You really give me the ispiration to continue to make VFX lol! I’m following a course of Nicolas Trevisan right now, and have some “problem” understanding the shader part, but reading about your journey give me nice vibes and strenght to continue . I hope you find a good job!!!
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Thirty-seventh Week
Another week, another post. I’ve decided to take this week a bit slower and I mainly focused on polishing my slash VFX. I’ve decided to try to display this VFX in a three combo since the last one was only one slash and didn’t turn well. I add to the material a switch for the slash so I can easily change the texture direction with niagara. I pushed as far as I could for this blocking and switched tasks.
Last week I watched a podcast that gave some advice on how to job hunt in a different way. So on monday I started taking notes and this week I programmed a weekly linkedIn post. I make sure that every video has a proper thumbnail since if you don’t set it out LinkedIn does it automatically and doesn’t show the piece properly. Also I’ve been listing some studios in order to apply to them and I was writing some DMs for people that connected me on this platform so I’ll reach out to them soon once I get more polished.
Got two collaboration offers this week. I declined them. If I see that I need to show in my portfolio that I already worked on some games I’ll join them. For now I gently declined them and told them I’ll get back to them if I change my mind.
So far happy with the results and my progress. I’ve been thinking that while I totally agree that likes won’t get me nowhere (well at least they aren’t important) I do enjoy seeing some comments on my pieces and some likes. Seeing that my art station posts get views kind of regularly and I get some views on my linked in (not enough). It kind of keeps me going. It is rough but getting some attention it’s nice…
I’ll be working next week on my geyser and decide whether I make some changes on the scene or not and use the geyser FX for another project. In any case. Thanks for reading.
Have a nice weekend! ^^
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Thirty-eighth Week
So far this week I contacted some people through linked in. Applied for some job and sended my first email using this method. I’m getting used to it. My main issue with this was to stop checking Linked in and my email in hopes of some reply. Now I’ll try to once I finish doing this task I close the explorer and that’s it for today. I decided to only check linked in and my email before my break and that’s it.
I also changed my CV. I’ve decided to have a copy on a google docs form because it feels easiest to make changes rather than using InDesign.
In regards to my VFX journey, I’ve made some changes to the geyser and I’m heavily considering to publish it. I might try to make the geyser animation smoother but if I can’t achieve that smoothness I’ll publish it as it is. I don’t want to spend more time on it and I want to move on to other projects.
About the slash I believe I’ll be able to finish it next week. So far the results are quite nice.
And I finally managed today to put myself into making a list of goals and I tried to make some realistic to-do list. I’m using Obsidian for this. I have some other projects that I wanted to make and I always love to put things in one place. I’ll see how it goes. I move from one software to another if I see it doesn’t work for me. So far I prefer using time and task trackers in local.
I feel like I’m not that far for getting a job. I believe if I get the chance I’ll be able to prove that I’m good. For now I’ll just keep stretching my skills and learn new things.
Well that’s it for this week. Wish me luck.
Have a nice weekend ^^
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Thirty-ninth Week
I set the goal to republish the slash. It’s almost done I need to fix and re-record something but I’ll just finish it up next week.
Same for the geyser. I’ll check it out again but I’ll try to publish it next week.
I don’t know why but it seems that the POM didn’t work as expected. Still does
the job but not as any tutorial I’ve seen. I just get the image offset and that’s it
there’s no layers in between until reaching the bottom 
I believe the smoke turned out very well it was a good choice to model a separate mesh so the shame looks way more like actual smoke. The cutting silhouette of the previous mesh wasn’t working.
In addition, adding the normal map to displace the actual texture makes it look more like fire. I believe adding this sphere when it hits the ground was a good idea. It took me way more than expected to make it work. I’ve tried to use a cylinder but the sphere did work way better.
About the job hunt I have really good news. I have a job interview in two weeks and I’m planning to prepare it so I’ve got all the info necessary for it. I’ll do my best bc if I get this opportunity that means that the job hunt it’s OVER and way earlier than expected.
That means the system that I was using actually works.
I still don’t believe that I have this opportunity. Let’s see how it goes…
Have a nice weekend!
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Fortieth Week
I’ve been practicing my interview. I’m quite nervous but I believe it’ll turn out well.
About the VFX stuff I finally finished publishing my slash. It looks way better now. And I’ve decided to publish the lava geyser. I managed to do something unexpected. My piece was recommended in first place on the tag of VFX (the day of publishing).
And not that far away from the front page hehe. It’s still hanging on the front page but not that close to the top.
In regards to VFX I’ve been checking on how to make VFX for ui in unity. My plan for the following piece is to animate the UI of the mobile game I did.
Today I just saw that I’ve got the badge for being here since last year. So far, I’m happy with my current level.
I hope I get this job because it’s a great opportunity for me. In any case at least I’ll get to practice for future interviews.
Have a nice weekend ^^
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Forty-first Week
At the beginning of the week I had an interview. It was very fast but that’s fine.
Art test, art test, art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test , art test and art test.
I managed to finish 3 out of 4 VFX that I have to deliver. I’m considering making some extra and delivering it earlier. Idk.
And that was pretty much my week. Wish me luck.
Have a nice weekend!
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Forty-second Week
Artest finished earlier than expected. I sended it on Monday and on Tuesday I got the interview with the principal VFX artist and the art director. I didn’t expect it to be full in english. Luckyly for me I spoke fluently and with no problems. [I’m a Spanish speaker so…]
In any case I believe it went very well and they told me that they’ll come back to me with a definitive answer next week. I hope I get hired for real!
Both told me that the art test was very good and that I’ve got a nice sense of animation. They both loved my portfolio and the pieces I’ve sended. I easily manage to match the constraints. I feel like they liked me a lot and I felt like that would be very nice to work with them… I hope they will say yes to me.
The principal asked me if I knew Houdini. I told the truth but I told them that I can learn anything. In fact, I started the next day to learn Houdini. It kind of resembles maya and mostly you work through nodes… I can see the potential of this tool tbh. I’m gonna take it slow bc I believe to take advantage of this program would take time so I’m gonna go step by step. [I know that embergen is better for VFX but one of them insisted that it was very important]
Apart from that I’m taking these days a bit slower and waiting for the response. If it’s a no I’ll keep trying and applying if it’s a yes the next post would be the last one.
Have a nice weekend! ^^
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Forty-third Week
(Republishing this for some other reasons)
We’ll so far I haven’t got any response from the company. I’ll send a mail next monday in hopes of getting a response. I was very hopeful about getting this position but during the week I processed the idea that I’m very likely not getting this position. For now I’ll just keep sending messages and applying to different places.
In regards to the VFX side, I’m learning houdini on my own. I KNOW that embergen is the one very well suited for VFX but in the interview they asked me if I knew how to use Houdini and it seemed like it was very important.
For now I’ve figured out that houdini is kind of like maya whereas in maya you don’t delete by type history bc you don’t need those nodes in houdini they key part is to build those nodes. Since I already got the experience on working with nodes I knew that it would be very important to understand how they work. I was looking for some tutorials that explained each of them or at least some basic stuff so I could deduce from ones the other nodes. I came across this thought because I was following some tutorials on SifeFX that were about making VFX but they were totally useless at this stage of learning. It’s like “okay I’m putting nodes one after another but I have no Idea of the nuances of how they actually work”. That’s how I decided for looking for other tutorials, don’t get me wrong some of them as an introduction were very helpful like this one:
GAMES QUICKSTART by Simon Verstraete.
Also, I looked for some references of what you can do in houdini. Again this is the same thing as I mentioned in a previous post. I need to watch what I can also do with this tool in order to create my own VFX. Because before this search I only knew that I can simulate fire, smoke, explosions and may be some water. As you can see this is very limited and it would be a shame that I only learn to produce this only.
So in my search I found this tutorial Intro To Houdini for VFX - Beginner Course by Voxyde VFX. From my pov this is a very well put tutorial. It’s very well organized and well explained. In this one he explains how the houdini works and focuses on the VFX part and explains the main parts that you would be using daily as well as explaining key shortcuts along the video. I highly recommend taking notes.
For my learning process during this week it wasn’t linear I went to the beginner stuff → got bored immediately → went for something more intermediate → realised it wasn’t useful → went back to learn more beginner stuff → realised those beginner tutorials weren’t that useful → watched some tool tutorials so I could grasp what you could do with Houdini → did some smoke simulation using a intermediate tutorial that didn’t explain about nodes → realised that i needed somebody to explain me houdini at a more basic level (how nodes work, how u can use attributes, what does solver do…) to understand the main workflow and that’s how I ended up with the youtube course.
So far, I’m happy with my current learning curve. I’ll stick with this course and see where it takes me.
Have a nice weekend!
Forty-fourth Week
I didn’t got the position. T_T
They rejected me yesterday by mail. I’m happy that they replied to me at least but I’m a bit sad that they didn’t choose me. I’m happy that I went that far in the selection process. I’ll get more changes in the future like this one.
Anyway, I’ll process it this weekend and I’ll continue my regular schedule that combines looking for a job while I make VFX.
This week I was focused mainly on learning the basics of houdini. I’m following the same resources that I’ve added in last week’s post. So far everything is very well explained and the more I watch the more I feel that I understand how Houdini works. Honestly, I can’t wait to start making some cool simulations with it and use them in my VFX. For now I’ll try to focus on making realistic VFX with it and then I want to make some stylized VFX with it. I also wanted to do some experiments. Maybe I’ll add them in a separate post on my portfolio but I don’t know something that shows that I can make whatever you need me to do.
In any case I’m quite happy that I managed to learn houdini by myself and I’ll just keep putting myself out there and promote my work so I get job offers.
Have a nice weekend and stay hydrated! (at least for the ones in the north hemisphere)
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Forty-fifth Week
Basically this week I’ve been contacting people and making meaningful connections on linked in. I’ve applied to some job positions and talked with some seniors.
I’ve stumbled across this post which has a link to a doc with people open to mentors. I contacted 2 in order to check if they were available. Hope this helps me to get my portfolio to the next level. Both told me some pieces are good but still need to flesh it out a bit.
Also I’m participating in the latest MadVFX challenge. I’m trying to use Houdini for this one. I spent quite a lot of time waiting it for rendering. I have a slight idea of houdini now but still lack of some knowledge and it makes me go slower. But I’ll keep trying. I’ve got a basic blocking with some simulation that needs some polish but I believe I’ll manage to do something more or less decent.
In any case. I believe I’ll keep working on it this weekend since it won’t be that hot and I believe I need to try to work those days.
Have a nice weekend!
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