Polycount meet up, FMX, Stuttgart Germany, 2015 (May 05-08)

littleclaude

Polycount meet up, FMX (May 05-08-2015) in Stuttgart Germany

http://www.fmx.de/home/

There are some great talks this year, also looks like there is a big push for VFX to VR. Here are some of the talks that have caught my eye so far, might nip into a few VFX talks from the usual, Weta, Dreamworks, Pixar, Framestore and so on.

(Epic Games), Ray Davis & James Golding, Game Engine Content Pipelines: Challenges of Real-Time Entertainment

(Ubisoft) Raphael Lacoste, Art Direction and Image composition in the Open World videogame Franchise Assassin's Creed

(Activision) Javier Nicolai von der Pahlen, Crafting Predictable Photoreal Realtime Characters

(Digixart) Yoan Fanise, Creating Valiant Hearts: The Great War

(Ubisoft/Autodesk) Alex Horst, 3ds Max Game Cinematics: Ubisoft The Crew

(E-Line Media) Dima Veryovka, Never Alone: The Art and Story of the People

(Autodesk) Robert Coulin (Flame Premium) level up your game

(Hybride) Pierre Raymond, Strategies and Thoughts on Film & Game Convergence: NextGen, the New Reality

(InnoGames) Alexander Raphelt, Oliver Zumstein, Earning your license to kill. How ELVENAR led us to do fast, large-scale R&D

(GFIR) Mark DeLoura, Games and Government: Beyond Entertainment

Panel: Beyond the Hype - What it Really Means to Produce VR Content
Sebastian Sylwan, Rob Bredow (Industrial Light & Magic),
Alex Laurant (HoloLens Experiences, Microsoft Studios),
Kim Libreri (Epic Games),
Mike McGee (Framestore),
Paul Rapha

littleclaude

Does any know if Unity are giving a talk at FMX or is it only Crytek/Epic?

littleclaude

In answering the question above (if anyone is interested?) Frank Vitz, Creative Director (CRYENGINE), Crytek, will be talking about "IMMERSION | FROM VFX TO VR" along side Neil Schneider (The ITA), Scott Broock (Jaunt), Myles McGovern (Immersive Media), Mary Spio Spio (Next Galaxy), Duncan Burbidge (The Third Floor)

http://www.fmx.de/program2015/event/5964

With the advent of modern virtual reality and augmented reality in the consumer space, the industry is seeing a robust market filled with reality-bending devices by the likes of Oculus, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft, Samsung, ImmersiON-VRelia, FOVE, Magic Leap, and more! More than just a new technology for consumers, virtual and augmented reality represent new classes of media in cinema, broadcasting, video games, marketing, education, and more. The industry is even looking forward to a radical change in how we interact with one another in online social networks with viable metaverse platforms that were previously only possible in science fiction. Leaders from this developing content pipeline will share their experiences and insights on what we have to look forward to and what the industry needs to be prepared for on...the road ahead!

Kwramm

really makes me want to move back to Europe. Lots of great events that emerged over the years - FMX, Gamescom, Pixel...

littleclaude

Virtual reality is getting a lot of hype this year and one of the rooms "König-Karl-Halle" on Wednesday is dedicating a day to VR.

http://www.fmx.de/program2015/schedule?day=2

10.00am
From VFX to VR
The Future of Immersive Entertainment
John Root, Magic Leap

11.00am
From VFX to VR
Panel: Beyond the Hype - What it Really Means to Produce VR Content
Sebastian Sylwan, Rob Bredow, Industrial Light & Magic, Alex Laurant,HoloLens Experiences, Microsoft Studios, Kim Libreri, Epic Games, Mike McGee, Framestore, Paul Raphaël, Felix & Paul,Brad Herman, DWA

12.00
VR Inventors
A Conversation with Virtual Reality Pioneer Mark Bolas
Mark Bolas, ICT, Ken Perlin, NYU

14.00
From VFX to VR
Creating Cinematic VR
Ian Hunter, New Deal Studios

14.30
From VFX to VR
Storytelling Across Platforms
Mike McGee, Framestore

15.00
From VFX to VR
Industrial AR at DAQRI
Matthias Wittmann, DAQRI

16.00
From VFX to VR
Red Bull Air Race VR
Solomon Rogers, Rewind


From VFX to VR
VR/AR for Apparel Shopping
George Borshukov,Intervisual Corp.

17.00
From VFX to VR
MR and Microsoft HoloLens
Alex Laurant, HoloLens Experiences, Microsoft Studios

18.00
FMX Celebrates:
Toy Story 20th Anniversary, A Conversation
Ralph Eggleston, Eben Ostby, Bill Reeves,Christophe Hery, Pixar

littleclaude

Okay, I'm all packed, see you there if anyone is going?

Got these talks penciled :thumbup:

(Epic Games), Ray Davis & James Golding, Game Engine Content Pipelines: Challenges of Real-Time Entertainment

(Ubisoft) Raphael Lacoste, Art Direction and Image composition in the Open World videogame Franchise Assassin's Creed

(Activision) Javier Nicolai von der Pahlen, Crafting Predictable Photoreal Realtime Characters

(Digixart) Yoan Fanise, Creating Valiant Hearts: The Great War

(Ubisoft/Autodesk) Alex Horst, 3ds Max Game Cinematics: Ubisoft The Crew

(E-Line Media) Dima Veryovka, Never Alone: The Art and Story of the People

(Autodesk) Robert Coulin (Flame Premium) level up your game

(Hybride) Pierre Raymond, Strategies and Thoughts on Film & Game Convergence: NextGen, the New Reality

(InnoGames) Alexander Raphelt, Oliver Zumstein, Earning your license to kill. How ELVENAR led us to do fast, large-scale R&D

(GFIR) Mark DeLoura, Games and Government: Beyond Entertainment

Panel: Beyond the Hype - What it Really Means to Produce VR Content
Sebastian Sylwan, Rob Bredow (Industrial Light & Magic),
Alex Laurant (HoloLens Experiences, Microsoft Studios),
Kim Libreri (Epic Games),
Mike McGee (Framestore),
Paul Rapha

littleclaude

EA Frostbite Engine is being tested as a previz tool for the new Starwars films.

IPad recived image data from a PC and was used as a tool to help directors line up cameras and action. There was some kind of extra tool strapped on to register the height axis but apart from that the directors used IPads to rapidly previz (after a little practice). During the live demo he slowed down time changed view ports into vehicles and storm troopers and more.

They also mentioned there are some realtime assets that have made it into the film.

Great talk! theres a huge drive with VR this year at FMX.

littleclaude

V-Scout by ILM's realtime to VFX tool division, according to Rob Bredow.

One of ILM's initiatives is realtime lookdev in MARI utilizing a ‘Shared Asset spec’ that allows the film and games and interactive parts of the company to create layered assets - quickly - and share them. The process is entirely procedural, so after an artist has built up layers you can see the realtime changes. The example we saw being built was a CG speederbike.

V-Scout, ILM’s virtual set scouting tool. “What if you could scout your sets before you built them?” explained Bredow. Using a simple interface on an iPad, this tool is designed for cinematographers or art directors or anyone on a film to consider locations or digital assets for review. It’s able to take in models from SketchUp or other programs, as well as real locations and then explore them via the iPad. It also works with VR glasses. On the iPad a user taps or drags to consider the sets, play with real lens settings, depth of field etc. Bredow says V-scout was shown to a big-name director via VR goggles, who at first was interested in the VR but then within 30 seconds began discussing the asset - a ship - as if was a real creation without mentioning the VR at all. “It looks so much better in real life,” Bredow says the director remarked, even though he was looking at a virtual creation.

Highlights,

20 Years of Weta "best talk by far"




Hololens - Microsoft Studios, the FOV is a little small but this is DK1 and I think for the first time this VR head set has it right.



Activisions, capture studio looks the nuts



Interstellar - Double Negative


40 Years of Industrial Light & Magic

20 Years of Toy Story

OTOY demonstrates first ever light field capture for VR
www.youtube.com/watch?t=63&v=pyJUg-ja0cg

Magic Leap's John Root.

Beyond the hype - what it really means to produce VR content
- Sebastian Sylwan (chair - currently working with VR studio Felix & Paul)
- Rob Bredow (Advanced development group at Lucasfilm)
- Alex Laurant (HoloLens Experiences, Microsoft Studios),
- Kim Libreri (CTO, Epic Games)
- Paul Raphaël (Felix & Paul)
- Brad Herman (DreamLab, DreamWorks)

Kim Libreri from Epic noted that as an ex-filmmaker it was challenging for him at first to contemplate the linear timeline of VR - you can’t do cuts or compress time in the normal way.

Similarly, Brad Herman from DreamLab said that in their content they realized you’re not a camera - you’re a person. "People make editorial choices on the run. We’ve even tried pausing the character and make them point a way - we have to force things along."

Rob Bredow from Lucasfilm indicated that in their VR work they’ve had to work out exactly what it is they’re doing - is a video game? Is it a narrative film? Something else? And users will have different reactions and experiences, and “you might fine tune it and all of a sudden they miss (or can no longer miss) what you were intending to show.”

Alex Laurant suggested that the user’s attention is the most precious commodity - you have to persuade the audience to take actions that feel natural and intuitive. He noted, too, that audio designers are going to enjoy a renaissance of recognition, since the VR experience is so much to do with audio.

Paul Raphaël said one challenge was making a VR experience for the ‘average’ person. “You have to go with average size, height - this limits you - if you want a piece with spectator standing up - you might feel like floating or cutting off at knees. This is one of the reasons all of our experiences have been sitting down ones so far.”

If you want to read more then FXGuide has lots more here. http://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/day-3-at-fmx-2015-realtime-star-wars-interstellar-light-fields/





And here I am with loads of my students and Alumni, I know what you are thinking, its hard to tell me apart with my youthful looks!


Okay that's the last thing I will say about FMX I will shut up now, its been a great week!

Feeling very inspired right now.

This was great too