CG talks

This time Marco had an opportunity to talk with a very special guest, Lucian Racovitan - an Architect turned Archviz artist who has plied his architectural chops for at least a decade in different places across the globe - Japan, Abu Dhabi, Copenhagen before he shifted to 3D visualization full-time. He is the founder of Bucharest Studio, and he and his team have been behind some absolutely stunning archviz renders! We're glad to have sat with him for a closer look into the life of Lucian as it relates to his work with Bucharest Studio, his perspective as a visualization artist, and his experience with us at GarageFarm.NET. Take a seat and listen to this great conversation about Lucian's experience path!

This time we had an opportunity to talk with Zacharias Reinhardt - a 3d Artist, tutor, YouTuber, entrepreneur and founder of CG Boost, an educational platform for 3d artists that want to boost their Blender 3d skills. If you are a 3d artist and haven’t heard of Zach yet, you probably might have stumbled upon online competitions/challenges such as weeklycgchallenge.com or SculptJanuary - Zach is the person behind these events.Becoming an entrepreneur and running his own tutorial business was not planned by Zacharias from the beginning. It rather happened gradually through many twists and turns. Before he got to know that both doing 3d art and teaching are his superpowers, Zach tried freelancing, working in a TV company, and running a YouTube channel. We talk a bit about how parents sometimes view a 3d artist's career as something not stable or serious - luckily, this was not the case with Zach, whose parents were very supportive and believed he’ll find the right way. This ability to test himself in many fields and learn from experiences finally resulted in understanding what he really wanted to focus on and gave him confidence and courage to start CG Boost. Zach gives us some insight into how he organizes his work - these are some powerful tips you can use too! He developed those skills throughout many years of testing what works for him. Everyone (even successful people that you think are way ahead of you) starts small and grows from there. Zach’s approach is to start with something simple and build upon that rather than struggling for something perfect. Improvement comes with time.We also talked about how to deal with less pleasant parts of work. Zach shares how he divides those into smaller, less painful doses, and when possible he uses the great power of delegating tasks to people he trusts. This approach steadily improved his work/life balance quality so now Zach can truly enjoy a vacation without constantly worrying about the business matters. If you doubt that following your gut feeling and earning money with free and open-source software is possible - listen to this episode and Zach’s case will prove it surely is. Zach’s business model also shows it is possible to do what you’re best at and run a successful company with the right people on board.

This time we had an opportunity to talk with Zacharias Reinhardt - a 3d Artist, tutor, YouTuber, entrepreneur and founder of CG Boost, an educational platform for 3d artists that want to boost their Blender 3d skills. If you are a 3d artist and haven’t heard of Zach yet, you probably might have stumbled upon online competitions/challenges such as weeklycgchallenge.com or SculptJanuary - Zach is the person behind these events. We take a dive this time into the nitty-gritty of tutorial-making art. This topic is close to both Zach’s and DJ's hearts so the conversation goes deep into the subject - neither even if you’ve ever attempted making a tutorial nor plan to do it, you surely have watched both good and bad tutorials, you should listen to this convo and get some benefits from it. We try to define what makes a great one and what can destroy (or harm) the learning experience of the viewer.We asked Zach to recall his first tutorial and reflect on all that he has learned through the years that made him one of the most successful Blender tutors around. We also discuss the inspiration coming from other tutorial makers in the community. It turns out that both DJ and Zach are huge fans of Ian Hubert’s one-minute ‘Lazy tutorials’ which are perhaps more useful for more advanced users who gladly skim through most tutorials just looking for that one nugget tip that answers a specific 3d workflow problem. However, these might be more on the entertainment side (which is of course great) Zach likes to make sure that his tutorials are extensive and easy to understand and follow - even (or perhaps especially) for beginners. He regards his Blender Launchpad course as the best he has done so far and considers it to be a great extension and thorough introduction to Blender for everyone who may have stumbled upon Andrew Price’s ‘The Donut tutorial’ and is hungry for some more in-depth training. Zach does not consider this competition, but rather a symbiosis of all the Blender tutorial creators who cater to all possible flavors and tastes of various community members. After all, 3d artists are one big family and we never stop learning. Zach also gives us a glimpse of some future plans he has for CG Boost which include reviving the CG Boost challenge that got on hold for a short period of time.

This time we had an opportunity to talk with Zacharias Reinhardt - a 3d Artist, tutor, YouTuber, entrepreneur and founder of CG Boost, an educational platform for 3d artists that want to boost their Blender 3d skills. If you are a 3d artist and haven’t heard of Zach yet, you probably might have stumbled upon online competitions/challenges such as weeklycgchallenge.com or SculptJanuary - Zach is the person behind these events. Zacharias describes his 3d adventure since his early high school years when he started doing fun VFX shots for homemade Sci-fi short films he made with his older brother, one of these turned out not so short - it was an hour-long! Back then he first stumbled upon Blender which he later replaced with Cinema 4d. Once Zach started to get into more serious paid 3d jobs, he was again allured to Blender due to it being free and open source and it seemed to allow for similar functionality as C4D. Zach says he never regretted that choice. His Blender adventure soon led him to create some YouTube tutorials which had some success. This encouraged him to create educational videos he then sold on DVDs - does anyone still remember those ancient times?! All of this along with impressive artistic skill growth over the years resulted in a quite bold and highly successful launch of CG Boost which encompasses all of Zach’s endeavors.

This time, DJ talked with Lucas Bazyluk - Director of Operations at GarageFarm.NET. In this convo, we went a bit outside professional life and the CGI Industry to talk about running (and it is not running scripts or animating run-cycles). Lucas has been a runner for quite a few years and he was able to achieve his dream goal of successfully running a marathon! It might have taken him a bit longer than he expected but the lessons he learned through it were sure worth the additional effort!Though running may seem irrelevant to the daily life of a 3d artist (or at least some of them), there is more you can learn from Lucas' passion than you might think. It comes down to setting goals and meeting them in time. Lucas shares his observations on how we usually overestimate our abilities in the short term while we tend to underestimate them in the long run. Little daily habits and routines when practiced regularly until they come to us as naturally as breathing can not only make our lives easier and more orderly but also become a foundation for long-term success and efficiency.

This time, DJ talked with Lucas Bazyluk - Director of Operations at GarageFarm.NET. What does translation have to do with render farms and 3d CGI? It might not be obvious at first glance however you never know what skills might get you where in your professional career. This was the case for Lucas, who was approaching the new opportunity with an open and curious mind.Now after working in the 3d industry for over 9 years he shares with us his insights from the perspective of an outsider who has now become an insider. Where is the CGI industry heading? Are offline renderers doomed to extinction? We hope you can get some new thoughts on these and other related topics from listening to this podcast episode.

This time, DJ talked with Lucas Bazyluk - Director of Operations at GarageFarm.NET about his unexpected journey into the world of web design. It is an inspiring story of how a practical need paired with curiosity and problem solving enabled Lucas to successfully contribute to GF’s success.Lucas wouldn’t have imagined himself designing websites before he joined GarageFarm around 2013. He was involved in a totally different market segment and focused more on managerial tasks. In fact, he got employed as a translator at first because of his excellent knowledge of Korean, Polish, and English (a rather niche combination). The adventure with designing websites and apps began soon after that as Lucas spotted the need to improve the existing rather raw solutions that were used in those early days of the company. Quite soon these small improvements of UI (simple graphic and icon layouts) have sucked Lucas into design thinking. He shares with us what (and how) he learned along the way. Is this unexpected career twist going to lead Lucas to redesign Starcraft’s UI (Lucas’ favorite RTS game)? We shall learn that in time. As for now, enjoy listening to this inspiring story of digging into the design from scratch.

DJ is proud and happy to interview Fabio Palvelli - a 3D artist, business consultant, and YouTuber, Founder of the famous D2 Conference (first for archviz and now for all digital artists). Fabio is also known for his positive attitude (especially towards dogs, pizza, and Nutella but life in general too) and he became one of the early adopters in the emerging NFT digital art scene.In this part, we focus on Fabio’s art and his personal goals and experiences. Fabio talks about his love of color and his spark to create art for joy. Fabio tells us about his everyday render challenge (similar to Beeple’s) that he does to stay creative and inspired (regardless of external approval). The conversation revolves around what drives Fabio’s creativity and what he loves the most about art. We share some inspirations from the modern and contemporary art world including Kazimir Malevich, Peter Tarka ( https://petertarka.com/ ), and Harry Pack ( https://www.harrypackart.com/ ).Fabio has always been a community man (just to mention his D2 conference roots) so he is open to collaborations. DJ asks him about the collabs he already did and he would wish (or dream) for the future.We also touch upon his shift from using Cinema 4d to Blender. Fabio shares what he loves about the new software and mentions what he misses from C4D (particularly the mograph)

DJ is proud and happy to interview Fabio Palvelli - a 3D artist, business consultant, and YouTuber, Founder of the famous D2 Conference (first for archviz and now for all digital artists). Fabio is also known for his positive attitude (especially towards dogs, pizza, and Nutella but life in general too) and he became one of the early adopters in the emerging NFT digital art scene.The NFT stands for Non Fungible Tokens and it undoubtedly was the most controversial three letters of the last year. We dive with Fabio into the pros and cons of the whole NFT hype. He openly talks about his own experience of being skeptical at first, then enthusiastically jumps into the gold rush to finally land a positive but balanced point of view. In a friendly mood DJ and Fabio try to dismantle strange acronyms like GM or WAGMI. Fabio also talks about making money in the NFT space (or losing it) and how capricious it actually is. Are NFT-s the future of digital art or is it nothing more than a scam? Will there be more and more Beeple-s or is that just a seasonal trend that will pass like a summer storm?

This time our special guest is Bian Kouhi - Toronto-based animator with impressive experience working on big titles like “Paw Patrol” and “Maya and the Three”, founder of 3d Animation Hub YT channel, where he publishes tutorials and all animation related stuff - https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianKouhiBrian is an entrepreneur who has recently launched an animation course/mentoring platform https://www.toanimate.ca/ which aims to jumpstart people's animation careers using Blender. This interview hosted by DJ is divided into four parts covering different topics from starting a career in animation, through learning the skills and software to running a tutoring business.In the fourth and last part of this interview, we dive into the ever-hot topic of 3d software comparisons. Maya is the long-time leader and Blender is the underdog claiming to replace the king now or in the future. Battle for the crown of ‘the industry standard’ always heats up internet comment sections of the CGI community and Brian Kouhi has a very unique position to take part in the discussion (or flamewar it is ?). He has been using both Maya and Blender in high-end animation, so when he talks about it, he speaks from the perspective of real industry experience. Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the animation software deathmatch of the year! Among many things we talked about in the interview are: - Where Blender shines and where it still lacks- The grease pencil and its potential for stylized animation- ‘Maya and the Three’ production (and a little insight on Tangent Animation shutdown)- How should Blender be fixed (in the eyes of an animator)- Animation for film vs animation for video games

This time our special guest is Bian Kouhi - Toronto-based animator with impressive experience working on big titles like “Paw Patrol” and “Maya and the Three”, founder of 3d Animation Hub YT channel, where he publishes tutorials and all animation related stuff - https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianKouhiBrian is an entrepreneur who has recently launched an animation course/mentoring platform https://www.toanimate.ca/ which aims to jumpstart people's animation careers using Blender. This interview hosted by DJ is divided into four parts covering different topics from starting a career in animation, through learning the skills and software to running a tutoring business.In this part, we talk about business…and art too. Are art and business worlds apart or can you blend them seamlessly into your life? Brian Kouhi seems to be a living proof you can. And probably you should! Brian tells us how he got interested in managing finances when he got his first serious income. He then used his newly acquired investing knowledge to build a solid plan that could back up his long-term goals of independence and being able to work on his own projects.Brian also shares with us some useful insights about time management to keep a full-time job alongside business development. The sense of control, personal impact, and fulfillment that running your own business gives is surely worth a couple of extra hours’ work and some sweat! We also talk a bit about the tricky art of balancing the pricing of work and products. Listening to this inspiring conversation can also give you valuable hints on how to leverage YouTube and online community sharing to build an audience and develop your brand. Finally, Brian reflects on how running a business impacts his artistic skills. Does it have a positive impact on art? Find out by listening to this episode and stay tuned for more!

This time our special guest is Bian Kouhi - Toronto-based animator with impressive experience working on big titles like “Paw Patrol” and “Maya and the Three”, founder of 3d Animation Hub YT channel, where he publishes tutorials and all animation related stuff - https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianKouhiBrian is an entrepreneur who has recently launched an animation course/mentoring platform https://www.toanimate.ca/ which aims to jumpstart people's animation careers using Blender. This interview hosted by DJ is divided into four parts covering different topics from starting a career in animation, through learning the skills and software to running a tutoring business.In this part of the conversation DJ and Brian talk a bit about learning and teaching animation. What it takes to learn to animate and how to even start if you want a career in animation. Brian gives clear answers to the most crucial questions:Is learning animation hard?What is the number one skill you have to master to become (a good) animator?Is there a shortcut or do you have to go through the long and painful way?We also discuss the pros and cons of universities for animation, free learning content on YT, and the added value of paid structured courses like ToAnimate that make them a worthwhile investment. Brian gives a ray of hope to those that would like to join the animation community in their 30’s or 40’s saying it’s never too late to pursue your dreams (though it might take more perseverance and devotion). Is learning rigging a necessity or even a bonus for an animator? Are the new AI tools for animation - like Deepmotion or Plask a threat or a breath of fresh air to the animator’s world? We cover those topics together with many small digressions in this episode of CG Talks.

This time our special guest is Bian Kouhi - Toronto-based animator with impressive experience working on big titles like “Paw Patrol” and “Maya and the Three”, founder of 3d Animation Hub YT channel, where he publishes tutorials and all animation related stuff - https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianKouhiBrian is an entrepreneur who has recently launched an animation course/mentoring platform https://www.toanimate.ca/ which aims to jumpstart people's animation careers using Blender. This interview hosted by DJ is divided into four parts covering different topics from starting a career in animation, through learning the skills and software to running a tutoring business.The first part is dedicated to Brian Kouhi’s story of jumping into the animation industry, getting an education, and the lessons he learned back then. We get to know an inspiring story of a young but very ambitious immigrant from Iran to Canada forging a successful career in animation. We hope this conversation will give you a new perspective on how to start an animator’s career and how to do it really well.

In this episode of CG Talks, the podcast where CG guys talk about computer graphics, our very special guest is Mr. Louis du Mont, independent digital 3d artist, director, and founder of a small boutique animation studio ‘Weareformation’ based in London. Louis is also a YouTube tutorials creator who shares his Blender knowledge on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mrlouismanThis time we talk about the covid pandemic and how it impacted both the professional and private life of Louis as well as the CGI industry as a whole. Louis describes his remote-working experience and the pros and cons of it. We take a closer look at Great Britain and London particularly (just because Louis is living and working there) and discuss what were the effects of both Brexit and the pandemic on the computer graphics market. Staying home throughout the lockdowns was surely a good excuse to engage with virtual reality so we took a minute to share our impressions of the latest Unreal 5 Matrixdemo. Is the super immersive VR experience something exciting or rather a menace we should dread? Louis is definitely on the optimistic side expecting more opportunities that the new technology provides. We also touch upon the controversy surrounding the NFT trend in the digital art space.There are plenty of interesting insights in this episode so enjoy, watch, listen and stay tuned for the next episodes of the CG talks podcast!

In this episode of CG Talks, the podcast where CG guys talk about computer graphics, our very special guest is Mr. Louis du Mont, independent digital 3d artist, director, and founder of a small boutique animation studio ‘Weareformation’ based in London. Louis is also a YouTube tutorials creator who shares his Blender knowledge on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mrlouismanThe main theme of this episode is sculpting. Both digital and traditional. Louis comes from an artistic family. His father Andrew du Mont (http://andrewdumont.co.uk/)is a sculptor creating impressive metal artworks. With this kind of family background, Louis was doomed to become an artist himself (but what a pleasant doom it is) and though starting the career from animation he eventually got into digital sculpting in Z-Brush and later in Blender and Nomad Sculpt as well. The creative freedom that sculpting provided compared to poly modeling was a breath of fresh air in Louis’s pipeline, and once he started using it there was no stopping. Louis explains his sculpting learning path including traditional, digital, and even VR sculpting. We also discuss the latest events of Maxon buying Pixologic and Z-Brush and the whole software as a service subscription trend. Among those things we also touch upon topics like the value of studying anatomy and studying at universities.There are plenty of interesting insights in this episode so enjoy, watch, listen and stay tuned for the last part about VR, the pandemic, and the metaverse!

In this episode of CG Talks, the podcast where CG guys talk about computer graphics, we continue the interview with Louis du Mont, 3d artist, director, and founder of a small animation studio ‘Weareformation’ based in London. Louis is also a YouTube tutorials creator who shares his Blenderknowledge on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mrlouismanThis is the second part of a 4 part interview hosted by D.J. and Amiel (both passionate Blender users). The main topics discussed in this episode are the tools Louis uses (or used) in production. He has quite a long history with 3d and other digital creation areas and throughout his career, he has used a bunch of different tools for specific tasks in the pipeline. We asked Louis about the pros and cons of Lightwave and Blender as well as the challenges and benefits of learning and adapting new software. Due to Louis’s passion for photography, we asked about the impact it has on his 3d work. We also digress about music and audio production which Louis has on his interests radar.There are plenty of interesting insights in this episode so enjoy, watch, listen, and stay tuned for the next parts where we talk about sculpting, VR, and the metaverse.

In this episode of CG Talks, the podcast where CG guys talk about computer graphics, our very special guest is Mr. Louis du Mont, independent digital 3d artist, director, and founder of a small boutique animation studio ‘Weareformation’ based in London. Louis is also a YouTube tutorials creator who shares his Blender knowledge on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/mrlouismanThis is the first part of a 4 part interview hosted by D.J. and Amiel (both passionateBlender users). We start with Louis du Mont’s origin story. How he got interested in art and particularly 3d graphics. Louis is a man of many talents and has always been a curious and passionate artist as well as a technology geek eager to test new stuff. We discuss the art of animation and the new stylized animation trends of movies like ‘Into the Spiderverse’ or ‘Final Fantasy’. We also discuss the business side of running a small studio. Artists often find it hard to tackle both the artistic and business approach of 3d graphics. Louis who teamed up with a friend forming (nomen omen) ‘Weareformation’ seems to have found a sweet spot on that issue. Louis shares with us how he approaches picking jobs to take and what are the benefits of having a studio company over being a single freelancer. While being your own boss has some responsibility and cost, it surely has the advantage of having a more decisive and personal influence on what you create.There are plenty of interesting insights in this episode so enjoy, watch, listen, and stay tuned for the next parts where we talk about 3d software, blender, z-brush, sculpting, VR, and the metaverse.

In this episode of the CG Talks Podcast (the podcast where CG guys talk about Computer Graphics) we are thrilled to interview Gordon Neil host of a podcast called Digital Artcast. He has interviewed top industry professionals from the game development industry and this time gladly sat on the other side of the mic to talk with us about his journey and experience. Neil is a 3d artist specializing in gamedev currently working for Fabricated Madness on an exciting new project - ‘The Chronicles of Dr. Zammsy ’ a new collectible card game using the NFT blockchain technology. Our audience can be sure that today’s episode will be full of crispy stories straight from Gordon’s pouch!This last part of CG Talk's interview with Gordon Neill (host of Digital Artcast) revolves around the pandemic and how it affected the CGI industry and artists' lives. We also play some little future forecasts of how Artificial Technology might impact the way we work and create. The remote work and lack of off-line meetings, the difficulties as well as opportunities it brought. Neill also shares his art inspirations from comic book artists including Mike Mignola’sHellboy, Todd McFarlane, and Jim Lee. We discuss the value of traditional art craftsmanship in the age of modern digital tools. We wonder what the future of digital art will look like with the uncanny valley being conquered on one hand and the widespread trend of stylized animations like ‘Into the Spiderverse’ on the other. Finally, we dive into the topic of Artificial intelligence tools in digital creative work. Will A.I. deprive all artists of work or is it just another tool in the toolbox? What if all the electricity went out? Neill shares his hobbies and passions that help him keep a healthy balance between the digital space and real life. This can also help improve your artwork.To find more about Neill’s work and the Digital Artcast check out these links:https://linktr.ee/geoarthttps://www.artstation.com/geoarthttps://www.instagram.com/gordymakesart

In this episode of the CG Talks Podcast (the podcast where CG guys talk about Computer Graphics) we are thrilled to interview Gordon Neil host of a podcast called Digital Artcast. He has interviewed top industry professionals from the game development industry and this time gladly sat on the other side of the mic to talk with us about his journey and experience. Neil is a 3d artist specializing in gamedev currently working for Fabricated Madness on an exciting new project - ‘The Chronicles of Dr. Zammsy ’ a new collectible card game using the NFT blockchain technology. Our audience can be sure that today’s episode will be full of crispy stories straight from Gordon’s pouch!In this second part of the conversation, we focused specifically on the gamedev industry and how Neill got to work as an artist for games. This episode is full of little nuggets of experience that might prove really useful for young aspiring artists who want to go that path. Making a portfolio that stands out, specifically aiming at a company and the type of work they produce is just one of the topics Neill covers. The interview also goes into tangents like the Metaverse, Unreal Engine 5 Matrix demo, and what it promises for the future of gaming. Are games bad for your health as your parents may tell you? Neil gives us a few reasons to think differently about the impact of gaming on your life.Finally, Neill reveals a bit about his new job and the game project he's involved in called ‘The Chronicles of Dr. Zammsy’ - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm0TSo7TIz8psD00PRVW5ig‘Dr.Zammsy’ is a digital card collectible game based on blockchain and NFT-s (Non-Fungible Tokens) so we take a minute to discuss that hot and controversial topic as well.

In this episode of the CG Talks Podcast (the podcast where CG guys talk about Computer Graphics) we are thrilled to interview Gordon Neil host of a podcast called Digital Artcast. He has interviewed top industry professionals from the game development industry and this time gladly sat on the other side of the mic to talk with us about his journey and experience. Neil is a 3d artist specializing in gamedev currently working for Fabricated Madness on an exciting new project - ‘The Chronicles of Dr. Zammsy ’ a new collectible card game using the NFT blockchain technology. Our audience can be sure that today’s episode will be full of crispy stories straight from Gordon’s pouch!In the first part of the conversation, Neil tells us his story of how he became a digital artist starting from a totally different career (literally ‘working on the railway’) and giving a courageous leap of faith to pursue his dreams of making games he loved to play as a kid. Neill describes a memorable turning point story when he got back home from a wrecking shift fixing the railway stuff outside. Scotland’s rough weather has taken its toll and it was just enough to help Neil realize this was not how he wanted his life to go on and he made the decision to change. Along the way, he started the Digital Artcast - which gradually became a fast train to industry networking as well as his personal and professional landmark. All this story came to fruition with numerous ups and downs. Neil openly talks about his struggles and how eventually they led to some unexpected success. Though many podcasts appear in space and quickly disappear, this was not the case with Digital Artcast. Relax and listen to Neil Gordon’s inspiring story. It clearly shows that devotion, humility, and true passion with a dose of persistence is a great recipe for success.