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NEWS

> B.C. Creates Video Game Tax Credit, Sweetens Film Credit

The B.C. government announced changes to the provincial tax credit system Wednesday that give the video-game industry its first major tax credit and sweeten B.C.'s labour tax credit for the film and television industry.

The credits, announced by Finance Minister Colin Hansen and Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Kevin Krueger, provide for a new B.C. interactive digital media tax credit of 17.5 per cent of labour costs in the development of video games. It also sweetens the labour tax credit for foreign producers, raising it to 33 per cent from 25 per cent. The qualified labour expenditure cap rises from 48 to 60 per cent, and the digital animation and visual effects tax credit rises 2.5 per cent, from 15 to 17.5 per cent.

Aside from raising the labour cap, there was no improvement for indigenous film producers making Canadian projects.

The changes, subject to approval by the legislature, would apply to productions with principal photography beginning after Feb. 28 of this year. The interactive media tax credit applies to video game development projects that begin after Aug. 31, 2010.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

> 2 New Product Authorizations: Assimilate and PixeLux

Assimilate
Main product: SCRATCH
Description: Digital Intermediate Finishing Solution that provides facilities and filmmakers with a visual data pipeline for complex 2k/4k, Film, HD/SD, Stereoscopic 3D and Digital Projects.

PixeLux
Description: The DMM (Digital Molecular Matter) Plug-in is fully integrated with Maya and 3ds Max and can take advantage of features such as fields as well as keyed kinematic movement. Build a character rig that has DMM flesh that moves in response to kinematically driven bones, or build a railroad trestle where the timbers flex and crack under the weight of a passing train.

PRODUCTS

> The Foundry Introduces NukeX

NukeX 6.0 has all the features of Nuke 6.0, including the brand new roto and paint tools and the Foundry's acclaimed keyer, Keylight, as standard. In addition, it has an integrated 3D camera tracker, depth generator, tools for automatic lens distortion correction and also includes FurnaceCore, the nucleus of the Foundry's Academy Award®-winning Furnace tool set.

For detailed information about NukeX, read NukeX: What and Why?

For more details or to request a quote, please send us an email at sales@3vis.com.

> Turtle 5.1 for Autodesk Maya 2010

Turtle is a sophisticated rendering and baking plug-in for Autodesk Maya used for lighting and content creation in next-gen game development. With Turtle you can easily bake stunning global illumination for your game levels into texture maps, vertex maps or point clouds. Other features include the baking of occlusion and normal maps from highly detailed models to low polygon models. The combination of great global illumination and a comprehensive set of baking tools make Turtle the perfect fit for game developers using Maya.

For more details or to request a quote, please send us an email at sales@3vis.com.

> New: Cinema 4D R11.5

Significant re-tooling of the render engine in R11.5 helps artists render more rapidly and efficiently. R11.5 takes advantage of state-of-the-art multi-core processors and adds new features such as render instancing and bucket rendering to provide users tremendous improvements in efficiency. Render-intensive tasks such as sub-polygon displacement have been accelerated immensely. CINEMA 4D users can now create scenes of greater complexity, as even billions of polygons can be rendered on modest hardware.

New features in Cinema 4D R11.5 are available here.

For more details or to request a quote, please send us an email at sales@3vis.com.

> Flatiron Version 1.50 Released

The rapid development of visualization and rendering engines requires new techniques for the creation of interior and exterior scene solutions. 3d-io has announced the immediate availability of the scene baking plug-in for Autodesk 3ds MAX. With a focus on supporting all major 3ds Max renderers and enhancing the unwrapping and packing of UV maps for 3d scenes in a simple yet powerful way, Flatiron 1.50 brings benefits to all customers working in game development, architecture or CG visualization.

More highlights of Flatiron 1.50.

For more details or to request a quote, please send us an email at sales@3vis.com.

PROMOS

> Get Adobe Flex Builder FREE with Adobe
Creative Suite 4

Buy a full or upgrade version of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium, or Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection software, and receive a copy of Adobe Flex Builder 3 Standard software-the ideal tool for building highly interactive, expressive web applications-at no additional cost.

Offer ends April 30, 2010. For more details or to request a quote, please send us an email at sales@3vis.com.

> Craft's Traffic Solution 50% Off

In partnership with Dosch Design, PerspectX and De Espona, Craft is offering a variety of Pre-Rigged Models (PRMs). These are top-of-the-line models for 3ds Max and Maya.

When you buy these PRMs, you can begin animating them immediately with Craft Director Studio. All the configuration and rigging is done for you.

In order to use the PRMs you need to have a license for Craft 4-Wheeler Extended and Craft Spline Speed-Controller. Normally the total for these two is $1354. But during January and February, when you buy one PRM or PRM bundle your price is $675 and includes one year of Up2Date (some models will require Craft Trailer or Craft 2-Wheeler Extended, naturally you can also buy those at half-price when you buy a PRM).

If you already have Craft 4-Wheeler Extended and Craft Spline Speed-Controller we will offer you one year of Up2Date for both add-ons at half-price: only $112 when you buy a PRM or PRM bundle.

For more details or to request a quote, please send us an email at sales@3vis.com.

EVENTS

> FEB 17: Autodesk Webcast: Artifex Studios Presents: Creature Builds in Nickelodeon's 'The Troop'

Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PST)

Keynote Speaker: Jamie Macdougall

Join Jamie Macdougall, Senior 3D Artist at Artifex Studios, as he provides an overview of creature builds featured in Nickelodeon's live-action series 'The Troop'.

In this session Jamie will:

• Outline the process from concept sketch to Autodesk® Mudbox® sculpt, and then to Autodesk® Maya® for animation and rendering
• Discuss rigging and Pixar’s RenderMan® for Maya rendering workflow
• Outline the VFX workflow used for the series, focusing on tips, stumbling blocks and solutions he found along the way that may be helpful to other 3D artists

About Jamie Macdougall:
Jamie Macdougall is a Senior 3D Artist at Artifex Studios, an award winning animation and visual effects studio in Vancouver, BC Canada. Artifex has been providing services to the film and television industry for over 12 years.

Info & Registration

> FEB 18 & 23: The Nuke Composite Tour– Montreal & Toronto

Register to your city today!

> MONTREAL - Thursday, February 18th
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EST

> TORONTO - Tuesday, February 23rd
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. EST

Come see how the latest release of Nuke can help your entire team create compelling visual effects and deliver high-quality digital images. Nuke is a production proven visual effects tool that brings speed, functionality and flexibility to your VFX pipeline.

Presenter: Nathalie Bergeron. She has now acquired over twelve years of industry experience in production, post-production, and visual effects software. She spent most of her career working with avant-garde companies developing high-end visual tools such as Discreet Logic, Autodesk, Nothing Real, Apple, and now The Foundry. Nathalie always worked closely with artists and engineers, most recently as the Quality Assurance Manager for Shake and Motion before stepping into the role of Director of Customer Relations for The Foundry.

Whether you are an existing user of Nuke or wanting to see it for the first time, we welcome you to attend!

Space is limited - Info & Registration