The Allan McKay Podcast

The Unreal Fellowship is a 30-day intensive blended learning experience designed to help experienced industry professionals in film, animation, and VFX learn Unreal Engine, develop a strong command of state-of-the-art virtual production tools, and foster the next generation of teams in the emerging field of real-time production.  During the program, Fellows learn Unreal Engine fundamentals, model...

Marty Neumeier is a best-selling author and speaker who writes on topics of brand and design. Today Marty spends most of his time lecturing all over the globe about the role of creativity and innovation in the creation of relevant and meaningful brand experiences.  Marty has written several best-selling books including The Brand Gap which outlines how to bridge the distance between business strate...

Rhett Dashwood (aka Mankind) is an award winning Creative Director with experience in a broad range of creative media, including digital, animation, branding, print, film making and concept art. He has worked with the following studios and agencies during his 15+ years in the industry: Emery / Frost, Tribal, AKQA, Exit Films, DDB and many more. He is currently Creative Director of Dashwood.  As a...

Doug Roble is the Senior Director of Software R&D at Digital Domain and leads a world-class team of software developers. An original member of Digital Domain, Doug has been writing software and conducting research to advance the artistry and technology for feature films since the studio's inception. Doug was awarded two Academy Sci-Tech Awards: one for "Track", an integrated software program that...

JangaFX was founded in 2016 by Nick Seavert, an entrepreneur who is well versed in both startups and real-time VFX. JangaFX was initially bootstrapped with credit cards, software sales, and many thousands of man hours instead of outside investments. The company's core motive is to provide real-time VFX tools to artists and designers who work in video game or film industries.  The first tool by Jan...

Lux Machina Consulting is a design, management and technical consulting firm focused on complex, large scale live shows, film production and installations. Lux Machina uses innovative techniques and technologies from various markets to connect artists with their audiences like never before. The company prides itself on the balance between technical and artistic decisions, and works to maximize the...

A lot of us quit doing what we love for the wrong reasons, because other people poison our minds by telling us we have to go get "a real career". When we aren't getting that traction in the beginning (which is normal in our career), we start feeding off these doubts instilled in our minds and we give up too soon.  But we are all on our own journey. If others are projecting their fears or failures...

If you aren't willing to do the work -- and be anything else than an artist -- then you are going to fail. And that's the brutal truth! That is because you aren't just an artist. Being an artist is just your skill or your trade. You still need to do the other stuff.  The reason so many people give up on their career is because they give up the minute it gets tough. You need to learn to manage your...

Beeple is Mike Winkelmann, a graphic designer from Charleston, SC, USA who does a variety of digital artwork including short films, Creative Commons VJ loops, everydays and VR / AR work.   After he began releasing a set of widely used Creative Commons VJ loops he has worked on concert visuals for Justin Bieber, One Direction, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Zedd, deadmau5 and many more.    One of...

There is an example in marketing: If you have a migraine and you head to a pharmacy, you'll see one medicine that says, "Cures All Aches and Pains" and another that says, "Cures All Migraines". They both do the same thing and they're made by the same company. But their marketers know that the medicine that's the most specific -- is the one that will stand out. Meanwhile, a lot of artists have this...

Hugo Guerra is a Portuguese born award-winning Director and VFX Supervisor. After finishing his Fine Arts degree, he worked in Portugal and Sweden before moving to the UK where he was a freelancer for several years.  He joined The Mill in 2010 as a VFX Supervisor and as Head of the Nuke Department. Over that time, Hugo was a Lead Artist and Onset Supervisor for several productions, including Codem...

Most of us initially set small goals that we find socially acceptable. We're too afraid to set bigger goals, or we don't have them anymore because we find them to be impossible. The goals that we do say outloud are the ones that we find socially acceptable, without being laughed at. And that sucks! We're afraid to dream big or to dream what we aspire to be.  And it's not because we decided that we...

A native Californian, David Tanaka attended the University of California at Berkeley where in 1989 he earned his bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Film Theory. Upon graduating, he worked for post-production facilities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, quickly gaining experience through corporate advertising and industrial documentary assignments. In 1990, he joined Industrial...

Evercast combines video conferencing and HD live streaming in one web-based platform allowing for a secure, real-time collaboration — whether your team is across town or around the world. In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks to Brad Thomas and Roger Barton, two of the Founders of Evercast, about the inception of the company, its journey through challenges -- to becoming today's groundbreaking techno...

A lot of us have this myth in our head that if we work hard and stay out of trouble, good things will come our way. That is a mistake. The truth is that it doesn't work that way. Nobody is paying attention. The other part of it is that we typically wait for our annual review.   Most people if they don't get what they want, they build a strategy: To get their reel around and get a better offer, the...

2020 will go down in history as a big "What the Fuck?" Year! We've all experienced different things, but I don't think many of us have had positive experiences. But to put things in perspective, we're given an opportunity for a do-over. We're all in this situation. When I realize that, it's a bit more reassuring. How can we leverage things out? How can we turn this around? Maybe we haven't done as...

Connie Siu is the Writer and Director of short film Jeffrey . She holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, graduated cum laude from SFSU with a BA in Fine Art, and attended UCLA's Producers Workshop Program. Connie is the former Chairman and co-founder of the San Francisco Chapter of Siggraph, the former Vice-Chair of the U.S. Sports Film Festival, and served...

Originating from a very successful career as an advertising photographer, Mark Toia was coerced into directing TVCs by his clients. Being pursued by advertising agencies and production companies globally, he has a lengthy list of repeat business 8th the world's largest companies that most could only dream of. Mark's prowess and success is due to his ability to reinvent himself over and over again....

Roman Belov is the Founder of KeenTools, a Blender add-on for 3D modelling of human faces and heads based on photos. The models can be used for sculpting, animation, tracking or anything else in Blender or facial tracking with FaceTracker in Nuke; or to be exported for further modifications in any other 3D software. In this Podcast, Allan interviews Roman about the origins and development of this...

Michael Janda is an executive level creative leader with more than 20 years of experience in both in-house creative departments and agencies working with some of the greatest brands in the world. In 2002, he founded the creative agency Riser, a nationally recognized agency creating high-profile work for clients including Disney, Google, ABC, Fox, Warner Bros., NBC, TV Guide and numerous other nota...

Let's talk about it once and for all: How to get paid by your client and how to avoid getting screwed over; and what to do if you do get screwed over. Artists often tell the sob story of, "Art doesn't pay and you get screwed over". But a lot of the time, you need to do things yourself from the beginning. It doesn't have to do with just art. It's true for any industry. So level up and get your busi...

With wisdom from the best and the brightest in the industry, The VES Handbook is a visual effects bible that belongs on the shelf of anyone working -- or aspiring to work -- in VFX. The book covers techniques and solutions all VFX artists, producers, and supervisors need to know, from pre-production, to digital character creation and compositing of both live-action and CG elements.  In-depth lesso...

Quixel Megascans is a massive online scan library of high-resolution, consistent PBR calibrated surface, vegetation and 3D scans, also including desktop applications for managing, mixing and exporting your downloaded scan data. It's the product of 5 years of scanning and is a collaboration with top game and film studios worldwide. Quixel was founded in 2011 by Teddy Bergsman and Waqar Azim based o...

Crafty Apes is a full service, boutique VFX company based in Culver City, CA & Atlanta, GA. The company was launched in July of 2011 by three visual effects veterans Jason Sanford, Chris LeDoux and Tim LeDoux. Believing that strong 2D compositing is the backbone behind quality visual effects, Crafty Apes was formed to primarily offer high-end compositing services for feature films and television c...

Andrey Lebrov is a CG and VFX Director, as well as a Co-Founder of Out of Nothing, Ltd. Andrey was born in Ukraine, raised in Liepaja, Latvia. He began working as a freelancer at the age of 15 as a Photoshop Artist. He eventually immigrated to the U.K. to pursue better opportunities in visual effects. Andrey is a self-taught CG Artist. He launched his YouTube Channel to share what he's learned in...