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Digital Domain welcomes IT to Derry
Digital Domain supervisors break down the design, rigging, lighting, and animation challenges behind the Skeleton Man creature for HBO’s return to the Stephen King universe.
Keychron K5 Max: The New Default
A keyboard is the most used tool in digital production, so why settle for mediocrity? After eight months of testing, the Keychron K5 Max has earned a place as my daily driver. Here’s why.
Work Hard, Sort Fast: Project Sorter 1.75
Project Sorter 1.75 auto-sorts your Premiere and After Effects imports by type, path, or metadata. Fewer bins to drag, more time to cut.
Rendering the Inferno at RiseFX: The Lost Bus
128 shots, 15 sequences, and GPUs on the brink: RISE FX’s Oliver Schulz explains how his team built the burning world of The Lost Bus.
Photoshop AI in practice
Following the integration of Adobe Firefly, there are now AI systems from partners. Flux Context Pro and Nano Banana are useful additions for Photoshop-AI in practice.
RealFX Part 2: From the loading bar to the keyboard
Three scripts, one goal: easyRulers, LoadUP and keyboardFX bring clean, functional motion graphics utilities for everyday After Effects work.
Crawly for Videoscreens: SpyderPro
SpyderPro gets serious: anorganic filters, 12,000 nits, 3D LUT export, OLED support, and proper profiling tools make it fit for postproduction again. Let's see if the claims hold up!
Houdini 21: Like good wine (Part1, VFX & Geo)
Houdini 21 polishes the chaos: production-ready MPM, neural surfacing, smarter Pyro, and Vulkan viewport upgrades: all taste-tested for real-world use. (Part 1 of ???)
425 shots, one terrifying doll, and a CG mill town: Digital Domain’s Alex Millet explains how his team built the horror of The Conjuring: Last Rites and kept it real.
Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3): Welcome to Sensible Pen Tablets
Sometimes you just want a tablet that works without selling your workstation. That was the starting point for our test of Huion’s Kamvas 13 (Gen 3). In times where many artists keep an eye on their budgets, the idea of a small, solid, and affordable pen display is tempting. So we teamed up with Huion to see what this one could actually do.
“A Model of Madness” Scott Ross Why VFX Fails as a Business
Scott Ross: VFX is “a model of madness.” ILM, Digital Domain, and decades later, the business still cannot stand on three legs.
The Cube Moved: Go for the Chaos (Ad) Vantage
Architecture Illustrators and Visualizers test Chaos Vantage for a narrative short and accidentally build a moving house. Unbox proves real-time previz can tell stories, not just sell floor plans.
Keep Your Pipeline: Chaos on Skipping the Game Engine
Chaos’ Chris Nichols explains how Chaos Arena and Chaos Vantage cut out the engine middleman with full ray tracing, open formats, and one asset for all.
Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision 2, and Beyond!
HDR isn’t just a jungle of acronyms on your TV box—though it may feel that way. To bring some order, we sat down with Michael Hackl from Dolby to talk about Dolby Vision, how it compares to HDR10 and HDR10+, how it is made, and what’s new in Dolby Vision 2.
RealFX Part 1: Perfectly formed scripts
The landscape of plug-in providers for After Effects (and other host applications) has thinned out noticeably in recent times. Whereas in the 2000s and 2010s we used to receive press releases about new and interesting plug-ins several times a week, nowadays we are lucky to receive one announcement per month. But we found a few beauties!
Momo: Of Time, Turtles, and Technical Wizardry
VFX Supervisor Michael Wortmann on how RiseFX built the fantasy of Momo: almost entirely on location, with 280 shots and the best turtle in the business.
“Task Force Querlitz” Brings Adult Animation to ZDF
With Task Force Querlitz, screenwriter Simon Thummet, director Arne Hain and producer Sebastian Simon have achieved something rare:…
At IBC 2025, Adobe’s Jason Druss showed how Premiere Pro 25.5 brings Film Impact’s 90+ transitions and real-time effects into the core app. Time to test this!
Stitch Head!
“Stitch Head”: A charming animated adventure blending gothic charm, playful humor, and a heartfelt journey of self-acceptance, crafted by a team spanning multiple continents and pipelines.
TD Meetup 21: VR, Quill & the Renaissance of Real-Time Storytelling
At TD Meetup #21, Dan Franke showed how Quill VR lets you literally paint, animate, and pivot scenes in real time—no rig, just hand and headset.
Need an AI Video Enhancer in Your Workflow? Aiarty Video Enhancer!
Blocky VHS? Grainy DSLR shots? Aiarty Video Enhancer upscales, denoises, and restores video locally—no cloud upload required. (Sponsored Post)
After Effects Gets Hands-On: Victoria Nece Shows Off Quick Offset & Co.
At IBC 2025, I talked with Adobe’s Victoria Nece about Quick Offset, Smooth Zoom, and 3D compositing in After Effects. It’s tactile, fast and oddly fun.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Gen2 and Gen4: Professional Audio for Creators?
The Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Gen4 brings Auto Gain, Safe, and Air to content creators looking for reliable, studio-grade audio in a compact form. We tested it with the Shure SM7B and Rode PodMic USB. Here’s what you should know BEFORE you upgrade.
ProRes RAW vs. BRAW
BMPCC 4K just learned a new trick: ProRes RAW via firmware. We stacked it against BRAW Q0. One’s cleaner, one’s bigger. Which would you shoot?
RiseFX on Heads of State: Explosions, Statues, and Digital Diplomacy
500 shots, one exploding limo, and statues aimed at helicopters: Rise FX brings high-stakes action to Heads of State with a new Riseflow pipeline.
ProRes RAW News – Fresh from the Freezer
Resolve 20.2.1 + Sequoia = real ProRes RAW. Sonoma users: no dice. iPhone 17 footage shows the difference...
Digital Domain’s Phil Cramer explains Fantastic Four VFX: Masquerade3, Baby Franklin, The Thing’s beard, and multi-vendor Marvel pipelines.
Hell Froze Over – ProRes RAW for Resolve
For an eternity, it seemed, Blackmagic Design (BM for short) refused to support the import of Apple's ProRes RAW format into their flagship app DaVinci Resolve (DR for short).
Realtime Department’s UNIQVUE: The Software Layer Behind Turnkey Corporate Studios
Hardware is nothing without brains. Realtime Department’s UNIQVUE adds the software intelligence to ARRI and Samsung’s turnkey corporate studio. Christoph Gockel explains how.
Resolve Animation: Everything moves!
Resolve Animation? Well, everything is based on keyframes. Fusion adds power (and pain), 3D feels clunky. Still: motion graphics inside an editor? Works.
ARRI Packs Virtual Production Into a Box
ARRI’s turnkey stage bundles LED wall, ALEXA 35, audio, and server into a scalable studio package with automation and colour management.
Matching Your Moves: Inside Vision Age VFX
Vision Age VFX specialises in high-end matchmove and rotoanim. Workflows, QC, case studies, and technical tips from Tunisia’s camera tracking experts.
We have to talk about Switchlight 2.0
Beeble’s SwitchLight 2.0 turns raw plates into PBR maps that can be relit like CG. Now trained on 13× more data and extended to full-scene maps, not just the subject. We spoke with co-founder Hoon Kim about what’s new, how it’s priced, and where 3.0 is headed.
Next-Gen Cloud Rendering for Blender? Meet Praxilla!
Praxilla offers Blender cloud rendering with Cycles and Eevee, starting at 2.50 € per GPU hour. Secure, fast, and aiming for collaborative rendering.
Goodbye Adobe Premiere
I whispered, "Goodbye, Adobe!" as I pressed the unsubscribe button. To me it sounded very much like “Hasta la vista” but less dramatic. We had a good run, but it was time to move on.
First impression: The ASUS ProArt PA32UCDM is the Clark Kent of displays. On your desk, it could pass for a premium, but otherwise unassuming office monitor—sleek, thin, and lightweight, with none of that over-designed “gamer” bling. But underneath?
Making it Soft – Diffusion in Post II
We looked at Halation and Diffusion before - but how about the new Tools from FilmConvert and Resolve 20?
Bose QuietComfort Ultra: Noise Cancelling for when your workstation is also the Rendernode!
Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are the current leaders in active noise cancelling. In our test, they silenced GPUs, offices, and even kindergarten tantrums, all while sounding excellent.
Tomato Warfare: Milk VFX on Heads of State
Milk VFX Supervisor David Sadler-Coppard on how the team built thousands of CG tomatoes, exploding doors, and digital crowds for Heads of State.
These Are the Clones You’re Looking For: Hoplite VFX Fires Up ‘Star Wars: The 212’
Hoplite VFX trades stormtrooper aim for clone trooper precision in Star Wars: The 212. Producer Maurine Fauvert reveals how a two-artist side project turned into a full-blown studio production, complete with Move AI mocap, Blender’s GPU power, and some very unlucky troopers.
Workstations for Virtual Production
Virtual production wouldn’t be possible without high-performance workstations. These systems deliver the computing power required for rendering, simulations, and complex visual effects directly within the studio environment.
Beyond Normal: A Creative’s Guide to Different Minds and Managing Neurodivergent Talent (Part 1)
Creative brilliance doesn’t come in one flavor—and in today’s VFX-landscape, understanding how your team thinks isn’t just good leadership, it’s critical infrastructure.
Still Taping? You Should Be: Why LTO Is the Only Backup That Ages Well
Your backup drive will die. Your cloud costs will rise. But a £100 tape will quietly last 30 years, if you treat it right. Yes, LTO still matters.
Game Boy Robot: When Nostalgia Gets a Quad-Based Makeover
Game Boy nostalgia meets quad-based hard-surface modeling in Benavidmark’s detailed 3D robot tribute—every production step dissected.
Anchorpoint brings Git + locking + in‑editor commits to Unreal. See why Maya pipelines feel prehistoric now.
„For Those Who Dare“
These days you wouldn’t always have to go for an expensive, professionally calibrated screen if you are not working for extremely demanding clients. Has the age of correct colors finally arrived? What about HDR? Let’s have a broader look!
Crossbow: Workflow Automation for VFX & Animation
Four years of R&D, zero spreadsheets, no more copy-pasting shot status—Crossbow promises a less painful way to manage VFX and animation projects. In this interview, Jindrich Cervenka explains what Crossbow shoots, why it matters, and why you still need a mid-range GPU.
The visual effects of Star Trek – a retrospective
On September 8th, 1966, the U.S.S. Enterprise flew across American screens for the first time - since then, "Star Trek" in all its various iterations has become part of the zeitgeist. And, in keeping with the Enterprise's mission, it has also repeatedly stepped into new areas of visual effects, making it one of the many trailblazers for our industry. In this retrospective, we want to take a closer look at some of these milestones.
Lola Post’s VFX Survival Guide on Walking with Dinosaurs
Lola Post’s Rob Harvey shares VFX details on Walking with Dinosaurs 2025: 800 shots, 200 artists, Unreal Engine for dinosaurs, and zero Jurassic Park liberties.
Skeleton Crew: How Halon Gave Ms. Blue Her Digital Bones
Halon preserved an 87-foot blue whale skeleton for AR using LiDAR, photogrammetry, and good timing—thanks to a foggy morning jog.
Thunderbolts* Vaults: Digital Domain on Marvel’s Most Grounded Brawl
Digital Domain VFX Producer Ryan Wilk breaks down Marvel’s Thunderbolts* vault chaos, Ghost phasing, and why less is more for photoreal CG.
Crossbow Confidential: PFX’s Digital Dashboard Keeps ‘Locked’ Rolling
PFX marshals 60 artists, a lidar-scanned SUV and its Crossbow app to steer 750 shots for Locked through four months of frantic VFX.
Strange New Virtual Production Worlds!
It's a good time for us Trekkies - between Discovery and Lower Decks, between Picard and Strange New Worlds, there's something for everyone - finally again! But there's a lot going on behind the scenes - because the first big show to be filmed on a Virtual Production Stage was Star Trek: Discovery. And right after that - almost simultaneously - came Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. As it was definitely worth seeing, we asked what you can expect from your big VP production.
Not every historic drama is created equal - "The Hungarian Dressmaker" rebuild a world barely out of reach of living memory, and we got a chance to talk to PFX artists and artisans about rebuiling 1940' s Bratislava and Biskupice
WeFX Saddles Up for “1923”
From pristine scans to viscous blood foam: how 50 artists spent six months on 20 shots that make one horse’s final tumble painfully believable.
Final Cut Pro:Mac mini or iPad M4?
Let's evaluate the M4 iPad Pro and Mac mini Pro for video editing, especially with DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro X. While the iPad shares advantages with integrated hardware for certain formats, the Mac mini excels in handling high-end camera sources in raw formats. Or does it?
LiDAR scanning for Everybody!
Scanner veteran Lawren Bancroft-Wilson gives us a look behind the curtain on Lidar Scanning for VFX and Post.
The (further) development of Fusion.
Fusion, the compositing tool in and out of Resolve, has got a big update - and we asked BMD's Simon Hall, what it all means and what the future holds..
Digital Domain vs. the Nether Horde: Behind the VFX of Minecraft
When Warner Bros. enlisted Digital Domain to tackle the final battle in Minecraft: The Movie, they weren’t just signing up for blocks and shaders...
Rise FX saves christmas?
When Red One dropped last this year, audiences got get a holiday cocktail of Jumanji-style action (The director…
Getting Colors Right with the Datacolor LightColor Meter
Let's test! The Datacolor LightColor Meter Model LCM200 is designed for accurate light source measurement, addressing challenges in color matching across different light sources.
The Survivor: A Study in Character-Driven Look Development
At FMX, we met a few students from "PIXLVISN " - and since we never looked at what they are doing, it is high time to do so!
With its latest release, Blackmagic Fusion is positioning itself more aggressively than ever as a powerful and cost-effective complete package for node-based compositing and motion graphics. We check whether Fusion 20 lives up to the high expectations.
Mac mini or iPad Pro M4 for Post?
The iPad Pro, with its M4 processor, shows potential for video editing, particularly with applications like DaVinci Resolve. However, limitations arise, notably in memory capacity (16 GB max), affecting stability with high-resolution projects.
Marine-Snow-Simulation in Houdini
Join our workshop and discover how to simulate marine snow and oceanic particles for VFX - Master underwater simulations, ocean effects, and particle-based systems. Perfect for VFX artists and anybody who tripped over the phrase "Ocean dandruff".
AI-Workspace: Flora Fauna
There are many different tools for visualisation with AI. "Flora Fauna AI" takes an interesting alternative approach here. The system aims to combine many technologies under one bonnet and be an AI workspace.
ACES 2.0 – available in Mistika!
Wait, there is already a new Version of ACES? We barely got used to the last one! And it is already working in SGO Mistika? Let's dive in!
Red Poppies, Bears and Open Source!
Polish war drama Red Poppies (Czerwone Maki) brings the Battle of Monte Cassino to the big screen with over 400 VFX shots, 120 of which were crafted by Polish VFX studio Imaginary Pixels. And the team relied on open-source tools?
Trailmakers from Denmark!
Game trailers should make you interested in the game, obviously, and since we can't wait for Trialmakers 2, the trailer did its job - so, we are talking to the creatives behind the trailer!
Calibration for less – Part 3
Part 3 of the "Calibration for Less" series - we get into the settings with DisplayCal, Connect Software, Hardware and Wetware, and are chasing the elusive perfect colours!
Since 2024, it has been possible to integrate 3D objects into After Effects Beta. The updated version of the Adobe compositing solution now also has this functionality.
Colour Monitoring for Cheapskates! Part 2
Now that your I/O-Hardware should be up and running, let’s get into equipment for profiling the screen (aka…
Color Monitoring for Cheapskates?Part 1
Colour Monitoring is cheap, easy, and fast. As usual, you can pick two of those adjectives — and in this series, we are going for cheap and will make it easy for you!
Architectural visualisation in a war zone
Let's do a 3D reconstruction of the Museum of Western and Eastern Art with Rhino and Blender in Odessa (Ukraine)!
Speed in a small package: LaCie Rugged SSD Pro 5 Review
Thunderbolt 5 offers the ONE thing all VFX professionals crave - more speed. LaCie now rolls out the very first SSD to really take advantage of the new standard and it seems like they had us in mind when designing this little drive.
Out on its own: Twixtor Standalone
Twixtor standalone offers an easy-to-use solution for slow-motion video generation using AI, but it is slower than competitors. Topaz Video AI excels in speed and quality, making it the recommended choice, even if it doesn't come cheap. Which one is right for you?
Mufasa heads to MPC
The Prequel of a remake of a animated movie, based on a Shakespeare play... and still worth watching! We got a Chance to talk to Audrey Ferrara, MPCs VFX Supervisor for Mufasa
FilmLight sends your frames!
FilmLight’s Nara simplifies media workflows and improves collaboration. And you don't even need to have Baselight in your pipeline! The latest version enables seamless progress reviews, approvals, and compliance processes—all without proxies. Interested?
CineMon 1.0: Correcting the Signal
Let's talk about using low-cost HDMI video capture devices for accurate signal representation, particularly with log formats like S-log3. And also the development and application of a correction LUT using Resolve to enhance the accuracy of color and luminance.
When we think of compositing systems of the late nineties and early two thousands, Discreet and Quantel come to mind. But for a brief time, there was a real contender to those two powerhouses: 5D Cyborg!
Hardware for CineMon (et. al.)
After looking at the software side of CineMon, it's time to take a look at the hardware - whats good and what's not?
ASUS ProArt Display 5K PA27JCV
Let's not faff about: 5K Screens? Really? I tested one, and here are the results - the Use Case is not what you might think it is.
IBC 2024 Adobe Premiere Pro News with Francis Crossman
Francis Crossman shows the new color management, the properties panel and the new look of the Adobe Premiere GUI.
Digital Domain Lets Agatha Fly
The prettiest Marvel show this year was "Agatha All Along" Time to ask Digital Domain how they did that!
CineMon 1.0 (Beta) for iPad and Mac
The times of expensive hardware-based scopes are gone. Modern software scopes are versatile, flexible, and can be adapted to new technologies. Until now, Nobe OmniScope by Time in Pixels was the leading solution, both under Windows and MacOS. But there’s a new kid on the block for MacOS and iOS now, called CineMon (with a charming agnomination to a popular spice).
IBC 2024 Frame.io with JJ Powell
The new version 4 of Fram.io has many workflow improvements. And JJ Powell explains how the Frame.io team uses Frame.io in their own workflow.
IBC 2024 Adobe AI News with Anton Knoblach
A second IBC-Interview: Anton Knoblach talks about the new AI features coming to Firefly. This german interview is translated with the new subtitle translation in Adobe Premiere.
iClone 8.52: A Major Leap for Animation Editing
iClone 8.52 delivers a highly anticipated update for professional animation editing, packed with groundbreaking features driven by user feedback. Despite its numerical step from 8.51, this release introduces transformative tools to elevate animation workflows.
Every year, the VFX programme at HFF Munich produces various projects that break new creative ground. These include the animated mixed-media short film "Little Star", which brings a touching encounter to life through a combination of traditional hand-drawn 2D animation and 3D computer animation. But how exactly was the film made?
Through the Woodlands
Creatures made of tree branches and roots seem to have a firm place in the history ofVFX. Just…
VR gallery at the Ostfalia
Wouldn't it be great if you could see something else in VR besides hectic hustle and bustle, demos and microtransaction calls? An art exhibition, for example? Yes, there is - and we found one such project with Noah Thiele, a student at Ostfalia.
University up north!
By the way, you can also study at a university in Flensburg if you want to distance yourself as far as possible from the "Wild South". But what can you expect there?
Xencelabs Quick Keys Remote
Functionality and compactness for artists on the graphics tablet - useful, but with pitfalls when creating macros.
How to Persuade Competing VFX Studios to Cooperate
How can you get a number of companies that are in extreme competition with each other and, therefore, do not trust each other to work together? You introduce an independent third organization in which all competitors are jointly involved.
What you need to Know: Premiere Integrates AI Video Generation
Adobe rolls out new AI-driven video tools for Premiere Pro, including Firefly-powered features. Enhanced workflows, time-saving tools, and stable performance are the key highlights, and not making editors superfluos.
Once upon a time, there was a Henry
Everything used to be better - that's nonsense, of course. But nostalgia also has its very own charm. And so we want to take a look back at the supposedly good old days in a magazine that usually keeps its eyes curiously open to the future. Completely subjective, beautifully coloured and deliberately seen through rose-tinted glasses.
Keychron Q8
After direct enquiry: Our "Ergonomics and the perfect workplace" recommendation has a hole: What about all those who suffer from joint pain when typing? Carpal tunnel, tension, and so on?
Splines and paths have been added to Substance Painter and Substance Painter for a year now. Here I show various application examples of what can be achieved with them.
Ghosts at the HFF
A humanoid robot leans against a car, smoking, with a dog sitting opposite. They enjoy the sunset together.