Stereoscopic Smoke

Hey All,
I may have to comp in some smoke into a stereoscopic shot. Would it make sense to also shoot that smoke with the same stereoscopic rig? I would be worried about the keying not matching between eyes, thus messing up it’s depth.

Would it be best to shoot the smoke 2D and just layer it?

Thanks!

Senior Lead 3dsMax Artist Needed – Chicago

Overall Purpose of the Role
Pipe Dreams 3D is one of the industry’s most pioneering animation and previs studios and the first to introduce these previs techniques to advertising in the UK. With offices in London and Chicago we work with most of the leading advertising agencies globally, as well as with major brands such as P&G, SC Johnson, Diageo, Mars, Wrigley and many more, covering just about all products in all sectors.

Our job is to translate words and concepts into animated films, an integeral part of the advertising process that helps the final advert make it to TV or a cinema near you! It is vital to be able to read a script and understand what the creative teams are trying to convey and be able to translate that into moving images. It makes it an exciting and ever changing job, with no brief the same.

An exciting opportunity now exists for a self-motivated, talented and enthusiastic Senior Lead Artist to lead our team in Chicago. If you have a passion for animation and a genuine interest in 3D art, with an instinctive creative ability and artistic eye read on.

The Senior Lead Artist is responsible for the overall look of the animations and will supervise the teams output and also ensures that the work gets done according to schedule. Working alongside the Production Manager, the Senior Lead Artist should be able to anticipate problems and plan for any contingencies in our Chicago studio.

It is this combination of creative development and management that makes the Senior Lead Artist’s role unique. You will get to turn your hand to every part of the film process, from modeling, texturing, lighting and animating to directing, cinematography, editing and compositing so strong experience in these areas is a must. The fast pace of advertising also means that you will need to be great at organizing the team, the production schedule and delivering to deadline. Attention to detail in 3D makes the difference between OK and blooming marvelous. As we only deal in marvelous you will need to demonstrate your attention is near obsessive levels.

We mostly work in the advertising industry and commercials have at most, 30 seconds to make their point and sell their product. For us, long show reels won’t work. Show us that you understand your craft and how brilliant you are at it. Demonstrate that you understand what we do and why we would be absolute fools not to employ you.

We can’t wait to see your CV and showreel ASAP to JobsUSA@pipedreams3d.com.

Essential Knowledge and Skills

The Senior Lead Artist will be an artist who can inspire and motivate a team of creative talent. They must understand the abilities within the studio and also of any outsourced contractors. They must also build good working relationships and communicate clearly with senior managers and teams. They also need an understanding of the technology, its capabilities and constraints.

This is not an entry level role. Pipe Dreams 3D Senior Lead Artists need at least 10 years industry experience, usually acquired in different industries and various roles within an art department, culminating in a senior or team leadership role.Your experience, skill set, knowledge and talent should be wide and varied: Modelling (characters & environments), animation, lighting, editing, cinematography, directing, storytelling, compositing and generally the eye for making our films look fantastic…

They should be able to use the various software packages and have a thorough understanding of the technologies.

In addition to the above, artists must have;

• art and design skills
• creativity and imagination
• awareness of colour, modelling and texturing techniques
• attention to detail and observation skills
• good communication skills
• the ability to lead a team and work independently
• ability to work to a style guide and storyboards
• organisational skills and the ability to work to deadlines

• 3dsMax (Animation, Modelling, Characters, Mental Ray)
• Photoshop
• Premiere
• Fusion prefered (or Similar)

Experience and Professional Qualifications Required

Experience in either the games,films industry or similar is required. High competency in 3D Studio Max is vital. Experience and strong technical expertise in Mental Ray, Photoshop, Premiere, Compositing (Fusion prefered) is essential, with a proven ability in how to use these packages in all aspects of modelling, texturing, compositing and animation and editing fundamental.

Additional Information

– Candidates must have a flexible attitude towards working hours
– Some evening and weekend work may be required from time to time
– Candidates must be wiling to travel; visits to overseas studios may be required

Guns and Blood :D

Prime Focus Contributes Spectacular Visual Effects to TRON: Legacy

Prime Focus Contributes Spectacular Visual Effects to TRON: Legacy

Vancouver, BC, Canada, January 18, 2010—Global visual entertainment services group Prime Focus has contributed more than 120 visual effects shots to the much-anticipated Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures stereoscopic release TRON: Legacy. The film, which is directed by Joseph Kosinski and stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, hit theaters on December 17, 2010.

TRON: Legacy tells the story of Sam Flynn (Hedlund), a rebellious 27-year-old haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn (Bridges); a man once known as the world’s leading video game developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the old Flynn’s Arcade – a signal that could only come from his father – he finds himself pulled into a digital world where Kevin has been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior Quorra (Wilde), father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a cyber universe.

Prime Focus completed three highly immersive CG-based sequences under the VFX supervision of Chris Harvey, DFX supervision of Jon Cowley and VFX producer Randal Shore. The team completed nearly 13 minutes of stereoscopic work that featured grand, sweeping vistas of the digital grid landscape, detailed matte paintings from within TRON city and a plummeting out-of-control elevator sequence.

Once clear of the city, Sam, Flynn and Quorra travel across the Grid aboard an updated version of the Solar Sailer – an enormous yet elegant tanker-like ship. The ship carries the three characters effortlessly through an all-CG world; over giant canyons and under starry skies. Teams in both Los Angeles and Vancouver crafted the look and details of the Solar Sailer and generated all the incredible environments.

According to Cowley: "Working with Eric Barba at Digital Domain, our goal was to help Joe [Kosinski] visually realize this grand world he had crafted while pushing the boundaries and expanse of what is possible in 3D."

Prime Focus has an extensive history working on stereoscopic projects and continues to be an industry leader in developing new stereo VFX and conversion technologies. This project paired the talent at Prime Focus with Academy Award®-winning VFX Supervisor Eric Barba and his team at the lead facility, Digital Domain.

Harvey and Cowley oversaw a team of more than 60 artists in the Vancouver and Los Angeles offices over the course of eight months of production. The team’s software toolkit included Maya, V-Ray, Nuke and Terragen.

About Prime Focus
Prime Focus is a global Visual Entertainment Services group that provides creative and technical services to the film, broadcast, commercials, internet and media industries.

The group offers a genuine end-to-end solution from pre-production to final delivery – including previsualization, equipment hire, visual effects, video and audio post-production, digital intermediate, digital asset management and distribution.

Prime Focus employs more than 2,250 people with state-of-the-art facilities throughout key markets of North America, the UK and India. Using its ‘worldsourcing’ business model, Prime Focus provides a network that combines global cost advantages, resources and talent pool with strong relationships and a deep understanding of the local markets.

Prime Focus is a public stock company with shares traded in the Mumbai and National Stock exchanges in India (Symbol – PRIMEFOCUS). Prime Focus also owns and operates Prime Focus London plc (Symbol – PFO), which is publicly traded in the LSE’s AIM market. For more information, please visit www.primefocusworld.com.

About TRON: Legacy
Walt Disney Pictures’ TRON: Legacyis a 3D action-packed adventure set in a digital world unlike anything captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), a rebellious 27-year-old, is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn (Oscar® and Golden Globe® winner Jeff Bridges), a man once known as the world’s leading video-game developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the abandoned Flynn’s Arcade—that could have only come from his father—he finds himself pulled into a world where Kevin has been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior Quorra (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a visually stunning universe—created by Kevin himself—which has become far more advanced with never-before-imagined vehicles, weapons and landscapes, and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to prevent their escape.

TRON: Legacy is directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver and Steven Lisberger. The story is by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and Brian Klugman & Lee Sternthal, and the screenplay is by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, based on characters created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird.Presented in Disney Digital 3D™, RealD 3D and IMAX® 3D and scored by Grammy Award®–winning electronic music duo Daft Punk, TRON: Legacy hit theaters on December 17, 2010.

-ends-

Motion Designer/ AE Animator

Ingenuity Engine (http://www.ievfx.com) is looking for a freelance motion graphics designer/animator to work on site at our Hollywood, CA Studio. Position is available immediately and will go until February 15th. Please inquire at jobs@ievfx.com

depth layer in Nuke

Hello, I’m dealing with a depth layer exported from XSI into Nuke.
So everything is normalized with values between 0 and 1.

I am trying to get the z value of the initial points, I have the settings for the camera in XSI something like:

fov :53.638
near plane 0.1
far plane 322768

does that mean that [0, 322768] got linearly mapped to [0.1]?

so to restore the initial z, i just multiply back by 322768 ?
would that make sense?

I would really appreacite any suggestion that you might have,

thanks a lot!

Fake “raytraced” shadow in NUKE

Simple script to produce an interactive but fake "raytraced" shadow reprojecting depth channel calculated from light’s pov.

Attached Thumbnails

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Attached Files
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File Type: nk Shadow.nk (8.9 KB)

My blog about positives in VFX

Hey all,
I decided that in 2011 we need to get back to the positivity of VFX work. I decided that I would start that by doing my own blog of things that I find make me more productive, etc. I also will be pushing ideas to make yourself more effective and generally moving in a forward direction without negative cruft. I respect the other blogs about the VFX business but I feel we can do more with a good mindset.

Feel free to check it out :

http://zenvfx.net/

Hopefully everyone’s 2011 is looking great!

Rob

CG Compositing Reel

Here is montage of CG Composited shots Done at double X Studios, INDIA.

http://www.vimeo.com/17702720

Tom Whalen: Strong Stuff

Tom Whalen is a Royersford, Pennsylvania based designer/illustrator has an affinity for retro modern illustration as well as fan art. Plenty of great work to see.