Interviews that focus on the CG creative in visual effects, architecture and beyond. Christopher Nichols of Chaos sits down with directors, artists, photographers and developers for candid discussions on technology and art, all with a focus on computer graphics. Visit chaosgroup.com/cg-garage for more information and an archive of past shows.

Two graduates of the Filmakademie,  Andreas Feix and Francesco Faranna, talk to us about working on their short Citipati. It was nominated and won a VES Award this year. They also explained to us the unique and interesting education that they got which puts them in the middle of production and prepares them for the real world of post.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast73_Citipati.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 9:32pm PDT

Janelle Croshaw, an outstanding Visual Effects Supervisor at Digital Domain, talks to us about her career as a 3D artist, compositor, and supervisor. Her credits include Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, Tron Legacy, Her, and more. We speak about how career took many changes, and the challenges she found taking a leadership role in visual effects as a woman.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast72_JanelleCroshaw.mp3
Category:VFX -- posted at: 11:01pm PDT

We speak to Blake Sweeney, the head of software at Method Studios. His long history at places like Industrial Light and Magic, Weta, MPC, and Digital Domain has given him a rich history in the world of Visual Effects. He speaks to us about what it took him to get to where he is, and what he thinks is important part in the future of VFX, including a lot about cloud rendering.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast71_BlakeSweeney.mp3
Category:VFX -- posted at: 3:00am PDT

After waiting a bit to release this podcast, Jacqueline Cooper is ready to unveil her VR project MonarchVR, just in time for Earth Day. She has spent many years as a career VFX compositor and decided to work on a VR piece with Edward Dawson-Taylor to bring awareness to the massive decline in the population of the monarch butterflies. We speak to her about her project, her career, and the different challenges and successes she has had. She also shared great stories about growing up in Los Alamos, learning from her father, and how they would compete in their wildlife photography.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast70_JacquelineCooper.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 6:26pm PDT

One year since GTC 2015, Jeff Mottle of CG Architect and Chris decided to see what has changed in the world of technology and Architecture Visualization, now at GTC 2016. We speak a lot about VR and to see what has changed in ArchViz and VR in the last year. We also speak of Realtime vs Prerendered and what each of those means in terms of ArchViz. Lastly we speak about GPU rendering and how it has advanced especially in light of the news of the new P100 processor from NVIDIA.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast69_JeffMottle.mp3
Category:Archviz -- posted at: 7:12pm PDT

Stephen Parker, a software technical director at Chaos Group, talks about his history and how he got into computers, visual effects, digital humans, and more. We also talk about GTC 2016 and how AI and deep learning became the big focus at Nvidia.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast68_StephenParker.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 5:02pm PDT

Ben Grossmann talks to us about his interesting career path: from weather man in Alaska, to winning an Oscar for Hugo, to starting Magnopus with his partners, that only fringes on VFX. We talk about the state of the union of CG, VR, VFX, and more in this very engaging episode.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast67_BenGrossman.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 6:47pm PDT

Like many things in CG, rendering on the GPU is a subject that is filled with misunderstanding and misinformation. Blagovest Taskov, the lead developer of the V-Ray GPU team, helps demystify this field by explaining how this type of hardware should be considered. We explore the concept of processors in general and explain the difference between faster, smarter, and working in parallel. This podcast is a predecessor to our visit to GTC 2016 on Apirl 4th to the 7th 2016, and will be the basis for a Guide to GPU coming soon.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast66_BlagovestTaskov.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 2:21pm PDT

We sit down with Boris Simandoff, a great developer and product manager of V-Ray Cloud and V-Ray App SDK. Since the issue of Cloud is still a bit foggy to some, we get Boris to break this down and help us understand it. From understanding what a virtual machine is, how do you pay for your time on the cloud, the cost of compute vs. storage, and, more importantly, the security of your data, Boris helps us understand it all and gives us a glimpse into our upcoming Guide to Cloud.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast65_BorisSimandoff.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 7:52pm PDT

Corey Rubadue and Chris Nichols talk to Dominic Albanese about the diverse and creative world of 3D scanning. From architecture, VFX, Art (both in preservation and creation), to medical; 3D scanning is a very diverse field, and Direct Dimensions has been in this field for nearly 20 years.

Direct download: CGGarage_Podcast64_DominicAlbanese.mp3
Category:CGI -- posted at: 7:28pm PDT