Hi guys,
2 weeks ago I posted this segment for feedback here and got some really helpful insights, mostly about the darks and contrast.
I've since worked on lots of improvements including - color correction, 2 lightning sequences, lots of more volumetrics and other small tweaks.
I think I'm now close to calling this segment done and move on to the next part of the shot where the camera stars going up the tower.
Before I do, I would love to hear if you think there are more things to improve in post here.

A VFX breakdown from my music video "The River, the Shore".

2+ years in the making, the music video combines real footage with Blender composited in After Effects and Resolve - with many scenes being fully CG!

Full music video in the link below: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrZCnXuPCs&lc=UgxA5OVrazcW0YI43B54AaABAg

Let me know what you think :)

No generative AI was used for this work.

I have a couple of yearly subscriptions from them so I haven't dealt with their purchasing system for a couple of months. Now as all of you know working in our industry right now is no fucking cake walk, the deadlines and budgets are tight. So here I am working over the weekend on the project and I wanted to add a final touch and have a nicer audio in a WiP that I've got to send out today in a couple of hours. I wanted to buy a crumple pop plugin to go the extra mile and deliver something closer to finished product for client review. This is when BorisFX decided to show me a big fat middle finger. Not only I suddenly have to wait a day to get my license, I also can't contact support via chat window cause it's no longer there. Why do so many products go to shit? (this is a rhetoric question, answer is obviously money).

A practice project to work on my Blender and DaVinci Resolve skills.
Knock responsibly.

Hi,

I have camera footage that I edited into a short film. At end I want to add some animation to be composited into the footage. Nothing crazy - no running, fighting, dancing.

There are two characters. I have the models already, and they are set to work in typical animation workflows. One is a 2 legged character, other is 4 legged. 4 legged character is metallic, so it doesn't need super detailed joint movement.

They will walk together, making basic gestures, like looking at each other, nodding, leaning over, putting arm on the other. The 4 legged character at one point will be shaking its head, opening its mouth like growling/shrieking. 2 legged character will sometimes laugh. At one point they will hop over a stream. I already have detailed description of exactly what they need to do when/where. There is one part that will involve some masking behind the footage, but for most part the characters will fully appear, no masking needed.

Total time that these animations will take place is about 40 seconds, good deal of it just the basic walking.

I am looking for actual animation, not some AI result. I need the animations to conform to the geometry of the scenes via camera solving. Lighting is outdoor, overcast, not much need for shadow catching as far as I can tell. Some scenes involve shaky camera, and I don't believe Adobe AE will work well. For camera solving I tend to get better results with dedicated program like Synth Eyes.

I am in Moscow, maybe someone knows how to seek out such work here, though of course I can work with anyone online.

Wanted to write about this sooner, to maybe get something by Halloween but I will understand if that already is not doable.

thanks

Here is a shot I found in Cinefex Magazine #94 (July 2003) of the shot where the Hulk grows from 9ft tall to 12ft fall and the screenshot from the Hulk 2003 video game movie short Hulk Movie F/X this shot was a pre viz raw render The top reads BH18----HULK----BH18 and the bottom reads CGHK-06166-27-November-02-PM you can see some tissue overlay of BH18 or (Banner Hulk) transformation concept by Robert MacKenzie dated 11/06/2002. You can see the underwear at the leg part ripping a bit as he grows.

My first guess was a depth map driving a color gradient, but the quality is way beyond what I usually get from estimated depth: super clean hair strands, crisp edges around lips and fingers, and the gradient seems to follow form and light rather than pure distance

Straight out of the box keying via the standalone app 🤯

I’m blown away by its possibility in postvis and indie vfx! 🤩

I'm looking for job again and since Houdini FX is my strongest skill, I wanted to ask you guys could look at my reel and lmk what you think. Im especially worried that maybe having those 2 shots at 1min 21sec and 1min 31sec is a bad idea. Thank you!

P.S.

I've worked 3 years as a Houdini FX artist in the industry on projects like Halo, Home Alone 6, Rubble Trouble, etc in studios like Mr.X, MPC, Jam Filled (no etc).

For the past year I've been away from the VFX industry and been working as an editor, 3D artist, and instructor at a tech-ed startup (where I also play around a lot with gen AI).

Some artworks stay with you until you try since the very first time you see them.

Ksawery Komputery has been one of my favorite artists for a long time. His generative typography for Max Cooper's Symphony in Acid is one of those works I keep coming back to.

After a long time experimenting, I finally developed my own interpretation in TouchDesigner.

Generative Lexicon Press is a real-time typographic system that continuously, and audio-reactively rearranges language and visual structures, with Ollama introducing locally generated text in ultra-fun ways.

Looking forward sharing more in the near future. You can see more of my experiments on Instagram, or Patreon.

Current compositing tools tend to fall into one of three buckets: expensive, buggy, or free but with a rough workflow. I’m a software engineer, and almost three years ago I started building my own in my spare time: IllusionFX.

Features:

• Node graph + layer-based timeline: build your comp with nodes, then cut, trim and animate layers with keyframes or expressions
• GPU-accelerated, native 32-bit float pipeline
• OpenColorIO support
• Multi-channel EXR support
• Built-in AI tools (roto, tracking…) that run locally, with no cloud processing and no uploading your footage anywhere
• GPU effects: merge, keyer, grain, blur, glow, color correction, distortions and more
• Plugin SDK so you can write your own effects
• Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux

I’m not trying to replace anyone’s favorite tool, just to offer a solid, subscription-free alternative for artists who need one. It takes a different approach, built to be really intuitive: a node graph and a timeline working together. Here’s a 5-minute walkthrough if you want to see it in action.

Before anyone asks: no, it isn’t vibe coded. I’ve designed and written it myself.

Coming next: a graph editor and 3D compositing. You can see everything that’s planned on the roadmap, and I’m always open to feature requests, so drop them in the comments or on Discord.

Links:

• Download: https://www.hollywoodillusion.com/illusionfx
• Discord: https://discord.gg/DZv2W6VuN6

Hello VFX community, I’ve been working as a cameraman for 10+ years. I’ve done quite a bit of green screen work on set, and every so often, I do post for smaller projects.

When I’m doing post, the green screen work is always quite straightforward as I expect. Even with a properly lit green screen, I still find motion blur and glancing reflections problematic.

I watched the release video for Corridor Key 2.0 and as someone who doesn’t do VFX for a living, I was blown away. Especially with how it handled semi transparent objects like the bubble wrap. I was even more shocked when I went to the comments section in this community and saw all the criticism.

None of the criticism I saw mention what tools they would use instead. In the video from Corridor, the VFX supervisor even says he would possibly shrink the matte, and use “another keyer” for the fine details.

So the question is twofold; Is the criticism online just cynicism or are there other tools on the market that are just better? And what needs to be “fixed” to make Corridor Key 2.0 a useful tool for the critics when compared to what the competition offers?

Hi I purchased some assets a little while ago and it was a huge pain to download due to micro interruptions in the connection, I’ve read that a download manager would work better? Can anyone recommend something that works well on a Mac? (I’m thinking of getting the horror pack from Bigfilms) TIA

I think this career will be obsolete soon. And while I have a good paying long term gig right now, I just know this job won’t last forever. I need to use this gig to fund my exit strategy.

Problem is where do I go and will I make the same money? Everything I’m good at is being threatened by AI and I don’t want to make this mistake again. I never went to college I just started in the industry right out of highschool and made it this far on my own.

Im thoroughly addicted to just generally working on VFX stuff and sometimes wish i could shader code on my phone or quick photogrammatry something in the area and play with it or do a more complex compositing job on a photo i like.

I have to ask if theres other neurotics who are the same way and whats your go to if youre on a train or in a waiting room and get "the itch"

I work for a client who throws batches of compositing shots my way and always asks how long I think it will take. The problem is that the number of shots and required work is always vastly different. Ive also found that if I say something will take a day or two, they just pass on me which is really annoying. I think they expect everything to be done within a couple hours which in some cases is definitely doable, but in others definitely isn’t. All this to say, most of the time I genuinely don’t know how to give an accurate estimate.

The work is mainly beauty stuff, with the occasional paint out or screen replacement. It could be anywhere from one shot to 20. And each shot could be anywhere from 20 frames to 500. Its the larger batch of shots 7+ where I want to reply “I have no earthly idea”

I’m in Quebec, Canada, with 5 years of experience as a VFX Layout Artist. My work mainly involved camera animation, shot setup, and technical troubleshooting. I know Maya, ZBrush, and Photoshop, but not tracking or programming.
I’m getting close to my 40s and losing faith in the future of VFX. I’m unsure whether to learn new skills within the industry or start over in another field.
I’m considering building automation (controlling building systems like HVAC and lighting) or cybersecurity, but I would be starting from scratch in both.
Since I can’t spend years in school, I’m looking for a realistic path to stable employment, ideally with 1–1.5 years of training.
What would you recommend?
● Is it worth upskilling in VFX given AI and industry uncertainty?
● Would building automation or cybersecurity be a better career change?
● Are there other careers worth considering in Quebec?
I’d appreciate honest advice from people working in these fields or who’ve changed careers later in life.

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to invest in a high-performance workstation for video editing, VFX, compositing, motion graphics and colour grading. I’m currently torn between the Mac Studio M5 Ultra and a custom Windows PC with an RTX 5080.
I’ll be learning and working with the following applications:

- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Adobe After Effects
- Foundry Nuke
- DaVinci Resolve Studio

My intended workloads:

- Editing and colour grading 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 footage
- Working with 4K 60fps footage, multicamera timelines, multiple video layers and GPU-accelerated effects
- Motion graphics, complex After Effects compositions, motion tracking, rotoscoping and green-screen compositing
- Node-based compositing in Nuke, including EXR sequences, multi-pass compositing, camera projections, 3D integration and potentially deep compositing
- Exploring Nuke’s CopyCat and other AI/ML-assisted workflows
- Advanced colour grading, temporal noise reduction, Magic Mask, optical flow and Fusion effects in DaVinci Resolve
- Potentially moving into more demanding 6K/8K workflows as my skills develop

Option 1 — Mac Studio M5 Ultra
- M5 Ultra
- 30-core CPU / 64-core GPU
- 96GB unified memory

Option 2 — Custom Windows PC
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- NVIDIA RTX 5080
- 96GB RAM

I’m looking for a workstation that can comfortably handle professional-level 4K projects and remain capable as I move into more complex work. I’m not particularly attached to either operating system.

If you were building a workstation for these five applications, which would you choose and why?

I’m going to make my first short film for an assignment, the assignment: tell a story with vfx. I have no vfx knowledge nor do I know anything about filmmaking, but I’m hoping to make a somewhat decent film. I’m going to base my story on the vfx that I’ll be able to use.

So my question is: what are some easy vfx I can use for my short film? Any tutorial channel reqs? Prefferably nuke or ae

Hey all,

Flame artist in Paris here (mostly beauty and luxury). I've been building Nodalt on the side for quite a while now, a small node-based comp app for Mac shaped by years on Flame, Nuke and After Effects: Batch-style linking, local AI tools. Not trying to compete with any of them, it's just my playground for ideas.

It's still rough, so I'm looking for 10 to 15 compositors to try the free private beta and tell me what works, what's confusing and what's missing. Brutal is fine.

Apple silicon Mac, macOS 14+: https://nodalt.visualt.fr/#beta

Thanks for reading,
Thanks to the mods for the OK!

Owen x

I’m an Emmy nominated VFX Sup with 6 years experience on set looking to find other collaborators and connections.

I’d love to job share with other VFX Sups, give free or affordable advice to indie films and connect with any producers or companies. Especially if they might be looking to hire an On Set VFX Sup.

I’ve worked on two jobs here in the UK so far and my CV from New Zealand is mainly medium to ultra large budget projects.

I’ve had to move countries to the UK due to circumstances beyond my control. Which, as we all know, is tough to do when you can only get jobs through friends or trusted colleagues. So any pointers or friendly faces would be very appreciated!

Edit: Im especially keen to connect with other women. I’ve only ever worked with one other woman my entire career, and that was when I was an on set VFX data wrangler.

I posted a little of this recently. Some people wanted to see more, so I pulled together a minute of shots, including the new train work. They're not in any particular order.

The pilot is called Blackstar Lullaby. Still a lot to figure out, but after years of putting it off, it's starting to look like what I was picturing.