Platoon india

Prime Focus Technologies launches CLEAR™ App.

2011-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Enterprise-class tool offers creative enablement and greater control for content owners.

 Mumbai, September 7, 2011: Global digital content services specialist Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) has announced the launch of an innovative new enterprise-class iPad Application. PFT will be showcasing the App at IBC2011 (Sep 9-13, Amsterdam, Hall 7, Stand 7.D20).

Specifically developed to augment CLEAR™, PFT’s unified multi-platform content operations infrastructure, the App is an indispensible resource for creatives involved with content as it provides a complete creative toolkit that can be used anywhere. This creative enablement includes the ability to concurrently participate in the workflows – while on the go, thereby empowering the production of better content.

It also gives senior management and the operations staff greater control, providing a dashboard view for audited tracking and hands-on involvement.

The App is being incorporated into the operations of STAR TV, as part of PFT’s pioneering deployment for the News Corporation-owned network. The file-based solution is a combination of the CLEAR™ technology platform and supporting content services. This deployment is specifically designed to manage the broadcaster’s high volume end-to-end digital workflows and enable its transition to HD.

“This is a really exciting addition to what is a truly transformational solution for content owners” said Ganesh Sankaran, COO of Prime Focus Technologies. “We have worked closely with our clients to define their needs – the need for creative enablement and greater control are recurring themes. The App will enhance the efficiencies of CLEAR™ even further, and is one of many new initiatives that we are developing to augment our offering.”

About Prime Focus Technologies (PFT):
Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) provides multi-platform content operations to organisations that deal with content and are keen to exploit it across platforms. CLEAR, its unique ‘hybrid cloud’ digital content services platform provides a secure way to produce, process, manage and deliver content for revenue-generating multi-platform opportunities.

The CLEAR technology platform is backed by a full range of supporting media services to enable clients to fulfil multi-platform content operations. Services include: archiving, cataloguing, delivery, dubbing, mastering and bulk digitisation, production services and subtitling, using files to fulfil operations, enabling content owners to manage content across its lifecycle. CLEAR enhances collaboration, productivity and asset utilisation, increasing monetisation opportunities and offering time and cost savings.

Broadcasters, studios, advertisers, sports organisations, news agencies, governmental bodies, aggregators, content service providers, production companies and anyone who deals with content can benefit from using CLEAR. PFT already works with some of the largest content owners in the world, including Doordarshan, STAR TV, Eros International, IPL, BCCI, Universal, Sony, BBC and HBO.

CLEAR was selected as a ‘Best of IBC2010’ by TVB Europe and was praised by the judges for its innovation and cost efficiency.

PFT is part of Prime Focus (www.primefocusworld.com), a global visual entertainment services company.

Cheers,

Vibhav Srivastava

Team PlatoonIndia

Matte Painting Tutorial of Tajmahal Using Photoshop

2011-09-06T04:18:00.001-07:00

Introduction:

Traditionally, matte paintings were made by artists using paints or pastels on large sheets of glass for integrating with the live-action footage. The first known matte painting shot was made in 1907 by Norman Dawn (ASC). Later on Matte Painting revolutionized to an extreme level for which Avatar is an example. In this tutorial we are going to cover few basic concepts and tricks in matte painting using Adobe Photoshop and designing the great and wonder of world Tajmahal.

Resources Used

Tajmahal
Click Here

open land
Click Here

wooden wheel
Click Here

Hills
Click Here
Click Here

Elephants
Click Here
Click Here

Fog Brushes
Click Here

Sketch:

Before starting any Matte Painting it’s very important to make a rough sketch of the matte that you are going to make,it helps you very much while searching for the resource.

step1:

Open a new canvas in photoshop with HD resolution 1280x720px.Then import the pic of a marble estate and select a mask to remove the background using the Pen Tool(P).

step2:

Now import ‘country side’ pic and maskout the sky using the Magic Wand Tool(W).

Import the ‘country side’ pic onto the canvas and place it under the ‘marble estate’ layer.

Duplicate the layer to cover the background with hills as shown.

According to the laws of optics the far away object appear little blurred, so let’s add Gaussian Blur(Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) with radius equal to 1.6px.

step3:

Now place the image of the distant mountains under the previous layers.The sky in this pic suits the scene that we are going to create.

step4:

Maskout Taj Mahal from it’s original image using the Pen Tool(P).Then place it on the
canvas as shown.

-Using the pen tool gives an accurate cut,so i prefer using it while cutting an image.If you feel any other tool can do better feel free to use it.

step5:

Now by using the Clone Stamp Tool(S) remove the trees that are covering the base of the Taj.

step6:

Since we are going to show the construction of the Tajmahal, we must ceate some unconstructed parts of Taj. Hence mask out the parts where you want to show the unconstructed areas.

step7:

Maskout the background of the ‘roman crane’ using the Pen Tool(P).

step8:

Now import the ‘roman crane’ onto the working canvas and transform it to the prospective using the Move Tool(V).

Using the Clone Stamp Tool(S) remove the excess rope from the wheel.

step9:

The TajMahal exterior was built by red stone and then covered with the layer of marble.

To show the uncovered part of the redstone, mask some part of the Taj using the Lasso Tool(L) and change the Hue/Saturation levels to Hue=34, Saturation=34, Lightness=-27.

Similarly mask some part of the tomb of the Taj and set the Hue/Saturation levels to Hue=Saturation=34, Lightness=-30.

With the whole Tajmahal layer selected change the Exposure(Image>Adjustments>Exposure) to Exposure=- 0.30, Offset=+0.0102, Gamma Correction=1.00.

step10:

To show the constructional rods of Taj use the Pen Tool.

Before using the pen tool set the Paint brush size to 2px and select hard round brush.Then select the pen tool and make a curve with it,then right click on the curve and select Stroke Path.

In the stroke path drop down list select brush. Then you can see the path stroked with the brush properties selected.You need to make a new path for every rod, because all rods don’t look the same.

step11:

Before painting the construction support rods lets refer few pics to get the clear idea of how to paint them. Referring with real images is very important to get the maximum realistic look to the work.

step12:

Now by using the hard paint brush and with the dark brown color selected paint the constructional support for the tomb as referred in the reference.

step13:

Similarly follow the previous step in painting the constructional support to the minar.

step14:

Using the Clone Stamp Tool(S) remove the proclamation scoop from the ‘marble estate’ layer.

step15:

With the ‘marble estate’ layer selected goto Image>Adjustments>Curves and change the curves as shown.

Now select the ‘Taj’ layer and colour correct it using the Curves as shown.

Similarly color correct the background layers using the curves. Make sure that the colour correction matches other layers.

step16

Now select the ‘roman wheel’ layer and colour correct to match the scene using the curves.

Set the exposure levels to Exposure=0.047,Offset=0.0020,Gamma Correction=1.02.

step17

Now select the Burn Tool(O) and select the basic Chalk Brush from the brushes pallet,then set the brush properties to Size Jitter=100%,Minimum Diameter=0%,Angle Jitter=52%,Roundness Jitter=30%,Minimum Roundness=25%.Also make sure that Scattering and smoothing options are checked.

Then click on the ‘roman wheel’ layer thumbnail holding Ctrl to select the mask of the layer. Then using the burn tool add shadows to the wheel as shown.

step18:

Now click on the thumbnail of the ‘Taj’ layer holding Ctrl to select the mask in shape of Taj. Then by using a Soft Round Brush and it’s opacity set to 37% with the black color selected paint some shadows to the Taj assuming that the sun is on the left side.

step19:

Since we are focusing on Taj the wheel appears to be out of focus, So let’s add Gaussian Blur of 1.1 Radius to it.

step20:

Also let’s blur some part of the ‘marble estate’ layer which is near to the screen.
1)Using the Lasso Tool(L) select some part of the estate layer and set the mask feather to 75px.

Now set the Gaussian Blur Radius to 1.0px.

Step21

Now import an elephant image onto the canvas and transform it to fit the matte using the Move Tool(V).

Add shadow to the elephant using an airbrush, then set the Opacity of th shadow layer to 32%.

step22:

Make a new layer and add some dust flying in the air using the brush tool,then set it’s Opacity to 45%.

step23:

Now add Lens Flare to the matte as shown and set the lens type to 35mm Prime.

Final Image:

Matte Painting: Create A Distressed Surreal Cityscape

2011-09-06T04:04:00.000-07:00

Intro

Matte painting plays a major role in today’s films. The first known matte painting shot was made in 1907 by Norman Dawn (ASC), you can see how the traditional matte painting evolved from “The Wizard Of Oz” to the ground breaking “Avatar”. In this tutorial I’m going to show you some techniques in matte painting to create a distressed surreal cityscape.

Notes

This tutorial is for Photoshop users with intermediate to advanced skills
All the keyboard shortcuts are mentioned within ( )

Resources

If you are following along, you’ll need to grab the following resources.

Preview

Before we begin, check out a quick preview of what we will be creating.

Step 1

Just like every construction needs a blue print, so do matte paintings. Here’s a little sketch I created to map out my project. The numbered sections shown here will be used as a reference throughout this tutorial.

Step 2

I found this pic which is a perfect fit for the blue print. Open it in photoshop, and remove the clouds using the Magic Wand (W) tool, or whichever pixel cutting technique you are most familiar with.

Step 3

In this painting we could do without any green foliage, so turn the plants in the foreground into pigmentless plants. Select the Lasso Tool (L) and roughly draw around the bushes as shown, and set the Feather Radius to 60. Then alter the curves to approximately what is referenced below.

Step 4

This step requires some decision making on your part. Choose which portion of the building you’d like to destroy. Then use the Lasso Tool (L) to roughly make your selections. Lastly, erase the edges using the Eraser (E) tool.

Step 5

Next, darken the building by using the Burn Tool (O) with a rust brush. It’s the perfect tool to distress the buildings like what is shown below.

Step 6

Now lets add some rubble and gutted patches to the buildings. Start in the sequence that was layed out in the blue print. I found this pic suitable for the section marked as ‘B1′. Cut out the portion required, and name it (B1 Grid).

Step 7

Now paste that piece back into your original canvas and blend it with the prespective of the building. Select the Free Transform tool (Cmd + T), then with the Move Tool (V) selected while holding (Ctrl) move the edges to match the prospective.

Step 8

Once you are settled on the prospective, duplicate the layer untill the gap is filled. Then merge all those (B1 Grid) layers and erase some parts of the grid to show it’s broken.

Step 9

Now adjust the curves to the following output. Red 150, green 122, and blue 95.

Step 10

Next, apply similar destroy and burn techniques that you used in steps 4 and 5. We will come back to this layer for more details later in this tutorial.

Step 11

Lets start to work on the B2 section. Choose the best pic for B2′s destruction, I used this image. Now, repeat the same steps you followed in step 7 while aligning the B1 Grid layer. Be sure to take your time with any of these perspective steps, getting them wrong will be detrimental to the entire effect.

Step 12

Change the Exposure values to the following: Exposure: -0.63, Offset: +0.0061, Gamma Correction: 0.94.

Step 13

Grab this photo to be used for the middle of ‘B2′ and name the layer ‘Broken Floors’. The floors in the middle of B2 need some attention. We should concentrate on the perspective. First, draw some lines matching the perspective using the Pen Tool. Then use the Free Transform tool to adjust the floor lines with the building lines.

Step 14

Change the exposure values to: Exposure: -1.22, Offset: 0, and Gamma Correction: 1.00. Then select the Burn Tool (O) and use your creativity to make it look old and destroyed.

Step 15

Now it’s time to let your creative juices flow. In much the same way as the previous steps begin filling in the gaps with distressed buildings. Remember this is a surreal destroyed cityscape, so you can’t go too wrong, as long as you’re creative and maintain consistent color, perspective and shadows. The steps I used are referenced in the sample pics below.

Step 16

Now lets add some details to the ‘B1 Grid” layer. Add a new layer, then select the Lasso Tool (L) and outline some hanging grass. Fill your selections with the colour #5d6e5e. Again select the Lasso Tool (L) and add shades to the grass with colour #3a413a.

Step 17

Every abandoned building needs some broken windows, so lets add a few. Select the Brush Tool (B) and choose the colour #0c0d11, now start painting some random boxes which represent the broken windows. When it comes to painting details, your creativity is what makes the difference between a beginner and a professional.

Step 18

Now add some clouds to the backdrop which suits the environment we created. Drop them into our cityscape behind all the building layers.

Step 19

Grab some fog brushes and make the scene more realistic by brushing some fog where it’s needed. Be wary not to go overboard with this step.

That’s A Wrap

That wraps up this tutorial on matte painting.

Mattel India launches new Winx Club, Hot Wheels collections

2011-08-24T09:20:00.001-07:00

Mattel India, the toy giant which for years has been creating a world of friends for kids has launched two new â€˜must haveâ€˜ collections from the popular Winx Club and Hot Wheels franchises.
Winx Club is one of the most popular animation series for girls on Cartoon Network and the collection comprises of fairy friends Bloom, Stella, Flora, Tecna, Musa and Layla.
Each Glam Magicâ„¢ Fairy doll as they are called this summer in their latest avatar has two exquisite pairs of wings, one glittery jeweled pair and one holographic pair. The little fairies can change the wings and act out the magical transformation that takes place in the show. Each of these beautiful fairies also come with a beautiful designer outfit and matching detailed accessories.
The goodies donâ€˜t stop there. Adding to the frenzy of collecting model cars is Mattelâ€˜s Hot Wheels Hot Box offer. This awesome limited-edition Hot Box has slots to store up to 15 cars, and is portable enough to be carried conveniently to any location.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com, Rahul Bhowmick, Head of Marketing, Mattel India Toys shared, "Across the world and indeed across the country, collecting cars is every young boyâ€˜s hobby and passion. Not only does this give boys easy access to the world of speed and performance, but each and every addition to the collection is a huge thrill by itself. Recognizing in India this young boysâ€˜ need to store and display their cars to best effect, Hot Wheels has introduced the Hot Box offer where purchase of any ten Hot Wheels cars entitles the boy to an exclusive Hot Box Collector Case (not available for purchase) absolutely free. What this means for the boys is a never-before opportunity to display their collection to friends in a fabulous environment and ten awesome Hot Wheels cars to kick-start their collection!"

The unique Hot Box is designed like a suitcase and aimed at young Hot Wheels fans and collectors alike.
Commenting on the offer, Mr. Sanjay Luthra, MD, Mattel India Toys concluded, "With die-cast construction, Hot Wheels cars have always been the rage of young car fanatics across the country. This time we are giving them a never-before opportunity to store and display their favorite car collection in the best way possible with the Hot Box! The Hot Wheels Hot Box will definitely create a buzz in the world of collectors and young car fans alike. Apart from that, itâ€˜s a perfect summer bonanza and makes for a fabulous gift."

2011-08-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

VIDEO - ‘Red Tails‘ Trailer released
18 August 2011 02:21 PM

BY PLATOONINDIA.COM TEAM

The trailer of Red Tails, upcoming 2012 action drama film directed by Anthony Hemingway was released recently. The movie is being made on a story by executive producer George Lucas (Founder Lucasfilm), scripted by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder.
It is based on the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American combat pilots during World War II.

Digieffects launches Remote Management tool RenderMon

2011-08-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

BY PLATOONINDIA.COM TEAM

Digieffects announced today it has entered the professional remote management marketplace with the launch of RenderMon. RenderMon is an innovative new web-based application that enables digital media artists to remotely monitor and manage the video rendering process, as well as share the rendered video from any internet-connected browser or web-enabled device. This new development complements the Company‘s strategy of designing visually stunning, accessible VFX solutions, and extends them into a new category of post production workflow enhancement and productivity tools.
Digieffects also announced today that RenderMon will be available at no charge for one month from its launch date; from August 22 through October 1, 2011. Beginning today, customers can visit http://rendermon.digieffects.com to sign up for a free trial account, and will have access to all available RenderMon features.
"Digieffects is laser focused on developing solutions that make our customers‘ lives easier; and we do that by creating solutions that make their work shine, and in an affordable way. RenderMon is an extension of that mission," said Robert Sharp, president of Digieffects. "With RenderMon, gone are the days of hitting the render button and staying put, hoping your render doesn‘t fail. With this new web service, we are enabling our customers to step away and remotely manage and share their video. This is the kind of workflow and productivity enhancement our customers can expect from Digieffects."
Mark Christiansen, author of The After Effects Studio Techniques books, and industry veteran who has worked on several feature films including Avatar, comments: "I‘m a man about town. I don‘t like to be shackled to my workstation just to babysit the output of my creative work. RenderMon is a natural addition to the process of creating and rendering animations, allowing me to monitor progress anywhere, lowering stress, raising productivity and offering me room to roam."
RenderMon: How it Works
RenderMon is an innovative new web-based subscription service specifically designed for professional digital media artists enabling them to:

Remotely monitor video rendering via any internet-connected browser (desktop or mobile device). An integrated progress bar helps users monitor their render in real-time;
Receive email notifications of completed renders;
Securely upload, view and share completed renders from a browser using built in Vimeo support;
Host application support at this time includes Adobe After Effects (support for additional hosts to follow).

Pricing and Availability
Digieffects‘ RenderMon subscription service is available immediately and is priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. The annual subscription includes a $49 coupon for a free Digieffects a la carte plug-in.
As a special introductory promotion, Digieffects is offering RenderMon free of charge from August 22 through October 1, 2011. Customers taking advantage of this special offer after September 24, 2011, will automatically be signed up for a free 7-day trial. Following the promotion, free trials will be available, in which customers can try the service for free for 7 days. RenderMon will also be available as a mobile app and will be available free from the Apple App Store. Details will be announced at a later date. For more information on Digieffects, please visit www.digieffects.com.

Check out ZBrush Central's & Pixologic's exclusive Updates and News

2011-08-05T11:58:00.001-07:00

http://www.pixologic.com/interview/rango/1/

Discuss the Interview at ZBrush Central

As you may know Rango is all the rage in the industry and entertainment/3D media at the moment! In fact, it's the highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide so far! and the first animated feature from ILM. Pixologic has just released a great interview with the art department at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) highlighting the creative process and team behind “Rango” and how ZBrush contributed!

New Hard-Edge Techniques: Motorcycle video part 2

2011-08-05T11:33:00.001-07:00

Pixolator is very pleased that the viewers found PART 1 to be valuable and inspirational. Below is PART 2 of the movie which I hope you'll enjoy. PART 3 will be posted when the activity of 'PART 2' subsides.

Pixolator recommends that you view the movie -before- the accompanying notes

ZBrush Modelling Session 'The Motorcycle' Part II from CGTantra on Vimeo.

Few notes about the movie…
As seen in PART 1, the motorcycle was mostly assembled by using mesh extract from a high res flat plane mesh. In PART 2, more sub-tools are added with methods that are similar the those shown in PART 1. PART 3 will deal with refining and polishing the Motorcycle to its final state.

About Mesh Extract: The mesh-extract feature is similar to Shadowbox and may be considered as a one-dimension-ShadowBox (shadowbox may use up to 3 dimensions). There are, however, some differences between mesh extract and shadowbox. Mesh-extract uses the existing topology when creating the new mesh while shadowbox generates new topology (unified skinning). Therefore, if you have a base mesh with satisfactory topology, you may use the mesh extract feature and get a new sub-tool with the same topology. Furthermore, mesh extract can be used on any curved surface to produce a form-fitting sub-tool, -as an example, see the construction of the undercarriage sub-tool in part 1 and 2.

On the other hand, ShadowBox is capable of creating far more intricate shapes making it more suitable for organic sculpting as well as more complex hard-surface shapes (as seen in the creation of the manifold in part 1).

The creation of new sub-tools via duplication and transformation is streamlined and allows you to quickly create elaborate structures by using multiple instances of several simple building blocks. The process is easy enough that you may quickly find yourself managing 100 or more sub-tools. When you reached that stage, you may need to gain access to part of the mesh that may be obstructed by other sub-tools. There are multiple ways for you to go about managing large number of sub-tools...

1. Make frequent use of the Solo mode. This not only hides all other sub-tools, it also allows you to easily refine one sub-tool without any slowdown or processing penalties that may result from other inactive sub-tools.

2. You may activate subtools-transparency mode which will allow you to see your active sub-tool even when it is obstructed by other, closer sub-tools.

3. At times, you may want to hide some of the sub-tools that reduce your visibility of the active sub-tool without activating 'Solo' or 'Transparency' modes. One less known, but very important feature, allows you to do this easily.

Usually, it is very simple to hide inactive sub-tools in the sub-tool palette by simply clicking its 'eye' icon. However, when you have large number of sub-tools, simply identifying the sub-tool that you want to hide in the sub-tool palette may take too long. This is when the following tip comes handy…

To hide a sub-tool that obstructs the view of your active sub-tool, do the following:

A. Within the document area, opt-click on the sub-tool that you wish to hide. This will make that sub-tool the active one and it will become visible and selected within the sub-tool palette.

B. Now, the important part… If you simply click on the 'eye' icon of the active sub-tool, you will hide or show all sub-tools - a result far from what we want. What you should do instead is click within the area of the subtotal button, but not on the 'eye' itself. This will now turn off the 'eye' icon only for the active sub-tool, without changing the visibility status of any other subtools.

C. Now, opt-click within the document on the sub-tool that you wish to edit. The sub-tool that has its 'eye' turned off will be hidden and will no longer obstruct your view.
You may repeat this process multiple times in secession to quickly hide multiple subtools and then reactive the sub-tool which you want to edit.

4. When you get to a stage that you mesh contains so many subtools that your systems become less responsive or that you view of an 'area of interest' becomes obstructed too frequently, then its time to use other methods that are available to you in ZBrush. One such method is demonstrated in the Movie Part 2 (the movie in this post) beginning at 16 minus and 45 seconds into the movie. Movie Part 3 will demonstrate another effective method.

More Movie notes and answers to questions will be added at a later date.

Have fun ZBrushing,
Courtesy -Pixolator, ZBrush Central

New Hard-Edge Techniques: Motorcycle Part 1

2011-08-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

Pixolator has created a motorcycle video, with his actions recorded:

ZBrush Modelling Session "The Motorcycle" Part I from CGTantra on Vimeo.

Courtesy: Pixolator, ZBrush Central

Tweak Software to Unveil RV 3.12 at SIGGRAPH 2011 --New release supports stereo 3D TVs, ARRI Alexa and RED formats-- --Booth demonstrations feature first look at Python and Web integration for RV--

2011-08-05T11:29:00.001-07:00

San Francisco, CA (August 1, 2011) -- Tweak Software will be previewing the newest features for its RV image and sequence viewer for VFX and animation artists at SIGGRAPH 2011. The company will unveil RV 3.12, which includes support for ARRI Alexa and RED formats, cost-effective stereo reviews using 3D TVs and a host of new features, and will also be demonstrating Python scripting for RV in booth #963.

-RV has a dual personality. It's a tool for artists who want refined, elegant way to work with images and it is also a customizable platform for facilities who need to integrate image review with their own tools and pipeline," said Seth Rosenthal, co-founder of Tweak Software. "This release will have some great artist tools and will expand RV's customization options with Python and Javascript-based web integration."

RV's role as the leading customizable playback platform gets a major advancement with two powerful new tools for extending and integrating RV. First, Python will be added RV as a native scripting language (alongside Mu). Second, RV can now be integrated tightly with web based tools; web pages opened inside of RV can control RV through Javascript. Both new integration techniques will be shown at SIGGRAPH.

Leading VFX and CG animation studios including Digital Domain, Aardman, ILM, Zoic Studios and many others use RV to play back and review digital media. RV's professional, high-performance toolset is built on an open, extensible architecture allowing users to adapt the software to their own pipelines and styles of working. Highlights of the new RV 3.12 release include:

- Presentation mode -- Display a full screen view on one monitor while controlling playback from another.
- Stereo 3D TV support for HDMI 1.4a and DVI – Use cost-effective stereo TVs for stereo reviews with RV.
- Javacript Web Integration: Integrate RV with web based tools using Javascript
- ARRI Alexa ARRIRAW file support -- High dynamic range, full color support for ALEXA is now integrated into RV’s tools for playback, dailies and transcoding.
- RED RAW file support -- V3.12 includes the first level of RED file support integration.
- ACES files and color spaces - RV supports the Academy Color Encoding Specification (IIF ACES) including the ability to write .aces files from RVIO.
- CDL support - Color Decision List values can now be specified in an RV session file.
- Next-level integration - Nuke and Shotgun integration both include a host of updates and refinements.

Tweak RV Version 3.12 is currently in Beta testing and planned for release this fall. For more information visit: http://www.tweaksoftware.com

About Tweak Software
Tweak Software was founded in 2007 to develop tools that address real-world production needs of VFX and animation professionals. The Tweak partners Jim Hourihan, Seth Rosenthal and Alan Trombla spent many years at Industrial Light and Magic where they developed tools and techniques still in use at that facility today. Jim Hourihan is the recipient of two Sci-Tech Academy Awards and is best known for developing Dynamation, the first commercial particle system that was subsequently incorporated into Autodesk’s Maya software. For more information, visit http://www.tweaksoftware.com

2011-08-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

Archexteriors vol. 13 are out - Take a look at this 10 fully textured scenes with professional shaders and lighting ready to render from Archexteriors vol. 13.

All scenes are prepared for vray with 3dsmax 2009.

link - http://www.evermotion.org/modelshop/...l-13/7374/0/0/

__________________

Render Rocket Launches Mission Control 3.0  at SIGGRAPH 2011 Improved Web-based render job “control center” and programmable API speed and simplify Render Rocket’s cloud-based rendering service

2011-08-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES – Aug 3, 2011 – Render Rocket LLC, an advanced cloud-based rendering services company, announced that it is launching a new version of Mission Control, its Web-based “control center” for starting, monitoring, controlling and downloading render jobs. Launching at SIGGRAPH 2011, Mission Control 3.0 will enable individual artists and animation studios working with Render Rocket to experience a more streamlined user interface, faster file transfer times, multi-user access and a programmable cloud rendering API for integrating Mission Control directly into 3D tools and production pipelines. Render Rocket will be attending SIGGRAPH 2011 to showcase all of Mission Control’s latest features.
Render Rocket is a cloud-based, high-end rendering service that provides professional-grade rendering power on-demand to any 2D or 3D production team regardless of its size or location. Those production teams access Render Rocket’s private network and control their render jobs through its highly secure, Web-based interface or “control center”, which is called Mission Control. The newly launched version of Mission Control was built to further speed and simplify the management of self-service rendering jobs as demand for the Company’s rendering services grow.

“Since 2010, we’ve experienced more than a 30 percent increase in the demand for our rendering services, worldwide,” said Ruben Perez, CEO of Render Rocket. “To meet the demands of this growing user base, we’ve been working on a number of ways to make our solution faster, more user friendly, and easier to integrate into existing production environments. Mission Control 3.0 is the culmination of all of that work, and we’re really excited to be showing it off at this year’s SIGGRAPH.”

On the front end, Mission Control 3.0 features a more streamlined user experience that makes it easier for users to start, monitor, control, and download render jobs. The upgraded Mission Control also includes options for secure, multi-user access, which enables studios to more effectively work with teams of artist and managers by setting permissions on individual projects and files as needed during the production process.

On the back end, Render Rocket has completely upgraded its network in order to meet rising demand and speed render job times. The new upgrade includes faster servers, more scalable network storage built on the latest Isilon technology, and expanded render farm capacity to handle last-minute, highly complex render jobs.

“Rendering in film and design is becoming more and more data intensive,” said John Morales, COO of Render Rocket. “Working with our technology partners, we’ve increased our storage capacity five-fold since last year. Our service platform is more robust and more secure, with stronger file security and system redundancy. This enables us to take on render jobs from single users and massive film studios alike, without any adverse affects on our system.”

In addition, Mission Control 3.0 will now allow studios to streamline the remote rendering process by integrating Render Rocket directly into their animation pipeline using a programmable cloud rendering API. This API allows studios with in-house developers to integrate Render Rocket to automatically handle overflow renders, and to integrate Mission Control data into existing in-house dashboards or other monitoring applications.

Pricing and Availability
The Render Rocket team will be at SIGGRAPH 2011 to show off Mission Control 3.0. Studios interested in seeing all of the latest features should contact sales@renderrocket.com.
For more information on Render Rocket pricing, visit: http://www.renderrocket.com/pricing.

About Render Rocket
Render Rocket began selling remote rendering services to the media and entertainment industry in 2005 with a vision to deliver professional-level rendering power on-demand to any 2D and 3D production team, regardless of its size or location. Today Render Rocket is the leading cloud-based rendering solutions company and offers it's services to film, post production, visual effects, broadcast, universities, industrial design, automotive, architecture, game cinematics, and graphic design companies. It counts among its numerous customers companies such as Nike, Nokia, Superfad, Nickelodeon, Sony Imageworks, Lockheed Martin, THQ, The Antfarm, Picture Mill, NYU, Columbia University and Engine Room. For more information, visit www.renderrocket.com or email contact@renderrocket.com.

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Mansi Bhayani
Team CGTantra

Making of Sony Pictures Animation‘s ‘The Smurfs’

2011-08-05T05:02:00.001-07:00

The Smurfs make their first trip out of their village and land on the big screen in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation‘s ‘The Smurfs’ which released today. Until this theatrical motion picture, the Smurfs had only been represented in two dimensions. Taking them into a 3 dimensional, CG cum live action space, and in 3D stereo no less, was the major challenge for the filmmakers.

The film is about the Smurfs who were chased out of their village by the evil wizard Gargamel through a magical portal, and into our (Human‘s) world, they land in the middle of New York’s Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.
The challenges began on set, where the director of photography, Phil Méheux, and the film‘s production designer, Bill Boes, coordinated efforts with visual effects supervisor Richard R. Hoover, SPI senior animation supervisor Troy Saliba, and SPI senior VFX producer Lydia Bottegoni of Sony Pictures Imageworks to build sets, light them, and shoot the film in such a way that the three-apple-high stars (Smurf Characters) could be added later. 3D visual effects supervisor Rob Engle was also on hand to ensure that it would all come to life in 3D.

According to producer Jordan Kerner, it‘s easy to see why the Smurfs have entertained people around the world for generations. It‘s not just that they‘re adorable - they also represent a type of humanity at its best. "The Smurfs are an analogy for a nation", says Kerner. "They emphasize family and the importance of cooperation. More importantly, they always see the best in people first. The Smurfs really care for and look after one another."

"It‘s very much a Smurf-out-of-water movie," says Raja Gosnell (Director). "We took this Smurfy code of living and played it against modern-day New York City. There were an awful lot of moving parts on this movie. Basic Directing 101 is about moving your characters around, how you stage a scene. On this movie, we had to stage scenes in which six characters weren‘t there. The actors would have to interact with nothing, and sometimes the camera would move, following nothing. My biggest job as a director was to keep the eye on the prize- how to keep everyone moving toward the same goal. Everyone embraced the fun and the challenge of the project, and by mid-movie, we were flying".

Rich Hoover, Visual Effects Supervisor shares, “The filmmakers wanted to stay true to the spirit of the series but make it true to our world. We wanted it to be a cheerful and fun look. Raja wanted the film to be bright and he wanted his actresses to look great. In the grotto we made it a little darker and a little bluer, especially with a blue moon. Gargamel‘s castle was foreboding. Of course, the Smurfs themselves are blue and a very special blue. But the exact shade changed a little based on the lighting of the scenes”.
Sony Pictures Animation did a great deal of design and pre-production tests and proof of concept. The Third Floor, a previz company, did previz of the fully CG scenes at the beginning of the movie. And then Imageworks did the camera work for the full CG scenes.
Raja Gosnell did extensive storyboarding for most, if not all, of movie. He even had some artists do renderings in colour. Imageworks did extensive look development on the characters and scenes. One of the many continuing traditions is the introduction of new Smurfs. The filmmakers had the opportunity to imagine three new Smurfs for the movie - Panicky, Crazy, and Gutsy, the last of which takes on a starring role.

Sony Imageworks created the Smurf village, which is the entire opening of the movie. Gargamel‘s castle is actually a real castle in Austria, which Rich shot from a helicopter. That shot reveals a picturesque valley with an old world town. The artists painted out roads and such and then dived into a fully CG forest and take a roller coaster ride as they penetrate an invisibility shield to reveal Smurf village.
Smurf Village is created as a world that looked as if the Smurfs would have actually built it themselves from materials naturally found in their environment. Everything had a real quality to it, not scaled to fit the Smurfs but real objects, plants, leaves, and so forth of just the right size.
Kerner felt that this film was the perfect new form for the next iteration of the Smurf story, all of which was shot in New York City at iconic locations like Central Park and Belvedere Castle, as well as FAO Schwarz, the Russian Tea Room, Rockefeller Center, and Brooklyn‘s Prospect Park.

Kerner adds that director Raja Gosnell‘s expertise and gentle touch -- not to mention his hands-on experience marrying live-action and computer animated characters in such films as Scooby-Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua - made him the perfect choice to direct.
Imageworks’ main studio in Culver City also worked on the feature. Imageworks India was very involved. They did almost all of the matchmoving and much of the painting. Many of the animators were located in Imageworks Canada office in Vancouver. In addition, shots with Gargamel and the cat were done by Tippett Studios. Additional visual effects were done by Framestore. Stereoscopic 3D was supervised by Imageworks stereographer Rob Engle and work on all but the all-CG sequences, which were done by Imageworks, was handled by Legend 3D, Sassoon and In 3.
About the challenges faced Richard asserts, “The most important thing in combining live action and CG is to make sure that everything looks real and as if it belongs. Matchmoving, which was done almost if not entirely by Imageworks India in Chennai, was a critical first step. They did a terrific job and their great work made sure that everything we added digitally fit accurately on the surfaces”.
"Lighting is the other essential consideration. To accurately capture, we used a new camera called the Spheron. It allowed us to light Smurfs in an extremely realistic manner and light into plate, using the actually lighting characteristics of the live action scene. The Spheron camera combined with Imageworks‘ colour and lighting tools, saved tremendous time and gave the artist more time to be creative and make shots look even better. Biggest challenge was the colour blue. Wanted to be true to the colour of Smurfs’ blue but it also was affected by the variety of locations”, he added.

The film stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, and Hank Azaria as Gargamel. Directed by Raja Gosnell and Produced by Jordan Kerner the film is based on the characters and works of Peyo. Director of Photography is Phil Méheux, BSC and Visual Effects Supervisor is Richard R. Hoover and Troy Saliba was the animation supervisor.
Richard concluded saying, “It was a great effort and tremendously fun!”

‘Delhi Safari’ to release on 30th Sept in India with 250 prints 04 August 2011 02:22 PM

2011-08-05T04:55:00.001-07:00

Krayon Pictures (Pune) and People Tree Films’ 3D animation stereoscopic feature ‘Delhi Safari’ will release in India on Sept 30 2011. The film will release in Hindi language across India in 3D with approximately 250 prints.

The company is currently closing deal with a major distributor for the India release.
Delhi Safari tells the story of a group of animals who are on an adventurous mission to preserve their habitat as it comes under threat from developers.
Directed by popular Bollywood Director Nikhil Advani, the Hindi version of the film features voices of popular Bollywood actors like Govinda, Akshay Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Prem Chopra, Boman Irani and Sweenie. It will have 3-4 songs for which the music has been composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.
Delhi Safari is also endorsed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as the film follows the theme of rights for animals and forest conservation. PETA is supporting the film worldwide.

The film will also have an international release and is being represented by Fantastic Films Internationally. The English version of the film has voices of Vanessa Williams (Desperate Housewives), Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond), Jane Lynch (Glee) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Cary Elwes and Jason Alexander.
info@platoonindia.com

Pixion adds VFX to Super Cop action in ‘Singham’

2011-08-05T04:54:00.001-07:00

Pixion has recently delivered VFX for Ajay Devgan starrer Bollywood blockbuster movie ‘Singham’. It has delivered 800 plus brilliant VFX shots in a span of just 40 days for the film.
Singham is over-the-top retro kitsch, spilling over with high-voltage stunts, slow-motion action cuts and fiery dialogues delivered in high decibels. It revolves around Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan), the archetypal honest cop who keeps his native village, Shivgad, crime free with his special system of dispensing personalised justice. However, his idyll is broken after a chance encounter with city goon, Jayakant Shikre (Prakash Raj) who rules over Goa with his ill-gotten wealth and power. Out of a sense of vengeance, Shikre gets Singham transferred to Goa and tries to wreak havoc in his life. But he obviously underestimates the power of this diehard cop who knows how to work the system his way.

Pixion, has been associated with the director, Rohit Shetty for many years and has worked for his movies like ‘Sunday’, ‘Golmaal Returns’, ‘All the Best’, ‘Golmaal 3’ and the latest ‘Singham’. Rohit Shetty has also designed all the action sequences of the movie and Pixion has supported him in delivering them efficiently to the audience.
The movie ‘Singham’ was shot on film in Goa, Gokarna (Karnataka) and Mumbai. Naveen Paul, VFX Supervisor says, “Pixion delivered above 800 VFX shots for the movie with the support of around 120 artists. Apart from the time being a challenge, the action sequences required a lot of effort to be delivered seamlessly. There is a shot where 5 goons jump out of a crashed jeep which is a multi plate composite and required a lot of time and efforts”.
Pavan Rajesh, Associate VFX supervisor shed some light on the scope of work saying, “Beyond that there were sequences that we altered from day to night, Wire removals, Floor replacements, Roof creations, CG element additions, Sky replacements, Set extensions, Chroma sequences and clean up shots. Pixion has completed the entire work within the short time span”.
Nelson Dsouza, VFX Producer asserts, “We achieved 40 mins of VFX in a very short span of time and there were a lot of sequences that required major attention. We have also created the Singham Logo, Theatrical promos, Opening Title packaging, packaging for TV promos and packaging in the film.”

Other key people that contributed to the work are Pavan Rajesh- Associate VFX supervisor, Ranadheer Reddy - Comp Head, Nelson D‘souza - VFX Producer, Chandrakanth Shenoy -Lead matte paint, Dinesh Solanki - Lead Compositor, Intekab - Lead Compositor, Jagadeesh Nair - Motion Graphics, Sudhir Tripathi- CG Lead, Viral Thakkar - CGI Head.
info@platoonindia.com

Corel Launches Certification Program for Design Professionals

2011-06-21T03:47:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, 1st June 2011:- Corel proudly announces the launch of the Corel Certification Program in India to provide a platform to design students and professionals to validate their product skills and knowledge in CorelDRAW software. Corel will be introducing Certification Program through their 21 Corel Authorised Training Centres across India. The company is rolling out the program along with its exclusive national distributor, Aditya Infotech Ltd.

In the last few years, India has become the hub for design outsourcing for MNCs and foreign corporates who are seeking the support of Indian design companies or professional designers for the excellent quality and desirable output. “We had received encouraging response from Corel Training Partners (CTP) Program which was launched last year. In India, opportunities for skilled designers are growing rapidly as industry requirements continue to expand. The new Corel Training and Certification Program demonstrates our commitment to the career development and success of designers in India, and proving employers with a trusted reference when making staffing choices”, said Gavin Watson, Director of Sales for Corel.

The company has introduced two levels of certifications – Corel Certified Designer and Corel Certified Expert, in the program. Students who are pursuing their studies in any domain or even those who have dropped out of their academic studies can appear in Corel Certified Designer test to assess their entry-level skills in CorelDRAW. While, the recommended eligibility criteria to appear in Corel Certified Expert test is minimum 2-years of working experience in graphic designing to certify their mastered advanced-level skills in CorelDRAW.

Talking about the employability of the courses “It has been observed that the growing organizations commonly face issues with regards to employee performance, turnover and reduced customer satisfaction. Employers who recruit certified staff experience in the company will result in increasing competence, higher productivity and reducing turnover, hence, leading to greater ROI,” said Sathish Venugopal, Country Manager - India Subcontinent for Corel Corporation in India.

“With the Corel Certification Program, our aim is to reach metros, B&C class cities, where creative talents are already present and are seeking opportunities to build career in designing profession. With Corel Authorised Training Centres having its presence all across India, it would be convenient for them to know their skills better and Corel certifications will certainly open open doors to a better career and offer a clear competitive edge over others”, he added.

Availability of the Certification Program:

The Corel Certification Program is available in India for professionals using the latest version of CorelDRAW. Professionals can take training courses at Corel Training Centres authorized under the Corel Training Partner (CTP) Program.

For more information on the Corel Certification Program, please contact: Sathish.venugopal@corel.com. / Website : www.corel.com

About Corel
Corel is one of the world's top software companies with more than 100 million active users in over 75 countries. We develop software that helps people express their ideas and share their stories in more exciting, creative and persuasive ways. Through the years, we've built a reputation for delivering innovative, trusted products that are easy to learn and use, helping people achieve new levels of productivity. The industry has responded with hundreds of awards for software innovation, design and value.

Our award-winning product portfolio includes some of the world's most widely recognized and popular software brands, including CorelDRAW®, Corel® Painter™, Corel DESIGNER®, Corel® PaintShop Photo®, Corel® VideoStudio®, Corel® WinDVD®, Corel® WordPerfect® Office, WinZip® and Corel® Digital Studio™.

© 2011 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. Corel, the Corel logo, the Corel Balloon logo, Corel PDF Fusion, Corel DESIGNER, CorelDRAW, Digital Studio, PaintShop Photo, Painter, VideoStudio, WordPerfect, WinDVD and WinZip are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. All other product names and any registered and unregistered trademarks mentioned are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners.

About Aditya Infotech Limited
Aditya Infotech Ltd. is a pioneer in introducing future technologies to the Indian market and is considered one of the best value-added distribution house with 43 own branch offices across the country.

Over past 15 years of business, it has been judged with many acclaims and awards by local media and its principal vendors.

For further information please visit www.platoonindia.com

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Cheers,
Vibhav Srivastava
Founder Platoon India

Platoon india

2011-06-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

About us…!

We are Platoonindia with full of new ideas and creation and thus had spent time learning about all the stuffs i.e., Graphic, Illustrations, Web and anything realated to Multimedia.

Platoon means “Group”, we are a Creative group work as one and thus the resultant output is one that excels in designing and creating projects for your business./ Projects that would not only be one step ahead of your business cometitors but also will be full of new ideas and creativity that will excell in every field of your Corporate identity.

At the creative district, we offer a blend of design, art,creation,illustration that speaks clearly to the audience. We design and deliver stunning websites and web applications because we are group “Platoonindia”, that work as a team and give attention to detail and passion for aestathics shines through on all of the brands that we work with. We deliver sofesticated secure commerce-enable website designs and applications which help our clients to do business online.

Services..!

Our “Platoonindia”, designs your website according to your Company profile that suits your demand and will attract the audience to have a glance over it.

A great deal of attention is paid to the usability of each web site in order for each visitors to be able to find the information of particular intersect to them in an easy and clear way. We keep our focus on a single goal that is from the very first output we keep in mind it’s accessibility,fastness,visual attractiveness and technicall having an advanced presentation of the products and services that are provided by the companies, thus having better browsing experience.

We have extensive experience with a wide range of open ideas and creativity thus our “Platoonindia”, consist of members that are professionally trained.

Web Design:

XHTML / CSS / Flash Animation…..!

Graphic Design:

Photoshop / Illustrator / Corel / Indesign

2d Animation:

Storyboard pro, Toonboom, Flash…and hand drawings.!

3d Modeling:

Max and Maya ( modeling)

Editing:

Premier pro, Final Cut Pro(FCP),sound track pro,sound booth.!

PLATOONINDIA

Your Dream, We Fulfill…

Platoonindia provides Graphics,Illustrations,3d models,2d animation,sound and video editing and Web designs, imbued with style while giving usability and web standards and attention they deserve.

Our approach is simple-figure out what identity you want to convey,and build a design that get’s your visions across.

We creat designs that catch your attention and make your website stand out from the crowd.From Corporate identity to paradise-shifting art sites, we can make the right design for you.

Platoon india

Prime Focus Technologies launches CLEAR™ App.

Matte Painting Tutorial of Tajmahal Using Photoshop

Matte Painting: Create A Distressed Surreal Cityscape

Mattel India launches new Winx Club, Hot Wheels collections

Digieffects launches Remote Management tool RenderMon

Check out ZBrush Central's & Pixologic's exclusive Updates and News

New Hard-Edge Techniques: Motorcycle video part 2

New Hard-Edge Techniques: Motorcycle Part 1

Tweak Software to Unveil RV 3.12 at SIGGRAPH 2011 --New release supports stereo 3D TVs, ARRI Alexa and RED formats-- --Booth demonstrations feature first look at Python and Web integration for RV--

Render Rocket Launches Mission Control 3.0 at SIGGRAPH 2011 Improved Web-based render job “control center” and programmable API speed and simplify Render Rocket’s cloud-based rendering service

Making of Sony Pictures Animation‘s ‘The Smurfs’

‘Delhi Safari’ to release on 30th Sept in India with 250 prints 04 August 2011 02:22 PM

Pixion adds VFX to Super Cop action in ‘Singham’

Corel Launches Certification Program for Design Professionals

Platoon india

Render Rocket Launches Mission Control 3.0  at SIGGRAPH 2011 Improved Web-based render job “control center” and programmable API speed and simplify Render Rocket’s cloud-based rendering service