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Plus, DNEGs visual effects for Venom Horse and the Venom vs Xenophage airplane fight in Venom: The Last Dance.At one point in Kelly Marcels Venom: The Last Dance, our heroes Eddie (Tom Hardy) and Venom run into their old friend Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu) in Las Vegas. It culminates in a dance routine between Venom and Mrs. Chen inside a casino. DNEG, which has worked on all three Venom films, took on the dance sequence. We had a wonderful choreographer and a couple of dancers who developed that entire dance scene along with Kelly, outlines DNEG visual effects supervisor David Lee, who worked with production visual effects supervisors John Moffatt and Aharon Bourland on the film. It was filmed at Leavesden and we did some motion capture tests beforehand to test eyelines, and ensure we were staging them correctly to accommodate the size difference. Mrs. Chen has a couple of spins and gets lifted up by Venom, so we just needed to make sure that what we were doing would actually work on the day, and that included just the ability to scale up our dancer and our mocap data. For the shoot, the stand-in performer for Venom was around 6 feet tall, although Venom is another foot on top of that. We gave him some extendable forearms to dance with and that allowed him to get a better idea about his reach, particularly around the environment, but also it gave Mrs. Chen a point of reference on the day, and something to hold onto when they were interacting with each other, explains Lee. The distance between performers was of utmost importance. We didnt want Venoms arms to be forced artificially close to his body when it came time to animate, so this allowed both performers to always have Venoms true stature in mind throughout, and place themselves accordingly.A separate motion capture session then took place in order to provide data and reference for the final CG Venom. Lees initial thoughts were that DNEG would need to add a sense of weight and slower speed for the large Venom character, but then after considering reference of dancers with large frames, it became apparent that some of these big guys are incredibly light on their feet. I mean, thats the whole thing with dance, isnt it? Its very much, no matter what your size, you can be incredibly graceful and quick. So it just meant that we kept Venom a little bit pacier than what we were expecting at the start. It was really fun doing that sequence, and I think it went down really, really well. The animators in particular had a great time acting out to that. Crafting VenomHaving worked on the two previous films, DNEG was certainly familiar with the character. Still, the Venom model was effectively re-rigged and had facial shapes re-developed to deal with changes in the VFX studios pipeline over the years. DNEGs fresh challenge on The Last Dance was seeing Venom, and Wraith Venom, the tendrily character that emerges out of Eddie, in broad daylight.Venoms lighting is driven primarily by reflections, says Lee. So if you are in a desert, for example, and youve just got the sun as the primary light source, that meant that we wouldnt necessarily be getting all of the detailing and shaping on him that we would get in a night scene, where you might have all of these multiple light sources that can be quite small. They give us a lot of opportunity to shape and give form to this silhouette.We still ended up using quite a bit of creative licence within the daylight scenes and essentially adding multiple small light sources, but still biasing them towards the keylight direction, adds Lee. That enabled us to get more shape and form on Venom, allowing him to keep a similar look to the previous films and not just losing him to one very hot, bright reflection coming in from the key side, which just wasnt aesthetically very pleasing. The idea was to ensure that Venom and Wraith Venom did not feel like a black void in daylight scenes. We would look at imagery of oil as the natural reference, advises Lee, and if it wasnt getting any reflections, oil almost looks like a black hole into something else entirely. It can look completely unreal. That was something that we were very conscious of trying to avoid. So, we began adding these smaller, additional lights within the rigs that would give us more specular points of interest on Wraith, biasing it towards the key light. This gave us his classic wet look and, when combined with a soft subtle bounce, it really helped get some nice shapes and form without flattening him out from broad, bright sky reflections.In terms of animating Wraith Venom, DNEG leant heavily into the emotion of the scene with Eddie, allowing Wraiths lips to have a larger range of motion. Its really challenging from an animation point of view when youve really only got these eyes without any kind of eyebrows or any other kind of facial features and a mouth with very rudimentary lips, admits Lee. Even though he doesnt have eyebrows, we would treat the top of the eyelids in a very similar way to how we would when we animate with eyebrows. In addition to building Venom and Wraith Venom for the film, DNEG was also responsible for the CG builds for new characters Venom Horse, Xenophage and the green Symbiote. Builds were shared with other VFX vendors, including Industrial Light & Magic.Wait, Venom Horse?Yes, Venoms symbiote abilities transform a horse that he and Eddie ride on in the desert. DNEG referenced Shire and Draft horses to analyze how large muscular horses moved. Theyre actually reasonably light on their feet when they start running, states Lee. Also, when we were doing initial tests on this, you see theres a couple of different ways that you can traverse a distance. You can either move your legs faster or you can have a longer gait. We played around with both, as Kelly wanted to lean into the comical side of the sequence.Initially, to push this comical aspect, DNEG increased the speed of leg movement but the result was something too cartoonish. So, instead, we increased the gait to sell the weight of the horse, says Lee. Venoms a big guy, and you always want to have that sense of power running through his performance.For the look of Venom Horse, DNEG had to be careful with its black liquidy sheen. What we found, reveals Lee, was that, with the speed of the horse, it would often read a little bit too much like noise, and it would often end up in quite streaky motion blur, which just aesthetically didnt really look particularly great. The studio therefore added a broader sheen like real horses. It was about leaning into something the audience could grab onto, says Lee. We still had a touch of that Venom-esque tighter specular running through it, and again, we would bias it onto the key side and allow it to fall off on the shadow side. I think it looked quite successful in terms of its surface characteristics in the end.Encounter with the XenophageEarlier, Eddie and Venom had hitched a ride on a jet plane, only to fight against a Xenophage mid-air. The sequence was filmed on stage on a partial airplane section, which enabled Hardy to be shown hanging onto the side of the plane. That enabled us to get a really good grounding in terms of Toms performance and interaction, notes Lee. It also enabled us to film the interior of those sequences to a degree, since we had about seven or eight rows of seats, and then could do an extension.DNEG built a CG plane and environment. One of the principal challenges was selling the right sense of drama and tension with a plane traveling at that speed. Thats where we made sure that we had a lot of clouds that were always visible in the scene, says Lee. Underneath the plane, we had our wispy clouds that were passing by, but we also really dived into the idea that Venom was essentially something that could liquefy. We really lent into the idea that with this speed of the wind, it was essentially disrupting this solid topology using additional cloth simulations, and giving him all of these ripples all over his body to try and sell that environmental impact.Animation took a strong lead in terms of trying to sell the difficulty of moving against that kind of force, continues Lee. So when the hand comes up to try and gain a new position, for example, you might see it being pulled backwards slightly before he regains his strength and starts pushing it forwards. We looked at a lot of referenceits fantastic when we have people like Tom Cruise actually doing some of those stunts for real and being able to say, Well, thats what your face looks like when you are strapped to the side of the plane.For the Xenophage itself, DNEG considered references of praying manti, reptiles and even turtles, given the creature was somewhat of a mix of an insect and a shelled beast. Says Lee: Kelly was really keen to have something that we hadnt seen before for, even down to the conveyor-belt teeth effect, where youve got these rows of teeth that are essentially emerging from underneath the gums and pulling its prey back to the back of the teeth where it then gets crushed by an additional two rollers of teeth.Venom in attack modeFending off an attack in Mexico early in the film, Eddie and Venom unleash their traditional weapons made up of spindly hands, as well as showcasing the classic transformation between Eddie and Venom seen in the previous movies. Those kinds of transformation shots are just always complex in terms of the feedback between animation, CFX, shot sculpt and effects, outlines Lee. The ideal situation with all of these departments in a normal film is that everyone just moves on one at a time, and that makes it very, very straightforward. But with these kinds of shots, everyones standing on each others toes. Its just not a very linear process, and credit to animation, creature FX, and FX for really working together as a strong unit to get the shots working.One particular shot sees Eddie be almost pushed out of Venom and then thrown across the room via Venoms spidery tendrils. That was an opportunity for us to really play around with the idea of Venom almost shedding his skin, discusses Lee. Wraith emerges from Venom while hes still Venom and pushes him out of his own body. And then this allowed the head to actually split in two and start to disintegrate and liquefy as he gets pushed out. It was quite fun taking these established conventions and then just tweaking them a little bit and playing around with the character. All Images Courtesy of DNEG 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.The post How DNEG made Venom dance appeared first on befores & afters.

Our celebration of Unity 6 continues with our Office Hours series. Join us this week for the Probuilder & Cinemachine Office Hours and get your questions answered by the team behind the tech! Date: Nov 27, 2024 Location: Unity Discussions and Unity DiscordMore info here: https://on.unity.com/4eGXAzE

Get hundreds of tips from the new Unity 6 optimization guides for console, PC, mobile, web, and XR! Learn how to optimize assets for different platforms, manage memory, reduce thermal throttling and battery drainage on mobile devices, achieve high-fidelity graphics on consoles, and much more. Theres something for every Unity developer in these guides. Read more about whats in the guides: https://on.unity.com/4emOKah

U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trumps incoming border czar, Tom Homan.Nearly half of the nations approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers.Trump, a Republican, vowed to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally as part of his campaign to win back the White House, a logistically challenging undertaking that critics say could split apart families and disrupt U.S. businesses.Homan has said immigration enforcement will focus on criminals and people with final deportation orders but that no immigrant in the U.S. illegally will be exempt.He told Fox News on Nov. 11 that enforcement against businesses would have to happen but has not said whether the agricultural sector would be targeted.Weve got a lot on our plate, Homan said in a phone interview this month.Mass removal of farm workers would shock the food supply chain and drive consumer grocery prices higher, said David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University.Theyre filling critical roles that many U.S.-born workers are either unable or unwilling to perform, Ortega said.Farm groups and Republican allies are encouraged by the incoming administrations stated focus on criminals.Dave Puglia, president and CEO of Western Growers, which represents produce farmers, said the group supports that approach and is concerned about impacts to the farm sector if a deportation plan was targeted at farmworkers.Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not directly address the farmer concerns in a statement to Reuters.The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, like deporting migrant criminals and restoring our economic greatness, Leavitt said. He will deliver.Trump announced on Saturday that he would nominate Brooke Rollins, who chaired the White House Domestic Policy Council during his first term, to become agriculture secretary.Agriculture and related industries contributed $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product, or 5.6%, in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.In his first administration, Trump promised the farm sector that his deportation effort would not target food sector workers, though the administration did conduct raids at some agricultural worksites, including poultry processing plants in Mississippi and produce processing facilities in Nebraska.U.S. Representative John Duarte, a Republican and fourth-generation farmer in Californias Central Valley, said farms in the area depend on immigrants in the U.S. illegally and that small towns would collapse if those workers were deported.Duartes congressional seat is one of a handful of close races where a winner has yet to be declared.Duarte said the Trump administration should pledge that immigrant workers in the country for five years or longer with no criminal record will not be targeted and look at avenues to permanent legal status.I would like to hear more clearly expressed that these families will not be targeted, he said.We need the certaintyFarmers have a legal option for hiring labor with the H-2A visa program, which allows employers to bring in an unlimited number of seasonal workers if they can show there are not enough U.S. workers willing, qualified and available to do the job.The program has grown over time, with 378,000 H-2A positions certified by the Labor Department in 2023, three times more than in 2014, according to agency data.But that figure is only about 20% of the nations farm workers, according to the USDA. Many farmers say they cannot afford the visas wage and housing requirements. Others have year-round labor needs that rule out the seasonal visas.Farmers and workers would benefit from expanded legal pathways for agricultural laborers, said John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation, a farmer lobby group.We need the certainty, reliability and affordability of a workforce program and programs that are going to allow us to continue to deliver food from the farm to the table, said John Hollay, director of government relations at the International Fresh Produce Association, which represents produce farmers.For decades, farm and worker groups have attempted to pass immigration reform that would enable more agricultural workers to stay in the U.S., but the legislation has failed so far.The risk of enforcement against farms is likely low because of the necessity of the workers, said Leon Fresco, an immigration attorney at Holland & Knight.There are some very significant business interests that obviously want agricultural labor and need it, he said.But for farmworkers, the fear of enforcement can create chronic stress, said Mary Jo Dudley, director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, which is training workers to know their rights if confronted by immigration officials.If there are again raids on meatpacking plants, immigration enforcement should take precautions to avoid detaining workers in the country legally, said Marc Perrone, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents some meatpacking workers.Edgar Franks, a former farmworker and political director at Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a workers union in Washington State, said the group is seeing new energy from workers to organize.The anxiety and fear is real. But if were together, theres a better chance for us to fight back, he said.Leah Douglas and Ted Hesson, Reuters

When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline a vision of familiarity that conveys that dreaming, longing feeling we all love.Shes not sure what to think about Jaguar now after the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding this week that featured loud colors and androgynous people but no cars. Jaguar, the company says, will now be JaGUar. It will produce only electric vehicles beginning in 2026.And say goodbye to British racing green, Cotswold Blue and black. Its colors are henceforth electric pink, red and yellow, according to a video that has received backlash online. Its mission statement: Create exuberance. Live vivid. Delete ordinary. Break moulds.Intrigued? @Jaguar posted on social media. Weird and unsettled is more like it, Vogt wrote on Instagram.Especially now, with the world feeling so dystopian, the Cyprus-based brand designer wrote, a heritage brand like Jaguar should be conveying feelings of safety, stability, and maybe a hint of rebellion the kind that shakes things up in a good way, not in a way that unsettles.Our brands, ourselvesJaguar, a sturdy symbol of British tradition and refinement, was one of several iconic companies that announced significant rebrandings in recent weeks, upending a series of commercial and, yes, cultural landmarks by which many modern human beings sort each other, carve out identities and recognize the world around them.Campbells, the soupy, 155-year-old American icon immortalized in pop culture decades ago by Andy Warhol,is ready for a new, soupless name. Comcastscorporate reorganizationmeans that there will soon be two television networks with NBC in their name CNBC and MSNBC that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News, a U.S. legacy news outlet.One could even argue that the United States itself is rebranding a bit with theelection this month of former President Donald Trumpand Republican majorities in the House and Senate in a divided nation. Unlike Trumps first election in 2016, he won the popular vote in what many called a national referendum on American identity.Are we, then, the sum total of our consumer decisions what we buy, where we travel and whom we elect?Certainly, its a question for those privileged enough to be able to afford such choices. But volumes of research in the art and science of branding from brandr, an old Norse word for burning symbols into the hides of livestock say those factors do contribute to the modern sense of identity. So rebranding, especially of heritage names, can be a deeply felt affront to consumers.It can feel like the brand is turning its back on everything that it stood for and therefore it feels like its turning its back on us, the people who subscribe to that idea or ideology, said Ali Marmaduke, strategy director with the Amsterdam-based Brand Potential.He said cultural tension polarization in 2024 is surging over politics, wars in Russia and the Mideast, the environment, public health and more, creating what Marmaduke said is known as a polycrisis: the idea that there are several massive crises converging and that feel scary and complex.People are understandably freaked out by that, he said. So we are looking for something that will help us navigate this changing, threatening world that we face.Trumps Make America Great Again qualifies. So did President Joe Bidens Build Back Better slogan atop his legislative plan. And Campbells soup itself Mmm Mmm Good isnt going anywhere, its CEO, Mark Clouse, said in a statement. The companys new name, Campbells Co., will reflect the full breadth of our portfolio, which for some time has included brands like Prego pasta sauce and Goldfish crackers.When Jaguar is not a sleek movie-star car, what is it?None of the recent activity around heritage brands has sparked a backlash as ferocious as Jaguars. Its a company that has stood as a pillar of tradition-loving British identity since World War II.The rebrand, which includes a new logo, is slated to launch Dec. 2 during Miami Art Week, when the company will unveil a new electric GT model. Jaguar said in its press release that its approach was rooted in the philosophy of its founder, Sir William Lyons, to copy nothing.What its calling the new Jaguar will overhaul everything from the font of its name to the positioning of its famous leaper cat. Exuberant modernism will define all aspects of the new Jaguar world, according to the press release. The approach is thought to be aimed at selling fewer cars at a six-figure price point to a more diverse customer base.The reaction, though, ranged from bewilderment to hostility. Memes sprouted up likening the video to the Teletubbies, a Benetton ad and perhaps predictably a bow to woke culture as the blowback intersected with politics.Grace. Space. Pace. Thats what you are supposed to be about, tweeted @JonnyHorsepower. I dont know what the hell this ad (?) is about. Replied @Jaguar, cryptically: These are our Strikethroughs. Deliberate, graphical and linear.A Spectator headline declared that the Jaguar rebrand is doomed and that it had killed a British icon. But wait: What if the rebrand turns out to be just a huge mockery of woke rebrands? wondered Bennie1289 on Reddit.Marketing and branding designers pointed out that any rebrand should, at least, be easy for consumers to remember and understand. JaGUar stumbled over that test on Day 1.Correction, November 19th, read a blurb under an article in The Verge. A previous version of this article said only the G and U letters in Jaguar are upper case. The J is also upper case.Laurie Kellman, Associated Press

A beachside installation made of 3D-printed concrete stars by artist Carlos Betancourt and a series of giant jewellery by designer Nicole Nomsa Moyo will be on view as part of Miami art week 2024.Running from 2 to 8 December, the week plays host to a variety of exhibitions, fairs, and installations, including Art Basel and Design Miami, distributed throughout Miami Beach, the Design District and other areas.This year will also host the second edition of Alcova Miami, the Milan-based design fair that debuted its first American edition in the city last year.Exhibitions throughout will range from a large-scale installation by Betancourt that will eventually be submerged under water to an "immersive pop-surrealist experience" showcasing iconic furniture by the Memphis Group.Read on for eight must-see exhibitions throughout the city:Photo by Piercarlo QuecchiaAlcova Miami 2024Following its US debut during Miami art week 2023, Alcova Miami returns to the city. Previously hosted at the Selina Gold Dust Motel, this year's show will take place in an assortment of pastel-coloured Victorian houses that make up the Miami River Inn, Miami's oldest hotel.Over 40 exhibitors, including architect Suchi Reddy and Mexico studio Panorammma, will showcase work and site-specific installations throughout the houses and jungle-like greenery that envelopes the property.Image courtesy of KohlerKohler x Remedy PlaceBath brand Kohler and wellness club Remedy Place have teamed up to create an immersive exhibition to showcase the "elevated and approachable" ice bath recently created by the duo.Four of the ice baths will be on display at The Miami Beach Edition hotel, where visitors will be able to cold plunge with the aid of guided breathwork, live music, food and beverages.Photo courtesy of PET LampPET Lamp x Spanish Ministry of CultureMadrid-based design studio PET Lamp and the Spanish Ministry of Culture will host a pop-up exhibition in the Miami Design District featuring the brand's lighting woven fixture made of recycled plastic.As part of the event, US editor Ben Dreith will be moderating the panel Spanish Design as a Response to Current Reality, which will bring together PET Lamp founder Alvaro Catalan de Ocon and two other leading Spanish designers.Photo by Nora aprnkov SaprovLiminal Cycles by Lexus x Crafting PlasticsIn partnership with Berlin design studio Crafting Plastics at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA), car brand Lexus will debut four "interactive, multi-sensory" installations informed by the electric Lexus LF-ZC model.As part of the installation, the car brand will also showcase limited-edition design objects made by designers Germane Barnes, Michael Bennett, Suchi Reddy and Tara Sakhi in collaboration with fragrance brand Dilo.Image by Mateo RembeMiami Reef Star by Carlos Betancourt for ReefLineAs part of the ongoing ReefLine project, a seven-mile-long underwater coral reef installation masterplanned by OMA, Betancourt will debut a large-scale installation on South Beach made of a collection of 3D-printed concrete star-shaped modules.The installation will act as a prototype for ReefLine and will eventually be submerged underwater as a section of the project. Two other beachside installations will debut alongside Betancourt's, including a fleet of sailboats by designer Daniel Buren.Image courtesy of Nicole Nomsa MoyoPearl Jam by Nicole Nomsa MoyoMarking the 10th anniversary of the Annual Design Commission in Miami's Design District, Pearl Jam by Toronto designer Nicole Nomsa Moyo is a series of installations informed by handcrafted jewellery by indigenous Ndebele women from Southern Africa.The series will include "giant pearls", oversized earrings, a bracelet and a "deconstructable necklace", all adorned in bold patterns and distributed throughout the area's plazas.Gridlock Pendant by Phillippe MalouinA Reimagination Of Disco + Design: The Future Perfect x Supermarket Creative x The Standard SpaTo mark the 25th anniversary of hotel The Standard, three hotel rooms at its Miami Beach location will be transformed into "vignettes" outfitted with furniture provided by collectible design platform The Future Perfect.The Glam, Silver and Wabi Sabi rooms will explore the impact of disco culture on design, music, and culture and feature pieces by designers and studios including Floris Wubben, Bocci and USM.The Carlton bookshelf by Ettore Sottsass. Photo via Wikimedia CommonsMemphis Miami by Capsule in partnership with Basic.SpaceLocated in the Design District, the Memphis Miami exhibition brings together Italian design brandMemphis Milano and American artistKatherine Bernhardt for an "immersive pop-surrealist experience" that will feature iconic Memphis Group furniture and a limited-edition series of rugs by Bernhardt.As part of the exhibit the Carlton bookshelf and Tahiti lamp by designer Ettore Sottsass, the Flamingo coffee table and Riviera chair by Michele De Lucchi and objects by other Memphis Group designers will be on display.Miami art week will take place across Miami, Florida from 2 to 8 December. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.The post Eight must-see design installations to visit during Miami art week 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.