Where No 'Star Trek' Has Gone Before
Read how ILM was tasked with putting Star Trek on vfx steroids for J.J. Abrams' bold re-imagining.
VFXWorld Magazine
'Maya Plugin Power': RenderMan Compliance
In the latest excerpt from Maya Plugin Power, author Mark Jennings Smith shows us how to use RenderMan with Maya.
Wolverine Gets Indestructible in 'X-Men Origins'
The origin of Logan becoming Wolverine required a myriad of vfx by 17 vendors, and here are the highlights.
VFX Summer Preview: 10 Movies to Watch
Lots of sci-fi, the return of a beloved franchise and a wizard named Harry and plenty of robots are part of our summer sneak peek.
Men-From-Mars Tell the 'Mutant Chronicles'
London-based Men-From-Mars cranked out 1,454 shots with only a team of 30 for Mutant Chronicles. We find out how they did it.
3ds Max 2010 Review: New Modeling Tools, New UI
This week I received the new 3ds Max 2010. I will be putting it through the paces, paying specific attention to the new additions. As you may have seen in Autodesk's press notes for the product, there are more than 100 new additions to the modeling toolset alone, so I will have lots to cover. 3ds Max 2010 is available as of this week for $3,495 or as an upgrade from 3ds Max 2009 for $895.
Meet the SIGGRAPH 2009 Chair: Ronen Barzel
As a graduate of Caltech (specializing in physically-based modeling) and former Pixar animation scientist (building the Slinky Dog model for Toy Story, developing lighting technology and working on other software R&D), Ronen Barzel is tailor-made for chairing this year's SIGGRAPH. The 36th annual show will take place in New Orleans (conference: Aug. 3-7; exhibition: Aug. 4-6) at The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Barzel spoke to VFXWorld about what's new this year (including more emphasis on music and audio), the challenges of coping with the economic downturn and what technological advancements are of particular interest.
'Battlestar' Prequel 'Caprica' Keeps the Cylons Coming
A mere month after the end of Battlestar Galactica, Universal offers the unrated pilot to prequel Caprica on DVD, and Tara Bennett gets the scoop from VFX Supervisor Gary Hutzel.
Pumping up the Wattage with 'Crank: High Voltage'
Alain Bielik gets amped up with Crank: High Voltage VFX Supervisor James McQuaide to talk about the work Duran Duboi and LOOK Effects contributed to the film.
'Dragonball Evolution': Ripe for VFX Film Picking
Tara Bennett talks to Hybride, Frantic Films and CafeFX about helping evolve Dragonball to the big screen.
MPC LA: Growing the Core VFX Business
Mark Tobin divulges how MPC's new commercial-focused boutique is faring in Santa Monica during the economic downturn.
'The Godfather II': Through the Eyes of a Don
Peter Rizkalla goes undercover with the creators of mob masterpiece follow-up The Godfather II from Electronic Arts.
The HP Z800 Workstation Review: A First Look
Bryan Hoff tests the new HP Z800 to see if it offers enough of an increase in efficiency and productivity to justify the expense in this economic downturn.
OnLive: What Does it Mean for CG?
OnLive may have been introduced at GDC, but Rearden founder and CEO Steve Perlman tells Bill Desowitz how the new cloud-based game service ties into his Contour Reality Capture system.
'Fast & Furious': 4x the Cars & Explosions
Tara Bennett looks under the hood of the fourth Fast & Furious car movie to find out what Rhythm & Hues and Double Negative tricked out.
'Maya Plugin Power': Shave and a Haircut
In the latest excerpt from Maya Plugin Power, author Mark Jennings Smith shows us how to use the Shave and a Haircut plugin to create a stylish hairy look for a bird.
Furious FX Races to 'Witch Mountain'
Burbank-based Furious FX took on their largest project to date with Disney's re-imagined Race to Witch Mountain, creating UFOs, SUV collisions and eerie blue alien lights along the way.
'Killzone 2': War is Helghan
Pete Rizkalla chats with the Killzone 2 team at Guerrilla Games about how they created the game under fire from media and fanboys after the 2005 trailer was shown.
'Battlestar Galactica' Finale: The End of an Era
Feverishly working round-the-clock as usual to finish the series, Battlestar Galactica's vfx supervisor reviews its achievement along with creator Ron Moore.
'Knowing' the Future: Planes, Trains and Walls of Fire
For Knowing, Animal Logic created realistic disasters, particularly a spectacular plane crash and subway collision along with… the end of the world?
Rough Times for VFX: But is it the Recession?
Vfx vet Jenny Fulle reports on how the global economic slowdown will affect the industry and force innovation and reinvention.
'Maya Plugin Power': Cloth Simulation and Modeling
In the first excerpt from Maya Plugin Power, author Mark Jennings Smith shows how to get started simulating cloth in Maya using plugin Syflex.
Zack Snyder Talks 'Watchmen'
After our in-depth making of coverage, the Watchmen director discusses bringing the landmark graphic novel to the screen.
Deconstructing 'Watchmen' -- Part 2
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Intelligent Creatures, MPC Vancouver, CIS Hollywood and Rising Sun Pictures discuss their contributions to Watchmen in the final part of our coverage.
Deconstructing 'Watchmen' -- Part 1
In the first part of our in-depth Watchmen coverage, we get an overview from Alex McDowell, the production designer, and John DJ DesJardin, the overall visual effects supervisor.
