SKYWATCH: Single shot VFX walkthrough

[@Xero_Wolf]

I'm going send this to all my clients when they they tell me. "That's an easy shot, it shouldn't take you too long."

[@TheNewton]

that's when you say A) "i'm not charging by the hour i'm charging how valuable the shot it to you , are you saying this isn't a valuable shot?" B) "well I was charging for the shot but your right we should bill this one by the hour no matter how long it takes" C) "I'm ending our relationship I only work with clients that value my time experience."

[@kylejennings819]

@@TheNewton i don't think any of these choices are good responses lmao

[@TheNewton]

@@kylejennings819 why not? any client saying something like that is coming from a completely disingenuous position trying to diminish an artists value as a negotiation tactic even if they aren't aware of they're trying to sell you ego back to so they can get a deal.

[@editboy23]

What, it only took 6 and a half minutes XD

[@abhayrajeev7216]

People really do underestimate the amount of work done to make a good vfx shot

[@ianz8962]

you can tell he is legit because of thoose panda eyes

[@clotheslinespider6976]

lol totally

[@sullivanvega5345]

This is one program I had a hard time figuring out buddy, but you killed it, awesome.

[@Zacriuniverse]

Those eye bags don’t lie! Nice work

[@infinummjb]

He walked us through the process and all but still... magic!

[@dpm2213]

As crazy as this was to see I felt super relieved when he said 3 weeks and acknowledged that it was insane.

[@DrJamstaman]

This is what true commitment looks like 🤩

[@DiyintheGhetto]

Please stop teasing us and Do a full movie of this. It looks awesome.

[@aaronpodesta435]

unbelievable, this stuff just amazes me, would really love to get into this level of VFX but just wouldn't know where to start.

[@hrshgaming1534]

I was there like an year ago and trust me, just get blender, make a box, put lights on and render it. You journey will begin. (altough im learning maya now, blender is still great)

[@educate3d]

hrsh Gaming you forgot the most important step. Delete the default cube. Only then can you add a cube mesh and render it out lol

[@SrujanRaghavendra-y9h]

Hats off to your painstaking work. All the best for your future ventures..

[@dreamzdziner8484]

Nodes are always a nightmare 🤒. Awesome job. It would be exciting to see someone do a shot like this using AE.

[@pansitostyle]

Its posible but takes longer times, also u may do the 3d work in another software like blender, maybe c4d which has conecctions with after effects

[@dreamzdziner8484]

@@pansitostyle Yeah totally agree to that.

[@Ruekeen777]

youre awesome buddy. i appreciate your contribution to vfx lovers. see you down the line

[@Nani-Afinarte13]

Hello, I'm watching from San Bernardino CA and i am Exited to view all of your videos! Hopefully I can learn from you fellas. And you guys just earned a New subscriber just in the first 10 seconds of this video!

[@dddharmesh]

Very nice. One man army. Superb output.

[@dainvfx]

I love content like these!

[@xpez9694]

Did this get finished in 2021??? inspiring stuff!

[@PYICON256]

bro you good,i just love you work and hope that you will teacher

[@sigitbudiprasetyo161]

god damn man...,your dedication is so incredible

[@abhijityadav8415]

Nice work...

[@spaceboy1337]

incredible. God is in every single detail

[@morerealistic8780]

Awesome!

[@stefanhagerman1284]

Instant subscribe!

[@komooder]

Great job!

[@parthdashora9594]

not 1 backdrop node 🤯🤯 sicccck

[@ilhambarkhudar]

Bravo))

[@epereyralucena]

so good man congrats

[@888marin888]

Wouldn't be faster to do almost everything in a 3D software? all the relight, hdri, reflection, cam movement etc could be well managed in 3D i feel. The two boys can be put separately on 2D card, the camera in movement faked with a 3D cam. What you guys think?

[@thenout]

For modeling and texturing.. yeah, it might make sense. But since this is a camera projection setup, there's no big (time) advantage doing it in 3D. Also, in Nuke you get a faster feedback, and bear in mind that you need to retouch your 3D render in Nuke anyhow, they seldom come out of 3D perfectly, you always have artifacts and stuff to deal with. Also, if the director later on decides to change the lighting for example, you wouldn't have to go through 3D, you can just pull it off in Nuke (with reasonable expertise).

[@dilipramirez]

An amazing professional indeed.

[@ronydey2696]

great

[@TheJuanemilioveliz]

Increible

[@siliconbrush]

Hey really super curious what the specs are on your friends machine, I'm sure everyone is.

[@erikm9768]

Specs...always this brain dead question lol

[@willm1019]

Erik X he ran blender hella fast. Specs are important for rendering these shots especially in resolution far greater than 4K like zooming shots. Don’t be a “...” condescending asshole

[@jerry76152]

Great stuff i dont even know how to do

[@manchest100]

Was this done on Houdini?

[@tremendous1163]

this guy did 70% of the film

[@refandotriansyahlesmana4342]

Whats software?

[@gouthamthala666]

nice work ,i would have ignore the shot if it is not worth for money.

[@Marienkarpfen]

Whats the total worktime you put into that in hours?

[@oshurus9137]

this man has an UBER computer

[@dzeeriq]

how much cost to hire a composite artist for one shoot ? can you share range budget for it? I'm sorry before, I don't good enough in english

[@ameyjoshi225]

Not gonna lie, almost shat my pants when I saw the node system

[@madeparama187]

the short movie has just came out, go watch it

[@ameyjoshi225]

@@madeparama187 yeah I did it was great

[@opendstudio7141]

After 2 years of NUKE nodes, your brain would be so rewired that the whole world and your interactions in the physical realm would become node trees.

[@الرياني-د8ك]

Same

[@micky6038]

So you should take a look at the node tree in the new Blade Runner, you'll die inside :')

[@abhi4154]

welcome 2 the life of a vfx artist nobody will know them most of them wont even meet the director of the movie but they do almost everything of the movie

[@raishelmy7176]

depends on what movie. in some they done almost everything in some they dont do anything

[@christophershivers6257]

+rais helmyeven when you think there's no vfx done there will most likely be vfx, either it being small stuff or clean up work

[@oshurus9137]

nah there will always be vfx done

[@owensilleck2596]

well this dude is a vfx supervisor who is often on set with the director.

[@jstinfo6995]

@@owensilleck2596 It’s important for them to be there.

[@supafun33]

And my producers wonder why post takes so long...

[@pansitostyle]

Exactly

[@mayorc]

Man does this guy ever made a tutorial series to get from the starting plate to the finished job, it would be awesome learning material.

[@jeffgoldblum4104]

This is for such a short visual. Imagine the amount of pain staking work that goes into a moving animation on top of a cgi background say in a marvel film for instance. Now watch the credits as the actresses, actors, directors, composers and other contributers get a nice line for their names and titles whilst the concept artists, animators, vfx artists, digital artists, cgi artists and creature artists fly by in a jumbled mess. You know they practically made that film in a small studio off location with crunch times forcing them to work 80 hour weeks and they probably couldn't even find their own names in the credits.

[@thenout]

Yup, welcome to our business :) You're in it for the love for film really, and only if you fancy being in a high level environment. I'm compositing for commercials. It's a lot more stressful and the end product is dismissable, but it pays better and you can get away with some dirty tricks that would never hold up in the film vfx biz.

[@jeffgoldblum4104]

@@thenout any advice on learning materials?

[@thenout]

Jeff Goldblum You flirting with the idea of getting a footing in the industry? Start with the book "The Art and Science of Digital Compositing" by Ron Brinkmann, it's kinda like the bible. Get yourself a free copy of Nuke Non-Commercial, and try to recreate the math given in the book. What I'd like to point out specifically is that it's quite possible to learn a few techniques these days with tutorials and stuff, and you might actually be able to sell yourself at some point (if you don't want to pursue it as a hobby, that is). But you will falter sooner or later if you only use online resources, trust me. What I did to up my game is to make VFX heavy music videos for friends. I had the freedom to do what I want and try out new techniques without a strict deadline. I remember trying to figure out a resolution to specific problems for days on end until it finally clicked. Months and years down the road, you will be glad to remember all your dirty tricks. They'll sum up. Another thing is how you view this kind of work. If you view it as a sophisticated, math-heavy subject, you might get turned off by the idea. I look at it as a puzzle game. Really... just organizing your script efficiently is like putting a well oiled command and conquer base together, and if your script is well set up you will be able to tackle any demand and challenge. But it's a tough game nonetheless, taking years to master.

[@thenout]

Here's a really, really handy and helpful video that explains what it takes on an organizational level and what is expected of you if you want to start off: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3bQYYqsop2CY6s

[@jeffgoldblum4104]

@@thenout I'm flirting with the idea looking at going into film, more of the artsy side to be honest but it's all fascinating either way.

[@khtrammell]

Sandro's pro VFX workflow is amazing to me. The bits and pieces he takes from everywhere, like photos and 3d renders, only to make it super consistent in the end - I'm in awe. Everything about this short film looks like it'll be phenomenal. Can't wait to see it this evolve and be accomplished.

[@kaisehr2768]

05:39 .... his laugh says it all. Mad respect!

[@Senlegio]

feel bad for him tbh:(

[@Mastervidic]

You can see his soul escaping his body during those last smiles lol massive respect for him :D I am trying to learn nuke from zero and is really complicated specially trying to find good tutorials or what i should focus on learning first:'(

[@mycroft16]

Houdini is intimidating enough after I learned Blender. Nuke scares me.

[@eshan309]

When he showed the full node tree- me: ight imma head out

[@manpreetbhatoa]

Lol it's only 10 percent node tree... Vfx shots should be to long node tree ...

[@isanarditama]

lol

[@randyjohnson3412]

me: I didn't wanna make movies anyways.

[@falconkillingmachine3450]

This 6min.20sec of my life, made me feel like i was watching such a nice cool person explaining about vfx his projected himself in a very pleasant manner, hats off sir.

[@AllanGildea]

ridiculous skill.

[@thoughts2536]

when I saw the node system I said to my self.. if a man can create this then how about the creator of our universe.

[@topcraft2844]

So this dude did the whole shot himself ? I thought there would be around 2-3 people working. One for the modelling, one for texturing and one for lighting.

[@JaredOwen]

Very cool!

[@avi_spotter_ind5013]

Big fan I saw your hinderburg video

[@REDPanti]

Wow its great

[@SagarRana]

Dude explains his 3 weeks of work like he did it in an hour :p

[@tadman3d]

Was this because of a script change and they could not reshoot? 3weeks of work recreating something thats already there seems wasteful

[@robinmathew9029]

Better not to come to this industry. After the influence of internet and tutorials artist need to some flip a hill to get decent payment.

[@MattyJayThomas]

They said they 'couldnt get the right lighting' i find it hard to believe that shooting day for night and also a sky and asset insert wouldnt have been more efficient

[@QuinnFilmsBTS]

WOW!!! this is so inspiring and useful! I think I have watched this 20 times now. Please do more!

[@spacetimelapses3988]

me saw the node tree: "uhm okay I think I should go...!"

[@jhay_vine5083]

seeing the node setup makes me go bonkers!😨😨😨😨

[@Voolcan]

Nuke is badass

[@AbyssalSoda]

While I'm amazed, it seems incredibly inefficient.

[@moisesjimenez3468]

Why?

[@AbyssalSoda]

@@moisesjimenez3468 Well I'm a student working in VFX at the moment and know some time saving and easier but similarly tedious methods to achieve similar results, I feel he went a bit overboard on what was necessary. But I understand that he wanted to make a near professional grade film so it's understandable. On top of that I do hold the opinion that most texturing and lighting nodes are incredibly inefficient.

[@ClaudiaShifferLA]

I think is not about be efficient or not, it's about what you need at that moment, and so many factors are involve it.

[@justingooligan7059]

nice. VFX artist has to be able to SEE that is missing for the illusion to be complete.. and then solve it... this post is a really good showing the hard work and talent that goes in to dissecting and solving a scene.. really cool.. thanks..

[@mycroft16]

Most people don't think about how light is reflecting around them, how it picks up color, or the spots on glass etc. But your brains sees it and feels it missing when it isn't there. So much detail.

[@VictoriaFilmsgroup]

wait a sec, you did the texturing in nuke?

[@michaelm4550]

He used photos for the actual texture work

[@IamMinisterOfSound]

3-4 weeks of work, on 1 shot out of 200? wait a sec...So if one guy would need to do the VFX for the entire 200 shots , it will require: 4 weeks per scene or scene a month...so its 200 scenes in a 200 months?!!! 16 years ?!! wtf

[@God-kg1lx]

There are teams dude

[@EarmWermChannel]

Teams of slaves.

[@madeparama187]

Stuart Lynch hahahahaa

[@topcraft2844]

For real tho staring at the screen for 10 + hours everyday is a pain in the ass because vfx artists don't move their legs much and get tired just like people who work with their arm and legs.

[@Nathanthelate]

It's not an exact science. Many shots don't take nearly so long

[@195studio5]

actually if you work in this field, u can say this vfx is not that complicated............ but honestly this vfx guy is awesome

[@AiLife115]

hopefully some body clients, agen-ass, produc-ass watch this clip and respect our works, its not easy, take time, and headache, low benefit. Phuk'em up

[@ajt11at]

Finally a good Nuke walk-through.

[@BK42Cycles]

Fantastic work. Congratulations Sandro :)

[@IamJohnnyFan]

im a junior compositor and i am very impressed with your finished result and your node tree. Holy smokes, its intimidating.

[@CommandoCo]

One shot took 3 weeks and you gotta do 200. Dedication right there!

[@aluara6139]

This scene is made of 70+- shots

[@coasterguy1000]

How do you even get to this level of complexity. I know a good amount of blender and just started dabbling into nuke and fuck this got me mind fucked.

[@nothingnessforever-w1g]

nice! found this vid through youtube, watched the trailer for the movie, and now i'm dying to see the movie! looks cool.

[@billionairemaker]

WHAT SOFTWARE IS THAT NOTE TREE?!?!? I need that! I want to be able to take notes on random things like that!

[@brianbucacci3761]

I can’t do anything in Nuke… simply because I’m too stupid. Lol

[@lucien5112]

how much do you think he can save by doing it destructively?

[@vishnu_j]

@ColinLevy #ColinLevy. Which software you are using??

[@ravenmooore]

I wanna make a short film, I'm willing to learn from scratch. I always thought I need 'super computers' for this. I just have a good gaming rig i7, 970 GTX - I hope it's possible ayyyy this is so exciting amazing video

[@888marin888]

totally possible, just a little bit longer to render

[@jeffgoldblum4104]

If you're a student Autodesk programs are free.

[@violencechildren7603]

My short is finished already... And I have 32 minutes of animation. WHERE IS YOUR'S?! FOR **** SAKE

[@ColinLevy]

Almost done :) Few months out.

[@team2302]

👏👏👏👏👏 i like this it's magic i very like visuel and effect all in editing it's very magic and creative we can made a dream

[@kropout7714]

5.40 his smile says how hard he has worked on this project as a compositor

[@BeratTurkbkmaz]

I watched your presentation in blender conference at amsterdam. I am really impressed. I wonder when do you finish this project.

[@pansitostyle]

Finished

[@mrhuffnpuff]

"And thats one shot out of 200"....... it's crazy that the better we do our job, the less audiences know about us.

[@serban_ungureanu]

And the more studios get closed, the more "mainstream" it becomes and no one gives the slightest fuck about it. Not as if they did a lot before, anyway. The "Life of Pi" documentary shows the amount of respect VFX gets, when graphics it's such an industry, as well researched as medicine probably... A shame :) .

[@topcraft2844]

Nobody cares about vfx artists even in big budget movies...

[@helpinghands7908]

When I saw this movie Vfx it is a great job and nicely I hope to be able to make so more videos to show or share with other people to make a jop, and I hope the best in your future life

[@BeyondSky]

5:40 i can see the pain behind that smile :(

[@tastefulmusic6920]

2,3 weeks on this moment? Omgash amazing

[@JamieDunbar]

Good grief, so much work! All the way down to getting interior reflections on the window glass. Nearly a months worth of work for a few seconds on footage. Please tell me you were working on other shots during that time? Or was all that time spent on this one shot?

[@Gunat737]

Colin Levy! This is great. This is great, really great!

[@penholder7765]

I hope there is no power shortage when he do this.

[@seanhorgan1908]

What compositing software is this? Nuke?

[@atique2545]

My god Colin, you are a genius. I am from Bangladesh and I saw this video 2 years ago. Now that I have watched your short and know your story, I basically want to be you! (as I want to be a filmmaker cum VFX artist in the future). Thank you for inspiring us.

[@masterxeon1001]

epic

[@RAFLAMOLAO]

wow, im never gonna be this good at compositing LOL!! this is awesome!

[@paraisoenllamas]

Muy bueno. Cuanto trabajo! 3 semanas en una toma q dura segundos.

[@DjKarlVictory]

That’s magic 😳👐🏼

[@lukago677]

What program did you use to compose this shot?

[@dmitrydonets]

As a digital compositor for feature films and advertisement, i often deal with tasks that require an assembly of huge nuke scripts (500-2500 nodes), but usually it takes a several days, maybe a week. This is ordinary shot, and i dunno why it takes 3-4 weeks as Sandro said.

[@ColinLevy]

Maybe it wasn't clear in the video, but Sandro has a full-time job and was working on our project only in nights and weekends. So, this shot took 3-4 weeks part-time.

[@Francopantufla]

ORdena ese script man es un hormiguero

[@TaeNy35v]

this guy is a god...

[@drive_with_pov]

Make your fantasy come true.

[@wafiarr]

5:38 funny little laugh :v