Virtual Production volumes study
/ colour, photography, production

Color Fidelity in LED Volumes
https://theasc.com/articles/color-fidelity-in-led-volumes

 

Virtual Production Glossary
https://vpglossary.com/

 

What is Virtual Production – In depth analysis
https://www.leadingledtech.com/what-is-a-led-virtual-production-studio-in-depth-technical-analysis/

 

A comparison of LED panels for use in Virtual Production:
Findings and recommendations

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/36826/1/LED_Comparison_White_Paper%281%29.pdf

Virtual Production Offers Real Savings For Studios Of All Sizes
/ hardware, production

https://www.forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2022/10/11/virtual-production-offers-real-savings-for-studios-of-all-sizes/?sh=195d56ea4c8d

 

Rob Legato, the award-winning FFX Supervisor whose work you may have seen in movies like Titanic, Avatar and The Jungle Book, is incredibly bullish on virtual production. At the Microsoft Production Summit, presented by NVIDIA NVDA +0.2%& Unreal Engine in Los Angeles, he reported that he recently did a movie with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in twenty-four days, “Cutting down the days cut down the budget, and it’s amazing what a difference that can make. Productions can now do for $25 million what used to cost $100 million.”

 

Practical Aspects of Spectral Data in Digital Content Production and Virtual Production – SIGGRAPH 2022
/ colour, lighting, photography

 

Comparison to the commercial side

 

https://www.ecolorled.com/blog/detail/what-is-rgb-rgbw-rgbic-strip-lights

 

RGBW (RGB + White) LED strip uses a 4-in-1 LED chip made up of red, green, blue, and white.

 

RGBWW (RGB + White + Warm White) LED strip uses either a 5-in-1 LED chip with red, green, blue, white, and warm white for color mixing. The only difference between RGBW and RGBWW is the intensity of the white color. The term RGBCCT consists of RGB and CCT. CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) means that the color temperature of the led strip light can be adjusted to change between warm white and white. Thus, RGBWW strip light is another name of RGBCCT strip.

 

RGBCW is the acronym for Red, Green, Blue, Cold, and Warm. These 5-in-1 chips are used in supper bright smart LED lighting products

Alex McDowell’s mandala for non-linear virtual production
/ production, ves

spring2013animationseminar.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/march-27-alex-mcdowell/

www.rinascimentodigitale.it/transmedia.html

“I think that it’s important now for people coming into the entertainment or pop culture business to know that all bets are off, … We don’t necessarily know that film making as we know it will exist in few years.
​We don’t know that gaming is going to look the way it (now) looks or TV is going to look the way it looks. There is no doubt that there is convergence happening through these various media”


Amazon Nimble Studio – cloud based virtual production studios
/ hardware

Using Amazon Nimble Studio, customers can create a new content production studio in just a few hours. Artists then have immediate access to high-performance workstations powered by Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) G4dn instances with NVIDIA GPUs, shared file storage from Amazon FSx, and low-latency streaming via the AWS global network. Content production studios can onboard remote teams from around the world and provide them access to just the right amount of high-performance infrastructure for only as long as needed – all without having to procure, set up, and manage local workstations, file systems, and low-latency networking.

https://aws.amazon.com/nimble-studio/

Unreal Engine Virtual Production Field Guide
/ photography, production, software, VR

Virtual Production Field Guide

 

v1.2.02 Local copy:

 

 

Intel Studios Debut Volumetric XR Video Demo – virtual cameras production
/ production

Debut footage from Intel Studios new Volumetric Studio set up outside LAX, LA. Its volumetric VR filmmaking – so you could be the camera, anywhere, anytime – not just the POV shown here. Be sure this technology will only get better and better.

LUX vs LUMEN vs NITS vs CANDELA – What is the difference
/ lighting, photography, reference

More details here: Lumens vs Candelas (candle) vs Lux vs FootCandle vs Watts vs Irradiance vs Illuminance

 

 

 

https://www.inhouseav.com.au/blog/beginners-guide-nits-lumens-brightness/

 

 

Candela

 

Candela is the basic unit of measure of the entire volume of light intensity from any point in a single direction from a light source. Note the detail: it measures the total volume of light within a certain beam angle and direction.
While the luminance of starlight is around 0.001 cd/m2, that of a sunlit scene is around 100,000 cd/m2, which is a hundred millions times higher. The luminance of the sun itself is approximately 1,000,000,000 cd/m2.

 

NIT

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela_per_square_metre

 

The candela per square metre (symbol: cd/m2) is the unit of luminance in the International System of Units (SI). The unit is based on the candela, the SI unit of luminous intensity, and the square metre, the SI unit of area. The nit (symbol: nt) is a non-SI name also used for this unit (1 nt = 1 cd/m2).[1] The term nit is believed to come from the Latin word nitēre, “to shine”. As a measure of light emitted per unit area, this unit is frequently used to specify the brightness of a display device.

NIT and cd/m2 (candela power) represent the same thing and can be used interchangeably. One nit is equivalent to one candela per square meter, where the candela is the amount of light which has been emitted by a common tallow candle, but NIT is not part of the International System of Units (abbreviated SI, from Systeme International, in French).

It’s easiest to think of a TV as emitting light directly, in much the same way as the Sun does. Nits are simply the measurement of the level of light (luminance) in a given area which the emitting source sends to your eyes or a camera sensor.

The Nit can be considered a unit of visible-light intensity which is often used to specify the brightness level of an LCD.

1 Nit is approximately equal to 3.426 Lumens. To work out a comparable number of Nits to Lumens, you need to multiply the number of Nits by 3.426. If you know the number of Lumens, and wish to know the Nits, simply divide the number of Lumens by 3.426.

Most consumer desktop LCDs have Nits of 200 to 300, the average TV most likely has an output capability of between 100 and 200 Nits, and an HDR TV ranges from 400 to 1,500 Nits.
Virtual Production sets currently sport around 6000 NIT ceiling and 1000 NIT wall panels.

 

The ambient brightness of a sunny day with clear blue skies is between 7000-10,000 nits (between 3000-7000 nits for overcast skies and indirect sunlight).
A bright sunny day can have specular highlights that reach over 100,000 nits. Direct sunlight is around 1,600,000,000 nits.
10,000 nits is also the typical brightness of a fluorescent tube – bright, but not painful to look at.

 

 

https://www.displaydaily.com/article/display-daily/dolby-vision-vs-hdr10-clarified

Tests showed that a “black level” of 0.005 nits (cd/m²) satisfied the vast majority of viewers. While 0.005 nits is very close to true black, Griffis says Dolby can go down to a black of 0.0001 nits, even though there is no need or ability for displays to get that dark today.
How bright is white? Dolby says the range of 0.005 nits – 10,000 nits satisfied 84% of the viewers in their viewing tests.
The brightest consumer HDR displays today are about 1,500 nits. Professional displays where HDR content is color-graded can achieve up to 4,000 nits peak brightness.

High brightness that would be in danger of damaging the eye would be in the neighborhood of 250,000 nits.

 

Lumens

 

Lumen is a measure of how much light is emitted (luminance, luminous flux) by an object. It indicates the total potential amount of light from a light source that is visible to the human eye.
Lumen is commonly used in the context of light bulbs or video-projectors as a metric for their brightness power.

Lumen is used to describe light output, and about video projectors, it is commonly referred to as ANSI Lumens. Simply put, lumens is how to find out how bright a LED display is. The higher the lumens, the brighter to display!

Technically speaking, a Lumen is the SI unit of luminous flux, which is equal to the amount of light which is emitted per second in a unit solid angle of one steradian from a uniform source of one-candela intensity radiating in all directions.

 

LUX

 

Lux (lx) or often Illuminance, is a photometric unit along a given area, which takes in account the sensitivity of human eye to different wavelenghts. It is the measure of light at a specific distance within a specific area at that distance. Often used to measure the incidental sun’s intensity.

 

AnimationXpress.com interviews Daniele Tosti for TheCgCareer.com channel
/ Featured, ves

https://www.animationxpress.com/vfx/meet-daniele-tosti-a-senior-cg-artist-who-is-on-a-mission-to-inspire-the-next-generation-of-artists/

 

You’ve been in the VFX Industry for over a decade. Tell us about your journey.

It all started with my older brother giving me a Commodore64 personal computer as a gift back in the late 80′. I realised then I could create something directly from my imagination using this new digital media format. And, eventually, make a living in the process.
That led me to start my professional career in 1990. From live TV to games to animation. All the way to live action VFX in the recent years.

I really never stopped to crave to create art since those early days. And I have been incredibly fortunate to work with really great talent along the way, which made my journey so much more effective.

 

What inspired you to pursue VFX as a career?

An incredible combination of opportunities, really. The opportunity to express myself as an artist and earn money in the process. The opportunity to learn about how the world around us works and how best solve problems. The opportunity to share my time with other talented people with similar passions. The opportunity to grow and adapt to new challenges. The opportunity to develop something that was never done before. A perfect storm of creativity that fed my continuous curiosity about life and genuinely drove my inspiration.

 

Tell us about the projects you’ve particularly enjoyed working on in your career

I quite enjoyed working on live TV projects, as the combination of tight deadlines and high quality was quite an incredible learning platform as a professional artist. But working on large, high end live action feature projects was really where I learnt most of my trade. And gave me the most satisfaction.

Every film I worked on had some memorable experiences. Right from Avatar to Iron Man 3 to Jungle Book to The Planet of the Apes to The Hobbits to name a few.

But above all, the technical challenges and the high quality we reached in each and every of the projects that I worked on, the best memories come from working with amazing and skilled artists, from a variety of disciplines. As those were my true mentors and became my best friends.

Post Production, Animation, VFX, Motion Graphics, Video Editing …

 

What are some technologies and trends that you think are emerging in the VFX Industry?

In the last few years there has definitely been a bias from some major studios to make VFX a commodity. In the more negative sense of the word. When any product reaches a level of quality that attracts a mass of consumers and reaches a plateau of opportunities, large corporation tend to respond with maximising its sale values by leveraging marketing schemes and deliverable more than the core values of the product itself. This is often a commoditisation approach that tends to empower agents who are not necessarily knowledgeable of a product’s cycles, and in that process, lowering the quality of the product itself for the sake of profits. It is a pretty common event in modern society and it applies to any brand name, not just VFX.

One challenge with VFX’s technology and artistry is that it relies on the effectiveness of artists and visionaries for the most. And limiting the authority, ownerships and perspective of such a crowd has definitely directly impacted the overall quality of the last decade of productions, both technically and artistically. There are very few and apart creative forces who have been able to deliver project that one could identify as a truly creative breakthrough. While the majority of productions seem to have suffered from some of these commoditisation patterns.

The other bigger challenge with this current trend is that VFX, due to various, historical business arrangements, is often relying on unbalanced resources as well as very small and feeble economic cycles and margins. Which make the entire industry extremely susceptible to marketing failures and to unstable leadership. As a few recent bankruptcies have demonstrated.

It is taking some reasonable time for the VFX crowd to acknowledge these trends and learn to be profitable, as the majority has never been educated on fair business practices.

But. Thankfully, the VFX circle is also a crowd of extremely adaptable and talented individuals, who are quite capable at resolving issues, finding alternatives and leveraging their passion. Which I believe is one of the drives behind the current evolution in the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, virtual production, real time rendering, and so on.

There is still a long path ahead of us but I hope we are all learning ways to make our passion speaks in profitable ways for everyone.

It is also highly likely that, in a near future, larger software and hardware corporation, thanks to their more profitable business practices, large development teams and better understanding of marketing, will eventually take over a lot of the cycles that the current production houses currently run. And in that process allow creative studios to focus back on VFX artistry.

 

What effect has the pandemics-induced lockdown had on the industry?

It is still early to say. I fear that if live action production does not start soon, we may see some of the economic challenges I mention above. At both studio and artists’ scale. There is definitely a push from production houses to make large distribution clients understand the fragility of the moment, especially in relation to payment cycles and economic support. Thus, there is still a fair risk that the few studios which adopted a more commoditised view to production will make their artists pay some price for their choices.

But, any challenge brings opportunities. For example, there is finally some recognition into a momentum to rely on work-from-home as a feasible solution to a lot of the current office production’s limitations and general artistry restrictions. Which, while there is no win-win in this pandemic, could be a silver lining.

 

What would you say to the budding artists who wish to become CG artists or VFX professionals?

Follow your passion but treat this career as any other business.
Learn to be adaptable. Find a true balance between professional and family life. Carefully plan your future. And watch our channel to learn more about all these.

Being a VFX artist is fundamentally based on mistrust.
This because schedules, pipelines, technology, creative calls… all have a native and naive instability to them that causes everyone to grow a genuine but beneficial lack of trust in the status quoThe VFX motto: “Love everyone but trust no one” is born on that.

 

What inspired you to create a channel for aspiring artists?

As many fellow and respected artists, I love this industry, but I had to understand a lot of business practices at my own expenses.
You can learn tools, cycles and software from books and schools. But production life tends to drive its own rhythms and there are fewer opportunities to absorb those.

Along my career I had some challenges finding professional willing to share their time to invest into me. But I was still extremely fortunate to find other mentors who helped me to be economically and professionally successful in this business. I owe a lot to these people. I promised myself I would exchange that favour by helping other artists, myself.

 

What can students expect to learn from your channel?

I am excited to have the opportunity to fill some of the voids that the current education systems and industry may have. This by helping new artists with true life stories by some of the most accomplished and successful talents I met during my career. We will talk about technology trends as much as our life experiences as artists. Discussing career advises. Trying to look into the future of the industry. And suggesting professional tips. The aim through this mentor-ship is to inspire new generations to focus on what is more important for the VFX industry. Take responsibilities for their art and passions as much as their families.

And, in the process, to feel empowered to materialise from their imagination more and more of those creative, awe inspiring moments that this art form has gifted us with so far.

 

http://TheCGCareer.com

 

Advanced Computer Vision with Python OpenCV and Mediapipe
/ Featured, production, python, software

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/advanced-computer-vision-with-python/

 

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-opencv-and-python-for-computer-vision-and-ai/

 

 

Working for a VFX (Visual Effects) studio provides numerous opportunities to leverage the power of Python and OpenCV for various tasks. OpenCV is a versatile computer vision library that can be applied to many aspects of the VFX pipeline. Here’s a detailed list of opportunities to take advantage of Python and OpenCV in a VFX studio:

 

  1. Image and Video Processing:
    • Preprocessing: Python and OpenCV can be used for tasks like resizing, color correction, noise reduction, and frame interpolation to prepare images and videos for further processing.
    • Format Conversion: Convert between different image and video formats using OpenCV’s capabilities.
  2. Tracking and Matchmoving:
    • Feature Detection and Tracking: Utilize OpenCV to detect and track features in image sequences, which is essential for matchmoving tasks to integrate computer-generated elements into live-action footage.
  3. Rotoscoping and Masking:
    • Segmentation and Masking: Use OpenCV for creating and manipulating masks and alpha channels for various VFX tasks, like isolating objects or characters from their backgrounds.
  4. Camera Calibration:
    • Intrinsic and Extrinsic Calibration: Python and OpenCV can help calibrate cameras for accurate 3D scene reconstruction and camera tracking.
  5. 3D Scene Reconstruction:
    • Stereoscopy: Use OpenCV to process stereoscopic image pairs for creating 3D depth maps and generating realistic 3D scenes.
    • Structure from Motion (SfM): Implement SfM techniques to create 3D models from 2D image sequences.
  6. Green Screen and Blue Screen Keying:
    • Chroma Keying: Implement advanced keying algorithms using OpenCV to seamlessly integrate actors and objects into virtual environments.
  7. Particle and Fluid Simulations:
    • Particle Tracking: Utilize OpenCV to track and manipulate particles in fluid simulations for more realistic visual effects.
  8. Motion Analysis:
    • Optical Flow: Implement optical flow algorithms to analyze motion patterns in footage, useful for creating dynamic VFX elements that follow the motion of objects.
  9. Virtual Set Extension:
    • Camera Projection: Use camera calibration techniques to project virtual environments onto physical sets, extending the visual scope of a scene.
  10. Color Grading:
    • Color Correction: Implement custom color grading algorithms to match the color tones and moods of different shots.
  11. Automated QC (Quality Control):
    • Artifact Detection: Develop Python scripts to automatically detect and flag visual artifacts like noise, flicker, or compression artifacts in rendered frames.
  12. Data Analysis and Visualization:
    • Performance Metrics: Use Python to analyze rendering times and optimize the rendering process.
    • Data Visualization: Generate graphs and charts to visualize render farm usage, project progress, and resource allocation.
  13. Automating Repetitive Tasks:
    • Batch Processing: Automate repetitive tasks like resizing images, applying filters, or converting file formats across multiple shots.
  14. Machine Learning Integration:
    • Object Detection: Integrate machine learning models (using frameworks like TensorFlow or PyTorch) to detect and track specific objects or elements within scenes.
  15. Pipeline Integration:
    • Custom Tools: Develop Python scripts and tools to integrate OpenCV-based processes seamlessly into the studio’s pipeline.
  16. Real-time Visualization:
    • Live Previsualization: Implement real-time OpenCV-based visualizations to aid decision-making during the preproduction stage.
  17. VR and AR Integration:
    • Augmented Reality: Use Python and OpenCV to integrate virtual elements into real-world footage, creating compelling AR experiences.
  18. Camera Effects:
    • Lens Distortion: Correct lens distortions and apply various camera effects using OpenCV, contributing to the desired visual style.

 

Interpolating frames from an EXR sequence using OpenCV can be useful when you have only every second frame of a final render and you want to create smoother motion by generating intermediate frames. However, keep in mind that interpolating frames might not always yield perfect results, especially if there are complex changes between frames. Here’s a basic example of how you might use OpenCV to achieve this:

 

import cv2
import numpy as np
import os

# Replace with the path to your EXR frames
exr_folder = "path_to_exr_frames"

# Replace with the appropriate frame extension and naming convention
frame_template = "frame_{:04d}.exr"

# Define the range of frame numbers you have
start_frame = 1
end_frame = 100
step = 2

# Define the output folder for interpolated frames
output_folder = "output_interpolated_frames"
os.makedirs(output_folder, exist_ok=True)

# Loop through the frame range and interpolate
for frame_num in range(start_frame, end_frame + 1, step):
    frame_path = os.path.join(exr_folder, frame_template.format(frame_num))
    next_frame_path = os.path.join(exr_folder, frame_template.format(frame_num + step))

    if os.path.exists(frame_path) and os.path.exists(next_frame_path):
        frame = cv2.imread(frame_path, cv2.IMREAD_ANYDEPTH | cv2.IMREAD_COLOR)
        next_frame = cv2.imread(next_frame_path, cv2.IMREAD_ANYDEPTH | cv2.IMREAD_COLOR)

        # Interpolate frames using simple averaging
        interpolated_frame = (frame + next_frame) / 2

        # Save interpolated frame
        output_path = os.path.join(output_folder, frame_template.format(frame_num))
        cv2.imwrite(output_path, interpolated_frame)

        print(f"Interpolated frame {frame_num}") # alternatively: print("Interpolated frame {}".format(frame_num))



 

Please note the following points:

 

  • The above example uses simple averaging to interpolate frames. More advanced interpolation methods might provide better results, such as motion-based algorithms like optical flow-based interpolation.
  • EXR files can store high dynamic range (HDR) data, so make sure to use cv2.IMREAD_ANYDEPTH flag when reading these files.
  • OpenCV might not support EXR format directly. You might need to use a library like exr to read and manipulate EXR files, and then convert them to OpenCV-compatible formats.
  • Consider the characteristics of your specific render when using interpolation. If there are large changes between frames, the interpolation might lead to artifacts.
  • Experiment with different interpolation methods and parameters to achieve the desired result.
  • For a more advanced and accurate interpolation, you might need to implement or use existing algorithms that take into account motion estimation and compensation.

 

Daniele Tosti Interview for the magazine InCG, Taiwan, Issue 28, 201609
/ Featured, ves

Interview for the magazine InCG, Taiwan, Issue 28, 201609

————————————————————-
– First of all can you introduce yourself to our audience, who you are, how you join this part of industry? Can you talk about your past experience as VFX artist?

My career started on a late Christmas night in the middle of the 1980s. I remember waking up to the soundtrack of Ghostbusters playing off from a new Commodore 64 console. My older brother, Claudio, left the console in my room, as a gift. And I was hooked.

Since that moment I spent any free time available to play with computer technology and in particular computer graphic. Eventually this evolved into a passion that pushed me to learn the basic techniques and the art of all related to computer graphic. In a time when computer graphic at consumer level was still in its infancy.

My place would be filled with any computer graphic magazine I could put my hands on. As well as the first few books. A collection that at some point grew to around 300 books. From the making-of movie books. To reference books. To animation books. And so on. My first girlfriends were not too thrilled about sharing the space in that room.

This passion, as well as the initial few side jobs creating small animated videos and logos for local companies, eventually gave me enough confidence in my abilities and led me into my first professional job. As a computer graphic technician, driving lead and credit titles for one of the first few private national TV stations in Italy. Not necessarily a striking but a well paid job.

The fact that I could make money through what I loved the most was an eye opener in my young life. It gave me fuel to invest even more of my time in the art and it did set the fundamentals for a very long career than has spanned over 20 years, across TV productions, commercials, video games and more recently feature movies.

————————————————————-

– Can you introduce us about your current company?

After leaving Italy I started working for some of the most recognized Studios around the world, and eventually for facilities such as Disney Features, Sony Imageworks, Moving Picture Company. During that period I had the fortune to serve along world level talents and supervisors, who helped me refine both my technical and artistic skills. This while also investing my time into learning about management and training cycles.

I started sharing some of this personal knowledge and production experience throughout the world with ReelMatters Ltd.

But eventually those extra skills allowed me to reach my dream in 2008, when I joined the team at Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand, to help on James Cameron’s Avatar.

Weta has since been my family and the source of my pride. The level of expertise, passion and vision among the crew at Weta is inspirational and clearly visible in any project we work on. We all tend to thrive on perfection here and continuously pushing quality well beyond standards. One of the reasons why Weta is still at the forefront of the VFX industry nowadays.

————————————————————-

– What sort of movie had you participated before? Out of all movies what was the most challenging that you had encountered?

Due to my early, self thought, home training, it became easier for me to be involved with CG animation productions first. On that front, my best memories are working on Sony Imageworks’ “Surf’s Up” as well as on Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s “The Adventure Of Tintin”. Movies which both raised the bar for CG environments and character animation.

Most recently I have seen myself more involved with live action features, such as: “Avatar”, “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” and “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes”, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: The Battle Of Armies”, “Iron Man Three”. All the way to Jon Favreau’s Walt Disney production: “The Jungle Book”.

Each production has its own level of complexity and it is hard to make comparisons. Having some basic training has been fundamental for me to be able to see these features to delivery, while being flexible enough in sorting out those unique daily trials.

Feature production overall is an unique challenge itself. You do need a solid understanding of both technology and human nature to be able to find solutions which are applicable to a constantly moving target, across the life of a project. Often under a commercially driven, delivery pressure. And while working along a multitude of different unique talents.

It is quite a life changing experience, worth the pages of a best selling book. Where each chapter has its own plot.

————————————————————-

– How do you co-operate with other special effect artist in order to create realistic effect?

While there is an incredible amount of high class talent in the feature production business, no production is ever done by just an individual. It’s always the product of a constant collaboration that flows from the brain of visionary directors to the hands of skillful visual artist, and back.

Providing the perfect backdrop for this collaboration is what usually makes some productions more successful than others.

In that context. Creativity is the true fusion of the best ideas shared by this pool of minds, independently from which level of production you are at.

Management’s job is to feed and support this fusion, not to drive it.

And the working environment is one that allows trust and respect between all parties, while avoiding mechanical routines.

In other words. No piece of hardware or software will make a visually pleasant picture by itself unless someone infuses it with a soul. As George Sand once said “ The artist vocation is to send light into the human heart.”.

And to paraphrase Arthur C. Clark, I believe that a true collaboration between visionaries and artists is what makes “any sufficiently advanced (CG) technology indistinguishable from magic”.

————————————————————-

– What does it mean to you to create a good quality effect?

Any good CG effect that you would call as such is an effect that live for its purpose. Which most of the time is to support the action or the plot at hand.

In a live action feature, I tend to be in awe when the effect is helping experiencing that perfect Suspension Of Disbelief. Which is, the willingness to suspend logic and criticism for the sake of enjoying the unbelievable.

As soon as any effect breaks from its purpose or it is not up to the task at hand, your brain will tend to over analyze the visuals and, as such, take you away from the overall experience.

It is interesting to see that movies such as Jurassic Park are still holding their ground nowadays. Where more modern vfx productions tend to look dated very quickly. From that point of view, it appears to me that a quite a common mistake today is to overcompensate visuals with camera work, digital grading and computer generated work for the sake of the effect, more than to serve the story and the truth of the moment.

————————————————————-

– If it is possible for you to share tips about creating good quality effect?

1- The generalist at heart.

One question that I get quite often during my seminars is what should new vfx artists focus on. Is it specializing on a tool? Or learning a discipline? Or mastering a specific skill?

It is a fact that higher level Studios tend to hire people with well defined talents that fit in specific operational labels. In this way it is easier for them to fulfill recruitment numbers and satisfy production’s immediate needs.

What happens after wards, when you start working as a VFX artist, is not always as well defined. The flexible nature of feature production cycles and delivery deadlines is often a catalyst for a multitude of variations in an artist’s work life. Especially on the post-production side of a digital pipeline. For that reason, I notice that people with more generic skills, with an ability to adapt to new processes and a genuinely open nature tend to fit in better and last longer throughout various projects.

The exception here being artists with dedicated PHDs and/or masters of a very specific domain, which makes them highly specialized in the VFX crowd and able to have a niche of their own.

Looking at the software or hardware side of things, technology is still progressing on a daily basis. And will continue doing so. To this extent, many facilities rely on proprietary technology. Thus specializing on a single tool, without learning the CG art’s basics, is also a dangerous game to play. You may end up being obsolete along the program you have learned. Or, in the best case, having a very limited number of facilities you can apply to.

What I suggest as a general rule to young VFX artists is to focus their energies in learning all that constitutes the basis of a successful career in computer graphic, along with improving their natural talent. So. From understanding modeling. To lighting and color. From rigging to animation. From procedural cycles to FX mechanism.

Doing so, building the knowledge necessary not only to satisfy a possible recruitment position, but also to be able to interact with people with different talents in a large facility. And as such, have enough confidence to quickly help and fit it in the bigger picture, which often forms these complex production pipelines.

On that note, competition for very few spots in a large studio is also a challenge when combined with trying to win the attention of a busy HR office or of a busy VFX Supervisor.

When applying for a VFX position, it is quite beneficial to have a very clear introduction letter, which simply states in one line the discipline you are applying for. That being for example: modeling, animation, texturing, shading, … But never indicating more than one discipline at the time. Then in the body of the introduction letter describe that, if need arises, you could also help covering other positions which fit along your skills.

Finally, supporting your application with a very short demo reel (one minute top, possibly less) that shows and clearly labels your very best work in the main discipline you are applying for and clarifies your side skills, wherever those are applicable. To this extent, if you are interested in multiple disciplines, it is highly recommended to prepare multiple introduction letters and related demo reels to satisfy each separate application.

2-What constitute the best production pipeline.

There is always a lot of pride in winning accolades in the VFX industry. And deservedly so. The amount of energy, investments, time and talent required to achieve such a task is, to say the least, overwhelming. Very few Studios and individuals have the sensibility,
experience and organization to pull that feat.

In support of these cycles, there is also a lot of new technology and specialized tools which continuously push the boundaries of what is achievable in computer graphic on a daily basis. To the point that I am confident the majority of senior VFX people in the industry would agree that we are still at the beginning of this exploration, in many ways.

Where a painter is looking for an intimate inspiration to fill in his lonely blank canvas, with a brush and a small collection of colors at his disposal. CG is often the product of a perfect balance between a crowd of ambitions, thousands of frames, a multitude of digital gadgets and a variety of complex mediums.

The combination of new visions and new science is also what makes organizing these complex VFX tasks an expensive challenge in itself, worth the efforts of the most influential CTOs and producers around the world.

A challenge well described in a white-paper about The Status Of Visual Effects written by Renee Dunlop, Paul Malcolm, Eric Roth for the Visual Effects Society in July 2008.
Between the pages, the writers detail a few of the biggest obstacles currently affecting production:
– The difficulty to determine who is in charge of certain creative decisions.
– Directors and Producers’ mixed approach to pre and post visualization.
– The lack of consistency and resources between pre, mid and post production.
– A lack of consistency throughout pipelines, mainly due to the impact of new technologies.

Most of the time, this translates into a very costly, “brute-force” solution workflow. Which, in its own, destabilize any reasonable software production schemes that Studios are willing to invest into.
While a collection of good stable software it’s a fair base for any visual effects venture, I firmly believe that to defy these challenges the core of any VFX pipeline should be a software agnostic one.

All CG elements should be able to be translated effortlessly across tools, independently from their original disciplines’ unique requirements.
And, more than the compartmentalized organization used in other markets, the key structure of this pipeline should focus on the flow of data and the quality of the inventory.
The rest is important, but not essential.

By achieving such a system, the work environment would prove to:
. Be flexible enough to maintain integrity across platforms and departments.
. Allow modifications to the software infrastructure without affecting deliverables.
. Accept various in house and external content.
. And deliver quality without jeopardizing speed.

Overall and independently from the approach, the support of flow of data and of inventory quality is for me a critical element that would help any production survive under the majority of modern, commercial delivery stress requirements.
This framework would help maintaining productivity stable even with continuous changes in a feature’s vision and objectives.

Finally, it would help training the modern VFX artist not to rely on those unique tools or solutions which are software centric and bound to expiry when new technology arises. Thus keeping skills and talent always applicable to the task at hand, to the long lasting benefit of the production studio.

To support such a mechanism, facilities should consider researching and investing into :
. A stable, software independent, browser based, asset and shot manager.
. A solid look development structure.
. A software independent, script based, rendering management solution.

And an asset living in this environment should sport basic qualities such as:
. being version-able
. being hash-able
. being track-able
. being verbose
. being software and hierarchic relation agnostic
. being self-contained
. supporting expandable qualities
. supporting temporally and shading stable procedural decimation

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– Can you give a word of inspiration to those who wish to participate as VFX artist

If anyone is willing to notice it or not, the vast majority of top grossing movies coming out every year are now filled with special effects created by a new wave of craftsmen who share their talent all around the world.

We are living in a period where the new DaVincis, Botticellis and Galileos live their life, comfortably seating in front of a computer. Creating a new art form which converts ones and zeros into a visually pleasing virtual reality. All this while offering their artistry away from language, race and belief barriers.

The knowledge required to achieve such a task is still a mix of an incredible amount of disciplines.

From biology and zoology, to physics and mathematics. From sculpting to painting. From astronomy to molecular chemistry.

It is an incredible opportunity to have a working career, learning about all aspects of life, while creating a new Suspension Of Disbelief

VISUAL EFFECTS INDUSTRY Bill of Rights
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http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/visual-effects-industry-bill-of-rights

The Situation Today The global visual effects industry is in transition. Because visual effects now play a central role in today’s feature films, television programming, animation, video games, commercials and virtually all forms of entertainment, they have become critically important to the entertainment industry.

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