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.

Bifrost is a powerful graphical programming environment for creating procedural visual effects simulations, geometry, rigging, and animation. In this session, we'll showcase new, modular, deep-learning workflows in Maya software using Bifrost. We will demonstrate how to use Bifrost for procedurally generating training data for AI systems, as well as how to deploy trained AI models in Bifrost using new Bifrost nodes designed for deep learning. The session will include practical examples of industry problems that are suited to a media and entertainment audience, such as using AI for complex rigging kinematic solvers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Despite the differences between architecture, engineering, construction, design and manufacturing and the media & entertainment sectors, they all share a common mission: to design and make a better world. So, how can we benefit from each other's unique experiences? How can we leverage technology, workflows and skills from animation, VFX, and game development and apply them to other industries? Whether you're an architect designing the future skyline or a game developer crafting your next open-world adventure, join this digital to hear from industry voyagers who have traversed these sectors. Share your knowledge and engage in insightful discussions about the common threads within the design & make industries.

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 course aims to educate participants on the innovative integration of machine learning (ML) techniques for deformation approximation within Maya software. Using approximations for (part of) a deformation stack can highly improve interactivity when using complex rigs, and can significantly improve the portability between different applications. It is designed for animators, game developers, VFX artists, and any professional interested in exploring the intersection of ML and 3D animation. This course will explore a demo of a rig with computationally expensive muscle deformations that is reduced to a simple, general, black-box neural network that only requires inputs from the motion system. We'll show the entire setup process in detail. In addition, we'll go over best practices, tips, and limitations to help users get the most out of this tool for their production needs.

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.