SOFTWARE - WHAT SOFTWARE DO I NEED?
This course focuses primarily on your CORE INDUSTRY STANDARD TOOLS - 3DS Max (free), Nuke (free) and Thinking Particles and FumeFX, and V-Ray (optional, you can use Scanline or Mental Ray).
We do have an amazing deal for FumeFX which is a non-commercial license for half price and some other great stuff going on. So as I always say "if you buy a Photoshop course, you don't expect a free copy of Photoshop to come with it" but I am working on some amazing gifts and other goodies - talking with RED, Blackmagic and also many software companies too - so more will be unveiled soon but for now nothing I can talk about.
Thinking Particles Update
Most of the amazing deals and things we will have in 'LAS' will be announced later. But Cebas has gracious enough to offer us a special deal on their Thinking Particles 6 EDU (not for commercial use) - where as part of the FXTD Mentorship we can get a TP6 EDU license for $99 for 3 years (provided we sign up at the beginning of the course). This will be arranged once signed up, Cebas and myself will validate everyone after the course commences. Awesome!
This sounds like a lot! What kind of hardware will I need to run this?!
One of the core areas I want to focus on is really building an efficient way to work, so if you saw the free training videos I sent out we focused an entire 3 hour lesson on creating a 'hyper-efficient' destruction pipeline, that literally only uses what it actually needs to in a simulation and constantly grows and shrinks based on this. Way before we even do any destruction, we build a system that (minus the glass) takes about 30 minutes to calculate and cache. Because we put in the time to plan ahead and put our effort where it's most needed.
Same goes for every area of this course, I want us to plan our shots and learn where to put attention and where not to waste time or render power that isn't going to get noticed. So optimization is a big part of this course, having solid workplace practices. Because of this I think hardware isn't going to be as bigger deal as it might sound. Yes I suggest a minimum of 16gb of ram (we have people already signed up with 8gb, you can do it, but if you want your work to really look amazing, don't cheat yourself out of RAM. Memory is cheap - even my laptop has 32GB these days.
But RAM is probably the area I think that is most critical. Video card isn't really all that important as we're doing simulations on the CPU most of the time and CPU - as with anything, the faster you have the better, but RAM is the only thing that is going to be something I suggest getting at least 16gb of RAM if you don't have enough yet.
If you're looking for buying a computer or upgrading specifically for this course - shoot me an email and I'll suggest some specs.
What's the deal with live review sessions?
Those of us coming from the the Live Action Series will be familiar with live reviews, where every two weeks we join a live members only webinar event where we all interact, and show our work in progress work. Allan reviews each person one at a time and gives feedback and advice on how to improve the shot or critical things to work on. This comes from the film industry where we typically do 'dailies' where the Director or the CG or VFX supervisor will review everyone's shots and request changes. This has always been such a valuable and influential experience, as getting direct feedback from an experienced artist has always been the most impactful time to shape our skills and improve our work. Not only that, but this is a chance to ask questions or show problems you might be running into and get help fixing these issues.
The best part is - we go through this as a team, which means we all get to see each others work, and cheer each other on and encourage others as we go forward, or help answer questions or share information, links and other resources, it really is the most valuable part of the course, having this camaraderie as we conquer every step of the FXTD Mentorship Series together.
I live outside of the USA - what time are these live review sessions held?
Typically once you sign up, we all submit times that work best for us, and we are able to work out timezones that fit best with everyone. Seeing that there is an international crowd of people in this course, on the day of the reviews, we have two sessions, one early morning and one late at night. This way no matter what timezone you're in, there will be a session that fits within your schedule. And some people, who are really ambitious and love participating sometimes hang out at both!
Do I need to speak in these live reviews? or what if I don't have anything to show?
Another important aspect is if you're not too confident in this area and don't want to speak out loud, you're more than welcome to use our chat room which is part of our reviews, so some people who maybe aren't confident about their English or simply don't want to talk, or they're at work so they can't speak - simply use the chat feature to type their questions or post their work. Whereas we also have the ability to use webcam too, for those who are the opposite! But either way there is plenty of options here to fit all of us and make it easiest for us to participate.
Lastly - if you don't have anything to show, feel free to log in and listen. There are plenty of people who show up just to watch and see what everyone else is doing if they don't have anything to show at that particular review. This is totally fine and encouraged, it's better for you to be there than to miss out, and it's very inspiring seeing a lot of the other artists work, as well as a lot of great knowledge and information shared at every session.
How much time do I need to make the most of the the FX TD Mentorship?
The reason this course is spaced over a large amount of time is so we can comfortably keep on top of everything without fail.
I have been part of courses in the past where we try to do '8 week courses' or similar, and I feel like just as we get to the good stuff, it's the end of the course. What I wanted to build is a course where we can grow over time and improve but also keep up, rather than feeling overwhelmed. So this course each term is spaced out very carefully so things aren't too overwhelming and we can put in the needed amount of time to really make our work look great. As well as do live reviews and see how we can improve our work and go back and make those changes. This has been a very critical part of the design of the course - to ensure we do have time, even with family, work and life commitments.
What I really love about this is a fully immersive training environment. In other words we not only have dozens of videos and additional training that we can go to, to keep up - but we also have live chat room, private Facebook group, private members only forums, as well as live webinars and other events where we are all able to interact with each other. The great part of this is being a part of it all isn't difficult, by having a fully immersive training environment, we don't need to be logged in watching videos to be a part of the experience and learn or ask others - we're making friends, networking and being a part of the experience with minimal work, which to me is the best way to learn fast and grow.
If you can spare at least 2 hours a week, you'll be able to make the most of this course. The more time you put in, the better, but a minimum of 2 hours every week is important. If you can't spare 2 hours each week, then I suggest maybe this course isn't right for you, or at least right now until you're able to free up a bit more time.
One thing I find is sometimes life happens, we all get there, and so we can fall back behind a little, but it's fairly easy to catch up again when our time frees up, so never feel stressed that you are behind if that is the case, just put in a bit of extra time and get back up to speed, we're all here to help each other, and that makes this environment really great for keeping on track is that we are all going at our own pace but we're all helping and motivating each other.
Live Action Series students - "I'm still going through LAS and wonder if I should do the FXTD Mentorship as well?"
So I have said to a lot of people that if you feel comfortable with where you're at with the course, go right ahead. I honestly believe a lot of what we cover in LAS we can also apply to FXTD too. so while we work on live action FX shots, we can introduce a lot of what we are doing inside of FXTDT.
However, if you are struggling to keep up with LAS currently, my suggestion is to wait out the mentorship, and just focus on LAS for now. I would rather you stay on top of the course, than take on too many things and then not get anywhere. So completing the LAS is much more important for now, before you move onto other things. However if you feel you're up for the challenge, I think this will be a powerful combination!
That being said, all of the technical areas of tool development, and the diversity of the course material inside of FXTD definitely will benefit you intensely.
What would you suggest is the best advice for doing the FXTD Mentorship course?
My best advice is to have an end goal. Whether it's to break into the industry, or to step up to supervisor level, or move into a different area of CG, break into freelance, secure a full-time job, set up your own studio or make your own film. Whatever your goal is - have a clear goal before you start so you know where you want to go with the course, and also I know what your goals are so I can help you the best with moving forward.
By having a goal and knowing where you are now, you can measure your success as you move forward and also know what direction or where to focus to really get there. Whether it's getting a new reel, or focusing on core areas you need to work on and better yourself, whatever these are - setting these goals now not only will make it clear to you and guide you throughout the course, but you, and all of us can look back afterwards at how much we've grown throughout this time and where we are at a year from now.
Think forward a year, do you want to be where you are right now, or where do you WANT to be?
Set a clear measurable and actionable goal, and let's get started.
If you are struggling to really come to terms with exactly where you want and need guidance. Talk to me, that's what I'm here for.
Will this course work for me if I'm not yet in the industry/still a student
I love that we do have a diverse group of people in the FXTDT Mentorship as well as in the Live Action Series - Some artists have worked for Blur, Atomic Fiction, DIGIC, Weta, I could go on and on. So we have a good seasoned team of artists and technical directors in the course, but there are also others who are just starting out. and the most common thing I LOVE hearing, is "I look back at where I was 3 months ago and how much I've grown even in that small amount of time" and "at the beginning it was exciting, and what makes me excited now is I really feel like 'i get it' I can see where you're heading as you talk through the lessons and it really clicks". This is why I feel by making such an immersive course, that is very ambitious and very advanced, but explained thoroughly enough, with such a supportive enthusiastic group as those already signed up for LAS, it's going to be straight forward for you to follow, even if you aren't yet in the industry, this is the course that will get you IN to the industry.
But in addition, this is why I offer a 15-day guarantee. Try the entire course, and if you don't love it, send an email, show me you've done the exercises, and get 100% refund. No catch, no tricks.
I'm looking for a new job will this help me?
Yes, by even half of the way through the FXTD Mentorship you will have an entire sequence of FX shots shot professionally shot on industry film equipment straight from any Hollywood film. Your shots will reflect completing a real sequence of visual effects shots using all of the latest techniques and approaches, demonstrating not only you can work on a visual effects shot, but you can take multiple shots through to final at the highest quality, as well as lighting and comping your shots and demonstrating many other skills.
You won't be just showing you can do FX, you'll literally be demonstrating every single step of what an entire VFX team does every single day in production.