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‘Avatar’ Veteran VFX Producer Joins Legend3D Team

Monday, 19 July 2010 22:52 theFXGuy

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Legend3D, the leading innovator in 2D-to-3D motion picture conversion technology, today announced the addition of Toni Pace Carstensen to the Legend3D team as Senior Visual Effects (VFX) Producer. In this role, Pace will be responsible for creating synergistic relationships between Legend3D and its clients. According to Pace, “The goal is to collaborate with our clients to create seamless and immersive entertainment experiences for consumers across all platforms.”

“Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program”

“Toni has significant experience producing visual effects for feature films, television and commercials and we’re excited to have a veteran of her caliber join our growing team,” said Dr. Barry Sandrew, founder, president and COO of Legend3D. “With the addition of Toni, Legend3D continues to leverage its proprietary technologies to produce the highest quality conversion work available. We will continue to work in close collaboration with filmmakers throughout the storytelling process to ensure that every 3D product deepens audiences’ connections.”

Prior to joining Legend3D, Pace worked on numerous high-profile projects, most recently James Cameron’s Avatar, during which she managed the turnover of production shots to WETA Digital for final animation and developed procedures for show management. Additionally, she has worked on 3D stereo projects such as Star Trek Voyager: Borg Encounter, and Panasonic’s Blue Man Group TV promo. Other recent high-profile projects include Mission: SPACE at Disney World’s EPCOT and re-mastering of the visual effects for the original Star Trek series.

Throughout her career, Pace has been highly involved in industry associations including the Producers Guild of America, and is a founding and current member of the Visual Effects Society Board of Directors. Pace has received numerous accolades including a 2008 Visual Effects Society Award nomination in the “Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program” category for her work on Pushing Daisies.

For more information about Legend3D, please visit www.Legend3D.com. For press inquiries, contact Erica McCarthy at 619-234-0345.

About Legend3D

Legend3D is a division of Legend Films, Inc., a dynamic digital media and visual effects company. Legend3D utilizes patented 2D-to-3D image conversion technologies to enhance filmmakers’ storytelling by creating the highest quality dimensional conversions possible. Legend3D’s conversion artists are helping filmmakers connect with audiences worldwide and are rapidly setting the industry standard for 2D-to-3D conversion. Legend3D has completed 3D conversions for Warner Brothers, Sony, Hewlett Packard, M&M Mars, New Balance, the Michael Jackson Tour, MTV, and Disney. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Barry Sandrew, Legend Films is headquartered in San Diego and operates facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles and Panta, India. For more information, visit www.Legend3D.com.

Inside Inception

Monday, 19 July 2010 22:17 theFXGuy

'Inception' Paris Cafe Scene: Cinematographer Reveals All

via MTV.com

The Paris café scene where Leo and Ellen Page stroll the streets as the city folds in on them. Created by employing a serious combination of visual and practical effects.

"That particular material is where we really dive into the surreal and things go a little wacko," Pfister explained. "In this case, Chris really wanted to ramp up the visual effects and do something that would have people sit back and go, 'Wow, what the f--- is going on?' "

Mission accomplished. DiCaprio and Page sit at a café, which is actually a figment of Page's dream. As they talk, huge, fireless explosions pop all around them in slow motion. Then, as the pair begins to walk, Page starts to experiment with the elastic physical world of her dream. She raises up entire streets — buildings, people, cars and all — until everything folds up into a fantastical cube of Parisian life. It is nothing short of staggering.

To generate those explosions, the film's special-effects supervisor, Chris Corbould, rigged up a series of air cannons that launched debris into the air. To achieve the right slow-motion effect, Pfister made use of a specialized camera.

"We shot it with super-high-speed Photo-Sonics cameras to get that material floating in the air," Pfister said of equipment that can capture 1,500 frames a second, in contrast to regular film's 24 frames a second. The extra frames allowed the filmmakers to slow the frame rate to a virtual crawl.

Then in came Paul Franklin, the film's visual-effects supervisor, who employed computer graphics to extend the debris and create more of a floating effect. Franklin and his team also hit the city streets with still cameras to record what would become the basis for the folding effects' photo-realistic feel. The folding streets were built entirely through CGI, a process so complex that the effort was begun a full eight months before the movie's release.

"The whole thing had a very naturalistic style to the photography, to the lighting, to the camera movement, so that it would feel very real and very grounded," Pfister said. "And on top of all that, we pulled off a very intricate bit of effects trickery."

Predators

Sunday, 11 July 2010 18:03 theFXguy

It's great to see so many were employed through the troubled times. Let's hope more films need more FX people.

"A team of sixty-two people at KNB - designers, artists, sculptors, mold-makers, and painters - worked for approximately 13 weeks at their 25,000 square foot facility in Los Angeles.

"Every single one of those people were 100% dedicated to bringing the best possible creatures to life," states Nicotero. "Shannon Shea, who was basically my lieutenant on this movie, had worked at Stan Winston’s company on the original ‘Predator,’ so he was really invested in this project." (Shea and property master Tommy 'Tom' Tomlinson were the two 'legacy' crew members, who had also worked on the original film in 1987.) "

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Monday, 31 May 2010 04:38 theFXguy

More zBrush Galleries

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We are blown away by all of you who dabble in zBrush! If you have some work you'd like to share with us here, please send us a message - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !

Oh Yeah, and Rick Baker is making magic there too...

GenArts Announces Availability of Sapphire 5 for After Effects

Monday, 31 May 2010 04:17 theFXguy

SOURCE: GenArts, Inc.

May 27, 2010 09:00 ET

GenArts Announces Availability of Sapphire 5 for After Effects

Industry-Standard Visual Effects Suite Introduces New Levels of Performance and Creativity and CS5 Compatibility at a Special Upgrade Price

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - May 27, 2010) - GenArts, Inc., the premier provider of specialized visual effects software for the film, television and video industries, announced today the immediate availability of GenArts Sapphire™ 5 for Adobe After Effects. Unveiled in April at NAB 2010, Sapphire 5 raises the bar in visual effects by coupling the creativity, quality and reliability Sapphire is known for with GPU-optimized performance, a range of new effects and transitions, and full CS5 compatibility.

GenArts Sapphire has gained a following among the world's best visual effects artists as the industry-standard plug-in suite. Used in countless films, television broadcasts and commercials, Sapphire is the essential tool in the professional artist's toolbox. Now, After Effects artists may take advantage of these key additional benefits:

Enhanced productivity -- Sapphire 5 provides GPU acceleration for lightning-fast render speeds and full interactivity at HD resolutions.
Greater creativity -- Sapphire 5 delivers full floating point support for amazing image quality and maximum dynamic range to enable a level of creativity that sets your work apart from your competitor's. It also offers many new transitions and effects such as TVDamage and Technicolor.
CS5 compatibility -- Sapphire 5 is 64-bit and fully supports Adobe's new CS5 release.
All at a special upgrade price (50% of the regular price) designed to make the transition to CS5 as seamless as possible.

"While visual effects are certainly essential in today's film and television industries, artists are constantly challenged to create fresh, compelling content that sets them apart from their competitors -- on budget and on time," said Steve Bannerman, CMO, GenArts. "With Sapphire 5 in their arsenal, After Effects artists will be able to push the limits of their creativity, generating one-of-a-kind looks without sacrificing deadlines."

Pricing and Availability
GenArts Sapphire 5 for Adobe After Effects is now available for both Windows and Mac. (Sapphire 5 AE for the Mac will be fully GPU accelerated at a later date and will be available to Sapphire 5 AE Mac customers as a free update, when available.) Floating licenses are priced at $2,499; node-locked licenses are available for $1,699. Users may upgrade from either Sapphire version 1 or 2 to Sapphire 5 for the special price of only $299, and monthly rental licenses are priced at $169. Support for Sapphire version 1 for After Effects will end effective August 31, 2010.

Since the company's founding in 1996, GenArts software has been utilized in thousands of films, television broadcasts and commercials, including more than 20 Oscar-nominated pieces such as Titanic; I, Robot; Armageddon; Star Wars Episode I, II and III; The Matrix trilogy; The Lord of the Rings trilogy; Pearl Harbor; Spider Man; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Transformers; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Avatar and many more.

About GenArts
GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider of specialized digital visual effects software for the film, broadcast and video industries. As visual effects have become essential to the art of storytelling, GenArts' tools have emerged as the standard for creating breathtaking visual effects in thousands of feature films and television shows, and more than 5,000 commercials and music videos. The explosion of online and corporate video creation has led to the widespread adoption of GenArts software by a range of S&P 500 companies, leading museums, and educational institutions for communications, marketing and learning applications. GenArts' software enjoys the unique distinction of having been a key component of an Oscar-nominated film for the past 13 consecutive years.

The GenArts Sapphire™, Monsters™, Raptors™, Tinder™ and particleIllusion™ portfolio equips digital artists with a collection of state-of-the-art visual effects such as glows, light rays, lens flares, film, fire, fluid and particles to create the continually innovative looks that bring the entertainment industry's dazzling stories and broadcasts to life. GenArts' tools seamlessly integrate as software plug-ins into all leading editing and compositing systems. GenArts was founded in 1996 in Cambridge, Mass. www.genarts.com.

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thefxspace.com

‘Avatar’ Veteran VFX Producer Joins Legend3D Team

Inside Inception

'Inception' Paris Cafe Scene: Cinematographer Reveals All

Predators

It's great to see so many were employed through the troubled times. Let's hope more films need more FX people.

zbrushcentral gallery

More zBrush Galleries

GenArts Announces Availability of Sapphire 5 for After Effects

GenArts Announces Availability of Sapphire 5 for After Effects

Industry-Standard Visual Effects Suite Introduces New Levels of Performance and Creativity and CS5 Compatibility at a Special Upgrade Price

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