Escape Studios VFX (part-time) or fxPHD

[ronni]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and am thinking of making a career switch from graphic design to VFX. I'm pretty much a confused fresher but after reading up on various threads on this forum, I think I've got my terminology correct. I would like to be an FX Artist (create/manipulate fire, water, wind, dust, debris, explosions, basically the pretty things)
in either the film or videogame industry.

I took a basic Maya class in college but have forgotten most of it since. I'm currently re-learning it by way of the Gnomon DVDs.

I was curious if anyone on here has taken the Escape Studios VFX part-time course (6 hrs/week for 28 weeks) and what their thoughts are on it.

1) Do you feel that this course is enough to cover what I need to learn in order to land a position as an FX artist? Do I need to take extra courses, say from fxPHD? If so, which ones would you recommend I take?

2) Would it be wiser to save the £££ and take courses at fxPHD only?

3) Or... am I looking at the wrong program? Should I be focusing on a Maya course or something similar?

4) Lastly, I've seen the titles "FX Artist" and "FX TD" being used. Do these mean the same thing or 2 different things? I ask, because math/scripting/coding is not my strong point, and I would like to know if I could still create explosions and things despite this.

Thanks very much and I would appreciate your *honest* opinions!

Erika

[RiKToR]

I dont know about Escape Studios but fxPHD is worth every damn penny and then some. For your particular interest though, focusing on particle work, limits your options. Since you said maya the best home training dvd series I know is digital tutors fluid fx and dynamics dvds. The are really basic though. To be absolutely honest there isnt much out there on simulation work. On the 3ds Max side there are quite a few tutorials using afterburn and fume which are fantastic by a freelance artist named Allan McKay. I havent seen anything from fxPHD regarding this, the Escape Studios VFX TD training on that at least looks focused on just that for maya.

You may want to pick MEL script because script would be very helpful when setting up simulations and is a must for anyone wanting to do this work seriously.

[mccollom73]

I'm not the best person to be answering this question, so hopefully my post will bump this is to give someone a chance to answer it a little better.

1) What I have seen and read about fxPHD.com is great things about the program. I have also seen many great reels come out of it, so for the money, I would say go for it one term, and if you didn't like it. You don't have to do another one.

2) As I have read on numerous sites, you don't want to limit your program skills, you never want to be a master at one certain program, rather, know enough of each program to get by. I.E., Nuke, Shake, AE, PS, Maya, Ryno, etc.

3) Imo, FX Artist, makes things look pretty, explosions, tornadoes, etc. and you don't have to know how to code to do that. I'm not sure about FX TD, i think they are the base of the FX artist. don't quote me on that tho.

Hope my answer is in the ball park, and maybe I answered a few questions.

~jM

[ronni]

Thanks for your replies, guys!

I am leaning towards the Escape VFX route with taking a semester of fxPHD on the side. It looks like the Escape course is a general intro to all things VFX (with intros to several packages, hence my desire to take fxPHD classes to learn more about each program). The other Escape course, VFX TD, looks more specialized and is the area I'm most interested in. I would like to do:
Escape VFX > Escape VFX TD

I'm a little worried about the programming part, though. Is MEL an easy programming language to learn? I know HTML pretty well.. not that it's the same thing, but just saying, I can sort of think like a programmer. But really, I'm more on the artistic side.

[RobPhoboS]

FXPHD got my money, and I'll keep subscribing for the foreseeable future.
Escape are charging extortionate prices imho but there are some offers on at the moment.

[ChibiBattleTank]

Although I am someone try to get into the industry, from what I know TD stands for technical director but the position of artist and TD are the same I believe, the best thing is to look at job descriptions and here one from double negative-

http://www.dneg.com/jobs/houdini_and_maya_fx_tds_106.html

also from what I gathered is that houdini is better suited to particle effects than that of maya not to say that it isnt good to know maya particle effects as double negative seems to want artists with full knowledge of maya.

Courses wise, in my opinion I believe people would benifit more from full time rather than part time. However from what you posted as wanting to be a FX artist,my opinion is that from looking at the course outline, the Escape part time VFX evening course is not really geared towards alot of simulations and particle effects(not meaning you dont get to learn particles but probably not all the areas of particles as it is an introduction to particles) because it is mainly about camera tracking, Texturing and lighting, compositing and it is meant for artists puting 3D into live action and with some areas of particles to help achieve that, also to become a VFX artist from that course. The best thing would be to speak to Escape in person as they offer studio tours or even just phone them and try to speak to one of the tutors.

[DanLangella]

As stated before, FXPHD is wicked awesome. New term starts Oct. 1 and I can't wait to see what's new.

D

[ronni]

Hey all, thanks for the replies and advice... I could have sworn I posted a reply yesterday but for some reason it's not showing anymore.

Anyway, yes, it looks like the VFX evening course is a general intro to all things VFX and not entirely geared towards what I'm interested in. It does sound like the VFX TD course would be better suited for me. But it requires experience in Maya, which I have very very very little of. Maybe a better route to take would be the Maya Core evening course followed by the VFX TD course?

Chibi, I would love to take the courses full time, but unfortunately, I cannot afford to take 18 weeks off of work due to visa issues and of course, funds (difficult living in London without income!) I think I can manage 6 weeks full time, though, which is the length of time for the VFX TD course.

A couple more questions, if you don't mind..

-Is MEL easy to learn? I don't have a programming background, but I do know HTML. Not sure if that counts as programming or being able to think like a programmer...

-Am I correct in assuming an FX artist/TD can work in both the film and video game industries?

Thanks again for all your responses! I appreciate it. I am scheduled to meet with a training manager at Escape on the 30th to discuss options, but I wanted to post here so I could formulate more/better questions to ask on the day.

[faridzadeh]

Here is David Schoneveld's website. Every now and again he'll post a new tutorial online.
http://agentfx.blogspot.com/