Category: Visual Effects

AMD announced the availability of the AMD Geode LX EPIC Reference Design Kit (RDK). This RDK will help developers quickly and efficiently create low-power, high-performance singleboard computer (SBC) products. This versatile, industry-standard design supports a wide range of rugged industrial SBC applications, including data acquisition, video processing, point-of-sale terminals, telecommunications, global positioning satellite (GPS) devices and motion control.

KING KONG provided blockbuster numbers in its first six days in release, selling more than 6.5 million DVDs, generating $100 million in consumer spending, the largest six-day performance in Universal Studios history.

KING KONG ranks as the studio's fourth-highest grossing film in the studio's 94-year history. To date, the film has amassed approximately $550 million in ticket sales worldwide, following on the heels of JURASSIC PARK, E.T. and THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK.

Sony Pictures Home Ent. (SPHE) will launch its digital sell-through business on April 3. Partnering with Movielink and CinemaNow, the service will allow broadband Internet users in the U.S. the opportunity to download-to-own for the very first time a wide range of entertainment content from the SPHE and MGM collective libraries.

Vicon has released Vicon iQ 2.5, the most recent installment of the company's industry-leading Vicon iQ software. Vicon iQ has consistently streamlined and automated motion capture workflows by providing intuitive controls and a user interface that simplifies the tasks associated with recording and managing even the most complex motion capture data.

Brain Zoo Studios has hired former Stan Winston exec producer and visual effects supervisor André Bustanoby to supervise visual effects at Brain Zoo Studios as part of an expansion into film and TV while continuing to serve the interactive entertainment client base.

Bustanoby brings 12 years of film and television visual effects experience to the Brain Zoo team, having worked on such high-profile projects as TITANIC, FANTASTIC 4, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW and, most recently, EIGHT BELOW.

DAZ Prods. Inc., a leading developer of professional quality 3D software and models, announced that Autodesk FBX is now fully integrated with DAZ|Studio, a free, feature-rich 3D art software package. DAZ|Studios integration of the FBX file format allows users to import and export their favorite DAZ models and scenes into and out of every major 3D package on the market, and access a wealth of tools and content available through FBXs extensive partner network.

The Pixel Farm, a company focused on innovation in the field of high-end digital post-production, has released PFClean1.5. Since its release in 2005, PFClean has already been adopted by a growing number of DI and post-production facilities worldwide including, Hollywood Intermediates, Ollin Studios and Hungarian Film Labs.

Polhemus, the industry leader in 6 Degree of Freedom (6DOF) motion capture, tracking and digitizing technologies, now offers MINUTEMAN, the new low cost (under $1,500) 3-Degree-of-Freedom (3DOF) tracking product.

ARTVPS, developers of a unique graphics processor for photorealistic ray tracing, and mental images, the developers of the globally leading, Academy Award winning high-end rendering software mental ray, have concluded agreements that will further the evolution of advanced ray tracing solutions for 3D visualization.