CG Garage

Latest Episodes:

Episode 217 - Andy Wilkoff - CG Lead/TD, A52 Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

As a child, Andy Wilkoff spent his childhood pulling technology apart and reading comic books — and he's been lucky enough to follow these obsessions into his career. He picked up his first VFX gigs on the TV series Star Trek: Voyager and Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, then worked at Digital Domain on commercials and movies including X-Men; I, Robot; The Day After Tomorrow and Stealth. Now, Andy works as CG Lead and Technical Director at creative visual effects studio A52 in Santa Monica, California.

In this epic G&T-fuelled podcast, Andy talks Chris through his professional career in visual effects, and how it's been affected by the twists and turns of his personal life. Andy is full of sound industry advice, and you'll find out why he hung from the side of buildings in New York, the reason he was accosted in a Costco parking lot — and how "the smelly room" got its name. He also talks about his passion for 3D printing and the businesses it's inspired.

The film and visual effects industries are often characterized by dramatic clashes of enormous egos, but this podcast reveals a tender and more caring side of the silver screen.

Episode 216 - Jerome Denjean - Love, Death and Robots, Blur Studio Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

The Animatrix, Liquid Television, Ren & Stimpy - there have always been blips of mature content on the animation spectrum, but never anything like Love, Death & Robots. This new anthology kicks open the doors for adult storytelling in the medium, taking Tim Miller and David Fincher's unique influences, and letting over 14 studios run wild through topics like racism, war, free will and human nature, as they collectively produced 18 jaw-dropping shorts.

This week, series' VFX supervisor Jerome "Jed" Denjean stops by the podcast to talk about his own history, as well as explain how this project came together, from Tim's initial ideas to how Blur brought in competing studios to join in on the fun. As the discussion continues, they get into bigger topics like what Love, Death & Robots means for the entertainment industry as a whole, why we could be moving away from longer-form storytelling and into bite-size chunks, and the chances of a second season.

Love, Death and Robots is streaming now.

Episode 215 - Loic Zimmermann Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

Film and art have fascinated Loic Zimmermann from a young age: he drew all the time and built rocket ship sets in his back garden during his childhood in rural France. His fascination drew him towards studying CG at university, then onto work for innovative game studio Quantic Dream, and his clever method of getting the perfect tattoo won him a job at Luma Pictures in Los Angeles.

As well as working on visual effects for Marvel movies and many more, Loic has directed fascinating documentaries on modern art masters William Wray (Gamma Wray) and Jeremy Mann (A Solitary Mann). He tells Chris how he gets under the skin of these characters without getting in their way, geeks out about video cameras, and gives a little insight into his upcoming documentary Larry.

It's a fascinating podcast which dives deep into the way artists and filmmakers work, and reveals the numerous connections and passions Chris and Loic have in common.

Episode 214 - Kim Meltzer - eSports Mom Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

Known as "eSports Mom" — or "CoD Mom" — Kim Meltzer, the CEO of KidKesty Productions, is an unsung heroine of the professional gaming industry. This competitive and lucrative business can whisk kids from their bedrooms to stadiums and make them millions in a short space of time, and in this podcast, Kim tells Chris how she reassures parents that their children are in safe hands — while helping upcoming pro gamers keep their lives and careers on track.

Chris and Kim both have kids who are into video games, and they also talk about some of the benefits of the medium, from building friendships in Fortnite, to just plain building in Minecraft, to the surprising benefits of Call of Duty's simulated war. Kim also highlights some of the ways the industry is likely to change in the future, including her role in advocating gaming scholarships, and latest phenomenon Apex Legends.

Episode 213 - Felix Urquiza and Dallas Carroll - Digital Giant Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

Digital Giant is using new technology to make it easier and faster to create photorealistic digital content. Joining Chris this week are the company's Operative Dallas Carroll and VFX Supervisor/Partner Felix Urquiza, who go in depth on the way the company has been set up, and how it's doing things differently.

CG car work is notoriously finicky. The challenge of making vehicles look real — as well as keeping up with every detail of the car design — increases year on year. Digital Giant has taken years of experience and found new ways to keep their process accurate and efficient, combining both real-time technologies along with offline rendering and making sure everything is synced up.

It's a fascinating discussion of an area of CG which is at the forefront of the industry, and one which is experiencing sweeping changes thanks to social media and new technology.

Episode 212 - Robh Ruppel Feb 18, 2019

Show notes

Robh Ruppel has been on Chris's most-wanted podcast guest list for a long time — and it's not hard to see why. This talented designer, concept and visual development artist has a wealth of knowledge and experience, which makes this podcast utterly enthralling from start to finish.

Robh tells Chris about his adventurous career so far. From his early movie experience at effects shop Boss Film Studios to a sojourn to Wisconsin for Dungeons and Dragons; his tenure at Disney and his work at Uncharted games studio Naughty Dog; the roles he played on masterful comic-book movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and David Fincher and Tim Miller's upcoming Love, Death, and Robot.

It's Robh's insight into the creative process that truly makes this podcast stand out. Referencing everyone from Sergei Eisenstein to Sergio Leone to Alfonso Cuaron, Robh delves into the technical and artistic choices which produce iconic cinematic imagery. He also talks about how big TVs and streaming services have changed the way entertainment is created and consumed and offers plenty of solid advice to up-and-coming artists.

Episode 211 - Andrew Maximov - Promethean AI Feb 11, 2019

Show notes

Andrew Maximov has a vision for how to change the gaming and CG industries from the ground up. His Promethean AI is a super-smart piece of software which allows designers, developers and artists to create and populate environments simply by asking for them via voice or text. It neatly cuts out the fiddly, time-consuming parts of the CG creative process, and allows users to get straight to the fun and interesting parts of decorating virtual sets.

In his chat with Chris, Andrew reveals how his work at Wargaming (World of Tanks) and Naughty Dog (Uncharted and Last of Us) led to the creation of Promethean AI. He and Chris also debate the creative industry's fears about AI's potential to replace jobs en masse, and Promethean AI's potential applications in other areas such as e-commerce and storytelling.

Want to know more about Andrew and Promethean AI? Come to Total Chaos and see his presentation, as well as many more fascinating and inspiring talks.

Episode 210 - John Hewitt - Pre- and Post-Production Veteran Feb 04, 2019

Show notes

This week, Chris is joined by the versatile talent of John Hewitt. As a child, John was addicted to sketching and drafting everything he saw on TV, and this drove him into automobile design. After helping out on Schwarzenegger movie Eraser, John moved into visual effects and his impressive IMDb page includes credits on Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Star Trek Beyond and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

John's career has taken him from visual effects in post-production to the movie-planning stages in previz. He discusses the differences between the two: the time-consuming and intricate crafting of beautiful FX shots versus the fast and furious timelines of previz. He also talks about his infamous shader networks for movies such as I, Robot and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, as well as how great previz can help directors make confident decisions and the future of film production.

Episode 209 - Colin Aguiar - Composer Jan 29, 2019

Show notes

From the age of two, Colin Aguiar has been fascinated by music. It's an obsession which has paid off: over the past 20 years he's scored numerous projects and worked with mentor Mychael Danna on films including Life of Pi. His talent caught the attention of Construct director Kevin Margo who called on his abilities to create an experimental score for his groundbreaking short film.

In this podcast, Colin joins Construct producer Chris Nichols for a chat about the process of creating its score, including some of the challenges of adding dubstep elements, creating themes for specific characters, and working from a temp score. The discussion opens up into a wider discussion of music in general where Colin reveals how he loves everything from North African to German experimental to US industrial styles, and talks about some of his all-time favorite composers.

Scores are an oft-overlooked part of cinema, and Colin gives a huge amount of insight into the most important elements of movie music.

Episode 208 - Kurt Lawson - Compositing Supervisor Jan 21, 2019

Show notes

When Kurt Lawson isn't assembling effects for some of Hollywood's biggest movies, he's in backcountry California creating astonishing long-exposure shots of the natural landscape. In this engaging podcast, he tells Chris how teenage experiments in visual effects and Olympus cameras inspired his successful career and awe-inspiring hobby.

Kurt and Chris reminisce about working together at Digital Domain with director Joe Kosinski on a jaw-dropping effects shot for Oblivion, and Kurt talks about his more recent work on 300: Rise of an Empire and The Spy Who Dumped Me. He also discusses the current state of the visual effects industry in Los Angeles and the work which goes into setting up his photography projects.

Listen to find out how certain VFX artists are presented with pineapples, why rocks in Death Valley seem to have a life of their own, and some of the tricks compositors use to make the audience believe CG is real.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected