Starts at Lowe’s/Outdoor emphasizes the amazingly affordable outdoor products, machines and materials Lowe’s carries in its stores everyday. With the arrival of spring, barbecues, plants, lawn mowers and tractors come streaming out of a Lowe’s store and into the parking lot, much to the surprise of loyal Lowe’s patrons. The message is clear: spring has arrived and Lowe’s has everything you need to start living outdoors.

We were tasked with creating the army of marching furniture and garden equipment for Starts at Lowe’s/Outdoor. Dave Smith worked closely with Gerard de Thame to develop two complementary approaches to the FX. For some scenes, rigs were built so that both plants and objects could be puppeteered on green screen.

For other scenes our CG team began the lengthy process of modeling flowers, tractors, tables, chairs and umbrellas that were then animated and composited into the live action footage. Utilizing the talents of our fully integrated teams in London and New York, client changes were handled in a timely manner. Our post production expertise was complemented on this project by sister company Blind Pig, who worked closely with the client to create the motion graphics elements.

About Absolute:
Founded in 2004 by David Smith, one of world’s leading Flame artists, Absolute is a high-end VFX studio working within the commercial, emerging media, music video, and film communities. With offices in New York and London, Absolute over the years has collected numerous industry accolades including two BTAA awards, a D&AD pencil, a Cannes Lion, an APA Collection Diamond, three Andy wins and an MTV video statue. The New York office opened in 2007, helmed by CD Dirk Greene, to further facilitate Absolute’s international client roster with a growing Flame and CG service. www.absolutepost.com

The Creds:
Client: Lowe’s
Spots Title: Starts at Lowe’s/Outdoor (featured), Starts at Lowe’s/Nursery
Air Date: March 2009

Agency: BBDO New York
Art Director: Ken Matsubara
Copywriter: Colin Isley
CD: Wil Boudreau
Producer: Diane McCann
AP: Stephanie Gottlieb

Prod Company: H.S.I.
Director: Gerard De Thame
Producer(s): Fabyan Daw, Maddi Carlton

Editorial: The Cutting Room
Editor: Chuck Willis

Post/Effects: Absolute
Lead Flame: Dave Smith
Flame Artist(s): Nathan Kane, Dirk Greene
3D Artist(s): Vania Alban-Zapata, Maru Ocantos, Minh Nguyen-Ba, Jamie White, Matt Burn, Toby Walton, Liz Scully, Pete Hamilton, Keith Kamholz
Motion Graphic Designer: Ric Comline (at Blind Pig)
Combustion: Dan Leatherdale, Mark Epstein, James Cornwell, Michel Smith
EP: Andy Barmer
Producer(s): Sally Heath, Nirad `Bugs’ Russell

Related Links:
www.absolutepost.com

Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

The highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, “Terminator Salvation” is directed by McG (”Charlie’s Angels,” “We Are Marshall”). The screenplay is by Michael Ferris & John Brancato. Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver are the producers, with Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels serving as executive producers.

Wishing to avoid comparisons with the Transformers franchise, McG has stated “Transformers is an excellent movie, but our film is not about big robots. I wanted it to have lots of hardware and velocity, but I didn’t want to hang the whole movie on it.”

Visual Effects for the movie were undertaken by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Asylum fx and Rising Sun Pictures bringing their skills to various sequences.

And in addition to the brilliant CG work generated for ‘Terminator Salvation’, McG contracted Stan Winston studios to create real life models of some of the terminator characters that the human cast could interact with.

Stan Winston, the special effects pioneer who designed the original Terminator endoskeleton, worked on Terminator Salvation prior to his death in June this year. McG intends to dedicate the moive to Winston’s memory.

The film stars Christian Bale as John Connor (”The Dark Knight”), Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright (”The Great Raid”), Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese (”Star Trek”), Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor (”Spider-Man 3″), Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams (”What Just Happened?”), Common as Barnes, (”Wanted”), Jane Alexander as Virginia (”The Unborn”), Jadagrace as Star and Helena Bonham Carter as Serena Kogen (”Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”)

“Terminator Salvation” will be released in the U.S. on May 21, 2009 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Sony Pictures Releasing International is distributing the film in most international territories between May 2009 and June 2009.

CREDITS:
Director: McG
Screenplay: Michael Ferris & John Brancato
Producers: Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver
Executive producers:  Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels
Cinematographer:  Shane Hurlbut
Production designer:  Martin Laing
Editor:  Conrad Buff
Costume designer:  Michael Wilkinson
Visual effects supervisor:  Charlie Gibson
Animatronics supervisor:  John Rosengrant
Music: Danny Elfman

SOURCES & RELATED LINKS:
www.sonypictures.net/movies/terminatorsalvation
http://terminatorsalvation.warnerbros.com
Industrial Light & Magic: www.ilm.com
Rising Sun Pictures: www.rsp.com.au
Asylum fx: www.asylumfx.com

The CLIO Awards is the world’s most recognized global awards competition for advertising, design, and interactive. For nearly five decades, the CLIO Awards has maintained its original commitment to celebrate and reward creative excellence, honoring a powerful form of communication and its impact on modern culture. At the same time, the CLIO Awards remains focused on evolving with the industry in order to acknowledge the most current, breakthrough work. CLIO’s iconic statue is the most widely recognized and coveted symbol of the industry’s creative accomplishments.

“We are all really excited to receive the CLIOs! I mean, who would have guessed?” says Superfad Creative Director Rob Rugan. “We always thought this spot was going to be cute, but in order for it to work, we knew we had to go all the way. But then we also had to know when to pull…(pregnant pause)…back. I guess it all just came together. In the end, we are stoked about the award and would like to thank the agency, our balloon animal clown, the CLIO judges, and the smooth stylings of Barry White.”

About Superfad:
Superfad is a brand-driven design and live action production company, a collective of designers, directors, animators, and artists, their mission is to see brands in unexpected ways and to express a brand’s voice in an undeniably original fashion.

Superfad was founded in 2001 and has produced award-winning work for many of the most respected brands worldwide. Honda, Sony, Target, Adidas, and AT&T are just a few of the companies who have turned to Superfad for inspired branding.

Related Links:
www.clioawards.com
http://superfad.com

In addition to their formidable production and post production talent, Brand New School’s efforts on the project included design of a 50-foot long Coca-Cola logo and the casting of more than 40 highly-skilled athletes, including tennis players, skateboarders, yoga practitioners, and more.

“We were asked to create approximately two minutes of content for Coke,” says Jens Gehlhaar, Creative Director at Brand New School. “Specifically, the content is intended for an installation outside the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live. The theater is adjacent to the Staples Center and will be the site of the Grammy Awards. Outside the theater, there are large columns holding 14 huge, vertical screens, as well as one wide format screen over the entrance and another LED billboard on a neighboring building. It is a wacky assortment of 17 different-sized screens, but we have experience with these sorts of installations. The specific instructions from Coke gave us a lot of leeway. They wanted things very specific to the L.A. lifestyle, multicultural in look and feel, and not patronizing in any way. They wanted the focus to be on the active people involved.”

The short films reveal various athletes interacting with a huge white Coca-Cola logo backed by a special purple-red-orange gradient that breaks with the traditional Coca-Cola red in favor of a more L.A.-inspired hue.

Supported with engaging music composed by Machinehead, golfers, soccer and tennis players, wall climbers, and many more athletes all interact very physically with the immense logo. In an age when so much entertainment is achieved through computer-generated models and background, the logo is all the more astounding because it is real.

“After careful consideration, we realized that it would be more authentic to have our live actors interact with a real sculpture,” says Gehlhaar. “It is 15 feet high and more than 50 feet wide and everybody was extremely impressed with it, so much so that Coke insisted on keeping it. We did a timelapse film of its construction, just to commemorate the act.”

The engineering of the structure would eventually be put to the ultimate test, as the cast of some 40 skateboarders, climbers, and others climbed it, jumped on it, ran into it, etc.

“The logo never faltered,” says Gehlhaar proudly. “It was insanely sturdy in the end, especially considering what we put it through. We used no wires on our athletes, so there was no interaction or impact that was faked. It was all real action. It’s filming this kind of elegant, completely realistic live action that has given Brand New School such a great reputation for these kinds of jobs. Also it is rare for an installation job of this complexity to be produced in-camera; traditionally the solution would be more animation-based. There are very few companies that can pull both off.”

The job was not entirely without technological aspects however. The entire two-day shoot was shot against a blue, rather than red, background, and the final edits held more than 70 shots requiring significant keying and compositing work by the Brand New School team, all of which were then composited into a signature gradient environment.

Behind The Scenes – The Making of Coca Cola LA Live

“This was a very challenging and unusual job, but those are the ones we are most excited about,” says Gehlhaar. “Brand New School is getting very good at alternative media installations, and we are eagerly anticipating more opportunities like this. We want to be a market leader in this area.”

ABOUT BRAND NEW SCHOOL
With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Brand New School is a bicoastal directing collective working in all fields of commercial art. Ever evolving, the studio continues to cultivate a sense of wonder and exploration. For its artists and clients alike, BNS represents an opportunity to play at work, to conduct experiments in image-making, and to feed the inspiration that drives the industry.

CREDITS:
Directors:
Brand New School:Jens Gehlhaar & Ludovic Schorno

Shot on stage in Los Angeles

Production & post production:
Brand New School, Los Angeles
Producer:
David Wolfson
Director of Photography:
Ottar Gudnason
Assistant Director:
Patrick Finnegan
Key Grip:
Steve Strausser
Fabricator:
Vision Scenery Corporation
Stylist:
Christine Wada

Designer:
Wakako Ichinose
Still Photographer (banners):
Ian Brook

Editor:
Graeme Pereira
Flame Artist:
Philip Ineno
Post producer:
Craig Houchin

Color
Mark Gethin, MPC, Santa Monica

Client
The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta

Music
Installation: Machine Head, Los Angeles
Montage: Beyond Music Library

RELATED LINKS:
www.lalive.com
www.brandnewschool.com

Join the Autodesk Imagine Tour and discover how Autodesk® 2010 creative software can benefit television and film professionals as well as game developers.

Sign Up To Attend

At this information-packed event, you’ll learn how to:

* Improve your production development process
* Solve real-world production challenges
* Gain a competitive advantage by using Autodesk solutions for film, television, and games
* Explore Autodesk 2010 media and entertainment solutions

Today, television and film facilities as well as game studios are being asked to deliver more content than ever before, faster than ever before. And with growing audience expectations, it’s crucial that the quality of this content be second to none. Fortunately, Autodesk offers industry-leading creative tools for film and television professionals and game developers.

Through these Autodesk solutions, and the Autodesk® FBX® technology, you can create a virtual production space based on intelligent assets. In this space you’ll gain support for creative collaboration, which can result in greater production efficiency.

Sign up now for the Autodesk Imagine Tour and put the power of 2010 Autodesk software to work for you. Registration is free, but space is limited, so reserve your spot today.

Sign Up To Attend

Who Should Attend?

* 3D Artists
* Animators
* Art Directors
* Creative Directors
* Game Designers
* Game Developers
* Production Managers
* Technical Directors
* Visual Effects Artists
* Visual Effects Supervisors

Upcoming Dates:

May 12 – Dallas, TX
May 28 – New York, NY
June 4 – San Jose, CA

The promotional material is based on this year’s Bollywood theme and is a sequence of moving portraits, as a parade of characters takes their turn on screen in their rawest emotional states. Bright, solid-colored background focus attention on each cast member as they play their part in the mini drama. The edgy, interpretive storyline is an ideal representative for the type of creative work honored at the One Show Awards.

The live action shorts will be showcased in Times Square, NYC, May 1 – 8, 2009, in addition to serving as the basis for all of the promotional and branding for the awards ceremony.

“The attendees at The One Show are the most discerning creative advertising minds in the world and we’re honored to have been selected by Kevin Swanepoel, President of The One Show, to craft this essential component of the award show’s promotion” said Ian Kovalik, Creative Director of Mekanism. “The materials we’ve created for the Interactive One Show offer rich, compelling visuals filmed with the best equipment we can get our hands on.”

A Phantom HD High Speed camera was used by Mekanism to bring to life One Show Interactive’s Bollywood theme. With a 1000 fps speed, the Phantom creates a unique high-resolution, super slow motion image that captures and highlights the drama of small moments found in the lives of eight fictionalized Bollywood characters that were concepted by Mekanism. Scott Barry, directed the shoot which took place in Los Angeles.

“Mekanism really nailed this work,” said Kevin Swanepoel, President of The One Show. “We’re always looking for that elusive combination of supreme competence and fresh ideas, and Mekanism delivered for us.”

About Mekanism:
Mekanism is a San Francisco and New York based creative production studio, housing film, animation and digital content creators. We sprinkle our love of good storytelling on viral campaigns, commercials and branded entertainment to inspire measurable brand loyalty.

The Creds:
Client: One Show
Title: One Show Interstitials
Air Date: May 2009

Prod Company: Mekansim/SF
ECD: Ian Kovalik
Director/Art Director: Scott Barry
DP: David Claessen
EP: Jason Harris, Mat Lundberg
Producer: Stef Smith
Production Supervisor: Nolan Haener
Consulting Producer: Manjula Nadkarni
Flash Developer: Jamal Berkeley
Editor: Caitlin Parker
Compositor: Zachary Seidner

RELATED LINKS:
www.mekanism.com

The video features U2 playing to a small crowd in an intimate venue in Somerville, Massachusetts. The Somerville Theater is known for being the first place the band originally played in the US. Kreuger shot the video on eight HD CAM cameras and four HDV camcorders in a freewheeling experiment designed to harken back to the days of punk rock, resulting in a variety of interesting, ever-shifting camera angles.

Shepherd and Kreuger worked closely to choose a grade for each camera to achieve various sorts of bleach bypass looks, giving them a set of dailies similar to the type of graded dailies of a traditional, film-shot music video. By utilizing multiple cameras in such a manner, the crew was able to tweak individual shots as they went along. In order to avoid the flat, unfilmlike finish that so often accompanies HD footage, Duncan edited the whole project on Final Cut Pro in HD format and used the program’s internal color correction to apply a more interesting look and feel to the dailies before commencing shot selection.

89 Edit’s East Coast Managing Director Sharon Lew notes, “Tom (Kreuger) did a great job capturing all the footage, and Duncan got to try out some interesting new editing techniques that are helping to transform us into a more efficient, dynamic studio.”

The process of editing the video was a watershed moment for 89, which was able to output a finished, uncompressed HD edit straight to the Smoke/Flame suite from a laptop using Final Cut Pro, rather than replicating all the work “online” at a later stage, saving time and money and allowing them to spend more time on digital cleanup. The crew found that, while there were still good reasons for editing many projects “offline” in SD, individual projects – like this U2 video – are ideally suited for editing with this new technology.

“Whether dictated by cost, time constraints, or simple creative realities, editors, directors and producers have a range of options open to them that previously were unrealistic or impractical,” noted 89’s Duncan. “The fact that all this power is available on set, or even in a field in the middle of Wyoming just shows that the way we’ve been editing all these years may be about to get a lot more fun. I wouldn’t say that I’ve made a total conversion yet, but, being a bit of a control freak, I like having the power to do the finish work, too, and this could get addicting.”

The Creds:
Artist: U2
Song Title: Magnificent

DP/Director: Tom Krueger

Post/Effects: Headlight
EP: Steve Holiner

Editorial: 89 Edit
Editor: Duncan Shepherd
Managing Director: Sharon Lew

Shoot Location: Somerville, Massachusetts

About 89 Edit:
89 Editorial, a bicoastal creative editorial & design company presents an award-winning editorial roster servicing leading advertisers and content creators worldwide at their state-of-the-art studios. The company, along with sister brand Headlight Design + VFX provides comprehensive servicing from rough-cut editorial through completion for TV commercials, music videos, emerging media, feature and long-format clientele. The two companies have collaborated on many notable efforts, most recently GEICO and Walmart for The Martin Agency, Olay for Saatchi and American Express for Ogilvy, NY amongst others.

www.89edit.com

Directed by the award winning team of Pete Docter (”Monsters, Inc.”) and Bob Peterson; ‘Up’ is extremely funny and often poignant and is an animated tale that will lift the most down at heart.

Pixar’s Up hits theaters on May 29th 2009.

About Pixar:
Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films. Pixar combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heart warming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.

Pixar & Disney
In May 1991, Pixar entered into the Feature Film Agreement with Walt Disney Pictures for the development and production of up to three computer animated feature films to be marketed and distributed by Disney. It was pursuant to the Feature Film Agreement that Toy Story was developed, produced, and distributed. In February 1997, Pixar entered into the Co-Production Agreement (which superseded the Feature Film Agreement) with Disney pursuant to which Pixar, on an exclusive basis, agreed to produce five original computer-animated feature-length theatrical motion pictures for distribution by Disney. The five original Pictures under the Co-Production Agreement were A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars. Toy Story 2, the theatrical sequel to Toy Story, was released in November 1999, and is also governed by the Co-Production Agreement.

CREDITS:
Directed by: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Produced by: Jonas Rivera
Written by: Bob Peterson, Ronnie del Carmen
music by: Michael Giacchino
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures

CAST:
Edward Asner
Christopher Plummer
John Ratzenberger
Jordan Nagai

Updated Trailers:

FREMONT, Calif. – April 16, 2009 – To meet the rigorous demands of design engineers working in powerful 3D applications, 3Dconnexion today announced the new SpacePilot™ PRO. The company’s flagship 3D mouse is designed to deliver advanced control of 3D models, easier access to the power of professional 3D applications, fewer interruptions in the design workflow, and superior comfort. Specifically, the SpacePilot PRO features a new color LCD Workflow Assistant, second-generation QuickView Navigation technology, Intelligent Function keys, and an improved design for enhanced comfort and control.

“3Dconnexion’s 3D mice have rewritten the rules on the way design engineers and professionals interact with 3D environments,” said Dieter Neujahr, president of 3Dconnexion. “Our new SpacePilot PRO builds on our market-leading industry experience, delivering the most powerful 3D mouse we’ve ever made. It enables increased performance that ultimately results in better designs, created in less time.”

The SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse provides the highest level of performance features ever available from 3Dconnexion, including:

- LCD Workflow Assistant: The color LCD lists function-key assignments and provides at-a-glance access to Microsoft® Outlook® e-mail, calendar and task lists, allowing professionals to access important information for a fully integrated design experience with fewer distractions. Through 3Dconnexion’s open software architecture, the workflow assistant can be further customized to meet the needs of individuals, companies and software vendors.

- Advanced MCAD Navigation: Five new dual-function QuickView Navigation keys
improve error detection, design review, and design presentation by providing one-touch access to the following views: top and bottom, right and left, front and back, two isometric views, and 90-degree view rotation of any view either clockwise or counter-clockwise – for a total of 32 views. A short press activates a key’s primary view command, while pressing and holding a key activates a secondary view command. In addition, new Navigation Setting keys offer simplified and customizable control, allowing professionals to turn pan-and-zoom, rotation and one-axis control on or off, making it easier to define navigation settings for certain work modes.

- Intelligent Function Keys: Five new fully customizable, dual-function keys offer immediate, one-touch access to 10 frequently used commands within any supported 3D application. The SpacePilot PRO automatically detects the active application and assigns appropriate function keys – whether default or customized. The color LCD denotes the function key assignments and application mode so engineers can easily identify commands and design states.

- Superior Comfort: The SpacePilot PRO has a new sculpted, soft-coated wrist rest that positions the hand in relation to the controller cap to support a balanced workflow. The micro-precision six-degrees-of-freedom sensor allows for fingertip control with minimal effort from the arm, wrist and hand, while frequently used commands are conveniently positioned at your fingertips. The intuitive and symmetrical layout of the function keys makes the device usable with either hand.

About 3Dconnexion 3D Mice
Unlike traditional mice confined to motion on one flat plane, 3Dconnexion 3D mice enable design engineers to move in all three dimensions simultaneously, using six-degrees–of-freedom sensor technology. By gently lifting, pressing and turning the controller cap, design engineers can easily pan, zoom and rotate without stopping to select commands. Using a 3D mouse together with a traditional mouse engages both hands into a balanced and cooperative work style.

3Dconnexion provides advanced and affordable 3D mice that are supported by more than 130 of today’s leading and powerful 3D applications, including Autodesk InventorTM, SolidWorksTM, CATIATM, Pro/ENGINEERTM, NXTM and Solid EdgeTM. For a complete list of applications supported by 3Dconnexion, visit 3Dconnexion Solutions.

Compatibility, Pricing and Availability
The SpacePilot PRO is backed by a three-year warranty, and is expected to be available in late April for the suggested retail price of $499. The SpacePilot PRO is supported by Windows XP, Windows Vista®, Sun Solaris 8 (SPARC), Sun Solaris 10 (x86), and Linux® (Redhat Enterprise Linux WS 4, SuSE 9.3 or later). Linux and Solaris support workflow assistant function key assignments only.

The entire 3Dconnexion product line, including the Professional Series with the SpacePilot™ (MSRP $399) and SpaceExplorer™ (MSRP $299), and the Standard Series with the SpaceNavigator (MSRP $99) and SpaceNavigator for Notebooks (MSRP $129), are available from professional CAD resellers and major online resellers including CDW, Dell, Insight, PC Connection, and PC Mall. For a complete list of resellers or to buy directly, visit www.3Dconnexion.com.

About 3Dconnexion, a Logitech Company
3Dconnexion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI), is the leading provider of 3D mice for 3D design and visualization. 3Dconnexion devices support today’s most popular and powerful 3D applications by offering users a more intuitive and natural way to interact with computer-generated 3D content. 3Dconnexion’s award-winning 3D mice serve a wide variety of industries and are used by 3D designers, animators and artists worldwide. 3Dconnexion is headquartered in Fremont, Calif. with European headquarters in Seefeld, Germany and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.3Dconnexion.com.

Complete Product Overview: http://www.3dconnexion.com/spp/index.php

T-Splines for Rhino helps designers easily create and edit fluid, organic shapes for design and manufacturing. This plugin, tightly integrated with Rhino 4, adds a suite of new surfacing tools to help designers speed up their design time, accomplish tasks that would be tedious or difficult in Rhino, and translate between subdivision surface modeling programs and Rhino.

T-Splines 2.0 for Rhino overview from T-Splines on Vimeo.

Product benefits

• Design faster: Speed up the design process and decrease your design time. Replace slow and tedious workflows with T-Splines’ rapid surface creation tools.
• Meet customer requirements with ease: Easily create models that meet aesthetic requirements and match customer design specifications.
• Be more innovative: Create fluid and organic shapes that cannot be modeled with other tools.
• Be more competitive: Cycle through more design iterations in less time and respond faster to design bids.
• Create production-ready designs: T-Splines surfaces are ready for analysis and manufacturing.
• Eliminate rework and clean-up: Create continuous and gap-free models.

The reason I am excited about T-Splines is that it’s increasingly difficult to bid competitively for design jobs in the past few years as off-shore design agencies have been driving margins down.

A recent design project that would have typically been a 3 to 4 hour modeling job for me took only 20 minutes with T-Splines. That means I could pump out 10 to 15 design iterations in a day, and more quickly converge on the final design with my client. With this speed I can underbid larger companies and still make the same profit I made 5 years ago.
- Dan Falvey, tools4design

Product features

New modeling technique: Polygonal or Box modeling is a method where the designer pulls on, extrudes, and scales basic shapes to quickly rough out a desired shape. As the model becomes more refined, sections of the shape can be subdivided to add more detail and control. T-Spines makes this technique available for the first time in a NURBS compatible method. Read more…

Powerful surfacing tools: Using simple T-Splines commands, it’s easy to generate editable, non-rectangular surfaces from curves—something that’s not possible to do using NURBS. Read more…

High level of shape control: Keeping the number of control points to a minimum (to facilitate a smooth surface) is the first rule of modeling. T-Splines makes this easy to do, by letting you insert single control points instead of a whole row, as required in NURBS. Editing these points, deleting sections of points, and adding local creases are possible, too. Read more…

Interoperability: Import polygonal models or .obj files and convert them to T-Splines surfaces. T-Splines surfaces are 100 percent directionally compatible with NURBS and at any point in the design, you can convert your T-Splines model to a NURBS model for downstream analysis or manufacturing applications. Read more…

New to designing in 3D?
It can be daunting to learn the intricacies of NURBS modeling. T-Splines provides an alternative: pushing and pulling on a surface to shape it and add form. Learn more about the basics of box modeling.

Already a master in 3D?
T-Splines is the Rhino plugin that will speed up your time for free-form, organic modeling. Learn more about how T-Splines can help you in your industry.

Related Links:

http://www.tsplines.com/products/tsplines-for-rhino.html

Tutorials for T-Splines & Rhino 4 (Free Signup Required to View): http://www.tsplines.com/support/rhinotutorials.html

Source: tsplines.com

MakingOf has four main features:

Filming Now: Come backstage and explore behind-the-scenes content captured during the creation process.  We’ll bring you on set, where you’ll learn about everything from casting to editing.  This section of the site will also offer interviews, movie trailers, photos, and unseen clips.  Stay posted as we add additional features and refresh our content.

Community: Coming soon to MakingOf is an interactive network for you to engage with industry experts and to exchange ideas, gain knowledge and connect with your fellow fans.  Register now

Wisdom from the Insiders: Hear exclusive interviews with leading industry insiders. Learn about your favorite filmmakers’ passions and inspirations. And — if you’re interested in the profession of filmmaking — get advice from the people who live and breathe film.

The Vault: Revisit movies of the past as we take you behind the scenes into our library of content that includes interviews, movie trailers, photos, and unseen clips.  Stay posted as we add additional features and movies.

Visit the site: www.MakingOf.com

About the Movie:

G.I. Joe will be a modern telling of the “G.I. Joe vs. Cobra” storyline and its compelling characters that Hasbro created 25 years ago. The premise of this fantasy is the story of the G.I. Joe team, led by Duke, and their “fight for freedom wherever there is trouble” against the evil Cobra Commander and his Cobra force. This storyline was an instant hit with kids in the early 1980s, spawning a highly popular 3-3/4-inch action figure line, comic book collection and animated series. The G.I. Joe team will not be based in Brussels. Instead, they will be based out of the “Pit” as they were throughout the 1980s comic book series. And, in keeping with the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra fantasy, the movie will feature characters and locations from around the world. Duke, the lead character and head of the G.I. Joe team, will embody the values of bravery and heroism that the first generation of G.I. Joe figures established.

Some of the visual effects post houses used in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra are MPC, Framestore, Digital Domain, Cafe FX and Pixel Playground. See the IMDB link for a full production cast/crew list.

About MPC
MPC creates high-end digital visual effects and computer animation for the feature film, advertising, music and television industries. With studios based in Soho London, Santa Monica LA and Vancouver Canada, this award winning facility has worked on many high profile projects including The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Quantum of Solace and the classic Cadbury ‘Gorilla’s Moment’.
For more information about MPC visit: www.moving-picture.com.

About Digital Domain
Digital Domain is an Academy Award-winning digital production studio with a reputation for innovation and artistry. The studio has created visual effects for 65+ movies that have collectively generated more than $12 billion in worldwide box-office sales, including most recently, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for which it won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. A creative giant in advertising, Digital Domain works with a stellar group of A-list directors including David Fincher, Mark Romanek, Joseph Kosinski, Carl Erik Rinsch and more. Industry recognition for Digital Domain’s advertising work includes many Clio, AICP, and Cannes Lion awards and other industry honors. The company is continually pushing into new territory and is being recognized for its pioneering work in photo-real digital humans and productions that bring the worlds of movies, games, advertising and the web closer together. Digital Domain is privately held and based in Venice, California. www.digitaldomain.com

About Framestore:
Framestore has been working in digital film and video for over 20 years now, creating original and astonishing work that has helped make it the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe.

Among Framestore’s notable commercial credits are Smirnoff Sea (winner, 2007 VES ‘Visual Effects in a Commercial’), The Chemical Brothers The Salmon Dance, Casino Royal – Title Sequence, Vauxhall C’mon campaign, Sure to Go Wild, Guinness noitulovE, Johnnie Walker Fish, Levi’s Odyssey and Guinness Surfer.

Since 2004, Framestore NY has been flying the flag in the world of US commercials, landing work for clients such as GE, FedEx, Hoover, Pepsi, Nike, Smirnoff, and Coca-Cola, and winning top awards including both an Emmy and a VES in 2006.

Framestore’s movie portfolio includes work on such films as The Dark Knight, Australia, A Quantum of Solace, Wanted, Prince Caspian, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Children of Men and Superman Returns. http://www.framestore-cfc.com/

About Cafe Fx
CafeFX is an award-winning feature film visual effects facility offering visual effects production and supervision, CG character creation, and 3D animation. Founded in 1993 by Jeff Barnes and David Ebner, CafeFX is located in a 36,000-square-foot studio on an eight-acre campus in the heart of Santa Barbara County. The company’s credits include Spider-Man™ 3, Ghost Rider, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Departed, Eragon, Sin city, King Kong, Memoirs Of A Geisha and The Aviator. www.cafefx.com

About Pixel Playground:
Pixel Playground is a visual effects company dedicated to creating the highest level of visual effects for its clients. Pixel Playground offers a comprehensive list of services ranging from on set visual effects supervision to all visual post production needs. These services include 2D digital compositing, and a full compliment of CGI services. visit: http://www.pixelplaygroundinc.com

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Visual Effects Credits from IMDB

Directed by: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
Starring: Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Marley Shelton.

After the actors filmed in front of blank backgrounds, the SIN CITY effects team painstakingly brewed up the worlds they inhabit taken straight from Miller’s books. It began with Robert Rodriguez morphing Frank Miller’s books – frame by frame, entirely as is — into animatic storyboards. He than started developing the film’s look in the early experimental footage – a look he would continue to adjust throughout production. The idea was always to blend the photo-realistic with the graphic, but the trick was in finding the balance. By finessing the lighting and photography, Rodriguez played with variations on silhouette, shadow and extreme contrasts throughout. He also decided to add a few splashes of color to the otherwise high-contrast atmosphere. Rodriguez: “I was just salivating to recreate these really tricky images that Frank had drawn. Everything is so stripped down, that we would do as Frank did in drawing his comics. We’d build a background, but when in doubt, we’d black it out.

By stripping the backgrounds to their essentials, you get an unnatural style that feels right. Since I shot in color, we’d take the color out and make it a stark black and white, but at any time in post I could bring a color back in. You could then use color as a weapon; a really strong storytelling tool. So you have a character like Goldie who pops out with real flesh tones and blonde hair or The Yellow Bastard with his mustard-colored skin. And when I wanted to heighten a character’s pain I turned the blood red, which really brings it into the foreground, almost like a color close-up. At the same time, we could temper some of the more gruesome images, by making the blood that very cartoonish white you see in the books, which keeps it from being overwhelming. It becomes very abstract.

The background environment of Sin City was forged early on by Rodriguez’s trusted crew at Troublemaker. Then, when it came time to hire an effects house, Rodriguez made an unconventional choice. Instead of one, he would hire three – one effects house for each story. This would allow each story to subtly develop its own strong, distinctive and consistent look. Ultimately, Hybride Technologies, who were involved in Rodriguez’s SPYkids series, worked on “The Hard Goodbye,” the tale of Marv and Goldie; Café FX, whose credits include “Sky Captain” and “Blade: Trinity,” worked on “The Big Fat Kill” or Dwight’s story; and The Orphanage, known for their innovation on “Sky Captain” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” provided visual effects for “That Yellow Bastard,” featuring the tale of Hartigan and Nancy Callahan. With more than 600 effects shots per story, each house devoted itself completely to SIN CITY alone. The film was shot with the brand new Sony HFC-950s cameras – which currently represents the leading edge in high-caliber digital imaging. The camera, also famously used by George Lucas for this summer’s “Star Wars: Episode III,” raises the bar for cinematographic versatility. Visual Effects producer Keefe Boerner explains the appeal of the camera. “There’s simply no way you could make a movie like this on traditional film.

Robert was able to constantly make changes on-the-fly, evolving the look to match performances and vice versa. You need that kind of flexibility to go this far out on the edge.” Because he was shooting in digital hi def video, Rodriguez shot in color using HD monitors – but tweaked one of his monitors so he could see the footage unreeling in black and white. Boerner: “We had the best of both worlds. Robert was able to create what is quite possibly the best-looking black and white film ever, but when we had need for color, we had the ability for that, too.” Each of the effects houses would have to dig deep to satisfy Rodriguez, notes Boerner: “He kept pushing each of them go further and further – to get deeper darks and bright whites. He wanted exciting effects but also for everything to remain very stark and graphic.” At various junctures, Rodriguez even subjected his footage to the ultimate examination. He took early footage to comic book conferences and fearlessly showed it to fans to get their reactions.