CG Garage

We're only just starting to tap into the power of VR for collaboration in architecture — but there are many, many hurdles along the way. For instance: How do you get everyone into the same shared space? How do you represent attendees? How do you point things out within this virtual space? And how do you get tech-phobic participants to embrace the medium without getting scared or frustrated? Entrep...

Chris recorded a lot of podcasts at THU — and this episode treats you to not one, but two 25-minute recordings. In the first, Chris chats with celebrated CG portrait artist Ian Spriggs, and digital anatomy expert Scott Eaton. They discuss the history of portraits, and how the fundamental idea of representing humans hasn't really changed from cave paintings, to paintings, to photographs, and now th...

Presentations are a surprisingly big challenge in the architecture community. It's easy to wow clients with stills and videos, but if they want changes architects and arch viz studios have to re-render shots and animations. Barcelona-based company CL3VER has created a clever solution to this issue - a browser-based system which can render realistic 3D models. In this podcast, Chris talks to CL3VER...

THU has become a staple for digital artists, and now the festival is increasingly welcoming members of the arch viz community. Syria-born Mahmoud Alkawadri has attended the event twice now – and he's a poster child for the transformative effects of THU. In this podcast with Chris, recorded at THU, Mahmoud discusses his experience in VFX and exhibitions in Syria and Germany, his current role as a f...

Visualization company ArcMedia has just reached its 15th birthday. To celebrate, Founder and Managing Director Brett Fisher and Creative Director Ben Bancroft joined Chris for a few beers at the D2 conference in Vienna. Naturally, Chaos Group's acquisition of Render Legion and Corona comes up, but Brett and Ben highlight an unexpected benefit of the move. They also talk about ArcMedia's beginnings...

Paul Nicholls is a third of the team behind Factory Fifteen, a London-based directing collective and arch viz and production studio. From a background in architecture, Paul has made a name for himself in creating ambitious short and feature-length films, music videos and VR experiences. In this podcast, recorded at the D2 Conference in Vienna, Paul talks about how Factory Fifteen was formed, the n...

Johnny Gibson has created ballistic missile detection software, worked on stealth bombers, and covertly filmed on the Russia/China border. These might sound like missions assigned to a secret agent, but Johnny's actually a VFX artist and supervisor, and in this podcast he discusses his incredible career with Chris. Having worked on over 30 feature films, including Fight Club, Transformers and thre...

The d2 Conference has grown from a humble meeting of 85 people to an indispensable event for arch viz studios and artists around the world. This year's event was of particular significance; the industry's leading lights celebrated Chaos Group's acquisition of Render Legion and Corona Renderer. In this short but sweet podcast, Chris talks to Fabio Palvelli and Jason Bergeron, the Italian and Americ...

Originally from South Africa, Darren Hendler has worked on movies such as The Grinch, I Robot, and Maleficent. At the same time he's become a key figure in the research and development of virtual humans at Digital Domain. Darren has a lot in common with the similarly digital human obsessed Chris, and this podcast poses many questions around digital humans, such as why is it easier to make an old B...

Chaos Group promised a big announcement at the D2 Conference in Vienna. Not only did they not disappoint, but they took the world by surprise. On Friday, August 25, they announced that Chaos Group has acquired Render Legion, the makers of the Corona renderer . Corona has become extremely popular in recent years, especially in the Architecture and ArchViz community. Just after the announcement, Chr...

One of the biggest and most well-received surprises at this year's SIGGRAPH was Epic Games' announcement that it's added V-Ray rendering to Unreal Engine. In this podcast, recorded at the conference, Chris sits down with Epic's Marc Petit and Ken Pimentel to discuss what this meeting of minds means. They talk about how the Unreal Engine has gone from a solid platform for game development to a mult...

Recorded live at V-Ray Days @ SIGGRAPH 2017, this podcast unites host Chris with previous guests, and Wikihuman members, Mike Seymour ( FXGuide ) and Jay Busch ( Google ). If you attended SIGGRAPH, you'll know that the virtual representation of Mike - aka Meet Mike - was a star of the convention, and this podcast delves into the trials and tribulations of his creation. Along the way, the team talk...

The worlds of videogames and VFX are colliding. Realtime rendering is changing the way movies are made, while blockbuster games borrow techniques and tech from Hollywood. No one knows this landscape better than Naughty Dog's Josh Scherr, who's worked his way from animator on PS2 flagship Jak and Daxter to co-writer of the epic Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. In this podcast, Josh gives Chris a compreh...

Established in London in 1990, visual effects and post-production company the Mill has grown with offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with over 200 employees in the later. Among those who made the jump to the LA office are  Head of 2D/Creative Director Chris Knight, and Executive Creative Director Phil Crowe. As becomes apparent in this podcast, neither has lost their accent — or their...

Rendering is dead. Long live rendering. As computers become faster and more powerful, and 3D software becomes easier to use, rendering could be about to change dramatically. And it may even cease to exist as we know it today. In this podcast, Chris gazes into his crystal ball with Chaos Group's CCO Lon Grohs and Communications Director David Tracy. It's an animated discussion which raises some imp...

Multitalented VFX artist Alex Nice's career began in the very early days of 3D Studio on a 386 computer — complete with vigorous turbo button action. After a rebellious phase as an amateur tattoo artist, he settled into a role as a 3D generalist at Sway Studio via a stint in courtroom animations. Alex recently served as art director for innovative effects studio Magnopus, alongside previous podcas...

Like Chris, Marientina Gotsis spent her childhood in Greece, growing up on a very limited TV diet of imported American shows and old movies. And, like Chris, Marientina has a strong interest in virtual reality, and how computer-generated experiences can help us experience the real world. Coming from an artistic background, Marientina worked on the University of Illinois' CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtu...

For visual effects supervisor Jay Barton, a chance to work on the Fate of the Furious was a dream come true. As well as having over 18 years experience in visual effects, he's a car fanatic who knows high-performance autos inside-out — literally. Fresh from a visit to China, where DD's presence is increasing, Jay chatted to Chris about his career trajectory, from creating animated videos of enviro...

The Immersive Reality in Architecture conference , which took place in Venice earlier this month, focuses on the application of VR and AR in the world of visualization and design. This panel discussion, led by CGarchitect's Jeff Mottle, tackles the pros and cons of these emergent technologies. CG Labs' Chris Nichols, and Chaos Group's CCO Lon Grohs are among the guests, as well as Patricio Navarro...

Multiple Oscar winner, modern musical and box office smash La La Land has divided audiences. Is it a shameless and unsubtle Happy Meal of nostalgia? Or does it use cinema, musicals and popular culture as a launchpad to tell a human story of growth and transformation? In this podcast, Chris and film buff Dan Thron (aka the Martini Giant) talk about the film's successes and failings. In doing so, th...

The untimely passing of revolutionary architect Zaha Hadid last year has left a big hole in the world of architecture. Filling it is Patrik Schumacher, now a principal at Zaha Hadid Architects, and one of the world's most respected architects in his own right. In this deep dive into the theory and practice of architecture, Patrik talks about how architects preempted computer aided design in the 19...

If you've seen Chaos Group's showreel, you'll be familiar with Unit Image's work. The Parisian visual effects studio has created entertaining and witty commercials for Peugeot, Cartier, and Canal Plus. As it was founded by gamers, it's also produced gritty trailers for AAA titles such as The Crew , The Division , and For Honor . Fresh from their presentation at FMX, Unit Image's slightly hungover...

Chris's input into this year's THU digital arts festival has resulted in a focus on architecture. As prep, he invited prospective speakers Keely Colcleugh and Fredy Castellanos, from creative visualization studio Kilograph, to the podcast studio. Founder and CEO Keely dropped out of the prestigious Rice University to work with renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, and her multidisciplinary career has c...

An early start in stop motion 8mm film making propelled Aaron Sims on a career trajectory through Hollywood. He assisted with the gooey practical effects for cult 80s movies such as "From Beyond," "Evil Dead 2," and "Gremlins 2." The sleazy, show-stealing worms for "Men in Black," were created by Aaron, and he applied his knowledge of prosthetics and puppetry to the CGI robots in Steven Spielberg'...

The FMX digital arts festival in Stuttgart, Germany, forms a bustling backdrop for this live podcast. Host Chris is joined by Chaos Group's co-founder and CEO Vladimir "Vlado" Koylazov, and Dabarti's Tomasz Wyszolmirski, whose feedback has been instrumental in the development of V-Ray GPU. Vlado talks about how GPU computing has evolved, and reveals V-Ray's new game-changing hybrid GPU/CPU feature...