Which software is used for VFX?

standing visual-effects are today created almost entirely digitally with the use of computers for that a powerful software is required in this video you'll find an overview of most common computer programs used at VFX production houses [Music] almost every VFX studio is a bit different and so the software they use can vary but the range of possible options isn't that big and we can list the most common ones to do that we'll have to divide it according to the department's I'll show you the software used for modeling animation texturing and shading FX rendering match moving rotoscopy and compositing modeling in this category you'll have the most possible choices the commonly used modeling software for VFX is autodesk maya autodesk 3d studio max pixologic zbrush Autodesk Mudbox foundry model the most popular is Maya but also 3d studio max from Autodesk can be found in almost any VFX house name any VFX heavy film and at least one of those programs has been used there this is a powerful and flexible software which however comes with a high price pixologic zbrush is an industry standard for 3d sculpting especially for character creation in 2014 pixologic co-founder offer alum received a technical Oscar for his work on ZBrush and in pioneering the concept of multi-resolution sculpting today ZBrush is used in virtually every film that requires visual effects work it played a key role on titles like Avatar The Avengers Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films star trek into darkness iron man the Pirates of the Caribbean and many more Autodesk Mudbox is another 3d sculpting option although not as popular as ZBrush it is present in many studios originally matte works has been created as an internal modeling tool at wet our digital later it became a commercial software now developed by autodesk foundries model is the youngest in this category originally it was created by key light wave engineers later taken over by foundry a company specializing in tools for VFX animation in this category there's only one option Autodesk Maya although almost any 3d software offers keyframe animation Maya is the industry standard originally released in 1998 Maya's widespread use in the film industry is usually associated with its development on the film dinosaur released by Disney in 2000 if you want to be an animator this is the software you should learn Maya and its developers have been awarded with three Oscars so far in 2003 Elias a company developing Maya at the time received an Academy Award for technical achievement for their development of Maya software in 2005 my esteem received a second Oscar for the invention and application of subdivision surfaces and in 2008 Maya fluid effects system was awarded with Academy Award for technical achievement in 2005 Maya was bought by Autodesk texturing and shading for shading usually the same software is being used as for modeling that means Autodesk Maya is the most popular one Autodesk 3d studio max both featuring a node based shading system additionally textures are being created with foundry Mari substance painter recently acquired by Adobe and of course Adobe Photoshop FX water smoke fire and other simulations are being created with buddhini Autodesk Maya Houdini is the standard when it comes to procedural simulations it's present in nearly all VFX companies in 2018 Houdini has been awarded with a technical Oscar for its dynamics framework and workflow management tools that have helped it become the industry standard for bringing natural phenomena distraction and other digital effects to the screen rendering by rendering I mean the engine responsible for final 3d image generation usually it's connected to the modeling and shading software and the most popular for VFX creation are Autodesk Arnold v-ray Pixar's render man all of those share a similar popularity in VFX houses sometimes they are using only one of those and sometimes all of them depending on the application the oldest one is render man which was first created in 1991 it was developed by Pixar as an internal tool but later became a commercial software now offering even a free non-commercial license you might be associating Renderman with animated movies but it's responsible for generating 3d images for movies like Terminator 2 Jurassic Park Lord of the Rings Titanic avatar or Star Wars Force awakens Renderman was the first ever software product to be awarded with an Oscar it was in 2001 when they have received Academy Award of Merit for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering renderman has been used on 27 out of the last 30 movies that won best visual effects Oscar [Music] match moving when it comes to extracting camera motion information from the film footage or object match moving three main choices are available 3d equalizer cynthaiz PF track 3d equalizer is the most popular and powerful one used for VFX production since 1996 it received a technical achievement award in 2001 rotoscopy paint and rota are one of the oldest VFX techniques current standard for rota software is silhouette and mocha Pro both programs have been awarded with a technical Oscar and both feature advanced tools necessary and any VFX house additionally rotoscopy is often performed in foundry nuke compositing currently there's only one major software used for compositing at almost any VFX company foundry nuyk nuyk is a node-based digital compositing application this is the industry standard its beginnings reach to 1993 when it was developed at Digital Domain as their in-house compositing tool years later it was made publicly available currently it's developed by foundry nuke won Academy Award for technical achievement in 2001 a similar software however far less popular is Blackmagic Design Fusion if any of you is thinking what about Adobe After Effects the answer is no Adobe After Effects is not used at VFX houses at least not for most of the major movie production you can find After Effects used for motion graphics or TV advertisement compositing however it's layered based system is too limited for complex compositing tasks if you'd like to familiarize yourself with note compositing I can suggest trying Natron a free and open-source clone of foundry nuke although it contains a fraction of nukes tools it can be a good start as it's almost identical to nuke of course there's a lot more software being used for VFX production some VFX houses even develop their own software not available publicly however the applications that have been mentioned here are the standard developed since many years acclaimed and awarded successfully tested on many professional productions if you're planning a career in the effects you should get familiar with them thank you for watching and please subscribe for more videos about VFX and its history you

Channel: VFX Geek

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Keywords: vfx, software, maya, zbrush, nuke, natron, 3ds max, visual effects, special effects, animation, compositing, vfx studio, professional, CGI, Maya, Nuke, Houdini, green screen, make vfx, behind the scenes, 3D modeling, matchmove, FX, roto

Id: lKQIN7hZt3I

Length: 11min 4sec (664 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2019