The Allan McKay Podcast

Back in December we set out the challenge of setting BIG goals for 2015 and as time passes - it's time to check in.. How are you doing with your goals? This episode is to focus not on setting goals, but how to stay accountable and how to minimize your failure rate by building solid routines and identifying why you mightn't be having the successes you should be having ... so that you can crush thes...

After the first 'Review my Reel' session was a total success with over 100 people attending, this episode follows the momentum of this and discusses a lot of advice on what we are all doing with our reels that we probably shouldn't, as well as key things to keep in mind - who your target audience is and how to maximize playability and have people watch your reel all the way through, and in the rig...

With the announcement of Gears of War 4 last week from Microsoft, this episode focuses on the talented character team behind the development of GOW4. Probably the most spectular features of Gears of War is the amazing creature and character designs and attention to detail in all of the characters within the game. In this episode we interview Dan Roarty, Daniel Bohrer Do Nascimento, Heber Alvarado...

Zsolt Poczos is a CG supervisor from Hungary that has worked around the world on my high profile projects - originating from architecture and moving to creating photorealistic car commercials through to now being part of the core team on the upcoming VFX heavy film 'Independence Day 2'.   This episode dives into Zsolt's inspiring story as well as seeing first hand how similar to many of the subjec...

Alf is a 3D artist and film maker in Norway, partner of the vfx studio Gimpville. Recently Alf has completed an epic 6 month journey to complete his own parody short film (trailer) called Dawn of the planet of the zombies and giant killer plants on some serious acid (phew!), entirely by himself. Utilizing Maya, Redshift, and various other tools to render the entire 3 minute piece solo on a single...

Delcio originally from Brazil has worked on projects like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Terminator Genisys, Thor: The Dark World, Oblivion and many others as both a modeler and cg generalist.  This is a really great episode giving a lot of insight into Delcio's background as well as a lot of really great solid advice to advance your career, as well as insights into many of the production's he's worked...

This is by far the most random episode on the podcast so far! As Chad, Hnedel, Sol and Allan gather together over a few beers and do a free for all discussing a lot to do with the industry, film, virtual reality as well as process, pipeline and people. Lots of great insight, as we progressively get drunker and drunker! show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/37

Fred Ruff has been well known in the industry for his vast contributions for over 20 years working originally for Autodesk as a Max product manager and having influenced many areas of Max including the design of Particle Flow - Fred is a VFX Supervisor at Refuge VFX supervising the hit tv show Grimm. In this episode we discuss a lot of the history of CG, software slamming and the timeline of max a...

This episode we dive right into what it takes to launch your own studio. Such a big subject and so much to cover - if you want to know more go to http://www.allanmckay.com/35/ leave a comment #Iwanttoknowmore! and I will gladly put together a step by step episode series on the business strategy and steps necessary involved in launching a visual effects studio!  

This episode is all about how impactful having mentors or experts in your life can be, and modeling those you idolize or see as successful. The key is to push yourself out of your comfort zone and find those that are able to push you and inspire you as well. This isn't about finding 'the one' mentor but finding mentors for every part of your life and for those areas that you are going through in y...

This episode is truly epic - Rising Sun Pictures has been around for 20 years working on many of the leading visual effecs films. Speaking with Marcus Wells and Kirsty Parkin in the Training Department at RSP about their new graduate program, and future education and internships at RSP. As well as the production of many of their films - AND working overseas, diving in-depth into the visa processes...

LinkedIn is the number one job finding and networking resource on the web! YET it's not optimized for artist use - it's optimized typically for more corporate, and start up jobs and long form productions. The typical approach to finding work with LinkedIn typically will not apply to Designers, Game Developers, TV and Feature Film Visual effects. I strongly believe LinkedIn is a AWESOME and POWERFU...

By far the most  different  episode I have made to date. Rather than focusing on interviewing artists or on core ways to build up your career. I wanted to share some of the tools _I_ use in production or day to day that are pivotal to getting things done.      There are some very useful email tools that really go above and beyond that I highly recommend, and many other tools and insights.     Goin...

Dan's background working in video games on projects ranging from Star Wars 1313 to Tomb Raider to Gears of War to many other iconic projects as well as high profile studios such as Lucas Arts. What makes Dan stand out is his phenomenally realistic character work, many of his pieces have received much acclaim, awards and can be seen in magazines worldwide. If you've followed Episode 28, interviewin...

As the host of over 160 tutorials and creator of title sequences for tv's Fringe and the film Star Trek , Andrew Kramer has participated in many forms of production: from visual effects artist, to directing commercials and promos. His website Video Copilot has been a progressive force in the visual effects industry, with his upbeat training style and innovative plug-ins. As a freelance artist and...

Christopher Nichols has an impressive resume of working for many of the leading studios, from The Day After Tomorrow, I, Robot, Stealth, Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Maleficent and The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo to photo real cars and photo real humans. Chris works with Chaos Group - the developers of V-Ray as one of the main people behind Chaos Group Labs, an experimental outpost based in Los Angeles....

Zerply is an amazing new platform for artists to promote themselves and network with other industry followers. This is an amazing and exclusive platform to get connected with other studiso and artists and find work easily and frequently. I'm blown away by this platform and what it can do, it's exactly, and I mean 'exactly' what this industry needs. I sit down with James Bennett one of the founders...

This episode is a unique solo episode packed to the brim with a lot of workflow hacks and core advice to manage yourself better and get a lot more done inside of your standard work day. This is vital methods I apply to my work every day of every week and have developed many of these techniques over the span of the past 20 years of my career.   Show links Time Doctor Rescue Time Focus @ Will Polder...

Part 2 of the really great and insightful interview with Sol Rogers! Covering a lot of really great industry advice and career advise based on his lengthy experience in the industry as well as lecturing at London universities. Lots of great stuff - this was our chat prior to diving into our discussions on Virtual Reality. Check it out! Rewind FX Oculus Rift Microsoft Hololens Career Opportunities...

Sol Rogers, all round nice guy and super knowledgeable on all things VR! This episode we dive into what Rewind FX - Sol's company has been able to pull off in the realm of Virtual Reality for massive clients from Red Bull, Lexus, and just many many massive events worldwide. This is such a great and insightful episode into an area we all feel we know a 'little' but don't really quite understand wha...

This episode is an amazing one with the lead product manager for 3DS Max at Autodesk! Eddie has a MASSIVE amount of background and knowledge to do with 3D and gives major insights into the industry as it is and where it's heading, as well as a lot of where it came from! The greatest thing of all is getting more of an insight into 3DS Max and behind the scenes at Autodesk, a really great episode th...

Episode 22 is epic! Check it out! Everything from discussing careers, hiring artists, scheduling and budgets through to more heavier into the production side of film and design projects. We cover everything from Coldplay music videos to The girl with the dragon tatoo and beyond! 

Rob Nederhorst is a compositor and visual effects supervisor who has a large list of amazing projects to his name, some of the feature films include X-Men, The day after tomorrow, 2012, Thor, Priest, After Earth and many more films. He's a speaker for Gnomon as well as well as an authority on The Foundary's Academy Award winning compositing software 'Nuke'.   This is a really great and insightful...

I recently had the chance to talk in-depth with Pierre Grage about his new (and amazing!) book 'Inside VFX'. I have to say the minute this book was released I had it express-delivered because I was so anxious to consume this book. I think there has been so much negative information put out there about the 'instability' of the VFX industry, yet there really hasn't been many resources out there to r...

Chad Wanstreet is an amazing artist with a very vast background, we dive into a lot of really great subjects as we discuss his background coming from architecture to working on many high profile car commercials in Detroit to relocating to Los Angeles to work for Blur Studio. This is a subject for me really interested me, as relocating anywhere, especially with a family of your own is a very big de...