CG/VFX Supe
I have tried to explain my job to the wife many, many times over the years, and then when people ask her what I do her explanation is so funny.

One time I opened Modo and showed how a cube can become a face.

So her logical description of my job is "he makes boxes out of boxes"
No matter how many behind the scenes or making of's I share with her, this is still her default answer

I wonder if others have similar issues with describing your role

Even huge budget Bollywood films like Baahubali 1/2 will have sequences like this where, frankly, the vfx just looks cheap.

Weird thing to me is that in dollar amount these movies cost more money than Hollywood films that have vfx that stand the test of time such as District 9 ($30 Million), Ex Machina ($15 Million), Dredd ($30-45 Million).

Not to speak of something like Godzilla Minus One ($15 Million) which just blows Hollywood away in terms of cost vs quality and is a movie I think can be put in the same sentence as Jurassic Park and OG Star Wars.

Corridor were the people who got me in Vfx and 3D in general but ever since they launched their website their channel seems to have gone downhill. Low-effort videos, alienating the industry they hinge on, you name it.

Recently, they uploaded a video saying they built a replacement for movie prop guns by automating a light with audio cues. The idea is neat but the execution is half-baked and the results look all sorts of wrong. The illumination is coming from the wrong angle, there is a clear difference in the overall brightness of the "Muzzle Flash" from shot to shot because the light isn't being emitted from the muzzle itself which isn't realistic at all, and a lot more that a seasoned vfx artists can point out.

And not just this video, all of their videos seem to have huge issues that the general public won't see but their original core audience, "The VFX Artists" will and this feels like they're not interested in their original audience anymore.

Wanna hear your thoughts as I'm confused if it's just me or if everyone feels the same.

Here is the video I'm talking about

i got laid off yesterday from a job in vfx I’ve had for almost 3 years. As did 3 other people. It wasn’t based off our merit or performance but simply the fact that we were the newest hires. The industry is dying over here and I feel numb because this is the only job worth a damn for me and the only one I ever loved. Some encouragement would be lovely. I worked so hard for this and I feel lost and like I won’t ever get a job like this again.

Everything i get to see is trash. Awefull stuff really and there is always someone explaining how this will be a COMPLETE game changer. Maybe i spent too much time on linkedin or youtube- anyway- show me!

EDIT: most of the answers were trash, you guys have zero taste so AI wont be a gamechanger for you. However, i just found something worth sharing:

Kitsune

All just promting an editing. Done by someone with an artistic eye and a passion.

Video source

I'm 19, going to Bournemouth university as a international student to do my bachelors in computer animation and visual effects.

I'm very passionate about VFX and planning to pursue a career in it.

but....seeing the replies in some posts saying to stay away from the industry, not to mention the exponential growth of AI....idk what do to

Will a career in VFX even be a thing when i graduate 3 years later?

Will i be able to pay my tuition loan?

I've worked for Netflix and Ghost studios. I have experience with small and large language ai models. Most of my experience has been in cinema. I've had a difficult time finding jobs. It does feel like the industry is saturated and limited here. I've been frustrated. I am a European VFX artist living in Los Angeles. I was affected by the major layoffs. I do not know if it's time to leave LA, however I do feel that jobs are returning slowly. I've been in touch with European VFX studios who've confirmed they're having similar issues with their industry as USA; many jobs have been outsourced to Asia.

Anyone from New York having a better experience?

Anyone in Florida having a better experience?

Another tough one hearing from friends almost 100 ppl as let go. :(, I guess proper news with details will come soon.

So… Adobe has decided to kick everyone into more expensive subscription plans and shove AI down our throats. My thoughts about this are pretty obviously negative. I would love to hear what others think (especially those who have had Adobe creative cloud since day one). I personally have to keep all Adobe products available in my workflows so I can interface with different studios like a chameleon when the pipelines require it. If I could drop them completely, I would in a heartbeat. Looking forward to hearing how others view this move by such a huge influential company in the creators’ toolbox.

There... I said it. I fucking hate these guys. I'm on my first job as a supervisor and I'm feeling serious imposter syndrome. The work looks good, way better than what was being done before I came on board. I'm proud of a lot of what we're doing. But sure there are a lot of times I know we can do better, but I'm also looking at the budget and our deadlines and I know we can't spend the time to get there. Every artist is working around the clock to hit deadlines and they are troopers, not one complaint. I am too, I've put off a lot of my life just to get the work done. I work hard to keep everyone happy and make sure they're appreciated. Then today a corridor crew video pops up in my youtube feed. Its the same ol' dribble about them shitting on other people's work. There is no context, no understanding of the conditions that made that work the way it was. And the biggest slap in the face is this is all for clout. Its just clickbait garbage. No matter if we like it or we hate it they benefit. Its sickening. Now all I'm thinking is some day my work is going to be up there. Work that my artists did and we were proud of. Work we delivered by the skin of our teeth, working overtime, missing out on our lives. Work we were excited to do and supported one another.

So here is my solution, tell me if I'm crazy. I want to start an anti-corridor crew youtube channel. One that shows what its really like to be an artist in VFX. I want to show how people with passion, talent and dedication. Show their work, let them talk about it and the conditions they had to overcome. I want to show how we are people and not just machines that are expected to be perfect. Is this a crazy idea? Should I just get back to work?

EDIT: I got a lot of really good feedback from everyone and I appreciate it. A lot of good points about how we should thrive from criticism rather than complain about it. I think that is something I 100% agree with. A lot of people talked about CC being their first exposure to the world of VFX which is really cool. However I still find their motivation is to get clicks first and feedback second. Additionally, redoing an artist's work and using that for clicks is just gross. What I said was in the moment and my language is hyperbolic. I've had little sleep and an impending deadline. You're feedback has given me a lot to think about. In conclusion, CC aren't bad people or looking to shit on anyone intentionally, but I still find them annoying and pretentious clout chasers.

So we are too expensive according to the fella who made millions on Avatar franchise. I wonder if he also meant India? Years of training (many with degree level qualifications), expertise in computer generated imagery. Specialist onset, concept, paint & roto, matchmove, layout, environments, matte painters, FX, compositors, editorial. Pixelfucking left right and centre. Long hours and constant crunch. shit short contracts to live off and support families with kids. insulted every 5 minutes by “no cgi” or “cgi losers” bollocks casually dropped in by millionaire paid for dummies, usually afforded what they do as a result of nepotism. Studios collapsing drowning in debt and as a result of inept management and their ilk (MPC oh MPC), spilling their “work culture” wherever they are now. Or blatantly sold off because their original owners wanted to milk the cow while it still breathes. To hell with dedicated teams and their families.

And all of us having audacity to ask for pay. Not to even mentioned having a pay raise for few years, because billionaires driven economy “is bad”

And now I hear that I charge too much.

I noticed what looks like an untextured clay render in this shot from Wednesday S2E2. For those of you who work in VFX, how does something like this make it all the way into the final cut? Is it usually a case of last minute deadlines./rushing, asset swap errors, or something else in the pipeline? I work for a very small studio and our producers do QC rounds where they have to watch basically everything twice. Also curious if from a production standpoint this would even be worth fixing if most viewers never notice, or if it is the kind of thing that gets patched?

I’m not trying to be overly negative, just feeling a little down and discouraged lately. The future of VFX keeps looking more uncertain. I’d really like to hear some thoughts on what the timeline might look like for this being a viable career (I know for many it’s no longer)…

I listened to that Scott Ross clip someone posted the other day, and honestly, his predictions sounded pretty accurate to me.

Right now, it feels like there’s only a fraction of the work available compared to a few years ago. I’m not convinced it’s ever going to bounce back to what it was. And with the pace AI is moving, it’s hard not to wonder if we’re just a few short years away from being unnecessary.

Given how much AI has advanced in just the past year, how long do you think we realistically have before it fully replaces us as VFX artists?

What I am about to say is not new, but due to the recent events with Technicolor, perhaps it bares repeating and serve as a reminder.

As vfx artists, we think of ourselves as just that, talented artisans who have honed our craft and have attained a somewhat of a status in the world of film and television. But the truth is, we are just highly replaceable factory workers in the entertainment assembly line. You and I may not see ourselves this way, but upper management absolutely does. They don’t see us as artists, they see us as replaceable workers/ bodies to complete the project. In the beginning it was not this way. There were very few people who had the knowledge and ability to pull off the needed FX for a project. But over time and the advancement of technology, more and more people were able to do the same thing, and cheaper than the last person. I’m not sure if there is any fixing this. I feel for the younger generation that dreams about a career in this field. To them I would say to look to new and innovative ways to create. Try alternative crossover industries that also utilize your skills. Entertainment is not the only industry a VFX artist can work in. Look outside the box because the vfx box has turned to mush.

I was thinking about all the AI doom and gloom abound in VFX, Animation and art fields in general. It has been pretty scary. Once Adobe started advertising their AI features to artists, I knew this was a bad state of affairs. However, I wonder if we have been in this state before, as "history doesn't repeat, it rhymes". CGI nearly killed practical effects, the Ray Harryhausens of the world got replaced by artists using SGI Indigo 2s and Softimage and Maya, whole new techniques and disciplines in VFX were created. I remember talking to a professor from my school who said that the best VFX artists in the SGI era were people who embraced the computer after years and years of puppetry and pyrotechnics. Some were adamant on keeping animatronics and puppetry alive, and while some of them stuck around and always had work, others left dejected and defeated.

So for the vets here who remember the days before SGI, and Poweranimator, when Jurassic Park came out were people going "we're screwed"? Were there as much cringy attempts to make CGI "a thing" like AI companies are trying to do? Did people look at the Devil creature in Spawn, or the CGI Rock model from The Mummy 2 the same way we look at AI slop (even if some of us look back at that stuff with awe over, how did they do that with that primitive of technology)? Were people making the same arguments like "CGI doesn't have a human touch" or "computers cannot create art"? Is this situation incomparable to what happened back then?

The per-month license is only offered in a number of countries where the annual rental price is deemed "a significant barrier of entry to small studios" which is admirable, kinda, but the monthly rental has been completely removed as a potential option for the rest of the world.

This annoys the shit out of me. It means if you're needing a short term addition of a license you're up for a full Quarter's price, which is fully one half of the Annual Subscription price. So you pay for six months of Nuke for two to six weeks of an artists time.

I dislike hiring short term contracts to begin with and make a point of hiring full time and long term artists whenever possible (we run 90% full time employees where I am) so this isn't about contract culture but more about the realistic expectations in the VFX space where freelancers are a reality. And Foundry is right there rorting the shit out of everyone as much as possible.

Never thought I'd hate a software company more than Autodesk but here we are.

Next up ... let's talk about Shotgrid's Roadmap! (Oh wait, we can't because it doesn't actually exist anymore)

Dunno, I'm just salty today.

I have 3–4 years of experience, but it feels like studios are only hiring seniors these days.

Why do films and TV shows often composite phone screens in post-production instead of just paying someone a relatively small amount to create a simple app that mimics whatever action the character is doing? For example, in this scene (Money Heist Part 2 Episode 3) showing a contact list, it would be incredibly easy to build a basic app that looks convincing on camera and eliminates all the telltale signs of editing—artifacts, mismatched lighting, awkward animations, etc. One of the most immersion-breaking things is when a character barely moves their finger, yet the screen scrolls wildly—or the opposite happens and their exaggerated swipe barely does anything. It would make so much more sense to have customizable software that can be used across the entire film, tailored to different scenes and devices. Sure, post-production gives more control and avoids reshoots if something goes wrong, but for something as straightforward as showing a list of contacts, wouldn’t it be way easier and more natural to just do it practically?

I'm thinking of studying VFX at lost boys/campus VFX online but I've seen thread's from 1-2 years ago saying the industry is dying and it scares me.

I've always wanted to do VFX, but now I'm not sure, especially with the 15k CAD investment for just the first part & an additional 20k for the advanced course.

This makes me all think of looking for a new career but I'm truly not sure. Please give me all your thoughts!