects breakdown: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/breaking-bad-the-end-of-gus/ […]
Just a note on your list of companies there. MPC is listed at the top and they had nothing to do with the movie. DNEG did majority of the work. Would be good if that was reflected accurately.
Golaem not Gollum 🙂
[…] de la estación es la obra visualmente más ambiciosa de Scorsese. Con ella, el director experimenta con el uso de tecnología 3D en la narrativa. Un ejemplo es la secuencia de apertura: Hugo de punta a punta de la estación. En ella se […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com […]
[…] forget boobs, because Barry was the production designer for A New Hope — he designed and dressed every interior you see in the Death Star, the […]
[…] Seymour, M. (2016). Fxguide.com. Retrieved 29 August 2016, from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/pixars-opensubdiv-v2-a-detailed-look/ […]
[…] Zombie warfare: World War Z | fxguide – fxguide talks to Cinesite, MPC, 2h3D, 4DMax and Prime Focus about scaring up the zombie effects for World War Z, scanning sets and actors and the film’s stereo … […]
For the Birds of a Feather: State of Cloud Rendering for VFX was there ever any comment about how they are charging their client with cloud rendering?
Zync say now you can see what you spent and charge your client but clients want estimates before hand and not extra costs springing up at the end of projects.
Wondering how studios handle that? I guess they can estimate better based on how much they spent on a similar shot on a previous project.
Just curious if things like that got discussed as well?
Thanks,
Richard
I love this approach to finding a VFX solution that is informed and directed by stylistic and hand crafted practical elements. The entire film benefits from having that unified style and it's everywhere in the film.
I usually like Jonze's stuff.
Not this. I saw nothing clever or groundbreaking. While I'm at it: I also kinda hate the song.
Not even close to being the best EVER.
Oh man, did the crew get taken out by that fast-rolling tire headed straight for them, at 1:25 ?!!
"If anyone around here is going to lie with numbers, it's going to be US!" - MPAA Spokesman.
After reading essays on the existential importance of 'winter' in the early films of David Cronenberg - I came across an article on film tax credits which offered a more plausible explanation 🙂
I'm ignorant of the Thom study and MPAA response. However, if Thom is stating Tax Incentives aren't a positive policy, he should look at the film business in Georgia. Before Georgia implemented tax incentives there were very few films and T.V. shows produces there. Today, Georgia is one of the most productive film industries in the country and more and more studios are being built every year. Not just in film do tax incentives create positive results. Tax incentives have, over the years, encourage many industries to invest and grow - it's just business. When you lower the cost to conduct business, business will be conducted!
Covering 30% of Hollywood's costs raises the cost of doing business for literally every other company in the state, since they're now spending $600m a year in tax revenue to collect only $200m.
What other industry gets anything even close to a 30% subsidy from the states? This is nothing but a fantastically expensive jobs program, and a wildly inefficient one, at that. The cost per full time equivalent job is orders of magnitude higher than less glamorous, less well connected industries.
Regardless of the "validity" of the Study, I'm afraid that the MPAA's response, judging it from the above excerpt, is a disgrace. If the MPAA has a different opinion, they should publish it in response without using, typical tabloid style slander.
Just removing some words:
"troubling, without excuse false and misleading study, without statistical and intellectual foundation recklessly, from otherwise respected, severely tarnishes reputation, academic credentials, academic malpractice, designed to make provocative"
And that's only one paragraph.
I'll make an effort to read, both the study, and the full reply over the next few days.
Very great and comprehensive interview. I think this is one of the important issue all must know and care about.
Who manufactures the ink? I've been searching for some to use in a real time video performance.
[…] FX Guide Stereo Article […]
[…] per renderizzare un mammut ricoperto di centinaia di migliaia di peli, come nei film della serie L’era glaciale, ci vogliono macchine molto più potenti del pc di casa. Anche in questo caso si tratta di una […]
[…] The State of Rendering – Part 2 | fxguide – In Part 1 of The State of Rendering, we looked at the latest trends in the visual effects industry including the move to physically plausible shading and lighting. […]
[…] The science of Spherical Harmonics at Weta Digital, FX Guide […]
[…] Monsters University: rendering physically based monsters […]
This fucks over small businesses and freelancers who can't afford subscription fees like this. If you work or own a large business this wouldn't be a problem. HOWEVER majority of people don't have the money to pay for subscription fees to keep using the software.
[…] Game environments – Part A: rendering Remember Me | … – EXCLUSIVE. The first of our three-part series on game environments, looking at Dontnod and Capcom’s newest release Remember Me. This part focuses on rendering the game. […]
How was Setrakus's makeup done? Did you use prosthetics? I'm planning on being a Mog for Halloween, so I am curious.
Can someone shed light to the budget and profits of this disney short? I am doing a paper on this. Thanks.
I needed to fill out a form last year and found a website that hosts an online forms library . If you are requiring it too , here's a https://goo.gl/ZAyKkH
[…] Via: [Cinema Blend] Image Credits: [Comic Book Therapy] [FX Guide] […]
Amazing work. Probably the most diverse effects portfolio in any single movie ever.
I believe, that would be "Gods of Egypt". Strictly from diversity standpoint)
Great read, super informative.
Fantastic work, trying to render fur and getting it looking good on a single character is an incredible task. Hard to believe what they pulled off with Zootopia!
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-latest-in-music-video-vfx/ […]
[…] a globally renowned filmmaking production company. Andrew has been specialising in the Stereo Conversion tier of their services (transforming 2D to 3D), joining an illustrious team responsible […]
Great I've been waiting for this. Really looking forward to playing with Mikes head!
I cant wait for the eyes! ~ Thank you so much for sharing this research!
[…] 2d3D, boujou on track. | fxguide – 2d3D, boujou on track. By Mike Seymour May 19, 2002. Tweet. Share. Share "we’re getting results in a matter of minutes and its just great to see it all working … […]
fantastic!
Great Effects fantastic making of, but whats the music?
[…] UDIM UV mapping […]
What is VRscans? Why you need & How to use it? Webinar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwzz6b8rvZc
I have to say a "Quad HD" Screen works amazing well for Google Cardboard. Gear VR. My Nexus 6P Already gives me a great VR experience and it's under spec'ed for Google's Daydream Specifications.
[…] Priest […]
[…] pela primeira vez por Max e seu irmão Dave em 1915 (leia mais sobre a história dos irmãos aqui) no desenho Koko The Clown, em que Dave era filmado vestido de palhaço. O resultado foi mais que […]
https://vimeo.com/180604176
I used stochastic flakes! It creates a difference! 🙂
Good article, Thanks!
Fascinating! And just a little disturbing how this could be misused -- despite what they said about watermarking, etc.
Where can I find the footage?
There's no footage -- only the movie in the article which you can watch or download.
[…] The Art of Rendering (updated) | fxguide – Before the expense of ray traced radiosity became feasible for large productions, Pixar’s RenderMan tackled GI in two distinct ways, one using ray tracing to just add … […]
I'm shocked, this is amazingly scary, hopefully can be detected easily if people use filter covers to try to avoid watermarking, that can be my next job, audio debunking.
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/founders-series-industry-legend-jim-blinn/ […]
Go and chek VIAVOICE from IBM 1998 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBMSEGAMXNo
We are in 2016...please....is that all we can do today ? link the audio and the texte file like in adobe premiere? Jesus....please guys...
[…] コンポジット参考サイト02 […]
[…] Hugo: a study of modern inventive visual effects […]
!!!!!!!
[…] example found on a site that helps explain what rotoscoping is, highly recommended for a more in-depth […]
Hair Replacement?? One part that caught my eye was perhaps Amy Adam's entire hair replaced when she was inside the ship with digital hair to provide the underwater effect. Any thoughts? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60d7415256bb3d344a1bfd4f0207c0cd244f36397460fff5c8cc63baa2030273.jpg
I noticed the beauty of this also. I think another fortuitous in-camera shot, like teh clouds coming over the low hills.
incredible
[…] References: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-tech-of-disneys-frozen-and-get-a-horse/ […]
[…] Brave New Hair. (2014). Retrieved October 30, 2016, from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/brave-new-hair/ […]
wow
[…] lighting effects, with accurate shadows and directional light, is in a fact big deal. First used by ILM for Pearl Harbor, it’s now a technique that’s heavily used in the computer graphics field — it even garnered a […]
Amazing work, all of these really look stunning. Apart from an interest in how the images are made, however, this boasting about doing the work in camera leaves me a bit cold. The artificial focus on 'authenticity' just leaves a bad taste in my mouth - everything is digital, everything is CGI. Claiming that the work is somehow more real because there was limited grading (and putting to one side the negative/reversed stuff) ignores the colour science in the sensors, the camera software, monitors - the lighting choices, the point of view etc. I know that this is done for marketing reasons but there is no intrinsic truth in image creation beyond what the artist puts in. The camera can, and usually does, lie. I'm probably just shouting into the wind but I'd prefer to enjoy these images for what they are. And then satisfy my curiosity about how they were made. I feel that claims of 'based on a true story' are more dishonest in their stance than just letting things stand on their own merits. But I do realise that we are apes who resonate with things we feel are more 'real'.
I am not sure if you are against cgi or for it, but, they are just tools needed to present an imaginary world to the viewers, most of the time impossible worlds presented in an artistic point of view. People complain these days about to much cg and so on without realizing that creating these artificial worlds what do not exist in real life or characters who can not exist in real life, but still look plausible and with a plausible physics, is not a one button push. Is it just not possible to create some of these imaginary worlds without the help of 3D and thousands of hours of people's work. A painting is not and should not be a photography, is an artistic impression, and same way is with the state of vfx in the movies. Of course if they are "invisible" vfx then no one will ever complain.
love the way you've explained it Mike.Look forward to part 2.
Cheers,
b
BIG THANK YOU!!! I watched the movie last night...and immediately looked for the discussion on fxguide.com!!!! Twice a week, I must be walking by where I think Jason's office is on 6th Avenue, I believe...and think about these podcasts every time! Appreciate all the details you guys discuss! Happy Holidays!!! -Alkesh.
Thanks Alkesh. And happy holidays to you too. Which effects did you think worked best/worst in the film? Did the digital actors work for you?
Interesting article..Thanks for sharing!! For knowing latest filmy updates Click here
[…] fxguide.com […]
Great discussion guys. I am a modeler and am very passionate about facial modeling techniques and bringing characters to life. I was eager to hear everyones perspective. I saw the movie (third time) with a couple of friends whom were not huge fans and I did not mention the digital doubles in advance. After the movie we were talking about it and I asked them, what did you think of the digital double? Both said "yeah Carrie Fisher it was obvious". Then I asked how about the other one? Neither knew he was a digital double. Never bothered them at all. I wonder if knowing he was dead comes into play with the Tarkin digital double?
Where's part 3. I read it mentioned, but can't seem to find any links?
Part 3 will be coming out shortly!
[…] #BlurStudio reveals how they made their latest #ElderScrolls Online cinematic. We feel lucky to have had a small part in this project and be a part of their extraordinary work. www.fxguide.com/… […]
[…] via FX Guide […]
[…] an interview on national radio on one of the “morning zoo” shows. The popular industry fxguide podcast chatted to me about digital costumes design, part of a growing change in how, as fx artists, we […]
[…] empassioned criticism of the bad physics of swinging in ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ on the VFX Show, I thought about my own pet peeves where the laws of physics and dynamics have been broken. The […]
[…] was only after I was in the middle of drawing that I realised I was listening to FX podcast’s interview with John Textor. I’m sure that influenced the number of teeth I drew. Posted in Postcardwala, Year 1Tagged […]
[…] via FX Guide […]
As a VRay user in my daily job I was very excited to try this. But very disappointed to find out that if you are on a PC you have to be running windows 10. I'm quite shocked that it's not supported on older versions of windows. A huge let down.
Well, Windows 10 was released more than two years ago back in July of 2015. It is by far the best and most stable version of Windows I have ever used. I would strongly encourage anyone to upgrade to it.
Really great interview and an important topic, especially the part about how to relax/help (20/20/20) your eyes on a daily basis. Sitting in front of 3 monitors the entire day, I am taking a lot from this :).
Is part 3 still coming out?
That was so awesome I just came in my pants.
In the list of software links, you forgot the link towards Enwaii photogrammetry software : http://www.enwaii.com
[…] his family provided hundreds of photos to make a hologram of Jackson for a performance at the 2014 Billboard Music […]
[…] his family provided hundreds of photos to make a hologram of Jackson for a performance at the 2014 Billboard Music […]
4xGTX 780ti...Must be quite a costly machine for a freelancer. How about memory limitations? Going more in depth on the technical side would have been great.
Redshift handles memory quite nicely, with the out of core/off to CPU thing if VRAM is exceeded.
Awesome!!!
That's incredible huge amount of work and research. Really nice done.
what is the name of the actress behind Orianna's model?
I read the whole article for this info. All I could find is the actress, The girl etc.
brilliant
oh my lord
I spent the majority of Finding Dory discussing with the person who went to watch the movie with me about how the hell did Pixar make this short. Thank you very much for the info
"Every shot in Piper is composed of millions of grains of sand, each one of them around 5000 polygons."
Wow...
A lot of resources
Congratulations to all nominees!
Though it's a bit weird not to see the Battlefield 1 nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project, the same as not seeing Star Wars Battlefront in this category last year..
This is a very in depth look into rotoscoping. Well written! Would recommend this to anyone who is learning about Rotoscoping.
Is it just me or does this seem like a massive waste of resources? Why not use a displacement map for most of it?
Read the article again, it's all in there. The whats, the hows and the whys
breaking the boundaries of computation
Amazing. Demonstrates what talent can do when working conditions are harmonious and the creature look, feel and movements are worked out prior to live shooting.
Really enjoying these Pixar articles, mostly because they successfully bridge all the super-technical stuff with clear explanations of the phenomena they are trying to simulate. Well done!
Impressive stuff. Advances like this make the "We're all living in a simulation" theories not seem so far-fetched, after all
It's just a pity Pixar'll spoil the jaw-dropping visuals by giving the character a whiny American teenager's voice, which sounds like fingernails being dragged down a blackboard.
Piper has been out since June 2016 and has no voice acting, American or otherwise, but don't let a little thing like the facts get in the way of a perfectly good prejudice.
[…] 133, 134- Seymour, M. (2013) “Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth”, en revista digital fxguide https://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
it says multiple times throughout that RIS handled things with ease, I'd like to know the render times and machine specs to judge what that truly means
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-vfx-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ […]
That denoiser comparison looks "fishy". If that's truly the before and after, then that's incredible. I haven't seen any 3rd party tools on the market that can go from that amount of noise to what was shown in the final frame.
It's actually a similar method used by a denoiser called Altus. If it's using the internal AOVs as a guide for the denoise function, that makes perfect sense.
Have you gotten results like that out of Altus? I've tried it and it was nowhere close. I'd say that it was good for cleaning up the last 5% of the noise within the image.
Thanks for this really interesting article and congrats again to Vlado and his team!
I worked on Avatar for 3 1/2 years and as far as I know ILM had nothing to do with the facial rig. We used Glen Derry's Technoprops rigs on Avatar, and to my knowledge Technoprops has no affiliation with ILM.
Was thinking the same thing. My understanding was ILM didn't do any hero animation on Avatar. The article, on second reading, doesn't explicitly state that they did but it does seem to strongly imply that they helped develop this tech during Avatar. Touchy subject I guess given the dodgey media coverage by CNet and others about that project.
[…] Vous pouvez toutefois en savoir plus sur les techniques d'animations utilisées par la société Animal Logic qui est à l'origine du rendu très réaliste des briques et des minifigs à l'écran en vous rendant à cette adresse (article en anglais) : Brick-by-brick: how Animal Logic crafted The LEGO Movie. […]
[…] 133, 134- Seymour, M. (2013) “Gravity: vfx that’s anything but down to earth”, en revista digital fxguide https://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
Is this tool available to test/use/preview ?
Hi Przemek!
We are working on agile-friendly service for VFX studios - SHOTTY
You can read more about it here http://shottyapp.com/
[…] ’s Chris McKay and a five-man committee of comedy writers.) The animation looks less like a meticulously staged CGI recreation of the stop-motion “brickfilm ” aesthetic and more like an ordinary […]
this is amazing!
This is exactly what my research is about: https://sites.google.com/view/uncannyresearch
I can't subscribe. The link to iTunes is missing and 'fxpodcast' returns no results when searching. Please fix this so I can get you show. Thanks
The link worked for me - can you try this, please? https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/fxguide-fxpodcast/id78811731?mt=2
[…] 3.https://www.fxguide.com/featured/gravity/ […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se desarrolla un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide logramos hallar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos localizar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide logramos hallar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se desarrolla un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide logramos hallar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
[…] ¿cómo se crea un monstruo en el cine? En FXGuide podemos encontrar un magnífico […]
Requa
"[...]Lighting_example | fxguide[...]"
epic
Don't forget Iloura worked on this film too.
Yep on about 400 shots including embers, heat ripples,and fire work. Great job from them as usual.
Marvel really deserve a gold statue!! 😀
Meh, the only impressive scenes from it were the King Louie sequence handled by WETA. Looking back over it, the extreme cleanliness and lack of detail on everything from the animal fur to the leaves to the water; combined with the obviously copypasted models on a lot of the animals to the cheap sims on the fire just leave a lot to be desired.
[…] 15 February 2017). Painter, T. (2014) Ptex, the other side of texturing. Available at: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/ptex_the_other_side/ (Accessed: 15 February 2017). Brandom, R. (2013) Throwing shade: How Pixar changed the way […]
[…] Stampede shot in the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/vampire-hunter-two-killer-sequences/ […]
I just need to remember how they called.
If it wasn't a professional affair I wouldn't mind so much, but typos in technically-orientated stories bug me a little especially when it comes to getting technical points across. Because accuracy is a key component (ironic considering the subject matter eh?). And there were quite a few here. Sorry to be the narky commenter, but hopefully you guys take that as pertinent and not unreasonable. Cheers mate.
But cool article indeed. I remember years ago being scoffed at (by an ILMer whose name I can't recall) for asking whether unusual or different mouth shapes owing to character design and/or physiognomy had to be taken into consideration in terms of relatable expressions and dialogue. And yet look at this! I also was very interested in the same vein to hear about ESL animators having a bit of difficulty with English/American mouth shapes too. Fascinating stuff.
Finally as far as "pioneering", I'm pretty sure Weta *started* getting into onset capture on LOTR for some of the Gollum stuff, not Avatar? And I think I remember ILM's Avatar scenes had nothing to do with mocap? And not a huge part of the workload?
Not *everyone* agrees as you said. Watch out for all-encompassing statements, mate. Especially when they're opinions not facts. And the "obvious" statement is redundant for those of us who know Cushing is dead and Fisher isn't 19 and how ELSE could it have been achieved. It becomes a catch-22. Sure many of us effects-types noticed immediately, but even there there's argument over which character was better/worse. And then there's the larger general audience. A great many of whom *didn't* realise the digital trickery until it was brought to their attention. So no, not everyone agrees. At all.
And considering you're so damning, I'd love to hear your constructive solution - a blasé/careless and unsupported grade-school dismissal like "is wrong... is wrong...is wrong" and "just looks digital" is really easy to do, but doesn't exactly stick when you can't offer any specifics or explain for example how the shape can be wrong when it was taken from a lifecast of the actor himself! So "poorly" sort of has no meaning when you haven't offered any understanding or explanation. I'm sure everyone would love to know! And Social Network is an apples-to-oranges comparison.
While I was aware of the effect for every second (and that was probably inevitable given the aforementioned context), I still acknowledge these shots were a monumental step up in terms of sheer magnitude and *way* beyond what's been done bin terms of difficulty, whether they convinced "everybody" or not...
[…] Listen to fxpodcast here>> […]
Like to point out a script weakness I believe I see. The ending has both both a pacing and a reveal problem, pacing slows to a crawl and the big reveal is too understated so that many audiences will miss it entirely.
A solution could be made in the scene with Amy-Louise with the Chinese General at the (future) gala for the adoption of the alien language. This scene is missing its WHAT. It needs an orientation shot--at front of scene or at the end--either a sign to the effect, "Welcome to the first worldwide celebration of potential global unity achieved thru adoption of alien lingo" or, a character thanking Louise in this vein.
As the scene plays, all we have to tip us off of this fact is a blurred circle logo behind Louise's head. Most people won;t get the reveal of the scene until days later if at all.
I agree with you.
Extremely high quality article. Well done!
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/claws-and-effects-the-wolverine/ […]
how much did the campaign cost? for my GCSE media studies coursework, i'd really appreciate of you could get back to me asap
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/children_of_men_-_hard_core_seamless_vfx/ […]
[…] http://www.fxguide.com/featured/art-of-stereo-conversion-2d-to-3d-2012/ […]
It look stunning, but making sand grain of 5k polys! Thats just insane, why???
It's long time in coming, and extremely upsetting. Please read here and share the following, and make a stink in all places autodesk listens to:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-letter-all-autodesk-permanent-license-holders-kris-holland
Whoa, hater alert! It's a 2 hour animated film. I thought they did very well considering how little time they had.
[…] The inside story behind Disney’s Paperman. (2014, October 03). Retrieved March 09, 2017, from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-inside-story-behind-disneys-paperman/ […]
The song is a cover (a really great one, I might add), but it's kind of weird to attribute the lyrics to someone that didn't write them. Otherwise, excellent coverage as usual. 🙂
Mike's the Johnny Cash fan -- I'm the NIN fan 🙂
Don't know if you've ever noticed, but the fxguidetv theme is actually a NIN remix I did of Survivalism.
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-vfx-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ […]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
- Johnny Cash
That should be credited to Reznor.
...What the fuck.
[…] Hier findet sich ein schöner Artikel über Miniatures für “The Impossible” […]
Great movie with great effects, I didn't notice many of them, I noticed some of the Laura shots, while she's running over the limo as an example, but the one really catch my eye was the running Logan through the forest, I noticed the neck was too long after the tree transition and it looked a bit weird, besides that everything was excellent.
"Coleman was keen to see the world with strong DOF"
"As the characters are only 1.5" high, it quickly became apparent that normal world lenses would produce too much DOF"
In the real world for a character of 1.5" high, filmed with a "real lens" you would get too small DOF, not too much.
Yeah, we generally use "DOF" backwards. "More DOF" or "More DOFed" has come to mean "Shallower Depth of Field" or "larger circles of confusion" or "a heavier DOF filter effect"
We know it's backwards from a traditional photographic terminology perspective, but once people start using a term a certain way, it's hard to flip "down" back to mean "up" again.
At this point, if you show your average VFX person a CG render that's completely sharp everywhere, they will tell you it has "no DOF", whilst if you use term in it's original intended photographic way, the image actually has "infinite DOF".
Stupid words.
When its motion blurred all to hell at 1/48ths of a second and without a closeup it looks good. But honestly, I've seen better done in video games than some of those double shots by themselves without anything to get in the way.
I'm not sure if this recommends modern high budget games as super impressive, or digital stuntwork as far too concentrated on animation without any attention paid to materials whatsoever. But I'd expect better than this in 2017.
AMAZING FILM BEST OF THE YEAR GODDAMN!!!!!!!!!!!
incredible hard work
Essentialy use a wider lens and crop in on the image digitally. well the picture quality would still drop depending on the lens. and depending on the camera stopping down and raising the iso might look better than zooming in on the image. I thought this article sort of over complicated something pretty simple?!
The picture quality will drop slightly regardless of the lens. BUT only ever so slightly. On films I have zoomed in 200%. Even 300 and 400% on Gatsby at Baz's request.
If the native ISO on a red is say 800. To get 4 stops to compensate going from f2.8 to f11 you will need to jump the ISO up to 12,800. At this point the noise will compromise the quality of composites. Transparency, hair, detail, motion blur, items out of focus etc will all be compromised. And consistancy of noise to other shots around not using your solution will be horrible.
Thanks for sharing this technique - it clearly worked well for you on Gatsby. A simple solution for a complex problem, particularly as the wider lenses tend to be the quickest.
For productions on a lower budget I think the glass could be more problematic for this technique. Are you choosing particular focal lengths to be sympathetic for the distortion - or is there some sort of de-lensing being done in post? Equally with anamorphics this surely would bring its own issues? The below GIF springs to mind!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59a8ece68397fb2e1777c7a76d663552d4c3482fb2d262a28ab220b0f011649c.gif
The technique was not used on Gatsby but as a result of technical frustrations I had on the film I came up with this technique because it cost me a lot of time and money to reestablish a CG Duesenberg around our actors and into the scene. The same technique could have also been used elsewhere in the film as well as the majority of scenes were studio based with the biggest set being the back of Gatsby's mansion at 50m x 80m x 11m high.
As stated in the text above it is 'how you frame up and use a 27mm vs a 50mm.
When you are on a 16mm lens and frame up an extreme close up of a face there is evident distortion both in terms of lens distortion (chromatic aberrations, barrelling etc) which could potentially be improved in post - but as well there is facial distortion. But the facial distortion is simply because you have come in too close. That is your creative decision not a technical one.
What I am offering up is the age old rough equivalent of cutting 16mm footage into a 35mm film after doing a traditional optical. A beautiful shot is a beautiful shot. And this technique has been used for decades. This is just an advance on the same concept to marry into todays technology but benefitting from the increased DOF.
Because you can use this simple technique and jump in and out of it at any time I would split a lens package creatively. Say I wanted to use Primo Prime Lenses and we were to shoot Red Epic 5K WS f2 at 3 metres - I would use a :
10mm as a 10mm - full gate no zoom - dof infinity
17.5mm as a 17.5mm - full gate no zoom - dof 2.49
27mm as a 27mm - full gate no zoom - dof .93
17.5mm as a 35mm - central zoom - dof 2.49 not .54
27mm as a 50mm - central zoom - dof .93 not .26
35mm as a 75mm - central zoom - dof .54 not .12
75mm as a 150mm - central zoom - dof .12 not .03
So the package could be a 10, 17.5, 27, 35, 50, 75 possibly add a 21 for fun but that gets you from 10mm to 150mm.
As for anamorphics there is no separate or different issue or technique. If anything for the anamorphics it would make pulling focus much easier with a much better DOF.
On Moulin Rouge there is a shot of the 'Unconscience Argentinian' shot through a window on a 400mm anamorphic lens. I asked Pat why the focus rolled from the actors nose to his eyes and back on this extreme closeup. Pat said that this was simply the actor breathing - we used a portion of the shot just as the actor breathed in and held his breath - just before speaking. So an anamorphic 400m at f4 and 6 metres is .03m dof in comparison to a .13m dof on a 200m with a digital zoom.
The technique also works perfectly for zooms and stills cameras.
*** ALSO please remember - because of the resolution of the camera back we are actually cropping into the centre of the frame - not zooming. So there is not digital degeneration. Or just simply record the centre patch.
[…] (so many entanglements!), and some stunningly realistic drops of blood. But while the drops of blood in the film were 3D fluid simulations—something akin to these—it turns out that real-life […]
[…] (so many entanglements!), and some stunningly realistic drops of blood. But while the drops of blood in the film were 3D fluid simulations—something akin to these—it turns out that real-life phosphorescent […]
[…] (so many entanglements!), and some stunningly realistic drops of blood. But while the drops of blood in the film were 3D fluid simulations—something akin to these—it turns out that real-life phosphorescent […]
Even a few years later... Great video.
[…] In the cartoon Smurfs, Gargamel had a solid brown/orange cat named Azrael. In Smurfs The Movie, which has computer animation for the Smurfs, and live actors for the other characters, Hank Azaria plays Gargamel, and a striped orange cat plays Azrael. (It is the first CGI/live-action hybrid film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and in The Smurfs trilogy.) In Smurfs 2, it appears a CGI cat plays Azrael. In this account of the special effects used for the movie, it is said that four orange cats were used in the…. […]
car repair services
[…] Use in 3D application for image based lighting […]
telugu cinema news and gossips
Nice info. Thank you for sharing your ideas with us.
I just saw this on Netflix and just for the VFX quality alone I would have been happy seeing it in theaters. I could feel the connection Steve had as director/VFX artist, it made the story and action that much more compelling and watchable. Excellent first effort and I look forward to bigger and better.
Thank you for a truly in-depth article on this amazing movie and the unbelievably talented people that created it. I'm only an old audio editor, but CGI amazes the bejeezuz out of me. I bought the movie as "pre-viewed" from the Dollar Store, so I didn't get the 3D bang, but still, I would have sworn to any God available that the tiger was real. Obviously not in shots with Pi in them, that would be dangerous, but I would have sworn it was all intercut with a real tiger. And when I found out the orangutan was never real at all, I had to watch those scenes again. Would never have believed it it they hadn't said it in the Special Features interviews on the DVD. So sorry the company went chapter 11, they are truly artists. Thanks again for your article, several years after the fact.
The author of this article is one-sided, hailing the "success" of Adobe's subscription model. Anyone with any sense of what's going on knows that MANY people refuse to take up Adobe CC, and hate subscription models, myself included. CS6 was the last Adobe product I purchased (and still use to this day). I have also purchased Autodesk products in the past, but never again. I'm not saying don't have subscription, I'm saying give customers the CHOICE, because that is the right thing to do. Some software is fit for purpose and remains so for a long time. No subscription necessary. Not every customer is the same, and some people use this software on and off throughout the year, and rely on only limited scope of the software, not cutting edge features needing constant updating.
I have just learned that my favorite game making program Construct 2 is going the subscription model for Construct 3. What a shame. It's articles like these that they probably read and think "hey, if it's successful for Adobe and Autodesk,then let's do the same". Shame!
[…] from https://www.fxguide.com/featured/udim-uv-mapping/ […]
Stunning work, amazing in every possible way. I never tire of seeing it again on a Vimeo hunt.
So what are these Disney / Open source tools for Ptex?
They have some git repos listed on the official Ptex.us download page. Hopefully these can help you with your search: http://ptex.us/download.html
185 dollars a month to use 3ds max is ridiculous in my opinion. Nobody should be paying that much for a software subscription I don't care how big the software is.
Cooke is legendary in Optics, so this is no way a comment at them. But why are we making sensors even bigger? Heavy DOF is more of a Portrait Photographers tool. There is Some in Film making, but honestly It's over hyped. Just count in a movie how many shots with Noticeable DOF you see. Filmicly, there is often just a slight DOF, and if there is more it's because a you're shooting with a longer lens or there is a shot where you are actually using the effect to Rack.
Larger Sensors require you to Gather more light. Something Smaller Sensors benefit from this. Micro 4/3rds lenses have such low apertures, because past the nodal point the light is much more concentrated compared to Fullframe. Having a F1.4 lense on M4/3 is not only cheap, it delivers quite an appropriate DOF effect.
Other than meeting miniaturization of fitting Resolution on a Sensor half way. Why is Red doing this again?
Someone knows how we can test Elara ?
You have to register on foundry page to get more news about Elara - https://go.pardot.com/l/298802/2017-03-31/4wvl
Worst Star trek movie.
what are the name s of equitments. where can i buy them?
it is amazing mocap. good luck.
this is the way how avatar made.isn't it?
Whatever happened to Rob Bottin?
[…] This article was written by Ian Failes on February 13, 2014 for FXguide - Original article can be found here […]
[…] dos momentos menos inspirados da [[Pixar]] até hoje. O visual, por outro lado, está deslumbrante. Foi criada uma nova tecnologia de animação só para que os cachos ruivos da princesa se movessem de um jeito realista, e esse […]
[…] Credits for image […]
[…] to composite the bird into the shot in a time where rotoscoping was the new skill in the industry. It had been pioneered by Max Fleischer, which involved drawing around subjects frame by frame, a technique pivotal to […]
[…] como eles fizerem tudo? O pessoal do Fxguide entrevistou o supervisor de efeitos do filme chamado Tim Webber, que comentou sobre o incrível trabalho realizado pela Framestore em […]
[…] composite the bird into the shot in a time where rotoscoping was the new skill in the industry. It had been pioneered by Max Fleischer, which involved tracing around subjects frame by frame in order to speed up […]
[…] Failes, I. (2013, 12 december). The Book Thief: crafting the visual effects. https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-book-thief-crafting-the-visual-effects/ […]
[…] FX Guide […]
I see that you abandoned posting articles on the website.
[…] os anos 30 e 50 pelo animado austríaco Lotte Reiniger. Em sua entrevista para o site Fxguide (link), ele conta que foi ideia do diretor da animação (Ben Hibon) que ela trouxesse referências […]
The jungle book is one of the great 3D animation movie which everyone like to watch. The efforts are only successful in this movie due to one and only good use of VFX. VFX visual effects are always make the things live and attractive. click here to know more...http://www.gatewayanimedia.com/service/138
[…] you want to dig a little deeper in the film’s use of visual effects, here is a good page on the […]
Cool.
[…] Nowhere is this more evident than in the alien spacecraft’s holographic replay system. Using old televisions as a reference point, Scott’s VFX team was able to create an effect that was both decidedly […]
[…] Nowhere is this more evident than in the alien spacecraft’s holographic replay system. Using old televisions as a reference point, Scott’s VFX team was able to create an effect that was both decidedly […]
[…] Nowhere is this some-more clear than in a visitor spacecraft’s holographic replay system. Using old televisions as a anxiety point, Scott’s VFX group was means to emanate an outcome that was both decidedly […]
[…] Nowhere is this some-more clear than in a visitor spacecraft’s holographic replay system. Using old televisions as a anxiety point, Scott’s VFX group was means to emanate an outcome that was both decidedly […]
[…] Nowhere is this some-more clear than in a visitor spacecraft’s holographic replay system. Using old televisions as a anxiety point, Scott’s VFX group was means to emanate an outcome that was both decidedly […]
AWESOME!
Some of the in-house team's comps are...a little rough. But, for scenes that you wouldn't expect to have effects shots, comps like these are easier to slip by unnoticed. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d30dcbeab07487ef3b04c312ca7f0fd6386e123d38503b77b176246bbae5eba8.jpg
You forgot Peerless, who did the scene where David teaches Walter how to play the flute.
Thank you for mentioning me, I just want to point out that my name is Bavari and not Babari. Thanks!
This is so exciting to see Blender now taking the step to upgrade itself for feature film and not only shorts.
[…] life, Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Legato and Pixomondo Ben Grossman devised many tricks and transitions to create the signature opening with other scenes that indeed pays homage to Méliès and other […]
Awesome
Thanks Jeff and Fxguide for posting this.
[…] Más información | Art of Destruction (or Art of Blowing Crap Up) […]
[…] of Extinction: ILM turns up its Transformers toolset | fxguide . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/age-of-extinction-ilm-turns-up-its-transformers-toolset/. [Accessed 01 June […]
[…] 2016. DMM: FEA for VFX | fxguide . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.fxguide.com/featured/dmm-fea-for-vfx/. [Accessed 17 November […]
the problem is the first realease of this new team have a basic bug, the shadow matte doesnt work like the previous shadow catcher, i hope solid angle will correct this big issue for a render engine.
I bet the special effect weren't done in America. America animation is an outsourced mess.
Beautiful! Nicely done! Now, I am looking forward to a sequel.
Interesting.
But its kind of like watching a really good mechanic,
who's really good with tools and has a fully equipped garage,
build a ford pinto for scratch.
Technically its a car,
and it took skills to do that,
but its a ford pinto.
Well, it's a Ford Pinto that a lot of people really love 🙂
Worst movie, worst director.
Yep, absolutely right.
this mocap data is terrible, why are you covering this?
What makes you think the mocap data is terrible? Have you used the suit?
Mike, I have enjoyed this podcast for several years now and appreciate the work of you and your guests. Unfortunately I have a bone to pick with you in this last 'cast. Your theory that we only love Alien because we see it through the blinding light of Aliens, may be true for you but is certainly not for many of the rest of us. Many of us consider Alien the superior film, but be that as it may, it was your insistence that your idea was unquestionable that really stuck in my craw. That and the fact that you kept repeating it over and over, as if you said it enough it would be true, was really annoying. Just had to get this off my mind. Love and keep up the good work.
wow! great inspiration! Thanks for the post!
amazin article, thank you so much!
Matthew is right.
Mike:
Alien is a far superior film compared with Aliens.
We were all "floored" by the action of Aliens when it came out, but it's flawed in so many ways it's annoying now. It has it moments but it is a typical 80's American action styled movie (which can be fun but nope it's not as good as you think it is).
Also, Neill Blomkamp would fall into the Cameron category and it wouldn't move the franchise further. He has the eye (as Cameron) for technical direction but he fails (as Cameron) on the stories.
Ridley is doing the right thing, exploring the universe but I agree that both Prometheus and Covenant is not what we hoped they would be. Both films, while long, seemed rushed here and there and I do hope he can do a final film to tie it together.
Thanks for the great show!
>att; Burrows
all mocap needs cleaning. no secret.
also check out Perception Neuron, by the way. ($999-1500)
Definitely reminds of the Animatrix, and Blomkamp. The conflict at the end was executed too bluntly, narratively speaking. I felt this overall could have been smarter.
Sounds like such an amazing artist and a good friend and family member. My thoughts are with you and his entire family
Awesome article! Great information here!
"a US phone will not simply work in the UK or Australia."
I've never had an issue doing just that. The network side is all standard chipsets these days AFAIK. What you're describing was an issue ten or fifteen years ago.
The display is intriguing to put it mildly. And the competition - looking at it just as a phone - is the likes of the Google Pixel; Hydrogen is only a couple of hundred bucks in front of a top-end Pixel. But you know what? Even if it had a conventional screen I'd still spring for it at that price point; it's the modular imaging system that's compelling for me. The mother of all camera phones. The best camera in the world is the *one you have with you* - and I always have my phone with me...
(Disclaimer: no affiliation with RED other than as a happy customer of their digital cinema camera)
Amazing Movie
[…] Most objects have a combination of both diffuse and specular reflections. Glossy reflections are a mix between the two where the highlights of light sources can clearly be seen but the reflection is blurry and undefined. Glossy reflections are semi-specular or semi-diffuse reflections. Realtime rendering of glossy, shiny smooth and rough surfaces – visual examples. Source: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/game-environments-parta-remember-me-rendering/ […]
Incredible work by PIXAR..Loved the details in the article!
"lenticular 3D displays with eye-tracking in response to our program. "
Nintendos been doing that awhile. Works fairly well.
Id say even with 4-directional images rather then 2, tracking would be nice.
Parallax perspective matching the users head is oddly underused given its relatively easy tech.
check out this two AI research:
https://richzhang.github.io/colorization/
https://richzhang.github.io/ideepcolor/
If they used blockchain and a mesh network like SiaCoin they could go global and there just happens to be a ReddCoin that jumped from almost nothing to $75 Million market cap in a month. Hmm
Also they need to use Steemq.com for video when it's ready. Not that POS youtube.
This is amazing!
hi iam Manjunath
am learning Visual effect and now we are making shot movie
like advance effect so iam learning online web have good store with good actors
we need to make movie like #bahubali2# Movie not like that but we are trying to make like that movie so pl's help me
I use Adobe's Production Premium Suite CS6, I didn't go the cloud route and there are two things to note; 1) To date I haven't lost out on ANY creativity because the current CC versions of my 5 year old CS6 software are hardly different and 2) in that time I've saved around £2000 (or $3000) in subscriptions I've proved I didn't need to spend.
The other point I'd like to make is that there are new, leaner kids on the block now which are MUCH better than these behemoth companies. Take Affinity Photo - *full* 32bit colour editing which Photoshop is unable to do and can only dream about (how could it have been number 1 for so long with that weakness ?). And EVERY-THING PS does, Affinity Photo does better, and all for the princely sum of $50 (to own outright, not leased or rented).
And for AutoDesk ? Try BricsCAD, Almost identical to full AutoCAD (i.e. 3d), only much faster and better (with little to no downtime to learn, it's that similar). It costs around £600 to OWN outright and it is yours to do with whatever you wish (which includes reselling it when done) - by contrast, we all know how AutoDesk operate (i.e. you don't own the software, you cannot resell it and if you stop paying the licence fee, on perpetual that is, you're only allowed to use the last installed and activated version. Stop paying the subscription, and your rented software stops work altogether....).
Now, remind me how these expensive Subscription (rented software) models improve my work flow ?
Set your rules in the world of fashion and amaze all the masses around you by attiring this colorful and attractive necklace. This elegant necklace has been inspired from the famous character which can be used as necklet also. This Eye of Agamotto pendant necklace is a very important relic that can be quite dangerous if used in the wrong hands, because it has the ability to do any number of things, the most dangerous thing about this is, it can sort of manipulate probabilities which are the part of doctor strange story.
Brilliant article.
how much in mb is 1 frame of alembic format ?
For the giraffe drawing course you need to ask Nicolas Deveaux to explain how he did "5m80" https://vimeo.com/76684408
Amazing looking avatar there, Mike. Tremendous detail. The movement gave away the fact that it wasn't really you.
Thanks for the great article! Would be more interested in knowing Anti-aliasing techniques used while making this.
Probably just SMAA
some good work here but i think the flesh tones are still only about 80% convincing.
Awesome!
Thanks for the article, that was a great start for my day!
[…] Cinematics case study: Mass Effect 3 ロングバージョン Mass Effect 3: Take Earth Back Cinematic Trailer EA GAMES Mass Effect 3 […]
Ah, I think I misunderstood what this was. I thought it meant we could watch the interviews live, remotely through Unreal and a Vive. It seems this is only set up for people physically at Siggraph, but they are letting people without passes in, especially for it.
new alembic on ue 4.17?
That was amazing...
I wonder what PC specs is needed to render something like this at that speed and resolution.
Also, what customization were made into the Unreal Engine? Experimental shaders?
9 PC's with 32Gig RAM each and 1080ti Nvidia cards
hi
WOW! Just WOW!
Fantastic collaboration and results —
" Love it when a plan comes together "
[…] Broadcast and ident design highlights (fxguide) […]
Just. Blown. Away. This is amazing. It makes our current avatar renderings look like something out of the 90's.
[…] Cependant, cela ne signifie pas qu'il n'y ait rien à faire pour cela. Même si Malekith the Accursed est un méchant moins-stellaire, la scène de combat à la fin est assez géniale . […]
So is anyone else gonna comment one that fact that Mark is wearing a Godzilla T-shirt?
[…] Matéria – Ben Snow: the evolution of ILM’s Lighting tools […]
[…] CG robots, milk sims, digi-enviros & macro-cloth (fxguide) […]
fantastic article. The last part about Cosa (egg ) was a real Gem.
25 years next year !!! My god.
Cheers,
b
[…] ILM’s scientific solutions (fxguide) […]
[…] VFX in TVCs: amazing baby and amazing SUV (fxguide) The Amazing Making-Of […]
[…] UDIM UV mapping (fxguide) […]
[…] NUKE 8 is coming: here’s what you need to know […]
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d39d5ada9ff7551960cd543c0f5ead196d0129047095b958afd9ea6c0cc34dc.jpg Do you have any idea about animation company in mumbai
Are there any televisions on the market that do justice to this type of film?
wow!
Wooooow!!!!!
Fascinating. Thank you.
Can you make this Digital Emily into a face for Cortana in Windows 10, please? I would especially love to see how she grimaces a disappointed face when she cannot find or open something!
Very interesting technique but I think Euclidion introduced this YEARS ago. In 2011 they posted this video: https://youtu.be/00gAbgBu8R4
But Euclideon has not made it available in any usable form. They chickened out from the game industry (which they never truly entered anyway - only made their own stereoscopic projection VR arcade with government money) and went straight into geospatial which is a much better fit for such industry. Why they haven't done a Unity or a Unreal plugin is due to their sheer greed and fear of others immediatelly understanding the shortcommings of their technology. Same goes to the Atomontage engine.
Yes, I was just thinking about Euclidion. And of course the limitation with any point-cloud model is that the lighting/shadows and highlights are baked in. Though I see Euclidion has some raytraced flat surfaces thrown in.
Why would the lighting/shadows be baked in. Euclidion uses also point clouds from normal 3d polygon models which I THINK can be lit afterwards.
Joseph Kosinski was much much better option for that job.
[…] was already gaining traction. Almost two years before the NLE tumult of 2011, Blackmagic Design had already acquired da Vinci Systems, back in September, […]
[…] Resolve fits into a larger comprehensive strategy around celluloid film and telecine, because Blackmagic Design also acquired Cintel in 2012. They provide a complimentary copy of Resolve Studio with any purchase of their $30,000 Cintel […]
early childhood
teacher jobs
[…] As for John Barry, the author of Star Wars: The Blueprints, JW Rinzler, made the set designer's contribution clear in an interview with FX Guide: […]
[…] As for John Barry, the author of Star Wars: The Blueprints, JW Rinzler, made the set designer’s contribution clear in an interview with FX Guide: […]
Great article....linked to it on the 3D forums I frequent. Thanks.
That is what it's all about, learn from the past utilize the tools of the here and now to make it better for the future. Happy Arbor day!
Dion
Epic's Unreal Engine 4 is mainly a real-time interactive video game engine. It's got baked in Virtual Reality support. I would love them to release a VR "tour" of the exterior of The Orville.
Maybe even an annotated tour with voice snippets from Seth himself as the tour guide.
Thanks Mike, I've only just started trying to get my head around all of this, and this article is very clear and answer all of my questions that others have not. I'll be keeping an eye on Render Token, it sounds fascinating.
Nice!
When is the model coming out? Love the ship,love the show. Have fun Seth and fans.
Whow - that escalated quickly ;)Great article on a quite complex issue. Its very rare nowadays to see online such indepth articles. Great Job.
3D People FTW! 🙂
[…] Full detailed collision detection with fluid dynamics and rigid body interactions would be impossible in realtime, but it is effectively simulated by the use of multiple partitioned boxes or ‘buoyancy spheres’. Assassin’s Creed III: The tech behind (or beneath) the action […]
[…] Creed IV: Black Flag Has The Most Beautiful Bug I’ve Seen [a04] Interactive Water Surfaces [a05] 5 things you need to know about the tech of AC4 [a06] AC4: Black Flag Graphics Tech Explained [a07] Unity 3D Wiki: DepthMask [a08] Wikipedia: […]
[…] Image: fxguide.com […]
Blockchain + AI + VR is the future! 🙂
Blockchain + Virtual Reality + Artificial Intelligence is the future! 🙂
Great write up Ian!
Sugoi!
this was one of the most amazing things I saw at Siggraph. Even it is not so recent, it is an excellent example of using VR technology as opportunity to expand education and Human experience.
Do you know if Canada will have the same union ? Montreal become a new VFX capital...
I don’t believe BECTU deals with Canada, but IATSE does. Contact the local office if your interested in info or helping organize.
why did you feel the need to put (and women) in brackets? write VFX Artists (it even has nice alliteration), or just remove the brackets. Way to marginalise women in the industry for literally no reason.
Was not intended that way, I was trying to play off the X-men assemble line without being exclusionary. I will change it. Thanks.
very cool
blast from the past http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/bectu-calls-uk-screen-association-677748
[…] Image: fxguide.com […]
So MPC is making the real replicants now.
She doesn't look as much like an oil painting as 'Rogue One's" Princess Leia did.
Amazing work!
Hadn't I known that this could not possibly be the real Sean Young, I wouldn't have noticed a thing about this scene.
Same, I totally thought they had just found a lookalike not that it was actually CG. The only way they failed was they didn't make the model look enough like Sean Young.
WTF is MPC? I guess it’s not a sequencer from Akai.
"Moving Picture Company".
I expected something like this to be attempted actually - when the character walked up I was excited to see how well they would pull it off. I too thought they had found an actress who looked very similar to a young Sean Young. Because the likeness although close was not perfect and the modelling looked more natural... which is a good thing for the render - but there was something or things missing- A huge fan of the original and I really liked/loved this new movie but the Rachel render was actually the part I ended up liking the least.
Reminds me of the 80's movie LOOKER
I thought it was pretty good, except that she looked too big compared to Deckard.
It would be hard to get a currently 58-year-old lady as digitally svelte (as politely as I could put) as she was when she was in her early 20s. I suppose if she starved herself, but that two minutes of film time surely wasn't worth all the trouble nor impacting her health.
Dont suppose anyone wants to post the obj ot stl file so we can print out models? Scant lamemefortrying
[…] Image Source: Paramount Pictures […]
My coworkers were asking me about this just yesterday, and I told them "You have to model the bone structure to get the muscles and skin working right. There's no other way." And then BAM, this goes up. Amazing work by MPC!
This is one reason I stayed out of the VFX field and concentrated in other areas!
Houdini foreva
I was just thinking about the shots of the cities, do you think they were procedurally generated? Or at least for the most part?
What a great podcast! You guys sure know how to talk movies 🙂 Keep it up!!
I had a small problem with the scene with the prostitutes, i thought that one shot looked very staged and to contained, not feeling like K was "outside" in the city.
Also a few of the spinner scenes in the end looked a bit cgi compared to the start. But still its no big deal.
Very cool concept for a short film. Looked the look behind the scenes at the motion control rig. Every time i see one i am in awe. Way to go Victor.
https://youtu.be/ZCDc_RlVAZA
7 years ago...
Hmm, not sure about that one? I honestly think that this might not be the best example to showcase the possibility of the moco rig. This is an entirely shot green screen emotional piece, where for 80% of the time i am wondering why the background is all digital and keyed for a maybe 10s scene with time offset mirrored person??? I think sometimes VFX are used for the wrong purpose. Why not shoot this whole piece on location with one moco Rig and have the real feeling and emotion of being out in nature and put real props and mirror in front of actress And have her simple re-act the mirror sequence time offset with some music beat markers. It is an actress, that's what they do, they can perform this again and again if they have to and since the offset is quiet big i don't think any audience would notice slight discrepancies between performances. Now, i know this is a tech demo and they want to show what they can do with the moco rig, but i wonder if there wasn't a better smarter setup, that would showcase that exact feature for 80% and in a more appropriate setting without looking at green screen composites 80% of the time, that have nothing to do with the moco FX calculation wizardry work which happens only during the mirror sequence. I think this is a bad example since it would have transported emotion and storytelling better with old school approach. But that's just my 2 cents.
Shooting something like this requires far too long for set-up and execution to be done on location. I wasn't stripped of the emotion. But that's just 80% of my 2 cents.
I was staring at her ass so I completely missed the blood in the reflection and on the mirror.
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/prometheus-rebuilding-hallowed-vfx-space/ […]
podcast wont play:(
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-digital-faces-at-ict-from-digital-emily-to-digital-ira/ […]
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/paul-debevec-and-ict-an-fxphd-bkd/ […]
This Victor dude is so full of himself; always about sonorous self-promotion. And it seems he came up with nothing new after all. 20 years of production experience right? Looks like he graduated film school less than 10 years ago LOL
Absolutely loved the way this character was brought to screen. Amazing job! The hand blending blew me away when I saw the film. 🙂
Very impressive article and great work ! My son and I really enjoyed the film, its humour, and lot of it comes from the performance of Hulk. Kudo to the riggers !
By the way, you say « Rigging has no silver bullet, no single tech innovation that has made rigging easier. It is the legendary Greek Sisyphus of visual effects. »
As a great writer said, Albert Camus, in the Myth of Sisyphus : « the struggle toward the top is sufficient in itself to fill a man’s heart. We have to imagine Sisyphus happy ». So, are Riggers the happiest guys in VFX ?? 🙂
[…] lighting effects, with accurate shadows and directional light, is in a fact big deal. First used by ILM for Pearl Harbor, it’s now a technique that’s heavily used in the computer graphics field — it even garnered a […]
Update from end of campaign. https://vfxforum.org/2017/11/vfxassemble-what-happened/
any news on fabric engine closing as well? they never said anything
where took place the filming of The Impossible
I just saw Top Gun on 3D blu-ray and was amazed at the conversion. Amazingly painstakingly converted - thanks to the team who've let me enjoyed a child hood favourite once again with the latest tech!
Wow that actually sounds really cool. I guess I'd believe that it would happen if they could figure out how to make a proper paint tool.
Didn't work all that well IMO, she looks okay when she's not talking but as soon as she does the illusion fell apart for me. Looking forward to scrutinising it on the 4K UHD though.
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/divergent-making-the-mirror-room/, […]
My personal wish-list that would make this a must-have:
- Upgradeable Nvidia graphics (Mike mentioned - should be upgradeable at a Mac store at least, if not by user)
- Hardware 3D LUT support in the monitor (so I can make it professionally usable in accuracy using my software/probe of choice - i.e. LightSpace - only way to really make that large gamut and brightness useful)
- Pen/touch enabled, ala Microsoft Surface Studio, so I can paint/draw on it
"The display is based on a Framebuffer Depth with 30-Bit Color, so it is not able to do full HDR or Dolby Vision (like) grading but it is perfect for P3 style work, especially if you are an indie filmmaker avoiding an expensive final grade."
This statement is wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to start, but I'll try anyway. For starters, a bit depth has nothing to do with P3 color gamut or the screen brightness necessary for HDR work. Also, why would indie filmmaker care, if they can use P3? Indie filmmakers would normally just use Rec-709 standard for delivery of most types of indy material, so having screen calibrated for P3 gamut can actually be detrimental for that kind of deliverables.
Totally agree. And to add to that two things:
1. The white point and gamma that Apple uses for its P3 do not match the DCI P3 spec.
2. Even you were to attempt to grade on iMac Pro monitor in REC709, it would still require sending an SDI signal out to a calibrated reference quality monitor, because trying to calibrate and color manage the GUI for accurate reference in all the commonly used grading applications is virtually impossible. You’d never have any guarantee that you were viewing the true signal on screen.
Did Apple actually say the "Pro Monitor" will be HDR-capable, or is that mention in the article supposition based on the use-cases the iMac Pro doesn't fill? I didn't think anything that specific had been discussed about it, beyond its impending existence, as with the next Mac Pro.
I wish you provided some info on the performance of a Flame system.
Cheers
Me too! We're looking to upgrade our current MacPro's to this iMacPro for FLAME and Resolve.
"Pro 460 graphics with 8GB of graphics memory"
Pretty sure is has only 4GB of graphics memory
anyone else notice the blood on her shirt in the mirror was much bigger than when in happened the second time?
what about Larten
i want to know about larten he is so amazingly cool.
Love this show. Funny when it needs to be and serious. Seth's form of humor is for everyone. When ST:Discovery was to be aired i was ecstatic to see a new ST series. Watched a few episodes. This series is better,funnier and thought provoking. Seth takes the best of ST universe and makes it his own. Can't wait to own the Orville. I have built and displayed most of the other models and this will be my next. Thanks Seth for bringing back "Star Trek" to the screen. I will look forward to the next season of The Orville. I will not watch ST:Discovery, boring.
Thank you for this excellent overview!
sad . very hurtful
Render time per frame?
[…] White-letter Hairstreak (Gothnak) b Matterhorn Screamer! (unsolved) c Star Wolves shortcut (unsolved) d & e Counters from wargame Fjord […]
Sorry but they missed on Rachel aka Sean Young Wish it had been better i love Blade Runner and this was okay but not what i had hoped for 2 hours and 43 minutes I see why some planed the movie It just does not hold up to the Org. not even close The story line was okay but it moved to slow and the action was not like it was in the org. nor was the color ,it was very bland compared to the org.I liked the movie but it was now where as good as the first and that was a shame.Maybe if there is another it will get better, but sure there will be since they missed so badly this time out.
Yeah, the whole plot was a tad dodgy and wafer thin. Ryan Gosling made a good Replicant in almost every movie (or for sure 'Drive' at least), and I think he was the only one to fit a role in the film as I thought Jared Leto's Wallace served really no purpose and way over-the-top to me anyways as well as his sidekick ninja assassin (other than looking sexy). The story line "twist" was meh, but okay I guess. I thought it was neat at the end on the steps where Vangelis - 'Tears in the Rain' signaled Joe's departure as originally done for Roy Batty.
I can't wait for Blade Runner 2049: The Rise of the Replicants where Deckard comes out of his own retirement as the LAPD's replacement Lieutenant for the 'Retirement Division' and Gaff is the new station Captain, ready to take down the one-eyed woman's army of Social Justice Warrior Replicants. Whilst moving Deckard's secret daughter to a new hiding spot during a rain shower, her protective suit springs a leak (when they're shot at by rouge Replicants) and she dies, allowing Gaff to repeat "It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
LOL
awesome article thank you.
Very cool! I can't help but look at that Eisko photograph and think about the giant machine from Contact... for some reason...
The one in the foreground reminds me of the Gerry Anderson series "Joe 90".
Michael Gracey comes across as having wonderful integrity.
[…] Sébastien Lagarde’s summary of Rendering Remember Me […]
[…] Mike Seymour’s Monsters University: rendering physically based monsters […]
[…] Real blue gloop: The World’s End […]
Great article! Thanks for posting. A co-worker looked over while I was watching the top video and was like "wait, those shots were CG?" We work in CG. 🙂
Yesterdays technology today, cool article brah
Great piece, wish I'd read it 2 years ago! But.... the BMW would have been on a LAZY Susan; (originally) a rotating table or tray for food service at a table.
Wonderful read! Thank you.
Great post! I am actually getting ready to across this information, is very helpful my friend. Also great blog here with all of the valuable information you have. Keep up the good work you are doing here.
Hello Guys,
We are defining here the necessities of the Calendars in our day to day life and as each day is a different one and every professionals and student have to manage their schedule according to their busy moments in the working days.
http://mobispirit.com/2018/01/calendario-febrero-2018/
http://mobispirit.com/2018/01/kalender-februar-2018/
http://mobispirit.com/2018/01/calendario-fevereiro-2018/
http://mobispirit.com/2018/01/calendario-febbraio-2018/
[…] check out vfxblog’s look back at Propeller Guy, and a story from a few years ago I wrote for fxguide that covered several vendors’ […]
[…] interview here at vfxblog with Dante’s Peak visual effects supervisor Patrick McClung, and my look back at the visual effects of Titanic at […]
So it’s good for all in one independent editorial? For feature film or high end commercial vfx work the features don’t seem to make it anymore useful that it previously was - except for editing from your reccie? Do Apple continue to completely ignore open interchange formats, I mean, how does it play with the other tools we’re using for review, post and DI? Where does it fit in-house.
This piece feels like a paid for-write up. FCPX has some excellent features but for a website that covers high end vfx almost exclusively, you spend remarkably little time talking about how the program finds a home in that ecosystem. I guess this just feels all positive with no look at, in particular, the negative impact that ecosystem also has. And I write this as someone with three vfx editors using FCPX for me right now (and frustrated at getting it to play nice with RV, for example).
[…] this film even more jaw dropping, the 3D is one of the stand out aspects, it is beautiful. The effects are mesmerising, transcendental, it genuinely feels like you are falling and experiencing part of […]
look's a lot like vue software!
I have to say, the swimming shots stood out as CG just because of how much more movement was involved but damn if I never would have questioned some of the other shots this article shows and describes. Fantastic work. I had wondered about the hair, as I knew the end scene was shot dry-for-wet. Great work there too. Much better than the floating hair in Arrival.
I know this website isn't for grim criticism by the authors, and the features are often tied to promotional efforts that demand that the crew strain to avoid those sorts of sentiments....
But this studio's first attempt at face replacement/de-aging sure looks like it, some years after seeing it done more effectively in a range of circumstances. (Including, it must be noted, stunt head replacements in the recently-released Kingsman film, of Elton John, that are *extremely* effective.)
It's not like....they were already paid for this by Elton. Now they're trying to do some extra promotion for themselves, but it's on a site where the audience knows these words and processes to some degree, and can see how their application here misses the mark considerably.
It's the old convergence of art and commerce, and I'm trying to appreciate that as I appreciate this site and its specific funding needs. But dang, ya'll. This write up didn't reflect well on *any* of the parties involved. Very much including the website I count on to demonstrate an awareness of how the effects came together in the final product.
At the very least, I sure hope Spinifex's management isn't using this interpretation as a guide for future efforts.
Just FYI, this and every other article on the site is from us and not 'funded' or paid for... but thanks for the post and your opinion.
Wow. That's really incredible. The tech makes a lot of sense.
That is a very long term. Meanwhile Ultra-D are arriving to mass market this year
Ultra-D is a completely different technology though. Lytro may be long-term, but they seem to be doing it right. Making the best possible displays after making the best possible cameras and pipeline.
[…] https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the_curious_case_of_aging_visual_effects/ […]
Thanks for posting this.Have you seen the making of videos?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CZ6-hR_vFM
At the press event they handed out 100's of VR headsets! Looks like they were Samsung Gear's, which would have each needed a phone with the correct app on it. It also looks like they were simultaneously broadcasting the video to each headset. Wow!
Any idea on how they did this, or what equipment, software they would have used. I'd love to know more.
This is the first time I heard of this technology and light fields. Sounds very good. After a research I found a company which is already using this technology to sell 3D displays.
http://real-eyes.eu/3d-displays/
Do I understand something wrong or is Lytro trying to make the same technology?
Those are different tech. And I'm pretty sure they're static images, not animations. It might be similar to Zebra imaging's tech where a dedicated light source projects onto a holographic surface. So basically a traditional hologram.
and if they had used Mel Gibson, they would have had a memorable major hit.
THYJTTRDYFGUYTRDYFUYTDRSDYFUGJIHUYTRTFDGFYGUHYTRFDGTYHUUYGTRFGTFGYJHUYGGTFRDGTHJUJGYFGHJGFGVHBJHKIUYTRDFXVCBBHJUYTFGVBNHJUYTRFDGVBHJUYTRSEETYUJHGFRRTYUKHJMNGFRTYUKJHGFTYUIUYTFGHJKUYTRDGFHJUKIIYTGFHJU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this supposed to be an article?
-or a piece of advertising???
Shouldn't this say "sponsored article" at the top?
Ignore the Nuke employees. Keep up the pressure fxguide, it’s about time Nuke had some serious competition.
Let’s be honest, If it wasn't for Nukes mammoth marketing budget many years back, I'm sure we'd see Fusion in more studios. Hopefully Blackmagic support Fusion in full, because I think they can chip away at Nukes market quite easily considering how far Nuke has fallen in the last few years in terms of price/offering (i think we see more newer features for free on Nukepedia than in a new version of Nuke, so then what are we paying for?!). If schools were teaching fusion as much as Nuke and more artists became available, I think we'd see more studios picking up a cheaper more accessible A over B software..
Thanks fxguide! if you want more info, or just want to visit us, we are at: www.vanishingpoint.xyz
Well the author obviously kind of contradicts himself if he says at one point it is trained on larger image dataset but at the same time saying it is trained on public dataset. Public dataset are smaller res simply otherwise you would have to run batch sizes that are tiny and training would take forever. Also this really smells like basically using MaskRCN to me.
Great article !
I personally don't mind the title, Mike. You being the author, I guess nobody can tell you what to do, right ?
Is the rig available for download?
Amazing article, but the title is not cool. Mind changing it? Thanks
For reference: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/11/02/360479744/why-corporate-executives-talk-about-opening-their-kimonos
indianapolis roots
blog topic
washington
Terminator Salvation / ILM Visual Effects Supervisor, Ben Snow | fxguide
nebraska
blog topic
louisiana
Terminator Salvation / ILM Visual Effects Supervisor, Ben Snow | fxguide
Fantastic article again. And amazing work form Lola as usual, although it is insane thinking of basically compositing frame by frame an entire movie. I once did about 3 minutes of frame by frame and at the end I was ready to jump out of a window.
As for Clark Gregg, he is one of those not normal humans that don't age at all. I'm sure there was a lot of work done on him too, but that one is not as immediately apparent.
Hi Lewis
“Loads of people have talked about machine learning for compositing work, but nobody has delivered anything in an actual product. This is really impressively fast compared to the object labelling/mask approach to getting rough mattes quickly.”
- Lewis Saunders, freelance Flame Artist, London .
try this
https://kognat.com/product-category/release-candidate/
Should work in Flame 2019.2 with OFX support.
Its been on sale since early December 2018, GPU acceleration nearing completion now.
Hello, I have read your blog. Yes, It's very important information given to you. now its rethink part because of its a billion-dollar industry. People will understand this.
Sadly, after seeing all of season two, I have to say that I find most of the effects to be pretty bad.
They would look out of place if they where from the last season of ST: TNG.
Season one looked way better.
It`s cool, but the 10* is still pretty good. I don`t think that after a massive decrease in crypto mining, there are sill be a big demand for such powerful cards/
I`m just an essay writer from https://samedayessays.net/ but many of my friends worked with cryptocurrencies and I know that most of them had to sell their farms after falling of bitcoin.
It's hard to imagine the amount of work that went into the last season. Even just episode 3 seems mind-boggling, and I'm sure the teams excelled themselves.
Which is unfortunate seeing how the broadcast looked. I saw the episodes using the HBO Go streaming service, and Episode 3 look horrendous. The entire episode happens at night, and due to what I assume are compression artifacts used to reduce file sizes for streaming, all blacks looked horrible. The amount of banding was worse than when we had low bandwidth video on the Internet. It was so distracting that I had to switch off, reboot, change computers, watch on my TV, etc., but everywhere, it just looked awful.
What a shame. I will never see it the way it was intended, because there is no way I'm buying the Blu-Ray to watch what ended up being a very disappointing season plot-wise.
Great story Mike. Thanks for the deep dive.
Hey dear FX Guide Team, hey dear Mike Seymour,
I started using Unreal in year 2015. I absolutly agree with you that realtime will change the animation Industry. But you should not make the statement that Unreal has made the pioneer work in this field. The pioneer was Unity in the year 2012. They presented at the Unite Keynote a fully-fleshed animation short renderd in realtime. In the year 2012 Unreal wasnt even announced for the public.
Here ist the link, the short starts at 33 Minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24AY4fJ66xA&t=3136s
I just listened to this podcast again as this is one of my favorite horror movies with practical effects... One small effect that wasn't talked about in the podcast is when Dianne pushed the kitchen chairs back to the table, went into the kitchen and when she stood back up the chairs were on the kitchen table. that looked like one continuous take...How'd they do that? Slide them out and slide in a new table with chairs? Drop them down on cables?
Does anyone know? Just a very cool effect that hasn't received any attention...
Thanks
Harold
I am catching up to one of my favorite VFX art/tech discussion source here! You three nail it in all topics you discuss (and yes... I am hearing about "realtime ray tracing" in VR - even in the likes of blocky minecraft from my college kid majoring in biology!) But wanted to extend belated congratulations to Jason! Another story as to how I missed it the first hand..but nonetheless, I heard about Emmy in this discussion today, and felt proud!
This is one of my favorite interviews of all time. Alvy is such an interesting guy who has influenced the course of computer generated graphics/animation. It was great to have someone who appreciated his contributions and could ask the questions to that everyone would like to know the answers to. It would be awesome to see more interviews like this. Thank you Mike.
super KEWL! 🙂