Special Effects

A few months ago, Canadian company SideFX quietly released an update to its bleeding-edge Houdini procedural animation software, which handles the physics behind CGI. This stunning video pulls back the curtain on the process behind so much of today's cinema and gaming.

Epic Games recently unveiled a remarkable demonstration of its latest real-time digital rendering system called Unreal Engine. The demonstration showed a completely digital copy of actor Andy Serkis reciting lines from Macbeth illustrating the rapid evolution of photorealistic digital effects.

​In the wake of Peter Cushing's digital resurrection in "Star Wars: Rogue One" debate is once again raging around the ethics of re-purposing the images of long dead actors. How do we deal with the murky legal and ethical waters surrounding this discomforting territory?

For over 15 years, Hollywood has been trying to generate photo-realistic digital characters, but often the results were weird, discordant or just plain unsettling. Has Hollywood finally come out of the uncanny valley with Star Wars: Rogue One?

If you're looking for an excuse to buy a 3D printer, how about the ability to print your own RoboCop? 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys has revealed that its tech was used to produce RoboCop's suit in the new movie. The Objet Connex 3D was used to create both master mold pattern and final parts.

Video inpainting software developed at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics allows you to selectively remove people or moving objects from high definition film footage.

Stilla is a new iPhone photography app that allows users to transform photos into striking multi-dimensional images.

Film-makers Derek Van Gorder and Otto Stockmeier are in the process of making a science fiction film about space travel, without using any computer generated imagery.

Rob Cockerham conducts DIY science experiments, performs hands-on product research and creates wacky inventions on his Cockeyed blog.

The head of Universal Creative talks about the technology used to create The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park rides.