https://github.com/GafferHQ/gaffer/releases/tag/1.0.3.0

https://github.com/GafferHQ/gaffer/pull/4812

This release introduces support for the open source Cycles renderer. This is introduced as an opt-in feature preview intended for early testing and feedback as breaking changes can be expected while we continue to improve Cycles integration in future releases. As such, the use of Cycles is disabled by default but can be enabled via an environment variable. Additionally we’ve added support for viewing parameter history in the Light Editor, automatic render-time translation of UsdPreviewSurface shaders and UsdLuxLights for Arnold and made the usual small fixes and improvements.

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-dynamic-range-photography/

https://www.hdrsoft.com/resources/dri.html#bit-depth

The dynamic range is a ratio between the maximum and minimum values of a physical measurement. Its definition depends on what the dynamic range refers to.

For a scene: Dynamic range is the ratio between the brightest and darkest parts of the scene.

For a camera: Dynamic range is the ratio of saturation to noise. More specifically, the ratio of the intensity that just saturates the camera to the intensity that just lifts the camera response one standard deviation above camera noise.

For a display: Dynamic range is the ratio between the maximum and minimum intensities emitted from the screen.

https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2022/08/09/neural-graphics-sdk-metaverse-content/

Unfortunately, png output only at the moment:

http://imaginaire.cc/gaugan360/

https://www.petertimberlake.com/practicematerial

“…a bunch of high quality practice material for compositors looking to build their reels. Contains all plates, roto, CG elements, matte paintings, and everything required to start compositing.”

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-tenebrism-art-definition/

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-hard-light-photography/

“The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Amazon will spend roughly NZ$650 million — $465 million in U.S. dollars — for just the first season of the show.”

“Amazon’s spending will trigger a tax rebate of NZ$160 million ($114 million U.S). This is somewhat controversial in New Zealand as the government could end up on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to help subsidize Amazon’s elves-and-hobbits drama series. Stuff reported that the country’s treasury has labeled the show a “significant fiscal risk” given there is no capped upside to how much Amazon — and therefore the government — might spend. ”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/amazons-lord-of-the-rings-cost-465-million-one-season-4167791/

https://www.aardman.com/latest-news/a-love-letter-to-animation?es_id=adac2937f2

https://www.auganix.org/geenees-full-body-and-face-tracking-webar-sdk-now-available-for-free-for-non-commercial-use/

https://geenee.ar/

https://captures.lumalabs.ai/unbounded

https://www.materialx.org/assets/ASWF_OSD2022_MaterialX_OSL_Final.pdf

Local copy:

#stablediffusion text-to-image checkpoints are now available for research purposes upon request at https://t.co/7SFUVKoUdl

Working on a more permissive release & inpainting checkpoints.

Soon™ coming to @runwayml for text-to-video-editing pic.twitter.com/7XVKydxTeD

— Patrick Esser (@pess_r) August 11, 2022

stablediffusion text-to-image checkpoints are now available for research purposes upon request at https://github.com/CompVis/stable-diffusion

https://github.com/CompVis/stable-diffusion

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.10752.pdf

http://www.cgchannel.com/2022/08/amazon-makes-all-aws-thinkbox-software-available-free/

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made its AWS Thinkbox software products – Deadline, Draft, Krakatoa, Frost, XMesh, Sequoia and Stoke – available for free.

Anyone with a free AWS account can download the software, with 50,000 one-year licences available for each. Users of Deadline and Krakatoa can also obtain Usage-Based Licensing (UBL) render time for free.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/03/marvel-disney-visual-effects-artists-speak-out

“The visual effects industry is filled with terrific people with lots of goodwill who really care but, at the end of the day, there’s nothing in place when their backs are up against the wall and Disney is making crazy demands,”

https://www.thegamer.com/marvel-mcu-vfx-artists-deadlines-crunch-stress/

“VFX artists are speaking out against Marvel, with many refusing to ever work with the entertainment giant again. This comes as artists share accounts of unworkable deadlines and immense pressure leading to stress and unsatisfactory final products. Many have requested to never be put on a Marvel project again, saying that the studio has the “worst VFX management out there”.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/she-hulk-cgi-marvel-vfx-artists-1235332644

“Maslany, Gao and Coiro had been asked by a journalist about their experiences with the “She-Hulk” VFX artists and “how you feel about the finished product,” noting that “there have been numerous accounts lately that VFX houses … they are feeling incredibly crushed by the studios in general and Marvel keeps getting called out.”

https://www.slashfilm.com/941931/why-so-many-vfx-artists-are-fed-up-with-marvel/

“The studio has a lot of power over the effects houses, just because it has so many blockbuster movies coming out one after the other. If you upset Marvel in any way, there’s a very high chance you’re not going to get those projects in the future. So the effects houses are trying to bend over backward to keep Marvel happy. […] One visual-effects house could not finish the number of shots and reshoots Marvel was asking for in time, so Marvel had to give my studio the work. Ever since, that house has effectively been blacklisted from getting Marvel work.”

https://gizmodo.com/disney-marvel-movies-vfx-industry-nightmare-1849385834

“There’s a joke in the visual effects industry that goes like this: Someone hears you work on films, so they ask you, “What movie made you cry?” The artist will respond, “In theaters or in the office?””

Autodesk – Brian Pene

https://www.behance.net/gallery/35474413/Design-Triangle-(re-make)-2016

https://www.behance.net/gallery/9112935/Wonderful-Creative-Process-Chart

Or the more realistic version

Startup tools and support sites

Making an animated movie for free
http://www.pixelsham.com/2020/12/07/an-open-source-pipeline/

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5B2gmz

https://github.com/matiascodesal/awesome-usd

https://grisk.itch.io/dain-app

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.12403.pdf

Local copy:

https://www.flexclip.com/learn/cinematic-video.html

• Frame Your Shots to Create Depth
• Create Shallow Depth of Field
• Avoid Shaky Footage and Use Flexible Camera Movements
• Properly Use Slow Motion
• Use Cinematic Lighting Techniques
• Apply Color Grading
• Use Cinematic Music and SFX
• Add Cinematic Fonts and Text Effects
• Create the Cinematic Bar at the Top and the Bottom

https://www.slashcam.com/news/single/Netflix-removes-movie-noise--saves-30--bandwidth-a-17337.html

”’Filmmaker Parker Gibbons has drawn attention to a very interesting fact: Netflix removes film noise before streaming its movies and artificially adds it back when decoding. This is because digitally shot films are actually free of any film grain, the very specific (not to be confused with noise caused by too little light) noise that occurs in analog filming. But this type of noise has become so associated with “real” motion pictures through the long history of film (as a component of the film look) that it is unconsciously perceived by many viewers as an important feature of a motion picture.

…

This leads to a difficult-to-resolve contradiction between, on the one hand, film material that is as compressible and noise-free as possible, and, on the other hand, the noise caused by film grain that is desirable for the film look. Netflix has found a very special solution to resolve this contradiction. It uses a very special function of the open source AV1 video codec, which Netflix has been using for a long time, namely the artificial synthesis of film grain. Thus, film noise is first analyzed using statistical methods before compression and then removed for efficient compression. According to Netflix, this saves around 30% of the data during transmission.”’

https://www.awn.com/news/cinesite-acquires-canadian-studio-latelier-animation

Margaret Dost’s Archer Elf in full color using the Stratasys J55 at Fonco Studios
Water-soluble support material with no sanding and no paint.

https://github.com/mitsuba-renderer/mitsuba3

https://paveloliva.gumroad.com/l/buildify

https://deadline.com/2022/07/netflix-acquires-animation-studio-animal-logic-1235072619/

https://animallogic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/AnimalLogic_PressRelease_Final.pdf

NETFLIX ACQUIRES WORLD LEADING INDEPENDENT ANIMATION STUDIO ANIMAL LOGIC
19 July 2022 Netflix and Animal Logic are excited to announce today that Netflix plans to acquire the
Australian animation studio.* This acquisition will support Netflix’s ambitious animated film slate,
building on films like Academy Award-nominated Over the Moon, Academy Award-nominated Klaus
and the recently released The Sea Beast

https://github.com/hkchengrex/XMem

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.07115.pdf

https://www.animvfxunion.com/blog/mpcrag

https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/volume_30/january_2019/departments/animal_vision_seeing_color/

z-fx.nl/ColorspACES.pdf

https://www.provideocoalition.com/color-management-part-12-introducing-aces/

Local copy:

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