Keentools, the creators of FaceBuilder, have recently released the beta version of GeoTracker, their automatic geometry tracking tool. It’s a really amazing tool, and to see it ported to Blender is just incredible! I couldn’t be happier about this. I’ve used both FaceBuilder and GeoTracker at my workplace for many years.
(more…)Work
Facebuilder update & release
Keentools Facebuilder for Blender is out of beta testing and is officially released! It’s had some updates, and Keentools has even posted a 50% code that’s good until March 5, 2020.
(more…)My Advice for becoming a VFX artist
Since starting this blog, I’m emailed a couple times a week by people asking for advice about the VFX industry. I’m usually asked:
- How do I get started in the VFX industry?
- How can I become really good at VFX?
- What goes on my resume/reel? Will you look at it?
- Everyone says I have to learn Maya/Nuke/Houdini, is that true?
- Do I need a degree?
- Can I learn online?
- Where can I get started learning Blender/Nuke/Natron?
Matchmoving by Hand
Today we’re going to take a quick look at matchmoving objects – but not by tracking multiple features and solving for the camera and object. Basically, not the normal way you would expect. This is how to hack and cheat matchmoving things that have no markers.
(more…)The ClothFX add-on
If you’ve seen my presentation from the 2017 Blender Conference, you saw a transition effect I did for the TV show “Star” (check out 15:45 minutes into my presentation). The director wanted a transition into the mind of an actress to show what she’s thinking about, and described it as if a pencil is poking through from inside her head, and then the frame tears apart from that point, revealing the next shot underneath. (more…)
Blender Conference 2017
I attended my third Blender Conference this year. Third! That’s crazy! I remember before I had ever gone to one, wondering what it was like, how fun it must be to be around that many Blender users, what Amsterdam is like, what the Blender Institute is like. And now it’s the place I’ve been to the most outside of my own country! (more…)
BlenderGuru Podcast
In a pleasant turn of events, it just so happens that both Ton Roosendaal and Andrew Price are here in Los Angeles for a few weeks, both working on different business-related things. With Colin Levy now a local resident, we all couldn’t resist getting together at a local Taiwanese restaurant for a fun evening. (more…)
2017 Emmy Awards
The 2017 Creative Arts Emmys happened last week, and CoSA VFX, where I work, brought home some wins this year! (more…)
Intro to Compositing in Natron
Finally, I’ve finished this up and I’m getting it out there! The first Natron tutorial for OpenVisualFX. If you haven’t heard of Natron, it’s an open source compositing program very similar to Nuke. In fact, it’s similar enough that if you know one, you know the other. I wanted to come up with a fun scene with some relatively standard compositing work, the kind of thing an artist at a professional studio is going to be doing all the time, and the TNT television show The Last Ship gave me the perfect opportunity. (more…)
Using Blender’s Vector Pass in Nuke
Wow. Sometimes you think something will be easy and automatic, and then reality steps in and yells “Nope!” right in your face. This is one of those common things a compositor runs into almost daily – using a vector pass from a 3D program to add motion blur in post. Using a vector pass speeds up the 3D rendering and lets the compositor make adjustments to the motion blur without having to re-render any 3D elements.
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