News Stories

Inside Disney’s new Carbon-Freeze Me experience

5.20.2012

[Inside the Magic]

… I did indeed step into a carbon freezing chamber at Walt Disney World, voluntarily, as part of the newest line of custom collectibles offered during Star Wars Weekends 2012, which began yesterday.

Disney calls the experience “Carbon Freeze Me,” enabling theme park guests to have their faces scanned and 3D-printed onto a small collectible figurine featuring their likeness sculpted onto Han Solo’s body, frozen in carbonite, a la “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.”

With the aid of my pal Kenny the Pirate, I recorded my trip into the Carbon Freeze Me experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, seen in the video below, including the variety of amusing faces I made while trying to act like I’d just been doomed by the Dark Lord of the Sith.

See the full story with video here: http://www.insidethemagic.net/2012/05/inside-disneys-new-carbon-freeze-me-experience-immersing-guests-in-a-star-wars-world-to-create-a-custom-collectible/

LG and Samsung flat screen TVs market share grows to 26% worldwide

5.20.2012

[YonHap News]

Global TV sales contracted nearly 8 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, but the market for three-dimensional (3D) TVs more than doubled, a report showed Sunday.

Overall global TV shipments amounted to 51.22 million units in the January-March period, compared with 55.54 million a year earlier, according to the report by market tracker DisplaySearch.

Samsung Electronics Co. had the highest market share of 21 percent, up 3 percentage points from a year earlier, followed by LG Electronics Inc. with 16 percent and Japan’s Sony with 7 percent.

Despite the overall sales shrinkage, the 3D TV market continued to grow in the first quarter, with 7.19 million units sold, a whopping 245 percent increase from the same period last year.

Samsung claimed 25 percent of the world 3D TV market, down 9 percentage points from a year earlier and 5 percentage points from three months earlier.

LG made strides in its 3D TV sales, with its market share soaring to 16 percent from 8 percent a year earlier, while Sony’s share tumbled to 12 percent from 27 percent, according to the report.

The combined market share of Samsung and LG remained in the 40-percent range in the first quarter, though it dropped from 45 percent in the previous quarter.

See the original post here: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/05/20/39/0501000000AEN20120520000300320F.HTML

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It seems global consumers are switching to 3D televisions from flat screen sets.
Market tracker DisplaySearch said that global TV sales shrank 8 percent in the first quarter of the year while the market for 3D TVs grew by 245 percent.
This translates into nearly 7.2 million 3D TVs sold around the world between January and March this year.
Korean companies Samsung and LG Electronics had a combined 41 percent share of the global 3D television market.
Samsung Electronics accounted for 25 percent down 9 percentage points from last yearwhile LG had a 16 percent market share a jump of 8 percent from last year.

See the full story here: http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=130111&code=Ne2&category=2

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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