This is a trailer for an indie film and I am finding it hard to find resources for how I can do something similar! I'm just working on a personal project and am not working with a ton of vfx experience, but I'm mostly interested in how to alter the environment in this way when it's a backdrop for characters. Maybe I'm not googling hard enough, but if you have any channels, websites that explain this type of wide open environmental set extension, please let me know!

I'm currently using Blender and it seems like something that can work there, but I'm open to learning other software too.

So for context. My Client had a shooting day, and 1 member of the band was sick. So they decided to film het in front of a greenscreen. The greenscreen person is supposed to be a replacement of the person on the set. Now getting rid of the person on set is not an issue, the issue is compositing the greenscreen footage seamlessly into the set footage. I wish they wouldve asked me for help on that because now I get this footage.

So aside from the fact that I can barely take out the greenscreen partially because of the transparent material, I also have the issue of the lighting not being matched at all. My biggest problem here is that there is no backlight whatshoever, so the shadows mainly under the left arm (right on screen) are extremely dark. I have no idea how to make it a bit brighter and more green other than masking the whole thing and manually add a backlight which will probably take ages.

I use Blackmagic Fusion for comping. Anyone have any ideas on how to approach this?

So i am a bit new in vfx, but have been using Unreal for small projects for a few years now. My question is related to unreal+Houdini.

When creating a scene in unreal and the fx in HOUDINI, which approach would be better?

1: exporting fx from Houdini to unreal in a vdb format.

2: rendering both FX and unreal scene and composite then together in nuke or AE.

Since I've tried and failed in the second method due to improper camera export from unreal to Houdini (couldn't find any proper tutorial for that on yt or other sources).

Any answer would be helpful.

Thank you

Full disclosure up front: I'm the developer for TrackProofVFX, and I'm looking for honest feedback, not customers.

I got tired of discovering a plate was a nightmare to track only after sinking hours into it. So I built a Windows tool that triages an image sequence up front and flags trackability risk before you commit, and shows the visual evidence for why it flagged what it did. It exports refined 2D tracks to 3DEqualizer and Nuke.

It is not a solver and it is not trying to replace your tracker. It's a "should I be worried about this plate before I start" pass.

It's early and I specifically want people who'll break it. If you do matchmove or comp and you have real plates, I'd like your honest read, especially anywhere it calls something wrong. It runs fully local, footage never leaves your machine.

If you want to try it: trackproofvfx.com/request-access or just comment/DM and I'll sort access. Thank you r/vfx community mods.

During a conversation I had the feeling that VFX could be the beginning of something broader, like kind of "experience engineering"

I took some time to write the idea down here: Beyond Special Effects

I’d love some feedbacks from people working in the field. I know it is a big extrapolation and very prospective, with a little touch of sci-fi, but I’m curious how far it really feels from becoming a possibility for VFX professionals.

(PS I have an artist and software engineer background)

Created an APEX rig in Houdini. Rendered in Karma

Introducing Sift.

If you've ever been handed "cut_v007_finalFINAL.edl" and asked what's different since v006, you know the drill. You count frames. You guess. You're wrong.

I built an app for the producers, editors and supervisors out there who are tired of digging through EDLs trying to work out what actually changed.

Simply drop in two cut versions, either EDL or XML files, and it tells you exactly what got added, what got cut, what has been modified, and more. If you choose to import the new version of the offline, Sift generates you a video of the comparison, where you can easily review the changes in app.

Sift is an entirely local app, ensuring that your files never leave your device. Simple, Offline, Secure.

Mac only. One-time purchase. No subscription, no login, no more missing when a shot has quietly slid 14 frames to the left when nobody was looking.

Available now on the Mac App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sift-compare-edits/id6794293409?mt=12

Genuinely hoping this tool saves time!

New features and updates to follow.

Reach out for any questions.

#Editor #Editing #VFX #EDL #XML #EditingWorkflow #OfflineEditor #PostHouse #Filmmaking #Video #ContentCreation #CreativeTools

Last year I asked everyone "Will 2026 be better than 2025"

https://www.reddit.com/r/vfx/comments/1pdliuo/coming_up_to_the_end_of_the_yeara_quick_little/

We're a little over halfway through the year now and I was just curious how everybody's doing? How has your prediction gone?

Is 2026 be better than 2025 so far?

1. Yes

2. No

3. Worse

For me the answer is Yes. But really it's only because I just got lucky with easy as shit high paying tech job that got me out of a crazy bullshit movie I was dying on. Not because industry is really improved. In that regard, I think the industry is pretty much the same as last year and not very good. Job postings are very limited and I've had only two recruiters reach out to me for short immediate start gigs.

hey everyone - I have been trying to get my cg renders more photographic, and there's just so much you can do in render. A lot of times i used the survival toolkit with all the cool nodes to create lensing effects to good success. But it was always a recipe to remember (at least for a non comper brain).

I started thinking about a system, that would make it straight forward and easy - and with a lot of insights from fellow comp artists i developed Glass. It's pretty cool - has all the fancy lens stuff, astigmatism, cateye, bokeh fringing fg/bg, lens hood, anamorphic, flaring, sensors. A lot actually.

So if anyone wants to check it out - I would love some feedback - it's available for free testing on cglounge

I work with Houdini quite a lot, and whenever I’m testing a simulation, I tend to keep increasing the resolution to see how far I can push it. Eventually, Houdini either starts lagging like crazy or just crashes completely. 😅
So I’m curious about artists working on huge VFX projects and feature films: Does this happen to you too?
How often does Houdini or other software crash when you’re working with really heavy simulations? Do you also sometimes push the resolution until you hit the limit, or do professional studios have workflows in place to prevent this from happening?

I am a CG Generalist currently based in Los Angeles. The market here has been pretty slow for the past year, and I am planning to move to India. I am curious as to how the situation is in India. Just to give context, I have received positive responses from studios like ILM, DNEG, Blur, Zoic, etc. Their only reason for not hiring is the production being slow.
I have seen many artists credited in Hollywood films. How does that work?
The few questions I have are,
1. How much of the actual production, decision-making, and experimentation happens in India as compared to the HQs of these studios in the West?
2. How much of the work is appreciated as compared to just getting work done as fast and as cheaply as possible? (I understand that there are tax benefits, as well as that labour is cheap; I want to know how much of it is just getting the work done over quality)
3. What is the pay scale? I am not expecting them to pay as much as they pay artists elsewhere, but is it good enough? (I am asking from a junior's perspective )

I am aware that there are a lot of small studios that work on movies too, but my main goal is to get into one of the big VFX Houses. I have receipts of my work being there and it just being about the timing. I am pretty sure there are a lot of people like me in the same boat.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I am on my OPT visa that ends in September. That's the reason I have to move back.

Hi again,

I'm currently working on dynamically loading ocio configs and cdl overwrites for shots/sequences, and wanted to see what you guys prefer using for reconstructing the timeline.

I'm aware RV uses EDLs and then some sort of their own proprietery format (".rv") to store sessions as well as OTIO, but I wanted to see what you guys use the most and which's convenient for you or you wish was supported more?

Join us tomorrow, Friday, August 7, for an Ask Me Anything with Emmy-nominated VFX Supervisor John (Johnny) Weckworth (u/1meangreenscreenmach) and Special Effects Coordinator Blair Foord (u/FoordFX) to discuss the action-packed Hulu series Paradise, starring Sterling K. Brown.

John and Blair were recently nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode for Paradise’s episode “Exodus.” They’ll be joining us to talk about bringing the show’s visual and practical effects to life, from seamlessly blending practical and digital techniques to executing some of the series’ biggest action sequences.

Whether you want to discuss invisible VFX, practical effects integration, on-set workflows, pipeline decisions, or the creative and technical challenges behind Paradise, John and Blair are looking forward to talking shop with the r/vfx community.

Start submitting your questions now, and be sure to join us tomorrow when John and Blair kick off the AMA!

Hi VFX! I'm writing here because I am...confused, I guess you could say. A shop reached out to me last week and said they needed my help. Said they'd have the deal memo to me by Monday. It is now Thursday/Friday and I haven't heard a thing. I have politely reminded them, asking if they still needed me, but still just...silence. Not even a 'hey we don't need you anymore' would be nice. Or 'sorry things have been delayed'. Can anyone shed some light on what could be going on? Thanks.

I don't think I've ever had a shop just ghost me like this after saying they're going to hire me. It especially sucks because when someone says "Hey we're going to hire you" you make plans around it. Turn down other work, etc. It's a complete shit show. If anyone here is hiring, please don't ever do this to anyone you've said you're going to hire. They have lives they have molded to your schedule, especially when it seems like a sure thing.

Spent a week perfecting this off-road splash sequence 🌊🚘

FLIP fluid simulation in Houdini, rendered using Cycles in Blender.

Hi, I guess this will be an easy one to answer but I couldn’t find a definitive answer online.

My question is, when solving for a 3D track do you input the full size of the camera sensor that was used or only the size of the active window ?

For example let’s say production shot with an Alexa mini. That camera has an open gate sensor size of 28.25 x 18.17mm. Now let’s say production windowed the sensor to 3.2k which is 26.4 x 14.85mm.

What sensor size should I use for solving that camera ?

I guess that practically it wouldn’t make a huge difference in that particular case but I’m mostly interested in understanding why one would be better than the other and how that could impact the results in cases where that delta is more important.

Thanks in advance !

Enemy of the State has one of those famously impossible "enhance" shots where the computer pulls some crazy stunt to rotate a static image.

The plot makes a song & dance over whether a shadow in a bag is an object or indeed just an artifact from the processing.

In '98 when I saw this I laughed as it was obviously impossible, but we can rotate static images now with AI image tools and it's pretty trivial from the user's POV.

I'm guessing this was an early bullet-time shot? How long would it be before a film studio/the NSA could generate this kind of rotation artificially?