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These are the courses available from which to choose. AFX203 AFX205 AFX207 AFX213 AFX222 AUD102 AVD201 BKD221 C4D101 C4D102 C4D205 DOP202 DOP213 FUM201 HOU203 MAX202 MOD301 MOG210 MTH101 MYA102 MYA212 MYA213 After Effects: Project A to Z After Effects Motion Graphics II After Effects: From the Archives After Effects Broadcast Design with Red Giant After Effects Broadcast Design An Audio Production Primer Avid Media Composer 5.5 Background Fundamentals July11 Introduction to Cinema 4D Introduction to Cinema 4D II Cinema 4D and Design III On-Set Lighting DSLR Filmmaking Intermediate Fume FX Water Effects Visual Effects Techniques with 3DSMax Advanced Environment Modelling The Broadcast Ident Mathematics for Visual Effects and Design An Introduction to Maya 2011 Integrating Maya and Nuke Maya Rendering and Lighting MYA214 NUK103 NUK204 NUK213 NUK303 NUK304 NUK305 PFM101 PFT203 PHY101 PRM201 PRM202 RED210 RFL201 RFL202 SIL201 SMK104 SMK204 SMK205 SYN102 VUE201 Maya Lighting and Rendering in Production Introduction to Nuke Intermediate Nuke Nuke Stereoscopic Workshop Nuke Stereoscopic Master Class Advanced Nuke III Project Masterclass: The Machine Introduction to PFMatchIt PFTrack 2011: Tracking Challenges Introduction to Physics Intermediate Premiere Pro CS5 Premiere Pro for the Filmmaker Comprehensive Guide to RED Shooting & Post Particles and Dynamics using RealFlow Real Flow 5 Project Workshop Intermediate SilhouetteFX Introduction to Smoke on Mac Intermediate Smoke/Flame III Intermediate Smoke/Flame IV Introduction to SynthEyes 2011 A Comprehensive Guide to Vue

Courses Available Available for for Additional Additional Purchase Purchase from from "The "The Vault" Vault" Courses
These offerings are available to members for purchase and immediate download. They are not counted as part of the standard membership and available for an additional fee. If you'd like to find out more about The Vault and how it works, please see our faq. BKD102 BKD103 BKD104 BKD210 DOP210 DOP211 FLM102 FLM203 FLM204 FLM205 FUS101 FUS202 HOU101 HOU201 Collection: General Interest Collection: Lights, Camera, ... Action Collection: LUTs, Gamma and 3D VFX Supervisors DSLR Cinematography DSLR Cinematography: Nature Introduction to Flame Flame in Production II Flame, Smoke, Expressions and More Flame on Red Dwarf Introduction to Fusion Intermediate Fusion 6 Introduction to Houdini Houdini Production Techniques MIN201 MOC101 MSV101 MSV201 MYA301 PHT201 PHT202 PST201 RED203 SYN201 VFX101 VRY101 XSI201 XSI202 Stop Frame Animation and Miniatures Introduction to Mocha Introduction to Massive Massive in Production Maya in Production: Moving Day Digital Photography Digital Photography for VFX Building a Post Boutique: Hootenanny Case Study RED One Production Intermediate SynthEyes Intro to Compositing with Ron Brinkmann Introduction to V-Ray Lighting in XSI Production with XSI

Course Descriptions Descriptions Course

AFX203 - After Effects: Project A to

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Z
Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) This course will work through "The Future of DRM" greenscreen project over the duration of the term, with the goal of collaborating with other fxphd members to achieve a final piece. The piece involves a cynical look at where the future of DRM might go. Our talent is sitting at a bar or nightclub having a drink and watching music videos. In order to play the songs, they must work their way through an increasingly complex DRM approval process. This is a greenscreen project, and we will be distributing all of the shots in the piece as 10-bit RED 1K DPX files, so members will have access to the complete cut for the project. It provides a lot of possibilities for artists to stretch their creative wings -- from designing a virtual environment for the talent (is it photoreal or stylized?) to creating an interactive table UI to developing and integrating a HUD. The course will be lead by John Montgomery, Mark Christiansen, and Danny Princz, each bringing their own creative thoughts to the process. In addition to After Effects, other applications will be used as well...because in the production of visual effects artists rely on multiple applications. It's a misnomer to think all work for a project is done in one appliation. We will also provide feedback in the forums on member work that is part of the course -- as one of the best ways of learning is to get constructive input from other artists. Click to view individual classes....

AFX205 - After Effects Motion Graphics II

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC) This course first ran in our April09 Term, but still contains a ton of great tips and techniques. We know many of you weren't part of fxphd back then, so we're running this repeat from the archives. Tim Clapham from Luxx, returns to explore the use of Adobe After Effects for the production of Motion Graphics. The classes will be mostly project based, with tips and tricks for creating stunning visuals. Clapham will demonstrate methods to facilitate an efficient workflow. As well as working in After Effects, working with 3D applications will also be discussed, specifically utilizing Cinema4D for mulitpass renders, After Effects integration and avoiding common gotchas. The course will encompass the use of expressions to speed up production and enhance creativity. Clapham be using After Effects CS3 (members can also use CS4), with some content being discussed in Cinema4D r11. Click to view individual classes....

AFX207 - After Effects: From the Archives

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) Weve had a lot of great courses in After Effects over the years at fxphd, but the problem is that we dont have the capacity to run all the courses all the time. Also, as features in the software evolve, some classes become a bit out of date with the current release. That being said, there are many classes which are timeless and have a ton of great information and techniques. So weve selected some our members favorites and brought them together in a single course. Some classes are even two parts -- made up of two individual classes from a previous course. Were hoping it makes this course accessible to members who might have taken one of the previous offerings. The first three classes are from designer Mark Coleran, who breaks down creating UI graphics for feature films. You've seen Coleran's work on screens and UI in such films as The Bourne Ultimatum, The Island, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, and The World is Not Enough. Hes also on the development team for GridIron Softwares Flow, lending his fake UI skills to a real UI. Other highlights include Danny Princzs breakdown of a cool project he did for the MSG network, creating a hockey rink in 3D. Mark Christiansen gets artists up and using expressions quickly in AE as well as works through a spec tv promo project. John Montgomery shows how to use scripting in AE to automate tasks and also provides insight into how, as a one man band, he created the entire graphics bed for the ESPN New Years Eve broadcast from Times Square in just over three weeks time. Click to view individual classes....

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AFX213 - After Effects Broadcast Design with Red Giant

Professor: harry frank (graymachine) We're excited to have a new After Effects course lead by a familiar name in the motion graphics industry, designer Harry Frank. This practical, software-based course will focus on creating a professional broadcast graphics package from scratch. Harry has done numerous high-profile national broadcast packages over the year for networks such as NBC, ABC, Fox, and G4TV. One of the strengths of After Effects is its plug in architecture and offerings such as Trapcode Particular, Form, and Lux are workhorses of mograph artists. Over the ten weeks, After Effects will be at the center of the course in conjunction with these and other plug ins from Red Giant Software. In the broadcast industry, turn-around times for deliverables can be short, which makes efficiency a key component of being a professional motion designer. We need to have the right tools at our fingertips with an in-depth understanding of them to achieve this. This will be the core focus of this course: accelerating your creativity with your tools. In AFX213, students will be building a graphics package for a broadcast awards ceremony. We will build assets such as a short show open, logo animation, full screen graphic, lower third, and transitional elements. This class will give students the opportunity to be creative, building a graphics package from scratch. Students are encouraged to take advantage of this experience with peer and instructor review in a special work sharing forum on the site. Members have found this level of interaction to be extremely valueable part of the course. Harry originally studied music engineering and worked in both audio post-production and studio engineering, before entering the motion graphics field 12 years ago. He has worked in Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles as a freelance motion designer, with clients such as, Blur Studio, Digital Kitchen, and many more. As an instructor and author, he has authored numerous tutorials and training titles on motion design, After Effects Expressions, Trapcode Particular and Form, and Cinema 4D. In Detroit, he was an Adjunct Faculty at the College for Creative Studies. Harry is the owner of graymachine.com, and host of the networking site, themotionexchange.com Click to view individual classes....

AFX222 - After Effects Broadcast Design

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC) This course is one of the most popular ones we've ever run at fxphd, and we're excited to be presenting an encore presentation of the offering. Tim Clapham, one of our most popular profs at fxphd, will be running the course. Tim owns and runs his own Motion Graphics and animation company, Luxx, which is based in Sydney, AU. After Effects is one of the main weapons of choice when it comes to producing Motion Graphics for Broadcast. Our new design-based course will be based around the principles and techniques of creating broadcast graphics with After Effects. Some of the lessons will be project based and explore different techniques to create animated sequences from beginning to end. Other lessons will look at specific areas of After Effects, such as the included particle systems and some 3rd party solutions. We will look at the interaction between 3D applications and After Effects, specifically compositing the different render passes and applying 3D data to the AE camera and effects. Other aspects of the course that will be covered include expressions, parenting, project management and workflow, working with type, shape layers and masks.

Click to view individual classes....

AUD102 - An Audio Production Primer

Professor: Cory Coken (coken57) Designed with the graphic artist, effects artist and editor in mind, this course will provide a solid foundation of knowledge of production and post-production audio. Taught by audio mixer/designer Cory Coken, the course will center on four core areas of audio: dialogue, sound effects, music, and mix. The course will be a series of on-camera classes covering techniques and approaches. Starting with production, we'll cover recording equipment, techniques, and microphone placement to record our own sound effects and dialogue. Next, we'll move into the studio setting, where students will develop aesthetic and technical skills, including sound effects editing, Foley, and sound design. To conclude the class, we'll go over the basics of sound mixing for film, web, and other mediums. We'll discuss and creatively execute the four elements of the soundtrack. The course will generally use an application-agnostic approach, showing various programs such as Nuendo, Soundtrack Pro, and Pro Tools. Professor Cory Coken began his career in the industry by building an extensive and impressive list of credits. Starting out working on feature films such as Batman Forever, Apollo 13, and Hoop Dreams, Coken developed a versatile background in sound. He eventually transitioned into advertising where he has created, recorded,

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and designed audio for television and radio commercials. A majority of his career was spent at Avenue Edit in Chicago where he spent 12 years working with clients such as Disney and Coca-Cola. In 2000, he built and created a new state of the art facility-allowing Avenue to provide clients with the best studios for post production sound. Now with over 15 years experience in the industry, Cory brings his knowledge, talent, and passion for audio to fxphd. Click to view individual classes....

AVD201 - Avid Media Composer 5.5

Professor: Liz Tate (liztate) The Media Composer made a major change in software in the last year with the release of MC 5.0, and its follow up this year, 5.5. This class takes you through the latest software in detail, including new workflows, the redesign of the timeline, and various added features within the Avid tools. Students should come to the class with a bit of knowledge about the software and ready to delve into the features within the toolsets. fxphd professor Liz Tate returns to helm the class. Tate graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Radio/TV/Film. In her 20+ year career in editing, she has mentored more than a dozen assistant editors to help them polish their skills to become editors. She recently partnered to start her own post-production company, Hootenanny, in 2008. Past and present clients include American Express, Southwest Airlines, Crate&Barrel, JCPenney, and Reebok. Click to view individual classes....

BKD221 - Background Fundamentals July11

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) Click to view individual classes....

C4D101 - Introduction to Cinema 4D

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC) The Cinema4D 101 course will be a practical approach to learning Maxon's Cinema4D. The course will cover everything needed to obtain a solid foundation in using the application. From understanding the interface, to modeling using the built in primitive and NURBs objects. An exploration of lighting and material creation, through to animation techniques, use of expressions and rendering possibilities. Specifically aimed at new users to the application, some experience of 3D would be advantageous, although not essential. After completing this course, you will have an in-depth understanding of the workflow and techniques required to work with Cinema4D in a production environment. Based in Sydney Australia, Tim Clapham is a multi-disciplinary animator and compositor. Evolving from a solid foundation in traditional animation using both Film and Video, Tim soon transitioned into the digital domain and has forged a solid career in the world of Motion Graphics. With over 11 years of industry experience, Tim is accomplished with many 3D animation and Digital Compositing applications. This knowledge has been the bedrock of his many successful training courses as a Professor for fxphd and a continuing relationship with Maxon Computer where Tim has worked as a beta tester for many years, and also contributes tutorials to their online learning resource cineversity. As the owner of Motion Graphics and Animation company Luxx, Tim is hands on with every project that the company produces. With a history of working with many global Advertising and Broadcast companies, the work Tim produces is both technically challenging whilst maintaining innovation and high quality. Click to view individual classes....

C4D102 - Introduction to Cinema 4D II

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC) This course will complement the C4D101 course and further develop your skillset when working with Maxons Cinema4D. Alongside the core Cinema4D concepts, the 102 course will include classes on using some of the popular modules available for Cinema4D, including Cloth, Sketch & Toon and MoGraph, as well as an introduction to

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using Bodypaint3D and understanding the concept of UV mapping and texture painting within the application. The classes will be both practical workshops and project based classes, further enhancing your experience of using the core Cinema4D application, Bodypaint3D and the available modules. Tim Clapham is a multi-disciplinary animator and compositor and one of our members favorite profs. With over 11 years of industry experience, Clapham is an industry recognized expert in Cinema 4D and After Effects. As Company Director at Luxx in Sydney, Australia, Tim works with a wide range of global advertising and broadcast companies, producing world-class content that is both technically challenging and innovative. Click to view individual classes....

C4D205 - Cinema 4D and Design III

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC) This course is aimed at the intermediate user, but certainly accessible to advanced beginners, this class will cover many features of the Cinema4D toolset. Alongside revealing some of his innovative techniques for working with the MoGraph module, Tim will also cover fundamental subjects and their application within Cinema4D, such as principles of lighting, working with audio, use of Xpresso to streamline workflow, multipass rendering and compositing with After Effects. Based in Sydney Australia, Tim Clapham is a multi-disciplinary animator and compositor. Evolving from a solid foundation in traditional animation using both Film and Video, Tim soon transitioned into the digital domain and has forged a solid career in the world of Motion Graphics. With over 11 years of industry experience, Tim is accomplished with many 3D animation and Digital Compositing applications. As the owner of Motion Graphics and Animation company Luxx, Tim is hands on with every project that the company produces. With a history of working with many global Advertising and Broadcast companies, the work Tim produces is both technically challenging whilst maintaining innovation and high quality. Click to view individual classes....

DOP202 - On-Set Lighting

Professor: Tom Gleeson (lensboy235) The main focus of this course will be on lighting from the point of view of a Cinematographer. Through practical lighting setups and problem solving, Director of Photography (DOP) Tom Gleeson, ACS, will explore how to light a scene and give it emotional resonance. Topics will include classic lighting setups, which lights to use, tricks and even how to work out a lighting budget from a bare script. Gleeson is an extremely experienced traditional film DOP who has worked with lighting TDs on films such as Happy Feet , Oscar winner for best animated film. He has also worked in television on reality series, being senior DOP on several series of Survivor (CBS), as well as working on episodic dramas. Tom is just finishing a stereoscopic project as DOP and was also DOP on fxphd's short film Moving Day . Click to view individual classes....

DOP213 - DSLR Filmmaking

Professor: Billy Sheahan (BillySheahan) In the past, we've traveled to Japan as well as the wilds of West Yellowstone to focus on DSLR filmmaking. In DOP213, we're staying close to home and focusing on one photographer's base of knowledge to bring a very approachable and practical course on DSLR filmmaking. Professor Billy Sheahan (billysheahan.com) has been shooting stills and video for over two decades. With the developments in DSLR cinematography, it's only in the past few years however that he's become happy with the the image he is able create with motion technology. His background as an award-winning editor and a passion for photography makes him the perfect fit for fxphd. His passion for both has enabled him to contribute his motion photography to major projects and national television commercials -- most accomplished more easily than you'd expect. He'll be showing you how this term. The course will walk you through filmmaking from Sheahan's perspective, with a bit of focus on model/live talent photography (though other areas will be covered as well) and how taking the simple path can lead to excellent visual results. Each week will feature an easy to accomplish mini shoot and resulting exercise for members. One week it might be to light with sources you might find in the average living room. The next week, to shoot day for night. Members will be encouraged to share their work with others in the forums.

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Click to view individual classes....

FUM201 - Intermediate Fume FX

Professor: Allan McKay (allanmckay) In Intermediate Fume FX, we jump right in the deep end, initially introducing a lot of the core concepts behind Fume FX and how Congruent Solvers work - such as Fume FX, Phoenix, Maya Fluids etc. all work. These fundamental subjects are crucial to understanding fluids, as well as getting more hands on in learning the initial steps to how Fume FX works, as well as its interface and a lot of its powerful key features. Throughout this workshop, all students will be challenged with a lot of high end content taken straight out of actual production shots from some of your favorite blockbuster Hollywood films. We cover a lot of key techniques and features used on a lot of todays latest feature films and look at a lot of the core knowledge that will be help in every case and allow you to take this knowledge further to apply in your own shots and on actual productions. Intermediate Fume FX is designed for Intermediate and Advanced users, but each lesson is explained in a way that most people should be able to keep up. This is a must have for all FX enthusiasts! Allan McKay is an award winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Director, originating from the Gold Coast of Australia and now living in Los Angeles in the United States. He has been in the industry for over 16 years, working Hollywood studios including Warner Brothers, Prime Focus Company Frantic Films, Emmy award winning Digital Dimension and Oscar nominated Blur Studio, as well as George Lucas Emmy award winning company Industrial Light and Magic. Working primarily on Hollywood films, some of his more recent effects sequences have been for Priest, The Last Airbender, Superman Returns, Daybreakers, Blade Trinity, Exorcist: The Beginning, Paycheck and dozens of other feature films.Allan himself has received dozens of awards, more recently he was awarded as a 3dsMax Master by Autodesk at 2007 SIGGRAPH. Click to view individual classes....

HOU203 - Water Effects

Professor: Jonathan Gilbert (itriix) This intermediate (pushing advanced) level course discusses fluid effects in Houdini. Profs Jonathan Gilbert and John Moncrief will help members of the course become familiar with Houdinis Dynamics Operators (DOPs) and the different fluid types: SPH, Voxel-Based and FLIP fluids. With this knowledge you will endeavor in a production oriented project to integrate a cg water fountain into a live action background plate. We will explore Houdinis Rigid Body Dynamics (RBD) for collision detection, FLIP fluids for the bulk of the water effects, DOPs Forces for wind, foam and spray using some built in shelf tools (whitecaps) and lastly, lighting, shading, rendering and compositing the final image. Gilbert is a freelance VFX artist with over six years of Houdini experience. He graduated with his MFA in 3D Animation and Visual Effects with a concentration in fluid dynamics from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He then worked at Side Effects Software Inc. building and teaching a series of basic and intermediate Pyro Effects classes in Santa Monica. More recently, Jonathan finished working on the last Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as a Technical Director at Gradient Effects. He also is currently a Professor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, building and teaching Advanced Houdini. Moncrief started working in VFX over ten years ago and has experience in Houdini, Maya, 3ds Max, After Effects, Shake, and just about every NLE you can think of. John just wrapped up 6 months working at Side Effects Software Inc. in Santa Monica where he created a library of Houdini training courses on FLIP fluids, DOPs and VOPs for industry professionals from various studios including Blizzard, Sony Entertainment and DreamWorks. He has one insane long-haired cat, horrible allergies, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Art degree in Visual Effects at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. Click to view individual classes....

MAX202 - Visual Effects Techniques with 3DSMax

Professor: Hristo Velev (Glacierise) The course goes into the techniques used in doing visual effects work with 3DS Max and its plugins - Thinking Particles, Rayfire, and FumeFX. Coming from a feature film production background, the focus is on quality and efficiency. It is a holistic view of the process - from planning, through fragmentation, rigid bodies, particles, fire/smoke, down to management and assembly. Hristo Velev is an effects artist at Pixomondo, delivering FX for projects like '2012' and 'Sucker Punch'.
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Click to view individual classes....

MOD301 - Advanced Environment Modelling

Professor: Wayne Robson (WayneRobson) For our first environment modelling-centric course at fxphd, Wayne Robson will be covering the creation of the highly detailed cathedral interior of Durham Cathedral in England. Its final use is as background to fair number of green screen live action plates, so a photo real asset is needed. Robson will cover the creation , texturing and final lighting and materials using combination of Mudbox and 3DSMax. Although these apps are used, other applications can be used as well using the same or very similar methods to those shown. The course will show from how to break down and plan a highly complex model to the final model and renders themselves which can be then used along with tracking data in the final shot. The course is for the vast part practical and targeted to the more advanced cg modeler. Whenever possible, Robson will show more than one way of achieving a goal so that the viewer has options when making models of their own when dealing with complex architectural forms such as the ones found in the cathedral interior of this course. Robson is the only digital sculptor to receive the Autodesk Master award for Mudbox. He has worked as a freelance digital artist and taught 3D & digital sculpture around the world and has lectured at the Vienna science academy. He is the programmer behind 'MudWalker' and the 'Wayne's Vector Displacement Shader' and as a freelance artist his work can be seen in TV, Games and Film. Robson is also the Author of many DVD tutorials, books and articles on 3D and has give the Autodesk Masterclass on Mudbox in 2009 & 2010. He is also an Autodesk Authorised Developer and Publisher. He is also a beta tester for more 3d applications than it is possible to list here. Click to view individual classes....

MOG210 - The Broadcast Ident

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC) Tim Clapham returns with a brand new course aimed at motion graphic designers and animators. This term, it's a bit of a departure from Clapham's previous typical course structure as he will be taking you through the development and animation of a channel ident from the initial concept stage, right through to the final rendering and delivery part of the process. In a previous term at fxphd, members were invited to design a logo for a fictional TV channel. The chosen design is the logo we will be using for our ident. The structure and workflow of this course will be similar to the typical studio workflow you would find when working on a real world production. Starting with design and concept, we then move on to discuss the shoot itself. Working with footage which was shot on the RED Epic, we will be choosing selects from our bin of clips and exploring various grade options within RED Cine. Next, we will take the selected clip into the animatic stage within Adobe After Effects, using this as a tool to block out our basic design and timing. Once the animatic is complete, the footage will be tracked and the 3D solution exported ready for match moving. An important part of any production is the design process and this will be an integral part of the course. Alongside creating our animatic and completing technical tasks such as tracking and modelling, we will also be exploring design options throughout the production. We will be working with Adobe Illustrator to develop various designs and graphic features. Creating elements using 3D modelling and texturing techniques in Cinema4D. Bringing all of this together in the form of style frames which will be the foundation for the ident look, grade and overall feel. The term will continue with elements being animated in both 2D and 3D. The indent will progress as the 3D multipass renders are output and the composite is developed. Finally, 2D graphic elements will be added and animated in post and the grading completed ready for final rendering. Click to view individual classes....

MTH101 - Mathematics for Visual Effects and Design

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) This course aims to provide a basis for Maths for the Artist that says "If I'd known Maths would have been central to effects and animation I would have paid attention in school!" Mike Seymour works through the major areas of maths that are useful to understand for visual effects and animation. This really is a maths course, teaching you both actual maths and the principles of areas of maths in more advanced areas. The aim is to equip you with the tools you need and to demystify the jargon - so

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you can understand the principles and approaches we use maths for everyday in production and post. Click to view individual classes....

MYA102 - An Introduction to Maya 2011

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard) Taught by Matt Leonard, this Maya course is aimed at those who have little or no experience in 3D, or post-grads who know another system, such 3DS Max or Softimage but want to expand their software skills. The course is designed to cover all the main areas of Maya's vast toolset including Modeling, Animation, Rigging, Muscles, nParticles, Dynamics, nCloth, Hair, Fur, Fluids, Shaders, UVs, Lighting, Cameras and Rendering. This course is entirely project focused and throughout the term well be working on a single shot featuring two animated characters chasing each other around in humorous way. The shot will be created with a final Stereoscopic output in mind and will utilize all areas of Maya mentioned above. An extra bonus class has also been added on to complete the project in Nuke. All models, animations, etc will be made available to complete each class so if you fall behind youll still be able to jump in at any class and follow along. Leonard has been in the 3D and visual effects industry for 19 years and has produced work for feature films, commercials and large corporate projects. He has spoken at various events and shows on behalf of Autodesk, The Foundry and eyeon Software. He has had articles published in magazines and journals and has beta tested Maya, Nuke, Fusion Particular and Mocha. He currently runs his own on-site training company in the UK and has trained artists from companies such as Framestore, MPC, Digital Domain and Mr. X. Click to view individual classes....

MYA212 - Integrating Maya and Nuke

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard) Taught by Matt Leonard, this Maya and Nuke Integration course is aimed at artist currently using Maya and Nuke, or are using just one package but regularly getting data from the other. The idea of the course is to cover the main areas of cross-over between the 2D world and 3D one such as Multipass, FBX and Colour Space Management. These are commonly used for such jobs as Set Extensions and Matte Paintings that are also covered as part of the course. Most of the classes are project focused and will end in a shot that you can use on your show-real. You will also end-up with a number of custom Nuke Gizmos and Maya scripts. During the course we will be using Maya 2010, mental ray, NukeX, MatchMover, Photoshop and maybe some Renderman and Vue. Leonard has been in the 3D and Visual Effects industry since 1991 and has produced work for feature films, commercials and large corporate projects. He has spoken at various events and shows on behalf of Autodesk, eyeon Software and The Foundry. He has had articles published in magazines and journals and has been of the beta test team for Maya, Mudbox, Fusion, NukeX and Mari. He currently runs his own on-site training company and has trained artists from companies such as Digital Domain, Framestore, Double Negative, and Animal Logic. Click to view individual classes....

MYA213 - Maya Rendering and Lighting

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard) Taught by Matt Leonard, this course is aimed at those who want to gain a greater understanding of digital lighting and texturing using both mental ray and Pixar's RenderMan for Maya. The course will cover not only what the tools do, but also why and when you would use then. Through out the course we'll remain as project focused as possible while also going in-depth into functionality and some compositing tricks (Nuke 6.2) for integrating CGI with live-action. Other topics will include Global Illumination, Final Gathering, Deep Shadows, HDR Lighting, mental ray Shaders, RenderMan Passes, and Camera Effects. Leonard has been in the 3D and visual effects industry for 19 years and has produced work for feature films, commercials and large corporate projects. He has trained and spoken at various events throughout the world and has been on the beta test teams for Maya, Nuke, Fusion, and Mari. For those of you who took the previous MYA211 course, this updated one is still going to be of benefit. Firstly because Maya's rendering system has changed
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dramatically over the last three years. Secondly mental ray has introduced new Shaders which tap directly into it's new render-pass system which we'll be touching on. Also RenderMan for Maya has drastically changed as well both in functionality and speed. Lastly the course is going to be more filmic based with less of a focus on archetectual visualisation. Click to view individual classes....

MYA214 - Maya Lighting and Rendering in Production

Professor: Robert Harrington (Rob_H) This course, taught by Robert Harrington, will cover lighting, shading and multi-pass rendering in Maya and mental ray. It will work directly with what Russell Dodgson will be doing this term in Nuke, using the same plates and providing all renders he wants. We too will be dabbling in Nuke, finding out why its good for us lighters in a way that Photoshop isn't. This course will reflect the production reality where you are part of a pipeline. The modelling, UV'ing and animating will have been prepared already, meaning our time is focused on getting the lighting and shading correct, and providing compositing with the render-passes they need. Along the way we will cover tricks, theories and guidelines to help get closer to reality. Harrington is a TD at Framestore, London, working in commercials. He first tried 3D while on a product design degree course, swapping marker pens and gouache for blindly clicking labels and pressing function-keys in 3D Studio for DOS. When his final year's work included an animation of a London Underground station just to show off a vending machine it became clear he'd found something interesting. He would go on to spend many years as a freelance illustrator, mostly doing stills in Lightwave. As using a hundred lights and motion-blur on one still made way for the mass global-illumination epoch, he returned to office life, working mostly on large-scale "architectural-branding" animations and the occasional more-fun escapade too. With the demise of easy credit leading to the demise of making cities, he moved to Framestore. Click to view individual classes....

NUK103 - Introduction to Nuke

Professor: Sean Devereaux (filmsoup) Taught by Sean Devereaux, this new introductory course will expand upon the Foundry Nuke tutorials produced by fxphd. Nuke version 6.1 software will be available over the VPN to fxphd postgrads for non-commercial use (OSX, Linux, and Windows versions). Devereaux has pushed pixels on over 25 feature films and 50 commercials. He is currently a vfx supervisor at ZERO VFX in Boston. His feature credits include Transformers, The Proposal, Peter Pan and Vanilla Sky and he has worked with some of the best studios in the world including Pixar, Digital Domain and Industrial Light+Magic. Click to view individual classes....

NUK204 - Intermediate Nuke

Professor: Sean Devereaux (filmsoup) Our new second-level intermediate Nuke X course picks up where the 100 level offering leaves off. Using Nuke X version 6, professor Sean Deveraux will work through concepts in the app as well as lead several project-based classes. The 3D compositing environment of Nuke is one of its strengths, so several classes will dive fully into this feature with practical, real-world examples. Deveraux will also be covering the nuts and bolts of setting up Nuke for automation as well as taking a first look at Gizmos, Nuke's "macro" functionality. The focus is on the type of work that any compositor might run into while working at a facility. Deveraux is our lead Nuke professor at fxphd. He has been using Nuke since 2000, working as a compositor at Digital Domain on Hollywood blockbusters such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I, Robot, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Using a variety of compositing packages, his freelance work has taken him to ILM (Transformers), Hydraulx (Rise of the Silver Surfer), and others. He is currently working at Brickyard VFX in Boston. This course serves as a replacement for NUK202, updated for Nuke version 6/X which will be available on the VPN once the release ships. Click to view individual classes....

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NUK213 - Nuke Stereoscopic Workshop

Professor: Daniel Smith (daniel3D) Taught by Daniel Smith, this intermediate level class builds upon the Nuk203 course and takes stereoscopic techniques to the next level. We will be looking at Nuke 6.2 and using its new tools like Point Cloud generator, Dope Sheet, and Modeler tools to enhance stereo production. We will address the significant changes that have happened to Ocula and delve deeper into the robust tool. The class will tackle each topic and then implement the technique into a few shots building them into a final comp from a FXPHD stereo short film. High quality footage with be provided and render passes to work along and build your reel. Later in the course we will cover using XYZ color space and creating DCI compliant DCP's for cinema projection. Daniel Smith has worked as an animator, compositor, and VFX supervisor for over 20 years. Daniel's career took him to pioneering previz on Judge Dredd, animating the famous M&M characters, compositing on films such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Spy Kids 3D. He has also been involved with stereoscopic film making for over a decade. Daniel is now the stereoscopic director and Nuke instructor for the Digital Animation and Visual Effects school in Orlando Florida. Click to view individual classes....

NUK303 - Nuke Stereoscopic Master Class

Professor: Russell Dodgson (dodger) Professor Russell Dodgson will be throwing you in the deep end with a 10 week look at a full stereo production exercise. Based around the presentations from the Foundrys recent Masterclass, Dodgson will be examining the project in intricate depth taking students from a raw plate through a variety of stereo production techniques including Ocula, Camera Projection, UV Mapping, Keying, 3d Texture Painting for compositors, Camera Tracking, Depth Grading and of course clean up. If you attended or watched the class in London, why should you join this course? While the masterclass was a great overview of the techniques used, this course will go into much greater detail and show much more specifically how the shot was finished. As with most fxphd courses, you'll also get access to the footage so that you can finish the shot yourself. By approaching the shot from a variety of angles the course will take you in detail through a wide range of nukes capabilities and how these techniques can all be used to assist you in creating a successful stereo result, all on a shot pushing 1000 frames! Dodgson in currently Senior Nuke Compositor at Framestore Commercials in London and is heavily involved in developing their commercials stereo pipeline. He was an early convert to Nuke and has been working closely with the Foundry for several years as a beta tester, helping influence the development of some of their more recent additions to Nuke. This year he was heavily involved in the Foundrys stereo Masterclass in London, both directing the shoot and teaching at the event. His recent work has included Harry Potter, the latest Kia campaign and the cinematic for Activisions DJ Hero. A firm believer in the importance of having a thorough understanding of the production process Russell is co-founder of the creative partnership One Red Pixel, and has extensive experience in shoot production and supervision. He is also a budding director. Click to view individual classes....

NUK304 - Advanced Nuke III

Professor: Sean Devereaux (filmsoup) This advanced Nuke course is designed as the followup to our NUK204 intermediate level course. Professor Sean Deveraux will work through several short projects during the term which are designed to focus on real world tasks and key strengths of Nuke. Devereaux has pushed pixels on over 25 feature films and 50 commercials. He is currently a vfx supervisor at ZERO VFX in Boston. His feature credits include Transformers, The Proposal, Peter Pan and Vanilla Sky and he has worked with some of the best studios in the world including Pixar, Digital Domain and Industrial Light+Magic. Click to view individual classes....

NUK305 - Project Masterclass: The Machine

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Professor: Russell Dodgson (dodger) This course, taught by returning Nuke prof Russell Dodgson is a fully production based course. It is designed to tie in directly with it's companion course, MYA214: Production-based Lighting and Rendering being taught by Robert Harrington. The class will be dealing with a full vfx sequence shot bespoke for the course. The classes will attack a variety of compositing tasks week by week and will pay attention to how we view a sequence as a whole as well as concentrating on the minutia of each individual shot. One of the courses main goals is to get full understanding of how we should approach the compositing of cg elements, and correctly using renders to rebuild our cg in comp so that we can adjust certain passes without incorrectly corrupting the contribution of others. The course will have the flow of a usual production with assets being passed to and from 3D. We will learn how to assess 3D passes for their usefulness and discuss when it is appropriate to ask for a re-render or when we should just fix it in comp. Although this course is designed to run in parallel with it's companion course it will also be arranged so that it can be taken as a stand alone course. Rest assured we will be tackling some tricky problems and some dramatic footage that will be sure to light up your showreels! Based in London, Dodgson is currently the Head of Nuke at Framestore Commercials in the UK. Tasked with developing a Nuke department within a commercials environment he focuses his attention on simple, effective workflows and the integration of his department with the other stages of the production process. Having used Nuke since just before it was acquired by The Foundry, Russell has worked closely with the developers and has taken an active role in teaching their Masterclasses as well as some of their online training videos. His recent credits include "The Tale of the Three Brothers (HP7)", Kia's award winning "Soul" campaign, the in game cinematic for "DJ Hero" and Coca Cola's latest all animated Superbowl Commercial "Siege". Click to view individual classes....

PFM101 - Introduction to PFMatchIt

Professor: Victor Wolansky (victorw) PFMatchIt is The Pixel Farm's first tracking package to come from a new internal architecture that was built from the ground up. it also offers a much more affordable price-point than the company's previous offerings. Teaching our first course in the application is Victor Wolansky, who has been using PFTrack for years and was part of the PFMatchIt beta program. Wolansky's tracking courses have been perennial favorites at fxphd and this one is sure to be no different. While this is an introductory course designed to get you up and running with a solid foundation, as usual Wolansky will be pushing the learning level higher during the course. PFMatchIt will be available on the fxphd VPN so that members may follow along in the software. Click to view individual classes....

PFT203 - PFTrack 2011: Tracking Challenges

Professor: Victor Wolansky (victorw) fxphd\\\'s popular camera tracking specialist Victor Wolansky teaches this third PFTrack in production course continuing his tendency to tackle only the most difficult shots. You\\\'re sure to pick up a ton of new, high-end techniques for both object and camera tracking. Click to view individual classes....

PHY101 - Introduction to Physics

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) In this follow up to Introduction to Math (MTH101) - one of our most successful courses of the last few terms - Mike Seymour and Steve Anderson tackle Physics 101. This course is designed to give you the basis in reality to understand real world phenomenon such as inertia, how to fly, fluid sims, and breaking stuff up. Click to view individual classes....

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PRM201 - Intermediate Premiere Pro CS5

Professor: Tim Kolb (Tim Kolb) This course will focus on the features of Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 that are moving the software onto the radar of editors in every tier of the industry. This offering is certainly for anyone interested in the new release, but will be especially useful for those editors using Final Cut Pro or Avid and interested in testing the waters with Premiere Pro. The course will start with an overview of the basic interface and the philosophy behind it. Native format support and workflow will be covered, including particular focus on RED R3D workflow and native support for DSLR footage. 'Dynamic Link' between Adobe's other applications, including those supplied with Premiere Pro (On Location and Encore), is also a key feature of the produce. Interaction with Photoshop, After Effects, and Soundbooth will be demonstrated (these applications are included in the Production Premium or Master Collection bundles) and, of course, we'll cover the Mercury playback engine throughout the course. Completing this course will allow you to use your knowledge of Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 to plan a successful, efficient project workflow and to easily move into editing a project with the software. You will also gain fluency in the concepts and mechanics of the Adobe Suite of applications as they relate to Premiere Pro CS5. Tim Kolb has spent the last 20 years avoiding productive work by hiding out in the video production industry. He has been a tester, advisor, consultant, or otherwise sticking his nose into the development of software and hardware products from Adobe, CineForm, Convergent Design, Digieffects, PNY, Silicon Imaging, and Sony among others. He has edited on several platforms, but has used Premiere/Premiere Pro as his primary tool for about a decade, and he holds out hope that the day when he is considered a 'visionary' for his persistence is still approaching Kolb is a Director on Commercial and Corporate projects with a particular emphasis recently on performance automotive projects, he is a DP on documentary projects, and of course he edits and does post production work as well including some compositing and location VFX supervision including an occasional call to be the green screen 'enforcer' on shoots from time to time. He has a collection of Tellys, a Chicago Film Festival Hugo, and a Regional Emmy as well as three nominations. He is also an instructor for Adobe software at Class On Demand. Click to view individual classes....

PRM202 - Premiere Pro for the Filmmaker

Professor: Tyler Ginter (tylerginter) Recent releases of Adobe's Premiere Pro have truly added more and more "pro" features to the software, opening up editors' and artists' eyes to the software. With that in mind, Tyler Ginter, professor of our Yellowstone DOP211 course, leads this production-based course which relates his real-world experience working on various jobs in the software. The reality in today's post world is that artists, editors, and other post pros have to work with R3D, Phantom, and DSLR footage all on a single job or even a single timeline. Ginter will be utilizing a variety and footage and formats to show where Premiere Pro excels on the job. The course will also include an honest appraisal of where it falls short and ways in which you can work around these shortcomings. Ginter has a great perspective, having used Avid and Final Cut Pro in the past, more recently has been using Premiere Pro due to its speed and flexibility in working with various types of footage. This course serves as a perfect tandem to PRM201, our feature-based Premiere Pro course led by Tim Kolb. It's not only applicable to editors, but graphics artists, compositors, and anyone who needs to work with the digital formats that are prevalent in the industry. Click to view individual classes....

RED210 - Comprehensive Guide to RED Shooting & Post

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) We reset our clock and give an up to date comprehensive guide to shooting and posting the Red One, the new MX and the EPIC cameras. Everything you need to know to approach Red's innovate data centric tapeless workflow. Click to view individual classes....

RFL201 - Particles and Dynamics using

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RealFlow
Professor: Mark Stasiuk (markstasiuk) Physical simulations are cool, most of us in vfx think so anyway. Once you know the basics of how to set them up in a software package, you could spend hours watching them tick along, doing randomly cool things. What's tough is making simulations do what you need for a shot. It isn't good enough that the results look damn sweet, but they have to look damn sweet while doing what the agency approved in the boards. It's all about control, making the sim do what you need it to. And that's what this course is about. These lessons will go thru a range of common needs in production and teach you how to control the simulations. Along the way we'll also nail most of the common problems that artists run into with RealFlow. Professor Mark Stasiuk's company, Fusion CI Studios, specializes in creating photo-real fluid visual effects and setting up particle pipelines for companies who wish to do the same. For this fxphd course, Stasiuk will be using RealFlow, a tool he knows intricately, to work through how to achieve great particle and other dynamic effects. He'll be examining filmed references of fluids in order to learn how to create an accurate and realistic result in the app Click to view individual classes....

RFL202 - Real Flow 5 Project Workshop

Professor: Mark Stasiuk (markstasiuk) RealFlow has become a commonly-used fx tool for film and commercial production, dominantly for creating fluids like water, blood and molten chocolate, but increasingly for complex rigid and soft body dynamics. Out-of-the-box, it can create beautiful, organic animations driven by physics, and with some practice and knowledge, artists can achieve astounding, high-end, art-directed visuals at the cutting edge of visual effects. The recently released version 5 has really pushed the package deep into the high-end, with dramatic simulation speed-ups, very noticeably improved stability, many new Python commands, lots of new functionality (e.g., object parameters like friction and stickiness can now be controlled with painted texture maps rather than a single value), vastly improved Realwave for open water surface simulations, a completely overhauled rigid and soft body solver that is now truly remarkable in and of itself, a whole new grid-based fluid solver for medium to large scale simulations, an improved meshing algorithm plus a whole new meshing algorithm, and if all that wasn't enough they've also added a C++ SDK so you can write your own, multithreaded and optimized plugins. Wow that was a really long sentence. There's no way this package can be fully explored in 10 classes, so we're going to grab ahold of the core and most production-focused parts. We're going to learn not just how to use them, but how to use them appropriately -- covering the do's and don'ts, the common beginner errors, and the knowledge that you need. By the end, you won't be just hitting buttons in some prescribed order, but understanding why things are done, how to set up simulation scenes and what the parameters actually mean. We'll do this thru a set of 10 classes, most of which are mini-projects or the simulation component of projects. We won't cover the ultra-basics, instead assuming you are at least a little familiar with RealFlow but need to kick up your skills to a next, definitely higher level. Co-founder & VFX supervisor at Fusion CI Studios, Mark Stasiuk is a world renowned RealFlow expert. With a PhD in fluid dynamics, Mark has a unique advantage in the world of cg fluid effects. This and his custom Python scripting work with RealFlow has elevated his studios work to among the best in the world, creating dynamic effects for films like The Surrogates, GI Joe, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and cutting-edge fluid effects for clients like Frey Chocolate, Sea World, Rosemount Wine, Propel, Smirnoff and Toyota. Fusions work can be seen at www.youtube.com/fusioncis; www.vimeo.com/fusioncis and www.fusioncis.com where the r&d section displays groundbreaking accomplishments using RealFlow. Click to view individual classes....

SIL201 - Intermediate SilhouetteFX

Professor: Ben Brownlee (benbrownlee) Like it or not, root and rig removal are the foundation of any compositor's skillset. SIL201 is designed to help take some of the pain out of these tasks. It explores a number of different workflows to approaching mask and matte creation in SilhouetteFX. An emphasis is placed on shot analysis prior to picking up the pen, and deciding which tools are most appropriate for a particular task. We will use a wide range of the toolset to tackle common yet challenging tasks, such as character roto, hair and motion blur. The creative decisions and possibilities for tackling such shots are also discussed, so you get a better understanding of why a particular approach was taken. Ben Brownlee is a VFX artist, digital media specialist and instructor with 11 years of industry experience across a number of disciplines. He works extensively with leading Scandinavian fashion brands as co-owner of Husk Os (www.huskos.com) and has worked on various broadcast, TVC and feature projects across the globe.

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Click to view individual classes....

SMK104 - Introduction to Smoke on Mac

Professor: Randy McEntee (jayrandall) The release of Smoke on Mac has opened up the software to a much wider variety of users than any other Autodesk systems product. This course, taught by Randy McEntee, will provide an advanced introduction to Autodesk Smoke on MAc. Focusing on real-world finishing, color correction and visual effects tasks, well be working through several projects and tasks, taking footage and turning it into a finished piece, exploring the breadth of Smoke's toolset along the way. Particular consideration in this course will be paid to transitioning users familiar with desktop applications into the Smoke on Mac mindset. Smoke and Flame Artist McEntee joined The Mill New York in 2007. There he has finished spots for Apple, Coca-Cola, Chrysler, Cadillac, Verizon, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, ESPN, Mercedes, Skittles, Microsoft, and Nike, some of which have gone on to win awards from DA&D, AICP, Cannes, and the Daytime Emmys. Previously,McEntee began his post career at Mode Project in Chicago as an Assistant Editor, later moving on to Filmworkers Club Chicago. He has a passion for mastering visual effects toolsets and an even greater passion for teaching. Members will be able to license Smoke on Mac 2012 via the fxphd VPN, lifting the short 30-day demo version restriction so that they may dive more fully into the software. Click to view individual classes....

SMK204 - Intermediate Smoke/Flame III

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) The introduction of Smoke on Mac has greatly expanded the reach of Autodesk's systems products and gotten it into the hands of more users. Building upon our successful introductory courses at fxphd, this combo Smoke/Flame course will center on covering approaches and tools for common tasks that artists might run into on the job. As a flame or smoke artist working on tv commercials, prof and fxphd dean John Montgomery has spent a great deal of time fixing scenes and helping make them look pristine for their brief appearance on the screen. He pulled his top four common tasks and will be looking for input on a fifth task for the final class of the term. fxguide co-founder Jeff Heusser will be joining Montgomery for the course. He will cover techniques utilizing the Modular Keyer (MK) for his guest appearances as part of the course. The MK is often misunderstood and under-used, so Heusser will be sharing his on the job knowledge using the tool. Also joining the course will be New York-based Randy McEntee. One of the big new features of the 2011 release is support for stereoscopic timelines, stereo cameras in action, and stereo display support. McEntee has worked on several 3D jobs since the release of the software in April and will be sharing his tips and tricks for working in the third dimension. McEntee is a Smoke and Flame Artist at The Mill New York. He has completed work for Coca-Cola, Nike, JCPenney, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Levi's, Skittles, Snickers, and ESPN, with some nominated for awards by the AICP, Cannes, Daytime Emmys, and DA&D Pencil. McEntee is the lead beta tester for The Mill Group's Flame and Smoke departments. Click to view individual classes....

SMK205 - Intermediate Smoke/Flame IV

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) We continue our curriculum of Autodesk systems offerings with a new combination Smoke/Flame course featuring multiple artists. As more and more of the creative tools merge across the applications, including Smoke Advanced which contains all the features of Flame's Action module, the combo courses have been incredibly popular. This course brings a mix of projects and approaches that will help take your skills to the next level. From daily tasks that improve your workflow to high end Action tips to motion graphics, we've got a great slate of profs sharing session-proven techniques. About the profs: John Montgomery has worked on Flame for years, as well as Smoke (actually it was called Fire) since the very first pre-release beta. Concentrating on commercials post,

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Montgomery has worked on flame for over ten years. He now owns a combination Smoke/Flame system which is used by fxphd and our post partners Hootenanny in Chicago. Brian Mulligan has been working in broadcast television for 20+ years. He has been working with Smoke since v5, and has been a part of the beta testing program for the past 6 releases. Brian uses Smoke for promo and commercial work... using Smokes tools for editing and graphic work. Victor Wolansky is a Flame artist who works at e3post in Virginia. With 19 years of experience on the VFX world he fell in love with Flame about 5 years ago. Randy McEntee is a Smoke artist at The Mill, New York City, where he specializes in working on national television commercials. Paul Carlin is a smoke artist at Company 3 in Santa Monica. His most recent accomplishments have been Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Fright Night and the trailers for Avatar. He specializes in stereoscopic digital intermediates at the moment, but comes from diverse background that includes the Imagineer Systems product line, SynthEyes, After Effects as well as Avid Media Composer and the product formerly known as Final Cut Pro. Paul has 14 years of Smoke experience and comes from a linear online background. Click to view individual classes....

SYN102 - Introduction to SynthEyes 2011

Professor: Victor Wolansky (victorw) In this course course, participants will be learning the fundamentals of 3D tracking, creating good starting point to understand several techniques of 3D tracking and image modeling. We will look at how to tackle several problems that are the day to day in 3D tracking, and understand how to avoid them or how to work around them, we will look at workflows of lens distortion correction, from start to end (including compositing) and stereo tracking. Taught by our fxphd tracking specialist, Victor Wolansky, the course will be using the SynthEyes 2011 release. Click to view individual classes....

VUE201 - A Comprehensive Guide to Vue

Professor: eran dinur (erandinur) Taught by Eran Dinur, this course offers a comprehensive approach to learning Vue, with an emphasis on workflow and techniques needed for effectively using it in various professional production scenarios. From creating assets for matte painting and compositing to animating and rendering complete 3D scenes. Vue has gained a prominent position in the industry as a tool for creating rich and detailed 3D natural scenery and there's an ever-growing demand for competent Vue artists. We will first cover all of the main aspects of Vue - the different atmospheric models, polygonal and procedural terrains, EcoSystems, animation, materials and plant editing, and then dig deeper into more complex areas such as fractal functions and multi-layered shaders. Keeping in mind the needs of matte painting and compositing, we will also explore Vue's extensive multi-pass rendering, matte generation and export options. Dinur has worked for several years a senior digital artist at ILM Singapore and at Framestore NY, and is currently compositing supervisor at Brainstorm Digital NYC. He has created visual effects for films such as "Clash of the Titans", "Salt", "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", "Surrogates", "Terminator Salvation", "Star Trek", "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Dinur is a true Vue veteran, and has been using the app extensively since version 2 in numerous projects. He has written Vue tutorials for various publications, including 3D World Magazine (for which he is a regular contributor), and has created many sample scenes for Vue xStream, Infinite and Esprit. Members of fxphd will be able to purchase the educational version of Vue to use for non-commerical purposes. Details will be available beginning the week of July 5th. Click to view individual classes....

BKD102 - Collection: General Interest

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)
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This general interest Background Fundamentals collection includes some of our most popular Background classes to date. It consists of both magazine style interviews and complex on-screen compositing demonstrations, including stereo work. Mike talks ABOUT Photo Jounrnalism, with the team at ILM and RealViz, and gives us his own take on the future of Post Production, and how to have a successful career as a vfx artist. Click to view individual classes....

BKD103 - Collection: Lights, Camera, ... Action

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) This Background collection covers on-set issues. Whether you're running your own production, or going on-set as a representative of your post facility, you'll find here a wealth of information on topics from basic lighting, lens selection and on-set behavior to more more unique situations such as shooting Super 8 and underwater photography. In addition to lectures and demonstrations by the crew at fxphd, a number of very experienced DOPs and other experts appear as guests. Click to view individual classes....

BKD104 - Collection: LUTs, Gamma and 3D

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) This package consists of a collection of our efforts to explain and demystify one of the most challenging issues in day-to-day vfx workflows: dealing with LUTs, gamma, and general color pipeline issues. Taking advantage of the technical nature of this collection, we've also included some classes on 3D, Virtual Cinematograhy, and rendering with Renderman and Mental Ray. And, for a fun break from the tech talk, there is a round table discussion about Directing Live Action and Animation. Click to view individual classes....

BKD210 - VFX Supervisors

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) This term, to mark our 10th Background Fundamentals, we've got a blockbuster in store for fxphd members. Throughout the term, we'll look at what it means to be a Visual Effects Supervisor. What are the pressures, the roles and how do you manage a large Hollywood film? To find out, we engage in lengthy discussions with the world's best supervisors including John Knoll, Scott Squires, John Dykstra, Pablo Helman, Dennis Murren, Mike Fink, Ken Ralston, Kim Libreri and others. These are some of the finest visual effects specialists in the industry with a stunning 5 technical or special Oscars, 24 Oscar nominations and 14 Academy Award wins between them. This truly one of the most accomplished group of visual effects experts ever assembled. Click to view individual classes....

DOP210 - DSLR Cinematography

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) Every day more and more productions are exploring the use of high end DLSR for HD video. Stu Maschwitz rejoins the team and the guys in Tokyo to give the most comprehensive guide to the new phenomenon of DSLR cinematography. In this course we will cover: What it takes to shoot cinematically with camera such as the Canon 5D MkII How to shoot for post Tricks and techniques for camera control and camera movement, including the Red Rock Micro and the Mini-Steadicam Compression and camera settings recommendations, covering 24P, Manual settings, Tricks of compression etc. Rules of thumb for evaluating what camera and lenses you need Color grading DLSR video footage for Hollywood professional looks Sensor and optical 'behind the scenes' including rolling shutter reviews of 720 P with the Nikon D90, Full HD with the Olympus PEN, Panasonic GH1 and the Canon 5D MkII

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Mostly shot in Tokyo and Kyoto, but as a special event later in the term, we will go on base with the US Army 55th Combat Camera Unit to look at the Canon 5D Mk II in war zone correspondent use, an unparalleled and unprecedented chance to see how these cameras are used in the most dangerous and unforgiving environments imaginable. Literally, we hope to have Stu and John putting the camera through its paces with Blackhawk helicopters and some of the bravest cameraman and women in the world with the US Army's Canon 5D Mk II specialists. A rare honor, and one we are most appreciative to have the chance to bring you. Click to view individual classes....

DOP211 - DSLR Cinematography: Nature

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) DSLR video is a growing if not exploding area of cinematography. In our second DSLR course we contrast the urban intensity of our Japan course with the majestic intensity of the landscape of Yellowstone national park. Without a doubt the best person we could think of to teach this course is Captain Tyler Ginter of the 55th Combat Camera Company. Tyler is well known for his work in helping the Army's camera company move to DSLRs and has worked in some of the most rugged and unforgiving environments on Earth. No one is better suited to discuss what you should take into the field to shoot away from the protected environment of the studio than Tyler. Click to view individual classes....

FLM102 - Introduction to Flame

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) Our new introductory flame course is designed to get artists up and running in the software so they can be confident working on scenes and spots in the app. We get a lot of questions from potential flame artists asking if they should take the course even though they don't have easy access to a flame or flint system. The answer is an emphatic "yes". The course is designed with the understanding that your time might be limited on the system -- for instance, maybe you're a junior artist who can only get on the system at night or you will be doing an internship at a facility in the coming months. By taking FLM102, when you get time on a flame, you won't have to waste hours finding your way around the software. Taught by fxphd co-founder and longtime flame artist John Montgomery, the course begins with an exhausting overview of the system and the UI. This is important considering flame doesn't follow many of the standard desktop conventions users might be familiar with. Once that is done, we'll quickly dive into the various modules with a project-based approach to learning them. Our goal is to have course members be able to execute entry to intermediate level jobs on the flame by course completion. At the end of the term, an online certification exam will be available in order for you to test your knowledge. Click to view individual classes....

FLM203 - Flame in Production II

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) This course is in the spirit of our most popular courses here at fxphd: doing some cool shots and providing the footage for you to work along on the shots yourself. Professor and Dean Mike Seymour will be compositing a bunch of shots and looking at a range of new features in the 2009 versions of Flint/Flame. In addition to compositing shots using Flame's built-in tools, this course will also use the Foundry's Furnace plugins to tackle the work. Areas covered over the course of the weeks: Flame and HDR, grading and working in high bit depths Keying and working with Digitally captured material Wiretap Central Workflow Improvements 3D Tracking Updates on keying and tricks for better keys

Generally we will just work through shots we have done and along the way explain the new features of Flame while also using the extremely cool Furnace plugins. Mike and John have done entire courses in the past on Furnace and these new classes hit our favourite plugins and cool tricks to do with them. It will also explain some of the theory behind the tools.
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Click to view individual classes....

FLM204 - Flame, Smoke, Expressions and More

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) Recent versions of Flame and Smoke have blurred the line between products, as Smoke gains BatchFX and Flame gains a more versatile editing timeline. This class is designed to be appealing to artists and editors alike, covering topics which are generally applicable across both products. The common thread throughout the term will be taking a look at expressions and how they can help you as an artist and editor. Professor and Dean John Montgomery will tackle a wide variety of workflow expressions -- ones any artist can use on a daily basis to simply changes to more esoteric, hard core maths which demonstrate both the power and limitations of the feature. In addition to expressions, Montgomery will also be covering other aspects of the software such as infrastructure (Configuring for Open FS vs. Stonefs, Wiretap Central) and working with RED and XML/AAF. This course will deal with some subjects and material that has been covered in other (now retired) fxphd courses such as the FLM201 expressions course. However, with changes in the 2009 and 2009X1 releases a lot has changed in the software, so we felt a need to retire the old create a new course. We realize many of you have taken our past offerings and will keep this in mind to bring new and useful material into this offering. Click to view individual classes....

FLM205 - Flame on Red Dwarf

Professor: Jeff Heusser (neonmarg) We've finally been able to tap fxguide co-founder Jeff Heusser to teach a course at fxphd, and he'll be showing work he did for the Red Dwarf: Back to Earth production. A long time flame user, Jeff has worked on commercials, feature films, TV shows, music videos and network promos in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. He will share his experience working in small shops to large as well as the freelance world. Jeff will start out with an overview of setting up a project on flame, gleaned from his variety of experiences over the years. Next, he'll start tackling shots and share tricks for dealing with various compositing problems which come up on the jobs we do every day. Probably the most common shot of all in visual effects is the monitor replacement shot and this show is no different. With shots ranging from a fairly basic 8 monitor replacement (complete with depth of field and keying issues) and switches gears to the mother of all monitor shots -- 20+ televisions at all angles and depths, a camera move, varying levels of bluescreen, depth issues, and more. Next, several shots from another sequence will be tackled as we work through this job including topics such as green screen with RED footage, compositing tricks, a look at the next release of flame, and more The course members will receive full quality footage to follow along and complete the composites themselves. Click to view individual classes....

FUS101 - Introduction to Fusion

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard) Matt Leonard leads our Fusion course at fxphd. His sphereVFX company has been doing Fusion training for years, including creating an intermediate level DVD for the app. Leonard has worked in the animation and visual effects industry for over sixteen years producing state-of-the-art work for feature films, broadcast and commercials in the UK and US markets.. He has set up and run animation divisions in five companies, overseen animators and compositors, worked as a CG Supervisor on various projects and has overseen live-action shoots. Click to view individual classes....

FUS202 - Intermediate Fusion 6

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard)
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Our new Fusion course follows directly on from the 100 level course helping artist to get even more out of eyeons flagship compositing system. Utilizing all the power of Fusion 6 including the much anticipated enhancements in its 3D environment, this course covers the essentials need to move forward as a proficient compositor. Topics covered by Professor Matt Leonard in this course include keying, tracking, roto, 2D matte painting, plate cleanup, particles, 3D, motion graphics and the much talked about stereoscopic workflow. Leonard's sphereVFX company has been doing Fusion training for years, including creating an intermediate level DVD for the app. Leonard has worked in the animation and visual effects industry for over sixteen years producing state-of-the-art work for feature films, broadcast and commercials in the UK and US markets.. Click to view individual classes....

HOU101 - Introduction to Houdini

Professor: Valerie Cripps (ValCripps) Taught by Valerie Cripps, this new introductory course will give you an introduction to Houdini 9.5, getting you familiar with the interface, procedural workflow, and some basic fx principles. The software is vast and used in most of the big production houses for many types of film effects. Getting these basics is a great way to open the door to creating killer visual fx for film production. Over the course of the term, you will learn the building blocks necessary to create a foundation for further production lessons in Houdini with a mind to creating film effects. The course begins with a solid overview of the UI and application principles and then dives into a sample project for the rest of the term. Cripps worked at Side Effects Software for 7 years before going into production in 2003. She has worked as a freelance fx and lighting artist at Sony Imageworks, CBS and Rhythm and Hues on films such as Superman Returns, Spiderman 3, and Mummy 3, among many others, working on effects such as swarms of flying locusts, flames, crowds, snow, dust, clouds and more. Members may use the Houdini Apprentice addition, which is available as a free download from the Side Effects web site. For only $99, a Starving Artist Edition of the software is also available which allows for watermark-free renders up to HD resolution -- perfect for adding a shot to your demo reel. Both versions of Houdini Apprentice include all of Houdini Master's features except for the ability to render to third party renderers. Files created using the Apprentice versions cannot be opened in the full version of the software. However, upon upgrading to the full version, Side Effects will do a one time conversion of all your non-commercial work to Houdini's commercial format. Click to view individual classes....

HOU201 - Houdini Production Techniques

Professor: Valerie Cripps (ValCripps) Val Cripps and Lori Smith are teaching the course, two Houdini fx artists who have worked on their share of fx for film. Val will be presenting the class, and Lori will be working with Val behind the scenes to get the material together. The topic for HOUD201 is debris, a staple, bread and butter type of fx work that happens on many films and commercials, and that you will do at least once in your fx career. This could include pieces of glass kicked by a cg character's foot, for example in The Incredible Hulk, or bits of dirt crumbling down a roof from a character climbing, like some shots I worked on in They Came From Upstairs/Aliens in the Attic, or many other situations where debris helps set the CG into the live action, or must help to tell the story. We'll start with a general introduction and overview to these types of effects and dynamics in Houdini, and then we'll complete a simple shot with debris flying into the scene, much like fx work that Lori did on Pirates of the Caribbean at Digital Domain. This will include traditional and procedural modeling techniques with instancing, techniques and tricks for DOPs (dynamic operators), POPs, (particle operators) and of course, some shading, rendering and compositing to get everything layered together. Cripps worked at Side Effects Software for 7 years before going into production in 2003. She has worked as a freelance fx and lighting artist at Sony Imageworks, CBS and Rhythm and Hues on films such as Superman Returns, Spiderman 3, and Mummy 3, among many others, working on effects such as swarms of flying locusts, flames, crowds, snow, dust, clouds and more. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Visualization from Mississippi State University in 1997. Smith has worked in CG for 4 years at Digital Domain and 1 year at Rhythm and Hues. During this time she worked on commercials and films such as Aeon Flux, Flags of Our Father, Pirates 3, Speed Racer, Mummy 3, Cirque du Freak and Land of the Lost as a technical director and fx artist. She received her Master of Science in Visualization Sciences from Texas A&M University in 2003. Click to view individual classes....

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MIN201 - Stop Frame Animation and Miniatures

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) In one of the most exciting courses ever in our production stream, we work with Adelaide based Anifex. Formed in 1985 by Richard Chataway and Michael Cusack, Anifex is one of Australia's leading animation companies. The company has long maintained a reputation for producing some of the world's finest commercial animation. In addition to its work in advertising, which has earned the company many national and international awards, Anifex has also produced several acclaimed short films. With an experienced production team and world class facilities, Anifex has an amazing collection of talent and equipment including motion control. We will also visit some of the world's leading model shops and look at general miniature photography. Shot primarily on location at the film studios, this course will provide you with the fundamentals, process and the tricks & tips of stop frame animation and miniatures. Click to view individual classes....

MOC101 - Introduction to Mocha

Professor: David Blum (dmblum) Welcome to the world of planar tracking. David Blums course will show you from the ground up how to use mocha to get accurate tracks without relying on traditional tracking marks (feature tracking) and how to export that data to AE. Mocha is another great tool to put in your box. Youll also learn a much easier way to perform rotoscoping including the use of the mocha Shape plug in for AE CS4. Each of the lessons will build from the previous one and will include practical tips and applications using alphas, embedded mattes, edge controls, off screen, and on screen tracking examples. This is the perfect class to get you into Mokey, Motor, and Monet. The best way to learn any software is to use it, so this course will be heavily project based. Blum,a part-time instructor at the Art Institute of Phoenix, has been teaching and training artists how to use planar tracking for the last five years with great results. Blum will be covering the interface as tracks are solved, so you get the feel of the software from the first lesson. Its not as easy as it looks. Having spent over a decade feature tracking, Blum will show why planar tracking requires a complete change in the dynamics of how to solve a shot. It will take you a little while to get over the hump but the reward is worth it. Over the last six years, hes relied almost exclusively on the Imagineer planar tracker to solve both the easy and the tough shots. David Blum has been involved in high-end post production for years. As Senior Editor at Varitel Video in Los Angeles, he created the first digital laboratory in Los Angeles. In the early 2000s Blum worked on films including Charlies Angels, Matrix, and Seabiscuit. In 2004, Mr. Blum opened a new office of his five year old company, Catalyst FX, in Phoenix. The visual effects and post production company combines design, supervision, and implementation. He also supervises DI workflows from acquisition to final conform and has been involved in over 15 independent features both in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Mocha in various flavors (standalone, After Effects, Final Cut) will be available to fxphd members over the VPN. Click to view individual classes....

MSV101 - Introduction to Massive

Professor: Geoff Tobin (geoff_tobin) This course, taught by Geoff Tobin, aims to give an introduction to the inner workings of Massive from the ground up, introducing core concepts such as fuzzy logic and how it relates to creating an AI brain for a Massive agent. In order to demonstrate each of the aspects of Massive we'll develop a vehicle agent and show how a simple traffic simulation can be created. Massive is the artificial-life crowd simulation software developed for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and used on major motion pictures, TV shows and commercials. Tobin is a Lead Massive TD working at Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand. He started working in the industry in 1993 as an animator using SideFX Prisms, Alias PowerAnimator and Maya. Geoff has been working with Massive since 2000 and was involved with its early development in creating the crowd scenes for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has since used Massive in motion pictures such as I-Robot, King Kong, X-Men 3, Eragon, Bridge to Terabithia and The Day the Earth stood still. Click to view individual classes....

MSV201 - Massive in Production

Professor: Geoff Tobin (geoff_tobin)
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Geoff Tobin returns to take this follow up to the introductory MSV101 course. While the 100 level course gave an overview of the Massive software, this course will cover the pipeline and workflow for setting up a typical Massive shot. From planning the mocap sessions and importing and processing the motion through to designing the brains, running the sims and finally rendering with a Renderman compliant renderer. It will also cover advanced features such as dynamics and cloth as well as integration with other software such as Maya. Massive is the artificial-life crowd simulation software developed for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and used on major motion pictures, TV shows and commercials. Tobin is a Lead Massive TD working at Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand. He started working in the industry in 1993 as an animator using SideFX Prisms, Alias PowerAnimator and Maya. Geoff has been working with Massive since 2000 and was involved with its early development in creating the crowd scenes for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has since used Massive in motion pictures such as I-Robot, King Kong, X-Men 3, Eragon, Bridge to Terabithia and The Day the Earth stood still. Click to view individual classes....

MYA301 - Maya in Production: Moving Day

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard) This course, taught by Matt Leonard, is going to be slightly different from our other Maya offerings because were going to be working alongside a new and very exciting project called Moving Day. This short film is being directed by award wining director Jason Wingrove. Moving Day tells the story of a young girl and her fight against the fairies who inhabit the garden of her new home. Our short film is literally being produced throughout the term and well have first hand experience of working in post during a live project. From the outset we will be discussing the post workflow, file and image formats, storyboards, and how well be taking the shots through to completion. Very quickly well be in the full flow of production covering the modeling of fairy wings, rigging and photo-real shader and lighting setups. Once background plates start to be fed through we will be tracking the live action fairies with a view to attaching our CG wings to them, getting the animation underway and the shots rendered in multipass ready to move on to compositing. Once we have shot approval from the Visual Effects Supervisor, our own Mike Seymour, well move into compositing the CG elements seamlessly into the live action backgrounds and getting the finished shots delivered. Our main 3D software will be Maya 2010 which gives us access now to both Matchmover and Maya Composite (Toxik). Well also be using Photoshop, PFTrack and Nuke 5.2, our main compositing system. Leonard is especially looking forward to this term because of the unique nature of this course. As a member you will have the opportunity to work on a live project and be involved not only in producing real elements and shots but also having your say in how we progress though the production. There is not a week to week outline specifically because we will be working in a more fluid non-linear fashion but by the end of the term we will have produced some amazing shots for this new and exciting project. Leonard has been in the 3D and visual effects industry for 17 years and has produced work for feature films, commercials and large corporate projects. He has been involved in setting up post production departments, overseeing small teams of animators and compositors, along with acting as CG Supervisor on a number of projects. He has spoken at various events and shows on behalf of Autodesk and eyeon, had various articles published in magazine and journals and has beta tested Maya, Nuke and Fusion. He currently runs his own company, Sphere VFX, which is based in the UK. Click to view individual classes....

PHT201 - Digital Photography

Professor: Tim Wheeler (Tim Wheeler) There are a lot of aspects to photography, so we have decided to make it commercial and focus on all sorts of everyday issues. Professional photographer Tim Wheeler will show how to shoot high-end professional photographs. Click to view individual classes....

PHT202 - Digital Photography for VFX

Professor: Steven Anderson (steveanderson)
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We are joined by Steve Anderson who will focus on photography for VFX artists. The course will cover generating textures, HDR, shooting for matte paintings, timelaspe, how to photography normal mattes, and much more. This terms focus is really on specialist photography and showing how a DSLR can be the number one tool for a VFX supervisor on set. If you do on set work and provide assets to other members of your team this course will show you a number of ways to provide better material and speed up both workflows and render times on larger projects. Steve is a highly award visual effects supervisor with a very strong 3D background. Many of the classes will be relevant to people with 3D skills, as well as 2D. Steve is also a very accomplished stills photographer in his own right. Click to view individual classes....

PST201 - Building a Post Boutique: Hootenanny Case Study

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont) Just over a year and half ago, Liz Tate and Jim Annerino opened up their new boutique editing facility Hootenanny. They had previously worked at Avenue Edit, at one time Chicagos largest post house and felt it was a good time to strike out on their own. One could argue that it was one of the most difficult times to start a new business, considering the worldwide economic downturn. However, the business thrived due to their creative strengths in addition to the smart ways they structured their new venture. This course will examine how Tate and Annerino formed their business, starting from the early days of planning and budgeting though their first year of business and need to move to a new facility after only 18 months. The majority of the course will be discussion based as they share their personal insights, trials and tribulations, and suggestions that theyve learned over the last year. If youre not looking to build your own facility, this course will give you valuable insight in how the business works from the perspective of owner-artists. This course provides the type of perspective that you can only get at fxphd -- real world experience with the desire to share knowledge with others. Click to view individual classes....

RED203 - RED One Production

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes) How to understand and shoot with the RED camera. We will explore the theory and practice of shooting with the RED, discuss how the Mysterium sensor works and how to get the most out of it, and test the RED lenses. We'll also examine what .r3d files are, how they are encoded, rate and explore recording media, and compare RED with other common capture tools and show how to use it on set and show how to use the latest RED software builds and versions. This course would be ideal if you have just gotten or are about to get a RED camera.

Note: This course replaces RED 201 which will no longer be repeated. It contains some footage from the previous RED 202 course, but is primarily new footage
Click to view individual classes....

SYN201 - Intermediate SynthEyes

Professor: Victor Wolansky (victorw) Our Introduction to SynthEyes course got members up and running in the software as well as being able to address common problems that come up in post. This course will build upon the knowledge and tackle trickier and more complex tracks in SynthEyes than were addressed in the 101 course. Taught by our fxphd tracking expert Victor Wolansky, he'll dive into more detail in how to make sure you get the most accurate track possible and minimize camera drifting. This course will also support the Advanced After Effects 302 course, providing 3D tracks for use in the main project for the term. Click to view individual classes....

VFX101 - Intro to Compositing with Ron

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VFX101 - Intro to Compositing with Ron Brinkmann

Professor: ron brinkmann (ronbrinkmann) Each week, Ron Brinkmann and Mike Seymour explore the fundamentals of visual effects compositing. Brinkmann is well known throughout the industry; a visual effects supervisor who co-founded Nothing Real and helped create Shake. More recently he has served as an advisor on The Foundry's Nuke compositing software. He is author of the recently released second edition of The Art and Science of Digital Compositing (Morgan Kaufmann). This book forms the foundation of the course, and the weekly discussions expand upon the principles found in the text. Click to view individual classes....

VRY101 - Introduction to VRay

Professor: Daniel Buck (danielbuck) This course, taught by Daniel Buck, runs through the basics of V-Ray, from lights, to shaders, to render settings and a few optimization tips. Buck's professional career has been vehicle related, so the course will focus more on vehicle related things than other things, since that's his specialty. He will, however, present basic principals so that the knowledge gained applies to other things, not just purely vehicle related issues. Buck will assume that course participants have at least basic knowledge of Maya, and preferably some knowledge of lighting and shaders in general. No advanced knowledge of any other rendering software is necessary, but for those that do, Buck will go through a few areas where V-Ray differs from other rendering software. He will be using Maya during the term, but operations are very similar between 3dsMax and Maya. It renders identically, and all the options and settings are very similar...the differences are in how you apply properties and find the settings. The course will focus on the creation and manipulation of lights and shaders, as well as some basic V-Ray settings. It won't get into to much of the technical nuts and bolts of V-Ray, just giving practical approaches to using the renderer. Ultimately the content will involve setting up a scene where we are creating shaders and lighting for a vehicle. Global illumination will not be covered very much in this lesson, as the main focus will be lights and shaders, as well as touching on basic render settings. Professor Daniel Buck is located in Los Angeles and has worked at Sway, Method, and currently at Digital Domain. He is a specialist in look development and shaders. More info about Daniel can be found at his web site. Click to view individual classes....

XSI201 - Lighting in XSI

Professor: Lucas Martell (LucasMartell) This production-centric course will explore a variety of lighting techniques, and how to get the most out of XSI's lighting tools. The first half of the course will focus primarily on the technical skills required to light a shot, while the second half will apply these skills to real world scenarios and explore ways to enhance storytelling through lighting. The class will be taught by Lucas Martell, a freelance visual effects artist best known for his video podcast about the making of his animated short film "Pigeon: Impossible." Click to view individual classes....

XSI202 - Production with XSI

Professor: Lucas Martell (LucasMartell) Lucas Martell returns with his second course, this time covering production concepts using XSI. The primary objective of the class is to introduce some of the more technical aspects in a way that artists can immediately and confidently take advantage of. The course begins by discussing rigging, but in a way that's designed to ease post-grads into scripting, expressions, and eventually lead into the second half of the term which applies the same concepts to the visual programming nature of ICE. Along the way we'll also discuss pipeline considerations, including custom tools to help speed up production, as well as some useful tips for taking control of simulations. The class is aimed at a wide range of people, from younger students who generally have not dealt with some of these higher-level issues, to experienced artists who could benefit from a more intricate knowledge of Softimage's inner workings. Lucas Martell is a freelance animator who recently completed the 5-year production cycle on his short film "Pigeon: Impossible." In addition to his own projects, he has taught through the training site: fxphd and is widely known for his weekly podcast that chronicles the techniques and obstacles he's faced throughout the course of producing his films.

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Click to view individual classes....

2011 fxphd

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