Autodesk Congratulates 81st Annual Academy Award Winners and Nominees

For the 14th consecutive year, every film nominated for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award was shaped with Autodesk digital filmmaking tools.

This year's Academy Award nominees continued to push digital imagery to new heights—from intricate and complex computer-generated characters to pyrotechnical marvels to invisible effects so realistic they deceive the eye. Autodesk extends its heartfelt congratulations to the artists and technologists who enthrall audiences with spectacular visuals. We are honored that these filmmakers utilize Autodesk digital technology from planning and previsualization right down to final grade.

Autodesk technology was used to shape Oscar-winning and Academy Award nominated films in the following categories:


ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button



Oscar Winner—Matte World Digital, tasked with re-creating the early 20th century through Hurricane Katrina, created 3D environments, crowd simulations, and matte paintings using Autodesk® 3ds Max® as its main tool with Autodesk® Maya® 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software complementing the work of some shots.

Asylum VFX used Maya, Autodesk® Smoke® finishing effects software, Autodesk® Inferno® visual effects software, and Autodesk® Lustre® digital color grading system for 189 shots for the photoreal tugboat adventure that included extensive water simulation, digital environments and a computer-generated (CG) submarine.

Lola VFX created 100 age reduction and 200 makeup enhancement shots using a combination of tools, including Inferno and the Autodesk® Flame® system.

Evil Eye Pictures used Maya and Autodesk® Combustion® desktop compositing software to integrate matte paintings and environmental effects set in and around New Orleans.


Iron Man



Academy Award Nominee—Industrial Light & Magic brought the superhero character and his nemesis to life using Maya for animating and modeling the CG suits, as well as Inferno visual effects software as part of its SABRE system for compositing over 400 shots.

Pixel Liberation Front worked on the film for 19 months, relying on Maya to create reference models for extensive previsualization.

The Orphanage developed the thruster look and an exploding mountainside using 3ds Max and used Maya for the Gulmira, Missile Test and Stark Jet sequences.


The Dark Knight



Academy Award Nominee—Double Negative created the majority of visual effects in this film, using a combination of proprietary tools and Maya for most of the 2D and 3D work. Maya fluid dynamics helped shape a helicopter crash sequence. Maya® nCloth and Syflex Maya plug-ins were used for cloth simulation of the Batsuit.

Academy Award Nominee—Framestore produced CG environments, CG doubles and digital prosthetic makeup using in-house proprietary tools and numerous Autodesk software applications, including Maya, Autodesk® Mudbox™ software, Autodesk® Matchmover™, Autodesk® Movimento™, and Autodesk® Softimage® 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM


Kung Fu Panda



Academy Award Nominee—DreamWorks Animation SKG developed new tools and workflows for this stereoscopic 3D film, using Maya for setting and rigging stereoscopic cameras, building virtual sets, and rendering.


BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM


This Way Up



Academy Award Nominee—Nexus used a combination of 3ds Max for modeling and animation and Combustion for compositing, among other tools, for this high-definition digital animated short.


Oktapodi



Academy Award Nominee—Gobelins, l'ecole de l'image, a team of six students from the Paris-based school, created this short using Maya for animation.


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM


Waltz with Bashir



CinePostProduction, one of Europe's largest film labs, relied on Smoke for the conform and online, Flame for visual effects, and Lustre for digital color grading.

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Rising Sun Pictures on X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 2009)

Que: Can you give us an overview of RSP's work for the film?
----- RSP initially provided pre-visualisation services for the film, as well as some onset supervision at Fox Studios. For the visual effects sequences, RSP created:

* the juvenile CG 'Bone Claws' for young Logan as they first emerge from his hands
* the adamantium injection sequence involving the CG injection machine, gun and needles, CG bubbles and CG adamantium claws. As part of that sequence we also created a full CG door that is cut through with Wolverine's shiny new adamantium claws (the 'X' as seen in the trailer)
* additional photoreal matte paintings for the secret military base and the carnival.









Que: What was your brief for the look and feel of the effects?
----- Tom Proctor initially took a brief for the VFX in LA from the VFX Supervisor Pat McClung and Director Gavin Hood. It was great to be able to talk with them to get an idea of where they were heading. Whilst the previous X-Men films and the comics gave a good reference for the style, the sequences that Rising Sun worked on had to sit with the onset props.

For both the bone claws and the adamantium claws, we referenced footage with the claw prosthetics, to show how they would interact within the environment. This gave a good starting point. For some of the shots, we had to remove the practical claws before adding the redesigned CG claws. For the adamantium injection sequence, the machine was mostly complete onset, and the prop of the gun with needle was sent to us to use as a reference to build our CG version.


Que: What kind of reference or previz did you look to for your shots? Did you have to embark on any concept work or R&D?
-----In addition to reference that was shot with practical props with the live action plate, production also provided us with concepts, reference and previz. Renders from other vendors were provided for contextual accuracy. The bone claws went through many rounds of development before the final look was achieved, as did the adamantium claws and the injection machine. Most of these had to be approached on a case-by-case basis, to build on the RSP pipeline already in place from previous shows.


Que: How did you approach your shots technically? What techniques did you end up using? Can you talk about 1 or 2 of your main shots or sequences in particular and how they were accomplished?
-----For young James Logan's bone claws, the intention was originally to keep the practical prosthetic as seen in the original plates and reference. Unfortunately they didn't hold up in close ups. More specifically, the design of the bone claws was changed throughout, and there eventually became continuity issues that needed to be resolved through the use of CG.

On the back of James' hand, we applied a warping effect where the skin on the back of his hand is rising and moving. It was a prolonged creepy moment as the claws grew under the skin and eventually emerged out the knuckles. We rendered some 3d passes to apply the warp in 2d. That went through a few different iterations with different levels of detail - our brief was that it needed to be creepy, but not gruesome - the PG-13 rating drove that look, so there couldn't be anything overly-gory. We tried some extreme stretching of the skin in some early versions, but it was too much for the censors and had to be dialed back. Although the bone claw breaks through the skin between his knuckles, we never see any blood. They travel under the skin then slowly flay out.

For the design of the bone claws, we went through a few different styles before arriving at the final look. As far as modeling, we had a practical bone claw sent to us which we used as reference, in addition to reference shot on set of the child model. This was developed as the look and texture progressed. At first there was a smooth, waxy translucent look, then we progressed on to something which looked very much like bone. Some of the early developments involved looking at the way that bones calcify as they develop.

There was a gag we were trying to do with the translucency of the bone - to progress from a finger-nail type vein bone which transitioned to a mature calcified look as it emerged from his knuckle. The timing of the shots meant this gag could not be played out - so the bones ended up coming out with the 'mature' calcified look, and you can see some of the veins beneath the surface - we really tried to get some of the translucency of real bones in to the final design.



For the fully CG shot of him tearing his way out of a metal door with his new adamantium claws, we needed to create an entirely CG shot. We start by seeing the exterior of a rusty metal door, and the claws punch through the door then tear out an X in the door. It was originally intended to be shot practically but the design of the door was changed significantly. We went through revisions to get the look of the door just right for the fully CG shot, and that was transposed in to the subsequent live action plate where the practical door was fully replaced.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Matte World Environment Breakdown

Matte World's environment work from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"



http://www.awntv.com/videos/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-matte-world-environment-breakdown