Category: Visual Effects

AJA Video Systems, a manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, recently released version 6.0.2 software for the AJA Io HD, KONA 3 and KONA LHe products. With version 6.0.2, AJA has added support for the extraction of 23.98 fps video from a 1080i 29.97 fps HD-SDI signal. Not all models of camcorders with 1080i 29.97 HD-SDI output provide the flagged frame data needed for the proper operation of this feature.

Mickey Rourke is in discussions to play Iron Man's nemesis Crimson Dynamo in IRON MAN 2, the sequel from Marvel Ent. that director Jon Favreau will begin shooting on this spring, according to VARIETY.

The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences will screen the 15-minute clip of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH in 3-D at the Oscar VFX bakeoff next week. The Brendan Fraser-led film is the first 3-D film to be in the running for the vfx Oscar.

The Dolby 3-D system is in place in the Academy's 300-seat Dunn Theater, but will not be installed in the 1,000-seat Goldwyn Theater until the annual Oscar-week hiatus in that venue. Temporary equipment will be brought in for the vfx voting event.

Garrett Hedlund is the latest actor hired for Disney's TRON sequel, per VARIETY. Hedlund's credits include FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, FOUR BROTHERS and TROY.

First-time feature director Joseph Kosinski will direct the reboot of the 1982 pioneering CG film. Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner will reprise their roles, and actresses Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett have also been confirmed to star.

Hedlund will be the lead character, playing a man who gets pulled into his computer, retracing the steps of Bridges' computer programmer in the first film.

The Foundry has significantly reduced prices on plug-ins for Autodesk advanced systems, as it is no longer part of the Autodesk Authorized Developer Network program and can no longer guarantee continued development or support.

The decision follows notification by Autodesk that it will not renew its development license with The Foundry, citing competitive issues. The decision ends Autodesk's 12-year development relationship with The Foundry and its users.

British actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are set to play the Thompson Twins in the two-film TINTIN project from directors Peter Jackson and Spielberg, according to VARIETY.

Based on Georges Remi's comicbooks and co-financed by Sony Pictures Ent. and Paramount Pictures, the 3-D performance capture films feature Tintin as a globetrotting reporter and the Thompson Twins as incompetent detectives only distinguishable by the shape of their mustaches. Thompson (with a "p") has a flat mustache and Thomson (without a "p") has a flared one.

To coincide with the annual Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Autodesk, Inc. announced Tuesday that it has expanded its portfolio of Macintosh 2D and 3D software tools for entertainment, multimedia and design professionals.

Artist Edward D. Cartier, whose illustrations appeared in THE SHADOW and numerous other science fiction and mystery publications, has died in New Jersey at the age of 94, according to the ASSOCIATED PRESS (via VARIETY).

Cartier died December 25 at his home in Ramsey, New Jersey, according to his son, Dean Cartier, after suffering from Parkinson's disease for several years.

Director Zack Snyder introduces the story, characters and stars of WATCHMEN, starring Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Goode and more.

MySpace.com, a subsidiary of News Corps (sister company to 20th Century Fox) premiered the featurette on December 24. Fox is currently suing WATCHMEN's studio, Warner Bros. to delay the March 6, 2009 release date because of copyright infringement.

USA TODAY has some details about next year's big sequel TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, including a sizeable U.S. military cooperation and presence during filming.

Los Angeles federal judge Gary Allen Feess ruled on Christmas Eve that 20th Century Fox owns the distribution rights to WATCHMEN, a film they developed but was ultimately made by Warner Bros. and is due for a March 6 release (per VARIETY).

In a surprise five-page ruling a week after setting a Jan. 20 trial date for Fox's suit, Feess said, "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the WATCHMEN motion picture."

Disney will not co-finance the third CHRONICLES OF NARNIA film with Walden Media, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Without elaborating, the two entities confirmed Tuesday that for "budgetary and logistical reasons," Disney will not co-produce and co-finance THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. The third book in the series by C.S. Lewis follows the younger two Pevensie siblings, Lucy and Edmund and their tiresome cousin, Eustace Scrubb, as they voyage to the end of the world with now-King Caspian.