CG Garage

Over the past 12 years, V-Ray GPU has been developed alongside the CPU renderer to take advantage of increasingly powerful and specialized hardware — and now it's coming of age. Joining Chris this week is Alex Soklev, whose passion for ray tracing has propelled him to the position of Team Leader in Chaos Group's V-Ray GPU team.

Fresh from his online GTC presentation, Alex breaks down the components that make V-Ray GPU such a versatile renderer. He goes into detail on integrating the Optix API to make the most of NVIDIA's latest RT cores, explains how clever technology such as out-of-core and on-demand rendering help keep GPU ray tracing fast and efficient, and gives a thorough breakdown of how static, dynamic and evictable geometry can keep rendering fast and efficient.

It's a perfect refresher on ray tracing techniques — and you'll find out why V-Ray GPU can handle any scene no matter how much GPU memory you've got.

Pixar's unique fusion of cutting-edge technology with storytelling has changed the face of cinema and given us some memorable movies along the way. A key player behind-the-scenes has been Esdras Varagnolo, who contributed to lighting and compositing on Pixar movies including Ratatouille, Up and Cars 2, as well as shorts "La Luna," "Piper" and "Lou."

As Esdras begins a new chapter in his life, at David Ellison's Skydance Animation, he reflects on the technical innovations he's helped make possible, from "shampositing" at Digital Domain to integrating deep compositing and Katana at Pixar. He reveals how Pixar uses its short films as testbeds for new technology, how Incredibles 2's production schedule was slashed by 12 months and the fascinating reason why the company's early characters had that iconic eye glint.

Lauren Mayer-Beug has come a long way since working at Sway Studio with Chris. This multi-talented artist cut her teeth in compositing and VFX supervision for movies and music videos before moving into motion graphics, animation and social media features. She's created pieces for Apple, Google, Facebook and Beats, and her clientele include Dr. Dre, Ron Howard, Barack Obama and George Lucas.

In this podcast, Lauren gives Chris a rundown of how she's worked up to the position of creative director at Chapeau Studios, a brand think-tank with roots in the world of VFX. She imparts vital advice on how women can make their voices heard in a traditionally male-dominated industry and reveals the techniques she uses to make smart, innovative creative decisions.

With digital humans and deepfakes becoming increasingly prevalent in both traditional and social media, the law surrounding virtual humans has become more complex. Here to save the day is Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who has served as head lawyer and second-in-command at the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) for the past 20 years.

Using examples Chris has encountered in his professional life, Duncan gives a level-headed and clear-cut primer on how copyright law applies to performers and CG artists. He tackles everything from the highly detailed digi-doubles of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher created for Star Wars movies to amateur fan art at local markets, and the emerging world of deepfakes.

Obviously, this podcast does not constitute legal advice, but it's a fascinating listen whether you're a CG pro, an actor — or just an entertainment fan.

This week, Chris meets an old friend and former Digital Domain co-worker Alex Nijmeh — and this joyful podcast is a testament to how much fun they had together on movies such as The Day After Tomorrow and I, Robot. They reminisce about how unfeasibly tight deadlines pushed them to learn software and techniques, as well as the characters they met and funny antics they got up to at DD's studio.

Today, Alex's enthusiasm for all things CG has taken him to Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he graduated from working on movies such as Frozen and Zootopia to overseeing the company's workflow. He tells Chris how a lack of practical experience with 3ds Max didn't stop him from beginning his career, and he gives his thoughts on the future computing trends that will reshape in the industry.

Like Chris, Juan Gomez worked at Digital Domain on some of the company's biggest and most innovative projects: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Maleficent and Tron: Legacy. But Juan has followed a different career path, first into the world of virtual reality at Method and on to Epic Games, where he's spearheaded game-changing real-time virtual production for movies.

This podcast offers a comprehensive overview of the ways Unreal Engine is turning the entire production process on its head and making it faster and easier to create VFX-heavy movies. Juan tells Chris how the company is able to offer tailor-made tools so directors and DoPs can use familiar interfaces and not get overwhelmed with technical aspects of VFX. He also reveals how the tech is pulling VFX artists away from workstations and onto the set, giving them god-like powers in the creative process.

Virtual production is about to make the film industry more agile and transform the end result — and this podcast is an amazing head start.

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Digital humans are playing an increasingly important role in our day-to-day lives. CG replicas of people dominate entertainment, from epic movies such as The Irishman to simple YouTube videos. Interacting with AI assistants has become second nature. And social media and news headlines are dominated by the issues surrounding deepfakes.

Joining Chris for this week's podcast is Koki Nagano, who has become an expert in virtual doppelgangers via his research on digital humans at USC and his work at Pinscreen, a company that uses AI to supercharge the creation of 3D personal avatars from a single photo. Koki gets under the skin (literally) of what it takes to create a detailed digital human and talks about how he's approached the uncanny valley from both sides.

Listen to find out some incredible facts about your face — and how combining old and new technology could result in the most accurate digital humans to date.

Want to learn how to do 3D in motion graphics? EJ Hassenfratz is your man. After landing on his feet in motion graphics for NBC, PBS and ABC, EJ wound up giving a presentation for Cinema 4D company Maxon, which inspired him to learn more about the software and start creating tutorials. Today, EJ works as a freelance motion designer while crafting courses for the renowned online learning platform, School of Motion.

In this podcast, EJ gives a frank and funny insight into the world of education. He highlights some of the pitfalls of learning for free via YouTube tutorials or graduating with massive debt from college. He presents some dependable advice about taking on challenges and investing in yourself, as well as a nostalgic view of the rapid evolution of technology, animation, education and computer graphics.

"Deepfake" videos have become hugely popular online — for better or worse. This AI-powered technology results in hilarious celebrity head swaps but, as Jordan Peele demonstrated with his manipulation of Barack Obama's speech, they could play a more disturbing role in online misinformation. Computer vision scientist Wael AbdAlmageed's mission is to develop tools that can quickly detect deepfakes with a good degree of accuracy.

As digital human experts, both Chris and Wael took part in a SAG-AFTRA panel at CES and recorded this podcast afterwards. Wael explains some of the telltale signs that you're watching a deepfake video and the approaches computer algorithms use to detect them. He also tackles digital de-aging in movies such as The Irishman and the ethics of facial manipulation. This is a fascinating look at a fight against a technology that is improving day by day.

Originally, Olcun Tan wanted to be a car designer — but seeing Jurassic Park ignited a passion for VFX. Today, he runs Gradient Effects, a global studio that has provided effects for Game of Thrones, Watchmen and Stranger Things. Olcun's career has been defined by finding his own solutions to problems — whether it's creating procedural effects in Maya, using forbidden programming languages at animation studios or setting up his own businesses.

Olcun also breaks down some of the innovative work he's done on a variety of projects, such as crumbling statues in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and crashing helicopters in Black Hawk Down, to more recent projects, including digitally de-aging John Goodman for TV series The Righteous Gemstones with his own Shapeshifter software. You'll find out his role in digitally slimming Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant, as well as tips for starting and locating your own business.