Cohere is one of the best-known AI startups outside of OpenAI and Anthropic, hitting a $5.5 billion valuation as of July. Its co-founded by an author of the Attention Is All You Need paper that helped launch the large language model (LLM) revolution.Based in Toronto and San Francisco, Cohere sells AI to enterprise customers and doesnt have a viral consumer chatbot. While Anthropic made headlines last month for a deal it inked with Palantir and AWS to sell AI to defense customers, TechCrunch has learned that Palantir is also a Cohere partner. And Coheres models are already in use at various unnamed Palantir customers, according to info discussed in a video posted by Palantir.The video is of a presentation in November 2024 at DevCon1, Palantirs first developer conference. It shows Cohere is already deploying to Palantir customers, according to remarks made by Cohere engineer and former Palantir employee Billy Trend.This is why Im really excited about working with Palantir, and were going to give you a bunch of details about exactly how were able to serve their customers, Trend said during the presentation. In the video, Trend mostly stuck to technical details. While he did not name any specific Palantir customers, Trend did mention one deployment of Coheres AI with a Palantir customer that has really strict constraints on where it can store its data and wants to be able to do inference in Arabic, which is a great opportunity for Cohere, because thats something we excel at, he said.Palantirs customers can access Coheres latest AI models via compute modules within Foundry, Trend said. It should be noted that Foundry, one of Palantirs flagship platforms, is geared more toward commercial customers versus Palantirs other, older main platform, Gotham, which was designed for defense and intelligence agencies, Palantir has described. So while, we dont know which organizations are using Cohere through Palantir, this implies it could be corporations.Palantir works with all sorts of huge enterprises, like Airbus. But it is also vocal about its close work with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, recently publishing a manifesto about how to rebuild the defense-tech sector.Cohere has touted partnerships with major tech companies like Fujitsu but has stayed quiet about any deals with Palantir, according to a review of its website and announcements.TechCrunch asked Cohere if it could specify if its AI is being used for military or intelligence-related use cases, and what Coheres general policy is toward these kinds of deployments. Cohere declined to comment.Palantir did not immediately comment. As for OpenAI, it is being used by defense tech as well, with news earlier this month that it had penned a deal with Anduril.

When it comes to visual effects there is no bigger playground than Middle-earth, populated with fantastical lands and creatures from the mind of iconic author J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning to again lead the digital charge to lift the veil on Sauron and his nefarious plan to Elven forge a collection of rings for world domination is Jason Smith, who received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the first season of Prime VideosThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Interestingly, the visual effects shot count for the eight-episode sophomore outing remained the same, which was between 6,000 and 8,000. The complexity is up a little bit at least on the creature side of things, says Smith, senior visual effects supervisor. Unfortunately, we were unable to bring back Wt FX, but had ILM focused in London and Singapore this time, DNEG and Rodeo FX. Those were the big three out of the dozen.A common creative problem on both seasons was depicting proper size and scale when the various races interacted with one another. I will tell you that scale is one of those things about this show that I love the most, states Smith. Im a puzzle guy. Scale is one of those things that everyone assumes is a solved thing, and it is in some ways, but in practice there are about 12 different solutions that are opposed to each other. Your selection of the right one determines the success or failure in ways that are astounding. Learning all of those and putting them into practice on location without motion-control has been a blast. I still do scale academy for the crew and in general, it was like a SWAT team that would go to the unit doing that type of work. They would prep and publish documents because you have to get everybody onboard with all the complexities. People dont understand right off the bat that it goes all the way down to whos playing it back and what the cameraman is following. Elements and lessons from Season 1 were leveraged wherever possible. When we started Season 1, it was like, who knows what Khazad-dm looks like at its peak, or Nmenor? notes Smith. If you expand it to all of those creative questions, Season 2 felt like we had some cache and momentum already. The number of VFX vendors essentially remained the same for the second season. According to the VFX supervisor, We had a lot of shared shots. The pipeline around succeeding and delivering the show is astounding. The team here was doing some incredible stuff with ShotGrid and all the related tools. We took what was working on Season 1 and ran with it. But there were improvements along the whole way. The number of vendors is one thing. However, with the pure number of shots that have to be in front of me all the time, the numbers catch-up with you fast. The production crew is probably bigger than people would expect because when youre tracking this amount of work and number of shots, its massive. You cant put one minute per day on every shot without going into the water. Being brought from the page to screen for the first time in the series were the Barrow-wights, which are undead creatures animated by evil spirits. Im a monster fan, so to be part of deciding what they look like on film was a dream project, Smith shares. I was fortunate enough to work with prosthetics designer Barrie Gower, and hes a maestro, a great collaborator, and loves finding the balance between practical and digital effects that work. We went back to Tolkiens writings where he wrote them with a certain mood. They dont show up and start a karate fight. The Barrow-wights slowly trick you and take you underground and have this song that they sing. The lyrics are creepy and beautiful. Also, we wanted to emphasize the fact that the Barrow-wights arent in control. The scariest thing about the Barrow-wights curse is that they could have been good people, but this evil person is pulling them out of their graves and making them do things. It came down to, Do their feet touch the ground? We landed on, no because we wanted to take away their agency. The Barrow-wights are not walking around. Theyre being pulled around. Practical performers had to be digitally augmented to achieve the desired skeletal aesthetic for the Barrow-wights. We searched out and hired performers who were capable of body manipulation such as mimes and breakdancers who able to make it look like that their body was being made to do something but not motivated by them, remarks Smith. We wanted them to feel like marionettes. We practiced with stunts pulling them out of the grave by the hips with a fork rig. As the Barrow-wights are coming up bones are cracking into place and theyre not even conscious yet. A lot of the ones that are coming out are still a pile of bones and something really bad is making it all happen. Backstories are essential when creating creatures and environments. A portion of that is private to me and not canon while what is written in the script is the real stuff, explains Smith. I find that I have to have those backstories. I need to know where these things are coming from, even the troll. The showrunners did a beautiful job of giving him an attitude, but we expanded upon that and wrote a whole backstory in our minds about who he was. It was the same for the Barrow-wights. I love the idea that the Barrow-wights are pulling you underground and hungry to trap you forever but are also aware that they shouldnt be doing this. Brought from the big to the small screen is a younger version of Shelob. Shelob is the child of a First Age spider and has Maiar status, says Smith. Thats a great example where its a spider that doesnt have a personality. They bite. We decided that she has a personality and is a jerk. When Shelob is in that fight, she is playing with Isildur. There is part that probably nobody noticed where she goes away, and a skull gets tossed out to freak him out. A lot of the stuff Shelob does she is having fun playing with her food. Thats where I find joy. Where are those little character moments that I can latch onto and say, Its not just a big spider attacking a person. There is something more to it. I had a pet trachelas called Fluffy and she would crawl up to the base of the neck. I didnt like it. I would want to peel her off and she would get mad. Trachelas have little cat claws at the ends of their legs and can hold onto you. It didnt work out between me and Fluffy for many reasons, but that moment stuck in my head. There is a moment in that fight where Shelob uses the sticky ability at the end of her leg to turn things around. Its a moment that I like that is based on Fluffy! Also, appearing is a younger Balrog, famously denied passage by Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. When I saw the original film, that moment knocked me back into my chair, recalls Smith. It was so incredibly well done, especially for the time. But forget about the time. What they pulled off in creating that character was amazing. To have an option to do something that rhymes with that is a lot of fun. However, with modern technology, its incredible what they can do now. ILM setup multiple simulations of flame, different types of smoke, and even falling ash. The smoke would billow up and you would see these vertical streamers of trailing ash. It was all done with fluid simulations and makes for an incredible opportunity because you can shadow the whole scene with that smoke. Tolkien described it specifically and poetically. He was seldomly literal when laying these things out. Tolkien wanted us to get a feeling. He wanted to play it forward with music in our brains without necessarily locking things down and making them not scary anymore. Tolkien would say it was a creature of shadow and flame. Was it made of shadow and flame? Or is it like shadow and flame? He doesnt say. There is a lot debate these days about whether parts of this creature should be real or smoke. We leaned into that and on purpose went poetic in the same way. Noting that FX-driven FX creatures are difficult to produce, Smith ads, How do you make those things drivable or a gesture or silhouette? ILM did a great job. The simulation setup was incredible. Ents get some screen time in Season 2. When you lay this season out its nuts! Smith notes. How many amazing touchstones have we had a chance to look at? Ive been thinking about Ents ever since I joined this project six years ago. Ive been taking photographs of every tree that I pass that is interesting or has a face. I had hundreds of pictures. This was the season that it came to fruition and not just a little bit. We had this old oak, Snaggleroot. Explaining how some wood is more suitable than others for Ents, Smith continues, Have you ever noticed that some trees look soft in the way that they grow? Theyll form almost organic-looking fat rolls. Other trees are rigid, vertical and linear. These old oaks that they have here in the UK are the former. If you try to move them, theyre rock hard. Then we had a beautiful Entwife, Winterbloom, which was a real honor. Entwives had never been on the screen before, so we had an opportunity to do so. Shes a cherry blossom tree. It was important that Entwives were feminine but remained purely a tree. That was part of the motivation of picking something with these beautiful blossoms on the top, he adds. Her face is a tree that I found nearby that is little bit Maggie Smith and stern as if she was going to tell Harry Potter that he was going to get demerits. It was a nice facial expression, and we designed on top of that all the nuances that make her face. We were so lucky with the voices [Ed Broadbent and Olivia Williams]. Central to the plot is the Elven forge with which Sauron crafts the rings of power. I will tell you that set was incredible, and we didnt have to do much, Smith reveals. We had to help when they were melting metal and when they were right in the middle of forging. Sometimes when the fire was super hot or someone is walking out of the fire, we had to help with those moments as well. Returning environments such as Nmenor were given an upgrade. The Eregion Siege where the real battle takes place was the big one because we did see it in Season 1 but not at the same level, says Smith. We saw glimpses of it. Now we were in situation where the fulcrum of the emotional arc of the season is taking place here. The tragedy of the Second Age. All of a sudden you have a crew of hundreds of people working in the same city asking you how much damage there is in Scene 427B. In the end, there were seven damage levels. The dwarves had built this wall around the city between seasons, and we wanted to get that put in there, states Smith. The next thing we got going was a heat map where you could go to any part of the plot in this document we put together and say, I want to go halfway through Episode 206. You could see with the heat map the areas of the city that were partially, middle, and fully destroyed. That heat map would change as you dragged the slider through the plot of the show. Special effects helped to guide the visual effects work. Our crew on the special effects side is great and are doing everything they can, but the scale of that battle was such that we were out of the corners of the frame quickly and too often, Smith states. We had to start leaning into the visual effects, though even then, every frame was chalk full of what special effects could give us. There is a big oner where we go through a lot of smoke and fires everywhere, and we added about two thirds to that. But the third that they gave us was critical because it tells us how bright fire is in that light. The troll from Season 1 is an entirely separate asset from the one that appears in Season 2. Tolkien talked about how trolls are strong, mean and dumb, observes Smith. What we did on the first season was to make one that was hungry but still strong, mean and quite dumb. It wasnt going to have a conversation with you, and I dont actually think it had lips. But we found a way to make it roar! Then on this season we wanted to push all those nobs another way. What does a troll look or act like when its a bit smarter than the average troll? But still quite strong and maybe because of being smarter, hes even meaner than most of them know how to be. Ron Perlmans physical qualities came to mind as well as Mike Ehrmantraut [Jonathan Banks] from Breaking Bad as a personality for the character. Jonathan Banks plays things in a certain way that he seems to be over but if you cross him, you better not think hes not paying attention. That became a handhold for us and all the animators. I love that character so much! Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer best known for composing in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for VFX Voice, Animation Magazine, and British Cinematographer.

Breakdown & ShowreelsSkeleton Crew: Onyx Cinder & Neel Breakdowns by ILMBy Vincent Frei - 16/12/2024 Meet the adorable character Neel, brought to life by Animation Supervisor Shawn Kelly, and see how practical effects shine with this really cool miniature model of the Onyx Cinder spaceship. Two breakdowns, two glimpses into ILMs impressive work on Skeleton Crew!WANT TO KNOW MORE?ILM: Dedicated page about Skeleton Crew on ILM website.WATCH IT ON Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024

InterviewsAlien Romulus: Dan Macarin (VFX Supervisor) & Ludovic Chailloleau (Animation Supervisor) Weta FXBy Vincent Frei - 16/12/2024 After contributing to the visual spectacle of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Dan Macarin steps into the world of Alien: Romulus, the next thrilling chapter in the iconic saga.Earlier this year, Ludovic Chailloleau walked us through the animation work Weta FX accomplished for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Now, he opens up about the challenges faced on the new Alien movie.How did you and Weta FX get involved on this show?Daniel Macarin (DM): Fede lvarez and the onset team were working through the third act of the movie and really wanted a creative partner that could help develop the ending. Weta FX has done some of the largest third acts in movie history and we were delighted to tackle the task. I had just come off doing the third act in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, which also included doing a very difficult oner sequence and a lot of work in space.Ludo and our producer Kevin Sherwood had just come off Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which involved an enormous amount of character work and destruction, making the three of us the perfect team for Alien: Romulus. What was your feeling to enter this iconic universe?DM: Extremely excited. I have so much Aliens merch around my office and Im a huge fan of the series that it made it difficult to contain my excitement when working on the film.Ludovic Chailloleau (LC): Growing up with 80s franchises is mostly the reason why I wanted to work in VFX today. Alien is a pillar of that universe; I was really excited to work on this film.How was the collaboration with Director Fede lvarez and VFX Supervisor Eric Barba?DM: From very early on in the project, the notes and creative direction Eric shared were making shots continually better, not just different. It made working with him really fantastic because we knew whatever he was going to ask us to do was going to make the story better and the shot more visually appealing. Fede joined our calls almost daily and was very involved with our work. He let us explore a lot of options and styles until we all were happy with how the feel of the story was moving. Fede was very specific in the type of movement and performance he wanted for both the Offspring and the Xenomorphs. Its always really great when you get to have such a collaborative relationship with the director and put everything you can into making the film great.LC: Working with Fede and Eric was a great art chemistry. Proposing ideas, bouncing different inspirations off each other. We were able to really explore all the work to pitch and pick the best ideas for the movie. I would say that we did really act as creative partners, working together to give it our best and figure out the third act.How did you organize the work with your VFX Producer?DM: Kevin and I pushed a lot of the larger destruction shots, like the Romulus station hitting the rings, up to the front of the schedule. We wanted to make sure that those really big shots had the time they needed to look as good as they do.It puts a lot of pressure on the Models and FX departments, but once we had hit the look we were after, the rest of the shots fell into place more quickly. The creature work on the Offspring and Xenomorphs was more difficult to organize. There was a lot of creative work and ideas that we were constantly adjusting to hit the right look and feel so we had to adapt to a more fluid schedule. LC: As Dan says, we started with all space shots first and the Offsprings augmentation work to kind of encapsule the language of both camera and Rob Bobroczkyis acting. Once we were more confident with it, we fleshed out the whole last part of the third act together, where all the destruction happens in the vacuum and the characters are hanging in space. This required some prep to really bring the realism into the animation so that it felt really connected with the rest of the sequence.What are the sequences made by Weta FX?DM: Weta FX worked on shots throughout the film, but the concentration of our work was the third act. This included Rain fighting the Xenomorphs in zero G, the destruction of the Romulus station; the space environment of the planet and rings, as well as the Offsprings evolution from birth to maturity and its attack on Rain. From inside the ship and out into space, the Offspring and the final oner as Rain makes her way back to her ship were entirely created by Weta FX. What challenges did you encounter in creating realistic planetary rings, and how did you achieve the desired visual effect?DM: We always start with reference. We looked at every documentary on Saturns rings and every bit of info we could from the files NASA puts online. You get into a lot of scientific discussions that most artists start to doze off. The hard part for the rings was finding a balance of beauty, realistic movement, and danger. If you make the rocks too small, the rings become too flat and you cant feel the speed and the movement, if you make them too big, the station starts to feel small and the audience loses the perception of its immense size. Fede wanted the rings to feel like a carpet of death and for us to incorporate the icy mountains that build up towards the outer edges of Saturns rings. LC: Pretty quickly, we realised that the feeling of scale and speed was more important than the physics behind the actual rings. It had to feel dangerous, slow from far away but deadly fast from close up. At some point, we started treating the rings as a third protagonist. The mantra was to keep it visually interesting, so we added more volume and speed variation to help the cinematography. Then for wider shots we have had to specifically design the ring shape around the planet itself to make it look giant and give a sense of infinite perspective in frame.Could you walk us through the process of designing the spaceship and the space station?DM: The ship and the station were both designed as miniatures on set. We had a large amount of reference to match. We added small details that were required for the story, like elevator shafts, extra labs and antennae. Our main work was making the assets destruction-ready and building walls, interiors, panels, pipes, and everything contained in the labs for when we ripped apart the station.How did you ensure that the scale of the planetary rings and the spaceship felt accurate and immersive to the audience?DM: One of our comp leads, Matt Holland, spent a lot of time finding a way to incorporate the planets shadow into the story so we could use it to help the audience understand where the ship and station were at any given time. Our animation team had to work through the best lenses to use for each shot to keep a look that aligns with the way youd shoot practical miniatures on set. They had to focus on the height from the rings and the speed of the planetary rotation so that the story points could always be easily identifiable to the audience. LC: When we first compiled our ship and planet assets in the same scene, at the correct scale, it was really impressive to see how different a human camera would have to move in space in order to frame what we wanted. Space and rings are huge, speeds are constants, and operating a camera in these conditions is really different than doing it on smaller scale with something in foreground to help figure out camera movements. It took a few iterations for the team to be able to operate these assets in that huge environment and achieve the right feeling. Trying to frame the Corbelan flying at 20.000k/h in front of smaller rocks flying even faster to give a sense of danger and keep it visually clear was exciting. The same for the shot of the Station crashing through the rings, we went through a few staging variations to fine tune the feeling of speed, and huge size.What role did lighting and color play in enhancing the visual impact of the space scenes, particularly around the rings and the station?DM: For the lighting we relied heavily on what the DP Galo Olivares had shot on set. We tried to keep lighting color and contrast to have a similar feeling to shots throughout the film so that the movie always had a consistent style and visual look. The ring color had to stay more of a neutral icy feel so it didnt overly contrast with the warmer planet.Can you share any behind-the-scenes insights into how the visual effects team collaborated to seamlessly integrate the spaceship and space station into the larger cosmic environment?DM: At the start of the show we asked for the list of camera lenses that the cinematographer uses on set. We got all the data on the lights that are being used. Temperature, gels, size, distance from subject, everything we can get our hands on. The closer we can get our base to what was used on set, the better the integration will be with any practical element we add. Most of the work in space was entirely digital, but its base was still aligned to what youd see if you were to shoot it as a miniature.What were the biggest challenges in bringing the Xenomorph to life on screen, especially in terms of movement and interaction with the environment?DM: Performance. The physiology of the Xenomorph allows it to move in a large variety of ways. You can play them like an actor in a suit or on all fours like a cat. How do the Xenos work with each other As a swarm or more individual. You could have them use more of their tails like a scorpion if you wanted. The challenge was to find the best performance based on Fedes direction and the story we were trying to tell. LC: The first Alien film features a Xenomorph on two legs, sort of bipedal, then on Aliens, we saw them moving on four legs, on the walls. We went through a few different inspirations to figure out the best feeling for it according to its design constraints. How fast they move, how do they interact with each other. Our main Xeno performance takes place in a zero-gravity environment. To do it we had to build few systems to really kill the incidence of the hips and emphasise the grip on the walls instead. A lot of details were figured out on the fly, like how to animate the tail, how to show that they are moving forward with the heads always leading like a predator on a curve but not too smooth. They had to feel creepy like cockroaches but not too much. Their big four back-pipes are sometimes in the way of its limbs, head and tail, but in the meantime, they give it so much of its identity. This creature design is fantastic, it allows so much attitude with minimal input.Could you elaborate on the techniques used to create the intense zero-gravity battle scene? How did you ensure the physics felt realistic?DM: We had actors on our mocap stage perform many of the movements. These motions were very carefully adjusted by our animation team, slowing down sections while keeping the overall movement based on real physical performances.LC: Working on Kong x Godzilla before helped to figure out a better and faster way to capture interesting zero gravity movements. After few discussions with our amazing stage team, we came up with great systems to help give the actors easy flow and allow them to focus on the story of each shot. I think we ended up with something quite interesting. At some points we even had to tone down the floating feeling because we were starting to lose their tension and the dangerousness of the character.What role did practical effects and CGI play in the creation of the Xenomorph, and how did you strike a balance between the two?DM: Fede had shot a lot of the in between shots using practical Xenomorphs. This gave us anchor points for the sequence. We knew when and where the Xenos had to be between shots. We knew our look had to match identically to the practical. It was less of a balance and more of a goal. If they could have shot them all practically, they would have, so we needed to make it feel like they did.How did you choreograph the zero-gravity battle to maintain tension and excitement while also dealing with the complexities of weightlessness?LC: We carefully broke down each shot of the sequence to really establish the flow and the needs of each performance as a whole. Then we did more breakdowns to allow a few hero Xeno creatures a mini story across all shots in continuity. The rig we built on stage was really helpful and allowed us to fine-tune details. We then composed the shot to give it the right feeling in terms of number and momentum. We had versions with a big horde of Xenomorphs rushing forward, but once in the dark lighting we realised that the feeling was not quite there, so we reorganised their numbers to make it clearer.What were some of the unique challenges in blending the Xenomorphs presence with the zero-gravity environment during the battle scene, and how did you overcome them?DM: Fede had a very specific idea in mind with the Xenomorphs. They are predators. They are also very smart. He wanted to make sure they moved towards their prey as a pack, using a pack leader as a guide. They are also able to anticipate and strategize. When Rain turns off the gravity, the initial thought is the Xenos will float around and be helpless, but they know what she is planning. They quickly react to the loss of gravity. All the Xenos move into using their fingers / claws and tail to adjust in the environment. They move by jumping position to position knowing how to land and keep balanced in order to remain focused on their target. Ludo and the Animation team had to design these performances so that the audience understood this about them. It had to feel intentional so that when they do get shot and they lose that control of their environment, they are then helpless to recover in time to save themselves.LC: Staging all Xenos limbs and blood across the sequence as they get shot was a real challenge. We had to come up with a system that visually represented the acid from the early blocking stages. That way we could sell what the shot would look like in Anim and compose all of the characters around it.What was the inspiration behind the design of the Offspring, and how did you ensure it stood out as a unique and terrifying creature?DM: The base design of the Offspring is a 7 ft., 5 in. actor in an amazing prosthetic suit. The performance and the look of the creature are all based off the actor on set. To keep it unique and part of the story, we kept it evolving throughout the sequence. It was always dripping black goo from its back, its tail was growing over time, as well as adjustments to his feet and hands. Its mini-mouth was also evolving to grow from a feeding device into more of a weapon. You have characteristics of both the engineers we saw in Prometheus and the Xenomorphs from the original Alien movie. This kept it grounded in something the audience could accept as being part of this universe while still being amazed at how horrific something familiar can be.How did you approach the animation of the Offspring to convey both its alien nature and its disturbing characteristics?DM: We focused a lot on the actors performance. We needed to make sure when we went digital with the character that it didnt suddenly move twice as fast as the previous shot with the real actor or move in a way that caused the audience to see the real versus CG performance. It needs to flow as one performance across the sequence. We had a very less is more approach to its movement. Having it move too quickly or too erratically was going to turn it into a cartoon character. It has a very similar movement and intent of the Xenomorphs, which is more of a predator hunting its prey. Slowing down the movement made it feel more menacing and frightening, striking only when necessary. LC: As the Offspring grows up, we slowly discover that it has a tail. This tail is the xenomorph identity so we used it in the way that it would not look like a dog or a scorpion. Instead, an approach we had was to imagine how we would have created this tail motion in the 1980s. Certainly not by moving the whole body and tail around. One way to ground this giant tail to an actor in a suit would have been to have an extra with a stick hidden nearby, moving this heavy tail from its tip. The rest of the tail, attached to the suit, would simply react to it, up to the hips, in a rack dolly way. That way, it gives the creature and its appendices an erratic way to move. Thats an example of how we approached details of the Offspring to portray his attitude.What specific challenges did you face in making the Offsprings movements feel unnatural yet realistic enough to be terrifying?LC: We really studied Robs performance in order to understand the mechanic of its locomotion. He is a very tall person with a lot of strength. What makes the Offspring terrifying is certainly its slow steering but sturdy moves. There is no waste of energy when it walks, everything moves with momentum. And in term of facial performance, it has a blank look, and never blinks! Even once out in space, when it is in pain with boiling blood, it is still steady, focus on its prey, with a sharp strike. Less is more was our best ally.Can you discuss the collaboration between the design and animation teams in creating the Offsprings distinct appearance and behaviour?DM: Giving his movements a sort of psychosexual motion.Its part of Giegers original designs of this world. You understand the movement and the intent without ever needing a character in the scene to spell it out for the audience. It plays on emotions of childhood and maturity that people would never want to be a part of, yet they understand it. Its the kind of behaviour that is real, but still terrifying to experience. Seeing this creature move in that way is what draws people in, allowing us to set up the finale where all connection to this creature is ripped away. LC: The moment where the Offspring takes its mini mouth out is one of them (sorry if there is another name for it, but that is what all called it!). We specifically worked on both design and animation together to make sure that the story and sub story were hit in those shots. Another one, for instance, was where the tail first grows out after his feed. After talking with Fede to clearly understand his vision, we worked with Models and our Art Department to build a special setup that allowed animation to really drive and stage the tails bones pace and timing.How did you use visual effects to enhance the Offsprings presence on screen, particularly in terms of texture, lighting, and interaction with its environment?DM: The Offspring is way too big for the environment it is thrown into. This caused it to be slightly clumsy at times and continually knock items in the room around. Its tail would hit walls, guns, boxes. The Offspring was trying to figure out its place in a world not designed for it. The lighting in the ship moves in ways to enhance the performance. The Offspring would often move slowly, but we took over the set lighting and added fluctuation to the lights, power surges, and flickering. It balanced the movement to hold onto the intensity of the scene. The Offsprings texture is similar to that of an Engineer from Prometheus, but it was more broken up, fresh out of an egg and growing too quickly. This meant adding more fluid, sand, and slime to the surface of its skin. When the Offspring gets pulled into space, its skin needs to be torn by the flowing sand and atmosphere pouring from the ship, its bleeding, its blood is boiling under the skin.Were there any memorable moments or scenes from the film that you found particularly rewarding or challenging to work on from a visual effects standpoint?DM: The space environment took a lot of development and when it came together we all had a moment of both awe and relief. When the first renders of the Offspring started coming out, the team internally would be sort of disgusted by the visual presence of the Offspring, which was definitely memorable. If we were able to gross ourselves out, we were on the right track. LC: The outer space shots at the end were great to work on. The last shot where Rain escapes, with the Offspring travelling through the container to then finally watch the ship crashing into the ring in the background was definitively challenging and exciting.Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?DM: The worst thing would have been for people to chuckle or snicker when they see the Offspring, so when in the theatre and the audience had such a perfect reaction when they saw it, it was incredibly rewarding. That gasp and almost silent reaction of what am I seeing right now? Seeing how people didnt turn away but were engaged and amazed. That is what our team values, knowing the work was successful and got the audience to become a part of that moment. Which sequence or shot was the most challenging?DM: The station crashing into the rings. The immense scale and amount of geometry was insane. It needed to be beautiful and destructive at the same time. There were several story points all crossing at the same time. There were easter eggs to add in. It was an immense amount of work with a very satisfying conclusion. LC: The Offspring jump scare was challenging, when Rain is climbing back up to the container surrounded by all the sand pouring out in space. This took us a lot of iterations before finding the right timing. It was great to see the audience reacting to it, jumping back in their seats!What is your favourite shot or sequence?DM: The first shot you see of the Offspring in space. Its a perfect balance of sound and visual terror.LC: I really enjoyed the very first shot of the Offspring, on all fours, watching Andy.A big thanks for your time.WANT TO KNOW MORE?Weta FX: Dedicated page about Alien: Romulus on Weta FX website.Eric Barba: Heres my interview of Production VFX Supervisor Eric Barba.WATCH IT ON Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024

Ben Allan ACS CSI, test drives and reviews the URSA Cine 12K LF, with Oscar winner Bruce Beresford and also with our own fxcrew.Blackmagic Design refers to their much anticipated high-end camera as the first cine camera design. This camera is also the basis for the new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive, which the company announced today is now available to pre-order from Blackmagic Design.URSA Cine Immersive cameraThe new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera will be the worlds first commercial camera system designed to capture Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro (AVP), with deliveries starting in early 2025. DaVinci Resolve Studio will also be updated to support editing Apple Immersive Video early next year, offering professional filmmakers a comprehensive workflow for producing Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro. Rumours have been incorrectly claiming Apple is moving away from the AVP, this is clearly not the case. The AVP: Immersive Video format is a remarkable 180-degree media format that leverages ultra-high-resolution immersive video and Spatial Audio to place viewers in the center of the action.Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive will feature a fixed, custom lens system pre-installedThe Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive will feature a fixed, custom lens system pre-installed on the body, which is explicitly designed to capture Apple Immersive Video for AVP. The sensor can deliver 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye with pixel level synchronisation and an impressive 16 stops of dynamic range. Cinematographers will be able to shoot 90fps 3D immersive cinema content to a single file. The custom lens system is designed for URSA Cines large format image sensor with extremely accurate positional data thats read and stored at time of manufacturing. This immersive lens projection data which is calibrated and stored on device then travels through post production in the Blackmagic RAW file itself.Hands-on with Ben Allan, ACS CSI.Ben tested one of the first URSA Cine 12K LF camera.URSA Cine 12K LF : Cinema or Cine?BMDs has used the terms cinema and digital film camera for most of the cameras they have made. This a reflection of the fact that when they first started to produce cameras, they already had the prestige post-production software DaVinci Resolve in their stable, so a big part of the equation in starting to produce their own cameras was to fill the gap of an affordable, small camera which could produce images which were suitable for colour grading with the powerful tools already available in Resolve.Their original Cinema Camera was introduced in 2012 with an unconventional design and, crucially, recording very high-quality files in either ProRes or Cinema DNG RAW. It is probably hard to put this in the proper perspective now, but at the time, it sparked a little revolution in the industry where high-end recording formats were tightly tied to the most expensive cameras. Only a few years earlier, RED had started a similar revolution at a time when Super 35mm sized single sensors which could be used with existing cinema lenses, was the province of the most expensive digital cameras from Sony and Panavision. At the same time, RAW recording for moving pictures was essentially a pipe-dream.By showing that these things could be delivered to the market in a working camera system at somewhere near a 10th of the cost, RED catapulted the whole industry forward and forced the existing players to fast-track the new technologies into the families of high-end cameras were all familiar with today such as Sonys F-series, Panavisions RED-based DXLs, ARRIs ALEXAs and Canons Cinema Line.The other revolution which had also occurred recently was the advent of HD video recording in DSLRs with the introduction of the Canon 5D-II. While this suddenly gave people a low-cost way of recording cinematic images with shallow depth of field coming from a single large sensor, the 5D-II and the next few generations of video-capable DSLRs were limited by highly compressed 8-bit recording. The effects of this would sometimes only become apparent when the images were colour-graded and DCT blocking from the compression and banding from the 8-bit recording became difficult or even impossible to remove.BMDs choice to offer both 10-bit ProRes and 12-bit Cinema-DNG RAW recording removed the quality bottle-neck and allowed users with limited budgets or needing a light and compact camera to record in formats that met or exceeded the specifications of a 2K film scan, which was still the standard for cinema production at the time.What BMD did by releasing a camera that could match the file format quality of the high-end cameras with low or no compression and high bit depth and at a tiny percentage of the cost from even the original RED showed that these features neednt be kept for the top-shelf cameras alone, sparking the other manufacturers to allow these features to trickle down into their more affordable cameras as well.Since then, Blackmagic has evolved and expanded its range of cameras year after year and is now easily one of the most significant players in the professional motion image camera market.From the Pocket Cinema Cameras at the entry-level, to the various incarnations of the URSA Mini Pro platform, all of these cameras delivered varying degrees of film-like dynamic range combined with recording formats that provided the basis for intensive colour grading and VFX work. Since the DSLR revolution, there has been an explosion in the options for rigging cameras for cine style shooting, and all of these BMD cameras could and were extensively rigged in this way.For over a decade, BMD has been releasing cameras that record in cinema-friendly formats, optimised for high-end post-production requirements and routinely rigged for cinema-style shooting, so why call this new camera their first cine camera? I think this is their way of explaining succinctly that this is a camera designed from the ground up for film production style shooting.The Cine BenchmarkWhen we think of the modern motion picture film camera, the benchmark both in a practical sense and in the popular consciousness in the Panavision Panaflex, with its big white film magazine sitting on top, it is the very essence of what people both inside and outside the industry feel a movie camera should look.But a huge part of the success of the Panaflex since its introduction in the 1970s is that the camera itself was designed and evolved as part of a cohesive ecosystem that was modular, flexible and, most importantly reliable. In creating this, Panavision set expectations for crews and producers of what a professional camera system needed to be. This philosophy has flowed through in varying ways to all of the high-end digital camera systems used today. Take the ARRI ALEXA 35, for example, with a modular design that can be quickly and easily optimised for a wide range of shooting styles and requirements, has all the connections required for professional work, including multiple SDI outputs, power for accessories and wireless control.In this context, it starts to become very clear what BMD have done with the URSA Cine platform; they have designed a system that is driven by this cinema camera philosophy rather than, say their DSLR-styled Pocket cameras or the TV-inspired URSA Mini Pro range. Different design philosophies for different purposes.The URSA Cine 12K LF is the first camera to be released from the URSA Cine line ahead of the URSA Cine 17K with its 65mm film-sized image sensor and the URSA Cine Immersive stereoscopic camera being developed with Apple and optimised for capturing films in the 180 Immersive format for the Apple Vision Pro. While these other two cameras are much more niche, special-purpose tools, the Cine LF is very much a mainstream production camera system. An Operators CameraWhen it comes to actually using the Cine LF it becomes very clear what a mainstream system it is. It is a very operator-friendly camera that is well thought out. Although it is a little bigger and heavier than the URSA Mini Pro cameras, it is still significantly smaller and lighter than a full-sized ALEXA, which is of itself much smaller and lighter than something like a fully loaded Panaflex.The Cine LF is packaged in one of two kits, both well-kitted up and pretty much ready to shoot but with and without the EVF. I suspect the EVF kit will be by far the more popular, as the viewfinder is as good as any Ive ever used. It is sharp and clear, the contrast is exceptionally good, the colour rendition is incredibly accurate, and all in a very compact unit. The EVF connects to the camera via a single, locking USB-C cable which carries power, picture and control. Not only is this convenient, it allows the EVF to be thoroughly controlled from the cameras touchscreen menu. This is dramatically easier and quicker than the URSA Mini Pros EVF menu system. In addition to the EVF function buttons, there is even a record trigger on the EVF itself. In certain situations, this could be an extremely useful feature, particularly when the camera is wedged into a tight spot.The EVF is mounted using a system that attaches quickly to the top handle and allows the viewfinder to be positioned with a high degree of freedom. The kit also includes a viewfinder extension mount which is very quick and easy to attach and remove and can be used with or without an eyepiece leveller. With all of these elements, it is easy to position the EVF wherever the operator needs it and then firmly lock it in place. The way all these pieces fit together is solid, smooth and seamless. In this respect, it is instantly reminiscent of the Panaflex philosophy, it doesnt force you to use the camera in a particular way, it just allows you to make the choices, and the system supports that.The kit also includes a hard case with custom foam. This is also in keeping with the traditions of high-end professional camera systems from people like ARRI. I have a URSA Mini Pro case by SKB that allows the camera to be packed with the EVF attached, and I like that. However, the decision to have the camera packed with the EVF and its mounting system removed makes the whole case much neater and more petite than would otherwise be possible. In fact, the Cine LF EVF kit is substantially smaller than my case for the URSA Mini Pro, despite the bigger camera. In addition to being more consistent with film camera standards, the key to making this work is how quick and easy it is to attach the EVF once the camera is out of the case. The top handle and baseplate remain on the camera when packed.The baseplate with both kits is also an excellent piece of gear. Like the URSA Mini baseplate, it offers a lot of freedom where it is mounted to the underside of the camera body, but the Cine baseplate demonstrates how much this system is designed for film-style shooting. While the URSA Mini Baseplate is a broadcast-style VCT system that works well for getting a fully built camera quickly on and off the tripod it doesnt offer much in the way of rebalancing when the camera configuration changes substantially. The URSA Cine baseplate uses the ARRI dovetail system which is now almost ubiquitous for high-end production cameras. Although the kit doesnt come with the dovetail plate, it connects easily to both the ARRI ones and third-party plates, and the locking mechanism allows it to be partly unlocked for positioning with a safety catch to fully unlock for putting the camera on and off the plate.The baseplate also has a thick and comfortable shoulder pad built-in and mounting for both 15mm LWS and 19mm Studio rods.Together all of these features of the EVF and the baseplate mean that it would be quick and easy to reconfigure the Cine LF from working with a big lens like the Angenieux 24-290mm with a 66 matte box and the viewfinder extension and in moments, have the camera with a lightweight prime lens, clamp on matte box and ready for a handheld shot. This is the sort of flexibility crews expect from a high-end cine-style camera system, and the Cine LF delivers it comfortably.The kit also comes with both PL and locking EF lens mounts which can be changed with a 3mm hex key. These two options will cover a lot of users needs, but there is also an LPL for those who want to use lenses with ARRIs new standard mount, such as the Signature Primes and Zooms and also a Hasselblad mount for using their famous large format lenses.MonitoringMonitoring options is one area where the Cine LF is in a class of its own. In addition to the EVF, there are two built-in 5 HDR touchscreen monitors, which are both large and very clear, with 1500 nits of brightness and very good contrast, and with FHD resolution matching the EVF. On the operator side is a fold-out display, and when it is folded in, there is a small status display showing all the cameras key settings. This is similar to the one on the URSA Mini Pro cameras but with a colour screen. Unlike the URSA Mini fold-out screens, this one can rotate right around so that the monitor faces out while folded back into the camera body. I can imagine this being very convenient when the operator uses the EVF with the extension mount, and the focus puller could be working directly off the 5 display folded back in. The operator side monitor can even rotate around so that the subject can see themselves, potentially useful for giving an actor a quick look at the framing, or for total overkill selfies!On the right hand side, the second 5 monitor is rugged mounted to the side of the camera body. Like the left-side flip-out screen it is also a touch screen, and the whole menu system can be accessed from both screens. Either screen can be configured for an assistant, operator or director with a wide array of options for as little or as much information as required. The right side screen also has a row of physical buttons below it to control the key features and switch between modes.The first shoot I used the Cine LF on was with Bruce Beresford (director of Best Picture Oscar winner Driving Miss Daisy), shooting scenery for his new film Overture. Bruce loved that simply standing next to the camera allowed him to clearly see what was being filmed without waiting for additional equipment to be added to the camera. I can imagine many directors becoming quite used to this feature, allowing them to get away from the video village and be near the action whenever needed.The camera body also has two independent 12G SDI outputs. In the menu system, there are separate controls for both SDI outputs, both LCDs and the EVF, so you can have any combination of LUT, overlays, frame lines, focus and exposure tools etc., on each one.For example, it would be easy to have the LUT, overlays & frame lines on in the EVF for the operator, LUT and focus tools on the right side monitor for the focus puller, false colour & histogram on the left side monitor for the Director Of Photography to check, LUT & frame lines on one SDI out for the director and a clean Log feed on the other for the DIT or any other combination. This flexibility allows the camera to function in a wide range of crew structures and shooting styles efficiently. Because of this, it would be pretty feasible to effectively drop the camera into most existing mainstream production systems with minimal adaptation around the camera.Ironically, the main thing that might obscure how much of a mainstream tool the Cine LF is might be the 12K sensor. The Cine LF, like the URSA Mini Pro 12K, the combination of the RGBW colour filter array and the BRAW recording format means that the RAW recording resolution is not tied to the area of the sensor being used the way it is for virtually every other RAW capable camera.Resolution & Recording FormatsThis might sound counter-intuitive because of how RAW has been sold to us from the start. The concept that RAW is simply taking the raw, ie. unprocessed digitised data of each pixel from the image sensor has always been a vast oversimplification that has served a useful purpose in allowing people to understand the usefulness of RAW. The only production camera Im aware of that records in this way is the Achtel 97. Even then, the files need to be converted to a more conventional format for post-production. The vast amount of data involved in doing this is truly mind-boggling.What the RAW video formats were all familiar with do is more of an approximation of this which is to use efficiencies from saving the de-Bayer process to reduce the amount of data before compression is applied and use some of that space saving to record high bit depth data for each photosite allowing it to retain more of the tonal subtleties from the sensor and therefore being able to apply minimal processing to the recording. The effect of all this is that it gives so much flexibility in post that it generally functions in practice as if you had all of the unprocessed raw data from the sensor. RED set the standard for this with their REDCODE RAW format, and most manufacturers have followed this in some form or another, such as ARRIs uncompressed ARRIRAW. With all of these formats, recording a lower resolution than the full sensor res means cropping in on the sensor. The RED ONE, for example, recorded 4K across the Super 35mm sensor, but to record 2K meant cropping down to approximately Super 16mm.Ben Allan DOP on set recently with the fxcrewBlackmagic RAW or BRAW achieves a similar result by different means and was designed with the RGBW sensor array in mind. Unlike other RAW systems where the recording is tied to the Bayer pattern of photosites, BRAW does a partial de-mosaic before the recording but still allows for all the normal RAW controls in post, such as white balance, ISO etc.One of the big advantages of this is that the recording resolution can be decoupled from the individual photosites meaning that the BMDs BRAW-capable cameras can record lower resolutions while still using the full dimensions of the sensor.While the Cine LF has the advertised 12K of photosites across the sensor, it doesnt have to record in 12K to get all the other advantages of the large sensor. In 4K, you still get the VistaVision depth of field as you would expect from something like an ARRI ALEXA LF but also the other advantages of a larger sensor that are often overlooked. Many lenses that cover the full frame of the 24mm x 36mm sensor are optimised for that image circle, so they will maximise performance on that frame and issues like sharpness and chromatic aberration will not be as good when significantly cropped in. There are also advantages to oversampling an image, including smoothness while retaining image detail and less likelihood of developing moire patterns. On that subject, the Cine LF also has a built-in OLPF filter in front of the image sensor. This Optical Low Pass Filter removes details below the resolution limit of the sensor, resulting in even less risk of moire and digital aliasing.As a 4K or 8K camera, the Cine LF excels. 4K RAW is the minimum resolution that the camera can record internally, but with the BRAW compression set to a conservative 5:1 the resulting data rate is a very manageable 81 MB/s. The equivalent resolution in ProRes HQ (although in 10-bit, 4:2:2) is 117 MB/s.For many productions, 4K from this camera will be more than adequate. The pictures are smooth and film-like and very malleable in Resolve. The workflow is easy, and you can very comfortably set the camera to 4K and pretend it is just a beautifully oversampled 4K camera. Im conscious that this sort of sensor oversampling is how the original ARRI ALEXA built its reputation with 2.8K of photosites coming down to stunning 2K recordings.Some productions will shoot 4K for the most part but then switch to 8K or 12K for VFX work, somewhat like the way big VFX films used to shoot Super 35mm, Academy or Anamorphic for main unit and switch to VistaVision for VFX shots (think Star Wars, Jurassic Park & Titanic). The beauty of this is that unlike switching to VistaVision, there are no issues with physically swapping cameras or with matching lenses or even angle of view- everything remains the same but with a quick change in the menu system, you have a 4K, 8K or 12K camera.If youre expecting an eye-poppingly sharp 12K from this camera, you may want to be adjusting the settings in Resolve because the camera is optimised for aesthetically pleasing images rather than in-you-face sharpness. While BMD may have taken a bit of a PR hit with the Super-35 12K because people were expecting a big impact 12K zing, Im glad that they have stayed the course and kept the focus on beautiful images. Resolution, image detail and sharpness are related but different issues and they are ones that every manufacturer has to make decisions about in every cameras design. That balancing act has landed in a real sweet spot with the Cine LF and the effects are most notable on faces. The images are simultaneously detailed and gentle.The other significant recording format is the 9K mode, which does a Super-35 crop. This is a great option that allows for the use of any of the vast array of beautiful modern and vintage lenses designed for the Super-35 frame. Things like the classic Zeiss Super Speeds or Panavision Primos spring to mind.In each of the recording resolutions you have the same five options for aspect ratio.Open Gate is a 32 or 1.5:1 image that uses the full dimensions of the sensor. While it isnt a common delivery format, there are a number of reasons to use this recording option. The one delivery format that does use something very close to this is IMAX and I believe this camera will prove itself to be a superb choice for IMAX capture. But aside from that, it is very useful to shoot in open gate to capture additional image above and below a widescreen frame. This concept originated with films and TV shows framing the widescreen Super 35, but without masking the frame in the camera, which is literally an open film gate. This creates a shoot off which allows for either reframing or stabilisation.The 16:9 mode uses the entire width of the sensor and crops the height to get the correct ratio. Its also worth noting that the 16:9 4K mode is 169 based on the DCI cinema width of 4096 and not UHD 4K at 3840 across and is 2304 pixels high to get the 16:9 rather than the UHD 2160. This is another reflection of the design philosophy of making a cine camera rather than a TV camera.17:9 is a full DCI cinema frame at 1.89:1 which is also not a standard delivery format but the container standard for digital cinema. This would need to be cropped down to either 2.4:1 Scope or 1.85:1 for cinema release or 16:9 for TV, and any of these frame lines can be loaded for monitoring as with the Open Gate mode.2.4:1 is the standard Scope ratio for cinema and doesnt have any shoot-off for that format. In 8K & 4K this format delivers the highest off-speed frame rates at 224 fps compared to 144 in 8K or 4K Open Gate. A fairly trivial detail, but 2.4:1 in 4K is actually the only standard delivery format that the camera offers directly without any resizing or cropping in post.The final aspect ratio is 6:5 or 1.2:1 is explicitly designed for use with anamorphic lenses. With a traditional 2x anamorphic, the 6:5 ratio closely matches the anamorphic frame on film and produces a 2.4:1 image when de-squeezed. In 12K, 8K or 4K this would require anamorphic lenses built to cover the large format frame, but in 9K 6:5 the crop perfectly mimics a 35mm anamorphic negative area, making it possible to use any traditional 35mm anamorphics in the same way as they would work on film.Anamorphic de-squeeze can be applied to any or all of the monitoring outputs and displays, including the EVF, in any of the recording formats and with any of the common anamorphic ratios 1.3x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.66x, 1.8x and 2x. Combined with the different recording aspect ratios this could cater for a wide range of different workflows, creative options and even special venue formats. For example, 2x anamorphic on a 2.4:1 frame would produce a 4.8:1 image that would have been a superb option for the special venue production I shot and produced for Sydneys iconic Taronga Zoo a few years ago, which would have negated the need for the three camera panoramic array we had to build at the time.The other thing worth noting about the twenty different recording resolutions is that only one matches a standard delivery format pixel for pixel. I doubt that this is any reflection on that particular format but a coincidence that it coincided with the overall logic of the format options. This logic also goes back to the idea of this as a cine camera. Like a professional film camera shooting on film negative, the idea is not to create a finished image in camera but to record a very high-quality digital neg, which is expected to have processing in post-production before creating a deliverable image.While nothing is stopping you from using this camera for fast turnaround work with minimal post production, there are so many choices that have been made in the design of the camera which are not focussed on the ability. This again comes back to the concept of a cine camera optimised to function in the ways that film crews and productions like or need to work.The Media ModuleThe combination of 12K RAW and high frame rates created another challenge in the form of very high data rates. Although BRAW is a very efficient codec BMD needed a recording solution that really wasnt met by any of the off-the-shelf options.Their solution is the Media Module which is specially designed, removable on-board storage. While it will also be possible to replace the Media Module with one that contains CFexpress slots, the Media Module M2 comes with the camera and has 8TB of extremely fast storage. Even in Open Gate, 12K at the lowest compression settings, this still allows nearly 2 hours of recording. There are very limited scenarios where it would be necessary to shoot more than that amount of footage at that quality level in a single day. In those situations, it is of course, possible to have multiple Media Modules and swap them out as you would a memory card.For most productions, though, it will be easy to comfortably get through each days shooting on the single module. There is a Media Module Dock which allows 3 Modules to be connected simultaneously to a computer, but for many users, the simpler solution will be the 10G ethernet connection on the back of the camera. Either way, downloading the days footage will happen about as fast as the receiving drive can handle as the Media Module and the ethernet will outrun most drive arrays.The PicturesThe resulting pictures are, of course, what its all about, and the pictures from the Cine LF are nothing short of stunning. It has the same silkiness that the pictures from the original 12K have but with the large format look. The larger photosites and the fact that lenses arent working as hard seem to also contribute to the fact that the pictures look sharp without harshness.That lack of harshness also contributes to the film-like look of the images. There are so many techniques to degrade digital to make it more like film, but this is digital looking like film at its best. Detailed, clean, gentle on skin tones and with a beautiful balance between latitude and contrast.While there are several cameras which this one competes with, there is really nothing on the market that is comparable in terms of the combination of functionality, workflow and look.The AVP VersionThe Blackmagic URSA Cine camera platform is the basis of multiple models with differentfeatures for the high end cinema industry. All models are built with a robust magnesiumalloy chassis and lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite skin to help filmmakersmove quickly on set. Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive is available to pre order now direct from Blackmagic Design for US$29,995. Delivery will start in late Q1 2025.Shipping Q1 2025Customers get 12GSDI out, 10G Ethernet, USB-C, XLR audio, and more.An 8-pin Lemo power connector at the back of the camera works with 24V and 12V power supplies, making it easy to use the camera with existing power supplies, batteries, and accessories. Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive comes with a massive 250W power supply and B mount battery plate, so customers can use a wide range of high voltage batteries from manufacturers such as IDX, Blueshape, Core SWX, BEBOB, and more.Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive comes with 8TB of high performance network storage built in, which records directly to the included Blackmagic Media Module, and can be synced to Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve media bins in real time. This means customers can capture over 2 hours of Blackmagic RAW in 8K stereoscopic 3D immersive, and editors can work on shots from remote locations worldwide as the shoot is happening. The new Blackmagic RAW Immersive file format is designed to make it simple to work with immersive video within a post production workflow, and includes support for Blackmagic global media sync.Blackmagic RAW files store camera metadata, lens data, white balance, digital slate information and custom LUTs to ensure consistency of image on set and through post production. Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive is the first commercial, digital film camera with ultra fast high capability Cloud Store technology built in. The high speed storage lets customers record at the highest resolutions and frame rates for hours and access their files directly over high speed 10G Ethernet. The camera also supports creating a small H.264 proxy file, in addition to the camera original media when recording. This means the small proxy file can be uploaded to Blackmagic Cloud in seconds, so media is available back at the studio in real time.Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive Features Dual custom lenses for shooting Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro. Dual 8160 x 7200 (58.7 Megapixel) sensors for stereoscopic 3D immersive image capture. Massive 16 stops of dynamic range. Lightweight, robust camera body with industry standard connections. Generation 5 Color Science with new film curve. Each sensor supports 90 fps at 8K captured to a single Blackmagic RAW file. Includes high performance Blackmagic Media Module 8TB for recording. High speed Wi-Fi, 10G Ethernet or mobile data for network connections. Includes DaVinci Resolve Studio for post production.Apple is looking to build a community of AVP projectsSubmergedLast month, Apple debutedSubmerged, the critically acclaimed immersive short film written and directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Edward Berger. New episodes ofAdventureandWild Lifewill premiere in December, followed by new episodes ofBoundless,ElevatedandRed Bull: Big-Wave Surfingin 2025.Submerged BTS Note the film was not shot on the BMC, but is now available to watch on AVP

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Hey everyone! My name is Daniel , and Im a passionate game developer who loves creating unique and immersive experiences. One of my favorite tools to work with is Unreal Engine, especially the Niagara VFX system. Why? Because its the perfect blend of technical precision and artistic freedom, allowing me to craft visually stunning effects. Atleast I am trying to.My love for real-time VFX comes from my fascination with games and the magic that visual effects can bring. Whether its subtle atmospheric touches like dust and light particles or epic explosions and energy waves, I enjoy bringing worlds to life and immersing players in unforgettable experiences.What Im showcasing is not just a demonstration of my skills in the Niagara system, but also a glimpse into my creative process. Im constantly experimenting with shaders, particles, textures, and dynamic controls to discover new ideas and push myself to new levels.If youre interested in real-time VFX, whether youre just starting or are already experienced, lets connect! Id love to exchange tips, techniques, and experiences so we can inspire each other and push the boundaries of visual effects.I cant wait to hear your thoughts, so check out the videos and screenshots below and let me know what you think!

Hello, Im new to game VFX and unsure where to begin. Ive watched some videos where people recommend learning shaders. Do I need to master shaders in-depth, or is it possible to create VFX without diving deeply into shaders? Im also unclear about how real-time VFX work. Could you please guide me? 2 posts - 2 participants Read full topic

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