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Category: Visual Effects

Game Headline News

Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition Creates Scholarship

The Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition and the DigiPen Institute of Technology have announced the establishment of a scholarship to DigiPen Institute of Technology. Every member of the winning student design team for the Physics award will receive a $15,000 scholarship to DigiPen Institute of Technology, subject to admission to the program. Winners choosing not to attend DigiPen, or unable to qualify for admission, will receive cash and prizes valued at $5,000. The Physics Award judges engine, tool and A.I. programming, implementation and game play.

Game Headline News

Peter Jackson to Exec Produce Halo Feature

Bungie, creator of the HALO game, has announced that Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh have joined the film adaptation of the game as exec producers. In addition, WETA will be fabricating Covenant weapons, building life-sized Forerunner structures and handling live-action/CG integration for the project. Universals Mary Parent and Scott Stuber are producing.

Headline News

LightWave 3D Powers Serenity’s VFX

NewTek Inc. announced that Zoic Studios relied on the award-winning LightWave 3D as a key tool in producing visual effects shots for Universal Pictures SERENITY, directed by Joss Whedon film. Zoic produced about 220 shots for the film, and for many of these LightWave was used to model, texture, animate, light and render the 3D elements. Of those assets that were created in other 3D applications, many were subsequently rendered in LightWave.

Software Headline News

eyeon Software Ships Fusion 5

eyeon Software Inc. has started shipping its core compositing application, Fusion 5. Features include: 3D compositions with lights, cameras and primitives, OpenGL acceleration with display views, and an essential change to ASCII files. These, and all of Fusion 5's advanced features, are the result of significant artist feedback.

Season Headline News

USA Brings Back The 4400

USA has greenlit a third season of its hit series, THE 4400, reports the trades. With a premiere set for summer 2006, the 13 new episodes will go into production the beginning of the new year.

The sci-fiers second season with the #1 summer cable series with adults 18-49, beating out THE CLOSER and THE SHIELD. The five-episode first season received an Emmy nomination for miniseries.

Digital Headline News

Star Wars Illustrator Matt Busch Conjures Indie Flick

STAR WARS illustrator Matt Busch has signed a deal with Razor Digital Ent. to release his first independent movie, CONJURE, on home video and DVD. In addition to writing, producing and directing the feature, Busch also plays himself along with fellow artist/model Sarah Wilkinson in this supernatural thriller.

Film Headline News

Horror Remake Has An Eye for Zellweger

Renee Zellweger returns to the horror genre in the English remake of the Hong Kong horror flick, THE EYE, reports the trades. One of Zellwegers early feature film roles was as the female lead in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION, alongside Matthew McConaughey. Paramount is producing the redux via C/W Prods. heads Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner.

The film follows the eerie visions a woman (Zellweger) begins seeing after she regains her sight after a cornea transplant.

Animation Headline News

Blue Planet Studio & Cynosure New Media Team on Military 3D Animation

Blue Planet Studio, Inc., a 3D animation and graphic design firm, and Cynosure New Media Inc., a leading training development and multimedia production company, tamed up to produce 3D animation for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Special Projects Office (DARPA SPO). Converting futuristic concepts into high-tech visualization, these animations were used to support SPO and VSO exhibits on display at the 24th DARPA Systems and Technology Symposium (DARPATech 2005) held at the Anaheim Marriott, Anaheim, CA, Aug. 9-11, 2005.

Headline News

Howard Stringer Slated 2006 CES Keynote Speaker

Howard Stringer, chairman/ceo of Sony Corp. will deliver a keynote address at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, in Las Vegas, which runs Jan. 5-8.

Stringer is slated to deliver the opening keynote address on Jan. 5, at 9:00 am. Immediately prior to his speech, Gary Shapiro, president/ceo of CEA, will present a State of the Industry Address at 8:30 am. Both events will take place in the Hilton Theater of the Las Vegas Hilton.

Technology Headline News

Softimage Launches ‘3D Love’ Tour

Avid Technology Inc. announced a series of worldwide launch events for SOFTIMAGE|XSI version 5.0, the latest edition of the companys flagship 3D animation software, will take place across North America, Europe and Asia. The events will showcase the powerful new features of XSI v.5.0, including the film-quality map generation capabilities in Ultimapper, the unique property transfer tools in GATOR and the latest migration tools for Maya users.

Headline News

Alias FBX SDK to Support COLLADA

Alias announced that its FBXsoftware development kit (SDK), the most widely used and supported file interchange platform in the digital entertainment content development community, will soon incorporate support for third party file formats, including COLLADA. As an XML based, multi-vendor exchange format launched by Sony Computer Ent. Inc., COLLADA was recently adopted as an open-standard initiative by the Khronos Group and is used by game content developers, particularly those developing art assets for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and wireless handheld devices.

Color Headline News

Iridas Releases SpeedGrade DI

By Rick DeMott | Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 12:00am

Iridas announced the release of SpeedGrade DI. The new application offers an industry-leading feature set for digital color grading and film finishing. In addition, SpeedGrade DI anchors the industry's first complete color pipeline with SpeedGrade OnSet (look management) and FrameCycler (calibrated review with grading applied). The result is complete mobility of color data up, down, and across production pipeline, opening the door to new, collaborative color workflow models.

Headline News

Kong Diaries Headed for DVD on Dec. 13

KING KONG: PETER JACKSONS PRODUCTION DIARIES, which have been posted on the KONG website (www.kongisking.net), will be released Dec. 13 as a special two-disc pre-release (Universal Home Ent., $39.98), reports THE DIGITAL BITS.

The set will include 54 production diaries (in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio), an 80-page scrapbook, four exclusive art prints, "collectible packaging" and more. Jacksons highly anticipated remake opens Dec. 14.

Visual Headline News

Submissions Open for 4th Annual VES Awards

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has defined 21 categories in which you may enter to participate in the 4th Annual VES Awards competition. The submission deadline is Dec. 2.

The categories cover commercials, music videos, television, games, special venue and feature films. The nominees will be announced on Jan. 9, 2006, and the winners will be presented at the gala event on Feb. 15, 2006, at the Hollywood Palladium.

The 2006 categories are:

1. Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture

Headline News

STEELE Provides ‘Juicy’ VFX for Desperate Housewives Spot

JUICY, a new spot for ABCs DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, directed by acclaimed fashion photographer and director Matthew Rolston, is set in a surrealist environment that combines the theme of forbidden fruit specifically apples and the drama inherent in each of the main characters lives. Santa Monica -based digital studio, STEELE, handled a number of post duties, including editorial, photoreal CG environments and animation, compositing, beauty, visual effects and online.

Headline News

Warner Indie Plays Solitaire

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 12:00am

Warner Independent Pictures has tapped HIGHLANDER writer Greg Widen to adapt Kelley Eskridge's sci-fi thriller SOLITAIRE, according to VARIETY. Cherry Road Films co-presidents Kendall Morgan and Bo Hyde will produce.

The story is set in a future world where the software and pharmaceutical industries are about converge and chronicles the tale of a female computer engineer who is wrongly sent to an experimental prison.

Film Headline News

Marine Mammals Come to the Rescue at Disney

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 12:00am

Walt Disney Pictures has hired TREMORS scribes Brent Maddock and Steve Wilson to pen an untitled film about the Navy Marine Mammal Program, reports VARIETY. Starring otters, sea lions and dolphins, the film will follow their training for military rescue operations. The project will combine the ideas of two pitches the studio has heard on the subject. Producer Patrick Aiello along with Mayhem Pictures Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray had pitched a live-action film while I AM SAM director Jessie Nelson and children's book author Nina Laden had proposed an animated film. All five will produce.

Media Headline News

B1 Media Brings Egyptian Book of Dead to Life for History Channel

B1 Media has completed 69 visual effects shots, including 3D and live-action, for the History Channels upcoming EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD (airing second quarter 06). Morningstar Ent. produced BOOK OF THE DEAD, which focuses on a young mans quest to find the true meaning behind the ancient text and happiness in the afterlife.

Disney Headline News

Gabor Csupo To Direct Live-Action Terabithia

By Rick DeMott | Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 12:00am

NARNIA partners Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media will reteam to produce the film adaptation of Katherine Paterson's Newberry Medal-winning children's novel, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, reports VARIETY. Gabor Csupo, co-founder of Klasky Csupo, will make his live-action directing debut on the film. Jeff Stockwell is adapting the script. Disney will be co-financier and U.S. distributor with Walden retaining international rights.

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