Where do I start. What a fantastic few days in Stuttgart at FMX:2015. This was my first experience & here are the top highlights were:
The Visual Effects of Interstellar - Paul Franklin
This was my last talk of the FMX. But it didn't disappoint. Award winning Paul Franklin had cues around the building to see his presentation. I was shocked to see how much of the film was real or real miniatures. Their commitment to get dynamic shots was stunning. The week in Iceland that was spent to film the wave scene from the movie. It really showed how film footage can provide the most real results.
Houdini to Arnold in The Mill's LEGOLAND - Adam Droy (The Mill)
I was slightly unsure about this presentation as I was concerned how much Arnold would be relevant to me been a Vray guy. It turned out to be a hit and defiantly a piece of software I'm going to try and download a trial of and try out. It was great to briefly talk to Adam afterwards, and pick his brains on HDRI's and general production questions.
The Hobbit & 20 Years of Weta Digital - Joe Letteri (Weta Digital)
It was simply amazing to see how these major production were crafted. In most cases the shear volume of work was stunning. The work done by Weta on the Hobbit, just showed the lengths they had to goto and how hard everyone had worked over the last 20 years.
Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Pipeline Challenges of Big Hero 6 - Dr. Hank Driskill (WDAS)
The Walt Disney Animation presentation was and eye opener. No versions! No Filename changes! No pipeline changes. Something I'm going to try on a smaller scale. Also the 80/20 rule. An asset is only ever completed to 80% as they know they will have changes on that asset. And if not they save valuable production time.
As you can imagine, I could go on and on. I hope I've given you a little insight into the highlights of FMX. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone in the CG field. Truly an eye opener.