CG Pro Podcast

Adam Valdez is a pioneering figure in the world of computer graphics and virtual production. With a career spanning several decades, Valdez has left an indelible mark on the industry. He first gained recognition for his work on iconic films such as Robocop and Jurassic Park, showcasing his talent and technical expertise. Valdez's breakthrough came as an animation head on the critically acclaimed f...

Peter started his Visual Effects career in the mid 90s with Digital Domain. He worked on projects like Apollo 13, Titanic and Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within, until he found his was to Weta Digital in New Zealand. As a Digital Matte and Concept Artist he created visuals for LOTR- The Two Towers, King Kong, Avatar amongst many other projects. Switching tracks, Peter started working as VFX Art Di...

Colin Urquhart is a pioneer in the field of digital doubles and is co-founder and CEO of DI4D. Colin began his career at the Turing Institute in Glasgow, Scotland carrying out research into computer stereo vision, and went on to obtain a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1996 for his research into stereo photogrammetry. During this time, Colin also developed a strong interest in entrepreneursh...

As a thought leader in the world of virtual production, Felix Jorge serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of Narwhal Studios, and CCO at Arctic 7. With over 16 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Felix has led teams of experts who specialize in providing Virtual Art Department (VAD) services to some of the biggest films, TV shows, and video games, including The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenob...

Asad Manzoor  Asad spearheads content creation for Pixomondo’s Virtual Production division, squeezing feature-quality imagery out of Unreal Engine. Recently, he has delivered such titles as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Halo, Nightbooks, and the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender. From initial pitch to today, Asad co-developed Pixomondo’s Virtual Production division, with a sprinkle of game...

Cory is a two-time Emmy award winning visual effects artist whose recent work earned him a Gold Lion at Cannes. Along with creating futuristic advertisements and Visual Effects for the film Minority Report, he was a part of the concept team that developed the look and feel of the future world. In his two decade career, Cory’s work spans across films like Minority Report and Star Trek, TV shows suc...

Kristin graduated from The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School in Orlando, FL before joining Halon Entertainment where she honed her skills while working on a variety of projects on the studio’s slate including commercials, video game trailers, theme park rides, and feature films such as Logan, Ford vs. Ferrari, and The Batman. For the recently released Robert Zemeckis film Pinocchio, sh...

Christian Kaestner began his career as an art director at leading advertising agencies, crafting unique work for clients such as Sony and Adobe. After working with high-profile clients to create beautiful, memorable imagery he pivoted to VFX in the mid-2000s. He graduated from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University with a Masters of Fine Arts in 3D Animation and Visual Effects and launched his...

Rene boasts 24 years of experience with 16 startups, starting young and working for his parent’s startups in silicon valley. He’s also directed over 350 commercials, short films, and pilots; primarily as co-founder and creative director for 8 years at digital agency Automaton Creative. Most recently as founder at ARwall, Rene won the SXSW Accelerator 2018 AR/VR category pitch, has been acknowledge...

Norman Wang is Co-founder & CEO at Glassbox Technologies. He was born in Taiwan, raised in Australia and now calling California home, Norman is a published computer vision author, former Ph. D researcher in the field of cognitive psychology, university lecturer, VR industry figurehead and seasoned tech entrepreneur. Since founding Glassbox, Norman and the team at Glassbox have been involved in...

Sean Spitzer is one of Unreal Enterprise's Senior Instructor / Master Mentor Artists for Virtual Production at Epic Games. Sean has been in the games and media industry for 26 years, working in both console, PC and social gaming verticals as well as commercial TV. He has an extensive background in education teaching Arts and Animation and Game Art and Design related topics at both the Academy of A...

Fred Isaac is Head of Product at Move.ai. He has spent his whole career working in the field of computer vision and the last 5 years specializing in motion capture and animation. He has brought new hardware and software products to market for motion capture of both facial and body animation at Cubic Motion, Epic Games and Move.ai. He is now focused on the launch of Move.ai's motion capture applica...

Ryan Zingler has been in the game industry since 2010. He has worked on IP’s such as the Fallout New Vegas, Dungeon Siege 3, The Tomb raider Reboot series, and Avengers. Ryan has worked at Crystal dynamics since 2011 and is currently working on an unannounced project. His career started as a junior-level designer who later morphed into a senior technical designer position. Highlights of the Episod...

For over 20 years Kevin Christopher has been honing his skills in Animation, Visual Effects and Editing. His passion for great storytelling and his unlikely background in architecture and engineering has brought a unique skillset to virtual production. As an award winning editor he knows what it takes to remove the words “fix it in post” from the production lexicon. Prior to serving as the Solutio...

Kathryn Brillhart is a Cinematographer, Director, and Producer who leverages volumetric capture, visualization techniques, and supervising visual effects to enhance projects. For the past decade, she has helped to redefine best practices and standards in virtual production and has advocated for diversity in the film industry through her role on the Global Board of Directors for the Visual Effects...

Peter Hyoguchi directed the first Super Bowl spot to utilize Virtual Production. He is a two-time recipient of the Epic MegaGrant for his sci-fi “Gods of Mars” proof-of-concept which created a propitiatory virtual production pipeline with a team of Oscar and Emmy-winning virtual effects artists whose credits include “Star Wars”, “X-Men”, “How to Train Your Dragon”, “Batman”, Quantum of Solace”, “T...

Haz started his career in Video games cinematics before moving into Visual Effects where he was nominated for several VES awards for his VFX Supervision work on CG heavy Docu-series for BBC, Discovery and History Channel. His short films (Project Kronos and SYNC) gained traction in Hollywood leading to his transitioning over to Directing & Producing with his breakout feature film THE BEYOND, t...

Onyi Udeh is a Los Angeles-based founder focused on using technology to help creatives tell their own stories through animation. He currently runs the largest animation community, Animation Club, in the world with 25k members; while building the first dedicated talent marketplace for animation services called ‘Pipeline’. Onyi's past experiences include working for companies like Walt Disney Studio...

Winbush is a multi-award-winning motion graphics artist with over 15 years of experience working in a wide range of mediums from television, movies, to virtual & augmented reality. Over his career, Winbush has done work for Epic Games, Marvel, Netflix, DC, Warner Bros, & Happy Madison to name a few. Notable works include Iron Man, Lego Batman 2, Lego Harry Potter, Transformers, NFL on FOX,...

  Luc Delamare is a virtual production cinematographer, supervisor, and visualization artist.  Defined by his admiration for the convergence of technology and creativity, his passion is bridging the world of live action cinematography and virtual production.  With both LED volume and CG cinematography experience, Luc’s work is grounded in reality thanks to his live action DP backgro...

Designer, developer, and educator, Alex Coulombe is the CEO of Heavenue, a new high-fidelity cloud platform to connect performers with audiences across the metaverse. He also runs Agile Lens: Immersive Design, the award winning XR creative studio. Alex has always had a passion for purposing emerging technology for creative visions. In 2010 he graduated from Syracuse University with a B. Arch (and...

Barbara Ford Grant is President, NEP Prysm Stages, a business of NEP Virtual Studios. She is responsible for growing NEP’s global network of permanent virtual production facilities, stage partnerships and client relationships in Film and TV, and for building solutions with her team to empower artists and storytelling. Barbara has contributed to media and entertainment for nearly 30 years across bo...

For over 25 years, Brett Leonard has been at the forefront of the digital media revolution - whether it be as Director/ Writer of the groundbreaking hit film Lawnmower Man, which introduced the concept of Virtual Reality to popular culture - or being the first to pioneer modern stereoscopic techniques and photo-realistic CGI in his hit IMAX 3D film “T-Rex” - or introducing American audiences to Ru...

Paul Debevec is Netflix’s Director of Research for Creative Algorithms and Technology, overseeing R&D for visual effects and virtual production with computer vision, graphics, and machine learning. In 2002, his Light Stage 3 system surrounded actors with LEDs displaying images of virtual sets and environments for lighting-accurate compositing. Techniques from Paul’s work have been used to crea...

Have you ever considered what your story could do for others? And how it can change their lives forever. Dani Bellar Pilukas, Director of Physical Production at Lux Machina, who used to work as a Disney Imagineer, told stories through world building. With a theater background as an actress, she harnessed the power of storytelling into her work. She created worlds that allow every delighted child,...