The new January term is now open  at fxphd, and we’re very excited about the lineup! We have continued to make a special effort to deliver on requests for our members. The lineup has multiple courses for various areas of specialty such as compositing, pipeline and 3D. The selection is then rounded out by several other broader offerings. In addition to the 11 new courses, we have over 100 courses on offer during the term.

The term in brief

n a nutshell, here are the new courses on offer this term:

• NUK308: Advanced NUKE 8 Russell Dodgson returns to offer a variety of different challenges for the developing Nuke artist.
• ARN201: Real World Lighting and Rendering with Arnold taught by Matt Leonard, this course covers all the main areas of the software including Lighting, Shaders, Cameras, Particles and Volumetrics, Hair and Fur, and of course render settings, AOV’s and a number of technical areas.
• DCT303: Advanced Digital Color Theory by returning color scientist Charles Poynton
• NUK224: Zombie Panic taught by Daniel Smith, focuses on techniques for a small independent budgets, but shows how you can still create a strong visual punch.
• HOU209: Dynamic Rigging in Houdini 13 taught by Jens Martensson, uses a small project to teach some of the new features of Houdini 13, mostly in DOPs, using Bullet Rigid Body Dynamics.
• CMP202: The Product Shot by Peter Hartwig, walks you through three different product shot scenarios from a shading, lighting and compositing point of view.
• DMP201: Focus on Matte Painting Techniques taught by returning prof Ludovic Iochem, focuses on the painting and goes through all the major techniques that a DMP artist needs to know.
• MAR102: Introduction to MARI by Brittany Drew addresses using Mari in your texture painting workflow and techniques, including using it in conjunction with other software such as Maya, Mudbox and Photoshop.
• MAR201: Intermediate MARI Techniques taught by Mikey Rogers, explores the powerful features introduced in Mari 2.0. The end result will be a fully painted human jet pilot placed in an environment to give her a sense of purpose and history.
• SMK210: Editing and Effects with Autodesk Smoke taught by returning prof Brian Mulligan, will cover Smoke as an NLE, including project management and advanced trimming techniques.
• UNR201: Tech Guerrilla Previz in UDK by Jon Gress, picking up right where we left off in UNR101, adding to your new knowledge by introducing current, new and breaking Tech Guerrilla Previz techniques, applications, hardware, tips, tricks and concepts which allows you to create amazing Previz in record time and ease.

Of course, Background Fundamentals also returns for ten new episodes this term. Background is our weekly magazine style ‘course’ that covers a range of topics…it is an exclusive bonus for being a member.

In addition, members have access to over $40,000 worth of VPN software to help them learn the tools and build shots for their reel (non-commercial use only).