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Category: Visual Effects

Version Headline News

Sgt. Rock Finds Writer

John Cox, who has projects in development at the USA Network and ESPN, has been tapped by by Joel Silver for Warner Bros. Pictures to write SGT. ROCK, an adaptation of DC Comics' World War II adventure comic, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Sgt. Frank Rock was the leader of his infantry unit called Easy Company. He first appeared in a 1959 issue of OUR ARMY AT WAR. As the characters popularity rose, the comic was renamed SGT. ROCK in 1977 and ran until 1988.

Festival Headline News

VES Announces 2006 Festival at Egyptian Theatre

The 2006 Festival of Visual Effects has been set for July 7-9, 2006 at the famed Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California.

"We are thrilled to be presenting our eighth annual Festival at the Egyptian for the first time," said Visual Effects Society (VES) exec director Eric Roth. "Each year the Festival has grown in scope and number of attendees. This venue shows how much the VES has expanded as well as the visual effects industry's continually increasing influence on the business of films, animation, games and television."

Effects Headline News

particleIllusion ‘Too Hot Not to Handle’

Extreme Digital Prods., a New York-based effects company, utilized wondertouchs award-winning particleIllusion for a range of provocative vfx on the HBO/Lovett Prods documentary, TOO HOT NOT TO HANDLE: A GLOBAL WARMING PRIMER. The film debuts on Earth Day, April 22, and will air exclusively on HBO.

Headline News

Autodesk Introduces Discreet Inferno on Linux OS

Autodesk Inc. launched its Academy Award-winning Discreet Inferno visual effects system running on the Linux operating system. The Discreet Inferno system enables the world's top digital artists in broadcast facilities, post-production houses and film studios to deliver extraordinary moving imagery. This system contains a robust creative toolset for high-speed compositing, advanced graphics and interactive design.

Imax Headline News

Goblet of Fire Breaks 2-D IMAX Record

IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE: The IMAX Experience has grossed more than $20 million, becoming the first digitally re-mastered 2D IMAX release to reach the milestone. The IMAX release has now grossed a total of $20,033,758 million worldwide for a cumulative per screen average of $188,998. The film has shown strong legs since debuting in IMAX theatres, setting numerous records for a Hollywood simultaneous release, including biggest three-day opening weekend and highest per screen average.

Effects Headline News

RE:Vision Effects Releases RE:Map

RE:Vision Effects now offers RE:Map, the ultimate kit of mapping and distortion tools. RE:Vision Effects will be at NAB, booth SL5138 (the plug-in pavilion) to demo the newly released RE:Map and the rest of their products.

RE:Map is comprised of four plug-ins:

Headline News

Iridas Launches FrameCycler VenueSystem

Iridas has released FrameCycler VenueSystem. The new application offers direct-from-disk playback of digital film content at unlimited resolutions, providing venue theaters and museums with higher image quality, and greater playback precision than video codecs will allow.

Game Headline News

AGEIA PhysX SDK Goes Russian for Gaming

AGEIA Technologies Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, has signed pacts with a number of Russian game developers at the recent Russian Developers Conference (KRI). Gaijin Ent., is implementing PhysX SDK into its Dagor game engine, a popular middleware solution for Russian game developers. Gaijin will also provide first-line support for the AGEIA PhysX SDK, an important benefit in the region where English is not widely used.

Disney Headline News

Rain Dampens Apocalypto Summer Release

Disney has moved Mel Gibson's Mayan epic APOCALYPTO from late summer to Dec. 8., reports various media outlets. Some say the chief reason is that extensive rain at the South American locations have created production delays that make a summer release unattainable.

The pushback also gives Disney an opportunity to push the film is a clearer field and for award recognition.

Headline News

Three Actors Take A Ride on Water Horse

Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and Alex Etel (MILLIONS) have signed onto THE WATER HORSE, based on the Dick King Smith novel, reports the trades. Jay Russell is set to direct the film, which is scheduled to start filming in early May in Scotland and New Zealand.

The co-production between Walden Media, Beacon Pictures and Revolution Studios chronicles the tale of a lonely boy in Scotland (Etel) who discovers a mysterious egg on the shore of a lake. When the egg hatches, a mythical sea monster of Scottish legend called the water horse" emerges.

Headline News

Imagineer Releases monet v2, mokey v4

Imagineer Systems announced the immediate availability of monet v2 and mokey v4. monet is a unique tracking and compositing toolset for commercial, film and corporate video post-production work such as virtual product placement and visual effects work. mokey offers an essential toolset for removing wires, rigs, logos, scratches and other undesired elements in commercial, film and corporate video post-production work. Both products will be on display in Las Vegas at NAB 2006 (booth #SL5564).

Headline News

Fusion is the Tool of Envy

Envy Post in London has made Fusion 5 from eyeon Software its principal compositing system.

Fusion is a perfect fit in every suite and were very excited to begin working with it, said Dave Cadle, co-owner and managing director, Envy. eyeons pedigree of A-list productions and dedicated support staff effectively made this an easy decision.

Film Headline News

Tentacle Sex Coming to Live-Action Via Wicked Manga Adaptation

Germany's Stallion Film will adapt notorious Japanese manga WICKED CITY into a live-action English-language film, according to VARIETY. SPAWN director Mark Dippe will helm, co-write and co-produce. Hideyuki Kikuchis bestselling manga was adapted into a cult anime film, which introduced demon tentacle sex into the lexicon.

Johnny Hartmann will also co-adapt the story, which tells the tale of demon beasts from a parallel dimension and the secret resistance that fights to prevent the apocalypse.

Entertainment Headline News

Paramount, Xbox Launch Movie Showcase

Paramount Pictures and Xbox have pioneered the first-ever Xbox Movie Showcase cross-platform marketing program between a movie studio and Microsoft's Xbox Live. Launching April 12, the Xbox Movie Showcase will feature free, high-definition, downloadable content from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, starring Tom Cruise and directed by J.J. Abrams (the creator of LOST and ALIAS), hitting theaters May 5, and NACHO LIBRE, a comedy starring Jack Black and directed by Jared Hess, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) in theaters June 16.

Production Headline News

Matthew McManus Joins R!OT

Matthew McManus has come aboard RIOT as exec producer for commercials and other short-form work. McManus will oversee sales, marketing and production for the studios Los Angeles and New York facilities as they continue to sharpen their focus on the upper end of the advertising market and visual effects-driven, project-based work.

Effects Headline News

Anthem to Serve IDT’s Masters of Horror Second Season

Anthem Visual Effects has once again been tapped to create visual effects for IDT Ent.s anthology series MASTERS OF HORROR, now in its second season.

This new season, a series of 13 original one-hour movies in HD produced by IDT in association with Industry Ent. and Nice Guy Prods., will feature a creative mixture of both former and new MASTERS directors and writers.

Studios Headline News

PipelineFX Partners with Hollywood’s RFX

PipelineFX has signed RFX as a North American reseller. Under this agreement, RFX will market Qube! software and PipelineFX consulting services to its customers in California and across the U.S. RFX is a leading software solutions provider and serves a clientele that includes some of the industrys top film studios, post-production facilities and vfx houses.

Headline News

Sci-Fi Boys Doc on DVD

Released to coincide with the release of Peter Jacksons KING KONG, THE SCI-FI BOYS (Universal Pictures Home Ent., $29.98, a Best Buy exclusive) is a documentary that pays homage to the lasting influence of Forrest J. Ackerman (FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine), Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen. Written, produced and directed by Paul Davids (production coordinator and writer for THE TRANSFORMERS animated series), THE SCI-FI BOYS recounts how the generation of moviemakers inspired by the aforementioned trio and has made its mark as sci-fi filmmakers.

Reel Headline News

Pharos Capital Invests $8 Million in Reel FX

Pharos Capital Group LLC of Nashville and Dallas, has invested $8 million in Reel FX Inc. Based in Dallas, privately held Reel FX provides computer-generated 3D animation and visual effects in the broadcast, feature film, computer and videogame and advertising industries. The company also specializes in the development, production and brand management of family-friendly programming and has a number of active projects including feature films, television and direct-to-DVD series.

Headline News

ATI Offers New FireGL V7350 and FireGL V7300 Professional 3D Accelerators

ATI Technologies Inc. announced that its next generation FireGLTM V7350 and FireGLTM V7300 workstation graphics accelerators have been certified by HP as a part of the company's thorough testing process to ensure a more stable and reliable experience for workstation customers. As the industry's first one gigabyte (1GB) graphics accelerator, the FireGL V7350 is ideally suited for CAD, DCC, imaging and visualization users working with extremely large datasets.

Autodesk Headline News

Autodesk Announces Toxik 2007

Autodesk Inc. launched Autodesk Toxik 2007, the latest version of its collaborative digital compositing software for feature film production. Autodesk Toxik 2007 will be showcased at the NAB tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada from April 24-27, 2006, at Autodesk Booth #SL3719.

Effects Headline News

GenArts Releases Sapphire Plug-Ins Version 2 for Avid

GenArts Inc. announced the immediate availability of Sapphire Plug-ins version 2 for Avid editing systems. With 46 new effects and a wide array of new features, Sapphire 2 delivers the next evolution of industry-standard visual effects for Avid users. This release includes a variety of enhancements for users, such as single click application of effects to a title or key, background and mask inputs, 2D moves built into the plug-ins and a versatile new FilmDamage effect.

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