We just announced our new term, and one of our headline course comes via a suggestion from an fxphd member.  This new advanced series of courses, which runs over two terms, aims to complete a complex visual effects scene, starting from the effects plate all the way to the tweaks of the final comp. Taking the provided clean plate, members will add a remote mountain town, and then build a CG Tornado to destroy it. Numerous applications will be used throughout the course, including 3D Equalizer, Maya, Houdini, Arnold Renderer, and NUKE.

The lineup of artists teaching this course is outstanding. Serving as vfx supervisor for the course is artist Ludovic Iochem, who leads our digital matte painting curriculum. Joining him are slate of talented artists. Benoit Terminet Schuppon (imdb) will be showing techniques for getting an accurate camera solve. Concentrating on modeling and texturing will be Alban Orlhiac (imdb) . Charles Chorein (imdb) will be handling look development and Lukas Niemczyk (imdb) will be creating the FX of the Tornado in Houdini.

The new courses as well as the repeats on offer this term are now available on our course listing page. If you’re not familiar with fxphd, we also have a page that explains more about how fxphd works.

Term overview video

Each term, we create an overview video highlighting the new courses at fxphd. Check it out (it’s right below this paragraph) to see what we have in store. We also have almost 100 other courses on offer, all available on our course listing page. If you’re not familiar with fxphd, we also have a special page that explains more about how fxphd works.

The April15 term in brief

The lineup has multiple courses for various areas of specialty such as vfx, pipeline and 3D. The selection is then rounded out by several other broader offerings. In a nutshell, here are the new courses on offer this term:

• AFX225: Design and Animation with Cinema 4D and After Effects
• DMP206: Digital Matte Painting: The Outer Space Project
• FLM210: CG Integration Techniques in Flame
• HOU214: Lighting & Rendering Destruction FX in Houdini & Nuke
• MDO203: Intermediate Modeling and Texturing in Modo
• MDO204: 3D Techniques for NUKE Compositors
• NUK231: NUKE Compositing Best Practices
• UNR202: Production in Unreal Engine 4
• VFX301: Tornado Destruction Project, Part 1
• VRL101: Virtual Reality Bootcamp

Background Fundamentals also returns, which is our weekly magazine style course that covers a range of topics…it is an exclusive bonus for being a member.