Starting with VFX

Hello,

recently I’ve been thinking about picking up VFX as a skill.

What software do you think is best to learn if I want to improve my chances of finding a well-paid job? The difficulty doesn’t really matter I quit gaming about five months ago and I’m looking for a new skill to focus on.

I was thinking about learning Houdini and Nuke, but I’m open to other recommendations.

Also, which MacBook would you recommend for this kind of work?

Thank you!

https://redd.it/1qdtzj7
@vfxbackup

Free PBR Mask Map Generator (Unreal Engine & Unity)

https://redd.it/1qeczuq
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Looking for practice

Hey guys I’ve just started my journey into VFX in nuke looking for some footage to practice on. If you have any shots that need basic VFX, I’ll do them for free. Drop a comment or DM me if you’re interested Cheers.

https://redd.it/1qea7hd
@vfxbackup

Advice for a POV Alien Abduction in a Forest?

For my VFX supervisors out there, if a director wanted to do a POV shot of someone getting grabbed by an alien abduction beam in a forest and levitated into the air, what would you recommend? The ideas being floated right now are: a.) using a full CGI takeover at the moment the character begins leaving the ground, b.) using a drone to create that sensation of rising into the trees, or c.) having the camera attached/carried by someone who the stunt team hauls into the air on ropes?

https://redd.it/1qeoce9
@vfxbackup

How do they make the real actors sit perfectly in the CG water?

https://redd.it/1qeqrof
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CG meet up in BC! Feb 6
https://redd.it/1qjfyvb
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Made a music video using Gaussian splatting

https://redd.it/1qirs65
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My simple video review tool to replace Frame.io in my workflow... and fund my first feature film...
https://redd.it/1qj1qjn
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Was exploring some effects and made this

https://redd.it/1qjmqjs
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I want to leave the industry any suggestions?

Hi everyone, I’m a compositor with 7 years of experience, and I’ve definitely decided I want to leave the industry. I have some coding and design skills, but I’m not sure how to start pivoting. Has anyone here successfully made a career change like this?

Uk based.

Thank you

https://redd.it/1qj4gje
@vfxbackup

META 🤡

Meta wants to take over the VFX industry

https://youtu.be/3ey2qx5uGXc?si=GFM_BGv1R1G1EsE0

https://redd.it/1qjpi1o
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Sean Astin on how he’s fighting for humanity against an onslaught of AI actors
https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/this-is-an-unbelievable-moment-in-the-course-of-human-history-sean-astin-on-how-hes-fighting-for-humanity-against-an-onslaught-of-ai-actors

https://redd.it/1qisu65
@vfxbackup

How to optimize performance of AM5(7950x) with 4 sticks of RAM(448GB=192GB RAM) for Houdini Work?

Hi everyone,

I’m curious as to how to optimize my system performance.

The Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

RAM: 192GB (4 x 48GB) DDR5

GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti OC (16GB)

Mobo: ASRock B850M Pro RS WIFI

Case: Small form factor (Mechanic Master C26). CPU and GPU temps stable even on 90-100% usage at 85 degrees and 75 degrees respectively.

The Problem: I recently had a major scare. After a problematic windows update, during a standard simulation/render, the system suffered a "hard crash"—no BSOD, no error codes, no frozen screen. The PC just clicked off instantly like the power was cut and I had to manually boot it back up. This happened multiple times over the course of one week even with uninstalling the Windows update. A BIOS reset finally fixed the issue. (Not sure why as I hadn't tweaked anything in BIOS)

The RAM Struggle: After the crash, I reset the BIOS. I’m currently stable with all 4 sticks, but they are running at 3600 MT/s (BIOS defaults which I had no idea before). Whenever I try to push them even to 4800 MT/s, the system fails to boot (stuck on Red/Yellow DRAM lights).

My Dilemma:

Is AM5 actually suited for 4 sticks? I’ve read conflicting reports that the memory controller on Ryzen 7000/9000 simply isn’t designed to handle 4 high-density sticks at anything resembling "fast" speeds.

Capacity vs. Speed: In my heaviest Houdini sims so far, I’ve seen my RAM usage peak around 95GB.

Should I stick with the 192GB at 3600 MT/s for the peace of mind of having the overhead?

Or should I drop to 2 sticks (96GB)? My theory is that 2 sticks would let me hit the 5200–6000 MT/s "sweet spot," which might actually speed up my "Scene Prep" and "I/O" times in Houdini more than the extra capacity helps.

Seeking Recommendations On:

Stability: Given the "hard crash" (which I suspect might be the PSU or Memory Controller being overstressed), what’s the consensus on 4 sticks with 192GB for professional work?

BIOS Tweaks: Beyond RAM speed, what settings (PBO limits, Curve Optimizer, SoC voltages) would you recommend for a 7950X in a small case to keep it from tripping the PSU but still performing well?

GPU: Any specific NVIDIA settings for the 5070 Ti OC that play nice with high-density RAM builds?

I have a deadline this week so I'm staying at 3600 MT/s for now, but I plan to experiment the moment I submit. Would love to hear from anyone else running "unsupported" RAM amounts on AM5.

https://redd.it/1qjigjk
@vfxbackup

CGI Showreel 2026 | Unreal Engine

https://redd.it/1qjsask
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Ubisoft Cancels 6 Projects Including Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, Closes 2 Studios and Confirms Further Layoffs in Major Company Restructure
https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-cancels-6-projects-including-prince-of-persia-sands-of-time-remake-closes-2-studios-and-confirms-further-layoffs-in-major-company-restructure

https://redd.it/1qjvsrg
@vfxbackup

2026 Oscar Noms are out
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgyyqkn0yvo

https://redd.it/1qjwxyt
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Ubisoft shares tumble after Assassin&Creed; creator unveils restructuring, cancels games
https://www.reuters.com/business/ubisoft-shares-tumble-after-assassins-creed-creator-unveils-restructuring-2026-01-22/

https://redd.it/1qjy627
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First Time in VFX

https://redd.it/1qk0f7c
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Growing Old - Pushed Myself To Improve My VFX Skills

Feature Presentation

VFX Breakdown

First Episode (Has No VFX)

I made this as part of an episodic series, what I originally had planned to do in VFX was exacerbated by my own mistakes. Have you ever shot a whole video only to realize after it was over that your main actor was staring straight down the barrel of the lens? Sigh... I did.

By not being prepared for all of the challenges I was going to face, I've taken my time over the last year and a half coming back to this and chipping away at it piece by piece. The benefit of that is now I have a better idea of how I should have approached it, unfortunately I worked myself into a corner at a certain point, wishing I had Nuke, as Resolve for VFX can be hot garbage by losing my data and sometimes crashing when I come back and try to update things like tracking.

Invisible VFX is what I wanted to improve most on, as well as VFX in service to the story. Paint-outs and morphing are the main things I worked on learning, I don't believe I nailed down anything to a professional level, but I do believe I can move forward with what I learned to do better next time. If there's one thing I know I should have done, it's add grain, I really don't have an excuse asides from being afraid to unload my rendered footage out of fear of something breaking if I did.

Let me know what you think, I appreciate you guys taking the time out of your busy schedules to take a look at my silly little shows. I hope I accomplished something you like, or at the very least something you don't hate.

https://redd.it/1qjzjw0
@vfxbackup

Useful VFX jobs resource (credit to Chris Mayne)

Chris Mayne maintains a well-known Google Sheet that tracks VFX / Animation / Games jobs worldwide and keeps it consistently updated.

I’ve built a simple UI that references that sheet and makes it easier to browse — with filtering and sorting instead of scrolling rows.

It updates live and is shared purely as a convenience for artists.

Jobs page: https://showreelbio.com/jobs

(All credit to Chris Mayne for the original jobs data)

https://redd.it/1qk58zd
@vfxbackup

Denoising Practices?

Hey everyone, had a few questions about common denoising practices. I only really work on my own projects, so I'm not concerned with other departments or anything.

On our last short, we didn't really do any denoising on our footage. I do rather like a good film emulation though, so I ended up with film grain on top of digital noise. While I got no complaints, and I saved a lot of time, I dont really want to do that going forward.

I've seen some good non destructive workflows in after effects for degraining/regraining with grain mattes. If I plan on adding film grain to all of my project, should I denoise all of my footage prior to beginning work? Is that fine to do, or should I always try to regrain my vfx comps?

My main cam is also a BMPCC 4k. Love the thing. But I was also curious if it is viable to create a noise profile for the camera itself for VFX, because I tend to shoot projects at the same ISO and light accordingly. Or do I really have to degrain each shot on a case by case basis?

I work in syntheyes, blender, after effects, and resolve. Would love some insight!

https://redd.it/1qk5p4m
@vfxbackup