For the thirteenth time, every film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects used Autodesk technology. Autodesk congratulated Framestore CFC and Rhythm & Hues on their Oscar-winning work for The Golden Compass.
The company also recognized Industrial Light & Magic, Asylum, Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues, EFILM, and Deluxe Digital London for their work on nominated films including Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Surf’s Up, No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Atonement.
“Winning an Academy Award is the film industry’s highest recognition of outstanding work,” says Marc Petit, senior vice president at Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “We congratulate all the talented nominees and winners for their spectacular contributions submitted for the 2007 Oscars. We are very proud that filmmakers rely on Autodesk technology as part of their creative toolsets.”
The Golden Compass
Framestore CFC, winner of the visual-effects Oscar, used Autodesk Maya 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software and the Inferno visual-effects system on The Golden Compass.
“Autodesk Maya was used within our visual-effects pipeline to create and light all the difficult polar environments with ice and snow in the film,” says Framestore CFC computer-graphics supervisor Laurent Hugueniot.
The studio also used Maya to create and animate every shot of a massive armored polar bear in a leading role. “Maya’s extensive flexibility has always made it an excellent package for us. It allows straightforward and efficient integration of our internal tools and other packages within the pipeline,” Hugueniot adds.
Rhythm & Hues used Maya to model the hero daemon characters, including Pan, the golden monkey, and Stelmaria.
Surf’s Up
For Sony Pictures Animation’s Best Animated Feature nominee Surf’s Up, Sony Pictures Imageworks artists used Lustre for final color grading. Maya was also used to create the complex water animation in the closing sequence. The film was directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, produced by Christopher Jenkins, and co-produced by Lydia Bottegoni.
“Animation rigs and tools had to be developed to produce technically accurate water movement that could also be shaped with detail and artistry,” explains lead wave animator John Clark. “Extending Maya kept the process running smoothly. It gave riggers a platform for creating a dedicated character rig for the waves while providing animators with a powerful animation and layout environment.”
Using Maya Embedded Language, Python, and Maya’s API scripting capabilities, the Imageworks team customized the software to address many of the film’s challenges.
Senior animation supervisor David Schaub says: “The question is never whether the software can do something. If it cannot, Maya’s architecture lets us create a tool that will.”
Autodesk technology was also used on the following nominated and award-winning films:
For Best Visual Effects winner The Golden Compass, Rainmaker UK, now CSI London, used Maya for modeling, rigging, animation, and lighting of computer-generated doubles.
For Transformers, Industrial Light & Magic used Maya and Inferno within its proprietary SABRE visual-effects system to create 460 shots. Maya handled all character animation, including the opening sequence in which a robot attacks a US military base in the Middle East. Inferno was used for two major compositing sequences.
For Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, lead visual-effects studio ILM used Maya and Autodesk Flame within its proprietary SABRE pipeline to create computer-generated characters and the maelstrom sequence.
Asylum created 315 shots for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End using a visual-effects toolset including Maya, Flame, Lustre, and Autodesk Toxik compositing software.
For Best Cinematography winner No Country for Old Men and nominee The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, EFILM used its proprietary EWORKS grading system, incorporating Autodesk Lustre and Autodesk Incinerator, to create 4K digital intermediates.
Deluxe Digital London used Lustre for digital color grading on Best Cinematography nominee Atonement.
For the Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design nomination packages, Paul Nesmith of Pixel Blues used Autodesk Smoke editing and finishing software to create sketches and animation.
