Oregon-based LAIKA is a renowned animation studio that has inspired audiences with an unprecedented visual artistry. Animators breathe life into meticulously hand-crafted puppets on handmade sets. Visual effects artists seamlessly enhance performances with cutting-edge technologies. This unparalleled fusion of stop-motion and computer graphics has garnered the studio two Oscar nominations and worldwide acclaim. In this session, Mark Shapiro will discuss the upcoming feature The Boxtrolls, using rarely seen images and timelapses. Production puppets will be on display.

Layout in the animation and VFX (visual effects) industry utilizes a broad scope of tools to bring cinematic ideas to fruition. This session will be a deep dive into the benefits found using Maya software and Bifrost to boost creative film making and ultimately save time and money. In this course we will capitalize on the latest toolsets and features to compose content that aligns with the director's vision at an early stage of production.

In this class you will gain an understanding of a commercial production that uses only computer graphics. This is a 2-part series that will cover the entire process of creating a commercial spec spot for the HBO show Boardwalk Empire. In part 1 you'll see the project kick off from the storyboards phase and proceed through rough animation and visual effects. We will cover some topics that include modeling, texturing, and dynamics. These classes will utilize an array of tools, including 3ds Max software and Chaos Group's V-Ray rendering engine, to bring this piece to life.

In part 2 of this 2-part class (part 1 taught by Joe Gunn) you will see the production pipeline from start to finish on a commercial spec spot for the HBO show Boardwalk Empire. This class will pick up where part 1 left off, showing how the latest tools and techniques were used to bring this piece to life. The animation and visual effects are complete; now it's time for some lighting. Who knows, the client may even have some changes that need to be quickly addressed before render passes are set up and composited. Throughout both classes you will learn real-world production-proven techniques and timesaving tips that will help artists from any background who use 3ds Max software.

Join Russell Paul, award-winning visual effects artist, as he shares some of his experiences with design, visual effects (VFX), and visual communications. During this class, you learn about techniques to lay down ideas and create stunning visuals. Learn about visual communication techniques and how the the process of design has been impacted by modern technology.

The 3D printing industry is growing and expanding at a rapid pace, and Autodesk, Inc., is at the forefront of providing solutions for this exciting industry. This class will examine how 3D printing is revolutionizing the entertainment industry in the areas of prop creation for visual effects, creature concepts, and stop-motion animation. This class will also give an in-depth look into the process of preparing a model for 3D printing, while also examining the powerful Autodesk toolset available within the 3D printing world. Using a variety of Autodesk products, we will examine efficient processes and workflows to producing clean, watertight models that are ready for efficient 3D printing.

In visual effects (VFX), there are many challenges that commonly come up. There is also a necessary set of skills required to accomplish 99% of the projects we take on. In this class, we will take a look at many of the key effects techniques that are used in Autodesk® 3ds Max® software. We will cover initial shot setup, look at tips, tricks, and processes, and discuss scripting and other areas of effects. We will also talk about many commonly used effects such as fracturing, simulating rigid bodies, and creating explosions, fire, smoke, and magic effects. All of these are techniques from recent feature films and approached in a way to provide strong basic knowledge that you can apply to a majority of the challenges that come up day to day in visual effects. The class will cover earthquakes, building destruction, fire, smoke, explosions. We will also provide some advanced rendering and compositing techniques as well as theory and workflow information.

In this class, we'll discuss how cloud-based collaboration tools such as Moxion and other third-party tools and Autodesk Flame software can help simplify and optimize remote collaboration such as live review sessions, and feedback processes in VFX Pipeline / Post-Production. This workflow focuses on Flame—a leading software system for compositing, color grading, and visual effects— and Moxion, a cloud-based platform designed for remote media review and collaboration.

These days, the commonplace use of visual effects (VFX) in movies has raised audience expectations in terms of VFX quality, and has driven television productions to step up both the quantity and quality of VFX for almost every scripted television series. Due to the nature of television schedules and budgets, VFX artists share more in common than just similar toolsets with their colleagues in the architectural visualization industry; hence, efficient workflows in one field can be modified to benefit the other. Kim Lee (senior CG generalist from FuseFX New York) will present various case studies from a variety of current television series, showing how tools like 3ds Max software are used to create high-quality VFX, quickly and efficiently. Lee will show how the artists at FuseFX capitalize on capabilities like photogrammetry scanning, and MAXScript and python scripting—along with various 3ds Max software tools and plug-ins—to create award-winning VFX for many of the most popular shows. This session features 3ds Max.

This class will cover the speaker’s experience in production of monumental sculptures with powerful technologies. We will find out what benefits 3D modeling, animation, simulations, and 3D printing provide to shape creation of the new era, and how advanced visual effects technologies can improve production of classical sculptures. We will show you several examples of actual projects and discuss the future of sculpture.

ShotGrid was always considered as a collaborative tool used in the Animation & VFX industries but recently we have managed to pitch ShotGrid in newer industries which includes E-Learning & E-commerce. Also industries like games also have started showing interest in ShotGrid to manage production. This session will have success stories of ShotGrid in industries other than just Animation & VFX to manage production.

The media and entertainment industry is faced with increased demand for high-quality visual effects—and shrinking production schedules and budget. Studios need to provide graphics applications for employees and freelancers from any location, foster collaboration, and minimize IT and real estate costs, while ensuring that IP is secure. To provide a native workstation-like experience for artists, companies are looking toward virtual desktop infrastructure powered by NVIDIA virtual GPU technology and Teradici cloud-access software. Learn how two leading visual effects and animation studios are meeting the demands of artists performing computer animation and modeling on Maya software from anywhere, while maintaining a high-quality user experience. See how you can use the latest NVIDIA RTX technology that lets Arnold boost performance for interactive rendering as compared to rendering with CPU only, along with the added security of Teradici PCoIP protocol.

After collaborating on the award-winning feature Arrival, Framestore reunited with visionary director Denis Villeneuve for the 2017 science-fiction sequel Blade Runner 2049. In this session, Framestore will discuss the visual artistry and tools that contributed to the film's distinct look, and, in the spirit of Blade Runner 2049, we'll touch upon the trends that are shaping the future of visual effects.

Weta Digital has a proud history of bringing groundbreaking films to the big screen. We’re known for performance-driven animated characters such as Gollum, Kong, Neytiri, and Caesar as well as well-known fantasy worlds like Middle-earth in Lord of the Rings and Avatar’s Pandora. Along the way, our work has earned six visual effects Academy Awards®, twelve Academy Sci-Tech Awards, and six visual effects BAFTA Awards, in addition to the 34 Visual Effects Society Awards awarded to us by our peers. In this talk, we’ll explore the innovation behind the magic and share an inside look at the proprietary pipeline we’ve built on top of Autodesk Maya that enables our artists to create their best work.

This session focuses on the tools and workflows used by one of Australia's leading post-production houses, Cutting Edge. Learn how Cutting Edge leverages most of the Autodesk Media & Entertainment portfolio to create world class work efficiently, from occasional 2D animation jobs and storyboarding tasks, Sketchbook Pro enables an incredibly fast way of communicating ideas with sketching and paint tools. A suite of Autodesk content creation tools like Maya, Mudbox and Motion Builder allow our artists to realise the highest quality VFX work, to finishing to the highest standard in Autodesk Flame. Autodesk Shotgun is utilised to increase collaboration and efficiency and connect the team. Hear how new technology and forms of storytelling such as VR, AR and interactive engines will change the future of making entertainment.

This class is intended for architectural visualizers and visual-effects artists alike. It aims to demonstrate Factory Fifteen’s unique position between these 2 industries by showcasing 2 projects—a proof-of-concept science-fiction drama, and a film showcasing a stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Attendees will learn how Factory Fifteen’s work in film has cross-pollinated the firm’s work with architects, creating new digital workflows and sensibilities toward “selling architecture.” As well as providing an overview, the speaker will go in detail into the filming and 3D post-production (using 3ds Max software and V-Ray) of one hero shot from each project, as well as illustrating planning and execution at every stage. The first shot involves the design, build, and animation of a mechanical robot and its integration into film footage. Shot 2 involves an elaborate time-lapse sequence over 8 years within a World Cup stadium, from tournament mode to legacy mode, dramatically replacing footage with an evolving digital sequence that leads us to the year 2030. This session features 3ds Max.

Maya is a popular 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and visual effects software in the media and entertainment industry. It provides a powerful API that lets users customize and extend Maya software’s functionalities in order to create efficient workflows and become even more productive. This class is an introduction to Maya customization for customers who would like to create automation and/or improve efficiency when using the product. Some programming experience will be helpful. You will learn about the benefits of customizing Maya and gain the confidence to create your first plug-in using the Python API. Note that you can easily reproduce all concepts in the C++ environment as well.

A modern VFX (visual effects) rendering pipeline is made up of many materials with detailed descriptions called looks. Looks need to be passed across different software products without loss of fidelity. Current workflows involve duplication across complex pipeline tasks that are hard and laborious to maintain. Arnold software lets you author asset looks in any supported software and then reuse the same looks in another software using the Arnold data format, which is fully extensible. Arnold furthers this approach by capitalizing on open-source back ends like MaterialX and USD, enabling users to build a very flexible, reusable, and connected pipeline. Arnold users can take advantage of this interoperability right out of the box. The data is always live, enabling users to make alterations (major or minor) at any point in the pipeline. In this talk, you will learn about setting up your pipeline to capitalize on reusability of looks. You will also see examples of taking your asset looks through different software.