I’m Anthony and I live near Seattle. My background is graphics programming and software (web dev) but I’m looking to transition to VFX and a technical artist role. Although I’ve been studying graphics for years I’m only now starting to put it to practice and try to make everything pretty, sparkly, and spectacular.
My portfolio is at http://bitzawolf.com/vfx and if you’re on twitter, hit me up so I can follow you! (at)Bitzawolf
It looks like I’m in good company here and hopefully I can give back/help others too!
p.s. shoutout to @smgrissom for recommending this site at PAX West.
Hey all, great community you have here, thanks for the intro Pete!
I’m Mike Smith in real-life, currently Art Director at Pixel Toys in Leamington Spa, UK. Before that Head of Art for Exient, based in Malta, and before that a long 13 year tour of duty at Codemasters working as Lead Art on OFP (so much fun!) and lots and lots of racing games.
My ‘proper’ art skills are lighting and UI, but I’ve dabbled in real and offline VFX work.
Hi all
my name is Davide, not a VFX professional. I’ve a science and business background, my work is mostly on strategy and business design.
Collaborating with NPO focused on ballet, I started in 2013 experimenting with CryEngine to be used for visual communication in corporate settings, but also with a goal in creating digital stage set.
I did experiment with many realtime and non realtime tools such as HitFilm Pro, Ventuz, TouchDesigner, Millumin, SMODE, PopcornFX, etc, achieving just a understanding of what is possible to achieve, but without being able to achieve any professional result. My passion is on particle systems and VFX.
Being here since experimenting with tools such as C4D or Houdini I understood the “traditional” design and render process does limit greatly my ability to learn. I prefer the experimental way, with immediate visual feedback. My goal of creating interactive installations does also push me on this side.
So I did test also Unity and Unreal, hoping to achieve beautiful particle effects normally possible on tools such as AfterEffects or Houdini but in realtime, with fast test and change to optimize the results.
Happy to have found this experts location!
My name is Raed AlAmoudi, 24, I am from both Saudi Arabia and South Korea .
I am new to the industry for I have graduated College 9 months ago, and I have been working at Hi-Rez Studios as a Jr. VFX artist for 7 months now . I love doing FX and Shader work, currently im working towards learning HLSL and C# (I’m not gonna lie i will be a NOOB at it first of all BUT I WILL KEEP TRYING! )
I will soon be working on more personal realtime vfx projects and a new reels, But I would like to thank many of you guys for the inspiration you guys gave me and keep on working towards ur dream and working a happy job life
Hope you all the best and be awesome
Take care everyone!
My name is Peter Kokosis and I’m a junior at School of Visual Arts, currently studying VFX. Really passionate about game development and all the effects/simulations. Currently using Houdini and Unreal Engine to make my effects. Hope I can learn a whole lot from this community!
By quickly skimming the topics, it looks like it’s gonna be a fun time learning!
My name is Sjors de Laat. I’m currently in my final year of study at the NHTV in Breda. Over the years I’ve tried to find out what I really wanted to do. For the longest time it was environment art. But I found out that my passion lies with VFX and that is why I’m going to focus on that from now on :). I’m really excited to be part of this community. Hopefully going to meet a lot of new people here, and learn a ton :D. See you all around here!
My name is Nate Swinney, I’m currently a student at BYU doing VFX for games. I worked as art lead on a student project called Nokbak. We got to go to E3 as a college competition finalist, and released our game on steam. I recently discovered my love for hand drawn and stylized FX like what you might find at Riot or Blizzard. Just posted for the first time yesterday but I’ve had some great feedback and I’m loving the community. I’ve got a lot to learn and I’m excited to learn form all of you!
I’m Jake Newey. I’m a third year student at Staffordshire University studying ‘VFX & Concept Design’.
@Aran.Anderson kindly pointed me in this direction some months back and I’ve found it nothing less than a VFX haven. It’s about time I introduced myself!
I was big into filming in college but as I got more into editing and compositing in AE, I uncovered a real passion for VFX. I’ve always been creative and a computer techie, VFX has been such a good outlet for indulging both of those things. I aspire to be a VFX Artist in video games.
I’ve been having a lot of fun in the particle and material editors in Unreal. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been learning Houdini too, which has been a tonne of fun. While I’m definitely pushing my workload, I picked up an educational license for FumeFX in the last few days which has also been a lot of fun. I feel like a spoilt child at Christmas - too many toys and not enough time.
I’m loving this community, and I thoroughly look forward to engaging with it more in the future
My name is Jordan Kulm. I entered the offline vfx industry about two years ago with a BFA in vfx and a passion for simulation. I freelanced commercial work for a few months and found it to be a bit chaotic, so I was happy to land a TD position at Refuge VFX where I worked on simulation, lighting, and rendering for the last two seasons of Grimm.
I landed a gig at Liquid Development and jumped into the real time vfx industry a few months ago. I’m loving the opportunity to delve into Houdini and solve all sorts of spatial and resource problems that were never problems in film. Lurking these forums has helped me out on a few projects so I felt I should join the family and pay it forward as my experience grows.
French VFX Artist working on Unruly Heroes from MagicDesignStudios, at Montpellier in France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSYQV6omMQk / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcnlDdSnUbs
Ancient Student at “Objectif 3D” - A private school based on the same city.
Passionate about 3D modeling and Visual effects, trying to do my best everyday and wanna learn from each vfx artists.
Main VFX artist on the game i’m working on. Show at E3 / Chinajoy / Gamescom and ParisGamesWeek in few days.
I’m so happy to work in this industry now and learn from the best technicals artists.
Happy to be here, and i can’t wait to show my work in the future !
I’m Heather. I just graduated from college a couple weeks ago and decided I need to be a VFX artist after being on several production teams and making dissolves, force fields, and sparkles 'n stuff for them. There’s just something…magical about making explosions and twinkly things.
I’m using UE4’s particle stuff, learning Substance Designer so I can make more than triangles and hexagons and crappy grass, and should probably learn Unity and Houdini because everyone says I need to.
Here’s a shout-out to Sarah from FXVille for linking this clueless n00b to what looks like a good resource to make me less clueless!
Update: I’m learning Amazon’s Lumberyard engine now because reasons. Any tips and tricks not already covered in their tutorials would be greatly appreciated!
Hey there everyone! I’m MaKayla, and I am a current Junior Game Art Major at Ringling College of Art and Design.
I didn’t really lock in to wanting to do VFX until late Fall of my Sophomore year. My instructor Jamie DeRuyter, along with some inspiration from my peers are ultimately what helped spur on my passion for effects and wanting to learn more. I enjoy characters, and concept stages, but I feel like VFX is something I can really shine and be unique with. It’s so incredible, I love it, and I crave to learn more as often as I can.
Hey folks! Really excited to be here and seeing what people are doing!
My name is Johan Karlsson and I’m currently working as a developer / tutor at Tension / PlaygroundSquad in sweden. A vocational education for games development. Previously I was working at Star Vault, Starbreeze and Machinegames.
My portfolio is GREATLY outdated and it doesn’t contain any of the VFX work I’ve done so I’m trying to fix that and will most likely post updates here once I start working on it.
Hi RTVFX!
My name is Andrew Lyons, I am a VFX Artist and Tech Artist for a mobile games studio called N3twork. Previously I worked on a number of projects for Kiz Studios in Charleston, SC where I live.
I focused on Lighting while studying Visual Effects at Savannah College of Art & Design, but I have been in game dev since I graduated, and VFX for the past 5+ years.
I’m really loving this site and I hope to be a part of it.
Coming from a strong 3D background, I have been looking to expand into the VFX world and development. REAL-TIME VFX was recommended to me from my previous Art Lead. He told me this would be a great place to gain knowledge and to share.
Thanks for letting me be a part of the VFX community!
My name is Chase and i am a student self-teaching myself FX. I have been learning using Houdini and have been attending gamejams recently. I would like to learn more about realtime FX using either Houdini or Maya.
I am Jhong-Yi Zeng(Ryan Zeng) a senior VFX artist in Taiwan.
I`ve been in the game industry over 10 years.
In the past few year working for VR game within Unity.
The effect in VR is a new challenge and great fun for me.
In addition to VFX, I am also doing trailer with after effect and premiere. High interested in movie, game and animation.
It always bring me a lot of idea for visual effect.
I am proud of be part of the great forum and appreciate for every talent`s work and share.
My name is Juliusz Bieńkowski and I’m just beginning my adventure in VFX. I have been working as a modeler and asset manager for almost 4 years now in a few places, most recently 3D4Medical, which is far away from what you guys do here, but for some time it was my goal to make real time VFX and so I am finally ready to re specialize myself and learn to become a VFX Artist. And that’s why I’ve finally decided to join this community! I have been following a lot of artists, most notably Jason Keyser (@Keyserito) who is my mentor but doesn’t know about it yet and Sirhaian (@Sirhaian) to name just a few. Without you guys it would be impossible to get into this world on my own!
Here are some of the exercises I’ve done and recorded from various artists and tutorials to get a feel of a lot of different styles and software. I would like to make mostly stylised VFX like in Blizzard games or League of Legends, but I want to be able to do other styles as well.
You can also find here some fanart VFX for Gwent by CDProject RED which I prepared to show during Promised Land Art Festival in Łódź and they really like them
I will also be participating in the Riot Creative Contest 2017 in VFX category (like probably most of people here) and as I have means to focus on my VFX progress entirely for next few weeks I want to make the most out of it, so I’m planning to make 3 entries in those three months. We’ll see how it goes!
Thanks for reading this and it’s really good to finally join you guys!
So… I’ve actually already posted once before in this thread.
It’s a quick silly introduction off from GDC '17. I was not ready at the time to give a full detail of why I’m here, and my story in getting here. That said, there is far too much detail to give a true full version. You’ll probably have to buy “that book I’m working on” for that.
So here is the abridged version. Yes really.
Halo. To think, I was never going to play this game. Then Halo PC, and while in a multiplayer match, I found out about “Mods”. Through happenstance at the same time, I got my hands on Photoshop, and the next thing I knew I was able to mod Halo PC. After making all sorts of mods, and finding my self apathetic at making the same stuff again and again, I decided I wanted to mod something that had yet to be modded. No one had modded effects, so I figured I would give it a shot. After extensive trail and error, I made a mod that altered and improved the effects of Halo 1 by altering both the texture cards and values. When it was all said and done I was amazed. Flabbergasted on how making simple tweaks in a speed of a particle or adding a little spin can change how things feel. It truly did feel like a whole new game, and nothing else I ever did, sans an unreleased A.I Mod, came close to the sheer game play impact. Yet, I had done nothing to the game play, just how it looked. “This is the COOLEST thing ever ever ever”, I exclaimed. Yet, getting a job in this, or really any other job in games was at the time a forbidden dream. Absolutely a forbidden dream. I’m not smart enough, nor artistically skilled enough. That’s a fancy way of saying I can’t math nor art, so a real one two punch.
That said, this Photoshop thing was… just the 2nd coolest thing ever. I wanted to get better at Photoshop. So I read a book on Photoshop, cover to cover. I find I enjoy using this program greatly. I understand it well enough, and enjoy using it so much, that I feel I can get a job that uses it and excel at said job. So I go and get my AA in Graphic Arts. In the process of doing this, and choices made, I learn the entire Adobe Suite sans Flash. In retrospect, this is a bummer considering where I’m posting this, but at the time HTML5 was THE brand new thing and it didn’t make sense to learn something that was to be dying out. I didn’t know. The sheer possibility of getting a VFX job wasn’t even on my radar. In my mind the immediate goal was to be a Graphic Designer, or at least a Designer of some sort.
I then go for my BFA in Graphic Arts, and after two or so years in this action, provenance made a play. Just like some sort of “Liquid Luck” I asked the right questions, to the right people, at the right time, right when it would matter the most. Next thing I know, suddenly, * poof *… I’m in that trade school I found out about by happenstance in Secondary/High-school. The one that teaches VFX for Movies. How in the world did I get here? I have now crossed the door labeled impossible, and I was looking forward to learning programs like Nuke & Realflow, though sadly I never did. I did learn Maya from a guy who LITERATELY, I mean LITERATELY, wrote the book on Maya, so that was rather boss. If I can become the living encyclopedia in VFX, as this man was in Maya, I’ve probably “made it”.
Just as I was changing my goals to work for either Blur or Blizzard for CGI VFX, another opportunity presented it’s self. A few months in at this school, the Dean, who I had told my Halo story to, set me aside and mentioned to me that they were testing out a Videogame Program. They needed guinea pigs to test out the program the school made. It would reset me into the Videogame Program, and the fee would be waved. Basically put, it was more education, for “free”. Seeing this as getting me ever closer to that impossible dream, I said yes. After all, if I had joined the school at any other time, I would have missed this. I was going to learn from industry veterans ( mostly from Terminal Reality ), and do this Hands on! I couldn’t pass that up.
Unfortunately, as would be realized in the guinea pig phase, Realtime VFX has abit more nuance then Movie VFX. It would have added far more time then the school was willing to put into the course. In the guinea pig phase it was decided to focus on the Environment/Object portion of the video game professions and create Generalists for the Videogame Program. So I learned everything I ever wanted to know, or could learn about making video games… except effects. * SIGH * . A real bummer, but it’s not all bad through.
In the process of my time there, I also learned 3dsMax, which is my current go to modeling wise, as well as Modo, Unreal 4, Unity 4, Perforce, Scrum, Agile … all sorts of programs, skills, and workflows. What it should be like (and shouldn’t be like) in a well functioning game studio. As unfortunate as it was that I learned everything but the one reason I went to the school in the first place, the numerous experiences I gained, the things that I learned that you can’t learn from a video or a book are priceless. It may be a little strong for me to say this, but honestly if I wanted a job in anywhere else in the creative industries, I would have it right now. I already have those skills and know how. Yet, after coming so close but so far…
I want it, dam it! I want to be a Realtime VFX artist. So that is my task here. To absorb so much knowledge, ask many more questions, ask many more questions after that, try to not be obnoxious with my brains unyielding hunger, make a kick-ass demo reel, and get-that-job-in Realtime VFX !
Ok! And it’s as simple as that. That’s the abridged version!
Yet, I also want to throw out one more thing. I had found this place September '16, but there was no reason to sign up, as I had no computer. I mean I did, but… take my word on it, I didn’t. If it was anything else holding me back, I would have problem solved up a solution. Yet for this, well… no computer tends to be a rather absolute stopper. A real showstopper, if you will. As such, coming to this site, or any thing else VFX based, was just a painful painful reminder of what I wanted to do, but couldn’t. Having said that, I would like to deeply thank Christina Wun of Riot Games for her suggestion of looking into older styles of drawn FX. I burned many a post-it note due to your suggestion, and while I didn’t make anything I feel worth showing right now, it was at the very least a valuable learning experience. Thank youagain.
.
. I love doing FX and Shader work, currently im working towards learning HLSL and C# (I’m not gonna lie i will be a NOOB at it first of all BUT I WILL KEEP TRYING! 
. A real bummer, but it’s not all bad through.
I want to be a Realtime VFX artist. So that is my task here. To absorb so much knowledge, ask many more questions, ask many more questions after that, try to not be obnoxious with my brains unyielding hunger, make a kick-ass demo reel, and get-that-job-in Realtime VFX !
