Oliver Cullen VFX Work

VFX
#1

Hi Guys,
I’m new here and I’m looking for some advice on my showreel and work. I’ve done a bit of work in the games industry and have currently returned to uni for my final year and have missed the crits (unfortuantely no-one really teaches FXs at my uni).

So here goes.

My showreel:

//youtu.be/bUd4OQfANwI

And a wip progress scene, based upon the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film:

//youtu.be/VUgD4PF9I-8&list=UUpnnDWYbllKkUtRQhwAhNkQ&index=1

I’ve posted a break down of the dock explosion on Polycount explaining how I’ve done a few things: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116965&highlight=sherlock

If you guys would be able to give me some advice and crits I would be very appreciative!

Thanks,
dnc

#2

Hi Oliver,

On your reel I really like your car fire! I would make that the first clip of your demo.
I think the sparks is the weakest scene in your reel, it looks unfinished to me. I would take it out or put it at the end of the reel.

Also you should really get a website! just having a youtube url at the end of your demo makes it feel very amateurish to me.

Hope that helps!

#3

Take those sparks out of there!
Take a look at some videos of people cutting and grinding metal instead, and pay attention to what you are seeing! Better yet go cut/grind some metal yourself!
The particles should be quite random, FAST, thin and long at birth. Sparks that don’t fizz out straightaway fall to the ground as a little burning
balls of metal.

#4

Sparks:

The environment looks blocky so I assume the sparks are supposed to be stylized. If so, I’d exaggerate the texture more and use a more vibrant color. If they are supposed to be realistic, remove them from the reel.

Fire:

I like it. I’d look at the base of it. It doesn’t fit the window. The additiveness of it makes the frame visible through the fire more than it should.

Water Shader:

Looks nice. The spec and transparency work nicely together. Not a fan of the movement. Too obvious that it’s just two textures scrolling against eachother.

Confetti:
The actual confetti looks nice. The sparks that emit it, are too slow and move in a weird way.

The Damage indicator:
What is it supposed to be? Is it veins? Fire? What am I looking at?
It’s too slow on. Sharpen that curve. Fade out is alright.

Dissolve:
Not sure what I’m looking at. The dissolve shader works. Then there are random sparkly bits and circles. What do they do?

#5

Thanks for the responses guys, there is a lot of good feedback here; like I mentioned earlier it is hard for me to get decent FX feedback at uni. I think I am going to re do a lot of the showreel now :slight_smile:

I wanted to ask how many people think that showing shader code is useful in showreels?
And I also have some Python scripts available, what is the best way to show these off?

#6

Depends if you are going for a vfx or TA position. Why not make two reels? Keep them short, sweet and focused.