Fxguide Takes us behind the Scenes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo David Fincher s interpretation of the Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is surely one of the most discussed films recently. The unexpected opening of the film with dark fluid visuals, a train flythrough across Swedish mountains and crashing cars scenes, combined with Graig s and Mara s great acting resulted in an ingenious suspense story in a dark Swedish setting. Fxguide s digital storytelling reveals details on the production process where three of the most renowned studios were involved: Blur for the opening abstract, Method Studios for the enhancements of the Swedish harbor, Milton Security building and van composites, and Digital Domain for the bridge sequence, the motor-cycle ridden by Rooney Mara and the Range Rover crash. Read fxguide s article on the contribution of the three studios.

Live Action Short Film Grounded Hits the Festival Circuit Here is a great live action short film that caught our attention. Grounded represents an astronaut's journey through space and life which ends on a hostile exosolar planet. Conceived and created by Kevin Margo, VFX industry veteran and CG supervisor at acclaimed BLUR studio, in collaboration with Barrett Meeker, Grounded is a metaphorical account of the experience, inviting unique interpretation and reflection by the viewer. Take a peek at some VFX Breakdowns of the short film and stay tuned for more news about it, as it s just hitting the festival circuit.

Chaos Group extends coverage to Ireland through cooperation with Eurotek Chaos Group has signed a partnership agreement with Eurotek, a leading European media technology supplier. Eurotek is now an official reseller for V-Ray, Phoenix FD and Pdplayer. The partnership represents a step forward to offer local support to customers in Ireland and more customized services through Eurotek. Founded in 1967, Eurotek is Europe s longest established supplier of media technology, being leaders in providing knowledge, advice and innovative products to customers. Eurotek Ireland will officially distribute all Chaos Group products to companies, professionals and educational institutions, and provide support.

Chaos Group Interview with IXOR VFX Chaos Group recently had the opportunity to catch up with Andronikos Bisogiannis at IXOR to discuss a few of the studio s most recent projects and talk about what s in store for 2012. Read the full interview here.

Our Facebook page just hit 10,000 fans! We take great pride in announcing that we have reached 10,000 Fans at facebook.com/chaosgroup. Thanks to each of our Facebook Fans for joining the Chaos Group conversation online! We appreciate your Likes, Comments, and Shares and we look forward to keeping in touch. So, thanks again for your participation and for spreading the word. Keep it up!!!

The Visual Effects Society has Announced Nominees for the 10th Annual VES Awards 2011 was an amazing year for the CG industry and VES has acknowledged that with a great selection of nominations for its annual awards. This year The adventures of Tintin leads with most feature nominations and Boardwalk Empire tops the nominees list for broadcast. Our team will be keenly following the Awards ceremony on February 7 recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories.

Winner in Chaos Group Phoenix FD 2.0 Draw Announced We are pleased to announce the winner from our Phoenix draw with which we celebrated the release of the new version of our fluid dynamics simulator. Congratulations to Halena Chapman from Chapman Design in New Zealand who wins a Phoenix FD 2.0 licence!

CGSociety Presents its 2011 CG Retrospective The CGSociety community has voted for the Top 20 coolest, most influential CG events, films, games, VFX software and technologies. We are happy to see V-Ray 2.0 for Maya being part of that list and would like to thank all who voted for our entry. Read the full 2011 article by CGSociety here.

Filmakademie Uncovers the Making of Der Besuch in a Chaos Group Interview Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg produced one of the most touching short movies of the year Der Besuch. Learn what inspired the team and the challenges they faced along the way.

The Christmas Edition of Chaos Group s Newsletter is out Season's Greetings from Chaos Group! In this edition of our newsletter, we look back at an incredible year filled with great moments we ve shared with our clients, partners and friends. We are also announcing the start of the V-Ray 1.5 for Rhino Public Beta Program, just in time for the Holidays! Read more here.

V-Ray for Rhino 1.5 Beta Program Officially Starts on 20 Dec 2011 All V-Ray for Rhino enthusiasts can apply for the Beta Program for version 1.5 starting 20 December. Now Rhino users can benefit from many new features and improvements including V-Ray RT, Dome Light, and Proxy objects. For a complete list of features, click here. The Beta program will be open to all users interested in testing the new version and submitting suggestions for improvement. To apply for the Beta program, you need to be a registered website user. Please note that your application may not be approved immediately due to the large number of submissions. The Beta program will run until 20 February 2012. Join the V-Ray for Rhino 1.5 Beta program now!

An Update to V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max is Now Available! Chaos Group is pleased to announce an update to V-Ray 2.0, delivering outstanding new features and improvements, including enhanced GPU functionality using V-RayRT and new Hair and Fur capabilities. Visit chaosgroup.com, and download today! New Hair and Fur Capabilities Render hair and fur with unprecedented quality, control, and speed using the new VRayHairMtl shader and VRayHairInfoTex map. Seamlessly render hair created using Ephere s Ornatrix plug-in with the new modifier - VRayOrnatrixMod. Check out the new V-Ray 2.0 Hair and Fur Shader Video Tutorial, here! Real-time Rendering Improvements Incorporate VRayProxy objects, texture-mapped area and mesh lights, Simple Skylight portals, and the VRayBlendMtl into an ultra-fast V-RayRT GPU workflow. Pan and zoom within V-RayRT s ActiveShade window using Real Zoom. For more new features and to download full demo version of V-Ray 2.0, go to Chaos Group website.

Escape Studios Invites Compositors to an Exciting Industry Event in LA Our friends at Escape Studios LA would like to invite all V-Ray fans in Los Angeles to the upcoming CG event for Compositors, Saturday, 17 December 2011 - 10:00am - 12:00pm. As the line between 2D and 3D becomes more and more blurred, the question arises - how much CG should a Compositor have in his or her arsenal? Join them for an overview of some of the basic CG techniques used by compositors in production. Martin Hall, a freelance VFX Supervisor and Compositor and Gnomon Instructor, will break down some of his recent projects, along with the ways in which he engineered passes in V-Ray and Mental Ray to complete his composites. For more info on the event and RSVP, click here.

Chaos Group Goes to Hamburg for the 3D Talk Event Organized by Picturetools We are excited to participate in the 3D Talk event in Hamburg on 14 December, organized by our partner Picturetools. Visit our booth where we will show demonstrations of our complete portfolio of rendering solutions: V-Ray for Softimage, V-Ray for Rhino, V-Ray for Maya, V-Ray for 3ds Max and Phoenix FD. Chaos Group will also be giving away a V-Ray license to one lucky participant. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Siggraph Fever Seizes Hong Kong Lots of exhibitors and attendees are expected at this year s Siggraph Asia. The conference has already started and the exhibition area is crowded with enthusiastic crews setting up their booths. The exhibition will take place between 13 and 15 December. Don t forget to stop by the Chaos Group booth B02 where you can see demos and live presentations by our team and partner companies. Our Annual Siggraph event will be held in room S224. Full event details available here. Join us at Siggraph Asia 2011!

Duran Duboi to Present the Black Gold Movie at Paris FX The fifth edition of Paris FX is coming on 14th and 15th December! Get ready for two days filled with the best of international visual effects, CGI and 3D and attend numerous presentations, workshops and master classes for producers. One of our bookmarks in the event s rich program is the presentation of the Or Noir (Black Gold) movie on 14th December. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and set in the 1930's Arab States at the dawn of the oil boom, this movie features lots of amazing visual effects. Visual Effects Supervisor Thierry Delobel and CG Supervisor Benoit de Longlé of Duran Duboi will talk about the production challenges during the realization of the Black Gold movie where V-Ray was used extensively. Don t miss it!

Chaos Group at Siggraph Asia 2011 For a fourth consecutive year, our team will take part in the Asian edition of the biggest global CG event Siggraph (13-15 December 2011). We are very enthusiastic about our participation, as we have lots to share with you. We have set up a special event page where you can see a full program of our participation and details about the presentations, which will be delivered at our booth. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Chaos Group s November Newsletter is Out Check out our monthly newsletter for a new portion of fresh CG news! We share an inspiring collection of recent projects created using V-Ray, preview upcoming Chaos Group events, and announce the release of Phoenix FD 2.0. Enjoy!

Chaos Group to Attend Several Major CG Events in Europe Brace up for another series of inspiring 3D events where you can meet our team and learn about the new features in our product portfolio! We are traveling across Europe again to attend the most influential and talked about industry events. Check the full list below and join us for a chat if you happen to be around. We are looking forward to seeing you! 3D Community Day with Autodesk and Techex (01 Dec, Madrid, Spain) RENDE(E)R DAY with 3D Cyberdream (02 Dec, Munich, Germany) CG Event Russia with CSD (03-04 Dec, Moscow, Russia) Digital Drawing Days with 3DWS (03-05 Dec, Arezzo, Italy) 3D Talk with Picturetools (14 Dec, Hamburg, Germany)

Features of the Upcoming V-Ray for Rhino v. 1.5 Presented at the Shape to Fabrication Event Last week, our colleagues Teddy and Konstantin mixed with the enthusiastic crowd of CG professionals at the Shape to Fabrication event in London, where in a casual atmosphere they talked about the new features of the upcoming V-Ray for Rhino v. 1.5. Follow our news for an announcement of the Beta program very soon!