Today I'm answering some great questions that often shows up in my comments, DMs, emails,  about CG learning and the path to becoming a CG Environment artist in the movie industry. 

If you have some more question, fell free to ask !

 Also DNEG Vancouver, where I work as CG Environment supervisor,  is looking for generalist artist, don't hesitate to get it in touch if you are interested in joining the gang ! (contacts bellow) 

In the video sharing the portfolio of the Environment Artist Seunghee Seo,  a perfect example of generalist so definitely follow her artstation ! https://www.artstation.com/seunghee_seo 

01:02 - I Would love to know if houdini students easily find job after school ? What are the salary expectation for junior ??

 03:15 - As a houdini user, can this  software alone be my main tool if Id want to be an environment artist ? Or would you recommend to pickup Maya or another 3D package first and use Houdini as a secondary tool ? 

05:10 - Could you tell me how a junior generalist should plan their career? It is hard just to get a generalist job in the first two years for a junior, so most people start from Matte Painter, texture, or lighter.  Which side of skill is more important? Modeling in Zbrush,  texture, lookDev or .....? 

11:39 - Would you recommend art school in 2022?  I have been thinking in going into one and is it worth in comparison to self learning ? 

14:12 - how did you make your first showreel ? 

14:40 -  How do you deal with not being able to finish a project? I always feel really bad when I don't finish a project. I usually proceed then with another project but it still feels like failing. I don't know if you even experience that feeling but if, how do you overcome it?

I started a serious dive into procedural almost three years ago now, learning everything I could about Houdini, substance designer, and use my generalist background to make some art out of it.  

I shared some of my discoveries on YouTube, Artstation, Gumroad and I have been blessed with an incredible community of artists, eager to learn and grow new skills. 

I thank everyone of you for your support along the way, it always means the world to me.  

Here is a compilation of the procedural projects I had the pleasure to create on my free time over the past years... Except the last one in my reel,  it's SW9, not exactly free time. It was my last collaboration with Environment supervisor Jeffrey Deguzman and I'm so grateful  he gave me the opportunity to put into practice my procedural knowledge on an actual ILM project. It was for sure one of the most fun show I had the chance to work on at ILM and it will always have a special place in my hurt... YES, even though the movie sucks. Hahaha 

Some of those work are still future tutorial material, so stay tune if you don't wanna miss some in-depth breakdowns. ;)

Just published a new tutorial, a very short and easy one this time. :) 

Talking here the importance of aerial perspective in environment creation and how to implement something similar in blender using some procedural tricks.

Hope this help !

Hi everyone !

Past month I tried to participate in a Houdini daily challenge, Mardini. Finally having some time to go through my scenes and reveal some of my modeling secrets to create procedural environments in no time.

Sharing the process of my contribution for today's #sidefx Mardini challenge : NATURE | STONE.
The video isn't narrated, running out of time unfortunately.

Maybe you could still find some interesting procedural tricks in there.. Overall it's the same spiel than all my other tutorials, just taking advantage of Voronoi fracture here to establish the foundation of my procedural setup.

Project files available for free, link in  youtube description.

I will try to keep participating if I have time. Especially this week, the theme is Nature and I love it ! More information about the contest here :

https://www.sidefx.com/community-main-menu/contests-jams/mardini-daily-challenge/

Come join the fun ;)

Kinda missed Valentine's day but never too late to share some learning love <3
Demonstrating a lot of things we saw in past tutorials like terrain creation, blending megascan material, atmospheric lighting but also a bunch of new tricks.

If you bought my AL-Tools re-using those in this tutorial and featuring some upgrade coming soon. Hope this help ! 

Hi ! 

Sharing here my workflow for Environment lighting and atmospheric effects within sidefx Houdini. 

A bit of VEX to setup the fog VDB but nothing scary ;)

 Using  "Dreamland" for demonstration, a scene I developed last year which was based on a ride of an abandoned park in Japan.  Using Redshift for rendering but can definitely use any engine to follow this principles. (Mantra, Renderman etc...)

Hope this can help  :)

Happy new year everyone !

 Since I often receive the same questions I thought would be more productive to answer once and for all through a video more in a podcast form.  Thanks to Sagar Bhatt for taking the time to write down all the predominant questions that every student or CG hobbyist wonder about getting into the industry. 

In detail you can find your answer here : 

- 0:30 / A brief introduction about you? Who are you? What do you currently do?  

- 3:52 / What made you get where you are now?  

- 3:52 / Why did you start learning a 3d software, what was the incentive to you then? 

- 6:23 / According to you what makes an ideal 3d artist and what do most artists lack in general ? 

- 7:22 / When and Why did you start learning Houdini ?  what was the most difficult thing to pick up while you were learnign Houdini yourself? - 

- 10:42 / Do you think learning something like Houdini is purely an information's game? is gathering a certain specific set of data all there is to learning? 

- 14:09 / What are your takes on a studio job? small scale studio, large one or maybe freelance ? 

- 14:56 / Is it the financial aspects of a job or career that define its glory and success? or is the achievements made in the form of work? or is it simply defined to be the content of one's own self? 

- 20:03 / What are some usual but uncommonly heard ways of getting your name out to the industry or the studios in general? 

- 22:43 / According to your experience in the VFX industry do you think there are many opportunities around the world for an innovative artist? Does it seem sensible to you to move to a different country which has a fair paying job ? 

 - 25:56 / How do you see the VFX industries growth in suppose 20-30 years down the line, how do you see the industry evolve in the coming decade? 

- 31:19 / What do you plan on doing for the majority of the year 2021? And what are your goals for the life ahead?