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    Weta Digital joins forces with SideFX to advance cloud production with Houdini software

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1450 Views
    LOS ANGELES --

    Visual effects studio Weta Digital has partnered with SideFX on a new software service combining Weta’s proprietary tools within SideFX’s award-winning Houdini application. The WetaH partnership will enable unprecedented levels of creativity, allowing artists to take advantage of the deep integration between Houdini and Weta Digital’s award-winning technology.

    SideFX is a global leader in procedural 3D animation and visual effects tools in film, advertising, and gaming, with Houdini as the industry standard. This best-in-class collaboration offers Weta Digital’s integrations and extensions of the Houdini workflow, including Weta’s Loki multi-physics solver and high-performance compute paradigm, renowned for driving some of their iconic work in films like Avengers: Endgame, Alita: Battle Angel, and War for the Planet of the Apes.
     
    This partnership validates the importance of modern procedural workflows in today’s forward-looking visual effects pipelines. It has an immediate impact on Weta’s cloud service, a new business unit brought to life as part of a vision to unite industry-leading technology players. Years of joint development work and a shared outlook underpin the inclusion of Houdini as a key part of Weta’s vision for how the entertainment industry will evolve.
     
    “Partnering with SideFX was essential in realizing our vision for the cloud service, I cannot imagine doing this without them,” said Weta Digital CEO Prem Akkaraju. 
     
    “The industry is moving to distributed architectures that will allow our cloud service model to reduce expensive technology barriers, further enhancing the natural strength of Houdini’s node-based procedural workflows and overall position in the market,” added Akkaraju.
     
    “This is such an exciting time for new generations of Houdini artists,” says Cristin Barghiel, VP of product development at SideFX. “Partnering with the visionary minds at Weta Digital will enable us to bring the efficiency and sophistication of Houdini’s procedural workflows to the broadest possible artist base. Now even the smallest studio will be able to access production-proven tools out-of-the-box, for VFX and beyond.”
     
    WetaH offers Weta Digital’s years-long R&D commitment to Houdini to the entire user community.  Architected and stress-tested by artists in service of the industry’s most visionary storytellers, WetaH will unlock the untapped potential of Houdini and the Houdini Engine across many facets of the pipeline. WetaH will enter private beta in Q4, alongside WetaM, as part of Weta’s software service, offering professional and prosumer tools to artists across the global entertainment industry. 

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    Tags:Cristin BarghielHoudiniPrem AkkarajuSideFXWeta Digital



    House Approves Trump’s Request To Slash Funding For PBS, NPR and Foreign Aid

    Thursday, June 12, 2025

    The House narrowly voted Thursday to cut about $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress as President Donald Trump's administration looks to follow through on work done by the Department of Government Efficiency when it was overseen by Elon Musk.

    The package targets foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service as well as thousands of public radio and television stations around the country. The vote was 214-212.

    Republicans are characterizing the spending as wasteful and unnecessary, but Democrats say the rescissions are hurting the United States' standing in the world and will lead to needless deaths.

    "Cruelty is the point," Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said of the proposed spending cuts.

    The Trump administration is employing a tool rarely used in recent years that allows the president to transmit a request to Congress to cancel previously appropriated funds. That triggers a 45-day clock in which the funds are frozen pending congressional action. If Congress fails to act within that period, then the spending stands.

    "This rescissions package sends $9.4 billion back to the U.S. Treasury," said Rep. Lisa McClain, House Republican Conference chair. "That's $9.4 billion of savings that taxpayers won't see wasted. It's their money."

    The benefit for the administration of a formal rescissions request is that passage requires only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate instead of the 60 votes usually required to get spending bills through that chamber. So if they stay united, Republicans will be able to pass the measure without any Democratic votes.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune,... Read More

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