LiquiGen is getting better and better: VFX Artist Dobromir Dyankov experimented with JangaFXs newly launched fluid simulation software to create the Liquid Playground series, utilizing Cinema 4D and Redshift while testing various scenarios.The artist shared that while LiquiGen isnt on the level of Houdini, it offers a fast and intuitive experience, and despite some features still being absent, its still powerful enough even in its current alpha version. Here are the rest of these simulations:Follow Dobromir on X/Twitter for more and have a look at acoupleofmoreLiquiGen experiments showcased by JangaFXsJason Key,along with thisJeremy White elephant in water, aforest waterfall scene by Ryan Duff, and zero gravity liquid splash by Kevin Lim Wanasili that we recently shared:Also, join our 80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Check Out This Gel-Looking Simulation Made With JangaFXs LiquiGen appeared first on CG SHARES.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies next map is just over a week away, and fans have no shortage of reasons to be excited. An iconic SMG from Zombies past is on the way, while a Wonder Weapon inspired by Origins staves has been both leaked and teased. The story is starting to pick up as Treyarch further explores Chaos connections via the Sentinel Artifact, another CoD Zombies song from Kevin Sherwood is on the way, and numerous side Easter eggs will apparently be scattered throughout the new playspace. In addition to all of this, an evocative Pack-a-Punch camo has been teased, which could turn out to be more impactful than one may think.

The HouseStarting as a curious journalist, you'll find yourself immersed in paranormal activity, horror and psychological suspense as you try to escape from an abandoned house.Investigate, find and crack the codes to get out of here

Brandon Sanderson is one of fantasys most successful authors of all time,a prolific mega-bestseller whos built a fandom so voracious and dedicated that they paid a record-setting $41 million on Kickstarter to launch four books he wrote in secret while still maintaining his other series. Hes written epic fantasy, superhero fiction, science fiction, YA novels, short stories, and graphic novels, with a deck-building card game and a strategy video game out, and an RPG spinoff on the way. His latest book, Wind and Truth, has been on the New York Times bestseller list since it was published in December.So where are the Brandon Sanderson movies? With seemingly every fantasy epic ever published being optioned by Netflix, Amazon, and other streamers, wheres the TV show adapting Brandon Sandersons five-book (so far) Stormlight Archive series, or seven-book (and counting) Mistborn series?In a December 2024 blog post, Sanderson breaks down the stages of film and TV development at length, and explains which of his works have been optioned and where they are in development. The project that was furthest along, a live-action movie adaption of the Mistborn books, recently fell apart due to creative differences between the producers that had signed on to the project and the studios they were pitching to.But Sanderson says hes also rejected a lot of the offers to adapt other works within the Cosmere,the universe of Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, and many of his other works. Why? Polygon sat down with Sanderson and asked what hed need to make an adaptation worth his time, and what hed want his universe to look like on the screen.This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.Polygon: While reading up on the status of your many projects, I ran across a Reddit thread where fans were saying theyre glad you arent further along with a film or TV adaptation of your work, because theyre afraid of the time it would take out of your writing schedule. What kind of involvement would you ideally like to have in an adaptation?Brandon Sanderson: It depends on the project. Certain ones, I would want to be way more involved in. Ive said before that if I were going to do an adaptation of The Way of Kings, I would want to write all of Kaladins scenes in screenplay form for the whole season. Thatd take a lot of time, so their worries are not unfounded.I have had a lot of offers for The Stormlight Archive, people wanting to make prestige television for cable networks or streamers. Very nice offers from very great people that I would want to work with. And Ive said no because I dont feel its the right time for Stormlight Archive yet. I am in the fortunate position where I can walk away from some of the best deals that might be offered to authors, and do what I think is best for the story.What would convince you the time was right? What signs are you looking for?The solid answer is: I dont know. Hopefully I will recognize it when I see it. But the reason I dont know is, Im not convinced that we have hit stability in the streaming market. Streaming has had a big problem with epic fantasy, and this has me worried. Rings of Power and Wheel of Time have not gone as well as I wouldve hoped. Shadow and Bone lasted only two seasons, after a very strong first season. Streaming hasnt figured out epic fantasy yet.Maybe this is a holdover from network television days, where theyre trying to make the episodes fit into the structure of how episodic television used to work, rather than filming an eight-hour movie and showing it in chunks. But maybe thats a bad idea. All I know is, right now we havent seen really great epic fantasy film television since the early, mid seasons of Game of Thrones. Fifty million dollars per episode has not done it, so its not a matter of the money theyre throwing at it. The other thing we havent seen is any of these shows really taking off to the extent that I would like with the general public.There is one excellent [fantasy] show: Arcane. But Arcane costs so much money, and its hard to reproduce that with an IP that doesnt have League of Legends behind it. Arcane, I guess, is proof that it can happen. But I want to see what shakes out. I want to see how traditional cinema shakes out.I would like to [adapt The Stormlight Archive through] films. Part of the reason I worry with streaming is, its mostly people who want to dual-screen, and epic fantasy just does not work with dual-screening. Eventually, Ill give [adaptation] a try, but I want to learn more first. So my goal is to make some things that are not Stormlight Archive, that are not Mistborn. Im really excited to make other things, and make them really well, and test some things out.I saw youre working on an animated version of Tress of the Emerald Sea, which seemed like it might be a story on a small enough scale that it could be done separately from a lot of the rest of your work. If youre focusing on movie adaptations over what would have to be long-running TV series, are there other stories you feel are scaled at a feature-length size?You cant really do Way of Kings as a film series. I am confident that would be a bad idea. I think Mistborn could work as a film series, particularly if we made it in some of the ways I would like to make it, that Im trying to talk to Hollywood about. And I think some things that would really work there, but well see what happens. The streamers are not dedicated to cinema, for good reason. Thats not where their market is.But because of that and the dual-screening, it makes me cautious [to pursue television]. Im gun-shy about going forward, and I want to see how things stabilize and steady. Maybe well have a nice epic fantasy renaissance in cinema after How to Train Your Dragon comes out in live action. Im hopeful it will do very well, and people will be like, Yeah! Big fantasy! So who knows?Hollywood operates so much around trend cycles, and it seems like were dialing down on superheroes, for instance.We are.Do you ever worry about missing your moment, about the post-Game of Thrones fantasy-TV boom dying down and shifting into something else?Maybe, maybe not. Its a good question. Post Lord of the Rings-era cinema is really interesting, because Hollywood did not understand fantasy, and they picked the wrong properties to throw their weight behind. We did have a successor to Lord of the Rings: Its called The Pirates of the Caribbean. What people were looking for was adult-oriented not in the adult content sense, but mature characters and plots like Lord of the Rings had. So The Golden Compass and The Dark Is Rising and a lot of the YA properties turned out to be the wrong way to go, partially because Hollywoods like, Well, well take these and turn them into Lord of the Rings. And it didnt match the soul of several very excellent book series, and it didnt fit the market, because the people who wanted Lord of the Rings didnt want a YA property.And then basically Hollywood squandered the opportunity to have an epic fantasy wave following the success of Lord of the Rings. The closest we have is the James Cameron Avatar movies and Pirates of the Caribbean proof that people still deeply want fantasy epics. People have always liked fantasy. Im not so worried about missing my moment by being extra cautious. If thats the case, then oh well. The books are still there. I am more worried about making the wrong shot in the wrong spot, and then it taking 20 more years to get another try.Really, what I want its just a little thing, just a little thing I just want a genius filmmaker on the level of Denis Villeneuve, someone who grew up loving my work [the way Villeneuve loved Frank Herberts Dune], and wants to bring it to the screen with the mix of fidelity and adaptation required to make a great epic like Dune. You do have to change things [for a screen adaptation], but this filmmaker would really understand the property, and have an artistic vision that matches the property.For epic fantasy and science fiction, we have rarely seen that, but it happened with Dune, and it happened with Lord of the Rings. So hopefully theres someone out there that can work with me to make Mistborn.Leaving aside everything else budget, adaptation concerns, directors, the platform if you could only adapt one of your projects with a guarantee that it would come out the way you wanted, which story would you most want to see on the screen?Infinite budget, make it my way? I would absolutely pick Stormlight, and I would do it on one of the streaming services. With an unlimited budget and unlimited creative control, I think I could make something really good. But who knows? I mean, Lord of the Rings essentially had that, and its not very good. Its fine, but is it the thing that you want? I mean, I really think the key member is that visionary filmmaker. Epic fantasy has responded poorly to too much oversight from above. I think that was The Witchers problem. You had that visionary: It was Henry Cavill. And they didnt want to listen to him. So, well, there you go.

I'm old enough to remember when Facebook was the hip and cool new social media network, giving you a way to keep up with all your friends and family, reconnect with long-lost contacts, and share as many party and vacation photos as you liked. It was cleaner and more intuitive than MySpace, and people flocked to it.These days, it's the opposite of hip and cool. It's loaded down with AI slop, advertising, and clickbait, and has now decided fact checking on the platform is too much effort. Most users are now much busier on other apps, while social media sharing has evolved to become more private and limited (WhatsApp group chats, anyone?).If you've decided the time has come to break up with Facebook, here's how to go about itand what to do before pulling the plug completely. It's also worth noting you can deactivate your account but keep on using Facebook Messenger for chats, which I'll explain in more detail below.The instructions here are for Facebook on the web, but you'll find the same menus and options inside the mobile apps.Before you delete Facebook You can download everything you've ever posted to Facebook. Credit: Lifehacker There are some housekeeping jobs you'll want to take care of before you wipe your Facebook account from existence: not just grabbing any of the content you want to keep, but also disconnecting Facebook from third-party apps and services, to prevent errors or security issues in the future.After logging into Facebook on the web, click your profile picture (top right), then Settings & privacy. On the next screen, choose Settings, then Download your information and Continue: Facebook will then guide you through the process of choosing the data you want to download, and compiling an archive of it.The information you can download covers messages, posts, photos, and videos, as well as other data like the friend connections you've got, and whatever's on your profile. You can also choose a date range, so pick All time if you want everything. How long you'll need to wait depends on what you've selected, but when the download is ready, you'll get a notification at the email address you've specified.With that done, it's worth checking in on the apps and platforms you've got connected to Facebook. From your Facebook profile, click your profile picture (top right), then Settings & privacy > Settings > Apps and websites. Here you'll find all the connections you've allowed Facebook to make down the years, from browser extensions to gamesclick Remove next to each one.Lastly, have a look at the places where you're logged into Facebook. Click your profile picture (top right), then Settings & privacy > Activity log. On both the Where you're logged in and Recognized devices pages, click the three dots to the right of each entry, then Log out or Remove. This means there's no trace of your Facebook activity lingering anywhere else.How to delete Facebook You get a choice of deactivation or deletion. Credit: Lifehacker With all the preparation done, it's time to delete your Facebook profile for good. To start the process, click your profile picture (top right, then choose Settings & privacy > Settings > Accounts Center. Here you'll see all the accounts registered with Meta (so Instagram and Horizon accounts as well as Facebook, for example), and they can be managed and deleted separately.Click Personal details, then Account ownership and control and Deactivation or deletion, then select the Facebook account you want to wipe. The next screen lets you choose between Delete account (everything gets wiped) and Deactivate account (a more temporary measure that lets you bring back your account at a later date).Choose the deactivation option if you're not sure about leaving Facebook, or if you want to carry on chatting using the Facebook Messenger app: Your profile will be hidden, but people will still be able to contact you on Messenger. Your posts, photos, and videos won't be erased, in case you want to come backand there's no time limit in terms of reactivating your account again in the future.If you're sure you've had enough of Facebook and want everything wiped, select Delete account and click Continue. You'll be asked to give a reason for the deletion, given the option to deactivate instead, and invited to download all your Facebook data (a handy safety net if you've forgotten to do this). Eventually, you'll get to the final confirmation screen, which starts the deletion process and logs you out of Facebook.You've got 30 days to change your mind: If you log back into Facebook within that time period, you'll get the option to bring your account back again, even if you chose permanent deletion. Facebook says it may take up to 90 days for all traces of your activity on Facebook to be erased from the record.

The filmmakers behind The Brutalist, a likely Oscar contender currently being distributed by A24, used AI to alter actor's dialogue and create images used in the film's epilogue, the film's editor Dvid Jancs shared in an interview with RedShark News.The epic drama follows a fictional Hungarian architect (as played by Adrien Brody) who struggles to make art under the fickle system of American capitalism (and the weirdos that run it). To make Brody and his costar Felicity Jones' Hungarian pronunciation as accurate as possible, Jancs says the production used AI from a company called Respeecher to alter the actor's speech.Respeecher was able to adjust the actor's vocals to make them match a native Hungarian speaker's pronunciation, though Jancs says the process didn't do anything you couldn't achieve with traditional dialogue editing. "You can do this in ProTools yourself, but we had so much dialogue in Hungarian that we really needed to speed up the process, otherwise we'd still be in post.Generative AI was also used to help create architectural drawings used near the end of the film, according to Jancs. Both decisions were made because of the budgetary constraints the production was under. The Brutalist is an over three-hour film with multiple stars, period-appropriate costuming, and elaborate sets, that was reportedly made for less than $10 million.A little over a year after multiple Hollywood unions went on strike over the possibility of studios using AI to replace workers, it's still highly controversial to use the tech, let alone be open about it. But the problem is undeniably complicated when there are so many different ways AI can be used. "The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicitys performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft," Brady Corbet, the director of The Brutalist, told The Hollywood Reporterin a statement.Respeecher was previously used to create new Darth Vader dialogue for Disney+'s Obi-Wan-Kenobi, and this likely won't be the last time similar tools are used to cut costs. Making movies requires a lot of resources, and while companies are trying to get AI to catch on, using AI tools will likely remain a viable options to save time and money.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/oscar-hopeful-the-brutalist-used-ai-during-production-223016216.html?src=rss

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Donald Trump launched a meme coin Friday night, while many of his backers were partying at the Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump is returning to the White House with an ambitious agenda, which he outlined in a brazen inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday. It lays the foundation for a flurry of actions and executive orders meant to change the course of the country and usher in a golden age for his second term.All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly, Trump said as he rattled off a dizzying number of changes his administration expects to make, from immigration and the economy to energy and gender issues.With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense, Trump said.Those plans include cracking down on immigration by doubling down onborder security and deportations;opening up energy development, saying we will drill baby drill; walking back protections for transgender students; and making sweeping changes in the military.His remarks signal an aggressive Day One agenda. Trump is reportedly planning to issue some 100 executive orders, making good on his campaign promises, with some 25 of those expected on his first day alone, per Reuters. While the President has said he will issues them within hours of taking office, it is unclear if he will sign them all Monday or in the coming days.Heres a look at some of the key issues President Trump outlined during his inaugural address, some of which are already live on the revised Donald Trumps White House website.Immigration Trump laid out what is expected to be a handful of executive orders on immigration and border security.First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border, Trump said. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.Trump also said he plans to reinstate his Remain in Mexico policy and end the process of catch and release, adding, I will send troops to the southern border.However, according to the New York Times, this could bring immediate legal challenges because of the strict limits in American law for how the armed forces can be deployed inside the country. And as NBC News noted, Trump previously used his emergency authority to use military funds to build a border wall in his first term, which were frozen by federal courts.But thats not all. Trump also said, Under the orders I signed today, his administration would designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and would be working with federal and state officials to try and eliminate gangs from our inner cities.The economy and inflationNext, Trump spoke about his plans to rapidly bring down costs and address inflation.I will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices, Trump explained. One way he plans to do this, according to administration officials cited by the Times, is by signing executive orders to open up oil and gas drilling in Alaska and end electric-vehicles incentives passed by the Biden administration.We will drill, baby drill, Trump said on Monday. I am keeping my pledge to our great auto workers . . . In other words, we will build automobiles at a rate never seen before.Gender roles: Male and female onlyIn his inaugural speech, Trump said the federal government going forward wouldonly recognize two sexesmale and female, thus reversing protections for transgender people enacted under the Biden administration. (This, incidentally, is a personal pet project of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who helped reelect Trump and stood by him on the podium of the Capitol Rotunda as Trump made the remarks.)If enforced, this action could affect how Americans are able to identify on passports, visas, and other government documents, according to USA Today, which spoke with a Trump White House official.Changes to the military Trump said this week that he will reinstate any military personnel with full back pay who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine and was forced from service.Its going to end immediately, Trump said. Our armed forces will be able to focus on their sole mission: defeating Americas enemies.Trump explained in his second term, he wanted to be known as a peacemaker and a unifier, and for America to be known for the wars it didnt enter.Renaming the Gulf of MexicoWhile it may seem beyond random, among the first executive orders set to be signed by Trumpwill be an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.A short time from now, we are changing the name from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, Trump said in his inaugural address.According to ABC News, presidents do have the authority to rename geographic regions and features. However, other countries dont have to recognize such a move. And unlike then-President Barack Obamas order to rename Alaskas Mount McKinley to Denali (a move that Trump has also said he wants to reverse), the body of water isnt fully located within U.S. boundaries.TikTokWhile he did not name TikTok (which is now back online) in his speech on Monday, Trump has said he wouldsign an executive orderMonday to delay the ban that took effect Sunday and give the apps parent company, China-based ByteDance, time to broker a deal with new U.S.-based investors, possibly in a joint venture. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended Mondays inauguration.

Promotion: a project spanning several European countries has explored how it can empower small and remote places by transforming underutilised public spaces.The research project, called Smoties, sought to create a useable framework for creatives in remote communities in making such places more liveable, drawing upon residents, policy-makers and other local organisations.Smoties aims to connect cultural institutions with remote townsThe research produced the Smoties Toolbox, functioning as a methodological framework, guide and tools to help revitalise community interaction in spaces across Europe.Austrian university FH Joanneum worked alongside nine research groups in Milan, London, Ljubljana, or Reykjavik, which in turn worked closely with communities in small and remote places local to them, such as Apano Meria in Greece, Penmachno in Wales, Joaveski in Estonia or Estreito da Calheta in Madeira, Portugal.It encourages interdisciplinary collaboration to transform public spaceThey developed a set of tools and prototypes which feature formats for workshops, masterclasses and a broader methodology to support others looking to transform underused spaces, and are free to download.The goal behind the project said they wanted to use design methods to address the growing problem across Europe of fragmentation within and across communities, neglected towns and loneliness.Smoties is a free platform that offers online resourcesResearch project started as a cooperation between 10 project partners in 2020 and was co-funded by the "Creative Europe" programme of the European Union.The idea is to create a replicable design framework to revive small and often hard to reach places by making them more liveable, dynamic and creating social cohesion across different communities.A total of 10 institutions have worked on Smoties projects across EuropeA network of design, art and architecture universities, research centres, creative agencies as well as local communities and public officials have been drawn upon as part of the Smoties project.The researchers at FH Joanneum selected a town called Oberzeiring with just 500 residents as its case study.The former silver mining town has seen its population shrink and impacted with poor transport links, a car-oriented society and no obvious common spaces.Local communities engage in workshops and masterclassesThe Smoties project sought to temporarily alter the design of its centre by limiting car access, creating urban furnishings and a pedestrian friendly festival space."This transformation highlights the power of creative collaboration to revitalize even the smallest communities," said Anke Strittmatter, architect, urbanist and associate professor at University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum."As a result of the Smoties project in Austria, Oberzeiring's officials and stakeholders are now exploring options to make this change permanent, with the goal of restoring the square as a central, car-free public space for the community to enjoy," Strittmatter added.A public square was the focus of the Smoties project in OberzeiringTeachers and students from the Institute of Design & Communication at FH Joanneum worked with the local residents to revitalise the square and implement a car-free weekend, when the space was temporarily transformed into a festival.The project partners were University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum in Austria; the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano in Italy; Cit du Design, Ecole Suprieure dArt et de Design in France; Clear Village Trustee Limited in the UK; Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia; Estonian Association of Designers; University of the Aegean, Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering in Greece; Zamek Cieszyn in Poland; Universidade da Madeira, Art & Design Department in Portugal; and Alternance slf in Iceland.For more information on the research and the framework, visit the Smoties website here.Partnership contentThis article was written by Dezeen for FH Joanneum as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.The post Europe-wide initiative sets out to revitalise small and remote spaces appeared first on Dezeen.