RFX, Inc. →

rfx.com:

Highlights of the latest release include upgrades to 3D compositing, Alembic geometry support, and image based modeling, which enables building simple geometry from a 2D clip. See demonstrations of the rewritten PointCloudGenerator node, the brand new ZDefocus node, the new shadow casting features, and more.

Prolost - Blog - 4K in the Home →

Prolost.com:

I never doubted that last year’s push of 3D televisions would fall on its face, but I do worry about consumers being tricked into thinking 4K matters, because they were with 1080p. Many friends ignored my advice to go for the crisp plasma blacks of the 720p Kuro and instead opted for a 1080p set, due to the same inability to shake the sense of more-is-always-more that drives consumers to buy increasingly high-megapixel point-and-shoot cameras.

The reason why doesn't matter. Will people buy them. And yes they will. America only wants bigger and sharper. Even if they have no idea what it means.

Prolost - Blog - Race Around the Track: 20 Years of After Effects →

Stu Maschwitz:

Adobe After Effects is celebrating its 20 year anniversary. I’ve only been using it for 17 of those years, but I’m pretty sure I’ve packed about 100 years of use into that time.

Only 100 years Stu?

Don Cayo: This film-subsidies sequel is boring and repetitive →

By Don Cayo:

But even if the petition-writer’s worst hyperbolic nightmare came true and all 25,000 film and TV workers lost their jobs, where would this leave the rest of us?

Everyone knows there is no such thing as free money

fxguidetv #165: Scott Metzger on MARI and HDR →

fxguide.com:

This week we feature a presentation from visual effects artist Scott Metzger, who demonstrates how he used a special build of The Foundry’s MARI tool to project HDR set-captured environment data onto geometry. The work was done for director Richard LaGravenese’s Beautiful Creatures, coming out in 2013.

Cool stuff.

125 Years of National Geographic →

Paula Nelson:

I've been a fan of the photography and the stories featured in National Geographic Magazine since I was a child. I explored the world by simply turning the pages. It featured some of the most amazing and groundbreaking photography then and it's never stopped finding new ways to surprise. On January 13, 2013, the National Geographic Society will celebrate its 125th anniversary and its evolution from a small scientific body to one of the world's largest educational and scientific organizations committed to inspiring people to care about the planet. The Society has shared some images that represent those moments of discovery and will continue in its 126th year, to provide a front-row seat to what's happening at the extremes of exploration - bringing everyone along for the ride through its storytelling and photography. You can even "hangout" with some of it's more prominent explorers Jane Goodall, James Cameron and Robert Ballard, on the anniversary date, 1 p.m. EST

Rare Photo of Hiroshima Bombing Found in a Japanese Elementary School →

DL Cade:

In an age where horrifying events are often captured from many vantage points, many times over, the magnitude of the find is easy to misunderstand. In reality, the photo is one of only two very clear photos that show the cloud in two tiers — the other was taken from the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb.

I have always been touched by this story.

Hardware History →

Mark Mayerson:

People who entered the animation business in the recent past have lived totally within a digital world. But before computers, animation had its own set of very specific hardware, developed from the 1910s onward to facilitate the creation of cartoons.

Mark: used to explain sometimes how he would do the shot on a optical printer. When you are stuck in a box this made the shot seem much more simple.

GREEN SCREEN PLATES →

hollywoodcamerawork.us:

It has always irritated us that there are no green screen and VFX plates around the internet you can just download and play with -- everything is owned by some production. So we decided to donate some of the interesting plates from Visual Effects For Directors to the community, so you can download them and practice keying, matchmoving, compositing, tracking, and much more!

These look to be great if you want to practice your keying. Sometimes its not a easy as it looks.

VES Announces Nominees for 11th Annual VES Awards →

By Jeff Heusser

Los Angeles – The Visual Effects Society (VES) is pleased to announce the nominees for the 11th Annual VES Awards, which recognize outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were selected Saturday, January 5 by VES members at SPY/ a FotoKem Company in the Bay Area and at FotoKem in Burbank in California; and at Blue Sky Studios in New York, Weta Digital in New Zealand, Fuel VFX in Sydney, Molinare in the UK and Image Engine in Vancouver.

Just in case you missed it.