Autodesk Honors Filmmakers with Student Award

RMN Digital | February 7, 2013 | Americas, Entertainment, Feature, Masses, Regions | No Comments

Entertainment software company Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) extended its support for tomorrow’s artists, animators, designers and filmmakers by sponsoring the Visual Effects Society’s (VES) award for “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project” at the 11th annual VES Awards held on Feb. 5, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Chris Bradshaw, senior vice president at Autodesk, presented the honor to Jan-Marcel Kühn from Filmakademie for “Natalis.”

Filmakademie students Daniel Brkovic, David Kirchner and Jan-Marcel Kühn’s graduation short, Natalis, travels alongside an Android into forest foliage that unveils life-altering visions of the future.

[ Also Read: How Visually Stunning Films Are Created Using Technology ]

Tools from the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite, including 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox and MotionBuilder, were used to create lush backdrops, intricate characters and whirling particle effects.

Established in 2009 in response to a challenge from Steven Spielberg to recognize the amazing visual effects work being done by students, the award provides an opportunity for students embarking on a career in visual effects to gain wide industry visibility.

Handpicked from dozens of entries from around the world such as ArtFX in France and Filmakademie Barden-Württemberg in Germany, the 2013 nominees included:

Voile Noir – Submitted by ArtFX students Michael Balthazart, Raphaël Gaudin, Clément Granjon De Lépiney and Quentin Sauvinet, Voile Noir seamlessly blends live-action and computer graphics (CG) to recount the tale of two pilots on a mission to bring down the government. The team relied on Autodesk Maya to design all of the film’s CG assets from fiery explosions to bomber planes;
Globosome – For this short animated with Autodesk 3ds Max and digitally sculpted with Autodesk Mudbox, Filmakademie students Sascha Geddert, Johannes Peter, Patrick Schuler and Philipp Wolf portray a journey into outer space to observe the rise and fall of a new life form;
Rollin’ Safari – In this hilarious entry by Filmakademie students Kyra Buschor, Anna Habermehl and Constantin Päplow, overly rotund safari animals animated in Maya and Mudbox find daily survival tasks such as stretching or grabbing a bite of zebra at the local watering hole more complicated than ever.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) is a professional, honorary society dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences and applications of visual effects.

VES’s more than 2,700 global members contribute to all areas of entertainment – film, television, commercials, music videos, games and new media.

In the picture above: Visual Effects Society award winner, Jan-Marcel Kühn from Filmakademie (Germany) who was honored for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project for the short film “Natalis” with Autodesk senior VP, Chris Bradshaw.