• Blender Blender Blender

    I never really knew much about the Blender community before writing this piece for 3DArtist on 65 Blender hacks. It sounds like such a great tool. Hope you pick up the mag and enjoy the read.

  • An ape film with no mocap?

    Have to admit I was surprised no mocap was used for the apes in The Legend of Tarzan. That didn’t mean gray tracking suits weren’t used for reference, but none of this was for traditional performance capture data. Find out more in this interview with Framestore for One Perfect Shot.

  • What happens when it all ends?

    According to director Sam Southward: the above. A new article for Cartoon Brew and the online premiere of the short.

  • ‘Resurgence’ visions

    In vfxblog’s recent chat with Independence Day: Resurgence’s visual effects supervisor Volker Engel, he mentioned the importance of ‘selling’ the scope of the film to the studio before receiving the greenlight. Visual effects studio TRIXTER was crucial in this process, with its art department contributing key concept art for some of the film’s big scenes.…

  • Explosion-time

    Big explosions are fun to watch in films but do you think about how much work went on behind the scenes to make them?  Now you don’t have to as I rounded up some of the best for Thrillist.

  • VFX supes talk ‘Resurgence’

    Over at One Perfect Shot, I’ve published a piece with a number of vfx supes behind the work in Independence Day: Resurgence, plus a number of breakdown pics.

  • Matzo crackers and cereal

    Here’s my in-depth Cartoon Brew story on 4Ward’s visual effects for the amazing nuclear nightmare sequence in Terminator 2, which is now 25 years old. Talking to Robert Skotak was such a great experience.

  • T2 is 25: Robert Skotak’s liquid metal effects

    James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day is 25 years old. Soon on Cartoon Brew, I’ll have a full-length piece tracing the effects work by 4WARD Productions for the nuclear nightmare sequence, thanks to an in-depth conversation I had with 4WARD’s Robert Skotak. But first, a special preview and a look behind the scenes at some other…

  • Volker Engel on Independence Day: Resurgence

    A few days after delivering the final effects shots on Independence Day: Resurgence, visual effects supervisor Volker Engel spoke to vfxblog about the significant effort behind Roland Emmerich’s newest film. Around 1700 vfx shots are in Resurgence, many of them massive effects simulations depicting the impact of a new wave of alien invasion on Earth.…

  • The biggest shots in Independence Day: Resurgence

    They’re all big! Here’s a new article for Inverse on just some of the alien invasion kick-ass VFX shots in the film. More to come on IDR, too.