Spin VFX has purchased a site license for The Foundry’s Katana and will now be using the software on all its future projects. Spin VFX is the first mid-sized studio to purchase Katana. The company has integrated the Foundry’s software both during look development for asset creation and then again as the lighting tool at the end of the pipe. Spin VFX did many of the effects on Breaking Dawn Part 1. Colin Davies VFX supervisor at Spin VFX says We are excited to implement Katana as it provides both the stability of a larger facility pipeline and a significant increase in efficiency for a medium company such as ourselves. Katana is a major component that is facilitating our continued growth as a company. It's much more than just lighting software - it's an advanced pipeline tool that offers power and flexibility. We also use it to more easily handle large complex scene files and most importantly update our assets more efficiently. Katana is an opportunity to adopt some of the best practices developed by dedicated R&D teams at leading visual effects studios.” Originally developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks Katana takes an innovative recipe based approach enabling facilities large and small to build highly scalable and efficient lighting pipelines without a large internal engineering effort. Artists can define and control look and lighting while maintaining performance with very large datasets. Katana operates non-destructively using a rule-based approach that allows modeling look development animation and lighting teams to work in parallel. ”More and more facilities are discovering the benefits of adopting Katana in their pipelines. We are delighted to have Spin VFX on board ” says Andy Lomas Katana product manager. “The adoption proves that Katana is not exclusively for larger studios but has many benefits for growing houses.” “Katana makes our pipeline a far more advanced offering ” says Davies. “We are now able to compete for a broader spectrum of work. It does this in a number of ways. Firstly it gives us the ability to have a script based workflow which lets us scale well on projects with big shot counts and lots of similar set ups. Secondly handling shots with large data sets becomes simpler. There is much less effort needed to break up files and update them on an on going basis as Katana only loads the data you need when you need it.” Katana 1.0 was released in October 2011 and is already in use in production at Industrial Light and Magic Digital Domain and Sony Pictures ImageWorks. Katana continues to be under evaluation at a number of studios both large and small. Spin VFX www.vfx.com The Foundry www.thefoundry.co.uk ,3328
Golden Gate 3D Opens for Business,2012-05-31, Golden Gate 3D a full service stereoscopic 3D creative agency and production company has opened for business. We're very happy to now offer film studios television networks and corporate clients an exciting new option for the creation of world-class 3D productions says GG3D founder and director Peter Chang. We believe our ability to place small highly-mobile 3D crews anywhere in the world on a cost-effective basis will open up the 3D marketplace for a wide array of clients. The explosive growth of 3D in cinemas and consumer electronics has created a huge demand for content yet the supply of quality 3D material has been lacking says Christopher Frey GG3D executive producer. Our goal is to meet this demand by delivering best-of-class content regardless of the final medium. The new company features several lightweight 3D field production units including digital cinema camera systems and 3D post-production facility. We're thrilled to be featuring the latest technology in truly mobile 3D production says Emmy-winning GG3D producer and television veteran Steve Gibby. It opens up a huge range of exciting new production scenarios. GG3D director and cinematographer Paul Lemming says We're also very mindful that the majority of productions are still presented in 2D so we provide both 2D and 3D masters to our clients for maximum future-proofing. It's rare to have such diversity together on one team. Each member has a unique background and brings a wealth of experience knowledge awards and creativity to the table says GG3D director and action sports veteran Brad Kremer. GG3D’s release of Deus Ex Homine was Nvidia's unanimous choice for Best 3D Video of 2011. Golden Gate 3D http://www.gg3d.com ,3329
Imm Sound 3D Systems Installed in Fourteen Theatres Worldwide,2012-05-31, Imm sound has announced that so far this year it has installed 3D sound systems in fourteen movie theatres in the U.S. Korea Italy Ireland Spain and Tokyo Japan.
The surge in demand is being driven in part by the fact that the movie The Impossible directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts will be post-produced with imm sound's 3D immersive sound.
In the United States imm sound's 3D immersive sound has been installed in Galaxy Cannery theatres in North Las Vegas Nevada. Galaxy joins the Pacific Theatres in Los Angeles which have the imm sound's system since early this year.
At the same time Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group has installed imm systems in Fiumicino Casaria and Milan Italy; two in Dublin Ireland – The Point and Blanchardstown – and Cinesa Diagonal Mar in Barcelona Cinesa Parc Vallès in Terrassa Cinesa Méndez Álvaro in Madrid and Cinesa Puerto Venecia in Zaragoza Spain. In addition the Full HD cinemas in Cornellà Barcelona have enabled one more room with the imm sound's system to respond to public demand registered in the first room with 3D immersive audio installed in the complex.
Systems in n Asia include the Lotte Yangju Theatre Korea and Cinema Sunshine Heiwajima theatres in Tokyo. ,3331
J.L. Fisher Open House Looks to the User,2012-05-31, By Valentina I. Valentini West Coast Correspondent 3ality Technica had the reigning presence for 3D at the 7th Annual J.L. Fisher Mixer and BBQ and shared the J.L. Fisher lot in Burbank California with 20 other exhibitors including Arriflex Kino Flo Tiffen and Mole-Richardson where all who attended got to enjoy a relaxed peer-to-peer environment and a free BBQ lunch. J.L. Fisher SOC ICG and ASC all work together to put on this event so industry professionals can meet suppliers and learn about their latest products in a relaxed and cordial atmosphere ” said J.L. Fisher marketing director Frank Kay. “It’s our version of an industry block party with good food drinks and fun.” Last year 3ality Digital acquired Element Technica which was at last year’s BBQ and became 3ality Technica. Bettina Martin 3ality Technica’s 3D technical supervisor admits that the 3D business is a bit slow right now but chalks that up to the industry being a bit slow in general. She does see the demand for 3D increasing and they’re still quoting quite a few companies on a weekly basis that are looking to merge into the 3D arena. “We have small rental houses only interested in one rig and one system ” said Martin “because they know they’ll be able to rent it out for smaller indie productions. It doesn’t have to be a Peter Jackson with 30 rigs for them to come to us.” “This event is really fun for us ” said Martin “because we’re just recently coming from NAB which is so stressful. Here we get the people that are actually using our equipment. They appreciate not only the look the functionality how easy it is to set up and to use. To get the feedback from these users is invaluable to me. These are the people we want to make happy in the long term.” Events during the day include a tour of the facility by Jim Fisher and two panel discussions from the SOC and ASC. Industry vets like Donald M. Morgan Stephen Burum Dante Spinotti sat with their younger peers including Wally Pfister David Mullen and Amy Vincent to answer their peers inquiries in the relaxed Q&A environment. During the panel Vincent said she does feel that 3D equipment is facilitating better cinematography than it was two years ago but as a viewing experience her eyes are still adjusting. Photo: 16x9 ,3333
Laika Purchases Katana Site License from The Foundry,2012-05-31, Animation studio Laika has purchased a site licence of Katana from The Foundry and plans to fully implement the software on its next feature film production. Laika is the world-renowned animation studio behind the Academy Award-nominated Coraline (2009) the first stop-motion feature film to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3D and forthcoming release ParaNorman (in 3D in select theatres this summer). Laika’s decision to purchase a site licence comes as the VFX team looks for ways to better manage the consistency of lighting and handle increasingly complex shots. Katana will now help them to build a more asset-driven pipeline with better control over the looks of their CG materials. The node-based approach will allow them to create and manage looks for large numbers of assets with minimal setup between tasks. It will also streamline shot lighting workflows and let them easily maintain standards and rigs across multiple assets shots and sequences. Andrew Nawrot computer graphics and look development supervisior at Laika says “Katana’s procedural workflow makes perfect sense for feature film look development and lighting. Katana’s core features were driven directly out of large-scale visual effects production and this makes it an incredibly unique flexible and effective platform for look development and lighting. With stop-motion the scope of the sets and environments as well as the quantity of characters has traditionally been bound by the physical dimensions of the stages. With Katana’s ability to handle incredibly complex environments and thousands of assets we’re able to keep up with the increasingly expansive stop-motion worlds in which our films are set.” Originally developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks Katana takes an innovative recipe based approach enabling facilities large and small to build highly scalable and efficient lighting pipelines without a large internal engineering effort. Jeff Stringer director of production technology at Laika says In each successive film at Laika we are more ambitious than the last. We expect that Katana will put our VFX team in a better position to scale up the complexity of their work on these films. The team at The Foundry has been very attentive and responsive to us as we work through the integration. It is a collaborative effort since many of the tools we need are developed at The Foundry. We knew we could expect this as we have enjoyed years of good support from them with Nuke.” Andy Lomas Katana product manager says “Laika is a wonderful addition to the growing portfolio of Katana clients. Katana is incredibly versatile and can be used on all types of productions including live action CG and stop-motion. We are excited to be working with such a respected studio and can’t wait to see their first Katana project.” Katana 1.0 was released in October 2011 and is already in use in production at Industrial Light and Magic Digital Domain Sony Pictures ImageWorks and most recently Reliance MediaWorks and Spin VFX. Katana continues to be under evaluation at a number of studios both large and small. The Foundry www.thefoundry.co.uk Laika www.laika.com
Spin VFX Purchases Katana Site License
