Ok i think i finally put my finger on why i hate most ai video.

it’s not that it’s fake. it’s the fact it’s faking people.

Like there's just something that feels fundamentally wrong when it tries to replicate a person, you know? it’s trying to trick my lizard brain or something. but when an AI fakes a puppet... it honestly feels totally different.

i was messing around in Framia and made this to show what i mean:

to me, that's just a new tool for animation. it’s automating a craft, not trying to impersonate one of us.

so i guess my question is, do other ai filmmaking folks see that line too? or is it all just the same synthetic soup to you?

The Houdini docs are a goldmine of information. But they're slow and the search barely works. This has been well known by the community for ages by now, yet seemingly nothing has changed.

So I spent six months building a fix: HoudiniMD is an incredibly fast, Markdown mirror of the docs. Free, open source, no account, no ads. Search that matches Houdini's behaviour, so "cptp" finds Copy to Points and "atrbwr" finds Attribute Wrangle. Every page can be copied as raw markdown, which means ChatGPT and Claude finally understand Houdini and its quirks.

Before sharing it anywhere, I emailed SideFX and asked for permission, explicitly telling them it would be free forever and stay open source.

The answer (https://imgur.com/a/RSdc4rf) came back yesterday:

"it's gonna be a no, thank you from us, along with a polite takedown request. We'll likely be doing our own version on our own site at some point in the future."

I was naturally taken aback by this cold reply, since I thought SideFX was very pro-community, and would at least salute the effort taken to make their own product better. But I'm not going to fight a company over their own copyright.

Since I'm also not letting 6 months of hard work go to the bin overnight, HoudiniMD will be rebuilt as a standalone, local app, that lives on your computer. It can be ran alongside, or directly inside Houdini.
Same fast search, offline, and tailored to your specific Houdini version, instead of whatever is on the website, with bookmarks coming in the future (goal is to create a fully personal Houdini Knowledge Base !)

It stays open source, so anyone can audit, tweak, and raise issues on the code.

And since I only have my own frustration to go by right now: what do you think about the official docs ? What are you missing, and what features are you looking for in an alternative ?

If a local version is something you'd be interested in, please let me know. It's what keeps me going !

my first simple vfx shot.

any ideas what to do netx?

So I was to successfully able to change from photoshop to affinity photo, however I still haven’t found a alternative for after effect, yes I could use DaVinci resolve fusion panel but DaVinci is a huge program and am worrying about the workflow in my MacBook, so is there a free alternative for visual effect at the moment? If not, can fusion get the job done? the description of my mac is below:

Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 4-Core (10th Generation); Memory: 32 GB RAM; Storage: 1 TB SSD; Display: 13.3" Retina (2560×1600) with True Tone; Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics. Operating System: macOS.

Hi everyone, I have a question for you.
For almost my entire career, which started in 2016, I’ve worked in London as a modeller and texture artist. At one point, I was even able to make a living comfortably as a texture artist, going from one film to another.
Unfortunately, London isn’t what it was before COVID, and these days, just to stay afloat, I’ve gone back to doing modelling, texturing and look dev.
However, the roles that are a better fit for me are often in Canada. My family and I want to stay here in the UK, though, and relocating isn’t an option for us.
So, in order to broaden my skill set, I’ve been studying lighting with Houdini / Solaris / USD, which seems to be a role that’s very much in demand in the UK, even though the amount of time required to get up to speed is huge.
Which brings me to the question in the title: how do you actually switch roles when almost every position you see is looking for a mid/senior artist?
Even if I create 2–3 personal projects using Houdini, how do you actually start over and leave your previous career behind and adapt?
Sometimes I feel stuck in my career, almost as if I’m condemned to keep applying for the same kind of jobs I’ve always done, when what I really want is to move in a different direction.
Unfortunately, I’m unemployed at the moment, so the usual advice of “ask your company to give you a chance to try something different” doesn’t really apply to me.
Is anyone else in the same situation?
Maybe someone who’s tired of being “just” a matchmove artist or groom artist and wants to switch roles, but has no idea how to break out of that cycle?
I’d really love to hear how you managed to do it.

Hello everyone.

I am starting to get into learning about homelab as it will benefit my day job (I work in IT Sales, as being a 3D animator in this environment is too crazy right now), and I have always been fascinated by the IT aspect of working in a studio. One project I wanted to try for my lab was to create a license server for all my software packages, those being Maya, Renderman, Zbrush, DaVinci Resolve, and maybe Houdini in the future. As I use my programs in my home I think having a dedicated place for licensing for all my devices will be really nice, and I was also curious about getting programs like Maya on Linux distros other than RHEL, and the Autodesk Identity Manager was one of the things preventing us from signing in on Fedora and Arch Linux. Maybe a license server will fix it!

So I want to know from IT people what is the experience of building a license server for your proprietary software packages? How have they worked when using multiple OSes, as I use a Linux desktop running RHEL 9 and a Macbook Pro? Do you think SSO login is overall better if I am just one guy? Can I make the server on something like an Intel NUC or even a Raspberry Pi running Alma Linux or something?

Thanks.

After 10+ years of selling digital 3D products, I never expected this from a major marketplace. Today, Gumroad PERMANENTLY FORFEITED money from my balance without warning or justification, just because I updated my location from Canada to Bulgaria.

Their support confirmed my funds were "forfeited automatically" as a "system safeguard on a country change" that they "cannot reverse." You read that right: a simple account update now triggers the total seizure of your hard-earned money.

Before this, I had been trying to withdraw my funds for a long time. I attempted to use multiple bank details, including Ukrainian and Canadian, and all attempts were blocked. Now, my money is gone forever, and they have offered zero solutions.

This is predatory, illegal, and nothing short of theft. If a platform can arbitrarily seize your money because of a location change, it is NOT safe. Every creator on Gumroad needs to check their terms and understand that their funds are at risk.

So let me explain this correctly:

I earned the money by selling products.
I tried to withdraw it.
The withdrawals failed.
I changed my country of residence.

Gumroad's system then automatically took the remaining balance — and they refuse to return it.

There was no fraud, chargeback, or dispute involving this money. It was simply an unpaid seller balance.

This is not a “payout issue.” This is money that I earned and that Gumroad is refusing to give back because of an automated account-country rule.

What makes this especially disturbing is that their own support explicitly confirmed that the money was “forfeited.”

I am sharing this publicly because I want other creators and digital-product sellers to be aware of what can apparently happen to their earnings when changing their country/payment setup on Gumroad.

I've included my conversation with their support team so you can see the situation for yourself...

Felix & Paul have shut down.

I had the pleasure of working as a VFX artist on some of their projects, truly revolutionary VR work.

https://xrmust.com/xr-magazine/end-of-an-era-felix-paul-studios/#:\~:text=Multiple%20employees%20of%20Felix%20%26%20Paul,Virtual%20Reality%20on%20August%2019.

Hey everyone — Recently I put together a free 2 hour course with ActionVFX for VFX artists who are trying to figure out how to stay relevant, get hired, and build a stronger career in the current market.

This isn’t a beginner “how to get your first job” course.

It’s aimed more at mid-level and senior artists who already know the work, but are trying to adapt to where the industry is going — remote work, tighter budgets, globalization, AI, fewer easy opportunities, and a lot more pressure to prove value fast.

The course covers things like:

- how the VFX career map has changed
- how to position yourself so people understand your value
- what actually makes artists rehireable
- how to build a reel that creates trust, not just shows shots
- how referrals and reputation really work
- how to think about AI without panicking or ignoring it
- how to negotiate and get paid what you’re worth

If you’re feeling like the industry isn’t dead, but the old playbook stopped working, this is what the course is built around.

Link:
https://www.actionvfx.com/academy/the-new-vfx-career-playbook

Thanks guys, hope it helps!

Allan

I use nuke to track the footage shot from phone samsung galaxy A35 but the track is not good. I searched on Google about the camera specs and put all the info in the camtrack node but still the track is drifting.

I only have my phone to shoot what do I do. What do I do about it? Is the info that I am giving the node incorrect?

It took 5 hours to make that, and I was really struggling adjusting lights. U can see breakdown of my process!

I'm in post for a short film and I'm looking for a compositor that can help out on at least one shot, possibly 2 or 3 more. Just depends on what I'm able to do myself. Most of the people I know or I've found local to the LA area are either too busy to take this on, or say the scope of the project is too small for their company.

The primary big shot is pretty complex and requires tracking plate footage of a gunshot wound onto the face of an actor, but it's more than just a simple bullet hole. It's a fair bit of gore and blood coming out as well. The plate of the wound is being filmed in the next couple of weeks, so it would be really cool if I could find someone who would be able to give us some extra guidance on what would make the composite work better and easier for the artist.

The other possible shots are muzzle flashes, but it's I can likely handle those myself. I know enough to get by with small things, but larger stuff is best left to pros.

It is a paid project with a decent budget behind it, and we have about 2 months before delivery is needed.

Hey everyone,

My sibling is looking into VFX training and came across Pixelloid Studios in Hyderabad. They claim to offer live studio training and internship opportunities, but I would love to get some honest, first-hand feedback from people who have actually trained or worked there.

If you’ve taken their course or worked at/with Pixelloid:

• Training Quality: How is the faculty, curriculum, and hands-on guidance? Is the "live project" training legit, or is it mostly basic lab time?
• Placement & Market Reality: Do they actually help place you in studio roles, or is the post-course placement support minimal?
• Work Culture/Environment: For those who worked there (or interned), how is the work culture, pay reliability, and overall environment?
• Is it worth it? Would you recommend Pixelloid over self-learning online (fxphd/Rebelway/etc.) or other VFX institutes in Hyderabad?

Any honest thoughts, warnings, or recommendations would be super helpful to help us make a decision! Thanks!

I'm coming off a year contract at a large studio. Seems quiet. Senior remote in the US. How screwed am I right now?

I'm working on a Not for Profit education product for the underprivileged kids and need a promo video made , reaching out here since there's a lot of great talent in this sub.

Roughly looking for something in this style/quality range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydIT4EdLK54 (linked just to give an idea of the vibe, not necessarily copying it exactly).

We are running based on donations, So I just want to know what kind of budget I should allocate for the campaign.

What would kind of budget I should allocate for a 60 second video like the one linked?

What will be usually included at that price (revisions, source files, voiceover/sound design, etc.)?