Spooky 'Prometheus' IMAX Trailer

The following is a super stretched version of the IMAX trailer for the upcoming sci-fi flick Prometheus. The most spooky audio I've heard in a while that brings back memories of the ol' Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Max Payne 3 Almost Here

I was at a local EB Games store the other and saw this:



I'd almost forgotten that Max Payne 3 is set to release in just 10 days! This is sure to be THE BEST third-person shooter of the year.

What stands out in Rockstar's latest is the unique animations and a thrilling take on Bullet Time - the feature Max Payne is known for. Max is back, more brutal than ever and bald! Check out the Design and Technology video series published by Max Payne devs and the hundreds of other videos online.


- Posted using BlogPress from my Dragon Slayer Hub in Skyrim

Blast from the Past - Batman Begins VFX

In light of the latest trailer from Christopher Nolan's third and final installment in his 'Dark Knight' trilogy, I managed to watch Batman Begins all over again! Although I can recall scenes from most of the movies I saw that year (2005), strangely I couldn't remember ANYTHING from Batman Begins. >:O


The film seemed brand-new and never-before-seen, not to mention the fact that I just saw last year's 'Batman: Year One'. 


It's dark, gritty, and at times even scary. Batman Begins is rich and wholly adapted from the lore with a few tweaks here and there but nothing too drastic. Christian Bale, as always, does a fantastic job as Batman, and Gary Oldman's 'Gordon' is flawless. And the rest of the cast does an incredible job of bringing the corrupt Gotham City to life, backed up by Hans Zimmer's breathtaking scores. 


As usual I went out searching for VFX breakdowns, and surprisingly I wasn't able to YouTube anything flashy but the one video I found appears to do justice. 


Here are MPC's VFX Breakdowns for Christopher Nolan's 'Batman Begins' 




I found this very educational article on the work by Double Negative: Double Negative on Batman Begins. 


DNeg worked extensively during pre-production and on more than 300 shots for the movie. They created the CG Monastery 

Background Plate

Final Comp

Final Comp With Digital Snow

Double Negative is known to take things a step further. An example of this is the 3D garage they built to comp over the crew clearly visible in the shot instead of simply erasing the unwanted items. 

Before

After

40 x 80 feet miniature of the island

One of the more obvious aspects of course was 'Narrows Island'. Double Negative composited the miniature model (complete with wires and such) adding details to windows, practical lights, making use of their in-house 3D compositing tool inside Shake called, 'Plane-it'.

Cityscape made entirely in CG - accurate representations of Chicago

The CG Train that can be seen around Gotham

"With the exception of the final crash scenes, the train was created entirely in 3D by Double Negative VFX artists. The surface shaders featured specialist anisotropy routines and detailed displacement maps and surface textures. The train had a fully detailed 3D interior complete with peeling advertising posters, graffiti and flickering lights. The model was built with a fully articulated suspension system and procedurally animated carriages that automatically leant into corners at speed. In most cases the train exterior was rendered as a single beauty pass, the interior and lighting fixtures were rendered separately. Additional passes included a Z depth buffer and ID passes for the trains components." - FXGuide

Final Composite

DNeg turned an originally bland looking shot of the Wayne Enterprises Private Jet on a wet runway into an "exotic mountainous' location." 

Before

After

For Part 2 or the brilliant VFX work on Batman Begins, you can follow FXGuide's article:  Batman Begins VFX Part 2

NAB 2012 - Autodesk Showreel

You know, I couldn't help but feel betrayed when I realized I wasn't an industry professional, and hence couldn't attend this year's NAB. It would've been a remarkable experience! However, I was more than overjoyed to watch some of the stuff they put up after the show. Such as this VFX and post production showreel by Autodesk. A collection of some of the best work done by VFX artists. 

A Liquid GOLD Commercial

Not gonna lie. We need more commercials like this one. Granted I've never been a fan of even the local Kraft cheese products, but this appealed to me (play the video below and you'll see why). 

I managed to catch this commercial on TV the other day - Googled it - found it on YouTube and Vimeo - and played it several times. Each time, cracking up at the hilarity of the 17 second clip. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this commercial made a bigger impact in 17 seconds than most Super Bowl commercials I've seen. 

velveeta Liquid gold from Doc News on Vimeo.