Visual Effects
Making of AT-AT day afternoon
Remember Patrick Boivin’s short film AT-AT day afternoon? Found through: My RSS Reader.
VES Announces 2010 Winners of the VES Awards
Los Angeles, February 28, 2010 – The Visual Effects Society announced the winners of the 8th Annual VES Awards tonight at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects in more than twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Found through: RSS
Behind the Wild Things
Director Spike Jonze reveals the secrets behind bringing his giant monsters to life. Found through: Alba’s Twitter Feed
Avatar Exclusive: Behind The Scenes (The Art of Performance Capture)
Go behind the scenes on the set of the new film Avatar and learn all about the art of performance capture. This revolutionary new technique is changing the way CGI characters are developed.
Weta behind-the-scenes Avatar
Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
F/X Master Steven Johnson
Visual effects master Steve Johnson launched a Youtube series called “Rubber Rules” few months back. There he intends to showcase 30 years vorth of experience in the visual effects buisness. His videos are short and give amazing insight into the history of practical and visual effects. Steven is now also on Twitter and you can [...]
The making of “Star Trek” – The Drilling Platform
What You See Isn’t Always What You Get
The many uses of ‘Green Screen’ also known as ‘ChromaKey.’ Found through: Browsing Youtube
VFX of 2012 – CGSociety
Almost everything was rendered through RenderMan, and since the scenes were during the day, with straight forward HDRI lighting. Each shot had thirty, forty or even more render passes. Nuke was used to composite. “We made extensive use of depth channels,” said Poe “and they also carried the world space and camera space coordinates of [...]
Distraxion – Short film
A short film about a tough night at the office. More info at distraxion.sternio.com Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
After Effects Particular 2 Street Tests
street tests from Najork on Vimeo.
Heroes Visual Effects Behind The Scene
Visual effects (behind the scene) video from the popular sci-fi drama series, Heroes
Making of the CG for Star Wars (Episode IV)
(1977) The computer graphics for the first Star Wars film was created by Larry Cuba in the 1970s at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) (at the time known as the Circle Graphics Habitat) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
LG enV Touch “Car Chase” Commercial
Visual Effects by Mass Market. Visual effects supervisors Kathy Siegal and Thibault Debaveye. Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Harry Potter VFX Breakdowns
Australian vfx house Rising Sun Pictures worked on Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince and put togeather this VFX breakdown. Found through: #VFX search on Tweetdeck (@thereistime)
Microfilmmaker Magazine – Tips & Tricks
Micro filmmaker magazine has a section collecting tips and tricks for special and visual effects. Found through: Browsing the interwebs
The Making of Axe “Billions” commercial
The Making of Axe “Billions” commercial, visual effects were done by The Mill. Found through: #VFX search TweetDeck
NIKE Pro Combat: Trail of Destruction (Alter Ego)
David Fincher directs Nike’s new pro combat comercial. VFX were done by Hydraulx with VFX Supervisor Ed Chapman at the helm. More information on the commercial here (Coloribus), and here (wk.com). Found through: Alba’s Tumblr post
Hollywood Camera Work Free HD Green Screen Plates and Footage
So we decided to donate some of the interesting plates from Visual Effects For Directors to the community, so you can download them and practice keying, matchmoving, compositing, tracking, and much more! Found through: Scott Squires “Effects Corner”
Wiki Books: Movie Making Manual/Visual Effects
Little primer on the VFX part of filmmaking. Found through: Browsing the internets
It’s Not Easy Keying Green
Apart from being a well known host, actor and singer it’s a little known fact that Kermit the Frog also has a side job as a Visual Effects Consultant. With his background in VFX heavy movies, Kermit has become the go-to frog when it comes to Green Screen Consultancy. Because, even though compositing software has [...]
Eric Durst – Visual Effects Designer / Supervisor
Demo reel of the visual effects work that Eric Durst have supervised. Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Visual Effects Supervisors Bag of Tricks
Visual effects supervisor Eric Alba gives full access to his bags of tricks. I am amazed of his candor showing the tools of his trade and how and why he uses them. This is a must to see for all vfx geeks out there. I for one am learning so much from his stuff on [...]
Saab TV Ad Change perspective
Saab TV Ad as part of Change perspective campaign :: Interactive version here [>] Found through: Alba’s twitter feed
Neil Blevins Art Gallery Update
Neil Blevins added a whole ton of new artwork to his Art Gallery. Awesome images. Found through: Neil Blevins RSS feed
CGSociety Artist Profile – Dan Kaufman
“It’s really hard to get stuff to look real with CG,” he adds. “Reality is complicated. You have not only what the real world looks like, but a model of reality in everyone’s head, which is different for every person, and is not based on what’s actually there”.
Mova Contour Reality Capture System
Mova Contour Reality Capture System Contour Reality Briefing Steve Perlman introduces Mova Contour Reality Capture Link: Mova.com Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Supernatural Interview With Ivan Hayden – Visual Effects Supervisor
An Interview With Ivan Hayden The Visual Effects Supervisor Of Supernatural.
District 9 Interview: VFX Executive Producer – Vancouver Film School (VFS)
District 9 Visual Effects Executive Producer Shawn Walsh, a Vancouver Film School graduate, discusses his role in creating the film’s groundbreaking visual effects.
Barclays : fake
Commercial for Barclay’s Investment bank made from the VFX gurus at “The Mill”.
Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.
Found through: #VFX search on tweetdeck
Particle tests Collection – Krakatoa
Particle tests Collection(1-5) HD! Most of the time pure krakatoa particle renderings. Particle tests (6) closed Systems HD! Some more testings, sections of endless running particle systems, no hand keyed animation involved, just procedural. The shadows for two of the clips are just after effect fakes thus look not too real, but i like it [...]
Visual Effects: 100 Years of Inspiration
A “5th-grader-friendly” collection of clips and making-of footage from notable visual effects films of the past century. Originally intended for educational use as an introduction to a classroom lecture. Found through: #VFX search on Tweetdeck
Behind the Magic of Narnia
Behind the Magic of Narnia: Chapter 1. Weta
The DigitalGypsy VFX Blog
Added to my RSS reader this vfx blog. Found through: #VFX search on TweetDeck
Tutuorial: Map Morph, (Fractal) – After Effects
Found through: My RSS Reader
Dangerous Days – Making Of Blade Runner – Beyond the Window: Visual effects
Part I Part II Part III Found through: fuck yeah vfx! Tumblr page
Matte Chatter VFX blog
Added to my RSS reader this new blog about VFX related stuff. Found through: #VFX search on Tweetdeck
Hatch realistic VFX reel
Website: http://www.hatchfx.com/ Found through: #VFX on Tweetdeck
“Let Yourself Feel” by Esteban Diácono
It was all done with after effects, particular v2, soundkeys and a little starglow. i first imported de audio, and set up 2 sounkeys layers, one for the piano and one for the strings. Then i worked the particles and the particle subsystem and linked things like the emission, the turbulence, the velocity, the spin [...]
Old scans of behind-the-scenes pics from Star Trek: TNG, DS9 & Voyager
Visual Effects Guru and Linkgiver Eric Alba has put up some amazing images from the set of Star Trek: TNG, DS9 & Voyager. Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Drain the Ocean – VFX Reel
Drain the Ocean was a huge project that we did at 422 for National Geographic Channel to show the incredible landscape of the ocean floor. All drained underwater landscapes were created in Computer Graphics (CG). Eduardo Schaal
Touchable Holography – SIGGRAPH 2009
Source: Website
Walter Kronkite visits ILM
Walter Kronkite visits Industrial Light and Magic during the Empire Strikes Back Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Giant Robots: Using mental ray shaders to integrate CG elements into real shots
Zap spends his days (and nights) writing shaders, documentation and tutorials for mental ray, and sometimes makes presentations at user events and conventions, as well as maintains a mental ray tips blog (mentalraytips.blogspot.com). Occasionally he also makes little experimental visual effects movies, and he has a background in music production. Exellent lecture from Master Zap [...]
Movie Magic Models and Miniatures
Enjoy it while it’s on youtube.
’2012′ Trailer HD
Volker Engel teams up again with Roland Emmerich as visual effects supervisor. I don’t expect the movie to be perfect or profound but I shure hope we get some awesome visual effects. VFX Companies working on the movie Digital Domain [Website] Double Negative [Website] Uncharted Territory [Website]
Special-effects wizards are artists, not just hired hands, insider says
Visual-effects artists in general are treated like interchangeable parts,” he says, “and are not regarded as an equal to the cinematographer, the editor, the writer or the production designer. Jeffrey Okun San Francisco Chronicle on the state of VFX in Hollywood Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
DROIDMAKER book now downloadable, FREE!
A must-have for editors, VFX artists, and movie buffs. Michael Rubin the author of Droidmaker: Georg Lucas and the digital revolution clearly gets it. He’s put his book available online in PDF format Radiohead style. You can download the book in three parts for free or buy it on Amazon or your local bookstore. He [...]
Visual Effects Breakdowns by Brandon Riza
Found through: Alba’s Twitter Feed
John Adams Visual FX (HBO)
Extra: Excellent coverage on the VFX of John Adams in this article and this podcast (mp3) by the gurus at FXGuide.
G-Force: The Men Behind The Guinea Pigs
In addition to applying the 3D VFX to the movie, Yeatman wanted to take it one step further. He requested that the 3D elements break through the masking, allowing the viewer to get a sense of how far objects were extending beyond the confines of the scene. Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Evian Roller Babies
Evian Roller Babies Making Of The website theinspirationroom.com has an excellent coverage of the various versions and making of the ads. You can read and watch more on them here. I pulled from their article the info on the making of part. The Skating Babies campaign was developed at BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, by global [...]
Ryan vs Dorkman
TITANIC “Behind the Scenes” Visual Effects – I’m Flying
A behind the scenes visual effects breakdown of the “I’m flying” sequence from the movie “Titanic”
Alien Makers – Documentary
This period was a fantastic time in the film industry and I remember well the relaxed and thoughtful ways we all set about making the models under the guidance of Effects Supervisors Brian Johnson and Nick Allder. Ron Hone was the boss in the model shop, it was like a large family when we would [...]
Terminator Salvation – CGSociety
“We drew more on the work ILM had done on ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Iron Man’ than on ‘Terminator 3′,” he says. To make the CG animation effects appear grounded in reality, the film relied heavily on ILM’s iMoCap technology which was developed by John Knoll for Pirates. Found through: My RSS Reader
BL:ND : Bright House Network “Bundles” Campaign
Orlando based Ad Agency, Fry Hammond Barr had returned to Blind with a four-spot campaign for Bright House Networks. The campaign was designed to promote the Bright House “bundle” services of HD digital cable, high-speed internet and digital phone. Our challenge was to depict these bundles in a unique and visually engaging way. Found through: [...]
The Senate Visual Effects – Angels & Demons
We delivered over 170 shots and contributed outstanding environments and digital FX in several major scenes, most notably a photo real recreation of one of the largest and oldest churches in Rome, The Pantheon. Found through: dcanfora Twitter feed
Sin City Opening Scene Green Screen
This is the original version of the opening scene of sin city without the special effects and grading.
My Playlist: FXGuide Podcast
Fxguide, trademarked as fxguide, is a visual effects and post production community website founded by three award winning visual effects artists. Jeff Heusser, John Montgomery and Mike Seymour. Wikipedia Most exellent podcast and solid staple in my podcast listening. If you are into VFX and filmmaking this podcast should be the first one you subscribe [...]
Terminator Salvation VFX supervisor Charlie Gibson
… I see three different directions for VFX. There’s the super high def end, you know, certain directors like Jim Cameron and David Fincher and Gore Verbinski… … then you have the second tier, and I think that, as computing power becomes less expensive and more people are trained in the art of visual effects, [...]
The Mill History Reel
The Mill is an UK VFX company and they opened for business 1990, making them year shy of 20 years mark. They have offices in London, New York and Los Angeles. The Mill work on both movies and tv shows (Gladiator, Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as Merlin and Demons) [...]
Angels & Demons – VFX breakdown
Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Fast and VFX – Double Negative and Rhythm & Hues on Fast and Furious
Double Negative’s Jordan Kirk (3D Supervisor) and Jon Bowen (2D Supervisor) talk to Ian Failes. You’ve got to make it look real, but still make it a spectacle. Found through: My RSS feed
Middle-earth Magic – CGI/VFX Reel
Middle-earth Magic – CGI/VFX Reelby HuntForGollum Find out how the CGI and visual effects were done on The Hunt For Gollum,,, Narrated by Adam Thomas, VFX Supervisor Found through: My RSS feed.
CGSociety – STAR TREK
In just six months, roughly 800 visual effects shots from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and 150 from Digital Domain (DD) in four months helped to bring J.J. Abrams’ vision to the big screen. Found through: My RSS feed
Benadryl- “WAR”
The Mill goes to War for Benadryl Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
CG References & Tutorials
Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
The Mill Showreel 2009
The Mill is a world renowned, Oscar-winning visual effects company, based in London, New York and L.A, which specialises in high-end VFX for commercials Found through: My iTunes podcast feed Website: The Mill
On-Set Visual Effects Documentation
This documentation is designed to give you a quick once over to the Production side of Visual Effects work which is very different than that of post-production. Since the majority of people on film sets are not only unfamiliar with the visual effects process, but don’t even care to learn the process, a major part [...]
Prius “Harmony” TV Commercial vs Apple on a Tree
Prius “Harmony” Apple on a Tree Found through: Alba’s Twitter feed
Audio Interview: Terminator Salvation VFX Director Charles Gibson
Remember there’s a lot of makeup in Terminator 1. Whenever you have to do makeup on an actor, expensive makeup, you usually have to do a life cast on him, so that you can build pieces that will attach to his face. So they had that, which was a tremendous coup for us. Found through: [...]
Cloverfield Visual Effects
TED Talks Ed Ulbrich on Benjamin Button
And we also needed to create a character that could hold up under, really, all conditions. He needed to be able to walk in broad daylight, at nighttime, under candlelight, he had to hold an extreme close-up, he had to deliver dialogue, he had to be able to run, he had to be able to [...]
Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Breakspear’s career path bends him toward virtual environments
Even when I’m in my garden, I’m learning about visual effects,” he says. “The side of a ditch caves in and I think that’s good material for an avalanche. It takes a certain skill to do in-your-face visual effects, but I’m a big fan of people watching a movie and then saying to me, ‘You [...]
Rome churches built in Vancouver
Visual effects supervisor Mark Breakspear headed a team of as many as 50 digital artists at CIS Vancouver, who recreated the interiors of three Rome churches, including St. Peter’s Basilica. Tom Hanks and the rest of the cast were filmed against green screens on Los Angeles soundstages, and Breakspear’s team added the ornate backgrounds digitally. [...]
Getting Lost – Mitch Suskin talks about the VFX work onLost
“It’s about paying enough attention to detail to sell the fact that he’s there. There’s really no magic or high-tech to solve this problem.” Suskin notes that, although the process is digital now, it is essentially the same as was used in the 1920s Found through: Alba’s twitter feed Website: VFXWorld.com
‘STAR TREK’ RETURNS – Post Article
Paul Kavanagh was ILM’s animation supervisor who, with his team, would often start with a black card that simply read “Enterprise enters frame and fires.” The movements in space of very large computer-generated ships needed to be carefully plotted so they maintained their sense of size and heft. “We were very careful about how fast [...]
Reinventing Star Trek’s VFX
[To match-move,] you have to understand exactly what the camera operator is doing with what type of camera,” he says. “Technocrane vs Spydercam vs dolly, pan, tilt. You have to know before you start a match move. I think that doing camera work that blends properly with real footage, going from practical to digital [and] [...]
Shake Sketch – Digital Compositing
Website: Digital Compositing – Ron Brinkmanns blog/website Found Through: My RSS Feeds
Chris Stoski takes command to create his own ‘Wishes and Wants’
Website: CGSociety.org Found through: My RSS feeds
FXGuide – Wolverine : The Making of an X-man
Carousel : A Cinema 21:9 Production
Found through: FXGuideTv website – Removed soon after posting – Should be back up in a few days.
The opening titles for the 10th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival
Found through: Alba’s Twitter Page
Terragen2 officially released, including a free version
Found through: David Stripinis Twitter Page
Digital Domain Brings Inventive VFX to Lexus
Found through: Alba’s Twitter Page
Fine CG – Professional 3D Tutorials and Visual Effects Training
Blast off with Houdini 10
Found through: David Stripinis Twitter Page
Watchmen VFX Breakdown
Found through: Alexander Kucera Twitter Page
Sound sculptures – Visualization based on Expressions in AFX
Source: l_ocke’s vimeo page Trailhead: Found through: Alba’s Twitter Page
Think Flame – On-line community source for Flame Artists worldwide
Found through: Alba’s Twitter Page
TED: Ed Ulbrich from Digital Domain talks about “How Benjamin Button got his face”
Source: TED Found through: Alanf’s Tumblr’ings
Interview with Andrew Orloff from Zoic Studio’s
Interview with Andrew Orloff from Zoic Studio’s from Darren Albert on Vimeo. Source: Darren Albert’s Vimeo Site Found through: Alba’s Twitter Page
John Andrew Berton Jr. VFX Supervisor
Matte Paintings from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Knowing the Future: Planes, Trains and Walls of Fire
An Interview with Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Russell
HBO Intro: Behind the Scenes
NFL Fantasy Files: The Best Players
Digital Domain presents: Benjamin Button, Behind the Scenes
Dan Filip Radu – Reel 2009
Philipstudios | Dan Filip Radu | ShowReel 2009 from Dan Filip Radu on Vimeo.
Digital Domain reveals its part in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
CG Society – The Spirit
2008 CG Retrospective
The Making of Warhammer Online – Blur Studio
Blur Studios Warhammer breakdown – Gnomon School of visual effects – 2hrs long but well worth the time.
FX Guide – Quantum of Solace
Back into Bondage – FX Guide covers the making of Quantum of Solace.
