With all the pasta sauce splatters and greasy grime, the microwave is yet another overlooked appliance you should put on your spring-cleaning checklist. Dulude suggests loosening up the food particles on the microwave walls by placing a bowl of water and using a high setting to boil the water. Let it all steam up and keep the door closed for a few minutes. Then open it up and you should be able to gently scrub off the food scraps, she says.You can also try the Angry Mama, which works by steaming the microwave with water and white vinegar.4. Deal with kitchen cabinet topsAccording to Dulude, the tops of kitchen cabinets is another often neglected area. Its important to clean those once or twice a year before your kitchen starts smelling funky and you wont know whats causing it, she says. Soapy water is her go-to for scrubbing away greasy gunk. After everythings clean and dry, she recommends laying down paper towels so that all you need to do is replace them next time you are sprucing up.Spring-cleaning tips for your bedroom5. Sprinkle baking soda on linensDepending on the type of bedding you own, Anna Harasim, owner of New Yorkbased company Annas Cleaning Service, suggests refreshing comforters, pillowcases, and sheets with baking soda, white vinegar, and laundry detergent by running the washing machine on the hot max setting or the delicate setting. For mattresses and pillows, she recommends sprinkling baking soda on top, leaving for a couple hours, then vacuuming all the baking soda off. This helps absorb lingering smells.6. Deep clean the mattress with steamIf you steam clean your mattress, be sure to let it air dry fully before putting your bedding back on.Photo: Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty ImagesFor deeply embedded stains and smells, call in reinforcements. Dulude notes that if you own a steam cleaner, its always a good idea to use one on a mattress, or to spray it with white vinegar if you dont. For both cases, be sure to let it dry out completely before making the bed, she advises.Spring-cleaning tips for bathrooms7. Dont just dustwash your vent coversIf its been a while since youve cleaned your bathroom vents, and a simple dust cloth isnt going to cut it, Duludes tip is to remove the vent cover with a screw driver and actually wash it in the sink with soap and warm water before drying and screwing it back on. Then get into the habit of quickly dry-dusting it every time youre cleaning the bathroom, she adds.8. Make a DIY drain cleanerDrain clogs can be tackled with cleaning products you have on hand. Both of our experts recommend making a DIY cleaning solution with common household items by pouring baking soda down the drain for traction, followed by white vinegar (about a cup) to keep the drains clean and odor-free. If the baking soda and vinegar doesnt do the trick, Dulude recommends removing the drain stopper, if possible, and scouring for gunk with a wire hanger.For a serious clog, especially one in the shower, consider investing in a drain auger.9. Beat mold and mildew with bleachGenerally bleach is a solid choice when dealing with mold and mildew on bathroom tiles, and both experts recommend using a toothbrush with a bleach-based product to loosen up spots between tiles. Try a small area first, Dulude says. Scrub the product into the affected area and let it sit until the paste dries, then wash off. If intense spring-cleaning fails to remove the black mold from grout, you may want to consider regrouting. Be sure to seal it, if you do. To keep mold and soap scum from getting out of hand, Dulude adds that you should get into the habit of scrubbing the tiles and grout on a weekly basis.10. Prevent hard-water buildupUsing a squeegee on your steamed-up shower doors should work fine to prevent streaks, but for a deep spring-cleaning, consider a stain removing product like Soft Scrub to combat any hard water buildup.Photo: ANGHI/Getty Images

It's been looking like something big and Illuminatey has been building in Helldivers 2's Galactic War for a little while now, even if there's been nothing to fight but the automatons. Well, if you weren't already worried about what that is, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani's issued a warning that you might want to read. Read more

Sul SulThe Sims series may be one of the best ways to come to terms with the fact that adulthood is mainly weird and scary, and sometimes funThe Sims is a poignant reflection of real life's trials and tribulations.Image credit: EA Maxis/VG247 Article by Kelsey Raynor Guides Writer Published on Feb. 6, 2025 The Sims is one of the first games I remember playing. Growing up, my mum and I shared a PlayStation 2, and I recall many times fighting my way into my mother's room (not literally, but you can imagine how rambunctious a child gets when begging for console time) to play The Sims.The Sims' kooky story-mode on consoles was my first experience of the series, introducing me to the iconic villain that is Malcolm Landgraab and the one and only Goth family that brooding, teenage me would later come to idolatrise, the Mortimers. Starting out unemployed, living in Mom's house not knowing that this would one day be a reality for me post-graduation before moving into the recently burnt-down home of Landgraab's children. Again, little did I know this wouldn't be far from my real-life, twenty years later; you could easily compare this in-game scenario to the mold-ridden housing market of West Yorkshire that I was eventually exposed to once my unemployment ended.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. That's the beauty of The Sims it's a reflection of real life while allowing players to explore their wildest dreams (and nightmares) and what ultimately attracted me to the series for years to come. It wasn't all that long before I had a Nintendo DS of my very own, where I got to experience Strangetown in The Sims 2 DS, or enjoy the series foray into a fully-fledged RPG in The Urbz. Once I'd gotten my first laptop for Christmas, I quickly got to work installing The Sims 2 on it. Later, that became The Sims 3, and then The Sims 4. I created my entire university flat in The Sims 4 once, because that's the type of activity I engaged in for 10k a year instead of actually studying.If anything, The Sims has been one series that has been persistent throughout my life. Something I barely remember playing as a child, but have fondly played over and over again, in many different iterations, since. It's a true sandbox for simulation fans, allowing us to craft whatever type of family we want and dictate exactly how their lives together pan out. Right now, after The Sims 2 Legacy Collection's crashes and bugs got to me which I wrote about earlier this week my main poison is The Sims 4 again.As is typically the case, the first Sim I created was a simlish-speaking version of myself with goals to become a tech whiz, but my Sim has often been too tense to study the skills I want her to. Once again, just as The Sims 2 for PS2 gave me an insight into a very real future that I'd soon experience via the renting/moving nightmares it tasks you with, The Sims 4 was here to remind me that adulthood is daunting and often tense. My very real regular tension and anxiety had somehow made its way into my Sim's life in The Sims 4, and the only thing to pull them out of it? Reading or video games. Isn't that apt? Image credit: EA MaxisIt's both comforting and uncomfortable to see your own personality being represented in The Sims in such a way, but does act as a stark reminder of how The Sims series does not skimp out on the trials and tribulations of real life, provided you ignore alien abduction and working as the Grim Reaper, which is a little out there.On the flipside, though, my Sim found a real passion for video games (who'd have thought it?) and found themselves incredibly focused locked in, you could say whenever they were sitting at a PC or reading about video games. You could say my sim had found a solution to their erratic emotions, and managed to find some much-needed respite in a world that doesn't stop moving (unless you press pause, that is). My Sim ended up, initially, being just like the real me. Then they became a top-level scientist and social butterfly. Good for them.The Sims is the ultimate life simulation game and has been for over two decades now. It isn't all sunshine and roses, and your Sims have very real demands, needs, and desires that often reflect those we all have in real life. Fires start, showers break, people die. Hell, some people get abducted by aliens and come back pregnant. That cannot be good. Though, Sims can also have families, friends, and moments of euphoria related to their desires that make all the chaos worth it. It's a lovely reflection of real life at the best of times, and a reminder to players that life goes on, and things will be okay.I wish I could wholeheartedly say this about the current state of the world, but you get the idea. The Sims is certainly one great escape from current politics, that's for sure, and perhaps we could learn a thing or two from the series, excluding the ridiculously high prices to rent.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Ask any "boomer shooter" aficionado what their favourite modern examples of the genre are, and Trigger Happy Interactive's sublime Turbo Overkill will most likely make the top three, alongside Dusk and Ultrakill, if they want to be our actual pals.Yep, this is a highly-regarded retro-style FPS and, once you've spent just a few minutes in the blood-soaked shoes of Johnny Turbo, it's not very hard to see why. And now, nearly two years after its full PC release, it's finally on Switch.Turbo Overkill nails everything it sets out to achieve. It's slick as all hell in its slo-mo shooting, wall-running and chainsaw-knee-sliding (yes, we said "chainsaw-knee-sliding"). It draws a fantastic line in rain-soaked, cyberpunk broodiness, and it presents a whole menagerie of twisted meat-machine enemies to blast and batter into several billion brightly coloured bits under the gaze of giant neon signs. Relaxing!Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Wanna blow a bunch of robot zombies into smithereens with lock-on bullets from your dual-wielded Magnums, go car-surfing across the tops of futuristic flying cars, or teleport inside a bad guy before exploding back out of them? Turbo Overkill has got you covered.The goal is to kill unrepentantly and without pause, and Trigger Happy has nailed the combat-puzzle nature of what makes a great boomer shooter in its very first attempt. The game is tough-as-nails on harder settings (which can be dialled right down to nice and easy, too, if you'd prefer), and it rewards experimentation with its various abilities, presenting a stiff but totally fair challenge that it's possible to style your way through unscathed - if you work at it.In Turbo Overkill, Trigger Happy has gone the extra mile in its narrative setup and world-building, giving us a hard-boiled future bounty hunter who's hellbent on using his metal-infused form to deliver justice on the streets of Paradise. With a shady rogue AI to take down in the form of Syn, and rival boss bounty hunters to fend off into the bargain, Johnny has a lot on his plate - never mind the psychological traumas of having a big bloody chainsaw for a leg. We get to help him take out the trash across three highly entertaining episodes of five levels apiece. That's about 20 hours of action if you stop to hoover up all secrets, or 12 at a clip.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)When in action, Turbo Overkill is a match for almost anything we've played in this most overstuffed of genres. Johnny's "hero time" ability, lock-on rockets and unlockable alternate fire modes feel punchy and satisfying to play with. Eventually, you get a grappling hook which opens up cool new attack and traversal opportunities, and enemies explode into the most delightful showers of meat and coins as you murderize them. These are the things that make us happy.Of course, we also need to work that big dirty chainsaw into proceedings for maximum style points, and Johnny can even augment this - and the rest of his limbs - with a slew of buffs and tricks. Augments can provide the aforementioned bullet-time, micro-missiles, grappling hook and triple jumps that help both in killing and in exploring for the colour-coded keys (hooray!) that you'll need to move forward, as well as for finding the game's hidden cassette tapes and other collectibles. Top tip: always be checking underwater for goodies!Without hesitation, then, we'd thoroughly recommend you jump on this one if you have any interest in retro shooters whatsoever. Or at least we would if it weren't for a few caveats involving this Switch port that need to be highlighted; namely a drop to 30fps and a lack of gyro-aiming support.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Having played Turbo Overkill at 60fps already on another platform, it's a bit of a shame to have this understandable concession made, but it's one we can stomach here. The frame rate holds firm for the most part, and it's only when things get supremely heated, such as when you're torching your environs with the game's flamethrower, that you'll feel your console struggle.The gyro, however, is something we really hope to see implemented soon. There are plentiful options to refine and adjust axis sensitivities, to invert aim, enable aim-assist and toy with dead zones, but that sweet gyro-movement really does help finesse shots and raise the experience to the next level. It is what it is right now, and a lot of these retro boomer shooter affairs have dropped gyro-aiming updates after their initial release, so fingers crossed it's something that the devs have in the works.The good news regarding the controls right now is that, in the interim, the auto-aiming does do a great job of picking up the slack, and even with this turned off we managed to find a rhythm and get back into our old knee-sliding, slo-mo head-popping ways quite easily.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)If you can handle the framerate drops and lack of gyro, we really can't recommend Turbo Overkill enough. It's slick, addictive, and clever in all the right ways, packed full of fun enemies, excellent level design, and fun voice-acting. And it even has decent arcade and endless horde modes thrown in for good measure.ConclusionTurbo Overkill is one of our favourite boomer shooters, modern or otherwise. Johnny Turbo's chainsaw-sliding, wall-running and grappling combine with slo-mo silliness to provide a whole lot of punchy murderizing that's a joy to get down and dirty with. Paradise is a glorious playground, a combat puzzle box packed full of amazingly explodey mutants, and the whole thing looks and sounds fantastic in both docked and handheld. If it wasn't for that 30fps cap and a current lack of gyro support, we'd call this the best boomer shooter on Switch so fast you'd think we'd just activated our very own version of Turbo Time.Furious FPS action with style to spareMixing slo-mo, grappling and sliding into combos is endlessly funLots of replayabilityFive difficulty settingsArcade and endless modes are nice additionsExcellent world-buildingDrop from 60 to 30fps is a shameLack of gyro supportLoad times are longer than other versionsGreat 8/10

Image: NintendoBandai Namco Studios has reportedly reduced its staff by more than 100 people within the last year, as reported by Automaton.The studio, known for Switch games such as New Pokmon Snap, Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun!, and the upcoming Pac-Man title Shadow Labyrinth, had stated in a company overview on 1st April 2024 that its workforce stood at a total of 1,294 employees, however the Japan Pension Service database has this at 1,177 as of 4th February 2025.This news comes after reports in 2024 that Bandai Namco had cancelled a number of projects, including one commissioned by Nintendo.According to the initial article from Bloomberg, the company had allegedly used 'oidashibeya' expulsion rooms to pressure 200 employees into voluntary resignation. Effectively, they would be provided with meaningless work in an effort to demotivate them. Many employees would instead use this time to look for work elsewhere.Although this is supposedly a traditional Japanese approach to reducing staff numbers, Bandai Namco denied that this was the case. It remains to be seen, then, whether the 100+ employees who have now left had done so "willingly", or were let go with severance. The series celebrates its 30th anniversary next yearWhat the...?What are your thoughts on Bandai Namco's reduction in staff? Do you think it had utilised 'oidashibeya' to pressure employees into leaving? Let us know with a comment.[source automaton-media.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:00 Nintendo Lifes resident horror fanatic, when hes not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesNintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch Games... and the Switch 2!Ex-PlayStation Boss On Switch 2's Name: Nintendo Created So Much "Brand Value""Why would you mess with that?"Rumour: Switch 2 Game Cases Might Take Up More Space On Your ShelfHere's how they could compare to the current Switch casesJapan's Switch eShop Will Soon No Longer Accept Overseas Payment MethodsChange will come into effect in March

Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley has not only become an investor in fintech startup Ramp, he is also the star of the companys first Super Bowl commercial.Interestingly, it was Barkley who reached out to Ramp about investing, not the other way around as is so often the case with celebrity endorsements.Barkley reached out after reading Peter Thiels book, Zero to One, according to Ramp CEO and co-founder Eric Glyman. Barkley chose Ramp after some mutual investor friends gave Ramp strong recommendations, Glyman said.In a blog post posted February 6 on Ramps website, Barkley is quoted as saying: True partnership requires skin in the game. Thats why I invested in Ramp. I saw firsthand how theyre powering American businesses to cut costs and achieve a higher level of performance. Thats the kind of impact I want to be part of.The 15-second ad which features Barkley buried in a mountain of expense reports was conceived, shot and finished in seven days, Glyman said.Founded in 2019, Ramp has built a name for itself in the corporate card and expense management space. Its branched out into travel, bill pay, and more, and was last valued at $7.65 billion.According to Ramp, Barkleys investment in the fintech startup marks the NFL stars largest private technology investment to date. According to PitchBook, hes also backed crypto startup Monad Labs, fintech and Y Combinator alum Sequin and beverage company X2 Performance.The Super Bowl airs on February 9, where the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Kansas City Chiefs.Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up for TechCrunch Fintechhere.Want to reach out with a tip? Email me atmaryann@techcrunch.comor send me a message on Signal at 408.204.3036. You can also send a note to the whole TechCrunch crew attips@techcrunch.com. For more secure communications,click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop and links to encrypted messaging apps.

In BriefPosted:9:52 AM PST February 6, 2025Image Credits:Shutthiphong Chandaeng / Getty ImagesEU details which systems fall within AI Acts scopeThe European Union has published guidance on what constitutes an AI system under its new AI Act. The risk-based framework for regulating applications of artificial intelligence came into force last summer with the first compliance deadline (on banned use cases) kicking in last weekend.Determining whether a particular software system falls within the acts scope will be a key consideration for AI developers with the risk of fines of up to 7% of global annual turnover for breaches. The Commissions 13-page guidelines are likely to be closely parsed by companies.That said, as with E.U. guidance on prohibited uses put out earlier this week, the advice is non-binding. The Commission also adds that the guidance is designed to evolve over time and will be updated as necessary, in particular in light of practical experiences, new questions, and use cases that arise. Given how fast-paced the AI field can be, the task of understanding how the law applies is likely to remain a work in progress.No automatic determination or exhaustive lists of systems that either fall within or outside the definition of an AI system are possible, the E.U. warns in its advice document. Set your expectations accordingly.Topics

The upcoming live-action / 3DCG hybrid and extremely blue musical feature sees Smurfette and her friends head to a very real Earth to find Papa Smurf, whos been kidnapped by Razamel and Gargamel; hits theaters July 18.

InterviewsThe Franchise: Adam Gascoyne (VFX Supervisor & Co-founder) with Dan Victoire (DFX Supervisor) Union VFXBy Vincent Frei - 06/02/2025 Adam Gascoyne detailed Union VFXs contributions to the visual effects of Stan & Ollie back in 2019. Following that, he worked on various shows such as The Undoing, Pistol, Allelujah, and The Regime.Starting at Cinesite in 2020, Dan Victoire later worked with Framestore before becoming part of the Union VFX team in 2014. His credits include work on The Crown, The Irregulars, The Wheel of Time, and The Sandman.How did you get involved on this series?We were brought on by Neal Street Productions after collaborating with them and Sam Mendes on Empire of Light.How was the collaboration with the showrunner and the directors?We began discussions quite early with showrunner Jon Brown and his team. We were invited to offer some insights into how VFX works on set and give some fun anecdotes from our careers. Some of them even made it into the script, which is not something that happens every day!As always, it was a pleasure to work with Sam Mendes again on the pilot. We collaborated closely in the lead-up to filming, helping him plan the VFX work. This continued throughout the series. We worked very collaboratively alongside the other directors.(L to R) Sam Mendes, Jon Brown / Photograph by Colin Hutton/HBOHow did you organize the work with your VFX Producer?Our in-house VFX producer was Tallulah Baker who worked closely with the production team and dealt with many of the logistical and creative challenges they encountered.What is your role on set and how do you work with other departments?Adam Gascoyne was the overall VFX Executive Supervisor. His relationship with Sam Mendes meant that Union were involved from early conversations all the way through to post delivery. He worked closely alongside Unions onset team with Taskin Kenan overseeing the pilot shoot and Jake Green the remaining 7 episodes.After the shoot wrapped, our in-house DFX Supervisors Dan Victoire, Dave Schneider, and Iain Read worked with Adam to oversee the VFX looking after our talented teams of artists in both London and Montral.The biggest VFX episodes were Episode 1, 4, and 7 with work ranging from early previs, all the way through to exploding bridges!Can you walk us through the process of designing invisible visual effects for The Franchise?Most of the VFX for The Franchise was invisible and planned from pre-production. Union are well known for our invisible effects work. The key with this kind of work is collaboration. You have to ask the right questions early on in the process. What seems like an obvious VFX shot to us might not be obvious to everyone, and thats just down to experience, years of working on projects like this and knowing the kinds of challenges that tend to crop up.How do you strike a balance between realism and the comedic tone of the series?We helped develop some of the ideas in the script relating to VFX, but the comedic tone was all down to the brilliant writing by Jon Brown and his team.Achieving realism was occasionally tricky on set, especially when working as a film crew who are filming a film crew within a fictional production. It often required careful distinction between the two layers of storytelling.Invisible VFX often go unnoticed by audiences. How did you approach creating effects that seamlessly blend into the chaotic behind-the-scenes environment of a blockbuster set?In the same way that we would approach any job with a lot of meticulous planning, lots of discussion on how to do the VFX work, location scouting and technical recess such as the location which was used in the bridge sequence which required scanning the real bridge as well as a taxidermy bat!Were there any specific scenes in The Franchise that posed unique challenges for your team when it came to creating invisible VFX? How did you overcome them?Episode 7 has one of the most ambitious sequences in the show, where a culturally important bridge accidentally gets destroyed, causing a swarm of protected bats to take off. It was a big mix of VFX and practical effects, and it turned out great.On set, the SFX team triggered some real demolition effects, but we replaced the bridge with a CG version for the parts where it collapses. That way, we could control how it fell and make it look realistic. We also added things like debris, smoke, and water splashes in the river below, so everything felt natural and reacted the way it would in real life.One challenge was that there was a modern bridge in the background, so we had to remove that to keep the focus on the old bridge, which is the jokes centrepiece.Then there were the bats, which were all CG. We studied reference footage and even used a taxidermy bat to ensure they looked and moved realistically. The bats had to react to the collapsing bridge and the effects around them, so we worked hard to get the lighting and shadows just right to blend them into the scene.It was a real team effortpractical effects, VFX, animation, everything had to come together. The result is chaotic but also really fun, and it fits perfectly with the story.The series features both practical and digital effects. How did you decide when to use invisible VFX versus practical solutions on set?We worked closely with the SFX team to create realistic elements as they appear on set. Its a real crossover between the two teams, some of these elements might be enhanced in VFX such as the burning fireball in episode 6. It takes a lot of collaboration and understanding of what is practical and achievable on set and what would be more beneficial to be done in VFX and post to achieve the best results.Given that The Franchise is a satire of the superhero film industry, how did you use invisible VFX to enhance the humour and parody elements of the series?One of my favourite examples is the sneeze scene in episode 2. Adam and Peter, played by Billy Magnussen and Richard E. Grant, are trying to pull off a ridiculous wire stunt with an invisible jackhammer. The scene was already funny, but it needed a little extra oomph.Our VFX team suggested adding a perfectly-timed sneeze by compositing and animating a head replacement. It sounds simple, but executing it required meticulous timing and collaboration with the showrunner. It was silly, but it worked! That tiny VFX tweak helped the gag land perfectly and took the absurdity up a notch. Its a great example of how even the smallest effects can make a big impact, especially when youre poking fun at superhero filmmaking.What tools and techniques did your team use to achieve realistic set extensions, background replacements, or other subtle enhancements in The Franchise?We use Nuke, Maya, Houdini and some in-house preparatory tools.Can you share an example of a scene where the use of invisible VFX significantly improved the storytelling or comedic impact of a moment?The bridge sequence was definitely the most significant, but overall the series has a lot of minor and invisible VFX adjustments scattered throughout.In a show focused on the making-of process, were there any meta VFX shots where you had to create digital elements that mimic traditional on-set effects?Definitely! There were some hilarious moments along the way. We even had to add blue screens into the sets after the fact, which was a bit of VFX irony in itself.One of the best running jokes was creating these intentionally bad previsualisations, or previz. Since its a comedy, we could lean into this with purposefully stiff models, and jerky animations. As the story progresses and you meet VFX Dave, you realise these ridiculous previz shots are meant to mirror the fictional VFX teams complete meltdown.How did you collaborate with the production design and cinematography teams to ensure that your invisible VFX would match the physical sets and props used in The Franchise?There was lots of discussions, storyboards, previs, and concepts. Worked very closely with production designer Neil Callow and his team.What was the most rewarding aspect of working on invisible VFX for a series that blurs the line between fiction and reality in the world of blockbuster filmmaking?Great to work with Neal Streat again and always a pleasure working with Sam.Its not often we get to show some of the more ridiculous nature of what we do, but also shows how it all comes together in the end.Were there any unexpected technical or creative challenges encountered during the production?There were definitely some unexpected challenges! A lot of the sets were super reflective, which kept us on our toes. One tricky spot was with the reality crystal from episode 4we had to enhance it, making it look even shinier and more impressive. But the reflections were a bit of a puzzle. Because of the shows concept, we needed to keep some crew members visible in the reflections while figuring out which ones were real and which were part of the fictional crew. That got pretty meta!Another fun one was working with props like the big red tractor in episode 5. We had to composite it into the scene when the green tractor drove through the doorway. There was a production tent in the way that we had to remove and place the tractor in its place. It was a small adjustment, but it helped sell the gag and make the scene flow better.Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?The episode 7 bridge sequence, hands down. It was such an ambitious scene, and it really pushed our team creatively and technically. The level of detail and complexity we brought to that sequence is something Im incredibly proud ofit was a true team effort to pull it off.How long have you worked on this show?Its been a pretty long journey! From early preproduction all the way to final delivery, it spanned about two years. We first got the call about the project back in October 2022. We started with the pilot and then into production of the rest of the series. Its been quite a ride, but a rewarding one for sure!Whats the VFX shots count?This was approximately 270 shots and 10 assets.What is your next project?As a studio, weve had an incredibly exciting year. We started our year off with our first-ever BAFTA win for Poor Things. More recently, our work on The Tattooist of Auschwitz earned some wonderful recognition, taking home awards at both the RTS Craft & Design Awards and The Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards.On the project front, we wrapped up exciting work on HBOs The Regime, Peacock and Skys The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and the fourth season of Slow Horses. Looking ahead, were gearing up for an exciting slate, including the premiere of Apple TV+s high-stakes thriller series Prime Target early next year, followed by some highly anticipated feature-length releases.A big thanks for your time. Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025

The post Octane Texture Pack 1: Blender + Orbx appeared first on The Pixel Lab.