396 free beers and 200 stress balls later … and the next FMX is already over: this year, the four-day conference took place in Stuttgart under the motto“Bridging The Gap”. The more than 4000 visitors were not only able to listen to interesting talks, but also get in touch with potential employers and colleagues in the recruiting area or with trusted service providers in the marketplace. Of course, we were also there and had a few surprises for you!
The FMX programme highlights
This year there was once again something to see in every corner – so much that despite a good FMX app, time planning and light-speed shoes, it was unfortunately not possible to see everything. More than 280 international speakers gave exciting talks, workshops and masterclasses. At the Recruiting Hub, a total of 28 companies were on the lookout for young creative talent, while 19 universities presented themselves and their projects on the school campus. For those who missed out: We’ll take another look at some of the highlights in detail in our upcoming issues!
Talk by Visual Effects Supiervisor Matt Aitken from Weta Digital (Photo: http://www.fmx.de)
Conference: Bridging The Gap
Once again this year, the many interesting talks, behind the scenes, tips and tricks in the fields of animation, VFX, games, art, technology and business took centre stage. The topic of “Bridging The Gap” was approached in many different ways – from studies to the first job, from pre- to post-production or from machine learning to rendered images. The large crowds of visitors were naturally attracted by studios such as Weta Digital and Industrial Light and Magic. In addition to the “25 Years of Weta” talk by VFX supervisor Matt Aitken, there was a great insight into the work on Birdbox (ILM) Alita Battle Angels (Weta) and the VFX for Avengers Endgame (Weta). No spoiler-free zone could therefore be guaranteed for FMX visitors before the subsequent free Endgame screening in the Gloria Theatre… Other projects such as “Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (RodeoFX), “Hellboy” and “Captain Marvel” (Trixter and Rise VFX) were also presented in the large König-Karl-Halle.
Anyone who has been interested in machine learning and digital humans in recent months and years (or was creeped out by the recently released “Imagine” song ) could look forward to an interesting programme at the Gloria Theatre’s Digital Humans Forum. After the “Meet Mike” project two years ago, the programme included Doug Roble from Digital Domain, who was transferred into a real-time digi double with the help of the ICT Light Stage, Supervised Machine Learning and the Unreal Engine. You can find out more about the project in the next issue of DP!
Another important conference focus this year was on open source. While there were also some highlights in 2018, such as the release of the open source photogrammetry tool“AliceVision Meshroom“, the work of the newly founded Academy Software Foundation was particularly noteworthy this year. With widely used standards such as OpenVDB or OpenEXR, open source technology now forms an important basis for every pipeline in the industry. In addition to an introduction to the Foundation, Thursday’s programme included OSL use cases, talks and more! For an overview of the most important standards, you can downloadour brief overview (from the DP edition) here free of charge.
The Forum: Networking, workshops and more
Anyone looking for networking job options and universities could stop by the Recruiting Hub during and between the conference programme at Weta Digital, ILM, MPC, Animal Logic, Cinesite, Framestore, Trixter, Pixomondo, Mackevision, the Mill and Rise FX, among others. Rise opened a new location in Stuttgart this year, which was subsequently celebrated with a large opening party. Alongside 19 universities and colleges, you were able to experience over 20 virtual reality experiences and presentations live for the first time on the school campus. We really enjoyed the virtual foosball game “Koliseum Soccer VR” including the FMX Tournament of the Filmakademie Badenwürttemberg…revenge?
At the marketplace you could also exchange ideas with various companies, get information – or dust off freebies. 33 companies presented their latest products and services there. In addition to our own stand, Epic Games, Maxon Autodesk, Unity, Avid, Chaos Group, Golaem, InstaLOD, Substance (Adobe), Wacom and ZEISS were also there. As every year, there were of course also masterclasses, company suites and workshops. A small highlight, for example, was the new & fresh 22.5 release of Pixar’s Renderman ( Houdini users rejoice!)
The DP Team – Who met us?
Once again, we were delighted to be able to meet you in person and get to know you. In keeping with the FMX 2019 motto, our theme was “Briding the Gap – from stress to stress-free!”. Anyone who didn’t stop by for our free beer this year hopefully felt well informed and entertained. If you were quick enough, you were also able to get red & white stress balls in addition to our current DP issue 19:03 (focus: training) and the special issue on VFX Studio Mackevision. Get our FMX 2019 Special until 31 May this year: The DP annual subscription with a 50% discount! (Code: FMX2019)
Submission: animago 2019
You missed FMX this year? No problem – you don’t have to wait a whole year to get even more specialised information or to meet people, studios and companies from the VFX, animation and game dev industry. Our animago AWARD & CONFERENCE will take place in Munich again this year from 2 to 5 November! Do you have an exciting VFX/Animation/3D/Game or student project? On the animago website you can still submit your work for our competition for the coveted animago trophies free of charge until 30 June 2019. You can find more information here. We look forward to seeing you!
Further information: To the official animago website
