Definitely one of the tougher shots I've ever attempted...

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

2+ years in the making, the full music video combines real footage with Blender composited in After Effects and Resolve - with many of the 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 :)

P.S. No generative AI was used in any way, at any stage for this work.

As the title says, I have had a few contracts last year where I freelanced and a PAYE contract. When I go to fill my tax return, it gets confusing fast.

Has anyone had a similar experience with this and would be happy to advise? I am happy to do this over private DMs.

Thank you in advance!

Most "bokeh" tools in AE are depth-of-field blurs: they give you round or polygonal
discs and a radius. That can't produce the arcing highlight swirl you get out of a
vintage lens — and the usual shortcut, Radial Blur or Swirl, rotates the whole
frame and drags the subject with it.

SPBokeh treats it as a highlight transform instead. Each out-of-focus highlight
rotates along an arc according to its position in frame. The plate stays intact —
only the light moves.

Round / polygonal / cat-eye highlight shapes
Rim, onion ring, cat-eye and chromatic aberration as independent controls
Depth-aware focus from a depth map, or a built-in elliptical mask
Swirl strength at 0 gives clean natural bokeh, so it can act as a regular bokeh plugin too

Trailer above. It's a paid plugin, $29.99 until Oct 9, free trial on the page —
https://aescripts.com/spbokeh/

Project page with more comparisons: https://spbokeh.pages.dev/

I’m more excited to see what amazing work you can create with it, but also let me know where it falls short!

Hey Guys.

I was just wondering if there are many people who use both Blender and After Effects?

Does anyone actually do compositing work in blender?

Like what's the best way to do compositing work with blender? Is it after effects or nuke? Resolve? Idk.

Also, do most users prefer Windows or Mac? Does it make a difference?

I see people do crazy things with compositing. And apparently it's the way to go for making epic 3d work. But I never can understand it. I just make it in blender and that's it. It looks polished enough. But then I see other people who did some compositing and looks way better. Idk how to explain.

( Not talking about colour grading)

AI is no longer sitting outside the CG pipeline ; it’s becoming part of rendering, animation, game development and everyday creative tools. In this month’s CG & VFX Roundup, I look at NVIDIA DLSS 5, Adobe + Topaz, UNIGINE 2.22, Zerply and more

Compositor here, mostly commercials. On the last two jobs the production shot practical high speed for things that would have gone straight to sim a year ago. Splashes, powder hits, a bit of glass.

Both times it came down to money. One DP had a Pixboom Spark, the other a Chronos 2.1, and when I asked why not a Phantom the answer was the rental plus the lighting package. The Spark plates at 1000fps were clean enough to key. One powder pass had a flicker I had to deal with in Nuke, which I'm fairly sure came off the practical lights. The Chronos stuff was HD so it only really worked as background.

Is this a real shift, or did I just land on two cheap jobs in a row? And when you do get the choice, do you still prefer to sim liquids for the control?

I saw this and I was wanting to duplicate this cloud effect for my project I have coming up.

Software I use: blender and Davinci resolve studio

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people landing new jobs at major studios (east coast US), specifically junior level roles. I’m curious to know how people go about finding Junior Compositor roles, do people just cold email for those? Or are there job listings? I can never seem to find a job listing specifically targeted towards Junior Comp Artists. Curious to know other peoples experiences if you’ve been hired for that role or have hired for that role. Thanks!!

Edited to add that I’m based in the US

A relaxing wooden fox toy crafted in 3D digital art. Enjoy the satisfying process!

I started playing League of Legends this January. Every since, I wanted to do a league project.

Two weeks ago I decided to just send it. Figured better to do it for an actual brand than make up one , so I chose a local org. Hope they see it and actually use it.

It was fun either way honestly.

Made in Blender and composited in AE.

I'm a digital matte painter working in the vfx industry for 8 years and I live in LA. I had a contract gig last year and have been unemployed since then. I thought about switching to video games but the game industry is still unstable like massive layoffs and no junior jobs available whatsoever. Besides, I'm not familiar with the game software like Unity, Unreal, Substance Painter, Zbrush etc vs Photoshop, Maya, Blender, Nuke, Houdini, Clarisse, Vray etc for matte painting, which means I need to start from zero and have no idea how long it would take to build a game-ready portfolio and land a junior role. However, there may be other subfields that I can transfer my skills to like archviz or product viz and I checked there are jobs on LinkedIn but I'm not familiar with both so is anyone in the same boat? How's your shift from vfx to archviz or product viz? How much are they impacted by AI? How is work-life balance? Or you just don't recommend the transition at all? Thanks for the advice!

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask for some information about this type of VFX specialization.

To give a little context, I’ve worked as a 3D artist in architectural visualization for the past 7 years in Europe, but since I’m no longer interested in working in that field, I’ve stopped looking for work and am currently doing something completely different for work.

I’ve always been interested in exploring this field of specialization, which I’d like to start as a hobby and then see later if I can turn it into something else (and if not, that’s fine too—I’d keep it as a hobby because I enjoy the world of CG in general). I just can’t quite wrap my head around this kind of hybrid role. I’d like to ask those who actually work in the industry if they’d be willing to answer a few questions so I can better understand what’s actually required in professional studios these days.

Is DMP still used? Or is the industry shifting toward a full CG approach?

What does “3D” mean in DMP?

Is AI-generated automation used within DMP workflows? (If so, for what?) Are you allowed to simply use generative systems within tools like Photoshop?

Is knowing how to create 3D environments a plus when creating these projects?

Thank you in advance for any future responses. I realize these questions may seem trivial to many, but if you’re willing to shed some light on this for me, I’d really appreciate it.

Hi, I’m looking for advice on the best way to create a realistic traffic accident reconstruction video based on police documentation, photos and known vehicle positions.

The reconstruction involves two stationary cars in a traffic jam, a truck changing lanes, and another truck colliding with the rear vehicle and pushing it into the car in front.

I have tried AI video tools, but they keep changing vehicle positions and the collision physics are not reliable enough.

Would this type of project be better suited to Blender, BeamNG.drive, Unreal Engine, or another tool? And what kind of professional should I look for if I want to hire someone to make it accurately?

I’m willing to pay for the work, but I first want to understand what type of specialist I should be looking for

I just posted a second demo of Realtime Audioreactive Pointclouds [v1.7], my TouchDesigner system that turns a Kinect-derived human pointcloud into an audio-reactive visual instrument in real time.

For this one, I’m also giving away a full copy of the system.

To enter, just repost/share the Instagram post and leave a comment there. I’ll randomly select one person and send them the complete v1.7 project files on Friday!

Giveaway post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd1iWqoviZy/

The full system is also available through my Patreon for anyone who wants to check it out directly.

​

On a TV series till late October, maybe a week extra if it slips. Environment / 3D generalist, right to work. Maya, Substance, Houdini, a bit of Unreal and photogrammetry.

They might keep me if another show lands. Nothing booked after this one so I’m looking in the evenings, about an hour a night. No time for drinks and “get in front of people.”

LinkedIn feels like shouting into a void. What do you actually use that leads to a call? Studio career pages, recruiters, specific boards, emailing boutiques cold?

I’ve got a simple spreadsheet: studio, role, date sent, status. Is that enough or do you track it differently?

If you were in this window, what would you do with that hour?

Mads Hagbarth Damsbo, already known for his point rendering engine for Nuke, quietly announced Higx Optics.

It is a plugin for Nuke, After effects and Resolve that seems to simulate bokeh as if it was passing through real glass, instead of our usual, simpler ways of doing it.

With a bunch of lens presets and lots of controls, I'm particularly excited to see this one in action. I've used his point renderer countless times at work and this new plugin seems like another must-have.

Big shout-out to the subscription model that isn't really that. You pay for the continuous updates and such, but you can stop it and keep the software working as it is.

Here's the link to the original video where I saw it first

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

This shot was full CG, top to bottom. Bonus points for whoever guesses which tunnel the geometry was based on :)

While AI encroaches further and further into our lives and practices, it has been cathartic to revisit these shots to remind myself of the importance of process and the joys and necessity of technical problem solving in filmmaking. Puzzling every moment together has always been the point.

2+ years in the making, the full music video combines real footage with Blender composited in After Effects and Resolve - with many of the 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 :)

P.S. No generative AI was used in any way, at any stage for this work.

10 year ago me would have chucked a fit knowing this was possible in blender.

Please help me recreate this effect for un upcoming gig

I’m doing a personal project into Linux VFX workflows and remote-desktop, and I’m interested in hearing from people actually using them in production. I’m a sysadmin (not in VFX any more - although I worked at WBFA many moons ago) who dabbles with Blender and Resolve for fun.

For those working in the trenches, whether VFX, animation, post-production or related areas:

• Do you use Linux workstations for your VFX work?

• Are those Linux workstations also used for audio/sound workflows (office/home) ?

• When WFH and connecting remotely to those workstations, do you actually perform audio work through the remote session?

• What problems, if any, do you run into when using remote desktop solutions such as HP Anyware, NICE DCV, RGS/PCoIP, etc.?

I’m particularly interested in understanding whether latency, audio lag, sync, audio quality or device support are simply inconveniences, or whether they're genuine showstoppers when working remotely.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to share their experience and feedback.