Industrial Strength Training
for Visual Effects Compositing, Shake
and Nuke
After
a successful 20 year career creating visual effects first
for television commercials then featurefilms, Steve is now dedicated to VFX compositing training
for today’s rising stars of the VFX industry. As a
senior compositor, 2D technical director, master trainer,
and author of the definitive book
on VFXcompositing, Steve has the technical background,
production experience, and teaching skills to offer training
to the highest professional industry standards. Whether you
are just starting out or want to advance your ongoing VFX
career, professional training by an industry pro is by far
the quickest way to get ahead. You can start today to add
the tips, tricks, and techniques gleaned from 20 years of
production experience to your personal skill set. In addition
to VFX compositing skills training, Steve also offers applications
training for both Shake and Nuke.
Steve has conducted training for large
VFX studios as well as user groups and seminars. He offers
training classes, courses, and workshops from the individual
level all the way up to classes for entire visual effects
facilities. Choose the venue and delivery medium best
for you, whether it is in person or over the Internet.
Click
here to see Steve's complete facilities training
client list.
Demo Reel Workshop
New Course Offering!
One
of the most difficult things for a newcomer to the world
of VFX is to build a demo reel that will help you land
a real production job. The problem is that you cannot build
a demo reel without getting a job, and you can’t
get a job without a demo reel. This Demo Reel Workshop
is the answer to that frustrating Catch-22. You get to
select five spectacular feature film VFX compositing shots
that you will composite yourself, then put them on your
own demo reel. It will be a compelling demonstration of
your own work and skill using the very impressive feature
film elements provided by this workshop to help you land
that big job in the VFX compositing industry.
For
those visual effects artists that are serious about advancing
their visual effects compositing skills or moving up from
Adobe After Effects to Shake, Steve offers this unique
start any time, self-paced workshop on core competencies
for compositing visual effects for film and video. The
workshop comes complete with QuickTime movie tutorials,
prepared Shake scripts, and project media. A one-on-one
review of your work for each lesson is conducted with Steve
over Skype (voice over Internet) to address your specific
questions and offer tips and suggestions. It is like having
your personal senior VFX compositing trainer at your side.
An 8 week "Introduction to Shake 4.1" visual effects
compositing workshop sponsored by CGSociety Workshops. Presented
as a closed forum to 35 students, each week 45 to 70 minutes
of tutorial movies with project media are downloaded by students.
After viewing the training videos each week, an assignment
is given that uses the project media. The students then upload
their "homework" and it is graded and commented
on by Steve.
The next 8 week workshop is
scheduled to start on August 25th and run through October
19th. Registration for this
8 week workshop is now open!
Student comments from the previous workshop:
“I
found the keying, comping (light wraps, edge blending,
etc.),
interactive
lighting, color
correction,
grain and
shadows (especially displacing shadows) sections to be
absolutely essential. The matte techniques were also very
enlightening,
especially the concept of creating and applying color
difference mattes.”
- Clyde Duesning III
Freelance Art Director / Effects Supervisor
Florida, USA
“I've
learned a great deal with this workshop, and your
comments and corrections
were specially
helpful. Some of the assignments were challenging and
time consuming but that's the way it's supposed to be,
I mean, the only way to learn is to practice with real
world cases. So, I thought it was great! I'm very glad
I joined the workshop, thanks a lot.”
- Gabriel Franciga
Compositor
La Posta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
"Shake
4.1 Essentials" is 13.25 hours of Shake
tutorials produced by Steve for Lynda.com, the world
leader in on-line training. Lynda.com offers this extensive
course as a series of 120 movies over the Internet.
Very cost effective, for a modest subscription fee
you can not only access the Shake tutorials but also
a huge library of related training courses on everything
from Adobe Photoshop to Xcelsius. Combining these tutorials
with a free 30 day trail of Shake is is an incredibly
cost effective way to learn Shake and node-based compositing (click
here to view some free samples). This course is
also available on DVD
at Amazon.com! See our products
page for more details.
Click
here to download free 30 day trail of Apple's
Shake 4.1
Facilities Training
From
one to three week on-location training programs at your
production facility anywhere in the world. The training
material is tailored to address the specific needs of
the facility, such as wire removal, compositing cgi with
log images, bluescreen mattes, motion tracking, and much
more.
Previous classes have been conducted in New York, India,
Macedonia, Czech Republic, and yes, even Canada. Clients
include Kodak, Tata Elxsi VCL, Crest Animation, CMG, UPP,
and Rainmaker.
Learn
from the author of the very popular book entitled "Digital
Compositing for Film and Video." Steve conducts live
two week workshops that are open to the public in various
locations around the world. These workshops teach core
compositing skills for visual effects using Shake
as the
demonstration
platform. Feature film and HiDef video project files are
provided with full copyrights so that students end up with
quality visual effects shots that can enhance their demo
reels.
WEEK ONE - Introductory
Visual Effects Compositing
Join Steve Wright, a 20-year visual effects veteran with over 60 feature
film credits for a week of hands-on experience at compositing visual
effects. Bluescreen compositing, multi-pass CGI compositing, match move,
motion tracking, warp and morph are just some to the topics covered for
the beginner interested in learning how high-powered digital compositing
programs such as Apple's Shake are used to create visual effects
for major feature films and broadcast television commercials.
WEEK TWO - Advanced Visual
Effects Compositing
The follow-on to the Introductory Visual Effects Compositing class above,
this class is intended for those that are already familiar with motion
graphics or digital compositing and want to move to the next level. Detailed
shot breakdowns using 35mm feature film scans and HiDef video elements
are used to show how advanced techniques used for Hollywood class visual
effects for feature film and broadcast television commercials.
If your group is interested
in sponsoring a location-based workshop, contact
Steve to inquire about available dates.
For
facilities training, the staff collects in the training
room at the appointed hour to participate in a web-based
seminar. A closed webcast goes to a single machine in the
training room which is connected to a digital projector.
The presentation is viewed by the entire class and participants
can ask questions of the instructor like a personal appearance.
Much more cost effective than paying transportation and
lodging costs for a visiting instructor.
After
a successful 20 year career creating visual effects first
for 
One
of the most difficult things for a newcomer to the world
of VFX is to build a demo reel that will help you land
a real production job. The problem is that you cannot build
a demo reel without getting a job, and you can’t
get a job without a demo reel. This Demo Reel Workshop
is the answer to that frustrating Catch-22. You get to
select five spectacular feature film VFX compositing shots
that you will composite yourself, then put them on your
own demo reel. It will be a compelling demonstration of
your own work and skill using the very impressive feature
film elements provided by this workshop to help you land
that big job in the VFX compositing industry. 
For
those visual effects artists that are serious about advancing
their visual effects compositing skills or moving up from
Adobe After Effects to Shake, Steve offers this unique
start any time, self-paced workshop on core competencies
for compositing visual effects for film and video. The
workshop comes complete with QuickTime movie tutorials,
prepared Shake scripts, and project media. A one-on-one
review of your work for each lesson is conducted with Steve
over Skype (voice over Internet) to address your specific
questions and offer tips and suggestions. It is like having
your personal senior VFX compositing trainer at your side. 
"Shake
4.1 Essentials" is 13.25 hours of Shake
tutorials produced by Steve for Lynda.com, the world
leader in on-line training. Lynda.com offers this extensive
course as a series of 120 movies over the Internet.
Very cost effective, for a modest subscription fee
you can not only access the Shake tutorials but also
a huge library of related training courses on everything
from Adobe Photoshop to Xcelsius. Combining these tutorials
with a free 30 day trail of Shake is is an incredibly
cost effective way to learn Shake and node-based compositing 
From
one to three week on-location training programs at your
production facility anywhere in the world. The training
material is tailored to address the specific needs of
the facility, such as wire removal, compositing cgi with
log images, bluescreen mattes, motion tracking, and much
more.
Learn
from the author of the very popular book entitled "Digital
Compositing for Film and Video." Steve conducts live
two week workshops that are open to the public in various
locations around the world. These workshops teach core
compositing skills for visual effects using Shake
as the
demonstration
platform. Feature film and HiDef video project files are
provided with full copyrights so that students end up with
quality visual effects shots that can enhance their demo
reels. 
For
facilities training, the staff collects in the training
room at the appointed hour to participate in a web-based
seminar. A closed webcast goes to a single machine in the
training room which is connected to a digital projector.
The presentation is viewed by the entire class and participants
can ask questions of the instructor like a personal appearance.
Much more cost effective than paying transportation and
lodging costs for a visiting instructor.