Weta Digital's wide range of work on THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING included digital water, water-edges and reflections accomplished by artists through Houdini on shots supporting the Gray Havens and Osgiliath sequences.

"Once again, we commend all of the visual effects artists whose artistic and technical abilities keep raising the bar of the craft from year to year," said Tony Cristiano, coo/vp of U.S. operations, Side Effects Software. "With the Houdini family of software, we also hope to help these artists continue to be as creative and efficient as possible even while meeting new industry challenges, such as higher shot counts, higher project volumes, larger and more complex productions and shrinking budgets. We're also enjoying a level of collaboration with our customers to help them more efficiently and effectively address their pipeline development needs."

Established in 1987, Side Effects Software (www.sidefx.com) is a world leader in the development of advanced 3D and 2D graphics and special effects software for use in film, broadcast and game development. Side Effects Software shines in the field of non-linear animation with its popular, award-winning Houdini technology. Side Effects has been recognized twice by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences for the development of Houdini, with a Scientific and Engineering Award in 2003 and a Technical Achievement Award in 1998.

The comprehensive Houdini animation software includes modeling, animation, character tools, particle and channel operations, compositing, integrated rendering with Houdini Mantra and more. All Houdini applications work together seamlessly and are available for the Windows, Linux, IRIX and Solaris operating systems.