VFX/PDX

‘Round Here Roundup – April 2015

Posted on April 24, 2015 by jbills

Just dropped by HouseSpecial – your jaw!

The Alchemist’s Letter from HouseSpecial

Some very good looking work involving a lot of talented artists that will no doubt make the film fest circuit. Excellent to see HouseSpecial come out guns blazing and continue the rich animation tradition forged by Vinton and LAIKA /house.

Cardboard Castle has been keeping busy, and have a new reel and fresh batch of VFX heavy spots. Check out the environment work on these spots for East Boston Bank:

EBSB – Manufacturing from Cardboard Castle on Vimeo.

And the breakdown:

EBSB – Manufacturing – VFX Breakdown from Cardboard Castle on Vimeo.

Check out the latest reel and freshened website:

Cardboard Castle 2015 Reel from Cardboard Castle on Vimeo.

Taking the bus from CBC’s Boise ‘hood down to the heart of Division at Bent Image Lab, the team there had an animated piece catch my eye lately – this bit for the recent Nirvana documentary has a nice feel to it:

“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” (animated sequences by Stefan Nadelman) from Bent Image Lab

Kudos to animator/director Stefan Nadelman on that one. Unknown if any of those were inspired or directly lifted from actual Cobain artwork. The reviews of the film have been stellar.

Making our way up north to lovely St. Johns, we have the boys at Refuge VFX showing off some work outside of their typical bread and butter Grimm fare. This BTS details some of their work on the film Last Knights.

Related, here’s an extended look into the mind of Refuge owner Fred Ruff over on Allan McKay’s VFX podcast.

Here’s an in-depth BTS from Hinge Digital showing some architectural renderings of the Portland Center Stage Armory, using the real-time tech from Nvidia’s Iray render engine. Not hard to see how this arch viz exercise could be applied to all sorts of environments and VFX situations, as we move into more virtual and augmented reality scenarios.

NVIDIA “Photo vs CG using Iray & VCA” – Behind the Scenes from Hinge Digital on Vimeo.

On a lighter note, here’s some chuckle worthy fare from Hinge of the 2D animated variety. Snow knows nothing!

Last but not least, we head across the river to HiveFX, who are busy finishing up another season of Grimm but promise a fresh website and updated reel coming soon. In the meantime, have a look at this fun spot that company heads Jim Clark and Gretchen Miller put together a while back for Columbia Bank:

Columbia Bank – HIVEFX from GreenRubino on Vimeo.

Obviously the style had to be a bit safer than the average after-hours Grimm gore gracing the airwaves these days. Any chance to have some fun while doing what we love is a chance taken! And helping out a local business that has obviously helped them in the past was a nice touch. Grimm continues to be the gift to Portland that keeps on giving, and HiveFX has the skills to deliver top notch shots on each show they’re awarded. We’ll all be looking forward to that new site and reel!

Keep those gears turning, Portland!

Free Screening of Russell Crowe’s “The Water Diviner”

Posted on April 20, 2015 by jbills

Here’s an invitation for a free advanced screening of Academy Award Winner Russell Crowe’s new film The Water Diviner, in which he both starred and directed. Which might beg the question, “Why is this being posted to the VFX user group blog?” Answer: The Water Diviner marked the first project for Portland VFX collective Sprocketship as things were getting up and running last year, completing a handful of set extension shots for the period piece (set in early 1900’s Turkey). Sorry to tease a new company and run, but all in due time – there will be lots to say in the coming months and in many ways things are still coming together.

In the meantime, enjoy the film and the seamless VFX! Seating is limited, so grab your passes now (limit 2).

Tuesday, April 21^st @ 7:00pm
Regal Cinemas Bridgeport Village Stadium 18 & IMAX
7329 SW Bridgeport Road
Tigard, OR 97224

Passes available at this link: http://www.wbtickets.com/Waterdiv21 (Code: Waterdiv21)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grIiiHuetis

Synopsis: Russell Crowe’s directorial debut, “The Water Diviner,” is an epic and inspiring tale of one man’s life-changing journey of discovery. Crowe plays Australian farmer Joshua Connor, who, in 1919, goes in search of his three missing sons, last known to have fought against the Turks in the bloody Battle of Gallipoli. Arriving in Istanbul, he is thrust into a vastly different world, where he encounters others who have suffered their own losses in the conflict: Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko), a strikingly beautiful but guarded hotelier raising a child alone; her young, spirited son, Orhan (Dylan Georgiades), who finds a friend in Connor; and Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdoğan), a Turkish officer who fought against Connor’s boys and who may be this father’s only hope. With seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his path, Connor must travel across the battle-scarred Turkish landscape to find the truth… and his own peace.

Spring offerings at CCC

Posted on March 25, 2015 by jbills

The Digital Media and Communications program at Clackamas Community College continues to build steam and, whether you’re looking at continuing education options or are an undergrad hungry for more varied offerings, there are some nice opportunities this Spring to get your learn on.

I’m pleased to announce the return of DMC 250 – Motion Capture Animation. A Monday+Wednesday night class that runs from 6:00pm-8:50pm. Happy to see the most excellent Rob Bekuhrs, SuperGenius Animation Director, is the instructor for this go around. Having worked with Rob while at Laika, I can vouch that this class will be in very good hands.

Another noteworthy class is DMC 265, Advanced Digital Filmmaking. Taught by Andy Mingo, this class breaks out the heavy equipment that the DMC program has been acquiring. The big guns! Including the RED Epic 5k camera, the Arri Amira camera, the Blackmagic Ursa 4k camera (PL mount with a nice set of Zeiss glass), the Inspire 1 Aerial Drone, and the Ronin Camera Stabilizer, on and on. A fresh partnership announced for this term: the best student films to come out of the program will screen at the Portland Film Festival in September! This is paving the way for some very, very high quality imagery to be created around here and we’re all quite excited. The class is slated for Monday+Wednesday afternoons.

Finally, spring also marks the return of animator Chris Dreger’s popular Stop Motion class, using the industry standard Dragonframe software. The last class produced a great music video tribute to the Ramones (I say as I switch my Pandora over to the Ramones station). This term seems to be teasing some Star Trek imagery – can’t wait to see what Chris is cooking up! A 7 week class – Tuesday nights starting April 7, from 5-7:50pm.

Any questions about these or other CCC offerings, contact Andy Mingo at amingo@clackamas.edu or phone Kelly White at (503) 594-3034. Lots of info over at the DMC dept page.

A larger post is long overdue to publicize some of the movement out that way and discuss the rest of the academic scene here in town, as it applies to VFX / Animation / 3D / Film. Coming soon!

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