Browsing Tag
subscribers
386 posts
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!
Unreal Engine 5.6 Preview: Now with 60Hz Open Worlds and In-Engine MetaHumans
Unreal Engine 5.6 Preview introduces 60Hz open worlds, an overhauled animation toolset, in-engine MetaHuman Creator, and enhanced procedural workflows.
Nara: Now with More Sync, Less Scream
Filmlight’s Nara adds remote realtime playback sync, review-in-Baselight, and more versioning features for collaborative post and color workflows.
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.
CEUM 2025.1 Videos are online :)
CEUM 2025.II follows on 17 September, and if you missed the last one: no worries, the CEUM 2025.I talk videos are already online and ready for your next coffee break.
Scaling New Heights: Blender Users Summit on the Blender Mountain
On May 24, 2025, Blender enthusiasts will gather in Wiggensbach, Germany, to ascend the Blender mountain together.
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!
Blackmagic Fusion 20
At NAB, Blackmagic presented what is probably the most relevant update for Fusion since the
Acquisition of Eyeon. But what exactly is in it?
Test: Xencelabs Pen Display 16
Let's test! Lightweight 16-inch graphics tablet with 4K OLED screen from Xencelabs
is said to be the industry's first 16-inch 4K OLED pen display. But ...
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!
Using 3D Objects in After Effects
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.
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?
VES Awards 2025: Apes Ascend, Dune Dazzles, Robots Rule
Visual Effects Society Awards, VES Awards 2025, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes VFX, Dune Part Two visual effects, The Wild Robot animation, Shōgun TV series VFX, VES, Awards, VFX, Animation
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?
The Rise and Fall of Cyborg
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!
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.
VES Awards 2025: Nominees Unveiled—Prepare Your Applause (and Renders)!
The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominees for the 23rd Annual VES Awards, celebrating excellence in visual effects across film, television, animation, and more.
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.
Hff’s Little Star
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.
Ghosts at the HFF
A humanoid robot leans against a car, smoking, with a dog sitting opposite. They enjoy the sunset together.
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?
Paths in Substance Painter and Substance Designer in use
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.
Fallout!
Most of us have played an episode or two of Fallout - and were cautiously pleased when Amazon Prime announced a film adaptation. Turns out the first season was a lot of fun - and had some great shots. Some of the best came from Rise FX - so we connected our Pip-Boy to the bunker in Berlin and asked the artists!
Look development between DoP & colourist
There's a word on everyone's lips at the moment: "look development".
DoP Matthias Bolliger and colourist Louise "Lou" Temmesfeld take a look behind this term.
Kay’s script helper with AI!
AI is the big hype in every industry - at least if you believe breathless marketers who write newsletters to each other that nobody reads. But what if a VFX supervisor took on the topic? What does it do approximately? And now let's find out ....
What’s new in Flame
Autodesk is releasing the next version of Flame just in time for NAB. And once again, the update is a colourful bag of innovations. From minor optimisations to major new features, from product maintenance to fundamental changes, everything is included.
Virtual production on celluloid?
"What You Don't See" is a pioneering project that is one of the first to combine the oldest and one of the newest technologies in the film industry - 35mm film and LED volumes - in a scenic production.
Intelligent Media Assistant?
Isn't it time to say goodbye to old workflows? And put the hype surrounding AI to good use? Instead of breathless marketeer newsletters that nobody reads anyway, there are also useful applications - for example Cara One.
Virtual production with just one Samsung LED screen?
Let's be honest: large virtual production stages are cool, but they're also damn unwieldy - do you really need that many screens?
Obsbot: 4K, CI, Gimbal, ..
In 2022, Obsbot surprised us with its 4K AI model (see issue DP 22:06). Now they're back with Obsbot Tiny 2. Is the upgrade really 2024 fair or just a warm rehash like the next FIFA [year]? Let's find out!
WIND UP – Family drama on a desert island
As part of their second year of study, students from the VFX specialisation joined forces with all other departments at the Munich University of Television and Film to create a short film. This ambitious project combines various disciplines of the HFF and tells a dramatic story using visual effects.
Magic Nodes 2: New functions
The "Magic Nodes" extension for "Adobe After Effects" has
has been around for a while. This enables compositing in a Nodes network
with the Adobe programme. A look at the changes
and improvements in version 2.
Baby’s first pipeline
The first big project with multiple stakeholders can feel like a rollercoaster ride! A clear workflow is the secret recipe for smooth collaboration and communication between departments. You often hear the term "pipeline" - sounds technical, doesn't it? Don't panic! In this article, I'll show you how to set up a pipeline for your project - without any magic or programming!
From the left..
Nomen est omen. When reading the company name "Left Angle", anyone with any mathematical knowledge will think: "There's no such thing!" And it's a bit like that with your product, Autograph: a new compositing and motion design application that stands up to comparison with Nuke and After Effects. That doesn't even exist. Or is there?
IBC 2023: Adobe Premiere Pro with Francis Crossman
Francis Crossman shows how to remove pauses and filler words in text based editing and the removing of background noise.
A beastly good choice
The in-depth investigation of a FullCGI production with Houdini KineFX, Grooming and V-ray in Solaris.
VR beyond the hype
Although the hype surrounding the Apple Vision Pro is still going strong, VR has yet to really gain a foothold at home. However, where it is really picking up speed is in the area of "rides" and free roaming. Amusement parks are where the technology can be fully utilised, regardless of home PC compatibility. We ask ourselves, what does it all look like then?
Fritzi & Sophie
The cinema film of the story was produced in classic 2D. For the series, we opted for the "third dimension". This presented us with new challenges, but also opened up completely new doors. Blender was our main tool.
VFX-Shoot in the trunk
How do you shoot a film in the smallest setting imaginable, a closed car boot? Can you manage to maintain the narrative tension for 90 minutes and at the same time reinvent yourself visually time and again?
Shock Dog from Stuttgart
Now, we're known to be more cat fans than dog fans - but when we saw "The Nevers", that went from "more" to "definitely" not dog fans - because (without giving anything away from the story), the "Shock Dog", Dr Hague's pet, made us turn on the light in the room in the evening while watching it.
Film with a Phone?
It's almost 10 years since Austin Reza shot a film for Bentley's luxury cars: on an iPhone 5S. At the time, it was still in stylish black and white and with high contrasts - no doubt also to prevent artefacts from becoming too obvious. Back in 2011, Park Chan-wook and Park
Chan-kyong from South Korea even shot the fantasy horror "Night Fishing" on an iPhone 4 in colour and won a Golden Bear for the best short film. Apple itself, on the other hand, has generally shot its advertising films on cameras such as the Arri Alexa.
Comfy UI – AI for artists!
While some become the Stable Diffusion play child, and others lament the demise of the industry, we're staying out of this round of prophecy and looking at what you can really do with it as artists - and not as slightly brainwashed newsletter marketers.
SynthEyes at BorisFX
3D camera tracking, also known as "match moving" in the professional scene, is now offered by every better software for video editing or 3D. But when we compared a few such popular 3D trackers in DP 18:01, SynthEyes was already our high-end reference for good reason.
Nuke Utilities Volume 8 – Textures
You can have great footage under the pen - sometimes you just need a few extra details to give your comp the finishing touch. And so that we don't all keep using Nuke's own noise generator, this issue contains a small, fine collection of texture generators for Nuke.
Procedural Worldbuilding mit Unreal
We build realtime environments with Unreal's Procedural Content Generation Framework (PCG) - or do you really want to do everything by hand?
USD, Solaris and Karma in Houdini 20 (and elsewhere…)
Solaris saw the light of day 4 years ago in Houdini 18. When I tried it out for the first time back then, it was still very bumpy and initially put me off. One crash followed another. If that happens today, then it's probably due to the graphics card driver, which is supposed to be up to date.
Blender 4.1 goes into detail
The Blender release cycle consists of three new versions of the software per year. The first release is usually characterised by new features. The reason for this is that the third and final release is a Long Term Support (LTS) version, which is supplied with bug fixes for another two years.
We’re building an AI box!
Okay, we admit it: AI is slowly becoming interesting - even for everyday production. And as we see more and more tools that are relevant for artists, and not just for "tech bros", the more our workstation is glowing. So it's time for us to find out what it takes to work normally and what adjustments we can make to reconcile budget and computing power.
The Never Ending Story: Are Apple XDR devices suitable for reference use in colour grading?
This has been burning under my fingernails for a long time: Almost every day the question stumbles in on every colour grading forum: "My video looks different after export." 99 per cent of the cases concern Apple users. Just as often as this question comes up, the explanations are incomplete, incorrect or misleading. No wonder, the topic is complex.
The knights from the cutting table rush to the rescue
As I often work on several projects at the same time with Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop, it's difficult to keep track of the time spent. In my search for a solution, I came across "Knights of the Editing Table".
Monkeys, the fourth
The time has come: the next part of the "Planet of the Apes" saga - now number four - will be released in cinemas on 8 May. And that's why we simply asked Weta how they - instead of the apes - built the environment.
Prism Pipeline, the second
The technical requirements of animation and VFX productions are increasing every year - I don't have to tell you that. In most projects, a variety of tools are used to achieve the desired quality. In order to complete these increasingly complex projects within the specified deadlines, more powerful pipeline tools are also required.
Shadow play in Blender
Even though it is one of the youngest VFX degree programmes, the HFF already has a lot to show - and if we remember what we did in the second
what we did in the second semester, "Das Schattenspiel" is already worthy of note. But how did it come about?
Spyder Checkr Video
Wasn't everything better when video by definition was still in black and white? Since colour was added, it has only become more complicated - but what the heck, there are helpers for that!
The discovery of slowness
Artificial slow motion, i.e. the calculation of additional intermediate images, has been around for a long time. The best methods to date have been called "optical flow", although this actually refers to the visual perception of movement in general. Now A.I. or neural networks are also establishing themselves here. We compare Twixtor 8, DaVinci Resolve 18.6 and Topaz Video AI 4.
What if Virtual PCs were easy…
What is the cloud? Besides the marketeering blurb, it is just someone else's computer - and if you need something to work on quick, a virtual machine on some cloud infrastructure, it is usually quicker and in some cases cheaper then setting up a workstation. If it were only easier..
Block Power Station
Routine tasks in video
editing are often time-consuming. For Premiere Pro and After Effects
there is a plugin that aims to make
programming easier.
"Automation Blocks" allows you to optimise the workflow in both applications and get results on screen faster.
Halation and diffusion – On the hunt for the ultimate film look
What do you do when digital cameras and modern lenses are too good? It's simple: you use software to simulate the technical weaknesses of analogue film or the filters that experienced cameramen use in such cases.
That’s not a microphone. THAT is a MICROPHONE
Audio recorders are available in all variations and even the wireless microphones from Rode, DJI or Hollyland now have an internal
have an internal memory and can therefore also be used standalone. You can often see on YouTube how someone holds a small microphone in front of their nose. It always looks a bit ridiculous. The Yellowtec iXM microphone is different. The scene from Crocodile Dundee comes to mind: "That's not a microphone. THIS is a MICROPHONE!" And it's big and made of metal with large control buttons. We tested whether it sounds as professional as it looks
The icing on the cake
We're almost finished with the big "Ideal workstation" series - but due to multiple trapped fingers, dropped hardware and an "accident" worthy of a bandage, we have to add a little more: Microphone arms. So we asked around and actually only got one answer: Take Yellowtec, it's good. Aha, but what is that?
ProArt: Big and small and gaming?
Professional monitors cost a lot of money. But what exactly defines "professional" and how close can you get to a real professional monitor with a mid-range panel for prosumers? Let's go poaching in the Asus range!
Nuke Utilities Volume 7 – Transform
It's time to move a few things. So this issue
this issue, our little collection of tools is all about Transform Tools. So we're distorting,
scaled, rotated and even morphed a little.
Trailer! Artificial intelligence meets media production
Trailer here, trailer there, bang-boom here, bang-boom there. It's always the same - "produce the coolest, never-before-seen trailer" to get people excited, encourage them to go to the cinema, watch a film on TV or on the streaming portal of their choice. And then came AI...
Unlocking Substrate: Insights for Unreal Engine’s Material System
In 2023 Epic Games presented Substrate – the new material authoring system for Unreal Engine 5. Mondlicht Studios, as a certified Unreal Engine service partner, had their trust and the
opportunity to test Substrate in its early stages and demonstrate what’s possible.
EbSynth – a tool for animations from videos by style transfer of reference images
EbSynth is a free, beta-tested video animation software that enables AI-powered image manipulation. Users can create keyframes and apply effects, although the simple user interface is challenging. Although the results are promising, the programme requires planning and practice to achieve high quality animations.
Nobe OmniScope – so far!
Tom Huczek from TimeInPixels must be a very busy man. We have already presented his Nobe OmniScope in detail in DP 21:02 and 22:02, but enough new things have been added to take another look at this comprehensive display tool.
The next generation of water simulation
There are some things that get more complicated, the more
you look at them - simulation of physical phenomena is one of them. And as we saw at this year's Siggraph Conference,
there are people who are looking very closely!
Two decades of the Bison?
It’s very nice to have two years on a project – but there are some that run way longer. For example Platige
Image’s involvement in the commercials for „Żubr“, a polish beer brand. These have been made since 2004 – so it’s time to open a bottle and ask how the bison evolved!
Blender: An upgrade for our particle system – We lay pipes!
In issue 23:04|05 we learnt how to create a particle system with the new Simulation Nodes in Blender 3.6. In Blender 4.0, an interesting new function has been added that allows us to connect a series of points via curves. That would be a nice feature upgrade for our custom build. In addition, Cycles can now do light linking, which allows us to set the scene perfectly.
YC Onion Chocolate Cameraslider
A cheese that glides smoothly over chocolate?! When I was at this year's IBC in Hall 11, I met the well-known video blogger Aaron Parecki at Yolobox, who was travelling with an interesting monopod tripod
tripod. When I asked him where he had got it, he pointed to the neighbouring stand.
Like Ulanzi, YC Onion has a broad portfolio of camera gear in its programme
Programme. From various tripods with practical quick-release fasteners to
LED lamps, camera heads and mounts as well as some interesting camera slider models. A trademark of this company is that they name almost all their products after food.
Shutter Encoder – Multitool for video and audio
If you want to work with video on a machine that does not support all of today's codecs (preferably via hardware), you will often come up against limits. This ranges from a stuttering timeline to clips that are not displayed at all. Then there are the clips from smartphones, which are usually recorded with a variable frame rate. Professional editing systems usually don't like this either, which can lead to asynchronous picture and sound or even rendering errors.
Plug and Play and Palaver?
Simply plug it in via USB - and get started as a podcasting presenter? The Seiren V2 Pro was launched at the same time as the Seiren V2 X. What all releases in the Seiren V2 series have in common is that they are designed as recording devices for streamers.
C&R.me – post-production in the cloud
It's been a few years now since the term "cloud" has gone from buzzword to hype to working reality - but so far there are
very few tools that can do everything in the cloud. Sure, some tools have access or even their "own clouds", but wouldn't an "everything in the cloud" solution be better?
3D Audio – Into the acoustic matrix
Welcome to the second part, which is all about 3D sound, or rather 3D sound is all about us. In the last article, we answered the questions about how you can enjoy three-dimensional sound and what software and hardware you need.
Fallout becomes cinematic.
Paul Hatton catches up with Nikita Travnikov, an executive producer for Huuuge Games and 3D tinkerer - and we chat about the whole Fusion/Resolve pipeline!
Engineering data to CGI –what could possibly go wrong?
Almost every major industry that is manufacturing sophisticated physical products uses computer aided styling (CAS) or design (CAD) in at least some steps of its development. Living in the digital age, one could assume that using this engineering output to create media products shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge. Sadly, that is only true if you know your way around some common pitfalls and peculiarities of the engineering universe.
Moho 14 – the most advanced 2D animation
"Unlock your creativity and discover that the future is 2D!" This is what Lost Marble LCC, the company that developed Moho (and is now marketing it again), proudly claims on its website announcing the new version of Moho 14.
Shortcuts for more connection
If you work with several laptops, you need help. Otherwise you will
the USB mouse at some point. The MX Keys S Combo from Logitech with mouse and keyboard could be the solution. Views of a n00b who just wants to work efficiently.
The new kid on the block!
The market for VFX and motion design software seems pretty saturated. Nuke for VFX, After Effects for Motion Design, sprinkle in a little bit of Flame and Fusion and that’s about it. Or is it?
Update to the MAX
As always, numerous innovative, experimental technologies were
experimental technologies were presented by Adobe researchers and engineers. Surprisingly, the focus was on artificial intelligence.