This course will work through "The Future of DRM" greenscreen project over the duration of the term, with the goal of collaborating with other fxphd members to achieve a final piece. The piece involves a cynical look at where the future of DRM might go. Our talent is sitting at a bar or nightclub having a drink and watching music videos. In order to play the songs, they must work their way through an increasingly complex DRM approval process.

This is a greenscreen project, and we will be distributing all of the shots in the piece as 10-bit RED 1K DPX files, so members will have access to the complete cut for the project. It provides a lot of possibilities for artists to stretch their creative wings -- from designing a virtual environment for the talent (is it photoreal or stylized?) to creating an interactive table UI to developing and integrating a HUD.

The course will be lead by John Montgomery, Mark Christiansen, and Danny Princz, each bringing their own creative thoughts to the process. In addition to After Effects, other applications will be used as well...because in the production of visual effects artists rely on multiple applications. We will also hold several feedback sessions that are part of the course -- as one of the best ways of learning is to get constructive input from other artists.

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont)

Class 1: An overview of the "Future of DRM" project and goals for the term. Brief on tracking the first shot and creating a virtual set. UI creation and alignment with the original footage using Illustrator, Photoshop, and AE.

Class 2: Doing the composite for the first UI closeup scene, using Sapphire plugins to enhance the graphics and comp, and a demonstration of how johnmont likes to approach keying in layers.

Class 3: Cleaning up the Beer Pouring shot, and a preview of the associated table graphics. A look at doing the table luma key in After Effects.

Class 4: Working on the biometric hand scanning shot, adding and x-ray effect and UI graphics.

Class 5: Tackling issues such as refraction when filling up the empty beer glass in the wide shot. Using Trapcode Form to approach the voiceprint verification shot.

Class 6: Keying and grading techniques on the wide shot. Also, a bonus look at keying the scene using another application: Flame's Master Keyer.

Class 7: Tracking the tabletop. Using Mocha for AE, corner pinning, and other techniques to track and finesse replacing the table surface.

Class 8: Event 009, Part 1. Tackling the design of the heads up display using built-in text and modifying animation presets.

Class 9: Event 009, Part 2. Putting finishing touches on the HUD, using lighting and shapes duplication. Also, a look at animating the virtual set LED lights and a render pass tutorial.

Class 10: An overview of the entire project, with and alternate look at the first tabletop scene using expressions and more.

AFX205 - After Effects Motion Graphics II

One of our most popular professors, Tim Clapham from Luxx, will be returning to explore the use of Adobe After Effects for the production of Motion Graphics.

The classes will be mostly project based, with tips and tricks for creating stunning visuals. Clapham will demonstrate methods to facilitate an efficient workflow. As well as working in After Effects, working with 3D applications will also be discussed, specifically utilizing Cinema4D for mulitpass renders, After Effects integration and avoiding common gotchas. The course will encompass the use of expressions to speed up production and enhance creativity. Clapham be using After Effects CS3 (members can also use CS4), with some content being discussed in Cinema4D r11.

The classes will include the following subjects, plus much more:

Using 3D Multipass and exported 3D data to enhance and add elements in After Effects.
Creating an animated newspaper headline with 3D layers and Trapcode Form.
Colour Correction using Color Finesse and Magic Bullet Looks.
Incorporating a 3D Render with the Shatter Effect. Reproducing the bullet time effect.
Stop Motion type animation effects.
Using Expressions to speed up workflow.
Creating a Music Channel Ident, using audio to control parameters.
Creating a cardboard type theatre using 3d shape layers and lighting rigs.

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC)

Class 1: This class will take a 3D multipass render along with exported 3D data. From this, elements will be isolated using Object Buffers as mattes. Creating a fake blurry reflection. Adding extra content using After Effects 3D layers combined with Object Buffers. Creating text animation using Track Mattes and Text Animators. Offsetting parameters overtime using expressions.

Class 2: Using scripts to generate a 3D Cube, then replacing the sides with graphic patterns. Introduction to Trapcode Form, using Layer Maps. Creating Layer Maps with Radio Waves, Trapcode Particular. Looping keyframes with a simple expression.

Class 3: Overview of alternative effects that work with layer maps, including Card Dance and Particle Playground. Animating a camera using parenting. Animating Illustrator artwork in 3D space. Working with AE Text, per character 3D feature, combined with range selectors and using wiggly selectors for randomizing characters and text colour.

Class 4: Part 1 of 2. This week we will be taking a layered Photoshop file and breaking it into sections to displace over time. We will be adding an expression to control several parameters over many layers at different points in time, then linking them together with expression sliders. We will also use Trapcode Form to create an animated halftone effect.

Class 5: Part 2 of a 2 week class. This week we will complete the project, using Form for the halftone and then distributing the particles in Z space. Adding in text elements and linking the parameters between comps. Adding independent wiggle to XYZ position on the camera using expression controllers.

Class 6: Taking a green screen shot and pulling a key using Keylight. Combining mattes to key out tracking markers. Tracking and Cloning to clean up skin. Isolating skin areas for smoothing.

Class 7: Continuing from last week. Stabilizing the keyed footage. Creating a light wrap effect. Adding in a shape layer background and some type. Trapcode Starglow and Particular for enhancing the shot. Grading in Magic Bullet Looks.

Class 9: Part 1 of 2. This week we will look at creating assets by combining several photographs or scans to give a stop motion stuttering type effect. Creating vector artwork from photos and autotrace. We will then start to assemble a series of shots using continually rasterising vector art and 3D layers. Using expressions to tint the layers based on distance from camera.

Class 10: Part 2 of 2. Using Particular to create a journey through a forest of trees. Finishing the final shot and editing all shots together with transitions.

AFX210 - Introduction to After Effects Scripting

This course, taught by Lloyd Alvarez, will provide an introduction to the main scripting tools available in Adobe After Effects versions CS3 and above. Scripting automates tedious tasks that can be done by hand in After Effects so a good working knowledge of After Effects is strongly recommended before taking this course. After Effects can be scripted in ExtendScript (Adobe’s extended implementation of JavaScript.) on both mac and windows as well as Applescript on the mac and Visual Basic on Windows. This course will only cover ExtendScript because of its cross-platform nature and larger resource base due to its JavaScript foundation.

Teaching programming can be dreadfully boring so this course will aim to teach by example instead of by theory. The course will cover basic scripting and programming concepts that will then be applied to several real scripts that will be created over the term. The scripts that will be developed during the course will be chosen in part by the students so that they can be relevant and the students can participate in the problem solving necessary to successfully create them.

Based in New York City, Lloyd Alvarez is a highly demanded multi-disciplinary freelancer, from art directing and design to compositing and animation. Lloyd began scripting in After Effects to solve workflow problems for his freelance projects and soon began sharing them with the community starting with his very popular BG Renderer script. He has since released several more very popular scripts and is now the curator of aescripts.com, which is the top destination for the best After Effects scripts from the top authors from around the globe.

Most of our intro courses are “100 level”, but due to the base level of After Effects knowledge needed for scripting, this course is targeted at the intermediate level.

Professor: Lloyd Alvarez (lloydalvarez)

Class 1: Basic overview of what scripting is and a brief overview of what will be learned over the whole course. We will also begin writing our first script that will cover the fundamentals covered in lessons 1-3. Introduction to the After Effects DOM model and variables. Overview of the resources available for AE scripting and how to use them. Finally a quick overview on how to install and run scripts.

Class 2: Introduction to ExtendScript Toolkit. The full-featured JavaScript debugger that comes with After Effects and the application in which we will create all the scripts in this course. Introduction to variables, operators, arrays and basic user interface controls.

Class 3: Introduction to conditionals, loops and functions.

Class 4: Script assignment 1: DSLR cinematography workflow offline clip creator. Subjects covered: Basic error checking. Looping through project and create comps from footage items. Add a text layer to each comp with an expression, add items to the render queue and set a custom destination.

Class 5: Script assignment 1 continued.

Class 6: Script assignment 2: Promo version maker. Subjects covered: Importing data from a text file, creating new versions from template comp, replacing text layers' source text property. Basic Regular Expressions. Introduction to objects.

Class 7: Script assignment 2 continued.

Class 8: Script assignment 3: Student suggested script. Suggested subjects covered: Intro to ScriptUI User Interface. Creating folder hierarchy for rendered items.

Class 9: Script assignment 3 continued.

Class 10: Script assignment 3 continued.

AFX222 - After Effects Broadcast Design

This course is one of the most popular ones we've ever run at fxphd, and we're excited to be presenting an encore presentation of the offering. Tim Clapham, one of our most popular profs at fxphd, will be running the course. Tim owns and runs his own Motion Graphics and animation company, Luxx, which is based in Sydney, AU.

After Effects is one of the main weapons of choice when it comes to producing Motion Graphics for Broadcast. Our new design-based course will be based around the principles and techniques of creating broadcast graphics with After Effects. Some of the lessons will be project based and explore different techniques to create animated sequences from beginning to end. Other lessons will look at specific areas of After Effects, such as the included particle systems and some 3rd party solutions. We will look at the interaction between 3D applications and After Effects, specifically compositing the different render passes and applying 3D data to the AE camera and effects. Other aspects of the course that will be covered include expressions, parenting, project management and workflow, working with type, shape layers and masks.

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC)

Class 1: Taking a client storyboard through to the design stages and then building the project in After Effects, creating an infinite type zoom with vector artwork, incorporating client changes and then preparing the file for output

Class 2: A look into Particle systems available in After Effects, their features and some examples. Creation of a 5 second animation using some of the particle systems discussed, and a look at creating fake 3D reflections and building a simple camera rig

Class 3: An exploration of some of the features of Trapcode Particular. This is a project based class where we look at using animated custom particles, attaching particles to lights, using expressions and creating motion paths for the particles

Class 4: This lesson looks at techniques for cutting up bitmap images and animating them, including using expressions to make a walk cycle

Class 5: Exploring 3D multipass rendering, and how to use them in After Effects. First a brief explanation of the types of passes that can be output from most 3D applications. Then a look at some real world examples. Finally a look at using 3D passes with Trapcode Form and Particular

Class 6: Part 1 of 2. In this class we will build a 5 second bumper/ promo for a TV show. We'll track some camera motion to add a handheld feel to the AE camera. Then we'll take this and animate some moves in 3D, adding in copy and some extra elements

Class 7: Part 2 of 2. In this class we finish building a 5 second bumper/ promo for a TV show

Class 8: Part 1 of 3. We will look at some methods of using 3D renders and exported data in our After Effects comps. Taking multipass renders and enhancing them. Using the camera data from the 3D application to match our AE 3D layers to the 3D render. Also, pasting multiple paths into shape layers, animating shape layers and adding effects

Class 9: Part 2 of 3. In this class we continue building the project we started last week. We look at using mattes combined with continually rasterising layers and shape layers to draw on a logo

Class 10: Part 3 of 3. In this class we finish building the no logo project. We composite a 3D render onto After Effects 3D layers. Add in some extra details and finally prepare the animation for final output, looking at correcting unsafe colours

BKD215 - Background Fundamentals Jan10

In this term of fxphd, the Background Fundamentals course will pass 150 classes. Over the terms we have had many great guests and interviews, all of whom have been here to help illustrate and explain the background concepts that affect day to day productio, as well as flag new technologies that are just emerging. This term we will continue with this magazine style approach of bringing you a new topic each week from the world of visual effects and post-production.

This term much of our focus will be on business related issues, with a significant number of classes will be devoted to running a vfx or post company. However, we will also cover issues as they happen such as the release of the Mysterium-X Chip from RED ONE, as well as looking ahead to the interesting possibilities of GPU graphics production pipelines.

We will also again have 2 great new challenges for you with downloadable material.

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)

Class 1: So how do you guys get so much done?

Class 2: Marketing in vfx to win projects

Class 3: Your future in VFX: the importance of the pitch

Class 4: All about pricing, plus Challenge 31

Class 5: Yearly vfx industry salary review with Teresa Ticehurst of Muse Careers

Class 6: Your skills and the internet

Class 7: Letting people go

Class 8: TBA

Class 9: New RED camera (Mysterium X chip)

Class 10: Salary review. We discuss the global job market and name indicative salaries for each major position in post, as well as flag 'hot' markets for hiring right now.

C4D101 - Introduction to Cinema 4D

The Cinema4D 101 course will be a practical approach to learning Maxon's Cinema4D. The course will cover everything needed to obtain a solid foundation in using the application. From understanding the interface, to modeling using the built in primitive and NURBs objects. An exploration of lighting and material creation, through to animation techniques, use of expressions and rendering possibilities. Specifically aimed at new users to the application, some experience of 3D would be advantageous, although not essential. After completing this course, you will have an in-depth understanding of the workflow and techniques required to work with Cinema4D in a production environment.

Based in Sydney Australia, Tim Clapham is a multi-disciplinary animator and compositor. Evolving from a solid foundation in traditional animation using both Film and Video, Tim soon transitioned into the digital domain and has forged a solid career in the world of Motion Graphics. With over 11 years of industry experience, Tim is accomplished with many 3D animation and Digital Compositing applications.

This knowledge has been the bedrock of his many successful training courses as a Professor for fxphd and a continuing relationship with Maxon Computer where Tim has worked as a beta tester for many years, and also contributes tutorials to their online learning resource cineversity.

As the owner of Motion Graphics and Animation company Luxx, Tim is hands on with every project that the company produces. With a history of working with many global Advertising and Broadcast companies, the work Tim produces is both technically challenging whilst maintaining innovation and high quality.

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC)

Class 1: An introduction to the Cinema4D interface. Working with position, scale and rotation tools to transform objects. Adjusting and creating custom layouts. Introduction to viewport options.

Class 2: BThis week we will create a Martini Glass, Cocktail Shaker and Cocktail Umbrella using a combination of Parametric Primitive Objects, Splines, Generators and NURBs Generators.

Class 3: Modeling a car wheel using hyperNURBs. This week will make use of selection tools such as loop selection, modeling tools such as extrude, knife and bridge.

Class 4: Materials, shaders and texture tags. This week we explore the material system in Cinema4D. Creating and organizing materials. Working with texture tags and the different projection types. Finally we create a few materials to use in our scenes.

Class 5: Lights and Cameras. This class will look at the light types available, working with visible lights, shadows and falloff. Using cameras and also a look at creating a depth map.

Class 6: An introduction to Xpresso. Overview of expressions in general. Working with the Xpresso Editor. Using Set Driver and Set Driven. Creating User Data to control Xpresso.

Class 7: An introduction to the MoGraph module. Exploring the various settings of the Cloner object, then combining this with effectors to unleash the possibilities available with the module.

Class 8: Part 1 of a 3 week project. This week we prepare some ExtrudeNURBS objects. Start animating the objects and camera, with an introduction to the timeline and f-curve manager.

Class 9: Part 2 of a 3 week project. Adding materials to the objects. Using the Fracture Object in combination with hierarchies of objects, adding the plain effector to wipe text on. Working with layers and creating object presets.

Class 10: Part 3 of a 3 week project. This week we add in some background elements using Cloner Object combined with the Step Effector. Look at the MoGraph Color Shader and the Random Effector. Finally we create a basic multipass output and composite in After Effects using the 3D data exported from the C4D scene.

C4D102 - Introduction to Cinema 4D II

This course will complement the C4D101 course and further develop your skillset when working with Maxon’s Cinema4D. Alongside the core Cinema4D concepts, the 102 course will include classes on using some of the popular modules available for Cinema4D, including Cloth, Sketch & Toon and MoGraph, as well as an introduction to using Bodypaint3D and understanding the concept of UV mapping and texture painting within the application. The classes will be both practical workshops and project based classes, further enhancing your experience of using the core Cinema4D application, Bodypaint3D and the available modules.

Tim Clapham is a multi-disciplinary animator and compositor and one of our members favorite profs. With over 11 years of industry experience, Clapham is an industry recognized expert in Cinema 4D and After Effects. As Company Director at Luxx in Sydney, Australia, Tim works with a wide range of global advertising and broadcast companies, producing world-class content that is both technically challenging and innovative.

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC)

Class 1: Creating a short logo animation part 1. Using subdivided splines for smooth deformation. Fracture object with ExtrudeNURBS and Plain Effector to animate type.

Class 2: Creating a short logo animation part 2. Animating the logo using animation layers. Creating glossy materials and a basic light setup. Rendering with Picture Viewer.

Class 3: Introduction to the Hair Module. Using the Hair Object. Styling hair and working with the Hair Material. This class also covers cloning with Hair and Hair dynamics.

Class 4: Introduction to the Cinema4D cloth module. Exploring the Cloth Tag parameters. Cloth collisions with regular objects. Using ClothNURBS for smoothing and thickness. Belting Cloth to Polygon objects.

Class 5: Working with the Sketch and Toon module to create Non-Photorealistic Renders. Exploring the sketch render options, sketching individual objects with unique materials. Finally creating a watercolour type line from scratch.

Class 6: Introducing Bodypaint 3D. This week we take a look at manipulating UVs and creating UV maps. This will cover different UVW projections, interactive mapping and the Bodypaint Setup Wizard.

Class 7: Texture manipulation with Bodypaint 3D. This week we continue our exploration of Bodypaint, focusing on the texturing features. Subjects covered include working with layers, filters, multichannel painting and projection painting. This class also covers baking textures.

Class 8: Week one of a three week project. Creating a logo animation for Top 100 Countdown. This week we create the text from illustrator artwork. Model a clock dial using Cloner and Shader Effector. Colour the dial with the MoGraph color shader. Animate the effectors using Xpresso.

Class 9: Creating an ident for a Music Channel, Part 2.

Class 10: Creating an ident for a Music Channel, Part 3.

C4D202 - Cinema4D and After Effects in Production

We're excited that Tim Clapham returns this term for a combination Cinema 4D and After Effects course. The classes will be project based, with each project covering several weeks of classes. Clapham will start out by building elements and rendering imagery in Cinema 4D and then taking the results into After Effects for final finessing. Even if you're a motion graphics designer who doesn't use Cinema 4D, you'll still get a ton of great tips and tricks out of the course.

Professor: Tim Clapham (TimC)

View a short sample clip from one of the C4D202 classes

Class 1: Using MoGraph to build some basic skyscraper buildings and distribute them through the scene. Then light it and export multipass renders, along with 3D camera and null data to be imported into After Effects.

Class 2: Continuing where we left of from class 01, we will take our multipass renders and light passes and composite them in AE. Adding in a title, making use of object buffers and depth pass. Finally we'll have a look at ways to check for broadcast safe colours.

Class 3: In this this class we shall use the MoGraph Fracture object in combination with the Random and Delay effector. We will create two short animations using the fxphd logo. These will be lit and some materials created. Then prepared for multipass output, ready for compositing in After Effects.

Class 4: Part 2 of 2. Firstly, we'll create one more shot to continue from last week. We will look at using Xpresso to link MoGraph effectors to standard Cinema4D object parameters. We will then output the render and complete the composite in After Effects. This will involve importing our 3D renders and using the multipass output in combination with AE layers.

Class 5: Part 1 of 3. We will track some green screen footage and then look at methods of exporting the tracking data to C4D. Once in C4D we will use the data to create some trails and sweeps using a combination of nulls, tracers and lofts.

Class 6: In this class we will work in After Effects and look at a method of creating a trail to compliment our 3D render from last week. We'll be using Trapcode Particular for this. Finally we will use keylight to pull a key on the greenscreen footage we used for the tracking.

Class 7: In this class we finish the key we started last week. We add in a background element using C4D MoGraph, this will look at the shader effector, step effector and random effector. We will use the time offset feature and also adjust the weight of the clones. Finally we bring it all together in After Effects, adding in some expressions and using shape layers with various modifiers.

Class 8: This class will take a jpeg sequence that has been tracked in 3D. We will look at a few things to check when importing tracking data into C4D. Then we will add in a bouncing flocking particle simulation using Thinking Particles, Xpresso and also examining ways of adding user data and tag properties to your Xpresso setups.

Class 9: In this class we will look at a few modeling techniques using HyperNURBS. We will model a cactus for the desert scene and use Spline Wrap and MoGraph Cloners along with some effectors to animate the objects appearing

Class 10: In this class we will look at attaching clones to specific track points. Preparing the scene for output and looking at methods of speeding up rendering. Finally we will complete a basic composite in After Effects.

CLR202 - Grading with Apple Color II

The objective of this class is to continue exploring the limitless boundaries of the Color software program we began to address in Color 201. In this class we will attack current issues of workflow while handling different types of media, and creating images relating to color theories we began to discuss in the previous course.

Each class will begin by discussing the workflow of a specific type of imagery captured. We will complete the job from import to export, and create a unique look simultaneously. In addition, we will look at how to address and troubleshoot issues such as under and over exposed film, problems with lightening, etc. and turn poorly shot film into pieces of art.

Each class will look at an individual project as a unique job, emulating an actual session. We will discuss the footage, how we want it to look, load and correct, and output a finished project - as if clients were in the room with us. After each class, I will expect each student to address each image in their own unique way, bring their creative ideas to the table and submit their vision of each week's spot over the course of the following week. In some of the classes, we'll also take a look at some workflow issues, including how to deal with working with RED footage.

In the final class, it is my hope to obtain the help of an outside editor and composer and culminate the course by creating a "worldwide color project" with scenes from everyone in the class. Theme: Peace. Start thinking of an image you'll submit now!

Professor: Kelly Armstrong (Kellyarmstrong)

Class 1: Overview of the course. Emulating actual color sessions and how color theory we began investigating in the last course can be used in every day color sessions. Exploring different types of media and importing and exporting these pieces. Each week participants will have access to a project, be expected to bring their creative prowess to the table and discuss different approaches. "Color Session One": Clients need Color effects to tell the story of good vs. evil. Working in primary and secondary room with keying as emphasis.

Class 2: The clients need the use of Color effects to enhance high end fashion footage. Tools include use of flash frame effects, windowing to isolate color and image, keying on specific colors for enhancement. Diffusion in fx room and begin discussing use of node tree in fx room.

Class 3: The client wants to use one piece of film in two drastically different ways. One highlighting beauty, the other in a documentary about negative subject matter. Participants are asked to created two vastly different effects using one piece of footage. Use of dissolves, reading scopes for color accuracy, keying, creating "film look" with grain, scratch effects and desaturation via the fx room.

Class 4: The DP has improperly lit his footage, and needs to fix or address it to save project. This class looks at over and underexposed footage. How you can help as a colorist if something cannot be re-shot and needs to be used. Use of fx room via ADD, DIFFERENCE, ALPHA BLEND, MULTIPLY, AND HSL KEYING. Concentrate on windowing as well.

Class 5: DP wants you to create different looks to suggest different eras in time using current footage. We will explore old film stocks and techniques, and replicate the looks of autochromes, ecktachromes, technicolor, reversal / cross-processing, bleach bypass as well as how they are used to create modern images today. Tools include: Primary, Secondary and fx rooms.

Class 6: The Red camera workflow. John Montgomery will step in to give his expert viewpoint on Red footage and it's workflow thru Final Cut, into Color and Back.

Class 7: Extensive tracking of moving objects. In this class we will simulate a session where the DP has improperly lit a scene. Your job as colorist is to re-light the scene with the use of window tracking. Basic shape tracking as well as user defined windows / manual and auto (keyframe) tracking / multiple windows in one scene are tools we will use to attack these lighting issues.

Class 8: Expanding the FX bin: Your job as a pro colorist is to come up with new and exciting color effects to be saved in the FX bin. We will create a global user base for everyone to upload and download from.

Class 9: Super 8 vs. Red Camera footage: Your mission as colorist is to take footage shot on super 8 and the red camera and correct them both so they can seamlessly be put into a production piece. This class with look at taking the super 8 footage and utilizing tools within the FX bin to sharpen and clean up image to more closely match the red footage. Likewise, we will look at edge degradation, film looks, grain enhancement, blur, etc. to match to red footage to the super 8.

Class 10: Matching the Pros: This class takes film and commercial ideas submitted thru the forum for us to match to. All of the simple and complex looks we see on the big and small screen aren't that hard to replicate. This class will show you how.

CMP201 - Special Ops: The VFX of Red Dwarf

While BKD212 examines the Red Dwarf: Back to Earth project from an overall and on-set perspective, this course focuses on the visual effects by breaking down shots from the television specials. Mike Seymour, who served as vfx supervisor and 2nd unit director, will be the hosting professor for the course as he works through how shots were planned and executed for the show.

Serving as guest professors, members of the fxphd "special ops team" will have dropins which show how they completed the shots. The plan is to break down a single shot over two or three weeks of classes, spending time to fully develop the shots and focus on selling the shot. Footage from the show will be supplied as part of the course, allowing members to follow along and re-create the visual effects themselves. We expect to send out an average of 500MB of footage files per class during the term -- so ramp up your bandwdith.

The course will cover multiple areas of visual effects post -- from camera tracking to cleanup, visual effects to keying, cgi and matte paintings. This will be a hard core compositing course covering a wide variety of applications, creative techniques, and more. If you're a compositor at heart -- this course is definitely for you.

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)

Class 1: Part 1 - How the initial photography for LMP (london Matte Painting) we taken and a look at how this was projected onto a 3d enviroment.

Class 2: Part 2 of the LMP creation. We look at the 2D component of the shot and look at LMP2 with its more rushed production time.

Class 3: FIN Design talk about the process of creating the G-Deck and the complexities of working with a vast space.

Class 4: We look at the tricks behind making a vase fly through the air and freeze and animating origami squid tentacles.

Class 5: We look at the creating and compositing the dimension-cutter effect (DCE)

Class 6: We look at the tracking workflow and role of Image Modeler on Red Dwarf.

Class 7: Match Moving on Red Dwarf using master plates and reference pictures.

Class 8: A look at Shakes application to composite the HALL sequences.

Class 9: André Hedetoft demonstrates how he did the Blade Runner scanning sequence for Red Dwarf.

Class 10: A look at the car hitting shot from Red Dwarf.

DOP202 - On-Set Lighting

The main focus of this course will be on lighting from the point of view of a Cinematographer. Through practical lighting setups and problem solving, Director of Photography (DOP) Tom Gleeson, ACS, will explore how to light a scene and give it emotional resonance. Topics will include classic lighting setups, which lights to use, tricks and even how to work out a lighting budget from a bare script.

Gleeson is an extremely experienced traditional film DOP who has worked with lighting TDs on films such as Happy Feet , Oscar winner for best animated film. He has also worked in television on reality series, being senior DOP on several series of Survivor (CBS), as well as working on episodic dramas. Tom is just finishing a stereoscopic project as DOP and was also DOP on fxphd's short film Moving Day.

Professor: Tom Gleeson (lensboy235)

Class 1: Moving day lighting interior

Class 2: Budgeting - working out what is needed from a script

Class 3: Smoke, haze, filters, cutters: negative lighting

Class 4: Lighting with natural light - available light

Class 5: Woman - beauty - lighting eyes

Class 6: Interview lighting - faces and talking heads

Class 7: Moving day exterior

Class 8: Lighting td on set - HDRs (happy feet)

Class 9: Difference between cinematography and photography

Class 10: Lighting with the Epic

DOP210 - DSLR Cinematography

Every day more and more productions are exploring the use of high end DLSR for HD video. Stu Maschwitz rejoins the team and the guys in Tokyo to give the most comprehensive guide to the new phenomenon of DSLR cinematography. In this course we will cover:

What it takes to shoot cinematically with camera such as the Canon 5D MkII

How to shoot for post

Tricks and techniques for camera control and camera movement, including the Red Rock Micro and the Mini-Steadicam

Compression and camera settings recommendations, covering 24P, Manual settings, Tricks of compression etc.

Rules of thumb for evaluating what camera and lenses you need

Color grading DLSR video footage for Hollywood professional looks

Sensor and optical 'behind the scenes' including rolling shutter

reviews of 720 P with the Nikon D90, Full HD with the Olympus PEN, Panasonic GH1 and the Canon 5D MkII

Mostly shot in Tokyo and Kyoto, but as a special event later in the term, we will go on base with the US Army 55th Combat Camera Unit to look at the Canon 5D Mk II in war zone correspondent use, an unparalleled and unprecedented chance to see how these cameras are used in the most dangerous and unforgiving environments imaginable. Literally, we hope to have Stu and John putting the camera through its paces with Blackhawk helicopters and some of the bravest cameraman and women in the world with the US Army's Canon 5D Mk II specialists. A rare honor, and one we are most appreciative to have the chance to bring you.

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)

Class 1: Establishing the pro's and con's of DSLR cinematography and getting outside to shoot on the streets of the Ginza district in Tokyo with the 5D mk2.

Class 2: Part of the Ginza shoot post workflow and looking at the difference between the main camera's in the DSLR cinematography market.

Class 3: Shooting on the sly in the Tsukiji fish market and how to shoot with grading in mind. Stu walks us through grading in AE with Magic Bullet.

Class 4: Shooting on the busy streets in Harajuku, Stu discusses lenses and lens choices and how they effect composition and storytelling.

Class 5: Dealing with camera mobility and adding virtual weight to your shots.

Class 6: Using optical filters vs digital filters in post and the problem of rolling shutter.

Class 8: Using the 5D Mark II in rugged and combat situations. With 1st Lieutenant Tyler Ginter of the US Army 55th Signal Company

Class 9: A technical look at the files produced by DSLR's including image quality, processing, and keyability.

Class 10: A continuation of a keying example from last week, a discussion of the Canon 5d vs. 7d, a look at the new Magic Bullet Mojo plugin, and a wrap up conversation with Stu. Plus, a bonus class looking at ND filters and Canon 7D settings, both default and custom.

DOP301 - On Set Day and Night with RED One

A combination of the very popular RED and DOP courses, this 300 level course answers the question 'what does it take to film a low to mid budget feature film with the RED?'. We will cover everything from camera testing, a test shoot, lighting, and output through post production. Additionally, we will extend upon last terms DOP 201 course and cover more complex lighting and staging issues, complete with lighting diagrams and notes.

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)

Class 1: On location for a recce (reconnaissance) of this terms shoot. A successful recce could be the make or break of a shoot. Mike and Ben discuss about all the things we need to look at in preparation and anticipation of the shoot as well as what you need to bring with you on the recce.

Class 2: We head into the test bay at our rental house to ensure all the gear we will need for our shoot works together and that nothing is left out. We look at accessories, lenses and on set IO requirements.

Class 3: Part 1 On set - we observe the actors and director walking the space, followed by the technical walk through which reveals the lighting and grip requirements for the discussed shots

Class 4: Part 2 On set - setting up to shoot the day scene

Class 5: Part 3 On set - Setting up and shooting the night scene. Plus, a bonus class where ben and jason wingrove discuss coverage and how hard it can be to get it right.

Class 6: Options for on-set monitoring, LUTs and the DIT

Class 7: Red One's ISO/ASA concept, simple FCP workflow for commercials, Ben and Mike's discussion about lightmeters

Class 8: A look at the House shoot edit with editor Enzo Tedeschi

Class 9: Mike talks about post feature film workflow

Class 10: We are off to grade our DPX files with the da Vinci Resolve to explore the final stage of the story telling process before the film out and completing the DI workflow

FCP213 - FCP Techniques and Creative Editing

"Film editing is now something almost everyone can do at a simple level and enjoy it, but to take it to a higher level requires the same dedication and persistence that any art form does." - Walter Murch

Wise words from Walter, but where to begin?

Taught by Enzo Tedeschi, FCP213 will take you through some of the basics and some of the intricacies of Final Cut Pro. As with any other post-production tool, true value comes from its proper use within a well-designed workflow. So in addition to a bit of "what does this button do", Enzo will more importantly be talking about Final Cut Pro's place within the larger context of a production as well as more creative editing techniques for storytelling. While this course will slightly touch on items covered in our other FCP offerings, with a new prof comes new and interesting perspectives.

Tedeschi is an Editor whose ten-year body of work covers drama, documentary, television series and commercials.

Class 1: Start at The End. Everything you do is about the outcome, so working out what that is should be the first thing you do. The role of the Assistant Editor, Project Setup, Thinking Ahead, Syncing Rushes.

Class 2: Videotape is Dead. Not quite. But it is being given a good run for its money by a bunch of tapeless formats. Prepping and ingesting P2 and XDCAM, firewire Varicam for the Lowman, and backup.

Class 3: RED. With new technology comes with new workflows, and RED is no exception. Prepping for and cutting with RED, RED Proxies and R3D, On Location.

Class 4: Telling The Story. At the end of the day, knowing how to push the buttons is only useful if you know how to tell a story. We look at a scene shot by the DOP class and discuss some of the issues that arise in the cut. Eyelines, Using Silence, Using Music, Murdering Your Darlings.

Class 5: Framed. Some things fit, some things not so much. Some projects require working with a myriad of different formats and media, but how do you bring it all together? We look at the documentary "Food Matters" as an example. Aspect ratios, working with stills, mixed format timelines.

Class 6: Multiclips and Multiclip Sequences. Lots of cameras. One shoot. Too easy.

Class 7: Handing Over. Your edit is finished -- now what? There's audio, colour, vfx, CGI. How do you get there? Locking Picture, Prepping for Audio Post, Prepping for Grade, Final Cut Studio Round Tripping, XML and EDL.

Class 8: The Master. The edit is over and you need to create your deliverables. There are now as many options as there are for what's coming into your project. We discuss a few as well as some ways you can maximize your resources while minimizing your time watching progress bars. Edit to Tape, DVD Studio Pro, QuickTime reference Files.

Class 9: Telling The Story Part 2: Telling a story in 30 seconds can sometimes be a challenge! We look at storytelling techniques with relevance to editing a television commercial. Storytelling shorthand, Cutting for No Story, Cutting When Necessary.

Class 10: Any Questions? We set aside the last lesson of the course to field questions from the forums, and cover any interesting issues that may arise from previous episodes. Plus, a bonus class from sys201, a discussion about Final Cut Server.

FLM102 - Introduction to Flame

Our new introductory flame course is designed to get artists up and running in the software so they can be confident working on scenes and spots in the app. We get a lot of questions from potential flame artists asking if they should take the course even though they don't have easy access to a flame or flint system. The answer is an emphatic "yes". The course is designed with the understanding that your time might be limited on the system -- for instance, maybe you're a junior artist who can only get on the system at night or you will be doing an internship at a facility in the coming months. By taking FLM102, when you get time on a flame, you won't have to waste hours finding your way around the software.

Taught by fxphd co-founder and longtime flame artist John Montgomery, the course begins with an exhausting overview of the system and the UI. This is important considering flame doesn't follow many of the standard desktop conventions users might be familiar with. Once that is done, we'll quickly dive into the various modules with a project-based approach to learning them. Our goal is to have course members be able to execute entry to intermediate level jobs on the flame by course completion. At the end of the term, an online certification exam will be available in order for you to test your knowledge.

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont)

View a short sample clip from one of the FLM102 classes

Class 1: An overview of the flint/flame, including hardware, the software and UI conventions you need to know.

Class 2: The start of a multi-class tv ident project. A first look at action, paint, masking and more.

Class 3: Our first in-depth look at Action. Using the camera to create a 3D environment for the ident, layering types, creating the black/white city look and more.

Class 4: Continuing the indent, with a look at keying techniques in Action.

Class 5: Finishing off the ident. Premult v. unpremult action layers, adding graphics with reflections, cheating the 3D look with layering.

Class 6: Beginning an example tv commercial project, starting with an EDL assembly from videotape. A comparison between a standard NTSC assemble and using 24P mastering to make life easier.

Class 7: Timeline editing basics: trimming, sliding, swapping shots. Grading a shot and layering water effects on the scene to set the look of the spot.

Class 8: Batch, Pt 1 of 3 A simple batch tree, recreating the colour grading and layering done in the previous class, context viewing, and outputting. Also, a brief look at two timewarps.

Class 9: Batch, Pt 2 of 3 Beginning the opening shot using a mix of Action nodes and direct nodes in batch. A quick look at desktop paint to fix up a water drop for distorting.

Class 10: Batch, Pt 3 of 3 The Distort node, Text, Optics, and Sapphire Sparks all help take the opening graphic to completion.

FLM205 - Flame on Red Dwarf

We've finally been able to tap fxguide co-founder Jeff Heusser to teach a course at fxphd, and he'll be showing work he did for the Red Dwarf: Back to Earth production. A long time flame user, Jeff has worked on commercials, feature films, TV shows, music videos and network promos in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. He will share his experience working in small shops to large as well as the freelance world.

Jeff will start out with an overview of setting up a project on flame, gleaned from his variety of experiences over the years. Next, he'll start tackling shots and share tricks for dealing with various compositing problems which come up on the jobs we do every day. Probably the most common shot of all in visual effects is the monitor replacement shot and this show is no different. With shots ranging from a fairly basic 8 monitor replacement (complete with depth of field and keying issues) and switches gears to the mother of all monitor shots -- 20+ televisions at all angles and depths, a camera move, varying levels of bluescreen, depth issues, and more. Next, several shots from another sequence will be tackled as we work through this job including topics such as green screen with RED footage, compositing tricks, a look at the next release of flame, and more

The course members will receive full quality footage to follow along and complete the composites themselves.

Professor: Jeff Heusser (neonmarg)

Class 1: Overview of Red Dwarf work, a look at Shot Runner for organizing vfx work, show standards, and setting up for a large project.

Class 2: Looking at rough cuts to go through the thought processes involved with breaking down individual shots. Preliminary work on a multiple monitor replacement, tracking, keying.

Class 3: Continuation and refinement of the monitor shot 3518 from the previous class. Polishing the comp by adding glows and edge treatments. A look at the "mother of Monitor shots" for next week.

Class 4: A long moving shot with more monitor comps and the introduction of 3D tracking with extensive keying.

Class 5: Taking a break from monitor comps to un-break a table for a fall gag. Creating a clean plate and finally reinserting the footage into the background monitor for an infinity mirror effect.

Class 6: Keying for close up green screen footage on the RED with removal of orange tracking markers, light wrapping and z-defocusing the background.

Class 7: Tracking and hand painted clean-up using the source node for wire removal against green screen.

Class 8: A few tips, tricks and improvements made to Flame 2010.

Class 9: A comparison between two similar shots created by different artists. Mixing in CG elements directly onto the live action plate.

Class 10: Three shots showcasing various problems: keying with depth of field, last minute rush comping, and unexpected issues with hair keys.

FLM206 - Flame and Smoke in Production

Recent versions of Flame and Smoke have blurred the line between products, as Smoke gains BatchFX and Flame gains a more versatile editing timeline. This class is designed to be appealing to artists and editors alike, covering topics which are generally applicable across both products. For those diving into Smoke on Mac for the first time and interested in getting a bit more advanced training, this course is an attractive option to take alongside SMK101.

Professor and Dean John Montgomery will tackle a variety of jobs and techniques over the course of the term.

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont)

Class 1: Control Room Shot, Part 1 - We’ll start out the term beginning to tackle a fairly complex green screen shot which will be finished over several classes. This shot will involve a wide variety of techniques including 3D camera tracking in PFTrack, green screen compositing, screen replacements, UI creation, and more.

Class 2: RED in Flame/Smoke - Who hasn’t done a job recently that involves RED footage? We’ll look getting an offline from Final Cut Pro and using Wiretap Central to convert the R3D files into footage that can be used in Smoke and Flame.

Class 3: Working on the control room shot, showing masking techniques as well as an introduction to the Modular Keyer in action.

Class 4: Alternative approaches to masking and keying of the control room scene. Why you want to use the 3D camera tracking data to make masking easier using the GMask node in the MK. We also touch on creating custom MK nodes and using Min to bring out details in the foreground.

Class 5: Continuing work on the control room shot. Cleaning up a shot efficiently goes a long way to easing the creative process. We look at a variety of cleanup and patching techniques to help speed up these tasks. Also, prepping a reference for the HUD graphics.

Class 6: Illustrator to Smoke/Flame - Guest prof Brian Mulligan will show how he uses a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop to get usable high resolution artwork into smoke.

Class 7: Continuing the control room shot, with a first look at adding graphics. Tips for using TypeTool to create True Type fonts from Illustrator graphics and ensuring they line up correctly in flame. Creating the base of the heads up display upon which we'll layer the graphics.

Class 8: XML - Promise vs. Reality - Final Cut Pro XML support is a big selling point of Smoke and Flame. However, the process can be fraught with pitfalls if you don’t know what you’re doing. This class will provide job-proven techniques for making the translation and assembly as painless as possible.

Class 9: TBA

Class 10: TBA

FUS202 - Intermediate Fusion 6

Our new Fusion course follows directly on from the 100 level course helping artist to get even more out of eyeon’s flagship compositing system. Utilizing all the power of Fusion 6 including the much anticipated enhancements in its 3D environment, this course covers the essentials need to move forward as a proficient compositor. Topics covered by Professor Matt Leonard in this course include keying, tracking, roto, 2½D matte painting, plate cleanup, particles, 3D, motion graphics and the much talked about stereoscopic workflow.

Leonard's sphereVFX company has been doing Fusion training for years, including creating an intermediate level DVD for the app. Leonard has worked in the animation and visual effects industry for over sixteen years producing state-of-the-art work for feature films, broadcast and commercials in the UK and US markets..

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard)

Class 1: We look at the new UI and 2D enhancements to Fusion 6 along with Editors and Displace View updates.

Class 2: We look at the new 3D tools including: Blend Modes, Mattes, UVW Mapping, Material & Object IDs, Materials, Textures, FBX, Fog, Renderers, and lots more.

Class 3: 3D Project, Part 2: This is the second of a three class project going in-depth into the new 3D features of Fusion 6. We’ll be covering FBX I/O, Materials, Textures, Blend Modes, Mattes, UVW Mapping, Material and Object ID’s, Fog , GPU (openGL) Rendering and much more.

Class 4: 3D Project, Part 3: This is the final of a three class project going in-depth into the new 3D features of Fusion 6. We’ll be covering FBX I/O, Materials, Textures, Blend Modes, Mattes, UVW Mapping, Material and Object ID’s, Fog , GPU (openGL) Rendering and much more.

Class 5: In this class we look at Keying techniques including UV Blur, Screen Correction, Hard / Soft Mattes, and creating a custom Add Mix setup.

Class 6: Stereoscopic: In this class we’ll be looking at Stereoscopic compositing inside of Fusion 6. We will not only be working with stereo live action footage and rendered material from Maya but also creating our own stereo source material from inside of Fusions 3D environment.

Class 7: In this class we look at plate cleanup, 3D rotoscoping, paint and wire removal.

Class 8: In this class we look at a 3D screen including imported Maya geometry, camera projections, particles and more.

Class 9: 2.5D Matte Paint: This class looks at creating a 2.5D matte painting utilizing both 2D and 3D techniques. Also we’ll be working with 3D geometry, projections and other techniques.

Class 10: Motion Graphics, Fusion and Photoshop: In our final class we’ll look at building a typical corporate / network indent using both the 2D and 3D techniques but heavily utilizing Photoshop elements and layers inside of Fusion 6.

HOU202 - Intermediate Techniques for Houdini TDs

Houdini is often used at major studios to bridge the gap between custom R&D/engineered solutions, and the end result produced by the artist. Very often the Houdini artist must take on a variety of technical challenges such as physics, rigging, logic, and scripting to accomplish the shot or task.

The topics in HOU202 are geared towards better preparing the artist/TD for challenges they may encounter in a studio setting by guiding students through two production scenarios. The first scenario is the development and deployment of a geometry breaking system using Houdini SOPs for procedural geometry processing, as well as Houdini DOPs for rigid body dynamics to create breaking effects. The second production scenario will guide the artist through the process of assembling a simple Houdini rig for crowd deployment, along with the development of a procedural crowd placement and randomization system using digital assets, hython (houdini python) scripting, and CHOPs.

With these two examples the Houdini artist can improve his/her on-the-job decision making process by learning skills such as when to choose proceduralism vs hand sculpting/animation, knowing the right time for scripting, and how to use Houdini's native features in simple ways to produce complex effects.

The instructor for the course is Andrew Lowell. Lowell’s feature film experience using Houdini includes Mummy 3, Aliens in the Attic, and most recently the Massive/Houdini TD on Invictus. Lowell has been involved in multiple disciplines such as music recording/mixing, video editing, compositing, and 3d visual effects. He now uses Houdini as his primary 3D application because of it's ability to work interchangeably with sound, 2D, and 3D data. Lowell is recognized in the Houdini community for authoring a popular book on Houdini Music/Animation/Sound techniques. His teaching credentials include leading classesfor Side Effects Software and general classes in 3D graphics for several years.

Professor: Andrew Lowell (andrewlowell)

Class 1: This lesson introduces the first project and guides the viewer through the creation of a cutting tool. The focuses of this lesson include Houdini tool development practices as well as cookie and for-each sops.

Class 2: Prepping geometry for dynamics The needs and preparations of geometry going into a dynamics simulation, as well as some general good practices during a breaking sim.

Class 3: Merging Keyframe animation and simulated motion. How to animate objects before a simulation to skillfully address art direction required on a destruction shot.

Class 4: Corrective manipulation during simulations. Various ways to make things behave a little better during a simulation when custom shaping is required.

Class 5: Assembling a sim. Ways to turn simulated geometry into a working render or geometry element and discuss the needs of baking, rendering, and secondary elements.

Class 6: Beginning the second development project and create a basic delegate rig for crowd population. The needs of the rig and tools are outlined and various optimizations are discussed and demonstrated.

Class 7: Starting the creation of a crowd population asset, Hython script will be used to create multiple and varied rigs at object level based on a variety of specifications.

Class 8: Placement and attributes. Creating the point system responsible for crowd population and adjustment.

Class 9: Exploring Houdini's procedural motion capabilities to animate the crowd. Using Houdini CHOPs we will use various techniques to turn a small collection of motion into a much larger and more varied variety for use with crowds.

Class 10: Final implementation and roll out of our crowd to a particle system. This will bridge the final steps between development and roll out and discuss and show various approaches to tool and template design.

MOC101 - Introduction to Mocha

Welcome to the world of planar tracking. David Blum’s course will show you from the ground up how to use mocha to get accurate tracks without relying on traditional tracking marks (feature tracking) and how to export that data to AE. Mocha is another great tool to put in your box. You’ll also learn a much easier way to perform rotoscoping including the use of the mocha Shape plug in for AE CS4. Each of the lessons will build from the previous one and will include practical tips and applications using alphas, embedded mattes, edge controls, off screen, and on screen tracking examples. This is the perfect class to get you into Mokey, Motor, and Monet.

The best way to learn any software is to use it, so this course will be heavily project based. Blum,a part-time instructor at the Art Institute of Phoenix, has been teaching and training artists how to use planar tracking for the last five years with great results. Blum will be covering the interface as tracks are solved, so you get the “feel” of the software from the first lesson. It’s not as easy as it looks. Having spent over a decade feature tracking, Blum will show why planar tracking requires a complete change in the dynamics of how to solve a shot. It will take you a little while to get over the “hump” but the reward is worth it. Over the last six years, he’s relied almost exclusively on the Imagineer planar tracker to solve both the easy and the tough shots.

David Blum has been involved in high-end post production for years. As Senior Editor at Varitel Video in Los Angeles, he created the first digital laboratory in Los Angeles. In the early 2000’s Blum worked on films including “Charlies Angels”, “Matrix”, and “Seabiscuit”. In 2004, Mr. Blum opened a new office of his five year old company, Catalyst FX, in Phoenix. The visual effects and post production company combines design, supervision, and implementation. He also supervises DI workflows from acquisition to final conform and has been involved in over 15 independent features both in Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Mocha in various flavors (standalone, After Effects, Final Cut) will be available to fxphd members over the VPN.

Professor: David Blum (dmblum)

Class 1: Introduction and first simple track - We’ll dive into tracking our first shot, introducing mocha preferences, dealing with the cache, fields, frames, color space and frame rate. Clip masking and creating layers will also be covered.

Class 2: Planar Tracking Concepts - How planar tracking is different from feature tracking (which uses tracking marks) and the implications for working inside Mocha. Also, X-Splines, B-Splines, Blend Modes, Insert Clip, and Matte Clip will be covered in our second tracking project.

Class 3: Focus on the Interface - One of the keys in working efficiently in Mocha is maximizing ease of use with the interface. We’ll revisit and rework the first two projects, showing how to more effectively use the software and get that critical solid track.

Class 4: When Good Tracks Go Bad - Adjusting your track is critical to obtaining good results. We’ll cover feature-based tracking inside the planar track, working with keyframes, auto/nudging points, and exporting track data to After Effects.

Class 5: Working with Multiple Layers - The fourth tracking project will examine layer priorities and masking, track interference masking, and locking and manipulating layers. We’ll also export and import the project into After Effects.

Class 6: Using Mocha to Rotoscope - Applying simple rotoscoping and using the mocha shape pluging in After Effects.

Class 7: Tracking Using Contours - Multiple contours on layers, key framing contours, and more tracking tips and tricks.

Class 8: Tracking Partially Obscured Background Objects - Our tracking projects become more complex as well deal with manual tracking, manipulating layers globally, and uberkey.

Class 9: Tracking Multiple Objects - Often we need to track more than one object in a scene and this class will show how with a bit of problem solving mixed in.

Class 10: Our final tracking project as well as a look at the other Imagineer products and how they relate to Mocha.

MRY201 - Production Rendering Techniques with Mental Ray

This course will teach techniques and concepts for rendering realistic, physically based CG elements in a visual effects context (i.e. for integration into live action shots). As it is a hands-on course in using Mental Ray to do these things, it will start with a fundamental treatment of everything from light and pixels through to cameras, response curves and compositing, as well as "learning to see". The course will be performed using the 3ds Max application, but most things apply to Maya and Softimage as well.

Professor Hakan 'Zap' Andersson has been working as "Shader Wizard" at mental images since 2004 and is the author of numerous mental ray shaders, such as the subsurface/skin shaders, the car paint shader, as well as the architectural and production shader libraries. Originally educated as an Engineer in Electronics, Zap's passion for computer graphics caused his graduation year "special project" to be an actual hand-built and hand-wired graphics card, for which he wrote his first ray tracer. Today Zap spends his days (and nights) writing shaders, documentation and tutorials for mental ray, and sometimes makes presentations at user events and conventions, as well as maintains a mental ray tips blog mentalraytips.blogspot.com.

Professor: Zap Andersson (MasterZap)

Class 1: Pixels vs. Light - What is a pixel? The units of light, and how they map to the RGB values we encounter every day. Shows how the math we apply to pixels can break, and how, if we are not careful, two plus two can end up ten.

Class 2: Lighting - Understanding the quality and quantity of light. Understanding how real-world lights map to computer graphics lights. Understanding how light gathers and reflects off a surface.

Class 3: Cameras - Understanding how a real world cameras function map to their computer graphics counterparts. Understanding what film and digital cameras do to the image before you even see it.

Class 4: Materials I - Using the physically based Arch&Design material to simulate real world surfaces. Learning to see the world, so that one can translate it to CG.

Class 5: Materials II - More about materials. Using the mental ray skin shader for realistic characters.

Class 6: Interaction between CG and the Real World - Using the production library shaders to seamlessly integrate CG objects in real-world background plates with reflections, bounce light, shadows, etc.

Class 7: Interaction between CG and the Real World part II + "What Not To Do". Advanced interaction topics like smoothing out glossy reflections of HDRI environments and masking. Also discusses things you should avoid; Walks through the topics of previous classes and deals out some "no-no's".

Class 8: Compositing - How stuff that comes out of the renderer goes together, and what can (and should) and can't (and shouldn't) be delegated to compositing.

Class 9: Technical topics such as sampling, flicker elimination, memory management. These later classes will also address issues that has come up in the forum as needed.

Class 10: Continuation of Class 9, plus any remaining "What Not To Do" - Slicing through any remaining old legacy techniques that shouldn't be used in a modern physical workflow. Just because the button is there doesn't mean it should be pushed...

MSV201 - Massive in Production

Geoff Tobin returns to take this follow up to the introductory MSV101 course. While the 100 level course gave an overview of the Massive software, this course will cover the pipeline and workflow for setting up a typical Massive shot. From planning the mocap sessions and importing and processing the motion through to designing the brains, running the sims and finally rendering with a Renderman compliant renderer. It will also cover advanced features such as dynamics and cloth as well as integration with other software such as Maya.

Massive is the artificial-life crowd simulation software developed for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and used on major motion pictures, TV shows and commercials.

Tobin is a Lead Massive TD working at Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand. He started working in the industry in 1993 as an animator using SideFX Prisms, Alias PowerAnimator and Maya. Geoff has been working with Massive since 2000 and was involved with its early development in creating the crowd scenes for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has since used Massive in motion pictures such as I-Robot, King Kong, X-Men 3, Eragon, Bridge to Terabithia and The Day the Earth stood still.

Members of fxphd will have access to the full version of Massive software via the vpn. The software is only to be used for educational purposes or building shots for a personal (individual) demo reel.

Professor: Geoff Tobin (geoff_tobin)

Class 1: Introduction: The first class will cover the planning stage of setting up a typical Massive shot. Starting with a client brief we'll look at deciding what sort of actions are required for the shots. We'll cover the technical requirements of capturing motion for Massive agents, and use Massive to design an initial motion tree to assist with the capture process.

Class 2: Importing the motion: This class covers the steps required to import and process the raw mocap into a set of actions which can be triggered by the brain. We'll also look at creating IK controls for the actions so they can be adapted to the environment (eg. placing the feet on uneven terrain).

Class 3: Controlling Actions: This class shows how to trigger the actions both directly from the brain and via the motion tree. We'll also cover procedural adaptation using IK.

Class 4: Skinning Geometry: This lesson covers how to attach geometry to an agent using Massive's 'bones' skinning. We look at how to set up optional geometry such as different kinds of clothes as well as using blend shapes.

Class 5: Action! In this class we'll set up the brain of the agent to control its general behaviour as well as perform the specific action required for the shot.

Class 6: Dynamics: This lesson looks at the dynamics features of Massive including rigid body dynamics, cloth, springs, forces and wind.

Class 7: Running Sims: This class covers running the simulation and the various data which needs to be output in order to render the sim. We also look at running multiple pass sims, using the result of one sim as input to the next pass.

Class 8: Maya Integration: In this class we look at how Massive can integrate with other software such as Maya. We'll look at how Massive can import skeletons and motion, as well as cameras and lights from Maya, and export Massive skeletons and motion to Maya. We'll also see how to export particle data from Massive to enable us to import a Massive sim onto a Maya particle system.

Class 9: Advanced Rendering: This class will cover setting up a Renderman compliant renderer for rendering the Massive sim.

Class 10: Bonus: In this last lesson we take a look at some bonus features of Massive including spawning projectiles and getting the agents to paint onto the terrain (eg. for creating footprints)

MYA101 - Introduction to Maya

Taught by Matt Leonard, this Maya course is aimed at those who have little or no experience in 3D, or post-grads who know another system, such 3DS Max or Softimage|XSI but want to expand their software skills. The course is designed to cover almost all the main areas of Maya's vast toolset including modeling, animation, dynamics, shader building, lighting and rendering. The aim of the course is to keep it as project focused as possible and although we won't be producing a full animation every week the course is designed to get you full up and running and able to start producing greats shots for your reel as soon as possible.

Matt has been in the 3D and visual effects industry for 17 years and has produced work for feature films, commercials and large corporate projects. He has been involved in setting up post production departments, overseeing small teams of animators and compositors, along with acting as CG Supervisor on a number of projects. He has spoken at various events and shows on behalf of Autodesk and eyeon, had various articles published in magazine and journals and has beta tested Maya, Nuke and Fusion. He currently runs his own company in the UK.

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard)

View a short sample clip from one of the MYA101 classes

Class 1: This first extended class looks at creating a 3D logo. We look at modeling, shading, animation, lighting, camera and rendering. It also in includes a bonus class covering the changes which have taken place in Maya over the last year or so, specifically in the area of Rendering.

Class 2: The first of two classes looking at Modeling. This class we cover Curves and Surfaces including: Revolve, Loft, Extrude, Planar, Birail and Sweep.

Class 3: In this class we continue to look at modeling. The week we cover Polygons, Sub-Division Surfaces and NURBS

Class 4: This class we look at the basics of keyframe animation, adding an object to a path, working with deformers, and the various tools for previewing your animation including ghosting, motion trails, turntables and Playblasts. The class also covers the two main animation editors, the Dope Sheet and Graph Editor

Class 5: This class will look at all the basics for setting up a character for animation including setting up a skeleton, skinning (having the skeleton deform the skin), animation deformers (for muscle bulges, etc), constraints and blend shapes. The class will also cover the use of Trax, Maya's non-linear animation editor

Class 6: This class will look at the different types of particles available in Maya and their uses, particle emitters, defining and editing the particles once created, and controlling the particles once emitted using various fields such as gravity, wind, turbulence, and particle collision events and instances

Class 7: This class will look at creating soft bodies, active & passive rigid bodies, rigid body constraints and collisions

Class 8: This class will look at shaders, textures and utility nodes

Class 9: This Class will look at 6 types of lights, 3 types of cameras and Projections Camera

Class 10: This class will focus on setting up a project for rendering, covering the main Maya software renderer, the hardware renderer, vector renderer, brief look at mental ray, and render layers. Bonus: Set Driven Key, Expressions and .MEL

MYA211 - Maya Rendering and Lighting

Matt Leonard has been signed up again to lead a new Maya course... this one based upon popular requests from fxphd postgrads. Maya2008 will be provided for non-commercial use on the fxphd VPN, and with this comes the new mental ray 3.6 Core. It fits in brilliantly with the planned content this term.

Leonard has worked in the animation and visual effects industry for over sixteen years producing state-of-the-art work for feature films, broadcast and commercials in the UK and US markets. He has set up and run animation divisions in five companies, overseen animators and compositors, worked as a CG Supervisor on various projects and has overseen live-action shoots.

Professor: Matt Leonard (mattdleonard)

View a short sample clip from one of the MYA211 classes

Class 1: Preparing to light, types of lights and their usage, lighting decay, diffuse and specular, light properties, light linking and gobos, speeding up tests. Plus, a bonus class covering the changes which have taken place in Maya over the last year or so, specifically in the area of Rendering.

Class 2: The first of two classes looking at mental ray shaders: general overview along with specifics such as mental rays Lamber, Phong and Blinn textures

Class 3: The second of two classes looking at mental ray shaders

Class 4: Mental Ray Render Settings, Global Illumination, Final Gather, Caustics, HDRI, HDR Shop, Sun & Sky environment, along with anti-aliasing quality, ray-tracing and shadows

Class 5: In this Maya class we look at render layers, mattes, openEXR and Command Line Rendering

Class 7: In this Maya class we look at Lighting Environments and Architectural Models: Lighting for daytime, sun light, sky lights, night time, practical lights, mental ray fog, window lighting, indirect lighting, and corners (negative lighting)

Class 8: In this Maya class we look at integrating 3D with Live Action

Class 9: In this Maya class we texturing and rendering particles, specifically particles render types including: MultiPoint, MultiStreak, Numeric, Point, Spheres, Sprites, Streaks, Blobby Surface (s/w), Clouds (s/w), and (Tubes (s/w), hardware rendering and the use of mental ray with particles

Class 10: Renderman for Maya: General Render Setup, Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Particles, Global Illumination, Subsurface Scattering, Deep Shadows, RenderMan Shaders, Secondary Outputs and Caustics

NUK102 - Introduction to Nuke

Taught by Sean Devereaux, this new introductory course will expand upon the Foundry Nuke tutorials produced by fxphd. Nuke version 5 software will be available over the VPN to fxphd postgrads for non-commercial use (OSX, Linux, and Windows versions). Devereaux has worked at Digital Domain, ILM, RhinoFX and other facilities as a freelance artist, working on films such as Transformers, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, I, Robot, Star Trek: Nemesis, and others. If you've viewed the Foundry DVDs, this course will cover the software in much more detail and is a great next step in learning the software.

Professor: Sean Devereaux (filmsoup)

View a short sample clip from one of the NUK102 classes

Class 1: Everything you wanted to know about the nuke 5 interface but were not bored enough to ask! This class will give you all the in's and out's of nuke's workflow and layout.

Class 3: Pixel based image tracking including stabilization, match moving and motion blur.

Class 4: Awesome Keyers! The core keyer in nuke and the joy of rotoscoping!

Class 5: Super Awesome Keyers! Primatte, the IBK and the loneliness of keyng hair.

Class 6: Color Tools! An in-depth look at my favorites and an introduction to most of the others.

Class 7: Introduction to the magical world of 3D compositing! Requires nuke5.1v1 or later.

Class 8: An introduction to the 3D system in production. Importing camera and object data from various sources and an introduction to projections.

Class 9: Scene study: Using the 3D system to cleanup a shot and create monitor replacements at record speed.

Class 10: Wire/Rig removal. Nuke specific, but utilizing principles that can be used in any compositing software. Also, a brief introduction to gizmos.

NUK204 - Intermediate Nuke

Our new second-level intermediate Nuke X course picks up where the 100 level offering leaves off. Using Nuke X version 6, professor Sean Deveraux will work through concepts in the app as well as lead several project-based classes. The 3D compositing environment of Nuke is one of its strengths, so several classes will dive fully into this feature with practical, real-world examples. Deveraux will also be covering the nuts and bolts of setting up Nuke for automation as well as taking a first look at Gizmos, Nuke's "macro" functionality. The focus is on the type of work that any compositor might run into while working at a facility.

Deveraux is our lead Nuke professor at fxphd. He has been using Nuke since 2000, working as a compositor at Digital Domain on Hollywood blockbusters such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I, Robot, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Using a variety of compositing packages, his freelance work has taken him to ILM (Transformers), Hydraulx (Rise of the Silver Surfer), and others. He is currently working at Brickyard VFX in Boston.

This course serves as a replacement for NUK202, updated for Nuke version 6/X which will be available on the VPN once the release ships.

Professor: Sean Devereaux (filmsoup)

Class 1: An in-depth look at Nuke 6's RotoPaint tool, covering everything from soup to nuts.

Class 2: Inside NukeX's Camera Tracker and Lens Distortion tools and how to use the data they collect in production.

Class 3: Fun with Gizmo's! We'll create and customize a "film look" gizmo, learn a little python and even customize nuke's menus and toolbars!

Class 4: A two part class on keying in nuke with a difficult shot. This class is focuses on keylight and the mind set when approaching a difficult key. Part two will final the composite and go through assembling a key from multiple keyers.

Class 5: Part two of our multi layered keying class. This class goes beyond theory and into practical production problem solving to final an above average difficulty shot.

Class 6: Multi-pass compositing! The joys of controlling just about everything in the comp and how to maintain all those extra channels and layers properly and efficiently.

Class 7: Nuke as Makeup. Tips and tricks to cosmetically & digitally improve the look.

Class 8: 3D Matte Painting Extraction - Featuring Pan N Tile

Class 9: 3D Matte Painting Extraction - Featuring projections on geometry.

Class 10: Furnace Core and the best finishing touches your shots deserve.

NUK210 - Nuke in Production I

Tahl Niran, one of our inaugural and most popular professors at fxphd, returns with a production-centric Nuke course. Beginning with material based around the research and development of the Nuke Masterclass in London, this course will be exploring Nuke's toolset as more than just a standard 2d/3d compositing solution. Niran will be demonstrating a variety of production techniques along with help from Matt Leonard(SphereFX), Frank Reuter (Digital Domain and OHU FX) and Ben Minall (the Foundry) This course will take you into some of the advanced concepts of Nuke and its 3d system.

This class will focus on three main projects which will be explored in depth over a number of lessons, each one developing into a more complex shot. Topics covered include.

Advanced concepts in 3d projections:

using the Scanline renderer to create plate and set extensions.
integrating Multipass composites with 3d sets in Nuke.
complex object and wore removal using 3d systems and projections
integrating paint and 3d animation to generate set extensions

Creating live action Composites with Nuke:

using panoramic projections to create back-plates for composited elements.
optimising live plates and 3d for better integration.
colour matching and grain techniques.

Understanding complex concepts in film compositing.

colour space management of multiple elements.
optimising your file and proxy setup for working with large files

and a whole lot more.

Professor: tahl niran (aneks)

Class 1: First steps into using Nuke's UV render mode to create "splat maps" to project 2D images onto geometry. Using .fbx exports from Maya to sync up the camera move in Nuke for the integration of pre-rendered elements. Dissection and extension of the original image to provide the full texture map for the scene.

Class 2: Thorough breakdown of creation of all the elements needed for the shot overviewed in class 1. Camera Projection and Scanline Render set up for each texture. Tips for texture editing for extending the initial image into a complete texture map.

Class 3: Personalization of Nuke by creating custom user menus and tweaking the interface by using Python within the Nuke system files. Also, how to create, export and then load in your own gizmos as menu items.

Class 4: General Nuke work flow overview in use with a background replacement. Discussing bi-cubics on cards for added depth of elements in the scene and correcting lens distortion. Creating the shot's elements with keying and roto, including using non-keyer nodes to produce different mattes.

Class 5: Continuing the comp from class 4. Reorganizing the background elements for aesthetic purposes. Further detail into the use of bi-cubics and the DisplaceGeo node for correction and enhancement. Final tweaks to polish up the composite.

Class 6: Dealing with lesser talked about issues, such as color space in compositing applications. How color is interpreted depending on the way the footage is presented (linear, logarithmic , floating point.) Creating your own default Nuke start up template.

Class 7: Working with 3D cameras and how to get the most out of importing 3d tracking data. Creating a TCL button within the menu to import Boujou tracks. Buffer trick to overlay your background onto your 3D point cloud. Using the Reconcile3D node to eliminate the need for tracking nodes.

Class 8: Using separate 3D passes embedded into an .exr, like z-depth and motion vector, for use in compositing. Applying depth of field and motion blur in Nuke. Explanation of render layers in Maya.

Class 9: The Robot Pt1 Using the Wndy House footage and the 3d Robot Character v02 together to show how create a complex live action and CGI integrated scene, as well as some tips on grading overexposed film plates and transferring .fbx data from Maya to Nuke.

Class 10: The Robot Pt2 A continuation and completion of the scene focusing on the use of multipass and 3D motion blur. Finally a quick discussion on a depth of field plug-in for Nuke.

NUK211 - 3D Relighting Techniques in Nuke

This course serves as an introduction to various relighting techniques both within Nuke and using Nuke and RenderMan together. As the recently acquired Katana technology is folded into Nuke, integration with RenderMan will become more of a hot topic. This course will serve to inform you of the current state of the art, along with its limitations, and as a primer for what is to come.

Taught by Michael Garrett, the course focus will be on 2D relighting techniques that are leveraged by the capabilities of Nuke's 3D space. We will use simple scenes to illustrate the key concepts and develop the complexity as we progress. We will cover direct and indirect (image based) relighting methods for basic diffuse and specular material types, and how to integrate lighting information between prerendered 3D and Nuke's own 3D environment. You will be shown some of the essential mathematics common in computer graphics that you will need to accomplish this. We will be doing some simple shader writing both directly with a text editor and with Slim, Pixar's ui-based shader authoring tool.

In addition to Nuke, we will be using Maya, RenderMan Studio and PRMan. As well as being comfortable with Nuke, this course assumes some basic familiarity with Maya, but no prior knowledge of RenderMan. It is highly recommended that you also take the excellent RND101 Introduction to RenderMan course as an adjunct to what is covered here.

Garrett has been learning and using Nuke since v4.5 just prior to the product changing hands from Digital Domain to The Foundry. He has a design and compositing background, having worked at studios such as Nexus and Passion Pictures in London, Animal Logic and Rising Sun Pictures in Sydney, and more recently at Animal Logic and Motion Theory in Los Angeles. His interest in RenderMan stems from seeing the way that Nuke and RenderMan have been used so effectively together for innovative technical solutions that blur the line between 2D and 3D. He has endeavored to understand RenderMan from a compositor's perspective.

Both Nuke and RenderMan are available for members on the fxphd VPN. Nuke version 6/X will be available on the VPN once the release ships.

Professor: Michael Garrett (mgarrett)

Class 1: Introduction Part 1 - First we will cover learning material recommendations. We will then illustrate the relighting concept with a basic example in Nuke that uses the built-in shader outputs of the scanline renderer and the somewhat neglected ReLight node. This will be a precursor to using the same kind of shader outputs rendered from PRMan in order to drive relighting in Nuke.

Class 2: Introduction Part 2 - We will begin to look at how to get the render data we need from PRMan to relight in Nuke by writing simple shaders and an accompanying RIB scene description file. Using more complex object and camera placement, we will update our shaders to reflect the need to more robustly define our point and normal data. We will also show how to render our data as arbitrary output variables (AOV's) from a single shader, and how to render to a multichannel OpenEXR file.

Class 3: Using RenderMan Studio(RMS) and Nuke - Using a more complex scene and a moving camera. We will migrate the hand written shaders over to Slim equivalents and add shader code to render motion vectors to feed the VectorBlur node in Nuke. We will see how to render our custom AOV's from RMS/Maya, and how to enable subpixel output at render time to improve the final result in Nuke.

Class 4: Class 4: Beyond the ReLight node/Direct Relighting 1 - We'll now start to look at the maths of relighting under the hood so that we can create our own tools in Nuke that utilize the AOV data. We'll build a vector rotation gizmo that will allow Euler rotations and a defined rotation order. We look at how we can use a dot product and Euler rotations with normals to create simple diffuse relighting. We'll use this knowledge to build the guts of a direct relight gizmo that works in Nuke's 3D space.

Class 5: Direct Relighting Part 1 - Building on the last lesson, we create a directional relighting gizmo that works in Nuke's 3D space. We look at how we can use a dot product and Euler rotations with normals and reflection vectors to create simple diffuse and specular relighting.

Class 6: Direct Relighting Part 2 - We build a point relighting tool in Nuke that works in 3D space, and touch briefly on what goes into making a spotlight. We will also cover a basic example of how we can place a shadow camera in the same position as a spotlight in Nuke and send the placement info back to Maya to render a shadow pass through RMS.

Class 7: Image-Based Relighting Part 1 - How to render ambient occlusion, bent normals and reflection occlusion passes to be used in Nuke for diffuse and specular image-based relighting. We'll also see how bent normals can be used in place of "true normals" for direct relighting applications.

Class 8: Image-Based Relighting Part 2 - Continuing from the last class, we create both diffuse and specular image-based relighting methods, using HDRI environment maps. We'll combine the result with the ambient and reflection occlusion passes we previously rendered, and create a simple fresnel effect in Nuke to further attenuate our environment reflections. We'll composite all our rendered and derived AOV's into a final image.

Class 9: Advanced Environment Map Applications in Nuke, Part 1 - We will first project a full environment map onto 3D geometry in Nuke. We will then render a sequence for a new spatially-aware environment map that is animated based on the position of a prerendered character moving through that 3D scene. We can then use this animated environment map with our diffuse and specular image-based relighting tools to light the character in a more convincing way.

Class 10: Advanced Environment Map Applications in Nuke, Part 2 - Continuation of previous class.

NUK302 - Advanced Nuke II

Our latest advanced Nuke course is broken up into multiple sections over the course of the term. Professor Sean Devereaux will work through several projects in the app as well as focus on diving into detail on some of the tools. The first two classes will focus on a current hot area in features: stereoscopic.

With all the stereoscopic films slated for release there is no doubt that more and more of us will be tasked to create them. You may be surprised to learn that due to technical considerations, some of these films are shot single camera -- focusing the stereoscopic effect to be created in post. We will use this technique on a project which will leave you with a strong foundation in stereoscopic post no mater how it was shot. 3D glasses are required for this section of the course.

Devereaux will share tips for some of his favorite Furnace tools -- with Nuke X around the corner, it will be more and more likely that these tools will be available to many more artists. The term at fxphd will also include VPN licensing of Furnace for Nuke so that members can get their feet wet with these powerful image processing tools.

Mid term classes will focus on one of the rapidly growing aspects of the compositor industry with beauty touch up work on talent and the new features and changes brought with the update to Nuke 5.2v1. The final three classes will take a look at getting the most out of the power tools in Nuke, including a guest lecture by one of our most popular professors Tahl Niran. This includes a hardcore look at keying and some of the infrequently yet incredibly powerful nodes in Nuke.

Devereaux is our lead Nuke professor at fxphd. He has been using Nuke since 2000, working as a compositor at Digital Domain on Hollywood blockbusters such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I, Robot, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Using a variety of compositing packages, his freelance work has taken him to ILM (Transformers), Hydraulx (Rise of the Silver Surfer), and others.

Professor: Sean Devereaux (filmsoup)

Class 1: Single Camera Stereoscopic Compositing - 3D: In this class we will use single camera footage to create a stereoscopic comp while defining and maintaining all the depth of the scene. Most of this work will be completed using nuke's 3D system.

Class 2: Completion of our steresoscopic single camera shot and another reason to love nuke!

Class 3: TOOLBOX: Nuke's hidden power tools & Furnace plugins: There are several tools in nuke, that although powerful, we rarely cover so this class is dedicated to the nodes and tools that come up less often but are none the less key to successful nuking. Also a detailed overview of the furnace tools that save my shots most often and how to make sure you're setting them up in the most efficient way.

Class 4: The joy of BEAUTY work part 1: As one of the fastest growing segments of our business it is important for every compositor to have some understanding of the process involved in beautification. This is a 2 part class involving one shot and includes intermediate to advanced techniques for making beautiful people even more beautiful. It's photo re-touching at 24 frames per second.

Class 5: The joy of BEAUTY work part 2: Continuing with the work from class 4 with final tweaks and setting up for overall color correction.

Class 6: A brief overview of the changes in nuke 5.2v1 from 5.1v6 and a startup class for our next big project which includes an opportunity for reel building and loads of learning.

Class 7: A bit of everything as we continue to work on a complex shot. 3D lighting, uv mapping and a truly difficult sky replacement.

Class 8: A look at common problems with keying that seem to be getting more common everyday and how to best solve them in nuke.

Class 9: Discussion of working in a linear workflow and tools and techniques dealing with color management in linear space.

Class 10: 2.5D ReLighting of 3D computer generated elements in nuke. Get more control over your cg renders then you ever imagined and with extremely low cpu overhead. Plus, a bonus course by Tahl which contains a big sandbox of footage, assets and tips for building an exciting and challenging shot. With tips on tracking, using 3d cameras and much more.

PFT302 - Advanced PFTrack II

Victor Wolansky's tracking courses have been perennial favorites at fxphd. In his new advanced course, he’ll be covering many high level issues which come up during production. For instance, he’ll take a look at dealing with lens distortion - a big problem which is sometimes overlooked. Bad tracks can often be attributed to a bad lens distortion correction and he’ll show you how to avoid these pitfalls.

The course will also include different approaches on how to set the workflow to work with lens distortion and CG, fixing the BG and tracking, fixing the FOV after tracking, and more. Rolling shutter is a big problem of many of the popular new digital cameras, and Wolansky will work through how to deal with the issue. The course will also work with stereo footage and look at the advantage of the extra parallax provided by this footage. He’ll also include some face tracking, object placing, and much more over the course of the term.

Victor’s classes have always been well received at fxphd and this one should be no exception.

Professor: Victor Wolansky (victorw)

Class 1: In this first class we take a look at lens distortion and how to deal with it, FOV calculation to increase resolution, and a quick introduction to rolling shutter distortion.

Class 2: In this first class we track a shot with two groups of motion, use camera and lens information, and correct distortion for a proper tracking.

Class 3: Continuation of class02 and some tips for 3D animation and modeling based in tracking points.

Class 4: In this class the we cover the rolling shutter distortion and take a look at the new plugin from The Foundry to fix this problem.

Class 5: 3D stabilization

Class 6: Continuation of class 05, techniques for 3D stabilization using MAX and Flame, and adding motion to a static camera.

Class 8: Tracking hell part 1 – 1300 frames of 1080P

Class 9: A continuation of class 08

Class 10: Tracking stereo footage

PHD115 - this week @ fxphd January 10 Term

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont)

Class 2: No update this week

Class 3: No update this week

Class 4: No update this week

RED102 - Comprehensive Guide to RED Post Workflow

As more and more manufacturers add support for .R3D files in their products, the workflow becomes both easier and more complex. There's a lot of information about finishing in whitepapers, on mailing lists, manufacturer sites and elsewhere. But our aim in this course is to cut through all of this and provide a structured base of knowledge which you can use to more easily finish in RED....based on solid production experience.

The course begins with detailed look at the camera itself and how it is used on set. Having a strong knowledge base is incredibly useful for the post production artist, so that the correct decisions can be made regarding shooting and photographing greenscreen. After that, the course changes gear into post and looks at the variety of finishing options available -- from high end systems such as Scratch to the native support in the Adobe Production Suite. Application specific classes will examine the positives and negatives....and the compatibility with various offline products.

Professor: John Montgomery (johnmont)

Class 1: Camera overview and on-set production. Conventions, TC, RDM, etc

Class 2: Color and RED. A discussion of color space, LUTs, log-lin (Red Alert)

Class 3: RedCine, RedRushes, and RedLine

Class 4: An overview of Assimilate's Scratch.

Class 5: Final Cut Studio. An overview of the options available in Final Cut Pro and our recommended practices. Part 1 of 2.

Class 6: FCS workflow part 2 including using Clipfinder to aide conforming/re-conforming, and round-tripping to Color.

Class 7: Adobe Production Studio. Recommended ways of using the Premiere and After Effects combo. Also, FCP XML to AE using Premiere and Automatic Duck.

Class 8: Avid offline workflow, including a look at the first implementation of R3D support using MetaFuze.

Class 9: Finishing, Part 1. Prepping an offline in Final Cut for grading and finishing in high end systems.

Class 10: Finishing, Part 2. Prepping for Avid DS, Flame and Smoke.

RED206 - RED Tales from Production

With the RED camera being utilised around the world, we look at real world productions and discuss workflow from a project point of view. We will discuss high and low end television commercials, episodic television and feature film workflow, using real project case studies such as the Red Dwarf UK mini-series, the Knowing feature film and various commercial projects such as car commercials. The aim here is to discuss the issues with taking on a project as opposed to the specifics of a particular application for just post production.

We will discuss doing visual effects with RED footage, grading RED, when Log and Linear are appropriate, what issues you are likely to have on set, and the key roles such as DOP, Camera operator, DIT and post production supervision.

The course starts with an overview of production and then works through the issues with practical advice and hands on experience from the people who have spend months and months on projects since Red has been released. We will speak to people around the world and give you as many tips and practical advice for filming from bugs and pitfalls to expected benefits.

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)

Class 1: Mike talks to some of the key post people behind the feature film "Knowing" and how they worked with the RED workflow: Andrew Jackson, VFX Supervisor for Animal Logic and Film Editor Richard Learoyd.

Class 2: Part 2 - looking at the Knowing RED workflow and the reasons behind some of the decisions made at the time and the changes in RED world since this the film was in production

Class 3: Part 1 - we look at the Red Dwarf RED workflow, starting on set with the camera and DIT

Class 4: Overview of the Red Dwarf post workflow.

Class 5: Discussing the importance of the right colour space and gamma space for on set and monitoring and when leaving RED world.

Class 6: Chesh returns to run through the Scratch workflow on a music clip shot with anamorphic lenses.

Class 7: Running and posting Multi-cam RED Shoots.

Class 8: Case study: Red workflow of the latest Toyota Prius TVC.

Class 9: Case Study: Television commercial workflow with perspectives of the agency and offline editor.

Class 10: A look at Sweedish RED longform pipeline.

RFL201 - Particles and Dynamics using RealFlow

Physical simulations are cool, most of us in vfx think so anyway. Once you know the basics of how to set them up in a software package, you could spend hours watching them tick along, doing randomly cool things. What's tough is making simulations do what you need for a shot. It isn't good enough that the results look damn sweet, but they have to look damn sweet while doing what the agency approved in the boards. It's all about control, making the sim do what you need it to. And that's what this course is about. These lessons will go thru a range of common needs in production and teach you how to control the simulations. Along the way we'll also nail most of the common problems that artists run into with RealFlow.

Professor Mark Stasiuk's company, Fusion CI Studios, specializes in creating photo-real fluid visual effects and setting up particle pipelines for companies who wish to do the same.

For this fxphd course, Stasiuk will be using RealFlow, a tool he knows intricately, to work through how to achieve great particle and other dynamic effects. He'll be examining filmed references of fluids in order to learn how to create an accurate and realistic result in the app

(tentative course outline, subject to minor change)

Professor: Mark Stasiuk (markstasiuk)

Class 1: Goo Spew: All about RealFlow emitters. No, they don't work like standard particle emitters! This lesson covers conceptual theory to help you understand emitters and so be able to decipher common problems in your simulation scenes. We'll go thru a series of emitters and the meaning of their settings, what they are good for, pitfalls and workarounds. The lesson will also take you thru a variety of RealFlow's interface features, to make sure you know your way around the software.

Class 2: Daemons are your angels in fluid simulations, you use them to push, pull and sculpt fluids -- as well as rigid bodies -- to fit with the director's vision. In this lesson we'll go thru a simple project of filling up a container with water, settling it, and then making the fluid "dance" and pour out of the bottle into a wine glass. This covers a series of very common needs in production, especially commercial work.

Class 3: Real projects usually involve fluids interacting with animated geometry, but getting this to work well is not as easy as it seems. We'll look at a seemingly simple scene example of an animated bottle carried, that illustrates some common issues with fast-moving geometry and various ways to get past the major issues. The methods include re-exporting scene geometry, altering substeps and fps settings to allow for fast motion, and removing translation channels in the animated geometry. We'll also have a brief look at another example, that of a car wheel splashing thru a puddle, to see another application of altering the fps and substeps of a simulation scene.

Class 4: In this class we will focus on pure rigid body dynamics. Rigid bodies are handled very efficiently in RealFlow, so it's worth understanding how to use it for when the right opportunity comes up in a project. We rig a basic car model to make it drive down a road, over a ramp jump and through a stack of barrels. The class covers the basics of constraints, the main rigid body dynamics settings, and workarounds to a few issues with the current version.

Class 5: Coupled fluid and rigid bodies: One of the coolest things that RealFlow does is handle "fully coupled" rigid body and fluid dynamics, so you can push objects around with fluid, and have the objects push back. This makes for truly rich, organic and natural results that can be very difficult to achieve with keyframed animation.

Class 6: This lesson dives into controlling your simulations using expressions -- something many artists avoid because it tends to get mathematical, to the detriment of their work. We'll build a fairly complex fountain simulation, with 12 mathematically choreographed water spouts. The spouts will be rigged to make their control simple and precise, so you don't have to spend your valuable time making tweaks to 36 separate curves. You will also be introduced to 4 different kinds of useful expressions that will serve you well into your simulation future.

Class 7: OK let's get some sims ready for rendering. We're good at making particles do cool things, now let's coat those clouds of dots with polys. This lesson will cover the ins and outs of meshing, so you can go from lumpy porridge to cheese to whisky. We'll go thru the various settings, and you'll find out what's most useful and what's not so much, plus get tips on workflow so you'll spend less of your time getting to the perfect mesh settings.

Class 8: Elastics: RealFlow simulates other kinds of fluids too, which are less common needs but when you need them, they're good to have. Here we'll do a set of simple simulations with elastics and their related cousin, soft bodies, to check out this squishy behavior and see it's limitations and potential uses.

Class 9: RealWave: Another useful simulation tool that comes with RealFlow is the fluid surface simulator called RealWave. This gets used often in production so it's worth knowing about. This class goes thru a small project involving rigid body dynamics and the surface of a lake, to illustrate a variety of RealWave features. Altho the project is small, this class is rather long as it covers many aspects of the project workflow, such as steps in determining the interaction settings, establishing what should be left in and out of interaction with the realwave, and also issues with realwaves and ideas on how to get around them.

Class 10: Basic Python Scripting for RealFlow: Python is the scripting language of RealFlow and, where production is concerned, this is where you get supreme control. Ten lessons could easily be devoted just to scripting applications but we'll dive in with a fairly simple project where we'll build a generally useful scripted tool (a batch script for identifying object vertices), and also apply scripting to a specialized application to cause melting when a part of an object approaches a frozen fluid.

RND101 - Introduction to Renderman

Pixar's Renderman@ is a core rendering technology that has been powering production pipelines since 1985. Leading digital effects houses and computer graphics specialists use Pixar's RenderMan@ because it is the highest quality renderer available anywhere and has been production tested through successful use in feature films for over ten years. RenderMan’s powerful features such as programmable shading language and anti-aliased motion blur allow designers to believably integrate stunning synthetic effects with live-action footage. RenderMan is used for Pixar’s own feature film productions.

This fxphd course provides an introduction to the core concepts and fundamental features of Pixar's Renderman Pro Server software. It will cover the structures used in the RIB interface to describe scene data and introduce RSL, the Renderman Shading Language through the implementation of a set of simple custom shaders. The course also analyzes REYES, the core rendering algorithm, and the implications on shader design as well as rendering optimization strategies.

By the end of the course, students should have a firm understanding of how to render a scene with Renderman, take advantage of the rich feature set to precisely control render time and image quality. They will also learn how to write custom shaders in the RSL language such as the ones developed by professional shading technical directors in the demanding environment of motion picture production. Note : this course does not cover the RendermanStudio or Slim user interfaces.

Manuel Kraemer is currently a software engineering technical director in the Production Engineering group at Pixar Animation Studios. He received a M.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Teesside (UK) in 1996. In London, he contributed to projects such as the BBC Science documentary “The Planets” and Universal's sci-fi thriller “Pitch Black”. In 2000 he relocated to the US at the Walt Disney Company, working on the stereoscopic ride "The Magic Lamp" and then moving on to the research project "Gemini Man", exploring photorealistic facial capture and rendering technologies. He started at Pixar Animation Studios in 2002, developing the skin rendering software for the Oscar winning "Incredibles" movie and contributing to the shading and rendering technologies of titles such as "Cars", "Ratatouille", "Wall-e" and "Up".

Professor: Manuel Kraemer (mkraemer)

Class 1: Introduction: Renderman@ is a specification, prman is the software : a brief history of this 20 years old software - quick tour of the prman software package and the various utilities - "hello sphere" : write a simple RIB to render a sphere - overview of the structure of a RIB - context stacks.

Class 2: RIB structure : creating a scene - basic transformations (and matrix concatenation) - positioning the camera - basic geometric primitives - parenting - options & attributes

Class 3: REYES: in-depth look at the REYES algorithm, does it really Render Everything You Ever Saw ? - core concepts : splitting, dicing, micropolygons and shaders - render options : taking control of your memory, speed and image quality

Class 4: Custom Shaders: introduction to the shading language grammar, syntax & data types, compilation - implementation of a simple plastic shader - implementation of a simple light shader - attaching the shaders to the geometry.

Class 5: ImageFeatures: motion blur, motion samples, multi-segment blur, limitations - depth of field - uniform / varying - flow control - fBm

Class 6: Passing Data: coordinate systems, space transformations

Class 7: Shading, texture maps: txmake and texture( ) - geometric primitives - texture coordinates

Class 8: Shading, Illumination: Illuminance, Illuminate : diffuse & specular reflections

Class 9: Bump & Displacement: bump mapping - displacement mapping - displacement bounds - practical application of sub-pixel displacement

Class 10: Shadows: shadow maps - bias - blur - samples - workflow in Maya / Slim

RTO210 - Secrets of Paint and Roto

"We'll fix it in post." No doubt you've heard the phrase before. And while it may get thrown around more than it should, the challenge of 'the fix' often falls to the paint and roto artist. From removing pesky crew members or production rigging in frame, to altering background environments or clothing on actors, we're going to focus on the approaches and techniques of this invisible art using standard tools like After Effects, Photoshop along with supporting apps like Mocha AE and software from The Pixel Farm.

Professor Wes Ball will be examining real-world production shots from recent TV shows as well as newly acquired RED footage. As we walk through the completion of full shots, you will gain a solid grasp on the fundamental concepts of paint and roto and hopefully learn a few hard-won tips and tricks along the way. Ball will be using After Effects as his finishing tool of choice, but the techniques he'll be showing are applicable across many different applications.

Ball's freelance operation, OddBall Digital, works in a variety of areas in film and TV, one facet being paint and roto for prime-time television.

Professor: Wes Ball (wesball)

Class 1: We'll get an overview of the kinds of paint shots that often come up in a production situation. Many of the shots we look at in this class we will come back to in detail later in the course. We'll start looking into approaches and how to think about removing unwanted elements in the frame.

Class 2: Stairs Another crew member gets in the way. We'll go about removing him by replacing the entire half of the frame. We'll look at creating the patch in photoshop as well as simple tracking in after effects with hand tweaks using null parents. Also, we'll look into a method I call 'reverse tracking'.

Class 3: Baloons This time we're going to look at using track mattes in After Effects to single out objects in the frame we can use to block or hide unwanted elements in the shot. We'll also get an intro in Mocha AE for tracking and using its data inside of After Effects.

Class 4: Helicopter Using RED footage shot by fxphd, we'll look at a simple method for removing rigging cables supporting a model helicopter until its explosive demise. Specifically we'll show how simple roto shapes, still frames, and color keys can get the job done.

Class 5: Mic Wire Sometimes you can get away with using blurs and different blending filters inside of after effects to remove unwanted elements. In this case, a mic wire is taped across a guy‚Äôs bare chest and we‚Äôll wipe it away with a few filters. We'll also use this opportunity to go into a little detail on how I like to approach the specific task of roto.

Class 6: Go Kart Part 1 of 2 We'll start upping the ante with a fairly difficult shot of another crew member walking straight through the middle of the scene. We'll look into some serious tracking with a zoom and handheld camera using pfTrack.

Class 7: Go Kart Part 2 of 2 We'll finish out the shot by exporting the track into a 3D app to generate a full background using the patch we created in the previous class. We'll also look into the roto involved in completing the shot.

Class 8: Shoreline A & B We'll take a look at a collection of shots that are "the same but different". Each shot needs us to remove objects off in the distance, but we'll take different approaches with each one to illustrate some of the choices you can make when tackling shots.

Class 9: Shoreline C In this class, we'll take a fast-moving handheld shot out on the ocean and clean the distant shoreline of any distracting buildings, ships, or evidence of civilization. We‚Äôll look at stitching several stills from different times in the frame into one giant patch. We'll track it into the shot, and then briefly look at the roto involved with finishing the shot.

Class 10: Grass canons In the last shot of the course, we'll remove an entire crew on a grassy hillside. We'll look into 3D tracking and ways to rebuild elements of the grassy hillside in 3D and merge them back into the shot.

SHK102 - Introduction to Shake

A general purpose introduction to compositing that uses one compositing application to cover the basic concepts of compositing in a step by step way. Professor Tahl Niran will use Shake and Photoshop to illustrate all the key areas of image compositing for visual effects.

Even though development of the product has stopped, Shake is still very widely used in film compositing pipelines at the major studios and is likely to be one of the first tools an entry-level artist uses at the facility. With its affordable price point, the app is great way for up and coming artists to learn how to composite.

Professor: tahl niran (aneks)

View a short sample clip from one of the SHK102 classes

Class 1: An introduction to the concepts of node based compositing and general introduction to compositing in Shake.

Class 2: In this class we cover the Shake interface, importing and exporting footage, as well as a basic introduction to the City Square project which we will be covering in depth throughout the term.

Class 3: Introduction to Mattes in Shake: Generating mattes and using mattes from other applications and introduction to rotoscoping.

Class 4: The Nuclear Blast comp. Using layers, transforms and filters to combine CGI and live action.

Class 5: This class covers transformations, using the curve editor for animation and an introduction to tracking.

Class 6: An introduction to procedural matte generation. Better known as Keying !

Class 7: Multipass compositing of 3d objects. Using a 3d robot to explore multipass compositing techniques and 3d integration in Shake.

Class 8: Log, Lin and Video. How to composite film images in shake and an introduction to various colour spaces.

Class 9: The China Square Composite. Part one of a two part class dealing with a sky replace and integration. Also installing macros in Shake and some good work habits.

Class 10: Part two of a two part class dealing with a sky replace and integration. Finessing the comp and useful tricks for dealing with hard to key areas.

SHK201 - Intermediate Shake I

Shake is the main stay of feature film compositing and in this course Tahl Niran focuses on the detailed workflow you need for real world feature film style compositing - but which are also relevant to other work such as compositing for commercials. This term we will be compositing a range of material from Cineon to Panalog and even traditional animation files. As shake is often used for compositing 3D - special attention will be given to this important area this term.

Professor: tahl niran (aneks)

View a short sample clip from one of the SHK201 classes

Class 1: Car Ad Part One - Tracking, Roto

Class 2: Car Ad Part Two - Sky Replacement, Multiplane, Colour Matching

Class 3: A Romantic Night - Smoothcam, Quickpaint, Primatte

Class 4: 2D animation composite using the mouse cell animation

Class 5: Advanced Multipass : Spaceship Part 1

Class 6: Advanced Multipass : Spaceship Part 2

Class 7: Intro to Expressions

Class 8: Removal and Plate Fixup - Lens Distortion, Clean Plate Generation

Class 9: The Oil Rig Part 1 & 2

Class 10: The Oil Rig Part 3 & 4

SHK302 - Shake (and More) in Production

A classroom is fine but does it really prepare you for your regular daily tasks as a compositor? We're very excited to have Tahl Niran, one of our most popular professors at fxphd, return for an all new advanced Shake in production course. Niran's courses have always been well received by postgrads and this course is sure to be no different.

The aim of SHK302 is to show the practical day to day approach the compositors use in production. Using the two most common scenarios for producion visual effects. Television commercials and film visual effects. Using two examples, the iPhone/Lexus spot and the short film I love Sarah Jane which was shown at Sundance, this course will demonstrate how to use a variety of tools to get the job done.

In production, software and a tools take a back seat. Technique and understanding are key. To this end the course will cover the principles and practice of bringing a series of shots to completion using a combination of Shake, Nuke, Maya, Boujou, Mocha and a few little bits and pieces. This also includes how to approach a shot creatively and from a design perspective and more importantly how to be flexible and client-conscious when approaching tasks. We will look at how to break down larger visual effects shots into manageable tasks and use composting and other visual effects techniques to maximise the quality and impact of the photographed material. In addition, we will be tackle key workflow issues including: file management, delivery and interchange formats and perhaps the most commonly requested topic. Colourspace management for film compositing.

This course is an advanced 300 level course and as such aimed at people with a solid knowledge in at least one compositing application and a grounding in the practical application of digital image management in a visual effects environment. Previous experience in either Shake or Nuke is highly recommended as is a knowledge of Photoshop and experience with a major 3D application is also beneficial.

Professor: tahl niran (aneks)

Class 1: Intro to the course, customizing shake under the hood to setup workflows for use during the duration of the project

Class 2: Setting up a rough comp of a shot from the Lexus commercial to begin visualizing the final result, using Shake and Photoshop

Class 3: A quick look at same shot from class 02, this time in Nuke, pointing out some color space handling differences. Also, starting the 3D elements and track in Maya, and a tip for finding good 3D models online

Class 4: Back to Shake, moving on with the comp, integrating 3D elements

Class 5: working with multi-pass compositing of floating point, multi-channel, exr files in Shake and Nuke, and more 3D prep in Maya

Class 6: Finishing the comp from a general compositing POV, but with a special look at getting the most out of Shake

Class 7: Starting a shot from "I Love Sarah Jane", where a number of techniques are used to add atmosphere to a scene by making a regular house look severely damaged using Shake, Nuke, and Photoshop. Also, using Mocha for roto.

Class 8: Another shot from "I love Sarah Jane" integrating a number of elements including a matte painting, sky replacement, and fog to completely transform the atmosphere of a relatively simple plate using Shake

Class 9: Continuing on with the finer tuning of the shot from class 08 in Shake

Class 10: A look at the closing shot from the Lexus commercial with keying, camera tracking, monitor replacement, and background replacement

SMK101 - Introduction to Smoke on Mac

The release of Smoke on Mac has opened up the software to a much wider variety of users than any other Autodesk systems product. This course, taught by Brian Higgins, will provide an advanced introduction to Autodesk Smoke (both linux and Mac versions), building upon the free tutorials and demos that are available elsewhere on the web (http://area.autodesk.com/smoke-tutorials/about_smoke_essentials_tutorials). Focusing on real-world finishing, color correction and visual effects tasks, we’ll be working through several projects and tasks, taking footage and turning it into a finished piece, exploring the breadth of Smoke's toolset along the way.

Higgins is Senior VFX Artist at SOL design in Chicago. After a wildly unsuccessful attempt in college at studying music, he discovered that he could "use the computer to blow things up" and his fate was sealed. Brian started out in post production as a Maya and After Effects artist at Interface Media Group in 1999, transitioning to Flame and Smoke work in 2003. At SOL design, he's created VFX and finished national spots for accounts including Allstate, Budweiser, Disney, Chase, Dell, McDonald's, Nintendo, Kellogg's, Nike and MillerCoors. In 2008, he taught Smoke masterclasses for Autodesk at NAB and throughout Asia and Australia. Higgins will be joined by guest prof Brian Mulligan, whose broadcast experience will provide an additional perspective to the course.

Members will be able to license Smoke on Mac via the fxphd VPN, lifting the short 30-day demo version restriction so that they may dive more fully into the software. Most of the course will focus on features that are available on Smoke on Mac, but some Smoke Advanced features such as BatchFX will be touched on during the term.

Professor: Brian Higgins (higginba)

Class 1: Where Smoke fits in a production pipeline - We'll set up a project, and begin our tour of the Smoke UI. You've seen the demos and tutorials online, but we'll show you how to use Smoke in the trenches under real world deadlines!

Class 2: Finishing 101, Part 1. We set up the smoke working environment and conform an EDL to a work picture. How to import media and link to to the EDL, basic editing tools, comparing to the work picture.

Class 3: Finishing 101, Part 2. We continue the conform using soft effects, the tracker, and masking.

Class 4: We get in-depth with Smoke's color-correction tools, the color corrector and color warper. We'll talk about how to fix common color problems, how to "speak" the art director's language, and some simple tricks for creating looks.

Class 5: Action basics - Animation, design and compositing using Smoke's Action 3d compositing environment. We'll create and animate graphic elements for use in our next class.

Class 6: Action II: The Sequel - Introduction to chromakeying, as well as 1-, 2- and 4-point motion tracking. Delving deeper into the Animation Editor for cleaning up tracks etc.

Class 7: "We're not done with Action yet?" - Using the Modular Keyer for fun and profit. Integrating external tracking data from Mocha and PFTrack. Using simple expressions to help with complicated tasks.

Class 8: File-based P2 workflow with Brian Mulligan.

Class 9: Paint and Text modules - We'll use the Paint module to remove some film dirt and create a write-on, and use the Text module to create an animated lower-3rd and a credit roll.

Class 10: Grab Bag Putting the finishing touches on our project with Sparks, BatchFX and more!

STR101 - Introduction to Stereoscopic

Sure to be one of the term’s hits, Mike is joined by Peter Moxom of Pixar, to give you the complete 100 level guide to Stereo production and post. Stereoscopic 3D is a very hot topic and the guys will walk you through the theory, history, practical production and post -production of Stereoscopic films.

This course aims to demystify all the terms, jargon and tech so you can actively work in stereo production and feel confident to focus on the creative aspects of a project. The aim is to give you the tools to move past gimmicks and tricks - so as to allow serious story telling with this re-discovered area of film making.

In addition to Peter Moxom of Pixar we will be joined by some of the world's leading Stereoscopic experts including Arnaud Paris and Dan Smith, both senior extremely experienced feature film and special event Stereographers.

Professor: Mike Seymour (mikes)

Class 1: A brief history about stereo photography.

Class 2: Detailed explanation of stereo options

Class 3: Filming stereo

Class 4: Monitoring and projection

Class 5: On-set stereoscopic, using the Element Technica 3D rig and dual RED cameras as a case study to examine issues specific to the rig and more generic ones. Filmed in Paris with Arnaud Paris of LocaRed/Sysmic Films.

Class 6: Using results of the Paris test shots to discuss issues concerning stereoscopic filming. Quick start guide to viewing anaglyph images in various desktop applications. Filmed in Paris with Arnaud Paris of LocaRed/Sysmic Films.

Class 7: Nuke and ocula, with guest Daniel L Smith VFX Supervisor & Stereographer

Class 8: Color grading and post, and stereo aspects of the Renderman pipeline

Class 9: Virtual cinematography in 3D

Class 10: The future

SYN101 - Introduction to SynthEyes

Our fxphd tracking specialist, Victor Wolansky, takes members through the economical but incredibly powerful Syntheyes 3D tracking application. The course will be using the recent release of Syntheyes 2008. This course will give you the base knowledge you need in order to solve various types of shot.

Professor: Victor Wolansky (victorw)

View a short sample clip from one of the SYN101 classes

Class 1: Tracking, solving, and using meshes in Syntheyes. Uses helicopter shot in desert.

Class 2: A bit of 3D tracking theory and a look at the manual tracker.

Class 4: A look at tracking stationary cameras on tripods with and without zooms. Also, a look at orientating the camera on a still or locked off shot.

Class 5: Stabilization and more tricks on orienting the 3D world with the footage.

Class 6: Tracking a DV shot and dealing with interlacing, compression artifacts, and an intro to masking.

Class 7: Brief on importing interlaced footage in a 3D app. A difficult handheld shot using manual tracking.

Class 8: Tracking a steadycam shot through the lab. Cleaning up trackers and prepping a shot for use in 3D.

Class 9: Tracking a shot with a lot of lens distortion. Adding distortion to CGI elements for use in compositing applications.

Class 10: Getting started with a very challenging shot. Instead of achieving a perfect track in one class, overall techniques are discussed that are useful when approaching more difficult shots.

Jan10 Term Courses Projected course outlines....subject to change

AFX203 - After Effects: Project A to Z