Remote Ronin — The VFX WFH Revolution
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 …
Space Academy and Beyond — Filmation’s Saturday Morning VFX
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 …
The AVATAR Adventure in IMAX3D – a short review.
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 Missing Millennium Falcon — THE ARTIST REVEALED!
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 …
RED ROVERS – an UnReal short film.
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 — …
Digital Makeup Chronicles 3 — A Piece of Cake
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 …
VFXarcheology: Part 6 — The Un-solved Star Wars Caper
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 …
The Missing Millennium Falcon — FOUND!
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 …
Inverse Light Probes and MatCap Re-lighting
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 …
AGsketchbook — January 15, 2018
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
Digital Makeup Chronicles 2 — The Life of Brian
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 …
The VFX War: Part 5 — Sleep Is For The Weak
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, …
Tracking for FRINGE Effect — Performance Transfer in Production
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_NEWS: How To Scan A Person In Less Than Five Minutes — Article Link
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 …
Lost Concepts: Part 4 — Transformers
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 …
VFX Archaeology: Part 4 — Nurnies and Greeblies
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 …
Rogue One — A Format Wars Story
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 …
VFX Archaeology: Part 3 — Starship Troopers
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 …
VFX Between Shots — Get Up and Build Something Real
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 …
Lost Concepts: Part 3 — Falling Skies
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 …
How We Faked The Moon Landing: Part 4 — The Visual Effects of Magnificent Desolation
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 …
Starfleet Shipyards — October 1996
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 …