special effects
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Disney built an AI that can easily make actors look younger or older
FRAN could help make it less time-consuming and expensive to re-age an actor.
'Cats' is getting new special effects while it's still in theaters
You've seen movies receive visual touch-ups in special edition re-releases, but Universal is trying something new: it's updating a movie while it's still in the middle of its initial theatrical run. The media giant has informed theaters that it's giving them a new version of Cats that delivers "some improved visual effects," according to a memo Hollywood Reporter saw. Insiders talking to the publication said that director Tom Hooper wanted to alter some of the effects after rushing to get the movie ready in time for its December 16th premiere screening.
Watch how a CGI-heavy 'Game of Thrones' zombie battle was made
(Warning: spoilers ahead.) The spectacular Game of Thrones 'Hardhome' battle scene with white walkers, zombie-like wights and wildings is pretty VFX-heavy, judging by a new video from effects house El Ranchito. Highlights include Jon Snow slashing a walker into shards of crystal, battle scenes with the giant Wun Wun, and wights -- so many hordes of wights. Despite having TV's highest budget, the show doesn't rely overly on digital effects, using them sparingly on gore and dragons, we imagine. However, Snow actor Kit Harrington said that the 'Hardhome' battle "is so CGI-heavy it's unlike anything I've ever done on Thrones."
This video will make you miss the heyday of animatronic puppets
Sure, CGI has come a long way. But there's still something magical about practical special effects in films. At Engadget Expand, we got a close look at some of the most intriguing work from animatronics expert Mark Setrakian. You've probably seen his stuff: He created the tiny, head-mounted alien that delivered some crucial plot information to Will Smith in Men in Black. He specializes in creating complex animatronics that appear surreally lifelike. (He particularly enjoys building terrifying robotic hands.)
A look at how 'Jurassic Park' and its CGI dinosaurs changed cinema
Here's a fun piece of trivia: Steven Spielberg was originally going to use stop-motion animation for the dinosaur sequences in Jurassic Park. That's right, one of the most iconic films in the world, a landmark in the evolution of CGI almost ended up looking like Jason and the Argonauts. Thankfully, when the director approached Industrial Light and Magic about adding motion blur to his model raptors, the special effects house managed to convince him that completely computer-generated dinosaurs were the way to go. And the rest, as they say is history. After the break is a nice short film from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences that tells the tale from start to finish, and even gives you sneak peeks at the stop-motion test footage and the first batch of CGI proofs of concept.
Efexio adds Hollywood style visual effects to your iOS videos
Efexio is a free universal app (with many in-app purchase options) that lets you add professional visual effects to videos you shoot on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The app comes with free dinosaur and dragon effects, and you can purchase more from within the app. The extra effects are US$1.99 each. Efexio excels with the control of the effects. You can rotate them, change the lighting position, add haze, and even adjust the color cast to smoothly integrate the effects into your videos. The objects cast shadows, which makes them all the more realistic. You can take a video from within the app, or use one you have already taken. Effects are easier to add if the camera is held very steady or on a tripod. Once a video is created, you can share it to YouTube, Facebook or email it. Movies are not rendered at full resolution; you can choose 640 x 360 or 960 x 540. The Pro Version of the various effects, a $9.99 upgrade for each (!), gives you high-resolution output. The effects are from Tippett Studios. Phil Tippett is a special effects legend, and his work includes Jurassic Park, RoboCop and Matrix Revolutions. Using the app was fairly straightforward, although I had to refer to the manual a couple of times. The icons for editing are not always intuitive, but once you use the app, the workflow is pretty easy to follow. Efexio provides video tutorials online. I had a couple of crashes when loading an external video. The crashes didn't happen consistently, but frequently enough to be irritating. The nearest competition to Efexio is Action Movie FX, also a free app with plenty of in-app purchase options. The app has similar features and also high-quality output. Both apps get excellent ratings from users. Efexio also plans to offer an OS X version of the app. Efexio for iOS requires iOS 6.0 or greater, and is optimized for the iPhone 5. %Gallery-195605%
New Firefall dev diary discusses special effects
When asked what you do, do you get to answer "I blow sh** up for a living"? The folks in special effects do, and that's the best part about working in the gaming industry according to Adam Kupratis, visual FX artist for Red 5 Studios. In Firefall's latest dev diary, Adam and colleague Marc McCall, technical artist, sit back and talk about developing the special effects in the game. The team emphasizes that they aim to make Firefall very visually different than other games. Amid the technical discussion, the video also offers footage demonstrating some of the different effects. You can check them out after the break.
Daily iPhone App: PyroPainter is special FX made easy on the iPhone
There's been an explosion of special effects videos on YouTube over the past few years. Because the technology to create special effects has gotten so cheap and so easy to use, basement video editors of all kinds have put together videos of themselves throwing fireballs or fighting with lightsabers against their cats. PyroPainter takes this idea to an even easier place: It's an iPhone app that lets you add special effects to videos as simple as dragging and dropping them across the screen. The app's instructions are unfortunately a little sparse, but once you figure out how it all works, it's really simple. You upload one of your previously recorded videos into the app, choose an effect from the huge library and "paint" it across the screen with your finger. Anything you add gets added to the video, and you can then go back and watch the video while dragging or deleting the effects as you like. Once done, the video gets rendered right there in the app, and sent back to your video library, in full HD form, where you can send it off to YouTube or watch it on AirPlay. It's very impressive. There are already a few demo videos on YouTube, but I hope to see even more cool demos put together by users in the future. PyroPainter is a free download, and there are two packs of special effects to buy for 99 cents each with more to come. Developer Markus Nigrin has also released a second app available for free to celebrate the launch of PyroPainter: Photo Extractor is something he came up with during development of the effects app. It will allow you to grab HD photos from any video on the iPhone, and then save those off to the photo reel on their own. It's a much simpler function than the full effects app, but it could be very helpful for that specific need.
Fusion-io announces ioFX, a super-SSD that's already garnered an Oscar
You've heard of Fusion-io, right? It produces super-SSDs with the teeth-whitening ioMemory that's so fast it can manage a billion input and output operations every second. Now it's bundling that gear into a workstation PCIe card for FX professionals and speed-conscious multi millionaires. Capable of delivering 1.5GB/s (we checked, GB/s) of bandwidth, it's capable of previewing 3D movie effects on the fly. The gear's even managed to cover itself in Academy awards after it was used by studio Pixomondo on the special effects for Martin Scorsese's "Hugo." A 420GB model will arrive in late Spring, setting you (or more likely, your departmental budget) back $2,495 with an inclusive one-year support contract.
Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' Blu-ray 3D set for release February 28th -- 3D haters beware
Considering that Hugo was a flick capable of earning 4 out of 4 stars from noted 3D hater Roger Ebert, it will be interesting to see how it's received upon its home release February 28th. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and currently rocking a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the fantasy tale of a boy who crosses paths with legendary filmmaker Georges Méliès in 1930s Paris may be the best example yet of how an artist can make use of the effect. The two hour six minute flick will be available in Blu-ray 3D combo pack, and 2D Blu-ray editions, with a 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack and special featurettes on the making of the film and the real magician/director who inspired the story.The release date is two days after the Academy Awards, and if this flick can snag Best Picture or Best Director it could become a turning point for 3D. New 3D movies are already on deck from other high-profile directors like Ridley Scott (Alien prequel Prometheus) and Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby), while big budget conversions like Star Wars -- coming to theaters next week -- and already-sold-out-for-Valentines Day Titanic test the waters for older movies. Add in sports broadcasts planned including UFC 143 tonight and the London Olympics in the summer, and 2012 is shaping up to be an especially rough year for 3D haters -- you have our deepest sympathies. Those on the other side of the fence can check after the break for a press release with more details and (2D) theatrical trailer, it's currently available on Amazon for preorders at $27.99, 2D only is $21.99.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon clip breaks down shooting movies, special effects in 3D (video)
The Transformers: Dark of the Moon Limited Edition Blu-ray 3D doesn't hit the streets officially until next week, but you can get a look at one of the special features early right here. In this video clip director Michael Bay and other members of the production team explain some of the special challenges that came with shooting the special-effects heavy movie in 3D. It required changes to his usual frenetic cutting style with fewer pans and longer shots, as well as extra work by the editors on each element of animation overlaid on each frame. For a longer discussion about the background of shooting the flick you can check out an interview featuring Bay and 3D-master James Cameron here, otherwise just press play, or check out the press release after the break for a full list of special features included when he disc debuts January 31st.
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite combat ability in any game?
You may not like the fact that combat is a consistent part of most MMOs, but it remains a truism. And in a way, it's better like that, because it means we get a much wider array of spectacular combat abilities to choose from. From Ultima Online onward, players have been able to unleash a variety of devastating and frequently impractical attacks against harmful enemies, until they're essentially leveling thermonuclear warheads at an average forest squirrel. City of Heroes allows you to rip opponents through a wormhole. Final Fantasy XIV lets you incinerate land and earth around your target. Guild Wars lets you unleash a series of cuts too fast for the eye to follow. Out of all the destructive and sometimes ridiculous skills you've seen in MMOs, what qualifies as your absolute favorites? Are they abilities with impractical uses but a lot of flair behind them or solid workhorse abilities that might not look as spectacular but work like a charm? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
'Pixels' short film imagines the coolest apocalypse ever
We're totally expecting December 20, 2012 to come and go without bringing about the end of existence as we know it -- but should the end of days actually befall us, we think we'd want it to look like Patrick Jean's latest short film, "Pixels." There's something about the prospect of everyone and everything turning into glossy, multicolored cubes that really tickles our fancy more than a bevy of natural disasters or aggressive, bureaucratic aliens ever could. Check out the two-and-a-half-minute film after the jump.
Sin City Recut, Extended and Unrated Blu-ray special features previewed
A highly stylized flick like Sin City is sure to look great in high definition, so you're probably already planning to grab when it the Recut, Extended and Unrated version hits Blu-ray this week. For those who can't wait or are on the fence, MovieWeb has this quick snippet (embedded after the break) of Cine-Explore Bonus View special footage from the home version that shows off how the special effects were done while the movie plays on in the background. Other than that, the disc packs a couple commentary tracks, a 5.1 audio track including audience reaction (apparently so you can pretend you're at one of those movie theaters you no longer go to) and an interactive comic book.
EVE Evolved: Making EVE beautiful
When it was released back in 2003, EVE Online was one of the most visually impressive games on the market. Over the coming years, the graphics aged gracefully next to competitors on the market and all seemed well. Nonetheless, CCP were not content to let their flagship game's graphics eventually go out of date. In true CCP style, they developed a long-term staged delivery plan for the complete overhaul of the game's graphics. The first stage of delivery came with the Trinity expansion, in which a premium client was launched with incredible high resolution ship models. This was just the first stage in a plan to keep EVE graphically ahead of any competitors. In this technical article, I look at the science of making EVE beautiful and examine CCP's plans for the future.
Mechanical heart built from Sony gear still pines for AIBO
As much as we'd like this to be a still from a new, secretly-in-development Cronenberg movie, it's actually an image of the nightmare-inducing mechanical heart that stars in a new series of Sony ads set to air during England's World Cup qualifying campaign on ITV. The hook, of course, is that the heart is apparently built (by special effects house Artem) almost entirely from Sony gear, including parts from BRAVIA TVs, Blu-ray players, VAIO laptops, Cybershot cameras, PS3s, and even the odd Walkman. No word of any public showings of the heart just yet, but you can check out one of the commercials after the break, and another by hitting up the read link below.
