How I Made ‘New Specimen’ in Unreal Engine 5
Dimitri Vallein, a real-time 3D director and technologist, shares with AWN a comprehensive breakdown of his short film project and how it was created, animated, simulated, and rendered using UE5.
Dimitri Vallein, a real-time 3D director and technologist, shares with AWN a comprehensive breakdown of his short film project and how it was created, animated, simulated, and rendered using UE5.
‘Juliet & the King’ received the festival’s Streamtacular Award; ‘Flow’ was honored with the Best Film Award; the short ‘Sweeter Is the Night’ earned three honors, including Best Director and Best Short Film.
Working from the earliest pre-production to final delivery, the VFX studio delivered over 2,000 shots on the historical drama about the true story of lawyer and statesman Chettur Sankaran Nair’s pursuit of justice in the wake of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Amid alarm over the latest Pixar film’s weak box-office opening this week, and fears about films with ‘original’ stories vs. sequels, Andrew Osmond looks at how IPs co-exist with originality in anime movies.
Learn about how Sacrebleu, a leading independent production / distribution company, relies on festivals for generating exposure and market awareness for short and feature films, taken from an interview by Chris Donahue, film and TV professor at SCAD and Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning producer, during a Master Class at the recent SCAD Animation Festival in Lacoste, France.
The May 17 event will include screenings of animated short films, analyses, Q&A with a panel of animation experts, and a tribute to animator and director Vladimir Leschiov.
Plug-in integrates AI and features Flow-connected workflows; updates to Maya and 3ds Max include modeling improvements, liquids in Bifrost, OpenUSD improvements, and OpenPBR integration.
Lists of participating speakers and companies have also been published; presentation categories include VFX for Features, Feature Animation, Sound Design, Managing Change, and News.
In an upset win, Gints Zilbalodis’ animated tale of a cat who wakes up to a world invaded by water took home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, while the second chapter in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic won for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Design on a night that also saw Iranian filmmakers Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, with visas approved just yesterday, arrive in the U.S. in time to win Best Animated Short for ‘In the Shadow of the Cypress.’
By integrating the Wonder Studio cloud-based 3D animation and VFX technology into its production pipeline, the creative studio took advantage of new AI and machine-learning-based tools to create 134 creature shots in 6 weeks for the CW’s ‘Superman & Lois.’
Take a deeper look at ‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Memoir of a Snail,’ ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,’ and ‘The Wild Robot,’ all vying for the Best Animated Feature Oscar on March 2, 2025.
Chris Sanders and DreamWorks’ blockbuster feature led the festivities with wins in 9 categories, while Netflix and Riot Games’ fan-favorite series took home 7, in a fun but emotional ceremony dedicated to victims of January’s tragic fires and highlighted by several tributes to LA’s firefighting finest, a real-time fundraiser, and 2 building-clearing false fire alarms.
Oscar nominees named this morning for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short share their reactions to the great news.
‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Memoir of a Snail,’ ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,’ and ‘The Wild Robot’ nab noms for Best Animated Feature, while ‘Alien: Romulus,’ ‘Better Man,’ ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,’ and ‘Wicked’ take the top spots for Best Visual Effects.
‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ and ‘The Wild Robot’ get the nod in the animated movie category, while ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Shōgun,’ ‘The Penguin’ and ‘Wicked’ are also among the Outstanding Producer nominees.
‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,’ and ‘The Wild Robot’ get the nod for Animated Film with ‘Better Man,’ ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘Gladiator II,’ ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,’ and ‘Wicked’ selected for Special Visual Effects.
The awards season kicked off last night with films by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis and Jon M. Chu taking home awards for Best Motion Picture – Animated and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, respectively, along with Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo’s historical drama set in 1600s Japan winning for Best Television Series - Drama, at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s 82nd Annual awards.
‘Despicable Me 4,’ ‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Memoir of a Snail,’ ‘Moana 2,’ ‘That Christmas,’ ‘Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,’ and ‘The Wild Robot’ advance in the Best Animated Film category as voting begins for the coveted British film awards; nominations announced January 15, with awards revealed at February 16 ceremony.
‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,’ and ‘The Wild Robot’ are nominated in the best edited animated features category; winners for outstanding editing will be announced at the January 18 awards ceremony.
‘The Wild Robot’ scores nods in best animated motion picture, best original score, best original song, and best cinematic achievement, while ‘Flow,’ ‘Inside Out 2,’ ‘Memoir of a Snail,’ ‘Moana 2,’ and ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ are also nominated for best animated motion picture; winners will be announced at an awards ceremony January 5, 2025 live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
The Latvian director employs beautifully stylized and detailed 3D animation, somewhat photoreal, somewhat painterly, to tell without words his engaging story about a cat waking up in a world invaded by water, where humans have disappeared, who must belay his instincts and learn to get along with a group of animals in order to survive.
Academy members will vote to determine five nominees for best animated feature film award at the 97th Oscars; films also qualify for other categories including best picture.
The UK animation festival, which brings together the animation industry's top talent, leading professionals, and a program with fans of animation in mind, runs November 10-14.
Gintz Zilbalodis' feature takes home the Grand Prize, while Adam Eliot's takes the Special Jury Prize along with the Audience Award in a tie with ‘The Colors Within;’ in shorts, ‘Wander to Wonder’ won the Grand Prize and ‘A Crab in the Pool’ earned the Special Jury Prize.
Gints Zilbalodis’ Annecy award-winning 3D animated film, which follows a cat who wakes up in a universe where all human life seems to have disappeared, opens in New York and Los Angeles on November 22.