GDC Roundtable Mega Thread

Hey, everybody! It’s that time of year again, and we’re super excited for the upcoming VFX Roundtable at GDC. This is your chance to gather for three 1-hour sessions of sharing ideas, inspiration, and whatever else comes to mind! Here’s what’s on the agenda:

Wednesday, Mar 20: Visual Effects Roundtable
Topic: All things VFX.
Led by: Drew Skillman

Thursday, Mar 21: Visual Effects Roundtable: Artistic Lens
Topic: Focused on Art & Design
Led by: Jason Keyser

Friday, Mar 22: Visual Effects Roundtable: Technical Lens
Topic: Focused on Technology, shaders, etc…
Led by: Drew Skillman

This event is all about you, so we’re very interested to hear what you’d like to discuss on each of the days! We’ll take these topics, and bring them up as suggestions to kick things off on the appropriate day. Of course, we’ll also include a mix of topics brought up at the event.

Also, this year we wanted to introduce a new tradition: We’re calling it “Aftertable Meetups.” How it works: we’re encouraging everyone to keep their calendar open for the hour immediately following the roundtables. Then, if you hear a great comment, and feel inspired to pick that person’s brain, don’t be shy to ask them afterward to grab some coffee. We’re imagining many small break-out groups, but it’d be just fine if people want to congregate in areas that allow for larger groups too. So feel free to use this thread to brainstorm places to sit/stand around and chat for that hour.

One thing we consistently hear is how much people enjoy sharing knowledge and getting to know their fellow VFX artists. Hopefully this new tradition facilitates even more awesome conversation in our community.

See y’all in March!

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It’s sad to know that I can’t attend on this round table this year.

Hope it will be good tradition and I will get managed to be there on the next year! Good luck!

Will there be a live stream?

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Good question. My assumption is that GDC would frown on us doing a live stream. But even if we did get the approval, the quality would likely be awful, as the wifi at conventions is notoriously bad.

I know in the past we’ve been encouraged to take note on anything/everything that’s said. I invite anyone in attendance to circle back on this thread and post their take-aways for future generations.

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Awesome! I love this idea. I’d love to “grab a coffee” and just chat! Yet, I also “hate” this idea, as there simply isn’t enough time at GDC to chew on ya’lls brains properly. :zombie: I wonder if I’ll have that extra hour. Hope so!

Questions:

  • Is there any sort of outside VFX meet up/party like there was last year?
  • Is this going to over lap with the Technical Artist Roundtable (again)?
  • In reference to the post above; Would Audio recording be allowed?

Thank You! :smiley:

What if there is just a recording?

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Looks super fun, gonna plan around these events personally!

Thanks, everyone who made it out to the roundtables. It was a pleasure hearing your questions and insights. You are what makes GDC so rewarding for me.

For those who couldn’t make it, @Drew has been keeping fantastic notes from year to year, and posts them on his website. Keep an eye out for this year’s notes, which I’m sure he’ll upload once he gets a chance to recover from the week’s insanity:

https://blog.drewskillman.com/blog/visual-effects-artist-roundtable-notes

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Wow, never knew that GDC VFX Roundtable notes are exists! Awesome work @Drew , thank you very much!

Hey all - apologies for the massive delay. But better late than never - I think!? Here are the GDC 2019’s VFX Roundtable Notes

Feels like only yesterday we were all hanging out in the same room. See you all again in 6 months!

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Oh - and on the topic of streams or recordings: this hasn’t been something that GDC has allowed in the past. We will continue to bring it up, as I know the community has grown far bigger than the few of us who are able to make it to GDC (and much less fit in a single room).

Super awesome! Been waiting for a while now :sparkles:

Thank you very much @Drew!

Man @Drew, you really wern’t kiddin’ when you told me no rush on those requested topics I posted on the forum. :wink:

Oh and thanks for the notes! :grin: