CG Garage

Chad Wanstreet and Chris Nichols have experienced similar career trajectories — but this is the first time they've sat down together. Like Chris, Chad transitioned from architecture to VFX, and his experience spans working at notable firms including Blur Studio and FuseFX. Along the way, Chad has contributed to projects that pushed the boundaries of visual effects, such as The Sympathizer , SWAT ,...

Nikola Todorovic always wanted to make films, but encountered a familiar problem: the sci-fi screenplays he wrote would require $200 million budgets. Aiming to reduce this cost, Nikola co-founded Wonder Dynamics with Ready Player One actor Tye Sheridan to develop Wonder Studio, a platform that simplifies the time-consuming tasks involved in adding CG characters to live-action plates. Nikola breaks...

Andy Fowler's career has combined his creative eye with his incredible production skills. Beginning in London's burgeoning VFX scene with titles such as Lost in Space , 300 , and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian , Andy picked up an Emmy for his work on The Life and Death of Peter Sellers . Then he moved to LA to work on Tron: Legacy , Noah , and The Revenant , before moving to Netflix and...

Over a 40-year career, Joel Hynek has helped bring some incredible VFX to life, beginning with optical effects for Xanadu , then making the Predator a terrifying opponent for Arnie, and moving onto a range of movies, including xXx , Judge Dredd , Stealth , plus blockbusters from India and China. He picked up a sci-tech Oscar for the design and development of an optical printer, and a VFX Oscar for...

Kathryn Brillhart has always been ahead of her time. As a teen, she assisted her father in shooting documentaries; then she combined her sharp eye as a cinematographer with her passion for VFX to become a virtual production and volume capture expert. Projects she's worked on include Las Vegas' ginormous MSG Sphere, pioneering virtual production short "Ripple Effect," and the movie Black Adam . Mos...

Liz Hitt has worked across VFX departments on some very cool movies — and she's not stopping there. Beginning at the legendary Dream Quest Images on Deep Rising and Mighty Joe Young , Liz built a name for herself as a talented production coordinator and producer via movies including Hollow Man , Spider-Man , Stealth (with Chris), The Golden Compass , Wonder Woman , and Spider-Man: Homecoming . In...

While most five-year-olds were playing with Legos and Barbies, Junaid Baig was taking his first steps with 3D Max. From this early start, Junaid developed an incredibly in-depth understanding of 3D, lighting, and rendering from working on VFX for movies, including Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald , Avengers: Endgame , and Venom . Today, Junaid is head of applied technology at DNEG, wher...

Dan Ring is an expert in empowering VFX artists with cutting-edge research. He began his 20-year career by creating tech to analyze surgery videos (so that no one else would have to), then moved to Foundry to develop CopyCat, the Nuke machine-learning tool that applies corrections to sequences based on a small number of frames. Now, Dan has joined Chaos to help implement machine learning in its vi...

Phil Galler is a true virtual production guru. From the nuts and bolts of LED screens to the 3D software that provides the imagery to the business decisions and financial trends that help fund this new wave of VFX filmmaking, Phil understands it all. In this podcast, Phil talks about his history in virtual production, beginning with the innovative projections used to make Oblivion 's sets come to...

Chris MacLean's incredible career in VFX has transported him from documentaries on Cretaceous dinosaurs to the far-flung future for Foundation , Apple TV+'s bold adaptation of Isaac Asimov's genre-defining sci-fi novels. Along the way, Chris has created and supervised VFX for movies and TV series, including Crimson Peak , Godless , American Gods , Resident Evil , and many more. Having worked his w...

Hugo Guerra is the dictionary definition of multitasking. Having taken his eye for compositing into directing short films and commercials, and supervising VFX, Hugo fills his spare time with producing content for his successful YouTube channel and recording the VFX Notes podcast with Ian Failes. If that's not enough, he's also produced a cookbook with his wife. Hugo talks about his early career in...

As Chris is tied up with a really cool Chaos project, we're revisiting some of the older episodes of the CG Garage podcast. And we're starting big with true luminaries of Hollywood revealing how they got their projects off the ground. First up is Doug Trumbull, the 2001: A Space Odyssey VFX genius who went on to direct Silent Running and continually innovated Hollywood motion picture technology. R...

With V-Ray 6 for Maya and Houdini, update 2, Chaos adds an important feature to its powerful renderer: MaterialX support. With this addition, artists and studios can seamlessly use materials across different DCCs and get identical results, removing many of the pain points of increasingly complicated modern 3D pipelines. In this podcast, V-Ray for Maya Product Manager Alex Yolov and V-Ray for Houdi...

Over his 30-year career, Julian Levi has produced VFX for Hollywood movies, beginning with Braveheart , moving into O Brother, Where Art Thou? , The Day After Tomorrow (with Chris), Speed Racer , X-Men: First Class , Prometheus , and many more. Most recently, he helped director Gareth Edwards bring the world of The Creator to life, earning four VES awards and a VFX Oscar nomination in the process....

Archviz artists love Chaos Corona. This renderer has become a go-to for visualizing everything from compact kitchens to sky-scraping towers, giving users stunning results straight out of the box. But what's on the horizon for this popular renderer? In this podcast, Product Manager Tom Grimes discusses what makes Chaos Corona a popular choice for the architecture industry and how its philosophy dif...

Tram Le-Jones has an eye for detail, a people-centric personality, and a passion for computer science — making her perfect for VFX production roles. After getting a job on The Matrix Revolutions via craigslist (no, really), she became a sought-after coordinator and then moved into producing VFX for movies including Spider-Man 3 , Tower Heist , and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close , as well as com...

VFX visualization might just be the closest you can get to being a film director without stepping behind the camera. This technology has become a key part of the VFX process, with previz storyboarding growing into pitchviz (to get movies greenlit), techviz (to figure out logistics), and postviz (to create temporary VFX). It's an area Casey Pyke has become an expert in via his role at Halon Enterta...

Richard Crudo began his career in New York City, learning from some of the best in the business, including László Kovács and Gordon Willis, and helping shoot movies such as Ghostbusters 2 , Raising Arizona , and Broadway Danny Rose . He then served as cinematographer on movies including American Pie , Out Cold , and Brooklyn Rules , as well as television series such as FX Network's Justified , The...

Could Paolo Berto Durante really be Chris, but from another dimension? These outspoken CG enthusiasts have a lot in common: an extensive knowledge of 3D software and render engines stretching back decades, a history in VFX and teaching CG, and strong opinions on the current state of the industry. Paolo talks about his roles in the research and development of 3D software, starting from Alias|wavefr...

Robert Moggach has experienced the full arc of the VFX artist career, from being treated like a rockstar in the early days of CG to working on personal, small-scale indie projects today. Along the way, he's racked up credits on movies including Harry Potter , I, Robot , and Stealth , created ads for the world's biggest brands, bagged a VES award for the Halo ODST trailer , and helped make music vi...

In this podcast, Vikkal breaks down his career so far, from his beginnings in architecture and on MTV series Room Raiders , to founding Ataboy Studios and making use of the latest VFX and motion graphics technology to create eye-catching ads in a variety of formats. Vikkal and Chris also discuss their common ground in architecture and talk about how Apple could potentially revive VR and the metave...

Ben Hansford has his finger on the pulse of filmmaking — the prognosis is excellent. Beginning his career in VFX, Ben moved into directing short films and commercials for the likes of Old Spice, Starfield0 , Call of Duty , Nike, and many more. He also teaches AI at the University of Southern California (USC), giving him unfettered access to the minds of a new generation of filmmakers. Ben shares h...

Here's the perfect start to 2024: Kat Dawes and NOWism's particular blend of positivity for creative people. From busking in her native Brisbane to traveling through Africa, Kat has combined her love of performance art and spirituality to create NOWism, a playful philosophy that embraces the present moment and focuses on becoming the hero of your own story. In this podcast, Kat tells Chris how art...

2024 gets off to an explosive start with this week's guest: CG supervisor Jonas Ussing, who is on a quest to give visibility to the VFX artists and studios who create invisible effects. He's doing this via his YouTube channel, The Movie Rabbit Hole , where his impeccably researched and presented arguments have racked up over a million views. Jonas and Chris talk about how studios are making it see...

Faruk Heplevent has spent his career perfecting the art of car photography. His experience in traditional photography transferred smoothly into CGI, and he set up his company, The Scope, to create breathtaking renders for the world's biggest car companies. Now, he's released Scope City, a groundbreaking tool that empowers car manufacturers and CG artists to create and customize the perfect urban b...