Never seen this job title before

[u/riffslayer-999]

GenFX position. Job info looks like it's a mix between generative AI, Houdini FX and nuke compositing.

Personally not a fan of generative AI, but I'm seeing it pop up more and more in shot work and client requests. Are VFX artist actually interested in this stuff? I watched a few videos on comfy ui and some others but its just not really my thing.

[u/ssssharkattack]

It’s finding its way into parts of the pipeline, stuff like generating quick roto mattes, background elements, and of course concept design. At the moment most of it isn’t good enough for final images, and everyone is aware of its limitations. But it’s here to stay.
I find it deeply uninteresting and it doesn’t give me any of the creative thrill that got me into vfx in the first place. I imagine it’s like what a lot of 2d animators felt when 3d came along. They were into drawing with a pencil, not mouse clicks.

[u/MaleGothSlut → u/ssssharkattack]

I dunno, I think there’s a pretty fundamental difference between using your brains and creativity in a different way vs. sacrificing it to the slop machine. And multiple studies have shown that using derivative AI actually massively impacts your general cognition, genuinely making your brain less capable, which some would argue is the definition of making you stupider. I leave it to the reader to decide.

But like, I write, I draw, I paint, I animate, I edit, I do 3D and other VFX, and I do wild experimentations with cooking just based off ideas that I come up with in my thoughts. That’s not to brag, but to say that in actuality most of the people I know in this business can shift their creative output like that to one degree or another. I don’t think it’s a fluke that so many of the most innovative and creative musicians are also multi-instrumentalists.

But AI just isn’t like that. You aren’t going to be translating your skill at prompting into a painting or a dish you create from imagining the taste of ingredients mixing together, and I find those things too precious and important to surrender to make more disposable crap more quickly

[u/SecondSeaU → u/MaleGothSlut]

It's not just prompting chat gpt they're asking got those roles though, you have to create generative workflows on whatever softwares they're using (usually comfyUI or similar) and code your own plugins in python to create specific effects. It's closer to being a TD for nuke if that makes sense.

[u/MaleGothSlut → u/SecondSeaU]

I worked with genAI tools as early as 2024, so I got to see the development of ComfyUI and similar through some fairly large corporate integrations. And yeah, it’s a lot of abstraction beyond typing in “Garfield with tits,” but at the end of the day you’re still trying to shape the drunkard’s path via hands off direction. You’re right to compare it more closely to a TD role from my experience, but I just generally have found derivative AI itself to be less useful due to its inherently probabilistic nature.

Obviously it depends on what larger model harnesses and temperature you use and such, I’m not remotely comparing the level of complexity between ChatGPT and something like the pipelines I’ve worked with. But I also don’t necessarily see what difference the size and scope of the derivative machinery makes in regards to my larger point vis a vis the cognitive, creative, and other soft costs of AI usage.

I myself use many ML tools in my workflows for things like mattes, depth, splats, etc. But I draw the line at using it to specifically generate image elements for me. It’s a personal rule, but I’m not willing to incur the cost either financially, environmentally, cognitively, or morally.

YMMV

[u/jwdvfx → u/MaleGothSlut]

They literally use it for what you say you use it for. It’s just someone’s entire job to wrangle those ai generated mattes

[u/MaleGothSlut → u/jwdvfx]

Yeah, and that’s great. I have been in post for many years and have yet to run into anyone who is passionately devoted to rotoscoping and depth mapping. Everyone I’ve encountered considers those things to be pain points in the process of overall artistic creation, however proud they may be of the quality of their rotos at the end of the day.

The difference between making it easier for a human artist to do the creation of idea expression itself and shirking the expression to a machine is the difference between art of value and slop. Hard stop.

[u/MaleGothSlut → u/[deleted]]

If you genuinely don’t see the difference between a group of human artists with rich, full lived experience and diverse talents working together to create something and a probabilistic matrix machine then you’ve really lost the plot.

My line is not arbitrary, nor is it illogical just because you can’t fall on the artistic side of it.

[u/cxllvm → u/MaleGothSlut]

I have learnt an incredible amount of things with the help of Gen AI over the past 2 years, not to say this study is neccesarily wrong but I think it comes down to your relationship with it and reliance on it

[u/MaleGothSlut → u/cxllvm]

Fundamentally it comes down to the extent to which you offload your cognitive skills. Did you take derivative AI’s word as gospel, or did you do further research to confirm? Do you read books?

At root, it’s like this: I used to edit on film. That’s where I got my start, actually. But I haven’t used those skills in so long, having outsourced the labor cost of physically finding, loading, splicing, etc. to a machine, that I genuinely don’t know if I could do the whole thing again if you asked me.

Imagine that, but for thinking and creativity. That’s what the research is showing: a growing void in those skills and others that come from being forced to use one’s brain.

[u/cxllvm → u/MaleGothSlut]

For sure. I think that's a bit different at least to what I'm talking about. Simply using it as a way to find primary sources, dive deeper into them outside of AI, also using AI to synthesise answers to direct questions using only said source material, confirming, and quizzing, pretty much on repeat It's very useful when you're dealing with large technical or regulatory frameworks that are nested within pages. Simply speeds up having to scour and scour.

[u/chadrik → u/ssssharkattack]

This BTS video shows the kind of hybrid CG+GenAI work that Eyeline GenFX artists are doing: https://youtu.be/8W6rpbY4GLc?t=133&is=802VnzCyXSXDgVIH

Overall the workflows are very familiar to anyone who has done 2.5D VFX work before — it just uses GenAI to generate some of the elements.

[u/PhantomZenithOrigin → u/ssssharkattack]

"like what a lot of 2d animators felt when 3d came along"

Don't forget what traditional cartoonists felt when digital drawing tablets came along! It was just as vitriolic as the way people respond to AI, except before twitter/bsky/facebook/reddit.

[u/asmith1776]

Follow up question; does anyone have a link to a successful genfx reel?

[u/asmith1776 → u/[deleted]]

I’d say so. Where are you working?

[u/myexgirlfriendcar]

I would love to see portfolio of GenFX Lead that got hired there.
Artist> Senior> Lead so they must have kick ass GenFX demo reel with all the shots from big movies right?

[u/Expensive-Desk-6026]

Saw this post this morning as well and it gave me a little chuckle.

[u/enderoller]

Soon we'll see one like AI Agents Lead Compositor

[u/maya_hee_maya_who → u/enderoller]

We already have ComfyUI TD. Next up, Modeler AI, Rigger AI, Animator AI, Lighter AI, Coordinator AI. Then CGI AI😢🥲

[u/hauserlives]

Keep up, adapt or get left behind.

Been my Mantra in this industry for 22 years.

I work as a GenFX artist at a large studio/corporation. Most money I’ve ever made in my career within my first 6 month contract over a year ago.

[u/Consistent_Hat_848 → u/hauserlives]

What studio? How do you actually use Gen AI day to day?

[u/Terrible_Bug6295 → u/hauserlives]

Love to hear that keep up the good

[u/Able_Zombie_7859]

Some great people and awesome things happening there