CG Garage

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Episode 235 - Craig Xray Halperin - Insomniac Games Jul 29, 2019

Show notes

Craig "Xray" Halperin has worked on everything. His career began at the tender age of 13 when he contributed graphics to the TV show The Fall Guy, and as he grew up he became accustomed to projection mapping, motion graphics and non-linear video editing techniques. His big break in VFX came courtesy of a desperate Stan Winston who needed him to digitally improve Brad Pitt's face for Interview with the Vampire, and he went on to work on Apollo 13, Hollow Man and Kung Fu Panda.

Today, Xray helps create immersive gaming experiences for Insomniac Games. In this podcast, he discusses how the company managed to create a living, breathing interactive Manhattan with 60fps 4K HDR globally illuminated graphics for Marvel's Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4. He also tells Chris about his occasional work in education, including helping Paul Debevec with his Parthenon project. The podcast concludes with Xray's vision of the future in real-time and new game engines.

Episode 234 - Sonja Christoph - Massive Entertainment Jul 22, 2019

Show notes

The uber-talented Sonja Christoph's career path has been a twisty one. After graduating from film school in Miami, she worked as an assistant director on-set on Hollywood movies and TV shows. During the 2008 writer's strike, she was inspired to take a VFX course at Gnomon School in Hollywood, where she discovered a knack for matte paintings. She went on to create environments at ILM for Tomorrowland, Doctor Strange, Agent Carter and even the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run ride at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland.

Now, Sonja has crossed the Atlantic to work for Swedish Ubisoft subsidiary Massive Entertainment on video games including Tom Clancy's The Division 2. In this podcast, recorded at Total Chaos 2019 ahead of her inspiring main-stage presentation, Sonja talks about the differences between working in VFX and video games in terms of timelines, teamwork and tools. She also discusses how games subtly direct the player, and why they've become such a lucrative part of modern culture.

If you've ever thought about making the jump from movies to games — or vice-versa — this podcast is for you.

Episode 233 - Paul Debevec, Scott Eaton, and Ian Spriggs Jul 15, 2019

Show notes

This year's Total Chaos conference brought together three of the biggest names in the art and science of CG: 3D portrait artist Ian Spriggs, lighting pioneer turned light field specialist Paul Debevec, and anatomy expert and AI exploratory artist Scott Eaton. Each presented compelling talks on the Total Chaos stages, before heading to Chris's mobile booth to record this podcast.

What emerges is a thorough examination of how rapid technological changes are revolutionizing the way CG and digital humans are created. Ian talks about his meticulous portrait of Scott and how GPU technology has sped up his workflows, Paul goes into detail on bringing Scott's giant head into VR via light field technology, and Scott himself discusses his experiments with machine learning to create surreal imagery based on his anatomical database.

The trio offers their thoughts on how the convergence of this technology may change the role of the artist — and how this isn't necessarily anything new. Ian also gives some insight into his upcoming portrait of Chris himself.

Episode 232 - Jake Williams and Greg Rogers - WeWork Jul 08, 2019

Show notes

WeWork has become one of this decade's biggest success stories. This New York-based firm offers flexible shared workspaces for anyone from freelancers to large enterprises, complete with health insurance, an internal social network and events. Its approach has helped businesses thrive, and its model has rolled out to 738 locations in 39 countries with more than 13,000 employees.

Two of those employees are Jake Williams (Creative Manager) and Greg Rogers (Head of Visualization), who are responsible for visualizing the company's upcoming workspaces. In this podcast, recorded at the Total Chaos conference, Jake and Greg tell Chris how their team has grown exponentially alongside WeWork and The We Company; how working in-house compares to working for an external architectural visualization agency; and they discuss the technology they use to turn around beautiful images in astonishingly short periods of time.

Episode 231 - Mike Hill - Designer, Concept Artist and Film Analyst Jul 01, 2019

Show notes

Mike Hill's enviable career has seen him wear many hats on big projects in film, TV and games. He designed the formidable Retribution spaceship for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, helped conceptualize some of Game of Thrones' most iconic sets and scenes, created the intricate Memory Orb device for Blade Runner 2049, and worked out how to unite 18 disparate episodes of Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.

But that's not all this multifaceted film fanatic does — he's also becoming renowned for his in-depth lectures on storytelling and visual language in films. In this podcast, he gives a concise version of his theories on Jurassic Park and its theme of parental responsibility, explains how these seep into Spielberg's other films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Hook, and even talks about what makes Jurassic World so morally bankrupt.

This is a fascinating podcast for anyone who looks for a deeper meaning in movies, and you'll also find out which big-budget movie Mike's working on next.

Episode 230 - Victor Hugo Queiroz - Character Artist Jun 24, 2019

Show notes

Victor and Chris first met at the THU festival a few years ago, and at Chaos Group's Total Chaos event earlier this year they were finally able to sit down and record this podcast. What follows is a retelling of Victor's journey from humble 3ds Max user to one of the most revered and distinctive 3D character artists on the planet.

There's lots of sound advice for artists here, including how Victor has overcome his fears of talking on stage and being interviewed by big companies, how he's learned from criticism, and taking the first bold steps to become a freelance artist full-time. He also talks about how his dream job didn't quite meet his expectations and his most recent work on Love, Death & Robots.

Episode 229 - Jose Pareja Gomez and Marko Margeta - Zaha Hadid Architects Jun 17, 2019

Show notes

Zaha Hadid Architects has always embraced technology to stay ahead of the game — even the late Zaha Hadid was herself using computers to design buildings back in the 90s. Today, the company makes use of software including Revit, Maya, V-Ray, Rhino and Grasshopper to create its iconic parametric designs, as well as lots of bespoke tools to create VR experiences and model human interactions.

In this podcast, recorded at Total Chaos, Lead Designer/VR Developer Jose Pareja Gomez and Designer Marko Margeta offer a comprehensive breakdown of what happens behind-the-scenes at ZHA and how they get many different pieces of technology to play together nicely. They also talk about how they use scripts to make their lives easier and the ways in which real-time ray tracing promises to change workflows in the near future.

Episode 228 - Simeon Balabanov & Phil Miller - V-Ray and real-time Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

The CG industry is on the cusp of a dramatic shift. While ray tracing has always been the best way to achieve lifelike CG visuals, hardware and software advances are making it feasible for architects, arch viz artists and designers to use real-time engines to create astonishing imagery and VR experiences.

In this podcast, Chris is joined by Chaos Group's Vice President of Product Management Phil Miller and V-Ray for Unreal Product Manager Simeon Balabanov. The pair discuss the history of rasterized graphics, how they compare with ray-traced imagery and some of the myths around real-time. You'll also learn how Chaos Group is making it easier to take ray-traced workflows into real-time with products such as V-Ray for Unreal and Project Lavina.

Episode 227 - Darin Grant - CTO Animal Logic Jun 03, 2019

Show notes

A lot has changed since Darin Grant last appeared on the CG Garage podcast back in September 2016. The VFX industry has overcome its cloud-computing fears and embraced it wholesale, making it faster and cheaper to create imagery for Hollywood movies. Darin, meanwhile, left Solid Angle to consult for various companies and is now CTO for creative digital studio Animal Logic, the company behind The Lego Movie 2, The Matrix and Happy Feet.

In this podcast, Darin offers an overview of the recent history and near future of CG, including why acquisitions of small companies by big ones aren't necessarily bad, and the pros and cons of software subscription models. He also talks about his ongoing work for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and ACM SIGGRAPH.

Few people have such comprehensive knowledge and foresight of the VFX industry as Darin, making this vital listening for everyone from junior VFX artists to head honchos at major studios.

Episode 226 - Gray Marshall - Colorist, finisher and VFX artist May 27, 2019

Show notes

Gray Marshall has always wanted to tell stories. In his youth, he was inspired to pursue CG by Tron and Pixar's Luxo Jr., but when he studied film at USC he fell in love with the physical process of filmmaking. After dabbling in motion control cameras, he joined Digital Domain as a VFX supervisor and then founded his own company, Gray Matter FX.

Today, Gray has brought all his industry experience together in his role as a colorist at the Deluxe-owned Company 3. As Gray explains, this oft-overlooked but fascinating job adds a crucial finishing touch to films, uniting scenes provided by different VFX vendors or film crews, correcting visual continuity mistakes and providing a bridge between the editor, director of photography and director.

Using examples from Ant-Man and The Wasp, Roma and Avengers: Endgame, Gray goes into a deeper technical level on the current standards of film production and distribution, and tells Chris how colorists make sure their work looks good on everything from your home TV to a state-of-the-art laser projector.

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