Kerner Optical
Source: Kerner.com

From time to time, AMZ likes to showcase the special effects and 3D visual effects companies, Kerner Optical is a shining example, who played a role in contributing FX and stereo for Avatar. Kerner has a long list of film credits in their portfolio including Spiderwick Chronicles, Transformers, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and many more.

Besides the impressive visual presentation their home site provides, there you can explore galleries, the company's roots, filmography, demo reels, slide shows, and more.

So take a tour of their online presence by clicking on their link above and you will soon see why Kerner Optical has grown to one of the premiere visual effects company in the film industry.


Here are a few of Kerner Optical's site features . . .

Company Roots: "A long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away" a wizard named George Lucas created a fantastic visuale effects company called Industrial Light and Magic.

George assembled an all star team to design, build and photograph large and small scale miniatures and models with highly technical cameras and motion control rigs to create some of the most extraordinary visual effects anyone has ever seen.

When ILM moved all the digital artist to the Presidio in San Francisco, it was determined that the practical fx talent and modelmakers would remain in the original facilities on Kerner Blvd. while they continued to serve the ILM fx projects.

Over the past year, this group has morphed into a new independent entity: Kerner Optical LLC. . . . . click on the link above for the company's full history.

Facility:

The Kerner Optical site offers an entertaining tour of their mult-building complex including aerial views, schematic layouts, and optional pdf files for the main stage, the windward stage, shops, the exterior stage, and the virtual stage.

Each facility link provides descriptions and physical aspects of each stage, some with still photos.

The virtual stage view allows you to take a 360 degree view of the main stage along with Stages A, B, and C.

Other site features include commercial credits, demo reels and other video, services offered along with pdf file info for the potential client, employment information, and more. So be sure to check out Kerner.com!

Slideshow Highlights: Kerner.com offers over 70 images of their behind-the-scene work, many from box office smash hit films. A couple samples below. . . .

Avatar 3D: A Breakthrough in Special Effects with Nvidia
By Mariusz Koryszewski
Excerpt: gazeta.pl

Avatar, the latest cinematic James Cameron's movie - filmed in 3D - can certainly be called a breakthrough in the field of special effects. Special effects for the film is credited to the company Weta Digital, which had to take advantage of innovative solutions in order to bring breathtaking scenes to the screen from James Cameron's imagination.

Already in the first weekend after its release (December 18) Avatar earned $ 232 million U.S. dollars. The special effects for Avatar were developed in New Zealand by the company Weta Digital, which has developed new ways to create many complicated special effects that we can admire on the silver screen.

Avatar - a huge amount of special effects: Weta had to set up movie sequences containing up to 800 fully digitally generated characters moving in the computer sets which required very high computing power.

The complexity of Avatar brought about the process of rendering in a different way. They created their final rendering with RenderMan, but the main problem that they had to solve was not the rendering issues, but high-performance computing according to Sebastian Sylwan of Weta Digital. They realized that the use of massively parallel computing power, GPU is an area where Nvidia knows best - added Silvanus.

PantaRay - the computing engine in the movie's Avatar: Nvidia and Weta developed together PantaRay - a new engine, which helped to create a complex scene in less time, while reducing demands on memory and the number of processors. According to Nvidia, producing scenes prior to Avatar were impossible because of the time and costs.

Avatar - Flagship 1.5: If you already seen Avatar, then surely you remember a scene with a futuristic helicopter, showing hundreds of space creatures flying over water. This scene was created by the engine PantaRay in just 1.5 days.

Such an approach could take weeks with previous methods says Luca Fascione, head of the rendering department for Weta. Thanks to the work of PantaRay, it was so much faster, we could develop a much nicer shot - the details can be seen at every bush and leaf - added Fascione.

25 times faster than the CPU: PantaRay engine combined with the Tesla GPU Server S1070, which meant that - compared to traditional CPU-based servers - the calculations were made 25 times faster.

If you think about how long it would take to develop scenes and the complexity of traditional methods, it is likely the new method is about 100 times faster, said Silvanus. Weta Digital will use this technology on the film Tintin, using the PantaRay engine (running on Tesla GPUs). Thanks to AMZ Forum Member Morfeo for contributing this link.

3D Film Factory Wraps Production On Two Innovative New 3D Extreme Shows
Company Creates World's First 3D Extreme Sports Shows As Market Gets Ready To Embrace 3D | By Glen Schaefer
Source: broadcastnewsroom.com

3D Film Factory, an innovative company specializing in the production of original 3D entertainment content and 2D-to-3D conversion, recently completed production on a pair of inventive new 3D pilots, the first Adrenaline 3D show with attitude; and Rip-It 3D, the world's first 3D extreme sports show.

The pilots were developed and produced by 3D Film Factory, in association with technology partner PassmoreLab, as part of a campaign to develop ground-breaking 3D entertainment content for a range of applications including home theatre, public exhibition, network broadcast and more.

Techniques for shooting in 3D continue to evolve and 3D Film Factory pioneered a variety of proprietary production and post production tools and techniques that facilitated the completion of these programs.

A3D TV is hosted by Craig Slike, of ABC's hit series The Mole. "Each half-hour episode of A3D TV features three segments, each depicting a particular adrenaline-driven activity in a way that showcases its uniqueness while adding depth and realism, taking the viewer to a variety of fast-paced events," explains Karl Kozak, President of 3D Film Factory and the program's Producer.

"For the pilot we shot a variety of activities including the National Paintball Championships, hosted by the National Professional Paintball Association.

We also shot drag racing at the Qualcomm arena in San Diego and a truly captivating example of parkour, a fast-growing new urban sport uses city terrain as a metropolitan obstacle course, performed by a troupe of 10' traceurs', or parkour athletes, at the historic Balboa Park."

Rip-It 3D showcases an array of sports popular in Southern California like surfing, wakeboarding, skateboarding and BMX racing. The program takes full advantage of 3D's ability to transport viewers into a variety of locales and envelop them in fast-paced action and excitement.

"Sports are ideally-suited to a 3D format because of the constant action and sheer variety of activities we can film. When presented in 3D these images literally jump off the screen bringing the excitement of these riveting extreme games into the home."

Significant technological and market advances have generated increasing interest in developing 3D entertainment for broadcast and home theatre.

An all-3D broadcaster called 3D Television Co. Ltd., based in Japan, debuted earlier this year and a variety of manufacturers including LG, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi have each developed 3D-capable DLP High Definition monitors while Samsung is set to introduce its first 3D plasma television in early 2009.

Mitsubishi is further set to debut the first 3D-capable Blu-ray player in 2009 and will bring the 3D experience into the home with exciting results. Content is now key and 3D Film Factory looks to play a major role in developing original programs and license content.

Shooting Equipment And Techniques

Key to shooting A3D TV and Rip-It 3D was a custom-built split-beam camera rig. For shooting 3D, rigs support a pair of cameras angled to a specially designed mirrored glass. Cameras are angled at 90 degrees to shoot both in front of the glass as well as images reflected off the glass itself.

Two separate but identical images are captured using lightweight HD cameras and this gives the basis for 3D, which blends two stereoscopic images to give the perception of depth. Visit the company's web site at: 3dfilmfactory.com

Source: californiachronicle.com

Hybride Technologies, a division of Ubisoft Montreal, has produced 114 stereoscopic shots for James Cameron's AVATAR, released December 18, 2009. The creators at the Piedmont VFX studio, located in the Laurentians, also provided numerous graphic and technical elements used in a large number of shots produced by other vendors involved on the project. In concrete terms, Hybride's contribution include set extensions, animating on-screen computer data as well as designing and animating virtual characters mostly for the Link Room.

"We are very grateful to Director James Cameron and Producer John Landau for giving us the opportunity to be a part of the world of Pandora" said Daniel Leduc, VFX Producer at Hybride. "We feel extremely privileged to have played a part in the creation of one of the biggest movies of the decade, and by doing so, allowing us to put forward our creative team's talent and production team's efficiency. Once again, Quebec's 2D and 3D artists' expertise and knowhow are at the heart of a worldwide commercial success."

James Cameron's 3D blockbuster has surpassed Titanic to become the highest grossing movie of all time, grossing a worldwide total of $1.86 billion. Since its release on December 18th, James Cameron's epic adventure, considered as the most lucrative film of all time, seems to sweep everything in its path, and continues to shatter records along the way.

Crowned Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes while James Cameron collected the Best Director Award, Avatar, which also counts 8 nominations at the upcoming BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Art) Awards, could also be the big winner at this year's Oscars for which the nominations will be announced, Tuesday, February 2nd.

About Hybride

Hybride Technologies, division of Ubisoft, is a Quebec-based production company that specializes in digital visual effects for film and television visionaries from around the world. Founded in 1991, the company is comprised of a team of professionals divided into five specialized creative units offering a complete range of services including digital editing, 3D animation, compositing and DI colour grading.

It has contributed significant 2D and 3D work for several studio blockbusters, including 300 and Sin City, as well as for the popular Assassin's Creed: Lineage film series. Now a specialized division of Ubisoft, Hybride continues to innovate with the same passion and commitment that have guided them from the very beginning.

Source: buf.fr

Visual Effects company BUF recently posted these production notes of Avatar with technical explanations on the processes they used (some with deleted scenes!). BUF has been regarded as one of the most innovative visual effect companies in the world. The quality and originality of their work has earned them nearly 40 international awards. Apart from being one of the leading VFX company in Europe, BUF's involvement on US studio films has garnered us a global reputation of designing and delivering the most complex visuals.

The ground-breaking "bullet time" effect created for Matrix was directly inspired by BUF's research while working on Michel Gondry's "Like A Rolling Stone" music video. BUF also pioneered "camera mapping" and "stereo modeling" techniques, as well as many other technological advances awaiting their opportunity to be unveiled. In 2007, BUF's animated short Even Pigeon's Go To Heaven was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.

Avatar Production Notes:

When his twin brother is killed, disabled ex-Marine Jake Sully is recruited to aid a mining expedition on the distant jungle moon of Pandora as only his DNA will bond with the alien hybrid body, known as an Avatar, that allows humans to breathe the toxic air. With orders to infiltrate the Na’vi, Jake finds himself falling in love with native girl, Neytiri, and complications soon ensue…

TUNNEL

BUF's work consisted of researching the perfect design and dynamics for the mental transfer of a human being leaving his body to incarnate his Avatar. The shots were to be delivered in stereo, and needed to envelop the audience as they travel through the tunnel with the characters so allot of effort was put into layering tunnels of different diameters. These layers consist of many different elements, some are made of organic materials such as networks of neurons or veins, others were pictured as energy fluxes such as rings and rays of light or flashes of lightning.

The main challenge was to make the images legible despite the very high speed of the camera move, and the motion blur involved. The various tunnels were set up independently, computed according to the trajectory chosen for the camera, then composited together. Lights were automatically generated to precede the camera through the tunnel in order to light the end of the tunnel, and give the impression to the audience that they are following the light.

EARTH SHOTS

The Earth Shots (one shot for the Pedestrian Crossing and 13 for the Alley) were Set Extensions that were designed specifically for 3D screening. Only the foreground was actually shot - against green screen. BUF created and integrated the background set according to the references provided by the production, adapting them to the filmed shots (aerial train, holographic commercials and surrounding buildings).

CROSSWALK

For this scene, only two medium close passes of the crowd were shot. The only visible part of the set includes the street in the foreground and the changing of the traffic light. To simulate the strip lighting, the extras were lit by blinking colored lights.

Taking into account the initial camera move on the foreground crowd plates, the shot features a wide introductory view on the crowded futuristic city. Because the stereoscopic view is more demanding than in 2D films, the depth and placement of the buildings has to be very precise and coherent. Once the main buildings were placed and the overall architecture defined, the crowd was created, thus matching the live takes and perfectly integrating them into the 3D environment ambiance.

BUF's Art Department, led by Olivier Gilbert, also designed the holographic commercials (the “Media Sky") and billboards that populate the city. For the Full-CG commercials, we shot a few characters to integrate them in the designs of the ads. All of the Mediasky was developed with the stereo in mind, accentuating the impression of depth by enhancing the parallax between them. This is why some commercials might seem very flat if seen in 2D, while in 3D they show much more depth.

These two Earth sequences have trains that run through them. Each train was modeled and textured independently then filled with 3D extras. Next, each train was animated, lit and integrated into the shots. Due to the very bright and busy environment with heavy strip lighting and commercials, the lighting and placement of reflections were crucial to achieving realism. Additionally, the placement of the raised train tracks and their supports as well as the skyscrapers had to be very precise to ensure that the depth would be realistic when projected in stereo.

Finally, we created the Laser Pedestrian Crossing. The challenge here was that director Cameron wanted the crosswalk be floating six inches above the ground. This meant that all of legs of the characters would cross through it. This work was quite complex as we had to match-move the live characters in stereo to ensure that the interaction between the Laser Crossing and the legs would work.

'Avatar' house is motion-capture Giant
Little-known company is working on large-scale projects
By Carl DiOrio | Source: hollywoodreporter.com

Steven Spielberg had just wrapped six weeks of motion-capture work on his passion project "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn." Offering a toast to the production crew hired for the highly specialized shoots, the director raised a champagne glass and noted they had helped him squeeze in the most setups in the fewest days of any production in which he had been involved.

"So maybe that tells you how I feel about the experience of working with you all," a beaming Spielberg told the assembled employees of Giant Studios. The little-known company is tucked away in a commercial patch of West Los Angeles, just north of the Playa Vista campus where Spielberg once aimed to build his own mammoth studio.

Giant is one of a select few stand-alone motion-capture houses working on movies, and it's been singular in the scope of its involvement with some landmark productions. Besides "Tintin," Spielberg's 3D take on the classic Belgian comic strip set for a 2011 release, Giant has made key contributions to Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and 3D holiday perennial "The Polar Express" from Robert Zemeckis, whose own production stages are adjacent to Giant.

But by far its most elaborate work in the burgeoning field has come on James Cameron's long-gestating 3D action fantasy "Avatar," already touted among genre fanboys as a movie likely to alter the public's perceptions about motion capture in particular and filmmaking in general. Cameron and his "Avatar" stages have been housed in a former Hughes Aircraft hangar on the sprawling Playa Vista campus for more than four years. Working there with Cameron, Giant has executed all of the motion capture since the film was greenlighted by Fox in January 2007.

Giant's development work on the project dates to early 2006, several months before Weta Digital signed on to perform final rendering of the captured images and long before Industrial Light + Magic was enlisted to add CGI to final-reel battle scenes. As far back as 2005, Giant and Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment collaborated on groundbreaking advances in the motion-capture system used in "Avatar." The system is based in part on technology developed during the past decade by Giant's R&D team in Atlanta, where the company was founded in 1999.

Sony Pictures Imageworks
Another AMZ Showcase of a Special
Effects Company in the Film Industry
Source: imageworks.com

Sony Pictures Imageworks is an Academy Award®-winning, state-of-the-art visual effects and character animation company dedicated to the artistry of digital production and character creation.

Since 1992, Imageworks continually raises the bar in the visual effects and character animation industry by providing leading-edge technology to world-class artists.

Imageworks has been creating outstanding visual effects and digital character animation, beginning with seamless invisible effects and fashioning an expertise in emotive CG characters and creatures for live action, all CG-animated, and hybrid live-action/animation productions.

Imageworks prides itself as a community of artists supporting the imagination and expression of visual storytellers. Starting with STUART LITTLE, the first photorealistic CG animated star in a live action movie, Imageworks pioneered groundbreaking moviemaking that stressed traditional character performance with exacting production standards.

These innovations set the stage for what is now widely regarded as blended-cinema, where techniques from animation, visual effects and live-action combine to produce a wide-range of including the Spider-Man movies, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Superman Returns, Monster House and Beowulf.

The company's pioneering work has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations, including the Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects for Spider-Man™ 2.

IPAX

The Imageworks Professional Academic Excellence program (IPAX), designed by Imageworks, is intended to build stronger relationships with established academic programs and to nurture and grow future generations of digital talent.

IPAX is the first program of its kind, focusing on IPAX member faculty development and exposure to real-time production issues and development of standards for training future digital artists.

Imageworks senior executives and staff provide the faculty of IPAX member schools with the opportunity to attend in-house training programs and experience a real world production environment, so they may return with valuable production knowledge and skills to the classroom.

The program is designed to offer a yearly review of curriculums to ensure the incorporation of the latest developments in technology and techniques used not only at Imageworks but throughout the visual effects and digital animation industry.

IPAX also features a scholarship program that annually distributes $50,000 to deserving students at IPAX member schools.

Imageworks Team

It is the imagination and passion of Imageworks' artists that have made the company what it is today. Imageworks prides itself on its commitment to the development and advancement of its artists, and remains committed to assembling the finest team of visual effects and character animation artists in the industry.

Framestore Visual Effects
Source: framestore.com

From Framestore: "Framestore has been working in digital film for over twenty years now, creating original and astonishing work that has helped make it the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe.

Our teams have built up a formidable reputation across every imaginable digital discipline, from creatures to environments, from fur to feathers, from particles to characters.

2008 saw the Framestore recognised at the film industry's highest levels, as our work on The Golden Compass won both the Academy Award and the BAFTA for Achievement in Special Effects."

THE DARK KNIGHT - Framestore was one of only a handful of digital effects studios chosen to work on the film by Christopher Nolan, who notoriously prefers to work in-camera and practically as much as possible, turning to digital effects only when they offer him otherwise unachievable and unimprovable results. Framestore's shots for the film encompassed matte paintings, digital doubles (including a CG Batman), vehicles, crowds, and the highly sensitive Harvey Two-Face CG work.

Overall VFX Supervision for the project was handled by Nick Davis. "Having seen the quality of the CG textures, rendering and lighting achieved by Framestore on Children of Men," he says, "I was convinced that they could handle the Harvey Two-Face character. I think the quality of their work speaks for itself." He adds, "Their work on the Hong Kong sequence (was also) flawless, not only in photorealism but also in the seamless manner with which it cuts with the live action footage."

WANTED: The Framestore team were brought in to the project at a relatively late stage of production, inheriting the sketched out sequence from another facility. A crack squad of some 50 artists and technicians were assembled at Framestore's Noel Street office under the leadership of VFX Supervisor Craig Lyn, with the twin aims of producing work of high quality (naturally) and at high speed (necessarily).

The team created some 120 shots over a 14 week period, which included the pre-production phase for the build and look development of the digital assets, including both a CG train as well as a full digital environment of the gorge.

Digital Domain
Award-winning visual effects, innovative technology, and new approaches to content creation.
Source: DigitalDomain.com

Since its founding in 1993 by film industry icons, Digital Domain has been a force and a change agent in the world of creative content.

The digital production studio has built a legacy of achievement in visusal effects, receiving six Academy Awards and listing Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button among its 65+ film credits.

Digital Domain has earned scores of Clio, AICP, and Cannes Lion awards for some of the industry's most memorable spots.

A-list directors work with Digital Domain on features, advertising and projects that cross traditional media boundaries.

Digital Domain continues to push into new territory. The company is being recognized for its pioneering work in photo-real digital humans and productions that bring the worlds of films, advertising, games and the web closer together.

Other films in Digital Domain's showcase of filmography includes Gran Torino, The Mummy 3, Speed Racer, The Golden Compass, The Dark Rising, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Meet the Robinsons, The Hitcher, Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers, Roving Mars, Cinderella Man, Flight of the Phoenix, I, Robot, Peter Pan, Looney Tunes, We Were Soldiers, Star Trek: Nemesis, Aeon Flux, Stealth, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dark Water, Daredevil, xXx, The Time Machine, Vanilla Sky, X-men, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Red Planet, Armageddon, The Fifth Element, True Lies, and many, many more.

Their projects currently in production include Tron 2, 2012, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Be sure to click on their link above to explore their official site for many more features, videos, and projects.