Imagine the power to control the elements: directing the flow of water, shaping smoke, or conjuring flames. What about the ability to micromanage the movement of a million tiny particles? Or orchestrate the destruction of vehicles, buildings, and entire worlds? Better still, how about performing all these feats at the same time? That, in a nutshell, is what it means to work as an FX artist (aka effects technical director). The role of VFX artist is one of the more demanding in entertainment design, requiring strong coding chops, mathematical smarts, an appreciation of physics, plus a solid art foundation on which to build everything. This is where our VFX/Houdini Track comes in. With a comprehensive suite of classes based around the use of film industry-standard tool Houdini, students, from beginners to advanced, will learn how to master pyro and fluid effects, cloth, crowds, destruction, and more. The track also includes training for those looking at an FX-based role at a games development studio, with the unique demands of controlling particle, environmental, and other simulation-based animation within a real-time pipeline all covered in-depth.
As you complete each VFX online course, you will receive a certificate of completion for that course. In order to qualify for a course certificate of completion, students must complete at least 80% of the class assignment during the duration of the course.
Should you have any questions regarding these courses please contact [email protected]. Additionally, you only pay for the course(s) you take in a given term.
While the part of the pipeline dubbed “animation” focuses on character and other rigged asset work, effects animation relates to anything that requires simulations to get results. These solutions usually fall into one of three categories: particle animation, fluids, and rigid body dynamics–though sometimes a solution might require several inter-connected simulations across two even three of the categories. These simulations are also often required to work in conjunction with any hand-crafted elements created by the main animation team.
As you complete each course, you will receive a certificate of completion for that course. In order to qualify for a course certificate of completion, students must complete at least 80% of the class assignment during the duration of the course.
Varomix was great. Very helpful, warm and friendly.
Great class! Highly recommend Varomix, he has made learning the fundamentals of houdini easy and fun.
I really like Clinton’s style of teaching. He explains any topic in a way that’s very accessible and detailed. I would love to have gone through another course with such a great teacher.
Clinton was a great instructor providing excellent feedback great tips and techniques. He also provided extra material relating to each week’s theme or area. This adds more value to course, providing tutorials and documents to continue study.
Clinton is amazing; I would absolutely take another class with him in a second. Very personable and active in the forums, great with specific feedback examples, and he clearly knows his technical stuff.
Clinton is a very good teacher. He explains things well and is easy to understand. He went above and beyond the class material and explained other things too, and answered our questions about the industry.
Great teacher. Really solid directions and explanations around ‘why’ you use the tools your doing as opposed to just outlining general best practices.
Clinton is by far the best teacher I’ve experienced on CGMA so far. He’s kind, patient and very much into detail when answering a question.
This is my first time learning the Unreal Engine, it’s a LOT to take in, but really good clear information was given through the course, and Clinton is an excellent Instructor who broke things down into chunks for easier learning! At the end of the course, I feel that I understand the basics and can have some confidence moving onwards in learning
I had a great time with the course, there were a lot of examples that showcased different aspects of using flip in Houdini, and the lecturer provided us projects that helped utilize and practice that knowledge.
Ed is the best VFX Lead that I had the chance to learn with.
Really enjoyed learning from Edward Ferrysienanda, really friendly and learnt a from him and his course.
Timothy always shows his passion as an FX artist and TD, in the Q&I and reviews he was searching what were our goals as artists for supporting and helping us to enhance that skill.
Everything about the course has been fantastic. Jayson provided very clear and thorough explanations when it came to simulating real-time cloth.
I actually can’t describe how much I needed this course. It gave me all the tools, explanations, education and confidence to push my work to the next level. It was well worth the time, effort and money. Jayson is an excellent mentor on top of that.
Jayson is awesome….He didn’t just check for mistakes I made. He has sincere interest to teach us how to push the quality of our assets even further.
He did a great job, he always answered forum questions quickly and provided feedback on time. The lessons were all very clear and covered a good range of useful and industry relevant topics.
Very happy with this course it was exactly what I was looking for to get me jump started in Nuke.
My instructor was very detailed when explaining the functions and steps to complete the desired task. He didn’t just give the technical reasons but shared his experience from an artistic point of view. His personality and approach to handling students is friendly and met with enthusiasm. Assets of a great teacher.
Behnam Shafiebeik is really a great instructor. He made the process of learning Nuke for production quite simple, by breaking it down in to parts that could be understood and exercised in a weeks duration.
Great instructor! Always very clear on videos and feedbacks as well as live Q & A.
Behnam is a great instructor! He was very patient and answered questions in detail.
Nestor is really good at his craft. I enjoyed learning from him. He has shown various techniques to improve our foliage work.
I felt the instructor (Nestor) was very understanding of where students were at in terms of having time to apply to the course and outside issues that would affect weekly submissions
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