Houdini FX Artist

FUEL VFX specialises in visual effects for feature films, television and commercials for both local and international clients.
We are currently looking for an experienced Houdini FX Artist to be available to start on Film work immediately; for a mid – long term contract.

To be considered for this role you will need:

* Extensive Houdini Master experience (with min 3 years exp), with emphasis on design and distribution of Digital Assets (otls) for complex particle and fluid effects.
* Creating realistic 3D simulations with particular emphasis on particles and fluids;
* Experience in 3D lighting and surfacing of generated elements;
* Strong Mel scripting and/or python knowledge
* A detailed understanding of the visual effects process and pipeline for feature films using Maya;
* Solid ability to write expressions
* Artistic and technical ability to meet briefs and deadlines;
* Ability to work within a strong team environment and take direction from the VFX and CG Supervisors.

Please forward your resume application to: recruitment@fuelvfx.com and put “HOUDINI” in the subject line.

Fuel VFX – 75 King St, Newtown NSW – AUSTRALIA 2042 | www.fuelvfx.com

The External World

This animated short film by David O’Reilly is a roller coaster ride of poignant moments, trippy scenes, and humorous characters. All revolving around a boy learning to play the piano. Video embed below.

Illuminate Hollywood 3D Picks Qube! New 2D to 3D conversion studio ramps up pipeline

Los Angeles, CA – February 10, 2010 – PipelineFX, makers of Qube!™ – the leading render farm management software for digital media creation announced today that Los Angeles-based Illuminate Hollywood 3D has picked Qube! to manage their stereo conversion render pipeline.

Illuminate Hollywood 3D is a wholly owned company of Illuminate Hollywood, the leader in innovative technology services for film, television and advertising production and is focused on helping clients convert their productions to 3D. Illuminate 3D has successfully developed "front to back" digital 3D solutions for stereoscopic productions. Illuminate 3D offers 2D to 3D conversion, stereo3D finishing, full post production for stereoscopic titles, stereoscopic CGI effects, titles and motion graphics, 3D CGI modeling and animation, matte painting, motion tracking, rotoscoping and image stabilization services.

"When launching the new division of Illuminate Hollywood we wanted to hit the ground running with applications that work out of the box but are also flexible enough to integrate with our custom software," said Ron Sabatino, VP Head of Production at Illuminate Hollywood 3D.

Illuminate Hollywood 3D was setting up a 2D to 3D conversion facility with a known toolset of applications including Nuke, Maya and Fusion. When looking for a render management solution the main challenge was to find a system that had a mature and flexible python api.

“I have worked with several other commercially available render managers and wanted a solution that was robust enough to quickly fulfill our current pipeline needs,” said Chris Reid, Lead Pipeline Developer at Illuminate Hollywood 3D. “I needed something that could grow and change as we grow and change, our choice had to seamlessly integrate with our in-house libraries and give the ability to create our own jobtypes and custom submissions as necessary. From experience I wanted something database driven and completely accessible by command line.“

“Being a pipeline developer, you know that you are always going to have to grow your tool set,” continued Reid. “So flexibility and the API were the most important things for me, but we also wanted a render manager that had a GUI interface that was usable by our artists. Something simple but robust enough for them to get the information they need easily. Qube! had all of those things right out of the box."

"Support from PipelineFX has been amazing, really the best ever for me," added Reid. "Responses to cases have been almost instantaneous. I’ll just throw something out there if I can’t find it quickly in the docs and someone will send me a couple lines of command line or something that I need right away. I’d definitely say PipelineFX support is top notch."

"Stereo work is taking the industry by storm and we are proud to be the render management platform of choice for the leaders in 2D/3D conversion," said Richard Lewis, CEO of PipelineFX. "Illuminate Hollywood 3D is building a flexible, high-performance pipeline and we are excited to be working with them as they grow their stereo conversion business."

About Qube!:

Qube! is a robust and highly scalable render management solution that can be quickly integrated into any production workflow, and is backed by world-class technical support. Qube! can be easily tailored to any digital media pipeline requirements and works out of the box with all leading content creation applications including Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk Maya®, Autodesk XSI®, NUKE™, Shake®, Adobe® After Effects®, Pixar’s RenderMan®, DNA Research’s 3delight, Eyeon® Digital Fusion™ and many more. Qube! runs on Windows®, Linux®, and Mac OS®X operating systems.

About PipelineFX:

As the leading provider of render farm management solutions for digital content creation, PipelineFX helps organizations reduce the burden of rendering in computer graphics work. Nearly 500 customers worldwide include BaseFX, BBC, Digital Domain, Electronic Arts, Fisher Price, General Motors, Herman Miller, L.A. Film School, Laika Studios, LMU, Lockheed Martin, Method Studios, MTV, NBC, NHK, Pratt University, Procter & Gamble, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc., Reel FX, Smoke & Mirrors, South Park Studios, Starz Animation, Technicolor and Telemundo. PipelineFX is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Austin and Las Vegas.

For more information, please contact Richard Lewis, CEO of PipelineFX: richard@pipelinefx.com, Phone: 808-685-7823, 1000 Bishop Street, Suite 509, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96813, USA.

Edit the axis on an obj?

Is there an easy way to edit the 3D access point of an obj? Like in Maya, you just hit the insert key, and can move it around and even snap it to a point.

Snapping seems to be the closest thing I can find in the manual (if I’m understanding it correctly), but I’m having trouble with it.

The ideal situation is to scale an object with the axis on a point generated with the nukeX camera track. That way I don’t have to keep moving my object every time I scale it.

Best Animated Television Commercial

Jamie Caliri nabbed the award for Best Animated Telev. Commercial at the 38th Annual Annie Awards for the Children\’s Medical Cent…

Rhythm & Hues Studio – Texture Supervisor

Two time Academy Award winner for Achievement in Visual Effects and three time recipient of the Scientific and Technical Achievement award, Rhythm & Hues is uniquely poised for the demands of the highly competitive visual effects and character animation industry.

At the heart of Rhythm & Hues’ success is its more than 20 year commitment to creating quality entertainment in a quality work environment.

A few current and upcoming feature projects include amongst others, "Hop", "X-Men: First Class" and "Life of Pi".


POSITION: TEXTURE SUPERVISOR

DEPARTMENT: Lighting

Description:

Responsible for the continual improvement of our texture painting workflow, tools and staff. Will be involved in the day-to-day Texture Department operations as well as identifying and recommending innovative, cutting edge techniques and processes. This person would texture paint on projects as needed. This position reports to the Lighting Department manager

Responsibilities:

· Maintain excellent communication with the Texture Department with focus on staff development and education.
· Collaborate with the Lighting and Modeling Departments to identify standards for the texture workflow.
· Work with Pipeline Department to implement innovative and efficient texture workflow and processes.
· Establish and maintain Department standards.
· Maintain high quality of work produced by Department.
· Organize and manage repository of Texture Department textures and data.
· Conduct R&D and evaluate new software and hardware technologies.
· Oversee creation of Texture Department related documentation.
· Direct and mentor Department Texture Painters.
· Continuous evaluation of software and hardware advances.
· Assist with education and training of new Texture Painters.
· Evaluate potential new texture artists (interviews/reel reviews).

Required Skills/Experience :

· 5 yrs of texture painting experience on feature films.
· Experience in large studio environments.
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
· Extremely proficient with commercial 2D and 3D paint packages.
· Familiarity with modeling and proper uvs.
· Familiarity with digital matte projection techniques and photogrammetry.
· Familiarity with expanded bit-depth images.
· Familiarity with film color management issues.
· Familiarity with 3D lighting.
· Comfortable in windows and unix environments.

Candidates should submit their cover letter, resume and website to recruitment@rhythm.com. Please reference the title of the position in your subject line.
Please note that due to the large amount of submissions, we are unable to respond to your submission. If there is an interest, we will contact you directly.

Vision Game Engine Goes Mobile

Trinigy to extend its modular, cross-platform Vision Game Engine to developers of mobile, handheld, and browser-based games

Eningen, Germany – Feb 10, 2010Trinigy, an industry leading 3D game engine provider with offices in Germany, Austin, TX and Seoul, Korea, today announced that it has launched a new corporate strategy called “Vision on the Go” to support the development of games that can be played on the go. The new strategy will drive Trinigy’s development of mobile- and handheld-specific versions of its Vision Game Engine, as well as advance its WebVision technology for browser-based gaming. Trinigy will officially put the strategy into action at GDC 2011, where it will publicly display browser-based games built with WebVision, as well as privately demonstrate prototypes of games built for iOS and another soon-to-be-announced handheld gaming device.

Engineered for modularity and cross-platform performance, the Vision Engine’s mature technology has already been used to create graphically immersive 3D games on most major gaming platforms, including Windows® (DX9-11), Xbox360®, PlayStation®3, Nintendo Wii™, XBLA™, PSN™ and WiiWare™.
The new strategy – which unofficially began with the launch of Trinigy’s WebVision technology for browser-based game development last summer – now extends that same mature, flexible technology to developers working on games for smartphones, tablets and handheld devices. Development has already begun on an iOS version of the Vision Game Engine, as well as a version that supports a soon-to-be-announced handheld device.

“We’ve always believed that technology should enhance, not hinder, creativity in game making, which is why we’ve built such a modular, cross-platform technology,” said Felix Roeken, general manager at Trinigy. “Our mobile strategy is designed to offer developers of browser-based, mobile and handheld games the same performance, the same flexibility – the same limitless freedom – our technology and support provide to PC game and console game developers.”

To check out Trinigy’s WebVision, including games created with the technology, stop by the Trinigy booth at GDC (booth 1810). To schedule a private demonstration of the Vision Game Engine for mobile and handheld devices at GDC 2011, or to find out more information, contact sales@trinigy.net.

About Trinigy
Based in Germany, Austin, TX and Seoul, Korea, Trinigy is a privately owned company committed to providing groundbreaking game engine technology and first-class support to video game and serious game development studios across the globe. Engineered to provide more creative and technical freedom, the company’s Vision Engine is currently in use in more than 150 commercial game productions by well-known companies such as Ubisoft, Take 2, Dreamcatcher, NeoWiz, Spellbound, TimeGate Studios, Robot Entertainment, Nitro Games and more.

The Vision Engine has proven its versatility in a multitude of game genres, including real-time strategy, racing, first-person shooters, role-playing games and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. It is available and optimized for performance on Windows®(DX9, DX10, DX11), Xbox360®, PLAYSTATION®3, Nintendo Wii™, XBLA™, PSN™, WiiWare™, Windows-based browsers, and now, mobile devices.

For more information about Trinigy, its Vision Engine or its technology partners, please visit: www.trinigy.net.
© 2011 by Trinigy and its affiliates. “Trinigy” is a registered trademark. All other products, company names, and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Phython keyer

Does anybody know what python commands I need to be able to read in an image and perform an operation on each pixel. say I have an image then want this script to go through each pixel and if it has a r (or g or b) value greater than 0.5 (for example) then it would assign that pixel as having an alpha value of 1 or 0

I’m experimenting with creating a basic python based keyer but am not fluent enough in python just yet to figure out how to do this…

any help would be super helpful 😀

Production Systems Developer @ Double Negative

Double Negative is a full-service VFX facility capable of handling projects from initial design through on-set supervision and production to post-production. All key post-production technologies are available in-house to allow for maximum flexibility. Our R&D Department is constantly developing groundbreaking software to ensure we remain at the cutting edge of global VFX.

We are currently in production on John Carter Of Mars, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Paul, Captain America: The First Avenger and Attack The Block.

* Job Title: Production Systems Developer
* Department: Production
* Reports To: Resource Production Manager

Key Purpose of the Job

Double Negative is one of the largest visual effects companies in the world specializing in live action feature film such as The Bourne Identity trilogy, Quantum of Solace and The Dark Night and many others. The Company’s rapid growth over the past 11 years has led to an opportunity for us to implement new systems and develop new tools internally.

Needs To Do

* Your key role will be to work within our scheduling and database systems creating tools to further automate the production pipeline. You will work on developing the overall reporting capability of our systems to make information more readily accessible and to improve the flow of information between disparate departments.

Needs To Know

* VBA/MS Project
* MySQL
* FileMaker Pro
* MS Project
* Experience of Visual Effects Industry would be an advantage but is not essential

Needs To Be

* Pro-active
* Passionate about Film
* Technically adept
* Team oriented
* Adaptable
* Able to take direction

This is a fantastic opportunity for a junior or mid level developer with a passion for film. You will be involved in some of the most exciting film projects within the industry and take a direct role in shaping how we move forward as a leading VFX house.

If you are interested please apply online at http://www.dneg.com/jobs

We look forward to hearing from you!

Julien Vallée for MTV

Julien Vallée goes pink with his opening sequence for MTV Hits.