Digital "Tissue"

Weta Digital discusses the inner-workings of their Oscar-winning pipeline for digital characters simulation, "Tissue".
From core musculature to fat, fascia and skin, a robust and multi-threaded simulation toolset based on finite-element analysis technology.
Very brainy topic, not a lot of pretty images and sequences, but fascinating material nevertheless!
Via FXGuide.

Wavelet Turbulence Wins Oscar

Theodore Kim's seminal paper has been awarded a Tech Oscar by the AMPAS.

Abstract: We present a novel wavelet method for the simulation of fluids at high spatial resolution. 

The algorithm enables large- and small-scale detail to be edited separately, allowing high-resolution detail to be added as a post-processing step. Instead of solving the Navier-Stokes equations over a highly refined mesh, we use the wavelet decomposition of a low-resolution simulation to determine the location and energy characteristics of missing high-frequency components. 

We then synthesize these missing components using a novel incompressible turbulence function, and provide a method to maintain the temporal coherence of the resulting structures.

There is no linear system to solve, so the method parallelizes trivially and requires only a few auxiliary arrays. 

The method guarantees that the new frequencies will not interfere with existing frequencies, allowing animators to set up a low resolution simulation quickly and later add details without changing the overall fluid motion.

Interview on ZBrush Central

I was interviewed by Pixologic on behalf of Image Engine about the use of ZBrush for the work we did on Tarsem Singh's "Immortals".

You can check it out at:

http://www.pixologic.com/interview/image-engine/immortals/1/

Siggraph '12 - Papers Preview

A bunch of interesting research coming through this year...

Stitch Meshes - CG Woven Fabrics

A tool for modeling knitted clothing with yarn-level detail.

The simulations showcased in the video are mind-blowing, if you consider the complexity of the structures involved.

The work is paired with Steve Marschner's "Specular Reflection from Woven Cloth", also published this year.

To be presented at SIGGRAPH 2012.

The Art of Rendering

Great article from FXGuide.

A good attempt at being thorough about the current state of rendering technologies out on the market at large.

Specially informative sections on RenderMan and Arnold.

http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/

Working "for free"...

Reading through this article at VFX Soldier today:

"New horizontal expansion includes government-funded Bachelors and Masters programs wherein students pay Digital Domain to work for Digital Domain. (...)

So, if 30% of our labor can be free, actually paying tuition, but by your Junior and Senior year at the college, you’re working on real firms (films), as part of the professional workflow, and you graduate with a resume that has five major films, your name in the credits, and more than just an intership level of experience, then that’s the perfect kind of trade off."

While some may think this makes sense, I strongly beg to differ.

Understand this: I do not know of any other industry whose educational foundation is based on students paying to work "for free" for a related profit-making business.

The implications of that ripple through the ranks of candidates and employees alike. Imagine, from a strictly business point of view, the validated access to labor that (albeit less skilled) is absolutely FREE.

In essence, you are creating a grey moral zone where "labor that is profited from does not necessarily need to be compensated".

While, the "benefits" offered to entry-level candidates dying for a break into the industry may be appealing to them, think of what that means to the skilled, experienced workforce that's come before!

For the students, it may "make sense", but they cannot see further ahead where that decision will take the very industry they want to live from.

I find the argument that this approach is necessary to "protect" the jobs that would be lost to cheap labor markets like China and India quite disturbing. Yes, by "market rules", those jobs will go anyway because of the economical inequalities that undermine the illusion of a truly "globalized world".

It supports the sad philosophy of "averaging for the lowest common denominator", which is (IMHO) the worst thing that can happen for any industry.

Morally dubious? Well, it depends on your point of view right?

As with a lot of other things in this industry that has become so much of a "morally grey zone"...

For DD, it's a lucrative scheme of justifying cheap (free) labor, with the added bonus that once the worker rises to a skill rank higher that "junior", "apprentice" or "student"; they can be automatically dismissed before DD needs to start paying them as employees. And so, the cycle goes on. Blessed by "Wall Street morals".

It just strikes me as another cause for concern. This industry has transformed itself in its VERY short life span. Remember people: most of our jobs DID NOT EXIST back in the late 80's, early 90's!

Seeing these tendencies of averaging talent, skill, experience and professionalism (KEY ingredients for this industry) by the lowest common denominator possible, so the top of the food chain can pocket a few extra greedy dollars, makes me concerned about the place VFX artists will find themselves in another 20 years - considering how fast things changed in the last 20.

Just my two very sad cents.

"PROMETHEUS" - Bring it ON!!

The anticipation buildup for this movie is unlike anything I've seen in the past two years...

Ridley Scott seems to still have some magic at his fingertips, and this latest trailer for "Prometheus" is nothing shorter than EPIC.

If this movie doesn't open up to some serious millions in the box office, I don't know what else can draw in audiences anymore!

To be honest, I think they are beginning to show WAY more than I'd want to see before hitting the theater... but I guess there's a good measure of  "studio marketing machine" involved in that.

In any case, there you have it! Now tell me how on Earth would you not want to go see this movie?! 

Gotta LOVE raytracing!

Evan Wallace is a WebGL wizard.

Playing with the latest in interactive CGI tech, he gives you a refreshing look at the current state of CG technology, married to Web tech and faster graphics processing.

His work can bee seen on his website, and some great "toys" are available for you to play with directly on your browser - like the interactive path-tracing Cornell box.

Gone are the days when people would look funny at you when you said "let's raytrace EVERYTHING!"  ;D

Raiding the Lost Ark

Jamie Benning has made 3 ‘filmumentaries,’ as he calls them, about the original Star Wars trilogy. His efforts collate interviews and rare behind the scenes footage and photos in what are essentially the most detailed commentary tracks a fan could hope for.

Benning followed his Star Wars docs with Raiding the Lost Ark, which tracks the creation of the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It’s a must-see for any Raiders or Steven Spielberg fan. No matter how much a viewer knows about the making of Raiders, I’d be very surprised if there was nothing here that is new, as Benning has incorporated everything from classic interviews to the minutia of little-seen production reports.

StudioDaily on "Immortals"

More on Image Engine's work on "Immortals".

This time, an article from StudioDaily.

Image Engine Immortals

FX Guide talks to Image Engine about the work on Immortals. Mike chats to vfx supervisor Simon Hughes and Executive Producer Shawn Walsh about the film, which was shot in Montreal.

Direct link HERE.

Katana is out.

The Foundry has finally released the first version on their website and announced ILM has already purchased a site license.

Katana was developed at Sony Imageworks and has been their core lighting and look development platform for a fair number of big productions.

 Paired with either Arnold or PRman, Katana is reportedly a tremendous performance boost for artists lighting and shading 3D assets and environments.

Katana is Linux-only at this point, and price is undisclosed at The Foundry's website. Trust me, this in not software for the "shallow-pocketed" and "faint-of-pipeline".  This is a tool for studios with solid Linux pipelines and cash-fluent production revenues...

For more details, check out Katana's website.

Colour Bleed

Fantastic short by Peter Szewczyk.
Watch from the BBC's FilmNetwork.

Image Engine talks "The Thing"

Watch FX Guide's podcast as they talk to Image Engine about the creature and environment visual effects work in director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s The Thing.

Jesper Kjolsrud, our VFX Supervisor for the show and Steve Garrad, VFX Executive Producer, talk about the challenges and accomplishments of working on this project.

Check it out at FX Guide's website HERE.

Immortals Trailer

A new trailer is available for "Immortals", Tarsem Singh's vision of the Greek myth of Theseus and the Titans.
I was senior digital artist on this project for a good chunk of 2010 and early 2011.
"Immortals" will be in theaters November 11, 2011.
Link HERE.

VFX Bill of Rights

In response to the current production environment, the VES offers this visual effects Bill of Rights, and a dedication to work with the entertainment industry at large to transform the visual effects industry into a model that is mutually sustainable for artists and practitioners, facilities and studios.

Head over to the VES website for the complete text.

"District 9" - Lighting Reel

In lieu of a full demo reel with shots from most of my work for the past 3 to 4 years, I have included a lighting reel with the shots I worked on for "District 9".

Sorry, it's the only edited reel I have at this point. But I am working hard to finalize a proper demo within the next couple of months!

You can hop straight to the D9 Reel page HERE.

Best 2011 Electron Pics

FEI, a company from Oregon that makes electron microscopes, sponsors a contest every year to find the best electron microscope images.
There's a whole world out there that we're incapable of seeing without the aid of very complicated an expensive electronics. On the large scale, we're talking about looking at the universe through telescopes, but it works the other way, too, using things like electron microscopes to explore the inherent beauty of the very, very small.
The images can be seen on FEI's website or available in desktop wallpaper-sized versions on Flickr here.
Also, do not miss their Nanoscale Bug Image Gallery showing some extreme close-ups of common bugs - GREAT reference material!

Autodesk Photofly

Autodesk is offering free access to Project Photofly.
Project Photofly 2.0, which is currently available via Autodesk’s R&D site, Autodesk Labs, enables users to turn uploaded reference photos into downloadable 3D models.
The service, which is still officially a ‘technology preview’ will remain live until the end of 2012.
Project Photofly, developed by the same team that created Realiviz’s ImageModeler software, has been available since last summer, but did not generate meshes until the latest update.

For more information, visit Autodesk's Project Photofly website.