Industrial Light & Magic is using Vue 5 Infinite, e-on softwares natural 3D environment solution, on some of its upcoming projects, filling a void in its existing tool set.
"e-on products are a great addition to our production tool set and we are planning to expand their use throughout our entire facility, said Cliff Plumer, Lucasfilm cto. You will probably be seeing a lot of Vue in future productions.
Some of ILMs recent credits include: Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the Oscar-nominated WAR OF THE WORLDS, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and JARHEAD. Currently in production are POSEIDON, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MANS CHEST, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, ERAGON and LADY IN THE WATER.
"We're delighted and gratified that ILM relies on Vue for the production of their natural 3D environments, added Nicholas Phelps, president of e-on software. We're also grateful for the quality feedback they have provided, which is proving extremely valuable to our development and technical teams."
ILM is making use of all of Vues strengths, from the creation of digital footage and scenery setup, animation and lighting, all the way through the rendering of final images.
"Creating a photorealistic organic environment digitally used to be a big challenge, said Susumu Yukuhiro, digital matte artist at ILM (WAR OF THE WORLDS). With Vue, we now have full flexibility to do such work. When asked to change the lighting or camera angle, all we have to do is re-render with a different setting. It only took us a few days to learn the program and we were able to create awesome animation right away (including wind swept trees, which was really difficult to achieve before). With Vue in our toolkit, we can push our work to the next level of organic environments."
Industrial Light & Magic (www.ilm.com) is a Lucasfilm Ltd. company located in San Francisco, California, serving the digital needs of the entertainment industry for visual effects. Since 1975, ILM has been providing post-production visual effects services to the entertainment industry. Motion pictures, commercials, trailers, music videos and special venue projects have utilized ILM's artistry in techniques such as model making, matte painting, computer-generated imagery, digital animation and a variety of related processes required in the production of visual effects. ILM has been awarded 14 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects and received 17 Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards.
e-on software (www.e-onsoftware.com), based in Beaverton, Oregon, is a leading developer of solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments. With products specifically targeted for the different market segments, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. Its award winning Vue product line is used worldwide by the architecture, game, science, education and entertainment industries.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
