Contrary to the title of this blog post, we're not writing about these googly eyes, no, this post is about the busy week we've had technologically. HTC unveiled their latest flagship smartphone here in London, the HTC One (not to be confused with the One X, One X+, One S, One V...). Sony announced the Playstation 4, boasting some serious specs as expected, although we don’t actually know what it looks like yet.
Where the gamers at!?
In the beginning there was 'Display'
pho·to·shop, transitive verb, often capitalized \ˈfō-(ˌ)tō-ˌshäp\
to alter (a digital image) with Photoshop software or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes)
- Merriam-Webster online dictionary, 2012
"remember, the Death Star’s power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force"
We’re well aware that this is rather old news, but what kind of film loving bloggers would we be, if we didn’t share a story about the United States receiving a petition to build an Empire Inspired Death Star?
CVMP 2012 - Reflections (and Refractions)...Part Two!
So we shall pick up from where we left off in my previous blog, Reflections (and Refractions) from CVMP 2012 part one.
1 day left to register for CVMP 2012...
Do you want to be in the know of the newest technology and techniques in the VFX industry? Do you want to meet with some of the brightest VFX talent in the UK and Europe?
Then CVMP is the perfect place for you to be on the 5th and 6th of December!
CVMP 2012
Want to be a part of a European forum to discuss the latest research, advances and state-of-the-art industry practises?
Oggy Oggy Oggy, Ouya Ouya Ouya!
Living rooms all over the planet best prepare themselves over the next few months, for the arrival of the world’s first ‘fist sized’ games console… ‘Ouya’.
SimCity Is Back on a Global Scale!
Some of you may remember the incredibly addictive Maxis game, SimCity. If anything, you’ll remember the awesome tunes that accompanied your construction of cityscapes, with endless building potential. And for those of you with fond memories of this game, you’ll rejoice in knowing that the creators are taking it to a whole new level of development. SimCity is now global!
This Is How We Roll...
Historically we've had a quite basic server architecture. The list of applications we run kept on growing and more and more users started to make use of these applications, so we've recently had to take a step back and take some time to reflect on our architecture as rolling out an additional server and/or release applications doesn't need to be a huge task.
Under the hood
As a follow-up to my post on learning resources for coding, I'd like to share our recent efforts to open source some of our in-house code.
Trading Insider Secrets
Scott Squires, of Industrial Light & Magic, has a blog called Effects Corner. Scott talks everything VFX, from artistry to wages. If you are looking to read the frank ins and outs of the VFX world then Scott’s blog is the place to go. Scott has 35 years’ experience in the industry and has work on film projects like Van Helsing, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Stars Wars: Episode I – Phantom Menace.
His articles are well written and packed full of industry top tips. He talks you through key skills like camera tracking and 3D match-moving as well as providing links to some of the latest visual effects news.
Michael Hansmeyer: Computational Architecture
Here is an amazing chap called Michael Hansmeyer. Michael studied as an architect and programmer. He explores the use of algorithms and computation to generate architectural forms for artistic and commercial purposes.
The images of the forms that he creates are very intricate and beautiful...check them out.
Latest VFX Reel from Our Students
The quality of work that our students create during their Visual Effects Production course is always awesome and there's no doubt it's getting better and better. When you consider that every student doesn't just attend their daytime lessons. They have to find, track, model, light, texture, render and composite a shot in just 6 weeks that shows the extent of their ability. One of our former students and now Studio Assistant Ashley Miles remembers how stressful it can get.
Learning Resources for Coding
There are a lot of people in the CG industry who have an interest in the "wizardry" of coding: from automating repetitive tasks via scripts, to pushing the boundaries of the software packages through the API layer, to smoothing out company pipelines by hooking up software that did not originally understand the other software's lingo.
Potential Shortage of Hard Disk Drives
Western Digital, one of the worlds largest hard drive manufacturers, has been badly affected by recent flooding in Thailand where they have two production plants. The one in Bang Pa-in Industrial Park is completely destroyed, with equipment submerged in water. The other in Navanakorn Industrial Park is struggling to keep flooding at bay.
Get Involved With the V-Ray for Softimage Public Beta Programme
Last week, Chaos Group announced that their V-Ray for Softimage is now ready for public Beta testing. This is the latest rendering solution by Chaos Group, due to release towards the end of the year.
Pixar release Tractor!
Pixar have just announced the release of it's much anticipated Distributed Processing Solution for RenderMan and Other Applications!
Sony Pictures Imageworks releases open source shading language
Yesterday, Sony Pictures Imageworks -the award-winning visual effects and digital character animation unit of Sony Pictures Digital Productions- released the Alpha version of its source code for OSL (Open Shading Language).