To the IMAX Moon and Beyond Filming on location is not an option. 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 …
To the IMAX Moon and Beyond We didn’t have their giant rockets, so we faked it later. 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 …
To the IMAX Moon and Beyond The Moon landings were real — we faked it later. On September 23, 2005, Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon in 3D released on giant IMAX screens. A 4K stereo3D experience of the Moon landings, and speculative missions from the past and future — which at …
Exploring the Evolution of a Lost Shot From Script to Screen [Image from the Empire Strikes Back Blu-ray. Color correction emphasizes blue spill that was normally lost to viewer.] The near final shot of The Empire Strikes Back (TESB) of the Millenium Falcon flying off into the sunset — or rather …
Join VFX. See The World! I love my Skechers Midway tennis shoes. Older, used pairs of the shoe sit in the back of my closet in vain hope for a re-issue of the particular model — eventually I face reality and have to throw them out. I really like how …
Simple and Fun VFX Distraction. We all love high end Visual Effects, but anyone who loves them as much as those who do it for a career, sometimes enjoy the simplicity of doing things the film school/garage band way. As kids we devoured Cinemagic, and Cinefex magazines, and hand back-wound …
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Stereo Conversion is Awe Inspiring and You Should See It. In a darkened IMAX3D theater I saw Star Wars: the Force Awakens for the second time. My first viewing was at the Motion Picture Academy screening with JJ Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Roger Guyett, and many others. …
Writing Code For VFX Solves Problems, and Motivates Others It is my supposition that everyone in the visual effects business should learn to program, even a little bit, as it opens avenues that were once barriers. Whether writing the code, or just “breaking the code,” it is necessary to expand …
“I sit on the beach, drink instant coffee, and dive when I can.” Jason Jue On April 5, 2015, The Digital Makeup Initiative, Stereo VFX, and Stereo Conversion Communities lost one of its pioneers. Jason Jue, VFX supervisor, compositor, and avid diver passed away. Those who knew him grieve with …
The Digital Legacy of One of the world’s first 3D scanned actors. I’d hoped to have written this before it happened. You never know how much you appreciate something, or someone until they are gone. I was one of the generation raised in a world where the name SPOCK meant …
Selfie Portrait of the VFX artist #AGsketchbook
The Lost Concept Series explores production designs by Johnathan Banta that never saw the light of day — until now. There is always so much work that goes into an entertainment property that no one ever sees. Were it not for the books that chronicle the preproduction of Star Wars, …
Digital doodle on custom made background. This was an exercise in creating an ink-stained paper look from scratch with digital paintbrushes. #AGsketchbook AG
It Came From the 1990’s Okay, this will take a little bit of back-story… In 1997, I started to write an article in conjunction with Digital Domain’s Andre Bustanoby (fresh off of Titanic VFX) for the (now archival) website VFXHQ. This article was to chronicle what we saw as the beginning of a new …
Digital Makeup Shines at VES Awards The Visual Effects Society has nominated Hemlock Grove as one of its finalists for best visual effects in a television program. It is an achievement to have digital makeup effects (dMFX) nominated for such a prestigious award, and hopefully a trend for the community …
Drew this in 2011 inspired by an involved process starting with a new client. It’s funny how often this rings true. #HarvsWorld
Using Motion Vectors as Fluid Forces I was stuck. The particular scene In front of me required that a character from existing footage be combined with tentacles of my own making, repositioned to come out of water at the edge of screen, combined with a sky matte painting, …
Almost Human Concept Art Occasionally a sketch can become something else. I have taken to the iPad for illustration, as many have over the past few years. it is convenient, and allows me to do more finished work as well as sketch on-the-fly. Tasked to do some concept illustrations …
Evolution of a Design This article contains an image recreated from memory of an actual photo in an ex-ILMer’s archive — it is a re-creation for research purposes only, and not an official StarWars art piece. (However, the design has been verified to exist in the LFL archives by an insider.) …
The Pride of Frankenstein #AGSketchbook
Two Simple Tricks For Professional Results. After the 1995 film Jumanji, checking the color of composited elements in a Visual effects scene was all about gamma blasting, and adjusting black levels. That rule-of-thumb changed during the 2002 Spider-Man talk at SIGGRAPH, as two new composite analysis methods leapt to the forefront to …
