Man of Steel: Trailer 3

Elysium: Trailer

Something really cool about this movie. Let's hope its cool.

The Hobbit: Post Production Featurette

Bought The Hobbit on Bluray about a week ago, and haven't stopped watching it. I love this move even more, even after seeing it on the big screen. The video blogs that accompany the bluray give a nice tour into the creation of the film, and if you haven't seen it, here is video blog 9 about the post production process. Items covered in this featurette include: sound design, sound engineering and foley, color correction, animation, and compositing - subjects that are right up our alley. In a small way, you'll get a taste of the stress involved in creating all of the work in a compressed timeframe. Enjoy!

Silent Hill: Opening Title Sequence Featurette

I saw this featurette and immediately thought of the many students who I come across who love drawing, painting and conceptual development, but shy away from 3D. I know very well that you are familiar with this opening title sequence and admire it and so do I. We appreciate the tone it has, the use of lighting, cameras, character development, and the excellent execution to achieve the unsettled feeling for the viewer. None of this happens without the initial drawings created from the storyboard, it would be too difficult to plan and approve otherwise. This featurette walks one through the many storyboards to achieve this idea, but most importantly, pay close attention to when they show your Maya viewports. The models are simple, but what makes this sing is the work done in the lighting and camera. Its a piece that I believe most of you can pull off in my classes, I've seen it. All you have to do is to commit to the vision you have and do whatever it takes to achieve your goal. Hope this featurette inspires you. Fire it up!

Gustavo Maia: Motion Graphics Demo Reel

Many practical Cinema 4D examples in this reel. Good use of particles and Mograph tools, but pay close attention to his transitions, many pieces begin as an abstract only to later become clear.

Iron Man 3: Trailer 2

Rhythm and Hues: Life of Pi

As a visual effects instructor, the condition of the industry is worth some discussion. Let's talk about this in class. Still want to keep doing this? The problem is not new and has been around since the conception of commercial art. To learn more about why so many visual effects artists are angry, check out this article below.

http://filmmakeriq.com/2013/02/why-there-were-400-visual-effects-artists-protesting-at-the-oscars/

Below is R&H 2013 Showreel. Impressive work guys. We're all feelin it!

Benjamin Erdt: CG Modeling Reel

Urbance: Directed By: Joel Dos Reis Viegas

Had to post this one. Really nice work. Nice music, style, flare, hip and visual rhythm. Urbance is created by Steambot Studios. Roland, thanks for the heads up! Fire It Up! Randolf

"The Gate" by: Matt Westrup

This little short by Matt Westrup is quite exceptional. If it were me, I probably would "suggest" the appearance of the first creature in the street - leaving it up to the viewer's imagination would be better. The appearance of the larger second creature later in the film, in the office building, freaked all of us out, that image in the doorway was quite disturbing. Overall, nice modeling, texturing and lighting as seen in the high tech medical equipment, and outstanding execution in the storytelling. Thanks for sharing Ryan. Fire It Up!

Canadian Pipeline Association by: Embassy VFX

I often have my visual effects and animation students animate a piece that educates. For something as complex as the growth of Canada its nice, simple and clean. It features a clever concept, good camera work and uses depth maps to make the models look small. Nice work.

My Top 10 Superbowl Commercials for 2013

Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials 2013 Three years running....Here are my top ten Super Bowl commercials for 2013. Like previous years, my criteria is as follows: It must have animation or visual effects of some kind, its gotta be memorable and extra points if its got the “dry humor” factor - just make us laugh. Surprisingly, there are no Coke or Budweiser ads that made the list. Let’s start with our honorable mentions, one has no CG in it, but it sure is funny.

 Honorable Mention VW “Get In / Get Happy”


PSY / Wonderful Pistachios


Soda Stream

 Okay - now that I got you warmed up. Let’s begin the countdown...

 10. Kia “Space Babies”


 9. Kia Forte “Hotbots”


 8. Fiat “Sister” - Formerly Skechers "Go"


 7. M&M’s “Love Ballad”

 6. Mercedes Benz “Soul”


 5. Blackberry “Can’t Do”


 4. Milk
 

 3. Beck’s “Saphire” - This one was simply nice to look at. I also appreciate the mashup with the Blackstreet song.

 2. Hyundai “Gather Your Team”


 1. Oreo “Whisper Fight”.
(Whispering) Thanks for visiting. See you next year. Husssshhhhh.

"Paperman": Animated Short

If you watched "Wreck It Ralph" in theatres, you are familiar with the "Paperman" animation that played before the film. Nice for the guys at Disney to post it online so all of us can enjoy it. I also included a featurette below that describes the look and feel of the movie. Its nice to see CG getting a facelift. The sets and characters look as if they are done by hand, the textures and linework are quite detailed creating a new look and feel and the story is charming. Well done.

VFX Highlight Reel by Main Road|Post

The creature animations and breakdowns are fun to look at especially the shots involving the massive tentacled robot. Really nice. You can visit their site below: http://mrpost.ru/

Motion Graphics Demo Reel: Tony Zagoraios

Nice work by artist Tony Zagoraios. Pay attention to his detail, timing and his use of typography. The reel is textural and nice to look at too. Enjoy and Fire It Up! Randolf