Category: Visual Effects

Tom Atkin told VFXWorld that he will be stepping down as founding exec director of the Visual Effects Society (VES) because he's come to the realization that "the goal is accomplished and there is nothing more that I can do at this level. Now that I've built this organization, it's time to turn it over to the membership to dictate future policies, goals and business plans."

Multi-Emmy Award winner Chris Zapara (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) has been named a supervising visual effects artist at Eden FX, having recently worked as a 3D supervisor at Zoic Studios. He produced models, animation and vfx for the finale of the hit show. Before that he was a 3D supervisor with Area 51 (2000-2003), where he produced animation and vfx for DUNE and CHILDREN OF DUNE, for which he received Emmys.

nPower Software has released version 2.5 of Power Booleans for 3ds max / viz, including 6.0 of 3ds max. Power Booleans 2.5 also introduces new functionality, and provides bug fixes for reported problems. The popular Power Booleans plug-in extends 3ds max with powerful, accurate and fun polygonal Boolean operations. Power Booleans is powered by POPLib, a powerful polygonal modeling kernel from IntegrityWare.

Universal Pictures has promoted John Swallow to evp of production technology. He will continue to report to presidents of production Mary Parent and Scott Stuber. Swallow was named svp of production technology for Universal in January 1998, having first joined the studio in Nov. 1996 as vp of production technology. Over the years, he has been responsible for supervising the production technology for such films as THE GRINCH, THE MUMMY, THE MUMMY RETURNS, THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and OCTOBER SKY.

With great fanfare, the INDIANA JONES trilogy comes to DVD Oct. 21, 2003 (Paramount Home Entertainment, $49.95) in a handsome four-disc set. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (now bearing the INDIANA JONES AND THEmoniker), INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE have never looked or sounded better at home. They've been digitally cleaned up by Lowry Digital Images and remastered by THX. And the extras on disc 4 are like archaeological treasures.

With declining profits this year in entertainment and electronics, Sony Corp. has ordered Sony Pictures Entertainment to layoff as many as 300 employees throughout its key business groups at the Culver City, California-based studio, including Sony Pictures, both domestic and international TV units and Sony Pictures Digital, the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported. The layoffs, which have already begun, could save as much as $75 million a year. Last week, Sony Pictures 73-year-old chairman John Calley announced his retirement.

In two noteworthy spots by ad agency Colby & Partners, the artists at Ring of Fire completed graphics, CGI and design work for two new Suzuki spots titled, BIG ON STYLE and FAMILY ADVENTURE. Featuring the new Verona mid-size sedan and the XL-7 SUV, Colby & Partners called on the expertise of Coppos director Jeffrey Karoff and Ring of Fire artists to execute the spots, which contain billboards and signs that highlight the features and attributes of these new vehicles.

San Francisco-based RE:Vision Effects has issued a major upgrade for Twixtor Pro, their acclaimed retiming solution, for Discreet's combustion 3, as well as RE:Flex, a warping and morphing solution.