Updated: Watch the new trailer for Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro’s epic sci-fi movie here…

Updated: 17th May: Watch the new trailer here, now!

When we saw the first trailer back in December, we thought it looked a little bit Micheal Bay, but now check out the latest trailer released last night: it’s going to be like watching Transformers on steroids!

Are you excited!?

LET US KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS YOU’D LIKE TO ASK THE VFX ARTISTS AND WE’LL TRY TO FIND OUT FOR YOU

Guillermo Del Toro, one of our all time favourite directors, returns with a film about giant robots fighting giant monsters!

And we simply can’t wait, but we’ll have to, as it doesn’t hit screens in the UK until July 2013.

Oh well, it least the marketing for this film seems well underway now: first there was the release of a handful of stills, then some viral material in the form of some faux news footage and the Pan Pacific Defense Corps was launched, and now the first trailer is out:

Watch the first trailer of Pacific Rim

It’s looks a little bit Micheal Bay in the trailer. Don’t you think?

The official synopsis has also been released:

“When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju.

“On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) – who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.”

Is Pacific Rim one of your most anticipated films of 2013?

Tell us what you’d like to know about Pacific Rim and we’ll try to find out for you. Write your comments below or via our Facebook page or Twitter…

Meet Piranha, winner of the CG Awards Arch-Viz Animation Award 2012 for The New World Trade Center project, and find out what makes a great arch-viz animation…

Founded just over three years ago, Pirahna already has a clutch of Emmys and other trophies on its award shelf, and an equally glitzy range of clients, including Nike, MTV, HBO, Microsoft and L’Oréal.

It has also further strengthened its position by forming an alliance with respected New York studio Fluid.

“We joined forces with Fluid after they reached out to us, seeking a partnership with a graphic and effects shop,” says Piranha co-founder Gaspard Giroud. “It’s a great fit.”

▲ A still from a CG and live-action brand video that was created for Verizon

The studio is very much a product of the respective backgrounds of its founders: architectural graduate Giroud and motion graphics/compositing whiz Rob Sabatini.

“The diversity of our work comes from the fact that Rob and I have different backgrounds and clients, but also, as a small business, we try to take anything that’s offered to us,” admits Giroud.

“While it’s not exactly a conscious decision, we’re happy to work for different mediums and encourage the diversity.”

A short film featuring an artful blend of genuine construction footage and CG, made for Silverstein Properties to showcase the development of the new World Trade Center, is perhaps its most significant project to date.

“New World Trade Center was very important for us, both in terms of its cultural significance and because we were able produce every bit of it,” says Giroud.

He believes it’s not just each person’s individual approach that makes the studio unique, but the conflict this can bring. “We’ve been known to disagree quite a bit – sometimes in front of the client – about creative decisions.

“We learned that what may seem to be a hindrance turned out to be an asset, as once we end up agreeing on something, the project usually turns out better. New World Trade Center is very much a product of that.”

▲ Piranha was commissioned by Silverstein Properties to create a short film depicting the completion of The New World Trade Center site. Here’s a photo from their ferry shoot

The New World Trade Center

Piranha wrote, produced, art directed, filmed, and finished all VFX for this inspiring piece marking the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.

It is on display permanently at the marketing center of Tower 7.

The film was presented at a press conference at Silverstein Properties marketing center in presence of Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Port Authority’s Chris Ward, architects Daniel Libeskind and Michael Arad to a crowd of international news journalists on September the 7th 2011.

The New World Trade Center animation by Piranha won the CG Award for Arch-Viz Animation in 2012. Remember to have your say on who should win this year, via the comments box below, Facebook or Twitter

The New World Trade Center film was created thanks to 3ds Max, V-Ray, Real Flow, Anima for crowd simulations, and After Effects.

“We had to use Nuke in a few scenarios that After Effects couldn’t handle. But it never saw a flame. Then it was edited in Avid. We have BOXX computers, and we have a render farm that’s all BOXX computers,” says Giroud.

We asked Gaspard Giroud ‘What makes a great animation?’

“It is easy in our industry to get caught in the technical aspects of things because there are a lot of obstacles to overcome to get just one frame right.

“Projects can get heavy and it makes it harder to dance and sing. But software settings and technical achievement should not replace the real goal.

It is important that despite these hindrances (enormous file sizes, million-polygon 3D scenes, hardware and software glitches, incompatiblities and resistances) the project remains heartfelt and light even if you are representing four skyscrapers,” says Giroud.

“It was critical to have that tool—the reliability of the BOXX machines, in order to meet the repeated deadlines of our presentations,” says Piranha’s founder Gaspard Giroud

Expert Ronen Bekerman says of The New World Trade Center:

Seeing Piranha’s ‘New World Trade Center’ video for the first time, struck a chord with me in an instant.

I shared it right there and then on my blog, stating it is “One of the best I’ve seen” and so it comes as no surprize to me it won the 3D World CG Awards 2012 / Arch-Viz Animation Award.

It is the grandeur of the subject and matching execution, both creatively and technically, that makes this a winner piece.

The unique approach of taking us for a journey in time from foundation to future completed site, seeing it reflected onto the city with great soundtrack, timing and smooth blend between real footage and CG, makes it a very powerful and inspirational video to watch.

Read more about the project and see the film here

• The 3D World CG Awards 2013 are about to get underway, so don’t forget to check back and nominate who you think should win this year’s awards.

  There are 15 catergories in the CG Awards, so whatever CG you’re into, your bound to have an opinion! Make sure you nominate to have your say.

You can expect more diversity from this exciting studio, not least with visual effects and animation work for a cable programme.

“We’re very excited to be entering that segment of the industry,” says Giroud, “for anything we can bring to the table and any other doors it could open for us.”

Visit www.piranhanyc.tv to discover what the studio is working on right now.

From arch-viz to visual effects, Mark Ramshaw meets the studios that made their mark on the CG industry in the last year. This week, The Senate…

Unsung hero syndrome invariably accompanies specialisation in ‘invisible effects’. Nevertheless, boutique facility The Senate has been quietly building up an enviable reputation in the last few years, delivering seamless environment and visual effects work on a series of films, while continuing to push the boundaries in the higher end of the broadcast market – an area that spawned the company in the first place when several independent artists teamed up to work on Steven Spielberg’s 2002 mini-series, Band of Brothers.

▲ All-digital library and snow (top) and Kings College Cambridge gate house, created for The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

“It’s been a conscious decision to specialise in this sort of work,” says Sarah Hemsley, CEO at The Senate. “Sadly, you often see companies take on anything and then sometimes they just can’t deliver. The best thing in business is to know your strengths and play to them, and that’s very much what we do.”

While Hemsley has been working to forge strong relationships with the major studios over the last few years – building to a recent body of work that includes 215 shots for Voyage of the Dawn Treader and 180 for Captain America: The First Avenger – she stresses that the UK remains a vital touchstone.

“We’re very keen to work on smaller UK projects. We’re currently involved with a British movie called Fast Girls, and have also worked on TV projects like Downton Abbey and Luthor. We have the ability to scale down or up to 50 seats, and so can work well with any size project and be very economical for the studios.”

This scalability, says Helmsley, also enables The Senate to avoid subcontracting. “Many people now outsource things like roto work, which is harming our talent pool. We take the approach of bringing people in-house at a roto/junior level, and then give them the chance to work up through the company.”

As for the upcoming year, the studio already has a raft of high-profile projects lined up. “2012 brings Wrath of the Titans, Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows – which has some really great work in it – and a few things I sadly can’t discuss yet,” says Hemlsey. “It’s going to be a very busy year. The future is looking rosy.”

Visit www.senatevfx.com to discover what the studio is working on right now.

3D artist Francisco Martinez shares the modelling pipeline he used on his short film project It Never Ends

Download the screenshots and breakdown video for this tutorial.

This tutorial is a brief exposition of the key techniques I used to create my It Never Ends project at Vancouver Film School during a 3D animation and visual effects course. I’ll explain my modelling pipeline on one of the bricks I made, which uses pretty much the same methodology I used for all the assets in the scene. I’ll then reveal how I made the textures and shaders for this asset, and finally I’ll explain how I lit the scene and fixed some of the problems in post-production.

01 Build a proxy model

I always start by modelling the proxy model in a 3D package (in this case, Maya). I make sure the brick has real proportions, and then I add a few bevels on the corners.

02 Start to sculpt

I import the asset to ZBrush to sculpt details such as cracks and holes using the Clay Tubes, Clay Buildup, and Trim Dynamic brushes.

Every time I work on the corners I go back to Maya (using GoZ) to change the topology. It’s important because when working on corners the vertices crash into each other, and that’s bad when baking Displacement and Normal maps. I just try to adapt the topology to the new shape. I go back into ZBrush to project the detail on the new geometry. I repeat this process as many times as necessary.

03 Unwrap the UV and apply corrections

Before texturing, I unwrap the model in Maya using traditional projections. I usually use Unfold in Softimage for this task, but in this case Maya was more than capable. I then use the ZApp Link plug-in in ZBrush to texture the brick, using different areas of my picture references in Photoshop to avoid obvious repetition in the surface patterns.

After finishing the projection process I go into Photoshop to colour-correct the image. In this case, I needed to desaturate the colours a little, and remove some of the highlights and shadows.

04 Test with lighting

I use the mia_material_X_passes for all my assets, and I always test them with the same light rig, which imitates a studio lighting environment with two portal lights and a 50 per cent grey background.

05 Apply displacements and test-render

I connect the colour map and the displacement map that I baked in ZBrush. For this sort of displacement I always use an approximation subdivision using the mental ray Approximation Editor with Spatial mode so that the model gets subdivided depending on the edge or pixel length needed.

I don’t try to get all the detail from the displacement map because it needs a lot of subdivisions. Instead I use a normal map for smaller details that don’t affect the silhouette of the asset. I like to turn on and off the portal lights one at a time to test that the displacement and normal maps work with the shaders. I use linear workflow to get photorealistic results.

06 Apply bump and specular maps

To match the colour map detail, I always use a bump map. To create it I work in Photoshop with a fully desaturated version of the colour map, using Levels adjustments with masks to get the darkest and brightest areas. I use the High Pass filter to get a more even greyscale image.

I do the same for the specular map, but after desaturating I put the bump map on the top with a Color Burn blend mode.

07 Add the key, fill and rim lights

I always start my lighting by adding the key light, which in this case was a directional light that imitates the sun with a subtle warm colour. I love portal lights. I use them all the time to add gradation and get better shape out of my assets. Sometimes it’s useful to link some lights with specific objects.

08 Final Gather and rayswitch

I always work with Final Gather in combination with a rayswitch camera shader, where I connect a detailed HDR image on the environment and reflection channels, and a blurred version of the same on the Final Gather. It helps to remove the common noise and artefacts.

09 Add blockers

To avoid undesirable overall brightness from the Final Gather, I set some huge boxes (as blockers) off-screen to fill the opened spaces of my scene.

10 Check the renders

Before colour-correcting the image, I use some cleaning plate techniques in Nuke to remove small problems, such as the UV seam problem I had on the character’s head.

I check to see in which frame the problem starts to show up, and then I remove it with the Clone tool (with the colour source set as the foreground) in the roto node. In this case translating on x and y was more than enough. I disconnect the roto node and use a tracker, using the same UV seam problem as a tracking point to calculate the tracking path.

11 Reconnect the root

I go back to the frame where the tracker starts, and disconnect the tracker to connect the roto again, then I link the translate (x,y) and the center (x,y) from the tracker to the roto node.

12 Set the colour space

By default Nuke always works in linear colour space, but I like to work in sRGB because that’s what I use in Photoshop. To do this you just have to set two colour space nodes: one before the colour correction (set from linear to sRGB) and the second one right after all the colour correction is done (set from sRGB to linear).

Francisco Martinez has been a 3D artist for three years, working in advertising and videogames. He’s now breaking into the film industry

Discover what’s next for augmented reality at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

Master the secrets of leading 3ds Max artists with our 228-page guide to essential 3D principles and techniques: available worldwide now

3D World has teamed up with 3DTotal to produce 3ds Max Essentials: Volume 2, a comprehensive guide to core 3ds Max techniques.

Inside, some of the world’s leading designers and animators reveal their trade secrets, enabling readers to build up their skills in easy stages.

New 3ds Max tutorials for 2013

The sequel to the original 3ds Max Essentials, now long since sold out, Volume 2 contains 228 pages of new training for 2013.

The twelve 3ds Max tutorials are divided into themed sections covering characters, environments, vehicles and animations, and are supplemented by downloadable project files and video walkthroughs, providing over 14 hours of modelling and animation training.

Individual walkthroughs cover key tools introduced in recent releases of 3ds Max, including the Graphite modelling tools and MassFX physics.

Learn from 3ds Max masters

Tutorial authors include Michael McCarthy, recipient of Autodesk’s 3ds Max Master award in 2011; games industry veteran James Horn, currently Head of Art at Kwalee; former Framestore senior character artist Jose Lázaro; and architectural visualisation and mental ray expert Jamie Cardoso.

3ds Max Essentials: Volume 2 is available now, price £14.99. Our online store, My Favourite Magazines, will ship copies anywhere in the world.

Order a copy of 3ds Max Essentials: Volume 2 online

Now priced for mere mortals, this finishing software promises to be a useful tool for your edit workflow. Mike Griggs fires it up

PRICE: £3,200 / $3,495 / €3,900. Upgrade from £615 / $675 / €863

PLATFORM: Mac OS X

MAIN FEATURES

• NLE and VFX finishing tool
• Supports 3D environments
• Wide range of conforming tools
• High-end interface
• Advanced keying technology

DEVELOPER: Autodesk

Applications such as Flame, Inferno and Smoke have always been talked about in whispered tones – mainly because many of us have no experience of these applications and what they can do. This was unsurprising given their eye-watering price tags, which were high because the applications came bundled with hardware. They were so prohibitively expensive that rather than being bought in, they were usually accessed by ‘renting’ time at a post-production house with an operator.

However, the price of some of these applications has plummeted and, with Smoke 2013, Autodesk has brought the price point down into ‘normal’ application pricing territory, so that for the first time it can be considered a viable tool by a much wider range of artists.

FINISHING SOFTWARE

Originally, Smoke was one of a range of products by Discreet (which was later bought out by Autodesk) that enabled the finishing of films and commercials – working with the footage at full resolution in real time, which programs like After Effects and Final Cut Pro were not able to handle, and therefore had to work with offline (usually lower-res) versions. Any offline changes were noted in an EDL (Edit Decision List) file, which was then brought into a finishing program where the work could be applied to the full online footage.

These finishing packages were sold as complete hardware and software solutions, with products like Flame and Inferno concentrating on VFX and compositing, and Smoke and Fire working more on the editing side. However, the increase in hardware computing power has made the purpose of these highend tools increasingly harder to justify – especially with the majority of client deliveries moving to pure digital formats – so it’s time to take a fresh look at what Smoke can do.

Smoke has integrated a lot of the VFX tools from other Autodesk/Discreet products. In a nutshell, Smoke 2013 combines the functionality of a non-linear editing package (such as Avid, Premiere or Final Cut Pro) with a really decent set of VFX and 3D compositing tools, which can hold their own against high-end programs such as Nuke.

The high-end heritage of Smoke becomes apparent when you open it – the pedigree comes satisfyingly through the UI, unlike some other programs that offer niche features but don’t seem to worry about a clean, easy-to-use environment. Even if certain workflows are not immediately apparent, Smoke is a lovely place to be working in, and the start screen – which makes sure everything is set up before you get stuck into your work – feels like a kindly concierge.

Smoke can handle working with the majority of footage, from RED to OpenEXR; and with a toolset that includes advanced keying, tracking and masking tools, there isn’t much Smoke can’t do in a modern 2D workflow.

Which is just as well, because in use Smoke takes over your Mac (Smoke is only available on this platform) in terms of resource requirements, unless you have specified otherwise by placing media folders at the root level of your drive. Be prepared to do things the way Smoke wants to, or not at all.

I ran Smoke on both a 2012 MacBook Pro with a high-res Retina display and a 2012 12-core Mac Pro, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it ran. However, it did show up the need for apps to be stored on SSDs if hardware is to keep with today’s video workflows.

In terms of the user interface, I found it to be surprisingly intuitive and easy to use, and the range of features is impressive. Nuke users will probably find it easier to grasp than others, but expect to invest in training to get you up to speed. Thankfully Autodesk supplies a good range of starter tutorials on its YouTube channel.

Applying effects using the ConnectFX nodes is simple, and the node UI is simple and responsive. In fact, it makes you wish all nodes looked like this. But if you’re unfamiliar with the system, trying to get immediate feedback – even to see the result of a quick key of two bits of footage – can be daunting to the uninitiated.

Smoke will extract a commitment from you, then, but it feels like persistence in training will pay off with a well-established workflow that has been honed over decades, allowing you to move through shots quicker than any other application I’ve used. Comparing Nuke to Smoke does throw up some interesting contrasts in terms of workflow.

Nuke is a freeform playground that, with the right team of artists and TDs, can create virtually anything in the composite. In many ways, Smoke is a better tool than applications like Nuke for the standalone artist who doesn’t want to code new gizmos for the vast majority of tasks, and should be seen as a potential ‘upgrade’ from the Adobe pairing of After Effects and Premiere, with its tortuous dynamic link that’s still not ready for serious production use.

While you probably wouldn’t want to edit a motion picture in Smoke, it’s more than capable of handling the majority of short-format work, from footage and 3D file input through composite and grade to export, and its fast, responsive interface is a joy to work with. Smoke is an application you want to use because it makes you feel like you’re improving your work while you’re doing so, and it brings the term ‘finishing’ into the 21st century.

PROS

• Handles edit and VFX in one application
• Robust UI and workflow
• Comparatively good value for money

CONS

• Mac only
• Needs latest hardware and fast drives

An excellent application, especially at this price, offering a fast workflow to get your projects done and out of the door

RATING 4

Mike Griggs is a freelance 3D, VFX and mograph artist. He can be found on Twitter, and his work is available on his site

Discover 2013′s best 3D movies at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

From arch-viz to visual effects, Mark Ramshaw meets the studios that made their mark on the CG industry in the last year. This week, Storm Studios…

Formed in 1996, Storm Studios is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, animation facilities in Scandinavia, although it wasn’t until 2006, with Free Jimmy (the region’s first CG-animated movie) and Peter & the Wolf, that the studio began to attract serious attention in its native Norway and abroad. Since then, feature film visual effects work has been Storm’s bread and butter, with a merger between Storm and Nordisk Film in 2010 further strengthening its industry position.

▲ Storm’s matte painting expertise at work in Mathias Calmeyer’s movie Captain Sabertooth

“Merging Storm’s effects knowledge with Nordisk Film’s long traditions and post-production expertise, we’ve achieved our dream of creating a one-stop shop,” says managing director Kristin Hellebust. “We’ve also helped design one of the finest post-production facilities in Europe, in the form of Nordisk Film Shortcut, which has recently expanded to a second studio in Stockholm.”

While there are some foreign projects currently in development, Hellebust says that tangible results from acclaim for internationally well-known projects such as Max Manus and The Troll Hunter have yet to appear. The Norwegian film industry, meanwhile, remains very budget-conscious.

“It’s also often expected that the visual effects company invest 50 per cent of the honorarium in the film, with the risk of never getting a direct return on this investment,” explains Hellebust. “Of course, with a population of just five million, it’s understandable that budgets are small, and one positive consequence is that we’re used to being extremely efficient and creative.”

Following a year of investment on internal R&D, and the development of efficient pipelines, Hellebust says one of the next things is going to be to enjoy the benefits of the brand-new facilities shared with Shortcut. On the work side, in 2012 Storm will continue its recent push into commercials, while feature work will include CG environments for three children’s movies, plus a sizeable contribution to the Scandinavian/British production Kon-Tiki.

Visit www.stormstudios.no to discover what the studio is working on right now.

From arch-viz to visual effects, Mark Ramshaw meets the studios that made their mark on the CG industry in the last year. This week, Fido…

In an increasingly competitive industry, it’s not uncommon for small-to-midsize studios to opt for some degree of specialisation. Even so, Fido’s reputation for photoreal creature work is quite remarkable. So too is its commitment to internal R&D, developing the tools that enable such work to stand out from the crowd.

▲ The digital fur flies with this all-CG squirrel star of an advert for Saatchi & Saatchi, Stockholm

“We’ve focused heavily on creatures and simulations of real-world elements for the last six or so years now,” says Mattias Lindahl, senior VFX supervisor at Fido. “These areas are obviously technically very challenging, so we’ve had to rely on our R&D department to push beyond the limits of what’s possible with off-the-shelf software.”

Fido effectively came into being in 2000, with the merger of four separate entities: one focused on art direction, one on post work, another on motion graphics, and another on practical effects. “Our practical workshop is another thing that makes us different from most other visual effects houses, as it gives us the ability to create animatronics, prosthetics, and FX make-up for our clients, as well as digital solutions,” says Lindahl.

The studio has just completed 150 CGI creature shots (plus 240 animatronic shots) for Sony’s German-language movie Yoko, and is now working on a Scandinavian-British retelling of the Kon-Tiki voyage.

• Read an interview with VFX studio Important Looking Pirates about its shark shot in Kon-tiki.

Moving ahead, Lindahl says a recent buyout by Forestlight means that some aggressive expansion is now on the cards.

“Fusing with Forestlight means that we can plan for the long term and think bigger than before. We currently have around 40 people, including freelancers. We want that number closer to 100 in the near future.”

Visit www.fido.se to discover what the studio is working on right now.

Great to see this exciting CG film from director Meni Tsirbas, showing two planes narrowly missing each other low in the sky. Check out this CG jet shot created with LightWave…

“It’s 100% CGI and rendered all in-camera in LightWave 3D using some of its more recent rendering technology,” says Aristomenis (Meni) Tsirbas.

Meni served up a similarly striking hoax VFX shot earlier this year with his UFO sighting over Santa Clarita.

At the moment, Meni seems keen to produce content that is realistic, short and shocking, but in the past his colourful animations have pitted Cyborg slugs against Scorpians…

• Read about Menithings production of Exoids, created using Maya, ZBrush, modo, MetalRay and V-Ray, and the help of some talented students…

Meni gives some words of advice for aspiring 3D artists

“The animation industry is quite special in that true talent gets noticed and hired,” says Meni.

“It’s a simple as that. Character animation in particular is a very competitive field. So you have to have an exceptional demo reel. What that takes is a lot of hard work advancing your skills, seeking out honest critique, and being smart about just what ends up on your reel.”

Learn how to craft a winning showreel with advice from the experts

From arch-viz to visual effects, Mark Ramshaw meets the studios that made their mark on the CG industry in the last year. This week, Iloura…

Those outside Australia might be forgiven for thinking that Iloura is a relative newcomer, but its recent run of high-profile projects (including work on Steven Spielberg’s The Pacific mini-series and James Cameron’s Sanctum) is just the latest chapter in a 30-year-long story.

▲ Movie-level visual effects for Spielberg’s acclaimed mini-series The Pacific

“We started life as a traditional post house, and then in the 1990s began investing in visual effects tools,” explains Simon Rosenthal, executive producer at Iloura. “3D animation then became an important part of our work, particularly after acquiring a local animation company.”

Now a subsidiary of film investment and distribution company Omnliab, the studio employs around 150 people across its Melbourne and Sydney offices, with an average of 70 devoted to film, 30 to 40 dealing with advertising, experiential work, and 45 on an episodic TV series. It’s this flexibility that enabled the studio to tackle 500 shots on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

“We hadn’t spent a lot of time developing those types of effects in-house before,” says Rosenthal. “But after meeting the challenges of the project, with the fire and so on, we’re now very strong on effects animation.”

While the movie is likely to push Iloura further into the spotlight, Rosenthal remains cautious. “We’re more interested in good opportunities, ones that challenge the artists without crucifying or tipping them over the edge. Making sure we look after them, retain them and maintain that drive is the biggest challenge we face. Expansion will happen, but we want to make sure we don’t ever lose that personal boutique feel.”

Visit www.iloura.com to discover what the studio is working on right now.