VFX Soldier has a great piece on some of the recent discoveries in the ongoing Apple/Pixar/Lucasfilm investigation from the Justice Department. The allegation is that these three studios (and maybe more) had an illegal agreement to not poach each other’s employees in an attempt to drive wages down. Not only is this illegal, but it’s been a shock to many in the VFX Industry that saw Pixar and Lucasfilm as the ultimate employer in VFX.
Furthermore, consider how remarkable this case has become. Steve Jobs, Pixar, and Lucasfilm. For VFX artists these names are nothing but legends to us and could do no harm. Look at what the Justice Department’s investigation revealed. Behind our backs they colluded to drive wages down.
YouTube has a great video showing much of the behind the scenes motion tracking work that went into the new Adventures of TinTin movie. A huge mocap studio with markered actors and lots of virtual cameras and monitors all work together to make filming a CG movie almost identical to filming a traditional live-action film.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has finally hit theaters here in the US (It landed in European theaters a few years ago, and shows some fantastic VFX work ranging from the psychedelic title sequence to the more traditional color work and face-replacement. Over at FXGuide, they talk to Method and Digital Domain about their contributions.
“The vignettes with Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and Salander (Rooney Mara) had a base of motion capture for the body performances and then were enhanced bia keyframing,” continues Ross. “The performance capture helped us get the subtle nuances of realistic movement. The character’s facial animation is morph targets driven by performance reference of Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig which we shot here in LA during additional filming, it allowed us to capture them still ‘in character’.”
I keep seeing people on twitter and such posting this video purportedly from the Japan Institute of Science and Technology showing some research students adapting Quantum Levitation to a scale model wipeout track. The little cars are “fueled” up with liquid nitrogen and then float around the track, showing what could be the future of transportation.
Or do they? After watching the video I have to admit it looks like some clever motion-tracking VFX work. It’s well done, yes, but I’m pretty sure it’s just a clever hoax. What do you think?
Popular Mechanics has compiled their list of the 10 best VFX scenes this year, including subtle work in The Adjustment Bureau to complete CG constructions in Harry Potter.
There’s a backlash building in Hollywood against the overuse of computer-generated imagery (CGI). For the most part, though, 2011′s popcorn blockbusters still leaned heavily on green screens and render farms to produce the most spectacular visual effects (VFX) of the year. Here are our picks for the scenes that proved that pixels can still impress us (even when the movies they populate don’t).
If you’re looking for VFX work and done mind the sunny beaches of South Florida, maybe you should consider Digital Domain who just reporting an additional $11Million in incentives, bringing their total to an impressive $135M in total incentives from the State of Florida & the cities of Port Saint Lucie and West Pam Beach.
”This recent award brings the total funding that we have received from our government partners to approximately $135.1 million in support of our business expansion,” said John Textor, CEO of Digital Domain Media Group. “As we deliver on the job creation promises we have made to the communities that support our growth, we benefit from a unique business model that utilizes these grants and economic incentives to greatly minimize the financial risk of such growth.”
Still looking for a gift for the VFX person in your life? Check out this amazing new book available on Amazon (order today for 1-day delivery by tomorrow) chronicling the story of ILM from their early roots to more modern pursuits.
Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Innovation is the first and only book to focus on the company’s work during the last sixteen years, detailing its creative and technological innovations on dozens of blockbuster films. Through firsthand accounts of the problem solving that has pushed the art form of visual effects to its limits and created visual experiences that could only have been dreamed of in the past, the book features extensive commentary by George Lucas, Dennis Muren, John Knoll, Scott Farrar, Roger Guyett, Ben Snow, Rob Coleman, Lorne Peterson, and many others. Their accounts are supplemented by more than 400 images from many of ILM’s breakthrough movies, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Transformers, Iron Man, and the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, offering a crash course on the most groundbreaking visual effects created today.
Over at Bill Desowitz’s blog he’s got some details of the work behind the new Tintin movie coming from their presentation at Autodesk University.
Meanwhile, the bravura two-and-a-half minute motorcycle chase in Morocco occurred as a result of the previs offering so many long master shots that Spielberg decided to utilize one in the film.
Snowy, the dog, proved challenging because of his white, curly fur and trying to maintain the spirit of Hergé’s odd design for the terrier. Weta used Maya and nCloth and Spielberg made sure that Snowy stole every scene he was in.
I have to admit, I know nothing of the Tintin comic, but the visual alone have me interested in seeing the film.
It’sArtMag has a short 14-minute VFX Breakdown of the “Alice in Wonderland” from Sony Imageworks. It shows some nice use of greenscreen, face matching, and other effects.
The latest production diary from The Hobbit covers their impressive use of dual Red Epic and a Beam Splitter rig from 3ality to shoot the new film in 3D. They cover much of the technical details of the rig, and show lots of how they’re doing their video capture, preview work, and review.
YouTube has a great video showing much of the behind the scenes motion tracking work that went into the new Adventures of TinTin movie. A huge mocap studio with markered actors and lots of virtual cameras and monitors all work together to make filming a CG movie almost identical to filming a traditional live-action film.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has finally hit theaters here in the US (It landed in 
I keep seeing people on twitter and such posting this video purportedly from the Japan Institute of Science and Technology showing some research students adapting Quantum Levitation to a scale model wipeout track. The little cars are “fueled” up with liquid nitrogen and then float around the track, showing what could be the future of transportation.
Popular Mechanics has compiled their list of the 10 best VFX scenes this year, including subtle work in The Adjustment Bureau to complete CG constructions in Harry Potter.
If you’re looking for VFX work and done mind the sunny beaches of South Florida, maybe you should consider Digital Domain who just reporting an additional $11Million in incentives, bringing their total to an impressive $135M in total incentives from the State of Florida & the cities of Port Saint Lucie and West Pam Beach.
Over at Bill Desowitz’s blog he’s got some details of the work behind the new Tintin movie coming from their presentation at Autodesk University.
The latest production diary from The Hobbit covers their impressive use of dual Red Epic and a Beam Splitter rig from 3ality to shoot the new film in 3D. They cover much of the technical details of the rig, and show lots of how they’re doing their video capture, preview work, and review.
VizWorld.com 
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