A self-described world-building creative lab Impossible Objects (IO) has signed short film, music video, and commercial director Jay Walker to its roster of talent.
She sprang out of the southwest American desert and grew up dipping her toes into every nook and cranny the industry had to offer. Walker became a child actor and worked in theatre, commercials, television, features and beyond.
This first-hand experience of developing characters through performance, paired with her passion for better understanding the human condition, evolved into her desire to direct. Directing for brands such as Fortnite, Dell, and Coachella on the left, music videos for Diplo on the right, and having her European-shot short film Drifters screened at Young Directors Award.
“IO is operating at the top-tier of production,” said Walker. “Not only with the cutting-edge tech they are pioneering within the industry, but the entire team is composed of incredible people. It feels as though everything has naturally built up to this moment, it’s both a trip and an honour to join this talented roster to create exciting work.”
“A huge catalyst for knowing we needed to have Jay join our roster was her phenomenal music video for Zef whose tasteful visuals represent just a small sampling of her unique visual style,” said Impossible Objects co-founder/partner Jerad Anderson. “Multiple music videos done entirely in Unreal Engine? Are you kidding? It’s a match made in heaven. This next-level exploration of real-time blew us away. Her creativity and ability to push boundaries in our profession is an inspiration. We’re really happy to have her on our team.”
While helming projects in Europe, Walker collaborated with musician and 3D artist by the name NIVVA, who’s unique artistic performance is done as a digital avatar. Intrigued by the creative possibility, Walker and NIVVA began creating multiple music videos together, entirely in the Unreal Engine, the world’s most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool for photoreal visuals and immersive experiences.
Learning the program’s language created an exciting new skillset, thereby expanding her filmmaking possibilities. According to Walker, she found a nostalgic comfort in the experience. “Working with this medium brought me back to the beginning of my filmmaking studies, when my ideas were often described as ‘too big’ or they ‘defied physics.’ Suddenly, in this new realm, anything feels possible.”
Her first collaboration with IO was for the innovative gaming PC hardware company, Alienware. With a hot-off-the-pan client concept and a burning enthusiasm across the team, they were able to deliver a jaw-dropping experience for Alienware’s loyal devotees. Walker’s goals for the campaign was to create a kinetic, multi-scene wonderscape in each scene and make it seem like one continuous take.
Maxon announced the co-production of “The Design and Animation Tour” (DAT), in collaboration with community leaders and event organisers, Mograph.com. Kicking off at the end of April with the North American leg of the tour and with numerous industry-leading guest presenters, these events have been designed to inspire, educate and motivate creative professionals and new artists around the world.
From presentations and shared tips and tricks from an experienced team of professionals, to showcases of the latest product developments using shared project files, these events are a great opportunity for anyone interested in learning more about visual effects and how they can use them to create amazing content.
Dell in partnership with Nvidia, two of the world’s leading technology companies, and OTOY, creator of the Render Network – the world’s first decentralised GPU rendering and 3D asset marketplace – have stepped up as major sponsors of the event. Toolfarm, leading reseller of software solutions for video editing, motion graphics, and visual effects professionals is also sponsoring.
“With the cancellation of major industry events such as NAB and IBC at the onset of the pandemic, we brought the 3D and Motion Design Shows, as well as our regular weekly workshops to the virtual world, and we’ve seen exceptional attendance and feedback over the last few years,” said Maxon CMO Paul Babb. “But it’s time to get back to in person events, after easing back in 2022.”
He further mentioned, “Our creative community is eager for more live tutorials and demonstrations, and we want to bring this directly to their cities. This roadshow will help us to reconnect with our community and partners in a more personal, in-person experience and we hope to inspire creativity and innovation amongst those who attend.”
Maxon and Mograph.com Roadshow events are open to all skill levels of digital artists, motion designers, animators, graphic artists, visualisers, and students. A nominal fee will be charged for entry. Maxon will also be streaming several of the events live and recordings will be available online after each event for on-demand viewing.
Each event will consist of three distinct segments:
Create: Tips and techniques for creating VFX, motion graphics, and interactive media using the Maxon One suite of tools as well as other industry-leading products.
Connect: Featuring a panel discussion with local and visiting industry leaders, including audience participation. Topics will include the world of design, education, continued learning, job hunting, networking, contract work, mental health, work/life balance, and the complex social issues facing the modern digital artist.
Celebrate: Closing out each event will be a social mixer with food, drinks, prize giveaways, and swag. This will be an opportunity for local students and artists to meet with industry professionals, studios, and any other attendees. In select cities, this event will move to a separate venue such as breweries, art galleries, or event centres to coincide with other motion graphics events.
Each city will feature a number of industry professionals demonstrating their key workflows and best practices. Full line-ups for each show will be available online, but attendees can expect to see presentations from popular Maxon regulars such as:
EJ Hassenfratz: EJ is a multi-Emmy winning freelance motion design artist based out of Denver. EJ has conducted numerous webinars, presented at NAB, Adobe Video World, Siggraph and many other events worldwide, and creates tutorials for School of Motion and lynda.com.
Chris Schmidt: Chris is the founder of Rocket Lasso. For two decades he has been providing workflow-enhancing plugins, tutorials, and live-streamed knowledge to the Maxon community. Each and every Wednesday, artists can find Chris on Twitch, diving into an endless variety of topics as he tackles questions live from the audience.
Jonathan Winbush: Jonathan Winbush is the owner of Winbush Immersive, and a multi-award-winning motion graphics artist with over a decade of experience working television, virtual and augmented reality. An official Unreal partner, he continues to create amazing content on his YouTube Channel about Unreal Engine, motion graphics, virtual production, and interactive development.
The first leg of the Maxon 2023 Roadshow will be visiting the following locations:
United States
28 April – University of Texas, Dallas, TX
11 May – Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown, Denver, CO
17 May – Penn Museum, Philadelphia, PA
11 June – Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
July TBD – Seattle, WA
September TBD – Chicago, IL
November – December TBD – Atlanta, GA, Tampa and Miami, FL, Charleston, SC
Canada
28 July – Vancouver Film School, Vancouver, BC
17 August – DoubleTree by Hilton Toronto Downtown, Toronto, ON
22 August – DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal, Montreal, QC
Europe
November TBD – London, Paris Berlin, Barcelona, Milan
With an aim to provide cutting-edge tools to the creative industries that can help create breakthrough work, Dell has emerged as an important player in the domain of technologies. VFX industry is on the cusp of a transformation with the traditional ways of creating imagery being challenged everyday. With the burgeoning demand for high quality 4k content and virtual production, technology-providers are hard-pressed to keep pace with the rising standards of content production.
Globally, the media and entertainment industry is valued at $2.3 trillion and expected to reach $2.6 trillion by 2023. The US market makes up roughly a third of this market at an estimated $717 billion in 2020, with growth expected to reach $825 billion by 2023. Though some of this growth is attributed to businesses not traditionally associated with media and entertainment (e.g., museums, education and training) that are now developing media content, the “stars” of the industry are those companies that create content for movies, television and games. These traditional media and entertainment entities make up the bulk of the industry.
Given the rapid pace of technological evolution, studios struggle to provide the best tools to enhance, rather than inhibit, artists’ creativity as they work to develop ever more immersive visual effects or impressive animation sequences.
Dell being one of the leading players in the technology ecosystem has been periodically dishing out gizmos and tools to help bring efficiency and speed to the creative industries with an array of tech-based solutions.
To address these challenges, companies are turning to technology. They are looking for solutions that deliver sophisticated and agile tools, powerful computing and data processing, and ample storage options.
Solutions include such elements as:
• Dell Precision workstations and Dell UltraSharp monitors for content creation.
• Dell EMC PowerEdge servers for a comprehensive range of servers for compute-intensive tasks.
• Dell EMC Networking for distributed workflows and high-speed stitching.
• Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon) offers a range of high-capacity storage solutions.
• Dell Technologies Cloud Platform helps reduce operational complexity, no matter where workloads are running.
• The need for a cutting-edge technology system that provides end-to-end support, from inception through production, and then finally through delivery of content.
• Sophisticated technology tools that enhance, rather than constrain artists and allow them to push the creative envelope on each project.
• Powerful computing and data processing power, plus loads of storage, including utilizing the cloud for iterative collaboration.
• Scalable solutions that can adjust to cyclical shifts.
As a leader in the field of media and entertainment technology, Dell Technologies offers a complete set of end-to-end solutions to help clients fulfil their creative and business potential. With a wealth of experience in the industry, Dell Technologies helps clients configure the solutions that meet their particular needs and keeps their workflows streamlined.
These are the few tools that address the prevailing demands of today:
• Dell Precision workstations and Dell UltraSharp monitors for content creation.
• Dell EMC PowerEdge servers for a comprehensive range of servers for compute-intensive tasks.
• Dell EMC Networking for distributed workflows and high-speed stitching.
• Dell EMC PowerScale (Isilon) offers a range of high-capacity storage solutions.
• Dell Technologies Cloud Platform helps reduce operational complexity, no matter where workloads are running.
A range of award-winning visual effects and animation studios already rely on Dell Technologies and their partners to make their work the best it can possibly be.
The LEGO Batman movie
Here are a few notable names that Dell continues to support:
MPC
MPC Film is the world’s largest computer-generated production company. In other words, MPC Film requires a lot of cutting-edge technology to repeatedly turn out Academy Award-winning films. “When one produces imagery at the levels of quality and sophistication that we do, every single frame is composed of hundreds, even thousands, of digital assets,” says MPC India head Biren Ghose.
Considering that simulations like water, fire or destruction generate terabytes of data, it takes a huge amount of computing power, data processing and storage to keep the workflow moving. “The explosion of data and the expectations of managing high-end productions with demanding schedule necessitates that we provide the most comprehensive and user-friendly toolsets,” says Ghose. To meet these demands, MPC Film employs Dell Technologies, including Dell Precision workstations, Dell PowerEdge Servers, Dell EMC Networking and PowerScale/Isilon Storage.
ILP
Important Looking Pirates (ILP), one of Scandinavia’s biggest visual effects and digital animation studios, is well-known for its world-class work on such films as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Shallows, as well as television productions Black Sails, Westworld and Lost in Space.
One sequence from the latter involved creating an enormous water simulation, spanning miles and composed of billions of water particles, which generated more than 500 terabytes of data. Compare that with a smaller-scale water simulation the company created for Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017, which generated a mere 30 terabytes per iteration, and one can see how rapidly entertainment technology is evolving to meet the demand for ever more impressive visual effects at higher resolutions and for larger video formats.
“Our business is artistry and growing demands from our clients require us to push technical and creative boundaries,” says ILP CTO Angelo Rivano. Rivano says that ILP places high value on Dell EMC’s ability to provide end-to-end solutions. “The breadth of the Dell EMC portfolio and being able to talk to a single vendor about solutions from top to bottom are huge advantages,” says Rivano.
ANIMAL LOGIC
With animation studios in Sydney and Vancouver and development offices in LA, Animal Logic has been producing award-winning visual effects and animation for almost 30 years. From making VFX magic for The Matrix and Captain Marvel to creating dancing penguins for Happy Feet, heroic minifigures for The LEGO Movies and mischievous bunnies in Peter Rabbit, Animal Logic has used technology to bring stories to life for audiences around the globe.
According to Animal Logic head of production technology Aidan Sarsfield, one of the reasons the company has had so many breakthrough successes is that artists are always front and center.
Animal Logic uses a wide range of Dell Technologies to create such nonlinear pipelines and improve workflow, without sacrificing artistic output. This includes Dell Precision workstations, Dell UltraSharp monitors, PowerEdge servers and Dell EMC networking. The company also employs the Dell EMC management platform, which Sarsfield says is easy-to-use and includes relevant tools for the industry.
In the case studies of MPC Film, Important Looking Pirates and Animal Logic, Dell has actively supported the work of each of these industry partners. Working together, they have configured the right hardware and software to optimize each client’s creative output and workflow, while eliminating bottlenecks and collaboration friction.
Dell Technologies continues to be an invested partner in helping its media and entertainment industry partners achieve their creative and business goals. And in most of these cases, their collaboration has resulted in the studios receiving some of the industry’s highest accolades in the form of Academy Awards or nominations for their work in visual effects and animation.
There has been an increase in demand for new content in India. These new stories are being told with the help of high-end computer graphics and visual effects and needs to be delivered under tight deadlines. One key ingredient which can help producers, post-production houses and VFX houses meet these deadlines are faster and reliable servers, and workstations with consistent and reliable performance.
AnimationXpress in association with Dell Technologies and Microsoft Windows recently held an insightful webinar; touching upon the key aspects of the VFX business ranging from challenges to future technologies to the requisite hardware requirements of the VFX studios.
The day began with AnimationXpress.com founder, chairman & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari laying down the theme of the event and following up with a comprehensive presentation on the VFX scenario in India.
Wanvari highlighted that there has been an increase in movie budgets and allocation of VFX. With the help of the slides, he informed that over the last 10 years, the budgets allocation to VFX for Indian Films has nearly doubled.
Speaking about the economic slowdown witnessed by the VFX industry, Wanvari shared, ‘This year we will be back to FY-16 levels. Movie budgets are going up. Budgets allocated to Indian VFX are increasing. Great deal of demand is coming from OTT platforms.”
Casting light on the growing scope of VFX in movies, he informed, ”In the past, the VFX was less than 10 per cent but in the current times, it is going up to as much as 30 per cent.”
Moderated by Wanvari, the next session was a fireside chat on ‘How global VFX and post-production houses can rely on better class computing technology to achieve their results and what products and services can they use’.
Participated by the likes of Dell Technologies marketing consultant & product evangelist – Dell Precision Workstations Suhas Pingat and Technicolor head of Technology – APAC Shajy Thomas, the session saw a penetrative and insightful discussion on the way hardware can speed up the workflow.
Speaking about the shift to remote pipelines, Thomas recounted, ”2020 was definitely one of the most difficult years. We used to think remote work can not happen but that myth was broken. From tools and technology to pipelines, we learnt everything and started working from home from March.”
Pingat shared that there is absolutely no dearth of talent. Many large studios who work in this space are capable of delivering International level content. We need the shift to happen so that we can have fantastic content for domestic consumption.
Pingat also shared that we shouldn’t worry when it comes to advanced technology. India has the talent and the prerequisite technology to produce world-class content. He added, ”Technologies like mocap that speed up the workflow are available and all we need is investment in that area to unlock the next level of content production.”
The session was followed by a panel discussion on the ‘Scope of Technology in Post-Production’. Moderated by AnimationXpress.com founder, chairman & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, the session was participated by Dell Technologies marketing consultant & product evangelist – Dell Precision Workstations Suhas Pingat, Technicolor head of Technology – APAC Shajy Thomas, Famous Studios managing director Anant Roongta, Rotomaker Studios founder & CEO Madhav Reddy Yatham (Mike), BotVFX head of Systems & Security Mathew S. Augustine. TechTerrain Consulting founder Indivar Nair and DNEG India head of VFX Jigesh Gajjar.
Thomas shared, “In the current times the requirement is 4k plus HDR which multiplies your investment four times. All of us should be proud of the fact that now we are remote enabled. We are going big in terms of investiment in futuristic solutions like private cloud, real-time rendering virtual production and previz, etc.”
Elaborating on their services and how they are investing in technology to expand their business further, Roongta shared, “We’ve predominantly been working on campaign based films and advertising but now we also cater to OTT shows. We have invested in all the major key technologies ranging from Dolby Atmos to Da Vinci to Baselight to mocap etc in order to meet the post production needs of our clients.”
Speaking about the annual budgeting and the amount of investment they put into technology, he shared, “When we do our budgeting we pay equal importance to talent and tech because our aspirations are not continue only as a service provider. We recently also produced our first feature film which will release on Hotstar soon, hopefully. Anywhere between 25 to 30 per cent of our budget every year is what we look at when we talk about reinvesting back in technology.”
Yatham also shared that their systems run in full capacity every week without a pause and they have found Dell products to be reliable and bankable even in the times of crisis.
He shared, “We have 10 training centers in India. So we utilise the workstations at training centers after we have used them at our studio for three years. Budgets are also down by 50 per cent because the demand is less so we are being careful.”
Augustine also elaborated on the investment aspect during the course of the webinar. He shared, “Over the past year, we have made a lot of investments in remote technologies. The challenges we face is that we have to pick and choose which platform we are using because the budgets are mostly limited.”
Nair highlighted the threat that looms over the VFX industry even as we see paradigm shift post covid. He shared, “There is one threat. If we get the workstation on a cloud, it will be very easy for hollywood production houses. They can easily get the work done by individual artists instead of approaching studios.”
Gajjar informed that they have been mainly investing in in-house training to future-proof their studio. He informed, “We are using this time and investment in intense in-house training so the artists can be prepared for the paradigm shift that is happening. We are also working on some IPs too. Virtual Production is the talk of the industry and we are also investing in this technology in a big way.”
Nvidia in collaboration with various laptop OEMs has unveiled more than 100 new gaming laptops, powered by Nvidia GeForce range of GPUs with advanced specifications.
100+ laptops with GeForce paired with Intel and AMD’s new notebook CPUs, while only the RTX Super chips are truly new from Nvidia.) Better yet, Nvidia says that every single RTX laptop will support 144Hz display options, and over 25 notebooks with blisteringly fast 300Hz screens are on the way. These 100+ new laptop designs should be even more efficient than previous GeForce-packing laptops and previous RTX laptops—as improvements made to Nvidia’s Max-Q technology.
Nvidia introduced Max-Q several years ago with the mobile GeForce GTX 10-series lineup. Max-Q technology was pivotal in finally making gaming laptops at least somewhat portable to outright svelte (case in point: the new Asus ROG Zephyrus G14). Max-Q GPUs ship with lowered clock speeds and power draws than their full-fat, non-Max-Q laptop cousins, and include other tweaks to improve power efficiency.
Nvidia also announced 10 new RTX Studio laptops which are coming, with RTX Super GPUs and Intel’s 10th-gen Core processors inside. Nvidia’s RTX Studio initiative certifies that a notebook gives content creators powerful computer hardware and rock-solid, creation-focused “Nvidia Studio” drivers to match, all in a slimmer-than-you’d-think design enabled by Max-Q.
RTX Studio laptops need the following at a minimum:
GPU: RTX 2060, Quadro RTX 3000 or higher
CPU: Intel Core i7 (H-series) or higher
RAM: 16GB or higher
SSD: 512GB or higher
Display: 1080p or 4K
NVIDIA has worked with its memory partners to increase memory efficiency while delivering high performance with new lower voltage GDDR6 memory.
A breakthrough display innovation that delivers long battery life and immersive, stutter-free gameplay from NVIDIA G-SYNC technology. Advanced Optimus controls which GPU is driving the display and intelligently determines the right GPU for the right workload at the right time, dynamically switching on the fly without needing a system reboot.
It is powered by AI processors on RTX GPUs called Tensor Cores, DLSS 2.0 is an improved deep learning neural network that boosts frame rates while generating beautiful, sharp images for games.
The new Dynamic Boost feature is what really gives your GPU more juice when needed most. Dynamic Boost sounds a lot like AMD’s SmartShift technology, which debuted in Ryzen 4000 laptops.
The first set of new laptops from Acer, ASUS, Clevo, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer and more will be available from 15 April. Some of the models will be available from May and the pricing will vary from model to model, depending on the RAM, storage, CPU, and the display configuration.
The Acer Nitro 5, ASUS ROG Strix G15, HP Omen 15, MSI GF65 Thin, the Lenovo Legion Y540, Lenovo legion 5i and the MSI GF65 Thin will be the first set of gaming laptops with the RTX 2060 GPU that comes with a starting price of $999.
Dell has launched the Dell G5 gaming desktop to strengthened its gaming portfolio in India . The new gaming desktop is the first in Dell’s G series and offers 9th Gen Intel processors and Nvidia GeForce GTX and RTX graphics cards. Dell’s new G5 desktop also packs some new features and offers easy access to the components for convenient upgradability includes 9th Gen Intel Core chipsets with SKUs which goes up to the octa-core Intel Core i7-9700K which has a maximum clock speed of 4.9GHz.
The desktop receives single and dual-drive storage variants and is compatible to be equipped with up to 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM. The gaming desktop features both Nvidia GeForce GTX 1600-series and GeForce RTX 2000-series graphics cards.
The new Dell G5 will be available in exclusive stores, multi-brand outlets and on the company’s official Indian website. The G5 is available in three configurations, starting from Rs 67,590 without GST or Rs 79,756 with GST.
Anand Subramanya, Director, Product Marketing, Consumer and Small Business, Dell Technologies, India, said, “We wanted to close the year on a high note with these gaming desktops. With the new Dell G5, entry-level gamers now have an easy choice to make, without compromising on performance. Whether you are new to PC gaming or entering the professional leagues, Dell has it all.”
Dell offers two processor options on the G5 gaming desktop including a 9th Gen Intel Core i7 9700K and a 9th Gen Intel Core i5 9600K. Dell is also offering two RAM options – 8GB DDR4 at 2666MHz and 16GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2666MHz (2x8GB). The storage options include a single drive option with a 1TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD or a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD and dual-drive option with both. On the GPU front, you can outfit the G5 with a GTX 1650 all the way up to an RTX 2060 GPU.
As the gaming industry continues to grow seamlessly, gaming laptops have become a hotbed of investments for several tech companies.
The number of potential gamers is proliferating at an exponential rate, while there has also been a marked shift from conventional computers to game-centric laptops to enhance the gaming experience.
Seeing this as a massive business opportunity, tech behemoth Dell computers are flexing their financial muscle to launch brand new, high-tech laptops designed primarily for gaming.
Alienware, a subsidiary to Dell, have come up with a luxury of gaming laptops this year which is only set to foster the gaming industry. Products like ‘Alienware 15’, ‘Alienware 17’ and now the ‘Alienware Aurora R6’ all of which promise an unparalleled virtual reality experience backed with some cutting-edge technology have piqued the imagination of compulsive gamers.
Not only have they garnered rave reviews in the market but their sales figures are on an upward trajectory despite the exorbitant prices of the laptops.
Dell Consumer and Small Business Vice-president P.Krishnakumar said, “We are fulfilling the ultimate gaming experience through wider access and engagement with India’s gaming community. Dell has a definitive roadmap in this segment, making this the right time to expand our portfolio for a wider set of gamers”.
With Dell Alienware also coming up with high-performance Alienware Gaming Monitors, Advanced Gaming Keyboard, Pro-gaming Keyboard, Advanced Gaming Mouse and Elite Gaming Mouse, it seems that the Texas-based tech firm is going to have a lasting influence in this segment.
The gaming community is going to widen further in near future, so one can expect more high-quality portfolios from Dell and Alienware in the coming days.
