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Visual FX : Teaching the Impossible

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Sachin Bhatnagar
Sachin Bhatnagar

Visual Effects is not an easy subject to teach. With the global visual effects industry going through turmoil, it is important for a visual effects instructor to focus on essential and fundamental skills that are absolutely essential if a student wishes to climb up the ladder to become a successful artist in his career.

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VISUAL FX : TEACHING THE IMPOSSIBLE
¡°WHEN YOU'RE IN SOMETHING AS SUCCESSFUL AS 'TRANSFORMERS,' YOU CAN'T USE IT AS A SALES PIECE FOR YOUR ABILITY AS AN ACTRESS BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT VISUAL EFFECTS.¡± MEGAN FOX
SACHIN BHATNAGAR EDUCATOR | CODER & VP ¨C NEW MEDIA @ FRAMEBOXX
State of the Industry The Teaching Dilemma
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE ROAD AHEAD
Visual FX : Teaching the Impossible
LIST OF STUDIOS THAT HAVE SHUT DOWN OVER THE PAST 5 YEARS ? Rhythm & Hues ? Digital Domain ? ICO VFX ? CIS ¨C Hollywood ? Kerner Optical ? Asylum VFX ? Caf¨¦ FX ? C.O.R.E Digital Pictures ? Pacific Title & Art Studio ? The Orphanage
Every Cloud has a silver lining !!!!!!
INTERNATIONAL MARKET TRENDS | MICRO & SMALL STUDIOS ? The demise of corporations has given opportunity to micro studios. ? A micro studio consists of a small but talented workforce. ? Instead of offloading visual effects work to a single large entity, the work is divided between multiple such studios. ? Work happens faster due to competition. ? It costs much less this way¡­
INTERNATIONAL MARKET TRENDS | OUTSOURCING ? Despite protests, work will travel to Asia ? The cost of doing visual effects work, atleast a major part of it in the west is amazingly high ? Countries like India have a huge English speaking population ? We¡¯re economical ? Due to time zone differences, Asia works when the US sleeps = 24 hour work cycle
DOMESTIC MARKET TRENDS | CONSOLIDATE & GROW ? A lot of major production houses have shut shop in recent years. These include such names as Crest Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks. ? Consolidation is slowly pulling the industry out of recession. ? Consolidation ensures only the fittest survive. ? Consolidation ensures that the industry does not die.
DOMESTIC MARKET TRENDS | THE BIG PLAYERS ? India has done what no other country could ¨C Create Humongous World Class Companies such as Prime Focus. ? Prime Focus is now the largest Media & Entertainment group in the world. ? Reliance & Prime Focus merged their film business recently. ? They have acquired several key studios in the world including Double Negative and are located in over 6 locations worldwide.
DOMESTIC MARKET TRENDS | CONTENT EXPLOSION ? Indian films are continually raising the bar as far as domestic visual effects consumption goes. ? Experimentation in genres such as Science Fiction & Mythology may be elementary but it does push the demand for better visual effects. ? The Television Advertising Industry is way ahead when it comes to world class visual effects. This in itself is a huge contributor to the growth of the visual effects industry in India. ? Television shows such as mythology serials have matured in terms of their FX execution standards. ? The industry down south is far more expressive when it comes to Visual Effects.
KEY TAKEAWAYS ? The global visual effects industry is gradually correcting itself. ? Market dynamics have changed drastically, business models are evolving. ? The West cannot forgo outsourcing. Its just not viable for them. ? Outsourced work = Advantage Asia, particularly India. ? Consolidation has sized down the industry but scaled up the quality and seriousness. ? There ARE Jobs in this industry ! ? The quality benchmarks for a candidate has gone up. ? The Government recently asked Doordarshan to start a Kids Animation Channel and promote Indian Animation IPs. This is a major step forward. ? Indian Films and TVCs are continually raising the visual effects quality bar.
Bottomline The global visual effects industry has gone through flux, has been beaten, bashed up but like a phoenix, it is slowly rising back from the ashes.
THE SKILLS DILEMMA ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Students lack the most fundamental skills !!
They are hell bent on Software & Tutorials !
Historical Facts & Knowledge Camera & Cinematography Fundamentals Image & File Format Fundamentals Color Fundamentals Compositing Essentials Students Need to Work on
HISTORICAL FACTS & KNOWLEDGE ? Students must absolutely know about the history of special / visual effects. ? Distinction between Special Effects & Visual Effects ? The role of pioneers like the Lumi¨¨re Brothers, Georges M¨¦li¨¨s, Ray Harryhausen, John Dykstra and more. ? Students should read about companies such as Robert Abel & Associates, Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues etc. ? Promote the role of research and reading amongst students.
CAMERA & CINEMATOGRAPHY FUNDAMENTALS ? Evolution of Cameras ? Types of Cameras | From Handcranked Film Cameras to Digital Cine Cameras ? Lenses : Distortion, Aperture, Chromatic Aberration ? Frame Rate ? Shutter Speed ¨C Motion Blur ? ISO and Noise / Grain ? Time Lapse Photography
IMAGE & FILE FORMAT FUNDAMENTALS ? Pixel Aspect Ratio ? Frame Sizes ? Compression and Codecs ? Logarithmic File Formats such as CINEON & DPX ? OpenEXR | Critically Important ? Camera RAW Formats ? High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI)
COLOR FUNDAMENTALS ? Bit Depth ? Integer vs Float Interpolation ? Understanding Brightness, Gain, Gamma mathematically ? Normalization ? Understanding Lookup Tables ? Visualizing Colors in 3D Space
COMPOSITING FUNDAMENTALS ? Porter & Duff¡¯s Equation | (FG * FGa) + (BG * (1-FGa)) ? Understanding Mattes ? Camera Projection Mapping ? Using OpenEXR ? Using Layers & Channels from 3D ? Color Correction ? Pre-Multiplication | Pre-Div/Post-Multiply
Thank You mailme@sachinbhatnagar.com | @sachinbee

More Related Content

Visual FX : Teaching the Impossible

  • 1. VISUAL FX : TEACHING THE IMPOSSIBLE
  • 2. ¡°WHEN YOU'RE IN SOMETHING AS SUCCESSFUL AS 'TRANSFORMERS,' YOU CAN'T USE IT AS A SALES PIECE FOR YOUR ABILITY AS AN ACTRESS BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT VISUAL EFFECTS.¡± MEGAN FOX
  • 3. SACHIN BHATNAGAR EDUCATOR | CODER & VP ¨C NEW MEDIA @ FRAMEBOXX
  • 4. State of the Industry The Teaching Dilemma
  • 5. STATE OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE ROAD AHEAD
  • 7. LIST OF STUDIOS THAT HAVE SHUT DOWN OVER THE PAST 5 YEARS ? Rhythm & Hues ? Digital Domain ? ICO VFX ? CIS ¨C Hollywood ? Kerner Optical ? Asylum VFX ? Caf¨¦ FX ? C.O.R.E Digital Pictures ? Pacific Title & Art Studio ? The Orphanage
  • 8. Every Cloud has a silver lining !!!!!!
  • 9. INTERNATIONAL MARKET TRENDS | MICRO & SMALL STUDIOS ? The demise of corporations has given opportunity to micro studios. ? A micro studio consists of a small but talented workforce. ? Instead of offloading visual effects work to a single large entity, the work is divided between multiple such studios. ? Work happens faster due to competition. ? It costs much less this way¡­
  • 10. INTERNATIONAL MARKET TRENDS | OUTSOURCING ? Despite protests, work will travel to Asia ? The cost of doing visual effects work, atleast a major part of it in the west is amazingly high ? Countries like India have a huge English speaking population ? We¡¯re economical ? Due to time zone differences, Asia works when the US sleeps = 24 hour work cycle
  • 11. DOMESTIC MARKET TRENDS | CONSOLIDATE & GROW ? A lot of major production houses have shut shop in recent years. These include such names as Crest Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks. ? Consolidation is slowly pulling the industry out of recession. ? Consolidation ensures only the fittest survive. ? Consolidation ensures that the industry does not die.
  • 12. DOMESTIC MARKET TRENDS | THE BIG PLAYERS ? India has done what no other country could ¨C Create Humongous World Class Companies such as Prime Focus. ? Prime Focus is now the largest Media & Entertainment group in the world. ? Reliance & Prime Focus merged their film business recently. ? They have acquired several key studios in the world including Double Negative and are located in over 6 locations worldwide.
  • 13. DOMESTIC MARKET TRENDS | CONTENT EXPLOSION ? Indian films are continually raising the bar as far as domestic visual effects consumption goes. ? Experimentation in genres such as Science Fiction & Mythology may be elementary but it does push the demand for better visual effects. ? The Television Advertising Industry is way ahead when it comes to world class visual effects. This in itself is a huge contributor to the growth of the visual effects industry in India. ? Television shows such as mythology serials have matured in terms of their FX execution standards. ? The industry down south is far more expressive when it comes to Visual Effects.
  • 14. KEY TAKEAWAYS ? The global visual effects industry is gradually correcting itself. ? Market dynamics have changed drastically, business models are evolving. ? The West cannot forgo outsourcing. Its just not viable for them. ? Outsourced work = Advantage Asia, particularly India. ? Consolidation has sized down the industry but scaled up the quality and seriousness. ? There ARE Jobs in this industry ! ? The quality benchmarks for a candidate has gone up. ? The Government recently asked Doordarshan to start a Kids Animation Channel and promote Indian Animation IPs. This is a major step forward. ? Indian Films and TVCs are continually raising the visual effects quality bar.
  • 15. Bottomline The global visual effects industry has gone through flux, has been beaten, bashed up but like a phoenix, it is slowly rising back from the ashes.
  • 17. Students lack the most fundamental skills !!
  • 18. They are hell bent on Software & Tutorials !
  • 19. Historical Facts & Knowledge Camera & Cinematography Fundamentals Image & File Format Fundamentals Color Fundamentals Compositing Essentials Students Need to Work on
  • 20. HISTORICAL FACTS & KNOWLEDGE ? Students must absolutely know about the history of special / visual effects. ? Distinction between Special Effects & Visual Effects ? The role of pioneers like the Lumi¨¨re Brothers, Georges M¨¦li¨¨s, Ray Harryhausen, John Dykstra and more. ? Students should read about companies such as Robert Abel & Associates, Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues etc. ? Promote the role of research and reading amongst students.
  • 21. CAMERA & CINEMATOGRAPHY FUNDAMENTALS ? Evolution of Cameras ? Types of Cameras | From Handcranked Film Cameras to Digital Cine Cameras ? Lenses : Distortion, Aperture, Chromatic Aberration ? Frame Rate ? Shutter Speed ¨C Motion Blur ? ISO and Noise / Grain ? Time Lapse Photography
  • 22. IMAGE & FILE FORMAT FUNDAMENTALS ? Pixel Aspect Ratio ? Frame Sizes ? Compression and Codecs ? Logarithmic File Formats such as CINEON & DPX ? OpenEXR | Critically Important ? Camera RAW Formats ? High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI)
  • 23. COLOR FUNDAMENTALS ? Bit Depth ? Integer vs Float Interpolation ? Understanding Brightness, Gain, Gamma mathematically ? Normalization ? Understanding Lookup Tables ? Visualizing Colors in 3D Space
  • 24. COMPOSITING FUNDAMENTALS ? Porter & Duff¡¯s Equation | (FG * FGa) + (BG * (1-FGa)) ? Understanding Mattes ? Camera Projection Mapping ? Using OpenEXR ? Using Layers & Channels from 3D ? Color Correction ? Pre-Multiplication | Pre-Div/Post-Multiply