Visual effects studio Weta Digital has partnered with SideFX on a new software service combining Weta’s proprietary tools within SideFX’s award-winning Houdini application. The WetaH partnership will enable unprecedented levels of creativity, allowing artists to take advantage of the deep integration between Houdini and Weta Digital’s award-winning technology.
SideFX is a global leader in procedural 3D animation and visual effects tools in film, advertising, and gaming, with Houdini as the industry standard. This best-in-class collaboration offers Weta Digital’s integrations and extensions of the Houdini workflow, including Weta’s Loki multi-physics solver and high-performance compute paradigm, renowned for driving some of their iconic work in films like Avengers: Endgame, Alita: Battle Angel, and War for the Planet of the Apes.
This partnership validates the importance of modern procedural workflows in today’s forward-looking visual effects pipelines. It has an immediate impact on Weta’s cloud service, a new business unit brought to life as part of a vision to unite industry-leading technology players. Years of joint development work and a shared outlook underpin the inclusion of Houdini as a key part of Weta’s vision for how the entertainment industry will evolve.
“Partnering with SideFX was essential in realizing our vision for the cloud service, I cannot imagine doing this without them,” said Weta Digital CEO Prem Akkaraju.
“The industry is moving to distributed architectures that will allow our cloud service model to reduce expensive technology barriers, further enhancing the natural strength of Houdini’s node-based procedural workflows and overall position in the market,” added Akkaraju.
“This is such an exciting time for new generations of Houdini artists,” says Cristin Barghiel, VP of product development at SideFX. “Partnering with the visionary minds at Weta Digital will enable us to bring the efficiency and sophistication of Houdini’s procedural workflows to the broadest possible artist base. Now even the smallest studio will be able to access production-proven tools out-of-the-box, for VFX and beyond.”
WetaH offers Weta Digital’s years-long R&D commitment to Houdini to the entire user community. Architected and stress-tested by artists in service of the industry’s most visionary storytellers, WetaH will unlock the untapped potential of Houdini and the Houdini Engine across many facets of the pipeline. WetaH will enter private beta in Q4, alongside WetaM, as part of Weta’s software service, offering professional and prosumer tools to artists across the global entertainment industry.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More