Global VFX studio Rhythm & Hues gets revival dose from Indian owned Prana

Rhythm & Hues (R&H) is one of the leading VFX studios that has worked on major Hollywood blockbusters including the latest multiple Oscar winning film LIFE OF PI by Ang Lee. R&H had gone into bankruptcy and was put out for auction by the court. After an intense bidding war Prana, a visual effects and animation studio with offices in Los Angeles and India, has acquired R&H. Prana is incorporated in America but most of its work is done through its Indian subsidiary 34×118 Holdings. Both, Prana and 34×118 Holdings, are backed by the likes of Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries), Anand Mahindra (Mahindra & Mahindra),  Naren Gupta (Nexus Capital), and Ram Shriram (Sherpalo) as per the media reports. Among the bidders who lost in the race were Tiwanese and Chinese companies and yet another Indian VFX Company Prime Focus World. 

According to unconfirmed sources the deal may have cost Prana about Rs. 90 crores (around $16 million). R&H, now under control of Prana will have to repay a large debt it owes to some of the studio majors over a period of three years. Looking at the deep pockets of its backers, it does not seem to be a big issue. R&H is expected to cut short its work force in the USA and send most of its work to its VFX and Animation hubs in Asia, Taiwan and India. 

Jeff Okun, the senior VP of Prana said, “While remaining a stand-alone company focusing on cutting-edge visual effects and innovative technology, R&H will be complimented by Prana’s world-class long-form animation. ... With the additional support of our strong investor group, we are confident R&H will continue to be the innovative quality leader in our field that they’ve been for 30 years.”

(Rajesh Kumar Singh is Editorial Consultant for Festivals and Markets for BollywoodTrade.com. He is a filmmaker, critic and market analyst)

What’s new from Autodesk

Autodesk has announced a raft of new releases amongst its range of products. In particular, the Entertainment Creation Suite 2014 includes updates to Maya, 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage and Sketchbook Designer.

So what are the new features?

Maya 2014 – includes an expanded, integrated modeling feature set, Grease Pencil and Paint Effects features. The Maya DX11Shader, working with enhancements to Viewport 2.0, enables artists to work in a high-quality real-time environment that closely matches final output. New Scene Assembly, a File Path Editor, and URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) support tools allows for easier building and managing of large and complex worlds.

The Populate tool in 3ds Max.

3ds Max 2014 – a new Populate feature lets artists generate moving or idle crowds, and there’s an updated Particle Flow toolset and a performance-enhanced viewport that now supports Microsoft DirectX 11 shaders. There are also Perspective Match and Vector Map tools.

Softimage 2014 – has a new Camera Sequencer toolset to cut between multiple cameras to edit clips, leaving the original animation data unchanged. Also there’s improved CrowdFX and ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) and an improved High-Quality Viewport plus integration into existing pipelines through improved support for animation data exchange via the Autodesk FBX 2014 format.

MotionBuilder 2014 – Linux operating system support is now available, as well as new motion capture workflow options, artist-friendly methods for positioning, measuring and selecting objects and the ability to use custom viewport renderers. There’s also an API (Application Programming Interface) for file referencing.

Mudbox 2014 – now offers single-click automatic and manual options to manipulate meshes or to precisely control various aspects of the output mesh with a user-directed solution. The release also has enhanced multi-touch workflows which include support for stencils and additional touch-enabled input devices.

SketchBook Designer 2014 – this hybrid paint and vector toolset enables exploration and presentation of new ideas for characters, props and environments.

Autodesk’s product announcements extend to their 3D design and engineering tools. One new announcement is ReCap, a pair of 3D scanning apps targeting designers, engineers and architects (Autodesk also has 123D Catch for mobile devices).

---

The company will be showcasing their products at NAB 2013 and discussing them, plus the state of the industry, at an Unfold Event in Montreal on March 27th. And you can learn more about the products with some Autodesk experts here, at the company’s new-look site.

And you can watch the full Autodesk Suites 2014 announcement in the video below:

courtesy : fxguide.com 

Tom Judd, Director Rugged Saddle Studios at Clusters Trivandrum Campus

A Day with Tom Judd, Director Rugged Saddle Studios, USA at Clusters College Trivandrum Campus

Thanks to Tom Judd for spending his day with our Mentors and Students to share his experience in Media & Entertainment Industry. His insight in Hollywood & Indian Cinema is really appreciable and students gained immense knowledge from his workshop. We are privileged to have Tom on our Advisory Board. 

How James Bond met the Queen, and other Olympics effects

The London Olympics and Paralympics are not only showcases for athletes and sports broadcasting – they also heavily feature visual effects and animation work. We take a look at how effects teams aided the Olympics opening ceremony – including the creation of the Queen’s grand entrance – and a number of affiliated Olympics and Paralympics shows and TVCs.

From Speed to Spidey: 20 years of VFX and animation

There are only a handful of visual effects houses that have been in business for 20 years or longer. And this year, Sony Pictures Imageworks has become one of them. At the same time, Sony Pictures Animation is celebrating its tenth year in operation, with its newest animated feature Hotel Transylvania to be released in September. Here's a timeline of key moments in visual effects and animated films from SPI and SPA. And check out our fxguidetv episode where Mike Seymour talks to Ken Ralston, Rob Bredow and Jay Redd about the history of Sony Pictures Imageworks and Sony Pictures Animation.

Ice Age 4: riding the new wave

It’s been ten years since Blue Sky Studios produced the first Ice Age. Now, with Continental Drift, the fourth film in the animated series, the studio has again upped the ante on its CG and rendering tools, particularly for more than 500 ocean and storm shots. We go behind the scenes with Blue Sky on water, voxels, efficient sky creation and character sims.

Sinbad: The Mill’s effects voyage

VFX supe David Houghton from The Mill tells fxguide about the elemental visual effects in the new TV series Sinbad.