Archive of the Visual Effects Category

Custer‘s Last Stand Brought to Life with Autonomous Agent 3D Animation Software

Massive Software‘s Artificial Intelligence-driven animation system, Massive, has been utilized visual effects and animation facility Digital Dimension for the HBO film “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” The movie, which aired May 27, is based on the book by Dee Brown, and chronicles the displacement of the American Indians during the westward expansion of the U.S. more

Minneapolis, MN – (July 16, 2007) – The mystery behind Hatshepsut, one of the most successful female pharaohs of Egypt, is given new life in a compelling Discovery Channel program, “Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen.” To promote the show, film production and motion design company Mrs. K commissioned animation studio motion504 to create a :30 piece that unearths the legacy of Hatshepsut, the queen who would be king of Egypt. more

New York, NY – (July 12, 2007) – In Hitchcockian fashion, Mr. Wonderful made an old lady fall on a hard tile floor over 17 times— without a mat— to drive home a message about Old El Paso’s new taco shells.

In the :30 spot, an old lady (Jan Owen, frequently on Law & Order) is rudely cut while in line in a hardware store. After she is snubbed for an apology from the young jerk, she takes matters into her own hands. She dramatically falls to the floor, dropping her flower seeds, and screaming. When the store patrons, especially a burly contractor, rush to her aid, she blames the cutter for pushing her down. As the crowd turns on our unlucky jerk, we realize that our old lady, like the new flat-bottomed Old El Paso product, is a “taco that can stand up for itself.” more

Art imitates life–or in this case, cereal. SWAY studio, a top North American visual effects studio, used NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics boards to create hundreds of computer-generated (CG) cereal flakes for a recent General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch television commercial. more

NaturalMotion Ltd., award-winning developers of the highly-acclaimed euphoria and endorphin motion synthesis technologies, today announced the immediate release of morpheme 1.1, the latest version of its powerful animation engine and tool chain. Featuring new network management and navigation tools, source control support and frame buffering capabilities, morpheme 1.1 is robust middleware designed to give developers and animators unprecedented creative control over the look of their final in-game animation by allowing them to author and preview blends, blend trees and transition graphs in real time. morpheme 1.1 is available on Playstation®3, Xbox 360TM and PC. NaturalMotion will highlight morpheme 1.1 during SIGGRAPH 2007, booth number 603. more

BCC product family adds FxPlug to the list; native support for Apple‘s proprietary FxPlug architecture

Marlborough MA – Boris FX, the leading developer of integrated effects technology for video and film, announced that Boris Continuum Complete 5.0 for FxPlug (BCC 5.0 for FxPlug) is now shipping. Developed specifically for Apple‘s new FxPlug plug-in architecture, BCC 5.0 for FxPlug is a brand new member of the Boris Continuum Complete product family. BCC 5.0 for FxPlug takes full advantage of the FxPlug plug-in architecture to greatly extend the compositing and effects capabilities for Apple Final Cut Studio. New BCC 5.0 for FxPlug workflow benefits include support for deep color processing, new contextual controls for organizing user workspace, and full support for Motion 3.0. more

Latest versions of Food, Deadline, Krakatoa and More Showcaed Throughout Conference

The software division of award-winning visual effects studio Frantic Films will be demonstrating an array of new software products at SIGGRAPH 2007. Along with a new version of Deadline, the company‘s popular render farm solution, Frantic Films will unveil several new developments at Booth #1720 throughout the conference, August 7-9, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. more

New York, NY – (July 9, 2007) – Concept/design/animation studio INTERspectacular has re-branded the premiere programming block for Nicktoons Network entitled “3 Headed Monster.” Featuring one character with three distinct personalities: “Friday,” “Saturday” and “Sunday,” the extensive and incredibly entertaining graphics package promotes the animation network’s weekend block of programs. The project gave the INTERspectacular team the opportunity to combine character development and storytelling.

To view the new package, go to http://www.interspectacular.com/3hm more

Luxology® LLC, an independent technology company developing next-generation 3D content creation software, today announced a new educational site license program that allows schools and training institutions to implement modo‘s award-winning modeling, painting and rendering software throughout a learning facility. Available for a set annual subscription fee of USD $4,500, the flexible site license program guarantees that schools always have the latest version of modo, and lets educational organizations deploy an unlimited number of modo licenses across both Macs and PCs. more

Experience the true spirit of the Wild West with Artbeats‘ latest addition to their extensive library of royalty-free stock footage, entitled Rodeo. Artbeats‘ newest lifestyle collection features thrilling footage from feisty bucking broncos to rowdy rodeo crowds, cheering on their favorite cowboy. These brand new titles offer the same pristine, high-quality footage that has made Artbeats a favorite among industry professionals. Artbeats‘ award-winning library of 487 titles, 197 of which are HD, feature superior technical and visual quality footage that can be used for broadcast, feature films, commercial, multimedia design, game development, independent production and more. more