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

The post That was FMX 2019! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Allan McKay is not only known in the industry as a supervisor, but also in the community for his VFX training. Most recently he delivered a 15 hour tutorial series for a fireball explosion in an aeroplane. His portfolio consists of work for studios such as ILM, Atomic Fiction, Pixomondo and others. Now there’s

Deatails about the VFX training

The tutorials are divided into seven parts and are available free of charge until 12 January 2018. Over the course of 10 hours, Allan McKay will show you how to create a decay effect. The software tools used are…

• 3ds Max
• Nuke
• FumeFX
• V-Ray

In addition to the tutorials, you also get access to the Scene Files (Alembic, Max, PointCache), as well as the 2K RAW Plates, HDRI Maps, Camera Tracks and more.

To the free registration

To register, you must enter your e-mail address, which you will then use to receive the training and the links to the assets.

The post Allan McKay: Decay VFX Training first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

X-Particles 4 for Cinema 4D is here! The software from Insydium ltd is a particle and VFX system for C4D from Maxon, which now brings many new features with the new release. In addition to X-Paticles, the company is also known for the integration of Blender Render Enginge with Cycles 4D.

New features in X-Particles 4

OpenVDB

With the new xpOpenVDB framework, the industry standard OpenVDB has finally been incorporated into the tool. This allows you to customise your meshes more easily and integrate them into existing workflows. You can use mesh, filter and topology options to modify your created volumes and quickly create complex geometries.

ClothFX

The xpClothFX Dynamics System is a brand new addition. This tool allows you to realise cloth simulations using X-Particles. The clothing can be influenced by all modifiers of X-Particles and can also be torn with “tearing” options.

FlowField

The new Velocity Field Generator xpFlowField allows you to create customised field effects. Particles are controlled using splines, object tangents or normals – you can also define your own turbulence using the Cinema 4D noise tools.

FluidPDB & FluidFX

A lot has also happened with the fluid simulations in the new version. With xpFluidPDB, a new particle-based dynamic solver for smaller fluid simulations has been added, which you can also control with the X-Particles Modifiers. The xpOpenVDB mesher can also be added for fast and interactive fluid simulations. XpFluidFX, on the other hand, is a new solver for medium to large simulations. You have full control over the type and appearance of the fluid – for example, you can also create viscous fluids.

ExplosiaFX

The smoke and fire simulations previously created with the X-Paticles Flip Solver can now be generated with xpEploisioaFX . Thanks to the support of OpenVDB, you can also export your VDB volumes accordingly and use them with other compatible software.

xpCirclePacker & xpCellAuto

With xpCirclePacker , you can generate particles that automatically avoid overlaps with other particles – you can control the minimum and maximum radii for this. The intersection detection works for all shapes, surfaces, volumes and splines. With xpCellAuto you can also use three interesting algorithms to generate particles (Elementary Mode, Game of Life and Fissuion Limited Aggeration). You can see a preview of this in the attached example video.

Other new features

In addition to the new features shown, you can now use xpSlineFlow to create customised paths for your particles with splines and modify them. XpVertexMap Maker also generates procedural, animated vertex maps with adjustments for vertex weight, speed, texture and object vertices, among other things. Furthermore, XpStrangeAttractors lets you create abstract particle animations using eight settings, including for shape, scaling and speed. You can also use xpNewtonGravity to create individual gravitational fields for individual objects. You can find out more about all the new features here.

Prices & availability

X-Particles 4 is available here from today. A new licence costs the equivalent of approx. 611 €, in a bundle with Cycles 4D 758 €. The upgrade price from version 3.5 starts at the equivalent of €249. You can find out more about the prices here.

Existing X-Particles customers have also received an Early Bird offer. – If you have not received an offer, please contact offers@insydium.com to receive a coupon code.

For more information: Visit the Insydium website

The post X-Particles 4 for Cinema 4D available first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

With the long-awaited plug-in, Houdini’s procedural power can now be integrated into Maya scenes and pipeline. This allows artists or TDs to easily generate Houdini assets, with geometry, particles, flip fluids, Pyr FX and so on, and then pass them on to Maya artists for editing.

Side Effects also announces that the Houdini engine plug-ins for 3ds Max and Uneral will also be released towards the end of the year, as well as for Cinema 4D and Unity. The Unreal plug-in is being developed by Side Effects itself, while the 3ds Max plug-in is being launched on GitHub by independent developer Hideki Suzuki, who has previously worked as Pipeline TD at Digital Domain, among others

Houdini Engine for Maya is now available for OSX, Windows and Linux. The Unity plug-in can already be tested and the planned plug-ins for C4D and 3ds Max should be available in late summer.

Artists who have a Houdini or Houdini FX licence can run the Houndini Engine over their existing licence. For artists who mainly work in Maya, there is a 15-day trial version. Houdini Engine workstation licences are available for USD 499 per year, with floating licences starting at USD 795 per year. Further information on prices can be found here, and Side Effects provides the “Get Started” overview here.

In the next issue of DP, we will also be taking a closer look at the topic of plug-ins.

The post Houdini Engine available for Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.