
Maxon, developers of professional software solutions for editors, filmmakers, motion designers, visual effects artists and creators of all types, today announced that Cinema 4D and ZBrush were used in the production of animated virtual reality short, Ajax All Powerful. Written and directed by award-winning VR filmmaker Ethan Shaftel and co-produced by easyAction, VeeR and Detona Cultura, the film removes the barrier of the fourth wall to provide viewers with a uniquely immersive perspective in which they experience the events and emotions more acutely through the viewpoint of a protagonist.
Launched August 20th, 2023 on the Meta Store, the animated comedy follows double-crossing genie Ajax, who, in a dark twist, collects souls in exchange for granting wishes. That is until he meets his match when a little girl, who rubs his lamp, comes prepared with her very own lawyer to help negotiate.
Starring Henry Winkler (Happy Days, Barry) as the foul-mouthed Ajax and Chris Parnell (Rick and Morty, Saturday Night Live) as the no-nonsense lawyer, the story uses interactivity, movement and performance to create a perfect state of engagement in which the audience is fully focused on the story.
When you make a movie in Mixed Reality, it's really a whole world, so there is so much more animation to do, Shaftel explains. All of the characters are alive all of the time, so you have to be really brutal about where you put your production time, polish and energy. The great thing about using Cinema 4D in VR production is that you can use it in several different ways and with Maxon it is such a straightforward process to export files into VR.
Given the cutting-edge developments in the VR space over the last few years, Maxon CEO David McGavran believes VR may revolutionize filmmaking and storytelling in much the same way the addition of color and sound did in the past. VR offers artists a plethora of opportunities for content creation and filmmakers need to be extremely clever and imaginative in how they enable the viewer to interact with the film. Ethan has been honing this very craft for years and is pioneering truly unique and immersive experiences in virtual reality. Maxon is committed to providing the artistic community with necessary tools that are primed for working in this rapidly developing medium.
Cinema 4D and ZBrush were valuable tools for fast, smooth workflows throughout each step of the film's production, Shaftel says, and the integration with Unity made switching between those solutions and exporting files uncomplicated.
ZBrush, the industry standard tool for digital sculpting and painting, was primarily used for character design, and all the animation was created in Cinema 4D, Maxon's professional 3D modeling, animation, simulation and rendering software. With Cinema 4D, it was easy to plan and block out action sequences during the writing and animation process, as well as revisit and edit where necessary.
In addition to producing the previz animatics, the VR 360 video tools in Cinema 4D allowed Shaftel to render out frames of 360 video from different perspectives, which were then taken into Adobe Premiere to be edited into a VR storyboard. During the full production process, Shaftel and his collaborators brought the dialogue soundtrack into Cinema 4D to rig and animate the characters in order to match the actors' vocal performances to their characters' actions.
This film is the first time I've been able to put together all the components of my vision for how I think narrative VR can work, Shaftel says. I'm hoping that some of the techniques I'm playing with can transcend a single project and apply to other VR narratives and become part of the grammar of VR storytelling. That's the ongoing project.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
02/04/2026
Evergent will showcase new innovations in subscriber lifecycle management and monetization at NAB Show 2026 (Las Vegas, April 18 22), including:
New advances i...
02/04/2026
WUPPERTAL, Germany April 1, 2026 Riedel Communications is proud to be part of Binghamton University, State University of New York, Athletics' milestone...
02/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have today announced new, fully managed, cloud-native Master Control services designed to meet the growing operational demand...
02/04/2026
Avid today announced it will showcase new innovations designed to help media companies win in the new media economy at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas Co...
02/04/2026
PlayBox Neo helps AIS PLAY kick-off premier football content direct to fans
PlayBox Neo has provided MIMO Tech with a brand-new major installation to extend it...
02/04/2026
Globo has transitioned its primary content distribution to Secure Reliable Transport over a fully IP-based managed backbone using Synamedia's Quortex PowerV...
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Student Spotlight: Al-Fadl Salem The Danish singer recently performed for the queen of Denmark.
April 1, 2026
By
Editorial Staff
Image by Junia Morrow
Wh...
02/04/2026
Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity Whether he's performing, composing, teaching, or developing instruments, the do-it-all percussionist sees ...
02/04/2026
2FM Breakfast to extend on weekday mornings from 6am to 10am
Doireann Garrihy m...
02/04/2026
RT News & Current Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of RT Radio 1 reporter, Barry Lenihan, as Political Correspondent.
Barry has reported across...
02/04/2026
No joke - GFN Thursday is skipping the tricks and heading straight into the games. April kicks off with ten new titles, bringing fresh adventures to GeForce NOW...
01/04/2026
As sports media organization continue to seek out new ways to streamline their p...
01/04/2026
The SVG GFX Forum hit New York City earlier this month for a day packed with sessions focused on the creative strategy and technology behind today's cutting...
01/04/2026
This year, Spotify celebrates the five-year anniversary of EQUAL, our global pro...
01/04/2026
Analogue-style tape splicing in the digital domain
In this era of digital recording and multiple layers of Undo, it seems that the fading art of tape splici...
01/04/2026
Latest release introduces new Orbita Engine
Zero G's latest release marks the start of a new series of libraries, as well as introducing an all-new engi...
01/04/2026
Until now, one format has largely been left behind
Warm Audio's extensive product range includes modern-day recreations of all manner of sought-after s...
01/04/2026
A piano with glass vessels for strings!
The Crow Hill Company's recently released Gong Piano offered a refreshing new take on piano libraries, harnessin...
01/04/2026
Remote Streaming Studio Condenser
Aim Audio have just revealed their latest creation, the ESSENCE RS Remote Streaming Studio Condenser, which becomes the wo...
01/04/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/04/2026
Bilbao, April 1st, 2026 - AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technolog...
01/04/2026
Green Hippo is excited to announce the launch of its new Hippotizer Media Server training courses at Pixel Academy, a purpose built AV learning hub combining ha...
01/04/2026
TAG Video Systems, a global leader in IP-native broadcast monitoring, multiviewing, and quality control, today announced a collaboration with Oracle Cloud Infra...
01/04/2026
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leading provider of wireless audio solutions and RF management, was on site at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, wher...
01/04/2026
AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technology solutions, has deployed next , the new IPTV platform of the Austrian telco LIWEST, marking the first st...
01/04/2026
LTN, a leader in fully managed IP video transport, and Ateme, a global leader in video compression and delivery solutions, today announced a collaboration integ...
01/04/2026
Adobe Unveils Powerful New Innovations for Creative Pros in Adobe Illustrator
Deepa Subramaniam April 1, 2026
0 Comments
I'm excited to share that...
01/04/2026
Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Series Monitors for Live P...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Mediagenix Showcases Semantic Intelligence-Powered Title Management, Schedule Op...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Victoria Mon t Brings the Multi-Hyphenate Mindset to Career Jam 2026 The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer shared how versatility and self-inves...
01/04/2026
UKTV today announces that Jonathan Newman has formally stepped into the role of ...
01/04/2026
A New Season of Expression: Save 30% On Ivory 3There are moments in music when everything changes-when new ideas break through and redefine what's possible....
01/04/2026
Wuppertal April 1, 2026
Binghamton University Strengthens Student Run Producti...
01/04/2026
Back to All News
A Demon Falls for a Human in Long Vacation: Netflix Greenlight...
01/04/2026
Back to All News
All WWE Is Now Live Only on Netflix in Italy
Entertainment
01 April 2026
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
ALL WWE IS NOW LIVE
ON NET...
01/04/2026
Harmonic's Media Processing Solutions Maximize Bandwidth Efficiency for Terrestrial Broadcast Delivery SAN JOSE, Calif. - April 1, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
01/04/2026
Rugby fans won't miss a moment of the action this spring, with full Women...