One Year of Content and Cool Directions. Well folks, it is officially the first anniversary of the AG_Punkwerks blog (Sept. 11 is the actual date, but it went live in October). Thanks for your readership, and continued enthusiasm for the odd collection of things roughly hung from the limbs of …
#HarvsWorld In film school 1990. Harv was set to make his college newspaper run at this time. These cameras are a thing of the past now. AG
Retro Harv’s World re-drawn for your enjoyment. If you do VFX for a living, you will understand. The Origins of GIGA-Harv. #HarvsWorld
The Great Dust Bowl 2 There is little to no rain in California. For the last several years the once verdant fields of this great American state (both in size and productivity) have produced fewer crops as water restrictions expand every year. Los Angeles, is a desert, and has always …
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To VFX. It all started in 1982 with a sketch in the corner of the Social Studies notebook (I probably was not paying attention anyway). Originally an alien life form, not quite sure from where, but cute. I’d already spent several years drawing Danger …
An Accomplished VFX Artist Leaves A Clandestine Legacy • Richard Edlund, a close friend of Laine, kindly contributed this card, drawn by Laine for the Holidays. Thank you, Richard. • People working the visual effects field are often artists in many different disciplines. Many are cartoonists who draw …
The title is not spelled wrong. Guerrillas are crafty, live by the seat of their pants fighters on the front lines. Gorillas are rough, hit-it-with-your-fists solvers of problems. Both of these are distinct VFX mind-sets we embrace. This series explores solutions to problems that are a little unorthodox, but effective. …
Information and title updated 03/20/2014 A patch from the old Boss Film Days. The 65MM in the title says it all. I was there at the end. Richard Edlund’s BOSS film studios (named after his favorite shotgun, but originally BOSS FILM CORPORATION **) was a powerhouse of creativity. It …
Kerry O’Quinn’s Penultimate Magazine Online Library. In several boxes in my garage sit almost every copy of Starlog Magazine up to issue 100. They are in various conditions, some tattered, some torn, all well read. They are an archive library. For those who did not live in Los Angeles, and …
Hollywood’s Juvenile Response to Brilliance. For 2014 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences promises in a Variety article to “get the visual effects presentation right this year.” They are in reference to last year’s global debacle of a presentation after The Life of Pi was played offstage as …
Youtube Analysis Of VFX Documentary Viewers. In 2008 I added a Youtube Channel, dedicated to collecting, and favoriting links to documentaries and inspiring visual effects. I uploaded several of the documentaries that I enjoyed as I was growing up (and had to take a few of them down — thank …
Splitting Up to Carry On. Government kickbacks are not the only concern weighing on the VFX industry. We have innovated our way into solving everyone else’s problems, taking on the burden that used to belong to other departments. VFX have threatened the jobs of other parts of the industry for …
Todd Masters and Johnathan Banta At The Digital Days Conference. The Digital Days Conference kicks off Saturday Feb 1, 2014. Todd Masters and Johnathan Banta (spelled wrong on their website) of MastersFX join a panel Sunday to talk about the convergence of practical and digital effects. Join us as we …
Scribbling is the Universal Language. If a picture is worth a thousand words, it is likely that two thousand words will be required to properly describe how to correct a problem in a stereo 3D converted image. I have seen the notes go on for pages (dictated some of them …
Focusing the Hatred of the Galaxy, a Digital Star is Born! There are long diatribes on the Internet tearing George Lucas to shreds for the creation of Jar Jar Binks. Such vile hatred for a character in a movie —an individual that does not exist — is curious. Normally this level of …
Fun With Photoscan. A year ago I started playing more with Agisoft Photoscan software, at the behest of a very respected VFX artist. It is now a professional tool in my kit, but also a hobby. On the hobby side it is always fun to do things guerrilla style on …
Visual Effects Stories Losing Their Fire? I remember when something unusual happened while making Special Effects, it was bandied about in a good story, either in a magazine, or as an urban legend. When an artist had a particular view of his or her work, they would let it be …
We Are Eating Ourselves. It’s almost as if someone planned it. A Macivelian overlord sat down one day, scheming how to drive down prices, institute near slave-driven hours (without compensation as often as possible) by arbitrarily putting a date on a calendar, increase their profits, pay for no benefits, accept …
Updating the 1850’s French Innovation. In part one of this series about Stereo 3D, we discussed the use of stereo anaglyph images as a tool for stereo artists and supervisors, not just for novelty 3D prints, and late night 3D festivals on TV. Lightweight, and easily viewable in many situations, …
Photoscan Software in Action — Where Have You Been All My Life? Just for Halloween: 3D pumpkins! AgiSoft’s Photoscan is a stunning development for visual effects production. It is at its root designed for virtual map making, but is agile enough for full-body scans in action poses. Yes, there are …
poppa_day.mp4 Great British VFX Documentaries Online. From Poppa Day to Matte Painting in the 60’s and 70’s, Dennis Lowes webpage is an amazing documentary resource of visual effects in Britain. Want some in-depth information on the making of Alien you did not know? He has multiple interviews on video with …
By any other Name it is Good Old Fashioned Sculpture. The term Dimensionalization should leave the lexicon of stereo conversion. First off, it is a buzz-word that Madison Avenue could have invented that says very little about the process, and it also calls forth images of an automated process that …
