Highly detailed animated 3D trees and plants can make a huge visual impact in digital environments and matte paintings, as seen in movies such as Avatar. Yet the complexity of trees and many plant species makes them notoriously difficult to recreate, and requires a move from traditional modeling techniques to unique procedural methods.

If you’re a CG artist who has always been curious about Houdini, or if you are just wanting to brush up on your core skills and learn new techniques for working in Houdini 12, this is the class for you. Taught by John Moncrief, this course we will cover the fundamentals of working with Houdini. You will first learn the basic concepts and work-flow of Houdini, then work through the different contexts of the software in more detail by creating specific effects and solving real world production problems.

This is a fully production based course and a GREAT reel builder while also sharing boat loads of real world visual effects production tips, techniques and even a few secrets. More and more NUKE is becoming the hub not only for composting but for overall production pipelines. It is as important for 3D artists to know NUKE as it is for compositors. This course is designed as a marriage of those two worlds with NUKE as the common language that bridges the gap.

This course, taught by Siju Thomas is going to focus on learning to sculpt with an artistic perspective. The course will be grounded in anatomically accurate sculpture of a humanoid creature form'a hunter turned were-lion or a gorilla-man. We will be building a character from inside out finishing the body and then finishing the cloth all as separate parts. I love the idea of learning the app through a project ' it's really the best way.

This course follows up on the Vue201 course, and offers intermediate and advanced Vue artists an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the program and to acquire new practical techniques for production work. In the first half of the course we will concentrate on specific areas and tools in Vue, while the second half will essentially be a detailed work-through of a VFX shot involving Vue – from initial planning stages to final Nuke compositing. Throughout this course we will also get a chance to explore and use the great new features of Vue 9.

"We'll fix it in post." No doubt you've heard the phrase before. And while it may get thrown around more than it should, the challenge of 'the fix' often falls to the paint and roto artist. From removing pesky crew members or production rigging in frame, to altering background environments or clothing on actors, we're going to focus on the approaches and techniques of this invisible art using standard tools like After Effects, Photoshop along with supporting apps like Mocha AE and software from The Pixel Farm.

There are a lot of aspects to photography, so we have decided to make it commercial and focus on all sorts of everyday issues. Professional photographer Tim Wheeler will show how to shoot high-end professional photographs. If you’re interested in lifting your game, or actually working professionally - this course will be ideal for you.

Background Fundamentals is the "required" course for fxphd members and covers a wide range of topics -- the fundamental building blocks of visual effects.This course is a great overview of the industry and deals with a different aspect everyweek.

Two terms ago we featured visual effects specialists from around the world discussing their perspective on what it takes to be a visual effects supervisor. While hugely successful, we received feedback that people wanted to go inside a real production and do a case study on a real project being made.

Designed with the graphic artist, effects artist and editor in mind, this course will provide a solid foundation of knowledge of production and post production audio. Taught by audio mixer/designer Cory Coken, the course will center on four core areas of audio: dialogue, sound effects, music, and mix. The course will be a series of on camera classes covering techniques and approaches.