5 ms·

Wow. Weta works on some really big films, so it will be exciting to see the work that they have done become available in the asset store. In the PR they say: >

by tim-- 5y ago

Wow. Weta works on some really big films, so it will be exciting to see the work that they have done become available in the asset store. In the PR they say: > [...] the asset library we’ll inherit [...], which includes urban and natural environments, flora and fauna, humans, man-made objects, materials, textures, and more. The WetaFX team will continue their [...] work for major film and TV productions and feed into this asset library for years to come. Peter Jackson (of LoTR fame) is one of the founders of Weta. Sad to see another one of New Zealand's large, well known employers get sold.

pixel_fcker 5y ago
VFX companies don’t own any of the assets that they create for films, the studio does. I don’t know what Unity think they’ve bought there.
- follower 5y ago
  Presumably Weta has a contract with studios that means the company retains rights to "generic" assets they create.
  - ByersReason 5y ago
    The are competing with Epic, which has a huge presence in the VFX industry - including Unreal being used on the real-time VFX for the Mandalorian. Weta was using Unreal at one time, as well. This is likely a more strategic move to a) obtain more studio tech to integrate with Unreal to make sure they do not loose the "high ground", b)obtain people in the loop who really know about high end rendering engine tech, in which they are behind Unreal and c) make sure Weta stays well away from Epic.
    - Slartie 5y ago
      This is exactly on point. Unity is behind Epic in many respects relevant to both areas of business - classic game development and the nascent gaming-tech-used-for-movie-VFX business - and this acquisition is an attempt at fixing this deficit by throwing a chunk of money at someone.
- readbeard 5y ago
  I believe they have done a ton of R&D. They recently announced commercial availability of some of their custom Houdini add-ons. https://weta-h.com/ https://weta-h.com/
rodgerd 5y ago
> Sad to see another one of New Zealand's large, well known employers get sold. We'll see. There's the risk of massive job losses in Wellington, which wouldn't spark joy, but they're an absolutely terrible employer in terms of workplace health and safety and sexual harrassment, so it's just as possible there is an improvement in employment conditions.
- 0des 5y ago
  Workplace health and safety in a dev shop, can you elaborate on that? All I can think of is temperamental printers, crappy chairs and expired snacks in the honor box.
  - Tronno 5y ago
    Project-based creative shops are known for having lots of crunch time (long hours), and judging by Glassdoor reviews, Weta is no different.
  - tomcam 5y ago
    You forgot unwashed coffee pots in the morning. It’s all about the unwashed coffee pots.
    - OneTimePetes 5y ago
      "Well, i will be here on saturday. I hope the team does not let me down. This is the last time we will crunch over the weekend. Come on, whos with me."
  - rodgerd 5y ago
    Apart from hours, special effects shops have been known to deal with such entertainment as people losing a mouthful of teeth during fight scene mocap or "dealing with James Cameron".
- lostlogin 5y ago
  To add to this: https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/300191900/fractured-culture-at-weta-digital-will-be-overhauled-after-bullying-sexual-harassment-allegations https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/300191900/fractured-culture-a... https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/07/28/toxic-culture-at-acclaimed-weta-workshop-revealed-by-past-and-present-employees/ https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/07/28/toxic-culture-at-acclaime... https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/12/19/woman-whose-sexual-harassment-complaint-sparked-weta-workshop-review-says-its-not-over/ https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/12/19/woman-whose-sexual-harass...
mattferderer 5y ago
This sounds like a beneficial merger that improves distribution of items already being created.
chrisseaton 5y ago
> Sad to see another one of New Zealand's large, well known employers get sold. Isn’t selling a success? That’s the whole idea!
- timClicks 5y ago
  There's a long-standing narrative here that acquisition by a foreign company is a loss for the local tech industry.
- crabmusket 5y ago
  Selling may be a win for the business owner, but since the parent commenter refers to the business as an "employer", they might be looking at it from a different point of view. Like that of the employees.
  - chii 5y ago
    but why is a sale of the company supposedly bad for the employee?
    - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
      Because new owners often can't manage what they've acquired and kill it off while trying to squeeze profit out of it.
      - mikeyouse 5y ago
        Even less cynically, Unity is buying specific competence that they don’t already have. There are a ton of jobs at Weta that will be eliminated just by virtue of not needing the duplication across companies. They won’t need all of the “normal” jobs that employ non-engineers (accounting, payroll, finance, legal). Marketing and sales will likely be cut in some form, a bunch of local contractors they use will likely be let go since the acquiring company will already have different relationships for those services. It’s disruptive for the stakeholders when for example Google buys a Bay Area company.. it’s much more disruptive when an overseas company buys a (or the) big employer in a region.
follower 5y ago
I'm curious what the actual employee staff numbers are given the various Weta companies are AFAIK pretty notorious for using "temporary contractors" rather than actually employing people. It's also an interesting development given that they only recently started promoting a cloud-based service for integrating their technology with Maya & Houdini.
- shahar2k 5y ago
  the entire film industry is "temporary contractors" visual effects most guilty of that among the various departments. (I work in a section of the industry) I've worked with some of weta's toolset on the avatar sequels and I've also worked with unreal on various projects... it's interesting hearing this and I wonder if that's part of the toolset that will be released
  - salamanderman 5y ago
    You're absolutely right.
- LAC-Tech 5y ago
  IME is almost all highly skilled/(relatively) highly paid work in NZ is done by contractors. It's almost a right of passage for devs here. For US HNers - it's different than in the US where health insurance is tied to employment. I typically have the exact same health coverage whether I'm employed, self-employed, or un-employed.
  - glenngillen 5y ago
    I’ll admit I’m inferring a lot from a single anecdote here: but from when I toured Weta the guide we had seemed very honest in saying the high proportion of contract employees was because of the unpredictable nature of the work. She’d work there for 6mo, then a project would wrap, and she’d have to go find a different job. Hopefully being able to come back if/when the next project came a long. That’s a very different experience to the rite of passage a lot of devs (myself included) have taken because there’s high constant demand and high day rates.

by tim-- 5y ago

pixel_fcker 5y ago

VFX companies don’t own any of the assets that they create for films, the studio does. I don’t know what Unity think they’ve bought there.

follower 5y ago
Presumably Weta has a contract with studios that means the company retains rights to "generic" assets they create.
- ByersReason 5y ago
  The are competing with Epic, which has a huge presence in the VFX industry - including Unreal being used on the real-time VFX for the Mandalorian. Weta was using Unreal at one time, as well. This is likely a more strategic move to a) obtain more studio tech to integrate with Unreal to make sure they do not loose the "high ground", b)obtain people in the loop who really know about high end rendering engine tech, in which they are behind Unreal and c) make sure Weta stays well away from Epic.
  - Slartie 5y ago
    This is exactly on point. Unity is behind Epic in many respects relevant to both areas of business - classic game development and the nascent gaming-tech-used-for-movie-VFX business - and this acquisition is an attempt at fixing this deficit by throwing a chunk of money at someone.
readbeard 5y ago
I believe they have done a ton of R&D. They recently announced commercial availability of some of their custom Houdini add-ons. https://weta-h.com/ https://weta-h.com/

rodgerd 5y ago

> Sad to see another one of New Zealand's large, well known employers get sold. We'll see. There's the risk of massive job losses in Wellington, which wouldn't spark joy, but they're an absolutely terrible employer in terms of workplace health and safety and sexual harrassment, so it's just as possible there is an improvement in employment conditions.

0des 5y ago
Workplace health and safety in a dev shop, can you elaborate on that? All I can think of is temperamental printers, crappy chairs and expired snacks in the honor box.
- Tronno 5y ago
  Project-based creative shops are known for having lots of crunch time (long hours), and judging by Glassdoor reviews, Weta is no different.
- tomcam 5y ago
  You forgot unwashed coffee pots in the morning. It’s all about the unwashed coffee pots.
  - OneTimePetes 5y ago
    "Well, i will be here on saturday. I hope the team does not let me down. This is the last time we will crunch over the weekend. Come on, whos with me."
- rodgerd 5y ago
  Apart from hours, special effects shops have been known to deal with such entertainment as people losing a mouthful of teeth during fight scene mocap or "dealing with James Cameron".
lostlogin 5y ago
To add to this: https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/300191900/fractured-culture-at-weta-digital-will-be-overhauled-after-bullying-sexual-harassment-allegations https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/300191900/fractured-culture-a... https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/07/28/toxic-culture-at-acclaimed-weta-workshop-revealed-by-past-and-present-employees/ https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/07/28/toxic-culture-at-acclaime... https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/12/19/woman-whose-sexual-harassment-complaint-sparked-weta-workshop-review-says-its-not-over/ https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/12/19/woman-whose-sexual-harass...

mattferderer 5y ago

This sounds like a beneficial merger that improves distribution of items already being created.

chrisseaton 5y ago

> Sad to see another one of New Zealand's large, well known employers get sold. Isn’t selling a success? That’s the whole idea!

timClicks 5y ago
There's a long-standing narrative here that acquisition by a foreign company is a loss for the local tech industry.
crabmusket 5y ago
Selling may be a win for the business owner, but since the parent commenter refers to the business as an "employer", they might be looking at it from a different point of view. Like that of the employees.
- chii 5y ago
  but why is a sale of the company supposedly bad for the employee?
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    Because new owners often can't manage what they've acquired and kill it off while trying to squeeze profit out of it.
    - mikeyouse 5y ago
      Even less cynically, Unity is buying specific competence that they don’t already have. There are a ton of jobs at Weta that will be eliminated just by virtue of not needing the duplication across companies. They won’t need all of the “normal” jobs that employ non-engineers (accounting, payroll, finance, legal). Marketing and sales will likely be cut in some form, a bunch of local contractors they use will likely be let go since the acquiring company will already have different relationships for those services. It’s disruptive for the stakeholders when for example Google buys a Bay Area company.. it’s much more disruptive when an overseas company buys a (or the) big employer in a region.

follower 5y ago

I'm curious what the actual employee staff numbers are given the various Weta companies are AFAIK pretty notorious for using "temporary contractors" rather than actually employing people. It's also an interesting development given that they only recently started promoting a cloud-based service for integrating their technology with Maya & Houdini.

shahar2k 5y ago
the entire film industry is "temporary contractors" visual effects most guilty of that among the various departments. (I work in a section of the industry) I've worked with some of weta's toolset on the avatar sequels and I've also worked with unreal on various projects... it's interesting hearing this and I wonder if that's part of the toolset that will be released
- salamanderman 5y ago
  You're absolutely right.
LAC-Tech 5y ago
IME is almost all highly skilled/(relatively) highly paid work in NZ is done by contractors. It's almost a right of passage for devs here. For US HNers - it's different than in the US where health insurance is tied to employment. I typically have the exact same health coverage whether I'm employed, self-employed, or un-employed.
- glenngillen 5y ago
  I’ll admit I’m inferring a lot from a single anecdote here: but from when I toured Weta the guide we had seemed very honest in saying the high proportion of contract employees was because of the unpredictable nature of the work. She’d work there for 6mo, then a project would wrap, and she’d have to go find a different job. Hopefully being able to come back if/when the next project came a long. That’s a very different experience to the rite of passage a lot of devs (myself included) have taken because there’s high constant demand and high day rates.