We’d like to share our journey of how we integrated Universal Scene Description (USD) in Maya into our production pipeline. We’ll set the stage by describing life in Maya prior to USD, when we used a generative scene building framework called Shotsetup. This tool had its strengths and weaknesses, and led us to adopt USD for its promised functionality. We’ll share a technical description of the choices we made, presenting the main artist front-facing tools fueled by AL_USDMaya (EnvironmentStudio2, Forge2). We then made the decision to open source the plugin, and will share the reasons why and the lessons learned. Finally, we will describe the collaboration with Autodesk around the unifying goal: from 3 to 1 plugin.

Weta Digital has a proud history of bringing groundbreaking films to the big screen. We’re known for performance-driven animated characters such as Gollum, Kong, Neytiri, and Caesar as well as well-known fantasy worlds like Middle-earth in Lord of the Rings and Avatar’s Pandora. Along the way, our work has earned six visual effects Academy Awards®, twelve Academy Sci-Tech Awards, and six visual effects BAFTA Awards, in addition to the 34 Visual Effects Society Awards awarded to us by our peers. In this talk, we’ll explore the innovation behind the magic and share an inside look at the proprietary pipeline we’ve built on top of Autodesk Maya that enables our artists to create their best work.

New to visual programming? No problem. Bifrost’s library of pre-built graphs makes it quick and easy to craft serious effects right out-of-the-box. Get to know Bifrost’s latest features through my experimental art.

Over the past year, we’ve seen the pandemic change the way studios work and affect how artists collaborate with one another. With remote work becoming the “new normal”, it’s become apparent that sharing a common physical space isn’t always necessary. We decided to put ourselves in the shoes of our customers by setting up a small remote studio to create a 3D sequence called Mkali's Mission, from concept through final render. We set out to create our animated short using each of the tools in the Media & Entertainment Collection – including Maya, 3ds Max, Arnold, and Mudbox – to showcase the breadth and power of the toolset. We also set up a ShoGrid site to track our progress and manage reviews. To bring this project to life, we hired freelance artists from across the globe for modeling, rigging, animation, FX, look development, and rendering. During this session, I’ll take you through each step of our journey, sharing all of the challenges, successes, and learnings along the way.

Oregon-based LAIKA is a renowned animation studio that has inspired audiences with an unprecedented visual artistry. Animators breathe life into meticulously hand-crafted puppets on handmade sets. Visual effects artists seamlessly enhance performances with cutting-edge technologies. This unparalleled fusion of stop-motion and computer graphics has garnered the studio two Oscar nominations and worldwide acclaim. In this session, Mark Shapiro will discuss the upcoming feature The Boxtrolls, using rarely seen images and timelapses. Production puppets will be on display.

Solomon Rogers will use REWIND:VR case studies to show the sort of work that is currently being commissioned and utilised—from architectural design and development to Rolls-Royce’s new Vision vehicles, BBC’s International Space Station Space Walk, and the launch of Nike’s new Soccer Team kit. You may remember the early, overhyped virtual-reality (VR) attempts of the mid 1990s that were expensive and unable to deliver a truly immersive experience—and in many cases, just left people feeling nauseous. This is the year where VR truly becomes a viable consumer product. So, what's changed in the past 20 years? Sol Rogers, CEO and founder of REWIND:VR, will look at the developments—from technology and platforms to smartphones and appetite for the medium. VR is no longer just a marketing gimmick. It's a serious industry predicted to have 170 million active users by 2018.

In this class, we will demonstrate the differences and similarities between rigging for games and rigging for film. We will cover the challenges associated with each area and what can be done to overcome such challenges.

Virtual, augmented and merged reality have been touted to become the next big computing platform with applications across enterprise and consumer markets. In this session, we will discuss the various emerging enterprise applications, their workloads and the challenges for the ecosystem to make this a reality.

Autodesk products, in particular the entertainment creation suites, offer an opportunity to reinvent learning in language arts, social studies, and other core academic classes. By using a game or movie development approach to core subject learning, you can motivate your students to learn with the use of tools such as Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk Maya®, and other software products. The variety of Autodesk products, combined with the general principles that have already seen amazing classroom success, could reignite a passion for learning in so many students and schools. You can be part of the solution, as a mentor or teacher or business.

In this class, Ronald Poelman, one of the world’s experts on reality capture technologies, will discuss a wide variety of capturing devices that exist today and some ongoing exciting future research. You will be introduced to all current methods to capture reality, learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and get experts tips for using the devices and post-processing the data. The class will use a variety of examples to demonstrate where specific techniques are used and why.

This class will illustrate the storytelling process undertaken for a recent international airport design competition in Dalian, China, and the critical role storytelling played in the firm’s competition submittal. The class will demonstrate how a variety of media was used to create an inspiring video that set the firm’s submittal apart from its competition. We will explore each phase of the project, starting with discovery and storyboards. Then we will move into a discussion of production for both live and CG elements, and we’ll end with compositing and editing. We will explain why key decisions were made and when they were made to get the best results. The audience will gain an understanding for each part of the process by seeing real-world examples and behind-the-scenes footage during each phase. Finally, we will share successes and lessons learned from our experience working with 2 Design and Production Teams that were on opposite sides of the world and 14 hours apart.

This class will help digital artists become more employable in their industry, fast-track their career, and build a strong name for themselves in the competitive visual effects field. We will talk about how to develop unstoppable demo reels and attention-getting cover letters, along with tactics for managing and presenting yourself in the best light. We will cover how to develop contacts, stand out from other applicants, play the "game" when it comes to freelancing, and treat yourself like a business. You will learn to promote yourself and your work, create viral videos to gain recognition, and practice dozens of techniques to make your career unstoppable. The goal is to put yourself in more of an "industry celebrity" role where you are offered work based on word of mouth rather than having to apply for work and play the numbers game.

This class will cover the speaker’s experience in production of monumental sculptures with powerful technologies. We will find out what benefits 3D modeling, animation, simulations, and 3D printing provide to shape creation of the new era, and how advanced visual effects technologies can improve production of classical sculptures. We will show you several examples of actual projects and discuss the future of sculpture.

This class will tell the complex story of delivering models and design drawings for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art currently under construction in Los Angeles, California. This flagship museum is pushing the boundaries of architectural design and delivery. Brendan Mullins of Stantec Architecture will explain the challenges of modeling and documenting the unique aesthetic of the building. He will share workflows for integrating Rhinoceros 3D and Revit software using computational design software Grasshopper and Dynamo. The intelligent model, a complex A360 Revit project, pushes the limits of what Revit can accomplish as a tool for fabrication of architectural components. The project didn’t have a printing budget, and was delivered paperless and coordinated using a combination of cloud-based platforms, including A360 and Bluebeam, while utilizing virtual reality and drawing tablets. Through examples and stories, Mr. Mullins will share the journey of delivering this innovative design.

Augmented reality—or supplementing real-life experiences with computer-generated images (think Google Glasses)—is a rapidly evolving market. A recent study released by CCS Insight predicts that the augmented-reality hardware market alone will reach $4 billion by 2018. As design studios consider how they can become more inventive and effective in the future, augmented reality is definitely playing a role as they consider how to blur the lines between physical and digital prototypes. In this class Brian Pene, director of emerging technology at the office of the CTO at Autodesk, Inc., shares insights into the trends and new technology that his team is researching and involved with. Specifically, Brian will talk about the new types of both input and display interfaces that have recently become available, as well as the possibilities with interactive real-time 3D experiences. He’ll also talk about how you can apply this technology to design problems of particular concern to automotive design, such as the improvement of perceived quality.

Creating photorealistic digital assets is key to increasing the realism of today's games and movies today. Could it also be important for decors, natural scenes, samples, faces, bodies, or props? There is a fast-growing demand to bring the as-built or as-existing reality into the production pipeline. Some advanced production houses have embraced reality capture technologies, and they already use photos, videos, or lasers to capture reality. The Autodesk Reality Capture Group has developed tools that make these technologies easier to use. Come and discuss your needs for reality capture, and see how you can benefit by using these new tools to create your own digital assets for use in your own production environment.

Using our large 3D model set, we take different parts of our attractions and put the moving pieces together. With geometry from across the project fed into the engine and presented in 3D. Like a 3D world from a game, but it’s a real place. While Walt Disney Imagineering is not developing VR rides, we use VR in various ways to help us design and test rides. This commitment to making the illusion complete for the viewer has led to some really fascinating advances from Disney R&D and Imagineering. From group experiences in simulator rooms to some more radical ways to simulate our attractions and experiences, VR is an integral design tool. That also means putting in media, animated figures, and other timed effects. Every piece of our puzzle to create our attraction, we put into a virtual reality simulation. With the VR, we make quick iterations with our creative team and ultimately this VR environment timing feeds real world controllers for the attraction in some really amazing ways.

Generative design is transforming the way that products are created by providing design solutions that are efficient, resilient, and visually striking. When thinking of generative-design aesthetics, two approaches are commonly used. The first resembles bones that provide structure with minimal use of material. The second approach uses complex algorithmic patterns, similar to fractal geometries and procedural textures, which can be used as bodies or applied to surfaces. This class will explore easy-to-follow workflows for the creation and combination of structures and patterns in generative design. We will create efficient structures with Fusion 360 software’s Autodesk Generative Design tool. We’ll use Maya software’s MASH tool to create intricate procedural networks, which we’ll then bring into Fusion 360 for further refinement. The use of MASH is a novel and innovative approach, far easier to achieve than other tools such as Dynamo or Grasshopper.

Siemens Mobility GmbH developed a whole workflow from digital track capturing using laser scanner technique to the creation of an infrastructure 3D model containing all relevant signaling assets. One of the main businesses for Siemens Mobility is the design, construction, and installation of signaling. The solution shows how automated data-preparation processes and interfaces help to combine different data sets in a way that helps cross-project teams understand and make use of the information easier and quicker. The focus of this class is based on demonstrating the benefits and added value arising from this solution, as well as a high-level overview of the processes supporting the different required use cases: digital track capturing, 3D visualization of the rail track with all assets, documentation, and train driver simulation. These processes make use of AutoCAD Civil 3D software, InfraWorks software, BIM 360 Field software, BIM 360 Document Management software, Maya software, Unity, and Forge.

This class covers the use of price lists and pricing services to update pricing within Fabrication ESTmep software. We will show how to use Harrison Pricing Service to update existing price lists, we'll examine the Product Information Editor and ID codes, and we'll look at how pricing information is linked to items in Fabrication ESTmep software. We'll also touch on some effective practices, discuss some limitations and advantages, and show you how to access the Harrison Price list and import it into Fabrication ESTmep software to update pricing.