Couple of interesting titbits from 'Wicked: For Good' VFX supe Pablo Helman

These come from issue #48 of befores & afters magazine on the film:


1. A number of 100% CG shots were outputted to film, and then scanned back in. Helman describes the process. “This is something that happened throughout the movie. We were looking at a hundred percent CG shots, and we were wondering, how do you make a hundred percent CG shot completely photorealistic? We were looking at ways to do it, and I was running out of tools.”

2. The Young Wizard flashbacks contained an interesting moment you might not have noticed: "Interestingly, for one of the shots, notes Helman, “there was an adjustment in the performance where The Wizard is actually realizing what he did, and it transfers into the older Jeff Goldblum. It's a very subtle thing, but if you actually look at it again, you will see that he changes right there. There's a lighting change right there and it goes to the older Wizard.”

3. Monkey costumes - The new film saw ILM create two new monkey costumes, adapted from concepts created with costume designer Paul Tazewell. “The first,” says ILM VFX supe Anthony Smith, “was a set of green armor which was designed to accommodate the monkey’s wings, and the second was the armour set that the monkeys change into during ‘No Good Deed’, which was designed to be modular to give variety across the monkeys. We even built Glinda’s jacket to be worn by one of the monkeys, as an easter egg call back to the first film, where he steals it from Glinda as they are chased through the palace!”

4. Lots more of these gems in the magazine, including on the invisible mirror shots, tornado, Cowardly Lion and the flying scenes....

PRINT: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDGT28NC

DIGITAL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-48-wicked-147136860

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.patreon.com/c/beforesandafters/membership

https://preview.redd.it/3jvx88j0p2bg1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=261295831ac4d7ede6c4b9d7dd1b402b0d22d5d5



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@vfxbackup

Is there a website that contains purely stylized anime VFX like FootageCrate?

Hello folks, I'm a blender animator and I want to find some animated stylized VFX for an upcoming animation, but I can't seem to find anything better than footage crate which is paid, do any of you know of the possible existence of a website like that but completely free? I remember that it existed but it was a long time ago, thus I can't remember

https://redd.it/1q35wxj
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Thanks for the tracking help!
https://youtube.com/shorts/QsPSG8gTB2g?si=Hjj8oqWiCu2_KLDj

https://redd.it/1q32kwd
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Vfx beginner

Hey. I want to get into vfx. What do yall recommend what software i should learn. I live in LA, CA. Any resources i should look into online?

https://redd.it/1q383wf
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How to approach vfx studios in the uk for work??

I have friends in Dubai/india who have started their own boutique vfx studio and have asked me to help them with getting some work from the studios here in the uk.
I don’t work in vfx anymore but we were part of the same vfx team in a big studio back in India a few years ago.

Does anybody have an idea or suggestions how I can approach studios here in the UK for some work ??

https://redd.it/1q36f6s
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Calling all VFX pros and pipeline TDs! Quick survey on OpenEXR compression (HTJ2K) for grad research

Hey, I am doing my Grad Work about the newly added compression method to OpenEXR: HTJ2K

I already have some very interesting benchmarks, but I need your take to finalize my paper!

The survey takes \~2 minutes and covers:

How you use EXR (multilayer/deep/8K/textures?)
Compression preferences (ZIP/PIZ/DWAB?)
Thoughts on progressive decode for video
How likely you’d be to adopt HTJ2K in practice

I'll share full benchmarks, scripts and paper when done.

Fill it here: https://forms.gle/g1E4HQqWHhCmMmfFA

Thanks for helping out; make sure to upvote if you want to help the VFX industry!

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Feedback for student demo reel

https://redd.it/1q3e472
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VFX Compositing Showreel 2022-2025
https://youtu.be/TLE2RPGnPBo?si=XICY55-NqM0i4sE2

https://redd.it/1q3jz9b
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How did they do the fairy light in the movie "Legend"(1985)?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fvF0n2s-RBI&pp=ygURbGVnZW5kIG9vbmEgbGlnaHTSBwkJTQoBhyohjO8%3D

https://redd.it/1q3llx5
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Any Lut/Fx pack that aren't scams?

Been seeing a ton of advertisements for packs from Foureditors and Cinematicfxeffects. They're quite tempting to get because they seem quite cheap for the amount of stuff you're getting. But pretty much everyone unanimously says it's not worth it and they're a scam.

So are there any asset packs from reputable websites?

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In the short animated film "The Snowman", the characters are drawn in colored pencil and white paper, then added to pre-painted backgrounds. They don't appear to use cels, so does anyone have any idea how the characters and backgrounds were combined together?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XpwL\_jeNmuw&pp=ygUddGhlIHNub3dtYW4gYmVoaW5kIHRoZSBzY2VuZXM%3D

This is the only video I could find of it.

I really like doing 2d animations and I thhought it would be fun to do a traditional colored pencil animation, as opposed to drawing digitally, but as far as I've found, all traditional animation was done in cels.

This confuses me as to how animations colored with a more paiterly/scratchy texture were produced in the past, before drawing tablets became prolific. Since I kmow cels had to be inked in, so they had to have mostly flat colors.

In the above video, the process by which they combine the drawings and background is unclear. I'd like to know if anyone has any insight as to how it was made.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

https://redd.it/1q3t78i
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Hunyuan 3D, PolyGen 1.5

https://redd.it/1q40lnf
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Hilarious freelance post
https://redd.it/1q4f226
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Part of a shot from my upcoming animated short "SEN"

https://redd.it/1q4ioey
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What's your way of not bringing your work stress back home?

I guess this question is not necessarily limited to our industry but I wanted to ask anyway!

How do you not bring daily stress of trying to a find a solutions to a problem or being able to iterate when your jobs aren't given enough priority or just catching upto the current weeks tasks rather than being a step ahead?

I've been a freelancer (short and long contracts) for over a decade in 3 different countries. Sometimes it's easier to find solutions and sometimes it's like a research project. We have Google, respective forums, friends, mentors, team members (not necessarily in any order). But sometimes, the solution might not be straight forward as one would say it is! But that's a topic for another day. This is only one example. Sometimes, it could be client's or Supervisor's notes - "Keep going" with no specific/clear direction. Sometimes things that aren't in the artists control due to pipeline, etc but still trying to hit deadlines.

My question is how do you keep your stress levels in controls that don't affect your sleep or mood, health? I have tried going for a walk and coming back, disconnect and work on my hobbies (which typically doesn't involve others), etc! Sometimes they help and other times they don't. What do you do when it's the later?

Thanks in advance! I appreciate you for taking the time to read through!

https://redd.it/1q4fyoq
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Need Advice

29F student here working on compositing showreel. I am stuck after 3 shots and everytime I ask from my institute teacher the answer I get it keep on doing and watch youtube tutorials you will learn a lot. But the situation here is that those videos are like 4-5 years old I don't know if I can rely on that information or not. I want to know if there's any other way with that If I can rely on UDEMY and YT videos or not and what AI should learn side by side to keep myself upskilled.

https://redd.it/1q4rvwu
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Photogrammetry-based 3D scene day → night transition with camera path blending and 2.5D projection

https://redd.it/1q7dm54
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Maxon's New GenAI Feature For ZBrush Faces Backlash
https://redd.it/1q7art1
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Career change from Pipeline dev in Canada

I need some insight. I was a pipeline developer for 3 till got lay off. I am very overwhelmed and cant think straight to what to do next. Job market is very competitive in tech, plus i need to pick a specialty and learn that( full stack, data engineering, data analytics, ...). There is almost no opportunity in the area I am. I am able to move Vancouver but not for next year and for some stupid reason i must reside in BC to be hired there. I would consider myself junior mid with focus of 2D but i see myself in more lead, training, business positions than a technical position in future.

Has anyone been in this position and could help a fellow?

https://redd.it/1q7oddk
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Ubisoft Shuts Down Halifax Studio Just Weeks After It Unionized
https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-shuts-down-assassins-creed-rebellion-developer-halifax-studio-just-weeks-after-it-unionized

https://redd.it/1q6ovqe
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VFX Artist transitioning to become a Producer.. Experience? Advice?

Hey guys.. I'm a 3D Generalist/VFX Artist who's worked in the industry for 12+ years.. and now I'm looking to transition into the production side of the industry. I know an artist that did this once and I will always remember him saying.. 'Artists should try being and Producer, and Producers should try being an Artist at some point in their career'. It actually makes sense and would benefit both sides.

Does anyone have experience with this or has any advice? Artist > Producer or Producer > Artist

Would be interesting to hear any thoughts!

https://redd.it/1q80jk6
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