Visual Effects

Thinkbox Software Announces Krakatoa for Maxon Cinema 4D

Tue, 12/17/2013 - 16:34 -- Nick Dager

Thinkbox Software has acquired code to bring its particle renderer, Krakatoa, into Maxon’s Cinema 4D modeling and animation software. Initial efforts to link the plug-in with Cinema 4D were led by Ugly Kids artist Daniel Hennies, who collaborated with a developer to program a bridge to the stand-alone version of Krakatoa. Leveraging the C++ API of Krakatoa SR, Hennies and a small team were able to fully integrate the particle renderer with Cinema 4D and first demoed the technology at SIGGRAPH 2013.

Luma Pictures Breathes Life into Thor’s Stone Man

Fri, 12/13/2013 - 15:08 -- Nick Dager

The challenge of bringing Marvel's Thor: The Dark World to life involved many creative people working simultaneously in The United States and Australia. Many of the film’s signature creatures were realized by the teams at Luma Pictures in offices in Santa Monica, California and Melbourne, Australia. One particular highlight for this movie was the Stone Man.

Thinkbox Releases XMesh MY Geometry Caching Tool for Maya

Sun, 12/08/2013 - 12:05 -- Nick Dager

Thinkbox Software has released XMesh MY, a geometry caching plug-in for Autodesk Maya. Designed to streamline animation and visual effects production pipelines, XMesh is a set of tools for saving animated scene geometry in a condensed format that yields smaller files for faster loading, manipulation and sharing across facilities and applications. Also compatible with Autodesk 3ds Max, the robust and scalable multi-threaded solution allows artists to quickly open, share or receive computer generated assets from internal studio departments or external facilities.

Canon “Witness Cameras” Helped Create Iron Man 3

Tue, 12/03/2013 - 12:49 -- Nick Dager

Marvel’s Iron Man 3 thrilled audiences with astonishing visuals, many of which were created by superimposing computer graphic imagery on to live-action stunt footage. Challenged by the precise matching those visual elements required, the Iron Man 3 effects team relied on six Canon EOS C300 Cinema cameras as “witness cameras” for accurate close-up tracking of stunt actors’ movements. The footage captured using Canon EOS C300 cameras was then used by visual effects facilities as a reference to convincingly overlay photorealistic CGI of Iron Man armor and other imagery on to main-camera footage.

Framestore Uses Vicon T40 Cameras for Pre-Vis on Gravity, Jupiter Ascending

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:07 -- Nick Dager

Framestore used 16 Vicon T40 cameras on the pre-visualisation for space scenes in Gravity. Framestore integrated the cameras with Blade – Vicon’s data capture and data processing system – to help create complex and extremely realistic visual effects. They will also use the cameras for pre-vis on the upcoming film Jupiter Ascending.

Mistika Helps Antonio Banderas's Kandor Graphics make first 3D Feature

Mon, 11/18/2013 - 13:30 -- Nick Dager

Justin and the Knights of Valour tells the story of a young boy who becomes a man as he embarks on a quest to become a knight. Directed and written by Kandor Graphics' chief creative officer, Manuel Sicilia, the animated adventure fantasy film boasts a famous cast of European voices including Freddie Highmore, Charles Dance, Rupert Everett, Barry Humphries, David Walliams, Julie Walters and Saoirse Ronan. Antonio Banderas, who is a Kandor Graphics partner, is also the voice of character Sir Clorex, as well as producer of the film along with Marcelino Almansa, Kerry Fulton and Ralph Kamp.

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