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Visual effects and animation journalist Ian Failes

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Recent Posts

  • Announcing ‘befores & afters’
  • A new VR animation tool, for first-timers
  • LEGO Movie 2 at 3D Artist
  • Inside the fx of Bird Box
  • New 3D World has Alita, DNEG and more

Retro VFX: The tech of Terminator 2

An oral history with ILMers behind the CGI.

The social (VFX) lives of Hollywood

Behind the scenes vfx pics posted by the stars

Retro VFX: Contact

The famous mirror shot in ‘Contact’ was almost something else entirely

Retro VFX: Men in Black

‘Men in Black’ and its crazy collection of real and CG creatures

Retro VFX: Batman & Robin

The forgotten freeze-frame moments from the film

Retro VFX: Predator

Optical compositing, thermal cameras and *that* red suit

Retro VFX: The Mummy

Re-visit the digital make-up, mocap and other VFX innovations from the 1999 film

RETRO VFX: The Lost World

Animation director Randal M. Dutra reflects on those early days of the digital age

Retro VFX: The Fifth Element

Multi pass and motion control: re-visiting the VFX of 'The Fifth Element'

Retro VFX: Terminator 2

Full liquid metal, now in 3D: re-visiting the freakin’ T-1000 walking out of the fiery truck crash
Full liquid metal, now in 3D: re-visiting the freakin’ T-1000 walking out of the fiery truck crash

Retro VFX: Dante’s Peak

The race to finish Dante’s Peak...20 years ago

Retro VFX: CG Jabba

You’re a wonderful human being: re-visiting CG Jabba 20 years later

Retro VFX: Mars Attacks!

Behind the ILM Mars Attacks! tests that convinced Tim Burton to go CG

Retro VFX: Twister

It’s been 20 years since ‘Twister’ brought us that flying cow

Archives

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  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
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  • January 2016

Masters of FX

My book featuring 16 of the world's best vfx supervisors is available at Amazon.com

Month: April 2018

Heads up: the oral history of Iron Man’s original HUD

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Several members of the original Iron Man HUD team – John Nelson, Wesley Sewell, Jonathan Rothbart, Kent Seki, Dav Rauch and Kyle McCulloch – weigh in on how the HUD was imagined, in this oral history at vfxblog. Read it at www.vfxblog.com/ironman.

Posted on April 30, 2018Categories vfxblogTags Iron Man

Rampage: vfxblog’s long read

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I recently got the chance to visit Weta Digital and sit down with some of the team on Rampage. Here’s vfxblog’s special coverage of the film at vfxblog.com/rampage, looking at Weta Digital’s creature work and destruction sims.

Posted on April 26, 2018Categories vfxblogTags Rampage, Weta Digital

What’s it really like to be a VFX vendor on a big TV show?

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I asked Image Engine, who worked on Lost in Space.

Posted on April 23, 2018Categories FreelanceTags CartoonBrew, Image Engine, Lost in Space

The battle of the century

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Matt Patches from Thrillist had me collaborate on an incredible oral history of the Battle of NY in The Avengers. Check it out.

Posted on April 23, 2018Categories FreelanceTags ILM, The Avengers, Thrillist

FMX is here, and so are Chris Wedge and Phil Tippett

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I’m on the program board this year for FMX, and helped organise the ‘Then & Now’ track which is featuring Phil Tippett and Chris Wedge. Here’s a rundown at Cartoon Brew.

Posted on April 22, 2018Categories FreelanceTags CartoonBrew, Chris Wedge, FMX, Phil Tippett

Horses everywhere

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In February, I wrote this piece for 3D World magazine about their horse and rider agent. Check out the tutorial that Steven Regelous did, too.

Posted on April 20, 2018Categories FreelanceTags 3dworld, Massive

Proceduralism from Rise

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Back for the February 2018 issue of 3D World magazine, I talked to Rise FX about their use of procedural workflows in Houdini for Babylon Berlin and The Dark Tower.

Posted on April 18, 2018Categories FreelanceTags 3dworld, Houdini, Rise FX

The virtual production side of Ready Player One

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A look at the work with ILM and Digital Domain, at Cartoon Brew.

Posted on April 18, 2018Categories FreelanceTags CartoonBrew, Digital Domain, ILM, Ready Player One

ILM’s Scott Farrar on those A Quiet Place creatures

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…and how they had to be re-designed with only 2 months to go! Read the article at Cartoon Brew.

Posted on April 16, 2018Categories FreelanceTags A Quiet Place, CartoonBrew, ILM, Scott Farrar

The OASIS has you

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Check out the latest 3D Artist magazine for my behind the scenes look at Ready Player One and the work of ILM and Digital Domain.

Posted on April 12, 2018Categories FreelanceTags 3DArtist, Digital Domain, ILM

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