Silhouette Custom Channels

Wondering if anyone knows if Silhouette can create a custom channel like in Nuke and have a matte put into that channel so it's then embedded in an exr and can then be shuffled out in Nuke?

For example, say I have a roto file that has mattes for a man, hair detail and a car. Rather than just putting those into RGB I'd prefer to put them into named channels. I know how to do this in Nuke but not in Silhouette and I don't have a Nuke license.

https://redd.it/1o3y35z
@vfxbackup

It's not about WHAT you know but WHO you know...

Hi,
I’m looking for intra or entrepreneurs who need connections to grow their creative business.

I organize monthly calls for members to connect based on their business needs.

At the moment, we’re 15 from the EU and North America, mainly VFX veterans who are launching or running their own businesses.

It’s free, but it requires active participation in the monthly calls to stay in the group (I prefer to keep the group small but highly engaged)

If you’d like to join, DM me for a quick call so I can understand your needs.

If it’s a good fit, you’ll be invited to the next monthly call (1st Saturday of the month, 10am Montréal - 4pm Munich) to share your goals and connect with others.

Please share this with any friends who are starting a business in our (extended) creative fields.

The goal is to come together to grow our creative businesses as independent but powerful, organized little entities.

The group is called the “Creative Lounge”.

Peace.

https://redd.it/1o3xqxa
@vfxbackup

Not sure where to go in my career as an artist

I've been in the industry for about 7 years now as an artist. I've kind of reached all my goals that I had for myself when I started this journey. I have a decent reputation, worked on some amazing projects and worked with some of the big companies.
And now I kind-of feel like I'm not sure where to go now. I'm not completely sure I want to go up the lead and sup ladder. Seems like just a lot of middle management. But at the same time I think there's just a ceiling you hit (pay wise) as an artist. And I feel like I'm starting to see that ceiling. Not touching it yet but I can see it.

Just wanted to hear some of the experiences from people who've been in it for awhile and what directions they decided to go.

https://redd.it/1o46kf5
@vfxbackup

Speedtree Asset Store gone?

Hey friends.

I wanted to search the speedtree asset store for some trees to add to my library, but I’m left under the impression that the store doesn’t exist anymore. Is that correct, or am I just to clumsy to navigate the internet? Is that somehow linked to the somewhat recent move to unity ?
Any other places to get high quality Tree-Packs?
Thanks for your help in advance!

https://redd.it/1o4kw2d
@vfxbackup

Looking for someone who has a Depositphotos, or Artgridio or Envato subscription

Hi ! I'm looking for someone who has a Depositphotos, or Artgridio or Envato subscription because there is ONE video i need, that the 3 of them have, for my compositing project, but i really don't want to pay a 25€ subscription.

Thanks guysss

https://redd.it/1o4mae1
@vfxbackup

Tried Everything but still can’t get a Clean Green Screen Key

I really want to finally get better at working with green screens.
Every time a green screen shows up in a client project, I kind of freeze out of fear. Even after watching countless tutorials and courses and trying different types of footage. I’ve mostly done keying in Premiere Pro or After Effects, but I wanted to give Resolve Fusion a shot since it seems more geared toward VFX work like this.

I have a client project coming up next week with what should be a pretty evenly lit green screen but I still can’t seem to get a clean key. After watching a few tutorials, I came up with a node setup, but the edges always end up either chopped off, overly soft, or filled with lots of noisy artifacts, even after running Neat Video noise reduction after my Delta Keyer.

The footage is 4K and fairly well lit, with minimal spill on the talent. Any tips on how to clean up that noisy edge? Or is it really just a matter of endlessly tweaking the pre-matte and matte settings until it looks right?

https://preview.redd.it/0egbqt5msnuf1.png?width=1363&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c4dec0bb48f725453592af7793f548436bcbe96



https://redd.it/1o4m0nu
@vfxbackup

My first experience as a junior compositor was really bad, and honestly, I feel very upset about it

So here’s what happened: yesterday I went to a well known VFX studio in Iran called Asoo VFX.
I told them I was a junior compositor and that this was literally my first time ever stepping into a studio.
They said, “Alright, stay today as a trial until the evening and work so we can see what you can do.”

They gave me a few shots from an Indian movie that had to be finished quickly because they were already on a tight deadline.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do them well.

At night, when I was about to go home, I asked the compositing supervisor when I could talk to the studio manager about work conditions (I meant salary).
He said, “It’s too soon. I need to tell him what I observed about you today so he can think about it. Come back tomorrow and then you can talk to him about salary and so on.”

Today I spent another full day there, but I couldn’t even finish a single shot properly. I made lots of mistakes in all of them and had to keep asking questions.
No one really answered my questions.
My supervisor responded in a mocking, condescending way and seemed surprised that I couldn’t work like the other compositors.

Later I pulled him aside and said, “Look, I don’t have much experience. This is literally my first time even seeing a studio from the inside. Please give me simpler tasks like rotoscoping or clean-up.”
He replied, in a tone that felt directed exactly at me: “If someone has the ability and the will, they can definitely grow. Some people just come here to find a girlfriend and have some fun.”
I really felt like he was talking about me. 😐

By the end of the day, before going home, I talked to the main manager and repeated everything I had told the supervisor.
Unfortunately, neither of them said they’d give me simpler tasks from tomorrow.
When I asked about salary, they said I’d have to work at least until the end of the week on trial before we could discuss it.

But financially, I can’t afford to work a whole week for free.
So I decided not to go back there tomorrow and instead try another studio.

These two days completely destroyed my confidence. I feel stupid and I honestly don’t know what to do.

I spoke with another studio. They agreed to take me in, even told me the monthly salary, and overall they seemed very welcoming.
But the only work they’ve seen from me are my course projects from online classes.
I’m really scared that once I start working, I won’t be able to handle it.
What you learn in courses is so different from the real world.

So what do you think I should do?
Should I just keep practicing for now and not look for a job, or should I jump straight into it?


By the way, what skills should a junior compositor actually know?
For example:
- Rotoscoping
- Cleanup
- Keying
- Match moving
- CG compositing, etc...

https://redd.it/1o509nt
@vfxbackup

Does anyone else waste hours hunting for the right asset or addon?

Every time I need something specific like a good blender addon or some niche material i end up jumping between 4–5 marketplaces

And often googling gives better results than the marketplaces themselves

Is this just me being bad at searching? How do you usually find your assets, addons?

https://redd.it/1o4qqxc
@vfxbackup

Questiona about compositing reels duration

Hi I know there are different opinions with this but I just wanted to ask if normally reels are like 1 min long more or less and many people say that quality is better than quantity which is true, does it really matter the amount of shots there are in the reel as long there are solid?

https://redd.it/1o4lsqn
@vfxbackup

Retouching for a Short Film

https://redd.it/1o4w659
@vfxbackup

Overtime pay in Australia

For Australian folks, do you get paid standard overtime - 1.5x after 40 hours?

https://redd.it/1o55jho
@vfxbackup

Feedback from the artist community for "TheBreakfastFam" VFX-heavy vlog channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFuVkmiKZWY

https://redd.it/1o5ayxq
@vfxbackup

ILM Visual Effects Artist Breaks Down Hidden VFX | Vanity Fair - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERKEsIzTFas

https://redd.it/1o5av0k
@vfxbackup

Lead Lighter Scanline Salary?

There's a post for a Scanline Lead Lighting position in BC Canada. The salary is listed between 143k-167k CAD. Can anyone vouch for this salary 🤔

Any shared salary experience/knowledge would be appreciated.

Thanks

https://redd.it/1o5cl11
@vfxbackup

Salary in Berlin

What's the average salary for a middle compositing artist in Berlin (netto)?

https://redd.it/1o5d5nm
@vfxbackup

Help. CG on live plate - 101

I am a 3D animator (14 years) and know very little about how one goes about putting a cg character in a live action footage. Last time I did something like that was in college back in 2009 and ofcourse it was horrendous.

Since I am unemployed at the moment, I was thinking about making something for fun and learn something while I am at it. Doesn't have to look great, just good enough. My plan is to do a very basic live footage + CG integration. This is what I have planned :

1. Shoot a video of a chair. Static.

2. Do a 3D scan of the said chair just in case.

3. Take multiple images with different exposure of the surrounding and make a hdri somehow. (Possible ?)

4. Do a manual camera matching of the plate in Maya (that's the only way I know. Since the camera is static, should be fine ?)

5. Manually align the CG chair with the plate in Maya. (Suggest a better way ?)

6. Use the hdri from 3 to light the scene. Shouldn't it be theoretically enough. Do I need to do additional lighting ?

7. Animate a character sitting on the chair.
Use step 2 chair for contacts and shadows.

8. Render passes of the character.

9. Adobe Premiere. Add rendered layers. Play around with values (That's the only video editing software I have access to and know. Maybe try da vinci resolve free ? )

Software i have access to :
Maya
Unreal
Premiere
iPhone scanner

Now what I want from you good people :

Any advice before/during any of the steps.
Any tutorials you can suggest.
Alternative/better/easier methods for any of those steps.

Ofcourse I will go on YouTube and watch tutorials. But any help in advance will be appreciated. My goal here is to learn something in my free jobless time. If I am successful, I will try moving cameras and live+cg character interactions next.

Thanks in advance


https://redd.it/1o5dojz
@vfxbackup

why do we apply the color transform first when grading linear exr footage

Hi guys, I’m working with exr sequences rendered from Unreal Engine, and I made sure to disable tone curves so the footage stays linear. I get that for compositing and similar work, we keep everything linear and only add the color transform to Rec.709 at the very end. What confuses me is why, in the Color tab( color grading, for example in Davinci Resolve), people usually put the color transform node first instead of last. Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep the grading nodes in linear and only convert to Rec.709 after everything is done, just like in compositing?

For reference, I’m talking about William Faucher’s tutorial on grading Unreal Engine EXRs in DaVinci Resolve. In his workflow, he adds the ACES Transform node first (converting from linear sRGB to sRGB) and then does all his grading afterward. So I’m trying to understand why this approach works better and why grading directly in linear space isn’t ideal.

https://redd.it/1o5bw8b
@vfxbackup