X Suffers Third Global Outage Today; Users In US, UK, India Report IssuesTwitter, now X, experienced a global outage today, leaving users unable to access the app or website. By : ABP Live Tech|Updated at : 11 Mar 2025 12:05 AM (IST) Representational Image | X chief Elon Musk said a 'massive cyberattack' targeting the platform was the cause behind the disruption.Source : X.com Microblogging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday suffered a massive global outage for the third time today, leaving thousands of users unable to access the app or website. According to the outage-tracking platform Downdetector, the first disruption was recorded around 3:30 PM IST, followed by another at 7:00 PM IST and a third spike at 8:44 PM IST. X chief Elon Musk said a 'massive cyberattack' targeting the platform was the cause behind the disruption.The outage has impacted users across multiple countries, including the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. For the uninitiated, Downdetector monitors the operational status of internet services and has recorded a substantial spike in outage reports.Source: DowndetectorDowndetector data shows that 52 per cent of users are facing issues with the app itself, 40 per cent are experiencing problems on the website, and 7 per cent have reported server connection failures.Source: DowndetectorWith X being the primary platform where users typically report disruptions on other social media services, many found themselves unable to voice their concerns about the ongoing outage. Large, Coordinated Group Or A Country Involved: Elon Musk On Cyberattack Targeting XAs the repeated service failures have led to frustration among users, X chief Elon Musk posted that the platform is facing a "massive cyberattack" and suspected the involvement of a "large, coordinated group and/or a country"."There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against . We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing," Elon Musk wrote.While some regions have seen a partial restoration of services, many users continue to experience accessibility issues. According to Downdetector, the number of outage reports surged past 40,000 in the United States, while more than 10,800 users in the United Kingdom also reported issues earlier in the day.More details about the global outage are awaited.Also readPublished at : 10 Mar 2025 09:34 PM (IST)Follow Technology News on ABP Live for more latest stories and trending topics. Watch breaking news and top headlines online on ABP News LIVE TVView More

Temple of the mindWant to know how Warframe got its own bizarre Sci-Fi David Bowie? Here's how Temple came to be, from a sketch to your Sortie"This one in particular was one of the most self-indulgent, coolest set of things I could put into a Warframe"Image credit: Digital Extremes Article by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on March 10, 2025 In case you missed it, Warframe will be releasing its 60th playable warframe later this month, on March 19. It's a frame like no other, packing a horrific infested guitar, various spikes and other sharp pointy bits, plus a protoframe user that bares a striking resemblance to David Bowie. It's the MMO's first rock star, unapologetically loud and brash.But how did this character come to be? Well, it may surprise you to know that this musical warframe, releasing alongside the upcoming musical update - Warframe 1999 Techrot Encore - has been bubbling away in sketches and design docs for a while. To fill me in on how this new frame - dubbed Temple - came together design-wise, I chatted with Warframe's weapon art lead Kaz Adams, who was responsible for bringing the idea of Temple to digital life.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. VG247:How did the Temple design come about?Adams: "This was like an off-hours sketch kind of thing. A lot of people at DE are inspired by the game we're working on, so in the back of their mind they're like 'if I could make a Warframe, what would it look like?'. I have a folder with loads of ideas in there. This one in particular was one of the most self-indulgent, coolest sets of things I could put into a Warframe. I was like, it has to be rock 'n roll, and I also had a whole bunch of extra ideas we ended up pulling out."Originally it had ball joints and a puppeteering sub-theme, and demon-summoning. So that was too much (laughs), so we scaled it back from there. Back then, the sketch wasn't really in a place where I could use it that well. So I kept reworking it and reworking it, and as my skill level increased and my tastes got better, it just became closer and closer to something that I could see actually existing in the game. I'm glad it took that long! I'm so much more competent nowadays."Once we started ideating for Warframe 1999, and we knew there would be a boy band, I was like well there's a boy band, can there be a rock 'n roll character too! Of course, Rebecca had the same thought. She was like, 'We're putting this on the schedule!'" VG247:When did you first pitch the Temple design to the rest of the Warframe team?Adams: "It was in 2018, I was going to Japan for the first time ever and I was full of all kinds of ideas. I pitched it to Jeff Hartling and Steve Sinclair, and the original version was based on a bunch of 80s Rock bands I suppose. The helmet had a top hat kind of thing, I was basing that off Slash. But at that time, we had just put out a tall hat - I think it was Revenant. Steve's advice was that the guitar wasn't weird enough. So I made it infested instead."Then Steve said, what if it turned into a gun? (laughs) That was all early advice, and Temple kinda evolved from there. Rebecca told me it looked too deluxe in the very early [designs], as I had a lot of stuff sticking out of it. But that's what you do when you have a blank canvas, you go 'I'll add this thing! I'll add this thing!' But the better direction is to start taking away stuff and seeing what you miss."VG247:Which specific bands inspired the design?Adams: "For me, I was listening to a lot of 70s stuff, so Ziggy Stardust is the biggest visual inspiration there because of the pinstripes and the colour pallete too. But I used some inspiration from non-rock stuff too. One of the biggest breakthrough moments for me when I was coming up with the visual elements was a suggestion from Nikita Leshakov to [emphasize] a spike that was on the thigh a little more. I did and it started to remind me of a dragonfruit, so I started adding those in other places and arrived at the look. For the last element, I really like guitars."[Kaz proceeded to show me one red guitar she describes as Iceman-ish, as well as a white Fernandes]VG247: We've got to talk about the guitar! How did you arrive at this wild, infested guitar Temple has?Adams: "Well, you do a lot of really gross messy sketches for a while and figure it out. It's one of those things that's really nuanced for answering. It seems like a thing that's a fine line to walk, but there's a lot of ways to do that. I started out thinking I could put it on the character, like on both arms. But it didn't look like a guitar anymore, it was too wide. So, what other arrangements could work if it were bisected like that? Well, then I thought of like a Michael Angelo Batio double guitar - that's cool right? But I see a lot of guitars in other games, and they all look like regular guitars. I was thinking, what if I could base it on one of these crazy guitars instead."

It's looking like we're not far away from a momentous day in the video games. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on the PS5 has officially been rated by the ESRB. Read more

Let's-a save!It wouldn't be MAR10 Day without an eShop sale and today, Nintendo of America has kicked off just that.On top of the previously-announced retail discounts, the MAR10 Day sale is now underway over on the North American eShop, bringing some welcome savings to games starring the prized plumber and his pals. This one will be sticking around until 16th March at 11:59pm PT, so you have a little under a week to get in there and nab yourself a deal.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Chatter up!A new patent from Nintendo seems to suggest that voice chat will be better implemented into Switch 2, finally overcoming one of our biggest complaints with 'Switch 1' (thanks, Wccftech).The patent was filed back in November 2024 before being published by the United States Patent Application Office late last month. The main thrust of the text and diagrams appears to outline something akin to in-game proximity chat, or as the summary confusingly puts it, when "the sound heard by the user can be gradually switched from the sound acquired by the residual virtual microphone at the position before movement to the sound acquired by the virtual microphone at the current position". Nice and clear, eh?Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Cheaper, lighter, and denser: the trifecta defines an ideal battery. No one has devised a perfect cell quite yet, but one stealthy startup thinks it has found a new material that solves at least two of those challenges.Daqus Energy has been quietly operating for the past four months, refining a compound known as TAQ that promises to be cheaper and lighter than competing battery materials.We have not seen a metric at which TAQ does poorly compared with the incumbents, Harish Banda, co-founder and CEO of Daqus, told TechCrunch. The company was spun out of MIT, where research into the material was funded in part through a partnership with Lamborghini.There are a few caveats, which Banda freely offers: The company is still scaling production of TAQ, and it has only just begun working on the type of cells that could drop into an EV. Plus, many promising battery materials have died on the path to commercialization.But the upside is strong enough that Daqus is emerging from stealth with a $6 million seed round led by Morningside with participation from unnamed individual investors.Daquss material replaces the cathode in a lithium-ion battery. In a typical cell, the cathode is made of nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) or iron-phosphate (better known as LFP). NMC cells are more expensive, but offer greater energy density and longer range in electric vehicles. LFP cells are cheaper but heavier.U.S. and European automakers have favored NMC for their EVs, but theyve begun to switch to LFP to cut costs. Problem is, the vast majority of LFP cathode materials are made in China, making them a nonstarter for U.S.-made EVs that want to qualify for tax credits.The material Daqus is working with, bis-tetraaminobenzoquinone or TAQ for short, isnt made using expensive critical minerals like nickel or cobalt. Instead, its made entirely of widely available carbon-based compounds.For the first step in the manufacturing process, the two molecules the company uses are already used to make dyes and fertilizers. They are absolutely dirt cheap, Banda said, noting that the company buys small batches at $1 per kilogram. So you can only imagine what that means when you buy a ton of it.Whats more, the process used to synthesize a TAQ cathode uses vastly less energy. Making the stuff only requires heating it to 120 degrees C, some 700 to 800 degrees C lower than LFP or NMC cathodes, Banda said.On the manufacturing line, TAQ can be deposited using existing equipment. But theres another opportunity to cut costs: existing anode manufacturing equipment can also work with TAQ. That would allow battery makers to use water as a solvent instead of NMP, a toxic solvent that needs to be captured and recycled.Altogether, TAQs qualities have left Banda feeling confident that the material can undercut the cheapest lithium-ion batteries on the market. If somebody is saying that LFP batteries are at $50 per kilowatt hour, we would be cheaper than that for sure, Banda said. Exactly how much needs to be figured out.Daqus has been producing coin cells in its lab space in Massachusetts, and its internal tests have shown TAQ to be durable. TAQ-based batteries can be charged and discharged 2,000 times and maintain at least 80% of its original capacity, and theyre stable at high temperatures. Those small batteries also charge at a rate that, when extrapolated to EVs, would enable six minute fast charging.If theres a caveat, its that TAQ cathodes take up more space than NMC, though theyre competitive with LFP. Still, he points out that because the material is lighter, EVs designed around it could also be made lighter and would need fewer batteries overall. That could give TAQ-powered EVs enough range to compete with NMC while being cheaper and lighter.Sports cars might realize the benefits sooner. Weight has been one of the biggest penalties of electrification: Its incredibly easy to make an EV thats lightning quick in a straight line, but making one that handles well on a race track? Thats proven to be harder. A lightweight, fast-charging battery pack could go a long way toward making electric sports cars feel special and all cars more efficient.Lots of car companies in the world are trying to make electric cars, Banda said. Whats the difference between a Rolls Royce versus a Tesla? Sure you have better seats, but in terms of the core of the car, it used to be the engine. Now, it seems to be the battery.

Surf, the new app from Flipboard for browsing the open social web, is expanding its support for Blueskys social network. On Monday, the company announced a new version of its beta software (dubbed Blue Wave) which allows users to log into the app using their Bluesky credentials and then see all their Bluesky feeds in Surf, including their following feed, discover feed, and any of the custom feeds theyve pinned in the Bluesky app. The new integration will also allow users to access other Bluesky sources when building their own custom feeds like Blueskys Starter Packs, which are lists of recommended followers that people build to help new users find connections. Other Bluesky sources, like Lists and Custom Feeds, are also available as sources.With the addition, Surf becomes an alternative to using the Bluesky app itself, as youre able to interact with posts from Blueskys network by liking, replying to, and reposting them, while likes and replies from users on Blueskys app also display in Surf.Explains Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, Surf gives you seamless access to anyone posting on Bluesky, Mastodon or Threads.Its the social web coming to life and unifying the social web, he says. Image Credits:FlipboardPlus, he sees apps like Surf as a good alternative to centralized social media, which is becoming filled with AI-generated content. The AI overrun is just brutal, he says. This is why I really think RSS is so important because it gives you access to all the best YouTube content, podcasts and newsletters from real people. By being explicit about the sources that you choose, and looking at people that you trust and what sources theyve recommended, its the power of human connection to help filter away all the AI slop, McCue notes. Another new beta feature is a setup wizard that will guide you through the process of creating your own custom home feed in Surf something the company aims to add to other custom feed creation tools further down the road.Here, you can design your own universal timeline of sorts, by combining feeds from Mastodon and Bluesky, including your following feeds or other custom feeds, like Blueskys Popular with Friends or Discover.The setup wizard will also let you filter out content you dont want to see in these feeds, like politics. There are even toggle switches to hide posts about Donald Trump or Elon Musk, if youd prefer a more escapist feed. ScreenshotImage Credits:Surf/FlipboardA lot of people Ive personally spoken with are likeI use Bluesky to get away from the news. And I dont want to read about Elon. I dont want to hear any politics, McCue explains. Where Surf already shines is its ability to help you build your own topical feeds that combine posts from across open social networks and other open protocols like RSS. The latter allows you to add sources like news websites, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels to your custom feeds. For example, one of McCues feeds, Tech Builders and Thinkers, includes individuals whose accounts are on Mastodon, Bluesky, and YouTube. The idea is to follow the people and the topics youre interested in, without limiting yourself to a single platform. For now, all feeds are public by default, allowing users to follow feeds that others have built. In time, however, McCue says your feeds will be private so you can pick and choose which ones you want to share more broadly.You can also tweak the design and layout of the feeds you build, setting their cover image and background color, as well as picking which tab is their default. You can have feeds that look more like a Twitter/X timeline by setting them to the Discuss view, or if youd rather have them focused on images, audio, videos, or articles, you can choose other views, like Look, Listen, Watch, or Read, respectively.Image Credits:FlipboardToday, a number of developers are building TikTok-like or Instagram-like apps for Bluesky, which change how you view Blueskys content by focusing on a particular type of media. With Surf, you can get the same results without the need for a separate app and without limiting yourself to only Bluesky content. The Surf Blue Wave beta update was first demonstrated at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, and will roll out to existing testers. The company will also be letting in a new wave of beta testers with this release. Surf will later exit Apples TestFlight testing platform so the app can reach beyond the limit of 10,000 testers that Apple imposes.The company is also working on bringing the currently iOS-only Surf app to the web.

Dust off your robes and grab your wands, Harry Potter is coming to the Windy City! Opening on April 10, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned Harry Potter Shop Chicago, located at 676 N Michigan Avenue, will offer multiple themed areas, exclusive merchandise, props, and a Butterbeer Bar.We are delighted to be bringing this store to Chicagoland, said Karl Durrant, Senior Vice President, Warner Bros. Discovery Retail Experiences. With the incredible success of the New York flagship store, bringing the Harry Potter world to life on Michigan Avenue was an absolute must. From the shop's design to exclusive merchandise and a speakeasy-inspired Butterbeer Bar, Harry Potter Shop Chicago is infused with nods to the city's rich history and unique culture, giving fans a one-of-a-kind experience and unforgettable connection to the wizarding world.The stores interior is influenced by the themes of resilience and rebirth seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, featuring:A moving mermaid-stained glass window.Suspended broomsticks on fire light up the store as a nod to the dragon challenge.The water trial's Golden Egg adds a shimmering focal point to the store's design.A maze patterned floor leads to the register area, symbolizing the culmination of the tournament and the shopping journey.The Goblet of Fire itself serves as a centerpiece, bringing the three tasks together.Multiple themed areas further the immersion:The largest Butterbeer Bar in the United States: Inspired by Chicago's famous style of speakeasies, guests can sip on the iconic Butterbeer and indulge in exclusive Chicago-themed Butterscotch Popcorn.Confectionery: From Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans to Chocolate Frogs, the Honeydukes inspired confectionery is filled with a variety of sweet treats and boasts an oversized interactive jellybean experience.Chicago Section: A selection of Chicago-exclusive wizarding world merchandise include a Chicago bear, spirit jersey, pins, mug, tote bag, and caps.House Pride: Themed apparel, accessories, collectibles and a dedicated fitting room ensure fans can rep their preferred house.Wands, Robes, Stationery, Jewelry and Collectables: Fans can find their perfect match in the Room of Wands and explore unique keepsakes that celebrate the wizarding world.MinaLima Section: Home to America's second House of MinaLima, the graphic design duo behind the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films, the area features visual storytelling. A Chicago-exclusive print from the designers is also available.Personalization: Fans can personalize a Hogwarts robe, wand or acceptance letter to make for a truly unique purchase.Check out the Harry Potter Shop Chicago page for more information, including future events.Source: Harry Potter Shop Chicago Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologistL'Wrenbrings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.

InterviewsCaptain America Brave New World: Hanzhi Tang VFX Supervisor Digital DomainBy Vincent Frei - 10/03/2025 Back in 2022, Hanzhi Tang broke down the visual effects that Digital Domain brought to life for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Today, he continues his Marvel journey, sharing details about his work on Captain America: Brave New World.How did you and Digital Domain get involved on this series?Digital Domain has a proven track record working with Marvel and with our experience with oceans and clouds in recent projects, we were well suited for this sequence in Captain America: Brave New World. I myself am a flight sim nerd and looked forward to doing this type of work involving dogfights and fighter planes, and jumped at the opportunity.How was the collaboration with VFX Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro?When Alessandro came on board the movie, we instantly had a great communicative relationship and mutual understanding for what we needed to achieve for this sequence. We quickly brought him up to speed with the assets and development that we had already begun and what still needed to be improved. As the fresh set of eyes on the project, Alessandro shared his concerns about what the stumbling blocks were, and we course-corrected as needed.How did you organize the work with your VFX Producer?One of the unique aspects of this project was the opportunity for a creative hiatus to accommodate changes to the film. This break allowed us to thoughtfully reorganize and assess our assets, determining which ones were still relevant, what new assets were needed, and how we could creatively modify existing ones.The shot design also evolved during this processsome shots remained as originally planned, while others were creatively repurposed or shuffled in the edit, resulting in a lot of fresh material. Keeping track of all these changes was a significant challenge, but our VFX Producer, Dan Brimer, excelled in leading the show once we returned from hiatus. Amy James-Wang did a fantastic job covering the first year of build and development, setting a solid foundation for the project.What are the sequences made by Digital Domain?Digital Domain was responsible for the Indian Ocean naval and aerial battle.The aerial battle in Captain America: Brave New World is an 8.5-minute, mostly CG sequence. What were the key challenges in designing and executing such an intense and prolonged action scene?In crafting the aerial battle featuring similar-looking jets and two flying characters with similar silhouettes, we embraced the challenge of creating a clear and engaging story. Throughout the film, we aimed to ensure that the audience could easily follow the action and understand who was pursuing whom.Our talented Previz Supervisor, Cameron Ward, collaborated closely with director Julius Onah and Alessandro to identify key story beats. Their teamwork was instrumental in streamlining the sequences and reducing any unnecessary complexity between the planes, missiles, and characters, resulting in a more cohesive and exciting experience for viewers.With jets flying at over 300 mph and missiles reaching 1,000 mph within a 10-mile radius, how did you ensure the right sense of scale and motion without overwhelming the audience?Technical issues with animation at that speed aside, the real problem is telegraphing that sense of speed to the audience. Against blue sky theres very little to sell a sense of speed in CG. However, when looking at real photography from chase planes of fighter jets you dont really question the speed. I think the key here is partly in the details of the smallest movements whether its the aircraft being pushed around by the air, the small corrections in pitch and roll as well as giving the foreground and background more texture to sell speed whether its a nice cloudscape to parallax against or wisps that we fly though. We dialed back on unjustified camera shake and played with motion blur lengths to keep things readable.Captain America: Brave New World reintroduces Celestial Island, last seen in Eternals. How did you approach updating and integrating this environment into the aerial battle, and were there any major visual or technical enhancements compared to its previous appearance?The last time we saw the Celestial in Eternals, it was massive and most of the close up action took place in the palm of the hand. It was too big to fly around in any decent amount of time that was realistic and several of the models features were designed to only be seen in wide shots as needed in that movie. We started by scaling that original model down to about 8500ft at the peak. Next, we needed to determine how close to the surface the characters and cameras get in our shots, what could be modeled, what could be displacement maps and what could be matte painting. It turns out we needed Sam to land and hang off the side of the fingers, which turned into a specially modeled patch just for those shots.With clouds, a vast ocean, and Celestial Island all playing a role in the scene, how did you ensure visual consistency across these elements while maintaining the dramatic tension of the sequence?We ensured the consistency primarily through lighting. However, utilizing a mixed renderer pipeline presented some extra challenges keeping everyone in sync for lighting direction and color. We still render our major effects elements in Houdini Mantra and hard surface and character lighting still comes from our Solaris/V-ray pipeline. Although we have published tools for the lighting setups to be propagated to other dependent departments, it can still be quite challenging to keep up with the changes if they are happening too often. To address this, we did a quick pre-light of all shots as soon as they came out of previz. This allowed us to establish and verify the consistency of the sun position, while checking for any continuity issues. This process also served to fill out the shots for temp edits and early cuts of the movie.The sequence is almost entirely CG. What techniques did you use to maintain a high level of photorealism, especially with ocean reflections, cloud interactions, and atmospheric effects?I think the consistent use of only a few HDRs across the departments and a lot of data sharing so that effects volumes (explosions and clouds) and particles (tracers) could cast shadows and light correctly onto the traditionally lit objects in the scene helped to maintain photorealism. That included making sure clouds both shadowed and reflected into the ocean. The ocean and the cloud were both individually so memory intensive, we couldnt render them at the same time and if you switch out one cloud, you dont want to re-render the whole ocean again for 3 days.The dogfight takes place through clouds, adding depth and complexity to the scene. How did you approach the cloud simulations, and what were the biggest technical challenges?When dealing with clouds, theres a couple of challenges, and achieving a realistic light scatter has as much to do with the density data in the VDB as the complexity of the path tracing in the shader. That might get you a single beautiful cloud. The other problem is creating a natural looking placement of a whole sky of clouds. If you randomly scatter your VDBs, it will look exactly like how it sounds. The clouds wont be aligned to any specific wind direction. None of the real-world weather physics of thermal layers and winds are being taken into account. We went through many, many layout iterations to get something that was both art directed and as natural looking as we could get it.How did you design the camera movements and cinematography for this fast-paced aerial sequence to keep it both dynamic and readable for the audience?I would have to give a lot of credit to our previz supervisor Cameron and Animation Supervisor Frankie Stellato, who both developed ideas and compromises to tell the story beat as needed, while keeping the camera doing something that could actually be shot from a drone or helicopter. Trying to fit the camera into one of the real world shooting techniques helped ground the sequence. We tried to push back on too many magical cameras.Given the complexity of the environment and high-speed motion, how did you optimize rendering without compromising on visual fidelity?With clouds and water, its going to come down to brute force render power to get a nice noise-free render with detail at the horizon that doesnt buzz. Denoising often looks too soft and sucks the fine scale out of the image. Theres some optimization that can be done with camera frustums, but at the end of the day you have to plan ahead for the render crunch and push for the camera animation to be approved and locked early enough to give you enough time for 3 day renders. Quite often, well just have to take a gamble on the animation being settled enough to kick off the renders.Were there any specific learnings from previous aerial VFX work, either at Digital Domain or elsewhere, that you applied to this sequence?Weve done aerial dogfights before both twenty years ago on the movie Stealth and more recently on Independence Day: Resurgence. Both times we ran into familiar problems that would still apply today, which is one of scale and numerical accuracy in the software we use. Seasoned artists will know models and rigs dont like being too far from the origin and this is something we cant really avoid in a dogfight, especially at the scale of the Celestial. At 400-500 knots we cover huge distances in just 30-60 frames, enough to test the tolerances of the last decimal places that the software can handle. These smallest rounding errors can show up as odd looking motion blur or unintended vibrations in the position of animated objects. Trying to cheat scales and units will in turn, break your physically based simulations for the effects. We would end up doing workarounds where animation is published at the origin and then translated into the correct world space. Changing the order of operations is one thing you can try, but it isnt a magic bullet. Our DFX Supervisor Ryan Duhaime and CG Supervisor Brett Ellis were both key in making my problems go away.Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?Im proud of the team really hitting their pace in the two months leading up to the delivery of the show. With so many moving parts and that part of the year filled with holidays it was our crew that kept the show on track and on time, turning around notes and changes at a breakneck speed.Which sequence or shot was the most challenging?I think thats the missile almost hitting the side of the USS Milius. There is some really nice sim work both in fluids and volumes for the fireball and the shockwave effect on the water surface that we referenced a lot of old battleship cannon fire for. Nice interactive lighting from the effects to the ship helps tie everything together and we added the slightest rocking motion to the ship from the force of the explosion in comp, which saved us from changing the animation and sims over and over.Is there something specific that gives you some really short nights?Yes. Noisy cloud and ocean renders. I may never emotionally recover from that. Jokes aside, those were some of the most worrying parts since the solution is mostly time and is hard to compress. Working within the colorspace and artistic grade for the show was also a long term obstacle that concerned us because it reduced the highlight range that helps things like ocean highlights, metals and clouds look really good. Things that can look great in look development in an ideal neutral linear color space can suddenly start looking more clamped or painterly fast. Our Compositing Supervisor, Michael Melchiorre, truly took the bull by the horns when it came to wrestling the CG to work with the grade.What is your favorite shot or sequence?Id say it was maybe a shot that started out as something that seemed too over the top. Its the shot of Cap taking out an air to surface missile by jumping down onto it and pushing its nose down into the ocean and exploding. We worked with previz and eventually offered some options of our own from our Animation Supervisor Frankie Stellato, that minimized the dwell time standing on the missile to make it a momentary pose rather than grandstanding on the missile like a surfboard. Between Caps drone Redwing flying the shield behind him to deflect tracer fire and the big underwater explosion and white water effects theres a lot going on. On top of that the whole thing moving at 400mph made everything difficult to sim.What is your best memory on this show?For myself, I would say going on set in Atlanta during the additional photography and randomly getting pulled into the camera car to watch and give thumbs up or down approval on some high-speed plates for some Joaquin flying shots with Julius the director and camera operator Brigman Foster-Owens in the back seat. For bonus points, I also played as an extra in our sequence but youll have to try to find me.How long have you worked on this show?I started on Captain America: Brave New World a few months after production wrapped on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, roughly in April 2023. We got started with all the many asset builds while Bill Westenhofer and his team were shooting principal photography in Atlanta. Later in June 2024, I went to set in Atlanta for additional photography with Alessandro.Whats the VFX shots count?We ended up with about 165 shots in the movie, but theyre long shots and take up about 6 or 7 minutes of screen time. In the long journey to the screen, though, we probably worked on over 300 shots in some form that later became unnecessary.What is your next project?This one was such a long production schedule, Im taking a well deserved break until whatever comes next.A big thanks for your time.WANT TO KNOW MORE?Digital Domain: Dedicated page about Captain America: Brave New World on Digital Domain website.Alessandro Ongaro: Heres my interview of Production VFX Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro. Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025

German machine tools manufacturer EMAG is addressing European automotive sustainability regulations with its ELC 450 LMD laser metal deposition (LMD) technology.In November 2026, the European Union (EU) will introduce the Euro 7 emissions standard, setting stricter regulations for all road vehicles across the continent. Notably, it will impose tighter controls on particle emissions from brake disc abrasions, requiring a 27% reduction by the end of next year.Currently, most cars emit up to 40 milligrams of particulate matter per kilometer, but under Euro 7, all new vehicles must meet a significantly lower limit of just 7 milligrams. Consequently, automotive manufacturers and suppliers require new methods for creating more eco-friendly brake disks.EMAG aims to meet this need with the ELC 450 LMD, a laser metal deposition system that applies a metal coating to brake discs. This hard coating enhances corrosion and wear resistance, extends the discs lifespan, and reduces their environmental impact. Brake disks coated using LMD technology also require less maintenance, saving time and money for end users.EMAGs ELC 450 LMD coating a brake disk. Photo via EMAG.New EU regulations crack down on vehicle emissionsBrake discs are often overlooked in discussions about vehicle pollutants, which typically focus on engine-produced CO. However, concerns about brake-related particles are increasing as the EU intensifies efforts to reduce non-exhaust emissions.According to Italian 3D printer OEM Prima Additive, 21% of combustion vehicle-based particulate emissions come from the brake discs. This is generated when the brake is applied. Friction between a cars brake disk and brake pad causes materials causes 10m-scale materials to be released into the atmosphere. In addition to the 27% reduction in brake disc emissions, the Euro 7 standard will require a 13% reduction in overall automotive polluting particulate output.According to EMAG, alternative proposals to improve brake disk sustainability are flawed. For instance, the company argued that placing extraction systems near the brakes is a problematic approach. EMAG claims that these systems only remove part of the harmful emissions, while requiring automotive OEMs to completely re-design their bodywork.NAO (Non-Asbestos Organic) brake pads are also considered inadequate because they perform well only when new. According to EMAG, these asbestos-free components lose effectiveness and fail to meet the EUs new emissions standards after prolonged use.The Salach, Baden-Wrttemberg-based laser technology developer views brake disc coating as the optimal solution. In addition to lower emission rates, coated brakes offer longer service life, meaning they are replaced less often. In turn, this reduces the environmental impact of production, transportation, and disposal.3D printing sustainable brake disc coatingsWhile hard coatings of brake disks are nothing new, their adoption has previously been limited by high production costs. Conventional thermal spraying and electroplating methods do not create a metallurgical bond to the base material, meaning complex post-processing is required to bond the coating.EMAG claims its additive manufacturing-based LMD approach represents a quantum leap for coating brake disks. The company calls its approach economical and suitable for large-scale production. It also highlights reliability and variability, as different material combinations can be used to coat brake disks.Its modular, flexible, and configurable technology is designed to meet high-volume automotive manufacturing demands. For instance, process modules can be combined and expanded to meet customer requirements.Whats more, the ELC 450 LMD is available in a range of configurations tailored to production scale. The basic model features a single process module, while the ELC 450 DUO LMD features two modules, and the ELC 450 TRIO LMD boasts three. According to EMAG, this modular approach allows the company to meet wide-ranging customer requirements by accommodating different shift structures and productivity levels.Introduced in 2021, ELC 450 LMD is said to offer notable advantages over other disk coating approaches. In a blog post, Dr. Andreas Mootz, managing director of EMAGs LaserTec subsidiary, claimed that conventional high velocity oxygen fuel spraying (HVOF) methods are wasteful. This process fires the metal coating onto the brake disks at high speeds, resulting in high material losses. On the other hand, EMAGs LMD approach, which welds the metal material directly onto the brake disk, is virtually waste-free.The ELC 450 DUO LMD with two process modules. Photo via EMAG.Additive manufacturing enhances automotive sustainabilityAs the EUs new automotive regulation deadlines approach, EMAG is not the only company coating brake discs with additive manufacturing. Last year, Prima Additive collaborated with automation and robotics firm Comau to develop a high-speed coating system for Dutch automaker Stellantis.The partners developed new Rapid Coating Process cells that combine advanced laser systems, robotic arms, powder management, and directed energy deposition (DED) 3D printing. According to Prima, these systems can quickly cover a metal brake disk with a thin layer of resilient material. This increases its resistance to wear, reducing brake disk degradation-related pollution emissions by 80%.Paolo Calefati, Prima Additives CEO, called the companys laser-based approach, the most profitable and sustainable cases of laser additive manufacturing/laser cladding technology applied in mass production for automotive.Other areas of automotive production have also adopted 3D printing to unlock more eco-friendly production. Last year, GM Ventures, the venture capital arm of the US automotive firm General Motors, invested $10 million into Forge Nano, a materials company specializing in atomic layer deposition (ALD). Through a strategic partnership, the two firms are developing advanced battery materials to improve the performance and lower the cost of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.Elsewhere, British automotive manufacturer McLaren launched a new hypercar with 3D printed titanium suspension components. McLarens new hybrid car, called the W1, features 3D printed front suspension uprights and wishbones which unlock substantial weight savings. The launch followed McLarens decision to sign a multi-year collaboration with Divergent Technologies to utilize its Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS) 3D printing technology. This partnership aims to enhance manufacturing efficiency and create a more sustainable automotive supply chain.Who won the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards?Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to keep up with the latest 3D printing news.You can also follow us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry Youtube channel to access more exclusive content.Featured image shows a brake disk coated using EMAGs LMD technology. Photo via EMAG.