Well my classes officially started yesterday! 10 months of FX training from the man Allan McKay himself! This is exactly the type of material I've always wanted to be learning!!
For those of you that don't know, I graduated back in April and have been looking for a job since. I started getting interested in 3d about 6 years ago making explosions in 3ds max with FumeFX. I've always had a passion for FX simulations (explosions, water, fire, destruction, etc...) and this is finally my chance to learn from a big inspiration of mine Allan McKay. Allan is known for his simulation work in big movies like 2012, Transformers, Looper, Flight, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Equalizer, and many many more.
I've been following his work for the past couple of years and he recently launched his FX Technical Director Mentorship program for the second time.
I decided that I wanted to branch out of my comfort zone and pursue a dream of mine.
Graduates of Allans first class are now Technical Directors at some of the biggest studios producing the amazing work seen in big blockbuster films.
So for the next 10 months, I will be learning alongside Allan and my fellow students to make awesome simulations using programs like 3ds Max, FumeFX, PFlow, Krakatoa, XMesh, Frost, StokeFX, Realflow, Nuke, Vray, and Deadline, along with some others, all the while learning how to take the sims we make and automate the processes using MAX Script so that we can make awesome simulations with the click of a button!
We will be making every type of simulation you can think of:
Sand, Explosions, Mortar blasts with dirt, debris, dust, Fire, Flying embers, sparks, rain/drip/splash, snow, car tire smoke, fracture & destruction, burning bodies into ash, clouds, crowd sims.
We will even be spending a whole month making a huge space battle sequence with hundreds of ships!!
I'm really excited to start this class and learn how to do work that has inspired me for as long as I can remember!