CG Garage

WeWork has become one of this decade's biggest success stories. This New York-based firm offers flexible shared workspaces for anyone from freelancers to large enterprises, complete with health insurance, an internal social network and events. Its approach has helped businesses thrive, and its model has rolled out to 738 locations in 39 countries with more than 13,000 employees.

Two of those employees are Jake Williams (Creative Manager) and Greg Rogers (Head of Visualization), who are responsible for visualizing the company's upcoming workspaces. In this podcast, recorded at the Total Chaos conference, Jake and Greg tell Chris how their team has grown exponentially alongside WeWork and The We Company; how working in-house compares to working for an external architectural visualization agency; and they discuss the technology they use to turn around beautiful images in astonishingly short periods of time.

Mike Hill's enviable career has seen him wear many hats on big projects in film, TV and games. He designed the formidable Retribution spaceship for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, helped conceptualize some of Game of Thrones' most iconic sets and scenes, created the intricate Memory Orb device for Blade Runner 2049, and worked out how to unite 18 disparate episodes of Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.

But that's not all this multifaceted film fanatic does — he's also becoming renowned for his in-depth lectures on storytelling and visual language in films. In this podcast, he gives a concise version of his theories on Jurassic Park and its theme of parental responsibility, explains how these seep into Spielberg's other films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Hook, and even talks about what makes Jurassic World so morally bankrupt.

This is a fascinating podcast for anyone who looks for a deeper meaning in movies, and you'll also find out which big-budget movie Mike's working on next.

Victor and Chris first met at the THU festival a few years ago, and at Chaos Group's Total Chaos event earlier this year they were finally able to sit down and record this podcast. What follows is a retelling of Victor's journey from humble 3ds Max user to one of the most revered and distinctive 3D character artists on the planet.

There's lots of sound advice for artists here, including how Victor has overcome his fears of talking on stage and being interviewed by big companies, how he's learned from criticism, and taking the first bold steps to become a freelance artist full-time. He also talks about how his dream job didn't quite meet his expectations and his most recent work on Love, Death & Robots.

Zaha Hadid Architects has always embraced technology to stay ahead of the game — even the late Zaha Hadid was herself using computers to design buildings back in the 90s. Today, the company makes use of software including Revit, Maya, V-Ray, Rhino and Grasshopper to create its iconic parametric designs, as well as lots of bespoke tools to create VR experiences and model human interactions.

In this podcast, recorded at Total Chaos, Lead Designer/VR Developer Jose Pareja Gomez and Designer Marko Margeta offer a comprehensive breakdown of what happens behind-the-scenes at ZHA and how they get many different pieces of technology to play together nicely. They also talk about how they use scripts to make their lives easier and the ways in which real-time ray tracing promises to change workflows in the near future.

The CG industry is on the cusp of a dramatic shift. While ray tracing has always been the best way to achieve lifelike CG visuals, hardware and software advances are making it feasible for architects, arch viz artists and designers to use real-time engines to create astonishing imagery and VR experiences.

In this podcast, Chris is joined by Chaos Group's Vice President of Product Management Phil Miller and V-Ray for Unreal Product Manager Simeon Balabanov. The pair discuss the history of rasterized graphics, how they compare with ray-traced imagery and some of the myths around real-time. You'll also learn how Chaos Group is making it easier to take ray-traced workflows into real-time with products such as V-Ray for Unreal and Project Lavina.

A lot has changed since Darin Grant last appeared on the CG Garage podcast back in September 2016. The VFX industry has overcome its cloud-computing fears and embraced it wholesale, making it faster and cheaper to create imagery for Hollywood movies. Darin, meanwhile, left Solid Angle to consult for various companies and is now CTO for creative digital studio Animal Logic, the company behind The Lego Movie 2, The Matrix and Happy Feet.

In this podcast, Darin offers an overview of the recent history and near future of CG, including why acquisitions of small companies by big ones aren't necessarily bad, and the pros and cons of software subscription models. He also talks about his ongoing work for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and ACM SIGGRAPH.

Few people have such comprehensive knowledge and foresight of the VFX industry as Darin, making this vital listening for everyone from junior VFX artists to head honchos at major studios.

Gray Marshall has always wanted to tell stories. In his youth, he was inspired to pursue CG by Tron and Pixar's Luxo Jr., but when he studied film at USC he fell in love with the physical process of filmmaking. After dabbling in motion control cameras, he joined Digital Domain as a VFX supervisor and then founded his own company, Gray Matter FX.

Today, Gray has brought all his industry experience together in his role as a colorist at the Deluxe-owned Company 3. As Gray explains, this oft-overlooked but fascinating job adds a crucial finishing touch to films, uniting scenes provided by different VFX vendors or film crews, correcting visual continuity mistakes and providing a bridge between the editor, director of photography and director.

Using examples from Ant-Man and The Wasp, Roma and Avengers: Endgame, Gray goes into a deeper technical level on the current standards of film production and distribution, and tells Chris how colorists make sure their work looks good on everything from your home TV to a state-of-the-art laser projector.

Every Saturday, karate sensei Robert Christophe teaches kids (including Chris's) to find their inner strength and the virtues of tolerance, discipline and accepting other people.

Now, Robert is taking his Mr Miyagi-like leadership skills to filmmaking via New Voices Academy, a summer camp for kids aged 11 to 14. Based out of his Burbank, California dojo, Robert will guide attendees through the process of writing, shooting and acting in short PG-13 horror films with help from industry professionals from Marvel Studios, Nickelodeon and Disney.

In this podcast, Robert talks about his previous experience as an acting tutor, what inspired him to set up the academy and his plans for its future — and the role Chris will play in it.

Every Saturday, karate sensei Robert Christophe teaches kids (including Chris's) to find their inner strength and the virtues of tolerance, discipline and accepting other people.

Now, Robert is taking his Mr Miyagi-like leadership skills to filmmaking via New Voices Academy, a summer camp for kids aged 11 to 14. Based out of his Burbank, California dojo, Robert will guide attendees through the process of writing, shooting and acting in short PG-13 horror films with help from industry professionals from Marvel Studios, Nickelodeon and Disney.

In this podcast, Robert talks about his previous experience as an acting tutor, what inspired him to set up the academy and his plans for its future — and the role Chris will play in it.

Every Saturday, karate sensei Robert Christophe teaches kids (including Chris's) to find their inner strength and the virtues of tolerance, discipline and accepting other people.

Now, Robert is taking his Mr Miyagi-like leadership skills to filmmaking via New Voices Academy, a summer camp for kids aged 11 to 14. Based out of his Burbank, California dojo, Robert will guide attendees through the process of writing, shooting and acting in short PG-13 horror films with help from industry professionals from Marvel Studios, Nickelodeon and Disney.

In this podcast, Robert talks about his previous experience as an acting tutor, what inspired him to set up the academy and his plans for its future — and the role Chris will play in it.