Winx Club is one of the most popular animation series for girls on Cartoon Network and the collection comprises of fairy friends Bloom, Stella, Flora, Tecna, Musa and Layla. Each Glam Magic™ Fairy doll as they are called this summer in their latest avatar has two exquisite pairs of wings, one glittery jeweled pair and one holographic pair. The little fairies can change the wings and act out the magical transformation that takes place in the show. Each of these beautiful fairies also come with a beautiful designer outfit and matching detailed accessories.  The goodies don‘t stop there. Adding to the frenzy of collecting model cars is Mattel‘s Hot Wheels Hot Box offer. This awesome limited-edition Hot Box has slots to store up to 15 cars, and is portable enough to be carried conveniently to any location.Speaking to AnimationXpress.com, Rahul Bhowmick, Head of Marketing, Mattel India Toys shared, "Across the world and indeed across the country, collecting cars is every young boy‘s hobby and passion. Not only does this give boys easy access to the world of speed and performance, but each and every addition to the collection is a huge thrill by itself. Recognizing in India this young boys‘ need to store and display their cars to best effect, Hot Wheels has introduced the Hot Box offer where purchase of any ten Hot Wheels cars entitles the boy to an exclusive Hot Box Collector Case (not available for purchase) absolutely free. What this means for the boys is a never-before opportunity to display their collection to friends in a fabulous environment and ten awesome Hot Wheels cars to kick-start their collection!"
The unique Hot Box is designed like a suitcase and aimed at young Hot Wheels fans and collectors alike. Commenting on the offer, Mr. Sanjay Luthra, MD, Mattel India Toys concluded, "With die-cast construction, Hot Wheels cars have always been the rage of young car fanatics across the country. This time we are giving them a never-before opportunity to store and display their favorite car collection in the best way possible with the Hot Box! The Hot Wheels Hot Box will definitely create a buzz in the world of collectors and young car fans alike. Apart from that, it‘s a perfect summer bonanza and makes for a fabulous gift." |
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Mattel India launches new Winx Club, Hot Wheels collections
| VIDEO - ‘Red Tails‘ Trailer released 18 August 2011 02:21 PM |
BY PLATOONINDIA.COM TEAM The trailer of Red Tails, upcoming 2012 action drama film directed by Anthony Hemingway was released recently. The movie is being made on a story by executive producer George Lucas (Founder Lucasfilm), scripted by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder. It is based on the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American combat pilots during World War II.  |
Digieffects launches Remote Management tool RenderMon
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BY PLATOONINDIA.COM TEAM Digieffects announced today it has entered the professional remote management marketplace with the launch of RenderMon. RenderMon is an innovative new web-based application that enables digital media artists to remotely monitor and manage the video rendering process, as well as share the rendered video from any internet-connected browser or web-enabled device. This new development complements the Company‘s strategy of designing visually stunning, accessible VFX solutions, and extends them into a new category of post production workflow enhancement and productivity tools.Digieffects also announced today that RenderMon will be available at no charge for one month from its launch date; from August 22 through October 1, 2011. Beginning today, customers can visit http://rendermon.digieffects.com to sign up for a free trial account, and will have access to all available RenderMon features. "Digieffects is laser focused on developing solutions that make our customers‘ lives easier; and we do that by creating solutions that make their work shine, and in an affordable way. RenderMon is an extension of that mission," said Robert Sharp, president of Digieffects. "With RenderMon, gone are the days of hitting the render button and staying put, hoping your render doesn‘t fail. With this new web service, we are enabling our customers to step away and remotely manage and share their video. This is the kind of workflow and productivity enhancement our customers can expect from Digieffects." Mark Christiansen, author of The After Effects Studio Techniques books, and industry veteran who has worked on several feature films including Avatar, comments: "I‘m a man about town. I don‘t like to be shackled to my workstation just to babysit the output of my creative work. RenderMon is a natural addition to the process of creating and rendering animations, allowing me to monitor progress anywhere, lowering stress, raising productivity and offering me room to roam." RenderMon: How it Works RenderMon is an innovative new web-based subscription service specifically designed for professional digital media artists enabling them to:
Digieffects‘ RenderMon subscription service is available immediately and is priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. The annual subscription includes a $49 coupon for a free Digieffects a la carte plug-in. As a special introductory promotion, Digieffects is offering RenderMon free of charge from August 22 through October 1, 2011. Customers taking advantage of this special offer after September 24, 2011, will automatically be signed up for a free 7-day trial. Following the promotion, free trials will be available, in which customers can try the service for free for 7 days. RenderMon will also be available as a mobile app and will be available free from the Apple App Store. Details will be announced at a later date. For more information on Digieffects, please visit www.digieffects.com. |
Friday, August 5, 2011
Check out ZBrush Central's & Pixologic's exclusive Updates and News
As you may know Rango is all the rage in the industry and entertainment/3D media at the moment! In fact, it's the highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide so far! and the first animated feature from ILM. Pixologic has just released a great interview with the art department at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) highlighting the creative process and team behind “Rango” and how ZBrush contributed!
New Hard-Edge Techniques: Motorcycle video part 2
Pixolator is very pleased that the viewers found PART 1 to be valuable and inspirational. Below is PART 2 of the movie which I hope you'll enjoy. PART 3 will be posted when the activity of 'PART 2' subsides.
Pixolator recommends that you view the movie -before- the accompanying notes
Few notes about the movie…
As seen in PART 1, the motorcycle was mostly assembled by using mesh extract from a high res flat plane mesh. In PART 2, more sub-tools are added with methods that are similar the those shown in PART 1. PART 3 will deal with refining and polishing the Motorcycle to its final state.
About Mesh Extract: The mesh-extract feature is similar to Shadowbox and may be considered as a one-dimension-ShadowBox (shadowbox may use up to 3 dimensions). There are, however, some differences between mesh extract and shadowbox. Mesh-extract uses the existing topology when creating the new mesh while shadowbox generates new topology (unified skinning). Therefore, if you have a base mesh with satisfactory topology, you may use the mesh extract feature and get a new sub-tool with the same topology. Furthermore, mesh extract can be used on any curved surface to produce a form-fitting sub-tool, -as an example, see the construction of the undercarriage sub-tool in part 1 and 2.
On the other hand, ShadowBox is capable of creating far more intricate shapes making it more suitable for organic sculpting as well as more complex hard-surface shapes (as seen in the creation of the manifold in part 1).
The creation of new sub-tools via duplication and transformation is streamlined and allows you to quickly create elaborate structures by using multiple instances of several simple building blocks. The process is easy enough that you may quickly find yourself managing 100 or more sub-tools. When you reached that stage, you may need to gain access to part of the mesh that may be obstructed by other sub-tools. There are multiple ways for you to go about managing large number of sub-tools...
1. Make frequent use of the Solo mode. This not only hides all other sub-tools, it also allows you to easily refine one sub-tool without any slowdown or processing penalties that may result from other inactive sub-tools.
2. You may activate subtools-transparency mode which will allow you to see your active sub-tool even when it is obstructed by other, closer sub-tools.
3. At times, you may want to hide some of the sub-tools that reduce your visibility of the active sub-tool without activating 'Solo' or 'Transparency' modes. One less known, but very important feature, allows you to do this easily.
Usually, it is very simple to hide inactive sub-tools in the sub-tool palette by simply clicking its 'eye' icon. However, when you have large number of sub-tools, simply identifying the sub-tool that you want to hide in the sub-tool palette may take too long. This is when the following tip comes handy…
To hide a sub-tool that obstructs the view of your active sub-tool, do the following:
A. Within the document area, opt-click on the sub-tool that you wish to hide. This will make that sub-tool the active one and it will become visible and selected within the sub-tool palette.
B. Now, the important part… If you simply click on the 'eye' icon of the active sub-tool, you will hide or show all sub-tools - a result far from what we want. What you should do instead is click within the area of the subtotal button, but not on the 'eye' itself. This will now turn off the 'eye' icon only for the active sub-tool, without changing the visibility status of any other subtools.
C. Now, opt-click within the document on the sub-tool that you wish to edit. The sub-tool that has its 'eye' turned off will be hidden and will no longer obstruct your view.
You may repeat this process multiple times in secession to quickly hide multiple subtools and then reactive the sub-tool which you want to edit.
4. When you get to a stage that you mesh contains so many subtools that your systems become less responsive or that you view of an 'area of interest' becomes obstructed too frequently, then its time to use other methods that are available to you in ZBrush. One such method is demonstrated in the Movie Part 2 (the movie in this post) beginning at 16 minus and 45 seconds into the movie. Movie Part 3 will demonstrate another effective method.
More Movie notes and answers to questions will be added at a later date.
Have fun ZBrushing,
Courtesy -Pixolator, ZBrush Central
Pixolator recommends that you view the movie -before- the accompanying notes
Few notes about the movie…
As seen in PART 1, the motorcycle was mostly assembled by using mesh extract from a high res flat plane mesh. In PART 2, more sub-tools are added with methods that are similar the those shown in PART 1. PART 3 will deal with refining and polishing the Motorcycle to its final state.
About Mesh Extract: The mesh-extract feature is similar to Shadowbox and may be considered as a one-dimension-ShadowBox (shadowbox may use up to 3 dimensions). There are, however, some differences between mesh extract and shadowbox. Mesh-extract uses the existing topology when creating the new mesh while shadowbox generates new topology (unified skinning). Therefore, if you have a base mesh with satisfactory topology, you may use the mesh extract feature and get a new sub-tool with the same topology. Furthermore, mesh extract can be used on any curved surface to produce a form-fitting sub-tool, -as an example, see the construction of the undercarriage sub-tool in part 1 and 2.
On the other hand, ShadowBox is capable of creating far more intricate shapes making it more suitable for organic sculpting as well as more complex hard-surface shapes (as seen in the creation of the manifold in part 1).
The creation of new sub-tools via duplication and transformation is streamlined and allows you to quickly create elaborate structures by using multiple instances of several simple building blocks. The process is easy enough that you may quickly find yourself managing 100 or more sub-tools. When you reached that stage, you may need to gain access to part of the mesh that may be obstructed by other sub-tools. There are multiple ways for you to go about managing large number of sub-tools...
1. Make frequent use of the Solo mode. This not only hides all other sub-tools, it also allows you to easily refine one sub-tool without any slowdown or processing penalties that may result from other inactive sub-tools.
2. You may activate subtools-transparency mode which will allow you to see your active sub-tool even when it is obstructed by other, closer sub-tools.
3. At times, you may want to hide some of the sub-tools that reduce your visibility of the active sub-tool without activating 'Solo' or 'Transparency' modes. One less known, but very important feature, allows you to do this easily.
Usually, it is very simple to hide inactive sub-tools in the sub-tool palette by simply clicking its 'eye' icon. However, when you have large number of sub-tools, simply identifying the sub-tool that you want to hide in the sub-tool palette may take too long. This is when the following tip comes handy…
To hide a sub-tool that obstructs the view of your active sub-tool, do the following:
A. Within the document area, opt-click on the sub-tool that you wish to hide. This will make that sub-tool the active one and it will become visible and selected within the sub-tool palette.
B. Now, the important part… If you simply click on the 'eye' icon of the active sub-tool, you will hide or show all sub-tools - a result far from what we want. What you should do instead is click within the area of the subtotal button, but not on the 'eye' itself. This will now turn off the 'eye' icon only for the active sub-tool, without changing the visibility status of any other subtools.
C. Now, opt-click within the document on the sub-tool that you wish to edit. The sub-tool that has its 'eye' turned off will be hidden and will no longer obstruct your view.
You may repeat this process multiple times in secession to quickly hide multiple subtools and then reactive the sub-tool which you want to edit.
4. When you get to a stage that you mesh contains so many subtools that your systems become less responsive or that you view of an 'area of interest' becomes obstructed too frequently, then its time to use other methods that are available to you in ZBrush. One such method is demonstrated in the Movie Part 2 (the movie in this post) beginning at 16 minus and 45 seconds into the movie. Movie Part 3 will demonstrate another effective method.
More Movie notes and answers to questions will be added at a later date.
Have fun ZBrushing,
Courtesy -Pixolator, ZBrush Central
New Hard-Edge Techniques: Motorcycle Part 1
Pixolator has created a motorcycle video, with his actions recorded:
Courtesy: Pixolator, ZBrush Central
Tweak Software to Unveil RV 3.12 at SIGGRAPH 2011 --New release supports stereo 3D TVs, ARRI Alexa and RED formats-- --Booth demonstrations feature first look at Python and Web integration for RV--
San Francisco, CA (August 1, 2011) -- Tweak Software will be previewing the newest features for its RV image and sequence viewer for VFX and animation artists at SIGGRAPH 2011. The company will unveil RV 3.12, which includes support for ARRI Alexa and RED formats, cost-effective stereo reviews using 3D TVs and a host of new features, and will also be demonstrating Python scripting for RV in booth #963.
-RV has a dual personality. It's a tool for artists who want refined, elegant way to work with images and it is also a customizable platform for facilities who need to integrate image review with their own tools and pipeline," said Seth Rosenthal, co-founder of Tweak Software. "This release will have some great artist tools and will expand RV's customization options with Python and Javascript-based web integration."
RV's role as the leading customizable playback platform gets a major advancement with two powerful new tools for extending and integrating RV. First, Python will be added RV as a native scripting language (alongside Mu). Second, RV can now be integrated tightly with web based tools; web pages opened inside of RV can control RV through Javascript. Both new integration techniques will be shown at SIGGRAPH.
Leading VFX and CG animation studios including Digital Domain, Aardman, ILM, Zoic Studios and many others use RV to play back and review digital media. RV's professional, high-performance toolset is built on an open, extensible architecture allowing users to adapt the software to their own pipelines and styles of working. Highlights of the new RV 3.12 release include:
- Presentation mode -- Display a full screen view on one monitor while controlling playback from another.
- Stereo 3D TV support for HDMI 1.4a and DVI – Use cost-effective stereo TVs for stereo reviews with RV.
- Javacript Web Integration: Integrate RV with web based tools using Javascript
- ARRI Alexa ARRIRAW file support -- High dynamic range, full color support for ALEXA is now integrated into RV’s tools for playback, dailies and transcoding.
- RED RAW file support -- V3.12 includes the first level of RED file support integration.
- ACES files and color spaces - RV supports the Academy Color Encoding Specification (IIF ACES) including the ability to write .aces files from RVIO.
- CDL support - Color Decision List values can now be specified in an RV session file.
- Next-level integration - Nuke and Shotgun integration both include a host of updates and refinements.
Tweak RV Version 3.12 is currently in Beta testing and planned for release this fall. For more information visit: http://www.tweaksoftware.com
About Tweak Software
Tweak Software was founded in 2007 to develop tools that address real-world production needs of VFX and animation professionals. The Tweak partners Jim Hourihan, Seth Rosenthal and Alan Trombla spent many years at Industrial Light and Magic where they developed tools and techniques still in use at that facility today. Jim Hourihan is the recipient of two Sci-Tech Academy Awards and is best known for developing Dynamation, the first commercial particle system that was subsequently incorporated into Autodesk’s Maya software. For more information, visit http://www.tweaksoftware.com
-RV has a dual personality. It's a tool for artists who want refined, elegant way to work with images and it is also a customizable platform for facilities who need to integrate image review with their own tools and pipeline," said Seth Rosenthal, co-founder of Tweak Software. "This release will have some great artist tools and will expand RV's customization options with Python and Javascript-based web integration."
RV's role as the leading customizable playback platform gets a major advancement with two powerful new tools for extending and integrating RV. First, Python will be added RV as a native scripting language (alongside Mu). Second, RV can now be integrated tightly with web based tools; web pages opened inside of RV can control RV through Javascript. Both new integration techniques will be shown at SIGGRAPH.
Leading VFX and CG animation studios including Digital Domain, Aardman, ILM, Zoic Studios and many others use RV to play back and review digital media. RV's professional, high-performance toolset is built on an open, extensible architecture allowing users to adapt the software to their own pipelines and styles of working. Highlights of the new RV 3.12 release include:
- Presentation mode -- Display a full screen view on one monitor while controlling playback from another.
- Stereo 3D TV support for HDMI 1.4a and DVI – Use cost-effective stereo TVs for stereo reviews with RV.
- Javacript Web Integration: Integrate RV with web based tools using Javascript
- ARRI Alexa ARRIRAW file support -- High dynamic range, full color support for ALEXA is now integrated into RV’s tools for playback, dailies and transcoding.
- RED RAW file support -- V3.12 includes the first level of RED file support integration.
- ACES files and color spaces - RV supports the Academy Color Encoding Specification (IIF ACES) including the ability to write .aces files from RVIO.
- CDL support - Color Decision List values can now be specified in an RV session file.
- Next-level integration - Nuke and Shotgun integration both include a host of updates and refinements.
Tweak RV Version 3.12 is currently in Beta testing and planned for release this fall. For more information visit: http://www.tweaksoftware.com
About Tweak Software
Tweak Software was founded in 2007 to develop tools that address real-world production needs of VFX and animation professionals. The Tweak partners Jim Hourihan, Seth Rosenthal and Alan Trombla spent many years at Industrial Light and Magic where they developed tools and techniques still in use at that facility today. Jim Hourihan is the recipient of two Sci-Tech Academy Awards and is best known for developing Dynamation, the first commercial particle system that was subsequently incorporated into Autodesk’s Maya software. For more information, visit http://www.tweaksoftware.com
Archexteriors vol. 13 are out - Take a look at this 10 fully textured scenes with professional shaders and lighting ready to render from Archexteriors vol. 13.
All scenes are prepared for vray with 3dsmax 2009.
link - http://www.evermotion.org/modelshop/...l-13/7374/0/0/
All scenes are prepared for vray with 3dsmax 2009.
link - http://www.evermotion.org/modelshop/...l-13/7374/0/0/
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Render Rocket Launches Mission Control 3.0 at SIGGRAPH 2011 Improved Web-based render job “control center” and programmable API speed and simplify Render Rocket’s cloud-based rendering service
LOS ANGELES – Aug 3, 2011 – Render Rocket LLC, an advanced cloud-based rendering services company, announced that it is launching a new version of Mission Control, its Web-based “control center” for starting, monitoring, controlling and downloading render jobs. Launching at SIGGRAPH 2011, Mission Control 3.0 will enable individual artists and animation studios working with Render Rocket to experience a more streamlined user interface, faster file transfer times, multi-user access and a programmable cloud rendering API for integrating Mission Control directly into 3D tools and production pipelines. Render Rocket will be attending SIGGRAPH 2011 to showcase all of Mission Control’s latest features.
Render Rocket is a cloud-based, high-end rendering service that provides professional-grade rendering power on-demand to any 2D or 3D production team regardless of its size or location. Those production teams access Render Rocket’s private network and control their render jobs through its highly secure, Web-based interface or “control center”, which is called Mission Control. The newly launched version of Mission Control was built to further speed and simplify the management of self-service rendering jobs as demand for the Company’s rendering services grow.
“Since 2010, we’ve experienced more than a 30 percent increase in the demand for our rendering services, worldwide,” said Ruben Perez, CEO of Render Rocket. “To meet the demands of this growing user base, we’ve been working on a number of ways to make our solution faster, more user friendly, and easier to integrate into existing production environments. Mission Control 3.0 is the culmination of all of that work, and we’re really excited to be showing it off at this year’s SIGGRAPH.”
On the front end, Mission Control 3.0 features a more streamlined user experience that makes it easier for users to start, monitor, control, and download render jobs. The upgraded Mission Control also includes options for secure, multi-user access, which enables studios to more effectively work with teams of artist and managers by setting permissions on individual projects and files as needed during the production process.
On the back end, Render Rocket has completely upgraded its network in order to meet rising demand and speed render job times. The new upgrade includes faster servers, more scalable network storage built on the latest Isilon technology, and expanded render farm capacity to handle last-minute, highly complex render jobs.
“Rendering in film and design is becoming more and more data intensive,” said John Morales, COO of Render Rocket. “Working with our technology partners, we’ve increased our storage capacity five-fold since last year. Our service platform is more robust and more secure, with stronger file security and system redundancy. This enables us to take on render jobs from single users and massive film studios alike, without any adverse affects on our system.”
In addition, Mission Control 3.0 will now allow studios to streamline the remote rendering process by integrating Render Rocket directly into their animation pipeline using a programmable cloud rendering API. This API allows studios with in-house developers to integrate Render Rocket to automatically handle overflow renders, and to integrate Mission Control data into existing in-house dashboards or other monitoring applications.
Pricing and Availability
The Render Rocket team will be at SIGGRAPH 2011 to show off Mission Control 3.0. Studios interested in seeing all of the latest features should contact sales@renderrocket.com.
For more information on Render Rocket pricing, visit: http://www.renderrocket.com/pricing.
About Render Rocket
Render Rocket began selling remote rendering services to the media and entertainment industry in 2005 with a vision to deliver professional-level rendering power on-demand to any 2D and 3D production team, regardless of its size or location. Today Render Rocket is the leading cloud-based rendering solutions company and offers it's services to film, post production, visual effects, broadcast, universities, industrial design, automotive, architecture, game cinematics, and graphic design companies. It counts among its numerous customers companies such as Nike, Nokia, Superfad, Nickelodeon, Sony Imageworks, Lockheed Martin, THQ, The Antfarm, Picture Mill, NYU, Columbia University and Engine Room. For more information, visit www.renderrocket.com or email contact@renderrocket.com.
Render Rocket is a cloud-based, high-end rendering service that provides professional-grade rendering power on-demand to any 2D or 3D production team regardless of its size or location. Those production teams access Render Rocket’s private network and control their render jobs through its highly secure, Web-based interface or “control center”, which is called Mission Control. The newly launched version of Mission Control was built to further speed and simplify the management of self-service rendering jobs as demand for the Company’s rendering services grow.
“Since 2010, we’ve experienced more than a 30 percent increase in the demand for our rendering services, worldwide,” said Ruben Perez, CEO of Render Rocket. “To meet the demands of this growing user base, we’ve been working on a number of ways to make our solution faster, more user friendly, and easier to integrate into existing production environments. Mission Control 3.0 is the culmination of all of that work, and we’re really excited to be showing it off at this year’s SIGGRAPH.”
On the front end, Mission Control 3.0 features a more streamlined user experience that makes it easier for users to start, monitor, control, and download render jobs. The upgraded Mission Control also includes options for secure, multi-user access, which enables studios to more effectively work with teams of artist and managers by setting permissions on individual projects and files as needed during the production process.
On the back end, Render Rocket has completely upgraded its network in order to meet rising demand and speed render job times. The new upgrade includes faster servers, more scalable network storage built on the latest Isilon technology, and expanded render farm capacity to handle last-minute, highly complex render jobs.
“Rendering in film and design is becoming more and more data intensive,” said John Morales, COO of Render Rocket. “Working with our technology partners, we’ve increased our storage capacity five-fold since last year. Our service platform is more robust and more secure, with stronger file security and system redundancy. This enables us to take on render jobs from single users and massive film studios alike, without any adverse affects on our system.”
In addition, Mission Control 3.0 will now allow studios to streamline the remote rendering process by integrating Render Rocket directly into their animation pipeline using a programmable cloud rendering API. This API allows studios with in-house developers to integrate Render Rocket to automatically handle overflow renders, and to integrate Mission Control data into existing in-house dashboards or other monitoring applications.
Pricing and Availability
The Render Rocket team will be at SIGGRAPH 2011 to show off Mission Control 3.0. Studios interested in seeing all of the latest features should contact sales@renderrocket.com.
For more information on Render Rocket pricing, visit: http://www.renderrocket.com/pricing.
About Render Rocket
Render Rocket began selling remote rendering services to the media and entertainment industry in 2005 with a vision to deliver professional-level rendering power on-demand to any 2D and 3D production team, regardless of its size or location. Today Render Rocket is the leading cloud-based rendering solutions company and offers it's services to film, post production, visual effects, broadcast, universities, industrial design, automotive, architecture, game cinematics, and graphic design companies. It counts among its numerous customers companies such as Nike, Nokia, Superfad, Nickelodeon, Sony Imageworks, Lockheed Martin, THQ, The Antfarm, Picture Mill, NYU, Columbia University and Engine Room. For more information, visit www.renderrocket.com or email contact@renderrocket.com.
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Cheers,
Mansi Bhayani
Team CGTantra
Cheers,
Mansi Bhayani
Team CGTantra
Making of Sony Pictures Animation‘s ‘The Smurfs’
The Smurfs make their first trip out of their village and land on the big screen in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation‘s ‘The Smurfs’ which released today. Until this theatrical motion picture, the Smurfs had only been represented in two dimensions. Taking them into a 3 dimensional, CG cum live action space, and in 3D stereo no less, was the major challenge for the filmmakers.
The film is about the Smurfs who were chased out of their village by the evil wizard Gargamel through a magical portal, and into our (Human‘s) world, they land in the middle of New York’s Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.
The challenges began on set, where the director of photography, Phil Méheux, and the film‘s production designer, Bill Boes, coordinated efforts with visual effects supervisor Richard R. Hoover, SPI senior animation supervisor Troy Saliba, and SPI senior VFX producer Lydia Bottegoni of Sony Pictures Imageworks to build sets, light them, and shoot the film in such a way that the three-apple-high stars (Smurf Characters) could be added later. 3D visual effects supervisor Rob Engle was also on hand to ensure that it would all come to life in 3D.
According to producer Jordan Kerner, it‘s easy to see why the Smurfs have entertained people around the world for generations. It‘s not just that they‘re adorable - they also represent a type of humanity at its best. "The Smurfs are an analogy for a nation", says Kerner. "They emphasize family and the importance of cooperation. More importantly, they always see the best in people first. The Smurfs really care for and look after one another."
"It‘s very much a Smurf-out-of-water movie," says Raja Gosnell (Director). "We took this Smurfy code of living and played it against modern-day New York City. There were an awful lot of moving parts on this movie. Basic Directing 101 is about moving your characters around, how you stage a scene. On this movie, we had to stage scenes in which six characters weren‘t there. The actors would have to interact with nothing, and sometimes the camera would move, following nothing. My biggest job as a director was to keep the eye on the prize- how to keep everyone moving toward the same goal. Everyone embraced the fun and the challenge of the project, and by mid-movie, we were flying".
Rich Hoover, Visual Effects Supervisor shares, “The filmmakers wanted to stay true to the spirit of the series but make it true to our world. We wanted it to be a cheerful and fun look. Raja wanted the film to be bright and he wanted his actresses to look great. In the grotto we made it a little darker and a little bluer, especially with a blue moon. Gargamel‘s castle was foreboding. Of course, the Smurfs themselves are blue and a very special blue. But the exact shade changed a little based on the lighting of the scenes”.
Sony Pictures Animation did a great deal of design and pre-production tests and proof of concept. The Third Floor, a previz company, did previz of the fully CG scenes at the beginning of the movie. And then Imageworks did the camera work for the full CG scenes.
Raja Gosnell did extensive storyboarding for most, if not all, of movie. He even had some artists do renderings in colour. Imageworks did extensive look development on the characters and scenes. One of the many continuing traditions is the introduction of new Smurfs. The filmmakers had the opportunity to imagine three new Smurfs for the movie - Panicky, Crazy, and Gutsy, the last of which takes on a starring role.
Sony Imageworks created the Smurf village, which is the entire opening of the movie. Gargamel‘s castle is actually a real castle in Austria, which Rich shot from a helicopter. That shot reveals a picturesque valley with an old world town. The artists painted out roads and such and then dived into a fully CG forest and take a roller coaster ride as they penetrate an invisibility shield to reveal Smurf village.
Smurf Village is created as a world that looked as if the Smurfs would have actually built it themselves from materials naturally found in their environment. Everything had a real quality to it, not scaled to fit the Smurfs but real objects, plants, leaves, and so forth of just the right size.
Kerner felt that this film was the perfect new form for the next iteration of the Smurf story, all of which was shot in New York City at iconic locations like Central Park and Belvedere Castle, as well as FAO Schwarz, the Russian Tea Room, Rockefeller Center, and Brooklyn‘s Prospect Park.
Kerner adds that director Raja Gosnell‘s expertise and gentle touch -- not to mention his hands-on experience marrying live-action and computer animated characters in such films as Scooby-Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua - made him the perfect choice to direct.
Imageworks’ main studio in Culver City also worked on the feature. Imageworks India was very involved. They did almost all of the matchmoving and much of the painting. Many of the animators were located in Imageworks Canada office in Vancouver. In addition, shots with Gargamel and the cat were done by Tippett Studios. Additional visual effects were done by Framestore. Stereoscopic 3D was supervised by Imageworks stereographer Rob Engle and work on all but the all-CG sequences, which were done by Imageworks, was handled by Legend 3D, Sassoon and In 3.
About the challenges faced Richard asserts, “The most important thing in combining live action and CG is to make sure that everything looks real and as if it belongs. Matchmoving, which was done almost if not entirely by Imageworks India in Chennai, was a critical first step. They did a terrific job and their great work made sure that everything we added digitally fit accurately on the surfaces”.
"Lighting is the other essential consideration. To accurately capture, we used a new camera called the Spheron. It allowed us to light Smurfs in an extremely realistic manner and light into plate, using the actually lighting characteristics of the live action scene. The Spheron camera combined with Imageworks‘ colour and lighting tools, saved tremendous time and gave the artist more time to be creative and make shots look even better. Biggest challenge was the colour blue. Wanted to be true to the colour of Smurfs’ blue but it also was affected by the variety of locations”, he added.
The film stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, and Hank Azaria as Gargamel. Directed by Raja Gosnell and Produced by Jordan Kerner the film is based on the characters and works of Peyo. Director of Photography is Phil Méheux, BSC and Visual Effects Supervisor is Richard R. Hoover and Troy Saliba was the animation supervisor.
Richard concluded saying, “It was a great effort and tremendously fun!”
The film is about the Smurfs who were chased out of their village by the evil wizard Gargamel through a magical portal, and into our (Human‘s) world, they land in the middle of New York’s Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.
The challenges began on set, where the director of photography, Phil Méheux, and the film‘s production designer, Bill Boes, coordinated efforts with visual effects supervisor Richard R. Hoover, SPI senior animation supervisor Troy Saliba, and SPI senior VFX producer Lydia Bottegoni of Sony Pictures Imageworks to build sets, light them, and shoot the film in such a way that the three-apple-high stars (Smurf Characters) could be added later. 3D visual effects supervisor Rob Engle was also on hand to ensure that it would all come to life in 3D.
According to producer Jordan Kerner, it‘s easy to see why the Smurfs have entertained people around the world for generations. It‘s not just that they‘re adorable - they also represent a type of humanity at its best. "The Smurfs are an analogy for a nation", says Kerner. "They emphasize family and the importance of cooperation. More importantly, they always see the best in people first. The Smurfs really care for and look after one another."
"It‘s very much a Smurf-out-of-water movie," says Raja Gosnell (Director). "We took this Smurfy code of living and played it against modern-day New York City. There were an awful lot of moving parts on this movie. Basic Directing 101 is about moving your characters around, how you stage a scene. On this movie, we had to stage scenes in which six characters weren‘t there. The actors would have to interact with nothing, and sometimes the camera would move, following nothing. My biggest job as a director was to keep the eye on the prize- how to keep everyone moving toward the same goal. Everyone embraced the fun and the challenge of the project, and by mid-movie, we were flying".
Rich Hoover, Visual Effects Supervisor shares, “The filmmakers wanted to stay true to the spirit of the series but make it true to our world. We wanted it to be a cheerful and fun look. Raja wanted the film to be bright and he wanted his actresses to look great. In the grotto we made it a little darker and a little bluer, especially with a blue moon. Gargamel‘s castle was foreboding. Of course, the Smurfs themselves are blue and a very special blue. But the exact shade changed a little based on the lighting of the scenes”.
Sony Pictures Animation did a great deal of design and pre-production tests and proof of concept. The Third Floor, a previz company, did previz of the fully CG scenes at the beginning of the movie. And then Imageworks did the camera work for the full CG scenes.
Raja Gosnell did extensive storyboarding for most, if not all, of movie. He even had some artists do renderings in colour. Imageworks did extensive look development on the characters and scenes. One of the many continuing traditions is the introduction of new Smurfs. The filmmakers had the opportunity to imagine three new Smurfs for the movie - Panicky, Crazy, and Gutsy, the last of which takes on a starring role.
Sony Imageworks created the Smurf village, which is the entire opening of the movie. Gargamel‘s castle is actually a real castle in Austria, which Rich shot from a helicopter. That shot reveals a picturesque valley with an old world town. The artists painted out roads and such and then dived into a fully CG forest and take a roller coaster ride as they penetrate an invisibility shield to reveal Smurf village.
Smurf Village is created as a world that looked as if the Smurfs would have actually built it themselves from materials naturally found in their environment. Everything had a real quality to it, not scaled to fit the Smurfs but real objects, plants, leaves, and so forth of just the right size.
Kerner felt that this film was the perfect new form for the next iteration of the Smurf story, all of which was shot in New York City at iconic locations like Central Park and Belvedere Castle, as well as FAO Schwarz, the Russian Tea Room, Rockefeller Center, and Brooklyn‘s Prospect Park.
Kerner adds that director Raja Gosnell‘s expertise and gentle touch -- not to mention his hands-on experience marrying live-action and computer animated characters in such films as Scooby-Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua - made him the perfect choice to direct.
Imageworks’ main studio in Culver City also worked on the feature. Imageworks India was very involved. They did almost all of the matchmoving and much of the painting. Many of the animators were located in Imageworks Canada office in Vancouver. In addition, shots with Gargamel and the cat were done by Tippett Studios. Additional visual effects were done by Framestore. Stereoscopic 3D was supervised by Imageworks stereographer Rob Engle and work on all but the all-CG sequences, which were done by Imageworks, was handled by Legend 3D, Sassoon and In 3.
About the challenges faced Richard asserts, “The most important thing in combining live action and CG is to make sure that everything looks real and as if it belongs. Matchmoving, which was done almost if not entirely by Imageworks India in Chennai, was a critical first step. They did a terrific job and their great work made sure that everything we added digitally fit accurately on the surfaces”.
"Lighting is the other essential consideration. To accurately capture, we used a new camera called the Spheron. It allowed us to light Smurfs in an extremely realistic manner and light into plate, using the actually lighting characteristics of the live action scene. The Spheron camera combined with Imageworks‘ colour and lighting tools, saved tremendous time and gave the artist more time to be creative and make shots look even better. Biggest challenge was the colour blue. Wanted to be true to the colour of Smurfs’ blue but it also was affected by the variety of locations”, he added.
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Richard concluded saying, “It was a great effort and tremendously fun!”
‘Delhi Safari’ to release on 30th Sept in India with 250 prints 04 August 2011 02:22 PM
Krayon Pictures (Pune) and People Tree Films’ 3D animation stereoscopic feature ‘Delhi Safari’ will release in India on Sept 30 2011. The film will release in Hindi language across India in 3D with approximately 250 prints.
The company is currently closing deal with a major distributor for the India release.
Delhi Safari tells the story of a group of animals who are on an adventurous mission to preserve their habitat as it comes under threat from developers.
Directed by popular Bollywood Director Nikhil Advani, the Hindi version of the film features voices of popular Bollywood actors like Govinda, Akshay Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Prem Chopra, Boman Irani and Sweenie. It will have 3-4 songs for which the music has been composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.
Delhi Safari is also endorsed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as the film follows the theme of rights for animals and forest conservation. PETA is supporting the film worldwide.
The film will also have an international release and is being represented by Fantastic Films Internationally. The English version of the film has voices of Vanessa Williams (Desperate Housewives), Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond), Jane Lynch (Glee) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Cary Elwes and Jason Alexander.
info@platoonindia.com
Delhi Safari tells the story of a group of animals who are on an adventurous mission to preserve their habitat as it comes under threat from developers.
Directed by popular Bollywood Director Nikhil Advani, the Hindi version of the film features voices of popular Bollywood actors like Govinda, Akshay Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Prem Chopra, Boman Irani and Sweenie. It will have 3-4 songs for which the music has been composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.
Delhi Safari is also endorsed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as the film follows the theme of rights for animals and forest conservation. PETA is supporting the film worldwide.
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info@platoonindia.com
Pixion adds VFX to Super Cop action in ‘Singham’
Pixion has recently delivered VFX for Ajay Devgan starrer Bollywood blockbuster movie ‘Singham’. It has delivered 800 plus brilliant VFX shots in a span of just 40 days for the film.
Singham is over-the-top retro kitsch, spilling over with high-voltage stunts, slow-motion action cuts and fiery dialogues delivered in high decibels. It revolves around Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan), the archetypal honest cop who keeps his native village, Shivgad, crime free with his special system of dispensing personalised justice. However, his idyll is broken after a chance encounter with city goon, Jayakant Shikre (Prakash Raj) who rules over Goa with his ill-gotten wealth and power. Out of a sense of vengeance, Shikre gets Singham transferred to Goa and tries to wreak havoc in his life. But he obviously underestimates the power of this diehard cop who knows how to work the system his way.
Pixion, has been associated with the director, Rohit Shetty for many years and has worked for his movies like ‘Sunday’, ‘Golmaal Returns’, ‘All the Best’, ‘Golmaal 3’ and the latest ‘Singham’. Rohit Shetty has also designed all the action sequences of the movie and Pixion has supported him in delivering them efficiently to the audience.
The movie ‘Singham’ was shot on film in Goa, Gokarna (Karnataka) and Mumbai. Naveen Paul, VFX Supervisor says, “Pixion delivered above 800 VFX shots for the movie with the support of around 120 artists. Apart from the time being a challenge, the action sequences required a lot of effort to be delivered seamlessly. There is a shot where 5 goons jump out of a crashed jeep which is a multi plate composite and required a lot of time and efforts”.
Pavan Rajesh, Associate VFX supervisor shed some light on the scope of work saying, “Beyond that there were sequences that we altered from day to night, Wire removals, Floor replacements, Roof creations, CG element additions, Sky replacements, Set extensions, Chroma sequences and clean up shots. Pixion has completed the entire work within the short time span”.
Nelson Dsouza, VFX Producer asserts, “We achieved 40 mins of VFX in a very short span of time and there were a lot of sequences that required major attention. We have also created the Singham Logo, Theatrical promos, Opening Title packaging, packaging for TV promos and packaging in the film.”
Singham is over-the-top retro kitsch, spilling over with high-voltage stunts, slow-motion action cuts and fiery dialogues delivered in high decibels. It revolves around Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan), the archetypal honest cop who keeps his native village, Shivgad, crime free with his special system of dispensing personalised justice. However, his idyll is broken after a chance encounter with city goon, Jayakant Shikre (Prakash Raj) who rules over Goa with his ill-gotten wealth and power. Out of a sense of vengeance, Shikre gets Singham transferred to Goa and tries to wreak havoc in his life. But he obviously underestimates the power of this diehard cop who knows how to work the system his way.
Pixion, has been associated with the director, Rohit Shetty for many years and has worked for his movies like ‘Sunday’, ‘Golmaal Returns’, ‘All the Best’, ‘Golmaal 3’ and the latest ‘Singham’. Rohit Shetty has also designed all the action sequences of the movie and Pixion has supported him in delivering them efficiently to the audience.
The movie ‘Singham’ was shot on film in Goa, Gokarna (Karnataka) and Mumbai. Naveen Paul, VFX Supervisor says, “Pixion delivered above 800 VFX shots for the movie with the support of around 120 artists. Apart from the time being a challenge, the action sequences required a lot of effort to be delivered seamlessly. There is a shot where 5 goons jump out of a crashed jeep which is a multi plate composite and required a lot of time and efforts”.
Pavan Rajesh, Associate VFX supervisor shed some light on the scope of work saying, “Beyond that there were sequences that we altered from day to night, Wire removals, Floor replacements, Roof creations, CG element additions, Sky replacements, Set extensions, Chroma sequences and clean up shots. Pixion has completed the entire work within the short time span”.
Nelson Dsouza, VFX Producer asserts, “We achieved 40 mins of VFX in a very short span of time and there were a lot of sequences that required major attention. We have also created the Singham Logo, Theatrical promos, Opening Title packaging, packaging for TV promos and packaging in the film.”
Other key people that contributed to the work are Pavan Rajesh- Associate VFX supervisor, Ranadheer Reddy - Comp Head, Nelson D‘souza - VFX Producer, Chandrakanth Shenoy -Lead matte paint, Dinesh Solanki - Lead Compositor, Intekab - Lead Compositor, Jagadeesh Nair - Motion Graphics, Sudhir Tripathi- CG Lead, Viral Thakkar - CGI Head.
info@platoonindia.com
info@platoonindia.com
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