While all the Oscar buzz about BEOWULF has centered on nabbing a Best Animated Feature nomination, there's also the VFX category to be considered for Robert Zemeckis' polarizing performance capture hybrid. Jerome Chen, the visual effects supervisor from Sony Pictures Imageworks, provides his insight. Meanwhile, Flame 2008 has been released and Mark Szumski of Click 3x reports on how Autodesk's latest version may change how Flame artists work. And, finally, New Line's THE GOLDEN COMPASS opens on Friday, and Alain Bielik begins part one of his in-depth coverage with the considerable contributions of Rhythm & Hues in creating the CG daemons.

Bill Desowitz
Editor