Looking forward to the MaterialX Virtual Townhall on August 2nd, featuring a brand new open shading model from Adobe and Autodesk, MaterialX technology updates from Pixar and NVIDIA, and new MaterialX graph editors from Remedy Entertainment and IKEA. events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-da…

Not your usual 'making of' video for Industrial Light & Magic. Super fun to see this rolled out!

Up for a game of chess? ♟

This rendering of the Open Chess Set in the Pixar campus environment is a preview of what’s possible with #MaterialX support through @OpenUSD in an upcoming version of @PixarsRenderMan. Thanks to the @AcademySWF for making this collaboration possible!

Big congratulations to the award winners this year - always nice to see technology rewarded when it's in the service of filmmaking!
press.oscars.org/news/8-scienti…

I'm proud to report that the Open MaterialX Graph Editor has landed in MaterialX main! Congratulations to my colleague Emma Holthouser on this important step forward, and we look forward to additional community collaborations on this project in the future. github.com/AcademySoftwar…

VES is proud to announce the new Emerging Technology Award, celebrating creators of state-of-the-art technology behind the visuals & the collaboration btw art & science in VFX. Inaugural award to be bestowed at #VESAwards in Feb 2023.

More info - vesglobal.org/press-releases…

VFX Reference Platform CY2023 is now Final. Full details at vfxplatform.com

The moment you've all been waiting for: The SIGGRAPHCO2 post-conference poll. Please spread this around to anybody you know who went to SIGGRAPH/DigiPro, and also coworkers who attended virtually or not at all (so we have a baseline).
forms.gle/4LsU88f21KnNbV…

Last week @SIGGRAPH the VFX Linux Task Force published a report with their recommendations for all VFX & Animation studios and their software providers to align on a common set of Linux distributions over the next 18 months. Find out more at vfxplatform.com/linux

If you’re somehow awake this morning after a full siggraph week, this should be a fun discussion!

The CY2023 Draft platform has been updated at vfxplatform.com. Please send your feedback for consideration before we lock down CY2023 Final at the end of August. You can also join the discussion at groups.google.com/g/vfx-platform…

Are you interested in electrical engineering and virtual production? Check out our these two positions at Technoprops and be in the middle of the innovations at ILM and Lucasfilm: jobs.jobvite.com/lucascompanies…

I know everyone's been waiting longer than usual for this one, but please nudge anyone you know to submit if they have something to contribute in any of these categories - deadline is March 18th!

Can confirm we appreciate all of Rachel’s contributions across all of Industrial Light & Magic as well!

Hopefully this will be a helpful resource for many in the VFX and animation studio community, and for our software partners. Thank you to all those that responded to the survey. Lots of great insights when looked at collectively.

Overheard at a coffee shop: “So what do you think of the metaverse, bro? Is it real?”

The water quality in Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, is monitored by clams. If the water gets too toxic, they close, and the triggers shut off the city’s water supply automatically [read more: buff.ly/35gPYTu] [documentary trailer: vimeo.com/398813930]

The camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured this unique and iconic view of the Moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth in August 2015, from a distance of 1 million miles [read more: buff.ly/1Pio3lv]

So much hard work has gone into StageCraft from all of the tech teams for the last 2 years - always great to see creatives embracing the possibilities, while understanding exactly how to make the most of it, and where to use more traditional techniques as well!