Category: Visual Effects

Pixologic, makers of ZBrush 2, the award-winning modeling, texturing and painting application, announced that Industrial Light and & Magic has integrated ZBrush's sub-division modeling and texturing toolsets into its production pipeline. Industrial Light & Magic selected ZBrush for its unparalleled ability to handle large datasets, its Pixol technology and production tested displacement-mapping abilities.

eyeon Software announced at SIGGRAPH 2005 that Santa Monica-based R!OT confirmed its decision to introduce Fusion 5 into its workflow.

R!ot is a vfx studio specializing in digital imagery, commercial, feature, music video, HD and television productions.

We are excited to add Fusion to our compositing pipeline, said R!OT vfx artist Andrew Wilkoff. The speed and functionality of Fusion 5, coupled with eyeons stellar support, will make it easy for us to deliver world class visual effects shots.

Huge crowd scenes were needed for Carlton Draughts latest advertising epic, the BIG AD, a hilarious parody of pompous beer ads, with an ode to BRAVEHEART comprised of unlikely armies of choral-robed gladiators singing about the glories of beer, accompanied by the bombastic CARMINA BURANA.

Animal Logic created 3D computer-generated human extras for all the large, aerial crowd shots, clothed them in flowing robes and then brought them into Massive, the award-winning AI-driven crowd simulation software from Massive Software.

VFX have obviously come a long way since the two GHOSTBUSTERS movies hit the screen in 84 and 89. Indeed, you can witness the vast differences between the two movies themselves, supervised by Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren, respectively, and created by EEG and ILM).

In fact, the vfx evolution is much more evident, thanks to the remastered DVDs that comprise the GHOSTBUSTERS I & II DOUBLE FEATURE GIFT SET (Sony Pictures Home Ent., $19.94). Welcome back to slime time with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and co., courtesy of Ivan Reitman.

NPower Software, a division of Integrityware Inc, announced that PowerNURBS 1.0 will officially release on Sept. 15, and is now available for sale.

Warner Home Video announced that its long-awaited DVD debut of the legendary KING KONG (1933) will hit stores on Nov. 22 in multiple sets: a two-disc special edition, a two-disc collectors edition and a four-disc collectors edition along with THE SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

The two-year DVD project (digitally restored and mastered from the best surviving film elements) coincides with the release of Peter Jacksons remake from Universal Pictures, opening Dec. 14.