Wētā FX, formerly known as Weta Digital, is a New Zealand–based digital visual effects and animation company based in Miramar, Wellington. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. The company went on to produce some of the highest-grossing films ever made, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Avatar series. Considered one of the most influential film companies of the 21st century, Wētā FX has won several Academy Awards and BAFTAs.[4] The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects, which was historically featured in the company logo.[5]
The studio has developed several proprietary software packages to achieve groundbreaking visual effects. The scale of the battles required for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy led to the creation of MASSIVE, a program which can animate huge numbers of agents: independent characters acting according to pre-set rules.[8][9]
To recreate 1933 New York for King Kong, the company created CityBot, an application which could "build" the city on a shot by shot basis.[10] Kong's fur also required the development of new simulation and modeling software.[11] A set of tools that combined procedural and interactive techniques added wind to the five million individual strands of fur and modeled interaction with other surfaces. New shaders were written that accounted for the scattering of light from within each hair that added to the volumetric quality of the fur. Large chunks of fur were ripped out and filled in with scars, blood, and the mud of Skull Island. Each frame of fur took two gigabytes of data.[12]
For James Cameron's Avatar, Weta Digital modified MASSIVE to give life to the flora and fauna on Pandora, for which the company did most of the visual effects with Joe Letteri,[13] under a team led by executive and producer Eileen Moran.[14][15] The film is regarded as a landmark for visual effects.[16][17][18][19] By 2017, Weta Digital had started visual effects development for the sequels.[20][21][22][23]
In 2010, a texture painting application developed by the studio for Avatar called Mari has been bought by The Foundry Visionmongers.[24] For The Adventures of Tintin and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the studio developed a new grooming system called Barbershop where users can interactively manipulate digital hair. This tool received a Sci-tech award in 2015.[25]The Adventures of Tintin was Weta Digital's first fully animated feature film.[26]
On June 19, 2020, Weta Digital announced that it would be producing original animation content under the name Weta Animated.[37][38][39] The company also announced a new chief executive Prem Akkaraju, who comes from Los Angeles.[40][41][42] In September 2020, Weta was able to secure a multi-year deal with Amazon Web Services to use the Amazon cloud to forward its VFX and animation production.[43][44]
On June 17, 2021, Weta Digital announced they have partnered with Autodesk to productize Weta's proprietary tools based in Autodesk Maya for a cloud service called WetaM.[46] It will first be released in Q4 as a private beta.[47]
On August 23, 2021, Weta Digital announced a collaboration with SideFX for a cloud service combining the studio's proprietary tools within SideFX's Houdini called WetaH.[48][49]
On November 9, 2021, Jackson sold the company's VFX tools development division to video games software company Unity Technologies for US$1.625 billion.[50][51][52] Unity's acquired tech assets of Weta will be called Weta Digital, while the visual effects company remained separate and renamed as Wētā FX.[53][54] The acquisition was completed in December 2021.[55] In April 2022, Wētā FX opened a new studio in Vancouver. It is the company's first dedicated VFX studio outside New Zealand.[56][57]
For Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, Wētā worked on 3,240 visual effects shots, 2,225 of which involved water.[58] The studio developed new performance capture technology for the film's underwater sequences.[59][60][61] The digital water in the film was created by artists using Wētā's latest Loki simulation software.[62] Wētā also refined their Facial Action Coding System (FACS) from Alita: Battle Angel for its use in Avatar: The Way of Water.[63][64][65][66] The company eventually ended up rendering close to 3.3 billion thread hours.[67] Letteri won his fifth Academy Award for his work on the film.[68]
On November 25,, 2023, Unity and Wētā FX mutually agreed to terminate Unity’s service agreement with Wētā FX effective December 10, 2023; this comes after Unity laying off the entire Wētā Digital staff in a "company reset".[69][70] Unity will continue to own the software from the Wētā Digital acquisition (with Wētā FX being able to continue using them), but the Wētā Digital name and related intellectual property will be transferred back to Wētā FX with no current plans to use the old Wētā Digital name. Wētā FX will be extending offers to as many of the Digital team as possible "as it looks to expand its research, development and support functions".[70]
Workplace culture
An investigation into Wētā's workplace culture by Kiwi public TV broadcaster 1 News, begun in June 2020 following a social media post by former Wētā Workshop employee Layna Lazar, resulted in more than 40 current and former Weta Digital employees anonymously sharing accounts of "sexism, bullying and harassment" in September 2020.[71][72][73]
In their testimonies, workers identified the existence of a male-only pornographic mailing list called "Caveman", which originated in 2002 following a company-wide tradition known as Porn Friday, and continued to circulate until 2015.[71] Several reports also alleged that the company's IT systems required upgrades in order to accommodate the volume of pornographic content hosted on the company intranet, in addition to numerous allegations of sexual harassment, bullying, intimidation, misogyny and homophobia.[71][74]
In response to these allegations, Wētā owners, including Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and chief executive officer Prem Akkaraju, commissioned an independent review from barrister Miriam Dean, who stated in her report that she received 80 complaints of bullying behavior, 120 complaints of inappropriate conduct and 19 complaints of sexual harassment from amongst the company's 1,500 employees.[75][76][77]
Dean put forward 17 recommendations for internal reform, including the establishment of a code of conduct, restricting the executive team, expanding the diversity and inclusion program, and reviewing the company's pay structure.[75][78] Her review also stated that the existing management systems were not sufficient to protect workers "from bullying, sexual harassment, sex discrimination and other inappropriate conduct".[75][79][80]
16th Electromagnetic Warfare SquadronEmblem of the 16th Electromagnetic Warfare SquadronActive1967–1994; 2007-PresentCountry United StatesBranch United States Space ForceRoleDetect and report electromagnetic interference with satellite communications systemsSize123Part ofSpace Delta 3Garrison/HQPeterson Space Force Base, ColoradoMotto(s)Tutamine Victoria Latin From a Strong Defense, VictoryDecorationsAir Force Outstanding Unit Award[1]CommandersCurrentcommanderLt Col D. …
Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bayrou (homonymie). Si ce bandeau n'est plus pertinent, retirez-le. Cliquez ici pour en savoir plus. Cet article ne cite pas suffisamment ses sources (décembre 2016). Si vous disposez d'ouvrages ou d'articles de référence ou si vous connaissez des sites web de qualité traitant du thème abordé ici, merci de compléter l'article en donnant les références utiles à sa vérifiabilité et en les liant à la section « Notes et références ». En pr…
Istana di Kiernozia Kiernozia [kʲɛrˈnɔʑa] merupakan nama dari sebuah desa di wilayah Łowicz, Provinsi Łódź, Polandia tengah.[1] Desa ini adalah pusat Gmina (distrik administratif) yang disebut Gmina Kiernozia, terletak sekitar 20 kilometer (12 mi) utara Łowicz dan 61 km (38 mi) timur laut ibu kota regional Łódź. Populasi desa ini sejumlah 930 jiwa dan sebagian besar dikenal sebagai tempat kelahiran (dan makam) Marie Walewska (née Łączyńska), salah satu gun…
Water storage on the Green River in Wyoming Fontenelle ReservoirFontenelle Reservoir in 1972Fontenelle ReservoirShow map of WyomingFontenelle ReservoirShow map of the United StatesLocationLincoln / Sweetwater counties, Wyoming, USACoordinates42°02′00″N 110°04′00″W / 42.03333°N 110.06667°W / 42.03333; -110.06667TypereservoirPrimary inflowsGreen RiverPrimary outflowsGreen RiverCatchment area4,156 sq mi (10,760 km2)Basin countriesUnited States…
Банкноты 1917—2014 годов История денег на территории Украины охватывает период с VI века до н. э. по настоящее время и включает несколько самостоятельных этапов, границами которых, как правило, выступают смены политической власти, переходы различных областей Украины под юрисд…
Historic site in Shetland, ScotlandStanding Stones of YoxieStanding StonesLocationShetland, ScotlandCoordinates60°21′59″N 0°56′14″W / 60.36647°N 0.937092°W / 60.36647; -0.937092BuiltNeolithic ageStanding Stones of Yoxie location in Whalsay, Shetland The Standing Stones of Yoxie is a Neolithic site in the parish of Nesting on the northeastern coast of Whalsay, in the Shetland islands of Scotland. It is located approximately 100 yards (91 m) to the southeas…
Discontinued graphics software Adobe FreeHandFreeHand MX on Mac OS XOriginal author(s)Altsys CorporationDeveloper(s)Adobe Systems, formerly MacromediaInitial release1988; 36 years ago (1988)Final releaseMX (11.0.2) / 2003; 21 years ago (2003) Operating systemMac OS X, WindowsTypevector graphics editorWebsitewww.adobe.com/products/freehand/ Adobe FreeHand (formerly Macromedia FreeHand and Aldus FreeHand) was a computer application for creating two-dimensi…
Racewalking competitions occurring during the Olympic Games Race walkingat the Olympic GamesThe 2004 Olympic men's 20 km walk finalOverviewSportAthleticsGenderMen and womenYears heldMen 20 km: 1956 – 2020 Men 50 km: 1932 – 2020 Women 20 km: 2000 – 2020Olympic recordMen20 km 1:18:46 Chen Ding (2012)50 km 3:36:53 Jared Tallent (2012)Women20 km 1:25:16 Qieyang Shenjie (2012)Reigning championMen20 km Massimo Stano (ITA)50 km Dawid Tomala (POL)Women20 km Antonel…
Indonesian journalist and writer Marco KartodikromoKartodikromo in the early 1920sBorn1890Blora, Central Java, Dutch East IndiesDiedMarch 18, 1932 (aged 41–42)Boven-Digoel, Papua, Dutch East IndiesOther namesMas Marco (pen name)Occupation(s)Journalist, writerYears active1911–1926 Marco Kartodikromo (1890 – 18 March 1932), also known by his pen name Mas Marco, was an Indonesian journalist and writer. Born to a low-ranking priyayi (noble) family in Blora, Dutch East I…
Marche - 01 Uninominalecollegio elettoraleLa senatrice del collegio, Donatella Agostinelli Stato Italia Elezioni perSenato della Repubblica ElettiSenatori Periodo 2017-2022Tipologiauninominale Territorio Manuale Il collegio elettorale uninominale Marche - 01 è stato un collegio elettorale uninominale della Repubblica Italiana per l'elezione del Senato tra il 2017 ed il 2022. Indice 1 Territorio 2 Eletti 3 Dati elettorali 3.1 XVIII legislatura 4 Note 5 Voci correlate Territorio Come pr…
هذه المقالة يتيمة إذ تصل إليها مقالات أخرى قليلة جدًا. فضلًا، ساعد بإضافة وصلة إليها في مقالات متعلقة بها. (فبراير 2019) شتيفاني بول معلومات شخصية الميلاد 7 مايو 1978 (46 سنة) فينسترفالده الجنسية ألمانيا الحياة العملية المهنة لاعبة كرة طائرة، ولاعبة كرة طائرة شاطئ…
صفيحة كوكوسصفيحة كوكوسالنوعصفيحة ثانويةالمساحة التقديرية2,900,000 كم2الحركة1شمال-شرقالسرعة167 ملم/عامالميزاتجزيرة كوكوس، المحيط الهادئ جزيرة كوكوس، المحيط الهادئ1بالنسبة إلى الصفيحة الإفريقية صفيحة كوكوس (بالإنجليزية: Cocos Plate)، المُسماة على جزر كوكوس في المحيط الهادئ، هي …
Animal species of the island of Ireland and surrounding waters This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is Ireland's largest wild mammal and could be considered its national animal. A stag appeared on the old £1 coin. The wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) enjoys an exalt…
Geologic event in which sea level falls relative to the land Cross-sectional diagrams illustrating the shift of sedimentary facies during transgression (onlap) and regression (offlap) A marine regression is a geological process occurring when areas of submerged seafloor are exposed during a drop in sea level. The opposite event, marine transgression, occurs when flooding from the sea covers previously-exposed land.[1] Description According to one hypothesis, regressions may be linked to …
Government documents program at University of Florida University of FloridaGovernment Documents ProgramCompany typeSubsidiaryIndustryPublisherFounded1907HeadquartersGainesville, Florida, United StatesKey peopleSarah EreksonParentGeorge A. Smathers LibrariesWebsiteguides.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdocuments The Government Documents Program is a part of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. The Libraries receives government publications from all levels of government (local, county, s…
Historic house in Pennsylvania, United States United States historic placeThomas Leiper EstateU.S. National Register of Historic Places Avondale, Thomas Leiper HouseShow map of PennsylvaniaShow map of the United StatesLocationAvondale Rd., Wallingford, PennsylvaniaCoordinates39°53′12″N 75°21′30″W / 39.88667°N 75.35833°W / 39.88667; -75.35833Area6 acres (2.4 ha)Built1785NRHP reference No.70000547[1]Added to NRHPDecember 29, 1970 The Thoma…