I’m very excited to share a new tutorial on replacing skies in Photoshop. In this video, I demonstrate how to use the Content-Aware Fill, Channels, Layer Mask, and Dodge/Burn tools to create a matte for the existing bland-looking sky and drop in a new sky.
I was recently asked by one of my Blender students how many lessons he would need to take. My lessons, as is common for private tutoring, are open-ended, following a general outline. However, I decided that it was a good idea to write down a general course outline and post it here. The lessons are as follows: Continue reading
This year, as I did in 2015, I am again compiling a list of which films I think will win during the Academy Awards.
2015 seemed to be the Year of the Bear when it came to visual effects, but the Star Wars: The Force Awakens team at ILM created a wide range of fantastic and believable effects that are sure to win out. After snatching 4 trophies at the VES awards, there seems to be little doubt as to the outcome of this category.
There is a strong showing of animated feature nominees this year, but sadly, Inside Out is the only film from the major U.S. studios to be nominated. And previous years have shown that mainstream appeal weighs heavily with Academy voters. Besides that, the film is wonderfully endearing and original and has already received accolades, including a Golden Globe and 10 Annies.
After already having received a BAFTA, Lon Blender and Martin Hernandez are promising candidates for picking up an Oscar in this category for The Revenant. Beyond that, however, their work is excellent. The Soundworks Collection has some good interviews on The Revenant and other Oscar-nominated films for sound here.
The broader Academy typically lumps sound editing and sound mixing together, so I am also naming The Revenant here.
Emmanuel Lubezki, the Oscar-winning DP for Gravity, gets my vote for his outstanding camera work on The Revenant. I have yet to see the film, but the clips I have seen display excellent work by Mr. Lubezki.
See the full list of nominees here: http://oscar.go.com/nominees/animated-feature-film.
For a few years now, I have been using a program called 123D Catch, formerly known as Autodesk Photofly. Photogrammetry is a process of using photos and complex algorithms to mathematically determine where objects are in 3D space and what their shape is. I have had mixed success in using this software, but overall I have achieved some good results and gained a good understanding of which kinds of objects reconstruct well and which do not. Continue reading
The VES Awards are again right around the corner and, as I did last year, I have listed my picks in each category and my thoughts on the visual effects of the different films, tv episodes, games, and commercials.
Continue reading
The past few days I have been working on a new painting in Corel Painter 2016. I’d have to say that this is my first time using the software since my Inspirational Design class 3 1/2 years ago.
Total time for this painting was about 6.5 hours. Click for more info and images. Continue reading
I recently finished up two compositing projects. In both cases, I was asked to replace the screens in the videos. The videos are below with a description of my process for each. Continue reading
Right now there are an increasing number of tools to use photos to aid the 3D design process. ReCap360 and 123D Catch fom Autodesk are two popular options, along with PhotoModeler and the late ImageModeler from Realviz. Most modern matchmoving software can also create point clouds from photos. 
Continue reading
Superpose is a plugin from Keller Software for The Foundry’s NUKE and Adobe After Effects that automatically cleans up backgrounds and removes unwanted foreground objects. It does this by statistically analyzing each pixel and recreating the background behind moving objects in an image sequence or video clip. It is not meant to create a perfect, end result but can create very good results. Continue reading
Late last year I went on a family hike at the local Starved Rock State Park. While walking around, I discovered this interesting wood carving of different
animals. I realized that this would make a
good subject for a ReCap project. Continue reading
David's Creations 