Effects Corner: Oh, the mess we’re in! →

Scott Squires:

The visual effects industry is still having problems and they’re getting worse. R&H looks like their filling for Chapter 11. Why do companies have to underbid and close? Why are artists losing jobs without notice? If visual effects is helping to create most of the successful films of all time, why do we have so little leverage? Why do companies and artists have so little control over what’s happening?

 

Who's next is the question we all should be asking. This can happen to any of us at anytime. No matter how good you are at your job. Sometimes being good is not enough.

The 2013 Sony World Photography Awards - In Focus - The Atlantic →

theatlantic.com:

The Sony World Photography Awards, an annual competition hosted by the World Photography Organisation, has recently announced its shortlist of winners. This year's contest attracted more than 122,000 entries from 170 countries. The photographs are being judged in six different competition categories, including Professional, Open, and Student Focus. The organizers have been kind enough to share some of their shortlisted images with In Focus, gathered below. Winners are scheduled to be announced in March and April. 

 

Another Smart Quote From Stu Maschwitz →

Another sad day. http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/oscar-nominated-vfx-rhythm-and-hues-filing-bankruptcy/ … When LIFE OF PI wins the VFX Oscar, there’ll be a mic, an audience, and a unique opportunity.

More From Fxguide[R&H Chapter 11] →

By Mike Seymour:

Fxguide believes that around 9pm Pacific, R&H did call a group of people to tell them that they were being laid off because the company was going to be seeking Chapter 11 protection.  The Deadline article may make it seem to some readers that all employees were let go. This is definitely not the case from what we understand.

 

Rhythm & Hues To File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Today | Cartoon Brew →

By Amid Amidi:

Animation studio Rhythm & Hues began informing its employees tonight that they will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday morning. According to a report on Deadline, the studio can no longer pay its employees and they are being asked not to come into work on Monday at the studio’s West LA headquarters.

 

Sorry to hear this. Make sure to have a look in the comments.

Here is a link to there demo reel

This week at fxphd – Nuke and modo →

By Ian Failes:

This week in fxphd, we take a look at what fxphd profs Matt Leonard and Ben Greasley have been teaching recently in our NUKE 7 and modo workflow course – NUK221. The course delves into modo’s modeling, animation, dynamics, shading, lighting and rendering abilities, and explores over two dozen new NUKE 7 features.

The Compounding Challenge of DreamWorks Animation Layoffs →

The argument has always been that if VFX facilities had margins like DreamWorks, many of the bad conditions would go away. This is why some advocate that facilities join a trade organization instead of the workers joining a union. I’m an advocate for both and this recent event at DreamWorks is exactly why I argue that the Hollywood industry is so heavily unionized:

Even with huge margins, great conditions, and their own IP, studios will gaps in between projects leading to layoffs.

Luckily for the unionized artists laid off at DreamWorks LA, many of them will be able to keep their health insurance for their families for up to 12-18 months. Unless there is a special provision for the non-unionized artists of DreamWorks PDI, they will lose their health insurance in the first month they are laid off.

Bad Visual Effects Business Practices →

Scott Squires:

Some of the key problems include compressed post-production schedules that require overtime from the start just to complete the work on time, never ending changes from clients until the film is in theaters, film incentives shifting where and why work is awarded and increased competition from more visual effects companies.

There are a lot of problems with the visual effects industry. I would also argue that the Whole motion picture industry is in a bad spot right now. Even production crew memebers are having to travel. It used to be that you would only go to exotic locations for a few weeks if you were lucky. The rest of the time was spent on a stage in Burbank.

Free work and money is a hard thing to give up. Look at the recent R&H news. While most of it is talk and from what I hear the artist are taking it that way [just talk]. It doesn't bode well to be in debt to 3 studios.

Nuke 7.0v2 Roto node's FRUSTRATING BUGS ! ! ! →

Philippe Roberge:

  • Sometimes, after your roto is all done, some points decide to go to the 0,0 position
  • When you do a "ctrl-z", the "undo" is applied BUT random keyframes are adde throughout the shot.
  • NOW THE MOST FRUSTRATING I was all done, everything was working, I saved, sent it to render farm and left. When I came back this morning and loaded the same script, several shapes were out of place and/or had different keyframes!!! Now, I have to completely redo these shapes!

We are having the same bugs with the Roto Node. When I sent these bugs to support the responded it was a corrupted Nuke script, and mot bugs.

Really Now!