Aaron Benitez shares some tips on how to learn visual effects without going to film school. Learn More About Filmmaking for Free: www.kingfilmsch... Learn About Visual Effects: vfxbro.com/
One thing I'll tell you guys... you will never know EVERYTHING when it comes to VFX... (after effects is just a tiny fraction) there are new boundaries constantly being formed and the industry is always advancing so you will need to keep up with it if you want to be relevant. I've been in the computer graphics field for 18 years now but I'm still learning new methods/tools/techniques... it never stops so u gotta love what you do ;)
***** Well you can read sites like fxguide dot com etc... Read the "what's new" info on new releases of 3D apps etc.. Nobody is gonna do it for you :p If you love what you do then you should do all this automatically..
Advection357 I Have used after effects alot but am still learning new and better ways as they comeout and I'm starting to learn cgi and modelling in Maya etc
I work at a VFX studio up here in Portland Oregon working on NBC's Grimm and we use After Effects for all of our compositing. We talked about upgrading to nuke but could not justify the massive cost doing so would take. Loved the video Aaron. Gives kids out there a much better grasp on all the aspects of the industry and a good way to approach entering it.
Just now seeing this video and this comment - no kidding! I'm an actor in Portland! You didn't work with a Lisa on the show, did you? She did some work on Grimm but I think she might've just worked as an extra... she works primarily in editing now but mentions AE a lot. Just did a short film with her last weekend. Go Portland!
and also if you want to get into editing, please do not buy a £1000 mac. you can build a desktop for the same price with far more superior specs that will run the editing program better and render videos faster.
To all of you who would like to enter the VFX and motion graphics. A good and simple and inexpensive place to start is to learn to draw and paint. That way you train your eye to see while you develop an understanding of colors for compositing later on. It can be good for someone to enter a film or design school to learn and to meet other people you can exchange experience with. Good luck out there.
VFX bro got me started on VFX! Thats why im in this industry today. Doing mostly film for corporates and vfx in my own time. Would love to see a "How to plan a big VFX shot". From visualizing to on set and finally the post production work.
Hopefully these tips will guide me throughout my years in school for this course next year. I somewhat got into Visual Effects not knowing what they do exception to 3D and maybe their motions to the video to make it look real. I hope this will really help me, just thank you so much in advance!
Its a great video. I am also self taught visual fx artist, and you as intimidating as the field seems, you can learn everything yourself if you are motivated enough. I started as 3D artist and transitioned into visual fx so I can do 3D integration and build scenes that are just don't exists in the real world. Even Studio programs are offered to students for free or discounted prices cause we are not all made of cash especially when were learning. Great intro video.
Hi, I just completed a physics degree. I would like to transition into the visual effects industry but I'm pretty confused as to which route should I take, if I should go and do a graduate certificate course in a college, do short courses in companies that offers them, or just try to learn on my own and make a portfolio from there? I've started making 3D models with Maya. Any advice on what should I do next? My aim is to eventually be a FX technical director.
Aaron, Thank you very much for your tips and first orientation for beginners on VFX/motion graphics like myself. I got here searching for tutorials and there you were: The same guy who made funny cheesy videos with two rival cats that my little girl loves so much to watch over and over. What a nice surprise and I'm glad that you have made a professional career out of this.
I am a compositor working in Vancouver, BC, if anyone in the area has any questions or advice about the industry i'd be happy to help. I know i had so many questions starting out, joining the comp team at a major studio was very intimidating as a junior, but most people quickly find out how fun it can be working in vfx
Aleksandar Hardi hey , im a junior in highschool and I’m very interested in visual effects or motion graphics .. what should i Major in at college ? And what is the salary?
I'm still very new to this tho I study a little bit about film but we did not really went into editing, i'll spend my vacant hours watching you videos and hopefully I'd have more knowledge as well. Tysm!
good stuff...i think it is with adding that beginners should try working with open source programs to start ...it's a good testing ground and frankly most kids won't have the means to afford the commercial software or the hardware needed to run em...the key requirement for this work is PATIENCE..if a kid cannot discipline themselves with OS..then buying is an utter waste of cash...
you are the best I understand everything you said making a 100% sense thanks for making this video it has helped me realize my future goals to achieve let's hope and pray that I do achieve them thanks again keep up the good work 😇✓
How to get started: Learn Linux Learn Python Learn Nuke Learn Mocha Pro Learn a 3D package like Maya Learn Plugins for 3D Package: Krakatoa, FumeFX, Yeti, AfterBurn, etc... Sign up for online training courses at Pluralsight, Gnomon Workshop, FXPHD, CGMA, etc... Practice, Practice, Practice!!! Check out the VES, Visual Effects Society and download their learning resources. Clean Up work will account for more than half of the work you do EVERY SINGLE DAY. Get used to it, if it makes you want to jump out of a window then VFX is NOT for you. Best advice ever: NEVER STOP LEARNING. Technology is constantly evolving and the standards change. Change with the times or fall behind. I also highly recommend understanding rendering, file formats, Color Theory, PBR (Physically Based Rendering), and RenderMan (or 3Delight; RenderMan and Arnold are HEAVILY used in the VFX/CG Industry)
Very nice and very professional presentation! Well done, thumbs up. I found this a neat inspirational push for me to really try After Effects out. As i have a ton of projects in my mind's eye to try and do sometime in the near future!
hello aaron! im planning to buy a macbook pro 15 inch 2017 for animation and vfx what do you suggest is it fine or can you suggest me a suitable laptop
Hey...good video...but correct me if I am wrong. I know what visual effects is and I know what motion graphics is. Although they are not my area of expertise. But from your video starting at 3:11, that looks like visual effects to me but you were describing motion graphics. Based on your definition of visual effects, that's visual effects because it uses real life footage: the car and the environment. All the examples you used appears to me as visual effects. Motion graphics is animated illustrations, text, and pictures combined with sound to tell a story. And none of the examples you used when talking about motion graphics illustrated that. Is it some kind of error or is my understanding wrong?
I would like to ask if we need to have a high-end pc when we're trying out motion graphics? I myself don't have any high-end pc as I am only using a laptop but I would like to learn how to edit videos. :)
Veridis Duo You can do all kinds of basics with a really crappy computer. You need a good computer for really complex or long projects, But at least learn the basics before worrying about your computer's power.
Veridis Duo i7+ at least. Dont be like me where i thoguht i5 would be sufficient. To do intense VFX work in AE, 3dsmax etc, you need at least an i7 with really good graphics card, lots of ram etc.
Veridis Duo For editing, you need lot of RAM to preview your editing, fast HD to lower your times when rendering your VDO. But today anyone can using their laptop for editing. It's efficient enough. If you still worry about spec, you may looking for Sony Vegas software, it's simple, fast and not a RAM eater.
If you want to do something like the Pixar stuff - Maya would be the way to go. It's industry standart for character modelling, UV, texturing (you need to know Photoshop and Substance Painter here), rigging, animation, lighting and rendering. (you can almost do all of this stuff also in Blender 3D for free - but if you want to work in the industry you need to know that almost nobody uses that....so better learn Maya in the first place) However you would also need to learn a compositing software. Like he said After Effects is a possibility but Nuke is the standart here. If your movie also contains some sort of simulations - like fire, explosion, ocean waves...etc....you would also need to learn Houdini. Then you need to master a film editing software for the final edit of your film + global color grading and whatnot. (Adobe Premiere) Still your movie has no sound and music. For that you would need to learn some sort of a DAW like Pro Tools or Cubase. You see it's impossible to learn all of them. Pick a specific task you want to learn to perfection and then try to get a job in your field. Creating a whole movie on your own is next to impossible...unless it's like five minutes long and you really have a shit ton of time :-D
Ok, How much ram is really recommended for these types of visual effects, especially using Maya? I would have something pop up about the ram and how slow it will get when clicking to render anything?
Hey I want to help my country to improve their effects cause here in my country their graphics is far behind compare to another country! Which effects I need to learn and anyway I don't have much know about the effects right now but I really wanted to learn. Cheers mate!
I used to study procedural modeling in Houdini and Softimage, but it's so dificult when you just have whole knowledge about modeling instead of all. I stopped for a good time until understand animation concepts..... Someone have any tip ?
Why not start with something more simple that will give you a good base? Like polymesh modelling with subdivisions. Animating concepts depend from the tools you are using... different software have different animation abilities. But the core concept of animation that is shared in most apps involves setting keyframes (the value of some objects position or size or color etc) at some intervals on a timeline, and the computer fills in the animation between the keys you set. In a robust and powerful app like Softimage (which is my main app btw) you can animate almost any parameter of any object that you create... so it's a bit of a creative process as well as technical... all about getting to know the tools in the software... which will open up your perception of what can be achieved and how... and as you learn more and more tools the possibilities will broaden... until at some point you can pretty much make anything you want... just a question of time at that point. I hope that gave you a better picture... ;)
good info...but in that i am legend scene after you projected the images in c4d...did you track that same scene in ae? that would be the only way to track yourself in right? or did you track the camera the same way you animated the 3d camera in c4d? i don’t quite understand that technique..please explain thanx bro
He bluescreened his walking video and projected that on a flat plane in C4D the same way he did the buildings (basically used a video sequence as a texture on a flat 3D object.. as opposed to a single image for the buildings) After that he just animated the 3D camera moving up in C4D... no tracking involved. He may have possibly made the flat plane of his video projection move forward towards the buildings in C4D as well and eyeballed the distance to match it with the distance traveled in the video projection images... he left some steps out but that's my best guess at breaking it down.
From my understanding of the industry, just based on what I've hear and seen in videos, w/ the larger vfx house's you primarily have one job such as animating, texturing, composting, etc. and usually at the smaller companies you need to be more of a generalist.
When youre a freelancer, is it best to have a laptop or a desktop at home to work from? Curious as to what I want to do with my budget. I only have 1k to spend and I'm definitely interested into investing into upgrading my specs. I already have an okay desktop (i5, 12gbs ram, and gtx 660). Should I invest in my desktop or a laptop? Any replies appreciated.
