Reddit reviews The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures

The bad news: There are mountains of legal issues and risks an artist takes on with sharing that kind of information. Also there are many of variables from company to company, project to project: rendering package involved, in house tools, required techniques involved, client demands, time/money resources, final look goal, delivery specs, etc. Even if someone could provide production scripts, these factors make it an ineffective and possibly detrimental approach to learning.

The good news: You can start learning in much more effective ways that will actually prep you better for production! I agree with Bootylicious overall, in that you're going to get the most from making your own projects and learning to problem solve them as you move forward and hit unforeseen hurdles. Doing is the biggest, the most challenging, and the most important part.

With that said, it's not always enough to just keep trying without being equipped with the proper knowledge, you'll eventually come up against issues you can't solve just by pushing without outside information. But it won't be specific scripts that get you through these times either. Core, software agnostic, concepts are going to push you through your biggest obstacles and help you learn to ask/answer critical questions:

What image do I have? What do I want it to be? What are my resources? What approaches do these 3 answers allow for?

Assume that every company, every client and every project you encounter is going to be totally different, so learning to answer these will help make you a flexible, comp-rock-star.

Make a project with as clear of a goal as you can and start there, when you get stuck, or as you go along in general, learn from software agnostic sources that focus on the skills and theory, over sources that focus on a specific program.


I've included a few book links below + happy comping!


https://www.amazon.com/VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects-Procedures/dp/0240825187/


https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Compositing-Film-Video-Production/dp/1138240370


https://www.amazon.com/Light-Visual-Artists-Understanding-Design/dp/185669660X/

Still relevant. The descriptions of roles and workflows within the industry still apply.

Edit: Looks like there's a second edition from 2014!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects/dp/0240825187/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

Ah dude. Software is just how things get done. It's the underlying concepts that you need to learn. Like in woodworking or any other craft, jobs get easier when you use the right tool for the job and know how to use them.

I've not used Blender but it has it's adherents. Personally, I tend to steer people towards Maya for general 3d applications, Houdini for it's procedural modelling and simulation toolset, and maybe zbrush if they're interested in sculpting detailed models. Whatever you choose, try to find a package with an active community you can ask questions in.

"cool VFX" is a super broad term. Maybe have a think about the kind of VFX you want to do and we can try to point you more directly towards what you want to achieve.

Maybe also borrow a copy of the VES Handbook from your local library. It'll give you a run down of most of the terms you might be interested in.