Discreet congratulates Oscar winners for Visual Effects and Animated Short Film

Discreet has congratulated post-production facilities Sony Pictures Imageworks, Zoic Studios, Radium and Ring of Fire on winning the Academy Awards for Achievement in Visual Effects for 'Spider-Man 2'.
According to Discreet, this year's Academy Awards marked the tenth consecutive year in which all films nominated in the Visual Effects category were "shaped with" Discreet’s solutions.
Discreet also congratulated director Chris Landreth and Copper Heart Entertainment, in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada and in association with the Seneca College Animation Arts Centre, for winning in the Animated Short Film category with 'Ryan'.
All nominees in the Visual Effects category used Discreet’s solutions to help deliver awe-inspiring storytelling in Spider-Man 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and I, Robot.
SPI used Discreet’s solutions to create 108 shots for the winning film Spider-Man 2 including the bank robbery, train and deli sequences, as well as the action-packed car chase.
According to Lisa Deaner, senior Discreet flame® system artist at SPI, the post house used Discreet’s systems to speed up their creative process: "Discreet’s flame and burn solutions helped us solve problems and realise creative ideas quickly".
Zoic Studios used Dicreet's flame system and combustion® software for multiple wire and rig removals in Spider-Man 2. Post-production houses Radium and Ring of Fire also worked on Spider-Man 2 and created 52 and 26 shots respectively, mostly using Discreet’s inferno system and combustion software.
For Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, post-production house Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) used Discreet's inferno system as part of its proprietary SABRE visual effects and compositing system, to suck Harry's soul out of his body in the opening train scene.
California-based Digital Domain and Vancouver-based Rainmaker both worked on Twentieth Century Fox’s 'I, Robot'. Using combustion software, Digital Domain completed 150 shots that involved removing actor Allen Tudyk out of plates and replacing him with the NS-5 robot 'Sonny'. Rainmaker produced some 70 visual effects shots for the movie, using Discreet’s inferno system extensively on the destruction sequence of the Lanning House.
Three of the five nominated projects in the Animated Short Film category – 'Ryan', 'Gopher Broke' and 'Birthday Boy' – used Discreet’s solutions.
The winning animated short Ryan, directed by Chris Landreth, is a tribute to Canadian animator Ryan Larkin. Although incredibly realistic and detailed, Ryan was created and animated without the use of live action footage. All characters in Ryan were animated by hand and filmmakers relied heavily on Discreet’s combustion software and flame system for compositing and 2D effects. Belma Abdicevic, lead compositor on Ryan, was responsible for lighting, compositing and rendering, said combustion was "invaluable" in the making of the film.
Discreet, www.autodesk.com.
(SP)