FMX 2012
On fxguide I read about FMX, a conference on animation, effects, games and transmedia. An intimate conference where artists, designers and vendors meet. I think I need to check that one out next year!
This year, Autodesk curated the Virtual Production Track. Lectures and breakdowns on the virtual production of motion pictures like Hugo or Real Steel plus lectures on the techniques and future of it. Virtual production is the process where the movie is created in a previs stadium (animatic), performance or motion capture is added with actors on virtual sets (like Avatar & Tin Tin) and the framing of the shot is made by a virtual camera. Virtual production blurs the boundaries between pre-production, production and post-production.
Autodesk captured the lectures for their live stream. After the event they were made available as on demand videos.
Check out: http://area.autodesk.com/fmx2012
Learn, share and be inspired.
Syncing bookmarks using Firefox Sync
As it comes to browsing the web, I'm not a fan of Safari. I use Firefox. Because I own 2 computers: a desktop and a laptop, interesting sites, blogs and articles always got lost as a bookmark in my documents folder or on the desktop.
Last week I discovered Firefox Sync. A handy built-in tool in Firefox (Preferences) to sync your bookmarks with all your devices. The setup is easy and it works fine. Syncing is not instant but that's no problem (there is a delay of 5 minutes or so).
At the moment I'm only using it to sync my bookmarks. I don't need it to sync my history etc, because I never use it. I will probably implement it at the company so all team members always have their bookmarks on every station.
Autodesk Smoke 2013
In June, Autodesk will pre-release the new version of Smoke on Mac. With the new interface and the implementation of a look-a-like Batch FX (Smoke Advanced), called ConnectFX, the application will connect editing and visual effects like never before.
I'm really looking forward to test and work on this new release. Fortunately for me, we will be joining the Autodesk Beta Test platform next week, so I hope we can allready test the software in advance before the pre-release. So more news coming up when working on Smoke 2013.
More info @ http://usa.autodesk.com/smoke-for-mac/
Digital Domain / Real Steel
Digital Domains Blake Sweeney (Light Lead) talking about the use of V-Ray on the motion picture Real Steel (Dreamworks).