Industry News + AI in Virtual Production + 2 New Short Films made in Unreal Engine
VFX market booms while big tech lays of thousands. Plus now might be the time to get into VR (Apple's VR headset is coming) and more...
It’s been a crazy time since the last newsletter! Lot’s to cover this time around…
Super Motion
New Story in Development
We’re developing our Kitbash3D “Minerva” competition entry into a short film and something we can pitch to studios / distributors / funding. We’re launching a blog on the Super Motion website later this week to share progress. We’re testing out AI tools - with mixed results that we will share in full.
AI image gen comes to Virtual Production
I interviewed the creators of Cuebric, a new AI image gen tool built on Stable Diffusion that XR Studios and other production facilities are starting to use. Check out the exclusive demo video below.
+New Super Motion podcast episode
Listen to the latest Super Motion podcast episode to get the full interview with the co-founders of Seyhan Lee + Aron
What We’re Watching
‘The Voice in the Hollow’ is an Unreal Engine short with a difference
Watch this incredible short, directed by Miguel Ortega and made in Unreal Engine. The film was produced with supported by Epic and Gnomon, so there’s lots to lea Then check out the BTS and Befores and Afters podcast
Mozambique's FX Animation Studio produces "Kibwe": A “Breakthrough in Animation” using Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is showcasing an upcoming animated film called "Kibwe" which is being produced in Mozambique, Africa using UE5 technology. The film is set to feature cutting-edge graphics and animation, and is aiming to put Mozambique on the map as a major player in the animation industry.
What We’re Learning
There are now two solid apps for capturing real-world objects that make photogrammetry and NeRFs accessible to us all. We recommend downloading both and trying them out :)
Check out Luma.ai to download Luma, and Epic Games’ reality scan app to see how it compares.
3D/VFX Industry News
Autodesk Releases open RV on Academy Software Foundation GitHub
Autodesk has released Open RV, an open-source version of its media review and playback software on GitHub. Hosted by the Academy Software Foundation as part of the Open Review Initiative, aiming to build a unified open-source toolset for the playback, review, and approval of motion pictures. Autodesk will continue to manage and develop RV commercially and actively contribute to Open RV. The aim is to help studios approve projects more efficiently, ultimately reaching final pixel faster and more cost-effectively.
VR Adoption Takes a Giant Leap with Apple's Reality Pro
Apple announced a new virtual reality headset called the "Apple Reality Pro" which features hand tracking and the ability to mirror Mac screens for Facetime calls. The headset aims to provide a high-quality immersive experience for users and will be targeted towards professionals such as architects and engineers.
Netflix gets 50 Annie nominations across 32 categories, Disney 23, Dreamworks got 14
"Pinocchio" and "Turning Red" are both nominated for the Annie Awards in the Best Animated Independent Feature category. The Annie Awards are one of the most prestigious awards in the animation industry, recognizing outstanding achievement in animation in film and television.
$100 Million Fund for Underrepresented Creators
Netflix has launched an initiative called "Created by" to support and promote creators from underrepresented communities, including a $100 million fund for content production and a team to help navigate the process. The initiative also includes training and mentorship opportunities to help creators grow their careers and increase representation of diverse voices in the entertainment industry.
Big tech cuts jobs - 12k jobs at Google, 10K at Microsoft (including MRTK team), but VFX and animation still set to boom by 2030.
Tech and VFX/3D are closely linked these days, so news like this is something we all should be aware of: Bloomberg reported that Google is cutting 12,000 jobs in a 6% slash to its global workforce. But they are not alone - The Verge provided additional context on the cuts this week from Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon. If you want to know the specifics, checkout Layoffs.fyi which tracks and graphs this nicely:
Business is booming for VFX and Animation
For comparison, several reports (like this one) have appeared talking about the boom in VFX and animation that is expected to continue for the next 5+ years.
Mixed messaging but not mixed reality from Microsoft
The crazy thing is that Microsoft has let go of the entire MRTK team (mixed reality toolkit) in their layoffs according to one report. The MRTK framework is (was?) a Microsoft-driven open source project to accelerate cross-platform mixed reality development in Unity. The newest version (v3) version is built on top of Unity's XR Management system and XR Interaction Toolkit. So what happens to it now?
Everything else
Special event 26th/27th Jan: BTS of an LED wall shoot with Alistair Chapman and Sony Cinema Line
Pathway XR Studio will be hosting a series of events to give people an opportunity to learn about the latest technology and practices in the field of Extended Reality (XR). They will be providing workshops, webinars, and other interactive sessions for people to learn about XR and its applications
New BTS series on the Blender Project
Enjoy the first episode of Blenderheads, a series about the people behind the Blender project. The editor and director –documentary maker Maaike Kleverlaan– works embedded in the Blender headquarters to cover the activities and conduct interviews. The first episode is set during September-December 2022, with new episodes being published on a quarterly basis.