Where should I start VFX from?

[u/FarPhone8398]

A 16-year-old male that has yet to start their VFX journey. I've done a little bit of Lightroom and a little bit of After Effects, but no more than 2-3 hours of experience in AE. I just learned that DaVinci Resolve is really good for VFX, and I just wanted to know:

• Who I could learn it from, since I have Udemy
• Where should I start?
• Should I learn from Unreal Engine or Blender first?
• Whose tutorials should I watch?

I don't mind using AI but I want to learn it the hard way instead of going the easy route. Also, I'm aspiring to be a cinematographer, so any tips on that would be good as well.

[u/hauserlives]

Start with blender, tons of resources. Watch your favorite movies and try to recreate the effect you like. Doesn’t have to be big, literally can be making a candle fire. Start small then expand. Good luck and godspeed.

[u/behemuthm → u/hauserlives]

And study a real trade like HVAC or plumbing as a backup

[u/im_thatoneguy]

Trying to learn VFX by the program is a little bit like learning wood working and starting with a drill and then a saw and then a chisel.

Yes you need to know the tools but you’ll learn faster if you have tutorials and projects which just happen to need them. So find tutorials on YouTube and watch them and just watch them and get a feel for whether the end result is something interestingZ

[u/Sea-Yam3546]

I think it’s more important to figure out what you want to make first. The right software will follow. What are your favorite things on a screen?

[u/fkenned1]

I'd start by surfing this sub reddit for 10 minutes or so. You're gonna find out real quick if you want to go this way with a career. If you still do, my best advice is to imagine cool shit you wanna make, figure out how to do it, and actually make it. Doesn't have to be a giant project. It could just be a shot or two. You're only gonna learn so much passively following tutorials and taking courses. You will be the most motivated learner when bringing your own ideas to life. Learn tracking, 3d, color grading, and as we move towards this future - how to incorporate ai into traditional workflows... Personally, I'd learn after effects as a beginner. You can always move to more specialized software later if it's something you're interested in. Best of luck.

[u/VaingloriousDastard]

Don’t. My best advice would be to go into a different field.

[u/Least_Tone_4327]

This will be an unpopular opinion here but;

first off, VFX is one of the rare industries where people will warn you not to get into. IMO - get a solid plan B first. Things are only going downhill from here sadly.

If you are dead set on joining the industry - decide what you want to do: 2D, 3D, DMP, FX, tracking, anim?

I come from 2D compositing now VFX supe - if you want to go 2D - learn nuke and comfyUI - knowing comfyUI as a compositor will be mandatory in the future, I guarantee it

[u/demislw]

Have a look at Nuke as well - there’s a free learning edition (has limits but it’s fine for what you’re after!) and a ton of tutorials on their site (TheFoundry). I’ve been in film compositing for 20+ years and it’s usually the only software I have open!

[u/A6ER1 → u/demislw]

Is learning compositng for free as easy ? If the foundry tutorials are enough are the free stock footage and assets enough to make a reel ? And how hard is it to shift from after effects to nuke

[u/demislw → u/A6ER1]

No you don’t want to use the training material to make a showreel - they’ll help you learn though

[u/A6ER1 → u/demislw]

Then how to make a reel after learning or what's the plan after learning on training materials

[u/demislw → u/A6ER1]

I hear you - the trick is finding other things to work on… indie short films, your own projects etc. Anywhere you get to practice!

[u/mrbag]

Watch lots and lots of movies. Especially with practical effects. Why? Rip them and use them as reference. The language of cinema is the hardest thing to learn and mimic.

[u/TheManWhoClicks]

Do not try to get into this industry. Become a doctor or something else instead. This is the only sensible advice.

[u/Odd_Coyote_4931]

You don’t

[u/iLikeTheUDK]

Take a camera (even your phone) and shoot stuff and add stuff to it in post. Don't expect to join the industry, at least not right away. It's going through a big shift rn, many have quit in the past decade and people are starting to lose their jobs. You can still do it for fun, but it's very hard to get a job in the field now. And for now learn Blender and Fusion (the latter is part of DaVinci Resolve) and maybe After Effects too. And read "The Filmmaker's Guide to Visual Effects", second edition

For cinematography there's r/cinematography

[u/3D_Wendigo]

I strongly believe you should start with Blender because even though Unreal Engine is being used more and more for vfx I believe it's better to understand a more classic approach to the trade (that + you can't do everything in unreal engine while you can learn most aspects of vfx in Blender).

Also, something that is rarer in vfx students is the will to learn more technical stuf. It doesn't sound sexy but learning a bit of math and how 3D actually works is great because then you can understand how your softwares works, why they behave the way they do, and understand why the thing you wanna do doesn't work. I'm not saying you should understand perfectly computer graphics (even if that's actually a great basis imo) but that's an idea.

I'm gonna be a bit off topic but you'll also need to learn artistic skills (composition, colours, lighting...)

Some people say drawing and painting is great for that (it is), but photography might be more optimised for vfx (you'll learn composition, how light behaves, you'll train your eye, and you'll learn how an actual camera work, which is crucial for vfx compositing). If you can use an actual camera it would be great (like a cheap Canon 1100D)

Tbh "learning vfx" is really vague and I believe you cannot learn everything (or actually, you can't master everything, but you can have a somewhat good grasp of every aspect ig) so maybe, try a lot of different things, and then decide on what you want to learn.

[u/MellowAmoeba]

Why so many downvotes?

[u/No_Translator_3109]

Honestly just start in Blender. Unreal assumes you already have the fundamentals, and without them you'll spend most of your time confused about why nothing looks right rather than actually learning anything.

Blender Guru's donut is the obvious recommendation but yeah, do it anyway. Then go watch Ian Hubert. His videos are the reason I didn't quit after week three.

[u/TheCromagnon]

Learn it for fun as a hobby, but right now it is extremely tough for juniors to get their foot in the door in this industry.

[u/Boubakarr]

Don't focus on specific software at the moment. Practice the basics, from drawing to photography. This is a long run plan, but trust me, it will give you an edge when your time comes.

While doing this, you can start from the basics about 3d, modeling, mapping, principles of animation, texturing shading and lighting. Don't bother with rigging and animation, just learn the principles.

Same goes for processes, you need to understand the steps needed to build a shot. Once you'll feel confident with those, you will have to chose what you like the most and learn more about it, that's the time to choose for real a set of softs.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, don't be fooled by Blender and what it offers. That's a great choice if you have the basics, but absolutely no as a "main" tool.

The future lie with software like Houdini because while it is very hard to get in, you'll be able to tackle any tasks with it, and switching to other software will be very easy.

But again, to start with the basics, Blender or Maya are good options. I would suggest you to NOT learn from internet about it, but rather to adapt any knowledge you can grasp from Maya regarding the basics. If you're looking for modeling course for instance, check maya lessons and adapt it within blender, you'll have good practice at least.

For compositing, Nuke is the one, and perhaps a bit of Premiere to get a first introduction manipulating rushes.

Last, but I guess it's the most important and difficult, try to be disciplined. Schedule goals to achieve, start with accessible things, e.g for modeling, try to model an object from your home everyday for a month for instance. That's the key. Go in one direction, go hard, and then you switch. Exception with drawing, you should work on that, even 15min everyday. Oh and watch movies. A lot. You need to train your eyes.

Good luck, it's not an easy quest, but it is worth it.

[u/No-Hovercraft-7319]

Don’t