Behind the Magic of Rango – The Characters!

Excerpts -
“..Everything in the film was key frame animated..” – Tim Alexander, VFX Supervisor
“..All the characters in the film are asymmetrical, which makes them look more organic..” – Tim

Nuke was the main compositing package used by the artists at ILM in the film.

The Best VFX School? The ‘A’ list of VFX schools!

I've been looking for the answer myself for the last 3-4 years and after doing a lot of research(internet and otherwise), I am finally now a student of Seneca College(Toronto, Canada), but I had my own reasons and restrictions and the case might be completely different for you(so read ahead before making any decisions).
Here’s a list of schools that I considered, and the positives and negatives that I weighed before shortlisting Seneca -
1. Gnomon School of Visual Effects, California (USA) - http://www.gnomonschool.com/

Well, I like calling it ‘Kind-of-a-Big-Deal’ School! One, It’s hard to get in! and Two, It’s probably the most expensive out there. I spoke to 2 of their alumni and they spoke very highly of it, not just that, their showreel speaks for itself -

Gnomon Student Work Compilation 2011 from Gnomon School of Visual Effects on Vimeo.

Positives – High Profile, Great Reviews, Proximity to Hollywood.
Negatives – Really Expensive

2. Academy of Art University, California (USA)

The only school(now, SCAD does too) I know of which offers a master’s degree(MFA) in visual effects. This was a sure-fire choice for me, it’s not that difficult to get in and its not that expensive either. The only reason I didn't go for it is because they don’t recognise 3-year degrees(most US universities don’t) and hence were offering me to enrol in their undergrad program(which I wasn't interested in). Every year they have a huge showcase of their student’s work and a lot of students are hired by renowned employers on this occasion.

Positives – Master’s degree in VFX, yearly student showcase attended by BIG studios.
Negatives – Doesn’t recognise 3-year degrees

3. Savannah College of Art & Design(SCAD), Atlanta&Savannah (USA)

SCAD, has very recently started offering Master’s in VFX as  well(In fact, i wasn’t aware of this before writing this article). I didn’t even try applying as it was really expensive!
Positives – Master’s degree in VFX, An established brand name.
Negatives – Doesn’t recognise 3-year degrees, difficult to get in.

4. Sheridan Institute of Technology, Oakville, Canada  -http://cfprod.sheridaninstitute.ca/program_micro/pcanm/

Now, Sheridan is known as one of the best animation schools in the world! but, according to my research, their VFX programs are not as good! Frankly, since I was keen on doing VFX from Canada, I was confused between Sheridan and Seneca(my final shortlist) but then a few reviews from alumni of both the school made me decide on Seneca. The review from the Sheridan grad was great as well but I couldn't find many showreels of this the graduates of this program online(as opposed to Seneca). Also, it is slightly more expensive than Seneca. Both of these colleges offer an 8-month PG diploma in VFX, which, depending on your situation might be good or bad!
Positives – An established brand name, not that expensive
Negatives – not many student showreels online(I could only find one)

5. Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology, Toronto, Canada - http://www.senecavfx.com/



I got to talk with a lot of Seneca-VFX graduates and all of them said nice things about the program and professors. After one semester, I am glad I made the right choice. The professors are really amazing and are all working in the Industry so they keep us updated about the latest tools&techniques. Here’s their latest Students Showcase -

Positives – Not that expensive, a lot of student showreels online.
Negatives – Not as easy to get in.

5. Vancouver Film School(VFS), Vancouver, Canada - http://www.vfs.com/

Hands down, the best VFX school. EVER! But, its so expensive that you might think twice before even thinking! That being said, there are a lot of student showreels online to watch and all of them are phenomenal. Also voted as the ‘Best 1-year 3d Animation and VFX program in the world’ by 3D World Magazine.
Positives – A HUGE brand name, a lot of student show reels online, recommended by almost everyone.
Negatives – EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE(international students)

6. Bournemouth University, Dorset, UK - http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/?sub=41

Bournemouth is a pretty famous university but there master’s program in visual effects is completely based on programming and technical troubleshooting rather than making(or breaking) stuff.
Positives – One year Master’s degree
Negatives –  technical course, requires a technical background

7. Escape Studios, London, UK



Escape studios is known for offering short-term intensive courses in visual effects, in specific VFX fields(compositing, etc.)
Positives – Short-Term courses, In-house Studio
Negatives – Really Expensive

Final Thoughts – Being an international student I was more bent towards Canadian Schools than US or UK schools because of the easier immigration laws and usually cheaper tuition fees. You get to work for 3 years after a 2 year program in Canada which might not be the case if you study in UK or the US.  Getting a job in the field of visual effects totally depends on your portfolio, so as long as you are dedicated towards a great looking portfolio you WILL get a job no matter which school you are from(or even home or internet-schooled).That being said, I chose Seneca for its in Canada(easy immigration laws), its not-that-expensive and the great alumni feedback.

VFX Showreel of the week!

 

While browsing through vfx showreels this morning, I came across this one and what I loved was it wasn't your everyday regular VFX reel, it was different!

Pros – The concept, execution, composite.

Cons – The base of the catapult is a giveaway. some debris down there would have helped.

Overall – What a brilliant(and fun) concept to show of your skills! Great Job!

The Best CG Car Crashes!

Here are some of the best CG Car Crashes I could find on the web -
5.

Everything’s perfect except the smoke which looks a bit too cg.

4. Just love the lighting..the tire in the end steals the show!

3. The ‘Timewarp’ adds a nice touch to the overall feel, i love how the CG hands feel so organic!




2. This. is probably the most realistic CG car crash you’ll ever see, the most realistic model infact! is that CG?




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1. And the best one – (pheww, it took me 3 days to find this clip again) -

I like the plot, the whole point-of-view idea, i mean its almost believable until 00:36 after which the too CG looking fire spoils it, but hats-off! The trick is the fast speed of the car!
The CG models might not be as believable but i like the overall idea!

Best VFX films of 2011!

Here’s a round up of what I believe were the best visual effects films of this year -

5. Source Code

Honestly, this movie was a complete surprise. When I first saw the trailer last year I thought this is going to be another ‘time-machine’ flick! Even thought it was based on a somewhat similar principle but I loved it! Imagine the budget. All they needed as the set was the train and the dump he ends up in, that’s it! not super-high on vfx but still I couldn’t find any flaws.

 

4. Green Lantern

This movie was particularly heavy on CG elements, however I wasn’t too happy with the green objects, probably issues with compositing. Anyway, I loved the suit!

 

3. Cowboys and Aliens

I really liked the plot set in the cowboys era.  BTW, the cuff/bangle was not cg.

 

2. Hugo

Honestly, I haven’t yet seen the film(if I had this would probably be on the first position)but the trailer looks promising and I KNOW its gonna be an awesome movie. It’s the next on my watchlist and the trailer is just more than enough to know the quality of the effects. The entire cityscape is CG and really the railway terminal has some commendable fx shots!

1. Captain America: The First Avenger

and the winner is… Breathtaking vfx shots, the best superhero suit and what stole the show was the comic like effects! I lovvvvved the storyline and Chris Evans was probably the best choice.

Why are VFX artists not getting what they deserve?

These days, Its not the stars who are attracting the audience, but the VFX sequences. People don’t like a dialogue just ‘cause its Tom Cruise delivering it, they like it ‘cause he is delivering it while falling down a 90 ft. building and of course, even a 10 yr. old boy knows these days that it CANNOT be done without the use of what’s commonly called – ‘effects’ or ‘special effects’.
Alice in Wonderland(2010), one of Hollywood's top-grossers of all time depended almost entirely on VFX and CG scenes. Its true that Hollywood’s biggest star, Johnny Depp, was a part of of the project but its not he who created the magic. Gone are those days when a film totally depended on actors to become a success, these days the audience is attracted by mind-boggling scenes, be it the 360 degree bending of roads in Inception(2010) or the fracturing of the mountains in 2012, created by our very own, VFX artists! by us!


Tragically, most of the visual effects studios and other companies involved with CG imagery have died down. Why? I guess you already have an idea, the constant fight to keep the overall project cost down!
The only survivors are those fortunate enough to be bought, owned or managed by huge studios with pockets big enough to buffer the pressure of keeping the costs down.

The constant fight between different VFX facilities to grab a project forces them to keep their ‘Invoice Quote’ down and low, the consequences of which are faced not just by the VFX artists but by the entire industry. The VFX company owners need to know the fact that Hollywood depends on us with increased use of visual effects in almost every major Hollywood film these days and its only going to increase. It’s time we form a union, or something like that, and fix price slabs for every particular ‘kind’ of CG work and no facility under any circumstance is to decrease the quote below the bare-minimum slab. VES(Visual Effects Society) has recently come up with a VFX Bill of Rights(which I will talk about sometime later), also containing some very important points, should be made a part of the contract(or whatever they call it) which the visual effects company makes the client sign. This, to start with, will atleast bring some stabilization in our industry and encourage more entrepreneurs(who are scared of the tumbling industry position) to open their own VFX facilities which in turn will bring in more jobs.
Signing of,
Sukrit Sachdeva

“..around 1200 vfx shots for a non-vfx movie..”

Chas Jarrett divulges the latest VFX secrets behind the Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes sequel in an exclusive interview with Bill Desowitz of Awn.com.

 

 

 

"We have around 1,200 vfx shots, which, again, for a 'non-vfx driven' movie, is quite a chunk. And we were following in the footsteps of the previous movie and we all had a cool vocabulary together among the returning crew. And I personally thought there were some places where we could up the ante. So this was about how to grow the film rather than reinventing it." – Chris Jarrett

..for the entire interview - http://www.awn.com/articles/upping-victorian-ante-game-shadows

courtesy – awn.com

Keloid Trailer, A film by BLR

BLR claims everything in the video is CG. If that’s true, I think its time we don’t need live action!

Pheww! P5C3MSKNJNGC

Alice in Wonderland–Behind the Scenes

Now this is what Im talking about!

Just came across this video on YouTube.
Super Clean composite, awesome lighting! Give this a look -