Hasta La Motion!

Dependent entirely on how you feel about piracy, it will either tickle you previously undefined shades of pink or break your heart to learn that BitTorrent has reported that its tools BitTorrent, Mainline and µTorrent now have an active userbase of 100 million per month.

It seems like only yesterday we were forced a peek at Bram Cohen’s attractive* face as he panhandled for donations every time we closed the original BT client. Flash forward and 20 million are logging on per day from 220 nations to share files. Legally, of course.

What makes these figures ever-more impressive is that they don’t include the users of the nigh-countless unofficial clients, of which many of you likely are.

It’s a wonder BitTorrent is comfortable even revealing these numbers (especially considering the aforementioned hundreds of millions more users), considering the service’s reputation as the essential piracy tool. BitTorrent does have initiatives to promote the legal sharing of files (via its Artist Spotlight Program and such), but let’s be honest… what’s in your BT queue right now?

http://www.techi.com/2011/01/bittorr…-active-users/

VFXTalk is pleased to announce that in support of the VFX artists in India and China, as of today any one with 20 or more posts who is involved in visual effects or animation in India or China will get a free VFXTalk VIP membership.

We would like to do what we can to support you and the industry that is growing there.

Just post in this thread or send me a PM and your account will be upgraded.

Thanks,

Jah

Hi everyone i have a problem when i use the canon 550 d (i have try and another cam sony cubershot mpeg movie and i had not problem inside the maya) when i am finished the matchmoving correctly in matchmover i open the file in maya and when i see throw realviz cam the only that it moves is the greed and the locators.The video its like a still image it doesn’t move.I have had try everything that i could.If somebody know something about it it will be very helpfull for me so don’t hesitate.
Thanks

Cinesite goes on a voyage with the Dawn TreaderLondon, UK, December 14, 2010 – Cinesite, one of the world’s leading film visual effects houses, has completed visual effects on the new Twentieth Century Fox/Walden Media film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which wasreleased in cinemas on December 9. For the third installment in the Narnia film series, Cinesite were tasked with creating the White Witch, played by Tilda Swinton, green mist tendrils that embody evilness, a golden path of treasure and complex environments.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a return to the magic and wonder of C.S. Lewis’ beloved world via the fantastic Narnian ship, the Dawn Treader. In this new installment of the blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia motion picture franchise, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their cousin Eustace, their royal friend King Caspian and a warrior mouse named Reepicheep, find themselves swallowed into a painting and onto the Dawn Treader. Their mission – upon which rests the fate of Narnia itself – takes the courageous voyagers to mysterious islands and a river that turns to gold, to fateful confrontations with magical creatures and sinister enemies, and to a reunion with their friend and protector, the ‘Great Lion’ Aslan.

Cinesite’s team was headed up by Matt Johnson, visual effects supervisor and Stephane Paris, 3D supervisor. To create the White Witch, whose most striking appearance is in the final battle sequence where she tries to tempt Edmund for the final time, principle photography was taken of Swinton and scanned, generating a 3D model of the actress’ head. Cinesite rigged and animated the 3D model using Maya, matching it up to her live performance. CG hair was added to enhance the appearance of the witch and a shroud of upper body mist was composited over the live-action plate to add to the effect of her being a mythical, floating creature.

To achieve production vfx supervisor Angus Bickerton’s vision of creating an evil embodiment, while striking a balance between a realistic body of mist and a solid entity, Cinesite used Houdini and created particle renders that generated an ethereal and misty look.

For the sequence preceding the final battle, which sees the Dawn Treader and her crew head into the heart of the enemy’s dark island territory, Cinesite created the green mist tendrils. These tendrils play tricks on the crew’s minds, taking the form of their greatest fears. The ghostly trails were created in Houdini and proprietary fluid simulations tools. Animations were blocked out in Maya for each tendril shot using character eels to give a sense of position, speed and movement to the mist.

Once the pre-viz was approved, the team were able to derive fluid simulations from the data, produce numerous lighting passes and animate the particles to interact with the live action elements in the plate. This meant rotoscoping the mist around the cast and props on the deck to ensure that it interacted realistically with the live-action environment, which had been shot in front of a blue screen stage.

“We were really able to put our pipeline to the test on this film,” said Antony Hunt, managing director of Cinesite. “The particle and fluid simulations that Matt and Stephane’s team created pushed the boundaries on what we’ve generated before, taking our work to another level. Thanks to the combination of Houdini’s software and our own proprietary tools, we’ve established a workflow that we can reuse again and again.”

Other effects completed by Cinesite include extending the bejewelled valley using 2D visual effects and digital matte paintings to give the effect of an extensive golden path, and creating set extensions of The Goldwater Island sequence. All shots were composited in Nuke and the project was the first by Cinesite to be completed entirely using the software.

About Cinesite

With one of the largest and most comprehensive facilities in Europe, Cinesite’s visual effects team has the capacity and creativity to produce all manner of effects, both digital and physical, for feature films and broadcast projects of all scales. Their award-winning team of highly talented visual effects artists take filmmakers’ ideas and turn them into spectacular cinematic reality.

Cinesite is currently working on Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Warner Bros.), John Carter of Mars (Disney/Pixar), Battle: Los Angeles (Sony/Columbia), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney/Bruckheimer) and X-Men: First Class (Twentieth Century Fox).

For more information please visit www.cinesite.com.

Previewed to widespread acclaim at SIGGRAPH 2010, OptiTrack’s Insight VCS virtual camera system is now available to customers worldwide. Offered at a third of the price of competing systems, the Insight VCS is ideal for previsualization and production in game and CG film projects of any scope, ranging from AAA games to independent films.

“Professional motion capture products have historically been prohibitively expensive,” said Jim Richardson, NaturalPoint® co-founder and lead engineer for the OptiTrack motion capture line. “With the release of the Insight VCS, we are proud to once again alter the CG production landscape by bringing the latest motion capture technology to market at a price that is accessible for all studios.”

The perfect tool for bringing real-world camera work into your virtual productions, the Insight VCS has already been adopted by leading previsualization, film production and video game development companies across the globe. Early launch customers include Nvizage, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Monolith Productions, Halon Entertainment, Animatrik Film Design and Spark Unlimited.

“Our previsualization teams are often put in situations where clients need shots very quickly with the flexibility to shoot as if they are on set,” said Nvizage Previs Supervisor, Faraz Hameed. “The Insight VCS allows us to do that. Shots that used to take days can now be completed in hours.”

A two-part system, the Insight VCS consists of a hardware camera rig and software interface. As the hardware rig is tracked throughout the motion capture volume, absolute 6 DOF position and orientation data is streamed live via a software plug-in, to either Autodesk MotionBuilder or Maya, to drive the virtual camera within the 3D application. Real-time reference video is streamed out of MotionBuilder or Maya back to the VCS display, creating a low-latency visual feedback loop, similar to the viewfinder of a digital camera.

“Not only does the Insight VCS allow us to service the needs of VFX supervisors and directors, but also the art department,” continues Hameed. “Production designers are finding it a useful tool to help design film sets and demonstrate ideas on the fly. It’s like virtual set building in real-time!”

To ensure complete compatibility with a variety of production pipelines, the Insight VCS has a universal option for interoperability with any existing optical motion capture system – including OptiTrack, Vicon and Motion Analysis – that can track marker-based rigid bodies and stream data to Autodesk MotionBuilder.

Pricing and Availability
The Insight VCS is available immediately, with camera rigs ranging in price from $199 USD to $5,000 USD. Software plug-ins to MotionBuilder and Maya for OptiTrack systems are $1,000 USD. The universal plug-in to MotionBuilder for other motion capture systems is $2,000 USD. For more information, please contact the company’s headquarters in Corvallis, Ore. at 1-888-865-5535, or visit www.optitrack.com.

About OptiTrack
OptiTrack™ is the leading brand of affordable, high-performance motion capture technology. The OptiTrack product line includes: ARENA™, Expression™, and Tracking Tools™ motion capture software; the S250e, V100:R2, and V120:SLIM high-speed motion tracking cameras; and the Insight VCS virtual camera system. Used by facilities worldwide in a variety of markets ranging from film and games to sports training and biomechanics, OptiTrack customers include Halon Entertainment, Nvizage, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Game Studios, Method Studios, Lockheed Martin, NASA, John Deere and other top studios and developers around the world.

OptiTrack is owned by NaturalPoint®, one of the foremost companies specializing in optical tracking technology. For more information, visit www.optitrack.com.

About NaturalPoint
Based in Corvallis, Ore., NaturalPoint® is the creator and manufacturer of the OptiTrack™, TrackIR™ and SmartNAV™ family of brands. NaturalPoint specializes in providing innovative control solutions through optical tracking technology, and has developed tracking systems for computers, video games, military simulators and unique display systems. For more information visit www.naturalpoint.com.