Effects Corner

VES feedback

2012-01-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

VES Visual Effects Handbook feedback We are having meetings and starting to work on the revised VES handbook. Most of the feedback we have received has been very general. If you want to see additional information, improvements, changes, etc to the handbook please post here or email to the VES. Is it working for you? Is there anything lacking? How is the Kindle or other eBook version for you? Get

Acting and Animation

2012-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Acting and Animation There has been debate and discussion lately regarding if motion capture is pure acting. Here are a couple of latest links to check out: James Franco requests recognition for Andy Serkis work on RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Here's the URL if it doesn't work: http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/oscar-exclusive-james-franco-on-why-andy-serkis-deserves-credit-from-actors/ Then,

VES and VFX trade organization

2011-12-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

There's a LinkedIn discussion going on regarding Vfx trade organizations and the Vfx foundation. LinkedIn discussion This also includes some potshots at the VES. I wrote up a response but thought it best to post here as a reference. I'm on the board of the VES but I don't speak for the Ves so these are simply my personal views. Bob and Colin have brought up some points but I'd like to

Dream Quest

2011-11-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

Below are a few videos with visual effects by Dream Quest, a visual effects company I co-founded in late 1979. These are from the first 5 years. The company was later sold to Disney and changed it's name to the Secret Lab, which Disney then closed. All effects were done using 35mm film and opticals since digital effects were yet to be possible. Great examples of cheesy car spots from the 80's.

Visual Effects Union - IA efforts one year later

2011-11-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

I know most of you would rather just focus on the technical issues of visual effects and many of you have an aversion to even thinking about unions after being bombarded by myths and inaccurate information. I urge you to spend some time to get informed before the opportunity passes you by. There are a number of problems with the visual effects industry currently. Unions and Trade Organizations

People, not computers, create visual effects

2011-10-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

There's an impression that is perpetuated in the media that visual effects are created entirely by computers. The human artists are left out of this narrative. The term CGI is now being used interchangeably with visual effects. The feeling among the layperson is visual effects must be easy because it's being done using computers. These days’ writers use computers to write both novels and scripts.

Rotoscoping - The Basics

2011-10-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

Mike Seymour @ fxguide has written up a great article on Rotoscoping. It covers the history, the process and the list of the various roto tools available. I'm glad he spoke to Tom Bertino and Jack Mongovan. Both of them worked in the ILM roto department and there have been countless unsung heros there that did and do fantastic work. Dragonheart is an example of an all roto show. Quite a bit of

VES Board of Directors

2011-10-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

If you are a Visual Effects Society (VES) member you should have already received email regarding the Board of Director's nomination forms. If not, make sure the VES has your current email or check your spam filters. They are due back this Friday. Feel free to nominate yourself or someone you would think would do a good job (with their approval of course). Usually it involves being in LA once

VES Visual Effects Bill of Rights – Now what?

2011-09-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

VES Visual Effects Bill of Rights – Now what? By now most of you have heard and hopefully read the VES Bill of Rights. If not check it out here. This first step was to try to define where we want to go in terms of working experience for visual effects workers worldwide. The next step is to try to implement what we can and to encourage steps to make it possible. The details are still being

Letter to Animation Guild

2011-08-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

The Animation Guild received an email for someone in the VFX industry who documents some of the issues faced by typical vfx workers. This is somewhat of an extreme but there's certainly a basis of truth. If any of this sounds familiar then I urge you to make your voice heard. Don't expect someone else to come and fix the problem. Don't expect the company you work for to fix the problems and

VFX Wages Discussion

2011-08-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

This post is in response to a comment on a previous post. See this post and follow the comments there for the full original comment. (Toward the end from Anonymous) Unfortunately once I wrote this response it was bigger than a comment could be so I've done it as a post. Here's part of that comment (focused for this post) but request you read it all to see it in context: "Here is my thought on

VES 2.0 feedback requested

2011-08-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

The VES 2.0 group (Visual Effects Society) continues to meet and explore options for the vfx industry. I'd like to once again ask all vfx artists and companies to submit their thoughts, ideas, solutions and concerns to the VES Leadership group. Email VES Leadership group You don't have to be a member to submit. You can also post in the comments here or email me directly. ** If you're in the

2D to 3D Conversions

2011-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

2D to 3D conversions 2D to 3D conversion is the process of converted a film from 2D (normal film) to a 3D (or stereo) film for viewing with a stereographic viewing system. (polarized glasses, shuttered glasses, special screen, etc) Conversion had gained a bad name after Clash of the Titans and a few other films that had been rushed through at the last minute. Just as you can’t do a 2000 shot

VES Handbook now in eBook formats

2011-07-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

The VES Handbook is finally out in Kindle format from Amazon. It came out last fall but had issues with the Table of Contents among other things. Currently $37.22 on US amazon store. Paperback is $41.35 It also is out for the Nook format as well at Barnes and Noble. Currently $64.95 on US Barnes and Noble. There's hope for an iBook format version as well but unknown when that will happen. (I

The Artistry of VFX

2011-07-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

The Artistry of VFX It’s sometimes difficult to get directors and studios to look at vfx as an artistic process and those involved as creative. To some we’re looked at as technical nerds (with the full stereotypes) to simply fill in the blanks of the scene - place 2 spaceships there, a creature in the foreground and a castle in the background, just like it is in the storyboards or previs. Stat!

Working directly for the studios

2011-06-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

Working directly for the studios Joe Harkin, Dave Rand and David Stripinis have all expressed a potential solution to some of the problems in today’s vfx industry by having vfx artists working directly for the studios on projects. David Stripinis excellent article goes into more details. I covered some of this in my VFX Business Models post. The idealized version goes like this: If vfx

Using the nail

2011-06-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Using the nail The last post I covered some of problems facing visual effects workers. Today I’ll cover some of the potential outside groups that may be able to help the VFX industry. (* I’m not a lawyer so legal comments are based on my understanding and as always could be wrong) As an individual you have to make decisions about your employment and situation. You have to be able to control

Pass me a nail

2011-06-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

Pass me a nail Every time someone even hears the word union and visual effects in the same sentence they always say "it will be the nail in the coffin for all visual effects in this the country” Exactly what pamphlet or web page is this being copied from? Look, if we all wish to solve the current situation we’re all going to have to be open minded and drop the unrelated and incorrect

VFX Business Models

2011-05-09T23:27:00.000-07:00

VFX Business Models The VFX business has always been difficult. The amount of work has fluctuated causing feast or famine for those working in it. In the last decade or two the amount of work has increased but the amount of competition has expanded even more. There are all types of incentives for work to be done in a specific state or country, which make the competition even more lopsided.

VFX Union Chat

2011-04-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

On April 21, 2011 I was invited as a guest on Variety's tech live chat. David S. Cohen, from Variety, was the moderator. Also on the chat were Lee Stranahan, Joe Harkin and Dave Rand. I'd like to thank David and Variety for putting this on and I would like to thank the other panelists: Lee, Joe and Dave. The topic was vfx unionization and the chat was lively with selected comments being added

Overtime and misc

2011-04-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

A few recent reports: From @neonmarg Study: “working more than 11 hours a day increased the risk of heart disease by 67 percent” http://bit.ly/fxl36H Working overtime hurts health ABC news Full ABC article Here's an article that argues for business to take advantage of overtime since it can save them money in some situations. The capper though is this: "Experts agree that over an extended

Global VFX Workers - next step

2011-03-31T21:32:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I posted about a possible global VFX worker guideline or seal of approval. Please read it if you haven't already. I received some good responses directly from people. So if we had a chance to take this to the next step, what is on your working conditions wish list? Required turn around time? Safer worker environments? Paid overtime? What are your top issues? I know most people

VFX Deal Memo

2011-03-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

When starting a project you should see about getting a document detailing your work agreement. This is sometimes called a deal memo. Sometimes it’s a full contract. This is so you and the visual effects company have the same understanding and neither assumes something else. It’s better to find out before you get your first paycheck. These are the items that should be discussed in any final

VFX Interactions

2011-03-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Interactions Most visual effects are designed to integrate with live action images. Whether you're creating a cg creature, cg background, physical model addition or even 2 live action elements, the intent is to match these elements together so they look as if they were photographed together. That means matching lighting, camera angles, color and other aspects. But visual effects are more than

Canada's IATSE local 891 VFX survey

2011-03-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

Canada's IATSE local 891 VFX union has done a survey of VFX artists that's worth checking out.

VES handbook thoughts?

2011-03-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Now that the VES visual effects handbook has been out several months it would be great to get some specific feedback. Sometime in the next 2-3 years it will likely be updated slightly. Keep in mind the idea of the handbook was to cover the full range of visual effects from pre-production to post-production. Most people working in vfx are primarily focused in post-production but we felt it was

Unions, VFX working hours and environments

2011-03-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

If you have a safe working environment today then you likely have a union to thank for it. 100 Years ago was the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. This info graphic shows some of the safety improvements after the International Ladies Garment Workers Union pushed for improvements. Now I know many people are wondering how this relates to VFX. The first point being that many companies

Union update

2011-03-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today the union had an info meeting in Burbank and Vancouver. If you have not attended an IATSE Union info meeting yet I would strongly suggest you contact the point person directly to get the details. Jimmy Goodman can be contacted at jgoodman@iatse-intl.com Just drop him an email to get your questions answered directly. How does this work, what are the advantages, will this drive away

Global VFX Workers

2011-03-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

Paddy Eason from the U.K asked in a previous posting about the possibility of a global union for vfx workers. The following are some notes I wrote this last weekend. Some this refers back to a previous posting I had made. I’m just tossing out some possible ideas to get people thinking about options. Unfortunately various government laws and varying health care options make having a

What makes a good visual effects artist?

2011-03-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

First off of course are all the standard things that any good worker would be doing (being on time for work, etc) The following are some characteristics that are useful for the visual effects artist. Many of these overlap and at times some may seem to be at odds with one another. The type of project, the company you work for and your supervisor/producer will tend to determine the correct

IATSE VFX has public meeting March 13 in Burbank

2011-03-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

IATSE is holding another Public VFX Meeting to try to answer questions about a potential visual effects union. "we will be holding another picnic on Sunday March 13 at 1:00 pm at Johnny Carson Park in Burbank. The park is located on Bob Hope Drive; equidistant between Alameda and Riverside Drive; just to the east of NBC." Details on the VFX Meeting

How do these things tie together?

2011-02-28T22:23:00.000-08:00

Early last week I posted about what was going on in Wisconsin and how that tied into Unions, the Middle Class and Visual Effects. A couple of posters took issue with my posting so let’s review a few things. I started this blog and podcast to cover visual effects issues that weren’t covered elsewhere. I wanted to provide the full spectrum of vfx knowledge based on my experience. I had no

Unions, the Middle class and visual effects

2011-02-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

For those of you who may not be aware the American Middle Class is under attack by the rich and the powerful. The corporations are pushing ahead in the name of greed. For those of you who don't understand unions or what the have done for you already... Wisconsin Power Play Like Weekends? Thank Wisconsin Added link: Union busting sponsored by Billionaire Brothers The greed never stops.

VES Handbook for Kindle - Back soon

2010-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

The Kindle version of the VES Handbook was up for a short time a month or two ago but it was discovered that the Table of Contents was missing (a critical feature). Focal Press pulled it to fix the problem and I'm told they have submitted an updated version. It's now up to the Amazon process when it will be re-posted. Hopefully soon. [update 7-20-2011: Now available]

US Health Care

2010-12-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

Health care: In a recent posting one of the commenters suggested that I was being a bit over the top regarding issue of health care. As I noted there all the information I provided was based either on my direct experience with insurance companies or were covered in multiple news sources. Seems to me this was someone who wasn't following the news for the last year or two during the health care

IA VFX Union note

2010-12-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

I met with Jimmy Goodman of the IA last week. They are planning to have a blog setup within the next 2 weeks to keep people informed. This would be one vfx union that covers the U.S. and they are continuing to meet with small groups of those interested. [Note that the union cards they pass out do not have to have your social security number filled in.] They'll progress to larger groups. Their

IBEW VFX Union meeting

2010-12-03T21:59:00.000-08:00

IBEW Announcement Attention all Visual Effects Artists, Practitioners, Aficionados, & Mavens: IBEW Local 40 will be hosting its’ 4th Informational Meeting for those working in the Motion Picture FX Industry. We will be meeting again at the American Legion Post located @ 5309 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City, CA 90230 Sunday December 12th 1pm. has been selected to accommodate most Brothers’ &

Film incentives

2010-11-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of references to those interested in film incentives. I included these in response to a comment but thought I should also make it full post. Report on the impact of incentive programs elsewhere and what that has done to the Calif film industry. "If the state had maintained its former level of dominance, a total of 36,000 jobs would have been saved. The wages and output

VFX Union - What Next?

2010-11-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

Reminder: I’m a member of the Board of Directors of the Visual Effects Society. What I write here on the blog though is only coming from me as a fellow VFX artist and in no way should be misconstrued as from the VES. I’m trying to provide information for vfx artists to be able to make their own decisions about these things. Take anything you hear about unions (good, bad) and other things with

IA Visual Effects Union Announcement

2010-11-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

fxguide has posted the official announcement of the IA regarding setting up a VFX union.

VES Handbook up for a Prose award

2010-11-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

I've been notified the VES Handbook is up for a Prose award, which is nice recognition for all of those who worked on it. Richard Kerrigan wrote a review on Animation World Network here. Oddly on Amazon: 1. The Kindle version isn't listed any more. I suspect this is because we (and buyers) flagged to Focal Press that the ebook was lacking a Table of Contents so they may want to fix it before

Reminder - VFX Union meeting Nov 7

2010-11-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

From the IBEW Attention All Visual Effects Practitioners in Southern California: IBEW Local 40 will be holding its’ 3rd Informational Meeting for those working in the Visual Effects portion of the Motion Picture Industry. This historic meeting will be held on Sunday November 7th 1pm. at The American Legion Hall located @ 5309 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City CA. 90230. Representatives from both

VFX Union IA update

2010-10-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder here I'm trying to provide information for VFX artists to make informed decisions. As noted in an earlier post the IBEW is having a meeting for people interested in a VFX union to be held Nov. 7 In Culver City (LA area) I recently spoke with the IA and will post more at the appropriate time. One of the issues many young people don't consider is the advantage of being

VES Handbook of Visual Effects now available in Kindle

2010-10-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

VES Handbook of Visual Effects now available in Kindle electronic form!

VFX union. IBEW Meeting

2010-10-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

VFX Union Info Meeting tonight

2010-10-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

IBEW Local 40 Informational Meeting for Visual Effects Industry It's in Burbank (LA, CA) tonight (Oct 16) at 6pm. I don't know any of the details except the posting at fxguide which lists the specific time and place.

Tom Cruise and VFX

2010-10-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't seen it there's posting on TomCruise.com regarding vfx information. My Effects Corner blog is listed along with a lot of various blogs, companies, schools, etc. Worth checking out here.

Rotoscoping hair

2010-10-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

I forgot that Focal Press (the publishers of the VES Handbook) asked me to write a short article for them a few months ago. It's online at one of their sites. Rotoscoping Hair Article <- currently invalid link but leaving it for the moment. [So it seems that Focal Press has dropped the ball and allowed their website to disappear so I'm posting it below] Rotoscoping Hair One issue that

VES business for film and VFX artists event

2010-09-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

The Visual Effects Society is having an educational business event for artists. 1099 forms, payroll, insurance and other issues will be covered. Open to non members as well (for a fee) Oct 5, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA More details Update: fxguide did a write up and interview regarding this as a follow up to the event. Read the article here.

VES Annual Meeting

2010-09-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

For those VES Members in Southern Calif. don't forget there's the VES Annual Membership Meeting. (This is a members only meeting. Sorry, no guests) When: Tomorrow, September 23, 2010Where: Hollywood (see email or check VES site for details) Reception: 6pm Meeting: 7:30 Meetings in Vancouver and San Francisco Bay as well. There has been remote access for non-local members

Price of VFX Education

2010-09-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

VFXSoldier has a good posting about VFX education. As VFXSoldier points out all of these VFX schools are in it for profit, which is fine, but be aware of what the true costs are, especially to what they're selling and that you actually end up with at the end of the day. This is like all the books, DVDs, classes and other items related to screenwriting where there are a very limited number of

Unions and freelancing issues

2010-09-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

How Companies Turn People Against Unions (org link from the Animation Guild Blog) Ugh: the 'free' in freelanceMore than 40% of contract workers report trouble getting paid. Average owed: $12K(link from Tweet by ShannonGans)

VFX artists don't need to be taken advantage of

2010-08-19T23:06:00.000-07:00

Variety had an article about another VFX company in Montreal not paying their vfx artists: “The latest bad news from the vfx biz comes from Montreal's Fake Studio, part of the Camera e-Motion Group. A handful of artists who worked for Fake on the 3D vfx for Dimension's "Piranha 3D" have yet to receive payments due in April.” Read more: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023071.html?categoryid=

Wages In The VFX, Animation, And Games Industry

2010-08-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

VFXsoldier has a very interesting read regarding wages and unions among other things. Click here for the link.

Vfx helps U.K. post-production stay afloat

2010-08-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

For those that don't think the incentives have anything to do with VFX: From Variety article Vfx helps U.K. post-production stay afloat "While most entertainment business sectors in the U.K. are undergoing tumultuous budget cuts or worrying about downsizing, the folks running post-production houses are relatively sanguine. Sure, even the post biz stumbled a bit during the economic downturn,

Incentive and film program updates

2010-08-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

Every week there seem to be new updates on state or country incentive and film programs. Clint Eastwood makes UKFC plea - Entertainment News, Top News, Media - Variety Here's a snippet:Scottish-born producer Iain Smith, whose credits include "The A-Team," "Children of Men" and "Local Hero," expressed the need for the government to quickly form a plan or risk producers looking elsewhere to shoot

Sad but true..

2010-08-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

A cautionary tale: From @VFXSoldier twitterArt Institute graduate spent 70K on degree, can't find video game job, takes up stripping instead. Believe me, you don't want to see most vfx artists stripping.--- Unfortunately most VFX companies end up going through the following. These would be funny if they weren't so realistic. I've seen the same things almost verbatim so they're not exaggerated.

Ray Harryhausen and Chuck Jones exhibitions closing soon

2010-08-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder for those in L.A. the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a special exhibit on Ray Harryhausen that opened in May and will be closing Aug 22. Free. More info on the exhibit here. If you don't know, Ray Harryhausen was the master of stop motion visual effects and worked on many films including Jason and the Argonauts and Seventh Voyage of Sinbad among others. He

Could unionization save vfx facilities?

2010-08-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

Could unionization save vfx facilities? is a posting by vfxsoldier. There are those who argue that any type of unionization will drive the nail in the coffin for US VFX production. Since it's unlikely the pay will be increased at most facilities the only additional costs should be things like health insurance. As he rightly points out the IA unions receive film and TV residuals so the burden

Escape Studios competition extended

2010-08-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by Escape Studios, which offers VFX training in the UK and online. I thought readers might be interested so here's the info from them: We're currently running a competition looking for the best showreel produced by a final year university student or recent graduate so that will be one individual from the UK and one from the US. We've put a video on YouTube that may be

VES Handbook Released

2010-07-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

The VES Handbook of Visual Effects is now shipping. I know at least a couple of people I spoke to thought "why do we need another vfx book?" Once they saw the scope and depth of the handbook they changed their minds. It's not a tutorial. It doesn't deal with specific software or hardware. The book covers a wide range of things: budgeting, previs, shooting on set, shooting elements, color

Globalization and VFX

2010-07-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

Globalization and VFX One of the issues facing VFX companies and artists is the issue of globalization. Given the tax incentives and cost of living variance around the world most film studios are looking beyond the borders to find a better price for doing film work, including visual effects. This blog is read around the world. This article will have a California slant but I’m trying to as

VES Handbook of Visual Effects

2010-06-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm told the VES Handbook should be available July 30 (currently listed as Aug 13 on Amazon). 960 pages of info written by 88 vfx professionals. (I wrote a few articles and was a co-editor) Full color. It is available as a pre-order from Amazon (10% discount) and I would expect many cinema related bookstores would carry it. The VES was exploring discounts for members but no word on this. The

The Tragic Plight of Hollywood VFX Sweatshops

2010-06-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Tragic Plight of Hollywood VFX Sweatshops is from a retweet by @alba of a tweet from Erik Van HornIt's a posting on sinisthesia.blogspot.com and is worthwhile read for anyone in the vfx industry or thinking about getting in the vfx industry.

Getting the most out of your VFX budget

2010-06-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

Getting the most out of your VFX budget If you were to ask most directors, producers and studios how to get the most out of their VFX budget the knee jerk reaction would be to hire the cheapest VFX company they could find. If you planned to build an elaborate house and invest a lot of time and money into it would you really want to choose the cheapest contractor who hired the cheapest workers

VFX soldier posting

2010-05-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

VFX soldier posting Interesting read. I have a few articles in progress, one that covers some of the same things, but this covers it well.

VFX filmmaker

2010-05-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

Lee Stranahan has started a VFX blog at http://vfxfilmmaker.com/ He recently wrote a humorous article for the Huffington Post. Just watch out if you see me on Melrose.

Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops

2010-05-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

The latest Time magazine has an article on the VFX business. Very worth reading. "A major point of contention between VFX shops and studios is the issue of change orders. When a director revises what he wants to see in a shot, it can mean months of lost work. Under the current system, most VFX houses feel they have to eat the costs to maintain their relationships with studios and filmmakers."

VFX Wages

2010-05-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of the issues discussed in relationship to the town hall meetings (besides hours worked) is the wage issue. Certainly a number of people who search visual effects on the web are looking for salaries. Salaries for VFX vary a lot. Much depends on if you’re freelance or at a facility full time. It of course also depends on where in the world you’re located. Since there is no standard and no

Notes to Store 1.32 released for iPad

2010-05-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Notes to Store version 1.32 just released for iPad. Faster, easier brush color and size selection. 16 user defined color presets and other new features.

Animation Guilde -Persuasion

2010-05-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

The Animation Guild Blog has a posting regarding their union.

Previsualization Society

2010-05-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

For those involved with previs (creating or using it) you should check out the Previsualization Society. They formed last year and already have several hundred members. Previs has traditionally been made up of small groups of people or companies. The society offers them a chance to organize with common goals and to help standardize and educate, much as the VES has been doing with Visual Effects.

How VFX is perceived by at least one DP

2010-05-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

The International Cinematographers Guild magazine has an interview with a DP regarding visual effects: "It's definitely true that the technology is improving constantly. But I don't understand why it still costs so much. I don't know why so often we are at the mercy of shots being delivered late when we are trying to make a deadline or timing an answer print or DI." Yeah, it's those darn VFX

Rhythm & Hues Studios is announcing Apprenticeship Programs

2010-04-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

(I received this and am posting it here. I know nothing more than what's listed. - Scott) Rhythm & Hues Studios is announcing Apprenticeship Programs as follows: Animation Apprentice Program: Deadline for submission - postmarked by May 21, 2010 June 14, 2010 to July 9, 2010 In addition to this Apprentice Program, there may be a second Animation Apprentice Program - TBD see website for

VES Handbook of Visual Effects

2010-04-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

We're still finishing the VES Handbook but it's already listed on Amazon. My understanding is it's supposed to be out this summer (July?). I don't know if the VES has special rates or other options for VES members. Co-editors included myself, Toni Pace-Carstensen and Kevin Rafferty Update:For full details on the handbook and it's release, please follow link below. Latest Info: Handbook has

Notes To Store 1.2 for the iPad

2010-04-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

My iPad app, Notes To Store has been updated to version 1.2 Faster paint, more background images (darker grids, full lined spiral and legal pads), and photos added in the app can now be full size of the iPad (useful for marking up photos). Good reviews from users. Website App Store

3D Stereoscopic Visual Effects - web event

2010-04-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Free webinar on 3D Stereoscopic Visual Effects Limited 'seating' but there will be a recording. 10am this Friday. Put on by Lee Stranahan with speakers Jason Goodman and Daniel Smith He's also involved in a VFX & Stereoscopic Bootcamp and Horror Film Bootcamp

Response

2010-04-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

There have been some good comments regarding some of my posts. As Steve Molin commented: “I think the heart of your post is that the relationships between artist, VFX company and studio are fundamentally flawed. I don't think we'll have a healthy industry until we find better ways to work together.” And that’s exactly it. We can try to patch here or there but what we really need to do is

Unions

2010-04-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

(I’m not a lawyer or a representative for a union so take this with the grain of virtual salt. As always I’m trying to provide a point of reference and possible ideas to discuss.) There’s been a lot of talk recently regarding having a visual effects union. I’m in the International Photographers Guild as Director of Photography. There is no VFX Supervisor category. When I started on Close

Visual effects service - The Big Picture

2010-04-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

(Note: I’m on the board of the VES but all posting to this blog are mine own and do not represent the VES) (As always, I could be wrong about anything) If we’re re-examining the current VFX situation we need to take a step back and look at the whole process. I think most of us think of visual effects as a service. But is it? History Years ago the studios had their own visual effects

VFX TownHall Meeting thoughts

2010-04-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some random thoughts and ideas regarding some of the issues brought up in the vfx townhall meetings. I heard the original townhall broadcast live and caught the tail end of the next one. I missed the one last night on unions and haven’t kept up on all the twitter/forums so what I’m posting may be redundant or may be 180 from any of those. These are just ideas so don’t hold me to them 5

Notes To Store for the iPad

2010-04-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Just completed an iPad app that was accepted by Apple. It's called Notes To Store and allows treating the iPad like a spiral notebook (actually multiple notebooks). You can type in notes (virtual keyboard, bluetooth keyboard or dock keyboard) and draw sketches and images. You can also import photos and draw on top of those. I have stacks of spiral notebooks and end up sketching a lot of ideas

VFX TownHall Meeting

2010-03-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

From Lee Stranahan: (twitter: Stranahan) Online Town Hall registration is open - totally free, Monday March 29th, amazing panel Link Info from the site: VFX Online Townhall an open disccusion of a visual effects industry in transition Effects driven films like Avatar are breaking box office records while visual effects facilities are forced to shut their doors and most VFX workers face long

VFX companies continue to fall

2010-03-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last year we saw a few VFX companies close their doors (The Orphanage, Illusion Arts, Pacific Title, etc)We're now seeing a few more, or in the case of Image Movers, a planned closing.Image MoversThere are a number of ex-ILM people there and at 450 people it is not a small group.Core Pictures I was in discussions of taking a project there a year or two ago.It's always painful to see VFX

More VFX wage issues

2010-02-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

There's been more posting and other things around the web regarding the state of VFX artists.Here's a couple more related links:Some Inconvenient VFX Industry Truths by Richard KerriganA Visual Effects Digital Artists Guild? from the Animation Guild blog.This just added:Poll regarding VFX UnionI haven't had a chance to sift through all of this yet but hope to make more of an in-depth posting some

Motionographer interview with Lee Stranahan

2010-02-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

More followup to the previous post regarding the VFX letter to James Cameron at Motionographer.

Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists

2010-02-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

For those who haven't seen this yet, Lee Stranahan has posted an open letter to James Cameron regarding the state of the VFX artists working on today's movies.Click here to read.There seems to be a consistent theme these days.

Commotion

2010-02-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Matthew Ingram has written up a great posting about Commotion here. [Update: I think this site is gone so may re-post it here if I can] Thanks Matthew! Commotion was a software packages I wrote for myself while at ILM. It started as 'Flipbook' and allowed realtime playback of images on a Mac II. (This would later be used as a design basis for other tools at ILM.) It also had a flowchart

More VFX wage issues

2010-01-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

More bad news for Visual Effects Artists around the world. (and bad news for VFX vendors as well).Keep in mind that most of the top money making movies of all time are heavy VFX movies. (Titanic, Avatar, Star Wars, Matrix, etc)Consider joining the Visual Effects Society to help provide a more united front.Via Twitter' from neonmarg Visual Effects Industry gets weaker everydayWorking in China

Woes of non-union VFX

2009-09-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Meteor case has become a symbol of the shaky standing of the vfx industry and vfx artists in particular. Vfx artists have no union or guild, and no Hollywood union has consented to represent them. Meanwhile, some vfx studios are in such bad financial shape, with current income used to pay off past debts, that one analyst has called the entire business “a Ponzi scheme.”Snippet from VARIETY

VES Annual Meeting

2009-09-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

The Visual Effects Society had it's annual meeting last Saturday. There was a live feed to Vancouver and San Francisco.It was also webcast throughout the world including the other sections of London and Australia.The video of the meeting should be online in the next couple of weeks or so for all VES members.As noted at the meeting the VES website is being totally re-written and is scheduled to

Healthcare for all

2009-09-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Public Healthcare

2009-09-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Quite a few visual effects artists are freelance. They work from project to project. Some are contractors. Even when working at large VFX companies there are frequently large gaps when there is no work and the artist will be unemployed. Since there are no VFX unions there are none of the benefits of having united support. A few categories are covered under unions (modelmakers of physical

Visual Effects Producer Book

2009-09-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

This was written by Charles Finance and Susan Zwerman, both with the VIsual Effects Society. Susan is also one of the editors of the VES Handbook that is in progress. If you're interested in visual effects producing this is the book. Covers primarily the budgeting, scheduling and workflow issues but also covers basics of the technical issues along with pros and cons. 377 pages Update:

Greenscreen plates

2009-08-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

For those interested in practicing with greenscreen plates check out Greenscreen Test FootageRange of shots and difficulties. Tracker markers and other items in the shot.I'd avoid using them in your demo reel (since there may be a number of other people with the same clips) but they should be an excellent learning materials.

Reworking Blog

2009-07-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

Reworking the blog and updating the template. Will have to restore many things so it may be awhile.

Previs thoughts

2009-07-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

Just Misc Previs thoughts from a note I had sent someone months ago.I think previs encompasses anything that is used to get a visual sense for the final product ahead of time. The majority today is 3D but video, stills, storyboards, film snippets, etc are all possible and useful.For Star Wars and even some pictures today existing footage (from another film or stock) is seen as a placeholder and

Science of Magic and Illusion

2009-05-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wired magazine takes a look at the science of magic. (thanks to Eric Alba http://twitter.com/alba for mentioning it) Click the title or use the link below: Magic and Illusion Many people think realistic vfx are much more difficult to pull off but in fact they can be easier because as pointed out, people don't tend to focus on anything except what's in the spotlight. The audience will easily

VES Handbook

2009-02-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

I wanted to let everyone know that there is a Visual Effects Society handbook being written by quite a few visual effects artists, myself included. There's already a publisher involved and the plan is to release it next year. I have a few different articles halfway done for this blog that hopefully I'll be finishing up and posting once I have more writing completed on the handbook. Update:

Cloud Tank effect

2009-02-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me to provide some of the details of the Cloud Tank so that's been on a long list of subjects. Recently I had to write up some of the notes so thought i'd post it here as well. When I start in visual effects I was hired by Doug Trumbull as his assistant. The first day I was asked to create clouds in a liquid for a film that he had just started working on called Watch the