World VFX Day will now be celebrated annually on 8 December around the world to recognise the achievements and contributions of the VFX community in the world of entertainment and beyond. The event was created in 2023 by a group of VFX studios, organisations and professionals to raise the profile of the VFX industry, promote unity and contribute to greater overall global recognition.

There will be live streamed talks, talks and panel discussions throughout the day from Victor Preez, Ian Failes in conversation with Joans Ussing (Space Office FX) and Paul Franklin (Dneg), the Ocean Tools from Important Looking PIrates, Unnreal in use at Framestore, Virtual Production Showcases and many more topics around the “human” side of VFX.

If you are in Munich (or Bavaria), you can watch the short presentations from all over the world live in the HFF cinema during the day from 9 am to 7 pm and in the evening from 7 pm there will be a get-together with VFX artists from Munich – snacks and drinks will be provided. Click here to register for free – please forward!

https://anmeldung.hff-muc.de/vfx/worldfvxday2023/

For everyone else, here is the livestream, which starts from Hugo’s Desk.

The contributors to ‘World VFX Day’ are ready: Framestore, DNEG, Ghost VFX, MPC, Pixomondo, ILM, Mavericks, Moonraker, WētāFX, Untold Studios, Cinesite, beloFX, Milk FX, Blue Bolt, Afro VFX, Territory Studio, Important Looking Pirates, Jellyfish Pictures, Firebrand VFX, Access VFX, View Conference, FMX – Film & Media Exchange, Escape Studios, The Rookies, NextGen Skills Academy, Foundry, Corridor Digital, Befores and Afters, Humans of VFX and more – it’s going to grow, we reckon!

Why 8 December? It’s a tribute to the birthday of George Méliès, a filmmaker who was one of the most prolific early pioneers of visual effects.

The post WorldVFXDay 2023 im Livestream! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Some time has passed since our first report on “The Element” – at least in the fast-moving world of software. But now version 2.0 is available for download – and here is an excerpt of the latest features – whether it was worth the wait or whether you should simply switch your asset management to this system now is up to you.

Together what belongs together!

The outstanding feature of the 2.0 release is that the element now brings together all parts of a 3D asset – not just the geometry, but also textures. In everyday life, this means that searching for textures and their maps is now done in seconds.

Even if assets from other sources are used, they can be organised and found in a clear standard – and nobody has to try to assign sloppily named folders any more! But not only textures – render layers, normals and roughness files are also combined, categorised and made searchable.

And just to remind you: the element manages, indexes, analyses, searches and presents images, icons, image sequences, 3D assets, 3D SceneFiles (Houdini, Maya, Blender …), project files (Nuke, After Effects, Photoshop …), HDRI images, 360° videos and even PDFs.

Infinite scroller

In principle, there are not “too many assets” – but it can be difficult to find them. The new element offers a corresponding view for this: In the “infinite window” you can simply browse through everything without distraction – also good if you don’t know exactly what you want yet and just want to have a look at what’s available in the library.

As everything is AI-based nowadays, the element naturally also includes this – here in the variant that similar assets are found – be it to tidy up the database, for variations of a shot or simply because you can’t get enough of a motif, it’s up to you!

Users who have footage and plates with different elements that are similar in their initial state – I’m just saying explosions – will find the new video player handy. Within the element, you can see what happens beyond the preview frame – and rotate, flip or fold the image with just one click – and see whether the plate is suitable for the special “upside down” application.

Anyone who collects HDR spheres – and let’s be honest, who doesn’t – needs a preview where you can see exactly what is happening – which is why there is now an exposure slider for quickly adjusting the brightness. Handy for everyday use, but why don’t the other tools have this too?

Other features, such as an enhanced ingest for all possible formats, a tidier (or customisable by you!) interface, as well as better error descriptions for ingest and pipeline, and lots of bug fixes and minor adjustments are of course also included.

If you’re feeling nostalgic or want to get an overview, you can download the first article from DP 22:02 as a free PDF here . And if you want to give it a try, have a look here: das-element.com

The post A new element is here! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In nuce: Two student Oscars in the Narrative category go to the HFF Munich this year. The graduation film Almost Home and the training film Eigenheim (Rooms) were able to secure the award trophies. Almost Home tells the story of a mother-son conflict in space and draws parallels to the pandemic, while Eigenheim deals with the topic of forced eviction. The two Student Academy Awards were won by the HFF Department of Feature Film Directing, headed by Prof Julia von Heinz and Prof Marcus H. Rosenmüller. A total of seven student short films from all over the world were among the finalists. A total of three winners were chosen in the Narrative category. The award ceremony will take place live for the first time since 2019: on 20 October at the David Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles. The winners of the Student Academy Awards in gold, silver and bronze will also be announced at this event. This year marks the 49th time that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has presented the Student Academy Awards to up-and-coming filmmakers.

Film plot synopsis for Almost Home: When space explorer Nico and her pubescent son Jakob learn of an outbreak of a highly contagious virus shortly before their arrival on Earth, they struggle with the decision to land or return to space indefinitely. HFF team: Nils Keller (director), Georg Nikolaus (cinematographer), Philip Hofmann, Jonas Lembeck, Robert Richarz, Carolina Oswald (production with lehof Media), Lukas Väth (VFX)

Short description of the film plot for Eigenheim: The elderly couple Monika and Werner Baland live in a small three-room flat on the outskirts of the city. One day, their new landlady hands them a notice of termination for personal use. The young mother wants to move in with her family. But the search for a flat proves to be extremely difficult for the elderly couple. HFF team: Welf Reinhart (director), Tünde Sautier (screenplay), Matthias Kofahl (camera), Louis Merki (production with Merki und Reinhart Film GbR), Giorgia Germeno (production manager)

Click to continue: Press release on hff-muenchen.de

The post Two student Oscars go to HFF film projects! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: order is half the battle – and the other half is disorder, right? Whether it’s organised chaos or chaotic order, there comes a point for every VFXer when the jumble of assets cries out for a structured filing system. It may help that the latest version of Das Element has been released (stylised spelling: das element). Version 1.2 of the VFX Library software has been released. This is according to a recent press release. According to the Munich-based developers, the implementation of version 1.2 focussed on user-friendliness – especially with new functions relating to teamwork.

New functions: The following functions are among those highlighted by the developers. In a separate video, Jonas Kluger, founder of and mastermind behind Das Element, provides an overview of the new features (see below).

• Shopping Cart / Collections: This allows elements to be shared with team members. Users search through existing libraries and bundle the desired elements within a collection. Collections should make lengthy searches for elements a thing of the past.
• The Sphere Viewer has been added within the HDR Sphere Organiser function. The Sphere media type has been added for this special type of panoramic image.
• In addition, API support for Python 2 and 3 is now available. Well thought-out documentation including sample scripts is included.
• Collections of elements can be organised in a user-defined folder structure. Each user can create their own collections and favourites. These can be made public or set to private.
• The user interface has been improved in many areas – for example: new filters, customised multiple selection, new shopping cart function, and more.

Click further: All further information on The Element. We last reported on asset management from Munich on 25 March 2022 , when version 1.1.4 of Das Element was released.

das element | VFX library software | version 1.2 – feature overview

The post The element appears in version 1.2! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: According to a recent press release, version 1.1.4 of the Munich-based management software “das element” has now been released.

What is “das element”? The developer describes “das element” as a VFX library (library software) that allows you to set and organise your visual effects assets using a keyword system. The software is designed to work across platforms and provide VFX studios with exactly the tools they need to organise complex, effects-driven productions. Artists should find it easy to familiarise themselves with the software and keep everything in order.

What does version 1.1.4 offer? According to the press release, the features that await you with element 1.1.4 are summarised below:

• Improved user interface
• The software is now even more stable in operation than before
• You can now customise the thumbnail images of your files. With the new function, a meaningful thumbnail is created based on the respective file, thanks to which you should be able to recognise which file it is at first glance
• The range of file types that you can enter and edit has been expanded. For example, you can now also import PDFs, but you can now also edit templates and (project) files from Nuke, After Effects, Illustrator and InDesign
• A file-based database can now be used on servers. This should reduce the need for IT support. It should also make it easier to install “the element” on systems
• The new rating system allows you to group components of your projects even more meaningfully.

Click further: Anyone looking to get started with “das element” can follow the detailed video tutorials on the software ‘sYouTube channel . It can also be useful to browse through the corresponding documentation . You can find the official website at das-element.com.

Read on: By the way: In our latest print issue, DP 02 : 2022, you can look forward to an in-depth interview with Jonas Kluger, the founder of “das element”. You can find the article entitled “Element-ares Asset Management” on page 10.

The post Version 1.1.4 of “das element” released! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.