VFX and virtual production studio Pixomondo is launching a London division in September and has appointed Alex Webster as its Head of Studio.
Most recently working as Managing Director of Framestore Pre-Production Services in London, Webster will focus on facilitating the growth of Pixomondo’s virtual production services in Europe, working with the company’s wider management team.
Pixomondo (PXO) currently has three LED volumes either fully operational or under construction in Canada, located in Vancouver and Toronto and operated in conjunction with production equipment rental specialist William F. White International.
Potential locations for the new UK facility are under review pending client consultations. It will be closely integrated with PXO’s existing German operations, located in Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
Alex Webster said, “Over the last few years I have witnessed first-hand the speed with which the integration of VP with visualisation is reshaping the VFX industry. PXO is driving innovation in this space and making VP central to its workflow, becoming one of the most agile and creative studios working in the industry today. I’m thrilled to be working in close collaboration with the whole PXO team to design and build a state of the art integrated VP studio, which will combine teams in concept art, previs, virtual art and in-camera VFX with a brand-new LED volume in the UK.”
Alex Webster, Pixomondo Head of Studio
At Framestore, Alex built FPS, the company’s pre-production division, to more than 120 employees, specializing in previsualisation, virtual production, techvis and postvis for clients in film, episodic and experiential media. Prior to that he was Managing Director of The Third Floor London and Executive Producer at VFX boutique Electric Theatre Collective, where he established its sister production company Friends Electric.
Alex’s earlier beginnings include the roles of Deputy Head of Production at MPC, Head of Content at The Mill, where he spearheaded original content creation as part of Mill+ and Managing Director of animation studio Passion Pictures, overseeing the company’s operations in London and New York.
Jonny Slow, PXO CEO said, “We could not be more excited to be welcoming Alex to the PXO team as we continue to roll out our growth plans. We have our roots in Europe, and Germany remains a central and crucial part of our VFX production and artistry capabilities. Adding a London presence to complement this strong foundation, focused on virtual production and run by Alex, will ensure that we can continue to expand our offering to clients, and service the significant amount of demand for these services in the UK and Europe.
“London is second only to Los Angeles for physical production services and home to a significant number of hugely talented crew, experienced in high-end TV and film production. Virtual production demands that we locate ourselves close to these facilities and talent. A significant push during 2020 from the UK Department of International Trade to make the UK a virtual production Centre of Excellence, as well as investment from Mayfair Equity Partners, has allowed this part of our plan to be accelerated. I very much look forward to working with Alex in the years to come.”
Jonny recently relocated back to London to assist with the launch after almost a decade in Los Angeles and three years at PXO.
The London launch represents the latest step in PXO’s push to grow interactive pre-production services for large feature and episodic projects. By working closely with producers from the first stages of the art process, PXO develops value for productions, supports filmmakers’ efforts to innovate, while delivering cost-effective results more rapidly, and with less risk.
Allen Simpson, Acting Chief Executive at London & Partners, the business growth and destination agency for London, said, “We are thrilled Pixomondo has chosen to expand their European operations to London. The UK capital is home to a thriving film and TV production industry, including a host of cutting-edge companies at the forefront of innovation in visual effects and virtual production. Investments from companies like Pixomondo are a testament to London’s position as a global hub for creative industries and we look forward to welcoming them to the city.” www.pixomondo.com
Visual effects studios MPC and Mikros have formed an alliance of their episodic and film divisions. Mikros, a French company with over 35 years in the visual effects industry, has been a Technicolor brand since 2015.
The combined studios will operate under the MPC Episodic brand and will continue to make PreProduction and VFX services available to the French features and episodic market, and beyond.
The strategic move to integrate Mikros’ episodic and film division with MPC Episodic bolsters MPC Episodic’s market presence as a full-service global VFX studio, adding to its established studios in Berlin, London, Los Angeles and Bangalore. Meanwhile, Mikros Animation and Mikros Advertising will remain as they are.
The Paris and Liège based Mikros studios are headed by MD – France and Belgium, Béatrice Bauwens, previously MD at Mikros VFX. Recent film and TV projects by the studios include ‘Into the Night’, ‘Lupin’, ‘Aline’, ‘The Forgotten Battle’ and ‘Annette’, which opened the Cannes Film Festival on 6 July.
“Bringing our creative and technical expertise to projects and getting involved with filmmakers to bring solutions has always been our driving force,” Béatrice Bauwens said. “We share with the MPC teams the same passion to find solutions that best serve the stories. The association of Mikros VFX and MPC Episodic is a great opportunity for the teams to have access to the world's highest technology and an exceptional community of talent for the benefit of our clients in Paris and Liège. We are proud to bring our French and Belgian touch to the MPC brand.”
MPC Episodic’s Global MD Tom Williams said, “I’m delighted to welcome the incredible talent of the Mikros VFX team. Joining forces affirms our commitment to provide the best VFX talent and technology to our clients anywhere in the world. France has a rich history of filmmaking and we are honoured to have the opportunity to work within the French market and offer our international clients access to the wealth of talent available in Paris and Liège, as well as more VFX production tax rebate options.”
Since its launch in January 2020, MPC Episodic has seen exponential growth, attracting some of the industry’s best creative talent including Executive VFX Supervisor Pete Jopling (The Third Day, Battleship), Executive VFX Producer Christopher Gray (The Witcher, The Boys), VFX Supervisor David Sewell (Chernobyl, Les Misérables) and VFX Supervisor Sheila Wickens (Doctor Who, Big Little Lies). MPC Episodic has since completed work for Sky / HBO’s series ‘The Third Day’, Warner Bros. Television’s ‘Pennyworth’ and ‘Lisey’s Story’ and is working with clients including AppleTV+, Bad Robot, BBC Studios and Amazon Studios. www.mpcepisodic.com
FuseFX visual effects studio, performing services for television, film and commercials from eight studios in North and South America and Australia, has promoted key staff members to leadership positions at its New York and Atlanta studios.
At FuseFX’s Atlanta location, launched in early 2020, Brian Kubovcik will now serve as head of studio and senior VFX supervisor. Brian is an Emmy-nominated VFX supervisor who joined FuseFX's New York office in 2015. Brian is collaborating with filmmaker Ava DuVernay on her projects ‘DMZ’ and ‘Naomi’ as VFX supervisor. He has previously worked on critically recognised series including ‘Pose’, ‘Invasion’, ‘The Blacklist’, ‘The Tick’, ‘Survive’ and ‘Mr. Robot’.
Brian is joined at the Atlanta studio with long-time FuseFX leader Lindsay Seguin. Lindsay has been a staple in the New York office since its inception in 2014. She makes the transition to Atlanta as head of production and executive producer. Along with Brian, she was part of the Emmy-nominated team for ‘Mr. Robot’, and served in prominent roles on other projects such as ‘When They See Us’, ‘Invasion’, ‘The Blacklist’, ‘Luke Cage’ and ‘American Made’.
Head of studio and senior VFX supervisor Brian Kubovcik
"I'm excited about leading this team of talented VFX professionals in Atlanta. For me, it's a special moment to be able to partner with my long-time colleague, Lindsay Seguin, to grow our Atlanta office together. Our goal is to harness and foster the talents of our valued artists to continue to deliver high quality work that our clients require," Brian said.
Lindsay also said, "I am super excited to partner with Brian in Atlanta. There is an amazing team here, and we are really looking forward to continuing to grow with them."
"Brian and Lindsay have been with FuseFX for a long time, providing leadership at our studio in New York," said FuseFX founder and CEO, David Altenau. "Having a couple of established veterans who have grown up within the New York market take the reins in Atlanta gives me great confidence about the team they are going to build there, and the visual effects they will produce. This is a well deserved opportunity for both of them to take new leadership roles within FuseFX and lead a new studio location."
Head of production and executive producer Lindsay Seguin
John Miller has been promoted to head of studio-NY and senior VFX supervisor. Working with him in new roles at the studio are executive producer Lauren Montuori and Ariel Altman, senior VFX supervisor and head of creative.
John has over 20 years of experience in television production, feature film production and post. He has created and managed visual effects, graphics and editorial departments at facilities in New York including Princzco Productions, Flicker VFX @ SMA, Moving Images, Point 360 New York and Perception NYC. His credits with FuseFX include ‘Mr. Robot’, ‘When They See Us’, ‘Iron Fist’, ‘Castle Rock’, ‘Tell Me A Story’ and ‘Sneaky Pete’. John has also worked on Marvel films, including ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’.
"I am excited to begin my new role as FuseFX New York's head of studio and senior VFX supervisor. I am looking forward to leading and growing the talented creative/production team as we continue to take on a larger number of complex projects, and strengthen our relationships with our global partners in the FuseFX community. Lauren, Ariel and I have been in the trenches on some of FuseFX NY's biggest projects, managing client creative and production expectations. Through our close working relationship, we have created a shorthand that has become invaluable as we move into our new roles," John said.
Lauren Montuori as executive producer has more than 10 years of experience in visual effects and animation. Her recent work at FuseFX includes contributions to ‘Prodigal Son’, ‘Black Lightning’, ‘Iron Fist’, ‘The Dangerous Book for Boys’, ‘The Get Down’, ‘The Blacklist’ and ‘Mr. Robot’, which earned her VES and Emmy nominations. Lauren's previous experience includes ‘Horton Hears a Who’, ‘Brave’, ‘The Girl on the Train’, ‘Winter's Tale’, ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ and ‘Salt’.
"I'm looking forward to partnering with John and Ariel while moving into this new role. We have an incredible team, and I look forward to continuing to help support the company's growth and talent with them in New York," she said.
Ariel Altman, now senior VFX supervisor and head of creative, has been part of the New York team since its launch in 2014. Ariel’s 10 years of experience as a compositor and supervisor include credits spanning television, commercials, broadcast media and music videos. Recent work includes HBO's ‘I Know This Much Is True’, ‘The Blacklist’, ‘Kevin Can Wait’, ‘Bull’, ‘American Made’, ‘Luke Cage’, and ‘Mr. Robot’, for which he also received an Emmy nomination in 2018.
"Our focus on creative approaches in partnership with our clients has been the core of our growth since opening the NY office seven years ago. I'm pleased to continue this work in my new role and continue our mission of telling great stories. I couldn't ask for better partners in John and Lauren," said Ariel.
Dave Altenau said, "John, Lauren and Ariel have been key members of our team and led projects for FuseFX in New York for many years. All three are consummate professionals with proven track records delivering award-level visual effects, and now have an opportunity to take our New York studio to the next level." fusefx.com
DNEG is increasing its Canada-based VFX and animation operations and opening a new studio in the Greater Toronto Area. The company’s fourth North American facility, joining studios in Montreal, Vancouver and LA, will initially employ up to 200 people, in particular new technology positions, as well as VFX and animation roles. The new emplyees will initially work remotely, with the search for a physical studio location in the Greater Toronto Area now underway.
The opening of the Toronto studio is part of a wider expansion across Canada. They also plan to expand their existing Vancouver and Montreal offices with up to 300 new roles, including up to 100 new positions for our DNEG Animation team as it opens its doors in Vancouver.
People interested in joining the teams in Canada can find these new opportunities and job postings on the careers page here.
Commenting on the expansion, CEO Namit Malhotra said, “We are further investing in Canada by creating up to 200 new jobs in the Greater Toronto Area with the opening of our fourth North American studio. We are also continuing to build out our studios in Vancouver and Montreal to support our upcoming slate of VFX projects, and extending our successful DNEG Animation team to Vancouver as they move into production on five new feature animation projects. Growth in our Canadian talent and capabilities will help us strategically align with the demands of the entertainment industry and seize our new growth initiatives and content creation opportunities.”
DNEG’s Global CTO Paul Salvini said, “I’m excited that DNEG is bringing these new opportunities to the visual effects and technology communities of the Greater Toronto Area. As a resident of Kitchener / Waterloo myself, I’m well aware of the strength of the technology talent in this area. This is a great chance for technologists working in AI, machine learning, UX and across a broad spectrum of technology areas to refocus their talents on helping to create incredible imagery for some of the world’s biggest feature films and episodic series. We’re not fixed on candidates having previous film or media industry experience – we’re looking for passionate and curious technologists who are excited at the prospect of a new challenge.” www.dneg.com
Blender is becoming a standard 3D software application and, according to AMD, needs to be able to work in a larger workflow of other applications. Pixar’s Universal Scene Description (USD) has made exchanging data between 3D applications easier for artists, opening a robust, open way to exchange and assemble data from multiple applications. AMD says that Blender users should also be able to experience the same ease of use and dedicated experience with USD.
AMD has launched a project enabling USD data assembly and rendering inside of Blender. Brian Savery, Professional Graphics Software Development Manager for AMD said, “Blender includes a basic USD exporter, and soon will include import tools. However, there is no method of rendering existing USD data within Blender or referencing a USD file into your Blender scene. Other tools that support USD, such as SideFX Houdini or Autodesk Maya, also allow assembly and manipulation of USD data.
“Furthermore, while Blender users create intricate shader networks for its Cycles path-tracing render engine, they need a way to share shading networks with other applications. USD includes a rendering system called Hydra that allows multiple renderers with one common interface. AMD adapted this system to work directly inside Blender. By adapting Hydra as a render add-on to Blender, any renderer that supports Hydra can be connected to Blender by plugging into the Hydra add-on.”
Also, the Hydra system sends scene updates and rendering very quickly, which leads to better renderer performance than using common rendering add-ons to Blender. Currently this add-on includes the Hydra OpenGL renderer and the AMD Radeon ProRender plug-in for Hydra, though other Hydra render delegates should work equally well.
Another important aspect of USD support is enabling USD scene composition in Blender. AMD achieves this with a custom node graph, allowing users to pull in external data to mix with Blender data and filter, manipulate and export USD data. This allows tools for pruning data, referencing data without loading it into Blender’s memory, interaction between multiple artists, and exporting composited scenes for offline rendering.
Similar to USD geometry, AMD handles materials using the open source MaterialX open standard. Created by Industrial Light and Magic for sharing material graphs across renderers, it is quickly gaining acceptance as the standard material format. This makes it possible to add material node graphs from Adobe Substance 3D Painter and various Autodesk applications, as well as export them.
MaterialX is a growing standard with increasing adoption across applications. To help encourage adoption, AMD plan to launch a free Material Library for sharing MaterialX materials on AMD’s GPUOpen.com. Users will be able to use it to download materials and import directly to the Blender Hydra plug-in.
The video linked here is presented by the author of the AMD USD plug-in for Blender as an overview of the main features. www.amd.com
