An ape film with no mocap?

Tarzan1

Have to admit I was surprised no mocap was used for the apes in The Legend of Tarzan. That didn’t mean gray tracking suits weren’t used for reference, but none of this was for traditional performance capture data. Find out more in this interview with Framestore for One Perfect Shot.

Illumination’s Pets break all secrets to set record for the highest debut of an original animated film

The box office is illuminated with new records as Pets have created an astounding stunt which has attracted eyeballs from all over the globe. Illumination Entertainment’s recent animated feature The Secret Life of Pets has gained the record for the highest debut of an original animated film in its opening weekend.

The feature based on a light humorous script released on 8 July, 2016 and has earned $103.2 million at the North American box office in its opening weekend. It has thus overpowered Pixar’s Inside Out ($90.4 million) to score the best start ever for an original animated property. The film’s whooping first weekend collection has also gained the title of the sixth-best all-time opening for an animated film.

The movie earned around $38.3 million on its opening Friday, $36.8 on Saturday and  $28 million on Sunday. Adding up it’s Thursday preview collection, its opening weekend collection amounted to a total of $103.2 million.

The secret life of pets 3

As far as overseas markets are concerned, The Secret Life of Pets has earned $42.60 million from the foreign box office thus leading to a total worldwide opening weekend collection of $145.8 million. This collection has been a boost to Illumination Entertainment as the movie was made against a production budget of just $75 million.

What has been the most interesting fact is that this movie has taken a leap to become Illumination’s ‘second-best start’ after last summer’s Minions ($115.7 million). It has also created an impression that Illumination can create something which is completely different than its usual Despicable Me franchise.

Compared to Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory ($136.2 million opening weekend) which has topped the box-office chart for three consecutive weekends this year, The Secret Life of Pets features a different kind of script revolving around the engaging factor of humour. It is noted that both Disney and Pixar are known for heart touching stories where humour is used as an add-on element to enrich the whole plot. But it seems like Illumination wants to do it the other round, they probably want to use humour as the base selling factor and then highlight the story with an underlying intriguing message.

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Nintendo’s stake, robberies and reaction – Pokemon Go takes the world by the storm

It has barely been a week since Pokemon Go was released, but the manner in which the game’s been received by the fans is exemplary. It has dominated the headlines on almost every concerned publication and there have been a lot going on regarding or related to Pokemon Go as everyone wants to “catch’em all”!

Here are some of the events that have been building up (or down) Pokemon Go’s glory.

Nintendo’s value has sky rocketed

Just at the initial day of release, Nintendo’s shares increased by 10 per cent and now as the news comes, the game has added a value worth $7.5 billion to the market value of Nintendo. It is to be noted that, Nintendo is not the sole shareholder of the game. The creators are Niantic where both Pokemon Company and Nintendo have undisclosed stakes.

The lure feature did not only lure pokemons, but troubles too

The lure feature in Pokemon Go allows a user to attract these pocket monsters to a specified pokestop for 30 minutes where they can catch them, obviously. However, other people around the area will also be notified about the ‘lure’. While a lot of stories have been doing rounds, where people made friends and had a good time, a story has emerged that, some teens used the lure feature to attract un-expecting users to secluded places and robbed them. So, be careful out there.

The game server couldn’t handle all the excitement

Soon after Pokemon Go was released officially; it saw an overwhelming amount of players downloading and venturing on their own Pokemon adventures. It seemed like the servers were not ready for that many players at a time and hence it allegedly crashed and caused inconvenience to a lot of players. So much so, that the company said that they are looking into the issue and the launch in other countries would be delayed owing to the same reason.

How have Indians been reacting to the game? Behold!

(Translation: Beat this pervert as he’s trying to click my picture)

So much of popularity in just a matter of days has a clear hint: The game is definitely going to be a long runner. So, while you go out on your adventure and collect the pocket monsters, we will keep you updated with all the news regarding the game. Stay safe and go catch’em all!

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A single player game ‘Rechel Route’ offers a simplistic yet addictive gameplay

“Sometimes it’s the simplest of things that can make one fall for it”

This turns out to be true with Axel Graphic Works game named ‘Rechel Route’. A yet to be released single player game with an uncomplicated gameplay is something that has the potential to take the mobile gaming market by storm.

Axel Graphic Works personells

From left: Shunichi Kita and Yasunori Sugiyama

Looking for potential licensors and collaborators, Axel Graphic Works were seen at Japan’s largest content business exhibition, Content Tokyo 2016 by Reed Exhibitions Japan. Started in May 2015, Axel Graphic Works is part of the Roi Denki group of companies (1986) with six members being a part of the team.

“We have been working on this game for the past one year and currently we plan to launch it in the Japanese market by this autumn,” says Rechel Route, director, producer and music composer, Shunichi Kita. “Rechel Route has one protagonist, Rechel, who needs to conquer at least 60 per cent of the area while dodging her enemies. These enemies include other fairies and monsters and with each level the enemies and difficulty increases. The player can also increase the speed of Rechel as per their needs.”

Yasunori Sugiyama is the character designer on Rechel Route and the first five levels of Rechel Route will be available for free and then one will have to pay and play. As of now, the game won’t include any in-app purchases. The game has been designed using Cocos2d-x engine and Steam will later be used as a platform to release the game.

Currently, designed only for iPhone in Japanese, Shunichi Kita plans to release the English version of it by May 2017 and depending on the success of the game, it will be launched worldwide and also for Android devices.

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Toon Boom makes animation easier by launching Harmony 14

Toon Boom Animation, the Canadian animation software company, has released Harmony 14 today. The company specialises in animation production and storyboarding software and caters to various artists with user friendly softwares and their upgrades.

Harmony 14 provides additional tools for artists and an enhanced 3D workflow to streamline creative development and animation production. It is available in three editions – Essentials, Advanced and Premium – Harmony is the ideal solution for artists creating feature films, episodic series, games development, webisodes, and explainer videos.

Harmony 14

The extensive characteristics of Harmony 14 are:-

Deep Image Compositing – Take quality to a new level when you render 2D with 3D in Harmony. Support for rendered images from Arnold and Renderman that include deep pixel information allows artists to seamlessly composite 2D characters with 3D elements.

Animate 3D – Streamline production with new tools to animate your 3D models and their individual parts directly in Harmony – no more back and forth with 3D software. Artists have more creative control when integrating 3D elements with 2D characters in a unified environment.

Sync Layer for drawings – Be more efficient when animating your rig with unlimited art layers that are always in sync. Great for advanced rigs and effects creation, Sync Layer is a simple but powerful way for artists to build the look they want, using as many layers as they need.

Outline Mode – Reveal drawings that are behind other layers without losing reference to the drawing above. This enhancement provides a better and faster way for artists to work in complex scenes.

Pricing and Availability                                                                                                  

Harmony 14 software is now available for customers with Desktop Subscription or a Perpetual license with Support. Free, full-featured trials of Harmony are available online.

Nelvana, senior technical producer, Michael Lahay said, “The 3D toolset within Harmony 14 has provided our creative teams the freedom to develop projects which would have been impossible in the past on a television budget. By placing this power in the hands of the artists, we are discovering new creative ways to reduce costs while not compromising on the creative.”

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BBC Rio Olympics with Jungle Animals

BBC coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August is being promoted with an animated trailer set in the Tijuca Rainforest. Jungle animals take their places in their version of the summer Olympics, with sprinting jaguars, a gymnastic sloth, an armadillo weight lifter, synchronised diving alligators, a hammer-throwing ant eater, ape volleyballers and a high jumping cat. Finally the animals morph into their human counterparts, gathering together to look over the city of Rio de Janeiro to take part in “The Greatest Show on Earth”. The animated BBC Rio Olympics campaign will continue through until the opening of the Rio Olympics on 5 August, and continue through the games with animals appearing in titles. Animation was produced at Passion Pictures, the production company also responsible for BBC Olympics campaigns in 2008 (Journey to the East) and 2012 (Stadium UK), and Nike’s 2014 Rio FIFA Cup trailer “The Last Game“.

BBC Rio Olympics jaguars 400 metres race

BBC Rio Olympics Credits

The BBC Rio Olympics campaign was developed at RKCR/Y&R by creative directors Mark Roalfe, Jon Saunders, art director Psembi Kinstan, copywriter Alice Burton, agency producers Keeley Pratt and Hatty Middleton, account director Max Bennett and executive producer Ryan Goodwin-Smith, working with Charlotte Lock, Director of Marketing & Audiences, Media & North at the BBC.

Animation was produced by Againstallodds directors Derek Picken and Niklas Rissler at Passion Pictures with production manager Suzanne Forward, producer Jen Coatsworth, executive producer Ryan Goodwin Smith, head of CG Jason Nicholas and VFX supervisor Neil Riley.

Music, “Not Gonna Break Me” by Jamie N Commons, was supervised at Native. Sound was designed by Chris Turner at Jungle Studios.

Michael De Feo: Crosstown Traffic


Crosstown Traffic, a new installation by Michael De Feo, is the seventh exhibition in Rice Gallery’s Summer Window series, which features works visible through the glass wall while the gallery is closed for the summer. Known as “The Flower Guy,” De Feo is a painter with a penchant for street art, gaining international recognition for painting over outdoor fashion ads with buoyant floral patterns. In Crosstown Traffic, De Feo treats Rice Gallery’s front glass wall like a supersized commercial display kiosk, enlarging a selection of fashion ads from magazines, printing them at nearly billboard size, and hand painting over them. As if a piece of Times Square or a large-scale storefront was transported to the gallery, the floor-to-ceiling imagery engulfs the viewer with ads De Feo abstracts and enlivens with pops of color and pattern. Visit http://www.RiceGallery.org. Learn more about the artist at http://www.mdefeo.com. Learn more about the filmmakers at http://www.WalleyFilms.com. Watch more films: https://vimeo.com/channels/walleyfilmsricegallery

// ArtFX OFFICIEL // Red Dawn


ArtFx : l’école des effets spéciaux, du cinéma d’animation 3D et du jeu vidéo. http://www.artfx.fr “La vanité trône sur une montagne inaccessible, tout dans la plaine lui paraît insignifiant”. Henri-Frédéric Amiel “Vanity presides high on a mountain ; everything on the plainbelow seems irrelevant”. Henri-Frédéric Amiel Réalisateurs / Directors : Sébastien LECLERC, Vincent BOULOT, Jean BURTSCHELL, Romain COUTURIAUX, Guillaume DELEUZE Etudiants spécialistes / Specialists students : KÉVIN DECATOIRE, FLORIAN COQUAZ, DAMIEN PIERLOT PAGE FACEBOOK OFFICIELLE DU FILM : https://www.facebook.com/Red-Dawn-Le-film-259822251058174/?fref=ts

B • Girl Tys "Ready" / Short Movie


Director + post-production: Romain Julien Light: Guillaume Chaumet Music: Salomon Ligthelm ‘Tekapo’ Producer: Antony Höell Music Production Coordinator: MusicBed Camera: Red Epic Lenses: Zeiss ZE Distagon + Canon EF Camera equipment: Cinexo Light equipment: EyeLite © 2014 – – instagram.com/guillaumechaumet/ twitter.com/williamchaumet hello@guillaumechaumet.fr

Paper: a printer you actually want


Paper is a machine that can print, scan and copy in a pleasant way. It communicates its function, provides clear feedback and uses physical controls to operate the key functions with ease. more info: https://www.behance.net/gallery/33984286/Paper-a-printer-you-actually-want