TD-College: Preparing Students for VFX Production
Vfx vet Kevin Mannens tells us what distinguishes his new production-based online school for TDs from its competitors.
VFXWorld Magazine
Plenty of New Skin & Muscle in 'Land of the Lost'
Bill Westenhofer talks about raising the dino bar for Rhythm & Hues in this new take on the old Sid & Marty Krofft series with Will Ferrell on the loose.
'Drag Me to Hell': Tippett Enjoys the Ride
Matt Jacobs of Tippett Studio divulges what it was like opening up hell for the new Sam Raimi shocker. Includes major spoiler images.
'Maya Plugin Power': The Wakes of Loch Ness
In the latest excerpt from Maya Plugin Power, author Mark Jennings Smith explains liquid simulations using Next Limit's RealFlow plug-in.
'Terminator Salvation': Battle of the Machines
ILM has moved beyond making great photoreal robots and on Terminator Salvation a more efficient and accurate toolset was created for shading, lighting and redering.
'Night' Turns to 'Battle of the Smithsonian'
Three years ago, the first Night at the Museum turned to Rhythm & Hues to create its fantastical CG characters. From a playful T. Rex skeleton to talking Easter Island heads, the crew was charged with the responsibility of bringing the exhibits of New York's American Museum of Natural History to life after hours. Now, with the sequel, Battle of the Smithsonian, the plot expands to include the entire Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and Rhythm & Hues has returned to significantly up the stakes.
The VFX Pipeline of the Future
eyeon Founder Steve Roberts discusses the immense challenge of efficiently tracking, visualizing and managing data and metadata throughout the entire post-production/vfx pipeline.
'Angels & Demons': Vatican VFX on Steroids
The VFX stakes were raised for this race against time, Vatican thriller, and Alain Bielik has the scoop.
Creature Designer Neville Page Talks 'Star Trek'
Star Trek's lead creature designer discusses coming up with Big Red and Polarilla along with a few other surprises.
Getting 'Lost' in Season 5
Mitch Suskin and his vfx team brought a greater sense of reality to the fantasy world of Lost this past season.
A Closer Look at 'UFO Hunters'
Terrence Masson discusses how he's a vfx supervisor in reverse on UFO Hunters.
Where No 'Star Trek' Has Gone Before
Read how ILM was tasked with putting Star Trek on vfx steroids for J.J. Abrams' bold re-imagining.
'Maya Plugin Power': RenderMan Compliance
In the latest excerpt from Maya Plugin Power, author Mark Jennings Smith shows us how to use RenderMan with Maya.
Wolverine Gets Indestructible in 'X-Men Origins'
The origin of Logan becoming Wolverine required a myriad of vfx by 17 vendors, and here are the highlights.
VFX Summer Preview: 10 Movies to Watch
Lots of sci-fi, the return of a beloved franchise and a wizard named Harry and plenty of robots are part of our summer sneak peek.
Men-From-Mars Tell the 'Mutant Chronicles'
London-based Men-From-Mars cranked out 1,454 shots with only a team of 30 for Mutant Chronicles. We find out how they did it.
3ds Max 2010 Review: New Modeling Tools, New UI
This week I received the new 3ds Max 2010. I will be putting it through the paces, paying specific attention to the new additions. As you may have seen in Autodesk's press notes for the product, there are more than 100 new additions to the modeling toolset alone, so I will have lots to cover. 3ds Max 2010 is available as of this week for $3,495 or as an upgrade from 3ds Max 2009 for $895.
Meet the SIGGRAPH 2009 Chair: Ronen Barzel
As a graduate of Caltech (specializing in physically-based modeling) and former Pixar animation scientist (building the Slinky Dog model for Toy Story, developing lighting technology and working on other software R&D), Ronen Barzel is tailor-made for chairing this year's SIGGRAPH. The 36th annual show will take place in New Orleans (conference: Aug. 3-7; exhibition: Aug. 4-6) at The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Barzel spoke to VFXWorld about what's new this year (including more emphasis on music and audio), the challenges of coping with the economic downturn and what technological advancements are of particular interest.
'Battlestar' Prequel 'Caprica' Keeps the Cylons Coming
A mere month after the end of Battlestar Galactica, Universal offers the unrated pilot to prequel Caprica on DVD, and Tara Bennett gets the scoop from VFX Supervisor Gary Hutzel.
Pumping up the Wattage with 'Crank: High Voltage'
Alain Bielik gets amped up with Crank: High Voltage VFX Supervisor James McQuaide to talk about the work Duran Duboi and LOOK Effects contributed to the film.
'Dragonball Evolution': Ripe for VFX Film Picking
Tara Bennett talks to Hybride, Frantic Films and CafeFX about helping evolve Dragonball to the big screen.
MPC LA: Growing the Core VFX Business
Mark Tobin divulges how MPC's new commercial-focused boutique is faring in Santa Monica during the economic downturn.
'The Godfather II': Through the Eyes of a Don
Peter Rizkalla goes undercover with the creators of mob masterpiece follow-up The Godfather II from Electronic Arts.
The HP Z800 Workstation Review: A First Look
Bryan Hoff tests the new HP Z800 to see if it offers enough of an increase in efficiency and productivity to justify the expense in this economic downturn.
OnLive: What Does it Mean for CG?
OnLive may have been introduced at GDC, but Rearden founder and CEO Steve Perlman tells Bill Desowitz how the new cloud-based game service ties into his Contour Reality Capture system.
