SciTech Awards Launches Investigations
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that six scientific and technical investigations have been launched for 2026, in preparation for the Scientific and Technical Awards that will be next held on April 20, 2027.
Each year, such investigations are made public to invite individuals and companies with devices or claims of innovation within these areas to submit achievements for review.
This season, the Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards Committee has begun investigations into artist-friendly tools for the construction of large-scale water simulations, audio spectrum segmentation and editing software, color-accurate LED lighting suitable for on-set photography, digitally-controlled performer flying systems, rigging systems for direct manipulation of CG characters and solvers for markerless facial capture.
The deadline to submit additional entries is Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. PT.
MPEG, CAPA Urge Support for AB-2319
During American Cinema Editors’ sold out EditFest, Saturday at Disney’s Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, Calif., members the Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) and California Post Alliance were on hand with the latest on the effort to pass California Assembly Bill AB 2319, the postproduction tax credit bill, which is heading to the Senate Floor. Both organizations urged residents to write letters to their representatives in support of the bill.
Location Managers Honored
Also on Saturday, the Location Managers Guild International presented its 13th annual LMGI Awards in Santa Monica. Motion Picture awards went to One Battle After Another, shot across California’s Humboldt County, Sacramento, Stockton, Eureka, Arcata, San Diego, and El Paso, Texas; and Marty Supreme, filmed in New York City, Greater New York, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and Tokyo. Television Series winners included Pluribus, filmed in Albuquerque, Montana, Nevada, and Spain; Fallout, shot in California’s Dumont Dunes, Mojave Desert, Antelope Valley, and Santa Clarita; and Black Rabbit, filmed around New York City, including Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission received the Outstanding Film Commission/Office Award on the strength of One Battle After Another.
For his body of work, including Breaking Bad and Pluribus, Vince Gilligan received the Eva Monley Award during the ceremony. Location Manager Mike Fantasia (Top Gun: Maverick, Killers of the Flower Moon) accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Association of Film Commissioners International received the Trailblazer Award, and the Environmental Media Association received the Humanitarian Award for advancing sustainable production. Lightship, an electric mobility and energy company and LMGI Awards sponsor, showed its PowerSled mobile energy platform and solar-powered trailer at the ceremony.
Visual Effects Society Announces Lineup for Women Who Lead Summit
VES has announced the speakers for its inaugural Women Who Lead Summit, taking place Sept. 4 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, just prior to its annual VES Honors.
The Summit will include an opening conversation with producer Bárbara Muschietti (IT), followed by a panel titled “Opening Doors for the Next Generation of Leaders,” moderated by Janet Muswell Hamilton (HBO) with panelists Jennifer Bell (Universal ), Kathy Chasen-Hay (Paramount), Anne Putnam Kolbe (Netflix), Christine Mansfield (Disney), and Lori J. Nelson (Warner Bros.).
The second panel, “Storytelling Empowered by Technology” moderated by Annie Chang (NBCUniversal), will include panelists Dina Benadon (Super 78), Pavani Boddapati (Weta FX), and Connie Wailan Siu (Promise). A closing keynote will feature Brit MacRae, an actress, producer, and co-founder of entertainment technology company KINO.
ICYMI: Siggraph
VES also hosted a well-attended panel discussion during Siggraph when it returned to Los Angeles this summer for its 2026 convention. During “The Perpetual Pipeline” panelists discussed breakthroughs resulting from the collision of researchers and filmmakers. Barbara Ford Grant moderated the conversation with Rob Bredow, Kim Davidson, Paul Debevec, Doug Roble, and Natalya T.
Also at Siggraph, the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) held its Open Source Day, featuring a keynote by DreamWorks Animation CTO Bill Ballew, who traced the journey of the MoonRay renderer from a proprietary DreamWorks tool to an open source renderer and ASWF hosted project.
The American Society of Cinematographers and ASWF announced the release of Standard Evaluation Material for Virtual Production: StEM3-VP. The assets are now available for download as part of the ASWF’s Digital Production Example Library, which provides free access to content for testing purposes.
On the exhibition floor, Autodesk demoed new capabilities for Maya, 3ds Max, Flow Production Tracking, and Arnold. MotionMaker in Maya adds a Bring Your Own Data feature allowing teams to train custom generative motion models using their own rigs and animation datasets. The training data may include motion-capture performances or hand-keyed animation. Once a model has been trained, the tool would generate foundational motion that artists can continue to direct, edit, and refine with Maya. For 3ds Max, Autodesk introduced new 3D Gaussian Splats capabilities; and Review in Flow Production Tracking offers new tools for postproduction teams to review media, compare versions, provide feedback, and collaborate.
Also on hand was Foundry, which announced Griptape Enterprise, a new tier of the Griptape AI workflow orchestration platform aimed at high-end production. Related, Foundry appointed Kyle Roche to Chief AI Officer. Roche is Griptape’s co-founder and former CEO, who joined Foundry in February, following the company’s acquisition of the platform.
VIEW Conference
Great to see VIEW’s conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez at Siggraph. Some of the latest programs to be added to this year’s VIEW include VFX sessions about Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with overall VFX supervisor Jerome Chen; and Disclosure Day featuring the film’s overall VFX supervisor, Matthew Butler, joined by VFX supervisor Joel Behrens and animation supervisor Liz Bernard, both from Digital Domain. Animation presenters including Tyree Dillihay, director of GOAT; Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, the writers/directors of Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming Forgotten Island, and Kenna Harris, co-director of Toy Story 5.
Artlist’s Terrarium Update
In follow up to The Creative + Tech Orbit’s earlier story, Artlist has started production and revealed that cast for its upcoming horror feature film, Terrarium, developed alongside producer Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity) and AI-native studio Secret Level. It’s produced by Christina Lee Storm and written and directed by Jason Zada, both of Secret Level.
The cast includes Kylee Levien (A Chrismystery, Roswell Delirium), Ace Greene (Love Island USA Season 7, Red Bull’s Dance Your Style livestream alongside Mel B), Lynn Kim Do (FX’s Pose), Austin Willard (Henry’s Ebb), Jake Busey (From Dusk Till Dawn), and Rachel Sorsa (Blues for Willadean).