Andrea Blasich’s love of sculpting began on the beaches of southern Italy and it’s taken him all the way to Hollywood, where his talents have been put to use on movies including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Brave and Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. In this podcast, recorded at THU, he explains why time-honored techniques are still relevant in digital pipelines.

Andrea sheds light on his working process, which involves using clay in combination with 3D scanners and 3D printers to create and modify his work. He offers his thoughts on ZBrush and VR sculpting tools, talks about his experiences working on games such as The Witness and BioShock 2, and details the complexities of sculpting lips, kilts — and Mickey Mouse.

Much has changed in the three years since director Tim Miller recorded a the 100th episode of the CG Garage podcast. After the runaway success of Deadpool, he returned to the big screen with Terminator: Dark Fate. At the same time, his Heavy Metal-inspired anthology series Love, Death & Robots busted boundaries via Netflix.

In this podcast, he reveals the pressure of directing the $200-million-budget Terminator: Dark Fate, the storytelling and technical decisions behind that beach scene — and why he wound up hugging two audience members. In contrast, he talks about creative freedom and collaboration he enjoyed for Love, Death & Robots and offers some sneak peeks for season 2.

Regular listeners will be pleased to hear that Hollywood stardom hasn’t gone to Tim’s head, and this podcast offers a truly fascinating insight into the movie industry.

At Total Chaos 2019, we launched a competition with an amazing prize for one budding CG artist: A “Golden Ticket” to the THU conference in Malta. All the entrants had to do was impress our judges with their story, via text, imagery or video. After poring over the entries there was one clear winner: Ivona Alexandrova, whose positive outlook and artistic skill shone through her work.

Part of the prize was a podcast with Chris Nichols and the result — recorded while THU was in full swing — is sweet and surprisingly inspirational. Ivona talks about teen experiences with CG in Bulgaria and her move to the UK to study the subject at university. She also shares the career tips she’s gleaned from Oscar-winning directors and Hollywood VFX artists at Total Chaos and THU.

Want to be in with a chance to win a THU Golden Ticket next year? Join us at Total Chaos!

At age 12, Vicki Dobbs Beck started her own business with her mom, selling flowers at Seattle market — and she’s been combining creativity with commerce ever since. After leaving Stanford University Graduate School of Business, she got a job at Industrial Light and Magic and became Executive in Charge of ILMxLAB in 2016.

In this podcast, recorded at THU, Vicki tells Chris about the incredible virtual reality projects she’s overseen at ILMxLAB, including Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning Flesh and Sand (Carne y arena) and Oculus Quest launch title Vader Immortal. Through her role, Vicki has unprecedented insight into the business side of virtual experiences, and you’ll find out everything from how to secure funding for VR ideas to the practicalities of writing scripts for interactive experiences.

Hailing from Sao Paolo, Brazil, Pedro Conti has created some truly impressive work. As well as contributing to Disney’s Moana as a VFX artist, he created hilarious short “One More Beer,” and directed the touching music video for Ron Artis II’s song “In My Heart.” But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Pedro — this sensitive soul has faced some challenging moments.

In this podcast, recorded at THU 2019 earlier this year, Pedro tells Chris how he got into graphics with his dad and taught himself 3D techniques. He talks about the dramatic contrasts between living in Rio, with no hot water and plenty of rats, and Burbank, where he worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He also delves into the happy and sad moments he’s had since he moved back to Brazil as well as the big part music has played throughout his life.

Join Pedro, and many more incredible speakers, at Total Chaos 2020 in Sofia, Bulgaria, May 29 — 31.

Over the past few years, the John Wick movies have breathed new life into action filmmaking, marrying balletic big-screen violence with the intricate world-building and compulsive storylines of a quality TV series. Joining Chris this week are returning podcast guests Alex Nice (concept artist) and Robert Nederhorst (VFX supervisor), who talk about their work on John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know that glass features heavily in two major scenes, and Alex and Rob talk about the difficulties of working with (and breaking) elaborate reflective surfaces. Alex reveals how technology such as V-Ray, Unreal and virtual reality helped him plan and preview sets, while Rob discusses some of the problems he ran into on-set — sometimes literally. You’ll also find out how they digitally recreated bridges, rooftops and alleys for the movie — and why they chose a black finger sock for Keanu over a traditional green one.

In light of the unexpected passing of our beloved colleague Jaroslav Křivánek on Sunday, today’s podcast is one from the archives. Episode #176 was recorded in Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 2018, as a discussion about the Corona and Chaos family. Talking alongside founding partner and main developer Ondřej Karlík, Jaroslav Křivánek talks in detail about the technology that makes Corona fast and efficient — machine learning with Bayesian inference, heterogeneous media, and GPU rendering — and shares personal insights into his own background in the industry. 

Jaroslav’s wit, energy, and passion are simply irreplaceable. He was instrumental in the creation of Corona Renderer and has been an exceptional leader and mentor to many throughout the Chaos family and beyond. 

Please join us in sending our deepest condolences and sympathy to his family and loved ones.

A passion for animation and computing landed Andrew Gordon a job at Pixar just after the release of Toy Story, the first of many mega-hits for the studio. From here, he helped bring some of the studio’s most famous characters to life: Toy Story 2’s Prospector, Mike from Monsters, Inc. and Edna Mode, The Incredibles’ fashion designer. Today, Andrew has taken his experience from Pixar to DNEG, where he heads up the London VFX studio’s feature animation team.

In this podcast, recorded at THU, Andrew tells Chris why Pixar movies are consistently brilliant. He talks about the playful office culture, mentorships and constructive criticism that bring out the best in employees, as well as its deft approach to storytelling, character development and filmmaking. It’s the sum of 20 years’ experience, with industry leaders such as Brad Bird, Ed Catmull and Pete Docter, packed into an hour-long podcast.

Recorded at the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' “Architecture in Perspective” event, this week's podcast is a panel discussion on architecture and imagined environments. Taking part are The Lion King and AR Wall CG Art Director Joy Lea, 3Marks and KitBash3d's Mike Golden, Luxigon founder Eric de Broche des Combes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens concept artist Nick Hiatt, Architectural Visualization Artist Isabella Eckmann, and Gensler's Creative Media Leader Megan Lubaszka. And, of course, the whole thing is moderated by CG Labs' Chris Nichols.

Among the topics discussed are the representation of space and storytelling in new mediums, the business of visualization and what different CG industries, such as arch-viz, VFX and gaming, can learn from one another. This lively debate is full of insight into modern creative methods and you'll discover what still images can do that VR can't (and vice-versa), the vast differences in cost between architectural and marketing VR experiences — as well as the importance of minigolf.

User experience is an under-appreciated but crucial aspect of modern technology and software — particularly in the field of video games, which have to introduce complex ideas without intimidating players. In this week’s podcast, Chris is joined by UX Director, Celia Hodent, who put her PhD in psychology, specialized in cognitive development, to good use in helping create Fortnite. 

Celia explains how user experience helped make military aircraft safer and how it’s been a fundamental part of gaming since the days of Super Mario Bros. Using examples from casual titles such as Candy Crush to the notoriously tricky Dark Souls, Celia explains how games teach skills and use interaction to build worlds and reward behavior. She also gives excellent reasons why kids shouldn’t play games outside of their age rating, and why culture is more important than gender when it comes to game design.

Whether you’re a gamer or not, you’ll undoubtedly come away from this podcast with a new perspective on the design of just about everything.