Autodesk and Shotgun Software Are CG Tools of Choice for All 5 Best VFX
and 7 Best Picture Academy Award Nominees
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 2015--
The role of technology in the service of great storytelling continues to
evolve, and this year’s Academy Award nominees reflect the impressive
artistry of the global computer graphics (CG) industry. From Best
Pictures and VFX, to Best Cinematography, Animated Features and Shorts, Autodesk,
Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) media and entertainment software played a
supporting role in the creation of many of this year’s most acclaimed
movies. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also recognized
Autodesk technology with a Scientific and Technical Achievement Award
(Sci-Tech Award).
“It’s an honor to contribute to such a creative community in which the
Best VFX Oscar-winning movie for 20 consecutive years has used Autodesk
software,” explains Chris Bradshaw, Autodesk senior vice president.
“We’re also so pleased the Academy recognized Robert Bridson on our R&D
team for his voxel data structures technology.”
Best Visual Effects
In the Best Visual Effects category, all five film nominees—“Captain
America: The Winter Soldier,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,”
“Guardians of the Galaxy," “Interstellar” and “X-Men: Days of Future
Past”—used Autodesk technology to help bring these films to audiences
worldwide. The phenomenal work contained in these five movies was
created by thousands of talented artists working at 25 visual effects
studios on four continents with work spanning the production process
from previsualization through virtual cinematography, post-production
and color grading.
This year’s nominees for Best Animated Feature show off a broad range of
animation styles from hand-drawn, to stop-motion to CG. Autodesk
software played a role in four of the five Best Animated Feature
nominees: “Big Hero 6,” “The Boxtrolls,” “How to Train Your Dragon 2,”
and “The Tale of The Princess Kaguya;” two Best Animated Short
contenders: “Feast” and “The Dam Keeper;” and seven of the eight movies
nominated for Best Picture: “American Sniper,” “Birdman,” “Boyhood,”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Imitation Game,” “Selma” and “The
Theory of Everything.”
Scientific
and Technical Achievement Awards
The Academy hosts a special awards ceremony annually to recognize
individuals whose achievements “demonstrate a proven record of
contributing significant value to the process of making motion
pictures.” In a
press release, Richard Edlund, Academy Award-winning visual effects
artist and Scientific and Technical Awards Committee Chair said, “They
[our honorees] exemplify the phenomenal creativity of professionals in
the scientific and technical community, and the invaluable contributions
they make to what is arguably the most creative industry in the world.”
This year the Academy awarded a Technical Achievement Award to Robert
Bridson, a senior principal research scientist at Autodesk, for his
“pioneering work on voxel data structures and its subsequent validation
in fluid simulation tools [that] have had a significant impact on the
design of volumetric tools throughout the visual effects industry. This
voxel technology (aka 3D pixel) has been used throughout the industry
with Weta Digital in New Zealand as one of the earliest adopters for
“Avatar.” Autodesk scientists, designers and technologies have been
similarly recognized seven times in past SciTech Award ceremonies.
Autodesk congratulates the following studios that used Autodesk and/or
Shotgun software to contribute movie magic to this year’s Academy
Award-nominated films: Alchemy 24, Animal Logic, The Artery, BlueBolt,
Cantina Creative, Cinesite, CoSA Visual Effects, Digital Domain, Double
Negative, DreamWorks Animation, EFILM, Encore, Finland Finish,
Framestore, Fuel VFX, Hydraulx, Industrial Light & Magic, LAIKA, Lola
Visual Effects, LOOK! Effects, Luma Pictures, Luxx Studios, Method
Studios, Modern VideoFilm, Mokko Studio, Moving Picture Company, Prime
Focus, Proof, Rhythm & Hues, RISE VFX Studio, Rising Sun Pictures, Rodeo
FX, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Studio Ghibli, Technicolor, The Third
Floor, Tonko House, Union Visual Effects, Vision Globale, Walt Disney
Animation Studios, Weta Digital and Whiskytree.
To watch trailers and breakdown reels from many of these nominees,
please visit the Autodesk YouTube channel Academy
Award playlist.
About Autodesk
Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world.
Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital
artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their
creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com or
follow @autodesk.
Autodesk and Shotgun are registered trademarks or trademarks of
Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA
and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names,
product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk
reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and
specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not
responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in
this document. © 2015 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Source: Autodesk, Inc.
Autodesk, Inc.
Rama Dunayevich, 415-547-2472
rama@autodesk.com
or
Karen
Raz, 310-450-1482
karen@razpr.com