Cghub blog

Tron Legacy - Trailer 2

Rawls — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:12:54 -0500

A nice high res image of the bike - here

Iron Man 2 - Trailer 2

Rawls — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:59:21 -0500

Legend of the Guardians - Trailer

Rawls — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:42:51 -0500

Based on Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’hoole novels. The animation was done by the talented folks at Animal Logic.

The Anthology Project

Rawls — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:34:35 -0500

In the most humble way that I can find within myself, I present to you creative giants and members of CG Hub and art communities world wide; THE ANTHOLOGY PROJECT.

The reason I say that in the most humble way that I can is that I have the great honor of being a part of this beautiful collaborative creature that is The Anthology Project. My level of excitement about this book necessitates humble control over myself, lest I randomly burst into school girl-like giddyness. But I digress. This isn't about one person. It isn't about just one artist. It's about many.

The Anthology Project Cover design by Joy Ang

The Anthology Project collects the stories and comics of artists unified by their delirious pursuit of compelling narrative and notable artistic work in the medium of sequential art. Its humble intent is only to delight. The project showcases a multidisciplinary group of passionate artists from across Canada and the United States, and is bound to make a great name for itself.

With that said, I thought that aside from me rambling on like I usually do in my article postings, I felt that everyone might benefit a little bit more from a posting structure that was more of an interview format. So, I emailed the two brains of the opperation, and two wonderful individuals that I am honored to call friend, Joy Ang and Nick Thornborrow, and asked them a few questions that I felt you'd all like to know.

Rawls - So where did the original idea come from to do this book? From
who's brain did the little seed pop out of?

Nick - We had just come off of Popgun (Image Comics), and were enthusiastic about book design and about the potential of comic shorts. There were a few of us who were all looking for some kind of creative outlet, a side project to focus on outside of our full time jobs. There had been talk about putting together an animated short, but with all the talk of comics, it was Joy who finally said "We should make our own anthology" and that just seemed like the right fit for a project for this group.

Pages from thier comics by Matt Rhodes & Tom Rhodes

Rawls - How did you go about selecting & contacting the artists for the book?

Nick - We put the word out to many of our friends in the animation, video game and illustration community that we were putting together an anthology of comics. Some had done comics before, others hadn't. The response we got was really encouraging.

Rawls - What makes The Anthology Project different than any of the other
collective comic books?

Nick - Like any two compilations of music, they have different artists. We don't think of comic anthologies as a genre of the artform. Pick up any two comic anthologies and you're going to find different sensibilities in every work you find in it. We think of anthologies as more like venues. And so as a venue for comic artists, "The Anthology Project" plays host to some of the freshest talent working in comics, illustration, video games and animation and sees what they can bring to the table when left to their own creative devices. The artists included in this volume are Joy Ang, Sam Bradley, Casper Konefal, Darren Rawlings, Chris Ryzebol, Connor Willumsen, Christine Choi, Ed Kwong, Matt Rhodes, Kim Smith, Ben Huen, Chris Makris, Tom Rhodes, Jeff Thompson, and myself.

Pages from thier comics by Casper Konefal & Darren Rawlings

Rawls - Is this book 100% Canadian?!

Nick - No. All of the artists in this volume are indeed Canadian, but it just sort of worked out that way because we chose to work with people we already knew. It's not really our goal to produce books by Canadians. We're just looking to publish work that excites us, and that WE would want to read.

Rawls - Is there plans for more volumes? And if so, how many?

Nick - We shall see! We would like to continue with future volumes for sure.

Comic by Nick Thornborrow

So there you have it folks! With the most humble encouragement that I can muster, I'm urging you to make sure to pick up your copy of The Anthology Project! And when the time comes, find a way to stop by some of the events and cons that the Anthology crew will be attending! Here is the list so far, but make sure to keep an eye out on the site for updates and news!

2010 Convention List

MoCCA Festival - April 10 - 11, 2010

C2E2 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo - April 16 - 18, 2010

Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo - April 24 - 25, 2010

TCAF Toronto Comic Arts Festival - May 8 - 9, 2010

Toronto FanExpo - August 27 - 29, 2010

The Anthology Project is available April 3rd! Head on over to the AP website and check out some preview pages, a full list of the artists involved and links to their sites, and a pre-order for the book will be available to you very shortly!!!

Enjoy!

Comic by Joy Ang

Gorillaz - Stylo Music video

Rawls — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:52:32 -0500

I'm personally a pretty big fan of Gorillaz; animation and music, but after yesterday, sadly I think I've lost a little bit of that love.

I almost didn't post this as I felt it might turn into a rant, but then I thought, 'I don't ever rant on the Hub, what's one time?' So I apologize ahead of time.

Basically, my feeling is that a lot of music groups when they first come out are brimming with creativity and a certain zealous fire in them. Gorillaz had that in abundance. Their first couple of albums were fantastic. The classical animation was top notch, the character designs and ideas were unique and fresh, and the music likewise. It was a fantastic team up of a music industry monster and a comic book creator. Damon and Jamie made a perfect team.

Sadly, I've seen a trend with musicians that after a while and a couple of successful albums, their sound becomes somewhat less desireable. Somewhere along the way they lose a bit of that fire. I actually got to hear the album in it's entirety yesterday and honestly, I was not impressed. Typically there is at least one song on an album that sounds like a smash hit and sticks with you after listening. To my dismay, I didn't find one of those.

Now don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people will probably love this album, and who knows, maybe I just need to listen to it 10 more times. But compared to how I first felt the first time I heard that classic Gorillaz twang and saw that amazing animation... This time I felt like a kid who had just excitingly recieved his favourite brand of atomic fireworks only to have it turn out to be one of those wimpy sparkly duds.

You can listen to the album in its etirety here - LINK and let me and everyone else know what you think!

Also... where is Russell in this video? And Noodle is a robot?!

Thanks for listening.

Cornucopia3D.com Unveils Artist Portfolios

cghub.com — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:49:17 -0500

CG ARTISTS CAN CREATE THEIR OWN PERSONALIZED ART AND CONTENT WEBSITES

February 26, 2010 Cornucopia3D, a division of e-on software and one of the leading CG artist communities on the web, today announced the immediate availability of its new portfolio feature.

Using Artist Portfolios, Cornucopia3D users can now easily expose their work through their own artist web page.

"For several years I wanted a website to display the images I create. Cornucopia3D's Portfolio is the perfect answer! Cornucopia3D's Portfolio management tools are both precise and intuitive, but most importantly, the results are visually pleasant and professional." says Daniel Respaud - CGI artist at GESTFORM

Christian Turner – Game Art & Design Artist adds: "Cornucopia3D has traffic from people of all walks of life including some major studios. I feel this is a great way to expose my work for possible chances to get a job in a good studio. To get exposure of this magnitude is very much appreciated."

Key benefits of Cornucopia3D portfolios are:

present custom tailored portfolios for business or friends and family,
direct access to your portfolio using personalized URL,
easy-to-use interface to set up portfolios and organize content,
manage the look and feel of the page with simple one-click administration,
built in interaction with other members through integrated networking,
promote better visibility of your artwork and content.

Best of all, these new extended capabilities are completely free for all registered Cornucopia3D users.

Through the Cornucopia3D account page, users can access and manage their own portfolio by using the one-click administration tools to customize the look, feel and arrangement of all artistic content.

The artist portfolio is initially released as a beta program. During this beta period, comments, ideas and suggestions for improving the capabilities and usability of the Artist Portfolio are welcome and can be discussed in the artist portfolio thread in the Cornucopia3D forums.

"Cornucopia3D Portfolio is an excellent new addition to the site and really does allow artists to showcase their work, I very much like the layout and will certainly use this new feature. Many thanks to all at Cornucopia3D who made this possible." Robert Mackin - Environment Artist

More information on the new Cornucopia3D Portfolio is available at: www.cornucopia3d.com/portfolio

About Cornucopia3D

Cornucopia3D is an online community dedicated to CG art and the Vue line of products. At Cornucopia3D, users will find all sorts of resources to improve their experience with 3D and Vue.

This community was born with a simple but important goal in mind: to provide the most comfortable, helpful, up-to-date and enjoyable online community for all Vue users.

With the above intentions in mind, we wish for Cornucopia3D to become a meeting point where experienced users can share, newbies can learn, and everybody can enjoy their stay.

Cornucopia3D is a division of e-on software.

Visit their website at www.cornucopia3d.com

Press Contacts

press@e-onsoftware.com
971-327-6008 (US)
+33 1 43 14 28 15 (Europe)

Catfish Deluxe

Rawls — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:06:55 -0500

If any of you are into art and comics (and I know you are, or you wouldn't be reading this), you probably already know the names, Bill, Gobi & Fabien.

If you don't however, they are Benoit Boucher, Baptiste Gaubert & Fabien Mense.

These three talented individuals are the same folks who helped inspire/create things like Muttpop , The popular Lucha Libre comic from Image and an animated film I still remember inspiring me when I was in college, Catfish Hotel!

These three talented individuals created Catfish Deluxe to primarily focus on developing audio-visual projects (ranging from animation to video games) with a focus on visual design and story development.

CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE HERE!

E-on Software Releases Vue 8.4

cghub.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:43:31 -0500

FREE UPDATE ADDS A HOST OF NEW FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

February 22, 2010. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading solutions for natural 3D environments, today announced the immediate availability of Vue 8.4, a major update to its award winning Vue 8 solutions for Digital Nature, available at no cost for all registered users.

Vue 8.4 adds many new features together with significant improvements to existing breakthrough technologies, and overall productivity and workflow enhancements.

New Features of Vue 8.4

The new Vue 8.4 update adds the following new functionality to Vue 8:

Improved Displacement Mapping: computation and rendering of displaced materials on standard terrains is significantly faster and more memory efficient.
Multi-Materials: new Multi-materials allow users to change all materials of any given object in a single operation. Multi-materials can be saved for future use, copy-pasted or drag-dropped between different objects in the scene.
New Material Control: new "Relative to sea" material mapping option, and "Sea level" input node.
User-definable units in Function Graphs: "External Dependency", "Distance to object below", "Distance from camera", etc nodes now express object dimensions in user-definable real-world units.
Easier Pose/Motion Handling: the new Motion Browser lets users visually select and interactively preview preset poses and motions for rigged meshes.
EcoSystem Display Improvements: the rendering of shaded EcoSystem billboards is improved to provide more accurate coloring and reduce flickering when moving around the scene.
Other Artistic Control Improvements: the render area and the collections browser can be locked to avoid accidental modifications, materials mapped in World coordinates are now accurately previewed in OpenGL, GPU resources can be easily monitored in the status bar, objects can be copy-pasted to hidden or locked layers, and more...
Other Performance Improvements: faster high quality previewing in OpenGL, automatic resizing of render buckets to maximize use of all cores on small renders, faster handling of complicated group hierarchies, default views are automatically resized to adjust according to internal units, and more...

More information on the new features of Vue 8.4 is available at:
www.e-onsoftware.com/products

Availability

The Vue 8.4 update is initially released as a beta update. It is immediately available at no cost for users of Vue 8 xStream and Vue 8 Infinite through e-on software’s regular update page. The Vue 8.4 update for e-on’s product line for 3D Artists will be released in English later in the week, and in German and French shortly thereafter.

Vue 8 xStream and Vue 8 Infinite are available in English for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, for both 32 and 64 bit, and on Mac OSX 10.5+ as a 32 bit application (Mac Intel only). Vue 8 xStream is compatible with the following renderers: Mental Ray for 3ds Max, Maya and Softimage (integrated and MR satellites), V-Ray for 3ds Max and Maya, Maya Software, as well as the native Cinema 4D and LightWave renderers. Other renderers are under consideration.

Vue 8 Pioneer, the Vue Theme-Packs, Vue 8 Frontier as well as Vue 8 Esprit, Studio and Complete are available in English for Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 as a 32 and 64 bit application, and on Mac OSX 10.4+ as Universal Binary.

About e-on software

E-on software is the leading developer of solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments. Offering a wide array of Digital Nature products and applications, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software products are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, game, science, education and entertainment industries.

E-on software products were used in features film such as "The Wolf Man", "2012", "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", "GI Joe – The Rise of The Cobra", "The Proposal", "Land Of The Lost", "Terminator 4, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Indiana Jones 4", "Monster Vs Aliens", "Australia", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "KungFu Panda", "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and TV series such as "Battlestar Gallactica", "Stargate Atlantis" and more. Read more on these stories in e-on software's Spotlights section: www.e-onsoftware.com/spotlight.

E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of the designer's creativity. By investing significant resources into research and development, e-on software is able to deliver cutting-edge technologies that significantly improve usability and workflow.

E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon with a European office in Paris, France.

Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

Press Contacts

press@e-onsoftware.com
971-327-6008 (US)
+33 1 43 14 28 15 (Europe)

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Teasers

Rawls — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:20:51 -0500

Pivot

Rawls — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:56:27 -0500

Created by Andre Bergs, Arno de Grijs, Floris Vos en Kevin Megens. Music and sound design by Alex Debicki. Produced by il Luster Productions.

Vanquish - Game Trailer

Rawls — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:27:04 -0500

Brought to you by the talented folks at Logan.

Old Fangs

Rawls — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:46:47 -0500

Old Fangs is a very quiet and thoughtful animated film by Adrien Merigeau that showed at the Sundance Film Festival.

It's 11 minutes long and can feel a little slow at times, so you might not all like it. But there is a certain special somthing about it.

You can also check out the production blog here.

How To Train Your Dragon Poster

admin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:03:04 -0500

Dreamworks has released a new poster for their upcoming movie "How to Train your Dragon" set for release March 26th.

Relevant Links
How to Train Your Dragon Official Website
How to Train Your Dragon on IMDB
How to Train Your Dragon on Apple Trailers
Dremworks Animation

Toy Story 3 Trailer B

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:01:24 -0500

Relevant Links
Toy Story 3 Official Website
Pixar Animation Studios
Toy Story 3 on Apple Trailers
Toy Story 3 on IMDB

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Trailer 2

Rawls — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:32:09 -0500

Awesomeness.

U900

Rawls — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:21:37 -0500

First of all, a big shout out to Drawn for posting this... probably THE most greatest thing I've seen in a long time. I could watch/listen to this over and over.

Luc, from Drawn put it perfectly when he said,

"The music is by U900, a Japanese Ukulele duo. Let me repeat that because OMG I’ll never get the chance to type those words together again: Japanese Ukulele duo."

If anyone knows who produced the animation and created these wonderful videos, please let us know!

Head over to their MySpace page as well to check out more videos and music!

Enjoy!

Beauty: The Making of by Robert Vignone

cghub.com — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:13:50 -0500

Clash of the Titans - Trailer 2

Rawls — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:58:29 -0500

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

The Last Airbender - Superbowl Trailer

Rawls — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:06:43 -0500

And you can check out a high res quick time - here!

Imagi Shuts Down US Studio

Rawls — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:36:38 -0500

It's sad, but this image of Astro waving goodbye has a lot of visual impact on our friends at Imagi.

I knew this was coming for a while, but it never makes it any less disheartening when it happens. I found a write up over at CartoonBrew about the whole event and it's details--

Imagi, the studio responsible for the TMNT and Astro Boy features, has shut down their American studio in Sherman Oaks, California. The company, which is still working on a Gatchaman feature, has been struggling both at the box office and in its financial operations. From HotStocked.com:

Imagi International Holdings Ltd has announced large scale review of operations which has mostly negative effect towards the staff. The company has cut off their US subsidiaries from any funding, the working contracts for 30 employees were terminated and the Los Angeles based office closed. The company was left with only a few important staff members being utilized as consultants and has transferred the functions of the closed office to other contractors . . . With their US office closed the company still has two more in Hong Kong and Tokyo as well as continues trading under the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Their stock is poorly traded in both the exchanges.

Take-away lesson: artificial Christmas trees are easier to make than animated features.

I actually didn't know what that last statement meant until I clicked on it. You learn something new everyday.

Oscar Nominated Short Films

Rawls — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:00:10 -0500

Watch French Roast.

Watch Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.

Watch The Lady and the Reaper.

Watch A Matter of Loaf and Death.

Watch Logorama.

Thanks CartoonBrew.

E-on Software Ships Language Versions of Vue 8 for 3D Enthusiasts and 3D Artists!

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:54:44 -0500

January 28, 2010 Press Release

E-on Software Ships Language Versions of Vue 8 for 3D Enthusiasts and 3D Artists!

FRENCH AND GERMAN PDF DOCUMENTATION AND INTERFACE NOW AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE

January 28, 2010. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading solutions for natural 3D environments, today announced the immediate availability of the French and German versions of its product line for 3D Enthusiasts and 3D Artists: Vue 8 Pioneer & Theme Packs, Vue 8 Frontier, Vue 8 Esprit, Vue 8 Studio and Vue 8 Complete.
E-on software also confirmed that a Japanese version is underway, and should be released shortly. E-on software offers products for the creation and rendering of Digital Nature for all market segments and all budgets, starting from the completely free Vue 8 Pioneer all the way up to industry leading solutions.

· Vue for 3D Enthusiasts: Vue 8 Pioneer & Theme-Packs and Vue 8 Frontier. Features content-filled, easy-to-use scenic nature creation for home and family use, with the addition of the new, cost effective Vue 8 Frontier, specifically dedicated to Poser™ users.

· Vue for 3D Artists: Vue 8 Esprit, Vue 8 Studio and Vue 8 Complete. Provides 3D artists with powerful modular applications to create rich 3D Digital Nature scenery and landscapes.

· Solutions for CG Professionals: Vue 8 Infinite, Vue 8 xStream and Ozone 4.0. Industry leading solutions for CG Professionals and SFX Studios.

French and German Localization Available at No Charge
Starting today, all products in the “3D Enthusiasts” and “3D Artists” lines are now directly available as
multi-lingual versions.

The localized documentation, interface and help files are available at no charge for existing users, via a dedicated language pack. This language pack can be downloaded from the e-on software website, alongside the latest Service Packs.

The printed versions of the French and German official Vue 8 User Guides are now available from eon software’s online store (for those who prefer a hard copy rather than the free electronic version included in the language pack).

Solutions for CG Professionals
In the coming weeks, e-on software will offer an interface translation pack to the French and German users of its professional solutions. However, the Vue 8 Infinite and xStream Reference Manual and help files will remain in English only. More information and complete installation instructions will be made available in the software update section of e-on’s website.

About e-on software
E-on software is the leading developer of solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments. Offering a wide array of Digital Nature products and applications, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software products are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, game, science, educational and entertainment industries.

E-on software products were used in features film such as "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", "GI Joe – The Rise of The Cobra", "The Proposal", "Land Of The Lost", "Terminator 4, "Indiana Jones 4", "Monster Vs Aliens", "Australia", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "KungFu Panda", "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and TV series such as "Battlestar Gallactica", "Stargate Atlantis" and more. Read more on these stories in e-on software's Spotlights section: www.e-onsoftware.com/spotlight. E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of the designer’s creativity. By investing significant resources into research and development, e-on software is able to deliver cutting-edge technologies that significantly improve usability and workflow. E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon with a European office in Paris, France.
Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

Press Contacts
press@e-onsoftware.com
971-327-6008 (US) or +33 1 43 14 28 15 (Europe)

Adventure Time!

Rawls — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:16:57 -0500

If anyone knows me, they know that I'm a sucker for awesome animation with hilarious humour that often makes no sense and can be completely random in its ideas!

Enter - Adventure Time!

Now, I call it Adventure Time, but officially it will be called Adventure Time with Finn and Jake... but I'll just stick with the original name. I'm also not a fan of ~~Cartoon~~ Network these days, but I completely champion this fine program brought to you by the amazing Pendleton Ward.

They've just recently released 10 promos for the show. I could only find this one in good quality, but you can find the other 9 here on youtube... sadly, with a video camera recording a tv... but you can get the general idea.

Also - you need to check out the Production Blog for some amazing artwork from the show!

Enjoy!!!

... oh, and just in case you've never seen the original short that started it all, here ya go!

Ninjas Unboxing

Rawls — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:45:17 -0500

Sorry... I just couldn't help myself... I love ninjas!

This wonderful little piece was created by Patrick Boivin, who you may remember from an article I did a while back on his Iron Man vs Bruce Lee animation. Fantasticly entertaining!

Enjoy.

Justice League - Crisis on 2 Earths

Rawls — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:19:09 -0500

Maybe

Rawls — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:32:47 -0500

"Why are we so scared?"

I watched this and found something about it really touching and just had to post it.

'Maybe' was done by some fellow animators here in Toronto! This animated short film is by Sam Chou, co-produced by Style5 Animation and Chuck Gammage Animation. The film is narrated by Makayla MacLeod.

(Style 5 is a little branch of Chuck Gammage Animation studio.)

In the words of the writer-director, "all of our efforts accumulate to something in the end. Even though we may not see it, everything we do amounts to something and we are all connected."

Not an animated film

Rawls — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:45:19 -0500

I can't claim any of these views or ideas as my own, but check out these couple of write ups on the movie. They make some very interesting points, most of which I tend to agree with. What say you?

http://mayersononanimation.blogspot.com/2010/01/schism.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html?ref=opinion

Salty

Rawls — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:38:14 -0500

This ad is a little old now, but it was so cute and well put together that I felt it was post worthy.

This simple and loveable character was developed and designed by the folks at Bigshot Toyworks. They also contributed to the digital modeling for the “Salty” character. The animation was handled by the team at Sons & Daughters, directed by David Hicks.

Overall, a really nice little piece.

Enjoy.

Check out Bigshot Toyworks Flicker account too!

Upluar

Rawls — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:22:59 -0500

Something fun to start off the New Year!

This lovely musical edit / video remix was composed by South African artist Nick Bertke (aka Pogo). He created this piece of music using chords, bass notes and vocal samples from Pixar's Up. The result is an inventive and very listenable piece of music. Bertke also did a similar piece last year for Disney's Alice in Wonderland, which I also enjoyed!

He explains that 90% is composed using sounds recorded from the movie.

Brought a little smile to my face.

Enjoy!

...and here is his Alice one in case you hadn't seen it!

PS:

On a side note, I also found another amazing Pixar Up trailer.
USC film student Daniel Johnson noticed a few similarities between Pixar’s Up and Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. So he recut Up’s trailer and combined it with Gran Torino’s soundtrack to prove his point:

Mass Effect 2 Cinematic Trailer

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:05:41 -0500

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Rawls — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:02:49 -0500

Here's a fun little Christmas ad from our friends over at Jib Jab.

A very Merry Christmas and a fun and safe new year from all of us here at CG HUB!!

love

Rawls.

Alma

Rawls — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:01:17 -0500

For a limited time during the holidays, Rodrigo Blaas has made his spooky CG short Alma available for viewing online. Blaas is an animator at Pixar who took time off from the studio and returned to his native Spain to make this independent film. His brother, Alfonso Blaas, served as the film’s art director. The film’s official website is AlmaShortFilm.com.

Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the link!

Iron Man 2 Trailer

Rawls — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:48:15 -0500

Meindbender Cartoon Network Ads

Rawls — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:42:53 -0500

These wonderful spots for (un)Cartoon Network come courtasy of a little company called Meindbender. Based in Trollhattan/Sweden, at first glance one might think these amazing pieces of animation are claymation... but they are entirely 3D. These characters tend to grow on you and it may very well be due to the great character animation and humour!

Just a side note as well, at the end of November Meindbender was looking to hire on a Producer, if anyone is interested!

Enjoy

E-on Software Releases Vue 8 PLE and Trial Versions

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:31:00 -0500

E-on Software Releases Vue 8 PLE and Trial Versions!

TEST DRIVE THE LEADING SOLUTIONS FOR DIGITAL NATURE CREATION AT NO CHARGE

December 09, 2009. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading Digital Nature solutions, today announced the immediate availability of the Personal Learning Editions (PLE) of Vue 8 xStream and Vue 8 Infinite, its solutions for CG professionals. E-on software simultaneously announced the availability of trial versions of its products for 3D Artists: Vue 8 Esprit, Vue 8 Studio and Vue 8 Complete.

Vue 8 Personal Learning Edition

Vue 8 Infinite and Vue 8 xStream offer CG professionals the premiere solution for creating exceptionally rich and realistic Digital Nature environments with streamlined integration into any production workflow.

While Vue Infinite is a standalone application, Vue xStream operates seamlessly inside of 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave, Cinema4D and Softimage.

Key new technologies available in the Vue 8 PLE:

Revolutionary 3D Terrain Sculpting Editor,
Spectral 3 Atmospheres,
New Strata Terrain Fractals,
Direct reposing of rigged meshes,
Support for V-Ray in Maya,
And more (checkout www.e-onsoftware.com/xstream for full details)...

The Vue 8 PLE is a fully functional version of Vue 8 xStream/Infinite. With the PLE, users can:

Create complete projects,
Save their work and export to other applications,
Render stills and animations without size/length limit,
Experience Vue’s power directly inside Max/Maya/Softimage/LightWave/Cinema4D,
Learn at their own pace (the PLE never expires)!

The Personal Learning Edition ships with a wide selection of Vue 8 presets, as well as the complete PDF Reference Manual.

Users can download the Vue 8 PLE at no charge from www.vue8.com/ple

PLE Requirements and Restrictions:

The Vue 8 Personal Learning Edition performs under all versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit), and is Mac Intel 32bit only for Macintosh OSX (10.4 to 10.6).

The PLE is for personal, non-commercial use only. Network rendering is disabled, and renders may be watermarked and carry a logo. Files created and saved with the PLE cannot be exchanged with other PLE users and are not compatible with other versions of Vue.

Vue 8 for 3D Artists Trial Versions

Vue 8 Esprit, Vue 8 Studio and Vue 8 Complete provide 3D artists with powerful modular applications to create rich 3D Digital Nature scenery and landscapes.

The Vue 8 for 3D Artists Trial Version is a fully functional version of Vue 8 Esprit, Studio or Complete, aside from the following limitations:

Saving is disabled (scenes, plants, objects, ...),
Render resolution is limited to 640x480,
Animation length is limited to 5 seconds,
Limited content (only a small selection of materials, plants, atmospheres...),
Terrain export, standalone rendering and network rendering disabled,
The Trial Version will work for 30 days.

Users can download the Vue 8 Trial Versions at no charge from www.e-onsoftware.com/try

The Vue 8 Trial Versions perform under all versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit), and Universal Binary for Macintosh OSX (10.4 to 10.6).

About e-on software

E-on software products were used in features film such as "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", "GI Joe – The Rise of The Cobra", "The Proposal", "Land Of The Lost", "Terminator 4, "Indiana Jones 4", "Monster Vs Aliens", "Australia", "The Spiderwick Chronicles", "KungFu Panda", "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and TV series such as "Battlestar Gallactica", "Stargate Atlantis" and more. Read more on these stories in e-on software's Spotlights section:
www.e-onsoftware.com/spotlight

E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon with a European office in Paris, France.

Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

Press Contacts
press@e-onsoftware.com
971-327-6008 (US)
+33 1 43 14 28 15 (Europe)

Panic Attack!

Rawls — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:10:42 -0500

Now, this short film by Director Federico Alvarez from Uruguay in my opinion isn't the greatest piece of CG work I've seen, but the footage and compositing is pretty good. His film, 'Panic Attack' was created with a budget of just $500 in his free time.

The five minute clip - which he then uploaded to YouTube - shows an invasion of Montevideo by giant robots. Once online it got the attention of thousands of movie fans and studio bosses who wanted to meet with Alvarez to talk about his movie.

Frederico was quickly offered a $1 million directors fee and up to £30 million to make the film, by Mandate Pictures. The plans for the movie are said to have a "compelling original story" beyond big robots blowing stuff up.

Alvarez will work with "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi on developing the film along with Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures.

You can also check out his WEBSITE. One of my favourite spots is in vfx where he removes the ball from a bunch of football clips! Hilarious!

The TV Show

Rawls — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:59:50 -0500

This wonderful independent animated music video produced by [Director] SUGIMOTO Kousuke & [Music] MANABE Takayuki, is nothing short of eye popping entertainment!

From beginning to end it has your complete attention and requires a second viewing just to try and catch those hilarious moments that you 'thought' you saw but didn't quite catch!

And you MUST check out Sugimoto's website to view some of his other AMAZING animations!!

Enjoy!

Clash of the Titans

Rawls — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:36:09 -0500

The Passenger

Rawls — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:11:56 -0500

What can I say about the effort that went into creating this film?!... I quote right from Chris Jones' website:

The Passenger is the result of about six years spent in a bedroom with a computer. It began in 1998 as a proposed showreel piece, but then escalated into an unstoppable monstrosity that continued to absorb my life (and savings) until 2006. I created all sound, music and vision for the film. Running time is 7 minutes.

The film premiered and won Best Animation at the 2006 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, ahead of 38 other selected shorts including the 2007 Oscar winner. It was subsequently selected to accompany the Oscar nominated shorts in a theatrical tour of the USA, and has screened at a number of international film festivals including the Melbourne International Animation Festival, where it was awarded Best Australian Film.

It now sits in the cupboard gathering dust.

I for one loved the film... but the effort alone that it must have taken for Chris to undertake to make this wonderful piece of work is astonishing to me! From us here at the Hub, three thumbs up Chris!!

Head over to The Passenger website and show Chris his much deserved support, and if you have the cash you can buy a DVD!

Enjoy!

Pigeon: Impossible

Rawls — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:07:43 -0500

Pigeon Impossible, is an epic short film that took writer/director Lucas Martell 5 years to complete. Interesting to note, this is Lucas' first attempt at animation!!

"When the project started, it was mostly an excuse to learn 3D animation, but by the end of the project I had spent so much time reworking and polishing the story that I just wanted people to laugh."

It chronicles the story of a secret agent, a pigeon, and a briefcase. Great sense of timing and comedy!

"Breathtaking visuals and a sweeping soundtrack showcase the work of nearly one-hundred talented artists and musicians, and the film stands as a testament to what can be accomplished by a team of dedicated volunteers working for the love of their craft."

Let me quote that last part one more time, just because it's that important to all we do..."...for the love of the craft."

Enjoy.

Unidentified Flying Mater

Rawls — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:17:48 -0500

Pixar - George & AJ

Rawls — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:15:42 -0500

Cornelis

Rawls — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:12:11 -0500

Cornelis is a beautiful little short film by Ayaka Nakata, that stems from a foundation of dance choreography.

Wonderful piece of work.

Enjoy!

Avatar Game Trailer

Rawls — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:11:38 -0500

And also a look at some in game graphics and game play. ...Just between you and me, after seeing these I'm a little bit more excited about the game than I am the movie, but we'll see. Proof is in the pudding right?

Fumiko's Confession

Rawls — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:05:56 -0500

This wonderful little animated short film "Fumiko no Kokuhaku" comes from a group of students in Japan studying in the Animation Department of Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga.

A rough translation of the first and last scenes' bits of dailogue between the girl and the guy go:

(First Scene)
"Umm, umm. Please go out with me!"
"Sorry! Right now, I want to concentrate on baseball!"
...
(Last Scene)
"I'll make miso soup for you every morning!"
"Sorry! I want to concentrate on baseball!"

The group of students that made this are comprised of the following members:

Director/Animation/Background/3D CG/Editing/Sound: Hiroyasu Ishida
Background/3D CG Textures: Yūko Iwase
3D CG Textures/Background: Kazuhiro Murakami
Animation: Tatsurō Kawano 3D CG Modeling: Yūsaku Nagata

They have even set up a site where you can view screenshots, artwork, backgrounds, character model sheets and even the entire storyboard sequence and other documents from the film!

You can find it here!

Thanks to my buddy Dan at The Labyrinth for posting this.

Enjoy!

Jeremy Clapin - Good Vibrations

Rawls — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:14:10 -0500

The creativity of French animator Jeremy Clapin never ceases to amaze me! If you don't remember the name, I've mentioned his work a couple of times now here on the Hub!

http://cghub.com/blog/view/jeremy-clapin-s-skhizein/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq2hPgSzIwg

Good Vibrations is short created for The Responsibility Project from Liberty Mutual, which is a series of entertainment shorts intended to “create a forum for people to discuss personal acts of responsibility.

Watch the film HERE.

Enjoy!

Dreamworks How to Train Your Dragon Trailer

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:17:23 -0500

Relevant Links
How to Train Your Dragon Official Site
How to Train Your Dragon on IMDB

Disney's Prep & Landing 3 minute preview

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:21:12 -0500

From Wikipedia: Prep and Landing is a computer animated television special, based on an idea by Chris Williams at Walt Disney Animation Studios and developed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers into a half-hour Christmas special for 2009 to air on ABC. The film tells the story of two inept Elves, Wayne (Dave Foley) and Lanny (Derek Richardson), sent by Christmas Eve Command Center coordinator Magee (Sarah Chalke) to prepare houses for Santa's visits.

Relevant Links
Prep & Landing on ABC
Walt Disny Animation Studios
Prep & Landing at Walt Disney Animation Studios

Prince of Persia - Sands of Time Trailer

Rawls — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:45:59 -0500

Jason Felix Salvaged Book Interview

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:18:18 -0500

What can you tell us about your book Salvaged?

Salvaged started out as a series of photoshop experiments back in 1999. The only artist that was doing innovative work in such a new field was Dave McKean. I was really drawn to his graphic designs and overall play of shapes. Really a genius of our times and has fortified a new artist era of digital art acceptance.

At one point, after trying to deconstruct McKean’s work… I had to set aside all his work and just focus on my own ideas. I had spent many hours creating and experimenting in hopes to fortify a style that I could call my own. Finally in 2000, I created an iconic image titled ‘Transfusion’ which solidified a working method and also a style that I could claim as my own.

Over the following years, each day after I would return home from my full time job, I would just sit right back down and work until 3am on the Salvaged series. It was a wondrous time and also a stressful one as trying to live a duel life of 2 full time jobs was starting to take its toll. Plenty of sleepless nights, panic attacks, and various drama start to plague my life. Right then, I knew that I had to take a break.

A year later I started to showcase my personal work online and at a few gallery events. Everyone seemed to love what I have created and was given praise for the innovative ideas. It then dawned on me to collect the work and make a small collected volume. Right away, I started to work on the book layout, contacted publishers, and did my best to figure out ‘How to make a book’. That took 3 years before Salvaged finally saw print and was released last year of 2008.

Who are your favorite contemporary artists?

Beksinski, Rick Berry, Jenny Saville, and Dave McKean. For motion design and film will be Matthew Barney, Brothers Quay, and Chris Cunningham.

Anything else you'd like to share?

The concept of Salvaged started in 1999 and did not see completion until 2008. During those years the artwork and book faced many obstacles. At times, the whole project all most collapsed upon itself which would have resulted in this book never seeing the light of day. JS Rossbach was brought on as the graphic designer in 2005 which helped immensely to complete the book with unconstrained artistic integrity and style. It’s a relief to have the final book in hand, excited to share with everyone the work, and very proud of the end result.

One lesson that I have learned is this: The journey in life is about knowing your goals and where you want to be. The most difficult road to follow is being true to yourself and never forgetting why you do what you do. Never giving up, never loosing focus, and persevering has lead me from the deepest depths of depression to the brink of bliss.

Where do you want to see your work headed in the future? What do you see yourself doing five years from now?

I love and embrace all the new digital tools that are around us. There was a period of time where digital photo manipulations were to avant-garde for any market. I’m always pushing headed towards exploring more with my digital transmutations and also to dip my hands into motion & film shorts. Digital is such a liberating media and honestly I feel unconstrained by the limits of my own imagination. It’s a new frontier that needs exploration and I want to be within that abyss of the unknown.

In 5 years time I see myself dividing time between producing more personal projects with original IP’s (art books, children books, and graphic novels) and continuing to work with the entertainment field of video games, film, and print.

Relevant Links
Jason Felix's CGHUB.com Profile
Jason Felix's Webpage
Jason Felix's Blog
Buy Salvaged Online