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'Stranger Things' VFX artists show how imploding rats came to life
Stranger Things 3 packed plenty of punch, not least because of the horrifying monsters that terrorized the residents of Hawkins. A great deal of work went into the creatures and the rest of the season's visuals, and VFX house Rodeo FX has released a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the effects came into shape. The videos spoil some of the season's more impressive shots, so you might want to hold off if you haven't finished Stranger Things 3 yet.
'Black Panther' is amazing. Why are its CG models so terrible?
Black Panther is a refreshing answer to the increasingly stale world of superhero cinema. But there's one glaring flaw throughout the film: its use of CG models to replace humans during action sequences. They're weightless, ugly and, worst of all, incredibly distracting. You'd think that in the year 2018, following the recent glut of comic book films, visual effects (VFX) studios would have perfected the art of creating realistic CG humans. Instead, we appear to have peaked at Avatar in 2010. What gives?
Epic Games shows the potential of high-end augmented reality
Epic Games has a reputation for bringing bizarre demos to its GDC keynotes. The company loves to show developers what Unreal Engine can do, not just in gaming but other genres as well. As such, Epic Games has now demoed "Project Raven," which makes it possible for content creators to blend real-time visual effects with live-action shots. The technology, created in partnership with Chevrolet and video production company The Mill, was designed to convey the promise of high-end augmented reality.
'Ex Machina's' Oscar win is a triumph for low-budget VFX
If you've ever thought that a low-budget sci-fi thriller can't compete with the cream of Hollywood, think again. Last night's Academy Awards handed the Oscar for best visual effects to Alex Garland's brilliant Ex Machina. It's something of a shock, since the category had three heavy hitters in The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. By comparison, Ex Machina is a claustrophobic three-hander with a minuscule budget of just $15 million. According to Moviefone, that makes it the cheapest FX Oscar winner since 1979's Alien and that's before you take inflation into account.
Two major visual effects studios join forces for VR push
Digital Domain, the visual effects studios that brought you feature films like the Transformers series, the X-Men series, Iron Man 3 and Her, has announced that it's acquiring an 85 percent stake in Hong Kong's Post Production Company Limited and its parent company for HK$135 million (about US$17.3 million), in order to make a big push in virtual reality. This is obviously a big deal for both parties: Post Production has been involved in many major Chinese movies, TV ads, music videos and even a cooking show hosted by the company's founder, Nicholas Tse, who also happens to be a local pop artist and actor. Digital Domain CEO Daniel Seah put it best by calling Post Production "the Digital Domain of China," and he added that Tse will stay on to run that part of the business.
The Emmy-winning studios behind American Horror Story's freaks
The body in the brown box looks cold at first glance. The blue-green web of veins in her pale white legs can be traced down to her feet. Her flaming red hair looks like it hasn't been brushed for weeks and her torso is split wide open. Justin Raleigh reaches in and plucks out her intestines and liver. He knows her anatomy all too well. It's been built from scratch for an upcoming TV series in his workshop in Monrovia, California.
HTC's Peter Chou joins visual effects studio behind 'Iron Man 3' (updated)
No, Peter Chou isn't leaving HTC. As the company is gearing up to launch its virtual reality platform (and another flagship phone) later this year, the co-founder has decided to pick up a second role at renowned visual effects company, Digital Domain, to strengthen his company's VR know-how. That's according to a statement from HTC, anyway. For those who don't know, Digital Domain is the digital production house behind movies like Iron Man 3 (seems like HTC just can't get enough of Robert Downey Jr.), Her and Tron: Legacy. It also made animated clips in games including Assassin's Creed Unity, Destiny and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Chou will officially join the Hong Kong-owned company as an executive director on August 31st, but it'll obviously be a while before we see what this will bring to the HTC Vive. Update: Well, HTC has finally admitted that Chou did leave the company before joining Digital Domain, though he is still an "honorable consultant" and is therefore still working for his old company. Smells like a cheeky cover-up to us, if you ask us.
Recommended Reading: Why do we hate CGI so much?
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Why VFX Is Being Vilified by Raqi Syed & Sonya Teich Motherboard By now, you've heard someone complain about the prevalence of visual effects in movies. Perhaps you've groaned about it yourself. Sure, there are varying degrees of execution, and some of the results that made the final cut have been downright awful. Take Avengers: Age of Ultron for example. The film was a massive success at the box office, but critics griped about the role visual effects played in the bulk of the action. Is all the post-production to blame for ruining movies?
Every ridiculous vehicle in 'Mad Max: Fury Road' is drivable
Practical effects have gotten incredibly scarce in big-budget summer blockbusters, so it's pretty refreshing to learn that every ride in Mad Max: Fury Road's apocalyptic menagerie isn't CGI -- they're all functional and drivable. Production designer Colin GIbson had strict marching orders from the movie's director ("make it cool or I'll kill you," according to Jalopnik) so he and his team scoured Australian scrapyards for donor vehicles. The 88 nightmarish results of that quest speak for themselves whether it's the Mopar-on-tank-treads "Peacemaker" or 600+ cubic-inch, dual V8 monstrosity with two '59 Cadillac Coupe de Ville bodies mounted on top of its chassis dubbed "Interceptor." The production team built some 150 vehicles and then beat the ever-living hell out of them. When all was said and done, "over half" were destroyed. How'd that happen? Catch the flick when it opens this weekend and find out.
The black hole imagery of 'Interstellar' is helping astrophysics
You may have heard that the representation of a black hole in Interstellar was not only based on real science, but might tackle researchers' problems depicting these gravitational points. Well, that just happened -- physicist Kip Thorne and visual effects outfit Double Negative have published papers detailing the code used to portray the movie's black hole, Gargantua. Rather than trace individual light rays, they followed the paths and shapes of the millions of distorted beams traveling around the hole. The technique eliminates flickering effects that not only wreck your moviegoing experience, but prevent astrophysicists from getting a clear picture of what such a scene would look like in real life.
Here's how digital effects give 'Game of Thrones' its grand scale
We've already seen how digital effects make Game of Thrones' world more believable, but there were some spectacular scenes in the show's fourth season: giant city-states, an undead horse and battles involving thousands of cavalry. Want to know just how important computer graphics were in bringing those moments to life? Graphics house Rodeo FX will gladly show you. As you'll see in the footage below, some environments (such as Meereen's pyramid-laden landscape) depended very heavily on computer effects, with only a few live humans and real-world places involved. And that cavalry battle demanded even more work -- animators populated the field with "smart" horse soldiers that reacted both to each other and the world around them. You may not want to watch the demo clip if you haven't caught up on the show, but it's otherwise worth checking out to see how fantasy and reality can blend together.
What you need to know about 3D motion capture
Close your eyes and go back... back in time. Picture Jar Jar Binks or Polar Express, movies that put the "Uncanny Valley" on the map. I know these aren't pleasant memories, but new technology like motion capture (mocap) can be... awkward in its youth. Now, let's forget all that and move forward to a time when the tech started hitting its stride -- from Lord of the Rings' Gollum to Avatar to The Avengers' Hulk. And let's not forget games -- The Last of Us has some of the best mocap done in any medium and Electronic Arts has used the technique since Madden NFL '94. But what is mocap, exactly, and how is it done? Will it ever replace live actors or put 3D animators out of business? To answer all that, let's head back in time 100 years.
Vimeo announces 'Looks' feature, now lets users add visual effects to videos
Whether it was inspired by the recent Instagram craze or not, Vimeo's new "Looks" have a pretty good chance of being welcomed with open arms (and eyes) by the video creators on its well-known platform. In partnership with Vivoom, the company announced today that it's bringing over 500 visual effects to the service as part of its Enhancer toolbox, giving folks the ability to easily add some flavor to their own video productions straight from a web browser. Furthermore, Vimeo's made it possible to preview these filters in real-time, as well as letting them be somewhat customizable by implementing various editing options, such as trimming and adjusting the intensity of each one. Vimeo also says the novel feature will be able to make recommendations based on "technical analysis of the user's video and social data," -- in other words, the more you use it, the more likely it is to learn your very own visual preferences. Thanks to Vivoom's 16-year experience in the video effects field, Vimeo tells us it only expects the current Looks selection to grow and deliver more of the "highest quality effects," adding that the main goal is for each and every user to "find what's best for their personal needs." Speaking of which, all Vimeo account holders can play with the new Looks at no cost for the next 90 days, although the company wasn't quite clear as to what we can expect after that period comes to an end. Update: Vimeo has reached out to let us know that following the 90-day trial, the Looks will cost 99 cents each.
Iron Man 2: the gadgets (video)
When done right, a science fiction or fantasy film will leave audiences with a prescient glimpse into our actual gadget future. Remember the heady pre-iPhone, pre-Pureness days of 2002 when you first saw Minority Report? Staring silently, mouth agape, jonesing for a chance to partake in a multi-touch, transparent display future using nothing but gestures? Well now that Iron Man 2 has been released, we've got another chance to look into the high-tech crystal ball, this time envisioned by a team of artists at Perception who did the design, animation, and visual effects work that turned Tony Stark's transparent LG smartphone (pictured above), touch-screen coffee table, and holographic lab environment into an on-screen reality. The group was compelled by director Jon Favreau and the team at Marvel Studios to keep the UI elements "legible and logical, while still appearing to be several generations beyond the typical user experience." Perception tells us that some of its inspiration was directly attributed to Engadget as it researched near-term technologies for the film's future reality. No doubt, we do see influence from Emblaze's First Else navigation elements and limited color palette as well as Microsoft's InkSeine research at the heart of the doomed Courier UI. And if we're not mistaken, Stark's big ass computing table is almost certainly inspired by Microsoft Surface. Now get past the break and check out Perception's contribution to Iron Man 2, the future of Google search alone is not to be missed.%Gallery-92501%
