Category: Visual Effects

Autodesk has announced 3ds Max 9 Extension: Productivity Booster. The update will enable Autodesk subscription customers to work more efficiently with more than 30 productivity enhancements in the areas of animation and Biped, rendering, UI and usability. Additionally, increased interoperability with AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD Architecture 2008 and Revit Building 2008 will help design visualization customers share data with other architecture professionals more easily than ever before.

Kate Beckinsale has inked a deal to star in WHITEOUT, an adaptation of Greg Rucka's 1999 Eisner Award-winning comicbook miniseries, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Dominic Sena (SWORDFISH) is set to direct for Joel Silver's Dark Castle Ent. Warner Bros. Pictures will handle distribution.

The comic follows a lone U.S. marshal (Beckinsale) as she investigates Antarctica's first murder. Jon and Erich Hoeber penned the screenplay.

March 5 has been picked as the filming start in Montreal.

The Jim Henson Co. has announced the most recent additions to its feature film development slate and live-action projects based on beloved fantasy titles. The company has acquired the rights to THE BOGGART by novelist Susan Cooper (THE DARK IS RISING), THE DOUBTFUL GUEST, the whimsical classic story by Edward Gorey, and the popular fantasy adventure trilogy MONSTER BLOOD TATTOO by D.M. Cornish. Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the company's visual and special effects division, will bring the myriad fantasy characters and creatures of each film to life using a blend of CG and animatronics.

Academy Award-winning director Roman Polanski has signed on to direct POMPEII, the NEW YORK TIMES best-selling novel by Robert Harris (author of ARCHANGEL and FATHERLAND). POMPEII tells the story of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79 through the eyes of a young engineer, Marcus Attilius, who is sent to repair the greatest aqueduct in the Roman Empire, which brings water to 250,000 people on the Bay of Naples. Attilius not only has to fight the corrupt forces that control the town of Pompeii, but ultimately the overwhelming power of nature itself.

Warner Bros. Pictures has hired Shawn Levy to direct THE FLASH, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Charles Roven and Alex Gartner will produce.

The Pixel Farm, renowned technology provider to the world's digital film effects industry, has announced the launch of PFHoe 2.0 and PFHoePro. Launched in 2004, PFHoe introduced automatic match moving to the pro-sumer market with its ability to bring computer animation and live video together in a seamless fashion.

Ralph Winter Prods. and Walden Media's Bristol Bay Prods. are teaming to produce a bigscreen adaptation of C.S. Lewis' THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, reports VARIETY. The production companies hope to have the film ready for 2008.

The novel, which was first published in 1942, follows a senior demon named, Screwtape, as he advises his nephew, Wormwood, on how to undermine faith and encourage sin.