Apr
06
google streetview stereoscopic
Posted in: The Padhttp://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so…=0,359.98071&z
first off…how cool is the seagull…second, check the stereoscopic view option (below the zoom and pan tools on the left)
🙂
Apr
04
Clash of the Titans – “3D”
Posted in: The PadJust got back from seeing the 3D version of Clash of the Titans.
First off… a non-technical critique… I didn’t realize that the ancient Greeks had electric hair shears on board their fishing boats to keep their hair nicely cropped to a military buzz cut.
I don’t know what they were thinking, but Perseus looked soooo out of place in that movie. He looked like a Marine in a skirt the whole time. At least Harry Hamlin had the epic locks to back up his character back in the ’81 original.
Now on to the 3D… ugh…
The movie was originally shot in 2D and then retrofitted to be 3D. It shows!
Maybe it was the theater I saw the movie at, but I swear, the ‘3D’ of the characters looked as if they took it into After Effects, duplicated the foreground layer, moved it back slightly in z-space and then said "look… it’s 3D."
Early on, there was a helicopter shot over some mountains that also screamed 2.5D flat layers in a 3D space.
The various ‘sparkly’ shots such as the first shot of Zeus up on Mount Olympus looked like an ad for GenArts Sapphire plug-in presets.
Not to completely dig on them… I did think some of the shots of Hades materializing were pretty well done.
However, the very first time we see Hades when he’s looking down at the fishing boat I could’ve sworn that it was Kevin Nealon in a Hades outfit instead of Ralph Fiennes!
What did you guys think?
Apr
04
I’ve seen Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland for the second time today, and I was again astonished of what a remarkable job has been done on virtual sets.
Watching the making of I’ve noticed that on the set there are really few (orange!?) markers for 2D tracking… someone has the slight idea of the reason why?
Look at this picture for example:
Apr
03
I thought it was easily Dreamworks best animated film to date! I went in expecting little from the trailers but came out very surprised.
The animation was phenomenal too! Such good acting .. the first interactions between hiccup and toothless was very heartwarming and I felt like I was as amazed and intrigued as the character in the film! And that sequence had no dialogue.
I read somewhere else that they used a per character animation lead system, and I think it shows. All the characters have great different personalities.
The flying sequences were also very good. All in all such a charming film. Not once during it was I bored. Great music score too!
I will definitely be going see it again in theaters, this time in IMAX. I just hope it does well at the box office. It would be a shame for this to fall to the wayside because it isn’t a shrek. This deserves to be successful.
Has anyone here gone to see this yet? What did you think?
Apr
02
Estimating a vfx job
Posted in: The PadGreetings.
First post here. I am a compositor in NYC. I will be getting some shots to work on in house (matte painting, green screen comping etc) on a medium budget feature (i’m guessing 10 million?). This work would otherwise go to a vfx house of the type that i sometimes freelance for but i know the producer and they are looking to save money. Long term i am looking to build my own small shop, so it works out great for me. Don’t have too many details about how much work is involved yet but I have no experience estimating. Can anyone give me a range per shot for this kind of work? (thinking moderately average degree of difficulty pulling keys etc. Until now i’ve only worked on a day rate for similar vfx houses, or in house on much lower budget (but equally challenging) stuff where i’m getting paid far less than it really costs. Any advice is welcome.
Mar
31
Silhouette v4 Released
Posted in: The PadThe inclusion of Power Matte is very cool. And, more importantly; the Planar tracker has been rewritten.
Look forwards to getting my teeth into this when I get home. In the meantime I’d love to hear what you guys think of it. If the planar tracker is majorly updated it’s going to be awesome.
Quote:
|
Silhouette, already the digital post-production industry’s leading roto and paint solution, aims to be the last word in cutting mattes combining four powerful technologies in version 4. SilhouetteFX, LLC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 4 of Silhouette, the digital post-production industry’s leading stereo paint and roto solution. Incorporating many improvements and new features including a vastly improved planar tracker, version 4’s aim is to provide a complete matting solution from fast automatic methods to fine-scale hardcore manual means. New in version 4 is Power Matte, an automatic means of pulling mattes for complex organic objects without the aid of specialized backdrops. To use Power Matte, loose rough shapes are drawn on the foreground and background objects. Power Matte cuts the matte automatically based on these shapes. Silhouette’s tracking tools can even be used to animate the rough shapes, further easing the task of cuttings masks for long sequences. The unpublished research and technology behind Power Matte incorporates the latest developments relating to inner-outer shape masking algorithms. Silhouette 4 offers four distinct matte extraction modalities. Mattes may be cut with Silhouette’s industry leading rotoscoping tool set, shape driven (hence tracker-enabled) raster paint tools, chroma-based keying tools and now with Power Matte. Given that all of these tools are stereoscopic 3D enabled, Silhouette v4 is a powerful tool to meet the challenges of today’s most advanced filmmakers. Version 4 features a completely rewritten planar tracker. The company believes its new planar tracker compares well with similar technologies offered by competitors. Taken in combination with Silhouette’s undisputed lead in other areas, the new planar tracker reduces the range of cases where any other product need be employed. Also in Silhouette v4 is a comprehensive scripting model and command-line interface (CLI). The CLI allows facilities with headless render-farms to more effectively use Silhouette. The scripting model exposes a great deal of Silhouette’s internals for Python-based scripting enabling facilities to build infrastructure and capabilities customized to their unique needs. A number of new features have been added to Silhouette’s paint arsenal. Version 4 adds clone source grading allowing clone sources to be dynamically color matched to their destinations. A new horizontal or vertical split display mode aids in setting the clone source grading. Pairs of clone sources can now be defined and drawn from simultaneously. Each clone source has its own independent grading and transformation capability. Version 4 onward for MacOS is now available as a 64 bit version to take full advantage of RAM for longer sequences. Other enhancements and fixes are too numerous to list in this format. Silhouette v4 has a price of $995 per node locked license. A floating license server and 3 licenses is available for $3,495. Additional floating licenses are available for $1,295. Version 3 licenses may be upgraded for $295. The company’s web site is located at: http://www.silhouettefx.com. |
Mar
30
STORM by The Foundry
Posted in: The Padhttp://www.kickupastorm.com/
What do you guys think it is? Seems like it could be about workflow. Especially considering who the quotes are from. Peter M and Offhollywood of them are very close with Red too.
Mar
30
Monitor Calibration?
Posted in: The PadHey I recently got a new computer with dual displays, they are both different brands (I got one free) and I was wondering if anyone had tips to calibrate them accurately without relying on the hokey "Windows – Calibrate Color" thing. Oh, I’m on Windows, if you didn’t pick up on that.
Mar
27
The top 5 miserable VFX jobs…
Posted in: The Pad
Mar
24
CafeFX closed…
Posted in: The Padhttp://www.variety.com/article/VR111…1&ref=verttech
What does everyone think about all these shops closing up?
Who's in charge here?
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