https://www.gener8.com/

After one year of exhaustive work its finished. I have finally graduated from Vancouver Film School, Finished my demo reel, and completed my resolutions. the number of hours I spent in that VFS building at my workstation is staggering. Over a period of 4 months my average time in the building was 109 hrs per week. there were sleepless nights and many rainy days but I, with some help some important people, got through it. I have some many people to thank and some of which who don’t know they need much thanks. As of Nov 2 I am Alumni of VFS. I am also now a employee of Gener8 of Vancouver. Its so exciting to me to finally be in the direct path of my dream. I will be working on major motion pictures and working under one of my idols Mark Lasoff. Its a 6 month contract and I cannot wait to start! On top of that I am now working my way back into normal life. Focusing my goals and attuning myself to my abilities and strengths. I am so happy for the opportunity and chance that I have been given. The truth is now I don’t have to actually work a day in my life because I am really doing what I love to do. Make Films.

For almost 35 years, George Lucas has built a film production empire. ILM and Skywalker Sound, just two of the companies Mr.Lucas has built, have contributed to the VFX and Film Industry for many years. They will continue though under what seems a different flag. With a staggering price tag of 4.05 Billion Dollars, Disney has bought the Film Productions Empire that is Lucas Films. Disney is known for much more than Animation and Amusement Parks. ESPN, ABC, Pixar, and Marvel are all Disney associated or owned companies. Now, Lucas Films is part of this large line of media powerhouses controlled by disney. I doubt Lucas Films will change much as they are due to Produce another Stars Wars film for 2015. Companies inside Lucas Films like ILM might see some change but Disney is quite content with the state of Lucas Films so I doubt there will be any noticeable change and I am sure companies like ILM will remain on the forefront of VFX engineering and creation.

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So I think my first topic of order is going to be rolling shutter and data acquisition. Was able to get a 15 day trial for it so I plan on using it for a quick pdf tutorial.

FINALLY! after some R&R and alittle research my website is coming together!

The Goal fo this website is to showcase my work and also provide a valuable resource for artists and movie lovers.

My hope is to start creating some tutorials but not in the sense of ‘how to use’ or ‘Getting started’ there are thousands fo resources for that. I feel there is a need for two types of tutorial levels. Artistic and Technical.

what do I plan to cover in the time to come you ask?

This site is not only my portfolio but my portal to share knowledge. I wanna cover things that other people miss. Python Scripting, Nuke Color Theory, creating Effects with purpose, and understanding the concepts and ideas of VFX. I think a lot of tutorials mostly cover tools. Which is great!….. for experienced artists. Learning the tools isn’t hard, once you learn one 3D Application you kinda know them all. The hard part is the theory, ideas, and concepts. How do we can a realistic looking glass shader and why do we do it this way? How can we can three different concrete shatters so that each one represents a different impact, weight, material or emotion? I will start with the basics. In nuke the grade and merge node. In Maya, building composition. In Houdini, understanding procedural process and why should we use it. I will get into mah and the dirty technical stuff. I will try and cover project workflow. These tutorials aren’t for just learning programs and tools. Its for learning the art and science of what we do. As Robert Legato put ” The art of creating awe” or as Andrew Stanton says “The Art of Story telling”. So to lay it out the idea is simple share the knowledge I have as an artist and student of my own career/craft.

The Artistic Tutorials will be about ‘The Art of Visual Effects’. Including ideas like correction theory and how to create appealing compositions. Not only are these ideas important its essential to develop your own style. I am a firm believer that personal style is derived from other people’s style. By sharing mine I hope to somehow give inspiration. The artistic style tutorials will be application based for the most part. I will spend a lot of time talking about ‘Why?’. Why do we choose the colors we do? Why does this look better than that? Its my opinion that asking ‘Why?’ & ‘How?’ is the only way we can grow as artists and users. If we understand the why and how we can then create new techniques and styles.

As for the Technical Tutorials this will be mostly about the under the hood aspects of the artistic. I am more technical than artistic in my mind. I use the technical world to help me understand the artistic side of things along with the rest of the world. I am part of a rare breed of people. So I understand that artists are not drawn to the technical but you shouldn’t shy away from it. Just as I don’t shy away from the Artistic, neither should the artistic hide from the technical. Math may be confusing but understanding the math and tech under the hood of what we do even a little bit can allow us to better trouble shoot, problem solve, create, and collaborate on new levels while becoming become stronger users and artists.

Lastly,
I am no EXPERT. I just graduated from Vancouver Film School and I am 20. I just received my first job so I will always talk based on what I know to be true (or believe to be true). If I am wrong at some point PLEASE! Let me know so I can correct the issue. there are plenty of more experienced artists out there and if you are one of them and have a different approach to my ideas or a BETTER one! Show me! I will be so thrilled!

I hope you guys enjoy the site and hopefully I can give something in return!

Cheers!

Andrew Paxson