www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/dc-universe-possibly-shutting-down-as-warner-focuses-on-hbo-max/

news.toyark.com/2020/08/10/dc-direct-shut-down-in-massive-lay-offs-at-warner-bros-398330

DC Universe, DC’s streaming and digital comics platform, may be shutting down as WarnerMedia shifts all of its streaming efforts to HBO Max and perhaps looks for a new digital strategy for the comic books.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/unreal-engine-high-quality-settings-cinematics-daniel-stubbington/?trackingId=3t0w5Lqh%2B53J%2BuTFN9jWHg%3D%3D

www.awn.com/news/katana-40-reveal-shows-major-new-features-coming-fall-2020

https://www.translatorscafe.com/unit-converter/en-US/illumination/1-11/

The power output of a light source is measured using the unit of watts W. This is a direct measure to calculate how much power the light is going to drain from your socket and it is not relatable to the light brightness itself.

The amount of energy emitted from it per second. That energy comes out in a form of photons which we can crudely represent with rays of light coming out of the source. The higher the power the more rays emitted from the source in a unit of time.

Not all energy emitted is visible to the human eye, so we often rely on photometric measurements, which takes in account the sensitivity of human eye to different wavelenghts

https://pllight.com/understanding-lighting-metrics/

Candela is the basic unit of measure of light intensity from any point in a single direction from a light source. It measures the total volume of light within a certain beam angle and direction.
While the luminance of starlight is around 0.001 cd/m2, that of a sunlit scene is around 100,000 cd/m2, which is a hundred millions times higher. The luminance of the sun itself is approximately 1,000,000,000 cd/m2.

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

To make it easier to represent values that vary so widely, it is common to use a logarithmic scale to plot the luminance. The scanline below represents the log base 10 of the luminance, so going from 0.1 to 1 is the same distance as going from 100 to 1000, for instance. A scene showing the interior of a room with a sunlit view outside the window, for instance, will have a dynamic range of approximately 100,000:1.

Lumen (lm) is the basic unit of measure for a light that is visible to the human eye. It indicates the total potential amount of light from a light source. If a uniform point source of 1 candela is at the center of a sphere with a 1ft2 radius with an opening of 1 ft2 at its surface, the quantity of light that passes through that opening is equal to 1 lumen. Since lumens are a photometric measurement for humans, we do not use this unit of measure for describing horticultural lighting.

Technically speaking, a Lumen is the SI unit of luminous flux, which is equal to the amount of light which is emitted per second in a unit solid angle of one steradian from a uniform source of one-candela intensity radiating in all directions.

Illuminance refers to the density of light over a given surface area, and is expressed in mostly LUX or lumens/m2.
Luminance refers to the amount of light emitted under various circumstances, and it is expressed mostly in LUMENS or candela/m2.

Lux (lx) or often Illuminance, is a photometric unit along a given area, which takes in account the sensitivity of human eye to different wavelenghts. It is the measure of light at a specific distance within a specific area at that distance. Often used to measure the incidental sun’s intensity. Its default unit describes the number of lumens visible in a square meter (lumen/m2). 100 lumens spread out over an area of 1 m2 will have an illuminance of 100 lx. The same 100 lumens spread out over 10 m2 produces a dimmer illuminance of only 10 lx.

The core difference between lux and lumens can be summarized as follows:

• Lux is a measure of illuminance, the total amount of light that falls on a surface at a given distance
  
• Lumens is a measure of luminous flux, the total amount of light emitted in all directions.

A footcandle describes the number of lumen per square foot. Therefore, one footcandle is equal to approximately 10.764 lx. This measure is only relevant for how we perceive light and is irrelevant for plant growth. Like lumens, lux and footcandles are not useful for describing horticultural lighting.

Color Rendering Index, or CRI, describes the ability of a light source to show an object’s color accurately in comparison to standardized colour samples under a reference light source. The highest value a light can achieve is a CRI of 100. Lower CRI values result in objects appearing unnatural or discolored. Under a light with a CRI of 100, an orange appears bright orange; under a light with a CRI of 70, the orange appears darker and bluer. This measure is dependent on how the human eye sees light, and so it is not a useful parameter for choosing horticultural lighting.

Correlated Color Temperature, or CCT, describes the color of a light source vs. a reference source when heated to a particular temperature, and is measured in degrees Kelvin (°K). The higher the CCT of a light source, the cooler the light’s color. For example, a very red light achieves a CCT of about 1000 K while a very blue light can achieve a CCT of about 10,000 K. Warm white lights will have a CCT around 2700 K (since they emit more energy at the red end of the spectrum), neutral white will be around 4000 K, and cool white around 5000 K (emitting more energy at the blue end of the spectrum). Similar to CRI, this measure is dependent on light perception by the human eye, and, once again, is not useful for describing or choosing horticultural lighting.

http://www.lumis.co.nz/reference-information/lighting-terminology

Light is a visible portion of electromagnetic radiation. Watts isn’t a measure of light output. Watts is actually a measure of total power output. Not all of the energy emitted by a light source is visible light – heat and invisible light waves (ex. infrared light) are also emitted. Lumens, on the other hand, will tell you the total visible light output of a source. For this reason, lumens (not watts) is the relevant unit of measure when you’re concerned about visibility. The higher the power the more rays emitted from the source in a unit of time.

Irradiance (radiant flux emitted by a surface per unit area aka watt per square meter) is a radiometric unit. As such also actually a measure of total power output.
Radiometric units are based on physical power, that means all wavelengths are weighted equally, while photometric units take into account the sensitivity of human eye to different wavelengths.
The weighting is determined by the luminosity function (which was measured for human eye and is an agreed-upon standard).

Converting Irradiance and Illuminance
http://www.dfisica.ubi.pt/~hgil/Fotometria/HandBook/ch07.html
There is a different conversion factor for every wavelength, so the spectral composition of light must be known to make the conversion.

At the most sensitive wavelegth to the human eye the conversion factor is

1.0 W/m2 = 683.002 lumen/m2 # at wavelength = 555nm (green)

That means the irradiance (power) to make 1 lumen is at it’s minimum at this wavelength (just 1.464 mW/m2).
Luminous efficiency is then the ratio between the actual number of lumens per watt and the theoretical maximum.
Incandescent light bulb has a luminous efficiency of 2% which is very poor. It’s because lot of it’s irradiance is only heat which is not visible. The luminosity function is zero for wavelengths outside the visible spectrum.

https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/light/lux-to-lumen-calculator.html

https://www.projectorpoint.co.uk/news/how-bright-should-my-projector-be/

https://dracobroadcast.eu/blogs/news/continuous-light-converting-guide

• Watts (halogen) – A measure of energy consumed
• Watts (HMI) – A measure of energy consumed
• Watts (LED) – A measure of energy consumed
• Lux – Lumens per square meter, illuminance at target
• Footcandles – Lumens per square foot
• Stops – Size of lens aperture
• EV – Exposure Value
• Lumens – Measure of amount of visible light, luminance from source
• Candela – Measure of entire volume of lighting
• NIT = Candela per square meter but is not part of the International System of Units

www.mmhmm.app/

https://www.animationxpress.com/vfx/meet-daniele-tosti-a-senior-cg-artist-who-is-on-a-mission-to-inspire-the-next-generation-of-artists/

You’ve been in the VFX Industry for over a decade. Tell us about your journey.

It all started with my older brother giving me a Commodore64 personal computer as a gift back in the late 80′. I realised then I could create something directly from my imagination using this new digital media format. And, eventually, make a living in the process.
That led me to start my professional career in 1990. From live TV to games to animation. All the way to live action VFX in the recent years.

I really never stopped to crave to create art since those early days. And I have been incredibly fortunate to work with really great talent along the way, which made my journey so much more effective.

What inspired you to pursue VFX as a career?

An incredible combination of opportunities, really. The opportunity to express myself as an artist and earn money in the process. The opportunity to learn about how the world around us works and how best solve problems. The opportunity to share my time with other talented people with similar passions. The opportunity to grow and adapt to new challenges. The opportunity to develop something that was never done before. A perfect storm of creativity that fed my continuous curiosity about life and genuinely drove my inspiration.

Tell us about the projects you’ve particularly enjoyed working on in your career

I quite enjoyed working on live TV projects, as the combination of tight deadlines and high quality was quite an incredible learning platform as a professional artist. But working on large, high end live action feature projects was really where I learnt most of my trade. And gave me the most satisfaction.

Every film I worked on had some memorable experiences. Right from Avatar to Iron Man 3 to Jungle Book to The Planet of the Apes to The Hobbits to name a few.

But above all, the technical challenges and the high quality we reached in each and every of the projects that I worked on, the best memories come from working with amazing and skilled artists, from a variety of disciplines. As those were my true mentors and became my best friends.

Post Production, Animation, VFX, Motion Graphics, Video Editing …

What are some technologies and trends that you think are emerging in the VFX Industry?

In the last few years there has definitely been a bias from some major studios to make VFX a commodity. In the more negative sense of the word. When any product reaches a level of quality that attracts a mass of consumers and reaches a plateau of opportunities, large corporation tend to respond with maximising its sale values by leveraging marketing schemes and deliverable more than the core values of the product itself. This is often a commoditisation approach that tends to empower agents who are not necessarily knowledgeable of a product’s cycles, and in that process, lowering the quality of the product itself for the sake of profits. It is a pretty common event in modern society and it applies to any brand name, not just VFX.

One challenge with VFX’s technology and artistry is that it relies on the effectiveness of artists and visionaries for the most. And limiting the authority, ownerships and perspective of such a crowd has definitely directly impacted the overall quality of the last decade of productions, both technically and artistically. There are very few and apart creative forces who have been able to deliver project that one could identify as a truly creative breakthrough. While the majority of productions seem to have suffered from some of these commoditisation patterns.

The other bigger challenge with this current trend is that VFX, due to various, historical business arrangements, is often relying on unbalanced resources as well as very small and feeble economic cycles and margins. Which make the entire industry extremely susceptible to marketing failures and to unstable leadership. As a few recent bankruptcies have demonstrated.

It is taking some reasonable time for the VFX crowd to acknowledge these trends and learn to be profitable, as the majority has never been educated on fair business practices.

But. Thankfully, the VFX circle is also a crowd of extremely adaptable and talented individuals, who are quite capable at resolving issues, finding alternatives and leveraging their passion. Which I believe is one of the drives behind the current evolution in the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, virtual production, real time rendering, and so on.

There is still a long path ahead of us but I hope we are all learning ways to make our passion speaks in profitable ways for everyone.

It is also highly likely that, in a near future, larger software and hardware corporation, thanks to their more profitable business practices, large development teams and better understanding of marketing, will eventually take over a lot of the cycles that the current production houses currently run. And in that process allow creative studios to focus back on VFX artistry.

What effect has the pandemics-induced lockdown had on the industry?

It is still early to say. I fear that if live action production does not start soon, we may see some of the economic challenges I mention above. At both studio and artists’ scale. There is definitely a push from production houses to make large distribution clients understand the fragility of the moment, especially in relation to payment cycles and economic support. Thus, there is still a fair risk that the few studios which adopted a more commoditised view to production will make their artists pay some price for their choices.

But, any challenge brings opportunities. For example, there is finally some recognition into a momentum to rely on work-from-home as a feasible solution to a lot of the current office production’s limitations and general artistry restrictions. Which, while there is no win-win in this pandemic, could be a silver lining.

What would you say to the budding artists who wish to become CG artists or VFX professionals?

Follow your passion but treat this career as any other business.
Learn to be adaptable. Find a true balance between professional and family life. Carefully plan your future. And watch our channel to learn more about all these.

What inspired you to create a channel for aspiring artists?

As many fellow and respected artists, I love this industry, but I had to understand a lot of business practices at my own expenses.
You can learn tools, cycles and software from books and schools. But production life tends to drive its own rhythms and there are fewer opportunities to absorb those.

Along my career I had some challenges finding professional willing to share their time to invest into me. But I was still extremely fortunate to find other mentors who helped me to be economically and professionally successful in this business. I owe a lot to these people. I promised myself I would exchange that favour by helping other artists, myself.

What can students expect to learn from your channel?

I am excited to have the opportunity to fill some of the voids that the current education systems and industry may have. This by helping new artists with true life stories by some of the most accomplished and successful talents I met during my career. We will talk about technology trends as much as our life experiences as artists. Discussing career advises. Trying to look into the future of the industry. And suggesting professional tips. The aim through this mentor-ship is to inspire new generations to focus on what is more important for the VFX industry. Take responsibilities for their art and passions as much as their families.

And, in the process, to feel empowered to materialise from their imagination more and more of those creative, awe inspiring moments that this art form has gifted us with so far.

http://TheCGCareer.com

Using Animation Nodes

screenrant.com/mulan-movie-streaming-release-date-disney-plus-price/

“This news of Mulan skipping a theatrical-only release to debut on Disney+ and in theaters the same day is quite shocking.

Disney’s Mulan is without question the biggest film to move to a streaming release so far (with, perhaps, the exception of certain movies that were already in theaters when closures began), even if it’s a combination of streaming and theater screenings. Mulan was expected to be a big box office earner for Disney, particularly as it’s one of the first blockbusters with a predominantly Asian cast.

Although Mulan can still prove to be a financial success, it will never be known whether the movie could’ve seen massive, record-breaking success like that which Black Panther earned when it released in 2018.”

https://www.urtech.ca/2019/04/solved-complete-list-of-screen-resolution-names-sizes-and-aspect-ratios/

(more…)

The Dunning-Kruger effect
www.pixelsham.com/2014/10/18/the-dunning-kruger-peak/

www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/5.html

Water itself has an intrinsic blue color that is a result of its molecular structure and its behavior.

www.asbglassfloor.com/

http://www.calculator.org/property.aspx?name=solid+angle

A measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. Thus. A measure for objects in the sky. Useful to retuen the size of the sun and moon… and in perspective, how much of their contribution to lighting. Solid angle can be represented in ‘angular diameter’ as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_angle

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/steradian.html

A solid angle is expressed in a dimensionless unit called a steradian (symbol: sr). By default in terms of the total celestial sphere and before atmospheric’s scattering, the Sun and the Moon subtend fractional areas of 0.000546% (Sun) and 0.000531% (Moon).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_angle#Sun_and_Moon

On earth the sun is likely closer to 0.00011 solid angle after athmospheric scattering. The sun as perceived from earth has a diameter of 0.53 degrees. This is about 0.000064 solid angle.

http://www.numericana.com/answer/angles.htm

The mean angular diameter of the full moon is 2q = 0.52° (it varies with time around that average, by about 0.009°). This translates into a solid angle of 0.0000647 sr, which means that the whole night sky covers a solid angle roughly one hundred thousand times greater than the full moon.

More info

http://lcogt.net/spacebook/using-angles-describe-positions-and-apparent-sizes-objects

http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/glossary/def.php.s=topic_astronomy

Angular Size

The apparent size of an object as seen by an observer; expressed in units of degrees (of arc), arc minutes, or arc seconds. The moon, as viewed from the Earth, has an angular diameter of one-half a degree.

The angle covered by the diameter of the full moon is about 31 arcmin or 1/2°, so astronomers would say the Moon’s angular diameter is 31 arcmin, or the Moon subtends an angle of 31 arcmin.

Ambilight is a trademark for the immersive lighting technology that Philips launched in 2004, with lighting on the rear of the TV that reflected on-screen content. To date, they’re the only manufacturers to build this technology into the TV itself.

www.makeuseof.com/tag/minger-ihoment-tv-backlight/

yourfancydeals.com/products/luminous-tv-pc-dynamic-led-strip?clickid=wml5r4du6b25kve12drf5u5q

https://www.nreal.ai/

www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/71461/unity-is-finally-going-public/

techcrunch.com/2020/08/24/unitys-ipo-numbers-look-pretty-unreal/

Between calendar 2018 and 2019, Unity’s revenue rose by 42 per cent year-on-year to $541.8m. Meanwhile, the firm’s revenue for the six months ending June 30th, 2020 was $351.3m, an increase of 39 per cent. The company has clocked up net losses of $163.2m for the year ending December 31st 2019 and $54.1m for the six months concluding June 30th, 2020.

Unity reckons the market it addresses around the world is worth around $29bn, across both video games and other creative industries it works in.

Unlike Epic Games, Unity has long worked with the major platforms and gaming companies to get their engine in front of as many developers and gamers as possible. In fact, the company estimates that 53% of the top 1,000 mobile games on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and over 50% of mobile, personal computer and console games were made with Unity.

https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/preparing-importing-3d-image-files.html

Using Video Copilot’s Element 3D

www.videocopilot.net/docs/element/

Projection mapping in Element 3D
https://www.videocopilot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=129682

Using Blender

Using Cinema 4D
helpx.adobe.com/ca/after-effects/using/c4d.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/after-effects/using/c4d.html

Using Maya
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/preparing-importing-3d-image-files.html#baking_and_importing_maya_data

Samsung The Wall

The Wall TV can be configured to sizes ranging from 146 inches to 292 inches diagonally and uses MicroLED technology instead of OLED or traditional LED.

MicroLED delivers many of the benefits you’ll find in OLED, including perfect blacks and eye-popping colors, but the set also boasts 1,600 nits of brightness. That’s brighter than today’s OLED sets.

Currently, Samsung is offering two models of The Wall, or rather the individual panels that make up The Wall, the IW008J and the IW008R. While Samsung doesn’t list prices for these panels online, other resellers are listing the modules for $16 to $23 thousand dollars each.

These individual modules measure 31.75 x 17.86 inches, but have an individual resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. In order to enjoy the same 3840 x 2160 resolution you’ll get on a standard 4K TV, you’ll need to buy 16 of these panels, to set up in a 4 x 4 configuration that measures 146 inches diagonally.

If you’re in the market for a microLED TV, and are comfortable spending upwards of $300,000 to get the same 4K resolution that the best cheap 4K TVs provide, you’ll need to contact Samsung directly to order products and arrange custom installation.

Because The Wall is made up of borderless tiles, the modular design allows additional tiles to be added, making this even-bigger version of The Wall possible.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-the-wall-tv-release-date,news-27356.html

https://fspy.io/

roxanneluo.github.io/PeppersCone.html

roxanneluo.github.io/papers/PeppersCone/Pepper_s_Cone_UIST_2017.pdf

Video Projection Tool Software
https://hcgilje.wordpress.com/vpt/

https://www.projectorpoint.co.uk/news/how-bright-should-my-projector-be/

http://www.adwindowscreens.com/the_calculator/

heavym
https://heavym.net/en/

MadMapper
https://madmapper.com/