http://www.thejuniorcompositor.com/2009/01/25/industry-the-state-of-the-visual-effects-industry/

It seems like some kind of agreement has been reached with the artists getting 70% of their wages.  That’s right, 70% of their wages for producing A-level visual effects for a major VFX studio which was in turn part of the Discovery group.  That is to say, Discovery are not exactly hurting for cash.  There are more than a few galling aspects to this case, least of which is working for 3months and not getting paid.  There is the fact the artists got shafted and not paid just before Christmas.  That pretty much sucks the big one, but how about Meteor effectively shutting down and opening again with the same muppets running the business with the same equipment on the same premises?  This is what happens with limited liability companies.  They can go bankrupt/insolvent and wind up and there is nothing you can sue them for.  They sell the equipment and facilities to another $2 company for cents in the dollar and start again as a “new and different” company.

I bring the whole topic up again as I have seen and heard similar stories since begining my professional career in CG and it makes me so goddamned angry that CG artists are treated this way.  We are a young industry and at the moment we have no sort of union protection whatsoever.  I am not suggesting that a union is the only answer, but at the moment, artists are treated like disposable rags and the companies play us off against each other.  Given that there is a perception that CG is a “glamour” and “fun” industry and that the schools are pumping out students like there is no tomorrow (because CG students are fish in a barrel for fees, see last post), the attitude seems to be “You should be thankful that we are paying you $18/hr to play with computers all day.  It’s fun and if you don’t want to do it, we’ll get that 17 year old to take your place.”

Now, as someone starting in the industry you might be tempted to think “Whatever old man, if you can’t take it, get out and give me ago”.  That might be fine while you are living with your parents and just starting out.  $18h/r making CG cartoons might seem like mana from heaven compared to working for McDonalds, but what happens in 5 years time?  You have moved out, you have rent to pay, you bought a car, you have bills, thinking about taking a world trip or saving for a house.  You have moved up the payscale a bit and then the same thing happens to you . . . “Well we can’t afford to pay you what you are worth.  How about a pay cut and you can keep your job?” “Errr, no, I have 5 years experience”, “Hmmm, yeah, well, we have this 17yo who will work for $15 an hour, sooooo, seeya!”

The fact is that work in CG is almost *all* contractual, unless you somehow land a gig where you have ongoing full time employment (often smaller studios or if you are some kind of coding/TD guru).  That means you generally count on not working at least 3mths of the year and making up for it the other 9mths.  It also means it is very hard to get loans as you can’t show consistent income.

So, what we have is an industry where if you have 5 years experience you *might* be earning decent coin, but your job is usually not safe, you are often treated as disposable and you have to constantly watch out for up and comers willing to work crazy longer hours for less money.

If the VFX industry continues the way it is going now, there won’t be many old-timers, like their are on the live-action production side (camera ops, gaffers, riggers etc).  What we will have is an industry full of people with 5-10 years experience who eventually give it away after being kicked in the guts too many times.

Take care of yourself as nobody else in the industry will do it for you.  Sad but true.

ETA:  No images today as something happened with my hosting and FTP.  I am currently looking at moving the entire blog to Squarespace as it is becoming too much of a hassle to troubleshoot each week.

Goofy hat? Check!

Maybe a better question to ask is: “Do I need to go to school”. And the answer is: it depends. At this point you might be wanting to stick a sharpened pencil in my ear while screaming “Well what’s the bloody point of you or you blog, eh Matt?” and you might be right. Here is my general view on *needing* to get a piece of paper for your qualifications. For the more art focused side of the industry, personally I don’t feel you need qualifications. You need to be able to show you have the chops to do the work. Being able to produce good work on time and on (or under) budget is more important than a degree. For the more technical sides, like TD’s (Technical Directors), scripters, programmers etc, the fact is that studios do often like to see some kind of accredited qualifications.

Having said that, I am a great believer in education. Yes you can learn figure drawing from books, but it is no substitute for taking classes and doing real life studies. Another great benefit of studying is the interaction with students and teachers. Obviously with a teacher in a room you can immediately ask questions and get instant feedback. If you are studying at home it might take you days of trawling forums and asking questions to get a result. Another great side benefit of the class is seeing how different people work and bouncing ideas off them. Give 30 kids the same assignment and you will get 30 very different results and most likely people will learn different techniques and you will be able to swap tips and tricks.

Don't let this be you. Ask questions!

So Matt, what did you do? Well, my situation was a little different in that I was 30 or so when I went back to study. I already had a business degree and my reason for going back to study was twofold. Firstly, by committing time and money to study I was planting a flag that said “This is something that I am taking seriously as a genuine career change”. The other reason was that I found working full-time and stuyding CG after work was not effective for me. I was too tired and couldn’t give it the attention it deserved. By studying 2.5 full days a week full time, I could really focus on what I wanted to do.

In terms of how and why I chose my course, I didn’t choose the “best” course (and frankly, in my experience and others, a large majority CG courses are quite average). I chose a course that was quite cheap as it was subsidised by TAFE in Australia. It was also in a city that I had family in, that had friends and that I could transfer to and keep my safe government job. I knew that I would be learning a lot off my own bat, so for me, the course itself was not a big factor. The fact that I was going to a course full time at all was the main thing!

Quick post with a suggestion to maybe throw your hat into the ring with one of the various different challenges that CG websites often run.

Challenge city. Population you.

At the top of the pile you have ones like the current “Secret Agent” challenge over at CGTalk. This is a pretty high-end comp and the prizes reflect that. I mean, if you are entering to win a Boxx workstation, a copy of Maya and Houdini Master, Intuos 4 etc etc, you better be ready to bring your A-game!

VFXTalk used to run challenges but they seemed to have dried up, although I noticed that Alejandro Villabón over at Green Soda has started up some challenges. No prizes, but we should be looking at sharpening our skills.

Me? I am looking at submitting some work for the latest lighting challenge over at CGTalk. Again, there are no prizes, but that’s not really the reason to enter these kinds of things. The main attraction for me is that there is usually a focus (in this case lighting), you are provided with the scene or base elements (like the green screen for the Green Soda challenge) and you are given a time limit. For me, having the time limit and restrictions is great because like so many of us, I get started on some ideas I have, run out of steam and shelve the project. If there is a simple challenge with a deadline, there is more chance I will actual finalise something.

So, look around and enter some challenges to . . . errrr, challenge yourself!

I was talking to a young co-worker of mine the other day about some jobs that we saw being advertised around the traps. One was for the studio that does the FX for a sci-fi show that he loves and would consider a dream job if he could get to work on it. I asked if he had applied. He said no as he didn’t feel he was qualified enough, it was overseas and he had only just started his job here.

Just ask

I certainly don’t suggest starting jobs and then bailing straight away . . . bad form all around, but I don’t see the others as particularly good reasons not to get in contact and start a relationship.

Whoah, whoah, whoah . . . “starting a relationship”? That sounds awfully management speak or new-age drivel, but if you haven’t noticed, this industry is built on relationships. You mostly get jobs because of who you know. Of course you have to be able to deliver, but if it comes down to someone who can deliver and someone who can deliver who has a mate working at the studio or who knows the HR person, who do you think will get the job?

What I am talking about here is the power of asking. You have to ask. I think the best summary about the power of asking is this blogpost over at FreelanceSwitch.com. The point is that only you know what you want and a lot of times the only way to get it is to make sure that other people know it!

How to go about it?  Send the studio an email.  You realise they aren’t hiring but just want to get in touch with your latest reel and resume.  Ask if it’s okay if you keep them up to date and then DO it.  The thing you are trying to do is start a conversation.  You might get a form email response, you might get someone from HR email you back.  If it’s the latter, make a record of their details and position so that next time you can either send an email directly to them or at least mark the generic “jobs@ABCstudio.com” email address to them in the subject line.  Now you are a real person interracting with another real person.  The more you can make yourself a defined person as opposed to just another applicant, the more you will come to mind when the are looking for new hires.

Good luck!

(c) Lucas Martell 2009

A quick plug this week for a great blog and seemingly Herculean effort by Lucas Martell and cohorts for the making of their short, Pigeon Impossible. You can check out the main website here and the blog here. I highly recommend reading through the blog and downloading the video podcasts (vidcasts?)


While Lucas and the team have been working in Autodesk XSI (though Softimage XSI at the time) the vidcasts are “3D application agnostic”. Actually that’s one of the reasons I am recommending you go check it out as Lucas focuses more on the *process* and the *concepts* and how they can help your production rather than “if you hit this button, X will happen”.

The thing is, creating a 6 minute long animation is a lot of work. Creating a 6 minute animation that looks professional quality is a totally different kettle of fish. Learn from Lucas’s mistakes (and of course hints from this very site) and you will hopefully be able to avoid many pitfalls and time-sinks which will let you keep your focus on your production rather than problems.

Okay, okay, this is a bit of a non-CG specific thread, but frankly, I am having trouble shaking the flu and I feel stuffed!  For the non-Australians, “stuffed” in this context means “beat/tired/exhausted”, though it can also describe something not working; “Damnit, this comp is completely stuffed!”.  Oh yeah, if your work ever offers to give a free flu shot, avoid it!  Man, I got one just before a 4 day weekend and it laid me low and I can’t get rid of it.  Vitamin C, stat!

Anyway, I am going to list the websites and podcasts that I regularly check out.  I must confess that while I used to listen to music pretty much 24/7, these days I am more likely to listen to podcasts and audiobooks while I work.  Stuffed if I know how some guys can listen to Finlandish death metal with the volume at 11 while working, but different strokes for different strokes.  

The good thing about podcasts and audiobooks is that you can listen to topics that normally you might not read about.  I probably won’t have the inclination to read volumes on the history or Rome or Greece, but I am happy to have someone read it to me and just kind of absorb it.

CG Related

FXGuide - podcast and blog- General VFX news, usually focusing on a particular film

FXGuideTV - vidcast – big file sizes, be warned!

Red Centre - podcast.  Red camera news and talks.

The VFX Show – podcast.  Usually focuses on a particular film/TV show each episode.

That Post Show – podcast. John Flowers interesting post podcast.  He can be a bit overbearing sometimes, but overall interesting stuff.

Photo Focus – Podcast and blog. Used to be This Week in Photography – great photography podcast with some fun characters.

Tech Related

Macbreak Weekly – podcast.  Leo Laporte and a crew of malcontents discuss Mac news.  Good because while Leo is a Mac fan, he takes both sides.  Actually, go listen to everything on Leo’s site and throw the guy a few bucks.  His podcasts are great.

This Week in Tech – podcast.  As above but about tech in general

This week in Media – podcast.  Interesting talks on new media, creative and business focus.  Initially I wanted to strangle Daisy Whitney due to her over the top Californian Valley Girl-esque accent, but she has grown one me.

Inside Home Recording – podcast.   A bit cheesy, but some great info and I like the fact that they guys are friends who obviously enjoy doing the podcast.

1UP.com Retronauts – For all your old-school gaming needs.  Frankly, they are too young to touch on the games I used to play, but still a good listen.  Be aware, nerd-ometer goes off the scale on this one

Business Related

Freelance Radio – podcast and website.  Podcast from the excellent blog, Freelance Switch.

NPR: PlanetMoney – podcast and website. Astoundingly useful website that explains economics and finance in strictly no-jargon terms.  They get big-hitters on and don’t dumb it down, just explain it understandable terms.

Iinovate – podcast. A podcast by students of Stanford University’s Business and Design Schools.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders – podcast and website. Stanford University’s weekly podcast where guest business leaders talk to and take questions from students.  They get some pretty big names in.

Unclassified

TED Talks – vidcast and podcast.  The big daddy.  I can’t remember who put me on to these but I have never looked back.  Basically, people at the top of whatever theif field (tech, design, music, art, business, science, education) giving inspirational talks.  You might get a dud one here and there, but overall, amazing stuff.  Start with the talks by Sir Ken Robinson and Dave Eggers.

NPR: This American Life – podcast.  Everyone who has ever listened to an episode wants more.  A topic and (usually) three interview/comedy standups/short stories/musical pieces/whatever on that topic.

NPR: Car Talk – podcast and website. While touring the USA a few years ago, I was with my mate Trey driving around and he said to me “You have to listen to this show.  These two old guys talk about cars and people call in and ask question”.  Needless to say I wasn’t exactly jumping out of my skin.  That was until I hear Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack, the tappet brothers.  Two ex-MIT graduates who like cars more than physics and started their own garage, these are the old guys you wish would hang around your neighbourhood.  Funny, knowledgeable and willing to stick it to each other, you will thank when after you sign up.

You Look Nice Today – podcast.  Unclassifiable.  Three guys talking complete crap, but I find them very funny.  I got on to this after becoming a fan of Merlin Mann.  Unfortunately not updated as regularly as I would like.

The Writing Show – podcast and website.  I think they might be on a bit of a hiatus, but the archives are a very interesting listen.

Please post your own that aren’t on the list, I am always looking for new things to listen to.

By now you almost certainly know that a work print of Wolverine has hit the bit torrent sites.  You might also know that on one section a major Australian studio’s name is apparent.  Now, allegations have been flying and conspiracy theories abound about how or why this happened.

Copyright 20th Century Fox

I have to say, I am more likely to believe the studio in question when it said they it almost certainly wasn’t related to them as they didn’t even have a full copy of the workprint.  As far as I know, each VFX house is rarely, if ever, given a complete work-print of the film.  You usually get just the sequences your studio is working.  FYI, the work-print is an edit without all the VFX and extras added.   It will often still have green screen or very rough slap-comps to give the idea of the shot.

In any event, it has been quite interesting seeing people’s reactions.  The first reactions were overwhelmingly along the lines of “Why would anyone want to watch an unfinished movie?” to which I respond “Are you so completely off your gourd on bad crack that you haven’t been on the internet in the last 5 years?”  People will watch stick figure storyboards with fake voiceovers if they think they are on the cutting edge of downloadzzzz and if they feel like they are sticking it to the man.  Heck, even I would be interested in watching a copy if it was included on the Blu-Ray release.

Some people suggested a marketing campaign from Fox to which I say “Is it possible that you might actually be considered barely mentally competent to stand trial for your obvious crimes against humanity?” (I find it’s best to spice up these posts every now and then).  I mean, sure we are all aware of cynical viral marketing from the super corporations.  Sony seems to be particularly guilty of this, however I think that most sane individuals with any shred of common sense and non-moron infused genes would say that, on average, it would be an exceedingly bad idea to have your studio’s name on a leaked version of a $150 million film.  As one less than sharp tool suggested: “Lots of people know about the studio now”, as if studios need to get their name out to the 14 year old loser nerd bit-torrent community.  Obviously where the bucks are . . . 

Others suggested someone working at the studio.  I guess that could be possible, but you would have to really not want a future in the industry if you thought that stealing and uploading a copy of an unreleased movie was a good move.  This of course assumes that most people in the industry are of at least average intelligence, but I guess there are always what can be politely called “outliers”  Of course you have couriers and a myriad of other people, however the drives etc are usually pretty secure.

We may never find out what really happened, however Fox have said they have digitally watermarked all their prints, so it should be interesting to see how it play out.

I will start by saying that I will avoid the whole Mac vs PC debacle.  Suffice to say that with Shake being dead, the case for owning a Mac purely for compositing has been dealt a blow.  Of course Nuke runs on Mac (quite nicely apparently) as does 3D software such as Autodesk Maya (sub-par compared to PC and *nix) and Houdini (stable, from all reports).

Here’s what I consider the minimum gear to work quickly in CG:

Two Monitors

The monitor of choice

This should be a no-brainer, but if you haven’t experienced the joys of a dual monitor setup, you are really missing out.  Thankfully these days even lowly video cards have dual DVI-outs, so it is as simple as inserting the card and connecting up your monitors.  Some software makes good use of the dual monitors with the second being used as a reference monitor, such as The Foundry’s Nuke, while others pretty much just use the second monitor as a storage space for all your floating palettes (Adobe Photoshop).

Other than that, dual setups are perfect for training as you can have the video open on one monitor while following along on the other.  Watching video training on a single monitor is about as fun as having starving penguins kick you to death and then eat you.

What monitor?  Frankly, for the price you can’t go past the Dell 24″ 2408WFP.  Sure it might be a little more expensive than others, but it has excellent colour reproduction thanks to it’s 8 bit panel.  Most of the cheaper monitors use the cheaper 6bit panels as far as I know.  Keep an eye out for weekly sales and scour the internet for extra 20% off codes that are sometimes emailed out.  Combine them and get a great monitor for peanuts.  Of course, if you are just doing non-production level stuff at home, there are a bunch of good 24″ models these days and prices have plummeted.  SAMSUNG, ASUS and BENQ put out a couple of good ones.  ACER seems to be a bit lower quality to my eye.

Tablet

In the words of They Might Be Giants, S-E-X-X-Y

It might be hard to believe, because I am so awesome, but for some bizarre reason I used a mouse with Shake for the first year of production.  Why?  Buggered if I know.  I tried using a tablet a couple of times but I found it quite unwieldy.  When I changed studios and was essentially forced to use one, it took me about 2 solid weeks for it to feel totally natural.  Remember that I had been using a mouse for maybe 18-19 years, so cut me some slack!  I have since started using the tablet for my 3D work and again, while unwieldy at first, you soon get the hang of it.

Check out the new Wcom Intuos 4 for some freaking sexxalicious tablet goodness.  Do you need the latest thing?  Not really.  Keep an eye out for run out stock of the excellent Intuous 3’s.  At this juncture I would only really recommend Wacom.  I know some people, especially students, are tempted by cheaper products, such as Genius, but really, you get what you pay for and you can claim it on tax.  Tablets and monitors are like shoes . . . you use them everyday and they are critical, so don’t sell yourself short but buying cheap gear.

Video Card

Any decent gaming card.  It has been well established that Quadro’s offer negligible performance benefits for the average user.  Get your studio to buy them if you desparately want one, and even then I think they would baulk at shelling out the kind of cash nVidia ask for those things.  Some people may swear by ATI, but nVidia just seem to be more stable across all your needs.

Chair

My bottom wants to meet this chair

Chairs?  What the heck are you talking about Matt?  Who gives a sod about chairs?  I admit that this is a luxury, but only to a certain extent.  Like  a monitor, a chair is something you will be using pretty much every minute of your working day.  You are sitting on your arse all day, so why by uncomfortable?  The Herman Miller Aeron is the King of Chairs for the arduous bum-sitting marathons that are found in CG.  Expensive as all get out, but your cheeks deserve to be coddled.

And now for the pure insanity of Stefan Didak’s setup.  ”Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Stefan Didak presents "Gentlemen Start Your Monitors"

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Last Friday we had a casual meetup of like-minded computer graphics folks in Brisbane.  It was my first (and unfortunately last as I am moving) Brisbane meetup and it was a great chance to have a few drinks and shoot the proverbial with some interesting new people.

These drinks meetups aren’t really regular and they are organised by whoever decides to get things moving from an Australian mailing list (the DLF) , but they always seem to get a good turnout and it is a great way to put names to faces, network, drink, eat and generally have a good time.

Beer is good. Belgian beer is better

Now, these are casual drinks, but there are also other events you can attend.  Is there a SIGGRAPH chapter near you?  Membership is usually quite cheap, especially for students, and they usually have monthly events and screenings.  These are a great way to here about new techniques, see shorts, hear about courses and meet people.

Are there any chapters of computer graphics groups around your area?  Websites like CGTalk and VFXTalk have strong communities and there is a good chance that if someone took the initiative you could get a meetup organised.

What if you don’t really like going out and hanging out with people?  Too bad!  Get off your bum and get out there!  If you haven’t realised yet, this is a small industry and most of your jobs will come from friends or people you know.  The more people you know and get along with, the more likely you are to get a job.  I realise that socialising is not for everyone, and it is tough when you don’t know anybody at an event, but you are more than likely going to meet some interesting new people and have a good time if you put in a bit of effort.

So this is how comic book movies are meant to be made!  I will admit straight out that I have not read the graphic novel though I have been meaning too for years.  Of course now I will look like a bandwagon-hopping hipster doofus as I buy it now, but to hell with the purists!

Copyright DC Comics

Not having read the graphic novel, I didn’t have any vested interest in seeing how the movie would turn out.  I can only imagine from what I’ve read that transferring Watchmen to the silver screen was going to be pretty bloody hard, but it seems like Zack Snyder has done an admirable job.  Fans seem to have recognised that film and graphic novels are separate beasts and need to be viewed differently.

I am not going to give any spoilers, but I will say the movie hit all the right notes.  The intro was stunning and really set the mood.  Possibly the best opening I have seen in quite a few years.  The story is well paced and kept me interested for the most part.  There were a few soft spots but they never bog the story down.

I admit I was a bit worried with all the characters being introduced that I wouldn’t know what was going on, but all was revealed with some great flashbacks.  Compare this with The Spirit where I didn’t really know what was going on and the backstories were hopeless.

The visual effects were solid the whole way through.  There wasn’t too much that made me go “WOW!  MEGA-SUPA-FREAKING-AWESOME” but there also wasn’t anything that was noticeably sub-par.  The only thing I couldn’t quite understand was the decision to make Dr Manhattan completely CG when he could have been Billy Crudup in the flesh for 80% of his shots.

Overall, the best thing I can say about this movie is that when I came out, I really wanted to get my hands on a copy of the graphic novel to get the full story.  The complete opposite of The Spirit . . . 

_________

I would also highly recommending the full manga series for Akira.  I love Akira the movie, but frankly it makes no sense.  After reading the graphic novels the whole thing became a *lot* clearer.  It looks like you can read them online here.

Copyright Warner Bros. Image courtesy of Intelligent Creatures from CGTalk.com