Probably the most amazing thing about the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, aside from the stellar visual effects, production design, music, acting, editing, cinematography, and stunts (have I missed anything?), is the incredible writing and world building. It goes far beyond its amusement park beginnings. Curse of the Black …
Have Laptop Will Travel Recently, a producer friend of mine mentioned that I’ve worked remotely for a very long time, even before the lockdowns and before the remote shops popped up in the mid-2000s. With a hearty laptop (the first one courtesy of Tim Sassoon), and a good home setup I’ve …
In 1977 Everything Changed. Saying that Star Wars altered entertainment and society forever may not be an exaggeration. It’s hard for those not around in 1977 to understand the significant impact that the biggest blockbuster since JAWS had on society (similar to that of the Beatles in 1964). Due to …
Avatar Is a Stunning Stereo3D Work of Art—Here is Why. Aside from a spiffy special presentation poster at the door of the feature, what is my takeaway from the IMAX 3D presentation of AVATAR? My history with stereo3D filmmaking informs me a lot about the process, and I’ll go into a little …
The Original Falcon Heavy It is about time we closed this saga. This will require a recap: [part1][part2] In 2014 I saw an image that I’d never seen before, of the Millennium Falcon design, as it evolved from the Blockade Runner concept. For those of you unfamiliar with Star Wars …
A Cheap and Simple Method to Siphon Your Pool. To my normal readers – this is the most non-VFX post I’ve ever made. But like most of the world, I work from home a lot more, so little issues creep in every now and then and take over your time. …
Madcap adventures of robots on Mars! I have been informed that this video is being shown to students as an example of what UnReal can do. That is very kind, so I will endeavor to make my first experience in Unreal Engine, a learning experience for someone else — …
Melting Faces For Falling Skies With Baking Goods and Computers WARNING: This article contains simulated gore, and may not be suitable for children under the age of 12 (after that age, you may have to contain their glee). One of the more frightening and effective images over the history of …
A Legend Lost Not Found Updated 04/17/19 In 1977 Star Wars stunned the world, and changed cinema forever. It was a long, hard slog for creator George Lucas, who suffered physical ailments, and the possibility of financial ruin due to to all the challenges of the film. All the …
Found: One Actual Millennium Falcon Transitional Variant. Inquire Within. This image is from the SOLO, a Star Wars Story art book. It shows an almost completely unknown variant of the early design of the Millennium Falcon, and attributes it to Joe Johnston. This attribution may be in error, as new …
Geometry-based MatCap light probes, and re-lighting in compositing. Light Probes and a Little VFX History We will get into the subject at hand soon enough. First let’s set the context: Photographs of chrome spheres are used in visual effects production to record actual location lighting and reflection. These are …
Messing Around With Dragons So many zBrush sculpts are littered with detail. I still like the feel of clay smoothed with fingers, with minimal detailing. This is an exercise to emulate that look digitally. Besides, dragons are fun! #AGsketchbook AG
Practically Effective The addition of Digital Makeup in Falling Skies actually expanded the use of practical effects. I know that may shock some of you to read. In a time when computer Generated Imagery frequently replaces the practical world, this syndicated, wrapped series bucked the trend. Practical makeup artists used …
I’d Like To Sleep For A Week. I wrote this article in 2014: As I sit here working another wee hour on a project, I am beginning to envy my cat. As is mostly the case, I am awake because I love what I do, and fitting in another job, …
Grabbing an Actor’s Performance In 2008 concepts and methods developed working on 3D conversion for IMAX films combined to solve a problem at Zoic studios for the Bad Robot TV series FRINGE. Those IMAX3D films required large amounts of match moved geometry to generate depth information. During that time I …
AG_RapidCapture In The Open Something I am working on, provided an opportunity for a recent article with VFX author Ian Failes covering one of the techniques in my AG_RapidCapture series (in development). Essentially trying to get down to bare bones photogrammetry, best practices, rig designs, and so forth. This article …
An Idea On Its Own During the production of Transformers: The Movie, I was asked to submit some ideas for poster designs, and other concepts to sell the motion picture. I knew it was a Michael Bay film, and that he had a love for fast cars, scantily clad perfect …
You can’t talk about #greebles without mentioning, likely the most iconic miniature ever shot, the #starwars #stardestroyer at only 3 feet long -@FonHDavis Context is Everything Modern cinema maintains a series of technical terms via oral tradition, that really no longer make sense. How many people really itnow the origin of terms like …
During a screening of Doctor Strange at a Visual Effects Society event, someone asked the film’s Director whether he preferred the 3D version, or the 2D version? He said: “I am torn, as I love the 3D version, but also the Expanded Dynamic Range version as well.” I gravitate …
Recollections of BOSS FILM STUDIOS A recent post of one of my photos from Starship Troopers on social media erupted into a lengthy discussion about the BOSS Film work, some of which has heretofore received little mention. Following is a summary of that discussion, beefed up with a little …
With Your Own Two Hands When I was a kid, I built things with my hands. Clay, wood, paper, tape, wire, and film combined together were enough to make a movie. If you had a motion picture or still camera, you could forge the materials of this world into worlds of …
Concept Art by Johnathan Banta As part of any creative process, there are a lot of abandoned avenues and choices. When a final design concept is approved, all other art is shelved and a final creation guided from approved art. It is an evolution, sometimes directed, and occasionally as a …
To the IMAX Moon and Beyond Moon Flight Science! On September 23, 2005, Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon in 3D released on giant IMAX screens. It is a 4K stereo3D experience of the Moon landings, and speculative missions from the past and future. The film was honored with the …
In October 1996 the best place for any devotee of Star Trek to be was the Starfleet Shipyards. These are not the in-cannon fabled shipyards of Mars, nor are they the near earth orbit construction dry-docks. They are definitely not a large ground-based construction facility in Iowa. The Starfleet shipyards were …
