BREAKING NEWS
LATEST POSTS
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Jellyfish Pictures suspends operations
https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/post-and-vfx/jellyfish-pictures-suspends-operations/5202847.article
According to a report in Indian news outlet, Animation Xpress, Jellyfish is facing financial struggles and has temporarily suspended its global operations.
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AI and the Law – Judge allows authors AI copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward
The lawsuit has already provided a few glimpses into how Meta approaches copyright, with court filings from the plaintiffs claiming that Mark Zuckerberg gave the Llama team permission to train the models using copyrighted works and that other Meta team members discussed the use of legally questionable content for AI training.
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Lumotive Light Control Metasurface – This Tiny Chip Replaces Bulky Optics & Mechanical Mirrors
Programmable Optics for LiDAR and 3D Sensing: How Lumotive’s LCM is Changing the Game
For decades, LiDAR and 3D sensing systems have relied on mechanical mirrors and bulky optics to direct light and measure distance. But at CES 2025, Lumotive unveiled a breakthrough—a semiconductor-based programmable optic that removes the need for moving parts altogether.
The Problem with Traditional LiDAR and Optical Systems
LiDAR and 3D sensing systems work by sending out light and measuring when it returns, creating a precise depth map of the environment. However, traditional systems have relied on physically moving mirrors and lenses, which introduce several limitations:
- Size and weight – Bulky components make integration difficult.
- Complexity – Mechanical parts are prone to failure and expensive to produce.
- Speed limitations – Physical movement slows down scanning and responsiveness.
To bring high-resolution depth sensing to wearables, smart devices, and autonomous systems, a new approach is needed.
Enter the Light Control Metasurface (LCM)
Lumotive’s Light Control Metasurface (LCM) replaces mechanical mirrors with a semiconductor-based optical chip. This allows LiDAR and 3D sensing systems to steer light electronically, just like a processor manages data. The advantages are game-changing:
- No moving parts – Increased durability and reliability
- Ultra-compact form factor – Fits into small devices and wearables
- Real-time reconfigurability – Optics can adapt instantly to changing environments
- Energy-efficient scanning – Focuses on relevant areas, saving power
How Does it Work?
LCM technology works by controlling how light is directed using programmable metasurfaces. Unlike traditional optics that require physical movement, Lumotive’s approach enables light to be redirected with software-controlled precision.
This means:
- No mechanical delays – Everything happens at electronic speeds.
- AI-enhanced tracking – The sensor can focus only on relevant objects.
- Scalability – The same technology can be adapted for industrial, automotive, AR/VR, and smart city applications.
Live Demo: Real-Time 3D Sensing
At CES 2025, Lumotive showcased how their LCM-enabled sensor can scan a room in real time, creating an instant 3D point cloud. Unlike traditional LiDAR, which has a fixed scan pattern, this system can dynamically adjust to track people, objects, and even gestures on the fly.
This is a huge leap forward for AI-powered perception systems, allowing cameras and sensors to interpret their environment more intelligently than ever before.
Who Needs This Technology?
Lumotive’s programmable optics have the potential to disrupt multiple industries, including:
- Automotive – Advanced LiDAR for autonomous vehicles
- Industrial automation – Precision 3D scanning for robotics and smart factories
- Smart cities – Real-time monitoring of public spaces
- AR/VR/XR – Depth-aware tracking for immersive experiences
The Future of 3D Sensing Starts Here
Lumotive’s Light Control Metasurface represents a fundamental shift in how we think about optics and 3D sensing. By bringing programmability to light steering, it opens up new possibilities for faster, smarter, and more efficient depth-sensing technologies.
With traditional LiDAR now facing a serious challenge, the question is: Who will be the first to integrate programmable optics into their designs?
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ComfyDock – The Easiest (Free) Way to Safely Run ComfyUI Sessions in a Boxed Container
https://www.reddit.com/r/comfyui/comments/1j2x4qv/comfydock_the_easiest_free_way_to_run_comfyui_in/
ComfyDock is a tool that allows you to easily manage your ComfyUI environments via Docker.
Common Challenges with ComfyUI
- Custom Node Installation Issues: Installing new custom nodes can inadvertently change settings across the whole installation, potentially breaking the environment.
- Workflow Compatibility: Workflows are often tested with specific custom nodes and ComfyUI versions. Running these workflows on different setups can lead to errors and frustration.
- Security Risks: Installing custom nodes directly on your host machine increases the risk of malicious code execution.
How ComfyDock Helps
- Environment Duplication: Easily duplicate your current environment before installing custom nodes. If something breaks, revert to the original environment effortlessly.
- Deployment and Sharing: Workflow developers can commit their environments to a Docker image, which can be shared with others and run on cloud GPUs to ensure compatibility.
- Enhanced Security: Containers help to isolate the environment, reducing the risk of malicious code impacting your host machine.
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Why the Solar Maximum means peak Northern Lights in 2025
https://northernlightscanada.com/explore/solar-maximum
Every 11 years the Sun’s magnetic pole flips. Leading up to this event, there is a period of increased solar activity — from sunspots and solar flares to spectacular northern and southern lights. The current solar cycle began in 2019 and scientists predict it will peak sometime in 2024 or 2025 before the Sun returns to a lower level of activity in the early 2030s.
The most dramatic events produced by the solar photosphere (the “surface” of the Sun) are coronal mass ejections. When these occur and solar particles get spewed out into space, they can wash over the Earth and interact with our magnetic field. This interaction funnels the charged particles towards Earth’s own North and South magnetic poles — where the particles interact with molecules in Earth’s ionosphere and cause them to fluoresce — phenomena known as aurora borealis (northern lights) and aurora australis (southern lights).
In 2019, it was predicted that the solar maximum would likely occur sometime around July 2025. However, Nature does not have to conform with our predictions, and seems to be giving us the maximum earlier than expected.
Very strong solar activity — especially the coronal mass ejections — can indeed wreak some havoc on our satellite and communication electronics. Most often, it is fairly minor — we get what is known as a “radio blackout” that interferes with some of our radio communications. Once in a while, though, a major solar event occurs. The last of these was in 1859 in what is now known as the Carrington Event, which knocked out telegraph communications across Europe and North America. Should a similar solar storm happen today it would be fairly devastating, affecting major aspects of our infrastructure including our power grid and, (gasp), the internet itself.
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Mike Seymour – Amid Industry Collapses, with guest panelist Scott Ross (ex ILM and DD)
Beyond Technicolor’s specific challenges, the broader VFX industry continues to grapple with systemic issues, including cost-cutting pressures, exploitative working conditions, and an unsustainable business model. VFX houses often operate on razor-thin margins, competing in a race to the bottom due to studios’ demand for cheaper and faster work. This results in a cycle of overwork, burnout, and, in many cases, eventual bankruptcy, as seen with Rhythm & Hues in 2013 and now at Technicolor. The reliance on tax incentives and outsourcing further complicates matters, making VFX work highly unstable. With major vendors collapsing and industry workers facing continued uncertainty, many are calling for structural changes, including better contracts, collective bargaining, and a more sustainable production pipeline. Without meaningful reform, the industry risks seeing more historic names disappear and countless skilled artists move to other fields.
FEATURED POSTS
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Animation/VFX/Game Industry JOB POSTINGS by Chris Mayne
Chris is now using Google’s Looker Studio (this may better help those that aren’t able to use the filters on the spreadsheet):
https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/2f39b56e-7393-4aa2-9fd5-bf8bf615c95f/page/5koHB
Older format: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eR2oAXOuflr8CZeGoz3JTrsgNj3KuefbdXJOmNtjEVM/edit#gid=0
For any studios that would like to add positions to this, please feel free to use the following form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXziY3GQ8N7bxM-GxwDoZ7AimguHru0105PLVQtNYygswIlw/viewform
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Types of Film Lights and their efficiency – CRI, Color Temperature and Luminous Efficacy
nofilmschool.com/types-of-film-lights
“Not every light performs the same way. Lights and lighting are tricky to handle. You have to plan for every circumstance. But the good news is, lighting can be adjusted. Let’s look at different factors that affect lighting in every scene you shoot. “
Use CRI, Luminous Efficacy and color temperature controls to match your needs.
Color Temperature
Color temperature describes the “color” of white light by a light source radiated by a perfect black body at a given temperature measured in degrees Kelvinhttps://www.pixelsham.com/2019/10/18/color-temperature/
CRI
“The Color Rendering Index is a measurement of how faithfully a light source reveals the colors of whatever it illuminates, it describes the ability of a light source to reveal the color of an object, as compared to the color a natural light source would provide. The highest possible CRI is 100. A CRI of 100 generally refers to a perfect black body, like a tungsten light source or the sun. “https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-color-rendering-index
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