Views :
11
a blog of links related to computer animation and production technology Sponsored by ReelMatters.com
Category: ves
-
Zach Goldberg – The Startup CTO Handbook
https://github.com/ZachGoldberg/Startup-CTO-Handbook
You can buy the book on Amazon or Audible
Hi, thanks for checking out the Startup CTO’s Handbook! This repository has the latest version of the content of the book. You’re welcome and encouraged to contribute issues or pull requests for additions / changes / suggestions / criticisms to be included in future editions. Please feel free to add your name to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS if you do so.
-
Wyz Borrero – AI-generated “casting”
Guillermo del Toro and Ben Affleck, among others, have voiced concerns about the capabilities of generative AI in the creative industries. They believe that while AI can produce text, images, sound, and video that are technically proficient, it lacks the authentic emotional depth and creative intuition inherent in human artistry—qualities that define works like those of Shakespeare, Dalí, or Hitchcock.
Generative AI models are trained on vast datasets and excel at recognizing and replicating patterns. They can generate coherent narratives, mimic writing or artistic styles, and even compose poetry and music. However, they do not possess consciousness or genuine emotions. The “emotion” conveyed in AI-generated content is a reflection of learned patterns rather than true emotional experience.
Having extensively tested and used generative AI over the past four years, I observe that the rapid advancement of the field suggests many current limitations could be overcome in the future. As models become more sophisticated and training data expands, AI systems are increasingly capable of generating content that is coherent, contextually relevant, stylistically diverse, and can even evoke emotional responses.
The following video is an AI-generated “casting” using a text-to-video model specifically prompted to test emotion, expressions, and microexpressions. This is only the beginning. -
Riot ‘Arcane’ – the Priciest Animated Series Ever
Sources familiar with details of the production pegged the cost of the first nine 40-minute episodes at north of $80 million; the second batch of nine about to air has a price tag approaching $100 million. What drove the cost far beyond typical animation expenses, insiders say, were both a labor-intensive approach and frequent cost overruns triggered by delayed script deliveries after the second season was put into production with only a fraction of the season written.
But even more eyebrow-raising than the production cost was that Riot spent $60 million of its own money to promote the first season of “Arcane,” exponentially more than a studio would typically spend for a show it isn’t distributing — and far more than Netflix itself spent ($4 million per episode). Reps for the streaming service declined to comment for this article.
-
Apple reaches deal to acquire Pixelmator
https://9to5mac.com/2024/11/01/apple-reaches-deal-to-acquire-pixelmator
Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval. There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time.
https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/
-
Linus Torvalds on GenAI
Linus Torvalds, the creator and maintainer of the Linux kernel, talks modern developments.
-
Why Streaming Content Could Be Hollywood’s Final Act
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2024/10/24/why-streaming-could-be-hollywoods-final-act/
The future of Hollywood was reshaped in 1997 with the founding of Netflix, an innovative mail-order DVD rental business by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Unlike traditional rentals, Netflix allowed subscribers to retain DVDs as long as they wanted but required returns before ordering more, allowing the company to collect uninterrupted subscription fees. By 2009, Netflix was shipping nearly a billion DVDs annually but had already set its sights on streaming. The transition to streaming, launched in 2007, faced initial challenges due to limited broadband availability but soon became popular, outpacing the DVD business and bringing Netflix millions of subscribers.
Netflix’s dominance drove traditional media giants to reevaluate their strategies. Disney, initially hesitant, eventually licensed its vast library to Netflix, contributing to the latter’s rise. However, by 2017, Disney pivoted to launch its own platform, Disney+, breaking its Netflix partnership and acquiring 21st Century Fox for content diversification. Disney’s decision sparked a broader industry shift as other studios also developed streaming services, aiming to retain full revenue from direct-to-consumer content instead of sharing it with theaters or traditional networks.
Disney+ quickly gained traction, especially during the pandemic, reaching millions of subscribers and temporarily boosting Disney’s stock. However, the reliance on streaming and subscriber growth strained Disney financially, with high operating costs and content expenses. Content exclusivity backfired, creating complexity for fans, particularly with interconnected Marvel shows, and contributing to user dissatisfaction. Additionally, Disney’s decision to release films like Black Widow simultaneously in theaters and on streaming led to backlash, lawsuits, and lost box office revenue, highlighting the downsides of simultaneous releases.
Facing ballooning expenses and subscriber attrition post-pandemic, Disney’s leadership returned to more traditional revenue models, emphasizing exclusive theater releases and licensing content to third parties. They also introduced cost-saving measures like job cuts and content reductions to stabilize financial losses. This shift echoes a partial return to pre-streaming industry norms as Disney and other studios explore “always-on” channels within their streaming platforms, aiming to balance direct consumer access with sustainable profit models.
-
Q2 2024 Global Production Report
https://prodpro.com/blog/q2-2024-global-production-report/
What’s important: Over the past 6 months, the total number of productions filming globally in 2024 is still 16% lower than in 2022, and 37% lower in the US.
Why it matters: The lower volumes are here to stay.
-
Sam Altman – The Intelligence Age
In the next couple of decades, we will be able to do things that would have seemed like magic to our grandparents.
This phenomenon is not new, but it will be newly accelerated. People have become dramatically more capable over time; we can already accomplish things now that our predecessors would have believed to be impossible.
We are more capable not because of genetic change, but because we benefit from the infrastructure of society being way smarter and more capable than any one of us; in an important sense, society itself is a form of advanced intelligence. Our grandparents – and the generations that came before them – built and achieved great things. They contributed to the scaffolding of human progress that we all benefit from. AI will give people tools to solve hard problems and help us add new struts to that scaffolding that we couldn’t have figured out on our own. The story of progress will continue, and our children will be able to do things we can’t.
-
Lionsgate signs deal with AI company Runway, hoping that AI can eliminate storyboard artists and VFX crews
The goal is to reduce costs by replacing traditional storyboard artists and VFX crews with AI-generated “cinematic video.” Lionsgate hopes to use this technology for both pre- and post-production processes. While the company promotes the cost-saving potential, the creative community has raised concerns, as Runway is currently facing a lawsuit over copyright infringement.
-
How to Lead Your Team when the House Is on Fire
https://peterszasz.com/how-to-lead-your-team-when-the-house-is-on-fire/
The three focus areas of an Engineering Manager
- Ensuring delivery that’s aligned with company goals;
- Building and sustaining a high-performing engineering team;
- Supporting the success and personal growth of the individuals on the team.
-
Ross Pettit on The Agile Manager – How tech firms went from prioritizing cash flow instead of talent
For years, tech firms were fighting a war for talent. Now they are waging war on talent.
This shift has led to a weakening of the social contract between employees and employers, with culture and employee values being sidelined in favor of financial discipline and free cash flow.
The operating environment has changed from a high tolerance for failure (where cheap capital and willing spenders accepted slipped dates and feature lag) to a very low – if not zero – tolerance for failure (fiscal discipline is in vogue again).
While preventing and containing mistakes staves off shocks to the income statement, it doesn’t fundamentally reduce costs. Years of payroll bloat – aggressive hiring, aggressive comp packages to attract and retain people – make labor the biggest cost in tech.
…Of course, companies can reduce their labor force through natural attrition. Other labor policy changes – return to office mandates, contraction of fringe benefits, reduction of job promotions, suspension of bonuses and comp freezes – encourage more people to exit voluntarily. It’s cheaper to let somebody self-select out than it is to lay them off.
…Employees recruited in more recent years from outside the ranks of tech were given the expectation that we’ll teach you what you need to know, we want you to join because we value what you bring to the table. That is no longer applicable. Runway for individual growth is very short in zero-tolerance-for-failure operating conditions. Job preservation, at least in the short term for this cohort, comes from completing corporate training and acquiring professional certifications. Training through community or experience is not in the cards.
…The ability to perform competently in multiple roles, the extra-curriculars, the self-directed enrichment, the ex-company leadership – all these things make no matter. The calculus is what you got paid versus how you performed on objective criteria relative to your cohort. Nothing more.
…Here is where the change in the social contract is perhaps the most blatant. In the “destination employer” years, the employee invested in the community and its values, and the employer rewarded the loyalty of its employees through things like runway for growth (stretch roles and sponsored work innovation) and tolerance for error (valuing demonstrable learning over perfection in execution). No longer.
…http://www.rosspettit.com/2024/08/for-years-tech-was-fighting-war-for.html
-
Starboard Urges Autodesk to Hold CEO Accountable After Probe
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starboard-urges-autodesk-hold-ceo-154230189.html
Accounting problems at Autodesk first came to light in April, when the company delayed its annual financial disclosures and said it was opening a review of processes related to free cash flow and operating margins. In May, the company announced it was replacing Debbie Clifford as chief financial officer.
Bloomberg reported last week that documents showed the software company ignored internal warnings about the use of a controversial sales strategy that was central to the accounting probe’s findings.
-
Zach Arnold – 2020: Dear Hollywood: We Don’t Want to “Go Back to Normal.” Normal Wasn’t Working
https://optimizeyourself.me/dear-hollywood-normal-wasnt-working/
Hollywood’s pre-pandemic “normal” wasn’t sustainable or healthy, particularly for workers who faced long hours, poor work-life balance, and limited diversity. This article calls for the industry to use this post-pandemic period as a chance to reform and prioritize the well-being, creativity, and inclusivity of its workforce, rather than simply returning to old, harmful practices.
Categories
- 3Dprinting (166)
- A.I. (557)
- animation (337)
- blender (183)
- colour (224)
- commercials (45)
- composition (147)
- cool (357)
- design (617)
- Featured (56)
- hardware (291)
- IOS (107)
- jokes (134)
- lighting (272)
- modeling (104)
- music (183)
- photogrammetry (161)
- photography (740)
- production (1,225)
- python (81)
- quotes (480)
- reference (302)
- software (1,285)
- trailers (287)
- ves (510)
- VR (218)
Recent Posts
- Arvid Schneider – Environments Using Biomes in Houdini
- Odyssey.systems Explorer – pioneering generative world models and gaussian splatting
- AnimateAI.pro – All-in-One temporally stable and consistent AI Animation Story Video Generator
- Meta Releases Video Seal – A state-of-the-art, open-source model for video watermarking
- TencentARC BrushEdit – All-In-One Image Inpainting and Editing