New Shows "The Cape," "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" and Ongoing
Programs "Glee," "NCIS," "No Ordinary Family" Benefit from Autodesk
Visual Effects Tools
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Jan 13, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
The visual effects and post-production teams behind top-rated television
programs such as "Glee," "NCIS," "Bones," "Fringe," "The Good Wife," "No
Ordinary Family" and "Dexter" and new midseason additions "The Cape,"
"Chicago Code" and "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" regularly turn to
Digital Entertainment Creation software from Autodesk,
Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), to help raise the bar in episodic television.
"Digital workflows have become more prevalent in episodic television,
and as a result, we're seeing our visual effects and compositing tools
used heavily on a variety of programs for compositing, cleanup and
beauty work on more dramatic programs to heavy visual effects sequences
for more action-laden shows," said Marc
Petit, Autodesk Media & Entertainment senior vice president. "It's
great to see so much creative innovation from the television production
community, and we continue to develop our tools to deliver the speed and
efficiency that our customers require."
Eden FX, which provides visual effects for the new series "The
Cape," as well as "Fringe," "Undercovers," "Community," "Teen Wolf" and
"NCIS," has tightly integrated Autodesk
Maya, Autodesk
Softimage, Autodesk
3ds Max and Autodesk
Mudbox 3D animation software tools into its workflow. "It has been
exciting to see the integration of Autodesk's products into our
pipeline. Our artists can create work that just would not have been
possible with other packages, and still deliver on our traditionally
'snug' television schedules," said Steve Pugh, VFX producer, Eden FX.
Los Angeles-based LOOK FX is working on the sixth season of
"Bones" and also contributes visual effects to "Harry's Law" and "No
Ordinary Family" using a range of tools that includes Maya, Mudbox, Autodesk
Flame and Autodesk
Flare. They were also the lead visual effects house on the final
season of "Lost." LOOK 3D Supervisor Michael Capton explained, "With the
short turnaround for TV production, the flexibility of Maya gives us the
ability to work quickly and make changes on the fly, enabling us to
handle almost any effect thrown at us."
FuseFX creates visual effects for several new and popular shows,
including "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior," "Chicago Code," "Glee,"
"No Ordinary Family," "Lie to Me," "Criminal Minds," "United States of
Tara," "The Good Wife," "The Unit" and "Mercy." FuseFX Founder and
Visual Effects Supervisor David Altenau said, "3ds Max, our primary tool
for computer generated animation and effects work for both television
and film, has been critical to our success as a visual effects facility.
We use it in combination with V-Ray to create a multitude of CG
elements, digital environments, fire, smoke, airplanes, helicopters,
digital doubles and more."
In a standout promo for Season 5 of "Dexter," the show's hero stands
still in a living room as the world around him turns upside down.
Everything from a couch to picture frames to vials of blood, microscope
slides and a bowl of cereal crashes to the floor as the room spins in
slow motion while Dexter stands unscathed in the center of the frame.
For this promo, SWAY Studio used 3ds Max and Flame to build
computer generated (CG) elements and complete heavy compositing work in
each of the spot's 30 shots. "This project was challenging because it
was a mix of many complex elements integrated seamlessly into an
entirely CG environment. Some of the elements were shot practically and
had to be carefully keyed, and others reproduced in photoreal CG. I love
the internal paint system in Flame -- it allows us to have better control
over the CG performance of elements," said Aaron Powell, SWAY Studio VFX
supervisor. "I am a big fan of Flame. You can experiment with layers and
see them more rapidly. It is a huge savior -- especially on a project
like this one that involved keying and compositing of highly metallic
and reflective elements."
Keyframe DigitalProductions made extensive use of 3ds Max
to create visual effects for "Warehouse 13" airing on Syfy and "Lost
Girl," in Canada on Showcase. The facility does a lot of scripting,
taking advantage of the open source code in 3ds Max to customize its
pipelines. "Our technical director writes scripts in 3ds Max to help
mold our production pipeline and continually make our workflow more
efficient," said Darren Cranford, principal at Keyframe Digital
Productions.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D
design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the
manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and
entertainment industries -- including the last 15 Academy Award winners
for Best Visual Effects -- use Autodesk software to design, visualize
and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in
1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of
state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information
about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.
Autodesk, AutoCAD, Flame, Flare, Maya, Mudbox, Softimage and 3ds Max
are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.,and/or
its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries.
Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks
belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter
product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any
time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or
graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2011 Autodesk, Inc.
All rights reserved.
SOURCE: Autodesk, Inc.
Autodesk, Inc.
Rama Dunayevich, 415-547-2472
rama.dunayevich@autodesk.com
Karen Raz, 310-450-1482
karen@razpr.com
