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Aerial Cameras Stabilized
Heller Keeps Eclipse in the AirWhen a high-end production being shot in New York requires aerial cinematography, chances are they call Brian Heller. And the first place he turns to is Pictorvision for the Eclipse aerial camera stabilization system.
“It’s a no-brainer,” Heller says. “Eclipse gives me the freedom to make shots that no other aerial equipment can get.
“Last year I had a bit of a challenge shooting a major amount of footage for the CGI department on a big feature. They needed steady shots off the ledge of a six-story building in the middle of Manhattan. Shooting in Manhattan is a challenge by itself but to up the anti, we had to deal with gusty wind conditions,” Heller adds. “However, with all this around me, I literally didn’t have to do anything to keep the horizon level. The Eclipse did it perfectly and automatically.”
Because of his intimate knowledge of the challenges of shooting in and around Manhattan’s congested but unique architecture, he’s often called on to capture beauty shots of the city. One job was really fascinating. “It was for the New York Historical Society,” he recalls. “While I’m often shooting beauty shots for various commercials, those shots will usually end up on a television screen – even if it is a big one. The Historical Society shots are going to be seen on an 80-foot screen at the entrance of the Society’s building. I knew I had to get shots with no discernable movement. Not a problem with Eclipse. It always remains stable, even at high speeds of 120 knots. Other systems usually can’t handle over 80 knots.”
Ask Heller what more he likes about Eclipse and he’ll enthusiastically give you a laundry list. “It might sound like a little thing, but the fact that the gyros do not tumble or topple from rapid (sharp turns) helicopter maneuvering is a big deal. It can save a lot of frustration,” he starts. “Then there is the immediate start-up of the optical gyros – a few seconds vs. a few minutes.
“And, the increased payload is really important,” he continues. “I don’t need to worry about the camera/lens package – especially when I need large zooms like the 12 to 1. It can handle all of them.
“For aerial shooters, one of the more difficult helicopter shots is straight down,” he adds. “The pilot cannot see through the floor of the helicopter. With Eclipse, the operator can roll, pan, and tilt through 90 degrees straight down and allow the pilot to concentrate on following the course.”
The Pictorvision Eclipse was recognized with a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award at the 84th Annual Academy Awards for Technical Achievement.
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Solar-Powered Recording Rig is Mobile
Band's drummer hit upon the idea of creating solar-powered mobile recording rig.The video for Karmic Juggernaut’s new song, “Oo Wah Hoo,” documents the band’s inspiring and utterly fresh take on the recording process. Piloting a Subaru Outback topped with a plane of solar panels and freighted with a bank of batteries, the band toured its favorite locations in the great state of New Jersey to record each instrument in the glory of the outdoors. In the video, what you see - acoustic guitar on the beach, drums in the forest, wailing solo on the mountainside, and more - is what you actually hear. No lip-synching is afoot. In order to keep the power consumption low and the fidelity high, the project relied on the one-rack space, eight-channel, Metric Halo ULN-8 preamplifier/converter/interface for all studio functionality, save for microphones and a computer.
Everyone involved in the recording and filming of the far-flung “Oo Wah Hoo” recording session goes way back. Some met in grade school, others in middle school, but all ran around the same artistic and musical circles in the seaside city of Asbury Park, New Jersey. JR Skola, a fellow engineer and filmmaker who now heads Brooklyn-based Dawn of Man Productions, produced the video and provided the Metric Halo ULN-8 to make the recording happen. But it was the band’s drummer, Kevin Grossman, who first hit upon the idea of creating a solar-powered mobile recording rig.
“This mode of recording combines all of the things that I love to do: hanging out with friends, being outside, and making music,” Grossman explained. And to allay any suspicion that the video is first and foremost a green technology PR stunt, it’s worth noting that it was only after highlighting the glories of recording outside that he said, almost as an afterthought, “and while I could have run the whole thing from my car engine with a power inverter, I thought, ‘why not let the sun do it.’ Solar may not have the lowest carbon footprint yet, but it’s worthwhile to promote alternative technologies.”
The solar panel technology consisted of a “standard off-the-grid setup” of three 15-watt solar panels, a battery bank with protection against over- and under-charging, and a power inverter to generate the AC power required for the gear. In general, the solar was enough to record acoustic instruments indefinitely, but the band’s vintage tube amps required both the batteries and the panels and thus enforced a finite session recording time. Although you wouldn’t know it by watching the video, “lighting, weather, and our mere 100 amp-hours of battery life made recording the amplified instruments a challenge,” according to Grossman. A MacBook Pro running Logic Pro was power-light, as was the efficient Metric Halo ULN-8. Although the band had a large collection of mics at its disposal, workhorse Shure SM57s and AKG 414s captured most of the tracks.
The locations featured in the video are all places where the members of the band and their friends hang out. “They’re all places that we find inspiring,” explained James McCaffrey, one of the band’s guitarists. The first location was, in some ways, the easiest. The crew trudged through knee-deep water to beat high tide on their way to Sandy Hook Gateway. There they recorded bass, but only via the Metric Halo’s DI. “We recorded the bass on top of one of the old munitions bunkers at the abandoned Fort Hancock, but it was mostly for the inspiration and the shot,” Grossman admitted. “However, we did have birds flying all around us, and I pointed that fact out to everybody. I marveled, ‘this is THE recording studio!’”
Next, they drove to Monmouth Battlefield, where General Washington had, centuries before, attempted to attack the rear of the British Army column and where Molly Pitcher famously took the place of fallen soldier to fight beside her husband. Grossman and McCaffrey played a vintage Yamaha console organ outside the site’s old farmhouse. As the sun sank, the band, Skola, and some friends gathered around a bonfire at Pat’s 30 Acres, a picnic ground in their hometown.
“Percussion instruments are meant to be played in a circle around a fire,” laughed Grossman. “You need that heat... that energy.” Without breaking for sleep, the band recorded through the night. “Our friends were worried about talking during the recording,” Grossman added. “I said, ‘don’t worry about it, have a good time!’ So yeah, if you solo those tracks you can hear people talking and the fire cracking in the background. It’s tough to hear over the instrumentation, but it’s in there.”
With the sun set to make an appearance on the eastern horizon, the band decamped to Belmar Beach for the acoustic guitar recording that opens the video. “We had been up for more than 24 hours at that point and we were looking and feeling groggy and a little bit slimy,” Grossman confessed. “James and I jumped into the ocean to shower up, and JR videoed it.” Later that same morning, the crew returned to Pat’s 30 Acres to record McCaffrey’s electric guitar. “The reflections coming off the trees and the pond were magnificent,” Grossman added. A month later, the team reconvened at the Delaware Water Gap near the Appalachian Trail to record guitarist Randy Preston’s blistering solo. “We had one of the 414s facing the mountain, and the sound is gigantic,” said McCaffrey. “There’s no better place than a mountain to record a solo!”
Similar sessions at Allaire State Park for drums and Asbury Park Casino (a cavernous abandoned space) for vocals rounded out the track. “All along, we were worried about bothering people,” said Grossman. “But everyone - state park rangers included - thought what we were doing was cool.” The sound of the track makes Karmic Juggernaut extremely happy. “We’ve recorded songs and soundtracks in multi-million dollar studios,” he continued, “but with just the Metric Halo ULN-8 and the acoustic beauty of un-walled space, ‘Oo Wah Hoo’ outshines them all.”
In the future, expect Karmic Juggernaut to pack enough solar panels to cover an entire band. “We’re working toward a full live performance using only power from the panels,” Grossman beamed.
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Pocket Motion Controller
Single-Axis Controller with Microstepping Drive.Galil Motion Control announces a stepper motor drive option for their DMC-30000 Pocket Motion Controller Series. The new DMC-30017 combines a single-axis motion controller with a 6A microstepping drive. Like other products in the DMC-30000 Series, the DMC-30017 offers higher performance, better power efficiency, smaller size, and a lower price than prior generation, single-axis controllers.
“Now Galil offers a single-axis controller/drive package for stepper motors in addition to servo motors”, said Lisa Wade, vice president of sales and marketing. “The already released DMC-30012 combines a single-axis motion controller and 800W drive for servo motors. The new DMC-30017 contains a 6A microstepping drive for stepper motors.”
The DMC-30017 contains a microstepping drive for operating a two-phase bipolar stepper motor. The drive produces 256 microsteps per full step or 1024 steps per full cycle which results in 51,200 steps/rev for a standard 200-step motor. The maximum step rate generated by the controller is 3,000,000 microsteps/second. The DMC-30017 drives motors operating at up to 6 Amps at 20 to 80 VDC. There are four software-selectable current settings: 0.75A, 1.5A, 3 A, and 6A.
Designed for compact size, the dimensions of the DMC-30017 controller/drive package are 3.9” x 5.0” x 1.5”, and no external heat sink is required.
Like other products in the DMC-30000 series, the DMC-30017 is higher speed than Galil’s prior generation single-axis controllers; The 125 microsecond servo loop update time is twice as fast and the 15MHz encoder frequency and 3 MHz stepper pulse output are 25% faster. Other features of DMC-30000 controllers include PID compensation with velocity and acceleration feedforward, non-volatile memory for user programs, multitasking for simultaneously running up to four programs, and I/O processing for synchronizing motion with external events. Modes of motion include point-to-point positioning, position tracking, jogging, contouring, electronic gearing, ECAM, and PVT.
The DMC-30000 provides optically isolated inputs and outputs as a standard feature. I/O include forward and reverse limit inputs, homing input, 8 uncommitted digital inputs, 4 uncommitted digital outputs, 2 uncommitted analog inputs and 1 uncommitted analog output. Two daisy-chainable Ethernet ports are included and an external Ethernet hub is not required. A 115 kb RS232 port is also provided.
In addition to the DMC-30012 controller/servo drive and DMC-30017 controller/stepper drive packages, the DMC-30000 Series is also available as a controller-only model which can be connected to a stepper or servo motor amplifier of any power range.
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Pneumatic Guitar
Automated guitar mimics motion of human hand.When employees at Clippard Instrument Laboratory set out to make a new exhibit for their 2012 trade show schedule, they wanted something cool and unique that would draw attention to their pneumatic and automation products. Their answer is a pneumatic guitar that plays more than two dozen songs with over 36 notes running on 50-psi air pressure.
Rob Clippard, the guitar’s primary designer and developer, recalls part of the challenge was making the guitar. “We had myself and a few other engineers working on it, sometimes pulling all nighters,” he says. Others working on the project include Chris Rhodes, Jerry Grotelueschen, Brett Vidal, Bill Clippard and Ed Ehrhardt.
The main design challenge was trying to mimic the motion of the human hand. “If you asked 100 engineers how to do this, you might get 100 different ideas on how to build a pneumatic system,” says Clippard. He adds one of the hardest parts was the “fret,” or the control of what would be the left hand that holds down the strings along the guitar’s neck. “You have to come off the strings with a certain velocity to mute the string at the correct time while sliding your hand to position your fingers for the next set of notes,” he explains. “Engineering the movement, positioning, and force feedback systems for this application is hard to replicate in a more cost-effective solution as pneumatics.”
There were marketing challenges with the exhibit too. “With this exhibit we are getting people to think about new applications with pneumatics,” explains Clippard. “We are also trying to show that Clippard does more than sell pneumatic components. Our engineers use creativity to design for development, assembly, to test; among other functions, to simplify the tasks for other companies in terms of effort.”
The pneumatic guitar has 58 electronic valves and 62 miniature pneumatic cylinders from 5/32” diameters up to ½” bore that help mimic the motion of the human hand “fretting” , “picking” and “strumming” the six guitar strings.
A Wi-Fi card and iPad with a midi player app control of the pneumatic guitar. All other guitar parts are standard, off-the-shelf units, except the manifolds.
Engineers at the company normally custom design their own manifolds in house with Solidworks CAD software. But with this job, they were able to use a vector-based drawing program for tracing the outline of the guitar to guide laser cutting of the manifold and valve subplates.
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Camera Accessories
Producer/Director Doug Jensen uses OConnor accessories for wildlife and landscape filming.When Doug Jensen formed Vortex Media, OConnor tripods and heads became a permanent part of his camera package. So, when the company began manufacturing a new line of camera accessories, Jensen took notice. “So, this year I’ve outfitted my Sony PMW-F3 camcorder with the O-Box matte box, Universal Camera Baseplate, O-Grips handgrips and CFF-1 Follow Focus System,” he explained.
Recently, while shooting stock footage in three U.S. national parks, Jensen said that he would have missed several opportunities to shoot wildlife and landscapes with fast-changing lighting if it weren’t for how quickly and efficiently OConnor accessories allowed him to work. “They are strong enough that I don’t need to take them off the camera and put them away after every set up,” he says. “I keep the set-up in a large camera case and can pull it out and place it on the 1030B tripod to be ready to shoot in a matter of seconds.”
Jensen explains, “The O-Box is built like a tank even though it’s lightweight. Plus, the smoothness and precision of the CCF-1 can’t be matched.” Jensen usually shoots wide-open at T2.0-3.0 apertures with PL lenses up to 300mm, and must use a follow-focus system that doesn’t have any sloppiness. He adds, “I do my own focusing and I need to nail it every time because there are no retakes when you’re shooting documentaries, reality, news or landscapes and wildlife. The CFF-1 gives me a consistent feel and control, no matter which lenses I’m shooting with at a given time.”
Jensen shoots with a matte box outdoors because it shields the lens from stray light flares and protects the front from the elements. “It allows me to use glass filters that are impossible to replicate in post,” he says. “Although some cameramen use computer software to clean up their shots, for me here is no substitute for a real polarizer and grad filters. The polarizer needs 360-degrees of rotation, and the grad filters need a wide range of vertical adjustment. The O-Box allows both of those functions quite easily. It also gives me the ability to keep both a polarizer and a .6 ½ grad filter loaded 90% of the time.”
When he needs to take his camera off the OConnor head and tripod, the quick-attach O-Grips make shooting handheld with his F3 comfortable. Pistol grips are perfectly situated for manoeuvring the camera smoothly and comfortably, and an articulated arm allows him to get the O-Grips into any position.
For handheld shooting Jensen moves his viewfinder from its normal mount near the rear of the camera to the cheese bar that is built into the top of the O-Box. “There are several sturdy, threaded, mounting points that I can use to put the viewfinder in a forward position for handheld,” he says. “Having a matte box that is built to mount accessories saves me the cost, hassle, and the extra weight of adding additional articulated arms.”
Jensen also appreciates that he can mount O-Grips directly to the matte box instead of using rods, explaining “they move with the O-Box if I need to slide it forward or backward to accommodate a different lens length. The O-Box and O-Grips become one unit that is superior to handles or grips that mount to rods.
Doug Jensen’s Vortex Media captures images for stock footage, documentaries and other on-air productions as well as for his series of training DVDs which focus on a range of subjects from specific cameras to various styles of image capture.
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Video Coverage Onboard
Carnival Cruise Lines uses professional camera equipment to provide coverage of on-board and shoreside activities for its guests.James Riccio, Carnival’s supervisor of AV media, said Carnival Magic was the first ship to begin using JVC ProHD cameras, followed by two other ships replacing their tape-based Sony cameras with ProHD models. Carnival Breeze, the newest ship in the fleet, will feature two GY-HM750s and one GY-HM150 camera, and plans are in place for two additional Carnival ships to begin using ProHD cameras this year.
Each ship produces a live morning show, which features the cruise director, usually in one of the ship’s lounges, discussing the day’s activities. It’s a simple production – two GY-HM750s on tripods capture the action. The cameras are tethered to “camera panels” that tie them directly to the ship’s broadcast room (which also serves as a control room and edit suite), where graphics are added and the show is distributed throughout the ship. Currently, Carnival Magic and the upcoming Carnival Breeze are the only ships in the fleet that have an HD infrastructure; the other ships downconvert the HD footage and distribute it in SD.
After the morning show ends, the video crew covers a variety of on-board events, contests, and activities, which are recorded to inexpensive SDHC media cards, then edited using Adobe Premiere Pro in the broadcast room. With JVC’s native file recording, footage can be accessed immediately—no transcoding or ingest required. “We love ProHD’s durability and solid-state recording,” Riccio said. “We have events that happen on a regular basis, especially on our at-sea days, and we want to get them on TV as soon as possible.”
For each cruise, the video team also assembles a documentary filled with trip highlights, including shore excursions. Videographers join passengers on shore excursions, and Riccio said the small, handheld GY-HM150 is the ideal camera for recording memories without being intrusive. Plus, its compact size allows them access to historic buildings and other areas where a full-sized camcorder would not be permitted. “We like to blend in,” he added. “It’s less intimidating, so guests feel more relaxed.”
On occasion, the video team is hired to record weddings and other celebrations during a cruise. As a result, particularly when he is shooting a wedding, Riccio appreciates a new feature in the GY-HM150 that allows simultaneous recording to two media cards. “We’ve never had a problem,” he noted, “but that’s an event that you don’t want to lose. Having that redundancy provides peace of mind that the footage will be there.”
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Loudspeakers Made with Heat from the Sun
Sustainable process improves quality while significantly reducing costs and carbon footprint.Technomad redefines sustainable AV with a new partnership that brings solar technology to its already-green plastic loudspeaker manufacturing process. The move slices production costs up to 30 percent while reducing the company’s carbon footprint — and introduces a revolutionary process to the professional audio and AV space.
Technomad has long been associated with sustainable manufacturing, producing durable, weatherproof MilSpec loudspeakers using recycled plastic. As a result, Technomad loudspeakers are often specified into AV projects with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) requirements.
Technomad recently teamed up with LightManufacturing LLC, which developed a uniquepatent- pending method of molding plastic with solar heat. The company’s unique Solar Rotational Molding (SRM™) systems eliminate greenhouse gasses associated with traditional rotational molding while reducing manufacturing costs — an unusual combination in a world that equates ‘green’ with unaffordable.
LightManufacturing now molds most of Technomad’s popular Vienna and Vernal loudspeakers at its California facility, with larger models to follow.
“Technomad is the first company in the professional audio industry to take advantage of solar thermal energy,” said Rodger von Kries, vice president of Technomad. “We’ve always worked on the cutting edge of green manufacturing, being the first company to use 100 percent recycled plastic to make loudspeaker cabinets. The LightManufacturing partnership brings new advantages by reducing our costs while benefitting the environment.” LightManufacturing’s SRM process uses computer-controlled mirrors to concentrate heat from the sun onto a mold and melt the plastic inside. The sun’s thermal energy is used directly, avoiding the costs of making electricity with photovoltaic panels. The process delivers higher quality parts at a lower cost than traditional rotational molding, with typical savings of 10 to 30 percent. The nearly silent SRM systems use no natural gas or external AC power, and the hardware costs less than traditional rotational molding systems.
“This partnership shows that the solar molding process can deliver high-quality, reduced-cost parts for manufacturers right out of the gate,” said Mark Severy, a consultant at LightManufacturing. “Technomad came to us with a 15-year history of making world-class products. We met their requirements for outstanding quality, lower cost — and zero carbon emissions.”
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Foo Fighters Back to Basics with Analog Equipment
Songs recorded in a garage with some microphones and a tape machine.Foo Fighters took home five statues at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, including prestigious Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance honors, winning for an album produced entirely using a 32-channel API 1608 console. For its Wasting Light album, the band went back to basics, switching off the computers and tracking and mixing to tape via the all-analog API console, with the help of engineer James Brown and producer Butch Vig.
Nominated in a total of six categories, Foo Fighters won for Rock Song: “Walk,” Rock Album: Wasting Light, Rock Performance: “Walk,” Hard Rock/Metal Performance: “White Limo,” and Long Form Music Video for “Foo Fighters: Back and Forth.”
In his acceptance speech after the band received the Best Rock Performance award, frontman Grohl said, “Rather than go to the best studio in the world down the street in Hollywood, and rather than use all the fanciest computers that you can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine.” Commenting that winning the award “shows that the human element of making music is what’s important,” he continued, “It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer, it’s about what goes on in here” – pointing to his heart – “and it’s about what goes on in here” – pointing to his head.
Vig, who had last worked with Grohl on Nirvana’s Nevermind album two decades ago, said, “The API sound is great for rock. We drove the 1608 and colored the album with the pleasing sound of its subtle distortion.”
Less than a year later, the album made a clean sweep of every rock category in the Grammys.
At Brown’s request, the API 1608’s expansion slots had been outfitted with sixteen API 550A three-band EQs, eight API 550b four-band EQs and eight 560 graphic EQs prior to recording. “The 1608 had a way of gelling the mixes,” said Brown. “I can’t exactly put my finger on why or how, but the reality of it was pretty undeniable.”
Automated Processes, Inc. is a provider of analog recording gear with the Vision, Legacy Series and 1608 recording consoles, as well as its classic line of modular signal processing equipment.
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African Safari Filmed in 3D
Litepanels® Goes to Africa for McNeely's Latest "Outdoorsman" Adventure.Renowned wildlife photographer Buck McNeely and his company Outdoorsman International made television history by being the first to film an African Safari in 3D. To light the adventure, McNeely chose to use fixtures from Litepanels®, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company.
“We had a kit of two MicroPro LED lights and brought the new Sola ENG Fresnel on-camera light as well,” McNeely explains. “We mounted the Sola ENG on my Panasonic HDX-900 camera and ran it off the Anton/Bauer DIONIC HCX batteries. The MicroPro light, which offers self-contained power via six AA batteries, simply mounted on top of our other cameras and we could also hand hold it to fill and illuminate subjects.”
Most of the production occurred during daylight hours but McNeely used the fixtures as fill lights on faces that were in shadows and for the interiors of lodges and sheds. “On several occasions we used them to light the aftermath of a late afternoon hunt to illuminate close ups of an animal’s features,” he adds.
“We chose to use the Sola ENG in certain situations where we needed a powerful yet portable light that puts out a stronger beam,” he says. “Since it also has a dimmer knob, I could fine tune the level of illumination.
“I don’t know what I did before Litepanels lights,” he admits. “They are versatile and can go anywhere due to their low power consumption, battery or AC operation, compact form, and light weight. The lights have become an important part of our production team as we travel the planet seeking high adventure and filming events for our television series.”
Buck McNeely is founder of Outdoorsman International and producer/host of the world’s largest syndicated adventure series “The Outdoorsman with Buck McNeely”. The groundbreaking 3D Safari episode aired February 25, 2012.
Litepanels was founded in 2001 by 5 professional gaffers and engineers who saw the future and pioneered LED (light emitting diode) lighting for motion pictures, television and the audio-visual industry. Their Emmy® award-winning technology has now been used on thousands of productions worldwide and is trusted by the world’s leading broadcast organizations.
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Tintin Movie Enabled by Weta's Virtual Production Technology
Weta Digital's Animation Build with AutodeskVirtual production, driven in a large part by real-time Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) software from Autodesk has evolved significantly since the process was used for the landmark release of “Avatar” in 2009. Peter Jackson’s New Zealand-based Weta Digital studio, long known for its technological innovation, used Autodesk software to take the virtual production process to new levels of real-time performance capture for the animated feature film “The Adventures of Tintin.”
Autodesk Maya and Autodesk MotionBuilder were important parts of the overall vfx pipeline and an integral part of the performance capture and motion edit process. Maya plugins (both off the shelf and proprietary) were used as part of the various simulation pipelines including solutions for hair and cloth. Autodesk Mudbox was also used by many of the artists as part of the modeling pipeline.
“The ability to digitally capture the subtleties of an actor’s performance and to move digital environment data between pre-production, production and post-production has opened up the moviemaking experience,” said Joe Letteri, Weta Digital Senior VFX Supervisor. “We’re able to build a virtual set that gives directors the ability to construct shots with the actors in the environment, just like they would on a live-action set. The data captured on set is used for lighting, modeling, textures and the rest of the post-production process. While the underlying technology is similar to what we used on ‘Avatar,’ we had a better understanding of the tools we needed and were able to realize workflow improvements that enabled us to streamline the movement of capture data from the set to final production.”
The virtual moviemaking process for “Tintin” included Weta Digital artists previsualizing and building the digital environment of the film in low resolution using Autodesk Maya 3D animation and visual effects software and loading that data into the virtual environment. The live performance of the actors on set was captured using Autodesk Motion Builder real-time 3D character animation software, providing a consistent platform that enabled production teams to more rapidly create, iterate and refine the look of the movie throughout the production.
Applying virtual production techniques to a fully computer-generated (CG) film meant Weta Digital was able to create an on-set environment that connected to the visual effects process and allowed Steven Spielberg to work the way he would on a live-action set. He was able to craft his shots and get the take he was looking for, all within the context of the world of “Tintin.” The actors were not only able to interact with each other live on-set, they could interact with props and fully inhabit the world in body and in voice.
“Autodesk’s latest technology is enabling filmmakers to enter an incredible new world of moviemaking,” said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “It is helping make the techniques accessible to a broader range of filmmakers, and enabling them to better express and exhibit their artistic intent. What Weta’s artists and innovators have been able to accomplish by animating and imbuing these beloved fictional animated characters with human performance is truly spectacular.”
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