Feb 08

cmiVFX Releases New Simulating Creatures in Endorphin Training Video

Posted in: The Pad

cmiVFX Releases New Simulating Creatures in Endorphin Training Video
High Definition Training Videos for the Visual Effects Industry

Princeton, NJ (february 6, 2011) – cmiVFX launches its latest full feature training video on Natural Motion’s "Endorphin", premiere character simulation and artificial intelligence package entitled "Simulating Creatures In Endorphin". This video covers topics in creating custom creatures ( horse and human in this course ) using all features of Endorphin to simulate realistic behavior and movement for any kind of shot. The learning structure used in this video, gears all users up to be able to follow its contents from start to beginning. This is one of the few videos made that allow a novice or experienced Endorphin user the ability to learn on the same level. The results produced by this video are truly superb, and near impossible to achieve any other way. With this revolutionary blend of technology, every user can have the ability to understand the roots and principles of constructing default characters so you can change its shape into a custom creature and manipulate its behavior. At this same time, you will learn how to seamlessly transfer (without any plug-ins or interoperability software) between Endorphin and your favorite 3D application (We use Autodesk Maya to demonstrate). When you’re finished with the video, you will have the opportunity to create very complicated movements for your custom creatures, in very difficult scenarios, such as impacts, falls, and anything else you can dream up.

In this course we will investigate all the little "problems" that could face us during this process of of creating our creature, so we can learn how to fix them or even prevent them from happening. (We show different techniques of solving production pipeline problems.)

Here at cmiVFX we maintain a current training library for the latest versions of popular software titles. When it comes to high end CG and VFX training, there is only once choice… cmiVFX!

Don’t forget about the cmiSubscription plan! Get one today. cmiVFX launched the most affordable subscription plan in Visual FX Training History for only $299 USD, and if you were a subscriber, this New Training Release would already be in your account. This video is also available a-la-cart in our brand new HTML5 player system.

Simulating Creatures In Endorphin (or Maya ) Training Video
(This video is awesome. Some things you just need to watch regardless what part of the industry you are in)

http://cmivfx.com/tutorials/view/279…s+in+Endorphin

Introduction To Endorphin – Discovering Endorphin’s Special Environment
In this video we will navigate through Endorphin’s special and simple layout to get comfortable with its tools and nodes, and we will set a simple environment ( room ) to define collision and mass objects which are the main materials for all fixed and moving objects and characters in Endorphin. We then set rules for interaction between them all.

Characters In Endorphin
In this section of the video, we will define various kinds of characters in Endorphin with its collection of preset characters and props. We will make a rock, a door ( in Maya to Endorphin ), then a horse prop character. We then introduce joint limits ( swing and twist ) tools, to define our character’s movement limits. Then we will create our first human simulation character so we can transfer its animation into Maya for the very first time.

Building Horse Simulation Character ( Our First Creature )
This is the longest chapter in the course. We will study our creature’s anatomy ( horse ) and compare it with human anatomy. We do this to understand the similarities between the two in order to ease the process of reshaping the default human simulation character’s skeleton into our horse character’s skeleton. This way, we can get all the benefits of the features and behaviors of the default simulation character into our creature character. We will then limit the joints’ twist and swing angles and reshape the mass and collision objects to suit the horse meshes shape. Then we will put the horse into action by applying some forces and behaviors to test its movement in Endorphin, and then Maya where we will discover some problems with the front knees. ( Setting us up for the next chapter. )

Fixing Problems
In this section of the video we’ll re-rig the horse’s front knees to improve and correct their bending direction, and to explore how easy these modifications can be in Endorphin. Then we will try applying some forces and behaviors against our horse to test in Endorphin, then in Maya for the last time before we save the new creature ( horse ) character in Endorphin’s library.

Animating The Horse
Up till now, we have been working on rigging and creating our creature and applying simple animation to test the rig. This chapter will try to push the rig harder into more breakable animation circumstances to test the joint’s limits and outer collision objects’ behaviors. This is done by applying a run cycle from Maya to our character and pushing the horse from its cycle with a force node while applying a jump behavior.

Finally, we will introduce the latest Endorphin release version and some of its new features where we can do the simulation character reshaping process in Maya and then use the Endorphin_Maya plugin. This allows us to work mostly in the Maya environment, while previously we preferred to do most of the work in Endorphin. This lesson is one invaluable way for us to show you how to work the way you want to work. (It wouldn’t be a cmiVFX video if we didn’t show you all possible scenarios!)

About The Author
Hashem Alshaer is a 34 years old Palestinian VFX supervisor. He studied mathematics and physics in college, then graduated from an electronics engineering university. With more than 10 years of experience in visual effects, he is currently teaching 3D visual effects at Arab European University’s Visual Communication department. (If you are located in that area, and are looking for live training, please email us at info@cmivfx.com) Hashem started as character specialist, then as technical director, and since 2006 has become a visual effects supervisor. He loves painting and sculpting but developing smart robots is his main passion. Currently, he is working at ArtWare corp as a vfx supervisor primarily for commercials and film effects. Recently he began work on the company’s first feature film.

He uses several softwares in his daily grind such as 3DS max, Maya, Houdini, Massive, several Tracking systems, Real flow, and Endorphin. Because of his company’s unique production line, he has acquire experience in motion control data management and tracking tools.

Project Contents
In the course files, to get very realistic horse movement such as Lord of the Rings or King Kong’s creatures, we included a high resolution skinned and rigged horse mesh, with skeleton mesh visualization, to ease the comparison with human skeleton in 3D environment. We also included a realistic run cycle for this horse so you can manipulate and change some of its timing and key frames to get your custom movement.

This video is available today at the cmiVFX Store: http://store.cmivfx.com/

About cmiVFX
cmiVFX is the leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. Register for FREE and receive hours of FREE content at the cmiVFX Video-on-Demand Player. ( http://store.cmivfx.com/login ) For additional information about cmiVFX, visit http://www.cmivfx.com. © 2010 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved.

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Feb 08

ventilate 2011-02-08 17:07:57

Posted in: event, illustration

For those lucky enough to be in Montreal: For the official release of the third edition of its guide, Colagene organizes the Get your illustration fix event. The Guide shows the work of all artists represented by the agency. For its realization, each artist has produced an original illustration about the Get your illustration fix […]

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Feb 08

Receptionist @ Double Negative

Posted in: The Job Lot
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: Receptionist
# Department: Front of House
# Location: London
# Reports To: Facilities Manager

Key Purpose of the Job

A professional Front of House role, managing all aspects of a busy reception area.

Needs To Do

* Meeting and greeting of clients
* Answering a busy switchboard
* Sorting and labeling post
* Booking couriers, taxis and bikes
* Managing meeting room booking system
* Distributing security cards
* Issuing tasks to Runners
* Updating telephone lists
* Managing petty cash
* Assisting Facilities Manager with day-to-day tasks
* Keeping reception area clean and tidy at all times
* Managing daily papers
* Fire warden duties
* Assisting HR with administrative duties
* Raising Purchasing Orders
* Responsibility for booking flights and hotels
* Making sure meeting rooms are left clean and tidy

Needs To Know

* Must have used a busy phone system before
* Knowledge of Excel, Word and Email
* Experience of using in house computer systems

If you are interested please send your CV and cover letter to jobs@dneg.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Feb 08

MPC & Sky Creative Look to the Skyline For Movie Channel

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/skychannel_thumb.jpg”]30167[/NEWS]MPC has joined forces with Sky Creative to create a stunning stereo campaign to promote their film channel. Directed by Esther Wallace and Nick Tarte and produced by Sharon Kersley, the spot travels through different genres, unveiling epic stereo landscapes.

‘It is about escapism (explain the directors).* This is our invitation to our audience to enter another world.* We wanted to create a 360 pan around massive, epic landscapes populated by movie iconography. The journey takes us through a range of emotions – in a similar way that a movie would do. It’s a peek into movie moments.’

MPC was involved from an early stage, developing the Directors’ vision with mood frames to create the right feel for each of the scenes. *The five main genres were represented by different landscapes; desert for western, space for sci fi, city for romantic comedy, country for period drama and ice for family. *

To unveil each of the genres, a 360 degree camera move was chosen, passing through the different landscapes. *MPC was responsible for creating fully CG environments and rebuilding live action shots, all in stereo.

‘This was a job that required very specific timings and planning from 3D previz – explains 3D Supervisor Duncan McWilliam – If we could prove all the permutations worked in a previz accurate to real world scale scenarios then we knew the shoot would work…..give or take! We spent plenty of time here checking and double-checking, it felt like a NASA project. So when we turned up on set and it all worked and cut together just right the sense of satisfaction was great.’

A stereo camera on a circular dolly track was used to capture the live action footage on each of the locations. *One of the main challenges was keeping the images sharp while moving the camera at a high speed. To achieve this, the footage was slowed to half the speed and later interlaced to avoid strobing.

Sourcing paired lenses and calibration after every transit was essential as the alignment had to be so accurate. McWilliam comments ‘If there’s once really big thing I’ve learned from the stereo VFX supervision, it’s make sure you take a LIDAR scan of every location. The old ways of running around measuring the set no longer cut it and to track stereo back at the post house is bloody tricky without know dimensions of nearly everything.’

2D Supervisor Matthew Unwin explains; ‘Tracking all the scenes in stereo with a 20 second shot plus transition duration was proving challenging.* Creative briefs were constantly being updated so the team settled to develop the matte paintings and assets for the cg scenes. Now with real plates we were able to update our previs edit and solve the transitional issues.

The scale of each scene was the same physically but the creative scale needed to be different. The brief was to have an epic scale but in scenes such as space-scape the scenes looked flat in stereo. An impressive epic painting in the distance was all very well but in stereo it required foreground elements. We had spaceships but added swirling motion trails and then a foreground canyon edge with interactive dust to solve the problem.’

Stereographer Chris Vincze explains; ‘As the stereographer on the project my job was to create a 3D stereoscopic environment that matched the directors’ vision, giving the landscapes an epic quality that matched the movie references. The challenge was to strike a balance between having enough depth in the scene to make the 3D interesting, while keeping the scale feeling right. I wanted it to feel like looking out of a window at a real landscape. The challenge was to maintain consistency of depth throughout five different landscapes which were shot in different locations and make it feel like one changing landscape, so I worked extensively with the previs team to set an interaxial distance (the distance between the two cameras) that would work over all the landscapes.’



During the shoot, Chris Vincze worked with the camera rig tech to ensure the minimal amount of rig alignment errors and make sure that everything in the scene fit into the ‘depth budget’ defined by our stereo camera set-up, so everything would be comfortable to watch in the final film.

After the shoot, the plates had to be corrected to balance out any remaining camera rig alignment errors, and any differences between the two lenses. They also had to be colour corrected to account for the difference caused by the mirrored 3d rig.

This process was done in the Foundry’s Ocula plug-in.

Keeping the right scale meant that almost everything was set behind the screen, so to enhance the 3d effect MPC worked with the directors and cg teams to add in additional foreground elements.

For example the light trails on the spaceships, dust clouds, butterflies and pigeons were all added in to balance the ‘depth budget’ and make the scene more interesting in 3D. This was especially important in scenes such as the spacescape where the buildings in the city were huge and distant, so you wouldn’t see any parallax difference or real depth in reality.

THE LANDSCAPES

The country landscape

The country scene was the first to be shot at the gardens of Blenheim Palace in England. Real conifers and bushes were placed to enhance the real transition and cast practical shadows over the picnicing family in a period drama scene. The landscape and lake was to be replaced.


Having found a city location which was to precede the country scene, the challenge was to find a New York street with specific criteria. Most of the dramatic locations have high towering buildings either side, which meant most of the action would be in shadow and not open to the countryside.

A location was found with 1 storey buildings to one side. The shot would need to be flipped with all signage corrected. MPC setup a 3d previz of the shot using google maps for reference. Once signed off the tech rec was done with precise stills and measurements which was integrated into the evolving edit. The team headed to New York with the limitations of height due to mayors office restrictions. A specific tilt angle had been set and this was now slightly compromised. The choreography of the street we had about an hour to shoot with the correct light due to flaring and loss of long shadows for the noisier romantic feel of the genre.


The City


The cityscape was a real challenge due to the height regulation issue which we knew would come back to haunt us. The transition to countryscape looked like the street was below the level of the lake so we needed to provide a solution. In Nuke, all the buildings were projected around the street and the first two transitional shot structures. We were able to cheat the perspective and lower the buildings then create a European cafe lakeside scene with jetty. The lake was actually raised slightly to blend at the correct level.

In mono this is all relatively straighforward but in stereo all had to be checked constantly. However, recreating the entire scene enabled the creatives to develop a city for signoff while we were setting up the transition. A real wall structure was replaced in cg and added foliage, shot in country lake location on bluescreen with the correct lighting helped soften the structure.


The Desert


The shoot team carried on to monument valley, where an intense wrangling of horses over a huge distance was shot.

The move of the camera on a dolly track had to be done twice. Once linear for the loop and in-between scenes and secondly for a slowdown transition where the same linear entrypoint would transition to a move which slowed to a stop with a ten second living hold. *This meant choreography of action was crucial. That said wrangling a group of horses with these instructions with riders was rather limited. *Interactive dust and horses travelling close to camera were added.

The depth budget was tricky in this case as the foreground riders were pushed in stereo but then the buttes (rear canyon formations), which were 1km away, were flat. Slight depth was forced but then we were travelling into space-scape where the depth wanted to be in the distance. The foregorund elements were added in space as previously mentioned but the transitions we realised in each case had to be constantly tweaked for depth consideration.


The Icescape


The icescape and planetscape both were evolving creatively up to the end which was possible as they were completey cg scenes. The difficulty was solving the scale issues from the cg world to real world items which needed to feature. Over the transitions picnic people, fairies over cracking ice, a galleon ship , penguins to horses. These all had to work together both in the loop and in their individual genre holding scenes for 10 seconds.

‘*We were embarking on a project that we knew would be challenging both creatively and technically. So it was extremely important to us that we found a post house that was prepared to be collaborative from the word go.

MPC helped us obtain our goal – to create our magical movie world!

Their knowledge & experience in the commercial & film world was crucial to help us provide an ident that has high production values. Every member of the team’s skills were utilised. It was testing. It was a pleasure working with MPC!’

Esther Wallace and Nick Tarte – Designer/Director



CREDITS

Client: Sky Network Marketing / Sky Movies
Agency: Sky Creative


Agency Producer: Sharon Kersley


Executive Creative Director: Clare McDonald


Creative Directors: Esther Wallace, Nick Tarte and Craig Marsh


DOP: Magnus Auggustenn

Post: MPC


Post Producers: Justin Brukman, Gen McMahn, Michael Stanish, Vittorio Giannini


VFX Supervisors: Matthew Unwin and Duncan McWilliam


VFX Team: Chrys Aldred, James Bailey, Jason Brown, Remi Cauzid, Maurizio De Angelis, Lacopo diLuigi, Michael Diprose, Dominic Edwards, Adam Elkins, Darren Fereday, Ahmed Garraph, Andreas Graichen, Michael Gregory, Liam Griffin, Alex Harding, Joey Harris, Richard Hopkins, Nicholas Illingworth, Spiros Kalomiris, Carsten Keller, Adam Leary, Duncan McWilliam, Jorge Montiel Meurer, Prashant Nair, Maru Ocantos, Vicky Osborn, Mikael Pettersson, Christophe Plouvier, Fiona Russell, Jim Spratling, Janak Thacker, Charlotte Tyson, Matthew Unwin, Fabio Zaveti



RELATED LINKS

www.moving-picture.com

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Feb 08

Nuke Artist

Posted in: The Job Lot
Momoco, a film design studio, is looking for a Nuke artist with experience in stereoscopic projects to work on a main title sequence for a very high profile feature film.

Must be London-based and available from March.

Applications should be sent to tom@momoco.co.uk

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Feb 08

VFX Editorial Assistant @ Double Negative

Posted in: The Job Lot
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: VFX Editorial Assistant
* Department: Editorial
* Location: London
* Reports To: Head of Editorial

Key Purpose of the Job

Scanning and printing of storyboards/ reference material
Collating digitizing and exporting of video reference material
Compiling material on CD, DVD or Tape for clients and internal use
Managing and maintaining DNegs internal reference library
Encoding and transcoding of material using Compressor and other tools
Prepare showreel material for Artists post show
Maintaining databases (Filemaker &in-house databases)

Needs To Know

* Needs to have some experience of film or video editing
* Be well versed in using Final Cut Pro, Compressor and DVD Studio Pro
* Possess basic Photoshop skills
* Have a base understanding of video codecs and file formats
* Good IT skills, networking

Needs To Be

* Self motivated individual
* Keen to learn new skills
* A good listener and communicator
* Strong multi-tasker
* Good eye for detail
* Strong team player

If you are interested please apply online at http://www.dneg.com/jobs /vfx_editorial_assistant_299.html

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Feb 08

EXR—> output pass / color problem

Posted in: NUKE from The Foundry
hi,
I have an exr in Nuke. A red Bottle.
I try to output each pass as TGA.
It’s ok for the output but on each pass the color is not the good one. It change to blue. For example the ambiant became blue.

What can I do to keep the original color of the bottle ?
thanks

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Feb 08

Nexus’ FX & Mat: Coke ~ Superbowl spot

Posted in: cg, cinematography, Design, directing, vfx

Nexus teamed with top VFX house Framestore to create this cinematic Superbowl spot for Coke. Outstanding landscapes, beautiful compositions and well-choreographed action scenes build towards a striking yet unexpected denouement. With an extremely fast turnaround to create a 60 second full CG spot, FX & Mat began by developing all character and environment designs […]

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Feb 08

PR Coordinator @ Double Negative

Posted in: The Job Lot
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.

We are looking for a talented PR Coordinator to join our team!

* Job Title: PR Coordinator
* Department: PR/Marketing
* Reports To: MD/CEO

Key Purpose of the Job

To actively promote Double Negative and create quality coverage that will showcase our projects and activities within the industry and within the media as a whole across Europe, the US and Asia Pacific.
As well as manage key relationships with our clients across the film industry and relevant media including online and print.

Needs To Do

* Manage all press relationships, requests and activity including print and online media
* Researching and writing in-depth press releases on Double Negative’s projects
* Manage approvals from client studios and production for written work and images
* Continually scouting for and contributing to new PR/Marketing opportunities including industry related articles and conferences, recruitment and other business related features
* Manage and continually update Double Negative Press Kit / PR material for easy access and use
* Continually update all company material and news online including Double Negative website, Twitter and Facebook
* Look for new ways to further enhance DNeg’s online presence
* Assist with presentations where necessary including copy and image approval, proofing and liaising with presenters
* Key period from September to February with ongoing work required throughout the year including:
* Organising all submissions for awards
* Gaining approvals for all shots and sequences
* Handling all press with regards to nominations, nominees, wins and recipients
* Company Brochure – regularly update with project profiles and activities
* Publish the monthly newsletter including articles from MD / CEO, project updates and related input
* Approval for show-reels
* Fielding ad-hoc PR and Marketing inquiries

Needs To Know

* A minimum of 2 years PR experience – preferably in film or related medium or 5 years
* Studio based production experience
* Understand the relationships between DNeg, our clients and the media
* An ability to write engaging and concise press releases
* An imaginative approach to PR events and practices

Needs To Be

* An expert in your field – either PR or studio based
* Well organised
* Enthusiastic
* An excellent communicator at all levels
* Passionate about film and VFX

Measures of Performance

* Continually raising of DNeg’s profile in all sectors of the media
* Introducing new and innovative PR and Marketing opportunities and tools

If you are interested please send your CV and cover letter to jobs@dneg.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Feb 08

Fx showreel

Posted in: Demo Reels!
my first fx showreel

http://vimeo.com/17627133

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